Daily News Roundup

Daily News Roundup: Office Depot Faked Malware Scans, Prime Members Get Free Switch Online, and More

CAMERON SUMMERSON 

Happy Friday, guys and gals! While Apple and Microsoft have been quiet for the last day, there’s a little bit to talk about in Google-land. But the biggest news? Office Depot has been duping users. And it makes me sad.

Google News: Gmail on iOS Finally Gets Gestures

Google has a new game, Gmail on iOS gets gesture-ized, and Photos is getting some document storing chops. All this and more!

• YouTube TV is available in every US TV market now. Despite getting off to a rocky start, this is now a fantastic streaming TV solution that’s insanely simple. [Engadget]
• Google has a new offline Easter Egg game. It’s like Flappy Bird, but also not. Spoiler: There’s a cloud involved. [Android Police]
• If you’ve ever used Gmail on Android, you know it has some incredibly useful swipe gestures. Until now, those have been missing on iOS. [The Verge]
• Photos is getting document cropping, which should make it easier to store receipts and other important things without a bunch of clutter around the edges or in the background. [XDA Developers]

When it comes to choosing a good streaming service for your needs, it’s a challenge. There are a handful of good providers out there all duking it out for your hard-earned dollars, and each of them as its own set of benefits.

That said, it’s hard to beat YouTube TV when it comes to pure simplicity—it’s one price and one package. That’s it. You can add a few extra channels if you want, but otherwise, it’s about as simple as it can get. It’s available on basically any device you could want it on, too. That makes for an even better (and simpler) experience, as it most likely works on what you already have.

I’m currently in a position where I’m considering switching my Sling package, but after taking a closer look at YouTube TV, it appears that it may be an even better fit for my family. If you haven’t looked at it lately, it may be worth a shot for you, too.

Other News: Office Depot, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Office Depot has been duping users to make money off of PC repairs. Verizon launched its service for free spam blocking. Prime members can get a free year of Switch Online. There’s some cool stuff to talk about today.

• Office Depot has been rigging PCs—even new ones!—with tainted malware scans to upsell virus and malware removals services. It got busted, and now it has to pay $25 million monies to the FTC. [Ars Technica, Gizmodo]
• Amazon Prime members can get a free year of Switch Online by way of Twitch Prime. Just create a Twitch account, connect it to Amazon, and you’re in. That’s a deal you can’t beat. [Ars Technica]
• Verizon launched its free service for blocking spam calls. No extra payment, no bullcrap. Just fewer spam calls (we hope, anyway). [The Verge]
• Speaking of spam calls, the FCC has fined robocallers $208 million since 2015 but has only collected $6,790 of that. Why is it not surprising that anyone engaged in this shady garbage wouldn’t be willing to pay up? [Ars Technica]
• In other troubling news, there’s a serious flaw in the Magento e-commerce platform that puts it at a much higher risk of card skimmers. A patch has been released, but vendors still have to install it. Tread carefully, my friends. [Ars Technica]
• A 24-year-old “security researcher” plead guilty to hacking into Nintendo, Microsoft, and Vtech. He barely avoided prison time for the intrusions. [The Verge]
• Alexa for Business will let companies create special Alexa skills just for their employees. That’s…pretty cool, actually. [Engadget]
• Sony handed over majority ownership of Crackle to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, and the pair plan to reboot it as Crackle Plus with a lot more content. All still free, of course. [Variety]

I can remember spending a lot of time in Office Depot as a young man. It was the best place in my town to buy anything computer-related, but I would mostly go in there just to look and mess with the computers I couldn’t afford to buy.

Of course, with the rise of online shopping, stores like Office Depot have been struggling to keep up. It’s not the go-to source it once was, and apparently desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s really a bummer to see it go down this path of dishonesty, but it’s also not surprising.

Oh Office Depot, you’re just a shell of your former glory. It’s sad to see things happen this way, but it is what it is.