Game marketing is creating more strange bedfellows. Epic Games is addingLeague of Legends champion Jinx to Fortnite today (November 4th) at 8PM Eastern, just ahead of her debut in the Netflix series Arcane on November 6th. She'll be available in the battle royale shooter's Item Shop alongside themed gear like a pickaxe, spray, Back Bling, a lobby soundtrack and loading screens.

It's not a one-way partnership, either. Riot Games is bringing League of Legends, Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics and Valorant to the Epic Games Store. This won't matter much if you're a fan (you probably downloaded those games a long time ago), but it might expose some Fortnite players to Riot's titles.

Epic has been rapidly expanding its gaming-themed expansions in recent months. It just added two Resident Evil heroes in late October, and previous updates have added characters from the likes of God of War, Halo and Street Fighter. However, the League of Legends update is unique as a tie-in for a streaming TV series — it's about as convenient a promotional tool as you can get.

You may have to wait a while to take advantage of C-band 5G's potentially higher speeds. The Wall Street Journal has learned that AT&T and Verizon are delaying their C-band rollouts by at least a month to help the Federal Aviation Administration address aircraft interference concerns. They had originally planned to use the newly available frequencies on December 5th, but AT&T said it was pushing its launch to January 5th after the Transportation Department requested a delay.

Verizon hasn't formally confirmed its delay, but it will reportedly move the C-band 5G deployment by "about a month" in step with its rival. We've asked the carrier for comment.

The FAA wants to issue requirements that bar pilots from using some automated poor-weather safety systems that might conflict with the new 5G technology, according to The Journal's sources. Air transport industry figures are worried this could play havoc with flights, but telecoms claim there's no evidence to suggest the expanded 5G will create problems.

Both wireless networks have a strong incentive to keep any delays to a minimum. The C-band slice they're using (between 3.7GHz and 3.98GHz) represents a sweet spot for 5G service with more bandwidth than low- or mid-band 5G, but without nearly as much interference as millimeter wave frequencies. It could alleviate congestion in other frequency bands, too. The expansion promises a more substantial improvement over LTE that could drive subscriptions, not to mention more upgrades to 5G phones.

Blue Origin has failed in its lawsuit against NASA over SpaceX's lunar lander contract. CNBCreports the Federal Court of Claims has ruled against Blue Origin, dismissing the company's claims. While the opinion is currently sealed, Blue Origin's case had revolved around accusations NASA ignored "key flight safety requirements" when handing the Human Landing System to SpaceX.

The opinion will be publicly available sometime after November 18th, when both sides of the lawsuit are expected to supply redactions. NASA put SpaceX's work on hold following the lawsuit, but efforts should resume November 8th.

Blue Origin previously challenged the contract through the Government Accountability Office only to be rejected in July, leading Jeff Bezos' outfit to respond with a lawsuit. The firm even tried drastically undercutting SpaceX with a $2 billion bid, arguing at the time that NASA has historically awarded contracts to multiple partners to make sure a mission launches on time.

Developing...

It took several years, but the Sensible Soccer sequel is finally close to launching on PCs and consoles. Tower Studios and KPL have revealed that Sociable Soccer will reach PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Steam in the second quarter (aka spring) of 2022. The developer isn't yet ready to show the game in action, but it's promising improved gameplay, sharper graphics and better matchmaking than the Apple Arcade version you see here.

If you bought the Early Access release on Steam in 2017, you won't have to pay again. Tower is promising a new code when Sociable Soccer is available through Valve's store.

As you'd expect, Sociable Soccer is practically the antithesis of 'realistic' soccer games like FIFA 22. It's meant to be fast, easy to grasp and whimsical. You can send emojis to your rival, for starters. It won't appeal to diehards who demand real teams and players, but it might fit the bill if you're looking for a quick footie fix.

Google is honoring South Korea's law requiring support for third-party payments, but not quite in the way you might have expected. The Wall Street Journalreports Google will allow the use of alternative payment systems for Play Store apps in South Korea. Check out with a supporting app and you'll have the choice of billing methods for the transaction. However, this won't let developers duck Google's fees.

The company stressed that it would still charge service fees, but would cut that cost by four percent to help offset costs from running a separate billing system. E-book and music streaming app developers would pay Google a six percent cut instead of the previous 10 percent, for instance, while most creators will pay 11 percent instead of 15 percent. Some very popular developers won't see much change at all, though, dropping from 30 percent to 26 percent. More implementation details are coming in the "weeks and months" ahead. 

Senior public policy director Wilson White argued that Google still needed to take a cut to "continue to invest" in Android and the Play Store. The fees help keep those platforms free, White said. They also fund the advancement of Android, developer tools and security.

Whether or not Korean regulators will accept Google's approach isn't clear. The new law doesn't bar Google from taking a slice of in-app purchases, but the small drop in fees might not be enough to offset the costs of third-party systems. The law was meant to open up app stores and foster competition — that won't happen if it's too cost-prohibitive to use third-party payments. While this might stop Google from suing developers who offer alternatives, it may still discourage those developers from considering alternatives in the first place.

Boeing is edging closer to competing with satellite internet providers like SpaceX and (eventually) Amazon. The FCC has authorized Boeing's application to launch a satellite broadband constellation. The network would serve home, business and government customers in the US and worldwide. The satellites would sit talk to each other as well as the ground, although the FCC rejected Boeing's bid to use certain frequencies for satellite-to-satellite chatter.

The company hasn't said when its satellite network would launch or what capabilities it would offer. Boeing would operate at much higher altitudes than SpaceX's Starlink, however. The majority of the constellation, 132 low Earth orbit satellites would fly at an altitude of 656 miles. A batch of 15 non-geostationary orbit satellites, meanwhile, would operate between 17,000 and 27,500 miles. Starlink operates at altitudes between 215 and 350 miles. That might increase lag, although real-world performance might vary.

