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Free game giveaways will now be a regular occurrence on the Epic Games mobile store, with new games available for download every week on Android devices.
Hopetown, a psychogeographic RPG reminiscent of Disco Elysium, is set to launch on Kickstarter on March 17. The project is developed by Longdue, which includes new talent from the Disco Elysium team. However, it faces legal disputes involving Moola, the founder of Longdue, who is suing former Disco Elysium writer Argo Tuulik and ex-employee Dora Klindžić over a non-compete clause. An injunction prevents Tuulik and Klindžić from working with their new collective, Summer Eternal. Moola has been banned from the Disco Elysium subreddit for allegedly promoting Hopetown and defending Longdue amid criticism. Despite controversies, Hopetown features narration by Lenval Brown and technical support from Piotr Sobolewski, both associated with Disco Elysium. Longdue, established in November, is in preproduction, raising concerns about its readiness for crowdfunding. The gaming community remains skeptical about investing in a project from an unproven studio, especially with competing indie RPGs emerging and Studio ZA/UM teasing a follow-up to Disco Elysium.
In 2020, Avast faced backlash for collecting user data without adequate disclosure and selling it to over a hundred companies through its subsidiary, Jumpshot. Investigations revealed vulnerabilities in their anonymization process, allowing users to be re-identified. In response to public outcry, Avast shut down Jumpshot and CEO Ondrej Vlcek apologized. The FTC initiated an investigation, resulting in penalties for Avast in February 2024, including a ban on selling user data and a settlement of .5 million. Customers who purchased Avast products between August 2014 and January 2020 may be eligible for a refund, with emails containing Claim Numbers sent starting February 24, 2025. Refund amounts will depend on the number of claims filed.
Amazon will close its Appstore for Android smartphones on August 20, marking the end of its mobile app initiatives after over a decade of challenges. The Appstore, launched in 2011, struggled to compete with Google Play Store and had only 0.1% installation on Android devices by its shutdown announcement. Existing users can continue to use downloaded apps until at least August 2025, but Amazon has stopped selling Amazon Coins. The closure coincides with ongoing antitrust scrutiny of Google. Amazon will still operate its Appstore for Fire devices, which use a modified version of Android.
Elon Musk has blocked links to the encrypted messaging app Signal on his platform, X, causing concerns about the selective application of free speech. Cybersecurity researchers reported that accessing Signal links results in a warning page, although users can still proceed. Donald Trump is advocating for leniency towards Andrew Tate, who, along with his brother, faces serious legal charges in Romania but has temporarily blocked his indictment and remains under investigation. Musk's DOGE initiative seeks access to sensitive taxpayer information from the IRS, prompting ethical and security concerns among officials. Musk has also expressed support for Trump's criticisms of CBS’s 60 Minutes, reflecting a growing alignment with Trump's narrative against mainstream media. The Associated Press is in conflict with the Trump administration over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," resulting in the revocation of its access to significant areas like the Oval Office and Air Force One.
Bill Gates humorously compared the transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11 to a significant NBA trade, noting that Windows 10 holds a 60.33% market share. He also predicted that artificial intelligence could replace humans in various tasks but suggested that audiences might not enjoy watching computers play baseball.
Nintendo is preparing for a potential legal battle with Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld, despite the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejecting 22 out of 23 of Nintendo's patent claims. Nintendo has secured a patent related to creature capturing mechanics and is pursuing additional patents.
Avowed, an upcoming title from Xbox Game Studios and Obsidian Entertainment, is set to launch on February 18 and currently holds a score of around 80 on Metacritic, with early reviews praising its RPG elements.
Microsoft faced criticism over a misleading webpage about uninstalling its Edge browser, which was quickly removed. Although uninstalling Edge is possible, many users may prefer to keep it installed.
Microsoft has shifted the development of the IVAS militarized augmented reality headset to Anduril Industries, marking a significant move away from its HoloLens initiative, which includes the cancellation of HoloLens 3.
The ASUS Zenbook Duo and Turtle Beach VelocityOne Multi-Shift received commendable scores of 4.5 out of 5 stars in reviews, with the Zenbook Duo praised for its performance and battery life, and the VelocityOne Multi-Shift recognized for its versatility for gamers.
TikTok has returned to the app stores of both Apple and Android in the United States after being removed due to a divest-or-ban law enacted by former President Joe Biden, which raised national security concerns about its parent company, ByteDance. The app was inaccessible since late January, despite its service remaining operational. A Supreme Court ruling on January 17 upheld the ban, leading to TikTok's reinstatement by Apple and Android shortly thereafter. During TikTok's removal, there was a surge in secondhand sales of used iPhones pre-installed with the app, and competitors like Meta-owned Instagram announced new applications to rival TikTok. Users also explored alternative platforms like Clapper and RedNote during TikTok's absence.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Ironmace did not infringe upon Nexon’s copyright related to the P3 project in the development of the game Dark and Darker. However, the court ordered Ironmace to pay 8.5 billion won (approximately .87 million) in damages to Nexon, acknowledging the impact of Ironmace's actions on fair market competition. Nexon has been involved in this legal battle since 2021, claiming that a former lead from its P3 project misappropriated source codes and data to create Ironmace and develop Dark and Darker. Nexon plans to pursue further legal action through a higher court. Ironmace expressed respect for the court's ruling.
Meta has acknowledged using torrents to download a dataset known as LibGen, which contains tens of millions of pirated books, for training its AI models. Recent reports indicate that Meta downloaded at least 81.7 terabytes of data from various shadow libraries, including a minimum of 35.7 terabytes from Z-Library and 80.6 terabytes from LibGen. The scale of Meta's illegal torrent activity has been described as staggering, with the writers highlighting that much smaller acts of data piracy led to a criminal investigation. A judge rejected Meta's attempt to prevent the disclosure of its use of pirated books, stating that the company's actions were aimed at avoiding negative publicity. Additionally, Meta had previously trained its language model, Llama, on fragments from a dataset called Books3, which includes around 196,000 books sourced from the internet, without publicly acknowledging the use of LibGen data until now.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed that Google divest its Chrome browser as part of addressing alleged antitrust violations. In response, Google has suggested alternative proposals that focus on its financial arrangements with partners like Apple and Mozilla, rather than breaking up its products. Google's proposed remedies include a three-year prohibition on bundling licenses for Chrome, Search, and Google Play with other applications, while still allowing payments for default search placement in browsers. Google plans to appeal a ruling by Judge Amit Mehta that labeled it a monopolist and intends to submit a revised proposal by March 7th before a trial in April.
