Tech Roundup: Brave Forgetful Browsing, Neeva Shut Down & More

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

• TikTok faces new allegations from Yintao Yu, the former head of engineering for ByteDance's U.S. operations, that it stole content from competitors like Instagram and Snapchat, fabricated users to exaggerate its "like" and "follow" metrics and served as a 'propaganda tool' for the Chinese government by suppressing or promoting content favorable to the country's interests; says the company maintained access to all company data.
• Meta's WhatsApp introduces Chat Lock, which lets users put chats in a password- or biometrics-protected folder and hide chats' contents and senders in notifications; adds option for Instagram users to comment on posts and Reels with GIFs.
• Microsoft completes rollout of Phone Link update that allows iPhone owners use a Windows 11 PC to send and receive messages via iMessage (with the exception of group chats) and make or receive calls.
• Amazon plans to enter the regenerative AI space with an aim to reimagine "Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience."
• The European Commission clears Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard as part of commitments offered by the tech giant to resolve antitrust concerns; comes as the company's Azure cloud business gets scrutinised in the E.U. for leveraging its market power to squeeze our rivals.
• Chinese smartphone giant Oppo disbands its in-house chip design unit, Zeku, citing "uncertainties in the global economy and smartphone market."
• Google begins rolling out a split layout for its Gboard keyboard app on tablets; improves interoperability by letting Microsoft Outlook users who also have a Google Calendar with the same email address receive invitations and RSVPs in Outlook.
• Brave browser debuts a new feature called "Forgetful Browsing," which allows users to always clear cookies when a website is closed, avoid being rate limited by a site, and prevent sites from reidentifying them across visits.
• Apple launches its online store in Vietnam; expands its satellite-based emergency SOS feature to Australia and New Zealand, after bring it to 14 countries since September 2022.
• Google updates its inactive account policy with new clauses that allow it to delete accounts that are inactive for at least two years, except for those with YouTube videos; to kick-off the purge in December 2023.
• Zoom plans to add Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude across its productivity platform.
• Meta spins out Kustomer, after acquiring the CRM startup for US$ 1 billion in November 2020.
• Apple previews new cognitive, vision, and speech accessibility features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, including a new AI-drive text-to-speech Personal Voice feature that can synthesize users' voices based on 15 minutes of audio generated by reading an assortment of text prompts; rolls out new concert discovery features, such as Set Lists in Apple Music for some artists and Guides to local music venues in Apple Maps for select cities across the world.
• Twitter purchases recruiting startup Laskie for "tens of millions" in cash and stock.
• Qualcomm acquires Israel-based Autotalks, a fabless chipmaker that improves safety in bikes, cars and other vehicles, in a deal reportedly worth between US$ 350 million and US$ 400 million.
• Apple says it blocked 1.7 million app submissions for privacy, security and content policy violations in 2022, adding the App Store "prevented over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions."
• The U.S. state of Montana formally bans TikTok, becoming the first state to do so, effective starting January 1, 2024 (the law prohibits app stores like Apple's and Google's from offering downloads of the app); also bans Telegram, Temu and WeChat from government devices.
• Uber debuts new option that allows users to call a phone number to hail a ride without having to use the app; plans to let minors aged 13 to 17 ride solo for the first time in select U.S. and Canadian cities starting on May 22, via a special family account.
• Stability AI releases StableStudio, an open source version of DreamStudio, a commercial interface for the company's AI image generator model, Stable Diffusion.

• Microsoft brings deeper Bing Chat integration to Edge browser on mobile, allowing users to seamlessly continue conversations between devices.
• Amazon refreshes its Echo lineup with a new Echo Pop, a cheaper version of Echo Dot, alongside updated versions of Echo Show and Echo Buds.
• Google brings 30-second unskippable ads to top-performing videos watched on connected TVs; to disable third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users in Q1 2024 and check for typos in URLs and display suggested websites.
• Twitter increases its video upload limits for Blue subscribers from one hour and 2GB to two hours and 8GB, with the maximum resolution capping off at 1080p.
• OpenAI debuts ChatGPT app for iOS in the U.S. (an Android app is on the way), allowing users to converse with the AI assistant via the mobile client; gains the ability for speech input via OpenAI's Whisper and sync history across devices.
• Grammarly announces Grammarly Business, which uses generative AI to summarize key points in email threads and compose replies.
• Meta previews CodeCompose, an in-house generative AI tool to help write code similar to that of GitHub Copilot and Google Duet AI; Instagram teases a text-based decentralised platform for conversations that aims to take on Twitter and be compatible with other services like Mastodon. (It also comes as companies are attempting to capitalise on the growing trend of Twitter users looking to migrate to alternative platforms.)
• ByteDance-owned TikTok introduces its own custom font, called TikTok Sans, which it says is optimised for "legibility and reading retention."
• Microsoft's LinkedIn says it blocked over 58 million fake accounts in H2 2022, up from 22 million in H1, as Apple publishes its inaugural App Store Transparency Report, noting that the Chinese government asked Apple to remove 1,435 apps (1,276 of those apps were games), followed by India (14), Pakistan (10) and Russia (7). (The App Store had 1,783,232 apps as of 2022.)
• Samsung suspends an internal review into replacing Google with Bing as its mobile devices' default search engine, citing business relations with Google.
• OpenAI bars companies from using its models for, among other things, building products for political campaigning or lobbying, payday lending, unproven dietary supplements, dating apps, and "high risk government decision-making," such as "migration and asylum."
• Neeva, a search engine founded by former Google employees, announces plans to shut down the platform on June 2, 2023, citing changing economic environment, as it signals an enterprise pivot; says "convincing users to pay for a better experience was actually a less difficult problem compared to getting them to try a new search engine in the first place." (According to a scoop from The Information, database software provider Snowflake is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire the company.)