A long-simmering public dispute between Facebook and Apple has neared a boiling point. The Information: With the aid of outside legal counsel, Facebook for months has been preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that would allege the iPhone-maker abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to abide by App Store rules that Apple’s own apps don’t have…
Tag: App Store
Tim Cook: Why I Kicked Parler Off Apple’s App Store
Charlotte Web shares a report from CNN: Apple, along with Amazon and Google, effectively kicked Parler off the internet in the wake of the January 6 US Capitol siege. Despite criticism that Big Tech wields too much power over speech, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended his decision. “We looked at the incitement to violence that was on there,” Apple CEO Tim…
Safari 14 Added WebExtensions Support. So Where Are the Extensions?
At WWDC last year, Apple announced it was going to support Chrome-style browser extensions (the WebExtensions API) in Safari. Months after Safari 14’s release, are developers bothering with Safari? Jason Snell: The answer seems to be largely no — at least, not yet. The Mac App Store’s Safari extensions library seems to be largely populated with the same stuff that was…
Apple Suspended Social Media Platform Wimkin From Its App Store
Apple “suspended” the social media platform Wimkin from its App Store, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, “part of a widening crackdown by tech companies on potentially dangerous content during the presidential transition.” Long-time Slashdot reader phalse phace shares their report: Mr. Sheppard said the takedowns on the platform, which has 300,000 users and mimics some of the functions of…
EFF, Cory Doctorow Warn About the Dangers of De-Platforming and Censorship
Last week Cory Doctorow shared his own answer for what Apple and Google should’ve done about Parler:
They should remove it, and tell users, “We removed Parler because we think it is a politically odious attempt to foment violence. Our judgment is subjective and may be wielded against others in future. If you don’t like our judgment, you shouldn’t use our app…
Parler CEO Complains Vendors ‘All Ditched Us Too’, While Confused Users Download ‘Porn-y’ App Parlor
The Verge reports: The CEO of the conservative-friendly social app Parler said that all of its vendors have abandoned the company following recent bans from Google, Apple, and Amazon. “Every vendor, from text message services to email providers to our lawyers, all ditched us too, on the same day,” Parler CEO John Matze said in an interview with Fox News on…
Are Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft ‘Digital Warlords’?
EFF special consultant/blogger/science fiction writer Cory Doctorow warns in Locus magazine about the dangers of what Bruce Schneier calls “feudal security”: Here in the 21st century, we are beset by all manner of digital bandits, from identity thieves, to stalkers, to corporate and government spies, to harassers… To be safe, then, you have to ally yourself with a warlord. Apple, Google,…
Google Suspends Parler From App Store; Apple Gives 24-Hour Warning
New submitter yuvcifjt writes: As of Friday 6pm EST (11pm GMT), The Verge reported that Apple and Google are under pressure and receiving complaints to deplatform Parler — the social media platform favored by the right-wing and extremists — from their app stores. BuzzFeed has since broken news that Apple has served notice to Parler’s executives to implement a full moderation…
Apple’s App Store Had Gross Sales Around $64 Billion Last Year and It’s Growing Strongly Again
Apple’s App Store grossed more than $64 billion in 2020, according to an analysis by CNBC. From a report: That’s up from an estimated $50 billion in 2019 and $48.5 billion in 2018, according to the same analysis, suggesting that App Store sales growth accelerated strongly during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people sheltered at home and spent more time and money…
Google’s iOS Apps Haven’t Been Updated in Weeks. Could Apple’s Privacy Labels Be the Reason?
Not a single one of Google’s iOS apps have been updated in almost a month — an unusually long period for a tech behemoth not to release, at the very least, even a minor bug fix or stability update for one of its dozens of insanely popular iPhone and iPad apps. From a report: And after reviewing the latest release dates…