Articles by Derrek Lee

Have you lost count yet on the number of antitrust cases against Google?

What you need to know

Google faces another antitrust lawsuit, this time over Play Store policies.
The NY AG and a coalition of state attorney generals have filed against Google, claiming it holds an illegal monopoly over mobile app distribution.
Google is also being accused of anticompetitive practices on app store fees for developers.

New York Attorney General Letitia James co-leads a coalition of 37 state attorney generals in a new antitrust lawsuit against Google over monopolistic and anti-competitive practices. The latest effort is co-led by Utah, North Carolina, and Tennessee attorneys generals.

The suit alleges that the Google Play Store has an unfair hold over app distribution on Android and that Google discourages the use of third-party app stores. It also claims that Google puts its own apps ahead of the competition by giving them prominent placement on the best Android phones as pre-loaded apps.
…

TikTok profiles should be returning to normal after the app was down for hours.

As of 9:08 p.m. ET, TikTok says it has been restored and that everything should work as expected.

What you need to know

TikTok users were reporting issues connecting to the app.
Some users saw blank profiles with reset followers and like counts, were unable to view videos, or faced trouble logging in to the app.
After several hours, service was finally restored.

TikTok users were forced to look up from their phones as the popular social app faced an outage on Tuesday afternoon. Fortunately, service was restored later this evening.

The problem seemed to have started around noon PT with more than 42,000 reports from the U.S. that the app was down, according to Down Detector.

It’s unknown what caused the problem, but TikTok support was on the case and has managed to restore service for its users.

…Annnnnd we’re back! Your app experience should be returning to normal. Thanks for bearing with us, ev…

Now’s as good time as ever to grab last year’s flagship Galaxy smartphone.

What you need to know

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series is now available certified renewed.
These phones are thoroughly inspected and rebuilt to work just like new.
The Galaxy S20 series is available renewed for as low as $250, depending on the model and trade-in.

If you’re looking for a good smartphone but can’t afford the latest and greatest, the Samsung Galaxy S20 series smartphones are now available on Samsung’s official “certified re-newed” store.

The program has been around for some time and sells phones from the Galaxy S9+ and newer. The S20 series is the latest addition to the lineup and can be had for as low as $250. Even with the newer Galaxy S21 series already available, that’s still quite a deal for smartphones that are only a year old.

Of course, there are a few caveats, such as the obvious fact that they’re “certified re-newed.” That means the devices have been refurbished “to like-new condition…

Samsung wants to “polish” its current camera tech for the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

What you need to know

Samsung is reportedly working on a 200MP camera but won’t include it with its 2022 Galaxy flagship.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is rumored to come with another 108MP camera sensor.
Samsung has been teasing support for 200MP cameras for some time with its latest Exynos chip.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra reportedly won’t feature a 200MP camera sensor as some Galaxy fans may have hoped. The latest rumor points to the company focusing on improving its 108MP sensor for its next flagship.

According to leaker Ice Universe, it’s almost “100% confirmed that the Samsung S22 Ultra will not follow up with 200 million pixels” (via rough translation). Instead, the company will “polish the third generation 108MP sensor,” although there are no details on what exactly this means.

Right now, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has one of the largest resolution smartphone cameras on the market at 108MP, c…

States are opening back up just in time for the 4th of July, but COVID-19 remains a problem.

Many Americans will celebrate the 4th of July holiday this weekend, which means there will be plenty of trips and get-togethers. States are starting to open back up, and mask mandates are being lifted thanks to vaccination efforts around the country, meaning people will have more to celebrate this weekend. Where I live in Seattle, Washington, we’ve recently felt the full force of summer come down upon us, but now that weather relatively back to normal, people will be more inclined to go out.

While many states have hit the 50% mark of fully or partially vaccinated individuals, the U.S. has fallen short of its 70% goal by July 4. The latest data shows that just over 54% of Americans have received at least one shot, while 43% are fully vaccinated. That said, contact tracing apps linked to the Exposure Notification system that Apple and Google rolled out last year may still prove helpful in mak…

If you’ve been holding off on getting the Galaxy S21 Ultra, now might be a good time.

