By October, Apple plans to remove apps and in-app purchases from its iTunes Affiliate Program. “The company cites its own editorial teams and discovery features as strong enough alternatives to third-party websites and news operations that have historically made money in part by referring their readers to the App Store,” The Verge writes.

In terms of market capitalization, Apple briefly became the first trillion dollar publicly traded companynthis week. “Apple achieved this milestone by hitting a stock price of $207.05 and above in intraday trading today, giving it a market cap slightly over $1,000,000,000,000, based on its 4,829,926,000 outstanding shares as of July 20, 2018,” Mac Rumors writes.

Thanks to a strong online ad business, Baidu just reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. “Consecutive quarters of strong profits also show Baidu has learnt to navigate regulatory potholes in China after previous missteps even as competitors suffer temporary bans and fines for failing to censor content,” Reuters writes. The Chinese Web search giant said online ad revenue rose by 25% to about $3.10 billion.

Microsoft is testing a “Your Phone” app for Windows 10. “It’s designed to mirror content from a phone to a PC,” The Verge writes. “Android phone users will be able to test Your Phone first, with the ability to drag and drop recent photos straight into Office apps and other Windows apps direct from a phone.” Microsoft is also planning to add support for text message sync and notifications from phones, The Verge notes.

Snapchat is adding some voice-activated Lenses, Engadget reports. “There’s no need to make a facial gesture, like an eyebrow raise or sticking your tongue out, to activate these,” it notes. “Simply say one of the recognized English words, like ‘Hi,’ ‘Love’ or ‘Wow,’ and the Lenses will animate.”

WhatsApp just launched a Business API, which will let businesses respond to messages from users for free for up to 24 hours -- but will then charge them a fixed rate per message. For the Facebook unit, the move represented its “first revenue-generating enterprise product and the only way it currently makes money directly from its app,” TechCrunch writes. “Businesses will still only be able to message people who contacted them first.”