India job scene sees early signs of disruption from AI

Millions of working employees will need reskilling and upskilling, which in turn could create new job opportunities as well, say experts

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Cybersecurity sector was not immune from job losses in 2023

As tech layoffs are set to continue unabated in 2024, the cybersecurity industry was not immune from job losses and more than 110 cybersecurity companies fired thousands of employees in 2023.

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Boom in AI prompts a test of copyright law

Authors and a leading photo agency have brought suit over the past year, contending that their intellectual property was illegally used to train AI systems, which can produce humanlike prose and power applications like chatbots.

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23 going on 24: Making sense of a chaotic yet colourful year for India's tech sector

From 15.4 billion downloaded games to 138.08 crore people covered by Aadhar, India's tech sector had an eventful 2023. ET takes a look at the top 23 moments from 2023.

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Sam Bankman-Fried will not face a second trial: US prosecutors

In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said the "strong public interest" in a prompt resolution of their case against the 31-year-old former billionaire outweighed the benefits of a second trial.

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US wants to contain China's chip industry. This startup shows it won't be easy

The production of advanced chips is one of the most contentious technological struggles now dividing the United States and China as they vie for economic and military supremacy. Washington is trying to curb China's access to sensitive microchip design tools.

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Chinese company BabyBus is taking kids for a ride

BabyBus is still very active in India despite TikTok and other Chinese apps being banned. Experts have raised questions over the handling of Indians’ data by the company that provides customised free digital content primarily for children.

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ETtech State of Startups Survey: Founders resist valuation cuts as funding drought drags on

In ETtech's annual State of Startups survey, conducted among 80 of India’s top founders, investors and internet executives, turning profitable emerged as the top theme amid predictions of more restructuring, layoffs and possible bankruptcy cases in 2024.

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DMI, Aditya Birla Finance in race to scoop up ZestMoney in firesale

ZestMoney, which was offering buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) loans to customers at ecommerce and offline checkout points, had around December 5 informed its employees about its plans to shut down by the end of this month. ET wrote on December 7 the company shut down mostly after its lending partners withdrew debt lines to the startup.

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Russian tech company Arenadata plans to hold IPO in 2024

Arenadata, a Russian developer of data collection and storage platforms, intends to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on the Moscow Exchange in 2024.

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2023 Year in Review: How money followed deeptech companies at tech’s frontier

Deeptech is a term for businesses using advanced science and technology to find solutions for complicated problems across over a dozen sectors. The year saw a steady increase in investor interest in high-tech innovation-focused companies.

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Flipkart marketplace arm’s revenue jumps 42% to Rs 14,845 crore in FY23, loss narrows 9%

Walmart-owned Flipkart runs its India business through various entities, and Flipkart Internet runs the marketplace where the firm earns its revenue in the form of seller commissions, advertising income, and other fees for seller services.

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2023 Year in Review: Secondary rounds may headline deal flow at startups next year too

Risk investors ET spoke with said secondary share sales are likely to continue in 2024, as the focus would be on the limited number of good assets where existing investors are looking to part-sell their stake.

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Emotion AI tools help savvy companies deepen user connect

Artificial intelligence has excelled in various areas and incorporation of emotional intelligence into machines is one such advancement, an expert said.

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Apple in advanced talks with parts companies Aequs, Rayprus

Aequs makes high-quality toys, consumer durable goods and aerospace parts in India, US and France while Rayprus is a subsidiary of Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant Foxconn and makes high-quality precision camera and lens solutions.

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Startups write a $1.5-billion twist in winter’s tale

December brings the highest monthly fundraise of 2023, though the annual total is the lowest in 7 years.

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2023 Year in Review: Meet the executives who donned the founder hat

In partnership with executive search firm Longhouse Consulting, ET has put together a list of high-profile executives who launched their own ventures this year. Several of these executives are still tinkering with and developing their startups in stealth mode.

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Artists use tech weapons against AI copycats

Artists under siege by AI that studies their work, then replicates their styles, have teamed with university researchers to stymy such copycat activity. The artist turned to free software called Glaze created by researchers at the University of Chicago.

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Peak XV-backed semiconductor firm Mindgrove’s quad core chip enters design phase

The second chip is a quad core with support for external memory and an integrated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), Shashwath TR, cofounder and CEO, Mindgrove Technologies told ET.

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FTX debtors settle claims over Embed deal with Sam Bankman-Fried, others

The settlement agreement is between Bankman-Fried, and former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang.

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The story behind the Telugu SLM ‘Chandamama Kathalu’

Small language models, trained on limited datasets and fewer parameters, can revive the lost art of telling stories to children in their native language

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In-depth | India’s electronic ambitions ride on young female employees

Women are increasingly becoming the talent pool of choice for electronics companies. This augurs well for companies which will have to double down on their hiring considering the electronics market in India alone is being valued at $155 billion, with domestic production accounting for 65 per cent.

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How layoffs reordered Indian startups this year, and other top tech stories this week

Startups laid off over 28,000 people just in the first three quarters of 2023. This alone was over 50% higher than 2022, when companies let go nearly 18,000 employees.

