Tech Roundup: Google Chromebit, Yahoo! Ad Block & More

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

Alphabet/Google -

• Google wants to be called a cloud company by 2020; appoints former VMware co-founder Diane Greene to lead enterprise cloud business.
• In a win for Google, Facebook allows the search giant to index and crawl its mobile app content for deep linking, reports Wall Street Journal; will possibly be an Android-only feature.
• Google now daily handling 2 million takedown requests over pirated content; receives 65 million takedown notices from more than 5,500 different copyright holders in October 2015 alone.
• Google reportedly set to launch Play Store in China next year, according to Reuters.
• Google search gets a little more smart a la Hound; now understands complex queries like "What was the U.S. population when Bernie Sanders was born?"
• Google partners with Asus to put Chrome OS on a HDMI dongle for $100; called Chromebit, it turns any monitor with HDMI support into a Chromebook.

Apple -

• Apple to open its first retail store in Singapore late next year; will run completely on solar power.
• After agreeing to pay $450 million in fines over conspiring with publishers to raise ebook prices to take on Amazon, Apple and Amazon's Audible now being jointly investigated by German anti-trust agency Federal Cartel Office to examine if the business deal is hurting opportunities for smaller audiobook publishers.

Others -

• Islamic State's use of secure messaging apps like Telegram and FireChat to plan last week's Paris attacks prompts renewed discussion on having back-door access to such encrypted tools; Telegram blocks more than 250 broadcast channels used for terrorist propaganda in response.
• Scientists discover bacteria that are resistant to all antibiotics; identify a new bacterial genetic resistance mechanism called MCR-1 that prevents drugs such as colistin from killing them.
• Popular cross-platform sharing service Pushbullet faces a tight-rope act; adds a new paywall by announcing a Pro tier ($5/month, effective Dec 1) that includes features that are free at the moment.
• Microsoft pauses development on tool meant to port Android apps to Windows 10 citing compatibility issues.
• Facebook Instant Articles arrive for Android users in India.
• LG announces LG Pay, a new mobile payments service to compete with Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Chase Pay.
• Online retailer Amazon rolls out support for 2-factor authentication (seems to be US only for now, couldn't see the same options in Amazon India).
• For the first time ever, ​Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is not a word, it's a pictograph - the Face with Tears of Joy emoji.
• Tech-business consolidation continues; internet-radio sensation Pandora to acquire fellow on-demand music streaming service Rdio for $75 million in cash.
• In a sign of things to come, Yahoo! to block you from accessing your emails unless ad blockers are disabled.