Tech Roundup: Apple's Privacy Play, Twitter Blue Delay & More

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

• New findings show Apple reportedly can link anonymous analytics data collected from the App Store app directly to users' accounts through a unique valued called "Directory Services Identifier" (dsId), which is also tied to an iCloud account, despite turning off analytics from device settings.
• While Apple claims in its "Device Analytics & Privacy" document that "None of the collected information identifies you personally," the company has a different set of rules as defined in the privacy policy for the App Store: "To find ways to improve the stores, we use information about your browsing, purchases, searches, and downloads. These records are stored with IP address, a random unique identifier (where that arises), and Apple ID when you are signed in to the App Store or other Apple online stores."
• With the iPhone maker constantly driving home the point about privacy (remember the "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone" slogan?), the fact that a setting that's supposed to disable information sharing doesn't exactly stop it from happening is likely to be a cause for concern. It's also worth noting that the company is attracting more scrutiny than ever for turning the screws on how other major advertising companies can collect user data on its platforms even as it seems set to make ads a bigger part of its own business at the expense of its rivals.
• Twitter to delay relaunch of its Blue subscription tier until "there is high confidence of stopping impersonations" and floats using different colors for organisations and individuals; to add encryption support for direct messages as well as audio and video chat.
• Indian government announces new rules to curb deceptive reviews on e-commerce platforms and portals offering tour and travel services, restaurants, eateries and consumer durables.
• Tumblr to add support for ActivityPub, the open, decentralised social networking protocol that powers social networking alternatives like Mastodon, Pixelfed and PeerTube.
• Amazon to scale back its efforts on Alexa voice assistant after failing to turn it into a steady revenue stream for the e-commerce giant.
• While the use of voice for human-computer interaction through smart speakers is nothing short of trailblazing, especially for people with mobility issues or vision problems, its limited interface meant Alexa (or any other voice assistant) cannot be used serve ads or suggest items to buy on Amazon.
• Spotify expands its audiobooks offering to the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, after launching the feature in the U.S. earlier this September.
• Mozilla launches a new annual subscription bundle that brings Firefox Relay and Mozilla VPN together for US$ 6.99 a month.
• Meta rolls out updates that enables stricter private settings for users who are under the age of 16 (or 18 in specific countries) by default in a bid to protect teens from online harm.
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launches a probe into Apple's and Google's "effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems that allows them to exercise a stranglehold over operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices"; to also likely investigate Broadcom's proposed US$ 61 billion acquisition of VMware, following similar investigations by the European Commission and FTC.
• U.S. tax filing services such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been found transmitting sensitive financial information to Facebook via the Meta Pixel, a new investigation from The Markup finds; includes data like names, email addresses, income, filing status, refund amounts and dependents' college scholarship amounts.
• Microsoft integrates a collection of casual games such as Minesweeper and Solitaire to its Teams chat and calling service.
• Zoom reports Q3 2022 revenue up 5% YoY to US$ 1.1 billion, as enterprise customers jump 14% YoY to 209,300, up from 204,100 during the previous quarter.
• Baidu reports Q3 2022 revenue up 2% YoY to ~US$ 4.6 billion and a net loss of ~US$ 20.5 million.
• HP reports Q4 2022 revenue down 11.2% YoY to US$ 14.8 billion; Personal Systems revenue drops 13% YoY to US$ 10.3 billion and forecasts a 10% slide in PC sales in FY 2023.