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Apple’s newest headache: an app that upended its control over messaging

Since it was introduced Dec. 5, Beeper Mini has quickly become a headache and potential antitrust problem for Apple. It has poked a hole in Apple's messaging system, while critics say it has demonstrated how Apple bullies potential competitors.

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Facebook's Meta fined for breaches of Italian gambling ads ban

Meta has been fined 5.85 million euros ($6.45 million) in connection with profiles and accounts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as sponsored content which promoted either betting or games with cash prizes.

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Micron revenue forecasts strong recovery, shares jump

Demand for flash storage and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) should keep improving next year, while at the same time supply will begin to approach historically normal levels, the memory chipmaker said.

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Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 could send 240 million PCs to landfills: report

The electronic waste from these PCs could weigh an estimated 480 million kilograms, equivalent to 320,000 cars.

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Microsoft shelves Windows 'mixed reality' feature

The company launched the feature in a Windows 10 update in 2017, and the mixed reality portal app allowed users to access the technology on their personal computers with the use of compatible VR headsets.

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As RBI lifts curbs, Razorpay, Cashfree eye lost market share

With both Razorpay and Cashfree back in the business, industry insiders said there could be a price war breaking out in the online merchant payment space.

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Pulitzer-winning authors join OpenAI, Microsoft copyright lawsuit

A group of 11 nonfiction authors have joined a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of misusing books the authors have written to train the models behind OpenAI's popular chatbot ChatGPT and other artificial-intelligence based software.

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Google Maps, ONDC, Namma Yatri tie up to provide seamless mobility experience

ONDC may include long-distance trains and flights in time to come, its managing director and chief executive officer T Koshy said.

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Massive tailwinds propelling India, says SAP’s Punit Renjen

India is incredibly important for German multinational software company SAP SE, said senior company officials here on Tuesday.

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28,000 and counting: That’s the 2023 layoff data from startup land

Startups have been the worst hit this year since the highs of aggressive hiring from 2021, data from Longhouse Consulting shared exclusively with ET showed.

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Indian companies seek comprehensive cybersecurity: HPE India CTO Sadasiva Ranganath

On certain days, HPE records as many as 2.6 billion logged requests and cybersecurity-related events. Cybersecurity, therefore, is no longer a “one-time effort” that companies are putting in, Sadasiva Ranganath said.

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EV startup founders made big claims, now one could go to prison

A federal judge in Manhattan will sentence Trevor Milton, founder and former CEO of the truck company Nikola, after a jury found him guilty last year of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Milton was accused of pumping up the value of Nikola stock by making extravagant claims about the company.

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OpenAI says board can overrule CEO on safety of new AI releases

​​The release of the guidelines follows a period of turmoil at OpenAI after Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman was briefly ousted by the board, putting a spotlight on the balance of power between directors and the company’s c-suite.

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Unicorn Slice eyes $100 million to fuel its banking dreams

The Bengaluru-based fintech firm is scouting for fresh equity and is trying to get a good deal from investors. The talks are still at an early stage and, given the overall funding winter, might take a few months to close, sources told ET.

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Activision Blizzard to pay $54 million to settle California state workplace discrimination claims

Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay about $54 million to settle discrimination claims brought by California's civil rights agency on behalf of women employed by the video game maker.

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AI’s Magic Call: how AI will make smartphones smarter

Artificial intelligence will unlock limitless possibilities in smartphones once they fully adopt the technology and make it a part of their offerings. Here's how AI will make smartphones smarter and unleash the next phase of growth for the industry

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Seeing eye to AI: risk and impact of artificial intelligence use in businesses

Along with independent research and analysis firm Foundry, looked at actions, experiences, and projections of more than 1,000 decision-makers, C-level executives, business leaders, automation leaders and practitioners across industries and regions over two months. The report underscored three topics – AI, productivity improvements and scalability.

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Infosys inaugurates Rs 230 crore development centre in Nagpur

"Infosys inaugurates a new development centre in Nagpur. With over Rs 230 crore investment, the 2,65,000 sq ft unique state-of-the-art building is an integration of art and science," according to a release.

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Infosys kicks off holiday season with long-awaited pay hike

The hikes, which typically are effective from April 1, have now been announced from November 1, 2023, ET has learnt. It does not include reviews for entry level workers of the IT services major, according to people aware of the matter.

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Going vocal with local on LLMs; and other top tech, startup stories this week

While tech biggies including Microsoft, Google, and Meta are leading the charge on AI, more localised contingents are emerging across geographies, including in India and the European Union.

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Government may go high-tech to reduce wastage of fresh fruits, veggies

Plans to use a technology tool developed by ecommerce major Amazon called Johari to reduce wastage of fresh fruits and vegetables at its warehouses and retail outlets.

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BharOS looks to provide its technology for routers

BharOS, an indigenously developed mobile operating system, is considering providing its technology for routers, said Karthik Ayyar, the founder of JandK Operations, an IIT Madras incubated non-profit organisation that has built BharOS.

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Hero MotoCorp increases stake in Ather, buys additional shares worth Rs 140 crore

In September, the electric scooter maker had raised Rs 900 crore in fresh funding from Hero MotoCorp and GIC. Prior to that, Hero had partially led a $128-million fundraise into Ather in January 2022.

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Investments in private markets, firms fetch better returns than public markets: report

The report highlights that the aggregate benchmark of alternate investment funds (AIF) investing in private markets delivered an alpha of 13.5% over the public market equivalent, S&P BSE Sensex.

