policy-changes
Latest
Steam Family Sharing now requires two-step process, approval
Do you like sharing games with your friends on Steam? Well good, because you can still do that - you'll just need to assure Steam that you actually know your friends before they can start digging into your library. An update to the Steam Family Sharing community page explains that in addition to authorizing the machine your friend accesses your library from, you'll also need to give clearance to the account they're using. You'll now be able to grant 10 accounts and 10 machines access to your games and DLC, unless of course they require a third-party key or registration. The post explains that the added need to clear accounts allows a library's owner more control over who is accessing it. The change also decreases "the risk of VAC or other bans resulting from an unknown user accessing and abusing shared games on an authorized machine." What kind of friend would troll from a friend's Steam library to the point of drawing administrative attention? Absolutely no one we've ever met, right?
Sprint to launch Direct Connect October 2nd, confirms mobile hotspot capping
The way Sprint's been going lately, we're wondering if there's going to be anything left to announce at its October 7th strategy update. Another screenshot has surfaced, detailing the Now Network's intentions to launch its CDMA-based (read: no more iDEN) Direct Connect service on October 2nd, with "increased coverage" coming early next year. We've been expecting to see it at some point this winter, which means the Nextel alternative is getting pushed out ahead of schedule. With this, we should be hearing news in the near future concerning compatible handsets like the Motorola Admiral or Kyocera DuraMax / DuraCore duo. Unfortunately, October 2nd will be filled with both happy news and bad, as it looks like the leaked memo detailing Sprint's plan to cap the mobile hotspot add-on was right on target. The carrier made its intentions official this morning, confirming that it indeed will be putting a 5GB-per-month leash on the tethering done from your phone, complete with overage charges of $.05 per additional MB used. Grandfathered add-ons aren't an option here, so every tetherer already shelling out $30 for the privilege will find themselves restricted as well. But look at the bright side: tablets need not apply to the data cap, and on-phone data plans and dedicated mobile broadband packages will remain unaffected... for now, at least.
Confirmed: Apple upped its App Store over-the-air download limits
Although Apple's just-released iTunes Connect guide for App Store developers (version 5.3) reminds them that over-the-air downloads for app purchases are still limited to 10MB, users are reporting that Apple may have quietly changed this policy. As the screen shot here (sourced from Italian website AllMobileWorld) shows, the standard 10MB complaint appears to be updated to a 20MB limit. Have you seen this dialog? Does it say 10MB or 20MB for you? Let us know in the comments, and do mention which carrier you are using in case it is an European-only phenomenon. Update: We have now confirmed the change with carriers in multiple countries. One report from Denmark indicates that users there remain at at 10MB limit. Later reports from Denmark confirm they too have been updated to 20MB transfers. Thanks, everyone who tipped us about this
