Month: August 2024
Google is shoving its apps onto new Windows laptops
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‘LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim’ Teaser Trailer Brings Anime Action to Middle-earth
The anime prequel hits theaters later this year.
The anime prequel hits theaters later this year.
DC’s antitrust suit against Amazon is back from the dead
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
An appeals court has revived the District of Columbia’s antitrust case against Amazon, which the District claims illegally drives up prices on rival platforms. In a decision on Thursday, the DC Court of Appeals ruled that the District’s allegations “plausibly suggest” that Amazon already has monopoly power over online marketplaces or is close to achieving it.
Former DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon in 2021, but it was tossed out in court in 2022. The lawsuit alleges Amazon engages in anticompetitive behavior by restricting third-party sellers from offering products on other online stores, including their own websites, for less than they charge on Amazon — effectively controlling the price of goods outside of its own platform.
DC was the first jurisdiction to take antitrust enforcement action against Amazon — and we are grateful the FTC and other states have followed suit.We will always fight back against abuse of monopoly power.DC residents deserve fair prices, competition, innovation, and choice.— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) August 22, 2024
Though Amazon retracted a policy that required sellers to offer products at the lowest prices on its online marketplace in 2019, the lawsuit argues that Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy amounts to “an effectively identical substitute.”
Amazon, unsurprisingly, doesn’t agree with the court’s decision to bring back the case. “Just like any store owner who wouldn’t want to promote a bad deal to their customers, we don’t highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle says in a statement to The Verge. “It’s part of our commitment to featuring low prices to earn and maintain customer trust, which we believe is the right decision for both consumers and sellers in the long run.”
Amazon is also facing antitrust scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a massive lawsuit against Amazon over claims its monopoly power stifles competition and harms consumers.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
An appeals court has revived the District of Columbia’s antitrust case against Amazon, which the District claims illegally drives up prices on rival platforms. In a decision on Thursday, the DC Court of Appeals ruled that the District’s allegations “plausibly suggest” that Amazon already has monopoly power over online marketplaces or is close to achieving it.
Former DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon in 2021, but it was tossed out in court in 2022. The lawsuit alleges Amazon engages in anticompetitive behavior by restricting third-party sellers from offering products on other online stores, including their own websites, for less than they charge on Amazon — effectively controlling the price of goods outside of its own platform.
DC was the first jurisdiction to take antitrust enforcement action against Amazon — and we are grateful the FTC and other states have followed suit.
We will always fight back against abuse of monopoly power.
DC residents deserve fair prices, competition, innovation, and choice.
— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) August 22, 2024
Though Amazon retracted a policy that required sellers to offer products at the lowest prices on its online marketplace in 2019, the lawsuit argues that Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy amounts to “an effectively identical substitute.”
Amazon, unsurprisingly, doesn’t agree with the court’s decision to bring back the case. “Just like any store owner who wouldn’t want to promote a bad deal to their customers, we don’t highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle says in a statement to The Verge. “It’s part of our commitment to featuring low prices to earn and maintain customer trust, which we believe is the right decision for both consumers and sellers in the long run.”
Amazon is also facing antitrust scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a massive lawsuit against Amazon over claims its monopoly power stifles competition and harms consumers.
Google Play Will No Longer Pay To Discover Vulnerabilities In Popular Android Apps
Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman reports: Security vulnerabilities are lurking in most of the apps you use on a day-to-day basis; there’s just no way for most companies to preemptively fix every possible security issue because of human error, deadlines, lack of resources, and a multitude of other factors. That’s why many organizations run bug bounty programs to get external help with fixing these issues. The Google Play Security Reward Program (GPSRP) is an example of a bug bounty program that paid security researchers to find vulnerabilities in popular Android apps, but it’s being shut down later this month. Google announced the Google Play Security Reward Program back in October 2017 as a way to incentivize security searchers to find and, most importantly, responsibly disclose vulnerabilities in popular Android apps distributed through the Google Play Store. […]
The purpose of the Google Play Security Reward Program was simple: Google wanted to make the Play Store a more secure destination for Android apps. According to the company, vulnerability data they collected from the program was used to help create automated checks that scanned all apps available in Google Play for similar vulnerabilities. In 2019, Google said these automated checks helped more than 300,000 developers fix more than 1,000,000 apps on Google Play. Thus, the downstream effect of the GPSRP is that fewer vulnerable apps are distributed to Android users.
