Epic Says Google Paid Activision Millions Not To Launch Rival App Store

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Fortnite developer Epic Games said Google paid the equivalent of $360 million to Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard as part of a broad agreement that included a promise the gaming giant would not create a rival app store. The move, Epic said, helped solidify Google’s hold on phones and tablets powered by its Android software. In the filing, newly unredacted Thursday, Epic said Google paid other developers in a similar way to Activision. Epic cited an agreement Google struck with Tencent, the Chinese company that owns League of Legends developer Riot Games, giving it about $30 million over one year. Like Activision, that money too was part of a larger agreement for Riot to maintain its Google-powered games and spend money promoting them as part of Android.

Google and Activision Blizzard both denied Epic’s allegations about competing app stores. Google said the agreements are designed to provide incentives for developers to create apps for Google Play. “Epic is mischaracterizing business conversations,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “It does not prevent developers from creating competing app stores, as Epic falsely alleges.” Activision, for its part, said Google never “asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play.” Activision is in the midst of being acquired by software giant Microsoft for $68.7 billion. […] The filing is the latest allegation in Epic’s ongoing lawsuit against Google, which it accuses of operating a monopoly with Google Play, which sells apps for Android. Epic’s ongoing lawsuit is similar to another battle it’s waging against Apple and its App Store over similar concerns of monopolistic practices. In both cases, Epic is pushing the companies to reduce the control they exert over their respective platforms, both in terms of how phone and tablet owners pay for apps and where to download them from.

It’s unclear whether Epic’s argument that Google paid developers to not compete will win in an eventual court case. Epic said in its complaint that “Google understood” the agreement would mean that Activision would “abandon its plans to launch a competing app store, and Google intended this result.” But Armin Zerza, now Activision Blizzard’s finance chief, said in one of the court filings that the company chose not to launch a rival app store because of the risk of failure, in addition to costs for development and marketing. When asked about entering a deal with Google that “accomplished your objectives,” Zerza said that the Activision Blizzard board approved a deal with the Android maker because it “created multi-hundred-million dollars of value for us across multiple ecosystems.” If Activision is ultimately purchased by Microsoft though, it may end up helping create an app store after all. Microsoft told regulators in October that it intends to build its own mobile app store to rival Google and Apple. Activision’s deep library of popular games, including Candy Crush Saga and World of Warcraft, will be a key part of that effort. “Epic’s allegations are nonsense,” an Activision representative said in a statement sent to PC Gamer. “We can confirm that Google never asked us, pressured us, or made us agree not to compete with Google Play — and we’ve already submitted documents and testimony that prove this.”

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China Tops US To Take Research Crown At Global Chip Conference

“China has submitted the most research papers accepted at a prestigious international academic conference focused on semiconductors, underscoring the country’s growing presence in the field and bumping the U.S. into second place (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source),” reports Nikkei Asia. The committee of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) was held in South Korea on Nov. 16. From a report: According to the committee, a total of 629 research papers were submitted for next year’s ISSCC, including 198 that passed the screening. The 198 include 59 from China, 42 from the United States and 32 from South Korea. China rose from third to first and South Korea’s number decreased by nine compared to the previous one. “China increased its selected research paper count in every category and the Chinese government played an important role in this,” one of the participants said […].

The academic conference in the field of semiconductor integrated circuit design was first held in 1954. It is the largest and most renowned international conference in this field and next year’s conference will start on Feb. 19 in San Francisco. More than 3,000 researchers from over 30 countries will attend it to share the latest technologies in the field.

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Google Rolls Out New Features Across Maps, Search and Shopping

Google announced today that it’s introducing a slew of new Maps, Search and Shopping features. The company revealed a majority of the new features during its Search On event in September and is now starting to roll them out to users. TechCrunch reports:
Search
Starting today, users will be able to use Search to find their favorite dish at a restaurant near them. For example, you can search “truffle mac and cheese near me” to see which nearby restaurants carry the dish on their menu. Once you find a specific dish that you’re looking for, you can get more information about its price, ingredients and more. Another new Search functionality lets you use Google’s multisearch feature to find specific food near you. Say you see something tasty-looking online, but don’t know what it is or where to find it. You can now use Lens in the Google app for Android or iOS to snap a picture or take a screenshot of a dish and add the words “near me” to find a place that sells it nearby. Later this year, Google is going roll out an update to its Lens AR Translate capabilities so users can more seamlessly translate text on complex backgrounds. Instead of covering up the original text like it currently does, Google is going to erase the text and re-create the pixels underneath with an AI-generated background, and then overlay the translated text on top of the image.
Maps
As for the new Maps features, Google is launching a new visual search experience called Live View in London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. […] In addition to displaying information about where places are, users will be able to see key information about each spot overlaid, such as whether the location is busy, if its open, what the price range is, etc. Another new Maps feature makes it easier for EV owners to find the best charging station for their vehicle. Now, you can search for “EV charging stations” and select the “fast charge” filter. You can also filter for stations that offer your EV’s plug type. Google also announced that it’s expanding its “accessible places” feature globally after initially launching it in the U.S., Australia, Japan and the U.K. in 2020. The feature is designed to help people determine whether a place is wheelchair accessible.
Shopping
Google has announced a new AR shopping feature that is designed to make it easier to find your exact foundation match. The company says its new photo library features 148 models representing a diverse spectrum of skin tones, ages, genders, face shapes, ethnicities and skin types. As a result, it should be easier for shoppers to better visualize what different products will look like on them. […] Users can now also shop for shoes using AR.

