Uncrowned Guard

Fortnite, the wildly successful video game, is owned by Epic Games who is currently in the process of suing the mobile giants Apple and Google after getting removed from the app stores on both iOS and Android phones. Why was Fortnite removed? Well, they attempted to bypass the charges set by those companies when an item is purchased from their store to "lower consumer prices". For most apps that would try this, it would be a simple ban from the store and the story would end, but Epic Games is clearly going use their vast income to put up a fight. If Epic Games wins this battle, then the far reaching effects of this lawsuit will change much more than just the stores you see on your phone and may hit into nearly every industry locked behind a singular "store", like game consoles and everyone's favorite Microsoft Store. However, why would Epic Games be able to win this battle as the terms are clear and fair across the board. Well the answer to that question is what this lawsuit will find out, but anti-trust laws are a major part this lawsuit as a large company locking all their services behind a single payment method starts to become more and more like a monopoly as the company grows to the size of Apple or Google. As the lawsuit states: “Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple flexing its enormous power in order to impose unreasonable restraints and unlawfully maintain its 100 percent monopoly over the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market,” So, we will have to wait and see how this battle of giants ends and hope that in some way it benefits the end user. However, with other tech giants like Microsoft trying to get xCloud into the app stores and even Google with its own Stadia platform, the battle may very well be as clear as mud as more parties get involved. View full article

Users of Google Play Music are beginning to find the process of transferring their music library to YouTube Music already live. Checking to see if your account can begin this transfer is an easy one-click process that will most likely be available to everyone in a few days. If you are curious if you can begin your library transfer, then just head on over to https://music.youtube.com/transfer and see if the tool is available for your account. If it is available, you will see a transfer button to begin the process or you will simply see a waiting message if it is not. If you got the waiting message, don't worry, as the tool will likely be live for you soon. Multiple sources have confirmed that the mobile YouTube Music app currently can not start the transfer for any account, but this feature should also be live soon enough as well. Thankfully it does appear that the transfer process is going to be smooth and easy for most users, but we understand that YouTube Music is not for everyone. Our staff always recommends keeping your music on your own system and setting up a server (Like Plex) to avoid these issues, but Plex is not for everyone either. View full article