MacRumors

Mobile game developer Jam City and creator Matt Groening have announced an all-new Futurama game is coming to iOS and Android early this summer, called Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow. The game is being developed with the show's original writers, animators, and cast members, and the new teaser trailer represents the first fully-animated Futurama content since it went off the air in 2013.

Jam City said that the game will include multiple gameplay devices, including simulation, combat, galactic exploration, and even choose-your-own adventure mechanics. The game has two main settings, including New New York and Space Adventures. In New New York players will focus on the simulation aspects of the game, progressing their character through story quests that include rescuing popular Futurama characters, collecting items, crafting outfits that change abilities, and more.

"I'm proud to say that Futurama lives! In mobile-video-game teaser trailer form, anyway," said Matt Groening, creator of FUTURAMA and THE SIMPSONS. "If you squint, it's kind of like a little episode!"

"The Futurama universe is chock-full of exotic planets inhabited by wacky creatures (and Smizmars)," said Josh Yguado, Co-Founder, President and COO of Jam City. "Whether you're counseling an alien overlord on Omicron Persei 8 or battling rogue robots on the streets of Chapek 9, exploring this crazy universe and interacting with its denizens will be a blast."

Over time, players will begin assembling their own customized Planet Express crew, which they can take to the second part of the game in Space Adventures. There, players will visit various planets and nebulas while fighting enemies in "retro arcade-style combat." During the turn-based Space Adventures combat sections, the game's graphics switch to 16-bit style.

Amazon yesterday refreshed its low-cost tablet range and brought its Alexa voice assistant to Fire tablets in the U.K. for the first time.

The new thinner and lighter $50/£50 Fire 7 boasts an improved 7-inch 1024x600 IPS screen with higher contrast and sharper text, up to 8 hours' battery life, and more storage than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the new $80/£80 Fire HD 8 features a larger 8-inch 1280x800 display and up to 12 hours of battery life.

Both devices pack a quad-core 1.3GHz processor, 2-megapixel VGA front and rear cameras, dual-band WiFi, and Alexa voice assistant, which comes as a new feature for tablets sold in the United Kingdom.

Amazon claims its new Fire models are more hard-wearing than Apple's iPads. Even so, the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 are also available in Kids Editions, for £100/$100 and £130/$130 respectively, which come with a large rubber protective case and a two-year "worry-free" guarantee, as well as more storage, parental controls, no adverting or in-app purchases, and a one-year subscription to Fire for kids unlimited.

With its low-cost, feature-rich offerings, Amazon has managed to buck the trend in a tablet market in which even market-leading brands like Apple have struggled to convince consumers to upgrade to the latest devices. While iPad sales have declined for 13 consecutive quarters, Fire sales have generally improved, seeing double-digit growth in its media-positioned tablets. The Fire 7 has proved particularly popular among parents who want a device for their kids but aren't willing to risk paying a premium price.

The Amazon Fire 7 and HD 8 tablets are available to pre-order now and due to ship on June 7. Amazon will roll out Alexa to more of its Fire tablet devices in the U.K. in June through a software update.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon.

The European Commission has fined Facebook $122 million for misleading regulators over its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp. The announcement came on Thursday in a press release in which the Commission said that the social media company had provided "incorrect or misleading information" when it told regulators that it would be unable to link the profiles of users on WhatsApp and Facebook.

However, WhatsApp announced in 2016 that it would start sharing some user data, including phone numbers, with Facebook, contradicting the earlier claim. In its press release, the Commission said that Facebook knew the data crossover was technically feasible in 2014 when it bought WhatsApp for $22 billion, but that it had stated otherwise when asked by merger regulators.

"When Facebook notified the acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014, it informed the Commission that it would be unable to establish reliable automated matching between Facebook users' accounts and WhatsApp users' accounts. It stated this both in the notification form and in a reply to a request of information from the Commission. However, in August 2016, WhatsApp announced updates to its terms of service and privacy policy, including the possibility of linking WhatsApp users' phone numbers with Facebook users' identities.

The Commission has found that, contrary to Facebook's statements in the 2014 merger review process, the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook and WhatsApp users' identities already existed in 2014, and that Facebook staff were aware of such a possibility."

The ruling by the Commission will not have any impact on its decision to rubber stamp the acquisition, and remains separate from data protection investigations that are currently ongoing, the EC explained in the press release. The separate investigations involve historical data collection of WhatsApp users in Germany, the U.K., and Italy. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said:

"Today's decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information. And it imposes a proportionate and deterrent fine on Facebook. The Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers' effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts."

Facebook responded to the decision in a statement published on its website on Thursday. The company said it had "acted in good faith" during its communications with the EC, and claimed that it had attempted to provide "accurate information at every turn".

"The errors we made in our 2014 filings were not intentional and the Commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review," the statement reads. "Today's announcement brings this matter to a close."

Starting today, Logitech's HomeKit-compatible programmable POP Smart Button can be purchased exclusively from Apple retail locations in the United States.

The Logitech POP Smart Button is designed to allow any smart device in the home to be controlled through the push of a button, allowing things like lights to be activated without the need for a smartphone.

Connected to a user's HomeKit setup via a bridge, the POP Smart Button supports three customizable gestures, with each bridge able to support multiple buttons. Buttons can be used to activate full HomeKit scenes or simply turn a smart accessory on and off. Each button supports three preset commands, activated with a press, a double press, or a press and hold gesture.

While the POP Smart Button works with HomeKit, it can also be used with other non-HomeKit devices like Sonos wireless speakers or Logitech Harmony hub-based remote controls.

