A man who the Department of Justice says unlocked AT&T customers’ phones for a fee was sentenced to 12 years in prison, in what the judge called “a terrible cybercrime over an extended period,” which allegedly continued even after authorities were on to the scheme. According to a news release from the DOJ, in 2012, Read more about Judge in pocket of big business throws book at Man who unlocked nearly 2 million AT&T phones: 12 years in prison[…]

South Korea’s competition regulator on Tuesday announced it will fine Google 207.4 billion Korean won ($176.9 million) for allegedly using its dominant market position in the mobile operating system space to stifle competition. Google’s Android operating system currently holds the lion’s share of the smartphone market, ahead of Apple’s iOS platform. The U.S. tech giant Read more about South Korea’s antitrust regulator fines Google $177 million for stifling innovation and competition[…]

Docker will restrict use of the free version of its Docker Desktop utility to individuals or small businesses, and has introduced a new more expensive subscription, as it searches for a sustainable business model. The company has renamed its Free plan to “Personal” and now requires that businesses with 250 or more employees, or higher Read more about Docker Desktop no longer free for large companies: New ‘Business’ subscription is here[…]

Epic Games’ objections to Google’s business practices became clearer on Thursday with the release of previously redacted accusations in the gaming giant’s lawsuit against the internet goliath. Those accusations included details of a Google-run operation dubbed Project Hug that aimed to sling hundreds of millions of dollars at developers to get them to remain within Read more about Epic lawsuit’s latest claims: Google slipped tons of cash to game devs, Android makers to cement Play store dominance[…]

Ethereum is making big changes. Perhaps the most important is the jettisoning of the “miners” who track and validate transactions on the world’s most-used blockchain network. Miners are the heart of a system known as proof of work. It was pioneered by Bitcoin and adopted by Ethereum, and has come under increasing criticism for its Read more about Etherium gets rid of miners and electricity costs in 2022 update[…]

Pfizer is raising the price of its covid-19 vaccine in Europe by over 25% under a newly negotiated contract with the European Union, according to a report from the Financial Times. Competitor Moderna is also hiking the price of its vaccine in Europe by roughly 10%. Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine is already expected to generate the Read more about Pfizer Hikes Price of Covid-19 Vaccine by 25% in Europe[…]

Chinese antitrust watchdog, State Administration of Market Supervision (SAMR), announced Tuesday it has started investigating price gouging in the automotive chip market. The regulatory body promised to strengthen supervision and punish illegal acts such as hoarding, price hikes and collusive price increases. SAMR singled out distributors as the object of its ire. In the early Read more about Chinese regulators go after price gauging in car chip industry[…]

Nvidia’s Shield TVs are some of the best streaming video boxes on the market, but following a recent update to Android TV, Shield TV users are starting to see ads on their home screen and they aren’t happy about it. The latest update to Android TV on Shield TV devices began rolling out earlier this Read more about Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads in Android TV – wtf are manufacturers doing advertising on products you actually own?[…]

A Which? investigation has found that printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids consumers can purchase when bought from the big inkjet printer manufacturers – and people could save a small fortune by opting for third-party alternatives.  Which? research has uncovered that inkjet printer ink bought from the manufacturer could be up to Read more about Litre of printer ink? That’ll be £2,410 please. One of the most expensive consumer liquids on the planet – 3rd party ink much cheaper, blocked by manufacturers…[…]

You can spot a veteran of the Browser Wars a mile off. These fearsome conflicts, fought across the desktops of the world not 20 years ago, left deep scars. […] By Gen XP, it was all over and the internet desktop was under total Empire control. Then came the Rebel Alliance of Chrome and Firefox, Read more about Windows 11 reopens browser wars by including Teams[…]

The mastermind behind what the government says is one of the largest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes prosecuted in the US has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. While crypto scams have been getting increasingly common, Swedish citizen Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson defrauded thousands of victims and stole tens of millions of dollars over a period that Read more about Major crypto scammer sentenced to 15 years in prison[…]

As expected, Google is facing a fresh legal assault regarding its Play Store, the 30 per cent cut it took from developers’ revenues via the software souk, and other rules and restrictions. In an antitrust lawsuit [PDF] filed in a federal district court in San Francisco on Wednesday, 36 US states and commonwealths, plus Washington Read more about Three-dozen US states plus DC sue Google over Play Store’s revenue cut, payment system, and more[…]

The Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against Broadcom over allegations that the chip maker monopolized the market for semiconductor components, the agency announced Friday. According to the commission’s complaint, Broadcom entered into long-term exclusivity and loyalty agreements with both original equipment manufacturers and service providers to prevent them from buying chips from Broadcom’s rivals. Read more about FTC Charges Broadcom With Monopolization of Chip Industry[…]

DAN HOWLEY: On July 5, Jeff Bezos, the richest person on Earth, will officially step down as CEO of the company he founded in 1994. Amazon will continue to exist, of course. It’s one of the wealthiest publicly traded companies in the world with a market capitalization of $1.7 trilion […] As for Bezos, he’ll Read more about Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon’s CEO After 27 Years[…]

Near the end of the Epic v. Apple trial, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers had some pointed questions for Tim Cook on the state of Apple’s relationship with its developers. Citing an internal survey of developers, she noted that 39 percent of them indicated they were unhappy with the App Store’s distribution. What incentive, then, she Read more about Apple’s developer problems are much bigger than Epic and ‘Fortnite’[…]

  The Dividend Aristocrats in 2021 Legendary investor George Soros once said, “Good investing should be boring”. But an increase in volatile themes today suggests this maxim has gone ignored by at least some market participants. From a high level, we can view investments on a spectrum. Volatile assets like cryptocurrencies and SPACs are more Read more about Who Are the Dividend Aristocrats in 2021?[…]

Billionaire Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, has publicly condemned “confiscatory taxes.” He’s been a major funder of one of the most prominent anti-tax political action committees in the country. And he’s bankrolled a group that promotes building floating nations that would impose no compulsory income taxes. But Thiel doesn’t need a man-made island to Read more about Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank[…]

The Wall Street Journal reports: Authorities in the U.K. and Japan took aim at affiliates of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange network, in the latest regulatory crackdown on the wildly popular trade in bitcoin and other digital assets. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, the country’s lead financial regulator, told consumers Saturday that Read more about Regulators Crack Down on Crypto Exchange Binance in UK, Japan, Germany, and Ontario, Canada[…]

We’ve written so many stories about how you don’t own what you’ve bought any more due to software controls, DRM, and ridiculous contracts, and it keeps getting worse. The latest such example involves Peloton, which is most known for its extremely expensive stationary bikes with video screens, so that you can take classes (usually on Read more about You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Peloton Treadmill Edition[…]