Apple has been under the scrutiny of the US watchdogs for different reasons over the years. Now, a new problem seems to be knocking on the doors of the Cupertino tech giant. Yesterday, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Apple and Goldman Sachs to pay a fine of $89 million over consumer failures.

Apple and Goldman Sachs fined over $89 million for consumer failure relating to Apple Card

The CFPB said mismanagement from both companies affected thousands of Apple Card users. The agency noted that Apple failed to send over tens of thousands of Apple Card disputes to Goldman Sachs. That’s not all, the CFPB also adds that “when Apple did send disputes to Goldman Sachs, the bank did not follow numerous federal requirements for investigating the disputes.”

The agency also says that Apple and Goldman Sachs prematurely launched the Apple Card despite “third-party warnings.” The third parties reportedly warned both entities that the dispute system wasn’t ready due to technological issues at launch. The US watchdog says this failure left customers with unresolved transaction disputes and incorrect credit reports in some cases.

The CFPB also stated that both companies misled customers regarding interest-free payment plans although there was no such thing. This resulted in Apple Card users paying interest for purchasing gadgets like the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and more. The CFPB has ordered Apple to pay a fine of $25 million for consumer failures.

Whereas, Goldman Sachs received a fine of $45 million. In addition, the agency has banned Goldman Sachs from launching a new credit card. The agency adds that it won’t lift this ban “unless it (Goldman Sachs) can provide a credible plan that the product will actually comply with the law.” Additionally, the CFPB has also ordered Goldman Sachs to pay $20 million to the affected customers as compensation.

Apple and Goldman Sachs have responded right after the order was passed

Both Apple and Goldman Sachs have reportedly issued statements about the recent order from the CFPB. In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said “Apple Card is one of the most consumer-friendly credit cards available and was specifically designed to support users’ financial health. Upon learning about these inadvertent issues years ago, Apple worked closely with Goldman Sachs to quickly address them and help impacted customers.”

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs expressed its satisfaction upon reaching a resolution with the agency in this matter. One of the company’s spokespersons said “We worked diligently to address certain technological and operational challenges that we experienced after launch and have already handled them with impacted customers.”

Intel just won an epic battle with the European Union over a €1.06 billion ($1.1 billion) fine levied way back in 2009, Bloomberg reported. In a final decision, the EU Court of Justice overturned the original judgement, ruling that regulators didn’t provide sufficient proof that Intel gave illegal rebates to PC makers. Intel’s European misadventures aren’t quite finished yet, though, as it’s still battling a €376 million fine ($406 million) imposed by the Commission last year.

Back in 2009, the EU ruled that Intel illegally used hidden rebates to squeeze rivals out of the marketplace for CPUs. It also found that Intel paid manufacturers to delay or completely cease the launch of products powered by AMD’s CPUs, calling those actions “naked restrictions.” The legal process went back and forth for years after that, but in 2017, Europe’s highest court ordered the fine to be re-examined as the EU didn’t conduct an economic assessment on how Intel’s actions impacted rivals.

Europe’s second highest court confirmed that the Commission carried out an incomplete analysis and overturned the €1.06 billion fine back in 2022. At the time, it said that the EU couldn’t establish if Intel’s rebates were “capable of having, or were likely to have, anticompetitive effects” due to the incomplete analysis.

The Commission launched an appeal to that ruling, but the EU Court of Justice has now upheld it. Still, Intel never appealed the “naked restrictions” part of past decisions, so last year the Commission imposed a new €376 million fine on that basis. Intel is also fighting that penalty too, though, and has sued the EU to recoup interest on the original, larger fine.

The processor landscape has changed drastically since the original 2009 ruling, of course. Back then, Intel ruled the PC roost with an 81 percent CPU market share, compared to 12 percent for AMD. Today, Intel’s share is down to 63 percent and the company has struggled in the area of chip production next to rival TSMC, which manufacturers the bulk of AMD and NVIDIA’s CPUs, GPUs and AI processors. Ironically, Intel has outsourced a large chunk of its production to TSMC and other foundries, to the tune of around 30 percent. Luckily, despite its manufacturing problems, it does appear to have excellent legal counsel.

Sequence, the all-in-one platform for building Web3 games, has partnered with Google Cloud Marketplace to widen its reach to game developers.

This milestone brings a comprehensive suite of Web3 development tools and solutions directly to game developers, simplifying the integration of blockchain technology into their games.

Sequence will be listed on Google Cloud Marketplace as an integrated provider of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) technology to Google Cloud customers, said Michael Sanders, cofounder and chief storyteller, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Google Cloud Marketplace enables software vendors to offer their products and services directly through Google Cloud, providing a convenient platform for users to discover, purchase, and deploy software solutions.

