The housing shortages plaguing Western cities today stem partly from the abandonment of a 19th century urban governance model that enabled cities like Berlin, New York and Chicago to expand rapidly while keeping real house prices flat and homes increasingly affordable. A new analysis by Works in Progress argues that Victorian-era urban management wasn't laissez-faire but rather a system carefully designed to align private profit with public benefit. Infrastructure monopolies -- whether privately franchised, operated as concessions or municipally owned -- funded themselves entirely through user fees rather than public subsidies, and were structured so that building more capacity was the path to greater returns. Landowners enjoyed a fundamental right to build when profitable, and height limits applied uniformly across entire cities rather than varying by neighborhood, meaning dense development remained legal everywhere. The system began collapsing after 1914, however. Inflation proved fatal to self-funding transport because governments found it politically impossible to raise controlled prices year after year. By the 1960s, trams had vanished from Britain, France and the U.S. Meanwhile, differential zoning gradually banned densification in established neighborhoods, and rent controls decimated private homebuilding in many countries. In Britain, average house prices fell from twelve times earnings in 1850 to four times by 1914. They have since climbed back to nine times earnings. The article argues roughly 80% of postwar price increases trace directly to restrictions on building.

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When asked directly whether people actually like Experian, Alex Lintner, the credit bureau's CEO of Software and Technology, offered an unusual defense in an interview: "First of all, we're not Palantir, so we don't do reputation scores." Speaking on The Verge's podcast, Lintner conceded that consumers who have poor credit scores through "life's circumstances" sometimes direct their frustration at Experian, though he argued the company enables vital access to credit for 247 million Americans. The 10-year company veteran said Experian has built its own large language model and about 200 AI agents for internal use, but consumer data remains entirely walled off from public AI systems. On security, Lintner said Experian hasn't experienced a data breach in a decade -- the last occurred two weeks into his tenure. When competitor Equifax suffered its massive breach, Equifax actually paid Experian to help protect affected consumers' identities.

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UPS said today it plans to eliminate an additional 30,000 operational jobs this year as the shipping giant continues to wind down its partnership with Amazon -- previously its largest customer -- and push forward a broader turnaround strategy under CEO Carol Tome. CFO Brian Dykes said on an earnings call that the cuts will be accomplished through attrition and a voluntary separation program for full-time drivers. The company also plans to further deploy automation across its network. UPS has identified 24 buildings for closure in the first half of 2026 and expects to reduce operational hours by approximately 25 million as the Amazon relationship unwinds. Last year, UPS eliminated 48,000 jobs -- 34,000 operational and 14,000 management -- and closed 93 buildings. The company expects $3 billion in total savings from the Amazon unwind.

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Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is eliminating approximately 16,000 roles across the company as part of organizational changes that began in October 2025 and are only now being finalized by certain teams. Senior Vice President Beth Galetti shared the news in a memo to employees, framing the reductions as an effort to reduce layers, increase ownership, and remove bureaucracy. The memo follows another memo that the company accidentally sent to employees.

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Amazon appears to have prematurely acknowledged layoffs inside AWS after an internal email referencing "organizational changes" and "impacted colleagues" was mistakenly sent to cloud employees. CNBC reports: "Changes like this are hard on everyone," Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at Amazon Web Services, wrote in an email viewed by CNBC. "These decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organization and AWS for future success." The note also references a post from Amazon's HR boss Beth Galetti and said the company notified "impacted colleagues in our organization." The subject of the email mentions "Project Dawn," and the email says it was "canceled," possibly indicating it was recalled by the sender after the fact. It's unclear what Project Dawn refers to. The job cuts come after Amazon announced in October that it would lay off 14,000 corporate employees. At the time, the company indicated the cuts would continue in 2026 as it found "additional places we can remove layers." Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the layoffs were meant to reduce management layers and bureaucracy inside the company. He also predicted last June that efficiency gains from AI would shrink Amazon's corporate staff in the coming years.

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Amazon is closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores in a shift to focus on its online same-day delivery service and new big-box retail stores. From a report: The e-commerce giant said Tuesday that some of its shuttered Amazon-branded brick-and-mortar stores would be converted into Whole Foods Market locations. Amazon said its branded stores failed to deliver the right economic model and distinctive customer experience necessary for large-scale expansion. Amazon's same-day delivery service for groceries is currently available in more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns. The company said it plans to expand the service to more communities in 2026 but didn't specify where. Amazon said it planned to open over 100 new Whole Foods Market stores over the next few years.

