Bloomberg has reported that chip architecture company Arm Holdings PLC is terminating its licensing agreement with Qualcomm Inc., and has sent the U.S. firm a 60-day cancellation notice. If the cancellation goes through, Qualcomm could be forced to stop selling Arm-based chips — which includes the majority of its smartphone chips and the new Snapdragon chips used in Copilot+ PC lineup.

The two companies have been caught in a legal dispute for multiple years now. It started in 2021 when Qualcomm acquired the chip design company Nuvia (started by former Apple employees who worked on the M1 chip). The disagreement centers around Nuvia’s licensing agreements with Arm and whether Qualcomm’s acquisition of these licenses violated Arm’s terms of agreement. Arm wants the licensing terms to be renegotiated now that Nuvia is under new ownership, while Qualcomm argues that renegotiation isn’t necessary.

The cancellation notice demands that Qualcomm cease and desist developing Arm-based Nuvia chips and also stipulates that all existing stock should be destroyed. This is quite an extreme demand and a Qualcomm spokesperson described the situation to Bloomberg as Arm trying to “strong-arm a longtime partner.” In other words, the cancellation may just be an attempt to disrupt or influence the legal battle between the two companies.

Aside from the recent dispute, Qualcomm and Arm have worked together for years, with Qualcomm announcing its first Arm license over 25 years ago in 1998. Right now, Qualcomm has an annual revenue of almost $40 billion and a large majority of it comes from chips built on Arm standards.

They’re used to power most current Android phones, and the newly announced Snapdragon 8 Elite is expected to power the next wave of Android devices. Qualcomm’s recent expansion into laptop processors has also been successful, with the Snapdragon X Elite chips powering a whole range of Copilot+ PCs running Windows-on-Arm. With all this said, it’s easy to see why a permanent falling out between the two companies would have an extreme impact.

It seems like Qualcomm would be risking a lot by ignoring the cancellation order and continuing to refuse Arm’s demands for licensing renegotiations — the company’s shares have already fallen by 5% since the Bloomberg report was published. But we’ll have to wait to see how the company officially reacts over the next few weeks.

Apple is allegedly making a new app like the App Store dedicated to games. While the Cupertino tech giant has already released the iOS 18 version to the public, it could also be working on future software updates. One of these updates could bring a dedicated store for games.

Apple’s new app for games will combine features from the App Store and Game Center in one place

The source claims that Apple’s new app for games will combine the functionality from the App Store and Game Center in a single place. It will be a dedicated hub for gamers to find popular games. With the new app, Apple wants to entice gamers to buy iPhones. The new gaming app isn’t going to replace the game store. In fact, it will integrate with an Apple user’s Game Center profile.

Apple’s upcoming game app is going to promote special gaming events. It will also be important about the latest games. The app will feature multiple tabs. There will be a “Play Now” tab, a dedicated tab for the user’s games, friends, and more. Similar to the Xbox app and Steam, it will also show challenges, leaderboards, and achievements.

Apple could also integrate the new game app with FaceTime and iMessages

Notably, Apple will also integrate the new game app with the FaceTime and iMessage applications. This will allow users to communicate with their friends regarding gaming. In addition, the app will allow developers to offer mini-games based on App Clips. The new app will work like the Xbox app for iPhones. The Microsoft app already allows users to see their status, see their friends’ activity, search for new games, and check their library.

As of now, Apple devices have the Apple Arcade, a dedicated subscription service that provides access to premium games. There’s no word when exactly Apple is planning to launch the new app. It could arrive either in one of the iOS 18 updates or in iOS 19.

Some folks have properties too vast to be covered by the fanciest of mesh Wi-Fi sets, especially if they’ve got vast tracts of land. It’s an issue Eero is looking to tackle with the Outdoor 7, an add-on to its Eero 7 series of mesh Wi-Fi nodes that’s built to live outdoors. The hardware is IP66 rated and the company says it’ll keep working in temperatures ranging from -40F to 130F, no matter the weather.

With a range of 15,000 square feet, Eero says the Outdoor 7 should suit everyone from cafe owners with patios to land owners looking to keep their security cameras connected. Each unit supports Wi-Fi 7 with speeds up to 2.1Gbps, works with Thread, Zigbee and Matter devices, and has a 2.5Gb ethernet port with support for Power Over Ethernet. You’ll also get a mounting kit that’ll help you screw it into stucco, vinyl, wood or fiber cement walls.

