TikTok owner ByteDance is reportedly still searching for non-sale options to stay in the US after the Supreme Court upheld a national security law requiring that TikTok's US operations either be shut down or sold to a non-foreign adversary.
Last weekend, TikTok briefly went dark in the US, only to come back online hours later after Donald Trump reassured ByteDance that the US law would not be enforced. Then, shortly after Trump took office, he signed an executive order delaying enforcement for 75 days while he consulted with advisers to "pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans."
Trump's executive order did not suggest that he intended to attempt to override the national security law's ban-or-sale requirements. But that hasn't stopped ByteDance, board member Bill Ford told World Economic Forum (WEF) attendees, from searching for a potential non-sale option that "could involve a change of control locally to ensure it complies with US legislation," Bloomberg reported.
Fitbit has settled with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over a longstanding defeat that caused some wearers to sustain burns. The deal finds the Google-owned fitness company paying a $12.25 million penalty for the issues surround its Ionic smartwatch. The issue dates back to 2018, continuing on into 2020. Fitbit agreed to recall […]
Epic Games had previously announced plans to bring third-party games to its mobile app, which is available worldwide on Android devices and on iOS in the European Union. The company will also offer a rotating selection of titles for free on mobile. Bloons TD 6 and Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee will be the first two free titles. In a post on X, Epic said it was still fixing some bugs before launching the new games on its platform.
But the company made waves today with a move that could encourage popular games to join its free games program. Epic plans to cover the cost of the Core Technology Fee on iOS for participants' first year. Apple charges a CTF of 50 euro cents for any install of an iOS app once it surpasses 1 million annual downloads and uses a third-party store. Apps with global revenue of less than €10 million have a three-year grace period.
A blog post from Epic and shared with The Verge says that covering the fees "is not financially viable for every third party app store or for Epic long term, but we’ll do it while the European Commission investigates Apple’s non-compliance with the law." The law in question is the Digital Markets Act, a digital competition law in Europe which has already targeted Apple.
Fees levied by Apple and Google for use of their platforms has been a source of great debate in the tech and gaming spheres. Epic Games has been in conflict with Apple severaltimes over the years, alleging the tech giant has engaged in anti-competitive behavior.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-games-to-cover-some-ios-fees-in-ongoing-war-with-apple-204525888.html?src=rss
A week after DirecTV launched its first sports-only streaming package, Comcast unveiled a similar offering that adds news to the mix. The Xfinity Sports & News TV package combines over 50 broadcast, cable news and sports channels with Peacock, DVR storage and more.
Although Xfinity Sports & News is being widely marketed and reported as costing $70 monthly, there’s some extensive fine print attached. (With Comcast?? Can’t be.)
First, that price only applies to Xfinity Internet or Xfinity TV customers (new or existing). You’ll pay at least $90 monthly if you want to stick with home internet from elsewhere. On top of that, your monthly price goes up by $10 without automatic billing through a bank account. Autopay with a credit or debit card adds an extra $8.
So, it can be as little as $70 or as much as $100 per month. Plus tax. This is only a good deal compared to YouTube TV (which recently raised prices again) or Hulu + Live TV if you’re already an Xfinity Internet customer who’s cool with automatic payments.
Even then, whether it’s a bargain will depend on whether it has all the content you want. Its national cable news lineup includes CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox News. It has ESPN, FS1, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, GOLF Channel and SEC Network for live sports channels. Also on tap are local broadcast channels, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo and Univision affiliates. Plus, you get Peacock (which includes live sports in addition to its on-demand fare) and other extras like 300 hours of cloud DVR storage.
If you want the best viewing experience, you’ll need an Xfinity X1 TV box, only available for Xfinity cable customers. But since that would be somewhat redundant, you can still watch through the Xfinity Stream app on streaming boxes like Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and mobile devices.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/comcasts-sports-and-news-streaming-bundle-starts-at-70-monthly-203017976.html?src=rss
A screenshot from a video of TerraPower’s groundbreaking ceremony for its demonstration project in Wyoming.
TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, struck a deal this week with one of the largest data center developers in the US to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear energy from small reactors.
Tech companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they’ll need for energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting growing pressure on power grids. They’re increasingly turning to nuclear energy, including next-generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.
“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a press release.
A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a “strategic collaboration” that’ll initially look into the potential for new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would power SDC’s data centers.
There’s still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles and prove that they can be commercially viable.
Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining and storing radioactive waste near communities.
