Tech Roundup: Meta Orion, OpenAI Canvas & More

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

• The European Commission says Apple must step into line with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on making operating systems interoperable with other tech, and gives Apple six months to comply.
• The Philippines passes a new law imposing a 12% value-added tax on non-resident digital service providers, such as Netflix, HBO and Disney
• The U.S., the U.K., the E.U., and other 10 non-member countries sign a Council of Europe treaty to ensure that AI use is "fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law"; comes as the U.S., Anthropic, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI launch the Partnership for Global Inclusivity on AI to advance "sustainable" AI development.
• Fintech giant Klarna partners with Dutch payments company Adyen to bring buy now, pay later (BNPL) services to physical stores, as Apple adds an Apple Pay option to pay with BNPL service Affirm in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, after announcing the discontinuation of Apple Pay Later in June 2024.
• Google updates its AI note-taking assistant NotebookLM to let users get summaries of YouTube videos and audio files, and create sharable AI audio discussions.
• Microsoft debuts AI tools for Python and charts in Excel, adds email prioritisation features to Outlook, and says Copilot's customers grew more than 60% quarter-over-quarter; rolls out Copilot Pages, which pulls Copilot responses into a new page where they can be edited collaboratively, to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers.
• Amazon plans to increase the number of ads on Prime Video in 2025 after not seeing a sharp decline in subscribers since adding advertisements in January 2024.
• Winamp media player publishes its complete source code on GitHub more than 27 years after its launch to allow "developers to improve and modernize the player to meet current user needs."
• Disney officially launches its password-sharing crackdown, letting users add an "Extra Member" for US$ 6.99/month for Disney+ Basic, or US$ 9.99 for Disney+ Premium.
• Meta unveils a prototype of Orion, its first augmented reality glasses, with a 70-degree FoV, wireless neural input wristband, silicon carbide lenses and micro-LED projectors.
• Social media platform Pinterest launches a feature to let users remix collages created by others.
• Former Apple design chief Jony Ive confirms he's working with OpenAI on an AI hardware project, more than a year after rumoured reports of a possible collaboration.
• NVIDIA launches AI Aerial to integrates AI into the radio access network and allow telecom providers to run third-party AI apps at the network's edge.
• Amazon follows Google and Meta's footsteps with an AI-powered video generator, for some U.S. advertisers in beta, that turns a single product image into a few-second video showcase; also launches Amelia, an AI tool designed to help third-party sellers resolve account issues and fetch sales and inventory data for some U.S. sellers.

• Google's YouTube announces a major connected TV app revamp, with a new UI and features like immersive previews for creator pages and a more prominent subscribe functionality; hikes Premium subscription prices Colombia, Denmark, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and other countries, and widely rolls out Pause ads to all advertisers after a "strong advertiser and strong viewer response."
• Amazon adds PayPal as a payment option to Buy with Prime, letting shoppers with a Prime membership purchase items from third-party stores and check out using the payment service on websites that have integrated the Buy with Prime API.
• Uber says it plans to start checking U.S. passengers' account information against third-party ID verification databases and display a blue badge to drivers.
• Apple increases the cost of out-of-warranty battery replacement for iPhone 16 Pro models by 20% to US$ 119, but keeps it at US$ 99 for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models; releases updates to improve iPhone 16 repairability, including changes to the battery, TrueDepth Camera and Face ID, and launches a Repair Assistant to address parts pairing issues.
• Dating platform Grindr tests an AI "wingman" that would let users track conversations with their "favourite" users and recommend long-term relationship candidates.
• Google updates YouTube with the ability for creators to upload up to three-minute videos in Shorts, adds an Inspiration tab in the YouTube Studio app that lets creators use AI to generate video concepts, write scripts and create titles and thumbnails, and integrates Google DeepMind's AI video generation model Veo into Shorts, letting creators generate high-quality backgrounds and 1080p six-second clips.
• OpenAI turns its Safety and Security Committee into an independent Board oversight committee that has the authority to delay model launches over safety concerns, as it surpasses 250 million weekly active users; launches Canvas, a ChatGPT interface with a workspace for writing and coding projects, similar to Anthropic's Artifacts, and warns users against probing its o1 "Strawberry" models to determine how they work.
• Language learning app Duolingo debuts Math and Music lessons in its Android app a year after iOS.
• Google releases Android theft protection features that automatically locks devices using AI to detect motion indicating theft; adds a new daily calendar overview in newly opened Chrome tabs for Workspace users with easy access to schedules and video calls.
• X updates the functionality behind its block button such that blocked accounts can still view a users' public posts, but will prevent it from engaging the user's account.
• South Korean tech giant Naver launches crypto wallet, Naver Pay Wallet, in partnership with Chiliz, a blockchain provider for sports and entertainment.
• Ukraine-based Mac and iOS app developer MacPaw releases its alternative mobile app store Setapp in the E.U.