Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Uber approaches Grubhub with acquisition offer: Sources
Twitter to allow employees work from home forever
Swiggy in talks with state govts to seek nod for home delivery of alcohol
Google removed 813 "creepware" apps from Play Store, found by academics using an algorithm called CreepRank on data from millions of devices via Norton's app (Catalin Cimpanu/ZDNet)
Google removed 813 “creepware” apps from Play Store, found by academics using an algorithm called CreepRank on data from millions of devices via Norton's app — The applications were discovered with a new algorithm called CreepRank, developed by a team of academics.
Smartphone makers resume launches, eye pent up demand
Slack is currently fixing performance issues that prevented some users from connecting
Slack is currently fixing issues that are preventing some users from connecting or sending messages, according to its Status page. The company’s latest update on Twitter says some people may start seeing improvements, but that the company is still working on it.
Customers may be seeing performance improvements, although we still have some work to do. We’ll be back with more news shortly. https://t.co/AALbQGsDHq
— Slack Status (@SlackStatus) May 13, 2020
With so many working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Slack is the main way that many people keep in touch with their colleagues. The company has not announced if the current outage is related to increased demand (though, to be fair, they are busy right now).
Like other major online communication platforms, Slack has experienced outages in the past, and generally fixed them within a few hours while keeping users updated. For example, it experienced outages last summer, soon after the company performed a major update to its underlying technology to increase the speed of its desktop and web clients.
We will update this post when Slack’s connectivity is fully restored.
Kerala HC seeks govt report on Aarogya Setu privacy
With large overheads, little revenue, and the need for more on-road testing, self-driving car companies face delays and layoffs during the pandemic (New York Times)
With large overheads, little revenue, and the need for more on-road testing, self-driving car companies face delays and layoffs during the pandemic — Perfecting the technology has taken longer than expected. The coronavirus pandemic has made it even more difficult.
Twitter acquires interactive mobile ad company CrossInstall for an undisclosed sum as Twitter rebuilds its ad server (Allison Schiff/AdExchanger)
Twitter acquires interactive mobile ad company CrossInstall for an undisclosed sum as Twitter rebuilds its ad server — Twitter really wants a piece of the performance advertising pie. — On Tuesday, Twitter said it has acquired interactive mobile ad company CrossInstall. No deal price was disclosed.
Democrats introduce bills in House and Senate making it illegal for telcos to shut off internet service during pandemic, a step beyond FCC's voluntary pledge (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)
Democrats introduce bills in House and Senate making it illegal for telcos to shut off internet service during pandemic, a step beyond FCC's voluntary pledge — Democrats also pitch $50 monthly discounts with low-income broadband fund. — A proposed US law would make it illegal …
Monday, May 11, 2020
Tencent Music bets on China’s crowded podcasting space
Listeners of podcasts, audiobooks and other audio shows are estimated to number 542 million in China this year, according to a third-party survey by marketing firm iiMedia. It’s a healthy jump from the 489 million users recorded in 2019, and it no doubt has attracted new players to the game.
That includes Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), the Tencent spin-off that is sometimes regarded as the Spotify of China but differs on many fronts in practice. The group’s main line of businesses goes beyond music streaming to encompass virtual karaoke, live streaming and audio content, a category that has recently seen a big push from the firm.
In its newly released quarterly report, TME said it has made “significant progress in expanding” its audio library by adding thousands of new adaptions from popular IP pieces and works from independent producers. This intensifies competition in what is already a crowded space.
Like Spotify, TME is late to voice-based content, an umbrella term that can include everything from podcasts, audiobooks, radio stations to more innovative listening experience like audio live streaming. This sector in China has for years been occupied by leading companies Ximalaya, the main investor in San Francisco-based podcasting firm Himalaya, and Nasdaq-listed Lizhi.
TME’s thrust into audio content holds no immediate promise, for there is still no obvious path to profitability. Chinese users are known to be reluctant to pay for digital content, and when they do, say, for educational and self-improvement podcasts, the enthusiasm tends to fade quickly. Deep-pocketed platforms often resort to offering content for free to gain market share, relentlessly forcing out smaller contestants. The result is that everyone needs to find more indirect ways to monetize.
Lizhi, for instance, primarily generates revenues by selling virtual items through its live, interactive audio sessions, while the contribution from user subscriptions and advertising remains paltry. The seven-year-old company hasn’t turned a profit, recording a net loss of 133 million yuan or $19.1 million last year.
Indirect monetization is nothing new in China’s internet industry. Tencent, most famous for its WeChat messenger, notably relies on gaming revenues that its social networking products help drive. TME, similarly, gets the bulk of its money by selling virtual items in music-themed live streams, while only 6% of its 657 million monthly active users on music streaming apps are paying. The MAU growth has also come to a standstill as China’s online music market saturates; from 2017 to 2020, TME added only 50 million new users to its music streaming services. The question is whether the music titan can breathe new life into the adjacent audio sector.
Aarogya Setu app: Government issues data processing rules, violators may face jail term
Singapore-based Validus, a P2P lending service for SMBs and accredited investors, raises $20M for its ongoing Series B+ round, bringing total raised to ~$40M (Catherine Shu/TechCrunch)
Singapore-based Validus, a P2P lending service for SMBs and accredited investors, raises $20M for its ongoing Series B+ round, bringing total raised to ~$40M — Small- to medium-sized businesses are one of the most important parts of Southeast Asia's economy, but many have trouble securing growth capital …
Realme Narzo 10 vs Realme 6: What's Different?
SpaceX's S-1 excerpts list "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, with the size of the expenditure TBD (Reuters)
Reuters : SpaceX's S-1 excerpts list “manufacturing our own GPUs” among the “substantial capital expenditures” it is undertaking, wit...
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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...
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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; ...