However, Google has now decided to wind down the Google Play Security Reward Program. In an email to participating developers, such as Sean Pesce, the company announced that the GPSRP will end on August 31st. The reason Google gave is that the program has seen a decrease in the number of actionable vulnerabilities reported. The company credits this success to the “overall increase in the Android OS security posture and feature hardening efforts.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman reports: Security vulnerabilities are lurking in most of the apps you use on a day-to-day basis; there’s just no way for most companies to preemptively fix every possible security issue because of human error, deadlines, lack of resources, and a multitude of other factors. That’s why many organizations run bug bounty programs to get external help with fixing these issues. The Google Play Security Reward Program (GPSRP) is an example of a bug bounty program that paid security researchers to find vulnerabilities in popular Android apps, but it’s being shut down later this month. Google announced the Google Play Security Reward Program back in October 2017 as a way to incentivize security searchers to find and, most importantly, responsibly disclose vulnerabilities in popular Android apps distributed through the Google Play Store. […]
The purpose of the Google Play Security Reward Program was simple: Google wanted to make the Play Store a more secure destination for Android apps. According to the company, vulnerability data they collected from the program was used to help create automated checks that scanned all apps available in Google Play for similar vulnerabilities. In 2019, Google said these automated checks helped more than 300,000 developers fix more than 1,000,000 apps on Google Play. Thus, the downstream effect of the GPSRP is that fewer vulnerable apps are distributed to Android users.
However, Google has now decided to wind down the Google Play Security Reward Program. In an email to participating developers, such as Sean Pesce, the company announced that the GPSRP will end on August 31st. The reason Google gave is that the program has seen a decrease in the number of actionable vulnerabilities reported. The company credits this success to the “overall increase in the Android OS security posture and feature hardening efforts.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp App, Plans to Release Paid Offline Version
Nintendo today announced that it will shut down the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp app for iOS on November 29, seven years after the game originally launched. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a freemium app that Nintendo has regularly been adding new content to through ongoing events, so there are players with money invested in the game.
There will be no more events or updates with the Pocket Camp service being discontinued, but Nintendo will release a paid version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp so that existing users can continue to play an offline version of the game. The paid version will allow saves to be transferred over, but it will not support visiting and interacting with other players or receiving gifts. It will not have in-app purchases nor will it require an online connection.
Pocket Camp users who have purchased Leaf Tickets, the in-game currency, can redeem them through November 28. Leaf Tickets not used by that date will expire. Pocket Camp Club subscriptions will be ending on October 28, but Nintendo will continue providing the associated benefits until Pocket Camp shuts down.
Nintendo plans to release the paid version of the app when the existing freemium version is shut down, but pricing has not yet been announced. Transferring a Pocket Camp save to the new app requires linking to a Nintendo Account.Tag: NintendoThis article, “Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp App, Plans to Release Paid Offline Version” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Nintendo today announced that it will shut down the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp app for iOS on November 29, seven years after the game originally launched. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a freemium app that Nintendo has regularly been adding new content to through ongoing events, so there are players with money invested in the game.
There will be no more events or updates with the Pocket Camp service being discontinued, but Nintendo will release a paid version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp so that existing users can continue to play an offline version of the game. The paid version will allow saves to be transferred over, but it will not support visiting and interacting with other players or receiving gifts. It will not have in-app purchases nor will it require an online connection.
Pocket Camp users who have purchased Leaf Tickets, the in-game currency, can redeem them through November 28. Leaf Tickets not used by that date will expire. Pocket Camp Club subscriptions will be ending on October 28, but Nintendo will continue providing the associated benefits until Pocket Camp shuts down.
Nintendo plans to release the paid version of the app when the existing freemium version is shut down, but pricing has not yet been announced. Transferring a Pocket Camp save to the new app requires linking to a Nintendo Account.
This article, “Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp App, Plans to Release Paid Offline Version” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
FDA green-lights fall COVID-19 boosters
Updated mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are ready to roll.
