Tech Roundup: Android Search Engine Choice, StockX Breach & More

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

1. New draft regulations proposed as part of China's social credit system said to expand scored behaviour to include content shared online; internet users who fabricate, publish and spread information online that goes against public morals or business ethics could be deemed "seriously untrustworthy."
2. Researchers at the University of Maryland find that some app developers delayed updating their apps to run on Android 6 so they could take advantage of less restrictive permission controls; by declaring themselves "legacy apps," they were able to revert to the older permission mechanism, but developers who delayed upgrading their apps found that they began receiving negative reviews in the app store. (It may be noted that 2015 Android 6 aka Marshmallow release included a change that allowed users to grant permissions on a per-permission basis rather than granting apps blanket permissions.)
3. Google will let Android users in Europe choose their default search engine starting in 2020 following E.U. US$ 4.81 billion antitrust fine last year; inclusion on the choice screen will be determined via auction on a per-country basis that will let the search providers (Qwant, Ecosia, etc.) state the price that they are willing to pay each time a user selects them from the choice screen in the given country, following which the three highest bidders that meet or exceed the bid threshold for a given country will appear in the choice screen for that country.
• Effectively, the development translates to a new revenue stream for Google, which — by virtue of owning Android — appears to push rivals into a corner by forcing them to pay for a service that users can avail on their devices. It's a lot like Google paying Apple billions to be the default search engine on iOS devices.
• But the decision over which search engines are able to use Android — which is the second-largest operating system in the world — shouldn't be up to Google. It should be up to users. If the highest bidder that wins the contract and is not the best search engine, it's the user who ends up being the biggest loser. The choice should be about selecting the most private or innovative provider, and not based on money.
4. New draft regulations proposed as part of China's social credit system said to expand scored behaviour to include content shared online; internet users who fabricate, publish and spread information online that goes against public morals or business ethics could be deemed "seriously untrustworthy." The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook's acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram were aimed at buying up potential rivals before they could become a threat to the social media company, reports The Wall Street Journal, as fresh antitrust concerns crop up.
5. Apple, Google (only in the E.U. for the next three months), and Amazon put brakes on human reviews of audio snippets as the companies come under increased regulatory scrutiny over their business practices.
6. Sneaker marketplace StockX confirms it suffered a data breach early this May, with 6.8 million records comprising of contact info and hashed passwords stolen; online clothing re-seller Poshmark says data from some users was acquired by an unauthorised third party, including profile information (username, first and last name, gender, and city), account information (email address, user ID, size preferences, and salted passwords), and preferences for email and push notifications. (Poshmark hasn't disclosed how many of its roughly 40 million users are affected.)
7. Facebook denies reports that it plans to detect abuse on WhatsApp by implementing a feature to scan messages directly on people's phones before they are encrypted; says "To be crystal clear, we have not done this, have zero plans to do so, and if we ever did, it would be quite obvious and detectable that we had done it."
8. New research by Extension Monitor reveals out of 188,620 Chrome browser extensions, only 13 of them that have reached 10 million installs; 50 percent of extensions have fewer than 16 installs, with 87 percent having fewer than 1,000 installs. Google starts testing Google Play Pass, a US$ 4.99 per month service that allows users try premium apps and games for no ads, and no additional purchases, as Apple readies game subscription Apple Arcade later this year.
9. Sony unveils Reon Pocket, a tiny personal air conditioner that fits in a shirt pocket for 2,760 to 19,030 yen (about US$ 117 to US$ 175) that's worn just below a person's neck in the pocket of a special undershirt; the, controlled using a smartphone app, can decrease a person's body surface temperature by 13 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) or raise it by 8 degrees Celsius (about 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Google says it used field research that offered people US$ 5 to scan their faces in order to improve accuracy of face unlock; says it will keep the research data for 18 months.
10. Reliance Jio overtakes Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to become India's top telecom services provider with 331.3 million subscribers.
11. Just Eat and Takeaway.com, two of the major take-out and delivery businesses in Europe, announce a €10 billion merger to better compete with Uber Eats and Amazon-backed Deliveroo.
