Spotty

Just to correct this; it seems that 800 games were delisted from Steam at the same time when Valve removed these scam games from the store. It's not known if all 800 games that were delisted were associated with this scam or if it was just a batch of unrelated removals going through at the same time.

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Just to correct this; it seems that 800 games were delisted from Steam at the same time when Valve removed these scam games from the store. It's not known if all 800 games that were delisted were associated with this scam or if it was just a batch of unrelated removals going through at the same time.

It appears to be an identical name. I have no idea why Steam would allow games to have the same name as another game that is listed within Steam. Seems like a pretty big oversight.
Though, one of the games they were impersonating was Escape from Tarkov which isn't even available on Steam. https://steamdb.info/sub/943434/history/
Makes me wonder how the scam would work if the game they're impersonating isn't on Steam. Surely people buying Steam keys for a game that isn't on Steam would know it's a scam? Would the key reseller sites even allow sale of Steam keys for a game that isn't on Steam?

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Summary
Earlier this week Steam has delisted a bunch of games from Steam after scammers began changing the details of a bunch of their small indie games to impersonate popular games such as Helldivers 2, Palworld, Escape from Tarkov, and more.
The scam games were put on heavy discount and appeared in the Steam store where they were promoted on the discounts page and shown in search results on Steam for those games, appearing nearly identical to the genuine games they were impersonating tricking people in to purchasing the scam games and only discovering they were scammed when they installed and tried to play the game to find it was actually some crap 2D game instead of the game they thought they were getting.
The scam games were originally published on the 4th of November as Indie games under various different publisher names and various game names before their store page details were altered earlier this week. 
 

(Image source: Reddit)
 
 
People who bought these scams are eligible to receive a refund through Steam. Due to the way Steam pays developers it's unlikely the scammers will receive any money from Steam for the sales.
 
Fireb0rn posted a Youtube video which speculates that the goal of this scam was not to make money from Steam sales, but was actually to make money by selling the keys for these games on 3rd party key reseller sites such as G2A. Some people on Reddit noted that they have purchased the keys from G2A as Palworld and were still able to activate the key which displayed in Steam as Palworld. Despite the game being delisted from the Steam store and no longer purchasable, key redemption is still available for the scam games. The scammers likely generated thousands of keys for the scam games which they're selling on key reseller sites advertised as the popular games. Because the keys are still redeemable and show in the library as the popular games the key reseller sites likely won't issue a refund once somebody realises they've been scammed.
 
 
 
Quotes
 
 
Steamdb.info captures logs of changes to Steam store pages and shows where the scammers changed the titles, publishers, description, screenshots, and other details on the store page to impersonate other titles.
Here the store page for a 2D platformer originally called "Do Not Smile" was changed to impersonate Helldivers 2.


https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
 
 
My thoughts
If you needed another reason to avoid grey market key reseller websites then this is it. You can't trust the copy of games you are buying from them are actually the real games.
 
It's crazy that these scammers were able to change the publisher and developer details to that of other developers. The developer and publisher pages that the games were changed to were the actual legitimate developer pages - it wasn't just a fake developer page they created with the same name. There should be a system in place where the developer/publisher account has to approve changes that list them as the developer/publisher to prevent this from happening.
 
You can't trust the Steam reviews on these scam games either. Fireb0rn's video talked about how the developer of these scam games are manipulating reviews for the games by setting an inflated high price for the game deterring most people from buying it, but setting an extremely low regional price for their own region (Russia) where the game is discounted down to the equivalent of less than a dollar, where the scammers are buying their own game from various accounts and leaving fake positive reviews allowing them to achieve a Very Positive or Overwhelmingly Positive review on the game before they change the store page to impersonate another game.
 
Since these crappy games were all uploaded back in November it shows this scam has been in the works for quite some time. I doubt it's going to be the last time we see this type of scam until Valve makes changes to prevent games from making these types of changes and changes it so if they remove a scam game they also invalidate all of the keys which have already been generated.
 
 
Sources
https://au.pcmag.com/security/104216/scammers-target-helldivers-2-buyers-with-fake-games-on-steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/several-steam-games-changed-names-to-helldivers-2-and-palworld-to-scam-players/
https://steamdb.info/app/2630550/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmIwBIs6FVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1b3mhuz/um_i_think_someones_lying/
 

Heating the pool works because the water in the pool is colder than the water coming from the PC. Any heat in the PC loop is transferred in to the colder pool as the two systems try to equalise their temperature.
 
The water in the hot water tank is hotter than the water coming from the PCs. Hot water systems usually target around 60°C water temperature in the tank. The water in the loop coming from the PC would likely be around 30°C. The temperature between the two systems will want to equalise and the hot water heater thermostat will run the hot water tanks heating elements until it reaches its 60°C. The colder water in the PC loop will draw heat from the water in the hot water system and it would take longer for the hot water heater to heat the water tank as that heat energy is being transferred in to the PC loop. You'd effectively be using the hot water tank heater to heat the PC loop.
 
It is still possible to incorporate the PC loop in to the hot water system. It would require a separate tank that feeds in to the hot water system. Use the heat from the PC loop to pre-heat the incoming tap water before it goes in to the hot water tank to be heated. If the incoming tap water is 20°C then the PC loop that is 30°C can raise the temperature of that cold water before it is then filled in to the hot water tank which would reduce the energy needed for the 2nd tank to heat the water to its target 60°C. Would it be worth it? *shrugs*
 
 
Also Technology Connections has some good videos on hot water tanks, if that's your thing.

