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Earlier this year, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was consulting on a possible probe into Google and Apple's dominance in the mobile phone market. Now, the regulator has announced that it received "widespread support" for its proposals and has launched a market investigation into the two tech giant's "duopoly" in cloud gaming and mobile browsers.  

"Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google," said the CMA's interim chief executive, Sarah Cardell in a statement. "We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and, if so, identify steps to improve competition and innovation in these sectors."

The CMA noted that Apple and Google have a "stranglehold" over mobile device operating systems, app stores and browsers. It said 97 percent of UK web browsing in 2021 happened on either Apple or Google's browser engines, "so any restrictions on these engines can have a major impact on users' experiences." It also noted that cloud gaming services count 800,000 UK users, "but restriction on their distribution could hamper growth in this sector." 

Many responses to its earlier consultation came from browser vendors, web developers and cloud gaming services, the CMA said. Developers in particular complained about bugs and glitches in web pages, giving them "no choice but to create bespoke mobile apps when a website might be sufficient." 

The UK authority has been a thorn in the side of technology companies of late. It recently forced Meta to sell Giphy after the former lost an appeal, is investigating Google separately over competition in ads, and is looking into Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition. "Market investigations can result in changes to companies’ behavior and restrictions, which improve competition and lead to greater choice for consumers and better-quality products," it said with regard to its latest probe. 

Developers at Mysk claim Apple's anonymous usage data for some of its in-house apps includes a Directory Services Identifier (DSID) uniquely linked to your Apple ID and iCloud data. Mysk notes that Apple's tool to prevent third-party app tracking debuted in iOS 14.5, so this shouldn't affect other software you use on your devices. For example, the developers noted your behavior when browsing apps in the iPhone’s App Store is sent to Apple with this ID. As Gizmodo also notes, Apple encrypts the usage data so isn't necessarily processing personal and general info together.

Apple continues to draw a lot of attention to its privacy policies, as it has used them to differentiate its hardware from rivals. You might remember the “what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone” ads that appeared in Las Vegas at CES one year. We’re still waiting to hear from Apple.

– Mat Smith

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Twitter is reportedly hiring again

Blue Verified won't be coming back until Twitter can stop impersonation.

Twitter won't be firing and laying off more people, Elon Musk apparently told remaining staff during an all-hands meeting. According to The Verge, which heard a partial recording of the event, the company is even actively looking for people to fill roles in engineering and sales.

Musk announced during the meeting that Twitter might not be relaunching paid verification for a while. It had to pause its $8-a-month Blue subscription with verification shortly after it was launched due to a steep rise in impersonation and fake accounts. The service won’t return until Twitter is confident it can stop impersonation.

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Ubisoft will release games on Steam again, starting with 'Assassin's Creed Valhalla'

Including the free-to-play 'Roller Champions.'

Ubisoft

Ubisoft will bring its games to Steam again nearly four years after it turned its attention to the Epic Games Store and its own games launcher. First up is one of the publisher's biggest games of the last few years, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which will be available on Steam on December 6th. City builder Anno 1800 and the free-to-play Roller Champions will hit Steam at a later date. It might be a good time to start Valhalla: Ubisoft will release the game's last content update on December 6th, concluding Eivor’s story.

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The best gifts for gamers in 2022

Without buying a game they may already own.

Engadget

Picking a gift for someone who loves gaming can be tough. New games appear all the time: Do they already have this game? Have they already played that game? To save you some trouble (and some refunds), these gifts are a bit different but should be appreciated all the same. You may also find something to pique your interest.

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NASA's Orion crew vehicle successfully completes Moon flyby

The Artemis 1 spacecraft was just 81 miles above the lunar surface.

NASA's Orion spacecraft has successfully completed one of the key maneuvers of its maiden journey: a flyby of the Moon during which it got as close as 81 miles to the lunar surface. The flyby burn was one of two necessary maneuvers for Orion to enter its retrograde orbit around the Moon. Next up is the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn, which is slated to take place this Friday. Orion will remain in this orbit to test various systems, including guidance, navigation, communication, power and thermal control.

