Articles about Legal

A couple of weeks ago, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order for the right to repair. This essentially sees the US government backing consumers and their right to choose where they want to repair their devices, even if it isn’t necessarily from the manufacturer themselves while still having access to parts and manuals needed to perform said repair.

There’s nothing wrong with mining for cryptocurrency. It’s kind of like mining for gold or coal, it’s fine if you invest your own resources into doing it, but less fine if you stole someone’s mining equipment to do it. That can land you in a lot of trouble, which is what some bitcoin miners discovered when their mining operations in Malaysia recently got steamrolled.

People smuggle all sorts of things these days for various reasons. Maybe import taxes are too high, or maybe it’s illegal to sell it officially, but whatever the case, we’ve seen some pretty creative ways smugglers have gone about trying to hide their stash from being discovered by the authorities.

From time to time, we see companies file lawsuits against other companies over very broad and vague patents, claiming that they were infringed upon. Usually these companies, known as patent trolls, hope that the troublesome nature of the lawsuit and the vagueness of their patents will force the other company to quickly settle.

If you’ve ever broken a phone or computer, you probably know that sending it back to the company you bought it from could result in costly repairs. This is why many third-party repair shops exist, where usually you can get the problem fixed for a much lower price, but that’s something that many companies do not actively encourage.

If you wanted to download apps onto an Android handset, there’s a good chance that you almost always default to the Google Play Store, but see, that’s one of the beauties of Android and that is if you don’t want to use Google, you can always turn to alternatives. In fact, companies like Samsung actually bundle their own app store, the Galaxy Store, on their phones.

Companies have made it increasingly easy to sign up for services and to start a subscription. For mobile devices, if you’re already signed into your Apple or Google account, you can subscribe to a service in just a few seconds without having to fill up long forms and what not. However, canceling that subscription is a different story.

Last week, it was reported that US lawmakers had proposed a new antitrust act that could force Apple to sell off the App Store. It seems that the antitrust laws aren’t stopping there because another one of those antitrust bills that have been proposed could even make it illegal for Apple to preinstall its own apps on future iOS devices.

Apple and Google are some of the most dominant tech companies in existence right now. Both companies are also responsible for pretty much the entire smartphone industry where iOS and Android reign supreme. It has been that way for many years, but it seems that UK regulators have decided that maybe both Apple and Google are a bit too dominant.

For years, developers and other companies have complained about the 30% cut that companies, namely Apple, take from the sale of apps and in-app purchases. However, it seems that it is the trial with Epic that the issue was thrust into the spotlight once again, except that this time it has spurred lawmakers to take action.

One of the criticisms faced by Amazon’s Ring isn’t so much that the product or system doesn’t work, but rather the invasion of privacy felt by some when the company allowed law enforcement agencies in the country to tap into the Neighbors app. The idea on paper is that this is meant to improve security and safety, but many feel like it’s a violation of their privacy.

While the Apple Watch comes with support for apps, for the most part the watch actually does a pretty good job on its own. The built-in apps that Apple provides already gives us a lot of functionality like tracking our exercise, alarms and timers, and also the ability to read our heart rates.

One of the reasons why cryptocurrency has been gaining so much interest and attention is due to the fact that it isn’t made or owned by any government, which makes tracking it and regulating it difficult, but this doesn’t mean that governments won’t try. In fact, the US Treasury Department has recently announced new rules regarding cryptocurrency transactions.

If you wanted to buy a PC game, there are so many options available to you. There are physical game retailers that you can choose from, then there are also various digital storefronts that are available to gamers. This has since created a pretty competitive place where sometimes, sales are offered on one platform which makes it more appealing.

While there is a lot of research being done on battery technology to make them safer and longer lasting, for the most part, our mobile devices continue to use lithium-ion as its battery. While lithium-ion batteries are generally safe, they do have the tendency to explode if not treated properly, such as taking hard hits or using unofficial accessories to charge it with.

Apple’s current fee for its App Store is 30% of whatever the developers make from the sale of their apps or sales made through in-app purchases. This is an area of contention in the lawsuit against Epic, where Epic and other app developers and companies feel that the 30% that Apple takes is too much.

It is common knowledge and practice that digital storefronts take a cut from sales made through its platform. For example, apps sold through Apple’s App Store are subject to a 30% cut which goes to Apple. This also applies to in-app purchases. However, while it might be common practice, not everyone is necessarily happy about it.

A lot of carmakers around the world are working on self-driving cars and the technology behind  it. Heck, if the rumors are to be believed, Apple could also be doing something behind the scenes. However, we expect that it might be years before self-driving cars become road legal, but that might not be the case for the UK.

When it comes to smartphone warranty, the standard we’re seeing around the world is usually 1-2 years. You can buy additional coverage and expand on that, but 1-2 years is pretty much the standard we can expect. However, for those living in Spain, there is good news because thanks to a new law, warranties for phones have been extended to three years.

There is a lot to love about digital content like music and movies and TV shows. It’s easier to keep and easier to access, although some have expressed concern over the years about whether or not one actually “owns” the content if they bought the digital version, versus buying a CD or DVD in which you actually own a copy of it.