Tech Roundup: Android Nougat, Music Streaming Wars & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• Names Android N (aka Android 7.0) as Android Nougat; gives android.com a fresh coat of Material Design paint.
• Brings mobile payments service Android Pay to Asia starting with Singapore.
• Updates Google maps with super sharp satellite imagery; adds options for multiple destinations on a single trip.
• Gives Google Fit a major visual redesign on Android.
• Inks deal with LyricFind to display lyrics in Google search results and possibly in Play Music.
• Rolls out new My Activity page, a companion settings page to My Account, to keep track and control the data you share with Google, while cataloguing all your comings and goings on the internet, including song searches.
• Releases Springboard for enterprise customers to search across all Google Apps to "put the right information at your fingertips."
• Adds WebVR to Chrome browser, an experimental open source JavaScript API to make websites VR-ready.
• To be subjected to a third round of fresh antitrust charges in European Union over its dominance in advertising, reports Wall Street Journal.
• Next-generation Nexus phones from HTC, dubbed Marlin and Sailfish, to differ only terms of display size and battery capacity, Android Police leaks show.

Apple:

• Apple's policy of taking 30% cut for every in-app purchase (and 15% an year later) on apps downloaded/purchased on iTunes App Store irks streaming rival Spotify; Apple rejects an update to its app after it circumvents the said restraint by notifying new users via email to signup for the music streaming service on its website rather than via the app (a feature Spotify removed, so that it wouldn't have to part with 30% of the money it makes for every new sign-up to Apple), adding it's asking for preferential treatment. (This is definitely murky waters to tread, but I believe Apple should at least give an option to sign-up for a service via web, or Spotify should just let users login and not sign-up for the service altogether through the app.)
• In early exploratory talks to acquire Jay-Z owned music streaming service Tidal, reports Wall Street Journal.

Facebook:

• Dials back on its news ambitions; says it will adjust News Feed to favor user generated content (friends and family) over publishers (a direct reaction to recent decline in original sharing), as the social media platform rolls out Chrome extensions for sharing and saving articles.
• To shut down its reimagined, news-focussed version of the social network Paper on July 29.
• Wants to be your travel guide; begins suggesting top art shows, festivals, food, music and other interesting events around you.
• Takes on Google Photos, Apple Memories (in iOS 10) with a new Slideshow feature that automatically (and intelligently) creates mini-movies from photos and video clips.
• Comes under fire after initial reports of it using user location history to suggest new friends; backtracks after furore, adding it was only used during a four-week test last year (which should invite all the more scrutiny!)
• Wins Belgian privacy case over tracking of logged-out users; case thrown out after Facebook appealed the earlier verdict to stop tracking on grounds that "Belgium does not have the authority to regulate the social network because its European base of operations is in Dublin, Ireland."
• Says there are now 11,000 bots on its Messenger platform.

Others:

• Researchers find first clear evidence of ozone layer healing above Antarctica; the hole in September 2015 found to be around 4 million sq km smaller than it was in the year 2000 - an area roughly the size of India.
• Helium deposits are discovered in Tanzanian East Coast Rift Valley amid concerns that global supplies were running out.
• Amazon opens Alexa virtual assistant to purchase any item (on Prime) from the online retailer.
• A fatal crash of a Tesla Model S car in autopilot mode with a tractor-trailer prompts investigation from U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; "Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied," says Tesla.
• HTC spins off its virtual reality arm into a whole new subsidiary HTC Vive Tech.
• Popular cross-platform note-taking app Evernote goes the Pushbullet way; increases yearly subscription prices for paid and premium tiers as it confronts with the reality of making money (by not choosing to show ads).
• Microsoft says its Anniversary update to Windows 10 is coming on August 2; will be free if you already have Windows 10 installed.
• Pinterest will let users snap photos to search for products to shop on the content sharing social network.
• World's cheapest smartphone Freedom 251, assembled indigenously and costing a mere $4 USD, to begin shipping in India this week.
• HP announces a new Chromebook 11 G5 with 12.5 hours of battery life for $189 USD.