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India strategically important for us, says NTT Global CEO Abhijit Dubey

Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Group views India as a strategically important market that houses its second largest employee population outside of Japan and has the potential to be among the company’s top revenue generators, its global CEO Abhijit Dubey told ET in an exclusive interview.

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GPAI Summit 2023 | India will launch AI mission to boost agri, healthcare: PM

“The aim of this mission will be to establish sufficient AI compute power in the country. This will help India’s innovators and startups get better facilities. Under this mission, AI applications in agriculture, healthcare and education-related sectors will be promoted,” Modi said at the inaugural session of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit 2023.

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Ayurveda-focused B2C startup Nat Habit raises $10 million led by Bertelsmann

The company has previously raised about $7 million in total. From the current funding, about $2 million will be used for early-stage investor exits, in about 5X returns in four years. Its other past investors include Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia.

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Zomato sees an opportunity in catering business

The company is also looking to add more offerings to its loyalty programme, Gold, despite concerns about the potential impact on profitability, Rakesh Ranjan, chief executive for food delivery, said in an interview.

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US judge to hear Meta privacy dispute with FTC next month

The agency proposed tightening a 2019 consent agreement, that had forced Facebook, which became Meta in 2021, to pay a $5 billion penalty.

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Threads countdown teases app's potential EU launch

Meta-owned Instagram launched Threads in the United States and elsewhere in July but EU users cannot access the platform because the company was wary of Brussels' regulatory oversight before any roll-out.

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Dunzo survival hinges on Reliance Retail commitment to funds

An impasse after several rounds of discussions has left Dunzo’s other investors increasingly sceptical of its chances of survival in the absence of fresh funding soon, said multiple people briefed on the situation.

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Amazon competitor Zulily curtails operations, lays off hundreds

Zulily will lay off 292 workers in Seattle and elsewhere in Washington, effective from February 7, according to a notification from the state Employment Security Department, reports Seattle Times.

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Finally, it's done: Europe agrees landmark AI regulation deal

With the political agreement, the EU moves toward becoming the first major world power to enact laws governing AI. Friday's deal between EU countries and European Parliament members came after nearly 15 hours of negotiations that followed an almost 24-hour debate the previous day.

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IT companies take pole position on CEO pay front in India

C Vijayakumar, managing director and CEO of HCL Technologies, India’s third-largest IT services company by market cap, was the eleventh-highest paid, taking home $3.46 million, or about Rs 28 crore, (he is based out of the US) in FY23.

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Playing on Numbers: Making sense of India’s gaming boom

​​Over the past three years, the online gaming industry has grown at a CAGR of 28 per cent, reaching Rs 16,428 crore in FY23 and is likely to reach Rs 33,243 crore by FY28.

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Green Shoots: Sustainability now part of corporate agenda for Indian tech companies

For tech companies in India, sustainability is now part of corporate agenda. So accordingly, apart from their products, the likes of Intel and SAP Labs have also invested in green campuses

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Europe agrees landmark AI regulation deal

With the political agreement, the EU moves toward becoming the first major world power to enact laws governing AI.

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Startups’ annus horribilis; and other top tech stories this week

Indian startups are closing 2023 with a cloud of uncertainty looming large over them.

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Funding in Indian startups sinks to its lowest since 2017

Investments till date at $7 billion for 2023; Oct-Dec least funded quarter since July-Sept 2016, show data

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News publishers are fighting Big Tech over peanuts. They could be owed billions.

The settlement is far less than Canada wanted -- it had sought $126 million -- and a small fraction of the estimated $550 million that news publishers deserve from Google.

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Memory, storage products made at Micron ATMP in Sanand will be largely exported: Micron MD Anand Ramamoorthy

On Monday, agreements for ensuring project milestones are met on time, and for disbursement of incentives, were signed among Micron, India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and Government of Gujarat.

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Binance withdraws Abu Dhabi licence bid as crypto giant weighs structure

The Binance unit, called BV Investment Management, pulled the application with Abu Dhabi's financial regulator, a spokesperson for Binance said on Thursday.

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Musk says his AI firm xAI is rolling out chatbot Grok to X Premium+ subscribers

Musk announced it in a post on X, without revealing anymore details of the launch. Last month, he had said that as soon as Grok was out of early beta testing, it would become available to the subscribers.

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WhatsApp introduces "view once" feature for voice notes

The feature allows users to designate voice notes as "View Once." This enhances privacy by preventing the recipient from exporting, forwarding, saving, or recording the voice note. The "View Once" audio will disappear once the recipient listens to it.

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Banks leverage Bharat Billpay for loan and credit card repayments

For customers who have not adopted a mandate-based loan repayment system, banks are moving to using BBPS to send monthly EMI payment demands

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New Mexico sues Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg over child protection failures

"Our investigation into Meta's social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex," Torrez said in a statement.

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Elon Musk says his AI firm xAI is not raising funds 'right now'

The company has raised $134.7 million in equity financing from a total offering amount of $1 billion, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Tuesday.

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Apple taps companies in India, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan for critical parts

In January, about 17 Chinese companies that supply components for Apple’s devices applied for government clearances to set up manufacturing facilities in India.