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)
As the COVID-19 case count continues to tick upward, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved an updated vaccine for use ahead of the northern hemisphere winter. The emergency use authorization covers updated mRNA vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna.
The booster shots will target the JN.1 and KP.2 strains of SARS-CoV-2, both of which are omicron variants. Last year’s booster keyed on omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which has long since lost the evolutionary arms race.
Both Spikevax (Moderna) and Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccines have been updated. While the vaccine is targeted toward those 12 and over, parents of children aged six months through 11 years are also eligible for the updated vaccines under the FDA’s emergency use authorization.
Linksys Hydra Pro 6 Review: An Excellent Wi-Fi 6 Router With No Frills
Excellent Wi-Fi 6 performance, but don’t pay more than $250.
Excellent Wi-Fi 6 performance, but don’t pay more than $250.
Apple Releases New AirPods Pro 2 Beta Firmware With Support for iOS 18 Features
Apple today released a new firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2, including both the Lightning and USB-C versions. The firmware has a build number of 7A5290a, up from 7A5266c, and it is available to developers at the current time. This is the fourth firmware update that Apple has released since announcing new AirPods Pro 2 features in June.
There are multiple features that are coming to the AirPods Pro 2 as part of iOS 18, and these features are included in the firmware update.
With head gestures, users can control Siri on the AirPods Pro with a shake or a nod of the head. If you get a phone call, for example, you can shake your head no if you don’t want to answer it, or nod to accept the call. Siri interactions can be used for responding to incoming messages, calls, and notifications.
Apple is adding Voice Isolation to the AirPods Pro to cut down on loud background sounds to make you easier to hear, and there is a new Personalized Spatial Audio feature specific to gaming. Game developers will be able to incorporate spatial audio into their games for a more immersive audio experience.
The new firmware is limited to developers at the current time, but it will be available to all iOS 18 users following the public launch of the new software.This article, “Apple Releases New AirPods Pro 2 Beta Firmware With Support for iOS 18 Features” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Apple today released a new firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2, including both the Lightning and USB-C versions. The firmware has a build number of 7A5290a, up from 7A5266c, and it is available to developers at the current time. This is the fourth firmware update that Apple has released since announcing new AirPods Pro 2 features in June.
There are multiple features that are coming to the AirPods Pro 2 as part of iOS 18, and these features are included in the firmware update.
With head gestures, users can control Siri on the AirPods Pro with a shake or a nod of the head. If you get a phone call, for example, you can shake your head no if you don’t want to answer it, or nod to accept the call. Siri interactions can be used for responding to incoming messages, calls, and notifications.
Apple is adding Voice Isolation to the AirPods Pro to cut down on loud background sounds to make you easier to hear, and there is a new Personalized Spatial Audio feature specific to gaming. Game developers will be able to incorporate spatial audio into their games for a more immersive audio experience.
The new firmware is limited to developers at the current time, but it will be available to all iOS 18 users following the public launch of the new software.
This article, “Apple Releases New AirPods Pro 2 Beta Firmware With Support for iOS 18 Features” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Crypto ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam Wrecks Kansas Bank, Sends Ex-CEO To Prison For 24 Years
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: The former CEO of a small Kansas bank was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for looting the bank of $47 million — which he sent to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by scammers who had duped him in a “pig butchering” scheme that appealed to his greed, federal prosecutors said. The massive embezzlement by ex-CEO Shan Hanes in a series of wire transfers over just eight weeks last year led to the collapse and FDIC takeover of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, one of only five U.S. banks that failed in 2023. Hanes, 53, also swindled funds from a local church and investment club — and a daughter’s college savings account — to transfer money, purportedly to buy cryptocurrency as the scammers insisted they needed more funds to unlock the supposed returns on his investments, according to records from U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kansas. But Hanes never realized any profit and lost all of the money he stole as a result of the scam. Judge John Broomes on Monday sentenced Hanes to 293 months in prison — 29 months more than what prosecutors requested after he pleaded guilty in May to a single count of embezzlement by a bank officer. […]
[P]rosecutors and bank regulators said that Hanes, who has three daughters with his school teacher wife, began stealing after being targeted in a pig-butchering scheme in late 2022. That scheme was described in a court filing as “a scammer convincing a victim (a pig) to invest in supposedly legitimate virtual currency investment opportunities and then steals the victim’s money — butchering the pig.” Hanes, who had served on the board of the American Bankers Association, and been chairman of the Kansas Bankers Association, in December 2022 began making transactions to buy cryptocurrency, which “appeared to be precipitated by communication with an unidentified co-conspirator on the electronic messaging app ‘WhatsApp,'” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “To date, the true identity of the co-conspirator, or conspirators, remain unknown,” the filing notes. Hanes initially used personal funds to buy crypto, but in early 2023 he stole $40,000 from Elkhart Church of Christ and $10,000 from the Santa Fe Investment Club, according to prosecutors and a defense filing. He also used $60,000 taken from a daughter’s college fund, and nearly $1 million in stock from the Elkhart Financial Corporation, his lawyer said in a filing.