“I’m a big believer that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very, very important. There are designs that, in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste, I think, minimize those problems,” Gates told The Verge last year.
TerraPower’s reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030.
Microsoft made a deal in September to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island. Both Google and Amazon, meanwhile, announced plans last year to support the development of advanced reactors to power their data centers.
This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: an iPhone 17 Air leak, Apple’s spring product details, iOS 19 redesigns, and more. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.
Keir Starmer has been accused of "pathetic bullying" by a Norfolk environmental campaigner who was singled out and ridiculed by the prime minister in an article in the Daily Mail.
While Meta lures TikTok creators to Instagram and Facebook with cash bonuses, its X competitor Instagram Threads is now making things easier for creators, brands, and others who need more professional tools to manage their presence on the app. On Thursday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced a small handful of new features coming to Threads, […]
Autograph, the $3.1 billion valuation NFT company co-founded by Tom Brady, is merging with the digital fitness company Future. As part of the merger, Brady will join the board of directors of Future and serve as co-chair of the company. Brady co-founded Autograph in 2021 to find ways to connect athletes and artists with fans, […]
CNN is laying off more employees and making plans to launch another streaming service, according to a memo from CEO Mark Thompson obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. Around 200 employees jobs are being cut, affecting six percent of CNN's current staff.
The changes are being made in response to "profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news," according to Thompson. Launching a new streaming service after the abject failure of CNN+ — the former streaming home of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy — is apparently tied to that same thinking.
According to Thompson:
Today, I can announce that we plan to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose. It's early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America but across much of the world.
Some of CNN's shows are already available on Max, the streaming service of its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, but this new service would presumably be a benefit for subscribers who pay for CNN directly. The company launched a subscription to CNN.com in October 2024 for $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
Given the less than 10,000 daily users CNN+ was reportedly able to bring in, it definitely seems like any new streaming service will have an uphill battle.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/another-cnn-streaming-service-is-coming-because-that-totally-worked-last-time-201116927.html?src=rss
FILE PHOTO: The CNN logo stands outside the venue of the second Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidates debate, in the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
18F is a much-hyped government agency within the General Services Administration that was founded under the Obama Administration after the disastrous rollout of Healthcare.gov. It more or less had the specific goal of attracting Silicon Valley talent to the federal government to help the government innovate and make many of its websites and digital services suck less. It is one of the “cooler” federal agencies, and has open sourced many of its projects on GitHub.
GitHub is a website for open source development that shows changes across different “commits,” or changes to code and documentation. In the first days of the Trump administration, 18F’s commit list is full of change logs detailing the administration’s attempts to destroy the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The changes show that in the last 48 hours, 18F has edited text and wholesale deleted both internal and external web pages about, for example “Inclusive behaviors,” “healthy conflict and constructive feedback,” “DEIA resources,” and “Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.” It deleted a webpage about “psychological safety” (which now 404s) deleted all information about the “DE&I leads” at the agency, as well as language for employees that said "Anyone who has issues or concerns related to inclusion or equity in the 18F engineering chapter should feel empowered to reach out to the DE&I Leads.” It has deleted, in various places, the word “inclusion,” as well as the term “affinity groups.”
It also deleted an internal Slack Bot called “Inclusion Bot,” which is described as being “integrated into Slack and passively listens for words or phrases that have racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise exclusionary or discriminatory histories or backgrounds. When it hears those words, it privately lets the writer know and offers some suggested alternatives.”
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Do you work for the federal government? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 202 505 1702. Otherwise, send me an email at [email protected].
It has also notably deleted information intended for improving accessibility for blind and visually impaired employees, which asked employees to use “visual descriptions” when introducing themselves on Zoom meetings.
In a hiring document, the language “Teams should consider factors of equity and complexity of the research when determining compensation for participants on their project” has been changed to “team should consider other factors or complexity of the research.”
National CineMedia (NCM), the U.S. representative of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity's Young Lions Competition, has selected WhyHunger as its official non-profit partner for 2025. WhyHunger provides resources to grassroots movements working to end hunger and poverty, support sustainable community solutions, and advocate for food justice. The nonprofit will be featured in the...
President Donald Trump isn’t happy with how European Union regulators have treated U.S.-based tech companies including: Google, Meta, and Apple. On stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump put EU regulators on blast. He said that the EU’s cases against these U.S. tech companies are “a form of taxation,” according to Bloomberg reporting. […]
