Google Will Allow 3rd Party App Stores; Stripe Makes Offer for PayPal; Apple bumps AppleCare+ Prices on Macs & iPads; Suit-Meta Layoffs Used AI to Fire Workers with Disabilities 

Google will be opening up Android phones to third party app stores in the US soon. Engadget.com reports that Google has launched a dedicated page for its Play catalog Access Program. Third party US Android app stores will be able to access the Play store’s catalog of apps beginning on July 22nd. App downloads through the third-party stores will still be completed through Google Play. The company’s service fees will also apply to apps downloaded through the external stores. Google said in its announcements that it’s implementing the change to comply with a court order, which came from its lengthy legal battle against Epic Games.

Stripe has laid on the table a $60.50 per share bid to buy PayPal. That is a 28% premium over the price at close Tuesday, and amounts to some $53 billion to buy the company. According to benzinga.com, an earlier offer in April went unanswered, but this time, the buyers are pushing for an agreement by the end of July. This would connect two components of a payment ecosystem…the merchant back end structure Stripe dominates, and PayPal’s consumer-facing wallet. PayPal has 439 million active accounts. Some tech finance watchers don’t think there will be a deal for less than $80 a share, and a few are saying it ought to be as much as $115. If this deal does happen, expect it to one way or another cost you more as a consumer…but on the flip side, it will make it all the more frictionless as the expression goes to make purchases. 

Apple is goosing the price for AppleCare+ a bit on new iPads and Macs. 9to5mac.com says that…effective today…prices are up by 50 cents a month or $5 per year. If you have an older Mac or iPad and are on the plan, your price won’t go up…for now. That is good to know…this report was written on a first generation MacBook Pro with the original Apple silicon. Looks like I’d better be ready for not only a higher price for the replacement computer but also for the AppleCare Plus plan, too. My wallet is crying out with pain…

A class action suit against Meta alleges that in the AI powered layoffs of some 8,000 employees targeted workers with disabilities and those who took protected medical or family leaves. The suit alleges quote: “Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work. Instead, Meta used a constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems—including a system referred to internally as ‘Metamate,’ employee-trained ‘second-brain’ agents, keystroke- and activity-monitoring data, AI-token-usage dashboards, and algorithmically assisted performance ranking and calibration—to score, rank, and select employees for inclusion on the list.” Meta, for its part, says that people made the layoff decisions, and that the claims ‘lack merit.’ This will be interesting as it is truly a case of what the law calls first impression. Stay tuned.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.