Top news this week: Facebook News Feed controversy, Orkut, iWatch and more!

From Google finally deciding to pull the plug off Orkut to COO Sheryl Sandberg meeting PM Modi, it’s been quite an eventful week in the technology world. Besides, we also saw a slew of nifty product launches in the Indian market. Those who’ve missed their daily dose of tech, here’s a quick recap of the top news this week:

Earlier this week, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her visit to India. Modi reportedly discussed how digital media helps with direct communication between people and the government and how India could use the platform for spreading awareness among people.

In the last couple of months, rumours around the alleged Apple iWatch have begun to accelerate. The latest one talks about Apple hiring luxury watch-maker Tag Heuer, hinting at a stylish and good-looking watch. This means, the rumoured smartwatch won’t be all about health and fitness, but also about good looks, aesthetics and luxury.

Tata Sky has announced its plans to launch 4K set-top boxes early next year by showing off a live 4K broadcast of the France vs Germany World Cup 2014 Quarter Final tie. This was the first ever 4K broadcast in India and that too of a live event.

In her recent visit to India, while talking about various issues in an interview, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg also clarified (in response to its controversial News Feed study) that the company takes user privacy very seriously. She said the company communicated very badly on the emotions study, and said they are now talking to regulators across the world.

A study detailing how Facebook secretly manipulated the News Feed of some 700,000 users to study “emotional contagion” has prompted anger on social media. For one week in 2012 Facebook tampered with the algorithm used to place posts into user news feeds to study how this affected their mood. Soon after that, Facebook  explained  why it tinkered with the News Feeds of its users.

British regulators are investigating revelations that Facebook treated hordes of its users like laboratory rats in an experiment probing into their emotions. The Information Commissioner’s Office said Wednesday that it wants to learn more about the circumstances underlying a 2-year-old study carried out by two US universities and the world’s largest social network.

More than 70,000 people have already asked Google to delete links about them under Europe’s “right to be forgotten” ruling, with some of the worlds biggest news sites the first to be hit.

With a slew of Android Wear apps flooding the app store, Google has made sure that lack of apps won’t hold you back when you actually decide to buy one. Android Wear apps are available on a separate page on the Play Store under the section Apps for Android Wear. Truecaller is one of the first developers selected to bring an app to the Android Wear platform, allowing users to quickly get call or contact information.

Those championing for free Internet will be glad to know that the new Pew study appears to be quite positive. However, the study also highlights some threats that could get worse by 2025.

Those passengers who are often glued on to their screens on their commute will be glad to know that the Mumbai Metro is now offering free Wi-Fi in the trains and stations. Users can avail of the service for free for the first 15 minutes and then on it will cost Rs 100 for 180 hours.

Microsoft is believed to launch a Samsung Gear Fit-like fitness band that will display smart phone-based notifications in fall. So, it could be a wrist band rather than a watch, just like some rumoured and existing fitness-focused bands.

Though we first heard murmurs about a possible Microsoft smartwatch in April last year, we have only been seeing more concrete rumours in the past few months. A new report this week said that Microsoft doesn’t want to be late to the smartwatch party and could launch its new wearable as early as October.

Almost after a year of releasing its large Galaxy Mega phones in the Indian market, news has it that the company is working on the Mega 2 that will be available at affordable prices. Benchmarks on GFX bench now disclose a large 5.9-inch display that probably targets a low to mid-range market, unlike the 5.8 and 6.3-inch displays seen in the original device. However, Samsung has maintained the same resolution at 1,280 x 720 pixels.

Of all the European Samsung Galaxy S5 owners, 17 percent are former iPhone owners, according to the latest report by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Although Apple’s iPhone 5S and 5c are the largest selling smartphones in Europe, Android remains the number one OS with 73.3% share.

Facebook wants its users in India to hang up on advertisers. The Internet social networking company is testing a new type of ad in the country that allows mobile phone users to click a button that calls a brand advertiser, immediately hangs up and then receives a return call.

Reacting strongly to reports of BJP being spied upon by US National Security Agency (NSA), India has summoned a top US diplomat here to raise the issue, saying it was “totally unacceptable” that an Indian organisation or Indian individual’s privacy was transgressed upon.

Google has acquired streaming music service Songza, the Internet search company’s latest move to play a bigger role in the fast-growing online music business. Google said on Tuesday it would explore ways to incorporate aspects of Songza into its existing streaming music service over the coming months.

Within a month of launching the Galaxy Tab S series in the US, the nifty tablets are launched in India. The new Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Galaxy Tab S 8.4 are expected to give the Apple iPads a run for their money, at least as far as specs and user experience are concerned, but the pricing is higher than Apple’s offering.

Goodbye Orkut: Google will shut down the social network on 30 September

Google will shut down its early social-networking service, Orkut, which was launched ten years ago but has failed to put Google ahead in what has become one of the Web’s most popular businesses. Google said it will shut down Orkut, which is widely used in Brazil and India but hasn’t caught on more broadly, on September 30, to focus on its other social networking initiatives.

America’s top spy agency was authorised by a US court in 2010 to carry out surveillance on the BJP along with five other political organisations across the globe, including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan Peoples Party, according to a classified document.

In the bid to woo its investors and prove it is capable of generating ad revenue, Twitter has not only been experimenting new features that could give it a monetisation angle. One such feature we’ve been hearing for quite some time now is the ‘Buy Now’ button directly embedded into a tweet.

Samsung has expanded its low-cost phones by launching four new devices that have better specs and run on Android 4.4 KitKat. The new smartphones announced are Galaxy Core II, Galaxy Ace 4, Galaxy Young 2, and Galaxy Star 2. These will be the affordable range of Samsung smartphones and clearly indicate Samsung’s attempt to counter other low-end smartphone makers.

“The Internet’s Own Boy” which is the a documentary on Internet information activist Aaron Swartz has been released in theatres in the US. Swartz committed suicide on 13 January, 2013 at the age of 26. He helped develop an early version of the Web feed system RSS and co-founded Reddit.

Google has decided to remove QuickOffice from its app store. With QuickOffice now integrated into Google Docs, Sheets and Sides, it seems to be the obvious move. At the Google I/O last week, the company spoke about its three core apps – Docs, Slides and Sheets. Paving way for its new apps, the company plans to discontinue Google QuickOffice apps that were made available for free on Android and iOS last year in September. Google had acquired QuickOffice in 2012.