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Nearly 50% of macOS Malware Comes From One App

joshuark writes: Yikes, gadzooks, and shiver my timbers! Elastic Labs has found surprisingly that 50% of malware comes from one app: MacKeeper, ironically. Ironic in that MacKeeper claims to “keep your Mac clean and safe with zero effort.” MacKeeper also has a tainted reputation for being difficult to completely uninstall and as a malicious antivirus. A new spin on the biblical phrase, “Am I my brother’s keeper…” Well, when the inmate is running the asylum. The findings appear in Elastic Security Labs’ recently released 2022 Global Threat Report. As Neowin reports, MacKeeper “can be abused by threat actors because it has extensive permissions and access to processes and files.”

With that said, the report found that only 6.2% of malware ends up on macOS devices, compared to 54.4% and 39.4% on Windows and Linux, respectively.

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Facebook To Remove Several Information Fields From Profiles, Including Religious and Political Views

US Safety Watchdog Warns Against Onewheel Boards After Reported Ejection Injuries

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned Americans against buying or using any Onewheel self-balance skateboardings, ranging from the original through to newer models like the GT and Pint X. Engadget reports: The vehicles can forcefully eject riders, the CPSC said. The Commission added that here have been reports of “at least” four deaths and multiple serious injuries between 2019 and 2021 after the boards either stopped balancing properly or came to an abrupt stop.

Onewheel creator Future Motion has refused a recall and rejected the CPSC’s stance. The company believes the Commission’s warning is “unjustified and alarmist,” and that its boards are safe if they’re used responsibly with appropriate safety equipment. Board owners are “adults” who know that there’s always a risk to any board sport or even riding a bike, Future Motion argued. To that end, it noted that the CPSC itself prized safety education over warnings when snowboarding took off in the 1990s.

The firm said it had studied boards affected by sudden stops, and hadn’t found any inherent technical problems. Onewheels have lower serious injury rates than bikes, ATVs and motorcycles, Future Motion claimed. It also accused the CPSC of preferring a “sensational” alert over cooperating on safety improvements.

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Apple AirPods Can Work As More Affordable Hearing Aids, Study Finds

A new study has found that Apple’s wireless earbuds can serve as a more affordable and accessible sound amplification device than medical hearing aids. Gizmodo reports: Inspired by a feature called Live Listen released in 2016 by Apple, which allows an iPhone or iPad to be used as sound-boosting microphone, researchers from the Taipei Veterans General Hospital wondered whether the performance of AirPods 2 and the original AirPods Pro using this feature could compare to medical hearing aids. Apple does not position Live Listen as a tool for those dealing with hearing loss but as a way for users with normal hearing to boost desired sounds, like the calls of a bird. However, the researchers found that, in some situations, consumer-level personal sound amplification products faired quite well against pricier medically prescribed solutions, and given the popularity of products like Apple’s AirPods, there’s no stigma associated with wearing them.

The researchers tested the $129 AirPods 2 and $249 AirPods Pro paired with iPhone XS Max smartphones running iOS 13. They compared these against the $10,000 OTICON Opn 1 behind-the-ear hearing aids and a more affordable alternative, the $1,500 Bernafon MD1. The four options were tested with 21 participants dealing with mild to moderate hearing loss, who were asked to repeat short sentences read to them by the researchers in varying environments. In a quiet setting, the AirPods Pro were found to perform as well as the cheaper hearing aids and almost as good as the premium model, while the Air Pods 2 performed the worst of all four tested devices but still helped participants hear what was being read to them more clearly than not using a sound-enhancing device at all. In a noisy environment, the AirPods Pro performed even closer to the premium hearing aid model, thanks to their built-in noise cancellation, but only when the distracting noises were coming from the sides of the participant. When the noise was coming from the front, alongside the sample sentences being read by the researchers, both wireless earbud products failed to help improve what was being heard. “Hearing aids remain the best option for those dealing with hearing loss, but for those who don’t have access to them for whatever reason, a cheaper product like Apple’s AirPods Pro could provide noticeable improvements in hearing and clarity for those dealing with mild-to-moderate hearing loss and could serve as a useful alternative until over-the-counter solutions are more readily available and affordable,” concludes the report.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration decided to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter and without a prescription to adults, a decision that “could fundamentally change technology,” said Nicholas Reed, an audiologist at the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Sony’s first OTC hearing aids were announced last month.

