Now that Apple has to stop collecting fees on non-App Store purchases, Epic is pouncing with a new incentive. Starting today, you'll get 20 percent back in Epic Rewards when using the company's payment system for in-app purchases in Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys. The offer isn't limited to the App Store, so you'll get the same 20 percent reward on PC, Android and the web. The reward balance will arrive 14 days after your purchase. You can redeem Epic Rewards inside the company's games or on the Epic Games Store. PC gamers who use Epic's Store also get 20 percent back on all purchases. However, unlike the in-app purchase program, that incentive only runs for a limited time. It expires on August 31. The rewards follow a legal ruling in Epic's favor. Last week, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a federal district judge in Northern California, said Apple violated a previous ruling from 2021. That four-year-old injunction required the iPhone maker to let App Store developers direct users to alternative payment systems, bypassing Apple's 30 percent fees. However, after the 2021 ruling, Apple charged a 27 percent commission on external payments. (It was a lower 12 percent for iOS Small Business Program members.) The company also showed "scare screens," discouraging users from using third-party payment systems due to decreased privacy and security. The judge scolded Apple in her ruling, saying it knew what it was doing and "at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option." After the ruling, Epic quickly announced that Fortnite would return to the App Store. Epic said on Friday that it submitted the game for review on Apple's storefront.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-launches-a-reward-program-to-lure-you-away-from-the-app-store-182027032.html?src=rss Source: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-launches-a-reward-program-to-lure-you-away-from-the-app-store-182027032.html?src=rss #epic #launches #reward #program #lure #you #away #from #the #app #store

Samsung’s long-teased Galaxy S25 Edge has arrived, way ahead of the rumored iPhone Air. It’s a very S25-looking device, but the company is pitching it as a design-centric addition to its, let’s admit, bulging S25 family. The S25 Edge’s body is 5.8 millimeters (0.22 inches) thick if we ignore the camera bump like everyone else does. Granted, it’s not a huge bump. Samsung says it engineered the lenses to be substantially thinner than those on the S25 Ultra while keeping the same 200-megapixel camera sensor. And there are only two cameras on the back this time. Gasp! Unfortunately, Samsung has gone for an ultrawide secondary shooter rather than a telephoto, likely due to the handset's size constraints. Image by Mat Smith for Engadget This makes the S25 Edge the latest addition to the trend of fewer cameras, joining the Pixel 9a, but for a very different $1,100. You can check out my first impressions and all the crucial specs in my hands-on. Are you willing to handle possible battery life decreases and less zoom on your smartphone camera? — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Even more Switch 2 stuff Ticketmaster proudly announces it will follow the law and show prices up-front Jamie Lee Curtis publicly shamed Mark Zuckerberg to remove a deepfaked ad How to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Philips Fixables will let you 3D print replacement parts for your electric razors and trimmers iOS 18.5 arrives with a new wallpaper for Pride Month And not much else. Apple pushed iOS 18.5 to devices on Monday, and the biggest visual change is a new rainbow-shaded wallpaper in honor of Pride Month. I’m honored. Otherwise, it’s a few minor tweaks and bug fixes. Continue reading. You can actually turn lead into gold All you need is a Large Hadron Collider. Bones Scientists with the European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, have converted lead into gold using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Unlike the examples of transmutation we see in anime pop culture, scientists smashed subatomic particles together at ridiculously high speeds to manipulate lead’s physical properties to become gold. Briefly. Lead atoms only have three more protons than gold atoms. The LHC causes the lead atoms to drop just enough protons to become a gold atom for a fraction of a second — before immediately fragmenting into a bunch of particles. Continue reading. The only thing I want from Apple’s big 2025 redesign is a That’s a, not α. Apple This is where Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham decries one of Apple’s latest design quirks. For over 600 words. Apple’s decision to use α instead of a in its Note App has got him mad.  We’ve reached out to check if he’s OK. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111526456.html?src=rss Source: https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111526456.html?src=rss #morning #samsungs #galaxy #s25 #edge #thin

Hidden fees are now illegal for hotel and concert apps Good news: Hotel and concert apps and websites can no longer display misleading prices upfront, with hidden fees revealed only when you go to checkout. As of this week, the practice is illegal in the US. Amusingly, one of the biggest offenders – Ticketmaster – is trying to claim credit for complying with the law, acting as if it’s doing us a favor … It’s long been common for hotel and concert apps to show a misleading headline price when you first search for a room or event tickets. It’s only when you’ve been through several subsequent steps that hidden fees appear, often dramatically increasing the true price needed to make the booking. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced back in December of last year that it would be outlawing the practice. Consumers searching for hotels or vacation rentals or seats at a show or sporting event will no longer be surprised by a pile of “resort,” “convenience,” or “service” fees inflating the advertised price. By requiring up-front disclosure of total price including fees, the rule will make comparison shopping easier, resulting in savings for consumers and leveling the competitive playing field. To give companies time to update their systems to comply with the law, the FTC gave them 120 days’ notice. The law then took effect yesterday. The Rule prohibits bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and mislead people about fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries. These unfair and deceptive pricing practices can harm consumers and undercut businesses trying to compete fairly on price. Companies are still allowed to add things like booking fees, but all costs must be factored into the first price you see, so that there are no surprises. Ticketmaster tries to claim credit Engadget spotted Ticketmaster trying to claim credit for … complying with the the law. Ticketmaster wants you to know it’s “all in” on up-front pricing. In a blog post published on Monday, the company triumphantly declared that it’s “putting fans first” and including fees in the first price you see for a ticket. Not mentioned in Ticketmaster’s announcement: An FTC rule requiring that exact change just so happened to take effect today. The company shows the example of a ticket costing $80 with a service fee of $10.50. Previously, you would have seen the $80 price up-front, with the true cost disclosed at checkout. Now, you’ll see the price shown as $90.50 with the breakdown shown at checkout. Photo by Roger Harris on Unsplash Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel المصدر: https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/13/hidden-fees-are-now-illegal-for-hotel-and-concert-apps/

