#WeeklyRecap: New CoronaOven, Apple-Google collaboration, WhatsApp's restrictions, and more
This week, the tech industry continued its fight against coronavirus with innovative new solutions and technologies. A company in India launched the CoronaOven disinfection chamber to kill the virus, Google and Apple came together for a partnership aimed at automating the process of contact-tracing, while WhatsApp took a major step to combat fake news around the pandemic. Let's go through everything that happened.
Novel solutions to fight COVID-19 pandemic
To fight COVID-19, Apple and Google announced the plan to develop a system that could let people know if they came in contact with an infected individual, while IBM shared its AI tools to fast-track the development of vaccines/treatments. Additionally, Bengaluru-based Log 9 Materials launched CoronaOven, a disinfection chamber that can kill all germs/microbes, including the coronavirus, from the surface of daily essentials.
Google's Braille keyboard, Maps update, and more
Google, on its part, also pushed an update for Maps and Google Assistant to let the products show the locations of food and night shelters across several Indian cities. The company further went on to announce a new Braille keyboard for people with visual impairments, two months of free Stadia Pro subscription in 14 countries, and a new name for Google Hangouts Meet.
Major steps from Facebook and WhatsApp
Facebook's new product experimentation team released Tuned, a dedicated scrapbook-style communication service for couples. Meanwhile, WhatsApp, the premium messaging service owned by the company, took steps for restricting users from forwarding viral messages, which have been sent through a chain of five or more people, to more than one contact/chat. The decision was made to slow the spread of fake news, WhatsApp stated.
Tesla's in-house ventilator and Netflix's profile protection
Meanwhile, Tesla demoed the ventilator its engineers have been building using parts of Tesla Model 3 to combat shortage amid COVID-19 crisis. On the other hand, streaming giant Netflix upgraded the security of its service by adding an option to let users lock their individual profiles - and their personalized content - by setting a PIN of their choice.
Finally, some interesting hardware announcements and rumors
In the consumer tech category, we witnessed the launch of Vivo Y50, Vivo V19, and Samsung's fancy Galaxy A21. There were some interesting rumors revolving around Apple products, including the iPhone 12 and iPhone 9 or SE. Notably, one Apple patent also suggested that the Cupertino giant is working on a smart mat that could monitor your sleep in real-time.