By making Sequence (a division of Horizon Blockchain Games) available on Google Cloud Marketplace, developers can now leverage innovative blockchain technology to enhance user acquisition, monetization, and retention as part of the full suite of their game’s backend.

“We launched on Google Cloud Marketplace as the integrated provider of EVM technology,” Sanders said.

Sam Barberie, head of strategy and partnerships at Sequence, in an interview with GamesBeat that Google vetted the blockchain ecosystem and saw Sequence as a leader in solving Web3 game development problems.

Barberie said, “The benefit is now that we’ve gone live and we both have the opportunity to help integrate Web3 and EVM for every Google Cloud Client. And so now that we’re on the marketplace and the Sequence stack is built on Google Cloud. We’ve already had a deep integration with the Google Cloud ecosystem for a while, but it means that developers can just get access to Sequence and begin the integration for any game, like be an existing triple-A developer wanting to integrate with Web3, or a new studio that is building a game with Web3 capabilities for the first time.”

Google also has a relationship with Aptos, but most of the global blockchain activity is in EVM and that steered Google in Sequence’s direction, Barberie said.

“EVM is the go-to tech here,” he said. “It has the largest developer ecosystem.”

The context

Developers globally are integrating Web3 into existing and new games to enhance developer economics and reward players. The gaming industry has a range of challenges.

Barberie said, “Last year, Google Cloud focused on leveraging blockchain technology to solve what they saw as universal developer problems, where user acquisition costs are up 431%, development costs are up 20% and player spend is up only 1%. They’re thinking of Web3 as a way to harness and accelerate the market. So Google aproached us.”

Game makers who integrate Sequence note significant changes in game performance, including 4.5 times day 30 retention, 7.2 times average revenue per user, and 20%-plus incremental revenue.

Sequence leverages the benefits of Web3 for all players across platforms with invisible wallet solutions, boost player acquisition with targeted analytics and marketing tools, and retain users with custom loyalty rewards.

The company said it can increase monetization by four times with app-store-compliant marketplaces, diverse and gamer-friendly payment options, and cross-platform trading.

And Sequence can help devs utilize a comprehensive web3 gaming backend stack, real-time blockchain data access, and seamless integration with popular game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine across devices. Sequence SDK suite is also the first EVM-based verified solution on both Unity Asset Store and Unreal Engine Marketplace.

“We’re excited to bring Sequence to Google Cloud Marketplace,” said Greg Canessa, president and COO at Sequence, in a statement. “This collaboration empowers game developers to leverage the player and developer benefits of Web3, allowing them to focus on creative execution and delivering amazing games. Our vision of dynamic, living games and solutions that solve universal game developer challenges aligns with Google Cloud, and we’re pleased to support game developers in building visionary experiences.”   

The Sequence platform supports all EVM chains, including layer 1s, layer 2s, and layer 3/app chains. As the simplest and most comprehensive Web3 development platform, Sequence is built for flexibility and is trusted by game publishers and studios, Sanders said.

“Bringing Sequence to Google Cloud Marketplace will help customers quickly deploy, manage, and grow the Web3 game development platform on Google Cloud’s trusted, global infrastructure,” said Dai Vu, managing director for marketplace and ISV GTM Programs at Google Cloud, in a statement. “Sequence can now securely scale and support customers on their digital transformation journeys.”

Sequence has 65 employees. It powers thousands of game developers who have millions of players. There have been $5.3 billion in transactions using Sequence’s technology.

Sequence helps onboard, monetize, grow, and retain players with its Web3 technology. From collectibles and ownable rewards to fully on-chain experiences, Sequence’s easy-to-integrate platform solves blockchain complexities, so developers can focus on creative execution and delivering amazing player experiences. Sequence is backed by Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Xsolla, Bitkraft, Brevan Howard, Coinbase, Polygon, and more.

Ubisoft is using Sequence for a couple of its Web3 games. Sequence also has Off the Grid, a battle royale game that was just launched by Gunzilla Games. Popular streamers like Ninja and TimtheTatman touted the game during its recent launch.

Boardy, a professional networking startup driven by AI voice technology, announced Thursday the closing of a $3 million pre-seed round. 

The company was co-founded by its CEO Andrew D’Souza, and brothers Ankur Boyed and Abhinav Boyed. They came up with this idea in March, started building it throughout the summer, and just launched officially this month. 

The way it works is simple: a user gives their number to Boardy.ai and receives a phone call from an AI voice assistant named, of course, Boardy. The person chats to Boardy, telling the AI what they are working on. Boardy then checks if anyone in the Boardy network might be able to help. The network Boardy knows — which D’Souza says consists right now of a few thousand — started with D’Souza’s own network of investors, founders, and creators, and has expanded since then. It is mainly used for people who are looking to meet customers and investors, and has also helped people get into accelerator programs as well as with co-founder matching, he said. 

