Tech Roundup: Android Anti-Tracking Changes, Microsoft Viva & More

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

• Google is reportedly considering developing a less-stringent Android alternative to Apple's upcoming App Tracking Transparency framework, a new planned opt-in requirement the iPhone maker will impose on developers that demands they ask for permission to track iOS users across apps and websites, underscoring the increasing pressure on large tech companies to take more proactive measures to better protect user privacy; aims to limit data collection and cross-app tracking on the operating system as part of its work to develop new privacy practices and standards for the web — better known as the Privacy Sandbox, which has already taken baby steps to phase out third-party cookies on Chrome and is working on tools that allow advertisers to target groups of users instead of directly targeting individuals.
• Myanmar's new military government orders local telecom operators and ISPs to block Twitter and Instagram, days after imposing a similar blackout on Facebook.
• Snapchat's daily active users jumps 22% year-over-year to 265 million, as TikTok rival features Spotlight hits 100M monthly active users in January, two months after its launch, with the feature receiving an average of 175,000 video submissions per day; warns that forthcoming privacy changes to Apple's iOS 14 operating system to make ad targeting and tracking more difficult could impact the business in the short term.
• Interest-based social media network Pinterest surpasses 459 million global monthly active users, up 37% year-over-year.
• Microsoft launches Viva, an employee intranet with LinkedIn integration, access to communication tools like SharePoint and Yammer, access to team analytics, and an integration with LinkedIn Learning and other training content providers.

• Apple reportedly planning a US$ 3,000+ mixed-reality headset with 8K displays, eye-tracking tech, swappable headbands, and over 12 cameras to track hand movements and show videos of the real world, reports The Information.
• Google rolls out new feature for Pixel smartphones that leverages computer vision-based methods to allow device owners to use their phone cameras to measure pulse and breath rates through the Google Fit app, starting next month.
• Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter take coordinated action to take down top members of account hijacking forum OGUsers and seize hundreds of rare and coveted usernames.
• Google begins rolling out Google News Showcase in Australia, paying local and regional publishers, weeks after it threatened to entirely pull out of Australia amid an ongoing dispute over proposed media regulations that mandate internet giants like Google and Facebook to pay publishers to refer traffic to their content.
• Online payments service provider PayPal to wind down its domestic payment operations in India by April 1 and focus on its existing cross-border trade business.
• Microsoft-backed Graphcore, a British chipmaker for AI applications, urges U.K. antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, to block Nvidia's acquisition of Arm on the grounds that it is anti-competitive; says it "locks out companies like Graphcore from entering the seller market and entering a close relationship with Arm."
• Microsoft to release a cumulative monthly security patch on April 13 to remove the legacy version of Edge web browser from Windows 10 systems and install the new Chromium-based variant.