Tech Roundup: Twitter ADX, Pinterest TV Studio & More

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

• Russia reportedly takes over internet infrastructure in the Donbas region of Ukraine, rerouting traffic to Russia-controlled operators.
• Twitter's open source Bluesky unit releases early code for a decentralized social network protocol dubbed Authenticated Data Experiment (ADX).
• Google acquires Raxium, a five-year-old startup with MicroLED technology, as the tech giant continues to set the foundation for building a new generation of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets.
• Connecticut becomes the fifth U.S. state to pass a data privacy law after California, Virginia, Colorado and Utah, allowing residents to opt out of sales, targeted advertising and profiling effective July 1, 2023.
• Pinterest debuts a new app called Pinterest TV Studio that aims to make it easier for creators to livestream to its platform.
• Sonos to launch a voice assistant for playing music in the U.S. on June 1 that supports Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio. (No Spotify and YouTube?)
• Meta's WhatsApp rolls out the ability to react to a message with emoji, share files that are up to 2GB in size and add up to 512 people to a group; to integrate Live Audio Rooms into Facebook Live and discontinue its other audio products on Facebook barely a year after its launch, as it announces plans to pay Reels creators who are publishing original content on Facebook.
• ByteDance TikTok plans to launch Pulse, its first ad product with revenue sharing, in June 2022, offering U.S. creators and publishers with over 100,000 followers a 50/50 split.
• Twitter adds new features to its live audio Spaces product, allowing hosts and co-hosts on iOS and Android access analytics like total live listeners, total replays, and speakers; tests new feature to let users attach photos and videos to the same tweet.
• Epic Games-owned Fortnite returns to iOS and iPadOS through Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service, after it was booted out from the App Store for attempting to circumvent Apple's in-app purchase policies.
• Uber reports Q1 2022 revenue of US$ 6.85 billion, up 136% YoY, a $5.9B net loss due to equity investments, and gross bookings of $26.4 billion, up 35%.
• Online marketplace Etsy reports Q1 2022 revenue US$ 579 million, up 5.2% YoY; eBay reports revenue of US$ 2.5 billion, down 6% YoY, and 142 million active buyers, down 13%.
• Financial and digital payments company Block reports Q1 2022 revenue of US$ 3.96 billion, down 22% YoY, profit of US$ 1.29 billion, up 34% YoY, and Cash App bitcoin revenue of US$ 1.73 billion, down 51% YoY.