Tech Roundup: Google MusicLM, India BharOS & More

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

• Google plans to add third-party billing for apps and games in February 2023 in India, in a major overhaul to its practices following landmark antitrust ruling; to revise phone maker and partner agreements to allow smartphone vendors in India to license individual apps for pre-installation on their Android-powered devices and enable users to choose their default search engine via a choice screen during phone setup as well as updated sideloaded apps and uninstall the first-party apps.
• Meta's Instagram introduces a new dynamic profile photo feature that lets users showcase both their profile photo and their avatar.
• The Indian government demos BharOS, a homegrown mobile operating system that an Android fork with no default or pre-installed apps and "provides a secure environment for users." (The development comes as the nation's antitrust authority is seeking major changes to the Android ecosystem to prevent Google from dominating the mobile market.)
• Dell acquires Israel-based Cloudify, which offers a platform for cloud orchestration and infrastructure automation, in a deal valued at US$ 100 million.
• Google debuts MusicLM, a machine learning model that can generate "high-fidelity music from text descriptions" by training it on a dataset of 280,000 hours of music; rolls out new Chrome browser feature that allows users to lock their Incognito session with biometric authentication.
• Twitter makes subtle tweaks to font in user handles, potentially as a move to combat account impersonations; says it will stop forcing the algorithmic "For You" timeline as the default option.
• The European Union plans to open an antitrust investigation into Microsoft over Teams, focusing on tying the service to Office, after a complaint by Slack in 2020.
• Amazon plans to launch an NFT initiative in April 2023 with more than a dozen crypto-native partners and a focus on blockchain-based gaming.
• Microsoft's code-hosting platform GitHub hits 100 million users, up from 28 million when the Windows maker acquired it for US$ 7.5 billion in 2018.
• Uber debuts new feature in Uber Eats called "View as Delivery Person" (similar to its "View As Driver") that enables users to find the exact information that's shared with individuals making their deliveries.
• Comcast's Streaming service Peacock adds five milion subscribers in Q2 2022, taking its userbase to 20 million.
• Newsletter platform Substack launches private Substacks and brings improvements to its chat and search features.
• Worldwide smartphone shipments decline 18.3% YoY to 300.3 million in Q4 2022, the largest ever drop in a quarter, as Apple drops 14.9%, Samsung 15.6%, Xiaomi 26.3%, OPPO 15.9% and vivo 18.9%; 2022 sees a total shipment of 1.21 billion smartphones, the lowest since 2013. (The development also comes as China smartphone sales fall 14% YoY in 2022 to reach their lowest level in a decade, with iPhone sales dropping 3% to become the country's No. 2 brand after vivo. Samsung, vivo, Xiaomi, OPPO and realme take the top five spots in India in Q4 2022.)
• Apple is reportedly developing software to make it easy for users of its upcoming mixed-reality headset to build their own augmented reality apps and increase adoption, The Information reports.
• Google to introduce changes in Google Store, Google Play Store, Google Hotels and Google Flights to provider "clear information to consumers" in compliance with consumer protection laws in the E.U.
• Intel reports Q4 2022 revenue down 32% YoY to US$ 14 billion, as Data Center and AI revenues drop 33% YoY.
• IBM reports Q4 2022 revenue of US$ 16.69 billion, flat YoY, net income of US$ 2.71 billin, up 16% YoY, and software revenue of US$ 7.29 billion, up 2.8% YoY.