News written by James Delahunty (January, 2019)

Due to anti-gambling policies in Belgium, Electronic Arts (EA) will stop Belgians from purchasing Fifa Points in the country.

Players will still be able to earn Fifa Points, but not able to buy them after the gambling regulator in the country threatened action. With the points, players can make digital purchases in-game. The Belgian gambling commission has been cracking down on 'loot boxes' in games, which are virtual crates in games that contain weapons and other items used in games.

According to the Belgian Gambling Commission, loot boxes are essentially the same as gambling because they are games of chance.

"After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering Fifa Points for sale in Belgium," EA said in a statement.

"We're working to make these changes effective in our Fifa console and PC games by 31 January 2019. While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities' interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward."

Source: BBC News

Gamers reported a variety of issues with their Xbox One consoles on Wednesday, including a black screen issue that saw the console completely unusable.

Microsoft was acknowledging the reports throughout the day and confirmed that the issues were caused by a service change. Among the reported issues were problems signing in, problems with title updates and unresponsive guides. The worst issue, however, was a black screen on startup, rendering the consoles unusable altogether.

Microsoft has since identified the issue that was caused by a service change and has rolled back, which should fix the problems being experienced by users.

The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved. Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening.

-- Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019

Apple says Facebook has been abusing its membership of the Enterprise Development Program to push data-collecting apps to consumers.

Earlier this week it emerged that Facebook had been paying $20 a month to users aged between 17 and 35 to monitor their activity online. This was achieved by sideloading a VPN app onto the devices of the participants. That Facebook Research app has now provoked Apple to take action against the social media network.

Facebook took advantage of Apple's Enterprise Developer Certificates to sideload the app - install it on the devices without pushing it through the official App Store. Apple has responded by revoking Facebook's certificates, which has reportedly caused considerable disruption for Facebook.

In a statement, Apple said:

"We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization. Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple."

"Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data."

Samsung has unveiled a new advanced display driver IC that it says will drive new 8K all-display televisions.

The new 8K display driver IC (DDI) provides for intra-panel data transfer speed at up to 4-gigabit-per-second (Gbps), enough to transfer true 8K images to 8K panels without additional components and allowing for more streamlined product designs for slim bezel-less TVs of 65-inch or larger.

Given that 8K resolution has four times the number of pixels than 4K UHD, the amount of image data to be transferred within a panel must increase accordingly, as well as the number of components to support that task.

"To deliver true 8K resolution, it is essential for today's DDIs to support a high-speed 4Gbps intra-panel interface," said Ben K. Hur, senior vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics.

"Samsung's 8K DDI (S6CT93P) with USI-T 2.0 will bring stunning 8K images to premium displays that can take visual experiences on large-screen TVs to the new level."

Lower sales of Apple's iPhone models in some regions of the world have hit the firm's financial performance, but it is bullish on future services revenue.

Apple revealed that its revenue from iPhone sales fell 15 percent in the most recent quarter, driving a 5 percent overall drop in the firm's revenue compared to a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter was $84.3 billion, which is around where Apple had cautioned investors it could end up.

"While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter's results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Sales of Apple's iPhones were particularly lower in the greater China region, where overall sales dropped by more than 25 percent during the quarter compared to the previous year. Europe also saw a 3 percent drop in overall sales for the Cupertino giant.

While acknowledging the drop in hardware sales, Apple is very optimistic about its revenue in services. During the same quarter, its services revenue rose 19 percent to a firm record of $10.9 billion.

Source: BBC News

Apple is to fix a bug in FaceTime that means audio from a recipient's end can be listened to before they have even answered a video call.

The problem appears to be with the group calling feature that was released to the public in October 2018. It means that a user can place a video call to a recipient and can hear the audio feed from the recipient's phone even before they have answered the call.

This is obviously a major privacy concern and Apple is aware of it.

"We're aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week," an Apple spokesperson said, reported the Reuters news agency.

The issue affects iPhones, iPads and Mac products.

If you are concerned about the bug, you could choose to disable FaceTime on your devices until the patches are pushed out by Apple. On an iPhone or iPad, open up the Settings app. You can then scroll down to FaceTime and toggle it off.

On a Mac, open the FaceTime app, click FaceTime in the Menu bar and you will see an option to turn off FaceTime.

Apple is reportedly working on a game subscription service, according to a report from Cheddar.

The report cites sources familiar with the service, which is in the earliest stages of development. They report that Apple began discussion a subscription service with developers in the second half of 2018.

It would charge users a monthly fee for unlimited access to a bundled list of game titles. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and others also have similar services or plans for them as the rush is on to become the "Netflix for video games."

In addition to planning a game subscription service, Apple also reportedly spoke to some developers about acting as a pubisher for their titles.

While Apple could still abandon the plans at any point, the firm is putting more focus on its revenue from services particularly as its hardware sales have slowed. Sales of iPhones have slumped in recent months though Apple has not revealed exact numbers.

Source: Cheddar

Apple has updated its App Store rules and guidelines to target apps that use dirty tricks while selling in-app subscriptions to users.

