Tech Roundup: Google RCS Campaign, WhatsApp Emoji Reactions & More

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

• Google strikes back at Sonos with a pair of lawsuits alleging that the wireless speaker company is infringing on a number of its patents centered around smart speakers and voice control technology, including hotword detection and wireless charging; accuses Sonos of starting an "aggressive and misleading campaign against our products, at the expense of our shared customers."
• Snapchat officially launches parental controls through a new Family Center feature, giving parents visibility into how their teens are using its service, but not view the content of the conversations; also lets parents over the age of 25 the ability to see a complete list of their existing friends and report any accounts of concern.
• Indian government to reportedly restrict Chinese smartphone makers from selling devices below US$ 150 to boost its domestic industry, impacting Xiaomi, Realme, and others.
• Reddit debuts ability to search for comments on Android and iOS, more than three months after launching the feature on desktop web in April.
• Apple officially restores battery percentage option in the status bar in the latest version of iOS 16 beta with the exception of the smaller iPhone 12 and 13 mini models, iPhone 11 and iPhone XR after it was removed following the debut of iPhone X.
• Google launches new public campaign called "Get the Message" to force Apple to ditch SMS and support RCS.
• While RCS is a minor improvement over SMS, it's more secure in that one-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted, with E2EE in group chats set to arrive later this year. It also doesn't help that Google has completely lost the plot with its confusing messaging strategy. That said, Apple has everything to gain from maintaining the status quo, which has a lock-in effect for customers. It provides seamless encrypted communication (but only between iMessage users) and turns Android's green bubbles into subtle class markers. Is this what Apple wants though?
• Microsoft revamps its cloud storage system OneDrive with a new "Home experience to help you easily resume your work and catch up on what you missed while you were away" on its 15th anniversary.
• Meta-owned WhatsApp tests emoji reaction for Status updates (its equivalent of the Story format), months after rolling out similar reactions for messages; debuts option for users to hide their online status from specific users, prevent others from taking screenshots of view once media messages and delete a private or group chat message up to 2.5 days after sending it, up from just one hour, eight minutes, and 16 seconds.
• ByteDance acquires Amcare Healthcare, one of China's largest private hospital chains, for about US$ 1.5 billion, deepening its foray into health care.
• Netflix's push to video games gets off to a lacklustre start, with a new report from Apptopia showing that games from its catalogue have been downloaded a total of 23.3 million times and played by an average 1.7 million daily active users, under 1% of the platform's 221 million subscribers.
• South Korea's telecoms regulator, the Korea Communications Commissions (KCC), to open an investigation into Apple, Google, and SK Group's One Store over suspected violations of the country's in-app payment law.
• Oppo and OnePlus halt sales in Germany after a court found in July 2022 the two companies used 5G technology without paying for the appropriate Nokia patents.
• Video game development company Unity announces it has struck a deal to create Unity China, a joint venture valued at US$ 1 billion, with partners including Alibaba, China Mobile, Oppo, and Douyin Group.
• Spotify gives its Android app's home screen separate feeds for Music and Podcasts & Shows (to be available soon on iOS) to better highlight recommendations.
• Google updates search results for queries with quotes (aka verbatim searches) to show where that exact phrase appears on the page in the search result snippet in Google search.
• Data analytics firm Palantir reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 473 million, up 26% YoY, as commercial customer count jumps 250% YoY from 34 to 119.
• Video game platform Roblox reports Q2 2022 revenue of US$ 639.9 million, down 4% YoY; average daily active users up 21% YoY to 52.2 million.
• Coinbase reports Q2 revenue of US$ 808.3 million, down 64% YoY, and a US$ 1.1 billion net loss, as trading volume drops 53% YoY to US$ 217 billion.