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Fentanyl Vaccine Developed By Researchers Could Eliminate Drug’s ‘High’

Researchers have developed a fentanyl vaccine that could eliminate the drug’s “high” by blocking its ability to enter the brain — which could be a major step forward in the ongoing opioid crisis. Yahoo News reports: The study, conducted by a research team led by the University of Houston and funded by the Department of Defense through the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Disorder Research Program, was published in the journal Pharmaceutics at the end of October. Colin Haile, a research associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, said in a news release that the vaccine “is able to generate anti-fentanyl antibodies that bind to the consumed fentanyl and prevent it from entering the brain, allowing it to be eliminated out of the body via the kidneys. “Thus, the individual will not feel the euphoric effects and can “get back on the wagon’ to sobriety.”

Haile added that the anti-fentanyl antibodies didn’t cross-react with other opioids, meaning a vaccinated person could still be treated for pain relief with other opioids. The vaccine did not cause any adverse side effects in rats involved in lab studies, and clinical trials in humans are planned “soon,” with manufacturing of clinical-grade vaccine to begin in the coming months.

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Everyone Is Bullying the UK Government In Its Own Discord Server

The UK Treasury has opened an account on Discord to a torrent of abuse from users of the gamer-focused chat app — abuse they managed to send despite the government blocking all comments on the service. The Guardian reports: With its community-focused approach, where servers encourage tight-knit groups to form and discuss issues related to the overall focus of the topic, Discord may seem an odd fit for the strait-laced world of government communications. But the app has a lot of users interested in finance, thanks to solid take-up among day traders and crypto fans, two groups the Treasury is eager to connect with. The result: a read-only Discord server, where the only user who is allowed to post is the snappily named HMTreasurySocialAdmin1, who shares tweet-length news about the Treasury and chancellor.

But trolls will always find a way. Although posting is banned, emoji reactions are enabled, letting any user respond to a post from the Treasury with a single emoji, and new users are cheerily announced in a “welcome” channel. That means the Treasury’s server has been eagerly posting automated messages such as, “Welcome, LOCK UP PRINCE ANDREW. We hope you brought pizza,” and “Welcome Jeremy Corbyn. Say hi!”. The latter does not appear to be the real account of the former leader of the opposition. […] UPDATE: Emoji reactions and the welcome channel vanished but eventually returned. According to the HM Treasure admin, Discord is the reason to blame for the issues.

“Due to the rapid growth of today’s channel which has seen over 7,000 members join, a technical difficulty has led to reactions being paused,” a post in the news channel read. “We are working with Discord to get reactions turned back on.” The trolling can be continued here.

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California AG Issues Warning-Ladened Guidance For Public Interested In Buying Crypto

With the cryptocurrency market becoming ever more complex and intimidating, California Attorney General Rob Bonta had decided to issue guidance for novice crypto buyers. CoinTelegraph reports: The California Office of the Attorney General’s website now features a page that will help those new to crypto “avoid the hype, [and] get the facts.” “Don’t fall for a fantasy — Cryptocurrency, like all investments, carries significant risks, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll see large — or any — returns,” Bonta said in a statement. “Our new webpage is meant to be a resource for Californians curious about this new and volatile market.”

The new page emphasizes customer safety. It provides a two-sentence explanation of what “crypto assets” are, plus a vocabulary list, and warns that: “Even when there are no scams involved, crypto assets can be risky, especially if you don’t have enough information to make sound judgments about how you’re spending your money.”

Aside from that, the page concentrated on scams, red flags and how to “stay safe.” That information is concise but complete. It reminded the reader of the limit legal recourse available if problems arise with a cryptocurrency purchase, but gave detailed instructions on how and where to file a complaint. Besides explaining what a rug pull and pig butchering are, the guide reminded readers that celebrities are paid for what they say about crypto and that the wise buyer does not fall for Fear of Missing Out.

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