Welcome to the tech meme ride home for Tuesday, June 16th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today.

The EU is investigating Apple for antitrust. Is Instagram surpassing Twitter as a news source, a look at

that new hay email service, a look at a whole slew of new services from Dropbox, and if you

wanted to get your hands on one of those Boston Dynamics four-legged robots,

today is your lucky day. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.

So Spotify has gotten its way, I guess. The European Commission has opened two antitrust

investigations into Apple's App Store and Apple Pay practices, quoting from The

Verge, the first investigation will probe whether Apple Pay practices, quoting from The Verge.

The first investigation will probe whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its

App Store policies, following complaints by Spotify and Rakuten over Apple's 30% cut on subscriptions and

sales of e-books through its App Store. We need to ensure that Apple rules do not

distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers, for example

with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books, says Marguerite Vestager,

the head of the EU's antitrust division.

I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple's App Store rules and their compliance

with EU competition rules, end quote.

Spotify has claimed Apple uses its App Store to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice in favor of its own Apple Music Service.

Recooten filed a similar complaint to the EU earlier this year, alleging that it's anti-competitive for Apple to take a 30%

commission on e-books sold through the App Store while promoting its own Apple Books

service. Alongside the App Store investigation, the European Commission will also look at Apple Pay to assess whether

Apple's payment system violates EU competition rules. Apple has limited

access to the near-field communication or NFC functionality of its iPhone and Apple

...