Emails: some UK Home Office officials lobbied the ICO to act "favorably" towards Facewatch, which is rolling out facial recognition tech across the country (Mark Townsend/The Guardian)

Mark Townsend / The Guardian:
Emails: some UK Home Office officials lobbied the ICO to act “favorably” towards Facewatch, which is rolling out facial recognition tech across the country  —  Officials reflected policing minister's enthusiasm to roll out controversial technology across the country, particularly in retail settings

A look at iPhone's upcoming Lightning to USB-C transition; sources: Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro coming next year will have an aluminum top case (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at iPhone's upcoming Lightning to USB-C transition; sources: Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro coming next year will have an aluminum top case  —  Also: The company confirms the date of its Sept. 12 iPhone 15 event and aims to overhaul device production with 3D printers.

Indian IT industry is moving to new cities from 7 major hubs, claims report

India's technology industry is undergoing decentralization, with IT companies moving to 26 tier-2 and tier-3 cities across the country. This shift is driven by factors such as access to skilled talent, cost-effective operations, and robust infrastructure. The report also highlights the growth of start-ups in these emerging hubs, with funding increasingly going to companies outside urban settings. The trend is expected to continue, with the next wave of technology hubs emerging from these cities. https://ift.tt/BCK8cLr

IIT Madras students’ Hyperloop Team Avishkar ranks in top 3 at European Hyperloop Week 2023

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Students' Hyperloop Team Avishkar has been recognized as one of the top three teams globally in certain technical categories at the European Hyperloop Week 2023. They are the only non-European team to be nominated in several award categories. The team's research on energy consumption and ticket pricing, levitation systems, and sense and control systems earned them prominent positions in the competition. Avishkar Hyperloop is a highly passionate student team focused on revolutionizing transportation with sustainable Hyperloop technologies. They have received support from the Government of India and industry partners. https://ift.tt/ctvPq2w

Instacart's IPO filing suggests its Snowflake cloud spending will fall 71% in 2023, sparking an online spat between staffers of Snowflake and rival Databricks (Ari Levy/CNBC)

Ari Levy / CNBC:
Instacart's IPO filing suggests its Snowflake cloud spending will fall 71% in 2023, sparking an online spat between staffers of Snowflake and rival Databricks  —  - Instacart's long-awaited IPO prospectus last week turned controversial in a way the grocery-delivery company wasn't anticipating.

Filing: Walmart spent $3.5B in H1 2023 to buy Flipkart shares from Tiger Global and others, growing its Flipkart stake to ~80%, and resolve PhonePe liabilities (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Filing: Walmart spent $3.5B in H1 2023 to buy Flipkart shares from Tiger Global and others, growing its Flipkart stake to ~80%, and resolve PhonePe liabilities  —  Walmart has spent $3.5 billion this year to acquire shares from certain Flipkart stakeholders and resolve liabilities …

A Media Matters for America report on PragerU Kids: Meta isn't consistently enforcing transparency rules for ads around "social issues, elections, or politics" (Vittoria Elliott/Wired)

Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
A Media Matters for America report on PragerU Kids: Meta isn't consistently enforcing transparency rules for ads around “social issues, elections, or politics”  —  A nonprofit watchdog group has found that the right-wing group PragerU has pushed out more than 100 political ads …

How India may help WhatsApp monetise chats

Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, is looking to make the messaging app profitable by monetizing business conversations with customers. They plan to leverage WhatsApp's large consumer base in countries like India and Brazil, where businesses often use the platform to engage with customers. However, WhatsApp's revenue is expected to be less than 1% of Meta's total sales. https://ift.tt/AVmFEH2

Facebook parent Meta ‘rejects’ new regulations of Canada's news law

The Canadian government has revealed new regulations under the Online News Act that require Meta and Google to pay Canadian news publishers. The regulations state that Meta and Google must pay a minimum of 4% of their annual revenue to news outlets for linking to news articles. Both companies argue that the law is unworkable for their businesses. https://ift.tt/SYdxFNn

Honor says Magic V2, its foldable phone launched in China in July 2023, will come to Europe, UK and other markets, except the US, in Q1 2024 for around €1,500 (Hadlee Simons/Android Authority)

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority:
Honor says Magic V2, its foldable phone launched in China in July 2023, will come to Europe, UK and other markets, except the US, in Q1 2024 for around €1,500  —  The Magic V2 will come to global markets roughly six months after the Chinese launch.  Ouch.  —  •  —  TL;DR

Hands on with Windows-powered $699 Lenovo Legion Go, with an 8.8" QHD+ screen, AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, and detachable controllers, available in October (Monica Chin/The Verge)

Monica Chin / The Verge:
Hands on with Windows-powered $699 Lenovo Legion Go, with an 8.8" QHD+ screen, AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, and detachable controllers, available in October  —  Every company and its mother seems to be putting out handheld gaming PCs these days, and Lenovo is next to the plate.

Herodotus and StarkWare unveil a developer tool to verify data at any point in Ethereum's history, overcoming a current verification limit of 256 blockhashes (Vishal Chawla/The Block)

Vishal Chawla / The Block:
Herodotus and StarkWare unveil a developer tool to verify data at any point in Ethereum's history, overcoming a current verification limit of 256 blockhashes  —  - London-based startup Herodotus, in collaboration with StarkWare, announced a tool that gives users the ability to verify data from any point in Ethereum's history.

Optiemus Infracom and Corning partner to establish a mobile cover glass parts manufacturing facility in India

Optiemus Infracom and Corning have formed a joint venture to establish India's first manufacturing facility for high-quality finished cover glass parts for mobile consumer electronics. The partnership aims to create a world-class manufacturing facility in India and produce "Made in India" cover glass components for mobile devices. The collaboration combines Optiemus's domestic industry expertise with Corning's advanced glass technology. The venture also aims to contribute to job creation and skill development in India's technology sector. Optiemus Infracom's chairman, Ashok Kumar Gupta, expressed pride in contributing to India's manufacturing ecosystem and providing high-quality products for global and local brands. https://ift.tt/GjkoMz2

AI hasn't stemmed the yearslong startup downturn; PitchBook: US venture funding fell by almost half in Q2 2023, as generative AI investments rose 65% to $3.3B (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
AI hasn't stemmed the yearslong startup downturn; PitchBook: US venture funding fell by almost half in Q2 2023, as generative AI investments rose 65% to $3.3B  —  Venture investors are realizing that generative artificial intelligence might not be enough to stem yearslong startup downturn

Microsoft testing new features in Notepad, Snipping Tool on Windows 11: What are they, how will they help users

Microsoft is testing new features in its Snipping Tool and Notepad apps for Windows 11. In Notepad, the update will automatically save the session state, allowing users to close the app without interruption. It will also restore previously open tabs and unsaved content. In the Snipping Tool, a combined capture bar makes it easier to switch between capturing screenshots and screen recordings. https://ift.tt/Rvf2lnc