Jan 21
What The President Can’t Fix
Posted in: Today's ChiliWas Biden’s first year a failure?
Jan 21
<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="708304" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/microsofts-post-windows-phone-vision-leaks-but-dont-get-your-hopes-up-21708295/microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="
Image: Microsoft
” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/microsoft_surface_duo_2_10-1-1-1280×720.jpg” />While Microsoft’s Windows Phone ambitions are well and truly dead at this point, there was a time when the company was plotting a follow-up to the ill-fated mobile operating system. That follow-up was known internally as Andromeda OS, and it was being developed as the operating system for the Surface Duo. Sadly, Microsoft’s plan to create a version of Windows … Continue reading
Jan 21
Google has filed a motion to dismiss most of an ad tech-focused antitrust lawsuit brought forward by a group of state attorneys general. It has requested that a federal court dismiss four of the six charges with prejudice, which would prevent them from being brought back to the same court.
“The complaint misrepresents our business, products and motives, and we are moving to dismiss it based on its failure to offer plausible antitrust claims,” Adam Cohen, Google’s director of economic policy, wrote in a blog post. The company says the plaintiffs failed to provide evidence of wrongdoing for several of their allegations and that much of the suit “is based on outdated information that bears no correlation to our current products or business in this dynamic industry (and in any event never amounted to a violation of antitrust laws).”
The AGs, who are led by Texas AG Ken Paxton, claimed Google abused its power to shore up its position in the online ads market. They said the company agreed a “sweetheart deal” in 2018 that gave Facebook parent Meta a boost in ad header bidding (a type of tech allows publishers to solicit bids from multiple ad exchanges simultaneously) in exchange for support for Google’s Open Bidding method of selling ads.
Google said the deal was above board and that it wasn’t a secret, as Facebook Audience Network (FAN) was one of several partners for its Open Bidding program. Cohen said the deal “does not provide FAN with an advantage in the Open Bidding auction. FAN competes in the auction just like other bidders: FAN must make the highest bid to win a given impression, period. If another eligible network or exchange bids higher, they win the auction.”
The AGs also alleged that Google harnessed at least three programs to manipulate ad auctions. The aim, according to the states, was to push publishers and advertisers into using the company’s own tools.
“State Plaintiffs respond to Google’s success by seeking to compel Google to share with its competitors the fruits of its investments and innovation,” Google wrote in its filing. “They criticize Google for not designing its products to better suit its rivals’ needs and for making improvements to those products that leave its competitors too far behind. They see the ‘solution’ to Google’s success as holding Google back, rather than letting market forces urge its competitors forward.”
As Reuters notes, the two other charges in the suit are based on state law and were stayed in September. Although Google hasn’t asked for those to be dismissed, it reserved the right to make that request at a later date.
Jan 21
Wild and domestic rabbits across the country are dealing with a deadly and highly contagious viral illness that can kill up to 80% of victims. Known as rabbit hemorrhagic disease, cases of a relatively new type of the illness have been spotted in over a dozen different states since 2020. Officials are warning bunny…
Jan 21
The Supernatural TV Series Gets a Podcast Because Nature Abhors a Supernatural Vacuum
Posted in: Today's Chili
It’s been one year, two months, and two days since the series finale of Supernatural aired on November 19, 2020, leaving fans who had spent the previous 15 years watching Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) fight the forces of evil bereft, lost in a world without new Supernatural content. Praise…
Jan 21
Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra Announce They’ve Welcomed Their First Child Via Surrogate
Posted in: Today's Chili“We are overjoyed,” the couple said in their Instagram announcement.
Jan 21
<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/canoncam-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="man with new canon camera" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="708311" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/canon-eos-r5-c-revealed-with-8k-video-and-hybrid-intent-21708309/canoncam/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/canoncam.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="canoncam" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="
Image: Canon
” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/canoncam-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/canoncam-1280×720.jpg” />Canon has just unveiled its upcoming Canon EOS R5 C hybrid camera, set to release in March 2022. The camera is said to offer equally good performance in terms of taking still photos as it does in video recordings. With 8K video recording capabilities and a 45-megapixel photo resolution, it just might be quite the powerhouse of a camera. Canon … Continue reading
Jan 21
A court in California has ordered Benjamin Robert Simon to pay $150,000 in damages to the creator of Roblox, reports Polygon. Roblox Corporation sued Simon in November, accusing the YouTuber of harassing its player base and repeatedly skirting its efforts to keep him off the platform. At the time, the company initially sought $1.65 million in damages from Simon.
Roblox Corporation’s allegations against Simon, who is better known as Ruben Sim on YouTube, were numerous. The company said it had originally banned him from Roblox for using homophobic and racist slurs, as well as sexually harassing other players and uploading photos of Adolf Hitler.
The court ordered Simon to stay off the platform. He has also agreed not to make or publish “false threats of terrorist activity relating to Roblox.” One of the most serious accusations the game’s developer leveled against Simon was that he posted “false and misleading terrorist threats” that led to a temporary shutdown of the 2021 Roblox Developers Conference in San Francisco. The company claims it cost $50,000 to investigate the threat and secure the venue.
Simon has also been ordered not to go near the company’s offices. In its original complaint, Roblox Corporation accused Simon of glamorizing a 2018 shooting incident at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California, and threatening a copycat act of violence at its own office in nearby San Mateo.
Simon told Polygon he plans to upload a video about the complaint on his YouTube channel sometime in the “next couple months.” The Roblox Corporation declined to comment on the outcome of the case.
Jan 21
Jean-Luc’s next trip is going to throw him all over Star Trek’s realities and timelines, so it’s probably for the best that he knows a few folks who can help puzzle that stuff out. Problem is: he knows a few enemies that can do just that, too.
Jan 21
Peloton Is Spinning Out of Control
Posted in: Today's Chili
After enjoying rapid growth during the pandemic, which boosted sales of its at-home exercise equipment, Peloton is now careening off the rails. Internal documents obtained by CNBC suggest Peloton will soon take drastic measures to control costs and account for declining demand.
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