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Perfios eyes US, Europe expansion in 9-12 months: CEO Sabyasachi Goswami

The software-as-a-service startup has been chalking out plans to enter the US and European markets next year. According to Goswami, almost 10% of the firm’s revenue can come from these adjacent industries in the next two to three years.

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Failure to curb deepfakes may lead to action under IPC too: Official

On Tuesday, senior government officials from the ministry of electronics and information technology met executives from social media and other internet-based intermediaries. The meeting was chaired by the minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

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Internet of the future to be led by like-minded countries: MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Speaking at the India Internet Governance Forum, Chandrasekhar said that “multistakeholderism” and consultative policymaking was the approach of the government when it came to tech policymaking.

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Byju’s may have to dip into Epic sale funds to keep lights on

Troubled edtech reduces notice period to 15-30 days across staff level to cut costs

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Uber set to join the S&P 500 index in latest sign of turnaround for the ride-hailing service

The San Francisco company will be added to the benchmark index prior to the opening of regular trading on Dec. 18, S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Friday.

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Focus on low-cost AI models, says Nandan Nilekani

Speaking at the Carnegie Tech Summit 2023, Nilekani said that all AI should be use-case-led which can be amplified to make the lives of common people better.

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Social media companies should opt for app-store level check for age-gating: Meta's Joel Kaplan

The verification and subsequent consent management of the age of users below the age of 18 has been mandated by the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which was passed in August this year.

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From retail to beekeeping, Beckn finds takers in distant shores

Like India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce, or ONDC, Gambia’s new network Open Gambia is underpinned by the Beckn Protocol – an open specification that creates a common language for interoperability among different digital platforms to facilitate peer-to-peer economic transactions – that is attracting increasing interest from around the world.

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RBI ban makes online payment aggregators seek alternative business lines

Razorpay, Cashfree, Paytm and PayU cannot add merchants for their online payments business, this has allowed their rivals to grab market share

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EU founders and VCs turn to safer shores like AI on slump

European startups are making strides towards developing AI platforms that aim to compete with US-based companies, such as Open AI, in addition to building in areas such as quantum computing, chip design and semiconductors.

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As Zo House turns one, a look at the co-living space where Web3 creators huddle, work and play

Zo House BLR at Anaa Infra’s Signature Towers is a home away from home for an elite group of 405 members who hold nonfungible tokens (NFTs), including actor Lisa Ray, former Unacademy chief of design Abhinav Chhikara, and Polygon cofounder Sandeep Nailwal, among others.

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OpenAI's Sam Altman, sugarcoating the apocalypse

The government has nibbled the edges of regulation, but the quicksilver AI has already leaped ahead of the snaillike lawmakers and bureaucrats. Nobody, even in Silicon Valley, has any clue how to control it.

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Amazon top seller Appario’s revenue dips 8% in FY23

Appario Retail reported a marginal rise in profit for FY23 at Rs 84 crore against Rs 82 crore in FY22, according to its regulatory filings with the registrar of companies sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler.

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Inside a Mumbai house where a league of gaming legends resides

Esports organisations such as S8UL, Revenant Esports, GodLike Esports, Orangutan Gaming and Global Esports have leased out swanky bungalows to build gaming houses or boot camps to house the top esports athletes of their teams.

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EU wants to know how Meta tackles child sex abuse

The request for information focuses on Meta's risk assessment and mitigation measures "linked to the protection of minors, including regarding the circulation of self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM) on Instagram", the European Commission said.

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Exclusive: Top-level changes at Amazon India; social media firms and anti-deepfake tools

Amazon has started significant top-level restructuring of its India management team under vice president and country head Manish Tiwary.

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NPCI eyes big-size spends on RuPay UPI credit cards

Currently users split bills, pay their local vendors, taxi rides and retailers through UPI, the most popular smartphone-based payments mode in the country.

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Jack Ma returns to rally troops after Alibaba’s troubles deepen

“Every great company is born in a winter,” Ma wrote in response to a staff post. “The people willing to reform for the future, and the organizations willing to pay any price and sacrifice, are the ones that are truly respected.”

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Infra industry must work three shifts to complete projects: Narayana Murthy

In a fireside chat with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, Murthy said India needed to take quick decisions in infrastructure-related projects vis-à-vis China’s development.

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P2P companies log revenue jump, thanks to business partnerships

After years of slow growth and a fledgling business model, some P2P platforms have shown a strong uptick in business volumes mainly through their affiliate programmes, but will regulatory action make this short lived?

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Amazon's AWS appeals to corporate customers with new chatbot, AI safety measures

The new chatbot, called Q, is designed to help with productivity by helping workers summarize important documents and support tickets and chat via communication apps such as Slack, the company announced at its annual cloud computing conference Tuesday in Las Vegas.

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US Thanksgiving weekend sales hit record on big discounts, online boost

Online consumer spending jumped 7.8% during Cyber Week, or the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, according to data from Adobe Analytics, outstripping initial expectations for a  5.4% rise.

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Space-tech startup Agnikul to flight test 3D-printed engine by year-end

If successful, the startup incubated on the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras campus, will become India’s second private company to make a small satellite launch vehicle. The first one was Skyroot Aersospace, which launched the Vikram S in November 2022.

