Activision Blizzard and Epic Games suspend sales of their games in Russia; Activision Blizzard will also pause offering in-game microtransactions in the country (Igor Bonifacic/Engadget)

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget: Activision Blizzard and Epic Games suspend sales of their games in Russia; Activision Blizzard will also pause offering in-game microtransactions in the country  —  Activision Blizzard and Epic Games have joined a growing list of publishers suspending sales of their games in Russia due to the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Netflix says it is shutting down its service in Russia, which operates through a joint venture with the country’s National Media Group, and has 1M+ subscribers (Brent Lang/Variety)

Brent Lang / Variety: Netflix says it is shutting down its service in Russia, which operates through a joint venture with the country’s National Media Group, and has 1M+ subscribers  —  Netflix has suspended its service in Russia to protest the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

TikTok suspends livestreaming and new content uploads in Russia in response to the country’s new law that would impose prison terms for spreading “fake news” (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: TikTok suspends livestreaming and new content uploads in Russia in response to the country’s new law that would impose prison terms for spreading “fake news”  —  TikTok says it’s suspending livestreaming in Russia amid the country’s new “fake news” law that’s aimed at silencing dissent …

How Alibaba, which has a joint venture in Russia and significant sales in Ukraine, navigates challenges caused by Russia’s invasion and international sanctions (Zeyi Yang/Protocol)

Zeyi Yang / Protocol: How Alibaba, which has a joint venture in Russia and significant sales in Ukraine, navigates challenges caused by Russia’s invasion and international sanctions  —  The day before bombs started raining down on Kyiv, Dmytro Romashko streamed for three hours on AliExpress, Alibaba’s global ecommerce platform.

Swiss investment management firm Partners Group buys Forterro, a provider of resource planning software and services for SMBs, from Battery Ventures for €1B (Silicon Canals)

Silicon Canals: Swiss investment management firm Partners Group buys Forterro, a provider of resource planning software and services for SMBs, from Battery Ventures for €1B  —  Partners Group, a Swiss investment management firm, announced that it has acquired Forterro from Battery Ventures at an enterprise value of €1B.

TikTok plans to start labeling videos from some state-controlled media outlets “over the coming days”, expediting its policy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: TikTok plans to start labeling videos from some state-controlled media outlets “over the coming days”, expediting its policy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine  —  It’s part of a broader state media policy  —  TikTok has announced that it’ll start putting labels on videos from …

Washington state passes the Silenced No More Act, becoming the second state to ban NDAs preventing workers from discussing harassment, wage violations, and more (Issie Lapowsky/Protocol)

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol: Washington state passes the Silenced No More Act, becoming the second state to ban NDAs preventing workers from discussing harassment, wage violations, and more  —  Washington state became the second in the nation to pass the Silenced No More Act on Thursday.

Lapsus$ says if Nvidia doesn’t remove crypto mining limits on its graphic cards and open source its GPU drivers, the group will release the source code it stole (Dan Goodin/Ars Technica)

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Lapsus$ says if Nvidia doesn’t remove crypto mining limits on its graphic cards and open source its GPU drivers, the group will release the source code it stole  —  Chipmaker has until Friday to comply or see its crown-jewel source code released.  —  Data extortionists who stole up to 1 […]

For some right-wing libertarian-minded coiners, the right to freely trade crypto takes precedence over opposing a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation (Jacob Silverman/New Republic)

Jacob Silverman / New Republic: For some right-wing libertarian-minded coiners, the right to freely trade crypto takes precedence over opposing a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation  —  Last month, a non-fungible token, or NFT, collector who goes by the pseudonymous Twitter handle @punk6529 posted a 56-part Twitter thread …

PayPal suspends its services in Russia, including its money transfer service Xoom; Wise and Remitly have also suspended some services in Russia (Paresh Dave/Reuters)

Paresh Dave / Reuters: PayPal suspends its services in Russia, including its money transfer service Xoom; Wise and Remitly have also suspended some services in Russia  —  Payments company PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) shut down its services early on Saturday in Russia, citing “the current circumstances,” …

A look at volunteer hackers in the Russia-Ukraine war, many scattered globally with unverifiable identities, as both sides recruit them to launch cyberattacks (New York Times)

New York Times: A look at volunteer hackers in the Russia-Ukraine war, many scattered globally with unverifiable identities, as both sides recruit them to launch cyberattacks  —  The hackers have claimed a number of disruptions over the past week, blurring the lines between amateurs and groups linked to governments.

