Tech Roundup: Apple September 12 Event, Google ARCore & More

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

• Amazon and Microsoft partner to allow their voice assistants Alexa and Cortana talk to each other. (Will Google and Apple follow suit? One can dream!)
• Google may possibly resume scanning emails for ad-targeting purposes weeks after promising otherwise, court documents pertaining to a class action lawsuit that claims the scans as illegal reveal.
• Google removes 300 apps from Play Store after they were found to be used to hijack Android devices to mount large-scale DDoS attacks. 
• Apple officially sends out invites for a September 12 event to unveil the new iPhone; releases iOS 11 developer betas 8 and 9 as it irons out minor chinks in its software.
• Sony continues to remain clueless about its smartphone strategy with its release of new phones Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact that come with hardware upgrades and Android 8.0 Oreo pre-installed; LG unveils V30, the latest smartphone to join the bezel-less race of 2017, as Xiaomi sets September 11 to unveil Mi Mix 2 (note the date!).
• Facebook rolls out Watch video hub to U.S. users as part of its latest attempts to wean users of YouTube.
• Instagram Stories lands on mobile web, with capabilities to post a new story coming in a few months; fixes a security flaw in its API that allowed hackers to access phone numbers and email addresses of about 6 million users.
• U.S. District Court in California dismisses a class action lawsuit against Uber filed by a former Lyft driver over its controversial Hell program, which it used between 2014 and 2016 to track drivers of the rival service.
• Uber will no longer track its riders for up to five minutes after their trip ends in new privacy push.
• Leading YouTube audio-ripping site YouTube-mp3.org agrees to shut down following settlement with record labels for copyright infringement.
• Google Gboard keyboard app for Android gains support for stickers and Bitmoji in latest update.
• Fitbit, maker of activity trackers and other wearable devices, announces its first smartwatch, the Ionic, along with new wireless earbuds.
• YouTube's Material Design refresh finally hits desktop web (but not its mobile counterpart), in addition to getting a redesigned mobile app and new logo. (But why are YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube Gaming apps following different navigation guidelines? And while I do agree that the bottom navigation bar reduces the number of swipes, it's ugly!)
• Microsoft to release Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on October 17 with support for Windows Mixed Reality and a host of other improvements.
• Google's parent company Alphabet forms a new holding company called XXVI Holdings Inc (Roman for 26) under Alphabet to manage its "Other Bets" that range from life sciences to venture capital; transitions Google from Google Inc to Google LLC.
• Ashley Madison, an online dating service for married people which suffered a massive data breach involving as many as 37 million users back in July 2015, settles with the victims for US$ 11.2 million. (Privacy comes cheap, in case you missed it. Meanwhile, it's business as usual for Asley Madison.)
• HMD Global, licensed maker of Nokia-branded smartphones, confirms Android 8.0 Oreo for Nokia 3, 5, 6 and 8 but keeps mum on timing.
• Apple pulls popular third-party YouTube client ProTube from App Store for violating the video platform's Terms of Service (like background playback, audio-only mode etc. which are currently only available for YouTube Red subscribers).
• Google takes on Apple's foray into augmented reality (via ARKit) with its own variant called ARCore that allows developers to design new apps and websites by taking advantage of a new feature called Visual Positioning Service to map a user's position relative to a room in order to create AR experiences; retires Tango AR platform. (It is to be noted that Tango requires extensive investment on part of OEMs to manufacture Android devices fitted with special cameras, infrared transmitters, accelerometers, gyroscopes and custom depth sensors to help map out the area around you, sense the depth and track you as you move. Needless to say, these additional requirements have slowed the platform's growth. ARCore hopes to get rid of the stringent hardware requirements by deploying AR on a mass-scale via smartphones.)