Tech Roundup: Google Antitrust Lawsuit, Microsoft's OpenAI Investment & More

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

• Google faces fresh antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. after the Justice Department (DoJ) sues the tech giant for "monopolising multiple digital advertising technology products" and "wielding its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products" in its "pursuit of outsized profits"; Google says the DoJ is "doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow," while also highlighting efforts by Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and TikTok to make inroads in the advertising industry.
• Stripe partners with Amazon to expand its AWS use and become a "strategic payments partner" for Amazon in the U.S., Europe and Canada.
• Meta brings more features to Messenger end-to-end encrypted chats, such as themes, custom emoji, and link previews, as it expands its default E2EE test to include more users; WhatsApp releases beta version of its native macOS app, built with Mac Catalyst, to all users.
• Microsoft and OpenAI, the creator of the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, announce a "multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment," after 2019 and 2021 investments, to build "increasingly safe, useful and powerful" AI.

Image: OpenAI

• Popular video conferencing solutions Zoom and Google Meet gain built-in interoperability that allows users to join Zoom meetings from Google Meet hardware devices as well as join Google Meet meetings from Zoom Rooms.
• Amazon launches RxPass, letting U.S. Prime subscribers pay US$ 5 per month to get as many generic versions of medications as needed, starting with drugs for 80 ailments.
• Strava, the activity tracking and social community platform used by more than 100 million people globally, acquires Fatmap, a European company that specialises in 3D maps and guides for skiing, hiking and biking.
• Microsoft tests a new split-screen feature for Edge browsers that lets users compare two different web pages side by side from within a single tab.
• Mozlla revamps its read-it-later app Pocket, which it acquired in 2017, to better surface high-quality recommendations, as it faces competition from rivals Matter and Omnivore.
• Microsoft reports Q2 2023 revenue of US$ 52.7 billion, up 2% YoY, and net income of US$ 16.4 billion, down 12% YoY; cloud revenue grows 22% YoY to US$ 27.1 billion.
• Twitter expands its crowd-sourced fact-checking program, Community Notes, to contributors in the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, after widely launching it in the U.S.