The Eero Outdoor 7 will be available to buy in the US on November 13 for $350, or for $400 when bundled with the company’s 30W outdoor Power Over Ethernet adapter.

Matt Peters has spent more than a decade working for cybersecurity vendors. He was a team lead at Check Point, climbed the corporate ladder to VP of worldwide operations at FireEye, and spent over four years at Expel, a managed detection and response firm, as chief product officer.

Peters says a surprising common thread ran through all these experiences: IT teams were frustrated because expectations around technology rarely matched up with reality.

Organizations demand a lot of their IT departments. According to one poll, nearly a third of staff at the average company bank on a response from IT within an hour. Roughly the same percentage expect help with any new tool that their employer requires they learn.

In these challenges, Peters perceived opportunity. Along with Peter Silberman and Mase Issa, both ex-Expel colleagues, Peters founded Fixify, an IT help desk platform with an automation twist.

Fixify connects to existing IT ticketing systems, like Jira and ServiceNow, to automatically categorize tickets and identify problem “hotspots.” Using AI, Fixify tries to identify the root causes of problems, then recruits IT analysts that it employs to diagnose and resolve the problems.

“Fixify is designed for tech-centric organizations between 100 and 2,000 employees that care about providing a high-quality IT help desk experience, but aren’t able to invest in the staff and tech stack required,” Peters said. “We charge an annual subscription based on the number of employees a customer has. For a company with 750 employees the cost would be $9,000 per month, or about the cost of one full-time help desk analyst.” 

Peters says that Fixify uses a sentiment analysis tool to gauge the tone and urgency of incoming requests. This not only helps with triage, he says, but gives analysts an idea of what to expect and how to respond.

“By tracking sentiment from the start to the close of a ticket, we can monitor the user experience and quickly spot when extra attention is needed,” Peters added.

As analysts work through tickets, Fixify customers — and their own IT workers — can lend a hand if they choose. Fixify automatically updates ticket statuses to ensure stakeholders remain on the same page.

From Fixify’s admin dashboard, customers can specify which categories of tickets they want analysts to prioritize. They can also view performance metrics (e.g. time to resolution) and suggestions to proactively address issues, as well as file requests to delete sensitive info from Fixify’s platform. (By default, Fixify retains data for 12 months subject to “customer needs and contractual obligations.”)

“Our goal is to manage around three-quarters of the customer’s ticket volume from start to finish – not just re-route them,” he continued. “Our AI assists IT analysts by suggesting next steps based on each customer’s specific processes. They also identify relevant tools for each task by analyzing the ticket context and playbook instructions.”

IT teams have shown a willingness to embrace automation as they find themselves stretched thinner and thinner. In a December 2023 Digitate survey, 90% of IT decision-makers said they plan to deploy more automation, particularly in functions like finance and customer support, in the next 12 months.

The idea of high-tech IT outsourcing isn’t new. Several startups are trying the idea, including Primo (which focuses specifically on hardware), Fleet (which also has a hardware bent), and Wizeline.

But there’s lots of money in the segment. Avasant Research’s 2023 IT Outsourcing Statistics survey found organizations increased their annual IT outsourcing budgets by 8.1% last year. Deloitte projected total spending on IT outsourcing to reach $519 billion by 2023 — a 22% tick up from 2019.

Investors seem taken with Fixify’s automation angle — perhaps because of automation’s potential to boost productivity while lowering overhead.

This month, Fixify closed a $25 million Series A round co-led by Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners, and Paladin Capital Group with participation from Scale Venture Partners. Mourad Yesayan, managing director at Paladin, plans to join Fixify’s board as part of the deal.

“The broader tech slowdown has actually created a couple of opportunities for us,” Peters said. “This series A investment provides funding for the foreseeable future – and certainly through the expected uptick in the economy that many economists are predicting.”

Arlington, Virginia-based Fixify, which launched in 2023, has raised $32 million to date. The firm’s near-term focus is growing its 41-person workforce and customer base, which currently stands at 15 companies.