Arizona Advances Bill Forcing Apple and Google To Allow Fortnite-style Alternative Payment Options

The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems. From a report: The legislation, a sweeping amendment to Arizona’s existing HB2005 [PDF], prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred…

Colorado Bill Seeks To Force Social Platforms To Register With the State, Impose $5k/Day Fine For Allowing ‘Fake News’ or Conspiracy Theories

michaelmalak writes: The Colorado Senate President Pro Tempore, Kerry Donovan, is the prime sponsor of SB21-132,
Digital Communications Regulation, which if passed, would fine websites $5,000 per day as a class 2 misdemeanor if they “allow” user comments that: “…promote hate speech; undermine election integrity; disseminate intentional disinformation, conspiracy theories, or fake news; or authorize, encourage, or carry out violations of users’…

Bill Gates, Elon Musk Both Warn ‘Don’t Go Too Far with Crypto Speculation’

From a report:
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has an interesting take on who should buy Bitcoins. He being the third richest man in the world said that Bitcoins are not for him because he has less money than Tesla CEO Elon Musk. So basically anybody who has less money than Musk should not invest in Bitcoin… Gates during an interview with Bloomberg…

Bill Gates Prefers ‘More Open Nature’ of Android, Regrets Microsoft’s Missing Phone Market

Bill Gates “prefers the more open nature of the Android ecosystem, as it’s more ‘flexible’ about how software interfaces with the OS,” reports PC Magazine, citing remarks Gates made on Clubhouse to CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin: “I actually use an Android phone,” Gates told Sorkin. “Because I want to keep track of everything, I’ll often play around with iPhones, but the…

Lawmaker Proposing ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Ban Says Video Game Contributes To Carjackings

Koreantoast writes: With the number of carjackings more than doubling in the city of Chicago during 2020, one lawmaker knows who to blame: the video game “Grand Theft Auto.” According to Chicago ABC 7, Democratic State Representative Marcus Williams believes the video game is causing the rise in carjackings, stating that “Grand Theft Auto’ and other violent video games are getting…

Bill Gates Questions Societal Value of ‘GameStop’ Mania, Argues It’d Be ‘Good to Get Rid of’ Bitcoin

The price of bitcoin — now over $57,000 — has nearly doubled in the last 7 weeks. Even Elon Musk tweeted that its price seems high — though one analyst tells Bloomberg that Tesla has already made a profit of nearly $1 billion from its recent Bitcoin investment, more than it earned selling electric cars in all of 2020. Yet speaking…

Texas Was ‘Seconds and Minutes’ Away From Catastrophic Monthslong Blackouts, Officials Say

Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said yesterday. Texas Tribune reports: As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or…

Australian Law Could Make Internet ‘Unworkable’, Says World Wide Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee

Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee has said Australia’s plan to make tech giants pay for journalism could render the internet as we know it “unworkable.” From a report: The inventor of the World Wide Web claimed that proposed laws could disrupt the established order of the internet. “Specifically, I am concerned that that code risks breaching a fundamental principle of the web…

Bill Gates Says We Need More Entrepreneurs Like Elon Musk To Take on Climate Change

Bill Gates said the world needs more entrepreneurs like Elon Musk to take on climate change. In an interview with CNBC, he said: I think what Elon’s done with Tesla is fantastic. It’s, you know, probably the biggest single contribution to showing us that electric cars are part of how we solve climate change. We need a lot of Elon Musks,…

Apple Wins Victory as North Dakota Votes Down Bill That Would Regulate App Stores

The North Dakota state senate voted 36-11 on Tuesday not to pass a bill that would have required app stores to enable software developers to use their own payment processing software and avoid fees charged by Apple and Google. From a report: The vote is a victory for Apple, which says that the App Store is a core part of its…