Seven tech giants, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, have said they meet the European Union’s new criteria for “gatekeepers,” which means they will be subject to stricter regulations. Reuters: Samsung and TikTok owner ByteDance also unexpectedly said they would meet the criteria, although TikTok disputed whether it should be included on the list. Booking.com said it expected to fall into the gatekeeper category next year. Under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) which came into force in November, companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a 75-billion-euro ($82 billion) market capitalisation are considered gatekeepers providing a core platform service. Companies labelled as such will be required to make their messaging apps interoperate with rivals…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge An important deadline just passed for the biggest tech platform companies in the world to notify the European Union (EU) that they are gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Seven companies have officially acknowledged they meet the criteria: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp), Microsoft, and Samsung. Companies on the list have a market capitalization of over €75 billion ($82 billion) and own a social platform or app that has at least 45 million monthly users or 10,000 active business users. The statement published by EU commissioner Thierry Breton says it “will now check their submissions and designate the gatekeepers for specific platform services by 6 September,” and after…

Macworld Good news for prospective buyers of the M2-based 13-inch MacBook Air: the machine, which was specced with support for Bluetooth 5.0 when it was released in July 2022, has been retrospectively bumped up to Bluetooth 5.3. MacRumors noticed that the wireless section of the device’s tech specs page now contains a reference to Bluetooth 5.3, matching the specs of the newer 15-inch MacBook Air. The site also noticed that this section still reads “Wi-Fi 6” for both sizes of Air, even though other new Macs have been upgraded with Wi-Fi 6E support. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 that was launched at the same time still offers only Bluetooth 5.0, according to the tech specs listed for that machine.…

Macworld At a glance Pros19 top-end portsBuilt-in M.2 NVMe SSD slot2.5Gb EthernetDedicated HDMI 2.1 port100W PDConsHDMI means just two downstream TB4 ports150W power supplyOur VerdictIt’s got more top-end ports than any other dock we’ve tested and a built-in SSD enclosure so you can add up to an extra 8TB of storage, yet it is one of the most affordable docking stations available. Best Prices Today: Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock Retailer Price 3D Broadcast £299 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Price comparison from Backmarket Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s SuperDock! But what makes Sonnet’s latest Thunderbolt 4 laptop docking station so super? The super-ness is not the 19 top-end ports, although…

Illustration: The Verge The world’s most valuable company briefly crossed the $3 trillion mark on January 3rd, 2022, and today is the first time its market cap has reached that bar again, as individual AAPL shares showed a price above $192 soon after trading began on Friday. In May, CEO Tim Cook reported an all-time high for its installed base of active devices, as well as “an all-time record in services and a March quarter record for iPhone.” That was despite other divisions like Mac and iPad showing results that were down from the previous year, and since then, the company has launched a new 15-inch version of the MacBook Air laptop. Image: Yahoo Finance Five-day chart of AAPL stock…

Macworld Apple’s free Mac apps: Photos and Preview can get the basics of editing an image or photograph, but if you want to do anything more advanced you’ll need a dedicated image editing app. Adobe’s Photoshop is the industry standard, due to its wide range of features and capabilities. Here’s how to get a copy of Photoshop on your Mac, or, failing that, the next best thing. Plus, because you can’t beat free, we’ll also explain your options for getting Photoshop on Mac for free. We have also rounded up the Best Mac free image and photo editors if you just want a free photo editor and it doesn’t have to be Photoshop. If you’d like to get the same…