Monday, November 30, 2020

Redmi Note 9 4G China Model May Launch as Redmi 9 Power in India

Redmi Note 9 4G China model is now reported to launch in the India market with the name Redmi 9 Power. Meanwhile, Xiaomi introduced the Poco M3 first in Europe and then re-introduced it as the Redmi... https://ift.tt/36n2SjO

Facebook, Google, More Tech Giants to Face Digital Tax in Canada in 2022

Canada plans to impose a tax on corporations providing digital services from 2022 that will stay in place until major nations come up with a coordinated approach on taxation. https://ift.tt/36pgD1G

Facebook, Google Becoming 'Human Rights-Free Zones' in Vietnam: Amnesty

Facebook and Google are fast becoming "human rights-free zones" in Vietnam, Amnesty International warned, accusing the tech titans of helping censor peaceful dissent and political expression in the... https://ift.tt/3mqCviI

Amazon launches EC2 Mac instances bringing the Intel-based Mac mini to its cloud for $1.083 per hour billed by the second (Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch)

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches EC2 Mac instances bringing the Intel-based Mac mini to its cloud for $1.083 per hour billed by the second  —  AWS today opened its re:Invent conference with a surprise announcement: the company is bringing the Mac mini to its cloud.  These new EC2 Mac instances, as AWS calls them, are now available in preview.



7 ways your smartphone's camera changed in 2020

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How to share photos and videos from iPhone to any Android smartphone

Google recently added a similar feature called Nearby Sharing that allows Android smartphone users to do that same task without any hassle. However, things get much more complicated when it comes to sharing photos and videos from an iPhone to Android or vice-versa. https://ift.tt/2Vp7aAQ

Amazon, Apple Stay Away From New French Big Tech Initiative

Amazon and Apple have not signed up to a new French initiative to get global tech companies to publicly commit to principles including paying their fair share of taxes. https://ift.tt/3fURrmx

Facebook Buys Online Customer Service Startup Kustomer

Facebook announced it is buying Kustomer, a startup specialising in helping businesses interact with customers online. https://ift.tt/2HTSTsU

Bitcoin Jumps to All-Time High of Over $19,800 Amid Increased Demand

Bitcoin soared to a record high against the dollar on Monday, boosted by increased demand from both institutional and retail investors that saw the virtual currency as a safe-haven and a hedge against... https://ift.tt/33yDiXv

Donald Trump to add China's SMIC and CNOOC to defense blacklist: Sources

The Trump administration is poised to add China's top chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to a document and sources, curbing their access to U.S. investors and escalating tensions with Beijing weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. https://ift.tt/3fRmOOU

Britain bans new Huawei 5G kit installation from September 2021

British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said, as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm's equipment from high speed mobile networks. https://ift.tt/3lwuDLq

Facebook to buy customer service startup Kustomer

Facebook Inc said it would buy customer service startup Kustomer, as the world's largest social network adds tools to attract more sellers to its platforms. https://ift.tt/3fTZ64F

Bitcoin surges to all-time record as 2020 rally powers on

Bitcoin soared to a record high against the dollar, as its 2020 rally steamed ahead, boosted by increased demand from both institutional and retail investors that saw the virtual currency as a safe-haven and a hedge against inflation. https://ift.tt/3qj0rXo

Totum Labs, which is developing low earth orbit nanosatellites for global IoT connectivity, raises $13M Series A led by Heroic Ventures and Space Capital (Nickie Louise/TechStartups.com)

Nickie Louise / TechStartups.com:
Totum Labs, which is developing low earth orbit nanosatellites for global IoT connectivity, raises $13M Series A led by Heroic Ventures and Space Capital  —  Totum Labs, a San Diego, CA-based tech startup that is revolutionalizing wireless technology by enabling low-cost, global …



Google names 21 Best Android apps of 2020

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Mursion, which offers VR training to practice human skills, such as emotional intelligence, in the workplace, announces $20M Series B led by Leeds Illuminate (Lee Clifford/Fortune)

Lee Clifford / Fortune:
Mursion, which offers VR training to practice human skills, such as emotional intelligence, in the workplace, announces $20M Series B led by Leeds Illuminate  —  Hugo is furious.  —  He's sitting across from me, arms crossed, face scowling, exuding bad energy.  Sitting next to him is Maia.



