Kalakshar US

Ireland has pitched a law to force tech companies to vet ads before publishing them, according to reporting by Financial Times. This is part of a larger push by the EU Commission to make tech entities responsible for financial fraud that occurs on their platforms. It also comes as President Trump has begun pushing the EU to scale back regulation of big American tech companies.

While a proposal by the EU Commission would indeed put companies on the hook for financial fraud, Ireland’s plan hopes to get ahead of all that. It looks to stop fraudulent ads before they are even published. The Irish finance ministry submitted an amendment to the current EU proposal that would force tech platforms to check the legitimacy of advertisers before posting their ads.

The amendment would also make it so only registered financial service providers could post these types of ads. The Bank of Ireland says that more than 75 percent of losses last year came from investment fraud that were often linked to ads placed on social media. These ads can be posted at any time and, more importantly, taken down at any time. This allows the publishers to avoid legal scrutiny after the damage has been done. Data indicates that online scammers defrauded Europeans out of nearly $5 billion in 2022.

“We can’t leave glaringly obvious holes in legislation that are allowing criminals to defraud people of their life savings,” said Regina Doherty, an Irish lawmaker.

Google has declined to discuss this measure, but told FT that it fights “financial fraud in ads through our tools, people and policies.” It is true that it operates a financial services certification program to help combat fraud. Meta has declined to comment. We’ve pinged both companies and will update this post if we hear back.

Around half of EU countries have expressed support for Ireland’s proposed amendment, though there is a hurdle to overcome. The EU Commission already has a provision in the Digital Services Act that says that tech companies aren’t required to broadly monitor content, though proponents of the Irish initiative have countered that the requirement to vet advertisers could be designed in such a way that conforms with current law.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ireland-is-pitching-a-law-to-force-big-tech-companies-to-vet-ads-before-publication-154946970.html?src=rss 

Mafia: The Old Country will be released on August 8 after being revealed at last year’s The Game Awards. The title will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam and NVIDIA GeForce Now. Fans of organized crime simulators can preorder the game right now.

This is a prequel to other titles in 2K Games’ Mafia franchise. It’s set in Sicily in the early 1900s and explores the origins of organized crime. This reminds me of the iconic young Vito Corleone scenes from The Godfather Part II, which begin in Sicily in 1901.

Mafia: The Old Country is a linear, narrative-driven game with stealth and gunplay mechanics. There’s a new protagonist called Enzo who “has the opportunity to join Don Torrisi’s crime family.”

As usual with modern releases, there are a couple of versions to choose from. The Standard Edition just includes the base game and costs $50, which is a bargain in today’s gaming landscape. The Deluxe Edition offers a bunch of bonus items, like new weapons and outfits. It also comes with the digital score and a digital art book. This one costs $60.

The Mafia series started in 2002 and offered a serious take on the GTA formula. There have only been three real games in the franchise in all of that time, with Mafia III being released in 2017.

2K Games has a lot on its plate right now. Borderlands 4 comes out on September 12 and there’s likely to be a new NBA 2K edition this year. Of course, it’s also helping to publish the long-awaited GTA 6, which has been delayed until May 26, 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/mafia-the-old-country-arrives-on-august-8-150025179.html?src=rss 

Nintendo is throwing some cold water on Switch 2 sales estimates even though launch demand seems to be off the charts. In its latest earnings report, the company projected sales of 15 million Switch 2 units in its first year on sale to March 2026, fewer than analyst predictions of 16.8 million. It didn’t explain the number but it’s likely due to uncertainty around US tariffs and the fact that Nintendo is usually cautious with its forecasts. 

Switch 2 sales opened with a bang as resellers immediately sold out and Nintendo said its own pre-orders may not arrive until after the June 5th launch. That shows there’s a lot of pent-up demand for the new model following the Switch’s eight year run, but last month Nintendo delayed pre-orders due to concerns over Trump’s tariffs on electronic goods. Despite its fears (and buyer complaints about the $450 price tag), the company received 2.2 million applications for pre-orders in Japan alone, a number that Nintendo said “far exceeds our expectations.”

Nintendo has sold over 150 million Switch consoles to date, including 17.79 million in the first 13 months — so the Switch 2 is on a similar pace, even with the conservative estimates. In any case, it needs to have a great year as sales have fallen off a cliff (down 30.3 percent over last year), as one would expect with a new console imminent. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-thinks-itll-sell-15m-switch-2s-in-its-first-fiscal-year-120044037.html?src=rss 

Apple has filed an emergency motion, asking a federal appeals court to put a pause on orders that would significantly change how the App Store works. Those changes, the company argued in its motion, will cost the company “substantial sums annually” and are based on conduct that hasn’t been “adjudicated to be (and is not) unlawful.” It said those orders were made to punish Apple for “purported non-compliance” to previous orders.  

