Tech Roundup: Anthropic Computer Use, Microsoft-Google Tussle & More

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

• Egypt gets declared malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) nearly 100 years authorities launched efforts to combat the mosquito-borne infectious disease.
• Hong Kong updates information security guidelines to restrict the use of Chinese messaging app WeChat, alongside Meta and Google products like WhatsApp and Google Drive, on government networks.
• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) makes it illegal to publish fake, AI-generated product reviews and testimonials, or risk facing civil penalties.
• Adobe says artists need to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and are otherwise "not going to be successful in this new world without using it," as companies race to incorporate the technology into their products.
• Apple releases iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS 15.2 developer betas, with features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration; includes a new "Default Apps" section in the Settings app to manage default apps (Email, Messaging, Calling, Call Filtering, Browser App, Passwords and Codes and Keyboard apps) for the iPhone, and lets users in the E.U. delete a number of core app such as App Store, Safari, Messages, Camera and Photos.
• Microsoft's LinkedIn says it has verified over 55 million users for free, the most verified individual human identities of any social network, to combat AI-fueled misinformation; attempts to woo publishers with a new "News Banner" on its mobile app feed and a video ad program.
• Apple gets a mixed verdict in its patent infringement lawsuit against Masimo after a U.S. court rules that the medical device maker violated two of its patents with Freedom smartwatch; comes months after Apple stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 with blood oxygen features in the U.S. following an International Trade Commission ruling that the company infringed on Masimo patents for pulse oximetry.
• AI search engine Perplexity launches a native app for Apple macOS; says it's serving 100 million queries each week, up from 250 million queries per month back in July 2024, as it pushes back against lawsuits accusing it of scraping content from media publications without their consent by claiming media firms "prefer to live in a world where publicly reported facts are owned by corporations, and no one can do anything with those publicly reported facts without paying a toll."
• Apple adds an iMessage child safety feature in iOS 18.2 beta 1 in Australia that allows children report images or videos with nudity sent to them to the company; comes as Google rolls out enhanced scam detection to Google Messages beta users and previews safety features, like an option to blur images that may contain nudity, warn users about potentially dangerous links, and turn off messages from unknown international senders.
• AI company Anthropic launches an analysis tool to help Claude write and run JavaScript code, perform calculations and analyse data from files, in preview; releases a new Claude 3.5 Sonnet model that can interact with desktop apps by imitating mouse and keyboard input via a "computer use" API.
• Google-owned YouTube brings its affiliate program to India, letting content creators with over 10,000 subscribers to tag products in their videos and earn referrals, and runs an experiment that hides view counts and upload dates on the homepage; to add an AI info section in the image details view of Google Photos, for images edited with tools like Magic Editor and Magic Eraser
• Goodreads' co-founder Otis Chandler launches Smashing, an AI-powered app that aims to create a community around web content and help "passionate readers find and share the most insightful and accurate information about topics they follow."
• Popular note-taking platform Notion previews Mail, an email client that uses AI to organise, archive or draft emails and handle scheduling and follow-ups.
• Adobe makes Fresco, its dedicated drawing and painting app, free to users, removing a subscription for premium features, to compete with Procreate and others; says its Firefly Video Model, which lets users extend footage, is the first "commercially safe" text-to-video generative AI model that was trained on licensed and public domain content. (The company has also previewed AI tools that can generate 3D scenes and sound effects, make animated graphics in different styles and automatically remove distractions in images and videos.)
• ByteDance-owned TikTok brings its STEM feed to all users in the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland by default to help find educational content, after launching the feed to under-18 users.
• Apple updates its TestFlight app with new features designed to streamline the app beta testing process, including options for developers to "set tester criteria you must meet in order to join a beta"; adds a new "Set List" feature for artists to enable them to create Apple Music playlists tied to their recent concert set lists.
• Meta-owned WhatsApp plans to let users save contacts in the service directly by usernames using a new Identity Proof Linked Storage (IPLS) encrypted storage system as opposed to relying on a phone's contact book to sync contacts; rolls out "activity status" to Threads that shows a green dot next to a user's profile picture to show the user is online if they have the feature enabled.

