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‘Call of Duty’ comes to mobile on October 1st

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The game will combine elements from other titles in the franchise, like Black Ops and Modern Warfare. “We are delivering the definitive, first-person action experience on mobile with signature Call of Duty gameplay in the palms of your hands,” said Chris Plummer, VP, Mobile at Activision, in a statement. “We are bringing together some of the best the franchise has to offer, including Modern Warfare maps like Crash and Crossfire, Black Ops maps like Nuketown and Hijacked, and many more, into one epic title.”

The mobile game also includes a special Battle Royale mode that supports up to 100 players on a huge, entirely new open map. You can play in either solo, duo or quad-player competitions across land, sea and air with vehicles including an ATV, helicopter and raft. You can choose between first or third-person and pick one of six classes.

The mobile game will be a likely relief for Call of Duty fans, after a sudden change in this year’s release schedule led to doubts that a free game would happen at all. Players nostalgic for the classic Call of Duty elements will appreciate older modes like Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy and Free-For-All. And fans of mobile games who are unfamiliar with the cherished franchise now have a free opportunity to experiment.

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AT&T reportedly considers offloading its DirecTV satellite unit

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AT&T declined to comment. CFO John Stephens previously said that merging DirecTV and Dish would be unlikely “from a regulatory perspective.”

While the reasoning for such a move wasn’t available as we wrote this, it’s no secret that DirecTV has been bleeding customers for a while, even in its promising DirecTV Now (changed to AT&T TV Now) streaming service. Combined, AT&T’s TV services lost 938,000 subscribers in the spring quarter alone. While DirecTV still contributes a substantial amount to AT&T’s bottom line, its future doesn’t look good in an era when more and more people are ditching conventional TV.

AT&T has also been reducing its dependence on DirecTV for a while. Between AT&T TV Now, HBO Max, Watch TV and the upcoming AT&T TV, viewers won’t be hurting for streaming choices. The carrier might not miss DirecTV if it can rack up enough online subscribers.

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T-Mobile’s Sprint merger is opposed by 18 state attorneys general

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In July, the Department of Justice approved T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion bid to merge with Sprint — on the condition that it sell some of its business to Dish Network. And Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai endorsed the deal. But opposition from so many attorneys general could pose a legitimate threat.

The state attorneys general fear the merger would hurt competition, raise prices for cell service, result in a loss of retail jobs and lower wages for the employees who remain. “The merger between T-Mobile and Sprint would severely undermine competition in the telecommunications sector, which would hurt Pennsylvanian consumers by driving up prices, limiting coverage, and diminishing quality,” Shapiro said in a statement.

Aside from Pennsylvania, the other states looking to block the merger include New York, California, Texas, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. Sprint declined to comment, and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.

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HBO Max will revive ‘The Boondocks’ for a two-season run

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Aaron McGruder, who created the show based on his comic book series, will return to head up the revival as showrunner. “There’s a unique opportunity to revisit the world of The Boondocks and do it over again for today,” he said, according to Variety. It’s crazy how different the times we live in are now – both politically and culturally – more than a decade past the original series and two decades past the original newspaper comic. There’s a lot to say and it should be fun.”

The new episodes will follow Robert “Granddad” Freeman and his grandsons Huey and Riley. They move to the Maryland suburbs but discover their community has been taken over by Uncle Ruckus and a neo-fascist regime.

HBO Max will arrive next spring, promising a bevy of original series and fan favorite shows. Its streaming exclusives will include Friends, Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory.



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Congress plans to investigate how social media giants are fighting hate

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The bill would create a “national commission” at the Department of Homeland Security. The commission would have the authority to hold hearings and issue subpoenas. It would also create a social media task force to coordinate the government’s response to security issues. The legislation could be introduced as soon as next week, The Washington Post says.

Today, representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter appeared in a hearing before Senate lawmakers. The hearing questioned whether the platforms have become conduits for real-world violence. All three companies say they’ve improved their systems, but some lawmakers say they’re not doing enough.

The companies are also facing pressure from major civil rights groups. Yesterday, several groups wrote a letter saying tech giants have a “moral responsibility” to better combat how social media can be used “to inflict fear and spread hate.” While there have been attempts to make the internet safer — like Facebook’s plans to train its AI with police body camera footage — whether or not those efforts are effective is another question.

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Microsoft plans to bring broadband to 9 million more Americans

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The measure is part of the Microsoft Airband Initiative, which aims to narrow the digital divide by expanding rural broadband access to more than 3 million people by mid-2022. The Federal Communications Commission estimates upwards of 21 million Americans don’t have broadband access, Microsoft, meanwhile, believes around 29 million people in the aforementioned states alone don’t use high-speed internet — across the country, that figure rises to about 162 million.

Nextlink will use a variety of methods to bring broadband to those 9 million people, including wireless tech that taps into unused TV frequencies. It’ll expand existing efforts in Texas and Oklahoma and commence rollouts in the other four states, with work planned over the next five years.

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California governor signs labor law meant to fix the gig economy

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The law will take effect January 1st, 2020.

As with many forms of legislation, the reality is more complicated. Numerous companies have pushed for exemptions to AB 5, and there are concerns this may hurt flexibility for some workers. They may have to work a minimum number of hours at regular times instead of working whenever they have a free moment.

There’s also the question of making companies honor the law as Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez intended it. Uber insists that AB 5 won’t change its business — it claims that it’s a tech platform, not a transportation provider, and that drivers are merely secondary as a result. It has instead offered a proposal with some improvements to driver conditions, and has partnered with Lyft and DoorDash on a $90 million campaign to place the issue on the 2020 ballot.

Governor Newsom has vowed to keep talking with businesses anxious about AB 5. That didn’t stop him from signing the law, though. The state clearly wants to hold most of the cards going into discussions, and concessions (if any) would come on its terms.

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India effectively bans e-cigarettes

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Much like the Trump administration and its potential ban on flavored e-cigarettes, the country’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare cited the recent spike in youth vaping for the move. “The decision to prohibit e-cigarettes will help protect the population, especially the youth and children, from the risk of addiction through E-cigarettes, ” said the ministry in a press release. “These products are usually marketed as being safer alternatives for conventional cigarettes but such notions of safety are false”

It’s only Wednesday, but the ban caps off what’s already been a rough week for Juul, the world’s largest e-cigarette manufacturer. On Tuesday, just one week after they started selling the company’s e-cigarettes and nicotine pods, Chinese retailers abruptly pulled Juul’s products. With 300 and 106 million adult smokers respectively, China and India are the two largest smoking markets globally. While Juul had yet to start selling its vaporizers in India, it planned to expand to the country by the end of the year. In a clear sign of demand for the company’s products, a lucrative gray market for Juul’s vaporizers developed in India in recent months. To make matters worse, Juul has a tough road ahead in the US. Not only does the company face the possibility of a partial ban, it’s also the subject of multiple separate investigations by the House and Senate, as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

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‘Apex Legends’ teases its newest playable character with in-game cameo

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Apex fans got their first peek at Crypto during the trailer for Season 2. The hacker can be seen throughout the video before he ultimately sets off the EMP blast that leads to the trailer’s climax. Respawn has spent much of Season 2 teasing Crypto’s addition.

Nothing yet in the hints Respawn has dropped suggests when the studio plans to release the new character. That said, with the current season set to end on October 1st, it’s likely the studio will add him soon. It’s worth noting Respawn added Wattson, Apex‘s most recently added new character, with the Season 2 Battle Pass.

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