US blocks Chinese quantum computing companies; Spotify testing video feed; and Lava Kumar unpacks emotion AI at Entropik Tech

America has blocked more Chinese firms from accessing US technology, adding the names of eight tech firms to a list called the ‘entity list’, BBC reports. The companies were helping the Chinese military’s quantum computing efforts, according to the report. The US has also blocked individuals and entities from Russia, Japan, Singapore, and Pakistan. The entities blocked in Pakistan are related to the country’s “unsafeguarded nuclear activities or ballistic missile programme,” a US commerce department official said, according to BBC.

Spotify is testing a TikTok-style vertical feed of music video clips, with a discover tab on its app’s opening page. The update was discovered by Chris Messina—widely credited as the inventor of the hashtag—who posted a short video on his Twitter page showing the new feature.

A UK judge has set December 16 as the deadline for home secretary Priti Patel to decide if the extradition of Mike Lynch, co-founder of a British software company Autonomy, should be allowed, Financial Times reports. Lynch is accused in the US of tricking Hewlett Packard into paying $5 billion more for his company in an $11.7 billion deal in 2011 at a 79 percent premium to the market value that was widely criticised as too high.

Samsung is ending its Galaxy Note series, Android Police reports. The company has not released a Note smartphone for 2021 and hasn’t included one for its 2022 lineup either, Android Police says, citing ET News, a South Korean tech news site. Features of the Note may be included in Samsung’s S22 Ultra, according to the report.

(02:23) Interview: Lava Kumar, co-founder and chief product officer at Entropik Tech on emotion AI

You might think twice about making faces at your smartphone because the technology to interpret that already exists and companies are using it to sell you that next dress you didn’t know you wanted or to add another data point to your profile they are storing away. In today’s interview, Lava Kumar, co-founder and chief product officer at Entropik Tech, talks about his company’s emotional AI products that can interpret facial expressions, eye movements and even brain signals.