Tech Roundup: iOS 10 Public Beta, Snapchat Discover Lawsuit & More

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

Today View on iOS 10

Apple's iOS 10 reimagines your lock screen:
iOS, in its tenth iteration, is almost ready for public consumption and Apple has revamped the lock screen nothing like you have seen before. By "before" I mean from Apple of course. The three-paned lock screen is a little reminiscent of Android, and surprisingly gone is the classic "slide to unlock" gesture, which is now supplanted by a new "Press home to open" that seems to have been solely introduced precisely keeping the super-fast unlocking speed of Touch ID fingerprint sensor in mind.

Swipe from left to right, and you will notice the completely redesigned Today View, filled with widgets like weather, news, upcoming events and reminders, and destinations and nearby places, which when selected, prompts for your Touch ID/passcode, to let you dive straight into the respective apps. Doing the swipe the other way triggers the camera (replacing the previous vertical swipe). Also mighty useful is the raise to wake feature, which lights up the screen as you lift your phone to check for missed notifications, effectively letting you perform the intended task with you having to hit the power or home button.

In other news:

• Google's new Nexus smartphone renders leak well ahead of their release, courtesy Android Police; also reveals Google's plans for two new Android Wear smart watches with Google Assistant integration.
• Google acqui-hires French-based instant object recognition startup Moodstocks as it continues to beef up its Artificial Intelligence efforts.
• Google adds instant text translation, and barcode and QR Code scanning on Now on Tap
• Amazon takes on curation apps like Canopy with its own Interesting Finds.
• Apple's upcoming new iPhone to start with 32GB of storage, reports Wall Street Journal.
• Facebook announces OpenCellular, a new open-source platform to create wireless access systems as part of a new bid to bring internet services to remote parts of the world.
• Facebook begins trialling secret conversations on Messenger that are end-to-end encrypted.
• Microsoft successfully packs 200MB worth of data into synthetic DNA all at once, in what's hailed as a historic first.
• Samsung introduces Galaxy Tab Iris tablet with iris recognition technology for Indian government and businesses.
• Popular instant messaging service Snapchat introduces Memories, a new way to save Snaps and Stories on the app, as it slowly shifts focus from ephemerality to permanence.
• Snapchat is hit with a class-action lawsuit for routinely serving sexually explicit content (including this Buzzfeed NSFW post) to teens via Discover without any adequate warnings.
• Telecom giant Huawei files lawsuit against T-Mobile US for patent violations of its 4G wireless network service.
• Uber, which faced trouble in Argentina after the country's government ordered credit card companies from transacting with the ride sharing startup, bounces back after it partners with Swiss Bitcoin company Xapo to allow passengers pay with Bitcoin debit cards.