A bipartisan bill that targets app store competition has been introduced in the House of Representatives. It's the House version of a Senate bill that was introduced this week by a group of Republican and Democrat senators, and it would likely have a drastic impact on Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store were it to come into effect.

"For far too long, companies like Google and Apple have had a stranglehold on app developers who are forced to take whatever terms these monopolists set in order to reach their customers," Ken Buck, the ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee antitrust panel, wrote in a tweet. As Reuters notes, Buck introduced the bill alongside Democrat Hank Johnson. 

Should the Open App Markets Act become law, it could level the playing field for third-party app stores and in-app payment services. Using a third-party app marketplace on an iPhone is difficult without jailbreaking the device. Google says Android 12 makes it easier for users to install apps from other stores, but it still requires developers to handle payments through the Play Store's billing process.

Both Apple and Google take a 30 percent cut of in-app payments. That's a key reason why the likes of Spotify and Netflix don't allow users to sign up through mobile apps. They direct users to their mobile websites instead.

"Apple has used the iOS platform and its App Store policies to insulate itself from competition and disadvantage rivals for far too long," Horacio Gutierrez, Spotify’s head of global affairs and chief legal officer, told Engadget in a statement. "By introducing the Open App Markets Act in both chambers of Congress, we’re one important step closer to curbing Apple’s anticompetitive behavior, leveling the playing field, and restoring competition for all.” The company has accused Apple of operating as a monopoly on iOS.

The bill would also allow developers to inform consumers about lower prices elsewhere, according to its sponsors. Epic Games' legal battles with Apple and Google kicked off when it offered mobile Fortnite players a discount on virtual goods if they bypassed the iOS and Android payment systems. Apple and Google swiftly removed the game from their app stores and Epic responded quickly by filing lawsuits against both companies. A judge's decision is pending in the Apple case.

Given how convenient it is to tap a few buttons and have someone bring dinner to your door, food delivery isn't likely to drop in popularity anytime soon. Wendy's is looking to meet surging demand by opening hundreds of delivery-only kitchens in the next few years. The likes of Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub will handle orders.

Wendy's is planning to open 700 such kitchens in the US, UK and Canada by 2025, as the Associated Press reports. The locations will primarily be in major cities and the first 50 should be up and running this year.

Reef Technology, which already manages around 5,000 so-called "ghost kitchens," will open the Wendy's locations and hire workers. Wendy's will take around a six percent cut of sales, which are expected to hit at least $500,000 annually at each kitchen.

The concept of ghost kitchens has been around for several years. They're kitchens without storefronts that make food orders only for delivery or pickup — some are run out of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants. Other fast food chains have experimented with the idea, including Chick-fil-A and Chipotle. Meanwhile, YouTuber MrBeast uses ghost kitchens for his burger chain, which has more than 900 locations. 

It looks like HomePod and HomePod mini will soon have support for spatial audio and lossless audio via Apple Music. The HomePod 15 beta 5 includes options that enable lossless and Dolby Atmos playback.

Not all beta users will see the toggles, according to 9to5Mac. If you're running the latest iOS 15 and HomePod betas, you can check whether they're active by accessing the home options menu in the Home app, tapping your profile, then Media and Apple Music.

Earlier this year, Apple said it would bring Apple Music lossless streaming to HomePod and HomePod mini through a software update, but it didn't provide a timeline. Now, it seems the speakers will be able to stream lossless music soon (unless the option's already life for you in the beta).

Apple is expected to roll out its latest operating systems broadly within the next couple of months. When it does, you'll be able to pair a second HomePod mini to Apple TV for stereo audio.

Amazon has reportedly scrapped a policy that claimed ownership rights to any games that employees created outside of work. Under the previous rules, the company required employees to using Amazon products while working on personal projects and to distribute those games on its storefronts.

Those policies are longer in place, according to Bloomberg. In an email to staff seen by the publication, Amazon Game Studios head Mike Frazzini said the company was dropping the rules immediately. "These policies were originally put in place over a decade ago when we had a lot less information and experience than we do today, and as a result, the policies were written quite broadly," Frazzini wrote. Engadget has contacted Amazon for comment.

Amazon received a backlash over the rules after an engineer who interviewed at the company disclosed the Amazon Personal Games policy. The rules granted Amazon “a royalty free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, transferable license” to the intellectual property of games its employees made off the clock. The policy was decried as "draconian" by some developers when a now-deleted tweet from the engineer gained traction.

However, Amazon isn't the only company to have enacted such a policy. Google has also been accused of claiming ownership of employees' own external projects.

We learned all the way back in December that the terrific Spelunky and Spelunky 2 were coming to Nintendo Switch sometime this summer, and the wait's almost over — at least in a few regions. The two games will hit the eShop in North America, Europe and Australia on August 26th, adding another pair of indie gems to the Switch library.

Spelunky supports local multiplayer, and Spelunky 2 adds online play to the mix. Although there are distinct areas in both platformers — each with their own enemies, lethal traps and rules — the levels are procedurally generated, so things are always going to be a bit different on each run.

It's hardly the first time Spelunky, a stone-cold classic, has landed on a handheld console. It was released on PS Vita (and PlayStation 3) all the way back in 2013, a year after the remake of the 2008 original debuted on PC and Xbox 360. The sequel, however, has only been available on PC, PlayStation 4 and PS5 until now.

If you'd like to plunder the caverns on Switch, you'll be able to pick up Spelunky for $10. Spelunky 2 will cost $20.

