An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Amazon is engaging with Times Internet to explore the acquisition of MX Player, one of the largest on-demand video streaming services in India, according to four sources familiar with the matter, as the American e-commerce group eyes expanding its entertainment ambitions in the key overseas market. The deliberations are remarkable for MX Player, which was acquired by the Indian conglomerate Times Internet for $140 million in 2018. The video app, popular for supporting a wide range of video formats and reliability on low-cost Android smartphones, has expanded to original content in recent years and has amassed more than 300 million users globally.

MX Player has gained wide adoption in markets such as India in part by offering its wide video catalog that includes access to live cable TV channels at no charge to consumers. Instead the service makes most of its revenue through ads. MX Player was one of the earliest video apps to expand into short-video format, cashing in on an opportunity created in the aftermath of New Delhi banning TikTok in the country in mid-2020. MX Player eventually merged that business with ShareChat's short-video offering Moj in a deal worth $900 million. [...] MX Player, which offers its premium offerings in many international markets, claims it has over 150 million active users in India. The firm last raised a venture round in 2019, when it received an investment of $110.8 million in a funding round led by Tencent. That round valued MX Player at $500 million.

Google has launched the Pixel 7a for $499, featuring a 6.1-inch OLED display at 90Hz, Tensor G2 chip with 8GB RAM, and 64MP main camera. The Pixel 7a nearly matches the flagship Pixel 7 on specs but starts at a lower price. GSMArena.com reports: Yes, the 7a marks several firsts for the Pixel a series. For starters, its 6.1" OLED display now runs at 90Hz, the same refresh rate as the Pixel 7 (though that one has a slightly larger 6.3" display). The resolution is FHD+ and you get Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Speaking of protection, the phone is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. It has a metal frame and a plastic back -- Google notes that it used recycled aluminum, glass and plastic to build the phone. For example, the visor is 100% recycled aluminum. Available colors are Charcoal, Sea and Snow.

Another major upgrade is the switch to the Tensor G2 chipset, which is now paired with 8GB of LPDDR RAM (up from 6GB on the 6a) and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage. This is the same configuration as the Pixel 7, so the a-phone will be just as fast at the various computational tasks. Also, note that Google is promising 5 years of security updates. Among them is the Super Res Zoom (up to 8x), which is enabled by the new 64MP camera (up from 12MP). The ultra wide camera has a 13MP sensor and a f/2.2 lens that is blessed with Dual Pixel autofocus. The front-facing camera was also bumped up to 13MP with a fixed-focus lens (f/2.2). The rear camera can record 5K video at up to 60fps, the front one tops out at 4K at 30fps.

The Pixel 7a supports sub-6GHz and mmWave flavors of 5G, though only models for select regions will have mmWave enabled. This is a dual-SIM device with one physical nano-SIM and one eSIM. The 7a is powered by a 4,385mAh battery that supports up to 18W wired charging and for the first time on an a-phone wireless charging is available too -- also at 18W. Note that the port on the bottom is USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, but the retail box comes only with a USB C-to-C cable with USB 2.0 wiring (and you have to supply your own charger). You can order the Pixel 7a via the Google Store.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: While General Motors has announced that it plans to phase out CarPlay in its EVs starting in 2024, Ford has just doubled down on long-term CarPlay compatibility. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ford CEO Jim Farley laid it bare: "In terms of content, we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago," Farley said. "So like get real with it, because you're not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle."

Farley's argument is extremely sound. He is contending that since most people bring their smartphones into their cars with them, that people want the infotainment to be an extension of their phones and not another thing to deal with. On another level, embracing CarPlay and Android Auto cost automakers money to license but that cost is amortized over a large production run. The possibility of having a CarPlay-only infotainment is distant and highly unlikely, as automakers do need their own interface for the high-tech gadgets of today's cars.

And let's be real: CarPlay is one of the best things to happen to modern cars. It simplifies driving, keeps people less distracted by vastly reducing the learning curve, and is just more convenient. Ford is embracing it.

Perhaps woken by news of its next premier first-party title already looking really impressive on emulators, Nintendo has moved to take down key tools for emulating and unlocking Switch consoles, including one that lets Switch owners grab keys from their own device. From a report: Simon Aarons maintained a forked repository of Lockpick, a tool (along with Lockpick_RCM) that grabbed the encryption keys from a Nintendo Switch and allowed it to run officially licensed games. Aarons tweeted on Thursday night that Nintendo had issued DMCA takedown requests to GitHub, asking Lockpick, Lockpick_RCM, and nearly 80 forks and derivations to be taken down under section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which largely makes illegal the circumvention of technological protection measures that safeguard copyrighted material.