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Neeraj Chopra invests in OTT platform Stage

“My investment in Stage represents more than just a desire to rekindle the flames of our diverse regional dialects. We will embark on a journey together to reawaken dormant languages and empower every voice, ensuring that our cultural heritage thrives in its true form through this platform," Chopra said at a press meet held at his ancestral village of Khandra in Panipat.

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Sorin’s Sanjay Nayar teams up with Peak Ventures for cleantech play

Nayar is partnering with Peak Ventures – an early-stage firm focused on cleantech areas such as new energy, food systems, clean water and climate. Under the new arrangement, Nayar would become a general partner at the Mumbai-based firm.

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Elon Musk to meet Israeli leaders on Monday: report

During Musk's visit, before the war, about 200 people protested efforts by Netanyahu's right-wing government to curb the powers of Israeli courts. They gathered outside Tesla's California factory, where the meeting took place.

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Gensol Engineering to manufacture electric reverse trike

The vehicles with two wheels in the front and one in the back will be produced at a 30,000-unit-a-year facility at Chakan, Maharashtra

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Pentagon's AI initiatives accelerate hard decisions on lethal autonomous weapons

Pentagon is intent on fielding multiple thousands of relatively inexpensive, expendable AI-enabled autonomous vehicles by 2026 to keep pace with China.

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ETtech Opinion | Catalysing the Indian innovation ecosystem- the RISC-V way

India is at the forefront of enabling a new era of processor innovation with our own indigenous Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) Program. RISC-V is a free and open Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) which could be used by startups and entrepreneurs across the world to build their own products and devices.

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Ministers group likely to discuss e-gaming on December 15

While the GoM has conducted “a couple of informal meetings” so far, the first official meeting is likely to set the tone for the process of regulating online gaming, with a specific focus on how to effectively tax the sector and avoid “any illegal gambling or betting, especially from off-shore players”.

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Ecommerce companies, brands line up for Black Friday rush

Online and offline markets in India are set to see sales growing by over 70% in the week of Black Friday this year when compared to business as usual (BAU) weeks, according to estimates from market research firm 1Lattice. In the US, Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It's the busiest shopping day of the year and marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. The sale typically gets extended to the following Monday, called Cyber Monday.

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Appario looks for a new way to keep selling on Amazon

Amazon and Patni Group, joint venture partners of Appario’s parent firm Frontizo, had in October last year announced plans to shut the seller entity within a year.

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Zomato, Swiggy want to clarify stance to DGGI on tax notice

Companies are expected to tell officials that delivery fees are not accounted for as revenue, but passed on to delivery workers and hence cannot be taxed.

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Businesses, tech groups warn EU against over-regulating AI foundation models

One of the biggest bones of contention is foundation models, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, which are AI systems that are trained on large sets of data, with the ability to learn from new data to perform a variety of tasks.

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Cert-In investigation into Apple's state-sponsored threat notifications nears conclusion

The probe found that there was “some vulnerability in Apple’s systems for a period during which several threat actors across the world tried to spread some virus on Apple devices”, the official said on condition of anonymity.

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OpenAI spat highlights perils of leaning on a single GenAI tool

The dependence on OpenAI explains why founders hugely invested in businesses dependent on OpenAI’s tech were extremely concerned.

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AI poster child Sam Altman back at OpenAI, may have fewer checks on power

OpenAI is bringing Altman back just days after his ouster as well as installing a revamped board that could bring sharper scrutiny to the startup at the heart of the AI boom, but strong support from investors including Microsoft may give Altman more leeway to commercialize the technology.

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Broadcom closes $69 billion VMware deal after China approval

The deal, one of the biggest globally when announced in May 2022, was the latest in CEO Hock Tan's efforts to boost the chipmaker's software business. However, the transaction faced tough regulatory scrutiny across the world and the companies had delayed the closing date three times.

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Social media sellers get ‘dislikes’ from I-T department

“Apart from the large ecommerce companies, we are closely monitoring the shops on Instagram and Facebook and have detected evasion to the tune of about Rs 10,000 crore,” a senior official told ET.

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Game on: Casters beat players in esports winnings

​Esports casters like Ocean Sharma, Varun John, Sudhen Wahengbam, Kaavya Karthikeyan and many others are being well rewarded as hosts of tournaments such as BGMI, Valorant, CS:GO and even making a mark internationally.

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Sam Altman, OpenAI board open talks to negotiate his possible return

Discussions are happening between Altman and at least one board member, Adam D’Angelo, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private and they may not come to fruition. The talks also involve some of OpenAI’s investors, who are also pushing for his reinstatement, one of the people said.

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What Google's multibillion payment to Apple says about privacy and power in tech

A valuation of default settings became clear in the current Google antitrust trial. During the trial, Google revealed that it paid $26.3 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine on various platforms, with a substantial portion of the money going to Apple.

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Data will show efforts to fight hate: X CEO Linda Yaccarino tells staff as advertisers flee

X, formerly Twitter, lost several major advertisers including IBM and Comcast, and owner Elon Musk was blasted by the White House after he agreed with a post on the platform Wednesday.

