Tech Roundup: Google Pixel Phone, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Fiasco & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• Announces Google branded high-end Android smartphones Pixel and Pixel XL (which are nothing but ads for Android, like the Nexus phones that came before it).
• Launches YouTube Go, a version of YouTube specifically designed to tackle slow internet speeds in countries like India.
• Expands music streaming service Google Play Music to India.
• To begin sorting posts algorithmically on Google+ Communities.
• To shut down photo-sharing network Panoramio on November 4; existing photos to be synced to Google Album Archive/ Google Maps, or available for export via Takeout.
• Makes Hangouts optional as part of Google Apps package for Android (which means it may not necessarily come pre-installed on Android smartphones); to be replaced by video-calling app Duo.
• To open its first Made by Google store in Manhattan on October 20.

Amazon:

• Announces Music Unlimited music streaming service for $9.99 USD ($7.99 USD for Prime members) to compete with the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, TIDAL, SoundCloud, Deezer and Pandora.
• To open brick and mortar grocery stores in the United States (paywall) as technology goes full circle; follows its similar plan of killing books with ebooks and then opening physical book stores.
• Adds free ebooks and magazines to Amazon Prime subscription.

Apple:

• Patents a screen-based fingerprint sensor that would eliminate the need for home button on iPhones.
• Brings mobile payment service Apple Pay to Russia.
• Faces complaints about iPhone 7 cellular reception problems in China (another Antennagate on the way?), just weeks after the phones' release in the country.
• Ordered to pay VirnetX $302.4 million USD in damages for infringing on its patents in FaceTime communication application.
• Debuts Spoken Editions of written news articles on iTunes.
• Gets sued by Nexedi, an open-source software maker in France, in an attempt to make iOS compliant of latest web standards.

Facebook:

• Introduces Marketplace, an online destination to buy and sell items as it prepares to take on eBay and Craigslist; faces scrutiny after a technical error causes posts advertising illegal drugs, guns and babies to show up.
• Expands Facebook for work, aka Workplace, to all companies as a means to connect with co-workers.
• Releases data-conscious Messenger Lite app (an Android only follow-up to Facebook Lite that was launched last year) targeting emerging markets, in addition to a new app just to track Facebook Events (iOS only).
• In talks with government officials and wireless carriers to extend its controversial Free Basics 'zero-rating' service to the United States.
• Partners with Google to lay 8,000 mile long high-speed fiber-optic cable between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
• Reportedly working on a new standalone Oculus virtual reality headset.

Microsoft:

• Discontinues sales of fitness wearable Band; says has no plans to release a next-gen version.
• Rumoured to launch a new Surface branded PC during an event set for October 26.

Samsung:

• Permanently discontinues Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after second wave of fire incidents; recall expected to cost Samsung nearly $5.3 billion USD.
• Acquires intelligent voice assistant Viv, makers of the intelligent voice assistant Siri that was previously acquired by Apple in 2010.
• Ordered to pay $120 million USD to Apple for violating Slide to Unlock patent (which no longer exists starting with iOS 10), even as Supreme Court questions the verdict against Samsung.

In other news:

• Dennis Ritchie, father of C programming language and co-developer of Unix, passes away on October 8 at the age of 70.
• Twitter's plans for a sale following stagnant user base and dwindling revenue growth fall apart after bidders find their share prices decline on rumors that they might acquire the company; to instead focus on live video.
• Verizon rethinking Yahoo! acquisition in the wake of massive 2014 data breach; deal said to included a clause that said "Verizon can withdraw if a new event 'reasonably can be expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, results of operation or financial condition of the business.'"
• Popular ephemeral messaging app Snapchat gets ready to go public early next year for as much as $25 billion USD in what's touted as the biggest IPO since Twitter back in 2013.
• Chinese Uber slayer Didi Chuxing is working on self-driving cars, reports Bloomberg.
• PC maker Hewlett-Packard will slash 4000 jobs over next three years amid continued PC sales slump.
• Evernote confirms a serious bug on Macs caused data loss for a small number of users; recommends updating to the latest version.
• Yandex, the search engine from Russia that won a domestic antitrust case against Google back in August, enters into agreement with handset manufacturers to have its browser pre-installed on Android phones.
• Electronics giant Sharp unveils a new handset concept sans any bezels.
• Sony to develop smartphone focused PlayStation games for early 2018 release.