August 9, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

📱 WhatsApp and Signal messaging leads to big fines for Wall Street

🎮 Netflix releases a virtual controller for its TV games

🚀 Moon astronauts enjoy first close encounter with their spaceship

🛍️ Get ready, there's another big Amazon shopping event in the fall

UP FIRST

WhatsApp and Signal messaging leads to big fines for Wall Street firms

Messaging about work on personal devices prevents banks from recording interactions and hinders scrutiny by regulators

U.S. regulators have hit a number of Wall Street firms with a combined $549 million in fines after they failed to keep electronic records of employee communications, CNBC reported.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined 11 firms – among them banking giant Wells Fargo – $289 million for failing to maintain records due to “pervasive and longstanding ‘off-channel’ communications” using various messaging apps on personal devices, including iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined four banks a total of $260 million for a similar transgression.

The breach involved employees at multiple levels of authority, including supervisors and senior executives, according to the SEC.

“Today’s actions stem from our continuing sweep to ensure that regulated entities, including broker-dealers and investment advisers, comply with their record-keeping requirements, which are essential for us to monitor and enforce compliance with the federal securities laws,” the SEC said in a release.

Fines resulting from investigations into the messaging practices handed out since December 2021 now total in excess of $2.5 billion.

NETFLIX GAMES

Netflix releases a virtual controller for its TV games

The app is free and works on the iPhone

Netflix has pulled a surprise with the launch of a game controller app that works on the iPhone. The company has gone with the exciting name of “Netflix Game Controller” for the new app, which can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

A screenshot shows the layout of the buttons for the controller, which can best be described as “minimalist.”

According to the video streaming giant, the controller “pairs with your TV and allows you to play games on Netflix using your phone or mobile device.”

It’s not yet clear which games the controller will support, or when it will start working, with the listing only saying that the feature is “coming soon.” There’s also no word on whether Netflix plans to launch an Android version.

In a bid to broaden its revenue stream, Netflix got into games a couple of years ago and currently offers around 70 on its platform.

MOON TRIP

NASA's moon crew enjoys first close encounter with their spaceship

The astronauts will perform a flyby of the lunar surface in a mission currently set for next year

The four astronauts embarking on a mission to the moon next year have had their first good look at the Orion capsule that will take them there.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, got up close and personal with the Orion spacecraft during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center from where the moon-bound Artemis II mission is currently scheduled to launch in November 2024.

The Kennedy Space Center also shared a short video showing the astronauts' reaction as they took their first in-person look at the spacecraft.

Artemis II will fly the same route as the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which successfully tested the flight system in a mission last year that also saw the first launch of NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System rocket.

The 10-day trip won’t land on the moon but instead perform a flyby, coming within around 80 miles of the lunar surface in a voyage designed to confirm Orion’s safety for carrying humans.

ON THE HORIZON

Get ready, there's another big Amazon shopping event in the fall

As with Prime Day, you can expect plenty of attention-grabbing deals across a range of products

If your bank balance has only just recovered from July’s Prime Day, then beware – there’s another big Amazon sale coming your way.

The online shopping giant has just announced Prime Big Deal Days, a second exclusive Prime member shopping event for 2023.

We don’t have a precise date for it yet, but we do know that it’ll take place sometime in October and be available to Prime members in 19 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, and Sweden.

A similar event in 2022, dubbed the “Amazon Prime Early Access Sale,” was touted as a way for Prime members to enjoy Amazon’s Black Friday deals a full month before everyone else.

With that in mind, expect to see discounts on a raft of Amazon products such as TVs, desktops, laptops, headphones, and more.

Digital Trends will share details of the date as soon as it's made available, and also point you in the direction of the best deals.

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