Tech Roundup: Google Android 11, TikTok Parental Controls & More

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

• The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) raises privacy concerns about Google’s acquisition of fitness platform Fitbit; says "there are concerns that the possible further combination and accumulation of sensitive personal data regarding people in Europe by a major tech company could entail a high level of risk to the fundamental rights to privacy and to the protection of personal data."
• New investigation by Privacy International finds that Facebook's Download Your Information tool, a feature the company introduced in the wake of Cambridge Analytica data scandal to make it easy to download all the information associated with a profile since the creation of the account, gives users an incomplete and inconsistent list of advertisers who have uploaded their data to Facebook.
• Facebook-owned WhatsApp lets private group chat invite links get indexed by search engines like Google, allowing anyone to join; includes porn-sharing groups and UN-accredited non-governmental organisations where it's possible to see the list of all participants, including their phone numbers, upon joining the groups.
• Google to move British user accounts under U.S. jurisdiction following U.K.'s exit from the European Union, thus making users ineligible for privacy protections under the E.U.'s General Data Protection Regulation.
• Researchers from MIT use artificial intelligence models to find antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria; design a model trained on "about 2,500 molecules, including about 1,700 FDA-approved drugs and a set of 800 natural products with diverse structures and a wide range of bioactivities" to identify chemical features that make molecules effective at killing E. coli.
• Microsoft launches unified Office app for Android and iOS, bundling Word, Excel, Powerpoint, document scanning and file transfer features into a single app, but lacks support for tablets and Chromebooks. (Microsoft says the standalone versions will continue to be available.)
• Google kills Makani, its power-generating kite subsidiary, as it says the road to commercialisation is longer and riskier than hoped; to end Google Station program in India and other countries, including Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Philippines, Brazil, Vietnam and South Africa, where it provided free Wi-Fi in railway stations, citing drop in mobile data prices, adding "the challenge of varying technical requirements and infrastructure among our partners across countries has also made it difficult for Station to scale and be sustainable."
• Samsung confirms a case of coronavirus outbreak at its mobile device factory complex in the southeastern city of Gumi, causing a shutdown of its entire facility, as the number of people infected with the coronavirus in the country doubles to 433, and 79,364 worldwide, with 2,619 casualties.
• Ride-hailing platform Uber shuts down its customer support office in Los Angeles, laying off ~80 employees and outsourcing their jobs to a support office in Manila; makes a return to Colombia three weeks after ban for violating competition rules in the country, stating it's relaunched the service with a new business model that allows riders to rent a vehicle along with a driver.
• Mozilla releases its VPN service Firefox Private Network on Android, powered by Mullvad VPN and newer WireGuard standard, in a closed beta for US$ 4.99/month.
• Popular social news aggregation network Reddit tests new feature that forces users to log in or download the app in order to view content from mobile web; comes two months after the company ran a similar experiment that cut off comment threads on the mobile website unless users logged in.

Spot the difference: Google Search gets a new look

• Facebook begins internally testing a tabbed version of News Feed for mobile that includes the Most Relevant feed, the Most Recent feed, and an Already Seen feed, allowing users to sort News Feed to their choice.
• Microsoft to bring its Defender antivirus software to Android and iOS later this year; aims to tackle phishing prevention and prevent employees at organisations from accidentally revealing their usernames, passwords, or other account information.
• Facebook says it will pay users up to US$ 5 for voice recordings via its Viewpoints market research app to improve its speech recognition tech; reiterates recordings won't be tied to user profiles after getting caught listening to and transcribing voice recordings without informing customers.
• Social media service Twitter begins testing bright labels beneath lies and misleading tweets posted by politicians and public figures, and points-based "community badges" for users for providing "critical context to help people understand information they see," as it attempts to tackle misinformation on the platform.
• Apple reportedly considering allowing users to set their default apps for browser, mail and music in iOS in the wake of growing antitrust concerns accusing the company of giving its first-party apps an unfair advantage over others distributed via the App Store.
• The growing chorus of concerns highlights how difficult it's for third-party services to compete with the iPhone maker, given its tight integration with software and hardware, and the platform being controlled by the company that acts as gatekeeper to applications and technologies in a way that defends its own interests, tipping the battle in its favour.
• It also doesn't help that Apple plays fast and loose with its own policies, contravening App Store rules to serve push notifications to promote Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple's Carpool Karaoke show, when third-party apps are banned from explicitly doing so.
• As Apple increasingly pivots to Services for boosting revenues, iOS is also becoming "a paywalled adware," a conduit to push its portfolio of subscription services and add-ons.
• Apple cannot be stopped from copying a third-party app feature and natively baking into its OS'es (a phenomenon called "sherlocking"), but the least it can do is leave the choice to customers.
• The relaxation of the default app restrictions is a first sign that the walls may be crumbling. iOS 14, which will come out in a few months from now, will be one to watch out for.)
• Google removes about 600 Android apps, which were installed more than 4.5 billion times, and banned the developers behind them from Play Store for ad fraud and serving "disruptive" ads.
• Adobe Photoshop turns 30 years old; releases updates to Content-Aware Fill and Lens Blur features on the desktop, and improved object selection to the iPad app.
• Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to remove international roaming rates in voice and data communications as part of an initiative to boost integration and modernisation between the Community of Andean Nations (CAN).
• ByteDance-owned TikTok announces new Family Safety Mode parental controls to limit kids' usage with screen time management, turn off or limit who the teen can direct message; and choose to turn on TikTok's "restricted" mode that will limit inappropriate content. (It's worth noting that parents who want to enable Family Safety Mode must first create their own account on the app, which is then linked to the teen's account.)
• Amazon-owned home security subsidiary Ring makes two-factor authentication mandatory and pauses use of most third-party analytics services as it devises ways to limit data sharing with third-parties, including Facebook, in the wake of a string of privacy and security blunders.
• Google gives developers a first taste of Android 11 with native screen recording, iOS-like temporary permissions (namely, only once, while using the app, or deny) and background location access restrictions, chat bubbles, and options to automatically turn on dark mode at certain times or sunset, mute notifications when recording video, and pin apps in share menu.
• Google rolls out AI-based Smart Compose feature to Google Docs with an aim to help users reduce repetitive writing, spelling errors, and grammatical mistakes.