Sony accused of ‘blatant anti-competitive conduct’

Congress has raised concerns about Sony's monopoly on the gaming market in Japan, calling for an investigation into the firm's alleged "exclusionary conduct."

Senator Maria Cantwell told a Senate Finance Committee hearing: “Sony controls a monopoly of 98 percent of the high-end game market, yet Japan's government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers.”

Cantwell called on US Trade...

28 March 2023 | Gaming

Apple letter urges lawmakers to reject sideloading bill

Apple has written a letter urging lawmakers to reject a bill that would force the company to allow any apps to be installed on its mobile operating systems.

The letter, addressed to Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and Republican Chuck Grassley, claims the proposed bill will hurt user privacy and security if passed.

In question is the S. 2710 bill that would allow software downloaded from the web or other sources to be “sideloaded” on iOS.

“Sideloading...

4 February 2022 | App Stores

GitHub is restored in Iran after US gov permits sanctions exemption

GitHub is fully-restored in Iran after the US government granted the Microsoft-owned firm an exception to sanctions.

“All developers should be free to use GitHub, no matter where they live,” wrote GitHub in a blog post.

“At the same time, GitHub respects and abides by US law, which means government sanctions have limited our ability to provide developers in some countries the full range of GitHub services.”

GitHub ceased most operations in North Korea,...

8 January 2021 | Git

Trump will ban TikTok and WeChat from US app stores this weekend

President Trump’s ban on Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat will come into effect this weekend.

The US Department of Commerce (DoC) announced that the apps will be banned starting on Sunday 20th September.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement:

“Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party.

The...

18 September 2020 | App Stores

Tim Cook joins Ivanka Trump in suggesting unemployed Americans learn to code

Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined with Ivanka Trump in suggesting that learning to code may help the large number of Americans who’ve found themselves unemployed.

US jobless claims held steady around 1.3 million the week of July 11th, with increasing cases of COVID-19 in many states preventing the employment market rebounding quite as hoped. The US economy is down nearly 15 million jobs since February.

Ivanka Trump launched an initiative called ‘Find Something New’...

16 July 2020 | iOS

Congress wants Apple and Google to clamp down on foreign apps

Congress is calling on Apple and Google to clamp down on apps that weren’t born in the USA (cue Springsteen).

Trump’s administration is currently mulling a complete ban of any Chinese software but, while that debate is ongoing, Congress wants the two largest mobile platform holders to begin clamping down on foreign apps in less radical ways.

The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform has sent two letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google to request they probe...

15 July 2020 | Android

Study: Half of Americans don’t trust contact-tracing apps

A new study has found that half of Americans wouldn't trust a COVID-19 contact-tracing app.

Contact-tracing apps are being hailed as key to returning to some degree of normality. The apps use Bluetooth to keep track of everyone an individual passes in order to notify that circle if a COVID-19 diagnosis is made so they can isolate and get tested before spreading the virus further.

Naturally, there are concerns about the amount of data such apps could take about their...

30 April 2020 | Android