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- Google hit with Epic legal bomb
Google hit with Epic legal bomb
PLUS: Biocomputer combines brain + electronics
Rowan Cheung
December 13, 2023
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Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.
Epic Games just secured a landscape-rattling legal victory — with a jury determining Google illegally monopolized power through its App Store model.
The court’s decision could have massive implications for the app economy as we know it. Let’s dig deeper…
In today’s tech rundown:
Epic's legal bomb detonates App Store model
Hybrid ‘biocomputer’ harnesses brain cells
8 new products
Bezos, Blue Origin set date for next launch
Adobe’s Spectrum 2 design system update
Google Fiber announces prices, new U.S. cities
Read time: 3 minutes
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Image source: The Verge
The Rundown: Fortnite creator Epic Games just scored a victory over Google in its antitrust lawsuit, with the jury unanimously ruling in favor of claims that the tech giant monopolized the market through its charging of commissions as high as 30% on developers.
The details:
The unanimous consumer jury ruled Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct by forcing its billing system and making side deals with companies like Spotify.
Legal experts and Epic's CEO say additional dominoes will now fall, requiring cuts to fees.
Google makes an estimated $10B yearly from its Play Store cut, which analysts figure loses $1.3B per 5 percentage points reduced — with Apple's App Store revenue facing similar jeopardy.
Why it matters: In an epic (🥁) battle that Google has fought for over three years, the tech giant suffers a serious blow in a win for developers — with the walled gardens of app stores about to see some major reform.
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BRAIN TECH
Image source: Science Photo Library
The Rundown: Scientists at the University of Indiana Bloomington just developed an innovative "Brainoware" system, integrating lab-grown human brain cells with electronic circuits to achieve feats like voice recognition.
The details:
Researchers linked mini-brains called "organoids" made of human neurons to chips with thousands of electrodes, allowing a two-way flow of information.
Brainoware recognized voices from recordings, with the tissue creating electric patterns that AI decoded to speakers with 78% accuracy.
Such human-based computing could enable far more energy efficient AI someday, while also promising better lab models of brain disorders.
Our thoughts: The combination of brain tissue and electronics alone sounds like something right out of science fiction — but the future of biological computing as a field may be much wilder than we can even imagine.
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SNIPPETS
Blue Origin is targeting December 18 for the long-delayed return launch of its New Shepard rocket after a 15+ month grounding, pending FAA approval.
Google Fiber revealed its lightning-fast 20Gbps fiber internet service will cost $250 per month, starting rollout in early 2024 to Kansas City, North Carolina, Arizona and Iowa.
BlackBerry canceled its planned spinoff of its IoT unit and named John Giamatteo as its new CEO, dropping the previously announced restructuring plan in favor of reorganizing while aiming for profitability.
Adobe launched Spectrum 2, a refreshed design system coming to 100+ apps starting in early 2024, aiming for a more vibrant, accessible and approachable user experience.
Meta is launching an early test of multimodal AI features in its Ray-Ban smart glasses — which use the camera and mics to let the virtual assistant describe surroundings and suggest relevant info on visuals.
The FCC made a final rejection of SpaceX's Starlink subsidiary's application for $885M in government rural broadband funds, ruling that the company did not demonstrate it could deliver the proposed service.
Netflix published its first "What We Watched" report detailing viewing hours for all titles on the platform above 50K hours, aiming to boost transparency.
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THAT’S A WRAP
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