Fully Charged: New Star Wars making-of trailer, and could Apple be in trouble with the FTC?

The Force Awakens behind-the-scenes

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While Comic-Con 2015 came and went without a new proper trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney held a panel for the film that featured nearly all of the major actors. It even included Harrison Ford, who actually seemed excited and humbled by his involvement in the new entry – a stark contrast to his previous indifferent nature towards it.

Fans were enraptured by the event, and although you might have missed out on the on-stage gathering, at least you can check out this fantastic little behind-the-scenes clip issued in advance of the film’s December release. It spotlights the series actors (new and old), the technology at play, and the sensation of the starting the film franchise up again. And if this doesn’t get you excited for The Force Awakens, it’s hard to know what will.

[Source: YouTube]

Apple under FTC scrutiny

Now that Apple Music is live, the company has made rivals out of Spotify, Tidal, and more. Problem is, Apple actually profits off of subscriptions for those services when they’re purchased through iOS apps, which has led to those companies raising their prices through the app to compensate for Apple’s 30% cut.

A report now claims that the U.S. government is looking into whether that’s a violation of antitrust law. The Federal Trade Commission is checking out claims from rivals about the potential conflict of Apple being both a rival and gatekeeper, although the agency hasn’t yet launched a formal investigation. If it does, Apple may be put into a situation where it has to rethink its typical App Store cut for certain services – or prepare for a potentially costly legal battle.

Spotify, for its part, isn’t waiting for a potential resolution there. As we reported last week, the company has started sending notices to its iOS app subscribers to try and convince them to sign up again via the web. It’s cheaper for users and more profitable for Spotify, after all.

[Source: Reuters]

First official Ghostbusters shot

Sony’s new female-led Ghostbusters reboot might not have had a huge Comic-Con presence (in part probably because it’s filming right now), but it nearly stole all the excitement away before the weekend even got rolling. On Friday, director Paul Feig tweeted the above shot of the cast in front of the updated (term is entirely relative) car.

The tweet has racked up nearly 15,000 retweets and generated a wide range of reactions – many sadly negative, and abrasively so. For our money, we love the look of the characters, and it’s impressive how much attitude they got out of what could’ve been a very straightforward shot (Kate McKinnon [right], especially so). The reboot is due out on 22 July 2016.

[Source: Twitter]