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Samsung recently launched a web version of its free and ad-supported Smart TV Plus streaming service for live and linear programming as well as added casting support for Chromecast devices. The streaming product, which was previously limited to Samsung TV and mobile devices, launched as a web service in the second quarter, Protocol reported Friday. It’s a curious new player …

Earlier today President Biden signed the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, and in it there were several provisions relating to net neutrality. The prior administration’s FCC and FTC rolled back Obama-era rules in those areas, and now there is a clear agenda to restore them. Directives for the FCC from the order: (i) adopting through appropriate …

A sweeping executive order aimed at promoting economic competition and signed Friday by President Joe Biden called on the Federal Trade Commission to institute rules to curb anticompetitive restrictions that limit consumers’ ability to repair gadgets on their own terms. Tucked into the executive order that covered 72 initiatives to promote competition in the US economy, Biden specifically asked the …

The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into Amazon’s acquisition of MGM, The Information reported Friday. The Information describes the probe as an “in-depth investigation into the deal,” which could signal that it will stretch on for many months. The investigation also means the deal will be scrutinized by an FTC newly headed up by Lina Khan, an antitrust …

A PR war between two billionaire-owned space companies, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, is starting to get spicy. Ever since Virgin announced it’d try to fly its founder Branson to space nine days before Bezos flies on his own rocket, Blue Origin has been on a warpath to discredit Virgin’s suborbital spaceplane, publicly attacking everything from …

This year’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) finale is the latest esports event to welcome an audience to attend in person. Riot Games announced on Friday that the final two matches of the LCS Championship, the league’s postseason summer tournament, will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on August 28th and 29th, and fans will …

Managers at Amazon are instructed not to warn employees that they are being monitored under the company’s “Focus” performance management tool, according to documents obtained by The Seattle Times. Focus is supposed to be a program where managers document how they are coaching employees and bringing their performance up to snuff. But in documents obtained by the Times, managers were …

Tencent, the biggest game company in the world, is rolling out facial recognition technology that will likely scan many gamers’ faces every single evening, aiming to catch minors breaking a gaming curfew and help prevent video game addiction (via Gizmodo). That’s a lot of controversial concepts in one sentence, no? Here’s what’s going on, according to the company and China …