The Justice Department wants Google to sell off Chrome

The Justice Department said in a filing that Google will have to break up its network of myriad, overlapping businesses and services, upholding the previous administration’s proposal.

The DOJ reiterated Google will have to sell the Chrome browser — saying, last year, that selling off Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.”

Google is likely to file its own alternate remedies, of course. In a December filing, the company said the Justice Department’s original remedies went “overboard” and reflected an “interventionist agenda.”

But Google is huge, and the DOJ is trying to grasp how its parts intermingle and make it less monopolistic. It dropped a Biden-era proposal requiring Google to sell AI startup stakes. Instead, Google must now notify officials before making AI investments. Early 2025 reports say Google has thrown another billion dollars at Anthropic.

The company gave funds to both Trump’s presidential campaign and his inauguration — so it might be frustrated its donations aren’t working.

— Mat Smith

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My feels!

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 26. At SXSW, creator Hideo Kojima and his Kojima Productions dropped a 10-minute trailer. The trailer reveals Death Stranding 2 takes place 11 months after the creation of the United Cities of America. As previous glimpses have shown, there are familiar Hollywood faces, new stars, new creepy adversaries and AOT-style giants to fell.

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New features are taking longer to complete than expected.

Apple is delaying its updated version of Siri that understands personal context and can act inside apps, according to a statement published at Daring Fireball. The company says upgraded Siri features will roll out “in the coming year.” Yeah, a little vague.

A revamped, more powerful Siri was a core part of Apple’s original pitch for Apple Intelligence. Way back when the company first detailed its plans, it claimed Siri would not only understand what’s happening on your phone but also be able to take action in apps for you. It teased some agentic features, as teased by Amazon’s upgraded Alexa and even Rabbit’s AI assistant R1, which is only just warming up to delivering on those capabilities.

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It’s a modest update that’s still easy to recommend.

The iPad Air once again hits the sweet spot in Apple’s tablet lineup, offering a lot of additional features over the basic iPad while keeping the price down. It’s the most affordable large-screen iPad, the chip is powerful and it’s better in every way to the base iPad.

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Sony is using a third-party partner to offer leased consoles in the UK.

We’re over four years into the current generation of consoles (which is probably past the halfway point), but perhaps not everyone has a PS5. Sony has teamed up with a leasing company called Raylo to offer a PS5 rental service in the UK via the country’s PlayStation Direct website.

Leases for the PS5 Digital Edition, the version with a disc drive and the PS5 Pro are available on 12-, 24- or 36-month agreements or a rolling monthly contract. The longer a term you lock in, the lower the monthly price. A 36-month agreement for a PS5 Digital Edition costs £11 (around $14) per month. A rolling contract for the PS5 Pro, however, will run you a whopping £35.59 (nearly $46) per month. At the end of that, you’d return the console, but hey, you’d be primed for the PS6 launch, possibly?

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