Google has banned SafeGraph, a company that captured and sold Android users' location data. Android developers who used the company's software development kit (SDK) were given seven days to remove SafeGraph's location gathering tools from their apps or face possible ejection from the Play Store, as Motherboard reported.

Some of the data SafeGraph obtained was from apps that harnessed the SDK. The apps were able to track user locations, though many people many not be aware how companies use their data. 

Google brought the hammer down on SafeGraph in early June. It's not clear if any apps are still using the SDK or if Google has taken action against developers who haven't removed SafeGuard's plug-ins. Engadget has contacted Google for comment.

With context, it's possible to find out details about individuals using location data, even when it's supposedly anonymized. Data Motherboard bought from SafeGraph showed the movement of users between points of interest. The company also sells secondary information from other companies to augment the location data, according to the report. Other datasets are said to include the names of people who own property in the US, which could reveal details about individual users.

SafeGraph reportedly sells its location data to almost anyone willing to pay for it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is said to be among SafeGraph's customers, while The New York Times used SafeGraph data for a project that showed where people were gathering after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were loosened. The publication told Motherboard that it aggregated the location data.

In February, Google took a similar action against Predicio, which is linked to a company named Venntel. Public contracts that emerged last year showed that US Customs and Border Protection bought data from Venntel, reportedly for warrantless phone tracking. Google and Apple both banned X-Mode, another location data broker, last December. Location data brokers sometimes pay app developers to use their tracking code so they can sell the information, which is against Google's rules.

Three years after taking on Brexit in Not Tonight, publisher No More Robots and developer PanicBarn are working on a sequel to the satirical political RPG. Not Tonight 2 takes place in a supposedly alternate version of the US, where "capitalism and political greed have taken center stage and democracy is a thing of the past." 

Not Tonight 2 centers around three intertwined stories written by a group of POC artists and authors. Three characters — Malik, Kevin and Mari — embark on a road to trip to try and save their friend Eduardo from deportation or another terrible fate.

The original game drew comparisons to Papers, Please for its core gameplay of checking IDs as a bouncer at pubs and nightclubs. Those mechanics are back in the sequel, along with a variety of minigames, including everything from word association and rhythm games to working at the border wall, joining a cult and serving poutine to Canadians. 

More than 400,000 people have played Not Tonight, which landed on Nintendo Switch last year. Not Tonight 2 should hit Steam later this year.

No More Heroes/PanicBarn

Zagreus might struggle to escape the Underworld, but he's no longer bound by the confines of PC and Nintendo Switch. Hades, widely regarded as one of the best games of 2020, is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and PS5 on August 13th. It'll be on Xbox Game Pass on Xbox and PC on the same date.

Supergiant Games says the dungeon-crawling roguelike is targeting 60 frames per second at 1080p on Xbox One and PS4. It'll run at up to 60 fps in 4K on Series X/S and PS5. 

Physical editions will come with a bonus download code for the soundtrack and a 32-page booklet. The Xbox One and Series X versions will be available on the same disk. Both the physical and digital PS4 versions offer a free upgrade to the digital PS5 version. 

Unfortunately, unlike the Switch version, you won't be able to transfer Hades saves between PC and Xbox or PlayStation consoles. Still, Xbox and PlayStation owners will at last get their chance to tackle Hades again and again and again in a couple of months.

Update, 8/12/2021: The listing is now live.

Foxconn is getting more serious about its electric vehicle ambitions. The company told investors during an earnings call that it plans to build EV factories in the US and Thailand in 2022 and start mass producing vehicles the following year. Chairman Liu Young-way said the company is also in talks regarding possible locations for plants in Europe.

At its US facility, Foxconn will build vehicles for EV clients including Fisker. The companies signed a deal in May, and Foxconn plans to start making Fisker EVs by the end of 2023. The two are jointly investing in the Project Pear vehicle and will share revenue from it.

Foxconn is in discussions with three states, including Wisconsin, for the EV plant, according to Nikkei. Earlier this year, Foxconn drastically scaled back plans for its existing facility in Wisconsin. Liu has also suggested Foxconn may build EVs at the controversial plant.

The planned Thai factory will form part of Foxconn's joint venture with oil and gas conglomerate PTT. The two are working on a platform for EV and component production. Liu said Foxconn plans to build up to 200,000 EVs at that plant each year.

A remastered collection of the first two Life is Strange games will arrive a bit later than expected. Square Enix says it's pushing back the bundle of Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm to early 2022. The Life Is Strange Remastered Collection was originally scheduled for September 30th.

"Due to the ongoing challenges of the worldwide pandemic, we want to alleviate any additional pressure on the Life is Strange team by giving more time between the release of Life is Strange: True Colors and the Life is Strange Remastered Collection," Square Enix wrote in a tweet.

While the delay might be disappointing to some, it's good to see the developers getting more breathing room. The new versions will include "vastly improved character animation" drawn from full facial motion capture. If you buy the ultimate edition of Life is Strange: True Colors, you'll still have access to the remastered collection when it eventually arrives. 

Meanwhile, Square Enix had some other news to share about the franchise. True Colors, from Before the Storm studio Deck Nine, is still on track for its September 10th release date. If you manage to zip through the next game in the series quickly, you won't have to wait until early next year for another fix. The Wavelengths DLC is now scheduled for September 30th, taking the remastered collection's old slot. A trailer will be released on August 12th.