Apple reportedly won't challenge historic Maryland store unionization vote

Apple will reportedly not challenge the recent vote by employees at its Towson Town Center retail location in Maryland to unionize. Citing a “person familiar with the company’s plans,” Reuters reports the tech giant will participate in the bargaining process “in good faith.” Apple declined to comment on the report.

On June 19th, workers at the Towson Town Center Apple Store voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Of the approximately 110 employees who were eligible to participate in the election, 65 voted yes. Towson Town Center was the first Apple retail location in the US to vote on unionization after organizers at a store in Georgia called off an election over intimidation claims.

If the reporting from Reuters is accurate and Apple does not plan to challenge the Towson vote, the company’s approach would put it at odds with much of corporate America. Amazon, for instance, quickly came out against the historic vote at its JFK8 facility in Staten Island, saying it would appeal the result over allegations the Amazon Labor Union had intimidated workers and committed “electioneering.” Even if their appeals are ultimately thrown out, companies will typically challenge union votes as a way to delay the bargaining process and pour water on other organizing efforts.

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Hogwarts Legacy Pre-order Bonuses Apparently Leaked

It looks like Hogwarts Legacy pre-order bonuses have leaked, thanks to a hawk-eyed Reddit user who decided to comb through the source code of the game’s official webpage. Trust internet sleuths to do things you wouldn’t have thought of but they tend to deliver the goods. Nevertheless, Avalanche Software and WB Games have since updated the webpage to remove references to pre-order content, essentially confirming that the report is accurate. Without further ado, here’s what was found.

Hogwarts Legacy pre-order content list

As discovered by Reddit user opalelement, the following content was apparently tied to purchase of Hogwarts Legacy:

• Thestral Mount

• Dark Arts Cosmetic Pack

• Dark Arts Battle Arena

• Dark Arts Garrison Hat

• 72 Hours Early Access to the Game

• Kelpie Robe

• Steel Case

• Floating Ancient Magic Wand with Book

Of the list above, the 72-hour early access bonus is the most interesting one as it seems to be becoming more of a norm in the games industry.

According to opalelement, the source code mentioned labels like “digital only” and “digital deluxe only” suggesting that different editions will come with different pre-order bonuses. Since they were only looking at the source code and not officially released information, they couldn’t tell which bonuses were tied to which edition of the game. Originally, opalelement detailed how they got to the aforementioned information, which allowed other users to verify it. They later wrote that “as of 2022-06-24 09:37 AM Central Time, the data was no longer visible in the page source.”

Hogwarts Legacy still has a generic release window of Q4 2022 so we have no idea when we’ll get more information.

In other news, Sony has quietly rolled out new prepaid PS Store cards for the revamped PS Plus tiers, and FromSoftware has revealed that it’s nearly done work on one of its several upcoming games.

The post Hogwarts Legacy Pre-order Bonuses Apparently Leaked appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

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Sony Introduces New PS Store Prepaid Cards for PS Plus

We recently learned that Sony may have begun phasing out prepaid PS Plus cards, which you could simply pop the code in from and activate the subscription for the length of service displayed on the card. Sony didn’t comment on the matter but as folks over at PushSquare have discovered, the company has quietly rolled out a new series of PS Store vouchers that not only serve the purpose of topping up your wallet funds, but also make it a tad easier for folks to just renew their PS Plus Extra subscriptions for a year because they come in those exact denominations.

New PS Plus cards are available in the UK and US

On Amazon U.S., you’ll find PS Store gift cards with new branding that specifically mention PS Plus on top but they aren’t only meant for renewing your subscription. The $110 card, for example, can either be used to simply top up your wallet funds or purchase a year of PS Plus Extra ($110 is the cost of one year of Extra + tax). Other denominations are $70, $55, and $30.

In the UK, PushSquare reports that these cards are available on sites like ShopTo and Amazon. You can purchase a £84 card, which is the price of PS Plus Extra for a year.

Opinion: What was wrong with the old format?

Zarmena writes… I agree with PushSquare’s Sammy Barker when he says that this new format isn’t as straightforward as the old one, which allowed players to simply pick the length of service they wanted, purchase the card, pop the code in, and be good to go. I can see why Sony wanted to streamline the voucher system but I personally would have preferred keeping the month-based cards separate from PS Store wallet top-up vouchers.

In other news, here’s how you can find out when games are leaving PS Plus, and it looks like Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection has been delayed on PC.

[Source: PushSquare]

The post Sony Introduces New PS Store Prepaid Cards for PS Plus appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

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Here’s How Players Can Find Out When Games Are Leaving PS Plus

Now that the new PS Plus has been rolled out worldwide, players are discovering things that Sony didn’t exactly communicate ahead of time. The company did warn players that PS Plus Extra, Premium games are subject to change but how exactly do we find out what games are leaving the service and when? Well, there are two ways: the Last Chance to Play section and a manual search for a game.