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Twitter won't be firing and laying off more people, Elon Musk reportedly told the staff members who remained after asking employees to commit to an "extremely hardcore" Twitter during an all-hands meeting. According to The Verge, which heard a partial recording of the event, the company is even actively looking for people to fill roles in engineering and sales. Musk apparently made the announcement on the same day layoffs hit the company's sales and partnerships teams. Robin Wheeler, Twitter’s head of ad sales, and VP of partnerships Maggie Suniewick were reportedly fired for opposing Musk's directive to cut more employees. Of course, these all happened after the website's new owner ordered layoffs that cut the company's workforce in half.  

Musk didn't specify which roles Twitter is hiring for during the meeting, The Verge said, but he did say that "[i]n terms of critical hires, people who are great at writing software are the highest priority." Since this all-hands was also the first time Musk met with staff members following his takeover, employees asked him questions about the company's future, including whether Twitter will move its HQ to Texas like Tesla did. Musk replied that there are no plans for Twitter to move, but that being "dual-headquartered" in both states could make sense. 

He also said moving to Texas would "play into the idea that Twitter has gone from being left-wing to right-wing." Musk said that's not the case. "It is a moderate-wing takeover of Twitter... to be the digital town square, we must represent people with a wide array of views even if we disagree with those views," he added. As The Verge notes, Twitter recently fired people who called out Musk through tweets and through other avenues. 

In addition to addressing questions about the inner workings of the company, Musk announced during the meeting that Twitter might not be relaunching paid verification before this month ends, after all. If you'll recall, the website had to pause its $8-a-month Blue subscription with verification shortly after it was launched due to a steep rise in impersonation and fake accounts on the website. 

Musk previously said that Blue Verified would return on November 29th. But now he told employees and has also announced that Twitter won't be relaunching the subscription system until the website is confident that it can stop impersonation. Also, Twitter might ultimately give individuals and organizations different color checkmarks, which will make it apparent if users are interacting with a company's or org's actual account. Twitter already has a gray "Official" checkmark reserved for organizations, but it looks like it wants to make the indicator more visible and recognizable as a way to prevent people from being duped by impersonators.

Measuring air quality, as anyone who has tried to tackle this problem can attest, is not as straightforward as it might seem. Even once the nebulous term “quality” is defined, most sensors use something as a proxy for overall air health. One common method is to use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as this proxy but as [Larry Bank] found out, using these inside a home with a functional kitchen leads to a lot of inaccurate readings. In the search for a more reliable sensor, he built this project which uses CO2 to help gauge air quality.

Most of the reason that CO2 sensors aren’t used as air quality sensors is cost. They are much more expensive than VOC sensors, but [Larry] recently found one that was more affordable and decided to build this project around it. The prototype used an Arduino communicating over I2C to the sensor and an OLED screen, which he eventually put in a 3D printed case to carry around to sample CO2 concentration in various real-world locations. The final project uses a clever way of interfacing with the e-paper display that we featured earlier.

While CO2 concentration doesn’t tell the full story of air quality in a specific place, it does play a major role. [Larry] found concentrations as high as 3000 ppm in his home, which can cause a drop in cognitive function. He’s made some lifestyle changes as a result which he reports has had a beneficial impact. For human-occupied indoor spaces, CO2 can easily be the main contributor to poor air quality, and we’ve seen at least one other project to address this concern directly.

You're not the only one tired of ringless voicemails that put spam in your inbox. The Federal Communications Commission has determined that these silent voicemails are covered by the same Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules that forbid robocalls without consent. Companies need your permission to leave these junk messages as they're still considered calls, the FCC says. The ruling takes effect today.

The finding comes five years after marketers first asked for exemptions to the regulations surrounding ringless voicemails, the FCC says. The requests, from All About the Message and two other petitioners, reportedly drew "overwhelming" negative feedback from public commenters. The Commission added that it receives "dozens" of complaints about these voicemails each year. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel proposed extending the TCPA to this spam in February.

As with other robocall crackdowns, there's no guarantee the voicemails will stop. Spammers may find alternate avenues to deliver these messages, and the FCC can only do so much to limit spam originating outside the US. However, this does establish firm boundaries inside the country — companies who flout the rules risk FCC action and customer lawsuits that could prove costly.