S&P Global has agreed to acquire IHS Markit for about $44B in an all-stock deal, which would merge two of the largest providers of financial data and analysis (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
S&P Global has agreed to acquire IHS Markit for about $44B in an all-stock deal, which would merge two of the largest providers of financial data and analysis  —  Landmark deal would combine two of the largest providers of data to Wall Street  —  S&P Global Inc. agreed to acquire IHS Markit Ltd …



Sources: Gitlab is letting employees sell equity in a secondary share sale that values the company over $6B, up from a valuation of $2.7B in September 2019 (Ari Levy/CNBC)

Ari Levy / CNBC:
Sources: Gitlab is letting employees sell equity in a secondary share sale that values the company over $6B, up from a valuation of $2.7B in September 2019  —  - GitLab competes with GitHub, which Microsoft acquired in 2018 for $7.5 billion.  — The company had originally aimed to go public …



Facebook to launch Facebook News in the UK in Jan. 2021, says it will pay publishers for news not already on its platform; most big UK publishers have signed up (Jim Waterson/The Guardian)

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Facebook to launch Facebook News in the UK in Jan. 2021, says it will pay publishers for news not already on its platform; most big UK publishers have signed up  —  Social network agrees deal with mainstream outlets in face of government crackdown on its dominance of advertising



How to Watch Lunar Eclipse 2020 Live

Lunar eclipse or Chandra Grahan is appearing in the skies today. It will be the fourth and the last eclipse of 2020. The lunar eclipse November 2020 will be seen in many parts of Europe as well as... https://ift.tt/36kD5cd

Spotify Is Reportedly Testing Stories With Playlists, Artists

Spotify has started testing a Stories feature with selected playlists and a few artists whose songs are present in the playlist, a media report has said. The feature allows users to share video clips... https://ift.tt/33tGQdt

Samsung Could Soon Launch 'Galaxy Buds Pro' True Wireless Earphones

Samsung's upcoming true wireless earphones will be called the Galaxy Buds Pro, as per a new report citing certification confirmations. The earphones are expected to come with active noise... https://ift.tt/3o0hc82

Flipkart's Flipstart Days Sale to Start Tomorrow, With Deals of Up to 80 Percent Off

Flipkart's Flipstart Days sale beings tomorrow, December 1, and will go on till December 3, 2020. The sale will include discounts up to 80 percent off on electronic accessories and up to 50 percent... https://ift.tt/3okNydZ

Sunday, November 29, 2020

BigBasket lost 80% of workforce within 2 days of lockdown, bounced back with resilience: CEO

"After losing 80% of the workforce for two days, we were really dumbstruck as orders poured in, we hired 12,300 people in 16 days - through this we demonstrated the power of resilience," he said. https://ift.tt/36lUiC1

Britain bans new Huawei 5G kit installation from September 2021

British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said on Monday, as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm's equipment from high speed mobile networks. https://ift.tt/3ll7Lyf

Amazon Cyber Monday Sale Brings Up to 50 Percent Off on International Brands

Amazon India Cyber Monday sale brings up to 50 percent off on international brands such as Ecovacs, Akaso, Tribit, Huion, Nibosi, Sojos, and more. There are other limited time offers as well. https://ift.tt/3llogu3

Moto G 5G With 5,000mAh Battery, Triple Rear Camera Launched in India

Moto G 5G was launched in Europe earlier this month, and it has now made its way to India. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 750G SoC and packs a large 5,000mAh battery. It has a triple rear... https://ift.tt/2HW7eFq

Samsung Launches Level U2 Neckband Earbuds With 12mm Drivers

Samsung Level U2 neckband earbuds have been launched. The new model comes over five years after the launch of the original Level U. The Samsung Level U2 are designed to deliver up to 18 hours of... https://ift.tt/3ltPmzv

