Dominic Preston

Google’s plans to verify the identity of developers releasing apps even outside the Play Store sparked fears Android was about to get a whole lot less open. Not so, says Google, insisting in a new blog post that sideloading apps “is fundamental to Android and it is not going away.”

It’s claiming a “complete victory” in the companies’ legal battle over licensing, after a judge dismissed Arm’s attempt to have December’s jury trial either thrown out, or held all over again. Of course, Arm plans to appeal, leaving the chip industry’s biggest frenemies stuck in court a little longer.

Android Headlines and OnLeaks shared renders of the S26 Ultra created from leaks and... this sure is a Galaxy Ultra. The only real change is a camera island for the main three lenses. It should launch in January alongside the S26 Pro and S26 Edge — no base model this time.

EA is getting bought out by a combo of private equity and Saudi royalty, which probably means layoffs and more AI integrations are up ahead. The company’s leadership has been unpopular for years already among gamers, but this is a good reminder that no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse.

The Financial Times has a good rundown of the extensive executive churn across Elon Musk’s companies in recent months, from Tesla’s robotics team to xAI’s CFO. Musk’s “24/7 campaign-style work ethos” is apparently a little difficult to keep up with.

Two of the best Pixel features are hitting more countries. Google phone owners in Australia, Canada, and Ireland now get Call Screen, with a Hindi beta coming to India soon. They’re all getting Scam Detection too, as are UK users, who got Call Screen last year.

There’s been a bit of backlash to the Xbox Ally handheld’s $999 price tag, which will be a stiff test of consumer interest in expensive console hardware. But it’s also a test of Microsoft’s “everything is an Xbox” philosophy, because this sure is expensive for an Xbox that only plays PC games, and not everyone is sold: