Tech Roundup: Slack Canvas, YouTube Creator Music & More

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

• Indonesia passes a personal data protection law, imposing corporate fines and imprisonment for mishandling data, after a series of leaks.
• New iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models set off to a rocky launch as users encounter a number of problems with camera, including complaints of slow loading and shakes and vibrations when using the camera in third-party apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok (or any other that integrates the camera), as well as issues with using AirDrop with contacts and freezing after customers transfer their data from an older iPhone. (The buggy release is yet another indication that Apple should perhaps give up on yearly software upgrades and switch to a Google-like app update model, not to mention release new hardware and major iOS versions at the same time. Alternatively, it could even adopt a monthly patch release cycle like that of Microsoft.)
• The Indian government and central bank asks Google to add more stringent checks to curb illegal digital lending apps, as the internet giant says it removed over 2,000 personal loan apps targeting India from the Play Store for violation of the Play policy requirements.
• Apple draws criticism after it emerges to be a top funder for what's called the App Association, a lobby group that claims to represent small app developers and which has come out against a number of proposed regulations in the U.S. that would enable app developers to use alternative in-app payment systems and prevent tech giants from giving preference to their own products at the expense of competitors; the Coalition for App Fairness calls the App Association a "front group for Apple no matter how it brands itself."
• Google's YouTube unveils major changes to its Partner Program, allowing creators to earn ad revenue on Shorts, its TikTok competitor; launches Creator Music, a catalog for creators to browse and shop for songs for use in videos by buying rights or sharing revenue.
• Microsoft to reportedly expand Windows 11 support for over 20,000 Android apps and games via the Amazon Appstore to 31 countries "within the next few weeks."
• Amazon's proposed purchases of 1Life Healthcare and Roomba maker iRobot faces U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation citing competition concerns and worries that the acquisitions give the firms control over valuable consumer data.

Source: Pew Research Center

• Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 update with File Explorer tabs, system-wide captions, Start menu folders, a new Smart App Control to block untrusted or unsigned applications, script files and malicious macros from running, and other accessibility improvements.
• Apple to increase App Store prices across Europe and in other select markets, including South Korea, Chile, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Japan, effective October 5, 2022.
• Google to integrate Google Tasks reminders across Google Workspace apps including Assistant, Calendar, Docs, and Sheets in the coming months, making it a single hub for all tasks across its products. (Interestingly, Keep is a notable omission.)
• Music and podcasts platform Spotify launches an audiobooks service in the U.S. with 300,000 titles, letting users purchase and download individual books to play in its app.
• Global wearables shipments decline 6.9% YoY to 107.4 million units in Q2 2022, according to new research from IDC.
• A new study by Mozilla using YouTube recommendation data from over 22,000 users and 560 million videos finds the "dislike" and "not interested" buttons have little impact; says "YouTube should design its feedback tools in a way that puts people in the driver’s seat," as the video giant notes its controls are intentionally designed to "not filter out entire topics or viewpoints."
• Meta's WhatsApp announces an "expanded partnership" with Salesforce to let businesses manage their WhatsApp conversations with customers from the Salesforce platform; tests editing sent messages on the service.
• Enterprise communications platform Slack announces a new collaborative feature called Canvas to help teams "curate, organise and share mission-critical resources"; takes its inspiration from Quip, a collaborative productivity tool that was acquired by Salesforce in 2016.
• Chinese internet search giant Baidu to shut online-to-offline platform Nuomi after failing to capture a foothold in a market largely dominated by Meituan.
• Google begins rolling out a "results about you" tool on its Android app to let users see and remove results that contain their personal identifiable information.