Nokia 5.4 Launch, Alleged Specifications And Price Tipped

Nokia 5.4 may be launched with a 6.4-inch hole-punch display and a faster SoC than its predecessor, a report has said. The smartphone's alleged 4GB RAM and 128GB storage variant has been seen on two... https://ift.tt/3oakzcK

Mulan, Pixar's Soul, Euphoria, and More on Disney+ Hotstar in December

The Mandalorian season 2, Mulan, His Dark Materials season 2, Pixar's Soul movie, holiday specials for Euphoria and High School Musical, Godmothered - the biggest TV shows and movies on Disney+... https://ift.tt/3oakx4C

Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G Appears on HDR10+ Certification Site

Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G has appeared on an HDR10+ certification site. Two variants of the upcoming Oppo Reno 5 Pro 5G, carrying model numbers PDSM00 and PDST00, were listed on the site. . The smartphones... https://ift.tt/39sR8OD

ZTE Blade V2021 5G With Triple Rear Camera Launching on December 2

ZTE Blade V2021 5G will be released on December 2, according to its listing on Chinese e-retailer JD.com. The phone will come with 5G support and a triple rear camera setup. https://ift.tt/2KViO4R

Xiaomi Mi 11 Series Tipped to Arrive in January

Xiaomi Mi 11 series, comprising the Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro, is speculated to debut as early as January. The Chinese company is likely to make a formal announcement about the Mi 11 series at Qualcomm... https://ift.tt/3qc8LYZ

Britain Bans New Huawei 5G Kit Installation from September 2021

Britain has ordered telecom firms to not install any new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021. They were already banned from buying new Huawei 5G kit after year's end. https://ift.tt/3qdfGkY

Trump to Add Chinese Chipmaker SMIC to Defense Blacklist: Sources

The Trump administration could add China's top chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to a document and... https://ift.tt/3qbQYBc

A look at crowdsourced public safety apps growing amid rising violence in Brazil; Fogo Cruzado, which warns of shootings in Río and Recife, has 250K+ downloads (Raphael Tsavkko Garcia/MIT Technology ...)

Raphael Tsavkko Garcia / MIT Technology Review:
A look at crowdsourced public safety apps growing amid rising violence in Brazil; Fogo Cruzado, which warns of shootings in Río and Recife, has 250K+ downloads  —  Shootouts are common in Brazil's cities.  Apps have sprung up to tell people about spots to avoid—and to put political pressure on authorities.



Motorola Moto G 5G India Launch Confirmed for November 30

Motorola Moto G 5G will launch in India on November 30, the company has confirmed. It will be available via Flipkart on November 30, 12pm (noon) onwards. The Moto G9 Power has been tipped to launch in... https://ift.tt/3fCzDMZ

JD Digits, JD.com's big data unit, unveils its plans to build an AI-powered smart city "operating system" for China's smart city project in Xiongan, China (Masha Borak/South China Morning Post)

Masha Borak / South China Morning Post:
JD Digits, JD.com's big data unit, unveils its plans to build an AI-powered smart city “operating system” for China's smart city project in Xiongan, China  —  JD Digits, the e-commerce giant's big data arm, is building up a smart city operating system that uses artificial intelligence Alibaba …



Torbaaz, Mank, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, and More on Netflix in December

The Walking Dead season 10, Torbaaz, Shazam!, Vir Das: Outside In, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Bombay Rose, Mank, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Part 4, The Prom, The Midnight Sky, Big Mouth: Season 4,... https://ift.tt/3o97ZKI

Interview with former director of US CISA Chris Krebs on being fired by Trump via tweet, why paper ballots are key to ensuring election security, and more (Scott Pelley/CBS News)

Scott Pelley / CBS News:
Interview with former director of US CISA Chris Krebs on being fired by Trump via tweet, why paper ballots are key to ensuring election security, and more  —  Chris Krebs, a lifelong Republican, was put in charge of the agency handling election security by President Trump two years ago.



