Month: July 2021

Enlarge (credit: Getty / Aurich Lawson)

Valve has issued a scathing response to Wolfire's April lawsuit alleging anticompetitive monopoly practices on the Steam storefront. In that response, Valve argues that the suit should be dismissed because it "fails to allege the most basic elements of an antitrust case."

There’s no right to free Steam keys

Wolfire's case centers in part on the fact that Valve requires free Steam Keys generated by developers using Valve's platform to be sold on other platforms at prices no lower than those offered on Steam. But Valve argues multiple times in its filing that it has "no obligation to distribute Steam Keys, let alone to allow developers to use Steam Keys to undercut their Steam prices in other stores."

The free key system, Valve says, is intended as a way to "[give] developers a free way to sell (or give away) a reasonable number of copies of their Steam-enabled games." With that in mind, restrictions on off-Steam pricing for those keys "prevents developers from free-riding on Valve’s investment in Steam." The pricing and quantity guidelines "prevent developers from eroding large quantities of sales on Steam, which Valve bears 100% of the expense of creating and maintaining, yet provides to users for free."

Enlarge / Foot traffic along Commercial Street in Provincetown, Mass., on July 20, 2021. Provincetown officials have issued a new mask-wearing advisory for indoors, regardless of vaccination status, on the latest data showing that Provincetown COVID cases are increasing. (credit: Getty | Boston Globe)

An analysis of a COVID-19 cluster of around 900 people in Massachusetts—74 percent of whom are vaccinated—is among the alarming data that spurred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse course on masks this week.

According to an internal CDC document first obtained by The Washington Post, data on the Provincetown, Massachusetts, cluster showed that vaccinated people carried surprisingly high levels of the delta coronavirus in their noses and throats. More importantly, vaccinated people were found to be spreading the dangerous virus variant to other vaccinated people. Nationwide, the CDC estimated that there are 35,000 symptomatic breakthrough infections per week among 162 million fully vaccinated Americans.

The CDC document overall highlights that delta is extremely contagious—much more so than previous versions of the virus, as well as the common cold or even the seasonal flu. Delta is more in line with the contagiousness of chickenpox, the CDC document said.

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  The 2021 F-150 4X4 SuperCrew Lariat. [credit: Eric Bangeman ]

Ford’s F-series pickup trucks have been the best-selling vehicles in the United States for what seems like forever, so there's probably a powerful temptation not to mess with something that has worked so well. But the times, they are a-changin’, and so must pickup trucks.

Ford revealed its new ideas in the form of the all-electric 2022 F-150 Lightning this past spring, but there’s another new option for those who want to go green(er) but aren’t willing to give up burning hydrocarbons to get around: the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid. While the hybrid is not a game-changer, it offers better mileage and the ability to use it as a 7.2 kW generator—even while the vehicle is in motion.