Riot Games plans to delay 'League of Legends' patch after a cybersecurity breach

Source: Riot Games

If you've been waiting for the next update for League of Legends, you might have to wait a bit more. Riot Games, the studio behind LoL and Valorant, announced that its development systems were compromised during a social engineering attack that happened early in the week. Riot wanted to emphasize that its player data and personal information haven't been compromised but it has "temporarily affected" its ability to release content. Riot said, "While our teams are working hard on a fix, we expect this to impact our upcoming patch cadence across multiple games."

For LoL, this impacts the version 13.2 update expected to come out on January 25. “Nothing that would have been in 13.2 will be cancelled, we might just have to move things that can't be hotfixed (e.g. art changes) to a later date instead,” Andrei van Roon, the head of Riot’s League Studio, added. There's another patch arriving in February, so we might see it then. 

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Apple is reportedly not working on a new HomePod mini

With the recent launch of the HomePod, it doesn't seem like a new version of the HomePod mini will come out. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple isn't likely to work on a new version of its smaller speaker. Gurman pointed out in his Power On newsletter that the company didn't introduce any major new functions in the updated HomePod, so it's unlikely Apple will introduce a new HomePod mini without any significant upgrades. Apple first introduced the HomePod mini in 2020 during the iPhone 12 launch.

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Apple tipped to release low-end iPad to serve as a smart home display

Apple is reportedly planning to release a low-end version of the iPad with the sole purpose of using it for smart home management. This display can be used for controlling HomeKit devices, streaming video, or making FaceTime calls, among others.

It'll be built for wall mounts or attached to other surfaces with magnetic fasteners. You can think of it as Apple's answer to the Meta Portal or the Echo Show. The company is reportedly targeting a 2024 launch for this smart home display.

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Spotify expected to layoff employees as soon as this week

Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash

Spotify is the latest tech company expected to layoff employees as soon as this week. It isn't known how many of its 9,800 employees will be affected, but the company is reportedly moving forward with the plan to reduce operational expenses. This layoff is expected to be more broad than previous round of cuts in October, which affected staff working on canceled shows from its in-house podcast studios Gimlet and Parcast.

The streaming service has declined to comment on this report. But Spotify executives have previously signaled plans to reduce headcount-related expenses. CEO Daniel Ek told staff in June the company planned to reduce its hiring growth by 25 percent. CFO Paul Vogel also pointed to “increasing uncertainty regarding the global economy” during Spotify's investor day in June as a reason to evaluate its "headcount growth in the near term." The company is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings on January 31.

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