Sunday, April 5, 2020
TikTok emerges most downloaded social media app
Lockdown triggers 35% slump in mobile recharge volumes
PwC report: the total number of crypto M&A deals dropped from 189 in 2018 to 114 last year, while the value of M&A deals dropped from $1.89B to $451M (Nathan DiCamillo/CoinDesk)
PwC report: the total number of crypto M&A deals dropped from 189 in 2018 to 114 last year, while the value of M&A deals dropped from $1.89B to $451M — Crypto companies kept buying each other last year even as both M&A and funding deal flow in the industry took a dive, according to a report released Monday by PwC.
Execs at US digital banks say European challengers, like N26, are underestimating the hurdles they will face in the US, like regulation and cultural differences (Protocol)
Execs at US digital banks say European challengers, like N26, are underestimating the hurdles they will face in the US, like regulation and cultural differences — Banking is becoming increasingly all-digital, and European upstarts want to dominate in the U.S. But it won't be that simple, experts say.
IIT-IIM contingency plans amid Covid-19 challenge: Shortening last semesters, interactive online courses
Retailers, online grocers restrict purchases; put cap on quantity to prevent hoarding
Apple has sourced over 20 million protective masks, now building and shipping face shields
As it mobilizes its supply chain, employees, and partners to provide personal protective equipment to medical workers and others working to stop the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, Apple has sourced over 20 million face masks and is now building and shipping face shields, according to a statement from chief executive Tim Cook.
The company is working with governments around the world to distribute its supply of face masks to where it’s needed most.
Meanwhile, the first delivery of the company’s Apple face shields went out to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara valley earlier this week, according to Cook.
As Cook noted, the masks pack flat and ship 100 to a box. They can be assembled in less than two minutes and are fully adjustable. Cook said that the company would ship 1 million by the end of the week and will expect to ship an additional 1 million face shields weekly, with a goal to expand distribution beyond the U.S.
“For Apple this is a labor of love and gratitude and we will share more of our efforts over time,” Cook said.
Apple is joining an effort that several 3D printing startups and maker facilities have already spent time working on.
In Canada, INKSmith, a startup that was making design and tech tools accessible for kids, has now moved to making face shields and is hiring up to 100 new employees to meet demand.
“I think in the short term, we’re going to scale up to meet the needs of the province soon. After that, we’re going to meet the demands of Canada,” INKSmith CEO Jeremy Hedges told the Canadian news outlet Global News.
3D-printing companies like Massachusetts-based Markforged and Formlabs and Brooklyn’s Voodoo Manufacturing are all making personal protective equipment like face shields in the US.
Tesla shows how it’s building ventilators with car parts
Tesla is among a group of automakers retooling facilities to build ventilators for the Covid-19 crisis. In the following video, the company provides a behind-the-scene look at its ventilator design process.
Like Ford and General Motors, Tesla engineers are building its vent with parts for its vehicles. The reason is simple: car parts are available. Automotive companies obsessively stage parts for final assemble. Without doing so, having a shortage on, say, door handles can shut down a production line. In this thought, Tesla engineers say in this video they are trying to use as many car parts as possible.
For instance, Tesla’s ventilator uses the Model 3 infotainment system to power a Model 3 vehicle computer, which in turn, controls an air flow manifold. A suspension air tank is used as a oxygen mixing chamber. Among other parts, the team is also employing a Model 3 touchscreen as a controller.
Tesla is one of several American automakers that pledged support to either donate supplies or offer resources to make more ventilators. Ford is working with GE to expand ventilator production while also using its own resources to build vents, respirators and face shields. GM intends to build ventilators at an Indiana-based car factory and recently announced it will soon be able to make 50,000 face masks a day. Tesla chief Elon Musk recently stated the car company’s New York factory will soon reopen to produce ventilators — perhaps even the vents shown in the video here.
Cities take to drones to keep services up
Covid-19 pandemic is teaching us to do more with less: Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa
UK High Court judge says Google will either need to let an SEO expert inspect its ranking algorithms or withdraw evidence from its long-running competition case (Gareth Corfield/The Register)
UK High Court judge says Google will either need to let an SEO expert inspect its ranking algorithms or withdraw evidence from its long-running competition case — Tough choice for adtech monolith in Foundem case — Google must either show its “crown jewels” to a man it described …
Zoombombing is a crime, not a prank, prosecutors warn
Enlarge (credit: Charlotte Nation / Getty)
Coronavirus-related social distancing measures have given a big popularity boost to Zoom, a video conferencing platform that's known for its ease of use but not necessarily strong security or privacy protections. Internet trolls and other troublemakers have responded with "Zoombombing": joining Zoom meetings uninvited and disrupting them. Zoombombers have exposed themselves to schoolchildren and shouted racial slurs.
