Tech Roundup: Apple U.S. Antitrust Lawsuit, Worldcoin Portugal Ban & More

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

• The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) sues Apple in landmark antitrust case over its infamous walled garden approach, alleging the company blocked its competitors from accessing iPhone features and made switching to non-Apple devices more difficult by locking in features like iMessage and cloud games; Apple vows to vigorously defend itself and says the DoJ winning the lawsuit "would set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people's technology."
• The European Commission opens formal DMA investigations into Apple and Google over letting developers "steer" users from their app stores free of charge, and Meta for its "pay or consent" subscription model; says Meta's model "may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers."
• The Connectivity Standards Alliance launches a cybersecurity standard that aims to provide a globally recognized security certification for consumer IoT devices.
• NVIDIA launches Quantum Cloud, a service that simulates a quantum computer and allows researchers to test out their quantum computing software; unveils Project GR00T, a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots, and Jetson Thor, a new computing platform designed specifically for humanoid robots, and the Earth-2 platform for users to create AI-powered climate simulations ranging from global atmospheric conditions to local weather phenomena.
• NVIDIA debuts next-generation Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) that aims to help companies "build and run real-time generative AI on trillion-parameter large language models at up to 25x less cost and energy consumption than its predecessor [Hopper]"; announces "a deepened partnership" with Google to scale AI development, and teams up with Shutterstock and Getty Images to offer AI-generated 3D content via Edify, and Hippocratic AI to provide low-latency inferencing and speech recognition for generative AI healthcare agents (i.e., nurses).
• Google details VLOGGER, an AI model that can generate life-like videos of people speaking, gesturing, and moving, from a single photo and an audio clip using type of machine learning model called diffusion model; requires creators to label their realistic-looking videos made using AI in an effort to bring transparency about the use of synthetic content.
• Google quietly refreshes its Fitbit branding from "Fitbit by Google" to "Google Fitbit" and updates the watermark font to match Google Pixel and Google Nest; comes as Fitbit teams up with Google Research to create an AI model based on Gemini to provide Fitbit mobile app users with personalised data and health recommendations.
• The Competition Commission of India orders an antitrust investigation into Google for charging app developers an "unfair" Play Store service fee of 10% to 30% for in-app purchases.
• Google adds dark mode support for Drive and adds multiview support for YouTube TV on iOS and iPadOS; DeepMind showcases new AI system for football analytics dubbed TacticAI that "can provide experts with tactical insights, particularly on corner kicks, through predictive and generative AI."
• Beeper stages a return with a new Android app that offers universal chat support for various platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp, but minus Apple iMessage after Apple banned users from using the service for cross-platform chats.
• Meta faces new probe in the U.S. over whether the company's social-media platforms are facilitating and profiting from the illegal sale of drugs; says it works to find and remove such content from its services.
• Stability AI debuts Stable Video 3D, a generative AI tool built on its Stable Video Diffusion model, letting users create 3D video from a text or image prompt.
• Meta-owned Threads rolls out a "Trending now" pages for users in the U.S. and brings fediverse integration in beta in the U.S., Canada, and Japan, letting users cross-post and view likes from federated platforms like Mastodon; reportedly offers to drop the price of ad-free subscription in the European Union from €9.99 to €5.99 for a single account per month to address criticism that the move is a "pay-or-consent" smokescreen to obscure the "real problem of illegal processing of data."
• Microsoft announces a new organisation called Microsoft AI that's focused on advancing Copilot and its other consumer AI products and research; to be led by former Google DeepMind and Inflection AI co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. (Microsoft, besides its investments in OpenAI and Mistral, has also invested in Inflection AI in an attempt to give it an edge amid the boom in generative AI.)
• Employer review platform Glassdoor kicks up privacy storm after it begins adding real names and other information (sometimes incorrect) obtained from third-parties to user profiles without users' consent; says it's "committed to providing a platform for people to share their opinions and experiences about their jobs and companies, anonymously—without fear of intimidation or retaliation."
• Epic Games plans to release the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android later this year; describes it as a "true multi-platform store."
• Apple faces new legal setback after Meta, Microsoft, X and Match Group file an amicus brief protesting the companys plan to charge a commission for payments made outside the App Store and for not honouring a 2021 ruling that order Apple to remove ant-steering rules banning developers from telling users about alternatives to Apple’s in-app purchase system.
• Robinhood rolls out its Robinhood Wallet app on Android, after launching the iOS app in March 2023.
• France's competition watchdog, the Autorité de la Concurrence (ADLC) fines Google €250 million for failing to broker deals with media outlets over content links and using articles to train its AI technology; commits to better explaining to publishers both "how our products based on generative AI work and how 'Opt Out' works."
• Microsoft unveils the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 for enterprises, adding a Copilot key and a Neural Processing Unit for Windows 11's AI features; previews built-in spellchecking and an autocorrect features for Windows Notepad.
• The United Nations unanimously adopts the first global resolution on AI to encourage protecting personal data, monitoring AI for risks and safeguarding human rights.
• X bans the posting of real names of people behind anonymous accounts in a major policy change; tests NSFW adult communities on the platform.
• Popular social media platform Reddit officially debuts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for US$ 34 a share under the ticker symbol RDDT.
• Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink releases a video purporting to show the first human patient using the company's xbrain implant to control a mouse cursor and play a game of chess.
• Chipmaker Qualcomm ends its bid to buy Israeli car chip maker Autotalks, citing a lack of timely regulatory approvals.
• Mozilla ends a partnership with Onerep, which lets users remove data from people-search sites following reports that the company's CEO Dimitri Shelest founded dozens of such sites.
• Google starts testing AI overviews in the main Google Search results with some users, even if they do not opt in to the Search Generative Experience labs feature; to remove the ability to download third-party apps and watch faces for all Fitbit smartwatches in the E.U. in June 2024, citing "regulatory requirements."
• Telegram rolls out its Peer-to-Peer Login (P2PL) Program, giving some Android users a Premium subcription for volunteering their phone numbers to relay SMS OTPs to other users; warns users that "Telegram cannot prevent the OTP recipient from seeing your phone number upon receiving your SMS," and that "Telegram will not be liable for any inconvenience, harassment or harm resulting from unwanted, unauthorized or illegal actions undertaken by users who became aware of your phone number through P2PL."
• Atlas VPN announces plans to discontinue its services on April 24, citing technological demands, market competition and escalating costs; to transfer its paid subscribers to its sister company, NordVPN.
• Meta's WhatsApp allows users to pin up to three important messages in chats; begins to limit political content by default across Instagram and Threads.
• Spain's High Court suspends its temporary ban on Telegram in the country, which was imposed after complaints from several media companies alleging the messaging app allows users to upload TV and video content without permission.
• Controversial crypto biometrics venture Worldcoin gets hit with another ban order in Portugal requiring the company to stop collecting biometric data for 90 days, after receiving complaints about unauthorizsed collection from minors; comes weeks after Spain moved to block the service over data protection concerns, including including insufficient information being provided to users about the processing of their biometric data and the inability of users to delete their data or revoke consent to processing.