Tech Roundup: Google Pixel 8, TikTok Subscription & More

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

• ByteDance-owned TikTok confirms it's running a limited-scale test of an ad-free subscription plan for US$ 4.99 a month in a single, English-speaking market outside the U.S.; halts e-commerce service in Indonesia following government ban on e-commerce transactions on social media platforms.
• Google launches Chromebook Plus, a premium Chromebook category with qualifying specs like a 1080p webcam, a 1080p IPS display, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
• X pilots game streaming and live shopping features in a bid to entice more creators to the platform, which is home to nearly 500 million posts per day; starts removing preview headlines from posts with article links, showing only the lead image and domain name, and says it's testing three pricing tiers -- Premium Basic, Premium Standard and Premium Plus -- that vary how many ads are shown.
• Microsoft overhauls OneDrive with a new design and AI-powered Copilot integration; releases a new version of Teams for Windows and macOS that's optimised for better performance and a new web version of its app store for Windows.
• Meta reportedly plans to charge users in the European Union $14-17 a month for an ad free version of Facebook and Instagram as a way to completely opt out of personalised ads; comes in response to a court ruling in July finding that Facebook must gain the consent of users to access their personal data.
• Music streamer Spotify starts offering Premium subscribers 15 hours of audiobook streaming per month across more than 150,000 titles; to add a new AI-generated playlist feature based on users' prompts and revamps artist profile pages.
• Zoom unveils Zoom Docs for collaborative document editing, featuring the ability to include information and AI-generated summaries from Zoom meetings.
• Apple starts requiring a Chinese government license to publish new apps on its China App Store, following new rules that came into effect in August 2023 which mandates app developers to host their backend in the country; effectively closes a loophole that allowed iPhone users in the nation to use blocked services such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube via VPN.
• Google officially launches emoji support in Gmail and releases a Gmail app for Wear OS; debuts new AI feature for Google Home that allows users create custom Routines.
• PayPal adds Apple Wallet support for PayPal and Venmo debit and credit cards, enabling users to make payments using Apple Pay.
• Apple officially discontinues support for high-end Apple Watch Edition models that were launched in April 2015, adding them to its obselete list; releases an updates for iOS that addresses overheating issues in the latest iPhone 15 models.
• Retail giant Amazon used a now-defunct algorithm codenamed Project Nessie as a way to artificially raise prices for products in a manner that would lead its "competitors to raise their prices and charge customers more," according to the Wall Street Journal, as the company continues to be locked in a regulatory battle with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over its alleged monopolistic practices and for erecting a purposefully complicated cancellation system for Prime membership.
• Microsoft's LinkedIn debuts new AI features spanning its job hunting, marketing and sales products, including updates to its Recruiter talent sourcing platform, an AI-powered LinkedIn Learning coach; and an AI-powered tool for marketing campaigns.

• Google debuts Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones with AI features to improve image quality and seven years of software updates, Pixel Watch 2 with faster performance and new health and safety features, and Pixel Buds Pro with clearer voice calling and suggestions for hearing wellness; officially rolls out Android 14 with customisable lock screens, expanded passkey support and on-device health features, and announces new measures in Gmail (along with Yahoo) that requires bulk senders to authenticate their emails, enable easy unsubscription.
• Google supercharges Assistant with Bard integration, combining "Bard's generative and reasoning capabilities with Assistant's personalised help."
• Amazon to shut down Amp, its live audio streaming app launched in March 2022, as the buzz surrounding live audio fades and the company looks to aggressively trim costs; updates its Luna cloud gaming service to let users buy individual games.
• Meta rolls out generative AI features for advertisers, including to create backgrounds, expand images to fit different aspect ratios, and write versions of ad text based on the original copy; comes amid reports that the company is paying several creators millions of dollars over multiple years for nonexclusive use of their likeness in its AI chatbots.
• Artifact adds new feature that allows users to generate and upload AI-generated images for their own content that's posted on the news-sharing platform. (The ongoing craze for incorporating AI features notwithstanding, concerns like prompt injection and hallucinations show that it's trivial to circumvent guardrails erected by companies and return unintended responses.)
• Google adds new buttons at the top of Google Docs to let users quickly insert content building blocks like meeting notes, email drafts, and more; improves search in Google Chat to surface more accurate and relevant results based on the search terms, launches new appointment scheduling features to Calendar, and expands client-side encryption in Gmail to Android and iOS devices.
• Reddit rolls out improvements to search with a media search tab and an option to search for media content within a subreddit.
• Apple considered, but ultimately rejected, buying Microsoft Bing and using DuckDuckGo as a replacement for Google as the default search engine for the private mode on Safari browser, as the U.S. government's antitrust trial against Google reveals new details pertaining to the company's decision to pay billions of dollars to Apple and Mozilla to be the default search engine on web browsers and smartphones, preventing other rivals from gaining traction.
• Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs announces plans to investigate four local companies over reports that they are assisting Huawei Technologies in establishing chipmaking infrastructure in China.
• Canva unveils AI tools like Magic Studio to automate labor-intensive design tasks, and will pay out US$ 200 million over three years to designers for using their work to train AI models.
• Uber expands Uber Connect with a "return a package" feature, allowing customers to send up to five packages for a $5 fee to UPS, FedEx or USPS locations.
• Samsung unveils the Galaxy SmartTag 2 smart tracker with a revamped design, Bluetooth, UWB, and IP67 water resistance (it's still compatible only with Samsung devices).
• The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launches fresh probe into the public cloud infrastructure services market such as those offered by Microsoft and Amazon and determine whether they "make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers."
• The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the country's data protection regulator, raises privacy concerns with Snapchat's generative AI chatbot My AI, finding that the company "failed to adequately identify and assess the risks to several million 'My AI' users in the U.K. including children aged 13 to 17."
• The Indian government orders Telegram, X and YouTube to ensure there is no child sexual abuse material on their platforms, or risk getting stripped of their protection from legal liability.
• South Korea's telecommunication regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), says it plans to levy fines on Google and Apple, which could total up to US$ 50.5 million, for violating the country's in-app payment law; accuses the cpmpanies of abusing market dominance to force local app developers to use their in-app payment methods and unfairly delaying app reviews to enforce the specific billing system.