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Samsung said today that its Galaxy Z TriFold, the first tri-fold smartphone to ship in the U.S., will be available starting January 30 at a price point of $2,899 -- substantially more expensive than any other phone on the U.S. market, including Samsung's own $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7 and a fully loaded 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max. The company will only sell the device through its website and Samsung Experience Stores; mobile carrier partners including Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T won't be offering it directly. The TriFold unfolds into a 10-inch tablet, measures 3.9mm at its thinnest point, and is rated for 200,000 folds over its lifetime. Samsung launched the TriFold in South Korea on December 12 at 3.59 million won, about $2,450 at the time. Early reviews have praised the expansive inner screen for video but noted the 309-gram weight, thick folded dimensions, and half-baked software as significant drawbacks.

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Le mégaprojet saoudien Neom, lancé en 2017, pourrait être largement revu à la baisse. En cours de réévaluation, il serait désormais envisagé comme un pôle de centres de données sur la mer Rouge.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Video game developer and distributor Valve must face a 656 million-pound ($897.7 million) lawsuit in Britain, which alleges it charged publishers excessive commissions for its Steam online store, after a tribunal ruled on Monday the case could continue. Valve was sued in 2024 on behalf of up to 14 million people in the United Kingdom who bought games or additional content through Steam or other platforms since 2018. Lawyers representing children's welfare advocate Vicki Shotbolt, who is bringing the case, allege Valve prevents publishers selling products more cheaply or earlier on rival platforms to Steam by imposing conditions on them. They say Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they've bought that game through the platform, effectively "locking in" users to make purchases on its platform. This allows Valve to charge "unfair and excessive" commissions of up to 30%, Shotbolt's lawyers said at a hearing in October.

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The independent coffee shops and quirky boutiques that make neighborhoods like Hayes Valley in San Francisco or Williamsburg in Brooklyn desirable are caught in a frustrating economic trap: they create value that ends up in the pockets of nearby homeowners rather than their own cash registers. An essay in Works in Progress magazine argues that when an interesting new store or restaurant opens, commercial and residential property values rise in the surrounding area, but the retailer itself captures only a fraction of that value through its actual sales. Almost half of stores in one San Francisco shopping district shuttered within four years even as the neighborhood thrived and rents climbed. The authors propose several fixes drawn from historical and international practice. Shopping malls and mixed-use developments solve this through unified ownership, allowing a single entity to cross-subsidize interesting tenants. Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway buys land around new stations before building begins, making it one of the few profitable transit systems in the world. Business Improvement Districts let businesses tax themselves for shared amenities, though they currently don't capture value that spills over to nearby residents. The essay suggests creating hybrid institutions -- something between homeowners' associations and business improvement districts -- that could levy hyperlocal taxes to keep valued retail alive.

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L’Inde s’apprête à réduire drastiquement les droits de douane sur les voitures européennes, dans le cadre d'un accord signé avec l’Union européenne. Mais pour l’électrique, pourtant au cœur de la stratégie climatique du pays, rien ne change dans l’immédiat.

Alors que Samsung alerte publiquement sur une pénurie de mémoire vive qui ferait grimper le prix des ses smartphones, PC et TV, le géant sud‑coréen enregistre des bénéfices records grâce à la flambée des puces RAM. Derrière le discours inquiet, il y a un acteur qui contrôle une partie de la pénurie… et qui encaisse le jackpot.

Cela faisait longtemps (non) qu’on n’avait pas parlé de licenciements sur NoFrag ! Initialement, on voulait inclure Ubisoft, mais on a préféré en faire une news dédiée pour laisser de la place aux petits copains.

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Les fermetures de studios, c’est trop Meta

Il y a une dizaine de jours, Meta a annoncé fermer trois studios spécialisés dans le développement en réalité virtuelle. Il s’agit de Twisted Pixel, Armature et Sanzaru Games, que vous connaissez peut-être si vous possédez un modèle de Quest. Si on ne parle pas souvent de VR sur NoFrag, le dernier studio de la liste nous avait fait forte impression, puisque c’est le développeur de l’excellent portage Resident Evil 4 VR sur Quest 2. Mais Meta a d’autres chats à fouetter, puisqu’il se sépare de 10 % de ses salariés dans la branche VR et Horizon, ce qui représente plus de 1 000 personnes, pour évidemment se focaliser sur l’IA. Pour plus d’infos, allez voir l’article de nos confrères d’Upload VR.