UK-based Primer, an ex-PayPal staff fintech that aims to help merchants future proof and consolidate their payment stack, raises a £14M Series A led by Accel (Steve O'Hear/TechCrunch)

Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
UK-based Primer, an ex-PayPal staff fintech that aims to help merchants future proof and consolidate their payment stack, raises a £14M Series A led by Accel  —  Primer, the U.K. fintech that wants to help merchants consolidate their payments stack and easily support new payment methods in the future …



The UK will ban the installation of new Huawei 5G network equipment starting September 2021 and pledges $333M to diversify its 5G supply chain (Thomas Seal/Bloomberg)

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg:
The UK will ban the installation of new Huawei 5G network equipment starting September 2021 and pledges $333M to diversify its 5G supply chain  —  - Britain set to impose security law on mobile network operators  — White House pushed allies to exclude Chinese tech giant Huawei



How students in a remote part of Pakistan mobilized during the pandemic to demand better internet from the military-run unit controlling it (Alizeh Kohari/Rest of World)

Alizeh Kohari / Rest of World:
How students in a remote part of Pakistan mobilized during the pandemic to demand better internet from the military-run unit controlling it  —  Pakistan's government uses the internet as a means of exerting control — and in a remote part of the country, citizens are starting to fight back.



Experts say Facebook's implementation of its ban on selling historical artifacts eliminates evidence of crimes and hinders the tracking of art traffickers (Zoe Schiffer/The Verge)

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Experts say Facebook's implementation of its ban on selling historical artifacts eliminates evidence of crimes and hinders the tracking of art traffickers  —  A ban on selling stolen artifacts is having unintended consequences  —  On October 24th, 2020, an art trafficker in Darnah, Libya posted a series of unusual ads.



As China gets more expensive and US politics less predictable, Foxconn, Pegatron, and others are increasing production in places like India, Vietnam, and Mexico (Debby Wu/Bloomberg)

Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
As China gets more expensive and US politics less predictable, Foxconn, Pegatron, and others are increasing production in places like India, Vietnam, and Mexico  —  - Foxconn eyes Vietnam for some production of iPads and MacBooks  — Pegatron is in the process of readying an iPhone site in India



A look at Cartel TikTok, viral videos showcasing drug cartel culture, that experts say is a propaganda tool designed to mask the violence and attract recruits (Oscar Lopez/New York Times)

Oscar Lopez / New York Times:
A look at Cartel TikTok, viral videos showcasing drug cartel culture, that experts say is a propaganda tool designed to mask the violence and attract recruits  —  Mexico is set to shatter another murder record, but that grim reality is nowhere to be seen on the TikTok videos that go viral by showcasing drug cartel culture.



South African telecom regulator to charge operators for emergency spectrum

South Africa's telecoms regulator ICASA said on Friday all licensees wishing to use until March 31 temporary spectrum granted during lockdown will be required to pay the prescribed license fees. https://ift.tt/3mxCV77

Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company report: investments in Indonesia's tech sector in the first half of 2020 totaled $2.8B, up 55% from the same period in 2019 (Mercedes Ruehl/Financial Times)

Mercedes Ruehl / Financial Times:
Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company report: investments in Indonesia's tech sector in the first half of 2020 totaled $2.8B, up 55% from the same period in 2019  —  Sharp spike in investment in south-east Asia's largest economy after New Delhi closes its doors



Report: China accounted for 23% of cross-border data flows in 2019, nearly twice the share of the US, which ranked second with 12%, followed by the UK and India (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia:
Report: China accounted for 23% of cross-border data flows in 2019, nearly twice the share of the US, which ranked second with 12%, followed by the UK and India  —  Asian ‘data sphere’ gives the country twice the information flows of the US  —  People view laptop computers from Chinese tech firm Huawei at an expo in Beijing.



