• Facebook Tests Accounts Center To Control Connected Experiences Across Its Apps
    Starting this week, Facebook will begin testing a feature that lets users switch apps and manage their experience between Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Users will have the ability to share stories to Instagram and Facebook at the same time, or use their Facebook account to log into Instagram. Setting up the feature in Accounts Center allows users to control connected experiences that work across its apps.   
  • Amazon Lets Consumers Pay With A Touchless Wave of Their Palm
    Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a biometric payment system using palm recognition. The company plans to make the technology available to rival retailers.  The contactless system, Amazon One, will let people use their palm to make purchases, present loyalty cards or enter a stadium or workplace. The company said engineers chose palm recognition because it's considered more private than some biometric alternatives. Amazon said no one can determine a person’s identity by looking at an image of their palm, and it requires someone to make an intentional gesture by holding their palm over the device to use. 
  • Google Forces Android App Developers To Use Its Billing System
    Google will give Android app developers until September 31, 2021 to adopt its in-app billing system for apps distributed on the Google Play Store. The same rules will apply to its own apps. The policy really only applies to less than 3% of developers with apps on Google Play. Google only collects a service fee if the developer charges users to download their app or they sell in-app digital items. Reports suggest the crackdown is aimed at Netflix and Spotify. 
  • Google Search Serves Information About Curbside, In-Store Pickup
    Searches on Google For "curbside pickup” and “safe shopping” increased tenfold in the last few months. So the search engine added a "Nearby" filter that tells the person searching for products what's available from where, when and how. The decision to modify its shopping tools comes from changing search patterns during COVID-19. To participate, businesses can update or create their Google My Business profile or upload local product feed through Google Merchant Center.
  • Google Gets Tax Break From Nevada
    California hasn't shown Google any love, but Nevada did. The company will receive more than $25 million in tax breaks after committing to spend an additional $600 million for a new data center in Henderson, Nevada, a Las Vegas suburb.
  • China Would Rather See TikTok Shutdown In U.S. Than Force Sale
    Reuters reports that China would rather see the app shut down in the U.S. than undergo a forced sale because Beijing officials think the forced sale would make both ByteDance and China look weak under pressure. Potential buyers have been discussing a new structure to the purchase that doesn't include key algorithms, but to date those talks have failed. 
  • Ireland Orders Facebook To Stop Transferring User Data To U.S.
    Facebook received a letter from regulators in Ireland that requires the company to "suspend data transfers to the U.S. about its EU users," according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The preliminary order was sent by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to Facebook late last month, asking for the company’ to respond.
  • Apple To Delay iOS Change For IDFA Tracking
    Apple plans to delay the enforcement of a change to its next mobile operating system, iOS 14, that will upend how ads are targeted on iPhones and iPads. The next iOS will require developers to ask users to share their device’s unique identifier for advertising purposes through a prompt. Advertisers rely on this identifier, or IDFA, to track the effectiveness of their ad campaigns in mobile apps. 
  • Trump Outspends Biden On Digital Ads With Google
    Bloomberg reports U.S. President Donald Trump has become the biggest political advertising buyer on Google’s platform, surpassing Michael Bloomberg. Trump has spent $64.7 million since May 2018, Google’s political ad transparency website shows. The millions were split between the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and Donald J. Trump for President Inc. Groups tied to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden -- Biden for President and the Biden Victory Fund -- spent $32.6 million.
  • Google Accused Of Censoring Democratic Digital Ad
    Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, slammed Google on Wednesday for refusing to run a digital ad from the group that backs Biden. The 30-second digital ad shows police violence against protesters, accusing the tech giant of censorship. He said the ad depicts the realities of the U.S.
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