Tech Roundup: LinkedIn Acquisition, Norway Deforestation Ban & More

Apple has been beating the drum of user privacy, championing the cause unlike its advertising-driven competitors Google and Facebook, but despite hamstrung by the limitations it imposed upon itself, the tech giant, at its WWDC developers conference last week, clearly signalled it has no plans to lose the AI race to its rivals, instead opting to circumvent the said restraints by employing deep learning tricks that it needs to provide the smarts locally on the device rather than on the cloud. It's an interesting trade-off (with Differential Privacy and all that, which is to be used to collect user data anonymously in a fashion that cannot be traced back to a single user), and it will also be doubtless interesting to see if Apple's attempts in this regard gain fruition. Because, as Walt Mossberg says, "it could help set benchmarks for privacy in tech." Either ways, Google watch out!

Alphabet/Google:

• Gives an eye-popping Material Design refresh for Google Fonts.
• Rolls out Android N Developer Preview 4 with a new name for N: Namey McNameface (Inspired by Parsey McParseface?); asks developers to start publishing their apps with support for Android N (aka API Level 24).
• Brings Play Store and Android Apps to Chrome OS Dev channel for the Asus Flip Chromebook.
• Refreshes icons for its yet-to-be-released chat apps Allo and Duo, and nobody cares!

Apple:

• Reveals that when deleting built-in system apps on iOS 10 you are only removing the apps' icons and not the apps themselves, which are still present on the phone.
• Plans to block browser plug-ins like Flash, Java, SilverLight and QuickTime by default in desktop Safari with upcoming macOS Sierra update.
• Faces a new potential roadblock in China after Beijing Intellectual Property Office rules that iPhone 6 and 6 Plus violate Chinese handset maker Shenzhen Bali's design patents (used in its 100C phone); may have to stop selling the devices if it loses appeal.
• Vetoes against having a rifle emoji, leading Unicode, the organisation in charge of selecting emojis, to ultimately remove it from its list of new emoji candidates for 2016.

Microsoft:

• To acquire professional social network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion USD in an all-cash deal that's expected to close within this calendar year.
• Gets into legalized marijuana business in the United States; to partner with LA-based pot startup Kind to create software (based on its cloud platform Azure) that helps track marijuana plants from "seed to sale."

Snapchat:

• Teases Real Life, a new digital magazine venture exploring the intersection of culture and technology; will debut on June 27.
• To introduce more ads that play between users' Stories as part of its new advertising push.

Others:

• Norway becomes the world's first country to ban deforestation; Norwegian lawmakers also commit to finding "a way to source essential products such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber so that they leave little to no impact on their ecosystems."
• Flooding, caused by human-induced climate change, drives Bramble Cay melomys, a rodent species found in Australia, to extinction; becomes the first mammalian extinction event caused by global warming.
• Researchers at LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detect gravitational waves for the second time on December 26, 2015, generated as a result of a merger of two black holes 1.4 billion years ago.
• A team of scientists at Philipps-Universität Marburg in Germany develop an amorphous material out of tin and sulphur that can transform infrared to visible light.
• ISIS-affiliated Twitter accounts hijacked by Anonymous to spread gay love in the wake of Orlando massacre that left 50 dead and over 53 injured.
• OnePlus 3 Android smartphone is official with almost zero compromises; comes with all the specs you would expect from a flagship device (that 6GB RAM though!) for just $399 USD unlocked.
• Facebook Messenger gets SMS integration in Android, a feature it removed almost three years ago.
• Uber experiments with a telephone dispatch system (aka a hotline) in Florida to hail cabs.
• Sony PlayStation VR headgear to hit markets on Oct 13 fro $399 USD; to launch with over 50 titles.
• Bluetooth 5 is official with twice the speed, four times the range and 800% more capacity.
• Twitter announces emoji-based ad targeting, reports Ad Age, meaning "someone in Chicago who tweets a pizza emoji can now be targeted by a local restaurant to come in for a delicious slice of deep dish."
• Popular third-party keyboard Fleksy acquired by Pinterest; will open-source accessibility related components to spur further development.