Tech Roundup: Amazon Academy, TikTok Children Privacy & More

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

• The European Court of Justice issues new ruling stating any national regulator or national court can handle a data privacy complaint, which if upheld, could open the door for more investigations over data concerns in different EU nations and lead to a flood of proceedings against tech giants.
• New study published by the Heart Rhythm journal finds that placing an iPhone 12 over an implantable cardioverter defibrillator can shut the lifesaving unit down; warns people with implantable defibrillators to avoid keeping a phone in their breast pocket. (Apple makes of a note of this in its user guide admitting that magnets and electromagnetic fields emanating from their iPhone devices "may interfere with medical devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.")
• Facebook expands its Access Your Information tool, adding eight new categories of data, a search tool to find data categories, and better explain how the data collected can be used to personalise user experience on its platform.
• Alternative social apps and private messengers climb to the top of the app store rankings, including Signal, Telegram, MeWe, and CloutHub, following deplatforming of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump off mainstream social media platforms (for inciting followers to engage in insurrection) and the shutdown of far-right network Parler.
• The move, without doubt, is a watershed moment for internet services that have faced conflicting pressures on one hand to restrict misinformation and hate speech, and defend free speech on the other. This is Internet 3.0.
• While the broader problem of how social media algorithms amplify conspiracy theories still remains, the fact that hosting service providers such as Amazon (AWS) are cutting off ties with Parler raises interesting questions about how the internet should work and who should police it.
• Alternative social media apps always have the option of self-hosting their content, but the development is further proof that social media platforms have come to belatedly acknowledge that running them comes with a whole new set of responsibilities. Social media, after all, is not just a communication space but also a conflict space.
• Google's YouTube begins pushing out a new hashtag landing pages to group and discover video content aligned with specific hashtags (e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/google), showcasing an algorithmically-curated array of top videos along with tallies for the number of videos carrying the hashtag and how many channels that have used the hashtag in their videos; launches privacy-sensitive Guest Mode on Google Assistant devices, letting users to use Google Assistant-powered smart displays and speakers without having to sign in.

• Microsoft updates its Surface Pro line today with a refreshed Surface Pro 7 Plus model targeting businesses and schools with Intel's 11th Gen processors, 15 hour battery life, removable SSD card, and LTE connectivity.
• OnePlus forays into health with OnePlus Band featuring heart rate and blood oxygen saturation monitors, fitness and sleep tracking, and a battery life of up to two weeks; to be available in India for ₹2,499 (around US$ 34).
• Lenovo unveils ThinkReality A3 Smart Glasses for 3D visualisation and augmented reality guided workflows that can show up to five virtual 1080p displays, and comes equipped with 8MP camera and 2 fish-eye cameras for room-scale tracking; requires either a PC or a Motorola smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series processor or better via USB-C to work.
• Apple files a patent for a light sensor on the back of its Watch that can authenticate users using a "Wrist ID unlock technology" that uses the light fired into the user's wrist to generate a unique "fingerprint" and unlock the smartwatch.
• Turkey opens antitrust investigation into Facebook and WhatsApp over new data sharing terms that have sparked privacy concerns; says it's halting implementation of such terms that would result in "more data being collected, processed and used by Facebook."
• Chipmaker AMD unveils its Ryzen 5000 Series, 8-core x86 chips for gaming laptops and thin-and-light notebooks, and third-gen Epyc server chips; rival Nvidia shows off RTX 3060, 3070, and 3080 GPUs that are optimised for mobile gaming, as Intel launches four chip families, including Intel Core H-series for laptop gaming and Core vPro focused on hardware-based security, targeting the enterprise market.
• Payment processor Visa abandons its US$ 5.3 billlion planned acquisition of fintech firm Plaid after the company ran into a regulatory wall following the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the deal over antitrust concerns in November, arguing that the combination would "eliminate a nascent competitive threat that would likely result in substantial savings and more innovative online debit services for merchants and consumers."
• Toronto-based video-sharing site Rumble sues Google, accusing it of abusing the power of its search engine and mobile operating system to boost YouTube over rivals, in what's the latest allegation of anticompetitive conduct against the company.
• Mozilla brings its VPN service to Mac and Linux to users in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, following its rollout to Windows, Android, and iOS users last year.
• A group of Uber and Lyft drivers in the U.S. state of California file new lawsuit to overturn Prop 22, a ballot measure approved last November that allows gig-economy companies to continue treating its workers as independent contractors; claim the ruling violates the state's constitution by "stripping" the state legislature's ability to empower workers to organise, as well as by "illegally" excluding ride-hail drivers from the state workers' compensation program.

• Adobe officially begins blocking Flash content starting January 12, after dropping support for Flash Player on December 31, 2020.
• HireVue, which offers algorithmic assessments of job applicants, to stop analysing users' facial expressions after the controversial feature was deemed "far-fetched" in making inferences about candidates' suitability for the job; to continue using intonation, speech, and behaviour data in its machine learning software that assigns traits and qualities to job seekers.
• While audits can be useful to scrutinise the inner workings of an algorithmic system, evaluate concerns about bias and fairness, check for unintended consequences, and create more transparency to build consumer trust, the truth is that companies don't really face consequences when their algorithms are discriminatory — unless there is a clear case of financial harm.
• Without a change in market incentives or real government oversight, algorithmic audits alone won't provide the accountability that's needed when it comes to AI systems.
• Uganda orders internet service providers in the country to block all social media and messaging apps until further notice, allegedly in response to Facebook's blocking of pro-government accounts.
• Cloud storage service Dropbox to slash about 11% of its global workforce, affecting about 315 employees; says "it's clear that we need to make changes in order to create a healthy and thriving business for the future."
• Asus unveils 14- and 15-inch ZenBook Duo dual-screen laptops with a second display built into the top half of the keyboard deck; debuts new 14-inch ExpertBook B9 laptop, which it says the world's lightest 14-inch business laptop with military-grade durability.
• Amazon-owned Ring begins rolling out end-to-end video encryption to its lineup of home security devices; follows Netflix with a mobile-only Prime Video plan in India starting at ₹89 (US$ 1.2) per month in partnership with Bharti Airtel and launches Academy, a preparation app with curated learning material for admission to engineering colleges in the country.
• Chipmaker Qualcomm acquires chip startup Nuvia for US$ 1.4 billion, with plans to put the company's technology into its smartphone, laptop, and automotive processors.
• ByteDance TikTok makes accounts of users aged 13 to 15 private by default, limiting who can comment on the videos and how other users can download or remix their videos; says "only someone who the user approves as a follower can view their videos," and that the setting "Suggest your account to others" will turned off by default.
• Music streaming service Spotify hits nearly 2 million podcasts, up from 2,500 in 2017, with an audience encompassing 20% of its 320 million total users (about 70 million people), as the company continues to bet big on the audio medium as a path to profitability.
• Chinese internet giant Baidu forms strategic partnership with Chinese automaker Geely to create a standalone electric vehicle company.
• Twitter bans Sci-Hub's handle over "counterfeit" content following a high-profile lawsuit in India from Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society, calling for a ban of the webiste in the country.