Tech Roundup: Apple-Samsung Truce, Wi-Fi WPA3 & More

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

Alphabet/Google:

• Makes US$ 22 million investment in KaiOS (a company that makes the operating system for feature-phone manufacturers like Nokia) in return for letting users access Google apps like Assistant, Maps, YouTube, and Google Search.
• Reportedly in talks with game developers and publishers for it upcoming game-streaming service, according to Kotaku.
• Adds Waze-like incident reporting in Google Maps; begins rolling out new Google Maps with personalised recommendations in the U.S.
• Takes on iOS 12's ARKit-based Measure app with its own Android equivalent called Measure; adds a new Measure tooling Google Earth that lets users measure the distance and area of things on the map.
• Rebrands its ad product lineup; AdWords becomes Google Ads, merges DoubleClick Digital Marketing and Google Analytics 360 under Google Marketing Platform, and DoubleClick Ad Exchange and DoubleClick for Publishers under Google Ad Manager.
• Android developers see sudden drop in app downloads after Google 'enhances' Play Store recommendation algorithms.

Apple:

• Said to be looking at offering a subscription bundle that combines music, iCloud storage, magazine subscriptions (following its acquisition of digital magazine service Texture back in March) and streaming video as it ramps up its original content efforts.
• Rebuilding Maps all over again with iOS 12, this time with its own mapping data.
• Apple and Samsung settle seven-year long patent battle over the former's claim that Samsung had copied the iPhone's design in its Galaxy smartphones.

Facebook:

• Instagram gets video chat, allows users to embed tracks and ask questions in Stories as the format hits 400 million active users; releases Instagram Lite for Android, slimmed-down version of Instagram designed for emerging markets.
• Drops its plan of developing its own high-flying drones for delivering internet, an initiative within its Aquila project that was started four years ago.
• Reverses ban on some cryptocurrency ads months after announcing the move earlier this year; to continue to prohibit ads promoting binary options and initial coin offerings.

In other news:

• California signs Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 into law (that goes into effect in January 2020) granting consumers more control over and insight into the spread of their personal information online; gives consumers the right to know what information companies are collecting about them, why they are collecting that data and with whom they are sharing it, give them the right to tell companies to delete their information as well as to not sell or share their data, and enforce businesses to provide the same quality of service to those who opt out.
• Vietnam passes a new cybersecurity law (goes into effect starting January 1 next year) that forces internet companies to store data within the country and open local offices and turn over any user data upon request.
• Venezuela blocks access to the Tor network, a tool used to browse the internet anonymously, as part of the government's latest crackdown on online free speech.
• Wi-Fi to get its biggest update in over a decade; Wi-Fi Alliance officially announces the adoption of WPA3 protocol that brings about forward secrecy and enhanced protection against password cracking attacks.
• Paypal-owned Venmo officially launches its physical debit card.
• Microsoft Edge browser for iOS and Android now comes with a built-in ad blocker.
• U.S. telecom giant AT&T confirms it is buying ad platform AppNexus, reportedly for between US$ 1.6 billion - US$ 2 billion, as it prepares to fight ad-tech goliaths Facebook and Google.
• Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S10 smartphone said to replace the iris scanner with an in-display fingerprint sensor, according to a report from The Bell.
• Mozilla Firefox browser gets speedier tab switching, a new accessibility tool for developers and more in its latest version 61 update.
• Uber's London ban gets lifted less than a year after the city's transport regulator, Transport for London, declared the ride-hailing firm "not fit and proper" to provide its services (though it never stopped operating in the city while it went through the appeals process); gets put on probation for 15 months and forced to face independent audits over how it operates.   
• Beleaguered social platform Snap said to be working on a gaming platform integrated into the Snapchat app, according to The Information.