“If Boardy has spoken with someone he thinks would make a good connection based on both experience, as well as whether the two of you would actually get along, he will try and facilitate a double-opt-in introduction,” D’Souza explained. If the introduction is accepted, then Boardy introduces both parties via email. “You can call Boardy back every week to work on a new introduction for you.” 

D’Souza said they started the company because of how lonely social media has made people. In fact, studies are now showing that America in particular is in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, which started even before the pandemic. D’Souza said there is a fear that AI will exacerbate the loneliness epidemic, taking jobs and displacing what makes people feel human. While other startups are building AI-generated companions, sometimes with disturbing results, Boardy is using AI to facilitate human connections.

“We built Boardy to create a better future, where AI actually makes us more connected to each other and where humans and AI collaborate to solve humanity’s hardest problems,” D’Souza said

Before this, D’Souza co-founded and led the e-commerce company Clearco. After almost ten years at Clearco, he said the company grew to a size where they needed a more seasoned capital markets expert to lead the company. He willingly decided to leave as they brought on a new CEO, while D’Souza set forth on a new path. 

Fundraising for Boardy was easy as the round primarily consisted of investors D’Souza met through Clearco. HF0 was the largest investor in the round, with others including 8VC, Precursor, Afore, FJ Labs, and NextView.

“Going forward, I hope to meet more of my investors through Boardy,” he said.

Boardy will use the fresh capital to continue building and training the AI, hoping to make it smarter and more empathetic. The team is also working to expand Boardy’s personal network to connect users with more people.

There aren’t many competitors to Boardy at the moment, though there are companies building in the AI social networking space, such as Butterflies and SocialAI. There are AI companies to help consumers build agents and help with consumer interactions and booking appointments, though. D’Souza hopes Boardy is different, saying the AI agent “works for himself.” 

“You can ask Baordy for help and he’ll do his best to help you, but not at the expense of other people in his network,” he continued. “You can’t tell Boardy what to do, which is actually what makes him more trustworthy.” 

Tesla has been testing a robotaxi service in the Bay Area for the past few months, Elon Musk said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.

The company’s employees have been able to summon an autonomously operated Tesla vehicle for trips using the company’s prototype ride-hailing app, Musk said. The vehicles arrive with safety drivers behind the wheel, ready to intervene in case anything goes wrong.

But Musk said the vehicles are operating autonomously using the latest version of the company’s Full Self-Driving software, which he said will be “1000 times better” than human driving by the second quarter of 2025. And he said he expects to roll out a paid ridehailing service in California and Texas starting next year, pending regulatory approval.

Tesla is not currently licensed to operate a commercial autonomous ridehailing service in California. Musk predicted it would be easier to obtain permission in Texas than California.

To be sure, the current iteration of FSD is a Level 2 driver assist system, which is not autonomous and requires constant human supervision. Musk has promised that FSD will become “unsupervised” next year, but his past predictions about autonomy have generally failed to come to fruition.

Still, the fact that Tesla has been testing its ridehailing function with employees proves the company is still dead set on eventually launching the long-promised Tesla Network. First announced in Musk’s Master Plan Part Deux, the Tesla Network claims to allow regular Tesla owners to send their vehicles out autonomously to function as robotaxis while their owners stay at home.

“This really is a profound change,” Musk said. “Tesla will become more than a vehicle and battery manufacturer company at that point.”

During the earnings call, Tesla executives described certain functions in the current Tesla app, like profile sharing and synchronizing setting across different vehicles, as laying the groundwork for an eventual robotaxi service.

The company first teased several screenshots of a ride-hailing function in its app earlier this year. The first screen shows a big button that says “Summon” with a lower message for the possible wait time. The next screen has a 3D map with a little virtual vehicle following a route to the waiting passenger. It looks a lot like the Uber app — but more Tesla-y.

Want a svelte streaming amp that looks for all the world like it was hewn by the Greek God Chrysus – the one most associated with precious metal? Devialet can help, with its all-new Astra (which is essentially the name of the Titan God of the stars, planets and so on).

The Astra Opéra de Paris edition is finished in 23-carat gold leaf by artisans from Ateliers Gohard. But under its stunning exterior, it is of course built on past greatness. In this case, Devialet wouldn’t necessarily point you towards its spherical Devialet Mania (also available in a ‘sunset rose’ hue) or the company’s fabulous high-end Dione soundbar which boasts the same drivers as those premium in-flight seats. No, Astra is the evolution of Devialet’s first creation, the Devialet Expert amplifier, unveiled 15 years ago – yes, now I also feel as old as the Gods.