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Amazon business looking to offer multiple licence options at signup

Amazon Business is the B2B offering of Amazon India that provides its business customers with access to products with a GST invoice allowing them to take input tax credit. These customers also get business-exclusive deals and quantity discounts on products, as per its website.

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Sam Altman said to be discussing return to OpenAI with company's board

The discussions follow an outcry after Altman, 38, was ousted from his role as OpenAI's CEO a day earlier. Since then, OpenAI's investors and Altman's supporters have pressured the four board members of the startup to bring Altman back, six people with knowledge of the matter said.

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Tech provides the assist to find football’s uncut gems

Reliance Foundation is using ai.io’s talent discovery platform to produce a goal that lets Indian football emerge the winner.

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Meta breaks up its Responsible AI team

Meta Platforms has split its Responsible AI team that worked on understanding and preventing harms associated with the artificial intelligence technology it is developing

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ChatGPT maker OpenAI's board ousts CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati will serve as interim CEO, the company said, adding that it will conduct a formal search for a permanent CEO.

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Lionsgate suspends all advertising on X: report

This comes after Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on X that falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people. ​​

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'Ridiculous' US lawsuit by Elon Musk's X Corp should be dismissed: hate speech watchdog

The Center for Countering Digital Hate also called the "ridiculous" and "baseless" lawsuit against them an attempt to silence others who say things X may not like. It also denied X's claim that commercial rivals and perhaps even foreign governments were funding its activities.

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People+ai readies blueprint for digital public infrastructure for open compute

people+ai, an initiative by EkStep Foundation—an organisation co-founded by Nandan Nilekani--is set to discuss a concept paper on ‘Digital Public Infrastructure for Open Compute’ next month at the Global Technology Summit in New Delhi.

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Amazon to sell Hyundai vehicles online starting in 2024

Customers will be able to shop for, equip and buy a car at Amazon and schedule delivery through a local Hyundai dealer, the companies said.

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OpenAI explores ways to get ChatGPT into classrooms

OpenAI's chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, said at a conference in San Francisco that the company will form a team to explore educational applications of a technology that has threatened to upend industries, stoked new legislation and become a popular learning tool.

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How ready are Indian businesses for the AI era?

​​​Overall, according to to the Cisco AI Readiness Index 2023, only 26% of organisations in India are fully prepared to deploy and leverage AI – but this is higher than the global average of 14%. 42% are moderately prepared, 31% have limited preparedness, while 1% are unprepared.

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PayU eyes B2B pay, credit play under new top brass

From being an early player offering online payments to internet companies back in 2011, to facing severe competition from new-age startups such as Paytm and Razorpay, to a failed attempt to acquire Billdesk and facing a merchant acquisition embargo from the Reserve Bank of India, PayU has had a chequered history in India.

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Airbnb acquires AI startup GamePlanner

GamePlanner.AI was cofounded by Adam Cheyer, who was also one of the founders of Apple's voice assistant Siri.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/ifLVeU1

Social media firms must face lawsuits over harm to children: US judge

US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California ruled against Alphabet, which operates Google and YouTube; Meta Platforms, which operates Facebook; ByteDance, which operates TikTok; and Snap, which operates Snapchat.

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ETtech in-depth | Lacking bite and funding, online meat ecosystem returns to the drawing board

The potential from low online penetration and lack of organisation has seen marquee investors such as Temasek, Prosus, Tiger Global, 3one4 Capital and Amazon pour in over $1 billion in funding into the online meat sector, as per Tracxn.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/uCLp0Q4

SaaS company Whatfix dragged to court by rival WalkMe

WalkMe has alleged that Whatfix, which is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund and Peak XV Partners (earlier Sequoia Capital India), gained unauthorised access to its systems, sought to interfere with its customer relationships, made misleading advertising claims about its products and used its design mark without permission

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China's Singles Day sales festival wraps up with ecommerce giants reporting sales growth

​​Originally a 24-hour online shopping event held on Nov. 11 each year in China, the 'Singles Day' festival - a nod to the digits in the date - has expanded into weeks of promotions across the country's major e-commerce platforms and in brick-and-mortar stores.

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Fact: check or mate? States embrace fact check units amid freedom of speech concerns

Different state governments are in the process of setting up fact check units to combat misinformation. But, can they be neutral and independent of state control? ET asks career fact checkers for answers!

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MIB to bring OTT, digital news under proposed new broadcasting services legislation

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has opened public consultation on the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023, designed to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995. The proposed legislation aims to streamline regulatory processes, encompassing Over-The-Top (OTT) and digital news platforms, and update definitions and provisions for emerging technologies.

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Price wars during Chinese shopping fest expose consumer woes

This year's festival is being more closely watched than ever as a gauge of consumer confidence as China flirts with deflation and has identified boosting household demand as key to avoiding lost decades of sluggish growth.

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Companies rush for cyber insurance on data laws, digitisation

Generally higher claims and lack of strong IT systems for SMEs is causing insurers to be wary about offering these products actively.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/AwKTPaH

EU AI Act to serve as blueprint for global rules: lawmaker Brando Benifei

While several countries have been looking at ways to regulate AI, European lawmakers have taken a lead by drafting AI rules aimed at setting a global standard for a technology key to almost every industry and business. The draft rules could get approved by next month.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/l9Agp5M

Mutual funds are taking a shining to new-age stocks

An analysis of shareholding patterns of new-age firms such as Zomato, Paytm, Delhivery, Nykaa and PB Fintech, showed mutual funds have increased their holdings in several of these companies slowly but significantly over the last four quarters.

