Amazon is developing a standalone app for viewing sports content, according to The Information. Amazon currently has exclusive rights to the NFL's Thursday Night Football franchise, Yankees baseball games in New York, and certain Premier League soccer matches in the U.K. More: - Amazon has not said when it could launch the sports app and could scrap the plan altogether, according to the report.
- The move highlights Amazon's push into its Prime Video service and live sports.
- In November, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy cited Thursday Night Football as the main driver of people signing up for Prime.
- He also called sports content "a unique asset" that Amazon will continue to invest in.
Zoom-out: - TechCrunch speculates that Amazon could charge a separate fee to subscribe to sports content via the app.
- Meanwhile, the NFL recently chose Google's YouTube TV to host its Sunday Ticket football package starting with the 2023-24 season. Google beat out Amazon and Apple for the rights.
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Employees at Activision Blizzard's Proletariat gaming studio have filed for union representation with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A supermajority comprised of 57 animators, designers, and other workers at the Boston-based studio has agreed to unionize. If successful, it would be the first Activision gaming union representing employees who do not work in quality assurance (QA). More: - The group, known for its work on the "World of Warcraft" Dragonflight expansion, calls itself the Proletariat Workers Alliance.
- Its members seek to join the Communication Workers of America (CWA), which also helped QA staff at Activision's Raven Software studio in Wisconsin and Blizzard Albany unionize this year.
- Proletariat has also asked Activision Blizzard to voluntarily recognize their union, saying a direct relationship with the company is "the most productive."
- However, both the Raven and Blizzard Albany groups unionized through NLRB elections rather than voluntary recognition.
Zoom-out: - In June, Blizzard said it had acquired Proletariat, the developer behind the battle royale game "Spellbreak." Its 100-person team has since transitioned to Blizzard's World of Warcraft unit.
- Meanwhile, Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7B. Should the acquisition go through, Microsoft has formally agreed to remain neutral and respect any unionization efforts at the gaming company.
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 A ZipRecruiter survey found that nearly 80% of tech workers who were recently laid off found a new job within three months of launching their search. While very high, the figure was still below the 83% average for all job types. More: - ZipRecruiter surveyed about 2,600 people who were recently let go from a tech company.
- It found that two out of every five tech workers were able to find re-employment in less than a month.
- Tech workers remain the "most sought after" with the "most in-demand skills," said ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak.
Zoom-out: - According to Layoffs.fyi, more than 152,660 tech employees from 1,007 tech companies globally have been laid off this year.
- In November, Meta said it would cut more than 11,000 jobs, or about 13% of its workforce, marking the first widespread job cuts since it was founded as Facebook in 2004.
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A New York man has sued Apple, claiming the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch is racially biased. The class-action lawsuit claims that the technology is less accurate when measuring the blood oxygen levels of people with darker skin tones. More: - The plaintiff, Alex Morales, filed the lawsuit last week in the Southern District of New York on behalf of New York consumers who purchased an Apple Watch within a certain time period.
- It accuses Apple of "false and misleading representations" when selling the Watch at a price point of around $400.
- Specifically, the suit cites a study from the University of Michigan Medical School, which suggests that the technology, known as pulse oximetry, is biased and can result in a higher risk of hypoxemia for Black patients.
- The suit also covers residents in Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, citing those states' respective consumer fraud laws.
Zoom-out: - In response, Apple said the Watch was only designed for wellness and fitness.
- The measurements in the Blood Oxygen app are not meant for medical use, including self-diagnosis, according to the company.
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U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced its exit from the Japanese market, allowing clients until Jan. 31 to withdraw all their crypto and fiat holdings. Kraken attributed the move to Japan's current market conditions and the weak crypto market worldwide. More: - Kraken said it would cease all operations in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency by Jan. 31.
- The exchange said it remains fully funded so all users can withdraw their assets from the platform promptly.
- In November, Kraken laid off 30% or about 1,100 of its workforce due to "macroeconomic and geopolitical factors."
- The company said it is now prioritizing its resources and investments to ensure long-term stability.
- Kraken previously left Japan in 2018 but relaunched there in 2020 as part of its larger push into the Asia-Pacific region.
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AI startup Jasper released a chat interface to generate original writing content for business use cases. Similar to the popular ChatGPT AI, Jasper Chat is a conversational chatbot that interacts with users to help write and edit text. More: - Unlike ChatGPT, Jasper's bot is explicitly designed for business, marketing, and finance uses.
- According to the company, clients can use Jasper Chat to write blog posts, produce marketing materials, create ad variations for campaigns, and more.
- The interface also allows users to upvote and downvote results to "teach" the bot over time.
- Jasper, founded in 2021, is mainly known for its writing assistant platform, which uses a generative AI engine to produce content for websites, social media posts, and blogs.
- In October, the company announced a $125M Series A funding round at a $1.5B valuation.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
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