Tech Roundup: Meta Avatars Store, Snapchat Plus & More

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

• Snap is testing Snapchat Plus, a paid subscription service which will give users early access to exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features.
• Meta makes tweaks to group calls on WhatsApp, allowing users to mute or message specific people on a call and adds a "helpful indicator so you can more easily see when more people join large calls"; chases TikTok with new full-screen feed on Instagram.
• Google rolls out picture-in-picture mode for Meet video calls in Chrome browser; launches a new feature called seasonal recaps that explores the top artists, songs, albums and playlists over the last season.
• Reddit to acquire Spell, a platform for running machine learning experiments founded in 2016, for an undisclosed amount.
• Adobe reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 4.39 billion, up 14% YoY, Digital Media revenue of US$ 3.2 billion, up 15% YoY, and Digital Experience revenue of US$ 1.1 billion, up 17% YoY.
• Microsoft debuts Defender for Individuals, an online security dashboard for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, part of Microsoft 365 Family and Personal subscriptions.
• Discord announces the widespread availability of its built-in autonomous moderation tool AutoMod, and expands Premium Memberships to more eligible U.S. servers.
• Tracking pixels embedded within hospital websites (called Meta Pixel) have been found collecting and sending patients' sensitive health information — including details about their medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments — to Facebook, a new investigation from The Markup reveals.
• India lifts business restrictions on Mastercard, nearly a year after imposing the ban, once again allowing the payment processing giant to add new customers in the South Asian market after it demonstrated "satisfactory compliance" with the local data storage rules.
• Meta debuts an online "Avatars Store," where Facebook, Instagram and Messenger users can purchase digital clothing for their avatars; CEO Mark Zuckerberg says "Digital goods will be an important way to express yourself in the metaverse and a big driver of the creative economy."
• ByteDance's TikTok to move its U.S. users' information to Oracle servers stored in the U.S., amid a new report from BuzzFeed News that TikTok staff in China had access to U.S. users data from September 2021 to as recently as January 2022.
• U.S. lawmakers call on the Commerce Department to follow the E.U. and create a strategy to require a common charging port for all mobile devices.