Kalakshar US

Nintendo has posted a call for participants for another Playtest Program, and this time, it’s looking for 40,000 testers and not just 10,000 like in the first one. If you’ll recall, Nintendo looked for 10,000 participants for the first Playtest event last year to test an unnamed, mysterious Switch Online feature. The new program still only welcomes active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members, but as you’d expect, it now supports both the original Switch and the Switch 2. 

Interested participants must be at least 18 years old, and their Nintendo accounts must be registered in one of these regions: Japan, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. They can sign up individually or in groups of up to four people, whose data will be partially shared between each other. Nintendo will choose participants in Japan through a raffle and will accept testers from other regions on a first come first serve basis. The company will take applications from July 18 at 6PM Eastern until July 21 at 11AM Eastern time. 

While Nintendo didn’t say what the participants will be doing, it noted in the announcement that it will be a “test of the same service” that was also tested in October 2024. The company has yet to formally announce that service, but previous participants had revealed that Nintendo had them play a Minecraft-like game that involves using blocks to build structures. Users could play with other people in the game’s shared world if they want, which is probably why interested players can apply as a group. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-launches-another-switch-online-test-program-for-40000-players-133053714.html?src=rss 

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, one of the Democratic FTC Commissioners President Trump had fired back in March, said she looks forward to getting back to work. US District Judge Loren AliKhan has just ruled that her removal from the agency was “unlawful and without legal effect” and that she was still a “rightful member” of the commission. The judge explained that the firings violated protections that prevent a president from unilaterally removing officials at independent agencies. 

In her statement after the ruling was handed down, Slaughter said the “for-cause removal protections that apply to [her] colleagues and her at the FTC also protect other independent economic regulators like the SEC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve.” Slaughter was one of the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission that Trump had removed from their position, leaving only three Republican commissioners in charge. 

Historically, the FTC had five members: Three from the same party as the president and two from the opposite party. At the moment, FTC’s website only lists the three current Republican commissioners, including Chairman Andrew Ferguson. The chairman previously said that he had “no doubts about [Trump’s] constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for [the] government.” The other fired Democratic commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, was originally part of the lawsuit. However, his claims had been dismissed since he resigned from the agency completely and took on a private-sector job since then, explaining that he couldn’t afford to have no income while the case was in court. 

White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The New York Times that the administration would appeal AliKhan’s decision. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the president’s constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers who exercise his authority,” he added. The judge expected as such and noted in her ruling that the case would likely reach the Supreme Court. As Politico has noted, the Supreme Court previously refused to reinstate the members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board that Trump had fired. Those personnel were also supposed to be protected by the federal law the restricts the president’s ability to remove government agency officials. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trumps-firing-of-democratic-ftc-commissioner-was-unlawful-judge-rules-120029367.html?src=rss 

Apple is suing leaker Jon Prosser and a codefendant for misappropriation of trade secrets related to YouTube videos from earlier this year that depicted mockups of iOS 26 (which was, at the time, expected to be called iOS 19). In the suit, which Apple filed at a district court in the Northern District of California, the company claims Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti “conspired to break into an Apple employee’s development iPhone to take Apple’s trade secrets.”

Per the filing, which was obtained by MacRumors, Prosser had promised to “find out a way for [Ramacciotti] to get payment” if his codefendant was able to access the development iPhone of his friend Ethan Lipnik, who worked on software designs at Apple. Apple claims Ramacciotti was staying with Lipnik and waited until he left for an extended period of time, using a location-tracking tool to make sure of that. Ramacciotti is said to have gained access to the iPhone and made a FaceTime call to Prosser to show features and designs from iOS 26.

Prosser allegedly used a screen capturing tool to record the video call and then shared the footage with others in order to create mockups he used in his videos (Prosser has said that Apple uses identifiers in in-development versions of its software to help it pinpoint leakers, and recreating the renders is intended to protect them). One of those people who saw the footage is said to have recognized Lipnik’s apartment and to have informed him of that.

In January, Prosser published a video on his Front Page Tech YouTube channel depicting a render of an iOS 26 Camera app redesign that looked relatively close to the real deal. He later showed off mockups of the redesigned Messages app and the Liquid Glass design language Apple is switching to this year.

Apple terminated Lipnik’s employment for failing to protect confidential information. Per the suit, Lipnik said that Ramacciotti “often spent time at his home, sometimes staying for the weekend, and observing his patterns and security protocols for his devices.” Apple says it discovered the alleged trade secret theft from an anonymous tip and that it also has a voice note that Ramacciotti sent to Lipnik to apologize and claim that Prosser was behind the scheme.

The company claims the development iPhone in question hosted a “significant amount of additional Apple trade secret information that has not yet been publicly disclosed. It added that it does not know how much of this information Prosser and Ramacciotti obtained.

Apple is seeking an injunction directing Prosser and Ramacciotti “not to make use of or disclose Apple’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret information to third parties without its written consent” and to destroy any such material they possess. The company is also seeking damages and is requesting a jury trial.

Prosser responded to the lawsuit on X, claiming that “This is not how things went down on my end. Looking forward to being able to speak to Apple about it.” Prosser followed up by saying, “For the record: I certainly did not ‘plot’ to access anyone’s phone and was unaware of the situation playing out.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-sues-leaker-jon-prosser-for-allegedly-stealing-ios-26-info-from-an-employee-123019259.html?src=rss 

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming home for The Office and Love Island USA, is going to cost a good bit more starting on July 23, Variety reports. The streaming service’s two existing tiers will cost an additional $3 per month, and Peacock will also start testing a cheaper $7.99 “Select” tier that includes access to NBC and Bravo shows and a limited number of titles from the NBCUniversal back catalog.

With the new price hike, Peacock’s ad-supported “Premium” plan will go from costing $8 per month to $11 per month, and the “Premium Plus” plan, which features fewer ads, will go from costing $14 per month to $17 per month. The discounted annual subscription for the Premium plan is now $110 per year, while the Premium Plus plan is $170 per year. The updated subscription fees will go into affect for new and returning customers on July 23, and on August 22 for current customers.

While these fees are still on the low end of the $25-per-month that Netflix charges for its most premium tier, this is the third time Peacock has raised prices in the last three years. The streaming service’s cheapest plan went from $5 to $6 per month in 2023, and then from $6 to $8 per month in 2024. At this rate Peacock subscriptions will cost an additional $4 in 2026.

Peacock hasn’t achieved the same level of critical acclaim as competitors like HBO Max or Netflix, but the timing of its price hike does follow a recent hot streak. The most recent season of Love Island USA, which streams exclusively on Peacock, was hugely popular. Nielsen rated the show as “the No. 1 most-watched streaming reality series” multiple weeks in a row in June, according to NBCUniversal, and the show became Peacock’s “most-watched entertainment series on mobile devices, with nearly 30 percent of viewership happening on phones and tablets.”

Testing out the new Peacock Select plan seems like a further attempt to capitalize on that reality TV-focused audience. If you’re interested in Bravo and whatever shows are exclusive to Peacock, you can pay $8 and get a huge library of episodes to watch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/like-clockwork-peacock-is-raising-subscription-prices-again-203644730.html?src=rss