12. Facebook to rebrand Instagram and WhatsApp to inform users they are both owned by the company; to add its own brand name alongside the other two — in the following format: 'Instagram from Facebook'; 'WhatsApp from Facebook.'
13. Vimeo launches Vimeo Enterprise for companies to host, share, and manage video content internally, as it pivots from being a video and content company to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
14. GitHub officially confirms it is blocking devs in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Crimea from accessing private repositories and paid accounts due to sanctions. ByteDance, the world's most valuable technology startup, launches an updated artificial intelligence (AI) tool to better identify violent and sexual content on its popular news aggregation app, Jinri Toutiao, amid Beijing's efforts to clean up the internet in China; introduces a new search function in the news app that gleans information from both content on Toutiao as well as the entire world wide web — similar to WeChat's in-app search feature that returns news articles about various search topics, followed by mentions of it from their friends.
15. TikTok-maker ByteDance confirms it is working on its own smartphone after acquiring some patents and employees from Chinese smartphone maker Smartisan earlier this year; says "the product was a continuation of earlier Smartisan plans, aiming to satisfy the needs of the old Smartisan user base."
16. Google's Project Zero says 95.8 percent of the 1,585 security flaws it reported since July 2014 were fixed before its 90-day deadline for a public disclosure.
17. Interest social network Pinterest hits 300 million monthly active users, up 30 percent YoY, as revenue jumps 62 percent YoY to US$ 261 million.
18. U.S. Food delivery startup DoorDash enters into an agreement with payment platform Square to acquire its food delivery app Caviar for a cash and stock deal worth about US$ 410 million.
19. Amazon is reportedly exploring an ambitious new grocery chain, possibly separate from Whole Foods, built for pickup and delivery as well as in-store shopping; said to be planning to launch a food delivery service in India in September with a local partner, Catamaran.
20. E.U.'s top court rules that sites with embedded Facebook Like buttons are responsible for data collected, and that they must obtain user consent before data is sent to Facebook.
21. Uber lays off ~400 people across 75 offices from its 1,200-person marketing team, as the ride-hailing company tries to streamline its operations; says "many of our teams are too big, which creates overlapping work, makes for unclear decision owners, and can lead to mediocre results."
22. Google teases upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone with face unlock and radar-powered Motion Sense features that let users skip songs, snooze alarms, and more through hand gestures trialled earlier as part of Project Soli.
23. Huawei's Q2 smartphone sales in China rises 31 percent YoY, extending its local dominance over rivals such as Apple, which fell 14 percent (iPhone now makes up less than half of Apple's business); Samsung faces a tough time as its second-quarter profit falls 56 percent on slow sales of memory chips and flagship phones, while LG and Sony continue to struggle selling smartphones.
24. Google-owned community navigation app Waze allows Carpool users to invite a maximum of four people to join a ride; currently available in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Israel.
25. Microsoft acquires BlueTalon, a data privacy and governance startup for an undisclosed amount.
26. Google officially begins rolling out new Android Auto interface with an aim to "help you get on the road faster, show more useful information at a glance, and simplify common tasks while driving."
27. Music streaming service Spotify hits 108 million premium subscribers, with monthly active users growing to 232 million; says its podcast audience has grown by over 50 percent since the last quarter, and that it has almost doubled since the start of the year.
28. Facebook is reportedly working on a new TV device, codenamed Catalina, that can stream video and make video calls using its Portal technology; said to have approached Netflix, Disney, Hulu, HBO and Amazon.com Inc for content deals.
29. Video streaming platform Netflix begins leveraging Android Q's Activity Recognition permission to track users' physical activity to change playback quality on the go.
30. British fintech firm Revolut follows Robinhood's footsteps; jumps into online brokerage market with its own commission-free stock trading platform in Europe and the U.K.
31. Facebook says it has dismantled a network of fake accounts and pages originating from the UAE and Egypt it said were run by people connected to the government of Saudi Arabia, the company's latest action to combat "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" on its platform; to open source two algorithms it uses to identify child sexual exploitation, terrorist propaganda, and graphic violence in images and videos.