Apple has been taking a lot of flak lately over the 30 percent cut it takes from app developers. Starting next year, though, certain developers will be able to avoid paying the tech giant a commission. The company has announced that it will update the App Store in early 2022 to allow developers of "reader" apps to add in-app links to their websites, allowing users to set up their accounts and make payments. Apple defines reader apps as those that "provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music and video." As Bloomberg notes, that means the new rule would apply to services like Netflix and Spotify.

The tech giant announced the update following the conclusion of an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Apple agreed with the commission to let reader app developers add a single link to their website, because those developers "do not offer in-app digital goods and services for purchase." The change will cover all reader apps around the world, but Apple will update its guidelines and review process first before it takes effect.

Phil Schiller, the executive in charge of overseeing the App Store, said: "We have great respect for the Japan Fair Trade Commission and appreciate the work we’ve done together, which will help developers of reader apps make it easier for users to set up and manage their apps and services, while protecting their privacy and maintaining their trust."

Netflix and Spotify have long criticized Apple for taking a 30 percent of their earnings. Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission in 2019 over what it says are anti-competitive practices by the tech giant. Unwilling to pay a 30 percent commission, it pulled users' ability to pay for premium upgrades from the iOS app. Netflix also removed users' ability to pay for a subscription within its iOS app in 2018. 

Since the upcoming update doesn't cover games, it won't be able to put an end to Apple's courtroom battle with Epic. The gaming developer has been leading the charge against the tech giant over the past year ever since it decided to offer discounts on Fortnite's V-bucks currency and other cash purchases outside the App Store. Apple removedFortnite from the App Store in response, and the lawsuit that resulted from that brought to light some very interesting information. Tim Cook's court testimony revealed that a lot of developers are unhappy with Apple, while court documents showed that Epic pays millions of dollars to publishers to give away their games for free on its store.

McDonald’s McFlurry machine and its tendency to break down has been the inspiration for countless jokes and Twitter feuds, and now it could become the subject of a Federal Trade Commission investigation. According to The Wall Street Journal, the agency recently reached out to McDonald’s restaurant owners to collect more information on their experiences with the machines.

Why is the FTC looking into McFlurry machines, you ask? The answer may have something to do with the right to repair movement. At the start of July, President Biden ordered the agency to draft new rules to empower consumers and businesses to repair their devices on their own. Later that same month, the FTC made good on that order, voting unanimously to tackle unlawful repair restrictions.

By all accounts, McFlurry machines are a nightmare to repair. Moreover, Taylor, the firm that makes them, is at the center of a legal battle over measures it uses to prevent restaurants from repairing the machines on their own. When a McFlurry machine breaks down, only a certified technician from Taylor is allowed to fix it, leading to long wait times. Those wait times have increased during the pandemic. A federal judge recently sided with a company that produces a diagnostic tool that threatens Taylor’s monopoly on repairs.

The FTC hasn’t opened a formal probe yet. “The existence of a preliminary investigation does not indicate the FTC or its staff have found any wrongdoing,” the agency said in the letter it sent out this summer, according to The Journal. However, it reportedly wants to know how often restaurant owners are allowed to work on the McFlurry machines on their own.  

Reddit has finally cracked down on COVID-19 misinformation following growing calls to act, although it probably won't satisfy many of its critics. The social site has banned r/NoNewNormal and quarantined 54 other COVID-19 denial subreddits, but not over the false claims themselves. Instead, it's for abuse — NoNewNormal was caught brigading en masse (that is, flooding other subreddits) despite warnings, while the other communities violated a rule forbidding harassment and bullying.

The company didn't, however, relent on its approach to tackling the misinformation itself. Reddit said it clamps down on posts that encourage a "significant risk of physical harm" or are manipulations intended to mislead others, but made no mention of purging posts or subreddits merely for making demonstrably false claims about COVID-19 or vaccines.

Reddit previously defended its position by arguing its platform was meant to foster "open and authentic" conversations, even if they disagree with a widely established consensus. However, that stance hasn't satisfied many of Reddit's users. Business Insidernoted 135 subreddits went "dark" (that is, went private) in protest over Reddit's seeming tolerance of COVID-19 misinformation, including major communities like r/TIFU.

Critics among those groups contended that Reddit let these groups blossom through "inaction and malice," and that Reddit wasn't consistent in enforcing its own policies on misinformation and abuse. As one redditor pointed out, Reddit's claims about allowing dissenting ideas don't carry much weight — the COVID-19 denial groups are presenting false statements, not just contrary opinions.

