DescriptionThis week, Apple is looking to the past, the FTC is looking to the future, and Google is looking at a revolt.ParticipantsScott ErtzHostScott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLuGHiTz Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the DDR community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bar Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and judging engineering notebooks at competitions. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors.Avram PiltchHostAvram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.OpeningPowered by TeknoAXENifty GiftiesPowered by Microsoft StoreApple is hoping to prevent customers from suing using old rulingWhat do Apple and concrete blocks have in common? The Supreme Court has been asked to answer that exact question. In the 1970s, a group of concrete block manufacturers got together to regulate the price they all charged for their product. This guaranteed that the price of the product would be higher than if they competed against one another. The State of Illinois sued, claiming that the inflated costs of blocks would increase the price of construction projects for the state.read full articlePiltch Point with Avram PiltchPowered by Newegg.comExtra LifePowered by RazerFTC to look into legality of videogame loot boxesOver the last year or so, the topic of loot boxes has become a focal point of countries around the world. This controversial practice involves a game either giving or selling players a box which represents a number of unknown items. Loot boxes have never been particularly popular with gamers, as most people want to know what they are buying unless there is an incentive for not knowing (grab bags in retail, for example).read full articleNews From the TubesPowered by RiffTraxGoogle ignoring privacy issues with Dragonfly, employees unhappySince word first got out about Google's Dragonfly project, a censored version of their search engine to acquiesce to China's internet filters, there has been a lot of concern, both externally and internally. The concern got worse when it was revealed that the company planned on connecting search history to users' phone numbers. The Chinese government has been known to imprison its citizens simply for searching about specific topics, such as democracy - something Google has previously assisted with.read full article* DRM Not IncludedPowered by Amazon PrimeYouTube may make original content free, cut most new programmingYouTube is always trying new ideas to monetize the platform. That is because video streaming is an expensive process, and making it profitable can be incredibly difficult. A couple of years ago, the brand tried something new: YouTube Red, a paid version of the platform that removed ads and gave access to original programming. This service was replaced by YouTube Premium earlier this year but additional changes may be coming to the service over the next year.read full articleClosingPowered by Tech Podcast Network