Technology News 26 July to 4 August 2020:
Apple removes 29800 apps from Chinese
app store
Apple Inc has removed 29,800 apps from its Chinese app store on Saturday, 1 August 2020 according to data from research firm Qimai. It included about 26000 games. The Chinese government has proposed to enforce more strict and controlled regulations on its gaming industry in order to remove sensitive content. Many popular games such as Zynga and Supercell were removed as a part of this move. Apple gave the game publishers a deadline of June to submit a government-issued license number in order to enable the external users to pay and get the game. They had also sent a reminder to game developers on July 8 about its plans to remove those apps if they did not meet the standards and regulations put forward by Apple Inc.
Apple had already been removing applications from the App store. They had removed about 3,000 games from the China App Store on July 1 and July 2. Apple is working to enforce strict gaming regulations in China, for which the developers must gain approval from Chinese regulators. Foreign companies are not allowed to directly apply for the license. It may take an appreciable amount of time for the game makers to get approved. Despite recent removals from the China App Store, over 179,000 games are still available in the country for Apple users. Around 160,000 of these available games are absolutely free, and hence they are not subject to the rules applied to the paid ones.
ByteDance to hand over TikTok’s control to Microsoft
TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app is an adapted version of Musically. Its parent company ByteDance had bought Musically, thereby making it the current version of the Tiktok app. The Tiktok app has been under scrutiny from the Trump administration and is now planning to sell itself to Microsoft. Many measures are said to be enforced on the app including forcing TikTok to divorce itself from its parent company, ByteDance.
ByteDance’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly has eventually morphed to become TikTok. The committee has decided to order ByteDance to divest TikTok. White House officials stated that the TikTok application may pose a national security threat because of its Chinese ownership. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin briefed the president on the divestment plan of Tiktok from ByteDance. Mr. Trump is weighing several other courses of action. Discussions are expected to continue into this weekend. The ultimate decision is still unclear. The Trump administration has also been thinking about adding ByteDance to a so-called “entity list,” which would prevent it from purchasing American products and services without a special license.
Following this threat of a ban on the app in the United States, ByteDance reportedly intends to remove itself from the U.S. version of the app completely. Now it has been said that the company has offered to hand over control to Microsoft. Microsoft would, therefore, be responsible for the security and U.S. user data.
This has not been confirmed by Microsoft. Despite the deal, the Trump administration may not reverse its decision on banning the app. The discussion is said to reach a consensus by the end of the week.
Read also:
IIT Kharagpur Develops new technology for Rapid COVID-19 Testing
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur have developed a new technology for low-cost COVID-19 tests. This entire test can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable enclosure which serves as an alternative to specialized laboratory equipment. The test results can be made available in a customized smartphone application designed for the same purpose within one hour.
This entire test is done using the extracted RNA from the patient saliva samples. The same portable unit can be used for a large number of tests. This test has an unprecedented low cost of less than ₹ 400/- per test and decent notable accuracy.
Prof. Suman Chakraborty from the Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, and Dr. Arindam Mondal from the School of BioScience, IIT Kharagpur, had come up with the concept of a portable rapid detection test for COVID-19 which led to this advanced testing technology. The technology essentially deploys a simple and disposable paper-strip for chemical analysis of the person's saliva and visualization of results. The new device has been designed to be usable at all kinds of locations including the ones with extremely poor resources in an uncontrolled environment. Hence this technology can be used in all places despite the facilities. Another highlight of this technology is it does not pose the need for much skilled technical persons. Even people with minimal technical knowledge can also cater to the need.
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