From now on, apps will have to be totally up front with monthly subscription prices. They will have to present the actual cost of a renewed subscription per month in the largest text, rather than showing potential cost savings and special offers in larger texts.

Apps that offer free trials must also be totally up front with how long the free trial is valid for, and the exact cost that will kick in once the free trial period is over.

While not required, Apple is also encouraging developers to let customers manage their subscriptions in-app, rather than through the App Store settings.

Users have often complained about winding up in subscriptions that cost more than they expected, and free trials with a shorter duration than expected.

Mastercard recently enforced new rules for merchants that offer free trials too which also require them to be upfront about costs, free trial durations and to make it very easy to cancel subscriptions.

Samsung Electronics has announced that it will dramatically reduce the use of plastics in the packaging material for its products, and focus on more environmentally friendly materials.

From the first half of 2019, the packaging used currently for Samsung's products and accessories – ranging from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances – will be substituted with environmentally sustainable materials like recycled/bio-based plastics and paper.

For its mobile phone, tablet and wearables, it will replace plastic used for holder trays with pulp molds, and bags wrapping accessories with eco-friendly materials. It will also alter the phone charger design, swapping the glossy exterior with a matte finish and eliminating plastic protection films.

While it will be increasing the use of paper, it will only use fiber materials certified by global environmental organizations. By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and collect 7.5 million tons of discarded products.

"Samsung Electronics is stepping up in addressing society's environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes," said Gyeong-bin Jeon, head of Samsung's Global Customer Satisfaction Center.

The Secretary of State for Health of the United Kingdom has warned that legislation will be forthcoming to take action against social media firms over suicide-related material.

Matt Hancock was speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show when he made the comments. "If we think they need to do things they are refusing to do, then we can and we must legislate," he said. Hancock went on to stress that it's not where the UK government would like to end up.

The issue has come to national attention in the UK over the tragic details surrounding the death of a 14-year-old girl in 2017. The young lady was found dead in November 2017 after taking her own life. She reportedly had not shown any previous signs of mental health issues.

Her family later realized that she had been viewing disturbing content related to suicide on social media platforms, including Instagram and Pinterest. Instagram has since commented on the case, pointing out its policies on material that encourage or glorify self-harm or suicide.

Social media platforms do allow some content that contains suicide, self-harm, depression, anxiety and similar subject matter to reside on the platform after being advised by expert groups that the sharing of stories and making connections with others who are struggling can be helpful.

Netflix has become a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the first Internet-based service to join the trade group.

By joining the MPAA, Netflix is now part of the same trade group as the old Hollywood guard including Disney, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. It is another major step for Netflix as it establishes itself as a serious producer of content rather than a service streaming only others' content.

"On behalf of the MPAA and its member companies, I am delighted to welcome Netflix as a partner," said MPAA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin.

"All of our members are committed to pushing the film and television industry forward, in both how we tell stories and how we reach audiences. Adding Netflix will allow us to even more effectively advocate for the global community of creative storytellers, and I look forward to seeing what we can all achieve together."

Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer, said that joining the MPAA further exemplifies its commitment to ensuring the vibrancy of creative industries and the many talented people who work in them all over the world.

"We look forward to supporting the association team and their important efforts."

Spotify's latest app allows users to mute and block artists they don't want to hear while using the music streaming service.

With its latest mobile app update, you can quite easily make sure that you won't run into music by artists you cannot stand anymore. You just have to go to that artist's Spotify page and tap on the three dots in the top right corner, then choose "Don't play this artist."

If all goes well, the app will confirm with a message stating, "Ok, we won't play music from this artist."

The block will apply to all of that artist's own music, but will not include tracks they are guest featured on as of now. Once the block is enabled, you won't hear from that artist from a library, a playlist, chart list or a radio station on the service.

Spotify had previously removed controversial artists from curated playlists but backtracked on the decision after backlash from record companies and artists. It would appear Spotify would rather leave blocking up to users to do themselves if they wish!

Source: www.thurrott.com

The European Union's controversial copyright reforms came to a stall this week after member states failed to agree to the changes.

A meeting had been scheduled for Monday between European Commission officials, member state representatives, and MEPs but was canceled after member states rebuffed the latest directive. That happened on Friday when eleven countries opposed the latest draft as had been written up by Romania.

At the core of the objections are the notorious Article 11 and Article 13. In summary, Article 11 could see search engines and social media platforms forced to pay publishers for snippets of content and links - a so-called "link tax." Article 13 mandates the use of content upload filters similar to YouTube's Content ID in order to prevent copyright infringement.

The changes have been strongly opposed by web giants like Google and Facebook, who argue that they are likely to harm creators. Digital rights' activists and web entrepreneurs argued that the filtering required by Article 13 is beyond the resources of smaller web firms and start-ups. There are also concerns that content that should not be filtered out for copyright purposes, such as memes, could be affected by content upload filters.

Mastercard has changed rules for merchants that offer free trials to consumers in order to prevent consumers from being charged for services they don't want.

