Struggling retailer GameStop’s stock curiously hit an all time high today. But it’s not because Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo suddenly decided to stop selling their games digitally. And it’s not because a new set of Funko Pops has taken the internet’s imagination by storm. No, the stock price jumped to an all-time high because some Read more about GameStop Stock Breaks Records As Reddit Traders War With Short Sellers[…]

Elastic CEO and co-founder Shay Banon has attacked AWS for what he claims is unacceptable use of the open-source Elasticsearch product and trademark. Banon’s post is part of the company’s defence of its decision to drop the open-source Apache 2.0 licence for its ElasticSearch and Kibana products and instead use the copyleft SSPL or restrictive Read more about AWS has been doing things that are ‘just NOT OK since 2015,’ says Elastic as firm yanks Apache 2.0 licence – FOSS blues[…]

A lengthy antitrust investigation into PC games geo-blocking in the European Union by distribution platform Valve and five games publishers has led to fines totalling €7.8 million (~$9.4 million) after the Commission confirmed today that the bloc’s rules had been breached.The geo-blocking practices investigated since before 2017 concerned around 100 PC video games of different Read more about Valve, Bandai, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media, Zenimax fined $9.4M by EU for illegal geo-blocking, antitrust collusion[…]

In 2017, Facebook said it was testing a new way of selling online advertising that would threaten Google’s control of the digital ad market. But less than two years later, Facebook did an about-face and said it was joining an alliance of companies backing a similar effort by Google.Facebook never said why it pulled back Read more about Behind a Secret Deal Between Google and Facebook – how monopolies define winners and kill losers[…]

Tesla is an oddity in the business landscape. The company’s stock is so stratospheric that Elon Musk has surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person. Now, we have another mind-blowing metric. At Tesla’s current price-to-earnings ratio, it would take the company almost 1,600 years to make what the stock market says it’s worth.The New Read more about Tesla Would Take Nearly 1,600 Years To Make The Amount Of Money The Stock Market Values It At[…]

Epic Games intends to file a competition lawsuit against Google in the UK as part of the ongoing Fortnite-kicked-off-platforms saga, according to documents lodged with the Competition Appeal Tribunal.The lawsuit will allege that Google, holder of “a dominant position in the Android app distribution market”, has unfairly restricted “competition from alternative app stores and other Read more about Epic Games files competition lawsuit against Google in the UK over Fortnite’s ejection from Play Store[…]

[…] the estimated $100 million Uber apparently straight-up squandered on incredibly obvious, third-party digital advertising scams… something that is garnering mainstream coverage in the first days of 2021, despite coming to light back in February of last damn year. Twitter / @nandoodles You Google Played yourself — Former Sleeping Giants alum and co-founder of Check Read more about Uber wasted $100 million on useless digital ad campaigns[…]

China’s crackdown on Jack Ma’s empire is far from over: The country’s regulators have ordered the Ma-founded Alibaba affiliate Ant Group to scale down its business. In particular, they’ve ordered the company to “return to its origins” as a payment provider. Ant Group started out as Alipay, which became China’s largest digital payment platform, though Read more about China pushes Alibaba founder Jack Ma to downsize his finance business Ant Group[…]

China kicked off an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at Alibaba Group Holding and summoned affiliate Ant Group Co. to a high-level meeting over financial regulations, escalating scrutiny over the twin pillars of billionaire Jack Ma’s internet empire. The probe announced Thursday marks the formal start of the Communist Party’s crackdown on the crown jewel Read more about China Targets Jack Ma’s Alibaba With Monopoly Investigation[…]

YouTube says it has found a “smoking gun” to prove that a class-action lawsuit filed by Grammy award-winning musician Maria Schneider and Pirate Monitor Ltd was filed in bad faith. According to the Google-owned platform, the same IP address used to upload ‘pirate’ movies to the platform also sent DMCA notices targeting the same batch Read more about YouTube Class Action: Same IP Address Used to Upload ‘Pirate’ Movies & File DMCA Notices[…]

Cydia, the original app store for jailbroken iPhones, has joined a wave of companies and regulators in targeting Apple over antitrust concerns. In a lawsuit it filed on Thursday, it accused Apple of “anti-competitive acquisition and maintenance of an illegal monopoly over iOS app distribution.” Were that not the case, Cydia argues, users would “be Read more about Jailbreak app store Cydia files its own antitrust lawsuit against Apple[…]

Wall Street has begun trading water as a commodity, like gold or oil. The country’s first water market launched on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange this week with $1.1 billion in contracts tied to water prices in California, Bloomberg News reported. The market allows farmers, hedge funds, and municipalities to hedge bets on the future price Read more about Wall Street Begins Trading Water Futures as a Commodity[…]

In 2017, Zunum Aero was flying high. The Kirkland, Washington-based aviation startup came out of stealth mode with bold plans to build a fleet of 12-seat hybrid electric jets for short, regional hops between cities. The company, which had received millions of dollars from the venture arms of Boeing and JetBlue, said it would be Read more about Struggling electric jet startup Zunum sues Boeing for fraud, misuse of trade secrets, poaching talent[…]

Don’t be surprised if you start seeing ads on videos made by smaller YouTube creators. The video-sharing website has updated its Terms of Service, and it includes a new section that gives it the right to monetize videos from channels not big enough to be part of its Partner Program. That doesn’t mean new creators Read more about YouTube will run ads on smaller creators’ videos without paying them[…]

iOS 14.3 will prompt some users to install selected third-party applications during setup, in what is likely an attempt to stifle any allegations of anticompetitive behaviour from regulators. The feature, which is buried deep within the beta version of the upcoming iOS release and was first spotted by 9to5Mac, is believed to be activated depending Read more about Apple braces for antitrust woes by letting users select and install third-party apps during setup of iOS 14.3[…]

The European Union is serving formal antitrust charges to Amazon, saying that the retailer has misused its position to compete against third-party businesses using its platform. Officials, led by competition chief Margrethe Vestager, believe there is enough evidence to charge the company for this misuse. This data, so the claim goes, was used by Amazon Read more about European Commission charges Amazon over misuse of seller data to make copy cat products[…]

The US Department of Justice on Thursday filed a legal request to formally take control of more than $1bn in Bitcoin (BTC) generated from the sales of illicit goods at Silk Road. It is believed the crypto-coins were stolen from the dark-web market at some point, and now the Feds want to take ownership of Read more about Uncle Sam’s legal eagles hope to get their claws on $1bn in Bitcoin ‘stolen by hacker’ from dark-web souk Silk Road[…]