Tech Roundup: Amazon's Echo Onslaught, Facebook Ad Transparency & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• All set to unveil Pixelbook (with Pixel Pen), Google Mini smart speaker, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL phones and a new Daydream View VR headset on October 4.
• Acqhires 2,000 HTC employees for US$ 1.1 billion as part of its renewed plans to enter hardware business and give stiff competition to Apple (and other Android OEMs) and avoid antirust headaches.
• Updates Google Assistant app to allow users to search through first and third-party services.
• Introduces a new payment app in India called Tez (as previous rumoured) that uses ultrasonic audio for cash transfer.
• Begins selling internet-connected smart jacket (also known as Project Jacquard) manufactured in collaboration with Levi's for US$ 350 in its latest attempt to make wearables take the load off smartphones.
• Reportedly building a new smart home gadget with video calling capabilities to compete with Amazon's Echo Show, according to TechCrunch.
• To create a standalone unit for its shopping service and require it to bid against rivals for ads shown on the top of its search page, in an effort to satisfy European Union concerns over the display of product results.
• Adds Spotify integration to Waze app for iOS, six months after the feature landed on Android.
• Begins testing crowdsourced movie and TV reviews from within search results.

Amazon:

• Unveils a new US$ 150 Fire HD tablet with Alexa integration, in addition to a slew of Echo devices at varied price points (but all below US$ 150) as it extends its lead over competitors like Google and Apple.
• Said to be working on a pair of smart glasses with the Alexa voice assistant built in, according to Financial Times.
• Agrees to review its shopping algorithm after it recommends shoppers buy items that can be used to create explosives.

Apple:

• Declares privacy a fundamental human right as it outs a refreshed Privacy landing page explaining its approach to data collection.
• Switches from Bing to Google for Siri web search results on iOS and Spotlight on Mac (image search results are still powered by Bing) in what could be a huge revenue boost for its Services business.
• Officially releases iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra to the public.
• Said to be working on making its own processors for Mac laptops instead of purchasing them from Qualcomm and Intel, reports Nikkei.
• Said to have acquired Regaind, a computer vision startup based in France that analyses the content of photos.
• Reaches 30 million paid subscribers on Apple Music streaming service.

Facebook:

• Shares the contents of more than 3,000 divisive Russian ads with U.S. Congress; says approximately 10 million people viewed 44% of the ads ahead of U.S. elections last year as it vows to be more transparent about its advertising practices.
• Brings Messenger Lite for Android to the U.S., U.K., Ireland and other countries.
• Reportedly testing a voice assistant feature within its iOS app and a new facial authentication method to let users unlock their accounts.
• Rolls out 'Recent Ad Activity' tab in Facebook app for iOS that shows the ads you have clicked in the past 3 months.
• Tests a new facial recognition method as a means to verify identity to let users login to their accounts after being locked out.
• Adds WhatsApp and Instagram integration into Facebook app.
• Announces 800 million monthly active users (and 500 million daily active users) on Instagram, up 100 million from back in April.
• Faces fresh challenge in China after the government blocks WhatsApp messaging service.

Microsoft:

• Retires Groove music streaming service; partners with Spotify to migrate users to its platform.
• Adds fact check labels to Bing news results.
• To phase out Skype for Business in favour of Teams group-chat platform as it plans to go full on against Slack.

Twitter:

• Tests a big change by doubling the length of tweets from 140 to 280 characters for more creative expression; adds support for Smart Invert Colours in iOS 11.
• Launches a news aggregation tool called Popular Articles (similar to Nuzzel) that collects the most shared stories by people in your network.
• Details how Russian-linked accounts bought US$ 270,000 worth of ads during U.S. Presidential elections last year.

Uber:

• Begins a formal review of its Asia operations after U.S. Justice Department opened a fresh probe last month over allegations that it failed to notify U.S. officials about paying bribes in Indonesia to keep running its local office in a location that was outside city zoning limits for running businesses.
• Loses its license to operate in London, the company's biggest U.K. market, for reasons ranging from passenger safety to failing to obey local laws; new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi apologises for the mistakes made as the company's top executive overseeing U.K. business Jo Bertram announces her departure after four years.
• Threatens to move out of Quebec by October 14 citing tough laws that would require Uber drivers toundergo 35 hours of mandatory training and have their backgrounds checked for possible criminal offenses.

In other news:

• Equifax says hackers may have stolen personal information of 2.5 million more U.S. consumers than it originally estimated, bringing the total to 145.5 million; CEO Richard Smith steps down in the wake of revelations that the company had suffered another data breach as early as March this year. (Seriously, what's with Equifax and its cavalier attitude towards data protection?) 
• Wikileaks releases a new cache of documents detailing the surveillance apparatus used by Russia to spy on Internet and mobile users.
• Pinterest rolls out Sections, a new feature that allows users to divide their boards into various sub-groups related to the board's main topic.
• Samsung issues a software update to Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 that lets users disable Bixby voice assistant from being launched upon hitting the hardware button (aka structural bloatware).
• Mozilla updates Firefox browser for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS with Pocket integration and speed improvements.
• Online B&B service Airbnb adds restaurant reservations in the U.S. to compete with rivals like Expedia and OpenTable.
• IAC-owned video streaming service Vimeo acquires Livestream; launches its own live video streaming platform Vimeo Live.
• Snap Inc. removes Al Jazeera from Discover section of Snapchat to comply with Saudi Arabian government.
• Zelle, a new mobile cash transfer solution backed by major U.S. banks, lands on Android and iOS in a fresh attempt to recover lost ground from PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash, Android Pay and (very soon) Apple iMessage.
• Anonymous messaging app Sarahah hits 95 million registered users (but has only 2 employees).