Tech Roundup: Apple iPadOS Delay, Samsung Self-Repair Kits & More

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

• Facebook's parent company Meta and major U.S. hospitals face new class-action lawsuits for allegedly violating medical privacy laws by embedding the social media company's tracking pixels to send sensitive health information to Facebook.
• France, Italy and Spain step up pressure on the European Commission to come up with legislation that ensures Big Tech firms such as Google, Meta and Netflix partly finance telecoms infrastructure in the region.
• Apple reportedly to delay the launch of iPadOS 16 until October to work on its multitasking features; faces yet another lawsuit from iOS developers accusing the company of anticompetitive practices in allowing only one App Store for devices, giving it a monopoly in iOS app distribution despite allowing it in macOS.
• Twitter pilots new option that allows users to use its mobile app without having to sign up for an account as part of a limited test on iOS, enabling users to read tweets, reply to tweets, and follow up to 50 users as well as search for tweets, explore news and trending topics, and get notifications.
• Ride-hailing giant Uber reportedly to sell its 7.8% stake in Indian food delivery startup Zomato for over US$ 350 million (which it acquired when it sold its local Uber Eats business to Zomato in early 2021) after assuming an unrealised US$ 707 million loss on the investment in H2 2022.
• Google prepares to migrate Duo users to Google Meet as part of its revamped strategy to bring the two video calling platforms together; to retire the Duo branding in favour of Meet, while also phasing out the existing Meet apps for Android and iOS at some unspecified point in the future.
• Global Chromebook shipments fall 51.4% YoY to 6 million units in Q2 2022, with tablet shipments rising 0.15% YoY to 40.5 million.
• Amazon says its 2021 carbon footprint rose 18% YoY and 40% from 2019 to roughly 71.54 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent.
• Payment processor Visa to face a lawsuit over allegations that it is liable for the distribution of child sex abuse material on Pornhub and other MindGeek websites and help "monetise child porn."
• Meta plans to shut down its Facebook Live Shopping feature on October 1, as the company shifts its focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram.
• Microsoft to release a new smaller and faster Outlook Lite app for Android with a smaller app size, faster performance and lower battery usage.
• Online trading platform Robinhood to pay fines of US$ 30 million to settle with U.S. regulators over allegations that it engaged in "significant anti-money-laundering, cybersecurity, and consumer protection violations."
• Samsung takes first steps toward giving users the option to self-repair their devices through kits made available for select models in partnership with iFixit.
• Twitter tests "tweets per month" counter to highlight how many times a user tweets per month; to also show a "Last edited" message in embedded tweets.
• Music streamer Spotify separates the Shuffle and Play Buttons for Spotify Premium users to "allow you to choose the mode you prefer at the top of playlists and albums and listen the way you want to."
• Amazon launches Luna game streaming on Samsung's 2022 smart TVs and monitors, in Samsung Gaming Hub, which has support for Google Stadia, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and GeForce Now.
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally agrees to NortonLifeLock's US$ 8 billion merger with Avast, citing "significant competition" from McAfee and Microsoft.
• China's smartphone shipments sink 21.7% to 134 million units in H1 2022; shipments for 2022 predicted to fall below 300 million, the lowest since 2012.
• Yelp updates its Android app with a redesigned home feed and map-based search, following last year’s release of a similar update for iOS.
• Pinterest reports Q2 revenue of US$ 666 million, up 9% YoY, and a net loss of US$ 43 million, as global monthly global active users drop 5% YoY to 433 million; debuts a new app, Shuffles, for collage-making and moodboards.
• Match Group, the company behind online dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge, and others, reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 795 million, up 12% YoY, as the number of paying subscribers jump 10% YoY to 16.4 million; scales back on its plans for virtual currencies and metaverse-based dating.
• Uber reports Q2 revenue of US$ 8.1 billion, up 105% YoY, and a US$ 2.6 billion net loss; mobility gross bookings jump 55% YoY to US$ 13.4 billion.
• PayPal reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 6.8 billion, up 9% YoY, net income of US$ 1.18 billion and a US$ 341 million net loss stemming from strategic-investment losses and a tax charge related to acquired intellectual property.
• Robinhood reports Q2 2022 revenue US$ 318 million, down 44% YoY, a US$ 295 million net loss, down from US$ 502 million YoY; monthly active users drop 1.9 million QoQ to 14 million in June 2022, as the company announces plans to slash its headcount by 23% over "additional deterioration of the macro environment", after laying off ~9% of full-time employees in April 2022.
• Video game company Electronic Arts (EA) reports Q1 2022 revenue of US$ 1.77 billion, up 14% YoY, and net income of US$ 311 million, up 52% YoY.
• Chipmaker AMD reports Q2 revenue of US$ 6.6 billion, up 70% YoY, including Data Center segment sales up 83% YoY to US$ 1.5 billion and Client segment sales up 25% YoY to US$ 2.2 billion.
• E-commerce firm eBay reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 2.42 billion, down 9% YoY; gross merchandise volume down 18% YoY to US$ 18.5 billion.
• Short-term rental platform Airbnb reports Q2 revenue of US$ 2.1 billion, up 58% YoY, US$ 379 million net income, up from a loss of US$ 68 million YoY.
• Japanese gaming company Nintendo reports Q1 2022 net sales of US$ 2.3 billion, down 4.7% YoY, and operating profit of US$ 763 million, down 15.1% YoY; Switch sales fall 22.9% YoY to 3.43 million.