Tech Roundup: Chinese Hardware Hacking, Instagram Nametag & More

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

• Chinese government gained access to servers of more than 30 U.S. companies, including Apple, by compromising motherboards from Super Micro by inserting tiny surveillance chips, according to a bombshell report from Bloomberg even as Apple and Amazon issue strong denials; Amazon said to have sold off its physical server business in China following the discovery back in 2015.
• Scientists create the first social network that connects three people by sending and receiving information directly to their brains.
• Facebook and Google join civil rights groups to defeat Australia's planned encryption law that gives law enforcement new powers to conduct covert surveillance on electronic devices and compel technology companies to assist in decrypting private communications.
• European Parliament votes in favour of a new content quota on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video; will have to make sure that at least 30 percent of their catalogs in Europe come from European countries.
• Civil rights groups in New Zealand denounce Customs and Excise Act 2018, which came into force this week, under which travellers can be fined US$ 3,200 if they refuse to allow border officials access to their electronic device so it can be searched.
• Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and 17 other organisations file complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission accusing Facebook of breaking the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); argue that Facebook's Messenger Kids application is illegally collecting children's personal information even when parental consent is not given.
• Spotify begins emailing some users on family plans asking for their GPS locations in order to confirm that they live in the same location, and potentially lose access if they don't confirm their home address; ends test after customer backlash.
• Google begins rolling out Wear OS update to Android smartwatch users with improved user interface, better fitness tracking and notification replies.
• Google updates consumer focussed Hangouts app for Android with support for adaptive icons and capabilities to mark messages as read from notifications. (I can never seem to understand Google's messaging strategy. Is Google planning to still keep Google Hangouts?); kills Hangouts Chrome app.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the world wide web, announces new plans for a decentralised web called Solid; says the current web is being exploited by powerful entities to further their own agendas.
• U.S. government loses bid to force Facebook to wiretap Messenger calls after district court rules in Facebook's favour.
• Embattled CEO Elon Musk agrees to resign as Tesla chairman in settlement with SEC; to pay US$ 20 million in fines for making misleading tweets about taking the company private.
• Former Facebook News Feed Head Adam Mosseri to lead Instagram after co-founders' departure; testing new Location History feature in Instagram that allows it to share users' location information to the parent company and a two tab layout in feed (Recommended, Older) to push accounts it thinks you might be interested in than your actual feed.
• Secure messaging service Telegram fixes bug that was found to be leaking users IP addresses when making voice calls through its desktop app.
• YouTube to begin allowing advertisers access location data to target users with ads about events and options to purchase movie tickets; posts help guide on how to tackle overlapping subscriptions in YouTube Premium and Google Play Music. (When your service is so confusing, it's a sign that you are losing the plot.)
• Google combines Driving and Transit with a new Commute tab in Google Maps for Android and iOS, in addition to controlling music from within the app; integrates ride-hailing services like Uber, Lyft, Ola and Grab into Google Assistant.
• Google estimated to be paying US$ 9 billion to be the default search engine in Apple Safari web browser.
• Google announces Project Stream, an experimental service to stream AAA video games via Chrome browser; to make Chrome extensions more secure by restricting their access to specific sites.
• Google acquires Onward, a startup that focuses on building tools for businesses to automate their customer/sales services.
• Major U.S. retailer Walmart to acquire women's plus-size clothing brand ELOQUII; rival Amazon raises minimum wages to US$ 15 per hour, but eliminates monthly bonuses and stock grants.
• Mozilla redesigns privacy-centred Firefox Focus app for Android and iOS.
• Apple CEO talks privacy; says the narrative that users have to give up their data to make their service better is "a bunch of bonk."
• Microsoft unveils second generation Surface Studio, Surface Laptop 2 with all black finish, Surface Pro 6, a new Surface wireless Bluetooth headphones with built-in Cortana, and releases Windows 10 October update with app mirroring that lets users cast their Android screen onto a Windows 10 device along with cloud clipboard, better screenshot tools and other improvements. (Update: Microsoft has paused rollout of Windows 10 October 2018 update after concerns that files are being deleted after updating.)
• Facebook begins testing a map view for its Nearby Friends feature, plotting friends' current locations on a map just like Snapchat's Snap Map; Instagram copies Snapcode and adds a new Nametag feature that displays user handle in a format that can be scanned by users in order to follow the user.
• Google releases new Voice Access app that lets users control their Android devices with spoken commands, particularly targeting those who have difficulty using a touchscreen due to paralysis, tremor, temporary injury, or other reasons.
• Struggling movie streaming service MoviePass raises US$ 65 million in new funding.
• Alphabet-subsidiary Jigsaw reveals Intra, a new app aimed at protecting users from state-sponsored censorship.
• Yahoo! launches new group chat app Yahoo Together. (If there is one thing we need more, it's chat apps!)
• Facebook extends account deletion grace period from 14 to 30 days; fixes another bug that prevented users, who had "a large number of posts" from deleting their accounts.
• Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel attempts to revive employee morale in a leaked 6,000 word memo as Snap's share price sinks to an all-time low of around US$ 8 owing to constant pressure from Instagram and Facebook; apologises for rushing Snapchat's redesign that invited severe criticism.
• Apple reportedly using new proprietary software diagnostic tools to repair MacBook Pros and iMac Pros that, if not used on key part repairs, will result in an "inoperative system and an incomplete repair," in a move that mirrors past iOS updates that bricked users' iPhones for getting them repaired by a third-party other than Apple. (Remember Error 53 bug and the time when it broke touch functionality on iPhone 7 with a software update for repairing them with third-party displays? All this not including the quiet cost increases to get the broken screens fixed at authorised repair centres.)
• Alexa companion app for Android and iOS gets a major redesign with usability improvements.
• Samsung forecasts record profits despite weak demand for Galaxy S9 phone; to be bolstered by revenues from sales of chips and DRAM.