Nintendo's takedown request (RTF file) notes that the Switch contains "multiple technological protection measures" that allow the Switch to play only "legitimate Nintendo video game files." Lockpick tools, combined with a modified Switch, let users grab the cryptographic keys from their own Switch and use them on "systems without Nintendo's Console TPMs" to play "pirated versions of Nintendo's copyright-protected game software." GitHub typically allows repositories with DMCA strikes filed against them to remain open while their maintainers argue their case. Still, it was an effective move. Seeing Nintendo's move on Lockpick, a popular Switch emulator on Android, Skyline, called it quits over the weekend, at least as a public-facing tool you can easily download to your phone. In a Discord post (since removed, along with the Discord itself), developer "Mark" wrote that "the risks associated with a potential legal case are too high for us to ignore, and we cannot continue knowing that we may be in violation of copyright law."

The rumors are true: next week, Google will introduce its first foldable phone, the Pixel Fold, during the Google I/O 2023 event. From a report: Google hasn't revealed any specs for the device, but a brief teaser video shows off a full-size outer display on a phone that opens up similarly to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold devices. The camera bar on the back is similar to other Pixel devices but doesn't stick out as prominently, reflecting what we've seen in leaked marketing materials and even a hands-on video.

CNBC reported in April that the Pixel Fold would be a 5.8-inch phone that folds out into a 7.6-inch tablet, with a Google Tensor G2 processor, weigh 10oz, and have "the most durable hinge on a foldable," along with a price that's over $1,700. Samsung's latest foldable, the Z Fold 4, launched with a price of $1,799. We had expected to see it last year, but the Fold didn't make the cut for I/O in 2022. Rumors about its launch -- and how it fits in with Google's XL plans for Android apps that work across screens of various sizes -- haven't slowed down in the year since.

Zac Bowden, reporting for WindowsCentral: Microsoft's dual-screen foldable smartphone has seemingly been abandoned. At least, that's how it looks on the outside. The last major software update the Surface Duo received was in October 2022, when the company delivered Android 12L. Since then, movement on new features and bug fixes has pretty much ground to a halt. A major OS update often comes with a couple of months of bug fixing afterward to iron out any new issues that may have popped up with all the new changes that a major OS release brings. That's not the case with Android 12L on the Surface Duo. Microsoft pushed out this update and has fixed just one bug since. Android 12L for Surface Duo was not a perfect release, and it did introduce new issues users assumed would be fixed in due course, but that hasn't happened.

The company has continued to release Android security updates, but the changelogs for these monthly updates make no mention of general OS fixes or improvements, which implies Microsoft is doing the bare minimum for these releases. Even then, the bare minimum clearly wasn't enough in April, as the Surface Duo failed to receive the April 2023 security update, marking the first time since the device launched that Microsoft has failed to issue an up-to-date security patch for the device. And it's not just the OS that's being neglected, Microsoft's own Android app teams seem to have abandoned the Surface Duo too. SwiftKey just recently got updated with Bing AI capabilities, which is awesome and it works across a wide range of Android smartphones, including the latest Samsung devices. But the feature is not available on Surface Duo.

Apple and Google said on Tuesday that they were working together to prevent lost item trackers like Apple's AirTag from being used to track people without their permission. From a report: The companies came together to draft a new industry standard that will add the ability to alert victims to unwanted trackers in Android and iOS, the companies said. Apple's AirTag is intended to help people find lost items such as keys by displaying an item's nearly real-time location inside an iPhone app. But there have been many reports about the $30 coin-sized device being used to stalk people since it went on sale in 2021. In response, Apple previously built detection features into iPhones that allow users to detect unfamiliar AirTags in the user's area. Tuesday's announcement suggests that Android phones will also soon gain the ability to warn their users if they are being tracked by an AirTag.

Jules Wang from Android Police reports on the cases of two icon pack artists who had their products taken down from the Play Store for supposedly violating the platform's Repetitive Content policy. Despite both creators' products being reinstated, they revealed that Google's opaque application of its rules has caused frustration and hopelessness among developers. From the report: All this heartache stems from Google Play's Repetitive Content policy. While on its face a well-meaning effort to reduce spammy apps and keep quality up, there's a core problem with compliance when creators find themselves forced to use apps to distribute content: "If these apps are each small in content volume, developers should consider creating a single app that aggregates all the content."

