Tech Roundup: Google Cookie Reprieve, Windows 11 & More

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

• Microsoft officially unveils Windows 11 as a free upgrade with a user interface overhaul that aims to be "modern, fresh, clean and beautiful" and a "platform for platform creators"; deprecates Live Tiles in the Start menu, drops Skype as a default app but bundles Teams into the operating system, and adds support for running Android apps downloaded via Amazon Appstore natively using Intel's Bridge technology, alongside an option to sideload Android apps onto the operating system.
• Microsoft has also revealed an updated Windows Store with a major policy change that lets app developers, with the exception of games, keep 100% of their revenues even if they use their own or a third-party payment system. What's more, Windows 11 Home will now require an internet connection at setup — and a Microsoft account — during setup.
• But the company's decision to bake its burgeoning Slack-killer directly into Windows could be ripe for scrunity, given the current backdrop of increased antitrust activity in Europe and the U.S. over allegations that big tech companies are using these services to entrench their monopolies and tilt the level playing field in their favour.
• It has also helped that Microsoft, partly because it lacks a strong lead in businesses in some of the areas most in the spotlight like social media, e-commerce and internet advertising, has so far evaded the level of scrutiny given to Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.
• An international coalition of consumer protection, digital and civil rights organizations and data protection experts calls for a ban on what's been billed as "surveillance-based advertising"; says "the collection and combination of information about us not only violates our right to privacy, but renders us vulnerable to manipulation, discrimination and fraud."

• Google delays its plans to phase-out third-party cookies in Chrome browser and switch to FLoC until late 2023, stating "become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right"; expands Fi VPN service to subscribers with iPhones.
• The Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) is a privacy-focused solution intent on delivering relevant ads "by clustering large groups of people with similar interests" called cohorts. Accounts are anonymised, grouped into interests, and most importantly, user information is processed by analysing a user's browser history using machine learning algorithms on-device rather than broadcast across the web.
• Apple launches Search Ads in China, five years after launching the feature in the U.S. to allow third-party app developers bid on an advertising slot based on users' keywords in App Store searches, similar to how Google search ads work.
• Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio Platforms, which serves 425 million subscribers, partners with Google with an Android-based "ultra-affordable 4G smartphone" called the JioPhone Next; to launch in the country on September 10, before coming to other markets at a later date.
• Retail and entertainment giant Amazon acquires Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform, for an undisclosed sum, months after acquiring podcasting network Wondery, as it increasingly competes with Apple and Spotify to grab a bigger slice of the podcasting market.
• Facebook-owned Instagram quietly begins rolling out option to allow users publish posts from its website on desktop for the first time since it launched in October 2010.