Tech Roundup: Amazon Prime Wardrobe, Snap Map & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• Pushes U.S. lawmakers and international governments to come with a new legal framework to address concerns with laws pertaining to accessing customer data located on servers in other countries even as Justice Department seeks Supreme Court's expertise on whether "U.S. search warrants extend to data stored on foreign servers."
• To begin removing private medical records from search results along with other personal identifiable information like Social Security Numbers, signatures, bank account numbers and credit card numbers.
• To no longer scan personal Gmail inbox emails for targeted advertising purposes in a new policy change.
• Opens one-way social network Posts to local businesses to integrate their content straight into its search results.
• Adds Duo integration to Allo (but... where is the web client that was promised long back?).
• To update YouTube with support for different video formats (including vertical) and in-app messaging which it teased last May.
• Releases first software update in three years for its now-discontinued Google Glass with support for Bluetooth input. (I still believe Google Glass was a great idea, but poorly marketed and ahead of its time!)

Apple:

• Releases second beta of its upcoming iOS 11 software update for iPhones and iPads.
• Reportedly looking at reducing how much it pays to record labels as part of new negotiations for its music streaming service Apple Music.

Facebook:

• Updates its mission statement "to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together."
• Reports 250 million daily active users for Instagram Stories, up from 200 million last April.
• Updates WhatsApp to allow users share any kind of file.
• Begins testing a new Favorites feature in Instagram that lets users to share photos with a smaller circle of friends/followers.
• Doubles down its video efforts; to release new tools (a la YouTube Creator Studio) targeting video creators later this year as part of an update to Facebook Mentions.

Microsoft:

• Unveils a new Modern Keyboard with built-in fingerprint reader.
• Confirms leak of Windows source code related to Microsoft's USB, storage, and Wi-Fi drivers.

Snap:

• Gets US$ 100 million investment boost from Time Warner to make original shows for Snapchat.
• Unveils a new update that allows users to share their locations in real-time via a opt-in feature called Snap Map, raising privacy concerns; powered by its acquisition of Zenly for between US$ 250 million and $350 million late May.

Yahoo!:

• Officially comes under Verizon's Oath brand (alongside AOL) as CEO Marissa Mayer steps down.
• To shut down popular news summary app News Digest on June 30; asks users to switch to its Newsroom app which it launched last October.

In other news:

• The mystery behind egg shapes and sizes is possibly cracked after scientists discover that "the length of an egg correlates with bird body size," and that "the shape of an egg—how asymmetrical or elliptical it is—relates to flying habits. And the stronger a bird's flight, the more asymmetrical or elliptical its eggs will be."
• Draft report submitted by European parliament's committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs seeks to enforce end-to-end encryption on all digital communications and forbid use of backdoors to enable law enforcement access private data in the European Union.
• Digital News Report for 2017 shows rise of messaging applications like WhatsApp and Viber for sharing and discussing news, even as Apple News reports its biggest gain over the last one year (just by virtue of being available on all iPhones and iPads).
• Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor threatens to block messaging service Telegram in the country if it fails to provide more information about itself. (Telegram's non-response appears to stem from the fact that doing so would make it legally bound to retain users' chat histories and encryption keys and share them with authorities upon request.)
• Amazon makes it easier for customers to try online clothing purchases with Prime Wardrobe; customers to get seven days to decide what to keep and complete the purchase, and avail discounts depending on the number of items returned (more for lesser returns obviously!).
• Imagination Technologies, Apple's chief supplier of GPUs, puts itself for sale after it saw its share price plummet following Apple's announcement back in April that it would transition from the company's chipsets to its own in-house designed version in 15-24 months.
• Twitter updates its privacy policy effective June 18 with details about the kind of personalisation service it offers and the data it shares with other third-parties.
• Music streaming service Spotify begins testing sponsored songs (aka ads) in playlists for subscribers of free tier.
• Popular game developer and publisher Sega follows Nintendo's footsteps; to release its popular retro games for Android and iOS.
• OnePlus releases OnePlus 5 with 8GB RAM (!!!), 128GB storage, dual camera, an iPhone-like design and a pricier tag of US$ 479; to go on sale on June 27.
• Ride-hailing app Uber adds option to allow customers tip their drivers from within the app.
• Electric-car maker Tesla said to be in talks with record labels to create its own in-car music streaming service, according to Recode.
• PayPal-owned Venmo begins testing physical debit cards tied to Venmo accounts of its users as rivals like Square Cash and Apple Pay tease their own variants. (Will this cause Google to revive its Wallet Card which it discontinued last year?)
• Suryawanshi Restaurant in Bangalore becomes the first eatery in India to accept Bitcoins.