Tech Roundup: Apple Music Classical, Microsoft Security Copilot & More

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

• Microsoft plans to restrict access to Bing's internet-search data to rival companies (i.e., those that offer Bing-powered search engines) providing AI-powered tools.
• Apple begins rolling out Apple Music Classical (it's not available in China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey), as it releases iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4 and macOS 13.3 with an updated Podcasts app, notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen, new Shortcuts actions and other bug fixes; expands Emergency SOS via Satellite to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal.
• Twitter to mandate a "verified account" to get recommended on the platform's For You page and vote in polls starting April 15 in a bid to address "AI bot swarms."
• Apple acquires WaveOne, a Mountain View-based startup that develops AI algorithms for compressing video, for an undisclosed sum.
• The U.S. government limits federal agencies' use of hacking tools from companies that are linked to human rights abuses or are deemed to pose national security.
• Zoom partners with OpenAI to expand its Zoom IQ assistant with features to generate whiteboards from text prompts, recap meetings, summarise threads, and draft content for chats, emails and whiteboard sessions.
• Microsoft's Teams chat app touches 280M monthly active users, up from 270M monthly active users in January 2022; overhauls the application to make it more "faster, simpler, and more flexible than ever before."
• The U.S. state of Utah signs into law new sweeping regulations that require parental permission for teens to use social media; mandates that social media companies verify the age of any Utah resident who makes a social media profile and get parental consent for any minor who wishes to make a profile, allow parents to access posts and messages from their child's account, prohibit ads and impose curfews that lock them out of their social media accounts between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
• Uber delists some delivery-only virtual restaurants from its Eats platform to help weed out low-quality listings.
• Google to add a "Perspectives" carousel, showcasing "insights from a range of journalists, experts, and other relevant voices" under Top Stories, and an "About this author" feature for U.S. English searches.
• Controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI's CEO says it has run nearly 1 million searches for U.S. police and that it uses 30 billion images scraped without users' consent from sites like Facebook.
• Microsoft introduces Security Copilot, a new cybersecurity tool that aims to summarise and make sense of threat intelligence, as part of its continued quest to inject generative AI into all its products.
• Apple rolls out Apple Pay Later to randomly selected U.S. users, for online and in-app purchases on iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4.
• Microsoft is planning a major overhaul for "Windows 12" to modernise the OS with AI, faster updates, and improved security, to better compete with ChromeOS.
• Amazon opens its low-bandwidth, long-range wireless network Sidewalk to developers, offering SDKs and hardware development kits to build Sidewalk-enabled devices, as the technology now claims over 90% coverage in the U.S.
• Music streamer Spotify debuts Niche Mixes, a set of personalised playlists into specific categories.
• Google announces a slew of new features for ChromeOS, including a new "Reading mode" for Chrome browser that's accessible from a right-side panel that aggregates existing features including the reading list, bookmarks and notes, while keeping the main web page intact (Google really wants those ads!); partners with home security company ADT for a new Self Setup system that integrates with Google Nest devices.
• Pinterest brings shopping capabilities to Shuffles, its collage-making app.