Apple deletes all major VPN apps for iOS from China App Store

Why it matters to you

If you’re a big company like Microsoft, or are simply planning a trip to China, you won’t be able to use major search engines or social networks to do business in the country.

Apple has just removed all major VPN apps for iOS from the China App Store, according to a blog post from ExpressVPN — which was also impacted by this decision. ExpressVPN, a provider based outside of China, received a notice from Apple on Saturday, July 29 that its iOS app was removed. This is going to make things a lot more difficult for consumers to work their way around China’s restrictions on internet freedom.

The company shared an email from Apple which stated that the app was removed because it contains content that is now illegal in China. “We’re disappointed in this development, as it represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to block the use of VPNs to date, and we are troubled to see Apple aiding China’s censorship efforts,” the email read, according to the blog post.

Certain users who have a billing address outside of China are still able to download the apps from the App stores that are in other countries. Chinese consumers are still able to stay connected to the worldwide internet with ExpressVPN’s apps for Mac, Android, Windows, and some other platforms.

Virtual private networks were the only course of action many users were able to take, due to China’s internet censorship — which has been referred to as the “Great Firewall.” Back in January, it was announced that China would be cracking down on devices like VPNs for 14 months, lasting until March of 2018. It began blocking Western websites such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. The country even passed a pretty controversial cybersecurity bill last November, imposing new regulations on service providers.

It is, however, still possible for someone to create an App Store account under a fake identity from another country, although how one would go about doing that is not certain. Earlier this month, two other popular VPN services were no longer allowed to be online in China, leaving their users with no other alternatives. Taking the problem straight to Apple appears to be a good strategy in enforcing censorship, since the company does have control over what apps become available in China.

Apple recently changed its policy on apps that involve ad blockers in the App Store.

Your weekly drama-free comment thread is right here

Here is where you kick back, relax and chat with friends.

As usual, we have had another week filled with politically-charged rhetoric, arguments, and disappointment. Pretty much the status quo as of late.

But we can take a break from the madness that infects all of social media and everywhere else and just chill out while we talk about everything else. Just like this guy.

Motorola is a great starting point for a discussion. We saw the new Moto Z2 Force, complete with a shatter-proof screen and new mods to slap on the back. But it feels like a step backward for some of us and the price is concerning. We had our own discussion on the Android Central Podcast about it, and it’d be awesome to hear your voice, too. Tell us we’re right or tell us we’re crazy — feedback is important.

Personally, I don’t like that they decreased the battery capacity to go for the thin thing, and I really think the price is a bit over the top when they expect you to grab a Moto Mod to make up for any shortcomings. Then again, I’ve not touched one and live through Andrew, Daniel and Mr. Mobile.

Tell us what you think about it, or just talk about anything else. As long as we can relax a bit and enjoy the weekend, it’s all good.

Netflix’s ‘Castlevania’ showrunner Adi Shankar on nerddom and season two

It’s easy to draw a line from producer Adi Shankar’s scrappy Bootleg Universe — his slew of short indie films about the Punisher, Power Rangers and other pop culture heroes uploaded on YouTube — to his recent work as showrunner of Netflix’s recently released animated Castlevania series. His approach taps into what made beloved characters resonate with fans and gives those old favorites a mature, modern spin.

We caught Shankar on his way to Japan for a press tour promoting Castlevania to ask why he jumped at the chance to adapt the well-loved franchise. The first four-episode season dropped weeks ago, beginning a gothic horror saga of three adventurers fighting against Dracula’s army of demons. The series was planned around a script written a decade ago by comics icon Warren Ellis for Frederator Studios (of Adventure Time fame), but Shankar was brought on late in 2015 to make an animated version, which eventually landed on Netflix.

Fans loved the series, Shankar said, and apparently so did Netflix, which ordered a second season of Castlevania and doubled the episodes, though no release date has been announced. On top of returning to the show, Shankar will add another adaptation to his oeuvre, as he was announced showrunner of an Assassin’s Creed anime. While he can’t comment on that series, he had plenty to tell Engadget about bringing his adaptation experience to bear on a beloved video game franchise.

What about Castlevania appealed to you?

I’m a fan of Castlevania. I played most of the games — Symphony of the Night being really the game that brought me back into the franchise from the PlayStation 1 era. But I am genuinely and authentically a fan of it. That’s ultimately what brought me in. Being able to make it was a dream come true.

Your team chose to adopt a prequel, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, instead of the original game. Why?

The story of Castlevania is the story of this family known as the Belmonts. As the various generations of the family struggle with their own challenges, not only fighting monsters but dealing with the issues of the time, it made sense to start early in that family’s history.

What was the process to change it into your vision of the series?

The real issue in adapting Castlevania was the way in which we were gonna do it. We used 2D hand-drawn animation. This is effectively a dead art form. That’s something I was adamant about right from the get-go. It wasn’t so much the story we were gonna tell as much as how we were going to tell it, because we knew we were going to tell an early Belmont story from one of the earlier games. We were designing it for television, but, for instance, we didn’t want to do a ‘Monster of the Week’-style narrative structure. We also wanted each frame of it to look beautiful and use that 2D hand-drawn look.

The first season was only four episodes. Were you planning on more seasons?

I wouldn’t say we were planning on having a second or third season so much as that there was an overarching story we were hoping to tell. And there’s always been a plan for that story in place.

Was it more difficult to adapt a video game rather than characters from other mediums, like comics or television shows?