In a Friday statement, federal prosecutors in Michigan warned the public that Zoombombing isn't a harmless prank; it's a crime.
"Hackers are disrupting conferences and online classrooms with pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language," wrote the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. "Anyone who hacks into a teleconference can be charged with state or federal crimes."
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In internal email lists Amazon corporate employees express dismay over the firing of Christian Smalls and a report that management discussed a plan to smear him (Vox)
In internal email lists Amazon corporate employees express dismay over the firing of Christian Smalls and a report that management discussed a plan to smear him — Leaked internal emails show employee dismay over how their company is handling escalating labor disputes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Airtel users can now recharge their numbers through ATMs, Apollo pharmacies and Big Bazaar stores
As the country heads into the final week of lockdown, companies are still extending a helping hand to people in need. Just last week, we reported that Reliance now allowed users to recharge their Jio number at ATMs. Not to be outdone, Airtel has now announced that it has started allowing its users to do the same but with added options such as pharmacies and grocery stores.
You can recharge your ATM at any HDFC or ICICI ATM as Airtel has partnered up with both banks to allow users to use the service. Airtel has also joined hands with Apollo pharmacies and Big Bazaar stores for the same. There are no details on how all of this will work, but the assumption is that it will function similar to the Reliance Jio scheme. As of now, you can still recharge your number through the Airtel app and other services such as Google Pay and Paytm but this just makes it easier for people who do not have access to those services to still recharge their numbers.
Airtel has said that its network will not face any surge issues and will run smoothly for the duration of the lockdown. As Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said in a statement, “Our network operating centres and data centres are totally operational to ensure smooth functioning of the network. Our field staff is still on the road to ensure speedy provisioning of new connections and quick fixing of faults. Further, we have advanced investments and have added capacities to meet the surge in data demand.”
Airtel, Jio and others have also released a bunch of plans for people working from home. You can read more about it here. The company has also released a set of personal risk-assessment tools for COVID-19 which you can check out, here.
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Flagship sedans like the Audi A8 are a dying breed
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Fewer than 3,000 A8s found homes in the US in 2019, because almost everyone who buys vehicles like this has switched to luxury SUVs instead. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]
The flagship sedan has been one of the more tragic victims of the SUV craze. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and the Audi A8 used to be considered the ultimate expression of a carmaker's craft. Advanced technologies like anti-lock brakes, airbags, and infotainment systems would show up in these expensive machines years before they trickled down to the rest of us. But two decades into the 21st century, sedans are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Much of the most interesting new car technology—to us at least—is now found in plug-in powertrains, and in the mass-market, like the Model 3, Polestar 2, or VW's ID family. So each year, fewer and fewer flagship sedans find homes, particularly as those same OEMs offer supersized luxury SUVs as well.
The A8 is a perfect example. Despite its Ronin connection, the biggest Audi has never been as popular as the S-Class, 7 Series, or Lexus LS. In 2019, the first full calendar year when the car was on sale in the United States, Audi sold 2,963 A8s. Over the same 12 months, the company sold 14,256 Q8s, the five-seat range-topping SUV that gets all the same gadgets but in much more on-trend packaging. You should be able to read Managing Editor Eric Bangeman's review of that SUV in the next few weeks, but having sampled both vehicles from the driver's seat and also riding as a passenger in the back, my take is that the sedan should come out ahead on both counts.
Despite its 17.3-foot (5.3m) length and 6.3-foot (1.9m) width, you only have to drive an A8 for a day or two before its bulk seems to shrink around you. And a curb weight of at least 4,773lbs (2,164kg) for the lightest variant (the $85,200 A8 55 TFSI, which uses a 3.0L V6 gasoline engine) makes it no featherweight, but it feels nimble nonetheless. And as long as you tick the $3,500 option for the rear-seat comfort package, the back seat of an A8 will outdo many business-class airline seats when it comes to comfort and adjustability, with heating, ventilation, and lumbar massages thrown in.
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MediaTek says it has started to use Intel Foundry's advanced chip packaging in addition to TSMC's, as the mobile chip designer bets on AI demand for growth (Cheng Ting-Fang/Nikkei Asia)
Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia : MediaTek says it has started to use Intel Foundry's advanced chip packaging in addition to TSMC's...
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Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
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The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