If you've browsed on the Play Store, you'll immediately know this guidance isn't universally followed: many artists like JustNewDesigns will have multiple designs in their portfolio and each of those designs will come in multiple colorways or shapeways -- whether they're changing out an accent in a line design or are implementing some sort of adaptive element.

Not only are there so many apps, but they also look so much alike -- artists, many of whom might not consider coding their strong suit, tend to use open-source templates to create the actual app. You'll likely see them credited to Sarsa Murmu, who runs a GitHub project called CandyBar, or Jahir Fiquitiva, the maintainer of the Blueprint repository. These resources take care of the "packaging" for the assets. They include integration compatibility with various popular launchers, a license scheme to prevent those who sideloaded the app for free from having the icons applied, and all sorts of other functionality. In addition to the icon assets, the apps may also house wallpapers and links to other apps. [...] What is Google's role and what should it be? Wang writes: Artists would have much to gain from a new or revised API. Adding and adapting new icon designs to existing products would be much easier. New designs may be able to take advantage of changes to the Adaptive Icons API as Google lays them out. There would be unease as to how the business model could shift -- should publishers charge by the app, through in-app purchases, or both? But as it stands, the biggest benefit with such a change is that it would presumably get Play's "RoboCops" off their back. Of course, we can't be sure of that with how Google's enforcement apparatus operates, but the notion of unfairness lends credibility to those supporting the status quo unless the company is willing to come to the bargaining table.

At the end of the day, Google is certainly within its right to build regulations around apps to respond to emergent scammers and distressing content. Automation is meant to render manageable the sheer volume of content the Play platform sees published on a daily basis. But so long as icon artists sit under threat from a rulebook that can be arbitrarily thrown at them at any time, if nothing changes, we may be on a road leading to the degradation of a core Android tenet that even the most casual tech consumer associates with the platform -- user customizability.

WhatsApp users are no longer restricted to using their account on just a single phone. Today, the Meta-owned messaging service is announcing that its multi-device feature -- which previously allowed you to access and send messages from additional Android tablets, browsers, or computers alongside your primary phone -- is expanding to support additional smartphones. From a report: "One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones" is how the service describes the feature, which it says is rolling out to everyone in the coming weeks. Setting up a secondary phone to use with your WhatsApp account happens after doing a fresh install of the app. Except, rather than entering your phone number during setup and logging in as usual, you instead tap a new "link to existing account" option. This will generate a QR code to be scanned by your primary WhatsApp phone via the "link a device" option in settings. The new feature works across both iOS and Android devices. WhatsApp is pitching the feature as a useful tool for small businesses that might want multiple employees to be able to send and receive messages from the same business number via different phones.

Alphabet's Google asked a court late Thursday to toss out several allegations made by Epic, Match and U.S. state attorneys general about how the search and advertising giant runs its app store for Android phones. From a report: Google's motion is the company's latest bid to end costly and time-consuming antitrust lawsuits. It has also asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss claims in a 2020 antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. And it has asked a federal court in Virginia to dismiss a complaint that the federal government filed this year. read more read more "Google looks forward to vindicating itself at trial and defending the innovation that made Android successful," the company said in its filing, noting that it had brought a "targeted motion for partial summary judgment, which will narrow this sprawling antitrust case for trial." In its court filing in federal court in Utah on Thursday, Google asked that five claims be thrown out. Among them, it asked the court to toss out allegations that Google prohibited the distribution of other app stores and, thus, broke the law. Google argued it does not have a legal obligation to put other app stores in Android and, in fact, most Android phones come preloaded with more than one app store and others can be installed.

Bluesky, the Twitter alternative backed by Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, has now rolled out to Android users. TechCrunch reports: The app, which promises a future of decentralized social networking and choose-your-own algorithms, initially launched to iOS users in late February and remains in a closed beta. The exclusivity is driving demand for the newer social network to some extent, but so is having Dorsey's name attached. Bluesky aims to give users algorithmic choice, letting them eventually choose from a marketplace of algorithms that let them control what they see on their own feed, instead of having it controlled by some central authority.

