US FTC seeks the court to prevent Microsoft from purchasing Activision

The FTC requested a federal judge to halt any final agreement before 11:59 p.m. ET on June 15, claiming Microsoft and Activision had indicated the transaction may complete as soon as this Friday.

In this illustration from January 18, 2022, the Activision Blizzard logo is featured on top of a smartphone with the Microsoft logo. Reuters / Illustration by Dado Ruvic

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission requested a judge to temporarily delay Microsoft Corp.'s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in order to prevent the $69 billion transaction from going through before the government's case against it is heard.

The FTC said Microsoft and Activision had signaled the deal could close as soon as Friday and asked a federal judge to block any final agreement before 11:59 p.m ET June 15.

The FTC said the deal, which would be the largest for Microsoft and the largest in the history of the video game industry, would give Microsoft the “ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision’s content in ways that substantially lessen competition.”

One thing is obvious... Future goals for Apple and Meta are extremely different.

 Even if Apple's Vision Pro is not without faults, Cupertino appears to have a different idea of what a face computer ought to be.

Many immediately assumed that Cupertino's ambition for a "spatial computer" was identical to Meta's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's drive into the Metaverse when Apple unveiled the ambition Pro at its WWDC conference last week. In fact, a significant portion of people, including Zuckerberg, made fun of the Vision Pro for being "expensive," "magical," and "antisocial." Apple aficionados may be incensed at Zuckerberg's response to the Vision Pro, but if you carefully read his remarks, it becomes obvious that Apple and Meta have quite different expectations for the future.

The two brands differ from one another in numerous respects, including methods and messaging. While Apple adopted a different strategy with the Vision Pro, referring to it as a generic computing platform that provides numerous experiences, while Meta totally rethought its Metaverse strategy with a headset that will be necessary to experience a single experience (like gaming, for example). You may view the current internet via a different perspective with The Vision Pro. Then things start to get interesting because, unlike Meta, Apple isn't attempting to create Internet 2.0 or the Metaverse, which Mark Zuckerberg envisions as a fully fledged digital environment existing outside of the one in which we already live.

The absence of terms like "headset," "virtual reality," and "metaverse" from Apple's announcement of the Vision Pro may be due to this. In addition to helping Apple differentiate the Vision Pro from its rivals, Cupertino's decision served as a kind of proof of how disastrous the Metaverse was, both as a concept and the course it took.

Those who attend meetings on the fly will soon have access to a new safety feature on Google Meet.

The new Google Meet feature, dubbed "On-the-Go" mode, offers a fresh layout with big buttons.

Google occasionally updates the capabilities available in Meet, its video conferencing service. The tech giant is apparently working on a new "On-the-go" mode that will make it safer for users to participate in video chats when they are outside, according to a recent report by 9to5Google.

There are now many choices available in the Google Meet mobile user interface, which might be challenging for people who need to join meetings while jogging or walking. The new function comes in helpful in this situation. The 'On-the-Go' mode of Google Meet, which takes use of the device's sensors, is initiated when the app determines that the user is moving.

Users may also activate the mode by locating it in the in-call menu, which is accessed by hitting the three-dot button, as an alternative. In order to prevent you from being sidetracked, "On-the-Go" mode, when used, turns off your camera during calls and halts the streaming of other meeting participants' video.

Users will soon be able to create stickers in Facebook Messenger using ChatGPT-style instructions.

 According to Meta's VP of AI, the new AI-powered stickers will enable Messenger users a limitless number of ways to express themselves.

Although Meta has not yet released any generative AI products aimed towards consumers, a recent article claims that the business is developing a number of features for its platforms that make use of the technology. One of them is a new set of AI-generated stickers for Messenger that users may design using prompts similar to ChatGPT.

The business will leverage its picture creation model to allow users make stickers based on textual cues, according to Meta's vice president of AI Ahmad Al-Dahle, who spoke to staff during a meeting that The Verge attended. With this innovation, according to Al-Dahle, Messenger users will have many new ways to express themselves.

Al Dahle also disclosed that Meta is developing artificial intelligence (AI) models that can "transform any image you want in any way you want." This includes amusing features like converting a corgi photo into a painting or altering the aspect ratio of your image.

AI has enormous potential to improve India's IT sector, according to PM Modi

 He tweeted, calling the talk with Altman illuminating, "We welcome all collaborations that can accelerate our digital transformation for empowering our citizens."

Great talk with @narendramodi about India's amazing tech environment and how the nation might profit from artificial intelligence, according to Altman in a tweet. Really appreciated all of my encounters with @PMOIndia staff. (Twitter/Sam Altman)

In a meeting with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that there is enormous potential for artificial intelligence to improve India's IT environment, particularly among the young.

He tweeted that he found the exchange with Altman to be instructive and added, "We welcome all cooperation that might speed our digital transformation for empowering our folks.