Fortnite creator sues Apple, Google over app store practices

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Epic Games fires shots at Apple, Google over app store monopolies

By Will Nicol, Senior Writer

Apple may have gotten off easy at the congressional antitrust hearing in July, but its alleged monopoly is coming under fire from the private sector, with Epic Games (the studio behind Fortnite) filing a lawsuit against the company over its App Store practices on Thursday. Epic also filed a similar suit against Google.

The lawsuit capped off a day of drama between Epic and Apple, which began when Epic gave Fortnite players on iOS and Android devices the option to buy in-game currency directly from Epic at a reduced price, cutting Apple and Google out of the transaction. Apple and Google responded by removing Fortnite from their app stores.

Following the removal of Fortnite, Epic released a video parodying Apple’s famous 1984 ad, with a Fortnite character smashing a massive TV screen through which an authoritarian apple-man is speaking. The quick release of the video suggests that Epic was planning for a fight.

Epic’s suits allege that Apple and Google have monopolies over the distribution of apps on the iOS and Android platforms, and that these monopolies allow them to extract too great a cut of app sales. Similar arguments were brought up by the House Judiciary Committee in the July hearing, where Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai argued that their platforms support innovation (Cook called the App Store an “economic miracle”).

App developers have criticized Apple and Google in the past, but few have Epic’s clout. These lawsuits probably won’t be resolved anytime soon, but they mark a severe escalation in the debate over tech antitrust in the U.S.

Read more at Digital Trends

The Surface Duo is a bold new look for smartphones

By Luke Larsen, Computing Editor

If you've seen one smartphone, you've seen ’em all. The Surface Duo, though, is an attempt to disrupt the deluge of phones that all look and act the same.

The dual-screen device is now finally available for purchase, after almost a year since it was first announced. At $1,400, it's not cheap -- nor is it the most powerful phone you can buy. But it's not meant to compete with the iPhones and Galaxy phones of the world. It's focus is entirely different.

Two screens alone isn't innovation. We've seen plenty of foldable phones in 2020. But what Microsoft has built on top of Android is more than just a software skin -- it's a new way of thinking about mobile devices, and what you can do with them. Whether it's two apps open side-by-side or two elements of a single app displayed, the Surface Duo wants you to actually get work done on it -- whether that's in Outlook, Word, or OneNote. 

It won't sell as many units as the iPhone 12, and the camera certainly won't impress you like the Galaxy Note Ultra 20. But the Surface Duo just might force us to rethink what phones are really all about.

Read more at Digital Trends

Get ready for robots … in space!

By Drew Prindle, Features Editor

Here in 2020, robots have seemingly made their way into every facet of modern life. You can find them on farms, in the military, and even on city sidewalks. But while they’re increasingly abundant here on Earth, terrestrial bots are just the tip of the iceberg. Nowadays, robots are also taking over space.

In the eighth installation of Digital Trends’ Robots Everywhere video series, host Drew Prindle takes us on a tour of some of the coolest robots that humanity has ever put into orbit, and explains how robots -- not humans -- will be the primary explorers of the final frontier. 

As the video explains, robots already outnumber humans in space, and as we press onward to harsher, more distant locations in the galaxy, it likely won’t be us humans going there first -- it’ll be the highly advanced spacefaring robots that we send in our stead.

What we’re reading:

• Unionization is having a resurgence on the left, but as Kim Kelly writes for The Baffler, even ostensibly progressive organizations are guilty of union busting.  
• The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis argues that HBO’s critical darling Lovecraft Country spends too much time on its monsters rather than building up its protagonists.

What we’re watching: Red Oaks on Amazon Prime 

By Rob Oster, Copy Chief

If you've been scouring the various streaming services for a comedy series to binge, Red Oaks is a worthwhile show that flew under a lot of people's radar.

Full disclosure: As someone who came of age in 1980s New York, I really identified with this show about a young man trying to figure out his future while working as an assistant tennis pro at a country club in New Jersey in the mid-'80s. 

While raucous at times, this is no Caddyshack. It's a well-acted, often thoughtful look at a young man on the brink of adulthood.

The show, which ran for 26 episodes over three seasons starting in 2014, follows David Myers (Craig Roberts), a college student and aspiring filmmaker whose parents' marriage is deteriorating and who is biding his time at the country club as he tries to figure out his future. 

One of the show's main strengths is its well-written supporting characters, including a funny and poignant Richard Kind as his dad, Jennifer Grey as his mom, and a never-been-better Paul Reiser as a crooked Wall Street kingpin who's the president of the country club.

While it pains me to classify the show as a period piece -- man, I feel old -- it does a great job of depicting a time and place that seems downright idyllic compared to the troubling times we now live in.