Tech Roundup: Google Ad Controls, Snap Pixy Drone & More

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

• In a ruling against Meta, European Union's top court, Court of Justice (CJEU), affirms that consumer protection agencies can file lawsuits against violations of GDPR laws protecting users' data.
• Telegram, which has about 550 million active users, adds support for cryptocurrency payments.
• Twitter says it overcounted its users over the past 3 years from Q1 2019 to Q4 2021 by as much as 1.9 million due to a technical error involving linked accounts; reports 229 million monetisable daily active users for Q1 2022 and revenue of US$ 1.2 billion.
• Google expands its advertising controls to allows users to limit 'sensitive' ads on pregnancy, parenting, dating and weight loss across Gmail and YouTube.
• The European Union to reportedly file antitrust charges against Apple next week for allegedly blocking third-parties from using NFC for Apple Pay.
• Microsoft is reportedly testing what's called Microsoft Edge Secure Network, a built-in VPN-like service for Edge, powered by Cloudflare; to cap data use to 1GB per month, while also requiring users to be signed in to a Microsoft account to track usage.
• Snap announces Pixy, a US$ 230 mini drone that weighs 101g and can capture 2.7K videos and 12MP photos, which can be synced with Snapchat; launches Lens Cloud, a free collection of backend services to help Snap AR developers build dynamic, location-based multiuser augmented reality experiences, and introduces a new in-app destination within Snapchat called "Dress Up" that aims to feature AR fashion and virtual try-on experiences.
• Google launches the Privacy Sandbox Developer Preview for Android 13 to add "safer" ad alternatives, offering an "early look" at the Topics API and SDK Runtime.
• Global PC shipments fall 4.3% YoY to 78.7 million in Q1 2022; Lenovo maintains its lead with 23.1% market share, followed by HP, Dell, and Apple.
• Apple reports record revenue for Q2 2022, with total revenues of US$ 97.3 billion (iPhone: US$ 50.6 billion, Mac: US$ 10.4 billion, iPad: US$ 7.6 billion, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories: US$ 8.8 billion) and services revenue jumping 17% to US$ 19.8 billion as paying subscriptions touch 825 million; revenue in Greater China grows 3.5% YoY to US$ 18.3 billion, revenue in Japan falls 0.2% to US$ 7.7 billion, and revenue in the rest of Asia Pacific drops 6.7% to US$ 7 billion.
• Amazon reports Q1 advertising services revenue of US$ 7.88 billion, up 23% YoY, subscription services revenue of US$ 8.4 billion, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue of US$ 18.44 billion; notches US$ 116.4 billion in sales and records a US$ 7.6 billion loss on its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian. (The development comes as Amazon hiked the price of its U.S. Prime membership for the first time in four years to US$ 139 from US$ 119.)
• Roku reports Q1 revenue of US$ 734 million, up 28% YoY, 20.9 billion total streaming hours, up 14% YoY, and the addition of 1.1 million active accounts to reach a total of 61.3 million, up 14% YoY.
• Robinhood reports Q1 revenue of US$ 299 million, down 43% YoY, net loss of US$ 392 million, down from $1.4B YoY, and 15.9 million monthly active users, down from 17.7M YoY.
• Intel reports Q1 revenue of US$ 18.35 billion, down 7% YoY, Datacenter and AI revenue of US$ 6 billion, up 22% YoY, and Client Computing revenue of US$ 9.3 billion, down 13%.