Tech Roundup: Amazon Echo Look, Wikitribune & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

Alphabet/Google:

• Rewrites its search algorithm to demote misleading information and offensive content from search results.
• Opens live streaming in YouTube to all users with over 1,000 subscribers (drops the previous 10,000 subscriber requirement).
• Adds PayPal integration to mobile payments service Android Pay.
• Releases Google Earth for the web (Chrome browser only!) with guided tours and new discovery features.
• Partners with Samsung to deliver exclusive Google Play Music features (including Bixby integration!) for Galaxy S8 and S8+.
• Opens Google Assistant to third-party app developers to integrate their services with the smart voice assistant.
• Updates Google Home to recognize up to six different users by their voice.
• Opens the first ever data centre in Cuba for faster access to its services in the country.
• Expands Classroom to allow anyone with a personal Google account to create and teach a class on its platform.
• Updates Google Trips to capture bus and train ticket information (in addition to flights).
• Releases a salon booking tool via its startup incubator Area120 called Appointments.

Apple:

• Makes iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) apps for Mac and iOS free for all users.
• Reportedly set to revamp Apple Music again with added focus on original video content, reports Bloomberg.
• Said to be in talks to launch its own peer-to-peer money transfer service to take on Venmo and Google Wallet, according to Recode.

Facebook:

• Says it's working on novel ways to hear with your skin and type with your brain (thus proving that next-gen user interfaces are no user interfaces at all).
• Beefs up office chat tool Workplace with bots and cloud integration; adds a Bot and extension store to Messenger as it proclaims augmented reality (AR) the next big thing (after News feed, Live Video, Stories and VR) at F8 conference.
• Announces Instagram's new milestone of 700 million monthly active users; updates app to organise saved posts into Pinterest-like collections.
• One-ups rival Snapchat with a global expansion of Messenger Lite, a low-bandwidth version of its messaging app designed for Android smartphones with limited memory and processing power.

Microsoft:

• Follows Google's footsteps; makes Microsoft Authenticator app for iOS and android a gateway to let users login to their accounts without having to enter their passwords. (After chat apps, now it's apparently time for authenticator apps?)
• Updates LinkedIn privacy policy (goes into effect on June 7th) post acquisition as the professional social network hits 500 million users.
• Releases a new To-Do app to set to-do lists, reminders and track projects; to replace Wunderlist (the app it acquired in 2015) once the latter's features have been incorporated.
• To release major Windows 10 updates every March and September going forward.
• To take on Google Chrome OS with Windows 10 Cloud as Chromebook usage soars in schools.

In other news:

• NASA's Cassini spacecraft dives between Saturn's rings to offer the closest ever view of the planet.
• Britain goes coal-free for the first time since industrial revolution.
• World's first malaria vaccine RTS,S to be introduced in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi starting in 2018.
• Wikipedia fights fake news (or computational propaganda) with crowdfunding; unveils Wikitribune.
• Turkey becomes the second nation after China to block Wikipedia.
• European Union to abolish roaming charges on June 15.
• Global payments solutions company Mastercard introduces a new credit card with a fingerprint sensor to fight fraud.
• Microblogging service Twitter gets a short reprieve after it reports better-than-expected earnings for the quarter ending March 31 (attributes increase in engagement to its switch to algorithmic reordering of tweets).
• Amazon unveils Echo Look, a hands-free camera and fashion assistant to "help you discover new brands and styles inspired by your lookbook."
• Tumblr launches Cabana, a new app (iOS only, Android version coming in May) for watching videos with friends together in real time; takes on YouTube's own experimental app Uptime launched last month.
• Snapchat unveils World Lenses, a new way to superimpose fancy 3D augmented reality filters to users' photos and videos in its latest attempt to fight Facebook onslaught.
• Troubled ride hailing startup Uber makes passenger ratings more visible on the app; makes it easier to delete your account from within the app.
• Music streaming service Spotify's hardware ambitions are revealed in a job listing to build "a category defining product akin to Pebble Watch, Amazon Echo, and Snap Spectacles." (now pulled, but available here).
• Taiwanese handset maker HTC plans to unveil a new smartphone that can be squeezed as a means to interact with it.
• Online dating service Tinder allows a potential adversary to scrape user profiles through its APIs to build a facial data set, thereby violating user privacy.