Tech Nuggets with the Technology

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Redmi K20 Series Set to Launch in India Today: How to Watch Live Stream

Redmi K20 Pro price in China starts at CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 24,900) for the base 6GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, while Redmi K20 price in China starts at CNY 1,999 (roughly Rs. 19,900). https://ift.tt/2xNxyJ0

Highlights from the House's antitrust hearing, where Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook executives fought criticism that their companies dominate their markets (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Highlights from the House's antitrust hearing, where Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook executives fought criticism that their companies dominate their markets — U.S. technology giants are headed for their biggest antitrust showdown with Congress in 20 years as lawmakers and regulators demand …

Chinese electric scooter maker Niu, a supplier to US ride-sharing service Revel, says it will transfer tariff costs to US clients as trade war continues (Iris Deng/South China Morning Post)

Iris Deng / South China Morning Post:
Chinese electric scooter maker Niu, a supplier to US ride-sharing service Revel, says it will transfer tariff costs to US clients as trade war continues — Niu is transferring increased tariff costs to consumers as trade war drags on The scooter company has plans to go into retail …

Rivigo lays off 70-100 employees, rolls back on-campus offers

Rivigo has been under pressure from investors to cut costs, move away from an asset-heavy business, and improve its unit economics across all business verticals. https://ift.tt/2SjpFUY https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

New Cayman base to bring funds to Oyo

Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal has set up a Cayman Islands-registered entity, RA Hospitality, which will look to make fresh investments in the SoftBank-backed hospitality chain https://ift.tt/2LnpZlb https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Monday, July 15, 2019

Realme X vs Redmi K20

Realme X price in India starts at Rs. 16,999, while the Redmi K20 price in the country is yet to be announced. We compare the Realme X with Redmi K20 to help you choose the best-suited phone for you. https://ift.tt/2lrcNzQ

Google Accused of Ripping Off Digital Ad Technology in US Lawsuit

Alphabet's Google was hit on Monday with a US lawsuit alleging it copied a smaller firm's patented digital advertising technology. https://ift.tt/2YQmfvw

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Unveiled, Coming in Asus ROG Phone 2

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 855 Plus, a slightly upgraded version of Snapdragon 855 to offer better gaming, AR, and VR experience. https://ift.tt/2NXB66u

Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio Cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home Revealed

Jake Gyllenhaal has confirmed that Mysterio has an Easter egg-type cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home, just before Peter Parker steps into a Venice jewellery shop. https://ift.tt/2Sm6EkT

Symantec Said to Have Ended Talks to Sell to Broadcom Over Price

Symantec has walked away from negotiations to sell itself to chipmaker Broadcom Inc over price disagreements, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. https://ift.tt/2JNnRQB

Amazon Rivals Ride on Prime Day Marketing in the US as Protests Unfold

Amazon's Prime Day is now a major marketing opportunity and shopping event in the annual calendar for other US retail companies, rivalling the Thanksgiving holiday's Black Friday as a driver of... https://ift.tt/2JAs1MQ

Facebook Says It Won't Launch Libra Until Regulators Are Happy

Facebook said on Monday it would not proceed with the launch of its Libra cryptocurrency until regulatory concerns are addressed. https://ift.tt/30Bharr

Meredith Whittaker, AI researcher and an organizer of last year’s Google walkout, is leaving the company

Meredith Whittaker, founder of Google’s Open Research Group and one of the leaders of last year’s employee walkouts, is leaving the company. Google confirmed her departure, which was first disclosed on Twitter by a Google engineer and reported by Bloomberg, but had no additional comment. TechCrunch has also contacted Whittaker for comment.

Whittaker and another one of the walkout’s organizers, Claire Stapleton, said they had faced retaliation from Google after the protest. Other employees also claimed that they had experienced fallout as a result of their participation, which Google denied.

Thousands of employees around the world took part in the massive walkout last November to protest how Google handles sexual harassment and misconduct allegations. They asked the company to implement several measures against harassment and discrimination, including an end to forced arbitration, a publicly disclosed sexual harassment transparency report and a safe and anonymous process to report sexual misconduct.

The walkout came after a New York Times report that despite credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Android co-creator Andy Rubin, he had left Google with a $90 million payout package.

Over the past year, Google employees have also protested Project Dragonfly, the company’s censored search engine for China, and its contract with the Pentagon for the use of its AI tech to analyze drone videos. Google announced in June it would not renew the contract.

Whittaker, who is co-director of AI Now, an ethics committee affiliated with New York University, tweeted at the time that she was “incredibly happy about this decision, and have a deep respect for the many people who worked and risked to make it happen. Google should not be in the business of war.”