A lot of merchants offer free trials for subscription services so that potential customers can test them out before paying for them. However, at the end of such trials, merchants can often begin charging subscription fees automatically, which can be a surprise to some consumers.

To fight this common occurrence, Mastercard has changed rules for merchants that offer time-limited free trials to consumers. Merchants will be required to gain cardholder approval at the conclusion of the trial before they start billing.

Either by e-mail or SMS, merchants must send the cardholder the transaction amount, payment date, merchant name along with explicit instructions on how to cancel a trial. Each subsequent payment must also result in a receipt being issued by email or text message with clear instructions on how to cancel the service if the consumer so desires.

In addition, all charges that appear on the cardholder's statement must now include the merchant website URL or the phone number of the store where the cardholder made the purchase.

Google has been backed by an adviser to the European Union's top court on where the Search provider would have to remove search results under the 'right to be forgotten.'

The 'right to be forgotten' is the right of Europeans to petition Search engines to remove search results under certain circumstances. For example, if inaccurate information was published about a citizen that was damaging, then that citizen can petition search providers to remove it from its results.

Google has been skeptical of the entire concept from the start and ended up in a dispute with French regulators in 2016. The data regulator CNIL fined Google €100,000 because it did not remove information across national boundaries. Google appealed the fine, initiating an examination.

The Search giant warned that if it were forced to remove results globally, it could help less democratic regimes to enforce censorship.

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, acting as an adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) backed Google and advised that Google should not have to remove information from search results globally because of the right to be forgotten. Szpunar finds that the right to be forgotten should not affect search results outside of the European Union.

A Japanese billionaire has broken the retweet record on Twitter after pledging to give away money.

Yusaku Maezawa - who has an estimated net worth of $3.6 billion - tweeted on January 5th a pledge to share 100 million yen ($925,000) between 100 randomly selected people. In order to be in with a chance of getting a share of the cash, Twitter users have to follow his account and retweet.

The tweet was made in celebration of his website, Zozotown, reaching 10 billion yen in sales over the holiday period.

At the time of writing, the tweet has been retweeted more than 5.5 million times. The previous record was held by a teenager who asked for retweets to win a year of free chicken nuggets from Wendy's. The number of retweets reached over 3.5 million. Prior to that, Ellen Degeneres had held the record with a selfie she took with Hollywood actors while hosting the Oscars.

Maezawa has made his fortune in the fashion world and is known for his taste in art. He could become one of the first commercial astronauts in a few years time as he has booked a ride atop SpaceX' Super Heavy rocket & Starship. The plan is to fly Maezawa and several others that he will hand pick around the Moon.

Sprint will roll out 5G service with Samsung smartphones in the United States starting in the summer.

The carrier is teaming up with the South Korean CE firm in plans to offer 5G smartphones and services starting in the summer in nine cities. At the time of rollout, the pair hopes to offer the service in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington D.C.

Rival wireless carrier Verizon announced very similar 5G rollout plans for mid-2019 just last month.

Depending on circumstances, 4G speeds can be up to 100 times father than current 4G technology in wide usage. Samsung will undoubtedly benefit from getting into 5G ahead of Apple Inc., which reportedly is planning to release its first 5G iPhones in 2020.

Samsung is showing off its modular Micro LED technology at CES in Las Vegas, with a 75-inch display and a giant 219-inch 'Wall' display.

The displays are made up of individual modules of self-emissive Micro LEDs, featuring millions of inorganic red, green and blue microscopic LED chips that emit their own light. Samsung first showed off the technology at last year's CES with a giant 146-inch Micro LED display.

This year the South Korean firm is back with an enormous 219-inch display. However, it has also brought along a home-friendly 75-inch 4K display.

The promise of the technology is down to its modular nature. Users can actually expand their display to any size they desire. The displays can be customized to fit any room or space, even at irregular 9×3, 1×7 or 5×1 screen sizes that suit their spatial, aesthetic and functional needs. MicroLED displays are bezel-free, meaning there are no borders between additional modules.

"For decades, Samsung has lead the way in next-generation display innovation," said Jonghee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.

"Our Micro LED technology is at the forefront of the next screen revolution with intelligent, customizable displays that excel in every performance category. Samsung Micro LED has no boundaries, only endless possibilities."

Apple has been ordered to remove from iPhone models from retail stores in Germany in an ongoing patent dispute with Qualcomm.

The chipmaker has accused Apple of patent infringement related to power-saving technology present in certain iPhone models. In December, a court in Munich sided with Qualcomm in finding that Apple had infringed the patents in question.

In Germany, the winner of a patent dispute must post a bond to protect against damages incurred by the losing side if it were to later have the decision overturned in court. Only once this bond is posted will the judgment become enforcement. Qualcomm complied with the law by paying a €1.3 billion bond.

"Qualcomm insists on charging exorbitant fees based on work they didn't do and they are being investigated by governments all around the world for their behaviour," an Apple spokesman said back in December.

It is appealing against the court's decision.