Ubisoft will start bringing its games to Steam again, nearly four years after it turned its attention to the Epic Games Store and its own Connect launcher. First up is one of the publisher's biggest games of the last few years, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which will be available on Steam on December 6th. City builder Anno 1800 and the free-to-play Roller Champions will hit Steam at a later date.

"We're constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect," a Ubisoft spokesperson told Eurogamer. "Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800 and Roller Champions are among the Ubisoft titles that will be releasing on Steam."

Assassin's Creed Valhalla will land on Steam just as Ubisoft releases the game's last content update. The Last Chapter, which will also arrive on December 6th, will bring about the conclusion of Eivor’s story and tie up some storylines. However, Ubisoft confirmed that it will not add a New Game+ mode, as it "realized that the depth of the game gave us limited options to make replayability unique and rewarding."

Ubisoft previously said that abandoning Steam was a business decision. It was one that led to pre-orders for The Division 2 increasing by six times on Ubisoft's own PC storefront (where it doesn't have to pay Valve a 30 percent cut of sales). However, it appears the extensive reach and popularity of Steam was ultimately too hard to ignore. Perhaps Ubisoft sees the value of making its games more readily available on Steam Deck too.

Meanwhile, Valve is preparing for Steam's autumn sale, which starts on Tuesday at 1PM ET and runs through November 29th. The event will be live during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and it will include discounts on tens of thousands of games. In a trailer, Valve suggested that you'll be able to score deals on the likes of Hitman 3, Stray, Hades, Deathloop, Cyberpunk 2077, God of War, Disco Elysium,Yakuza: Like a Dragon and many, many more.

Code sleuths at Mysk are challenging Apple's vaunted focus on privacy. The developers claim Apple's anonymous usage data for some in-house apps includes a Directory Services Identifier (DSID) uniquely linked to your Apple ID and iCloud data. Apple could potentially use this DSID to pinpoint your App Store browsing habits, according to Mysk. This seemingly contradicts Apple's assertion that "none" of the data is personally identifying, and appears to extend to iOS 16.

The researchers previously shared findings that iOS 14.6 sends large volumes of first-party app activity to Apple, even if you completely disable device analytics or otherwise limit collection. This includes your iPhone model, keyboard languages and other details that could theoretically be used to fingerprint your device. Gizmodo notes that users filed a class action lawsuit against Apple after Mysk published its privacy data.

We've asked Apple for comment, and will let you know if we hear back. Mysk pointed out that Apple's tool to prevent third-party app tracking debuted in iOS 14.5, so this shouldn't affect other software you use on your devices.

Just what Apple sees isn't clear. As Gizmodoexplains, Apple encrypts the usage data and isn't necessarily processing personal and general info together. The problem, as you might guess, is that Apple doesn't detail its analytics collection practices. There's a concern Apple might not be honoring its privacy promises, even if the data gathering is limited.

NASA's Orion spacecraft has successfully completed one of the key maneuvers of its maiden journey: a flyby of the Moon during which it got as close as 81 miles to the lunar surface. This was important for a few reasons, not least because it marked a critical test for the propulsion system.

Orion carried out four trajectory correction burns on its way to the Moon, but this time around, the orbital maneuvering system engine fired for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This accelerated Orion at a rate of more than 580MPH. At the time the burn started, the uncrewed spacecraft was traveling at 5,023MPH, 238 miles above the Moon. Shortly after the burn, it was 81 miles above the lunar surface and it was traveling at 5,102MPH.

The flyby burn was one of two necessary maneuvers for Orion to enter its retrograde orbit around the Moon. Next up is the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn, which is slated to take place on Friday at 4:52PM ET. Orion will remain in this orbit for around a week to test various systems, including guidance, navigation, communication, power and thermal control. Of note, the distant retrograde orbit will take Orion 40,000 miles past the Moon. The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on December 11th.

NASA will reveal more details about the flyby burn and offer updates on post-launch assessments for the Space Launch System rocket and Exploration Ground Systems (including the launch tower) at a press conference on Monday at 5PM ET. Meanwhile, engineers have been looking into RAM faults in the star tracker system, which have been resolved with power cycles. Another team examined an issue that has caused one of the eight service mobile units suppling solar array power to the crew module to open on a few occasions without a command. NASA says there have been no mission impacts as a result of these hiccups.