Month: May 2025

Eine kabellose Gaming-Maus mit RGB-Beleuchtung, anpassbarem DPI-Wert und neun programmierbaren Tasten gibt es bei Amazon zum Aktionspreis. (Technik/Hardware)

Microsoft is releasing a pair of new Surface devices today, both models that undercut last year's Surface Laptop and Surface Pro on price but also take a pretty big step down in specs. One of the devices is a new 12-inch Surface Pro tablet, which we've covered in more detail here. The other is a new 13-inch Surface Laptop, whose specs and price straddle the narrow gap between the current seventh-generation Surface Laptop and the original price of the aging Surface Laptop Go 3.

The new Surface Laptop starts at $899, and preorders open today. It will be available on May 20.

The new laptop shares many specs in common with last year’s entry-level seventh-generation Surface Laptop, including an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of RAM, and support for Windows 11’s expanded Copilot+ capabilities. It’s also smaller and lighter than the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop. But the CPU has eight cores instead of 10 or 12, the screen is smaller and lower resolution, and you’re more limited in your upgrade options; we’ve outlined the key differences in the table below.

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Microsoft is introducing a pair of new Surface devices today, both aimed slightly down-market from the 11th-generation Surface Pro tablet and 7th-generation Surface Laptop that the company released last spring. One is a 13-inch Surface Laptop, which we've covered in more detail here. The second (and more notably changed) device is a new 12-inch Surface Pro tablet, which is the first significant design change we've seen in the Surface Pro lineup since the first ARM-based Surface Pro X was released in 2019.

Preorders for both new Surface devices begin today, and they begin shipping on May 20. The 12-inch Surface Pro starts at $799, and the keyboard cover remains a separate purchase, available for $149.

The 12-inch Surface Pro is a cheaper alternative to the $939-and-up 13-inch Surface Pro (which Microsoft is continuing to sell), and the smallest Surface Microsoft has tried since the 10.5-inch underspecced Surface Go series. In addition to the smaller screen, the base model includes a bunch of other minor downgrades from the flagship 13-inch tablet, as outlined in the table below. But it's also nearly half a pound lighter, and its 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor should still deliver solid performance and compatibility with the extra Windows 11 features available on Copilot+ PCs.

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Amazon verkauft einen neuen Highspeed-Multiport-Charger von Anker 20 Prozent reduziert. Günstiger war das Ladegerät noch nie. (Technik/Hardware, Amazon)

In Frankreich häufen sich Entführungsfälle Angehöriger von Krypto-Millionären. Die Täter fordern Lösegeld und gehen rabiat mit den Opfern um. (Polizei, Security)

Pech für Kunden von Trade Republic: Technische Schwierigkeiten aufseiten der Bank können zur Kontokündigung führen. Eine Recherche von Ingo Pakalski (Trade Republic, Wirtschaft)

Die genaue Bahn konnte zwar bisher nicht berechnet werden, dennoch vermutet ein Forschungsteam, dass es sich bei dem Himmelskörper um Planet Neun handeln könnte. (Astronomie, Wissenschaft)

Zalando betont, dass die überwiegende Mehrheit der Lagerarbeiter nicht streike. Ein Streikorganisator von Verdi berichtet über das raue Umfeld im Konzern. (Zalando, Wirtschaft)

Most astronauts these days are fairly anonymous, and chances are you have never heard of Nichole Ayers. And that's OK.

But sometimes it's worth pausing for a moment to reflect on just how accomplished these people are. Ayers, 36, flew the supersonic F-22 stealth aircraft in the international war against the Islamic State and rose to become a major in the US Air Force before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. Oh, yeah, she also completed a master's degree in computational and applied mathematics at Rice University.

For her first spaceflight, Ayers launched on the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station in March. This flight got a fair amount of media attention, but that was largely because the arrival of Crew-10 allowed the Crew Dragon spacecraft to which Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were assigned to return home. Since then, Ayers has spent 50 days in space, astronauting. This included a spacewalk last week, her first, alongside veteran astronaut Anne McClain.

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Last September, Apple removed popular music streaming app Musi from its App Store, affecting millions of users.

Apple’s action didn’t come as a complete surprise. Music industry groups had been trying to take Musi down for months, branding it a ‘parasitic’ app that skirts the rules.

Delisting from the App Store put the future of Musi directly at risk. The company initially hoped to resolve the matter with Apple behind closed doors, but since the tech giant was unwilling to reverse its decision, Musi took the matter to court.

“Backchannel Scheme”

Musi claimed that the App Store removal was the result of “backroom conversations” between Apple and key music industry players. The app developer alleged this was an “unfair” and “tainted” removal process designed to put it out of business.

Musi hoped for a quick reinstatement and requested a preliminary injunction to put the app back in the App Store while the lawsuit was pending. That attempt failed, however.

In January, a California federal court denied the preliminary injunction, ruling that Apple did not act unreasonably or in bad faith when it removed the app following complaints from music industry players and YouTube.

The order meant that the case would continue without Musi being available in the App Store. And a new filing submitted by Apple, shows that the company has absolutely no intention to change its mind.

Apple Returns Fire

In a motion for sanctions filed yesterday at the California court, Apple requests sanctions against Musi for false or misleading allegations, which include the remarks concerning the “backchannel scheme”.

According to Apple, discovery in this case clearly revealed that there were no backroom deals but Musi nonetheless included these claims in its amended complaint.

“[D]iscovery thoroughly disproved Musi’s baseless conspiracy theory that Apple schemed to eliminate the Musi app from the App Store to benefit ‘friends’ in the music industry,” Apple notes.

“To make matters worse, Musi attempted to give its falsehoods a veneer of truth by provisionally redacting many allegations and misrepresenting to the Court that those allegations reflected information Apple produced in discovery.”

These alleged misrepresentations are sanctionable, Apple argues. The tech giant reiterates that it received numerous complaints about Musi from various parties and dismisses the notion of a backchannel scheme.

Apple: ‘Musi Impersonated UMG’

Adding to the purported misrepresentations in the complaint, Apple adds further color by alleging that Musi previously impersonated UMG executive Jason Miller, to get reinstated in the App Store.

“Apple previously removed Musi’s app from the App Store and Musi only regained access in 2020 by fraudulently impersonating a complainant,” Apple writes.

Exhibits shared by Apple show that Musi informed Apple that a complaint from UMG was resolved, citing communications with jasonmiller@umusic.solar-secure.com. Musi founder Aaron Wojnowski forwarded this email chain to Apple, which seemingly confirmed this.

Forwarded email

Follow-up communications between Apple and Universal Music painted a different picture. UMG informed Apple that the email was “fraudulent,” that Jason Miller had no record of sending it, and the email address used was not a UMG address.

“It appears that the app developer created a false email to misrepresent compliance on behalf of Universal. Therefore, the claim should not be closed and the app should be removed immediately,” UMG explained at the time.

‘Fraudulent’

Making matters worse, in July 2020 UMG informed Apple of another instance where the same fraudulent ‘Jason Miller’ email address was allegedly used to file a false copyright claim against a different app, Yokee.

Despite the alleged impersonation, Musi remained available in the App Store until last year. However, according to Apple, the alleged impersonation is further evidence of a pattern of dishonesty, which warrants sanctions.

It is now up to the court to review the evidence and decide whether it proves that Musi did indeed cross the line and if sanctions are warranted. Meanwhile, Apple’s motion to dismiss the entire case also remains pending.

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A copy of Apple’s memorandum supporting its motion for sanctions, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is available here (pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.