In May 2023, he began to make wire transfers from Heartland Tri-State Bank to accounts controlled by scammers, at first with a $5,000 transfer. Two weeks later, on May 30, Hanes wired $1.5 million and a day after that, he sent another transfer of the same amount the following day, filings show. Three days later he directed two wire transfers totaling $6.7 million to be sent by the bank to the crypto wallet, and a whopping $10 million less than two weeks later, and another $3.3 million days afterward. Hanes told bank employees to execute the wire transfers, and “made many misrepresentations to various people” to get access to the funds so they could be transferred, prosecutors wrote. Heartland Tri-State employees circumvented the bank’s own wire policy and daily limits to approve Hanes’ wire transfers, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: The former CEO of a small Kansas bank was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for looting the bank of $47 million — which he sent to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by scammers who had duped him in a “pig butchering” scheme that appealed to his greed, federal prosecutors said. The massive embezzlement by ex-CEO Shan Hanes in a series of wire transfers over just eight weeks last year led to the collapse and FDIC takeover of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, one of only five U.S. banks that failed in 2023. Hanes, 53, also swindled funds from a local church and investment club — and a daughter’s college savings account — to transfer money, purportedly to buy cryptocurrency as the scammers insisted they needed more funds to unlock the supposed returns on his investments, according to records from U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kansas. But Hanes never realized any profit and lost all of the money he stole as a result of the scam. Judge John Broomes on Monday sentenced Hanes to 293 months in prison — 29 months more than what prosecutors requested after he pleaded guilty in May to a single count of embezzlement by a bank officer. […]
[P]rosecutors and bank regulators said that Hanes, who has three daughters with his school teacher wife, began stealing after being targeted in a pig-butchering scheme in late 2022. That scheme was described in a court filing as “a scammer convincing a victim (a pig) to invest in supposedly legitimate virtual currency investment opportunities and then steals the victim’s money — butchering the pig.” Hanes, who had served on the board of the American Bankers Association, and been chairman of the Kansas Bankers Association, in December 2022 began making transactions to buy cryptocurrency, which “appeared to be precipitated by communication with an unidentified co-conspirator on the electronic messaging app ‘WhatsApp,'” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “To date, the true identity of the co-conspirator, or conspirators, remain unknown,” the filing notes. Hanes initially used personal funds to buy crypto, but in early 2023 he stole $40,000 from Elkhart Church of Christ and $10,000 from the Santa Fe Investment Club, according to prosecutors and a defense filing. He also used $60,000 taken from a daughter’s college fund, and nearly $1 million in stock from the Elkhart Financial Corporation, his lawyer said in a filing.
In May 2023, he began to make wire transfers from Heartland Tri-State Bank to accounts controlled by scammers, at first with a $5,000 transfer. Two weeks later, on May 30, Hanes wired $1.5 million and a day after that, he sent another transfer of the same amount the following day, filings show. Three days later he directed two wire transfers totaling $6.7 million to be sent by the bank to the crypto wallet, and a whopping $10 million less than two weeks later, and another $3.3 million days afterward. Hanes told bank employees to execute the wire transfers, and “made many misrepresentations to various people” to get access to the funds so they could be transferred, prosecutors wrote. Heartland Tri-State employees circumvented the bank’s own wire policy and daily limits to approve Hanes’ wire transfers, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.