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Amazon begins layoffs in music streaming unit

Employees in Latin America, North America and Europe received notices that their jobs had been eliminated Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

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EU to ask YouTube, TikTok for details on measures protecting minors

The new EU rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) requires Big Tech to do more to fight harmful and illegal online content, especially content that targets minors.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/X6eWI2E

Google's open culture collides with the Israel-Hamas war

In the month since Hamas launched an attack inside Israel, and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and invasion of the Gaza Strip, discussion of the topic at Google -- for Muslims and Jews -- has sunk into an morass of hostility and intolerance, employees say.

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Uber bets on holiday demand after dull third quarter

Uber is grappling with tough competition from Lyft, which has cut fares to gain customers as sticky inflation sparks worries about ride-share demand.

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Apple delays work on next year’s iPhone, Mac software to fix bugs

In a rare move, Apple Inc. hit pause on development of next year’s software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and other devices so that it could root out glitches in the code.

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US consumer watchdog proposes rules for Big Tech payments, digital wallets

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal would subject companies like Alphabet, Apple and PayPal to bank-like supervision, with CFPB examiners inspecting their privacy protections, executives' conduct, and compliance with laws barring unfair and deceptive practices.

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WeWork India says business not affected by US bankruptcy

The Chapter 11 filing will not impact WeWork India’s members and stakeholders, the company said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it will continue to operate and serve members, landlords, and partners as usual.

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ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts its first big tech showcase as the AI startup faces growing competition

The path to OpenAI's debut DevDay has been an unusual one. Founded as a nonprofit research institute in 2015, it catapulted to worldwide fame just under a year ago with the release of a chatbot that's sparked excitement, fear and a push for international safeguards to guide AI's rapid advancement.

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Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd to hand over CEO role to Slack's Lidiane Jones

Jones is the CEO of Salesforce-owned Slack and has held senior business roles at Microsoft where she spent more than 12 years. She will take over on Jan. 2, while Wolfe Herd will remain executive chair.

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For financial services companies, India’s best market for tech talent: Morgan Stanley executive

India is currently the second largest location in terms of tech headcount outside the US for the multinational financial services firms, Michael Pizzi, managing director and head of US banks & technology at Morgan Stanley, told ET.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/7RQ6hUI

Another Google antitrust battle reaches court in Epic Games case

On Monday, Epic Games, the company behind the hit game Fortnite, will appear in federal court in San Francisco to kick off a monthlong trial in its own antitrust lawsuit against Google. Epic is expected to argue that Google is violating both state and federal antitrust laws by wielding monopolistic power over app developers on its Google Play Store on Android mobile phones.

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Meta now lets creators publish Instant Games directly on Facebook

The company also said that it will change the way games are distributed across our organic discovery experiences.

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New Apple macOS update comes with a liquid detection feature

According to a report in 9to5Mac, macOS Sonoma 14.1 update includes a new system daemon called "liquiddetectiond," which can identify when the computer has been exposed to liquids.

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Viasat to lay off 800 employees post Inmarsat acquisition

Post-layoffs, Viasat will still have global operations with a majority of its employees continuing to be located in the US and the UK.

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Elon Musk teases AI chatbot 'Grok,' with real-time access to X

"Grok" comes from "Stranger in a Strange Land," a 1961 science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein, and means to understand something thoroughly and intuitively.

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Tech-ing Stock: India Mobile Congress 2023 showcases next-gen tech marvels

The India Mobile Congress 2023 saw large telcos and big companies, along with emerging startups, vie for attention with their innovations. ET took a walk across the floor, exploring all that the showcase had to offer and came away impressed at what the future has in store.

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Nazara eyes tax crisis-hit real money game companies

The RMG industry is facing a tax demand of more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore, after the government decided to levy a 28% GST on deposits made by users to play a game, instead of on the winnings.

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Explained | Sam Bankman-Fried's conviction: what's next?

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has set Sam Bankman-Fried's sentencing for March 28, 2024. Bankman-Fried could face decades in prison. But what's next?

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The other crypto bosses in US authorities' crosshairs

Onetime crypto poster child Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of defrauding customers of his now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, in a high-profile criminal case that rocked the industry. But he's not the only one in regulators' sights.

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Cross-border norms bring ePay companies directly under RBI watch

With regulatory clarity comes an opportunity to attract more venture money to tap into the burgeoning export-import market of a growing economy.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/lUC5ckD

British PM Rishi Sunak: new AI models to be tested before release

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday said that like-minded governments and artificial intelligence companies had reached agreement on testing new AI models before they were released.

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Midcaps brave IT winter better than big firms

Despite a few companies like Happiest Minds and Mphasis missing estimates due to wage hikes and sustained pressure on the BFSI segment, analysts see the midcap segment continuing to end the fiscal on a strong note.

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India clear about how to mitigate downsides of AI: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar at AI summit

He presented his views on AI and policy surrounding the technology in a round-table discussion, “What should National Policymakers do?”.

