9 great reads from CNET this week
Apple battles Epic over app store rules, LG bows out of the phone business, young women speak up about the harassment they've faced, and more.
The definitive device of the last two decades has been the mobile phone. It's hard now to imagine life without one. Phone makers and phone fads have come and gone, and competition has always been intense.
We're seeing those rivalries play out in different ways. Smartphones have thrived as game platforms, for both fun and profit, and that's taken a nasty turn in the legal sparring between iPhone maker Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games. Meanwhile, LG -- which for a moment way back when got the drop on Apple -- has acknowledged that it's just not up for the rigors of the phone business anymore.
Tales of those twists and turns are among the in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don't want to miss:
Apple says Epic's Fortnite lawsuit is a marketing stunt to revive 'flagging interest' in the game
In dueling court filings, Apple details Epic's "Project Liberty" media strategy, while Epic argues the App Store forces up prices.
LG once out-iPhoned the iPhone. Now it's exiting the phone business entirely
Despite a history of bold innovations, LG could never make a significant dent in the handset business.
Teen girls seek out safe spaces online in their own #MeToo movement
Young women are turning to social media in search of nonjudgmental places to speak honestly about sexual violence in their daily lives.
My COVID-19 dreams aren't just weird, they're keeping me up all night
If you're sleeping worse and dreaming about the pandemic, you're not alone. And they've got a name for it: coronasomnia.
NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity: What you need to know before its first flight
NASA engineers will attempt the first flight on Mars in just a few days time -- and it could change space exploration forever.
Twitter, Facebook and others are failing to stop anti-Asian hate
More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic hit, Asian Americans are still facing hate on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.
Amazon union defeated, pushes for an election redo: What you need to know
Here's how a major union vote went at Amazon, what unionizing could mean for customers and what was up with that Twitter rant.
What a teen's fake death can teach us about the internet, 20 years on
In 2001, the "death" of a young blogger rocked her community. New podcast Pseudocide unearths internet history to see what we can learn from that today.
Oculus Rift review, revisited: The dream's real now
Commentary: Looking back at 2016 from 2021, and the VR headset that kicked off a whole universe of possibilities.
