Rebranding streaming services is very in these days across a number of entertainment industries, and EA is jumping on the trend by rebranding its EA Access and Origin Access services simply as EA Play.
News
Mozilla and Google renew Firefox search agreement
Mozilla and Google have extended their arrangement to keep Google the default search engine within the Firefox browser until at least 2023, ZDNet reported. The companies have not formally announced the deal, which ZDNet estimates is worth between $400 and $450 million per year, but are expected to announce it later this fall. The current arrangement was due to expire at the end of 2020.
President Trump now has a profile on TikTok rival Triller
President Donald Trump has joined Triller, a rival to the video sharing app TikTok that he wants ban in the US. First noted by New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz, Trump’s Triller account (@donaldjtrump) has about 3,500 followers, and his introductory video has more than 590,000 views.
Google is re-adding a Calendar app to Android Auto
Google is releasing a new update to Android Auto that allows the car software to regain some of its smarts. This includes bringing back the Calendar app, which allows you to view information on your next appointment and get driving directions if you’d added a location to the calendar entry.
Facebook removes troll network posing as Black Trump supporters
Facebook removed dozens of accounts it says were part of a troll farm pretending to be African-Americans in support of President Donald Trump and QAnon supporters, the company said, for violating its policies against coordinated inauthentic behavior.
New Jersey prosecutor dismissing cyber-harassment case over tweeting cop’s photo
New Jersey’s Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is moving to dismiss the harassment charges against five people who tweeted or retweeted a police officer’s photo. Asbury Park Press reported the news on Friday afternoon, quoting spokesperson Katherine Carter saying that “after reviewing the cases, we concluded there was insufficient evidence to sustain our burden of proof.
Toshiba is officially out of the laptop business
Toshiba quietly exited the laptop business once and for all last week, ending a 35-year run by transferring its remaining minority stake in its PC business to Sharp. Two years ago, Toshiba sold an 80.1 percent stake of its PC business to Sharp for $36 million, and Sharp renamed the division Dynabook.
Google Play Music on Wear OS will shut down in a few weeks
Google Play Music as a service will begin its staggered, region-based shutdown starting next month, but Wear OS users have only a few weeks left to use the smartwatch app before it’s rendered unusable. That latter detail went unmentioned during Google’s announcement that put a December expiration date on the service.
Instagram disables related hashtags feature after bug that appeared to favor Trump
Instagram has disabled its “related hashtags” feature after a bug restricted the feature for select phrases across the platform. Related hashtags did not appear on the tens of thousands of hashtag pages affected by the bug, potentially restricting available information to any user who tapped on one as it appeared in photo or video captions or sought it out via search.
The US will pay up to $10 million if you can ID a foreign election hacker
The 2020 US presidential election is less than 100 days away, and in an effort to prevent the foreign election interference that played a role in the 2016 election, the US Department of State announced today that it’s offering up to $10 million for any information that can identify someone who’s been meddling in a US election.