Tech Roundup: Neuralink Demo, Palantir IPO & More

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

• The Chinese government issues a revised list of technologies that are banned or restricted for export, making it the first revision since 2008; prohibits exporting technology including text analysis, voice recognition, and content suggestions without a government license, potentially complicating ByteDance's sale of TikTok to U.S. companies.
• New research from Mozilla finds that web browsing histories can be used to uniquely identify users; says "high uniqueness holds even when histories are truncated to just 100 top sites, [that] for users who visited 50 or more distinct do-mains in the two-week data collection period, ~50% can be reidentified using the top 10k sites, [and that] reidentifiability rose to over 80% for users that browsed 150 or more distinct domains."
• Netherlands-based Fairphone, which develops smartphones that are designed and produced with minimal environmental impact, now allows Fairphone 3 users to upgrade their existing camera modules (a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera) by purchasing replacement modules from the Fairphone store.
• Apple to add native support for rating places of interest and upload photos in Apple Maps without relying on third-party integrations such as Foursquare, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Zomato; to link ratings and photos to users' Apple IDs to "ensure a safe experience" and cut down on fake reviews.
• Twitter confirms it's experimenting with a new "Quotes" count for tweets, highlighting the number of times a user's tweet has been quoted in other tweets alongside likes and retweets.

• Kevin Mayer, the chief executive of ByteDance-owned TikTok, steps down just over 100 days after joining the world's largest short video platform in mid-May; comes amid ongoing political turmoil with the U.S. government over national security concerns.
• Facebook updates Messenger Rooms, its group video calling tool, with a simplified UI for creating and discovering rooms, and new customisation options; warns publishers that Apple's upcoming privacy changes in iOS 14, which prohibits third-party apps from tracking users using unique device identifiers (or IDFA, a randomly generated code assigned to a device) without their explicit consent, will make Audience Network less effective, resulting in loss of advertising revenues.
• A group of over 2,000 online sellers in India representing the All India Online Vendors Association file antitrust case against Amazon, alleging the company engages in unfair business practices; accuses that "Amazon India's wholesale arm buys goods in bulk from manufacturers and sells them at a loss to sellers such as Cloudtail, [who] then offer goods on Amazon.in at big discounts."
• India's largest retail chain Reliance Retail acquires Future Group, the country's second largest retail chain, and it retail and wholesaler business for US$3.4 billion, as it seeks to expand its footprint.
• Google Pay (formerly Tez) tests NFC-based card payments in India; allows Axis Bank and SBI account card holders to add their credit/debit cards to use the phone to tap and pay at NFC-enabled terminals, scan QR codes, or make online payments where Google Pay is accepted.
• Facebook begins testing a new feature that links users' accounts to their news subscriptions that makes it easier to read articles without hitting the paywall or having to log-in again.

• Palantir, a Denver-based surveillance firm that contracts with commercial businesses and U.S. government agencies, announces plans to go public by the end of September; says privacy concerns and algorithmic bias are a risk to the company, adding "use of artificial intelligence" may have "real impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social issues."
• News aggregation app Flipboard expands Flipboard TV, its curated video service, to all users in the U.S., months after launching the service as a Samsung exclusive earlier this year. (The service will continue to remain ad-free for Samsung Galaxy device owners, but will be ad-supported for others.)
• Neuralink, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company, reveals prototype showing readings from a pig's brain using a coin-shaped device surgically implanted under its skull.
• Google announces plans to launch AI ethics services before the end of 2020, with an aim to offer advice on tasks like spotting racial bias or developing guidance for AI projects.
• Facebook sues MobiBurn, which provides SDK to developers to embed ads in their apps, claiming it illegally collected Facebook users' data and failed to comply with an audit to ensure said data had been deleted; also sues Nakrutka for selling fake Instagram likes, comments, and followers.