• Google signs an deal to buy nuclear energy generated from multiple small modular reactors developed by U.S.-based Kairos Power to help supply electricity to the company's data centres, in a first-of-its-kind deal in the country.
• Google adds an option for NotebookLM users to customise audio summaries and launches a NotebookLM Business pilot, as more than 80,000 organisations use the research assistant and note-taking tool; open-sources SynthID Text, which lets developers watermark and detect text generated by AI models.
• Humane slashes the price of its US$ 699 AI Pin by US$ 200 in an attempt to reverse the AI gadget's very poor sales, six months after its market debut to lacklustre reviews.
• Epic launches its Fab marketplace, a one-stop shop to get digital assets like environments and animations, offering an 88% revenue share to creators.
• Winamp owner Llama Group deletes the GitHub repository of the legacy player's source code posted on September 24, 2024, following criticism about the licensing terms and for likely including proprietary packages from Intel and Microsoft.
• Canva releases new generative AI features, including Dream Lab, an image generator powered by Leonardo.ai's Phoenix model. (It's worth noting that the company acquired Leonardo in July 2024.)
• Fintech company Stripe announces a finalised deal to buy stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge in a deal is worth US$ 1.1 billion.
• The E.U. declines to designate X as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) after an investigation found that "X is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users."
• Spotify starts rolling out music videos in beta for Premium subscribers in 85 additional markets, after introducing the feature in 12 markets earlier in 2024; debuts an in-app cover art maker for playlists.
• Foursquare plans to sunset its City Guide app on December 15, 2024, to focus on check-in app Swarm, reversing a 2014 decision to split its services into two apps.
• Microsoft updates OneDrive with an improved search experience, a new mobile app and coloured folders in File Explorer; adds support for Copilot for all commercial users.
• Meta unveils 11 billion- and 90 billion-parameter Llama 3.2 models with multi-modal image support, alongside smaller 1 billion and 3 billion models that are meant to be deployed on phones.
• Google rolls out a personalised shopping feed based on recent searches and YouTube history as part of a redesigned Google Shopping experience; also packs in AI-generated briefs "with top things to consider for your search, plus products that meet your needs; Amazon begins testing a new shopping app homepage on Android and iOS with millions of U.S. users, adding bigger graphics and an emphasis on horizontal scrolling.
• Apple updates its Apple Business Connect feature to allow any verified business to create a consistent branding and location presence across apps that include Maps, Wallet, Phone and Mail; to also permit businesses to register for Business Caller ID starting next year.
• Google rolls out Android 15 to Pixel devices, adding privacy features like a "private space" for apps, security tools, and foldable and tablet improvements; enables third-party password manager support for Chrome on Android devices running Android 14 or later, and tests the ability to resize Quick Settings tiles the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 release.
• Apple unveils an updated iPad mini with A17 Pro, Apple Intelligence, and the same 8.3" display, starting at US$ 499 with 128GB of storage.
• Chipmaker Qualcomm partners with Google to help automakers develop AI voice assistants and unveils two new chips to power dashboards and self-driving features; debuts the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile SoC, with two prime and six performance CPU cores, claiming 45% faster CPU and NPU over the 8 Gen 3.
• Google tests a new privacy feature for Messages on Android that allows users to control who sees their picture and name; adds biometric authentication for Find My Device and formally discontinues the original version of Google Meet.
• Asana launches AI Studio in early access, a no-code tool for designing AI agents that can be integrated into teams' existing workflows.
• OpenAI debuts a ChatGPT app for Windows but limits it to paid users; partners with Microsoft for funding projects to bring more AI tools into the newsroom in the U.S.
• Google announces plans for enterprises to create their own curated "Enterprise Web Store" of company-sanctioned browser extensions for Chrome and ChromeOS.
• Microsoft accuses Google of running a "shadow campaign" to discredit it with regulators in Europe and that it's behind a coalition of cloud companies, named the Open Cloud Coalition, aiming to influence policy makers and "mislead the public," describing it as an "astroturf group"; comes after Google files a complaint against Microsoft in the E.U. over the Windows maker's unfair practices for licensing the Windows Server operating system.