Fortnite developer's legal win over Google explained - Tech & Science Daily podcast

All the stories from Tuesday's episode of the Tech & Science Daily podcast.
Fortnite
Fortnite
Jon Weeks12 December 2023

Epic Games - the company behind titles like Fortnite and Rocket Racing - has won a legal case against Google over its app store.

A California jury decided Google had turned its Google Play app store and billing service into an illegal monopoly.

Our tech reporter Andrew Williams has been looking into the lawsuit, and tells Tech & Science Daily why this legal case could have implications for the likes of Xbox, Playstation and Steam.

In Dubai, it looks as though COP28 may end without an agreed plan to continue the push to cut emissions and tackle climate change.

By Tuesday morning the draft agreement suggested a list of actions countries could take, including to "reduce both consumption and production of fossil fuels", but that’s been criticised for ‘weak language’ by Samoa's environment minister Cedric Schuster.

Sustainable travel expert Juliet Kinsman has been at COP28 reporting for the Standard, and she tells Tech & Science Daily which countries are calling for changes to the proposed climate plan.

The regulator said new contracts would need to state pound and pence rises rather than the current wording, which describes increases as “inflation plus” a certain percentage.

According to Ofcom’s research, of those on inflation-linked contracts in April this year only 16% of broadband customers and 12% of mobile customers knew that their costs could rise.

Scientists are calling for emojis to be more biodiverse to raise awareness of conservation.

A study in the iScience journal, claims plants, fungi, and microorganisms are underrepresented in the emoji library, saying it’s too skewed towards animals like lions, tigers and bears.

Biologists from the University of Milan said even among animals there is a diversity issue, with several emojis clearly representing a given species like the giant panda, the bald eagle, and the monarch butterfly, but others only provide a vague representation of a class, like the “fish” and “bird” emojis.

Also in this episode:

Can labelling changes convince more people to go meatless? Plus, why saying ‘no’ to that invitation might not be as bad as you think.

Listen above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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