Germany and Canada launch their own antitrust investigations into Amazon
What just happened? Canada and Germany's antitrust watchdogs are the latest entities to focus their attention on Amazon's business practices, after the US and the EU started their sweeping antitrust probes into Big Tech's monopolistic behavior. German authorities are interested to see how Amazon treats third-party traders selling on its site and whether it uses their data to make its own competing products.
According to a Reuters report , Germany is also looking at accusations that the retail giant has been using predatory prices to corner the competition
Microsoft 365 is dropping support for Internet Explorer 11 next year
In brief: Most people seem to agree that Microsoft's new Chromium-based Edge browser is a significant upgrade over both Internet Explorer and the original Edge. However, both browsers undoubtedly still have their core fans, which may be disappointed to hear today's news: in 2021, they will finally be put out to pasture.
The process is technically beginning this year, on November 30: when that day rolls around, the Microsoft Teams web app will finally stop supporting Internet Explorer 11
Google says its free services in Australia are 'at risk' with proposed media bargaining regulation
In a nutshell: Google is butting heads again with Australia's top competition watchdog group. The ACCC is consulting on regulations that the Mountain View tech giant says would give news outlets an unfair advantage in negotiations in how much Google pays them for content.
Google has published an open letter to its Australian audience, warning them of the consequences of regulations currently under consideration in their country. The announcement pops up on the Australian version of the Google home page with a link to the letter.
"The way Aussies use Google
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is a new co-op multiplayer mode coming later this year
Why it matters: Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch Productions revealed on Monday that it is working on a cooperative online multiplayer mode for the newly minted action-adventure game that’ll ship as a free update by year's end.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is described as an entirely new experience. Whereas the base game features an open world with a focus on exploring the environment’s natural beauty, Legends is said to be more haunting and fantastical and will concentrate on action and cooperative combat.
It won’
Factorio exits Early Access after eight years of work
In context: One part SimCity, one part tower defense, Factorio was featured as one of our picks for great games you can play on budget PCs. That's because despite being in Steam Early Access, it is fully functioning, easy on the hardware, and very fun.
Wait. Did I just say Factorio is in Early Access? Scratch that. That's right, Factorio just officially moved to Version 1.0 last Friday. Last year, Prague-based developer Wube
Ancient lava tubes on the Moon and Mars could double as human bases
Editor's take: Future astronauts could one day utilize natural structures already in place on the Moon and Mars as the foundation for human colonies. Not having to build above-ground bases would save massive amounts of money and could expedite the colonization of these bodies by many years.
Researchers from the University of Bologna in collaboration with those from the University of Padua have compared lava tubes here on Earth with counterparts on the Moon and Mars. The cave-like structures, also called pyroducts, are a natural conduit created by
Macs are now covered under Apple's independent repair provider program
The big picture: Apple is expanding a program that grants independent repair shops access to the same genuine parts and training that authorized Apple service centers have at their disposal. For the first time, third-party repair centers can now work on Macs with Apple’s blessing.
As you may recall, Apple launched its independent repair initiative last summer . Critically, the program only covered issues affecting out-of-warranty iPhones.
Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, told Reuters that when a device needs repairs
Flight Simulator 2020 sets a new standard
IBM unveils Power10 processor at Hot Chips conference
Editor's take: Perhaps most fascinating of all, however, is a new technology called Memory Inception. With it, the IBM Power10 is able to access and share physical memory installed in other Power10-based systems to create massive memory clusters that can be used by any of the systems in a group.
IBM during the Hot Chips 2020 conference on Monday announced the next generation of its IBM Power central processing unit family.
The IBM Power10 is the company’s first
Xbox boss Phil Spencer: we don't care if the PS5 sells more
Why it matters: You might think that all companies judge the success of their consoles by unit sales, but not Microsoft, apparently. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer recently admitted that the Redmond firm isn’t concerned about selling more machines than rivals Sony and Nintendo.
Speaking on an episode of Gary Whitta’s Animal Talking podcast , Spencer said, “If [selling more consoles than Sony and Nintendo] was our approach, we wouldn’t put our games on PC. We