The number of emoji subscription purchases on the South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk has dropped by a third over the year, parent firm Kakao said in quarterly earnings call Thursday, blaming Google’s new in-app payment policy, which forces apps to use Android-maker’s own billing system. KakaoTalk’s Emoticon Plus subscription service, which costs approximately $3.8 per month, allows users to access unlimited emojis. TechCrunch reported in June that South… Source link
Read More »Software Firm Meitu Lost Up to $52.3M in H1 Due to Slide in Crypto Prices
Don’t miss CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022, the must-attend crypto & blockchain festival experience of the year in Austin, TX this June 9-12. Hong Kong-listed software firm Meitu (1357) likely lost RMB 274.9 million to RMB 349.9 million ($41.1 million to $52.3 million) in the first half of 2022, mostly due to a fall in the value of its crypto holdings. The firm’s losses almost doubled, a 99.6% to 154.1% increase, compared to the same period last year, it said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock… Source link
Read More »Google is reportedly pausing RCS ads in India due to spam
Google Messages users in India have reported receiving a deluge of unwanted ads in recent weeks using Rich Communication Services (RCS), and it seems Google has employed a response strategy: turn them all off. A Google spokesperson told Gadgets 360 that the company is “aware that some businesses are abusing our anti-spam policies to send promotional messages to users in India,” and it would be “disabling this feature in India while we work with the industry to improve the experience… Source link
Read More »Yandex data center in Finland loses power, runs on diesel, due to war sanctions – DatacenterDynamics
Yandex’s data center in Finland has been cut off the electricity grid as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is currently running on diesel, according to reports. The Russian search giant’s 40MW facility in Mäntsälä, Finland, was cut off by the local energy company Nivos Energia Oy, according to Russian news service RBC. The reasons for the disconnection are not clear, as Yandex is not currently on sanctions lists, but its news and blogging services, as well as a senior… Source link
Read More »Arkady Volozh: Founder of Yandex’s legacy is at threat due to Ukraine war
It took Arkady Volozh 20 years to build Yandex into Russia’s Google, Uber, Spotify and Amazon combined, says Wired – and just 20 days for “everything to crumble”. The country’s preeminent tech giant has been so stricken by the Ukraine war that there are doubts about its survival – at least in its current form. Western sanctions have led to Yandex’s shares being frozen on US stock exchanges, which in turn has led shareholders to seek repayment on convertible note guarantees,… Source link
Read More »Ford to sell Explorer SUVs missing rear climate controls due to chip crunch
Ford (F) is taking an unusual approach to battle the ongoing semiconductor crunch afflicting global automakers — doing without them, for the time being. “We are working as hard as we can and offering ways for our customers to get their vehicles sooner during the global semiconductor shortage … Beginning soon, we will offer customers a way to get their Explorer more quickly, too, thanks to a specification change that will keep rear seat heating/air conditioning auxiliary controls up… Source link
Read More »Google forces YouTube Vanced to shut down ‘due to legal reasons’
The popular Vanced YouTube app is being discontinued, after a legal threat from Google. The creators of Vanced have revealed the project will be shut down in the coming days, with download links set to be removed. While the app will continue to work for anyone who currently has it installed on Android, without any future updates it’s likely to stop working at some point soon. The Vanced owners say they’ve had to discontinue the project “due to legal reasons.” Google sent the… Source link
Read More »Grubhub pulls delivery robots from 2 US campuses due to Russian ties – WCTI12.com
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Grubhub pulls delivery robots from 2 US campuses due to Russian ties WCTI12.com Source link
Read More »Food and energy prices ‘likely to surge further’ due to Russia sanctions: ING
Sanctions on Russia will likely have a significant impact on the global economy, a recent ING (ING) report found. “By now, we all know that Europe gets nearly 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia (this differs across countries), and is likely to be walloped with spikes in heating and gas bills, which are already soaring,” ING Global Head of Macro Carsten Brzeski wrote in a report released earlier this week. “Given that Ukraine and Russia have also been labelled as the global… Source link
Read More »Black women ‘finally getting due and recognition’
Growing up, vegan restaurateur Pinky Cole prides herself on being the change she wished to see, using that determination to eventually build Slutty Vegan, a popular food chain. The plant-based eatery opened its first location in October of 2018, and now has locations across Georgia — including two in Atlanta and one each in Jonesboro and Duluth. With vegan eating now a “worldwide phenomenon,” Cole said Slutty Vegan has been able to attract “lines down the block for the last four years,” en… Source link
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