Starbreeze licencie discrètement une nouvelle fois

Passé maître dans l’art du licenciement en loucedé, Starbreeze a remis le couvert mercredi dernier. En effet, plusieurs ex-membres du studio suédois sont dorénavant « à l’écoute de nouvelles opportunités » et ont publié des messages allant dans ce sens. On peut notamment citer Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath, de l’équipe QA, qui indique que « beaucoup d’entre nous chez Starbreeze, à Stockholm, avons reçu une triste nouvelle ». D’après nos confrères de 80 Level, cela représente « plus de 10 personnes », qui viennent donc s’ajouter aux 44 d’octobre dernier. Manifestement, l’abonnement aux DLC de PAYDAY 2 n’a pas eu l’effet escompté sur les finances.

Même gratuit, personne ne veut jouer à Wildgate

Hier, nos confrères de Game Developer ont indiqué que le studio Moonshot Games, qui développe Wildgate, allait se séparer d’une partie de ses développeurs. En effet, en août dernier, le lancement ne s’était pas déroulé comme ils l’avaient prévu. Un mois et demi plus tard, l’éditeur Dreamhaven annonçait les premiers licenciements. Cela ne nous avait évidemment pas étonné, compte tenu de la proposition. Cependant, ils semblaient tenir à leur extraction shooter spatial uniquement multijoueur avec une direction artistique discutable et un gunfeel inexistant. Les semaines passant, le nombre de joueurs est régulièrement passé sous les 50 simultanés. Dernier espoir en date : le cadeau sur l’Epic Games Store pendant une semaine. Malheureusement, il semble que ça n’ait pas spécialement convaincu, puisque si l’on peut voir un rebond dans la courbe à plus de 200 joueurs simultanés (côté Steam uniquement), le soufflet est vite retombé. Il faut croire que trop peu de pigeons ont craqué pour des skins, puisqu’il a fallu faire sauter quelques têtes du côté des développeurs. Leur nombre n’a pas été communiqué. À ce rythme-là, on a du mal à imaginer que les serveurs puissent rester en ligne encore très longtemps.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Shares of Japanese toilet maker Toto gained the most in five years after booming memory demand excited expectations of growth in its little-known chipmaking materials operations. The stock surged as much as 11%, its steepest rise since February 2021, after Goldman Sachs analysts said Toto's electrostatic chucks used in NAND chipmaking will likely benefit from an AI infrastructure buildout that's tightening supplies of both high-end and commodity memory. [...] Known for its heated toilet seats, the maker of washlets has for decades been part of the semiconductor and display supply chain via its advanced ceramic parts and films. Its electrostatic chucks -- which it began mass producing in 1988 -- are used to hold silicon wafers in place during chipmaking while helping to control temperature and contamination, according to the company. The company's new domain business accounted for 42% of its total operating income in the fiscal year ended March 2025, Bloomberg-compiled data show.

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Global hiring remains 20% below pre-pandemic levels and job switching has hit a 10-year low, according to a LinkedIn report, and new university graduates are bearing the brunt of a labor market that increasingly favors experienced candidates over fresh talent. In the UK, the Institute of Student Employers found that graduate hiring fell 8% in the last academic year and employers now receive 140 applications for each vacancy, up from 86 per vacancy in 2022-23. US data from the New York Federal Reserve shows unemployment among recent college graduates aged 22-27 stands at 5.8% versus 4.1% for all workers. Recruiter Reed had 180,000 graduate job postings in 2021 but only 55,000 in 2024. In a survey of Reed clients last year, 15% said they had reduced hiring because of AI. London mayor Sadiq Khan said the capital will be "at the sharpest edge" of AI-driven changes and that entry-level jobs will be first to go.