PS Plus Extra, Premium games expiration explained

If you’re subscribed to PS Plus Extra, Premium tiers then you’ll notice a Last Chance to Play section when you pull up your respective catalog. However, this section only lists games that are closer to expiration. As we previously reported, there are games that show an expiration date of September/October, which will be flagged nearer the time. The only way to know if a game of your choice has an expiration date is to execute a manual search for it.

So which games are about to expire soon? So far we have Shadow Warrior 3 and Syberia leaving the service. Games set to expire in September/October are Red Dead Redemption games and expansion, NBA 2K22, and WRC 10. Following PS Plus Europe’s launch, the following games left the service: Evil Genius 2, Y School Heroes: Bustlin’ School life, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, and 428: Shibuya Scramble.

Sony hasn’t said if lineup changes will vary by region but we assume they will in some cases since the catalogs also vary albeit slightly. Whatever the case, don’t expect to be delivered a notification when games are set to leave the service.

In other news, The Last of Us Part 1 file size has been revealed and it’s understandably chunkier than previous entries even without the multiplayer, and there’s a weekend sale happening at the PS Store that you might wanna check out.

The post Here’s How Players Can Find Out When Games Are Leaving PS Plus appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

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US senators ask FTC to investigate Apple and Google over mobile tracking

A group of Democratic senators is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google over their collection of mobile users' information. In a letter addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan, the lawmakers — Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Cory A. Booker and Sara Jacobs — accuse the tech giants of "engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by enabling the collection and sale of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users' personal data." They added that the companies "facilitated these harmful practices by building advertising-specific tracking IDs into their mobile operating systems."

The senators specifically mentioned in their letter how individuals seeking abortions will become particularly vulnerable if their data, especially their location information, is collected and shared. They wrote the letter shortly before the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, making abortion immediately illegal in states with trigger laws. They explained that data brokers are already selling location information of people visiting abortion providers. The senators also stressed how that information can now be used by private citizens incentivized by "bounty hunter" laws targeting individuals seeking an abortion. 

Android and Google were built with tracking identifiers that are used for advertising purposes. While the identifiers are supposed to be anonymous, the senators said data brokers are selling databases linking them to consumer names, email addresses and telephone numbers. Apple rolled out an update for iOS last year to implement stricter app tracking privacy measures, requiring apps to ask for permission before collecting users' unique Identification for Advertisers device code. 

Google, they said, still enables that tracking identifier by default. The company previously introduced features to make it harder to track users across apps, though, and it recently vowed to refine Privacy Sandbox on Android, "with the goal of introducing new, more private advertising solutions." The tech giant told Ars Technica: "Google never sells user data, and Google Play strictly prohibits the sale of user data by developers... Any claims that advertising ID was created to facilitate data sale are simply false."

Despite the solutions the companies had introduced, the lawmakers said they'd already caused harm. They're now asking the FTC to look into the role Apple and Google played in "transforming online advertising into an intense system of surveillance that incentivizes and facilitates the unrestrained collection and constant sale of Americans’ personal data."

Wyden and 41 other Democratic lawmakers also urged Google last month to stop collecting and keeping location data that could be used against people who've had or are seeking abortions. More recently, another group of lawmakers led by Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Elissa Slotkin asked the company to "crack down on manipulative search results" that lead people seeking abortions to anti-abortion clinics" instead.

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Recommended Reading: A blockchain primer

Does the crypto crash mean the blockchain Is over?

Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics Radio

In this installment of Recommended Listening, Freakonomics Radio begins a three-part series on all things blockchain. The podcast will tackle everything from Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to NFTs and the technology that powers it all. 

Spotify’s billion-dollar bet on podcasting has yet to pay off

Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg

Shaw takes us inside Spotify's big spending spree, from what was happening behind the scenes, the decision to hand Joe Rogan a mountain of money and a rift between the company and the Obamas over content. "All told, the Obamas recorded about 15 hours of audio for Spotify," he explains. "Technically, they fulfilled their deal, but their output was less than what Rogan releases in a couple of weeks."

How OXO conquered the American kitchen

Dan Kois, Slate

The story behind the company that created the Good Grips handle and took over the kitchen "for customers of differing abilities and confidence levels," becoming the top culinary gadget maker in terms of market share. 

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Let’s Use Dall-E Mini To Conjure Up Half-Life 3 And Other Sequels We’ll Never Get

One of my favorite activities growing up as a video game nerd was randomly typing the names of fictional game, movie, or book sequels into Google just to see what came up. I didn’t care if it was real or fake. I enjoyed the daydreaming that came from imagining “what if?”

Read more...

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