What you need to know

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is available in a new Navy Blue colorway.
The new color appears to be exclusive to Best Buy, but Verizon customers can buy the phone in installments.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra launched in Phantom Silver, Phantom Black, and Phantom Titanium.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra just quietly launched in a new color variant. The phone is now available in a new Navy Blue colorway.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the best Android phones and originally launched in Phantom Silver, Phantom Black, and Phantom Titanium, the latter of which is exclusive to Samsung.com. There are other Samsung exclusive colorways, but they vary depending on the region. Phantom Navy is one of these colorways, which looks similar to the new Navy Blue.

The new colorway features a dark blue hue that extends onto the camera hump in an even darker shade.

If you’re looking to score this new…

Google showed its biggest gains but also big losses for POC employees.

What you need to know

Google has released its latest diversity report for 2021.
The report shows improvements in Black and Latinx representation as well as Black females in leadership roles.
Google says that there is still work to do, but its efforts are showing good results.

Google’s annual diversity report has been published, showing the progress the company has made in its efforts to increase representation among POC employees.

The report highlights improvements in the amount of new Black and Latinx hires, both rising to 8.8% from 5.5% and 6.6%, respectively. This has been a point of contention for the company as Black issues around racial injustice and inequality came to a head in 2020.

Improvements have also shown in the number of female hires, which rose for Black, White, and Latinx employees.

Google attributes its progress to programs built and implemented across the company, particularly to ensure …

HBO Max makes its way outside the U.S. for the first time.

What you need to know

HBO Max has officially launched in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The launch brings two region-specific streaming tiers; Standard and Mobile.
New subscribers in these regions can receive 50% off their subscription before July 31.
HBO Max will roll out in Europe later this year.

HBO Max has finally made its way beyond U.S. shores with a launch in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The streaming platform is launching in 39 territories in the region and expands access to the app between the U.S. and Latin America, so subscribers can continue enjoying content when traveling between the two regions.

The expansion had been teased for some time and came more than a year after the app launched in the United States. The app is available on many of the best streaming devices, giving users many ways to watch HBO Max content. Since its launch, it has amassed a swathe of subscribers, likely due in part to the …

Alexa can take over when your child gets stuck on a word.

What you need to know

Amazon introduces Reading Sidekick for Alexa-enabled Echo speakers.
Reading Sidekick will take turns reading books with your children to help them improve their reading skills.
Children ages six to nine will be able to choose from hundreds of books available through Amazon Kids+.
Reading Sidekick is available now, and kids can access the feature by saying, “Alexa, let’s read.”

Amazon is introducing a new Alexa skill called Reading Sidekick that aims to help children improve their reading by taking turns reading books.

With Reading Sidekick, Alexa will listen to your child as they read and offer words of encouragement as they complete sentences, paragraphs, or pages. Alexa will also help your kid if they get stuck on a word, either by moving onto the next word or having the kid repeat the word after Alexa says it first.

Kids can choose from hundreds of available books in the Amazon Kids+ subscriptio…

This is LinkedIn’s second leak this year.

Update, June 29 (3:45 p.m. ET): LinkedIn says this was not a breach, no private data exposed

What you need to know

LinkedIn reportedly suffered a massive data leak.
A hacker is selling the information of over 700 million LinkedIn accounts.
Back in April, LinkedIn suffered a similar leak exposing more than 500 million accounts.

LinkedIn has reportedly suffered a massive data leak, exposing the data of more than 700 million of its users, or roughly 92% of its user-base. The leak was first reported by Restore Privacy.

The data was obtained by a hacker who exploited the official LinkedIn API. The hacker is currently selling the information online and posted a sample of the data on June 22, containing the information of 1 million users. The leaked user data includes the following information:

Email Addresses
Full names
Phone numbers
Physical addresses
Geolocation records
LinkedIn username and profile URL
Personal and professional experien…