US judge rules that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in search

A federal judge ruled that Google has illegally abused its monopoly over the search industry. The ruling follows a 10-week trial held in 2023, which followed a 2020 lawsuit.

Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in the ruling that the company had acted “to maintain its monopoly.”

The lawsuit claimed that Google illegally acted to maintain its dominant position in search through behavior like paying Apple, Samsung and Mozilla billions of dollars a year to be the default search engine on smartphones, browsers and elsewhere. The DOJ argued Google is responsible for almost 90 percent of web searches.

Mehta has not imposed any remedies on Google yet, but he could demand it change how it operates or even sell parts of the business. Google plans to appeal.

— Mat Smith

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And rolls back its big Photos app redesign.

Apple dropped the fifth developer beta, and with it comes a few changes to Safari and Photos. Specifically, Apple’s browser gets Distraction Control. It’s not quite an ad blocker, but it could be even more useful for sites with video embeds, moving elements and other chaos. Press the Page Menu button in the Search field (where the Reader and Viewer buttons are) and tap Hide Distracting Items to select which parts of a page you want to filter out. If something you’ve chosen to block, like a headline or an ad, changes in any way, it will resurface upon your next visit.

Apple also used the update to something I wasn’t super keen on in my preview of the iOS beta.

Continue reading.

Joel faces the consequences of his past.

HBO has released the first teaser for The Last of Us season two. It starts with Joel (Pedro Pascal) in conversation with a new character played by Catherine O’Hara (seemingly his therapist), reckoning with his past actions. It’s set to broadcast in 2025.

Watch here.