Generally speaking, when it comes to protecting consumers, it seems like Europe just doesn’t play around. Intel just learned this the hard way, after losing an appeal of a $1.44 billion fine that was levied against the tech giant by the European Commission, which is the executive body of the European Union.
The fine was upheld by the General Court of the European Union, after the Commission fined Intel for attempting to manipulate the market by leveraging its considerably strong position, relative to its top competitor, AMD.
According to the findings of the European Commission, Intel offered rebates to multiple computer manufacturers, including Lenovo, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and other firms, on the condition that they bought x86 CPUs only from Dell, while actively avoiding doing any business with AMD. It also paid Media-Saturn, a reseller, to sell computers equipped with Intel processors. The Commission found that Intel was an “unavoidable supplier” of processors.
However, this isn’t necessarily the end of this case. Intel can still appeal the fine via the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Does Intel have a chance here? It’s difficult to say, though, as we mentioned, Europe has a history of coming down hard on companies engaging in iffy business practices. For instance, as of today, the European Commission is looking into the tax affairs of three mega-companies: Apple, Starbucks, and Fiat. Then there’s the case of Germany fining Google for what it called “unprecedented” violations of privacy.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.