Tag: google

Fortnite Maker Epic Games Wins Antitrust Case Against Google Over Play Store Monopoly

Fortnite maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet’s Google, which alleged the Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.

Jurors found for Epic on all counts, a court filing showed, after more than a month of trial in Epic’s lawsuit, which accused Google of taking action to quash competitors and charge unduly high fees of up to 30 percent to app developers. The court in January will begin work on what remedies to implement.

The ruling marks a stunning defeat for Google, which alongside Apple operates one of the world’s largest app stores. If the ruling holds, it has the potential to give developers more sway over how their apps are distributed and how they profit off them.

Google said it would appeal. “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem,” Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, said in an emailed statement.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday cheered the ruling on social media site X, calling out “the Google Play monopoly.”

Lawyers for the two companies made their final arguments on Monday morning and the federal judge handed the case to the jury less than four hours earlier, with instructions that a decision must be unanimous.

Among Epic’s allegations were that Google illegally ties together its Play store and billing service, meaning developers were required to use both to have their apps included in the store.

While the Play store represents a much smaller chunk of Google’s revenue compared to its massively profitable search business, it is symbolically important as the central gatekeeper to billions of mobile phones and tablets.

Google may be compelled to allow for more app stores on Android-powered devices and lose revenue from the cut it takes out of in-app purchases.

“(Today’s verdict) proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation,” Epic said in a statement on its website.

Google accused of deleting messages

“The trial has shone a very bright light on what Google has done to impair the competition,” a lawyer for Epic, Gary Bornstein, told jurors earlier in the day, adding Google “systematically blocks” alternative app stores on the company’s Play store.

Among the more sensational allegations were that Google had a system for deleting texts and internal messages for the purpose of concealing its anticompetitive behavior. An attorney for Epic instructed jurors on Monday that they could assume the content of the deleted messages was pertinent to the case and “would have been unfavorable to Google.”

Google has denied wrongdoing, arguing that it competes “intensely on price, quality, and security” against Apple’s App Store.

A lawyer for Google, Jonathan Kravis, told jurors that “Google does not want to lose 60 million Android users to Apple every year.” Google lowered its fee structure to compete with Apple, Kravis said.

“This is not the behavior of a monopolist,” he said.

Google settled related claims from dating app maker Match before the trial started. The tech giant also settled related antitrust claims by US states and consumers under terms that have not been made public.

Epic lodged a similar antitrust case against Apple in 2020, but a US judge largely ruled in favour of Apple in September 2021.

Epic has asked the US Supreme Court to revive key claims in the Apple case, and Apple is fighting part of a ruling for Epic that would require changes to App Store rules.

Epic purposefully violated Play store rules by skirting its billing systems allowing for customers to make in-app purchases directly with Epic, an attorney for the gamemaker said on Monday. As a result, Google banned Fortnite and Epic filed its suit in response.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Google Updates its Ad Policies for Crypto Coin Trusts: Here’s Everything to Know

Google, in the midst of ongoing crypto market growth, has announced changes to its advertising policies. The search engine giant has decided to allow crypto coin trusts to display advertisements, but under certain terms and conditions. For years now, promotional content around the crypto sector has met with scrutiny from international governments and tech giants in order to protect the investor community from risking their savings in high-risk digital assets. The lack of regulatory clarity surrounding the crypto industry also kept players away from big ad spaces.

Starting January 29, 2024, advertisers of cryptocurrency coin trusts will be able to market their products to the masses in the US via Google ads. Google has, however, advised all advertisers to comply with the local laws before releasing crypto-related commercials through Google ads, in addition to being certified by Google.

“Advertisers who promote cryptocurrency exchanges or cryptocurrency wallets are allowed to advertise through Google Ads, but they must be certified by Google, and their products must meet all local legal requirements of the country or region they want to get certified for. To be certified, advertisers will have to meet local licensing requirements,” Google explained on its official page outlining advertising policies.

