Tech Roundup: Google Project Caviar, OpenAI Whisper & More

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

• Meta faces two new class-action lawsuits for evading Apple's privacy-oriented App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature by embedding tracking pixels in its in-app browser on Facebook and Instagram to monitor user website activity.
• ByteDance's TikTok launches its BeReal clone, TikTok Now, as a standalone mobile app across global markets outside the U.S., largely on iOS; partners with Penguin Random House to launch a new feature that lets users share and link to their favourite books.
• Meta's Instagram says it's working on a feature to protect users from receiving unsolicited nude photos and other in their DMs; stresses the "technology will not allow Meta to view the actual messages nor share them with third-parties."
• Google is reportedly developing royalty-free media formats for HDR video and 3D audio, in an effort internally known as Project Caviar, to take on Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision and build a "healthier, broader ecosystem" for premium media experiences.
• OpenAI open sources Whisper, an automatic speech recognition system trained on 680K hours of "multilingual and multitask supervised data collected from the web."
• Amazon brings its "Tap to Alexa" accessibility feature to Fire tablets for the first time, enabling users to control and interact with the company’s Alexa voice assistant without actually speaking.
• Framework and Google launch the user-upgradeable Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition for US$ 999 in the U.S. and Canada.
• Amazon's Twitch to split subscription revenue above US$ 100,000 50/50, not 70/30, for streamers on premium deals starting from June 1, 2023, citing hosting costs.
• A federal court in the U.S. state of Texas orders Meta to pay Voxer, the developer of an app called Walkie Talkie, nearly US$ 175 million as an ongoing royalty for infringing its patents and incorporating its tech into Facebook Live and Instagram Live.
• Google-owned Fitbit plans to require a Google account for its new devices and features starting sometime in 2023.
• Apple releases iOS 16.0.2 update for iPhones to address issues that cause the camera to vibrate and create blurry photos when shooting with some third-party apps and a permission prompt to appear more than expected when copy and pasting between apps; also ships watchOS 9.0.1 update for Apple Watch Ultra to fix an issue that could cause audio to be distorted during phone calls when using the speakers.
• Alphabet's DeepMind previews new chatbot named Sparrow that makes use of live Google searchs to inform responses to questions.
• ByteDance unveils Pico 4 VR headset with dual 2,160x2,160 displays, Snapdragon XR2 processor, and 128GB storage for €429 (or 256GB for €499).
• Swiss company Proton VPN becomes the latest to leave India over invasive new rules requiring customer data collection, following similar moves by Surfshark, Nord, and ExpressVPN.
• British media regulator Ofcom to investigate Amazon, Microsoft and Google’s tight grip on the cloud computing industry and identify any competition concerns.
• Mozilla says "operating systems are incentivized to preference their own browsers at the expense of consumer choice and independent alternatives," stating "online choice architecture plays an important role in consumer behaviour."
• Google unveils Chromecast with Google TV (HD) featuring remote control and support for 1080p content with HDR, for US$ 30.