At launch, however, Bluesky remains a pared-down version of Twitter without many of the features that make the social network what it is today, including basic tools for tracking likes or bookmarks, editing tweets, quote-tweeting, DM's, using hashtags and more. It's also building in decentralization with its own protocol -- the AT Protocol -- instead of contributing to the existing work around ActivityPub, the protocol powering the open source Twitter alternative Mastodon and a range of other decentralized apps in the wider "Fediverse" -- the name for these interconnected servers running open software used for web publishing. That puts Bluesky on the outside of where a lot of the current activity is taking place around decentralized social networking. You can download Bluesky on the Google Play Store here.

Back in 2021, Samsung brought SmartThings to Android Auto. Google is now opening the door for more smart home/Internet of Things (IoT) apps on Android Auto and Automotive. 9to5Google reports: Android Auto today supports media and mapping/navigation apps. Google is now "enabling developers to bring [IoT] apps to cars." This might include controlling home security and doors from a touchscreen UI rather than having to rely on voice commands (assuming Google Assistant supports your home ecosystem). Google offers driving-optimized templates in the Android for Cars App Library, with testing via the Automotive OS emulator for Android Automotive OS and the DHU for Android Auto. Expect a consistent grid-based layout throughout apps. In fact, "drivers of cars using Android Auto can now download IOT apps developed with the Android for Cars App Library immediately from Google Play."

The first beta of Google's Android 14 OS is available to download today, introducing new features focused on system navigation, privacy, performance, and user customization. From a report We already had a good idea of what to expect thanks to the first two developer-only previews, but the beta release is the first opportunity for the general public to test the changes. Gesture navigation has been updated to include a more conspicuous Material You-themed back arrow that adjusts to complement the device's theme or wallpaper. Aside from arguably being more aesthetically pleasing, the updated back arrow is designed to help users better understand Android 14's predictive back gesture experience, which now previews the screen users are navigating to within applications.

Android 14 also introduces a new system share sheet -- the page that opens when you tap to share content. This allows developers to add custom app-specific actions to the top of the share menu. Google describes this as a "superior" experience compared to the existing Android share sheets in which share targets (the app you're sharing content to) are always sorted alphabetically. The new share sheet also uses more app signals to determine where the direct share targets that appear toward the top of the page should rank (though it's not clear what exactly those signals are).

South Korea's antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet's Google 42.1 billion won ($31.88 million) for blocking the release of mobile video games on a competitor's platform. From a report: The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday that Google bolstered its market dominance, and hurt local app market One Store's revenue and value as a platform, by requiring video game makers to exclusively release their titles on Google Play in exchange for providing in-app exposure between June 2016 and April 2018.

Google said it will review the final decision by the KFTC to evaluate the next course of action. "Google makes substantial investments in the success of developers, and we respectfully disagree with the KFTC's conclusions", a spokesperson said. The KFTC said the move against the U.S. technology giant is part of efforts by the government to ensure fair markets.

If you want to sneak malware onto people's Android devices via the official Google Play store, it may cost you about $20,000 to do so, Kaspersky suggests. The Register reports: This comes after the Russian infosec outfit studied nine dark-web markets between 2019 and 2023, and found a slew of code and services for sale to infect and hijack the phones and tablets of Google Play users. Before cybercriminals can share their malicious apps from Google's official store, they'll need a Play developer account, and Kaspersky says those sell for between $60 and $200 each. Once someone's bought one of these accounts, they'll be encouraged use something called a loader.

Uploading straight-up spyware to the Play store for people to download and install may attract Google's attention, and cause the app and developer account to be thrown out. A loader will attempt to avoid that: it's software a criminal can hide in their otherwise innocent legit-looking app, installed from the official store, and at some convenient point, the loader will fetch and apply an update for the app that contains malicious code that does stuff like steal data or commit fraud. That update may ask for extra permissions to access the victim's files, and may need to be pulled from an unofficial store with the victim's blessing; it depends on the set up. The app may refuse to work as normal until the loader is allowed to do its thing, convincing marks into opening up their devices to crooks. These tools are more pricey, ranging from $2,000 to $20,000, depending on the complexity and capabilities required.

Would-be crims who don't want to pay thousands for a loader can pay substantially less -- between $50 and $100 -- for a binding service, which hides a malicious APK file in a legitimate application. However, these have lower successful install rates compared to loaders, so even in the criminal underground you get what you pay for. Some other illicit services offered for sale on these forums include virtual private servers ($300), which allow attackers to redirect traffic or control infected devices, and web injectors ($25 to $80) that look out for victims' visiting selected websites on their infected devices and replacing those pages with malicious ones that steal login info or similar. Criminals can pay for obfuscation of their malware, and they may even get a better price if they buy a package deal. "One of the sellers offers obfuscation of 50 files for $440, while the cost of processing only one file by the same provider is about $30," Team Kaspersky says. Additionally, to increase the number of downloads to a malicious app, thus making it more attractive to other mobile users, attackers can buy installs for 10 cents to $1 apiece. Kaspersky's report can be found here.

