Tech Roundup: Google Pixel 3, Spotify's 10th Anniversary & More

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

• A new report issued by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, Earth's atmosphere will warm up by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels by 2040, inundating coastlines and intensifying droughts and poverty.
• California passes a new law banning default passwords like "admin," "123456" and the old classic "password" in all new consumer electronics starting in 2020.
• U.S. government backs Amazon and Apple's denials, casting doubt on Bloomberg 'spy chip' report; Bloomberg responds by gathering fresh evidence from a major U.S. telecommunications company (unnamed) that discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro Computer Inc. in its network and subsequently removed it in August.
• Amazon plans new Alexa-oriented features that allows the voice assistant to detect when someone is whispering, and respond at a quieter volume, including a home security feature called Alexa Guard that gives the program the ability to listen "sound of breaking glass or a smoke alarm" when you're away from home, and analyse someone's voice for signs of illness (like a cough or a sneeze) and respond by offering to order cough drops, all but indicating voice is the next privacy frontier.
• Google files an appeal with European Commission after the regulatory body fined the search major for abusing its market dominance in Android to bundle its own products like Search and Chrome, and paying other mobile manufacturers to keep Google search as the default.
• Google escapes billion-dollar class action lawsuit after London high court sides in company's favour over allegations that it had surreptitiously accessed Safari browsing data of over 5 million iPhone users by bypassing the privacy settings of the browser between August 2011 and February 2012. (Google had previously settled the case with U.S. FTC for US$ 22.5 million.)
• Amazon fires an employee a month after confirming reports that some of its marketplace sellers had bribed Amazon employees to delete negative reviews or to obtain proprietary information like sales data or customer e-mail addresses.
• Twitter comes under investigation in Ireland over its data collection practices with regards to t.co, the social platform's URL-shortening system.
• Privacy-focussed search engine DuckDuckGo hits new milestone of 30 million private searches per day.
• Microsoft joins Open Invention Network (OIN), an open-source patent group designed to help protect Linux from patent lawsuits, thus making the company's library of 60,000 patents open source and available to all OIN members.
• Uber drivers in the U.K. stage protests by logging off the Uber app demanding higher pay and call for an end to unfair deactivations.
• Google doubles down on AI + software + hardware for a personalised Google experience; announces Pixel Slate tablet with fingerprint sensor (which also doubles up as a power button) and an all new Chrome OS powered by Google Assistant (comes with keyboard and stylus support), Pixel 3/3XL smartphones with wireless charging and camera improvements (and the Notch, let's not forget that!), Google Home Hub, an Amazon Echo Show-like smart display sans any camera (US$ 149), Pixel Stand wireless charging station for the Pixel phone that also acts as a photo stand, and integrates a dedicated Titan M Security chip into its mobile devices that secures the lock screen, strengthens disk encryption, and protects the integrity of the operating system (something like Apple's Secure Enclave).
• Google says it processes 143 billion words every day on Google Translate, rolls out live albums in Google Photos that gets automatically populated based on the people (and pets) you choose to see and an updated Google Home app to better manage IoT smart home devices; shows off Pixel-exclusive features like call screening (that lets the phone take calls on your behalf, with transcription appearing in real time on the screen) and Smart Reply in Gmail for Android (it's already available not the web/iOS) and heeds to demands of the notch-averse by providing an option to hide the display cutout on Pixel 3 XL. (More indication that this notch is more a stop-gap compromise!)
• Facebook-owned Instagram begins testing tapping posts in Explore feed, just like the way users tap through stories, instead of scrolling through them, trials message unsend feature in Messenger, six months after its announcement, adds support for upto 250 people in group chats on Messenger and shuts down 559 pages and 251 accounts in the US for violating its anti-spam rules and for spreading disinformation online, making it the largest number of domestic pages/accounts shuttered so far.
• iPhone Xs and Xs Max OLED displays found to be scientifically healthier to users' eyes with a 20% higher Maximum Permissible Exposure (the time before a retina will become inflamed due to screen exposure) and a lower Melatonin Suppression Sensitivity (a measure of blue light, the exposure to which disrupts the circadian rhythm and can actively damage the cells in your eyes.)
• Facebook tests hardware waters; launches Portal auto-zooming, Messenger-based video chat device for US$ 199/ US$ 349, in addition to streaming content from Facebook Watch (Netflix, HBO Now, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and even IGTV is missing) and supporting Alexa. (The fact that Facebook had the gall to announce the device merely days after the massive data breach in an indication of Facebook's growth at all costs mindset and its unquenchable thirst for user data, not to mention the troubling sign that people are becoming complacent about privacy in today's age. If we cared enough, we wouldn't be using it.)
• Facebook's WhatsApp says it has built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India as part of mobile payments push, in a bid to comply with a central bank directive that all such data should, within six months, be stored only in the country.
• Microsoft's LinkedIn acquires employee survey software company Glint in a deal said to be valued at more than US$ 400 million even as the Redmond-based tech major said it would invest an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based ride hailing startup Grab.
• Facebook launches lite versions of Facebook and Messenger apps for iOS (a signal that the apps have gotten too bloated for its own good), but only for Turkey.
• Music streaming service Spotify turns 10 years old; says the total time streamed on the platform is 16,858,080 years! 
• Apple rolls out iOS 12.1 beta with support for Group FaceTime, eSIM, depth control in photos and 70 new emojis; says iOS 12 adoption rate has surpassed 53 percent.
• Snapchat ventures into original video programming with 12 scripted shows called Snap Originals; share price sinks to an all time low of US$ 6.80.
• Leaked Google presentation from U.S. right-wing publication Breitbart News shows the company grappling with questions on censorship and free speech, as online platforms that control majority of online conversations (Facebook and Twitter) continue to struggle, undermining the "utopian narrative" of free, uncensored conversation on the internet.
• Google-owned GPS and traffic routing service Waze gets into carpooling with the rollout of Waze Carpool across the U.S. (Not sure how they are going to manage issues when a driver or a rider does not show up to a ride they have committed to? Are they doing some background checks?)
• Amazon scraps an internal AI-based recruiting tool after it was found to be biased against women, reports Reuters.
• Razer announces a new gaming-focussed smartphone Phone 2 for US$ 799; has 8GB RAM, 64GB storage, Snapdragon 845 chip and a massive 4,000mAh battery.
• Apple acquires part of European chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor for US$ 300 million (also one of Apple's chip suppliers), acquihires 300 people (16% of the total workforce, but Apple's largest so far) and commits to an additional US$ 300 million for further purchases from the remains part of Dialog's business.
• Walmart takes on rival Amazon with further push into entertainment; partners with MGM to create short-form original series for Walmart's ad-supported streaming service, Vudu, and invests US$ 250 million in Eko, a New York start-up that focuses on "interactive storytelling."
• Andy Rubin, creator of Android and Essential phones, is reportedly casting aside all its current projects to focus on a new type of phone "that will try to mimic the user and automatically respond to messages on their behalf," reports Bloomberg.
• Mozilla-owned Pocket read-it-later service gets a visual redesign with focus on listening, making it more like a podcast app.
• Deliveroo's chief executive, Will Shu, denies the company is for sale amid rumours it's in acquisition talks with Uber for a deal worth up to US$ 6 billion.
• Apple partners with Genius lyrics database to let Apple Music subscribers listen to play any song in full on the song's lyric page by embedding a mini music player on Genius web/app. (A good start, but as a next step, can Apple create a web version of Apple Music and separate it from iTunes?)