Kalakshar US

The Federal Trade Commission has referred its complaint against TikTok to the Justice Department after a long-running investigation into the company’s privacy and security practices. “Our investigation found reason to believe that TikTok is violating or about to violate the FTC Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA),” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a post on X.

In a longer statement shared by the FTC, the regulator noted its investigation into TikTok after a 2019 privacy settlement related to Musical.ly, the app acquired by ByteDance that eventually became TikTok. The FTC “also investigated additional potential violations of COPPA and the FTC Act,” it said. It’s not clear exactly what the FTC turned up, though Politico reported earlier this year that the regulator was also looking into whether TikTok had misled users about whether their personal data was accessible to people in China.

The statement itself is a somewhat unusual move for the FTC, which acknowledged that it doesn’t typically publicize its referral decisions. It said it believed doing so in this case “was in the public interest.” The referral is likely to ramp up pressure on TikTok, which is also fighting a legal battle against the US government to avoid a potential ban. Lawmakers and other officials have alleged the app poses a national security threat due to its ties to China.

A TikTok spokesperson told Engadget in a statement that the company was “disappointed” with the FTC’s decision. “We’ve been working with the FTC for more than a year to address its concerns,” the spokesperson said. “We’re disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution. We strongly disagree with the FTC’s allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed. We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect children and we will continue to update and improve our product.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-has-referred-its-child-privacy-case-against-tiktok-to-the-justice-department-211542778.html?src=rss 

Netflix announced that Dalla and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania will host the first incarnations of its Netflix House entertainment complex concept. The Netflix blog Tudum posted the announcement Tuesday morning along with an artist’s rendering of one of the locations. Both will open sometime next year.

Netflix House is the streaming giant’s first attempt at a brick-and-mortar retail business. The Dallas and King of Prussia locations will offer dining, live events and interactive sets and experiences based on some of Netflix’s most popular shows and movies.

The “experiential entertainment venue” will let fans of shows like Bridgerton, Money Heist, Stranger Things and Squid Game interact with some of its most iconic scenes and settings. The announcement promises that guests can do things like “waltzing with your partner to an orchestral cover of a Taylor Swift song on a replication of the Bridgerton set.” Then you can enter another area of Netflix House and “compete in the Glass Bridge challenge from Squid Game” presumably without experiencing a really messy death in the end.

Presumably, no high concept entertainment experience is complete without taking a forced path through a gift shop. You can pick up special merchandise like a Hellfire Club T-shirt, a copy of The Queen’s Gambit board game or an “I survived a rich guy’s game of death” coffee mug from Squid Game. Don’t forget to check out the clearance bin for a Too Hot to Handle oven mitt.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-house-will-open-two-locations-in-texas-and-pennsylvania-in-2025-213033751.html?src=rss 

Paradox Tectonic, the Berkeley, California studio behind the unreleased life simulator game Life By You, has been shuttered by its parent company Paradox Interactive. All 24 employees have lost their jobs, according to a press release.

The news of Paradox Tectonic’s closure comes just one day after Paradox Interactive announced its decision to cancel the release of Life By You. The game’s troubled development was punctuated by blown deadlines on three different early access release windows before the title was scrapped entirely.

“This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who’ve worked hard on Life By You’s Early Access release,” Paradox Interactive Chief Executive Officer Fredik Wester said in a released statement. “Sadly, with cancellation of their sole project we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in trying to take Paradox into a new genre.” Wester said in a separate statement that the life simulation did not “meet our expectations” and could not deliver a version “that we’d be satisfied with” in time for release.

Paradox Interactive has good reason to be wary of releasing a bad game. The studio is still feeling the blowback from Colossal Order’s Cities: Skylines II. The game had a number of bugs following its release in October that put a huge strain on PC graphics cards making it difficult to play in 4K. The sequel also failed to launch with promised features like mod support, and its Beachfront Property asset led to an “Overwhelmingly Negative” review on Steam that forced Colossal Order to issue refunds.

It’s also the third major publisher to close a game studio in just the last week. Embracer Group announced on Monday that it would close Pieces Interactive following its release of the Alone in the Dark reboot. Galvanic Games, the Seattle based developer behind Wizard with a Gun, announced its dissolvement on Friday.

These closings are also just the latest bits of bad news in a year that’s already full of layoffs and studio closures. Obsidian Publishing’s Games Industry Layoffs tracker estimates that this year will see 10,800 layoffs, an alarming number that’s already outpacing last year’s totals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paradox-interactive-closes-life-by-yous-studio-after-canceling-the-life-sim-game-201135761.html?src=rss 

The California Labor Commissioner’s office has fined Amazon $5,901,700 for infractions related to a law designed to protect warehouse workers. Under the state’s AB-701 law, large companies are required to tell warehouse or distribution center workers in writing what their expected quotas are, including how often they should perform particular tasks, and what consequences they may face for failing to meet those quotas.