The situation is a familiar one. Reddit was accused of dragging its heels on hate speech, responding only when the outcry became too loud to ignore. The misinformation response suggests Reddit is repeating that behavior. Not that this would be shocking. The site often finds itself trying to balance its need to please advertisers with a desire to foster free expression, and this is just the latest instance of that balancing act creating an uproar.

Add the Roadster to the list of delayed Tesla vehicles. On Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk said the performance EV wouldn’t make its previously announced 2022 shipment date. “2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship,” he said in a tweet spotted by Roadshow. The executive added the Roadster should ship in 2023, “assuming 2022 is not mega drama.”

Tesla first announced its next-generation Roadster in 2017. Back then, the company expected to debut the car sometime last year. 2020 came and went without Tesla sharing much information on the supercar. Then, at the start of the year, Musk said production on the Roadster would start in 2022. Whether the car will make its new date is a big if. The global chip shortage that delayed the Tesla Semi is expected to continue until 2023, and Musk’s tweet hints at the possibility of further delays.

RED is determined to stay at the forefront of 8K video recording, and its latest pro camera might just be proof. DPReviewnotes that RED has unveiled the V-Raptor ST, its first camera in the DSMC3 lineup. The body is only slightly bigger than the Komodo, but it touts a brand new, 35.4-megapixel VV full-frame sensor that offers a large 17 stops of dynamic range and "cinema-quality" scan times twice as fast as any other RED camera.

You might not have to sacrifice quality for speed, either. The V-Raptor ST can shoot 16-bit REDCODE RAW video at 8K and 120 frames per second, and you can ramp it up to 600 frames per second at 2K if you're capturing slow-motion shots. While RED may be stretching things by claiming you can "always deliver" at greater than 4K (you clearly need to step down in some situations), you might feel a twinge of regret if your production team spent close to $60,000 on a Monstro 8K that 'only' manages 60FPS at full resolution.

The new camera includes other creature comforts. A dedicated user display on the side helps assistants tweak settings and save presets, and improved cooling (including a quiet 60mm fan) helps you work in tougher conditions.

You'll have access to a wide range of ports, including two 12G-SDI outputs, nine-pin EXT (for breakout boxes), USB-C and the obligatory pogo pin connector for a monitor. ODU output on the side can break out to XLR or 3.5mm audio. Not surprisingly, you'll want fast storage — RED supports compatible CFexpress 2.0 Type B cards that can record R3D and ProRes at up to 800MB/s.

The price is squarely in pro filmmaker territory. The body alone sells for $24,500, and you'll likely want to spend $29,580 on a "Starter Pack" with useful add-ons like a 7-inch touchscreen, a RED 660GB CFexpress card (plus the matching card reader) and a pair of batteries. That's not including the RF-mount lenses and adapters you might need if you're new to the RED ecosystem. If you're the sort who regularly shoots 8K video for a living, though, this might represent a bargain if you're looking for high-end video equipment.

SpaceX isn't pulling any punches in its response to Amazon's latest stalling tactics. Yesterday, SpaceX told the FCC that Amazon is purposefully trying to delay proposals for its Starlink satellite internet service. The reason? Amazon still can't compete with its own satellite solution, Kuiper Systems, Ars Technica reports. This wouldn't be a first for Amazon, of course: a similar complaint led NASA to put SpaceX's lunar lander contract on hold. 

"Amazon’s recent missive is unfortunately only the latest in its continuing efforts to slow down competition, while neglecting to resolve the Commission’s concerns about Amazon’s own nongeostationary orbit (“NGSO”) satellite system," SpaceX said in its filing to the FCC. "The Commission should see through these efforts and quickly put SpaceX’s application out for public comment where any issues can be fully vetted."

Amazon last week urged the FCC to reject SpaceX's proposal for Starlink, claiming that it broke the agency's rules by offering two separate configurations for its satellite internet. Starlink shot back, claiming that Amazon still hasn't told the FCC how it would avoid interfering with other services, or how it would follow rules around orbital debris. 

"But while Amazon has filed nothing with the Commission to address these conditions on its own license for nearly 400 days, it took only 4 days to object to SpaceX’s next-generation NGSO system," SpaceX wrote. The company noted that Amazon hasn't had a single meeting this year with the FCC to address its complaints, and it still hasn't fleshed out details for its satellite system.

Watching HBO Max shows and movies on a TV is getting a little easier for Vizio owners. SmartCast TVs now have a native HBO Max app, so you won't need to cast content from another device. Along with accessing HBO Max the old-fashioned way by pressing buttons on your remote, you can use voice navigation via the SmartCast Mobile app or Voice Remote with Vizio Voice.