Now, cryptocurrency coin trusts, as explained by Google, are those financial products that let investors trade shares via trusts that hold large pools of digital currencies.

As per this example, Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, that may or may not get approval in the US next year, could be advertised if they get a green light. These ETFs or exchange traded funds let people invest in BTC via traditional market exchanges rather than being limited to cryptocurrency exchanges.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is likely to give its verdict on these ETFs in January 2024 — around the same time that Google is planning to implement changes to its advertising policies.

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Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Says Company in Talks With Partners to Launch Mobile Store on iOS, Android: Report

Microsoft has reportedly been developing an Xbox mobile storefront that would allow users to bypass Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store and download games off its own application. Earlier this year, Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer, too, had revealed ahead of the annual Game Developer Conference that the company intended to launch its own app store for both iOS and Android. Now, Xbox is reportedly in talks with partners for the same.

According to a Bloomberg report, Spencer claimed that the Xbox store app on mobile platforms could come out sooner rather than later. “It’s an important part of our strategy and something we are actively working on today not only alone, but talking to other partners who’d also like to see more choice for how they can monetize on the phone,” the report quoted Spencer as saying in an interview at the CCXP comics and entertainment convention in Sao Paolo.

The Xbox chief did not provide a specific launch date for the launch of the storefront but hinted at release window in the not-too-distant future. “I don’t think this is multiple years away, I think this is sooner than that,” he said.

A report in March had claimed that the Xbox mobile store was expected to go live by March 2024, once Microsoft’s $69 billion (roughly Rs. 5,68,094 crore) acquisition of Activision Blizzard was finalised. That happened in October as Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which had earlier blocked the deal, stepped aside and gave approval for the acquisition to go through. The CMA, which held concerns over Microsoft’s cloud streaming dominance in the market, greenlit the deal when Microsoft announced that Call of Duty maker Activision would sell its non-European streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment to pacify British regulators.

Now that the deal is closed, it seems the plan to launch the Xbox store app on iOS and Android can go through. Apple and Google maintain strict storefront rules and do not allow app developers to host their applications on a third-party storefront, charging them a cut on every transaction made via the App Store and the Play Store, respectively. The companies’ stringent store policy has, however, come under regulatory scanner. Developers like Epic Games have initiated antitrust proceedings against the two tech giants and the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which intends to prevent tech giants from abusing their market position, is set to allow other app and game developers to introduce their own app stores on mobile platforms. Tech companies have until March 2024 to comply with all the rules laid out in the DMA.

Last month, Microsoft announced that it was partnering Inworld AI to create game development tools for the Xbox platform, enabling developers to create characters, generate entire scripts and quests, and more. Earlier this year, Xbox also hiked the prices of its popular subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, and its flagship current-gen console, the Xbox Series X.

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Google Chrome Update Fixes High-Severity Zero-Day Vulnerability That Was Actively Exploited

Google is rolling out a security patch for its Chrome web browser that fixes a security flaw that could allow a malicious user to run dangerous code on a user’s computer. The update is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux computers and users should install the latest version in order to remain protected from the zero-day vulnerability — the sixth one to be patched by Google this year. The company is expected to provide more information once the update has been rolled out to several users.

Spotted by Android Central, the update to Google Chrome 119.0.6045.199 for macOS and Linux began rolling out to users earlier this week, alongside version 119.0.6045.200 for Windows computers with a fix for a zero-day vulnerability in tow. These are flaws that were previously unknown to the developers of the software, making them a target for malicious users.

With the latest Google Chrome update, the company has patched the security bug tracked by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as CVE-2023-6345. While the company hasn’t revealed a great deal of information related to the security flaw, the firm says it knows that “an exploit for CVE-2023-6345 exists in the wild” in its release notes for the latest update. Users should enable automatic updates for Chrome or manually update to the latest versions in order to get the latest fixes.

