Weekly output: Consumer Cellular’s SpeakEasy brand, Uber’s take rate, Google Play Store fees, Pixel 9 Pro screen replacement, Qualcomm’s data-center ambitions, Meta scrapping “Off-Meta Activity” privacy setting, Feds poleaxe Polestar

It’s been a while–years, I think–since I had four stories published on one day by one client. But I only wrote two of Friday’s total on Friday, so don’t draw too many conclusions about my potential productivity.

Patreon readers got an extra post this week in which I unpacked an unfortunately botched bit of business development.

6/22/2026: Consumer Cellular Adds SpeakEasy Mobile Sub-Brand For the 75-and-Up Set, PCMag

The interesting part of this announcement was the two simplified phones that Consumer Cellular’s new brand is bringing to the market.

6/23/2026: Uber driver pay is falling as the company’s take rate rises, new research finds, Fast Company

I didn’t have this report about Uber driver pay on my to-do list as I made my way to Web Summit Rio three weeks ago. But once I got there, a notice about a press conference featuring study author Len Sherman of Columbia University’s business school got my attention, and I’m glad that it did.

6/25/2026: Google Details Reduced Play Store Fees That Trim Its Take to 10% in Many Cases, PCMag

Almost six years after Epic Games’ lawsuit challenged Google’s Android app-store rules, the tech giant finally broke down the changes forced by that litigation. I needed much less time to get this post written and filed Thursday morning; it feels good when that happens.

6/26/2026: I Needed to Replace My Pixel 9 Pro’s Screen. It Was Easy, With One Big Caveat, PCMag

I waited a couple of weeks after this successful screen repair to make sure that my phone wouldn’t fall apart in my pocket–and then worried after publication that I would then choose that moment to drop it onto a sidewalk.

6/26/2026: Qualcomm Darts Into the Data Center Business With Dragonfly, PCMag

I had assumed that somebody on staff would cover Qualcomm’s investor day Wednesday in New York but watched it remotely anyway, and then one of my editors asked if I could do a writeup of that event. Of course I said yes.

6/26/2026: Meta to Scrap ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ Feature That Curbed Web Tracking, PCMag

I could have written this post weeks ago, but getting an e-mail from Meta Thursday morning to the account I use for Facebook that reminded me of this impending privacy downgrade was the nudge I needed. Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist Lena Cohen’s comments were then the excuse I needed to remind readers of how this privacy problem is made worse by continued Congressional inaction on privacy.

6/26/2026: Feds Poleaxe Polestar, Banning Future US Sales of Its EVs, PCMag

I wasn’t originally going to jump on this, but once that headline popped into my head I had to write the post. Then I made sure to include three essential bits of context: how the connected-car rule that Polestar ran afoul of dates to the closing days of the Biden administration, how few cars Polestar has sold, and what a mess connected-car privacy remains even if you look only at American manufacturers–thanks in large part to continued Congressional inaction on privacy.

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