Tech Roundup: Google Jamboard Shutdown, Meta AI Assistant & More

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

• OpenAI updates ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Enterprise to let users prompt the tool using voice commands or by uploading an image; adds new feature that lets the chatbot speak in five different voices in a conversational tone, and brings back support for browsing the internet using Microsoft Bing "to provide you with current and authoritative information" after axing the feature temporarily following reports that it's being misued to bypass paywalls.
• Spotify partners with OpenAI to debut an AI translation feature that reproduces podcasts in other languages using a synthesized version of the podcaster's voice; adds auto-generated transcripts to podcasts and launches Jam, a new feature that lets up to 32 people curate a single playlist. (While a jam can be created only by Premium subscribers, all users can contribute to it.)
• Getty partners with Nvidia to launch Generative AI by Getty Images, a tool trained on Getty's licensed photos that lets users create legally protected images.
• Amazon shuts down its Alexa Guard security system and moves the free smoke and carbon monoxide detection features to its US$ 5.99/month Emergency Assist service.
• Reddit launches a Contributor Program that pays verified users monthly based on the karma earned and the gold received for "eligible contributions" on the site.
• Google plans to discontinue Gmail's Basic HTML version in January 2024, saying the view does not include "full Gmail feature functionality"; to stop offering its ad-free €6.99/month Premium Lite tier in YouTube, piloted in select European countries since August 2021, after October 25, 2023, shut down Google Podcasts later in 2024 as part of a migration to YouTube Music, and deprecate Jamboard meeting room display on September 30, 2024, and phase out its collaborative Jamboard app on October 1, 2024.
• E-commerce giant Amazon to invest up to US $4 billion in the AI startup Anthropic, which already counts Google as one of its investors, as the e-commerce group steps up its rivalry against Google, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia and OpenAI in the fast-growing sector.
• Google to reportedly offer seven years of software updates to its Pixel phones, as it gears up to launch Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro early next month; rolls out ChromeOS 117 with a Material You redesign.
• E.U. antitrust regulators block Booking.com's proposed acquisition of Swedish peer ETraveli, saying the deal would have strengthened the former's dominance in the market for hotel online travel agencies.
• Amazon says it intends to eventually charge a subscription fee to use its Alexa voice assistant, as it looks for ways to drive revenue from the service by adding new generative AI features. (It has also confirmed that it will use an extremely small fraction of user voice interactions with Alexa to train its AI model, AlexaLLM.)
• Microsoft officially rolls out a Windows 11 update that revamps File Explorer and adds access to Passkeys and Windows Copilot and, over the coming months, AI updates to Paint, Snipping Tool and Photo.
• The E.U. calls on led on Apple to open the company's ecosystem of hardware and software to rivals to allow its consumers to "benefit from competitive services by a range of providers."
• The U.S. FTC files lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of wielding monopoly power over online retail; calls it a "monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power" and that it "engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging."
• Meta to bring a separate account deletion for Threads by December 2023 after it faced criticism for making it impossible to delete a Threads account without deleting the associated Instagram account; comes as the social media platform struggles to attract new users following its debut in July 2023.
• Engagement from Russian, Chinese, and Iranian disinformation sources soars by 70% on X after the platform's decision to remove labels from state-run accounts, findings from NewsGuard reveals.
• French regulators approve a software update from Apple to address concerns with radiation levels from iPhone 12 handsets, leading to its ban in the country.
• X previews its long-promised alerts that will notify users about whether or not their account has been shadowbanned; removes an option that allows users in a handful of markets to directly report misleading election information.
• Apple defends its decision to search deal with Google to keep the latter's search engine as the default across its devices; says "there wasn't a valid alternative."
• Indonesia announces plans to ban direct transactions on social media, citing their effect on traditional markets, landing a blow to social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok that have integrated social shopping features.
• Adobe makes its Photoshop on the web, including Firefly-powered features, generally available for paid plans, with no "immediate plans" for a freemium offering.
• Meta unveils Quest 3 mixed reality headset, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that allows users to take calls, play music, capture photos and videos, and live stream to Facebook or Instagram, teases Meta Quest for business with a focus on supporting enterprise AR apps like Microsoft 365, announces support for Xbox Cloud Gaming and Roblox, and launches AI-generated chat stickers for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, as well as new AI-powered image editing tools for Instagram and a Meta AI assistant for WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.
• The company has emphasised that it has included important privacy safeguards in its new generative AI features to protect information. It however said that "the AIs may retain and use information you share in a chat to provide more personalized responses or relevant information in that conversation, and we may share certain questions you ask with trusted partners, such as search providers, to give you more relevant, accurate, and up-to-date responses."
• News application Artifact adds the ability for users to create their own posts, as it takes on X and Substack.
• Online auction site eBay gets accused of selling "hundreds of thousands" of dangerous polluting products in the U.S. that defeat pollution controls on motor vehicles.
• Epic Games, which is currently fighting a legal battle with Apple, divests Bandcamp to a music licensing company known as Songtradr, a little over a year after its acquisition in March 2022.
• Web browser Vivaldi debuts an iOS version, more than four years after launching an Android.
• Microsoft considered selling Bing to Apple in 2020 as part of a deal that would have replaced Google as the default search engine on the latter's devices, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Google adds OpenAI-like setting that lets publishers use a robots.txt flag to opt out of the company using their data to train its AI models, while remaining accessible through Google Search; opens its Search Generative Experience to U.S. teens ages 13-17 alongside improvements to offensive query detection.
• Google unveils the Fitbit Charge 6, with a haptic side button, integration with Google services like YouTube Music for US$ 160.
• Apple launches an iOS Wallet feature in the U.K. using the country's Open Banking API, showing users their current account balances, deposits and payment history; updates iCloud website with new features for Calendar, Contacts, Drive, Mail, Notes, Photos and Reminders, and appeals prior U.S. court ruling regarding an "anti-steering" rule that bars developers of iOS apps from directing users to methods of purchase available outside of the ‌App Store‌, circumventing Apple's revenue cut.
• Reddit removes the ability to opt out of ad personalisation based on Reddit activity but says users will still have opt-out controls in "select countries."
• The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opens probe into whether Qualcomm's acquisition of Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks would lessen competition in the market.
• X alternative Post comes to Android alongside new tools that aim make it easier for creators to share their newsletter content on the platform.
• The U.K. government disbands the independent advisory board of its Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) that's tasked with promoting the responsible deployment of data and AI technologies.
• Apple is looking for ways to circumvent incoming legislation in China that would prevent the company from listing foreign apps on the iPhone App Store in the region unless they've been given government approval and require them to file business details with the government. (A total of 26 app stores operated by companies including Tencent, Huawei, Ant Group, Baidu, Xiaomi and Samsung have already submitted filings to the cyberspace regulator, with Apple being the notable exception. It's worth noting that Apple's App Store allows Chinese iPhone users to install foreign apps like Instagram and Facebook that are banned in the region.)
• U.S. court rules that Meta-owned Facebook can be sued for allegedly discriminating on the basis of gender and age, in violation of civil rights laws, following allegations that the platform's "ad targeting and delivery tools were discriminatory and aided and abetted discrimination by advertisers."