Also this week: rival app stores, Siri's public beta, and rising phone prices

I had a (hopefully) bright idea. I can't write a full piece on everything that happens in tech every week, and you don't have time to read one anyway. So on Fridays I'm going to point you towards the handful of stories that actually matter to everyday people, tell you in a sentence or two why you should care, and send you to someone who reported it well. Here is what caught my eye this week.

Your Android phone is getting other app stores

This week Google started letting competing app stores show up inside the Play Store in the US. It's the result of its long antitrust fight with Epic, the company behind Fortnite. For most people nothing changes overnight, and apps you get this way still run through Google Play with its usual security checks and fees. No rival store has actually launched inside Play yet. But it's the first real crack in the one-store-per-phone setup, and over the next year you'll start seeing more places to get Android apps.

Source: Engadget

Apple's big Siri upgrade is out for testing

The AI version of Siri that Apple showed off in June is now in a public beta, so anyone with a recent iPhone can try it before the real release this fall. It can dig through your own email, photos, and messages to answer questions, and take actions across your apps. My advice: unless you enjoy living on beta software, wait for the fall release that comes with the new iPhones. Betas break things, and this one wants access to your personal stuff to do its job. If you do try it, back up your phone first.

Source: 9to5Mac

Regulators are forcing your phone's assistant to have competition

Europe just ordered Google to let rival AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude plug into Android the same way Google's own Gemini does. The idea is that you'd eventually pick your phone's built-in assistant the way you pick a web browser. It's a European rule for now, not a US one. But these fights tend to cross the Atlantic, and it's the clearest sign yet that the assistant baked into your phone won't always be the one the manufacturer picked for you.

Source: MacRumors

If you need a new phone or laptop, this is a decent time to buy

The same AI boom filling up data centers is eating the world's supply of memory chips, and that is pushing up the price of phones, laptops, tablets, and TVs. Analysts expect laptops to run roughly 15 percent more and phones around 13 percent more through the end of the year. Some cheaper models are shipping with less memory to hold the price down. If a device in your house is on its last legs, buying sooner rather than later will probably save you money.

Source: CNBC