Tech Roundup: Pokémon Go, Skype for Linux & More

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

• Terror alert app SAIP released by French government last month (in the wake of terrorist attacks across Paris last November) comes under criticism after taking almost three hours to notify users of Bastille Day attack in Nice that left over 84 people dead.
• Families of Americans who died in Palestine sue Facebook for $1 billion USD for giving Hamas a platform to plot terror attacks.
• First case of female to male transmission of Zika virus is reported in New York City.
• Niantic Labs releases Pokémon Go augmented reality game in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the EU; becomes a monster hit, sending Nintendo shares up by 50%; gets an emergency update that fixes privacy concerns that the app could potentially access users' full Google account. (It is to be noted that Niantic Labs was a Google subsidiary before it was spun off as part of Alphabet rejig last year.)

Nintendo shares scale a five-year high following Pokémon Go's release last week
(Image Credit: Google Finance)

• Google expands family sharing plans across Play Store to let a maximum of six users share purchases using a single Play account.
• Google's mobile payment service Android Pay comes to Australia.
• Google updates Hangouts for Android with support for video messaging, a feature it added on iOS back in 2014, but does away with merged SMS/Hangouts conversations; iOS app gains new ability to kick people out of group chats.
• Popular Japanese chat application Line files for billion dollar IPO; begins trading in New York and Tokyo.
• Facebook adds support for Instant Articles in Facebook Messenger.
• Microsoft releases Skype client for Linux (in alpha).
• Ride-sharing startup Uber continues to face hassles in the European Union; temporarily suspends service in Hungary after government passes new law to block internet access to illegal dispatch services.
• Samsung Galaxy S7 overtakes Apple iPhone 6s as the best selling phone in the United States; sends out invites for an August 2 event to unveil Galaxy Note 7 that's widely expected to feature iris recognition technology.