The Logitech POP Smart Button Kit, which includes one bridge and one pre-paired smart button in White or Alloy, is priced at $59.95 and will be available from Apple.com and Apple retail stores today. Additional Add-on Smart Buttons can be purchased for $39.95.

Google today announced that there are now more than two billion monthly active Android devices in use around the world.

By comparison, Apple announced it had surpassed 1 billion active iOS devices in January 2016, but it hasn't provided an updated count since then.

Apple sells tens of millions of iOS devices each quarter, so it's reasonable to assume the total is above 1 billion, but likely well below 2 billion.

Android's milestone was revealed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during today's Google I/O keynote in Mountain View, California.

Apple today seeded the first beta of iOS 10.3.3 to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the beta to developers and two days after releasing iOS 10.3.2, a minor bug fix update.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program will receive the iOS 10.3.3 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper configuration profile on their iOS device.

iOS users who want to be a part of the beta testing program can sign up to participate through Apple’s beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Because betas are not always stable and can introduce bugs, they should be installed on a secondary device.

No significant changes were found in the first developer beta, suggesting iOS 10.3.3 is another minor update that focuses primarily on bug fixes and security improvements.

Comcast and Philips Lighting today announced a partnership that will introduce integration of Philips Hue directly into Comcast's home security system, Xfinity Home. With the update, Xfinity Home users will be able to control Hue bulbs directly within Comcast's Xfinity Home app [Direct Link], as well as create "rules" that synchronize Hue bulbs with the security system.

For example, users will be able to set Hue to turn off when they activate the security system and leave the house, or turn on when the alarm is deactivated. Additionally, subscribers to Xfinity's X1 TV service who use Xfinity Home will soon be able to use the voice control-enabled remote to interact with their Philips Hue lights.

“Our partnership with Philips Lighting advances our commitment to bring our customers best-in-class devices they can trust and easily manage on one, integrated platform – the Xfinity Home platform,” said Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home.

“With the Philips Hue family of products, our customers can customize their lighting according to their own needs and daily routines. They can also set up simple automated commands, such as turning on the hallway lights when they enter the home and disarm the system.”

The Xfinity Home Security package comes with three door/window sensors, one motion sensor, one touchscreen controller, and one wireless keypad. Users can add on indoor and outdoor cameras, thermostats, outlet controllers, smoke detectors, and more, at additional costs. Plans and pricing for Xfinity Home vary due to local availability, professional installation, and the inclusion of TV and internet services, but the base plans start around $29/month for the first 12 months on a 2-year agreement.

Earlier this week, Philips Hue launched a new line of lighting fixtures and table lamps in its White Ambience category of bulbs. The new lighting accessories cost between $99 and $199, and the company's full range of new products is expected to begin shipping in the middle of June.

In the ongoing feud between Apple and Qualcomm, the latter company today has brought four of Apple's main iPhone and iPad suppliers into the legal battle by filing a breach of contract complaint against Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, and Compal.

Qualcomm has sued the four manufacturers for "breaching their license agreements" by failing to pay royalties on the use of Qualcomm's technology in the assembly of Apple's devices. For its part in the production of iPhones, Qualcomm supplies the LTE modem in Apple's smartphone.

The cessation of royalty payments by the iPhone manufacturers isn't too surprising, as it follows a report from April in which Apple itself stopped paying its suppliers for royalties related to Qualcomm. According to Qualcomm, "the manufacturers say they must follow Apple’s instructions not to pay," so in retaliation Qualcomm is suing the four companies, asking them to comply with long-standing contractual obligations as well as pay any withheld royalties.

Qualcomm said that Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, and Compal are still paying royalties for Qualcomm technology related to non-Apple products "under the very same agreements that apply to the Apple products." Qualcomm further mentioned that its license agreements with the manufacturers began before Apple even sold its first iPhone, meaning that "Apple is not a party to the agreements" and shouldn't be able to interfere so heavily in its business.

“It is unfortunate that we must take this action against these long-time licensees to enforce our agreements, but we cannot allow these manufacturers and Apple to use our valuable intellectual property without paying the fair and reasonable royalties to which they have agreed,” said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm.

“As Apple continues to collect billions of dollars from consumer sales of its Qualcomm-enabled products, it is using its market power as the wealthiest company in the world to try to coerce unfair and unreasonable license terms from Qualcomm in its global attack on the company. Our license agreements with Apple’s manufacturers remain valid and enforceable. The manufacturers must continue to live up to their obligations under these agreements and Apple should immediately cease its tortious interference.”

In the original report relating Apple's suspension of royalty payments, the move was suggested to hurt Qualcomm to the tune of $500 million, causing the company to adjust its third quarter guidance from $5.3 billion - $6.1 billion in revenue down to $4.8 billion - $5.6 billion. The argument between the two companies originates back to an FTC complaint regarding Qualcomm's anticompetitive patent licensing practices, for which Apple sued Qualcomm, accusing the company of charging unfair royalties for "technologies they have nothing to do with."

The feud reached a boiling point in April due to Apple's decision to stop royalty payments to its manufacturers in relation to Qualcomm technology, and would continue doing so until the conflict was resolved. The move particularly hurt Qualcomm because the company's licensing deals are directly with iPhone suppliers, like the four it is now suing, and not Apple itself.

In a statement given last month, Apple said, "We've been trying to reach a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for more than five years but they have refused to negotiate fair terms." The company called Qualcomm's demands "unreasonable," arguing that Qualcomm has been "charging higher rates" based on Apple's own innovation in its devices, "not their own."