April 5, 2020 - Episode 557 - Show Notes

April 5, 2020 - Episode 557

Sunday Apr 5, 2020 (01:16:23)

Description

This week, Sprint is gone for good, Humvees are here to stay, and the Apple Tax has been temporarily suspended.

Participants

Scott Ertz

Host

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram Piltch

Host

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

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Sprint is no more, as T-Mobile merger is officially completed

It's been three years since the initial rumors of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger surfaced. Over six months ago, the companies received Department of Justice approval for the merger, having already secured FCC approval. It was not a done deal, however, as Attorneys General from fourteen states filed a suit to stop the merger, but all states except California have now approved it. As such, the companies have officially completed the merger, marking the end of the Sprint brand.

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Activision can use Humvee in its games care of the First Amendment

The Humvee is an iconic vehicle, especially regarding wartime imagery. Because of this, Activision has featured the vehicle in many of its Call of Duty titles over the years. Since the intention of the company's popular games is to replicate the environments and experiences of the battles that they represent, it is a logical move to include these vehicles. Unfortunately for Activision, AMG, who holds the trademark on the design, did not believe that including the vehicles in the games was in compliance with the law.

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Zoom is seeing increased usage, exposing its major security flaws

Teleconferencing platform Zoom has been around for a few years, but it has gained popularity care of the current work from home scenario. While there's a lot of excitement around the app, there isn't anything particularly special about it. That is assuming you don't consider the constant and massive security issue in the platform.

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Apple Tax suspended for video subscription services - for now

One of the biggest limiting factors for media services on Apple is the Apple Tax. The company requires that all subscriptions made available through apps on the platform be run through its App Store. While this may make the process a little easier for users signing up on Apple devices, it is not ideal for the companies themselves. Apple charges a 30 percent fee on all App Store transactions, commonly referred to as the Apple Tax. This means that a company like Spotify or Netflix must give 30 percent of their revenue, not profit, to Apple for providing a service that neither company wants nor needs.

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