Tech Roundup: Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Tri-fold Phone, OpenAI o1 Model & More

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

• Meta admits to scraping every Australian adult Facebook user's public data to train AI, with no opt-out option as it is not required to do so under privacy law, as the company says its Llama models have been downloaded almost 350 million times and that Meta AI has over 185 million weekly active users and over 400 million monthly active users.
• The European Court of Justice rules against Google, upholding a 2017 decision for a €2.4 billion fine for abusing monopoly power to crush rival shopping services; comes as Europe's top court also orders Apple to pay Ireland up to €13 billion in back taxes (along with €1.2 billion worth of interest), marking an end to a 10-year-long court battle.
• South Korean police arrest two former Samsung officials on suspicion of stealing tech worth more than US$ 3.2 billion to build a chipmaking plant in China.
• Financial services giant Mastercard announces plans to acquire cybersecurity company Recorded Future in a deal valued at US$ 2.65 billion.
• Apple announces it will allow iPad apps to be sold via third-party app stores in the European Union from September 16, coinciding with the release of iPadOS 18; to bring sleep apnea detection to the Watch Series 10, Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2, and introduces a new iPhone feature called Visual Intelligence, its own take on Google Lens, that makes it possible to identify objects and provide information through the cameraa by means touch-sensitive button on the right side of the device called Camera Control.
• Music streamer Spotify pilots managed accounts for users under the age of 13 in Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden, allowing parents and guardians "to better tailor the content that is available to young listeners via in-app controls — like managing the playback of Canvas, videos, and content labeled as explicit"; expands daylist, a personalised playlist that evolves through the day depending on listening habits, globally for free and adds support for 14 languages.
• Meta confirms it's restarting efforts to train its AI systems using public Facebook and Instagram posts from its users in the U.K.; claims it has "incorporated regulatory feedback" into a revised "opt-out" approach to ensure that it's "even more transparent."
• Ride-haiing service Uber allows parents and guardians to hail a ride on their children's behalf from their own accounts, after launching teen accounts for minors aged 13-17 last year.
• Oracle and AWS debut Oracle Database to let customers access select Oracle products within AWS, following Oracle's partnerships with Azure and Google Cloud.
• Google unveils DataGemma models that use real world data from Google-created Data Commons to reduce hallucinations in queries revolving around statistical data; releases a new Ask Music feature in YouTube music, letting users create AI-powered playlists by entering text-based prompts, and rolls out Ask Photos, a Gemini-powered search feature in Google Photos, in "early access" to select customers in the U.S.
• OpenAI releases o1 for ChatGPT Plus and API users, its first in a series of reasoning models that can answer more complex questions and "exceeds human PhD-level accuracy on a benchmark of physics, biology, and chemistry problems (GPQA)"; comes as ChatGPT surpasses 200 million active users and 11 million paying subscribers, including 1 million for its higher-priced enterprise plans, generating the company ver US$ 225 million in revenue per month.
• Google rolls out out Gemini Live voice chat mode to all Android users for free, following its release to Gemini Advanced subscribers last month; says Search AI Overviews, Gemini image generation and other AI products will not respond to election-related topics ahead of the U.S. elections
• Unity cancels its controversial Runtime Fee and reverts to its existing seat-based subscription model, but raises Unity Pro's and Unity Enterprise's prices.
• Meta-owned WhatsApp brings Meta Verified badges to small businesses in India, starting at ~US$ 8 per month, and gives them the ability to send customised messages to customers; details its plans for WhatsApp and Messenger interoperability with third-party apps in the E.U., with group chats in 2025 and voice and video calling in 2027.
• Microsoft plans to use StopNCII's hash database to block revenge porn in Bing, joining Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Pornhub and OnlyFans.
• Google releases Android 15, making its source code available on the Android Open Source Project; starts rolling out a Google One "Lite" plan in India that offers 30 GB storage for Rs. 59, or ~US$ 0.70, per month.
• Meta makes AI labels less prominent on content edited with AI across Facebook, Instagram and Threads, moving them behind a menu, but displays them otherwise on AI-generated content; jazzes up DMs in Instagram with new features for photo editing, sticker creation and themes, and adds a comment feature for Stories that, by default, only allows followers that an account follows back to leave comments.
• Salesforce rolls out Agentforce, a suite of AI agents that handle tasks in sales, marketing, commerce and customer service.
• The Mental Health Coalition announces Thrive, a data-sharing program to reduce content on suicide and self-harm, with Meta, Snap, and TikTok as founding members.
