Tech Roundup: India GPS, Facebook's Rise & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• Creates an internal hardware division to bring its hardware offerings like Glass, Project Ara modular phone project, OnHub, Chromecast, Nexus and Chromebooks under one roof; to be led by ex-Google subsidiary Motorola's former president Rick Osterloh who left Lenovo last month.
• Goes the Windows 10 way on Chrome OS; to add Android Play Store integration with capabilities to install Android apps on Chromebooks (thanks to App Runtime for Chrome), as Remix OS, an Android fork for PCs and tablets, ends up on new laptops for as low as $79.
• Rolls out a better home tab experience on YouTube for Android and iOS with AI-powered smarter recommendations (but why the ugly Accounts tab and why is the user experience still so drastically different between YouTube Music, YouTube Gaming and YouTube apps?); announces new six-second non-skippable Bumper ads for the video platform.
• Reportedly working with HTC to manufacture next-gen Nexus phones codenamed M1 (Marlin) and S1 (Sailfish), Android Police sleuths it out.
• Adds smart automation support to OnHub Wi-Fi router with IF This Then That integration. (Does it sound similar to Amazon Alexa? You bet!)
• Teases a brand new unified, travel-focussed app called Trips.
• Celebrates 10 years of Google Translate; reflects on its growth from supporting two languages to 103.

Apple:

• The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation says it will keep the technique it used to unlock San Bernardino shooter's iPhone 5c a secret, reports Reuters; the agency can use the method on other iPhone 5c's running iOS 9.
• To include internet connectivity features on its next-gen Apple Watch in an attempt to give more smarts to the watch and free it from having to carry an iPhone. (Call me when it releases a round faced watch!)
• Reports its first ever year over year decline in 10 years as iPhone, iPad and Mac sales decline for reasons ranging from market saturation to a stronger U.S. Dollar; revenue from services like App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud meanwhile grows 20% YoY.
• Announces new apps based on CareKit platform, a framework that helps track health symptoms and their progress, both by patients and doctors. (Not to be confused with HealthKit, that lets developers tap into iPhone's sensors to gather various health metrics, and ResearchKit, which gives scientists the ability to recruit participants for scientific studies run through the iPhone.)
• To sponsor Canadian rapper Drake's upcoming music tour.
• Marketing chief Phil Schiller conducts grammar lessons on Twitter; says Apple's iDevices need not be pluralised. (So it's either 3 iPhone or 3 iPhone devices, and while I do appreciate him taking time to correct it, the naming confusion should be the least of his worries.)
• Microsoft Windows 95 desktop operating system is brought to life on an Apple Watch.

Facebook:

• Crushes Wall Street estimates with better than expected revenues; reports 1.65 monthly active users with 82% of its revenues now coming from mobile ads, up from 73% an year ago.
• Reportedly building a standalone camera app to take on Snapchat, with help from its recent acquisition MSQRD.
• To implement call back, voicemail and ZIP file sharing support on WhatsApp.

Twitter:

• Shares plunge after quarterly revenue miss; number of monthly active users rise to 310 million.
• Is no longer a social networking app; rebrands itself as a news app aka RSS 2.0. (Which is what I use it as despite me not having a Twitter account!)
• Popular Android Twitter client Fenix comes back to Play Store despite hitting 100,000 user token limit; hints at possible of relaxation of developer policy.

Others:

• Elon Musk-owned rocket company SpaceX announces a new unmanned Mars mission for 2018.
• North Korea successfully launches missile from a submarine, raising tensions.
• U.K. astronaut Tim Peake drives remote controlled robot on Earth from International Space Station.
• India's own version of Global Position System aka GPS called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC) comes to fruition following successful launch of seventh navigation satellite IRNSS-1G.
• India makes it compulsory for all cellphones to have panic buttons to keep women safe.
• Researchers at UC Irvine develop a battery that can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times without degrading its capacity; made possible by using a nanowire battery that's coated with a manganese dioxide and Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel that counteracts the effects of electrode wear and tear due to charging.
• Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo are the top smartphone manufacturers, latest findings from IDC show.
• PayPal-owned peer to peer payments service Venmo comes under U.S. Federal Trade Commission's scanner; to be investigated if it has "engaged in deceptive or unfair practices in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act."
• Dropbox previews Project Infinite, a Nextbit Robin-smartphone like new feature for PCs and Macs that automatically syncs user selected folders to the cloud to free up local disk space, but are available on demand.
• Finnish telecom giant and erstwhile smartphone major Nokia to acquire French health tracking firm Withings for $191 million USD.
• Radon for Android becomes one of the first apps to use the mobile operating system's Nearby API to share links to others via sound waves (of course the other person also should have Radon installed).
• PC maker HP releases a sleek, new Chromebook 13 sporting a metallic look.
• Microsoft creates its own variant of IFTTT automated flows with Microsoft Flow.
• Chinese electronics company Xiaomi to launch a Mi smartwatch in second half of 2016.