Pandemic has deepened the digital education divide in India, where ~38% of households with students had no smartphone in the house, according to a recent survey (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Pandemic has deepened the digital education divide in India, where ~38% of households with students had no smartphone in the house, according to a recent survey  —  Children across India are struggling to keep up because they don't have the tech tools for online classes



Reliance JioPages browser updated with new tools, here’s how to use them

Reliance updated its JioPages web browser to version 2.0.1 which brings a host of new features to the browser like new search engine support, short video support and user interface improvements. Jio has mentioned that these three features are added based on users’ demand. https://ift.tt/2HMCExJ

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Profile of Christine Su, Twitter's senior PM for conversational safety, who is a queer Asian-American "activist-entrepreneur" with an MBA and MA in agriculture (Anna Kramer/Protocol)

Anna Kramer / Protocol:
Profile of Christine Su, Twitter's senior PM for conversational safety, who is a queer Asian-American “activist-entrepreneur” with an MBA and MA in agriculture  —  About six months ago, Twitter quietly hired someone to become the head of product for conversational safety on the platform.



A report on student grades from Virginia reveals that online learning has led to a sharp drop in students' academic performance (Hannah Natanson/Washington Post)

Hannah Natanson / Washington Post:
A report on student grades from Virginia reveals that online learning has led to a sharp drop in students' academic performance  —  A report on student grades from one of the nation's largest school districts offers some of the first concrete evidence that online learning is forcing …



As Facebook and Google continue to ban political ads, Republican super PACs are spending millions on other platforms that offer no advertiser transparency (Issie Lapowsky/Protocol)

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
As Facebook and Google continue to ban political ads, Republican super PACs are spending millions on other platforms that offer no advertiser transparency  —  Facebook and Google are still banning political ads on their platforms, but that hasn't stopped Republican super PACs from spending millions …



Reliance Jio-exclusive 4G smartphone to launch 'soon': 7 things to know

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New Nokia and Garmin gadgets; PUBG comeback; Android SMS app removed and other top tech news of the week

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From Tenet to Durgamati, What to Watch in December

Tenet, Durgamati, Coolie No. 1, Wonder Woman 1984, Mulan, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Bombay Rose, Torbaaz, The Stand, Pixar's Soul, Mank, The Prom, Bridgerton - the biggest movies and TV series coming to... https://ift.tt/3qd5SHp

How Reach Vet, an AI-based system used in clinical practice by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, helps identify veterans at high risk of suicide (Benedict Carey/New York Times)

Benedict Carey / New York Times:
How Reach Vet, an AI-based system used in clinical practice by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, helps identify veterans at high risk of suicide  —  The Department of Veterans Affairs has turned to machine-learning to help identify vets at risk of taking their own lives.



HMBradley, a Santa Monica-based banking startup which offers up to 3% interest on savings accounts, raises $18.25M Series A led by Acrew Capital (Christine Hall/Crunchbase News)

Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
HMBradley, a Santa Monica-based banking startup which offers up to 3% interest on savings accounts, raises $18.25M Series A led by Acrew Capital  —  As consumers look for ways to make their money earn more money, digital banking platform HMBradley is developing programs to reward savers.



Interviews with tech leaders on Tony Hsieh's legacy, his student life at Harvard, his unconventional business approach, and the culture he built at Zappos (Alex Konrad/Forbes)

Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Interviews with tech leaders on Tony Hsieh's legacy, his student life at Harvard, his unconventional business approach, and the culture he built at Zappos  —  Tony Hsieh, bestselling author and longtime former CEO of ecommerce pioneer Zappos.com, died at age 46 on Friday.



Big Tech threatens democracy and one solution may be to take away their role as gatekeepers of content and let users choose the information presented to them (Foreign Affairs)

Foreign Affairs:
Big Tech threatens democracy and one solution may be to take away their role as gatekeepers of content and let users choose the information presented to them  —  Among the many transformations taking place in the U.S. economy, none is more salient than the growth of gigantic Internet platforms.



Google says it plans to counter Japan's FTC over claims that it hobbles rivals in search; a source says Japan's FTC sent a cease-and-desist order to Google (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg : Google says it plans to counter Japan's FTC over claims that it hobbles rivals in search; a source says Japan's FTC s...