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Thursday Morning Minute

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple is facing a £3 billion (about $3.75 billion) lawsuit from a consumer group that alleges the iPhone maker violated UK competition law by “forcing” customers to use its iCloud service. In its press release, UK consumer watchdog Which? says that Apple gave its iCloud storage service preferential treatment and encouraged users to use the service to store photos, videos, and other data while making it difficult to use alternative providers. “We believe Apple customers are owed nearly £3 billion as a result of the tech giant forcing its iCloud services on customers and cutting off competition from rival services,” Which? said in its announcement. The group alleges that Apple’s monopoly allowed the company to overcharge users for iCloud... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Wordle’s success has caused an explosion in newspaper-style puzzle games, and now Words With Friends is getting in on the action. The long-running word game is adding four solo modes that can be played daily, and they’ll sound familiar to those who use The New York Times’ gaming app. The new games include a mini crossword puzzle; a word search; Word Wheel, which is about connecting letters to create words; and a word guessing game called Guess Word. You can see what they all look like in the gallery below: Zynga, which owns Words With Friends, says that each of the games will have new puzzles daily and can be played either solo or in multiplayer. “Our players asked if they could do even more, so we’ve added a whole new layer of... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon is today introducing its latest Fire TV Omni TV series, and it’s the first to feature Mini LED backlighting for improved contrast, less blooming, and greater brightness than past models. The “Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series” features up to 1,344 dimming zones (depending on screen size) and delivers up to 1,400 nits of peak brightness. That’s respectable, but falls short of top Mini LED contenders like TCL’s QM8 and Hisense’s U8N, which can push all the way to 3,000 nits. Still, Amazon’s TV is priced quite a bit lower than those models and includes Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10 Plus Adaptive, and Dolby Atmos audio. This also sounds like the first Fire TV Omni that’s truly cut out for gaming. It’s got AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certification,... Continue reading…

iPhone users in some markets discovered a standalone Google Gemini app for iPhone a few days ago. The app wasn't available in most markets, as Google was apparently testing it ahead of a more widespread release. Fast-forward to Thursday, Google is ready to make the standalone Gemini app available to iPhone users around the world. The Gemini went up in the App Store quietly, and you can download it right now. The Google Gemini app is now available as a separate app from the main Google app, where you might have accessed the Gemini AI on the iPhone in the past. The best part about the Gemini app is that it comes with support for Gemini Live, Google's version of ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode. It's a conversational AI that lets you talk to the chatbot just like you're speaking to a human. You can interrupt the AI and change prompts on the fly, similar to how a conversation between two people would flow. Gemini Live isn't available in the main Google app on the iPhone, so Google's new standalone Gemini app is the only way to get it on your iPhone. Continue reading... The post Google Gemini AI app for iPhone now available to download worldwide appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $270 Nintendo Switch OLED, $20 waterproof Bluetooth speaker, 20% off Peloton Bike+, more Today’s deals: $17.50 Apple AirTags, $50 off Madden NFL 25, $30 Crock-Pot Electric Lunch Box, more Today’s deals: $90 Lenovo Chromebook, $360 Apple Watch Series 10, $100 off Ninja blenders, more Today’s deals: $169 AirPods Pro 2, $898 Hisense 75-inch TV, $68 Furbuster, $649 Google Pixel 9, more

Iran is willing to end an impasse over a range of issues with the U.N. nuclear agency on its atomic program but it will not succumb to pressure, its foreign minister said after meeting the watchdog's chief in Tehran on Thursday.

Wholesale prices in the United States rose last month, remaining low but suggesting that the American economy has yet to completely vanquish inflationary pressure.

Forty years after his number-one hit single “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Rick Astley released a memoir titled Never: The Autobiography to look back on his career and his recent comeback. He also gave a peek into his rough childhood, watching his parents fight regularly and eventually divorce when he was 5. He shared how he truly feels about “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which he brought to life all alone as a writer, instrumentalist, vocalist, and producer. Although Rick has been active on social media to promote his radio show and podcast, he considers it daunting to use in this day and age. Rick Astley is still thankful for his hit song Rick Astley/Instagram Rick attained success with “Never Gonna Give You Up,” in the late ‘80s, which still surprises him until this day. His wife and manager, Lene Bausager— who was his girlfriend at the time, encouraged him to promote the song, which topped the charts in the UK and South Africa and earned Rick multiple awards. Rick admitted that though he has performed the classic a million times, it never gets old for him. He remains thankful for the track, which he created to simply explore what making music was like from scratch. The 58-year-old credits much of its success to the international clout that came with RCA as his record label. Rick Astley/ImageCollect Rick Astley’s best performance ever Rick took a career hiatus in the mid-90s, which was followed by his retirement to focus on family and business. He came back in the next decade with back-to-back chart-topping albums and appearances, snagging award nominations, and a few wins along the way. Rick Astley/Instagram Last year, Rick performed at the Pyramid stage in Glastonbury with The Blossoms, and he considers the gig his best performance yet, beating his rendition of “Never Gonna Give You Up” before a global audience of millions in 1988. He recalled how his daughter Emilie encouraged him to enjoy the session while he got nervous about the massive stage. Next up: Bing Crosby Returning To Christmas Music 47 Years After His Death The post Rick Astley Shares His True Feelings About Hit Song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Peace A

Starbucks revealed the date it will hold Red Cup Day this year. The 2024 edition of Red Cup Day will occur on Thursday at participating locations across the country, according to the coffee house chain.…