Sept 18 (Reuters) - A group of 18 state attorneys general said on Monday they backed Montana's effort to ban Chinese-owned short video app TikTok, urging a U.S. judge to reject legal challenges ahead of the Jan. 1 effective date.

Looks like there might be yet another mass-migration wave from Twitter to Mastodon on the way...

https://www.thefader.com/2023/09/18/elon-musk-pay-for-twitter

#twitter #tech #technology @technology #X #fediverse

TLDR is, now looking back at the whole image, Louis thinks he hasn't been able to do enough impact on industry, and it could have been better place without him.

I personally do not agree. I've always seen him as the face of Right To Repair movement. He has done a significant work on this field, and without Louis and passionate people like him, the industry would most certainly be worst than ever.

But unfortunately, this is the most one person can do. Average person simply doesn't care, and those who do, they are largely outnumbered. These companies are bigger than most countries, and have huge impact on world economy. Therefore, governments can't do (often, willingly, don't even try) much about their anti-consumer behaviors.

It is quite heartbreaking to see these kind of "self-questioning"s from the "right to repair guy" himself, but I simply can't blame him! He has been doing this advocacy for 15 years now, and unfortunately, it has only gotten worst. I doubt if the field will change to the better. Advancements will happen, but in its current form - consumers are just consumers. We have lost our particularity, and these corporations are fighting for ~~us~~ our attention span.

What do you think? Is there a light at the end, or are we living in it's best times?

I wonder how Google's plans to develop a messaging and communications platform it consistently supports are coming along...

Oh wait...

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/18/23878449/google-nest-hub-max-end-support-meet-zoom

#technology @technology #tech #google

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/5555641

archive.org

Developers of indie puzzle game Orgynizer have claimed that Unity said organisations like Planned Parenthood are "not valid charities" and are instead "political groups."

In a blog post, the EU-based developer LizardFactory said the plans to charge developers up to $0.20 per install if they reach certain thresholds would cost them "around 30% of the funds we have gathered and already sent to charity."

As Unity clarified the runtime fee will not apply to charity games, LizardFactory reached out to the company to clarify their game would be exempt from the plan.

However, Unity reportedly said their partners were not "valid charities" and were viewed as "political groups."

Profits made from the game go directly to non-profit organisation Planned Parenthood and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Michigan.

"We did this to raise money for a good cause, not to line the coffers of greedy scumbags," the developers wrote in a blog post. "We have been solid Unity fanboys for over ten years, but the trust is scattered all over the floor."

The developers are considering a move to open-source game engine Godot, "but we will have to recode our entire game because we refuse to give you a dime," they wrote. "This is a mafia-style shakedown, nothing more, nothing less."

Today, Unity responded to the ongoing backlash and apologised, acknowledging the "confusion and angst" surrounding the runtime fee policy.

The company has promised that changes to the policy will be shared in "a couple of days."

Mozilla is bleeding and its attempts to appeal to Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. It won’t fool remaining users of Firefox; many Firefox users will leave (in droves), seeing that Mozilla is not what it publicly claims to be.

TikTok has been hit with a €345 million EU fine over the way it processes the personal data of children and teenage users, the first handed out by the bloc to the Chinese-owned social media platform.