Thursday, December 6, 2018

DoT likely to appoint firms to audit revenues of private telcos by month-end

The telecom department is likely to appoint at least 4-5 auditors this month to conduct the planned special audit of private telecom companies for period FY12 to FY18, according to a source. https://ift.tt/2KUHPc8

Samsung caught using DSLR photo to advertise Galaxy A8 Star smartphone

Samsung is now accused of using DSLR photo as the one captured using Samsung Galaxy A8 Star. https://ift.tt/2ASFsC8

Xiaomi is offering these smartphones at discounts of up to Rs 3,000

https://ift.tt/2AR9Qg7

Facebook's board says it was "entirely appropriate" for Sheryl Sandberg to investigate if George Soros shorted Facebook after he made negative comments (Deepa Seetharaman/Wall Street Journal)

Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook's board says it was “entirely appropriate” for Sheryl Sandberg to investigate if George Soros shorted Facebook after he made negative comments  —  A letter from the board said Sandberg was being truthful about her knowledge of a public-relations firm's work into the investor



Qualcomm gives details on Snapdragon 855, its smartphone chipset: X24 modem, which isn't 5G compatible, 7 nanometer for 20% better graphics, and AI improvements (The Verge)

The Verge:
Qualcomm gives details on Snapdragon 855, its smartphone chipset: X24 modem, which isn't 5G compatible, 7 nanometer for 20% better graphics, and AI improvements  —  Qualcomm calls it an AI powerhouse  —  Qualcomm officially took the wraps off the Snapdragon 855, its next generation processor, yesterday at the SnapDragon Tech Summit.



Highlights from five years of Facebook AI Research: open sourcing Torch deep learning modules and Caffe2, scalable text classification, and translation research (Oliver Libaw/Facebook Code)

Oliver Libaw / Facebook Code:
Highlights from five years of Facebook AI Research: open sourcing Torch deep learning modules and Caffe2, scalable text classification, and translation research  —  Five years ago, we created the Facebook AI Research (FAIR) group to advance the state of the art of AI through open research …



Indiana-based "customer success" SaaS startup MetaCX, led by Salesforce's ex-marketing cloud boss, raises $14M Series A from Upfront Ventures while in stealth (Alex Konrad/Forbes)

Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Indiana-based “customer success” SaaS startup MetaCX, led by Salesforce's ex-marketing cloud boss, raises $14M Series A from Upfront Ventures while in stealth  —  In 2013, the Indianapolis tech scene scored a massive outcome when Salesforce acquired marketing software maker ExactTarget for $2.5 billion.



Apple releases iOS 12.1.1, macOS Mojave 10.14.2, and tvOS 12.1.1 with some FaceTime enhancements, bug fixes, and improvements to security (Zac Hall/9to5Mac)

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases iOS 12.1.1, macOS Mojave 10.14.2, and tvOS 12.1.1 with some FaceTime enhancements, bug fixes, and improvements to security  —  Apple has released iOS 12.1.1 for iPhone and iPad today with a handful of notable improvements.  The latest software update includes improvements to FaceTime …



Amazon and Comcast partner to bring Prime Video to Comcast Xfinity X1 set-top boxes, rolling out over the next week (Nat Levy/GeekWire)

Nat Levy / GeekWire:
Amazon and Comcast partner to bring Prime Video to Comcast Xfinity X1 set-top boxes, rolling out over the next week  —  Amazon and Comcast are teaming up to bring the tech giant's video streaming service into the Xfinity cable universe.  —  Amazon Prime Video will launch on the Comcast Xfinity X1 boxes …



Apple updates its Chinese website, confirming HomePod will arrive in China and Hong Kong in early 2019 (Michael Steeber/9to5Mac)

Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac:
Apple updates its Chinese website, confirming HomePod will arrive in China and Hong Kong in early 2019  —  Apple has announced that its HomePod smart speaker will be coming to China early next year.  After launching in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia this past February …



Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Chinese e-commerce apps under the Swadeshi Jagran Manch scanner

Swadeshi Jagran Manch claims that Chinese e-commerce firms are evading Indian laws, disrupting the MSME trade market https://ift.tt/2BPMxF1 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Cleartrip lays off around 100 employees

Cleartrip's India business has been declining over the last few years, with its market share falling in both flight and hotel booking space due to increasing competition as well as the merger between bigger rival MakeMyTrip and Ibibo. https://ift.tt/2E0b7EN https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Amazon gets more product returns in India than any other markets

One reason for the returns is counterfeit products, which is the case globally, said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president for consumer and brand protection at Amazon https://ift.tt/2rnc3f2 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Amazon India gets Rs 2,200 crore in fourth tranche

Total funding received so far was Rs 27,290 crore. The Rs 9,450 crore invested in 2018 also marks the largest amount of capital infusion in its India unit in a calendar year for Amazon. https://ift.tt/2G0MXfV https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Yatra partners with Agoda to offer Indian hotels to international travelers

Under this agreement, Agoda will have access to Yatra.com’s inventory of over 100,000 accommodation listings in over 1300 Indian cities and towns. https://ift.tt/2PhW2k4 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Some startups and researchers who can't access the most advanced chips are adopting a "frugal AI" approach, building smaller models on open-weight systems (Rina Chandran/Rest of World)

Rina Chandran / Rest of World : Some startups and researchers who can't access the most advanced chips are adopting a “frugal AI” app...