I wouldn’t say anything was more difficult. It was just that what we had to focus on was different: fleshing out emotions associated with these characters so that the audience connected with them on an emotional level.

Was that different because you were adapting video game characters?

Partially. When you’re developing a character for a video game, effectively — and I’m not saying one art form is more difficult than the other and they both have their own challenges — but when you’re developing for a video game, there are different parameters in place than if one were to develop a character for film or TV. In one version, you are the character in the game; in the narrative version, you are observing the character and have to relate to the character in a different way.

Is it constraining to adapt from source material that came out — in Castlevania III’s case — almost 30 years ago?

There’s nothing about the games that feels constraining. There’s nothing we’re trying to work around. We’re embracing all the elements of the game and adding an emotional arc to them.

Is the process going to be any different for your next project — adapting Assassin’s Creed into an anime-style series?

Well, I can’t really talk about Assassin’s Creed other than to say that I’m a fan; I’ve played every game. I love the mythology, and I love the universe.

But as for Castlevania, season two will be expansive. Not only is it greenlit, Netflix doubled our episode order due to the fan response. Which has been amazing! I mean, we made a show targeted for the fans of the game, and now it has crossed over into the mainstream. It was an amazing thing to have had happen.

Does this feel like a fan-made project?

One-hundred percent. Although this is an official project, it feels in line with the mentality of the Bootleg Universe. It wasn’t trying to get an audience beyond the core fanbase. The fact that it did is wonderful. But we were, are and will continue to be loyal to our core demographic.

How’s the response been?

The fan response, the critical response, has been overwhelming; it’s been humbling. It makes all of us want to work even harder and deliver an even better season two. Season one has teed up season two perfectly.

The reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that I was a little taken aback. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t necessarily expect the show to cross over the way it did, demographically, and into the mainstream.

The audience that grew up loving these games are now the core audience that marketers are going after. And on top of that, we have a whole generation under us — I’m 32 — that are all gamers. There’s no such thing as gamer versus non-gamer. Every single one of us is a gamer on some level, even if it’s just playing iPhone games.

Would you say those marketers appealing to our retro childhoods means nostalgia is a cottage niche inside the gaming industry?

I wouldn’t say it’s nostalgia at all. I would say it’s a language and an art form that has developed across the decades and has supplanted film as the preeminent art form of this millennium that we are living in right now. The innovations that are happening in storytelling are happening in VR, AR and gaming.

Are you interested in VR and AR, possibly in your future adaptations?

Hell, yeah.

Are you waiting for the tech to get better, or are any VR/AR projects on your horizon?

On the horizon. My schedule’s just packed at the moment, but it’s on the horizon.

Apple pulls VPN apps following China crackdown

China might say it isn’t cracking down on personal VPNs, but Apple would likely argue otherwise. ExpressVPN, Star VPN and other developers report that Apple has pulled their apps from the App Store in China for allegedly including “content that is illegal” in the country. Some clients are still on other platforms (including ExpressVPN, for now) while others remain, so it’s not a uniform cull at this point. However, this is still a big blow to attempts to circumvent China’s mounting internet censorship through encrypted communication — not to mention companies that may have been depending on those apps for remote work connections.

Apple has declined to comment, although users have noticed that they can still use affected VPN apps if software came from another country’s App Store. This isn’t a wholesale block, then.

The move isn’t coming out of the blue: China is holding its once-every-5-years Communist Party congress in the fall, and it tends to ramp up online censorship ahead of those gatherings to silence dissent. The government also made Apple pull the New York Times app at the start of 2017. Even so, it emphasizes how easily China can hold the tech industry over a barrel. China knows Apple and others need Chinese customers to thrive, and that means they have to remove apps even when they help protect freedom of speech.

The clampdown also illustrates the pitfalls of disallowing apps from unofficial sources. The iOS App Store is theoretically more secure, since you’re less likely to run across rogue apps hosted on sketchy websites and less-than-vigilant stores. However, it also leaves you with few practical alternatives if censors demand that an app vanishes. You still have options on Android or desktops, even if it involves a lot of effort to track down just the right program.

Via: TechCrunch, Reuters, New York Times

Source: ExpressVPN, Star VPN (Twitter)

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Rangi is an awesome puzzler on Gear VR

Defeat sliding puzzles, warp away from descending spikes and reawaken a world where music has gone missing.

Once the music giants roamed the land, filling the world with music. Unfortunately, time and great evil have stolen them from the land. That’s where you come in. You’ll need to explore ancient ruins, and reconnect portals in order to bring music back to the world. With an African theme intertwined through the game and challenging puzzles there is plenty to do in order to return music to the land.

Read more at VRHeads

Amazon deal trucks may be your last chance at an NES Classic

Are you still pining for the elusive NES Classic Edition a few months after its abrupt discontinuation? If you’re in the right US city and act quickly, you might have a chance. Amazon’s Treasure Trucks in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle are offering the retro console at its original $60 price as part of a one-day sale on July 29th. You just have to order from the Amazon app and pick one of the trucks as your pickup point. The offer is only available from 11AM to 5PM local time, and only while stocks last, but this may be your best (and possibly last) opportunity to get the Classic without being gouged by a third-party reseller or online auction. And if you miss out? Well, there’s always the SNES Classic.

Big news! #TreasureTruck is now in 6 cities, and today’s offer is one you won’t want to miss! Get in on the fun—find us in the Amazon app. pic.twitter.com/G9Z60tHMre

— Treasure Truck (@treasuretruck) July 29, 2017

Source: CNET, Amazon, Twitter