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"Pokémon Go" developer Niantic has laid off 8% of its workforce, or roughly 85 to 90 employees, as it seeks to reduce costs in preparation for potential economic storms, according to CEO John Hanke. The company also canceled four projects, including the augmented-reality (AR) game "Transformers: Heavy Metal" which previously entered beta testing. More: - The AR-focused company said it's cutting back to focus on Pokémon Go, its metaverse toolset Lightship, and select new experiences, without elaborating.
- In addition to Heavy Metal, Niantic canceled the immersive theater project Hamlet and two projects codenamed Blue Sky and Snowball. It doesn't appear that future NBA All-World and Peridot games will be affected.
- The cutbacks come seven months after Niantic raised $300M at a valuation of $9B to build what it calls "a metaverse for the real world."
- It continues to expand its Lightship AR Developer Kit, a set of free tools for building public AR experiences. Niantic plans to charge to access the tools starting in January.
BLOOMBERG 
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U.S. President Biden is expected to ask the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to find ways to safeguard consumer data privacy following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade. Axios reports that Biden could issue the request as early as this week. More: - Reports raise the possibility that sensitive health information and other data shared by phone apps and tech companies could be used against people who have sought abortions in states where it is illegal.
- To protect people's data privacy, Biden is expected to issue a letter shortly saying that the FTC should not tolerate deceptive or unfair practices related to the sharing or sale of personal information, including sensitive health-related information, in any state.
- Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance clarifying that reproductive health providers aren't required to disclose private medical information to third parties.
- The period and fertility tracking app Flo previously settled with the FTC over claims that it misled users about how it shared its private health data with Google and other outside firms.
* This story is developing. AXIOS
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A European consumer organization has accused Google of steering users toward data surveillance through its account sign-up process. The Brussels-based European Consumer Organization (BEUC) claims that Google's one-step "express" process during sign-ups supports account settings that make Google users vulnerable to surveillance. More: - Google said its options when creating a new account were based on extensive research and guidance from testers and data protection authorities. The options are "clearly labeled and designed to be simple to understand,” the company said.
- But the BEUC claims users cannot turn off settings with a single click. Rather, it takes five clicks and more steps to turn off trackers for web and app activity and more for a new Google account, it said.
- The group has accused Google of "deceptive design, unclear language, misleading choices and missing information" that enable "extensive and invasive processing" of consumer data.
- It says Google may be in violation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires privacy by default.
- The BEUC is coordinating an effort led by European consumer groups against Google. So far, French, Greek, Slovenian, Norwegian, and Czech members have filed complaints with their regulators and a German group has sent Google a warning ahead of a possible lawsuit.
TECHCRUNCH
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Swiss startup Climeworks has started building what's expected to be the world's largest direct air capture (DAC) and storage facility, located in Iceland. Called Mammoth, the facility will be capable of removing 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, about 10x more than the current largest DAC facility, also run by Climeworks. More: - The Mammoth plant will run on geothermal power to remove carbon from the air and mix it with water. It then deposits that into the ground to form solid carbonate rock via a chemical reaction.
- When fully operational in 18-24 months, the plant's 36,000-ton removal rate will only cover about .0001% of the 36 billion tons emitted by humans annually.
- The facility was partially funded by 600 million francs ($650M) in funding that Climeworks announced in April, the most ever raised by a carbon-dioxide removal company.
- Climeworks says said it's seeking to remove millions of tons of CO2 by 2030 and a billion per year by 2050.
- However, critics say that carbon removal technology could potentially undermine efforts to slash carbon emissions because it would need copious amounts of energy to be deployed on a large scale.
NEW ATLAS
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North Korea-backed actors most likely orchestrated last week's attack that stole more than $100M in cryptocurrency from the blockchain bridge Horizon, according to digital investigative firms. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic found “strong indications” that Pyongyang-linked hacking group Lazarus Group is behind the attack. Its findings were backed by Chainalysis, another blockchain security firm. More: - Blockchain bridges are used to transfer tokens between different networks. The June 23 attack reportedly affected a bridge from the Ethereum network to Binance Smart Chain.
- According to Elliptic, most of the stolen funds were converted to ether. The hackers are said to be laundering the stolen assets through the "mixing" service Tornado Cash.
- Harmony said it needs additional time to investigate the theft and reimburse users.
- If confirmed, the attack would be the eighth this year that's traceable to North Korea. These hacks have totaled $1B or 60% of all funds stolen in 2022, Reuters reports.
- Lazarus Group was also linked to a $615M cryptocurrency hack tied to the online game Axie Infinity. The hackers used a blockchain bridge to steal ethereum and USDC tokens.
CNBC
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Atari turns 50 this year and is celebrating with the release of a classic game bundle created in partnership with Digital Eclipse. That studio is behind the classic game collections The Disney Afternoon Collection and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. More: - The Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration will have 90+ games from the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, ST, Jaguar, and Lynx consoles.
- Six titles will be new but inspired by classic Atari games, including an updated sequel to 1981’s Haunted House for the Atari 2600.
- The collection will include archival images and videos and an interactive history of the publisher to learn about and unlock games.
- The bundle releases in November for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and Atari's VCS mini-PC.
- Electrical engineers Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney incorporated Atari in Sunnyvale, California, on June 27, 1972.
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- Bitcoin fell below $19,000 on Thursday morning as the "crypto winter" intensifies.
- In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA cannot regulate emissions from power plants without congressional authorization.
- As of July 1, TweetDeck will no longer be available for Mac users. The Verge's Jay Peters recommends Tweeten as a replacement.
- Riot Games says it will begin monitoring the voice chats of players in Valorant, its free first-person shooter game, so it can train AI models to auto-detect toxic communications.
- Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann announced he'll step down for unspecified reasons and transition to executive chairman. His replacement is former PayPal COO Bill Ready.
- Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash partnered with Groove Science Studios to perform his latest album in virtual reality.
- This AI-powered, UI test automation tool that gives developers an easy way to author self-healing cross-browser tests.*
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 |  | Beth is a writer and analyst at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily tech news. Since starting work at Inside, she has covered various topics including virtual reality, drones, and e-commerce. Prior to that she was a public policy and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, where she won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and First Amendment Award for reporting on the rising costs of pensions. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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