I recall seeing earlier this year how BMW is charging owners in Korea and UK a monthly subscription to access their heated seats which they already paid for when they purchased their Big Money Waster. That’s right, the car is sold with heated seats, but they won’t function without an active subscription. Then there is Tesla’s ‘Full Self Driving;’ which annual cost is more than a cheap used car. Some legislators in New Jersey want this money-grab practice to stop. In late September, Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen introduced a bill that would prohibit car makers or dealers from offering…
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Texas has filed suit against Google Inc. 298,30 -2,61 -0,87% for alleged user privacy violations. There have been a handful of states which are suing or have already settled with Google. This is case is slightly different then the one Google recently settle in Arizona for illegal Android tracking. Texas is claiming Google has been collecting and using biometric data belonging to millions of Texans without their permission. The Texas AG says that Google allegedly used products and services like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max to collect a vast array of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records…
Google Inc. 298,30 -2,61 -0,87% has been fined yet again for ‘anti-competitive practices’ with its Android mobile OS. This time around it is India which is their largest market by user base. The commission has slapped Google with a small $162 million fine. I say small as Google’s MONTHLY revenue works out to be around $21.5 Billion. The Competition Commission of India found the following in their investigations: Google has perpetuated its dominant position in the online search market resulting in denial of market access for competing search apps in contravention of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act. Google has leveraged…
On Tuesday, October 18th Google Inc. 298,30 -2,61 -0,87% has released an updated version of Chrome for Android. This update focuses mostly on User Interface and Quality of Life improvements with tabs in the Android version of the browser. However, this update does not include the desktop feature Tab Groups. This feature will be added to the Android version of Chrome, just not with this release. Google has turned its attention to tablets with today’s Chrome on Android update, which focuses on improving tab navigation. The update introduces a side-by-side tab design that makes swapping open pages easier, and an…
Microsoft Corporation 410,68 +5,48 +1,35% has released the 2022 Feature Update (Windows 10 22H2) for Windows 10. Hopefully, this will go smoother than the Window 11 22H2 update release back in September. Note: In order to get this update your device needs to be running Windows 10 20H2 (October 2020 update) or later (21H1, 21H2 or 22H1) . Not sure which version of Windows 10 you are running? You can check by pressing the WindowsKey +R and typing winver in the run box and pressing enter. This is an optional update, so users will need to manually check for updates in their Settings,…
As mentioned earlier Microsoft Corporation 410,68 +5,48 +1,35% had teased about new Windows 11 features coming this month. Today, Microsoft pushed out KB5019509 (Cumulative Update for Windows 11 22H2 for X64-based Systems). Note: if your system is being blocked from getting the Windows 11 22H2 update, this update and the new features will not be offered. If this all feels a bit overwhelming, well, you’re right. Microsoft’s plan for Windows 11 is to return to a single major feature release per year, but to add additional features pretty much whenever it feels like it. Consider this to be a “makeup” release, including…
Earlier this month YouTube was asking some non-Premium users to upgrade to a Premium Subscription to view 4K content. There were concerns YouTube might be placing 4K content behind a paywall. Turns out it was just an experiment to “gauge users’ reactions”. In a tweet, YouTube confirmed the end of the experiment and said, “viewers should now be able to access 4K quality resolutions without Premium membership.” So all users can now watch videos at the highest resolution without paying for a subscription. It is not clear if their ‘experiment’ was only to last two weeks or they were able to…
Apple Inc. 260,29 -2,23 -0,85% iPhone 14 came out this fall with a starting MSRP of $799 USD. Recently an unopened first generation (2007) 8 GB iPhone went up for auction. The starting bid was $2500 USD and sold for a little over $33K USD. The very first iPhone came with a 3.5-inch screen, a 2-megapixel camera, and a web browser. When the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs first introduced it 15 years ago, he called it a combination of “an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator” all in one. “This factory sealed, first-release example is in exceptional…
Today is Sunday, October 16th: time for the weekly roundup of the good, the bad and the ugly tech news of the week! The Good The iPhone 15 will be the first to have a USB-C charging port. The next generation iPhone 15 due out in the fall of 2023 will have USB-C charging port. Apple is also transitioning to USB-C charging by the end of 2024 for other devices such as wireless earbuds. This is ahead of European Parliament’s ruling requiring mobile devices with a power delivery of 100 watts or less must use USB-C charging by the end…
Apple Inc. 260,29 -2,23 -0,85% has already had to pay a $2.3 million fine to the Brazilin Government in September as a result of their ‘environmental’ practices with the iPhone 12. Specifically Apple choosing not to include a charging brick with the iPhone 12. Now, it appears Apple is going to have to pay even more fines and provide free chargers to all Brazilin customers who recently purchased an iPhone 12 or 13. Apple keeps on losing court battles in Brazil over its decision to stop shipping iPhones with a charger. The São Paulo state court has ruled against the tech…