• Roblox announces an open-source generative AI tool to let creators make 3D scenes using text prompts, and announces new social features like Party and Music Charts.
• Amazon's Audible plans to invite some U.S.-based audiobook narrators to train AI on their voices, cloning them and paying for title recordings via a royalty-sharing model.
• Apple debuts a new iOS feature in the Camera app to pause video recordings and says it will finally introduce its popular 'Find My' network to South Korea in the spring of 2025 after clearing regulatory hurdles that allegedly prevented the company from exporting high-precision map data out of the country; approves an update to WeChat for the upcoming iPhone 16 amid ongoing negotiations over revenue-sharing agreements for WeChat's mini-games ecosystem.
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) formally opens an investigation into Ticketmaster's compliance with consumer protection law and whether "people were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called 'dynamic pricing' with prices changing depending on demand"; rules that Microsoft's acquihire of the Inflection team doesn't cause competition concerns, but designates the deal as a merger.
• PayPal expands into U.S. point-of-sale payments by integrating its debit card with Apple Wallet and offering 5% cash back on US$ 1,000 per month for a chosen product group.
• U.S. telecom carrier Verizon agrees to acquire rival telecom operator Frontier Communications for an enterprise value of US$ 20 billion.
• Spotify is reportedly trying to entice video-oriented creators to distribute shows on the platform in addition to YouTube as it attempts to beef up its video catalogue; says users on iPhone will no longer be able to control the volume of connected devices using their physical volume buttons after Apple "discontinued" the technology that enables the functionality.
• Chinese handset maker Huawei unveils US$ 2,800 Mate XT Ultimate tri-fold handset featuring a 10.2-inch screen and a slim 3.6-millimetre profile when fully opened.
• U.K. media regulator Ofcom says internet has replaced TV as the country's most popular news source, with 71% of adults getting news online vs. 70% via TV; 52% use social media for news, up from 47% in 2023.
• Google rolls out a new ChromeOS update that makes it easier to keep on-screen apps organised using Snap Groups (similar to Windows 11 Snap layouts), copy text from images, and adjust camera and microphone settings on Chromebook devices.
• Ant Group launches Zhixiaobao, a chatbot app that facilitates daily tasks, such as ordering meals and hailing taxis, and lets users access third-party services.
• Ride-hailing company GoTo plans to close its Gojek business in Vietnam, to focus on reaching profitability in its main operations in Indonesia and Singapore.
• The U.S. government says OpenAI and Anthropic agreed to give the U.S. AI Safety Institute early access to major new AI models to test and evaluate their capabilities and risks.
• Sydney-based Canva announces a price increase, including hikes of 300% for some users, citing its new AI and generative AI features.
• Google begins testing new feature in its Wallet app that allows users to create a digital ID by scanning their passports to make domestic air travel easier.
• Snapchat announces plans to soon start "experimenting" with placing sponsored messages next to chat threads from friends (aka "Sponsored Snaps"); to also make available to advertisers "Promoted Places" that businesses can use to "reach incremental customers who are exploring places nearby" on Snap Map.
• The development comes as Snap facing a new lawsuit in the U.S., alleging Snapchat is a "breeding ground" for predators seeking to collect sexually explicit images of children and extort them, prompting law enforcement agencies to use AI-generated images of fake kids to lure and catch child predators online.
• X adds the ability for users to edit messages shared on DMs, as rival Bluesky launches new anti-toxicity options to limit dogpiling and hostile quote posts.
• The CMA objects to Google's ad tech practices, saying the company harmed competition by using its online display ad dominance "to favour its own ad tech services"; comes amid Google's ongoing antitrust trial in the U.S., with prosecutors alleging Google abused its size to dominate the advertising sector through acquisitions and that it has a "trifecta of monopolies" in general search, the Android app store and advertising.
• India's antirust watching, the Competition Commission of India, accuses Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, Realme, OnePlus, Vivo and Lenovo of collusion for exclusively launching products on Amazon and Flipkart.
• Sony announces the PS5 Pro, offering a better GPU and faster memory for up to 45% faster game rendering, but no disc drive, for US$ 700.
• Microsoft says Intel's Core Ultra 200V and AMD's Ryzen AI 300 chips will add Copilot+ AI features starting in November 2024, expanding beyond Qualcomm chips.
• Google begins limiting repeated video recommendations about fitness levels, body weights, physical features and more to teens globally in YouTube, expanding from the U.S.; announces AI detection tools to protect against copying creators' likeness, including their faces and voices, and plans to offer AI scraping controls.