Meanwhile, the entry for the vulnerability on the NIST website has been assigned a “High” severity level. The description states that it is related to the open source Skia library that is used in Google Chrome. An attacker could use a malicious file to compromise the renderer process and escape the sandbox — a system designed to separate the browser and the system, to keep the latter protected.

The company credits Benoît Sevens and Clément Lecigne from its Threat Analysis Group (TAG) with discovering the vulnerability that was found on November 24 and swiftly patched by the company. At the moment, it is unclear whether other browsers and applications that are also based on Google’s open-source Chromium browser project are also affected by the flaw, or when they will receive updates with security patches.

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Google Play Best of 2023: Several Indian Developers Awarded for Top Apps and Games on the Play Store

Google on Thursday announced the company’s annual list of top games and apps on the Play Store in India. The Google Play Best of 2023 awards have focussed on apps that help users with personal growth, mental health, self-care, and online shopping. The company also points out that several developers are also leveraging AI to bring learning or wellness features to their apps — SwiftChat, Stimuler, and Level SuperMind are some of the Google Play Best of 2023 apps in India.

This year, Google Play’s Best App of the year is Level SuperMind, an app that is looking to bring the pursuit of optimal mind performance on par with that of physical fitness, while THAP: Your Happiness Gym was the User’s Choice App of 2023. On the other hand, Monopoly Go! was Google Play’s Best Game of the year, while Subway Surfers Blast picked up the User’s Choice award in the gaming segment.

Stimuler — an app that helps non-native English speakers prepare for IELTS tests — and chatbot-based learning platform SwiftChat were both awarded the Best with AI award by the search giant. In the Best for Fun category, Google picked Threads — launched by Meta earlier this year as a competitor to X (formerly Twitter) — along with social networking platform Pepul and comics app Dashtoon.

Another notable app that was selected as one of Google’s Best App(s) for Good award was Autism BASICS — an adaptive early intervention app that makes teaching and learning easy for parents of children with autism and other special needs.

Google has awarded gaming titles across various categories
Photo Credit: Google

 

The company also awarded apps designed for larger screens and wearables as part of the Google Play Best of 2023 list. Canva, Everand, and Concepts were the best apps for tablets, while FlipaClip, Evernote, and Wideo were the top picks in the Best for Chromebooks category. Both WhatsApp and Audible were awarded the Best for Watches award.

SuperGaming’s Battle Stars won the Best Made in India award, while Call of Dragons, Road to Valor: Empires, and Undawn were the best multiplayer titles picked by Google. Honkai: Star Rail, MementoMori, and Lost Words: Beyond the Page were the titles that won the Best Story award. Meanwhile, Kurukshetra: Ascension, Block Heads, and Vampire Survivors were selected for the Best Indie category.

After its return to the Play Store in India earlier this year, Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India (also known as BGMI) joined Pokémon Go, and EA Sports FC Mobile Soccer as the Best Ongoing titles in India. Popular title Asphalt 9: Legends was the only title picked for the Best for Google Play Games on PC, while Viking Rise, Doomsday: Last Survivors, and Call of Dragons won the Best for Tablets award — Call of Dragons was also the only title selected for Best Multi-device Game.

You can read the complete list of the best apps and games — including those created by Indian developers and publishers — selected for Google Play’s Best of 2023 awards on the company’s blog post.

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Amazon Announces New AI Chip for AWS Amid Competition With Microsoft

Amazon.com on Tuesday announced a new artificial intelligence chip for its cloud computing service as competition with Microsoft to dominate the market for artificial intelligence heats up.

At a conference in Las Vegas, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Chief Executive Adam Selipsky announced Trainium2, the second generation of chip designed for training AI systems. Selipsky said the new version is four times as fast as its predecessor while being twice as energy efficient.

The AWS move comes weeks after Microsoft announced its own AI chip called Maia. The Trainium2 chip will also compete against AI chips from Alphabet‘s Google, which has offered its Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) to its cloud computing customers since 2018.

