Tech Roundup: Apple's iPhone Slowdown Fiasco, Uber's New Troubles & More

So how did the big tech giants fare in 2017? Good? Financially, yes. But otherwise? Pretty mixed, I must say. Google continued to make impressive strides in artificial intelligence, but its launch of Pixel 2 XL smartphone wasn't glitch-free, effectively putting its entire hardware strategy into question. Apple's run this year was marred by a series of software missteps in iOS and macOS, delayed product releases (iPhone X) and missed deadlines (HomePod), and Amazon, for its part, continued to ramp up its presence everywhere, beefing up Alexa, buying Whole Foods and launching an avalanche of new Echo products. The only downer? YouTube's decision to pull support for Echo Show and Fire TV over Amazon's refusal to sell Google Chromecast. But the year spectacularly unravelled for ride-hailing startup Uber, whose allegations of sexual harassment coupled with a string of other scandals took the company's founder CEO and other top executives, even as it simultaneously found itself embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit with Google's Waymo over theft of self-driving technology.

Alphabet/Google:

• Retires Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to Pixelbook. (Can we at least then get a cheaper one next time around?)
• Officially releases lightweight variant of its Android operating system called Android Go (alongside a host of Go apps - Google Go, Files Go, Gmail Go, Assistant Go and Maps Go), targeting affordable smartphones and/or emerging markets constrained by processor and storage limits.
• To start blocking ads that violate Better Ads Standards natively in Chrome web browser starting February 15, 2018.
• Expands Google Assistant support for smartphones running Android 5.0 and up.
• To shut down three-year-old Tango augmented reality project on March 1 next year in favour of ARCore in an attempt to challenge Apple's ARKit.
• Inks new music licensing deals with Warner, UMG and Sony Music for its YouTube-driven music streaming service set for launch early next year.
• Begins selling Google Home Max smart speaker for US$ 399.
• Kills native Chrome apps on Web Store in favour of Progressive Web Apps; takes on Microsoft Garage program with appsperiments by releasing three new photography apps Storyboard (Android only), Selfissimo! (Android/iOS) and Scrubbies (iOS only) à la Motion Stills.
• Updates Chrome OS (in beta) to enable Android apps run in the background; tests experimental electronic screen protector that uses a phone's front-facing camera and eye-detecting artificial intelligence to check if more than one person is looking at the screen.
• Opens a new research centre in Shanghai, China dedicated to artificial intelligence as it re-enters a market where it doesn't offer any of its services.
• Partners with Andra Pradesh state government in India to use Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC), a technology that uses beams of light to deliver high-speed, high-capacity internet connectivity over long distances.
• Defeats reigning world champion chess-playing program Stockfish merely four hours of training against itself as DeepMind's AlphaZero continues to self-learn other games, including Go, which after eight hours of playing against itself, bested the AI program that defeated the human world Go champion earlier this May. 

Amazon:

• Said to be working on a YouTube rival called Amazontube as feud with Google intensifies, latest trademark requests with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows.
• Acquires connected camera and doorbell startup Blink in its continued push towards IoT business.
• Begins selling Chromecast and Apple TV on its online retail platform after a two-year absence.
• Hits 25,000 skills on Alexa platform in the U.S. even as new launches slow down.
• Ordered by German court not lure customers to its website who spell 'Birkenstock' incorrectly after the sandal maker took the retail giant to court for attracting customers by buying variations of its brand name, such as Brikenstock, Birkenstok, and Bierkenstock on Google's Adwords platform, thereby making them potentially buy counterfeit products and damaging its reputation.

Apple:

• Faces a barrage of lawsuits after it comes to light that the company is "intentionally" throttling performance of iPhones (aka slowing them down) in response to depleting battery life over time (and hence force users to upgrade to new phones); apologises for lack of transparency in a rare latter to customers, drops price of battery replacement to US$ 29 and promises to "issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance."
• Agrees to pay Ireland US$ 15.4 billion in back taxes to appease European Union.
• Begins rolling out Apple Pay Cash as part of iOS 11.2 update for person-to-person mobile payments.
• Officially releases Mac Pro for US$ 3,999.
• Buys Bay Area-based podcast startup Pop Up Archive founded in 2012.
• Explains in detail its approach to Differential Privacy on iOS.
• Releases Turi Create custom ML model framework for iOS, watchOS, macOS and tvOS on Github.
• Begins allowing users pre-order apps on the App Store.
• Plans to let developers release universal apps that work across iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Uber:

• Reportedly paid a 20-year-old hacker who was responsible for the massive data breach at Uber last year through its bug bounty program to destroy the data and keep the breach secret, reports Reuters.
• Begins offering heavy cash backs on restaurant, travel and internet purchases to customers to use their Uber Visa credit cards.
• Faces further trouble as former employee Ric Jacobs' 37-page document alleging criminal activity during his time at the company is made public in the company's ongoing legal dispute with Google's Waymo.
• Suffers new blow after EU top court rules Uber is a transportation service and not a technology platform that connects drivers with riders.