eBay Buys Trading Card Biz; Apple Engineer Pleads Guilty; Sony PlayStation VR2 Coming; Intel Ohio Chip Plant

eBay is placing a big bet on the booming trading card industry. Engadget.com reports The company is set to buy TCGplayer — an online marketplace for trading card games — in a deal valued up to $295 million.The site will operate independently after the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. eBay is already the world’s largest card resale site. eBay has also ventured into another area of collectibles — NFTs. Earlier this year, the company launched its own NFT collection and bought digital art marketplace KnownOrigin for an undisclosed sum. 

A former Apple engineer has pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from the company. In a San Jose federal court, Xiaolang Zhang admitted to the theft of Apple’s Project Titan trade secrets and could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 9to5mac.com says he had moved to China…allegedly for parental leave, but instead went to work with XMotors, a Chinese-based startup developing autonomous technology for cars.

Sony expects to release its virtual reality PlayStation VR2 next year. According to theverge.com, this model won’t have a camera connected to your console to track your movements…it will use so-called inside-out tracking like the Quest 2, where the cams on the headset itself track your motions. You will also be able to see your surroundings while you’re wearing it. The VR2 will apparently use orb-shaped controllers. No pricing as yet, and it will only work with the PS5. 

Intel is claiming to be building “largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet” in Ohio, and it’s going to need 7,000 workers to construct it, according to a report from the Associated Press. The chip maker is concerned about being able to get enough construction workers to build it out, though…due to a shortage of labor in the construction industry. Once built, the huge site will have two factories, and Intel says it will employ about 3,000 people. Long range, they plan to have 8 plants! The First chips won’t be coming out until 2025 if they stay on track.