Software AG, a developer of business and application integration software, acquires DataOps software developer StreamSets for €524M (Rick Whiting/CRN)

Rick Whiting / CRN: Software AG, a developer of business and application integration software, acquires DataOps software developer StreamSets for €524M  —  Software AG says StreamSets’ technology is complementary to its application integration product portfolio and will provide a boost to the company’s Helix transformation initiative.

Source: Samsung has suspended all product shipments to Russia, including chips, smartphones, and electronics; Samsung has a 30%+ market share in Russia (Sohee Kim/Bloomberg)

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg: Source: Samsung has suspended all product shipments to Russia, including chips, smartphones, and electronics; Samsung has a 30%+ market share in Russia  —  Samsung Electronics Co. said product shipments to Russia have been suspended due to current geopolitical developments …

Activision Blizzard is sued by the family of an employee who died by suicide, alleging that sexual harassment was a “significant factor” leading to her death (Washington Post)

Washington Post: Activision Blizzard is sued by the family of an employee who died by suicide, alleging that sexual harassment was a “significant factor” leading to her death  —  Activision Blizzard, the embattled gaming giant that Microsoft recently agreed to buy for nearly $69 billion …

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on building equity and fairness into climate solutions

Note: This is the first in a four-part interview series that will highlight the work of the Climate Grand Challenges finalists, ahead of the April announcement of several multiyear, flagship projects. The finalists in MIT’s first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition each received $100,000 to develop bold, interdisciplinary research and innovation plans designed to attack some of […]

Amid a trial in India, researchers say blocking Sci-Hub would benefit wealthy North American and European universities that can pay to access published papers (Meaghan Tobin/Rest of World)

Meaghan Tobin / Rest of World: Amid a trial in India, researchers say blocking Sci-Hub would benefit wealthy North American and European universities that can pay to access published papers  —  Dozens of Indian academics say blocking the site would have catastrophic consequences.  —  The doctoral researchers …

Founders Fund raises $5B+ in two new funds across early and late-stage investing, increasing the assets under its management to $11B (Katie Roof/Bloomberg)

Katie Roof / Bloomberg: Founders Fund raises $5B+ in two new funds across early and late-stage investing, increasing the assets under its management to $11B  —  Founders Fund said that it has closed more than $5 billion in two new funds across both early and late-stage investing, increasing the assets under its management to $11 […]

Finding joy through art and advocacy

In February 2018, standing in front of local press and his high school’s leaders, student council president Tanner Bonner argued his case for a school walkout in response to the recent Parkland shooting. On behalf of his fellow students, Bonner wanted to organize a day dedicated to speaking about gun violence and mental health. The […]

US surgeon general formally requests Big Tech turn over information about the scale of COVID-19 misinformation on their platforms before May 2 (Davey Alba/New York Times)

Davey Alba / New York Times: US surgeon general formally requests Big Tech turn over information about the scale of COVID-19 misinformation on their platforms before May 2  —  Dr. Vivek Murthy also demanded information from the platforms about the major sources of Covid-19 misinformation.  Companies have until May 2 to submit the data.

Sources: automation software startup Hyperscience, last valued at $1.65B, laid off 100 staff after missing FY financial targets; CEO Peter Brodsky stepped down (Kate Clark/The Information)

Kate Clark / The Information: Sources: automation software startup Hyperscience, last valued at $1.65B, laid off 100 staff after missing FY financial targets; CEO Peter Brodsky stepped down  —  In December, automation-software startup Hyperscience said it raised $100 million in venture capital from Tiger Global Management …