Tech Roundup: Apple iPhone 15, X Government ID Verification & More

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

• Meta's WhatsApp tests work on integrating support for third-party messaging apps following new E.U. regulations that require interoperability between instant messaging services that are in gatekeeper roles; blocks searches to a set of specific keywords in Threads such as covid, coronavirus, covid-19, vaccines and covid vaccines, as well as other terms associated with potentially unsavory content like gore, nude and sex.
• Apple unveils next generation iPhone 15 (the Pro models can use its ultra-wide and main cameras together to capture 3D "spatial videos" for viewing on the Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset) and AirPods Pro with USB-C port, Watch Series 9 with 18-hour battery, Watch Ultra 2 with 36-hour battery, and discontinues iPhone 13 mini; introduces new 6 TB and 12 TB iCloud+ storage tiers. (Apple is now also selling wired EarPods with a USB-C connector, but it's not offering the USB-C case for AirPods Pro as a standalone purchase.)
• Lyft announces Women+ Connect, a feature that prioritises matching female and nonbinary drivers and riders, falling back to men when no other people are nearby.
• Salesforce announces Einstein Copilot, a new generative AI-powered conversational assistant for its apps, and Einstein Copilot Studio, a way for companies to build AI-powered apps with custom prompts, skills, and AI models.
• TikTok begins rolling out TikTok Shop to all U.S. users, adding a home screen Shop button that sends users to a marketplace with over 200,000 sellers, as it doubles down on its e-commerce venture; expands its revamped creator fund Creativity Program Beta beyond the U.S. to eligible creators in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the U.K.
• Amazon announces generative AI tools to help sellers write "captivating product descriptions, titles, and listing details" and add to existing descriptions, brings in-app purchase back to Prime Video for Android, letting users buy VOD rentals and more, after removing the option from the app in 2022 to avoid Google's 30% fee, and debuts new search and discovery features on mobile, like multimodal search and Find-on-Amazon, which lets users find similar products to those in a photo.
• X adds a new feature for premium users to verify their accounts in partnership with AU10TIX using a government ID in a bid to prevent impersonation and "maintain the integrity of the platform" (but it's not available in Europe) as well as hide their likes tab; comes as rival Bluesky hits one million active users and Meta's Threads rolls out options to quote posts as well as follow a thread by turning on notifications for 24 hours. (The developments come as The Markup reported that X is continuing to throttle link to rivals such as Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Substack.)
  
• News sharing app Artifact adds Links, a section where users can post any type of link and discover links through a Following page or an algorithmic For You page.
• Adobe makes Firefly generally and commercially available in Creative Cloud and other services, and announces "generative credits" to charge for Firefly access.
• WhatsApp rolls out Channels to users in more than 150 countries, after introducing the broadcasting feature in June 2023 in Colombia and Singapore.
• Telegram adds the crypto wallet TON Space to its Wallet bot and plans to give the tool to all Telegram users, minus some countries like the U.S., in November 2023.
• Chinese tech giant Huawei signs a global patent cross-licensing deal with Xiaomi, covering 5G and other communication technologies.
• Apple says iPhone 12 is certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards after France orders a ban on the device after finding that its Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is higher than what's allowed; says it will release a software update to address radiaiton concerns.
• Stability AI launches a text-to-audio generative AI platform called Stable Audio to "deliver faster, higher-quality music and sound effects."
• Google claims its search engine is wildly popular because of its quality and that dissatisfied users could switch with "a few easy clicks," as the company faces a trial in the U.S. over whether it's a monopoly; comes as the tech giant faces scrutiny for paying billions of dollars to make sure its search engine runs by default on internet browsers and phones, preventing rivals from gaining a significant market share in search.
• China says there is no ban on government officials using iPhones and that it "has not issued any laws, regulations or policy documents prohibiting the purchase and use of smartphones made by foreign brand" after multiple reports speculated that the government had restricted the devices from being used by government-backed agencies and state companies.
• Music streamer Spotify launches a personalised playlist called daylist for users across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland that's "dynamic, and playful as it reflects what you want to be listening to right now"; announces "Songwriter Promo Cards" that allows artists to promote their music.
• Google's Jigsaw unit releases Outline, which provides free, open, and encrypted access to the internet through a VPN, as a software development kit for other companies to build censorship resistance directly into their products.
• Google shows off new logo for Find My Device, expands its iFixit partnership by offering parts for Pixel Tablet repairs, extends lifespan of Chromebooks with 10-year update policy stating 2024 following criticism that the products generate a huge amount of e-waste (that said, Google does not offer repair options for cracked Pixel Watch screens), and agrees to pay US$ 93 million to settle a lawsuit in the U.S. state of California accusing the company of tracking users' location for commercial gain even after they opted out.
• Microsoft unveils EvoDiff, a novel protein-generating AI framework that the company says can help create enzymes for new therapeutics and drug delivery methods; broadens its Oracle cloud partnership with Oracle Database@Azure, letting customers run Oracle workloads natively in Azure data centres, and updates Windows Snipping Tool to extract text from screenshots.
  
• Meta expands Horizon Worlds, previously exclusive to its VR headsets, to the web and mobile in early access.
• Automattic releases ActivityPub 1.0.0 for WordPress, letting fediverse users follow WordPress blogs on apps like Mastodon and receive replies as blog comments.
• X updates Community Notes feature to allow contributors to view all all note proposals and conisder alternative viewpoints before rating a note; to also notify writers when "a post on which they wrote a note gets deleted."
• Video game development company Unity announces controversial pricing plan effective January 2024 that includes a new Unity Runtime Fee for developers on a "per-install" basis after certain minimum thresholds are met.
• California becomes the third U.S. state to pass an electronics right-to-repair act after Minnesota and New York, requiring companies to expand access to repair materials like parts, tools, documentation and software for three years for products costing US$ 50 to US$ 99.99 and seven years for products priced at US$ 100 or more. (The bill covers electronics and appliances made and sold after July 1st, 2021. But what about Apple AirPods?)