Selipsky said that AWS will start offering the new training chips next year. The proliferation of custom chips comes amid a scramble to find the computing power to develop technologies such as large language models that form the basis of services similar to ChatGPT.

The cloud computing firms are offering their chips as a complement to Nvidia, the market leader in AI chips whose products have been in short supply for the past year. AWS also on Tuesday said that it will offer Nvidia’s newest chips on its cloud service.

Selipsky on Tuesday also announced Graviton4, the cloud firm’s fourth custom central processor chip, which it said is 30 percent faster than its predecessor. The news comes weeks after Microsoft announced its own custom chip called Cobalt designed to compete with Amazon’s Graviton series.

Both AWS and Microsoft are using technology from Arm in their chips, part of an ongoing trend away from chips made by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in cloud computing. Oracle is using chips from startup Ampere Computing for its cloud service.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Google App for Android Starts Testing Bottom-Aligned Search Bar for Improved Reachability

Google is testing a new layout for its search app for Android smartphones that will make it much easier to use the handset with one hand. As smartphone screens get bigger, many app developers have begun to move elements of the user interface — including tabs, search bars, and menu buttons — to the bottom of the screen. As part of a new test, Google has reportedly moved the search bar to the bottom of the screen for some users on the app.

Spotted by TheSpAndroid, the new test that brings the search bar to the bottom of the screen on Android was introduced on version 14.48.26.29.arm64 of the app. The company could move the search bar that is usually located higher up on the screen to the bottom. Screenshots shared by the publication show a much taller search bar that is located above the home, search, and saved icons.

Google’s new bottom-aligned search bar
Photo Credit: TheSpAndroid

 

The new location of the search bar on Android is expected to make using the Google search app on Android phones much easier — you will be able to start a search bar with your thumb and then either tap or swipe the keyboard, without using your other hand. The change could come in handy for users with large smartphone displays.

It is worth noting that the test is only available to some users who have updated to the latest beta version of the app — the latest stable version of the app currently available is 14.47.36. Gadgets 360 was unable to access the new layout after updating to the latest beta release via the Play Store, which suggests that the redesign is only available to some beta testers.

Google hasn’t made an announcement related to improving the reachability of the search bar on its Android app, and it’s too early to say whether it will roll out to the change to all users, make it optional, or set it as default. The company previously reversed a design change that brought the search bar to the bottom on Android, then allowed beta testers on iOS to move it to the bottom in August.

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Google Messages Get Support for Ultra HDR Images in RCS Chats: Report

Google’s Messages app has reportedly added Ultra HDR support in RCS (Rich Communication Services) chats. This functionality will allow users to share high-quality images in their RCS messages. The Ultra HDR image format is available on devices running on Android 14. Google’s new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro handsets are among the first to receive the new feature. Google Messages app already offers features like typing indicators, and photo and video sharing among others.

As spotted by TheSpAndroid, Google Messages has gained support for Ultra HDR images in RCS chats. This would let users improve their messaging experience by exchanging Ultra HDR images on RCS chats. Ultra HDR is a new image format that is available on Android 14. Currently, Google’s Pixel 8 lineup is the only Ultra HDR-capable device available.

As per the APK teardown of the app spotted by the publication, the code “bugle.support_ultra_hdr” suggests support for Ultra HDR images in Google Messages. Google reportedly added support for Ultra HDR images back in September just ahead of the launch of the Pixel 8 series.

The Ultra HDR image format was introduced by Google with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. It is a variation of the standard JPEG format with HDR metadata and offers a better image experience with detailed highlights and shadows. The Ultra HDR images can be viewed on HDR and non-HDR displays.

Google Messages already offers several messaging features including read receipts, typing indicators, inline replies, group chats, video calls, and more in RCS chats.

Google’s major rival Apple is planning to bring the RCS protocol to iPhone models in 2024. The new RCS standard will work alongside iMessage. It will debut on iPhone models via a software update next year and add a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android devices.

Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Facebook, YouTube Said to Be Warned Against Misuse of Deepfakes by Indian Government

India’s government on Friday warned social media firms including Facebook and YouTube to repeatedly remind users that local laws prohibit them from posting deepfakes and content that spreads obscenity or misinformation, two sources told Reuters.

The warning was conveyed by deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a closed-door meeting where he said many companies had not updated their usage terms despite 2022 rules that prohibit content “harmful” to children, obscene or that “impersonates another person”.

It comes amid growing concerns over deepfakes — realistic yet fabricated videos created by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms trained on online footage — which a top minister this week said this week India is drawing up rules to address.

Chandrasekhar said the companies must raise awareness of the rules by reminding users every time they log in that they cannot post such content, or by issuing reminders. 

He said otherwise he will issue directions forcing them to do so, said the two sources, who declined to be named as the meeting was private.

The minister described it as a “non-negotiable” demand of the Indian government during the meeting, said one of the sources.

India’s IT ministry said in a press statement all platforms had agreed to align their content guidelines with government rules.

Facebook and Chandrasekhar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Alphabet’s Google, which owns YouTube, said in a statement it was committed to responsible AI development and has robust policies and systems to identify and remove harmful content across its products and platforms.

The Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raised concerns over deepfakes in recent days. 

During a virtual summit of G20 nations on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi called on global leaders to jointly work towards regulating AI, and raised concerns over the negative impact of deepfakes on society.

Countries across the world are racing to draw up rules to regulate AI. India has been tightening regulations of social media companies, which count the South Asian nation as a top growth market. 

Last year, the government privately criticized the companies for not removing what it described as fake news on their sites, which it said had forced it to order content takedowns.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Is the iQoo Neo 7 Pro the best smartphone you can buy under Rs. 40,000 in India? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and what it has to offer on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Google Maps Shares New Features to Protect Against Fake Content, Harmful Reviews

Google Maps has received a few major updates this month, adding Immersive View for routes, bringing new AI features and, more recently, a visual overhaul that brings a new colour palette to the app. While Maps is usually a reliable way to check up information on places like restaurants, cinemas, ATM locations and other establishments, it is not immune to fake reviews and misleading content. In a bid to make Maps more robust, Google has now shared three new ways it prevents policy-violating content from being submitted.

In a blog post shared Wednesday, Google explained that it monitors unusual patterns in user contributed content, for example a spike in one-star reviews for an establishment, and takes appropriate action to prevent abuse. “This can include everything from taking down policy-violating content to temporarily disabling new contributions,” the blog said. The company also looks at policy violating reviews and investigates accounts that left said reviews.

Secondly, Google also works to protect places and establishments ahead of sensitive moments, for example an election, when the company anticipates an uptick in unrelated and unhelpful content on Maps. Google says it limits contributors’ ability to make edits to phone numbers, addresses and other information to curb down on misleading content

Further, the search engine giant has put in place long-term protections against unhelpful and harmful user contributions. This would, as an example, include negative reviews of places like police stations and prisons. “A set of frameworks helps us evaluate how helpful user input might be for these types of places, and based on the outcome we may apply restrictions ranging from limiting contributions to blocking a specific type of content to blocking contributed content altogether,” Google said.

In cases where user contributions have been restricted, contributors may get a banner that notifies them that the functionality is turned off. Despite restrictions, however, users can look up helpful information like phone number, address and website for places.

Last month, Google rolled out Immersive View for routes feature as part of a new Maps update, which lets users preview their route step-by-step while driving, walking, or cycling. The feature is available in select cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo, and Venice on both Android and iOS. Additionally, Google also added an AI-powered Lens in Maps feature to help users understand their surroundings in real time.

More recently, Google also rolled out an all-new colour palette for Google Maps, overhauling all visual aspects of the app. Roads and streets have been changed from off-white colour to grey and the greens and blues for parks or water bodies have also changed noticeably. Highways are also no longer yellow, adopting a darker grey colour scheme.

Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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