Tech Roundup: Amazon Podcasts, U.S. TikTok Ban & More

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

• The U.S. Commerce Department announces plans to block new dowloads of ByteDance-owned TikTok and Tencent's WeChat starting Sunday from Apple and Google's respective app stores, with the former facing a new deadline until November 12 to sort out its ongoing deal with Oracle as its trusted technology partner.
• The ban will actively undermine security by preventing developers from fixing vulnerabilities, thus making it difficult for users to download security patches from Google Play and the App Store. It will also force anyone looking to download TikTok or WeChat towards alternate, riskier methods like jailbreaking devices and sideloading apps from third-party repositories that may be fronts for malware.
• For its part, TikTok has agreed to bringing more transparency and accountability, including third-party audits, verification of code security, and government oversight to ensure data security. Although evidence of TikTok's wrongdoing remains scant and despite proof that its data collection practices are in line with those of similar domestic social media platforms such as Facebook, the development is another sign the global internet is becoming increasingly fractured along national lines. The need for national privacy laws has been never more relevant.
• The European Union, which is currently looking into Apple's Apple Pay practices for concerns that it unfairly blocks other providers from using the NFC functionality on its smartphones, reportedly considering new rules that would likely require the company to open the NFC chip integrated into its iPhones to competitors to enable seamless payments via servies other than Apple Pay.
• Apple has historically restricted NFC access so that payments can be made only via Apple Pay — not to mention take a small cut for facilitating the transactions — and has previously argued that decoupling the NFC Chip from its security protections would increase the likelihood of fraud and other attacks.
• Google's proposed plans to block online ad trackers in Chrome browser faces US antitrust probe, reports The Information, as news publishers argue it would create an unfair playing field.
• Google has landed in hot water many times before for violating user privacy, and now they're likely to face more heat for trying to protect it. As I mentioned last year, Google's twin role as a web browser developer and owner of the world's largest advertising platform has pitted one against the other, landing it between a rock and a hard place.
• Facebook announces Oculus Quest 2 VR headset with a lighter design, 50% better resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, and up to 256GB storage (not to mention a mandatory Facebook login) for US$ 299-399 (Quest 2 also comes with a Link feature which lets users plug their mobile headsets into a PC via USB-C); to discontinue Rift S next spring, as it prepares to add support for third-party AR effects in Messenger and Portal, unveils Oculus Move, a fitness tracking feature coming to Quest later this year that helps track calories burned across VR apps like Beat Saber, with in-game overlays, and announces plans to launch its first AR glasses Aria in partnership with Ray-Ban next year. (With Apple and Google currently leading the mobile race, Oculus has fit quite well into Facebook's strategy to own a big piece of the platform that will ultimately supplant the smartphone.)

Google Duo

• Google brings back screen sharing capabilities to Duo video chat service two years after discontinuing the feature, days after Facebook debuts Watch Together in Messenger that enables up to eight people in a video call to view videos from Facebook Watch toegther; to start deleting deleted files in Google Drive automatically after 30 days starting October 13, and limits Picture in Picture mode for YouTube's mobile website in Safari on the iPhone to Premium subscribers, days after Apple rolls out iOS 14.
• Amazon plans to open 1,000 small delivery hubs in cities and suburbs across the U.S., with a goal of about 1,500 hubs, to speed up deliveries; adds podcasts to its music streaming service for users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan through the Amazon Music app, web player and Echo devices, as it follows the likes of Apple, Spotify, and Google in an increasingly competitive market.
• Sony introduces Xperia 5 II smartphone and to officially launch PlayStation 5 in North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand for US$ 500 (US$ 400 for Digital Edition) on November 12, followed by more countries a week later. (The release date is right around the time Microsoft's next-gen consoles, entry-level Xbox Series S and its flagship Xbox Series X, are set to be launched on November 10.)
• Ride-hailing service Uber to sell its European freight business in an all-stock transaction to Berlin-based logistics startup Sennder in a deal worth less than US$ 1.1 billion.
• Note-taking platform Evernote overhauls its iOS app with focus on speed, reliability and scalability, and an "intuitive and clutter-free" interface.
• Privacy-oriented search engine DuckDuckGo hits 65 million active users; sees over 2 billion searches as of Auguest 2020.
• Disney's Disney+ on-demand video streaming service expands to eight more countries in Europe, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, and Luxembourg, bringing the total number of available countries to 22.

Firefox Send

• Boeing hid design flaws in its 737 Max jet from both pilots and regulators in an attempt to have the airplane certified as fit to fly, a congressional report in the aftermath of grounding the airliner worldwide following the death of 346 people died in two crashes reveals.
• Facebook launches Facebook Business Suite to allow SMBs manage their business pages and profiles across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, as well as draft and schedule feed posts for both Facebook and Instagram, and receive messages from customers in one unified inbox; to no longer show groups dedicated to health-related topics in recommendations to "to prioritise connecting people with accurate health information."
• Mozilla to permanently shutter Firefox Notes and Send file-transfer service in early November less than a month after the browser maker announced a major restructuring of its corporate division, leading to 250 layoffs — a quarter of its workforce. (It's also notable that Firefox Send came under scrunity when it emerged that the service was being used to spread malware, leading Mozilla to suspend the service while it figured out a way to prevent misuse and thwart bad actors.)
• Google pulls India's Paytm mobile payments app from the Play Store briefly for repeatedly violating its gambling policies by promoting a fantasy sports service, called Paytm First Games, following alleged complaints from Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports to take action on companies that distribute or promote fantasy sports through Play Store.
• IBM launches Mayflower Autonomous Ship, an AI-powered research vessel off the coast of England, with a transatlantic crossing scheduled in 2021 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower launch in 1620; comes with an "AI captain" that's capable of sensing its environment and make critical decisions while navigating the oceans without crew or a traditional human captain onboard.