To mark the app's debut, Vizio is using its SmartCast home screen to showcase some of the free episodes HBO Max offers to entice viewers to sign up. You can get a taste of shows including HBO heavyweights like Game of Thrones and Euphoria, as well as a few Max Originals. The titles will be on rotation, so there'll be other shows to sample later.

HBO Max has been steadily expanding its app to more platforms. Along with YouTube, it landed on Spectrum TV this week. They joined Netflix as Spectrum Guide's first streaming apps. The reception to HBO Max's smart TV apps hasn't been great though. WarnerMedia reportedly plans to overhaul them in the coming months.

Apple has asked all of its US employees to share their vaccination status voluntarily. According to Bloomberg, the company recently sent out a memo requesting workers, whether they currently work out of an office or not, to share that information by September 17th. Apple reportedly plans to use the data it collects to inform its ongoing COVID-19 response. 

Bloomberg reports the company told employees it would keep their vaccine status “confidential and secure” by aggregating the information but said that could change in the future. “It is possible your vaccination status may be used in an identifiable manner, along with other information about your general work environment such as your building location, if we determine or, if it is required that, this information is necessary in order to ensure a healthy and safe work environment,” Apple said in the memo, according to the outlet. It's not clear what repercussions if any an employee will face if they do not provide their vaccination status by the deadline.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment.

Unlike Google, Apple currently does not require employees to be vaccinated before they can come to the office. Still, the company has started to nudge its workers in that direction more forcefully. For example, it recently began a campaign encouraging workers to get their shot.

The company’s request, and the admission that the information employees share with it may be used in an identifiable manner, come as Apple faces increasing scrutiny over how it handles the privacy of its workers. A recent report from The Verge detailed some of the company’s policies on that front. For instance, one such policy prohibits employees from wiping their work devices before returning them to the company. 

Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, best known as creator of PUBG: Battlegrounds (previously known as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds), is going independent. His PlayerUnknown Productions studio has spun out from PUBG owner Krafton, which will hold a minority stake in the company.

“I’m so very grateful to everyone at PUBG and Krafton for taking a chance on me and for the opportunities they afforded me over the past four years,” Greene said in a statement. “Today, I’m excited to take the next step on my journey to create the kind of experience I’ve envisaged for years. Again, I’m thankful for everyone at Krafton for supporting my plans, and I’ll have more to reveal more about our project at a later date.”

Greene left the core PUBG team in 2019 and moved from Seoul (where Krafton is based) to Amsterdam to lead the PUBG Special Projects division. PlayerUnknown Productions is "exploring the systems needed to enable massive scale within open-world games," according to a press release. The only game listed on the studio's website is Prologue, for which Greene released an atmospheric teaser in late 2019, so it seems he's taken that game with him.

Greene's departure from Krafton is notable, given that he's effectively the father of the battle royale genre that's dominated the gaming landscape over the last few years. Before PUBG, Greene came to prominence as a developer of battle royale mods for ARMA 2 and H1Z1.

It looks like DJI is preparing to release a new smartphone gimbal. A leak shared by WinFuture and subsequently spotted by The Verge shows the Osmo Mobile 5. New to this model is a telescoping mechanism that will allow you to extend the gimbal. That’s something that should give those who buy the OM 5 more ways to compose their photos and videos. According to the outlet, the device will cost €159 (about $188) and stand approximately 6.7 inches tall when you collapse down the telescoping mechanism.

WinFuture

Judging by the images WinFuture shared, it doesn’t look like the Osmo Mobile 5 extends quite as long as a more affordable selfie stick, but that’s probably for the best since the weight of your smartphone and the included magnetic mounting system would make the gimbal unwieldy at best and prone to breaking at worst. Unfortunately, it appears that added flexibility will come at the cost of battery life. The new model can reportedly go six hours and 20 minutes on a single charge. By contrast, you can get up to 15 hours of use from the Osmo Mobile 4’s 2,450mAh battery.

If a high-tech selfie stick isn’t your thing, it looks like DJI also plans to release a more affordable version of its existing Osmo Mobile 4 gimbal. WinFuture’s Roland Quandt said the company is also working on a model called the Osmo Mobile 4 SE. It will reportedly forgo its predecessor’s handy magnetic mount, but only cost $99 as a result. We’ll note here Quandt has a solid track record when it comes to DJI leaks. Either way, the company plans to host a “Hi Five” event on September 8th, so we won’t have to wait long to find out what it has in store.