NewsBytes Briefing: TikTok sale deadline likely to be missed, more
Last night, multiple reports suggested that ByteDance is likely to miss the September 20 deadline for finalizing the sale of TikTok's US assets. The company was said to be closing in on a deal, but the new regulations imposed by China in connection to the foreign transfer of AI technologies have complicated the talks, resulting in the delay. Here are other developments.
Android 11 Go released, promises faster low-budget phones
A few days after releasing Android 11 to a bunch of devices, Google has announced the Go Edition of the platform, built for budget-focused phones with 2GB RAM or less. The OS, Google says, will launch apps 20% faster than Android 10 Go and offer enhanced features like grouped notifications, gesture-based navigation, and the ability to grant apps one-time permissions.
Smartphone business hit by US sanctions: Huawei CEO
At Huawei's annual developer conference, CEO Richard Yu said that the sanctions imposed by the US have hit the growth of their smartphone business. He said that the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have blocked their access to computer chips as well as Android, offered by Google. But they have still managed to gain a 51% market share in the Chinese smartphone industry.
Apple backtracks after threatening to remove its sign-in option
More than a day after giving a deadline of September 11 for terminating its own 'Sign in with Apple' login option for Epic Games accounts, the Cupertino giant has backtracked. The company has given an 'indefinite extension' to let Epic Games' users log in with its option, but the gaming company still requests users to set credentials and be prepared for the removal.
Other important developments to note
Among other things, Facebook launched a dedicated Campus section to let students connect and interact with their peers, follow college news, groups, events, chats, and more. Meanwhile, Google said that it will remove election-related predictions in auto-completed search phrases, while Twitter announced policy changes to label or remove tweets involving election rigging or premature election results.
Finally, some COVID-19-related updates
On Thursday, India reported over 96,000 new coronavirus infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 45.6 lakh. Over 1,200 fresh fatalities also pushed the death toll to 76,323. In the fight against the disease, Serum Institute of India has halted the Phase-3 trial of Oxford's vaccine due to safety concerns (which are being reviewed), while China has started the trials of a nasal spray vaccine.
