Technology

The Supreme Court has allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple’s grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, and potentially affect billions of dollars in revenue a year. The justices rejected Apple’s appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple’s app store rules for apps purchased on more than 1 billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law. The appeal stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite video game. Epic lost its broader claim that Apple was violating federal antitrust law, and the justices also rejected Epic’s appeal Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come out swinging against Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. He also urged Tuesday political and corporate leaders facing war fatigue in the West to enforce sanctions, help rebuild the country and advance the peace process. Israel’s war with Hamas, which passed the 100-day mark, has siphoned off much of the world’s attention and sparked concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East. Qatar’s prime minister says the world should focus on defusing the conflict in Gaza and that would ease tensions elsewhere, such as in the Red Sea.

The operator of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan says it has no new safety worries and envisions no changes to the plant’s decommissioning plans even after a deadly earthquake on Jan. 1 caused minor damage to another idled nuclear plant. The quake in Japan’s north-central region had rekindled concerns and prompted a regulatory body to order a close examination. The magnitude 7.6 quake and dozens of strong aftershocks have left 222 people dead. It also caused a small tsunami. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed key cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggering a triple meltdown.

Robots of all kinds caused a stir on the show floor this week at the annual CES technology trade show in Las Vegas. There were robots that can make coffee and chef-like robots that advertised a future with autonomous restaurants. But these innovations worry Las Vegas Strip casino workers who can’t help but wonder if the clock is ticking on hospitality jobs in the age of AI. That's why the casino workers union says 40,000 workers on the Strip were willing to go on strike last year if their new contracts didn't include stronger job security against AI.

A public inquiry into a British Post Office scandal that led to the wrongful convictions of more than 900 branch managers has resumed. An investigator being grilled in the public probe Thursday denied he and others acted like “Mafia gangsters” and bullied postal employees. The inquiry, which has been going on for three years, restarted the day after lawmakers vowed to reverse the convictions following a television docudrama that created a huge surge of public support for the former managers and employees. Lawmakers plan to provide compensation, and new investigations could lead to charges against those involved in the original investigation and prosecution.

From electric cars to transparent TVs to the latest accessibility tech and virtual assistants backed by artificial intelligence, there was a wide range of innovations on display at the CES tech show in Las Vegas this week. The best of it aimed to solve big real-world problems. Some of it aimed to make your life more fun. And some of it was just a little out there.