Facebook, FTC investigation delay while Google abandons Huawei

ftc delays facebook investigation while google abandons huawei 2019 images

Partisanship on the hill is causing Mark Zuckerberg‘s social media giant Facebook to wait a while longer before knowing how much to write that multi-billion dollar check for. It looks like Facebook will have to wait even longer before getting a conclusion to the U.S. government investigation into the company’s mishandling of personal information.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that political wrangling is delaying a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook could be fined up to $5 billion for various breaches of privacy.

The newspaper says FTC Chairman Joseph Simons has the votes he needs from fellow Republicans but is trying to persuade at least one Democratic commissioner to back the deal as well. The newspaper says the two Democrats consider the deal too lenient.

The FTC and Facebook declined comment Friday. The Journal cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The FTC opened an investigation after revelations that data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had gathered details on Facebook users without permission.

google abandons huawei

Huawei Abandoned By Google

Bad news for Huawei fans. Thanks to US restrictions against Chinese companies, particularly Huawei, Google has officially denied Huawei access to its PlayStore, Gmail and other services. This includes updates to the Android operating system. While devices that have no PlayStore aren’t new, Huawei is stuck with its current version of Android as Google is restricted from dealing with Huawei any longer. Huawei will no longer receive new versions of Android as well as security updates for its current devices. They will have to develop everything from scratch if they still want to use Android or use another operating system altogether.

This doesn’t mean that current Huawei devices especially their new Huawei P30 Pro and foldable Mate X, will be rendered useless. All new devices from this point on will be stuck with the current Android version without further updates. Anyone seeking to install apps into their Huawei phones will have to do it from other non-US affiliated app stores, or through side-loading the Google PlayStore itself. Access to Google’s services can also be done from other app stores. New app versions that depend on Android updates however could suffer compatibility problems.

Huawei is one of several companies accused of industrial espionage by the US, which has banned Huawei phones from use by government employees allegedly due to built-in spying technologies. Huawei also has close ties with the Chinese government as well as providing technology to sanctioned countries like Iran and North Korea.

Aside from Google, Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom and other companies are now banned from dealing with Huawei which puts the company’s electronics supply chain in jeopardy. This means they will have to source their processors and other chips elsewhere. Even German-based chipmaker Infineon has suspended chip shipments.

Huawei states that they consider this as a small setback as they have anticipated such a move and have been developing technologies of their own in recent years. For the meantime, Huawei might source components from other companies. As for operating systems, Huawei can develop its own Linux-based operating system or use Tizen which is developed by Samsung.

playstation productions brings gaming to tv and movies

PlayStation Productions Bringing Gaming To TV and Movies

Don’t you just hate it when Hollywood gets your favorite cartoon or game franchise seriously wrong because… reasons? Reasons like budget, lack of information, lack of creativity, arrogance, and ego. Many great video game franchises have suffered or gained moderate success because of them. All that is about to change as the newly established PlayStation Productions is poised to create shows based on their popular intellectual properties. Who better than the game’s creators to write a game’s screenplay?

“Instead of licensing our IP out to studios, we felt the better approach was for us to develop and produce for ourselves… One, because we’re more familiar, but also because we know what the PlayStation community loves.”

Azad Quizilbash, Vice President, Sony PlayStation Marketing Group

“You can see just by watching older video game adaptations that the screenwriter or director didn’t understand that world, or the gaming thing… The real challenge is how do you take 80 hours of game play and make it into a movie? The answer is you don’t. What you do is take that ethos you write from there, specifically for the film audience. You don’t try to retell the game in a movie.”

Shawn Laden, Chairman, SIE Worldwide Studios

PlayStation Productions pulled a page from Marvel Studios given their success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Who better than Marvel to produce films about their characters?

Before, game fans can enjoy fan made custom films of popular games made from cut scenes and gameplay on YouTube. Much like what I’ve seen like Justice League: Injustice, Transformers: Devastation and Lego: Marvel Superheroes. There are a lot more. But that era may soon be over. 

So fans can expect a Crash Bandicoot animated film or series. Sony will decide if a property is best suited for animation, CGI or live action. A more faithful Tekken series. A Twisted Metal film, Devil May Cry, God of War and even The Last of Us. Imagine the possibilities compared to the poorly made films of popular franchises such as Resident Evil, Assassins Creed, Tomb Raider, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Doom, Dead or Alive, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, Need for Speed, and Super Mario Brothers. All that wasted potential for better stories even if some of the titles mentioned made some decent money. 

So far, the better films based on games are Mortal Kombat I, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Rampage, Detective Pikachu, and the Netflix Castlevania series. The best video game films aren’t even based on actual games like Wreck-It-Ralph and Ready Player One.