Month: September 2021

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | stockcam)

Apple has made another concession related to its restrictive App Store rules, saying that it will let several types of media apps link to their own websites, where users can purchase subscriptions without Apple getting its usual commission. Apple was forced to make the change to settle an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). The change will take effect in early 2022, Apple said in an announcement yesterday.

"The update will allow developers of 'reader' apps to include an in-app link to their website for users to set up or manage an account," Apple said. "While the agreement was made with the JFTC, Apple will apply this change globally to all reader apps on the store. Reader apps provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video."

The JFTC issued a statement saying that the planned change "would eliminate" Apple's suspected violations of Japan's Antimonopoly Act. The regulator said it "decided to close the investigation on this case after the JFTC confirms the measure has been taken."

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  Rosamund Pike stars as Moiraine, a member of a powerful, all-woman organization called the Aes Sedai. [credit: YouTube/Amazon Prime ]

It's been just a few weeks since we got our first look at still images from Amazon's forthcoming The Wheel of Time series, adapted from the late Robert Jordan's bestselling 14-book series of epic fantasy novels. And now we have the first official teaser trailer. Count several Ars staffers among the many fans of Jordan's books who have been eagerly following the years-long development of the series. From what we've seen, it looks like showrunner Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has gotten the overall look and feel of the books exactly right. Fans should be pleased.

As I've written previously, the TV series will center on Moiraine (played by Oscar-nominee Rosamund Pike), a member of a powerful, all-woman organization called the Aes Sedai. Magic, known as the One Power, is divided into male (saidin) and female (saidar) flavors. The latter is the province of the Aes Sedai. Long ago, a great evil called the Dark One caused the saidin to become tainted, such that most men who show an ability to channel that magic go mad. It's the job of the Aes Sedai to track down such men and strip them of their abilities—a process known as "gentling" that, unfortunately, is often anything but. There is also an ancient prophecy concerning the Dragon Reborn: the reincarnation of a person who will save or destroy humanity.

Given the epic scope of the novels, it's no surprise that the TV series boasts a sprawling cast. In addition to Pike, Josha Stradowski stars as Rand al'Thor, while Marcus Rutherford plays apprentice blacksmith and dream-walker Perrin Aybara. Zoë Robins plays healer Nynaeve al'Meara, and Madeleine Madden plays Egwene al'Vere. Barney Harris plays series comic relief Matrim Cauthon. Hammed Animashaun has been cast as Loail, a close friend to Perrin and Rand al'Thor. Alexandre Willaume portrays Thom Merrilin, a "gleeman and adventurer"—basically a traveling bard—while Johann Myers plays the villainous Padan Fain, and Alvaro Morte plays Logain.

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  At first glance, the grandsphere is recognizably an Audi fastback sedan. But it upends the usual luxury car way of doing things. [credit: Audi ]

Audi's design team is in the midst of what might be called its "sphere trilogy," exploring how autonomous driving might alter the luxury car experience. At Monterey Car Week in August, the team showed off the skysphere, which morphs from stubby sports car to autonomous cruiser, extending its wheelbase as the driver's controls fold out of sight. Soon, we'll see the (presumably compact) urbansphere, but today, it's the grandsphere sedan's turn. And no, none of the names are capitalized.

The grandsphere doesn't need morphing bodywork; the vehicle is long enough that there's always more than enough room inside, regardless of who's driving. At first glance, the car looks like a grand tourer, but there's a visual trick at work. The base of the windshield is way out ahead of the A-pillar, curving out almost as far as the front axle.

At the front, Audi's distinctive grille (actually called the Singleframe) is no longer an actual grille; it's there so the grandsphere is recognizably an Audi. Even in our video briefing, the Singleframe appeared as if it—and therefore the rest of the car—was a render, thanks to the way it was lit from within. (Save the CGI conspiracies for Ted Lasso; the car is a real, full-size, physical concept.)

Enlarge / Friends and family members of people who have died during the opioid epidemic protest against a bankruptcy deal with Purdue Pharmaceuticals that allows the Sackler family to avoid criminal prosecution and to keep billions of dollars in private wealth, on August 9, 2021, outside the Federal courthouse in White Plains, New York. (credit: Getty | Andrew Lichtenstein)

A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a $4.5 billion opioid settlement that provides sweeping lifetime legal immunity for the billionaire Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma.

“This is a bitter result,” Federal Judge Robert Drain said Wednesday in a lengthy explanation of his approval of the settlement. "I believe that at least some of the Sackler parties also have liability for those [opioid] claims… I would have expected a higher settlement.”

The Sacklers owned and were largely directing Purdue Pharma in the late 1990s when the company allegedly began aggressively and deceptively selling its highly addictive opioid painkiller, OxyContin. Purdue, which has twice pled guilty for wrongdoing in marketing OxyContin, is largely seen as sparking the nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses. The opioid crisis has killed nearly 500,000 people in the US in the past two decades.