This law was a reaction to stories from Amazon workers who said they would skip bathroom breaks or risk injury in order to maximize their output. “The hardworking warehouse employees who have helped sustain us during these unprecedented times should not have to risk injury or face punishment as a result of exploitative quotas that violate basic health and safety,” Governor Gavin Newsom said when he signed the bill in 2021.

According to the California Labor Commissioner, Amazon failed to meet those rules at two of its facilities in the cities of Moreno Valley and Redlands, with 59,017 violations logged during the labor office’s inspections. It’s one of the first big fines levied thanks to AB-701, which took effect in January 2022. The tech giant said it would appeal the fines and claimed it did not need to provide written information because it uses a “peer-to-peer system.”

“The peer-to-peer system that Amazon was using in these two warehouses is exactly the kind of system that the Warehouse Quotas law was put in place to prevent,” Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower said in an official statement. “Undisclosed quotas expose workers to increased pressure to work faster and can lead to higher injury rates and other violations by forcing workers to skip breaks.”

The AB701 bill was passed by the state in September 2021, headed up by State Assembly rep Lorena Gonzalez. She was also a part of passing California’s AB-5 bill in 2019 to seek better protections for gig workers at companies such as Uber and Lyft.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-faces-nearly-6b-in-fines-over-california-labor-law-violations-203238513.html?src=rss 

Meta is finally making the Threads API available to developers. The company began testing the developers tools with a handful of companies back in March, but is now throwing the door open to more creators and app makers.

For now, the Threads API functionality is somewhat limited. It enables third-party apps to publish posts to Threads and view and manage replies and interactions with their posts. So far, this has enabled Threads integrations with social media management software like Hootsuite and Sprout Social. The Threads API has also enabled tech news aggregator Techmeme to automatically post to the platform.

These kinds of tools are widely used by brands, marketers and power users who rely on more advanced analytics and other specialized capabilities. Interestingly, Meta also suggests that creators could also be interested in using the new Threads API for their own “unique integrations” with the platform.

Meta hasn’t talked much about its future plans for the Threads API, or if it would ever support third-party client apps the way that Twitter did before Elon Musk’s take over of the service. The API could also play an eventual role in Meta’s plans to interoperate with the fediverse, though Meta has said it’s still early days for its plans to make Threads interoperable with decentralized platforms.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-makes-the-threads-api-available-to-all-developers-174946709.html?src=rss 

The newest title in the Mario Party series was revealed in this morning’s Nintendo Direct stream: Super Mario Party Jamboree is rolling its way over to Nintendo Switch on October 17.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will feature 110 minigames and five new game boards that are part of a large island resort: Rainbow Galleria, Roll ‘Em Raceway, King Bowser’s Keep, Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party and Goomba Lagoon. Each board presents different gameplay mechanics and environmental hazards. For example, a lucky roll of the Turbo Dice allows you to move up to 40 spaces in Roll ‘Em Raceway, while the tide can change your route in Goomba Lagoon. Some minigames will have you shake the Joy-Con controllers, while others require you to tilt them.

To spice things up, Mario’s Rainbow Castle from Mario Party and Western Land from Mario Party 2 are being added as maps for fans to revisit. What’s more, up to 20 players can play with each other online in a new competitive racing mode called the Koopathlon.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will arrive just over six years since the last main entry in the series — Super Mario Party — and three years after Mario Party Superstars, which updated classic boards from the Nintendo 64 era. Those boards include Peach’s Birthday Cake and Space Land from the first two games, the former of which inspired the ice cream flavor Superstar Sprinkle Blast at Cold Stone Creamery in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/super-mario-party-jamboree-comes-to-switch-in-october-181055353.html?src=rss 

Quicken Simplifi, one of Engadget’s favorite budgeting apps, is on sale for half off right now. The user-friendly money management service is on sale for $2 per month, billed annually at $24.

The financial planning and tracking service is one of our top picks for replacing Mint. Its clean and simple interface recalls memories of its now-defunct competitor. Simplifi has a scrolling landing page with a detailed overview, including balances, net worth, spending, upcoming payments and other financial stats.

The service makes it easy to connect with your financial institution (optionally) for easier tracking. You can also invite a partner or financial advisor to co-manage the account.

It has a few limitations. Unlike some of its competitors, it doesn’t offer Zillow integration for home value tracking. (You can still do that manually.) In addition, it doesn’t offer free trials, and we ran into a few minor errors in miscategorizing expenses, although they were in line with the small flubs the competition also makes. It also doesn’t allow Apple or Google sign-ins, so you’ll have to create or log into a Quicken account to get started.

We already consider Simplifi’s standard $48 annual pricing to be a solid deal that aligns with market expectations. But for $24 for the whole year, you can try it for much less. Just remember to cancel before it renews if you aren’t enjoying it enough to renew for a second year at full price.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/quicken-simplifi-subscriptions-are-half-off-right-now-183002570.html?src=rss