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Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:

👨‍💻 The Gen-Z hackers who struck MGM and Caesars
📝 US finalizes rules to prevent China from benefiting from $52 billion in chips funding
🌍 Europe's bid to become a semiconductor superpower
🎮 Unity announces its revamped pricing model
💸 You can find love on Tinder for $500 a month

👨‍💻 The Gen-Z hackers who struck MGM and CaesarsLINK

The group of hackers known as Scattered Spider, Muddled Libra, or UNC3944, which mainly consists of 17-22 year olds from Western countries, is notorious for breaching major companies such as MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, using advanced social engineering techniques and extortion.

This group of young hackers is noted for their remarkable sophistication and ruthlessness, effectively overwhelming security response teams, leaving threatening notes, sending aggressive messages and in some case even using techniques like SWATing to intimidate their victims.

Industry experts acknowledge that these young cybercriminals show an extraordinary understanding of large organizations and their systems, reflecting a shift towards more disciplined, organized, and sophisticated activities usually associated with nation-state actors rather than ordinary cyber criminals.

📝 US finalizes rules to prevent China from benefiting from $52 billion in chips fundingLINK

The U.S. Commerce Department is finalizing rules to block subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing from benefitting China, among other countries posing national security concerns.

These rules, part of the "Chips and Science" law, restrict the use of U.S. funding in expanding semiconductor manufacturing in foreign countries like China and Russia and limit joint research or technology licensing with certain foreign entities.

The regulation also defines material expansions in semiconductor manufacturing as increasing production capacity by more than 5%, and puts tighter restrictions on semiconductors identified as critical to national security.

🌍 Europe's bid to become a semiconductor superpowerLINK

The European Chips Act, a legislative package aiming to boost Europe's market share in the globally competitive semiconductor sector to 20% by 2030, has been implemented.

The Act will mobilize over $45 billion in public and private funding for R&D and manufacturing capacity and includes mechanisms to attract major chipmakers like Intel and TSMC to invest in Europe.

While strides have already been made, with large investment plans in Germany and France, the Act faces challenges including talent acquisition, environmental concerns, and successful execution of its various programs and investments.

🎮 Unity announces its revamped pricing modelLINK

Unity reverses its plan to charge developers per-download after receiving backlash, and would keep the current model for Unity Personal platform users.

Changes include an increase in revenue cap from $100,000 to $200,000, removal of the 'Made with Unity' splash screen requirement, and a choice of paying either a 2.5% revenue share or amount based on game engagement.

New pricing policies will only apply to users of upcoming Unity versions to be launched in 2024, and existing projects/games will not be affected unless developers choose to upgrade to the new version.

💸 You can find love on Tinder for $500 a monthLINK

Tinder has introduced an exclusive subscription known as "Tinder Select" which costs $500 per month, providing access to unique features like exclusive search and matching.

The Tinder Select tier has only been offered to less than one percent of users deemed "extremely active" and its rollout will be on a rolling basis.

While Tinder's overall subscriptions have seen a slight decline, the company's parent group, Match Group, believes that this exclusive tier could potentially impact overall revenue.

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Apple has introduced hidden watermarks on iPhone 15 boxes, visible under ultraviolet light, as a new authentication feature against counterfeits.LINK

Despite strong growth, VR headsets will achieve 30 million annual sales by 2027, lagging far behind wearables, which will reach 620 million shipments.LINK

"Bluesky hits record daily active users and signups following Elon Musk's plan to introduce a subscription fee for all X platform users."LINK

Elon Musk's grandfather, a radical conspiracy theorist, was part of a technocratic political movement advocating for global governance by tech-savvy experts, similar to fascism.LINK

Scientists have developed an experimental treatment that promotes bone growth in space mice, potentially solving astronauts' issue of bone loss during space travel.LINK

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill banning heavy-duty autonomous trucks, supporting the development of self-driving technology for goods transportation.LINK

Bird's delisted from NYSE due to failing market cap; shares will trade over-the-counter following 2022's $359M net loss and 80% stock value drop.LINK

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