The project has been in development for a long time. Reutersnotes Boeing first asked for approval back in 2017. It has also faced some pushback — in 2019, SpaceX called on the FCC to either limit or completely dismiss Boeing's plans over the potential for "harmful interference."

It may take a while before any satellite service is ready. All the same, it's easy to see Boeing remaining patient. Satellite broadband could help the transportation giant make the most of its space unit and mitigate the impact of delays or other problems with its businesses. There's also the simple matter of jumping into the satellite internet field before it's too late. Amazon, SpaceX, OneWeb and others are either launching satellites or have clear plans. If Boeing waits much longer, it could miss out on important customers.

You no longer have to tap an Instagram link in Twitter to see what you'll get. Twitter has started rolling out preview cards for Instagram links in its official apps and the web. If someone shares an Insta post, you'll see a thumbnail of the imagery you can expect when you tap that link. You may know if a photo is like-worthy without leaving your Twitter timeline.

The move puts an end to a long-running feud. Instagram's Twitter photo integration vanished in 2012, and neither social network has had a strong incentive to use preview cards in the years since. Twitter would rather you post photos directly on its service, while Instagram clearly has motivations to keep you using its platform whenever possible. Those issues apparently aren't much of a problem at this stage.

It's not clear what prompted the decision. We've asked Instagram for comment. Either way, it's good news if you're a social media fan — there should be less guesswork and more attention for your posts.

Do you bristle at the thought of using a large pants pocket to hold your equally huge phone? No? Samsung has a solution for you regardless. As Techspot reports, Samsung Australia and Dr Denim have unveiled a pair of limited edition blue jeans, the Z Flip Pocket Denim, that ditches the usual pockets (they're stitched shut with a big "Z") in favor of one designed to hold a Galaxy Z Flip 3. It's really a promo for the foldable phone, but Samsung insists this minimalism could be the "next big trend." That conspicuous blank space on your thighs helps "frame the legs," if you believe the marketing spin.

Only 450 pairs are available, but they come in men's and women's styles. You also won't be paying much of a premium, either. Pay AUD $1,499 (about $1,112 US) and you'll get both the Flip 3 and the jeans to match.

Whether or not you find the jeans chic or gauche... they're probably not the wisest investment. Never mind that you're buying jeans that are only intended to hold one phone — what happens if you need keys or a wallet in your front pocket? We'd add that the pocket you do get leaves your phone partially exposed, which screams "steal my phone" in a way no ordinary pocket would. If you're really determined to leave your mark on the fashion world, you're probably better off buying a Flip 3 Bespoke Edition and flashing it around whenever you make a phone call.

Yes, you read that correctly: Microsoft has officially released a web browser for Linux. Ars Technicareports the software behemoth has finally released its first stable version of Edge for Linux. The Chromium-based browser is available either through Microsoft's website (in .deb and .rpm formats) or through the command line using a Linux package manager.

The Linux version has been a long time in coming. Microsoft was testing the Edge variant in its Dev and Beta channels for about a year, and it's arriving more than two years after the Mac and Windows versions. It's not clear what prompted the wait, although Linux has historically had little consumer PC market share.

The feature parity is largely intact, at least. You unsurprisingly won't find an Internet Explorer compatibility mode (only Windows has that), but you can sync tabs, bookmarks, passwords and extensions. This may be your browser of choice if you use Linux on a personal system but want the browser setup from your Windows PC at work.

The release is symbolic of how Microsoft's relationship with Linux has changed over the years. The company was notoriously antagonistic in the early 2000s, when CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux "a cancer" on intellectual property and otherwise treated it as a threat to Windows. Internet Explorer effectively served as a deterrent to would-be Linux switchers as many IE-optimized sites wouldn't run properly on Linux browsers without significant effort, if they ran at all.

Flash forward two decades and it's a different story. The company is now much more focused on services than Windows, and that means making offerings like Microsoft 365 and Windows 365 as accessible as possible. Microsoft needs to be friendly to Linux users to keep them from using rivals like Google Workspace — Edge for Linux could be worthwhile if it leads to years of subscription fees, even if users have no plans to switch to Windows.

Surveillance software developer NSO Group may have a very tough road ahead. The US Commerce Department has added NSO to its Entity List, effectively banning trade with the firm. The move bars American companies from doing business with NSO unless they receive explicit permission. That's unlikely, too, when the rule doesn't allow license exceptions for exports and the US will default to rejecting reviews.

NSO and fellow Israeli company Candiru (also on the Entity List) face accusations of enabling hostile spying by authoritarian governments. They've allegedly supplied spyware like NSO's Pegasus to "authoritarian governments" that used the tools to track activists, journalists and other critics in a bid to crush political dissent. This is part of the Biden-Harris administration's push to make human rights "the center" of American foreign policy, the Commerce Department said.

The latest round of trade bans also affects Russian company Positive Technologies and Singapore's Computer Security Initiative Consultancy, bot of which were accused of peddling hacking tools.

We've asked NSO Group for comment, although its official media contact address produced an error. The company has strongly rejected claims of enabling abuses in the past, including denials that Pegasus was used to target murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO said it had blocked access for previous abuses, and it even hired a libel attorney who accused investigative journalists and their partners of misinterpretation and making unfounded assumptions.

The Commerce Department claims to have evidence of NSO's actions, though. The net effect is the same. NSO isn't necessarily doomed. Like blocklist member Huawei, though, it may struggle to operate without access to any American partners it used before.