Here's a good reason to use Google Pay: Google might send you a bunch of free money. From a report: Many users report that Google accidentally deposited cash in their accounts -- anywhere from $10 to $1,000. Android researcher Mishaal Rahman got hit with the bug and shared most of the relevant details on Twitter. The cash arrived via Google Pay's "reward" program. Just like a credit card, you're supposed to get a few bucks back occasionally for various promotions, but nothing like this. Numerous screenshots show users receiving loads of "Reward" money for what the message called "dogfooding the Google Pay Remittance experience." "Dogfooding" is tech speak for "internally beta testing pre-release software," so if a message like this was ever supposed to go out, it should have only gone out to Google employees and/or some testing partners. Many regular users received multiple copies of this message with multiple payouts.

Android users who want to tap into some AI as they type on their phones can now do so with help from Microsoft. Released this week, the latest flavor of the Microsoft SwiftKey Beta keyboard integrates the Bing AI bot to bring some smarts to your typing. From a report: Confirming the beta release in a tweet posted on Wednesday, Pedram Rezaei, Microsoft Chief Technology Officer for the Mobile and Commerce Division, asked: "Did we just add major AI functionality to @SwiftKey?" and then followed up by saying: "Slowly rolling out. Get yourself onto the Beta channel to taste the future." By selecting the new SwiftKey beta as the keyboard on your Android device, you can search for information via Bing, ask the AI to rewrite certain text, and chat with it to generate specific content. If you already have the current regular release of SwiftKey, you can keep that one, install the beta, and just switch back and forth.

Google is cracking down on predatory loan apps by cutting off their access to "sensitive" data including debtors' contacts, photos and location, after growing criticism that unscrupulous lenders are tapping the contents of borrowers' smartphones for harassment and blackmail. From a report: The tech company said on Wednesday it would update policies for financial services apps listed on the Google Play store at the end of May, so that "apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not access user contacts or photos." Details provided to app developers for Google's Android mobile system also show that lending apps will, for the first time, be restricted from requesting access to users' precise location, phone numbers and videos. The new policy covers apps offering personal, payday and peer-to-peer loans, but not mortgages, car loans or credit cards. Studies have found hundreds of apps available through Google Play that have required prospective customers to grant them access to the most intimate information on their devices in order to proceed with an application. Consent is often obtained on the grounds that these details are needed to conduct a credit check or risk assessment.

Google wants to make it as easy to scrub an app account as it is to create one. The company has announced that Android apps on the Play Store will soon have to let you delete an account and its data both inside the app and on the web. Developers will also have to wipe data for an account when users ask to delete the account entirely. From a report: The move is meant to "better educate" users on the control they have over their data, and to foster trust in both apps and the Play Store at large. It also provides more flexibility. You can delete certain data (such as your uploaded content) without having to completely erase your account, Google says. The web requirement also ensures that you won't have to reinstall an app just to purge your info. The policy is taking effect in stages. Creators have until December 7th to answer questions about data deletion in their app's safety form. Store listings will start showing the changes in early 2024. Developers can file for an extension until May 31st of next year.

Bob Lee, the chief product officer at MobileCoin, was killed in a fatal stabbing in San Francisco. From a report: On Tuesday morning, at 2:35 a.m., the San Francisco Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing near the 300 block of Main Street in SoMa. He was taken to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Shortly after, NBC Bay Area reported that the victim of the stabbing was Bob Lee, 43. MobileCoin confirmed the information in a statement sent to Bloomberg and ABC7 News. Before joining MobileCoin, Bob Lee worked at Google for the first few years of Android, focusing on core library development. He then joined Square, the payment company that later became Block, to develop its Android app. He became the company's first CTO and also created Cash App. Bob Lee, also known as 'Crazy Bob,' was an investor in tech startups as well. According to his LinkedIn profile, he invested in SpaceX, Clubhouse, Tile, Figma, Faire, Orchid, Addressable, Nana, Ticket Fairy, Gowalla, Asha, SiPhox, Netswitch, Found and others.