Apple probably doesn't care too much about the fine. While it is substantial, 1.8 billion isn't that much for Apple. Apple is going to be hurt more long term by the requirement to allow app developers to inform consumers about alternative payment methods outside of Apple. Imagine going to subscribe to an app on iOS and seeing two prices listed; "Subscribe with Apple for $18.99/month or subscribe through our website for $13.99/month". How much money would Apple miss out on by people choosing the cheaper payment option cutting Apple out of their 30% tax? That's the money Apple is worried about.

I didn't mention it in my post, but the original fine was only 40 Million Euro. They added 1.8 Billion Euro on top of the original fine as a fuck you deterrent to Apple.
 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-hit-with-over-18-bln-euro-eu-antitrust-fine-spotify-case-2024-03-04/

Apple probably doesn't care too much about the fine. While it is substantial, 1.8 billion isn't that much for Apple. Apple is going to be hurt more long term by the requirement to allow app developers to inform consumers about alternative payment methods outside of Apple. Imagine going to subscribe to an app on iOS and seeing two prices listed; "Subscribe with Apple for $18.99/month or subscribe through our website for $13.99/month". How much money would Apple miss out on by people choosing the cheaper payment option cutting Apple out of their 30% tax? That's the money Apple is worried about.

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161

Apple probably doesn't care too much about the fine. While it is substantial, 1.8 billion isn't that much for Apple. Apple is going to be hurt more long term by the requirement to allow app developers to inform consumers about alternative payment methods outside of Apple. Imagine going to subscribe to an app on iOS and seeing two prices listed; "Subscribe with Apple for $18.99/month or subscribe through our website for $13.99/month". How much money would Apple miss out on by people choosing the cheaper payment option cutting Apple out of their 30% tax? That's the money Apple is worried about.

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161

I'm honestly not sure why you think this was a used hard drive. They manufacture an almost identical thumb drive with a USB-C interface. The PCB is almost certainly manufactured in the same run and if they aren't putting a USB-C port on it, they just leave the solder pins as is. 
 

 
As for the System Volume Information, this is a normal partition on the hard drive for various Windows functions. 
If I recall correctly, tons of flash drives used to come with some dropbox files/firmware pre-installed. I haven't heard of manufactures doing that in a while, but this may be a remanence of this old process. 
 
Regardless, I'm still a bit confused why you think this flash drive is used. 
I mean, it's probably because that's not the case. 

I didn't mention it in my post, but the original fine was only 40 Million Euro. They added 1.8 Billion Euro on top of the original fine as a fuck you deterrent to Apple.
 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-hit-with-over-18-bln-euro-eu-antitrust-fine-spotify-case-2024-03-04/

I didn't mention it in my post, but the original fine was only 40 Million Euro. They added 1.8 Billion Euro on top of the original fine as a fuck you deterrent to Apple.
 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-hit-with-over-18-bln-euro-eu-antitrust-fine-spotify-case-2024-03-04/

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161

I didn't mention it in my post, but the original fine was only 40 Million Euro. They added 1.8 Billion Euro on top of the original fine as a fuck you deterrent to Apple.
 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-hit-with-over-18-bln-euro-eu-antitrust-fine-spotify-case-2024-03-04/

thank goodness the fine is actually big enough to not be a "cost of business" and is actually something that will make them actually fucking change something for once. More companies could use a 1.8 billion dollar fine to change their minds

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161

Summary
Apple has been ordered by the European Commission to pay a 1.8 Billion Euro fine (approximately 2 Billion USD) after Spotify launched a complaint over Apple's 30% tax on subscriptions purchased through iOS apps and Apple's developer rules preventing app developers from informing customers that subscriptions can be purchased at a cheaper price outside of the app [such as subscribing directly through the website]. Apple takes a 30% cut on subscriptions made through iOS apps and their developer agreement prevents developers from informing customers of alternative purchase methods. Apple has been ordered to stop preventing app developers from informing customers of cheaper subscription options. Apple has announced they intend to appeal the decision.
 
 
Quotes
 
Statement from the European Commission:
[Continued... https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161]
 
 
My thoughts
There was recently a post on this forum asking why it was more expensive for them to subscribe to Youtube Premium through an iPhone than it was for them to subscribe on their PC. I don't think many people realise that Apple's takes a 30% cut from subscriptions made through iOS apps which will often make subscribing to those services more expensive as services pass that extra cost on to consumers.
I think 30% is excessive but I actually don't mind if Apple takes a cut of purchases made through the Apple App store. Google (Android Play Store) and Steam to name some similar software marketplaces also take a cut from sales made through their store and taking a cut of sales is required for those marketplaces to remain feasible. The restriction Apple places on developers preventing them from informing customers about cheaper subscription methods is purely designed as an anti-competitive measure to prevent people from subscribing outside of the Apple system. I'm glad that the European Commission has recognised it as such and fined Apple over it.
 
I really hope that Apple is forced to allow all app developers to inform customers about alternative subscription methods - not just music streaming services. Apple is a direct competitor to Spotify and other streaming services with their Apple Music service which is likely why they were hit so hard in this complaint from Spotify but I would like other apps like video streaming (Youtube, Twitch, Floatplane?) to be able to inform customers within the app about cheaper subscription methods. Hopefully this is just the first domino to fall in allowing all apps on the Apple App store to inform customers about alternative subscription methods.
 
Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68467752
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161