There are a lot of rumors flying around about a big iOS and macOS redesign coming this year, perhaps as a distraction to the continued issues around Apple Intelligence. And while I’m game for a fresh coat of paint across the software I use every single day, I have one plea while Apple’s at it: Please, for the love of god, make the Notes app render the letter “a” properly. Let me back up a bit. Apple first introduced the San Francisco typeface with the first Apple Watch in 2015; a few years later it became the default on basically every device Apple sells. The text you see in Messages, Apple Music, Maps and many other system apps are all different San Francisco fonts, and for the most part the multiple variations all feel consistent and cohesive. But, at some point in the last seven or eight years I noticed something odd in the Apple Notes app. The font appears the same as the other San Francisco fonts, but something just felt “off.” It took forever before I put my finger on it: the lowercase “a” renders differently in the Notes app than it does anywhere else across the entire system. You see, the Notes app uses a “single storey a,” the sort of “a” that most people use when writing by hand. That’s the only first-party app, as far as I can tell, where you’ll find a single-storey a. The rest of the time, it uses the double-storey a (just as you’ll see on this website and almost everywhere else a lowercase a is used these days outside of handwriting). To be clear, this does not matter even a little bit. In fact, the completely inconsequential and random nature of this situation is probably why it irks me so. Part of me is glad I figured out exactly what was throwing me off, because for years Notes just looked wrong in a way that I found impossible to describe. Now at least I know what my brain was reacting to. One day recently we were having a lively discussion about fonts in the Engadget Slack, which triggered me to bring up this mystery. My colleagues both agreed that this was bizarre and also thought I was a bit of a lunatic for spending this much time thinking about a single character in a single app. This, of course, drove me to download and dig through all of Apple’s system fonts and their variations to find the dreaded “Latin small letter Alpha,” or α, that our resident Greek Cypriot Aaron Souppouris suggested I search for. Indeed, that’s what pops up in Notes instead of the usual “a.” It’s not even one of the font variants, as far as I can tell. [Ed. note: Nathan did no other work during this time.] Even though this is a ridiculous thing to think about, I want to know what’s going on here! How did this happen? Who made this decision, and for what reason? Maybe it’s because the Notes app originally used a skeuomorphic “Marker Felt” sort of text that emulated handwriting — using the single storey “a” is perhaps a nod to how most people actually handwrite the letter. Or, perhaps, it’s just something that slipped through the cracks years ago and hasn’t been worth changing because most people probably haven’t consciously noticed the difference (you’re welcome). Whatever the reason, I sure would love it if Apple unified things with the iOS 19 (and corresponding macOS) redesign. I generally find the default Apple font to be just fine, though people certainly have their own very strongly held opinions about typography. But if I’m being honest, I’d also probably miss that oddball α — it’s always fun to have an unsolved mystery to ponder over, no matter how inconsequential.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-only-thing-i-want-from-apples-big-2025-redesign-is-a-120023531.html?src=rss المصدر: https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-only-thing-i-want-from-apples-big-2025-redesign-is-a-120023531.html?src=rss #The #only #thing #want #from #Apple039s #big #2025 #redesign

Following negotiations in Geneva, the United States and China have agreed to lower tariffs substantially for the next 90 days, the White House announced. The aim is to de-escalate the current trade war and allow both parties time negotiate to achieve a "sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship," they said in a joint statement.  The US will temporarily lower its tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 to 30 percent (10 percent plus a 20 percent fentanyl-related levy). China, meanwhile, will cut its tariff on American imports from 125 percent to 10 percent. It's not clear exactly how that will affect prices of electronics goods coming into America from China like smartphones, computers, cameras and drones. The news caused an after-hours stock rally with S&P 500 futures rising 2.8 percent and the dollar up 0.7 percent against other currencies. "We want more balanced trade and I think both sides are committed to achieving that," said US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent. "Neither side wants a decoupling."   The effect of US tariffs on the price of consumer goods was brought home recently with the news that DJI had increased the price of its popular Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera from $520 to $800 over the past few months. Given the rhetoric between the nations and the sky-high tariffs imposed, such a substantial reduction comes as a surprise. "This is better than I expected. I thought tariffs would be cut to somewhere around 50 percent and this is much lower," economist Zhiwei Zhang told Reuters.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/us-and-china-agree-to-slash-tariffs-for-90-days-120050454.html?src=rss المصدر: https://www.engadget.com/general/us-and-china-agree-to-slash-tariffs-for-90-days-120050454.html?src=rss #and #China #agree #slash #tariffs #for #days