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Vous n’avez pas pu y échapper, vous avez sans doute vu qu’Ubisoft avait tranché dans le lard. Six jeux annulés dont un très attendu, de nombreux reports, des studios fermés, une restructuration et une annonce prévue le 12 février prochain vécue comme une épée de Damoclès par les employés, voici le fabuleux programme déroulé mercredi en conférence de presse par le géant breton. L’objectif serait d’économiser 200 millions d’euros en deux ans, et ainsi réduire les coûts fixes annuels à 1,25 milliards d’euros à l’horizon 2028, au lieu de 1,75 milliards dépensés sur l’année fiscale 2022/2023. Les investisseurs, quant à eux, ont pris acte en paniquant comme il faut, puisque le titre a chuté en bourse de près de 40 %.

D’après les économies prévues, Insider Gaming estime le nombre de licenciements à venir à environ 2 400, ce qui amènerait le nombre d’employés autour des 15 000. Cela s’accompagnera de fermetures de studios un peu partout, comme celui d’Ubisoft Stockholm, mais l’information sur les autres n’a pas encore été communiquée. Et pour éviter d’avoir à trop mettre la main au portefeuille, surtout en France, Ubisoft choisit de couper toute possibilité de télétravail, afin de dégrader la qualité de vie des salariés et les pousser doucement vers la sortie. Une relation saine et équilibrée entre employeur et employés. Un appel à la grève pour une demi-journée a été lancé par Solidaires Informatique, pour un rendez-vous moins de 24 h après les annonces, sans doute pour marquer le coup. On n’a pas trouvé de bilan de la mobilisation, mais elle devrait être suivie de nouvelles journées de débrayage, si l’on en croit les syndicats.

Du côté des jeux, l’annonce de la restructuration en cinq « maisons créatives » permet de voir quelles sont les licences qui subsistent, mais on ne peut pas dire que ça donne spécialement envie. Et surtout, il n’y a que Vantage Studio qui travaille sur un FPS, l’ancêtre Rainbow Six: Siege qui vient de fêter ses 10 ans. Heureusement, le géant breton nous annonce qu’il se focalisera désormais sur ce qui compte réellement pour les joueurs : les mondes ouverts, les GAAS (Game As a Service) et l’IA générative. Miam.

An anonymous reader shares a report: A niche retirement plan favored by freelancers is quickly becoming a hot Wall Street sales pitch, as more and more Americans look for ways to shelter a bigger chunk of their paychecks from taxes. Known as solo 401(k)s, they allow the self-employed to contribute $72,000 a year into tax-advantaged retirement accounts. That's nearly three times the maximum for typical salaried workers in the US. While they've existed for decades serving a workforce that often struggled to earn enough to max out those contributions, wealth planners like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Betterment are now racing to tap into burgeoning demand from a newer, and wealthier cohort: Post-pandemic contractors and self-employed DIY savers looking to shelter more income, grow assets tax-deferred or tax-free, all with the click of a button. The pitch is simple: Because of a quirk in the tax code, self-employed workers effectively contribute twice to their 401(k)s -- once as an employee on their own behalf and then again as a business owner making matching contributions. The platforms take care of the paperwork and clients get institutional-level tax planning and investment flexibility. More than three-quarters of America's record 36 million small businesses now have just a single employee, the owner. Cerulli Associates projects that total 401(k) plans in the U.S. will surpass 1 million by 2030, and the fastest growth is expected in sub-$5 million "micro" accounts.

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Vimeo is laying off employees around the world just months after Italian software company Bending Spoons completed its $1.38 billion acquisition of the video hosting platform. Dave Brown, Vimeo's former brand VP, described the cuts on LinkedIn as affecting "a large portion of the company." One video engineer claimed "almost everyone" was laid off, "including the entire video team," and another software engineer said he lost his job alongside "a gigantic amount of the company." This marks Vimeo's second round of layoffs in less than six months. The company cut 10% of its workforce in September, just one week before Bending Spoons announced its acquisition plans. Bending Spoons has a history of post-acquisition layoffs at companies including WeTransfer, Filmic, and Evernote.

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Autodesk said today it plans to cut approximately 1,000 jobs, or roughly 7% of its workforce, as part of what the company described as the final phase of a global restructuring effort aimed at strengthening its sales and marketing operations. The maker of AutoCAD and other digital design software said a significant portion of the cuts will fall within customer-facing sales functions.

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Ampere, l'entité dédiée au développement et à la fabrication des voitures électriques de Renault, va fermer ses portes. En soi, rien ne change pour nous, ni pour les salariés qui garderont leur emploi.