If you’ll recall, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers recently ruled that Apple had violated her 2021 ruling on the lawsuit Epic Games filed against Apple. In her original decision, the judge told the company to allow developers to direct users to other payment systems that would let them bypass the 30 percent commission fee Apple collects. But Apple still collected up to a 27 percent cut for external purchases, and it also showed users a “scare screen” warning them that paying outside the App Store would mean they wouldn’t have the company’s protection.

In her new ruling, Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to stop collecting fees for external payments immediately. She also prohibited Apple from creating rules that would prevent developers from presenting customers with buttons and links for external payments. Apple changed its guidelines to remove prohibitions on buttons and external links that direct customers to non-App Store purchasing mechanisms. However, it also appealed Gonzalez Rogers’ decision and is now asking the court to put a stay on those two particular orders while its appeal is ongoing. 

Apple insisted in its motion that it is unlawful to prevent the company from taking a cut on linked transactions, because the original decision didn’t say anything about commissions or pricing. It also argued that it’s unlawful to prevent the company from setting conditions for link placement and language as the original injunction didn’t say anything about it. That provision violates the First Amendment, Apple said, by forcing it to “accommodate messages it would prefer to exclude.” The company accused the court of punishing it because, in its view, Apple “flouted the court’s order.”

“Without a stay, these extraordinary intrusions into Apple’s business will cause grave irreparable harm. Depriving Apple of control over core features of the App Store is, standing alone, sufficient to warrant a stay,” the company wrote. “The district court acknowledged that compliance will cost Apple ‘hundreds of millions to billions’ of dollars annually… which Apple can never recoup. Consumers would suffer from the destabilizing effects of the new injunction, while Epic would not be harmed by a stay.”

Epic Games called Apple’s motion a “last ditch effort to block competition and extract massive junk fees at the expense of consumers and developers.” In addition to the video game developer, other companies are also keen to offer external payments that would allow them to bypass Apple’s commission. Spotify, for one, already submitted an update that would let users pay outside the App Store for customers in the US. 

When Gonzalez Rogers handed down her decision, it had revealed that App Store lead Phil Schiller advocated for the company to stop collecting fees on web links back in 2023. However, Apple’s former Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri convinced Tim Cook to do the opposite. She said the company’s Vice-President of Finance, Alex Roman, lied under oath and told the court that Apple didn’t decide on collecting a 27-percent fee on external purchases until early 2024, whereas the truth was that Apple had already decided on that percentage back in 2023. The judge has referred the case to the US attorney for the Northern District of California to investigate Apple and Roman for possible criminal contempt.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-files-emergency-hold-to-challenge-app-store-payment-injunction-123030879.html?src=rss 

Tesla has scrapped its plans to sell a range extender for the Cybertruck, the automaker has notified customers who have previously paid a $2,000 reservation fee for the $16,000 add-on. Based on copies of the email people have been posting on social networks and forums, Tesla will be refunding their deposits in full. It didn’t say why it’s no longer planning to sell the accessory, but the emails come a month after the company quietly pulled the option to add it to the vehicle from its website configurator.

The range extender is a battery pack that was supposed to be installed on the bed of the Cybertruck. It was Tesla’s answer to releasing vehicles that had shorter ranges than it originally promised. When the company first unveiled the model, it said different versions would have different ranges, including one that has a 500-mile range. Instead, the long-range Cybertruck, which has the longest range, can only last for 350 miles on a single charge. As Electrek noted late last year, the battery pack was supposed to start shipping in early 2025, but Tesla pushed back its release to mid-2025 and also reduced its promised range from 470 miles to 445 miles.

Elon Musk previously said that he expects Tesla to sell between 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks a year. However, a recent recall showed that the automaker sold fewer than 50,000 units over a 15-month period. It’s unclear whether the company decided to pull the plug on the range extender because it’s not worth manufacturing a new product for a model that’s performing far below expectations, or if it has another reason altogether. Either way, the Cybertruck’s battery add-on has been cancelled and won’t be seeing the light of day.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/tesla-will-no-longer-release-the-cybertruck-range-extender-004809209.html?src=rss