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Britain to invest 300 million pounds in AI supercomputing

Britain said on Wednesday it would boost funding for two supercomputers which will support research into making advanced artificial intelligence models safe.

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RBI issues rules to regulate cross-border payment aggregators

The central bank sad that non-banks that provide cross-border payment aggregator (PA) services will have to apply for an authorisation from the regulator by April 30, 2024.

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ONDC seller apps seek unique ID for network’s vendors

Seeing the same store being listed multiple times on the buyer app is not a great experience from a user perspective, they say.

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Biden administration aims to cut AI risks with executive order

The order, which he signed at the White House, requires developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they are released to the public.

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Google's Sundar Pichai says tech giant has improved the web for all consumers

Testifying on Monday in Google's landmark antitrust trial, Pichai directly contradicted the Justice Department's claims that his company's huge payments to companies such as Apple to be the default internet search option on their popular devices represent its unchecked monopoly power.

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Telegram to ban channels that called for anti-Semitic riots in Russia's Dagestan

The popular messaging platform Telegram will block channels that called for anti-Semitic violence in Russia's Dagestan region, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on Monday.

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VCs rope in Deloitte to work with Groyyo to shut its B2B trading business

New York-based investment fund Tiger Global is also believed to be engaging with another Big 4 audit firm for a potential forensic audit of Groyyo. However, it is not clear if that's been finalised yet.

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Google investigating multiple profile update bug found in Pixel phones

​​The problem was faced mostly by Pixel 6 owners as soon as the Android 14 update started rolling out. According to reports, the problems ranged from missing apps to being locked out of internal storage on one of users' devices.

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Elon Musk says Starlink to provide connectivity in Gaza for aid organisations

Musk said in a post on social media platform X that it was not clear who has authority for ground links in Gaza, but we do know that "no terminal has requested a connection in that area".

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Mingle offline: Is online dating getting outdated?

Is online dating getting outdated? Six popular dating apps, including Tinder, Aisle, Truly Madly and OkCupid, have seen a drop in monthly active users in India

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VinFast begins shopping for land to drive into the EV market in India

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast Auto is evaluating potential sites for its upcoming manufacturing facility and has already reviewed two locations in Tamil Nadu, people aware of the developments told ET.

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Elon Musk's X launches two new premium subscription plans

The Premium+ plan, priced at about $16 per month, includes all the tools and features offered by the platform, minus the ads, the company said in a post on the platform.

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Amidst a funding winter, large startups show healthier balance sheets; and other tech stories this week

While some startups have shown profits, even those who haven’t been able to get into the black yet reported strong revenue and Ebitda numbers.

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Churn on: Tata Digital loses another senior executive

Subramanian was formerly travel firm Cleartrip's head before joining Tata Digital in November 2021. He is considering setting up his own venture but it is not finalised yet.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/wFBzHaO

How Elon Musk changed the meaning of Twitter for users

It has been one year since Elon Musk bought Twitter. Since then, the meaning of the social media service has changed — sometimes drastically — for many of the people who use it.

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Google executive testifies innovation key to avoid becoming 'next road kill'

Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan testified at the ongoing antitrust trial in the suit brought by the US Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general, alleging Alphabet's Google unlawfully abused its dominance in the search-engine market to maintain monopoly power.

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Mamaearth parent sets IPO price band; Meta's ad biz boosts Q3 profits

Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer has set a price band of Rs 308-324 per share for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO). This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried testifies outside jury's presence

Bankman-Fried's risky decision to testify gives prosecutors the chance to cross-examine the 31-year-old former billionaire about those claims that he told colleagues to commit crimes.

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Making content more accessible for disabled: OTTs

The OTT service providers were responding to a letter sent by the ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) last month. The ministry had written to two industry bodies that represent these companies after the Delhi High Court issued an order to make films and other content accessible to persons with disabilities.

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Amazon analysts expect same-day delivery to boost margins in Q3

Same-day delivery is now offered in at least 90 cities, free for Prime members while non-members pay $9.99. The retailer invested heavily in 2020 and 2021 in logistics to make same-day delivery, which it introduced in 2015, available in more places.

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Amazon rolls out AI-powered image generation to empower advertisers

Amazon Ads has started rolling out image generation to select advertisers and will expand availability over time.

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Instagram testing feed only for paid verified users

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that the company is "exploring this as a new control for people and a way for businesses and creators to get discovered".

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/zlgV3qd

Amazon rolls out passwordless sign-ins for users on iOS and web

Amazon is rolling out passkey support on browsers and mobile shopping apps (iOS users), making it easier and safer for the customers to access their accounts with passwordless sign-in.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/HrGXAxB

HCLTech may not offer wage hikes to middle and senior-level staff in FY24

The classification of E0 – E2 employees range from freshers to technical leaders and E3 – E6 employee band are those with mid-level positions ranging starting from project managers up to vice presidents. E7 and above are the senior-level employees.

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Festive sales may fetch Flipkart up to Rs 36,000 crore in gross sales

This year, during the first week of the festive season sales on ecommerce marketplaces, GMV grew by about 18% to around $4 billion, according to Datum Intelligence, a market research firm.

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Top IT companies boost margins amidst market struggles

To be sure, Infosys, HCLTech and Wipro have slashed their revenue guidance for the upcoming quarter and full fiscal amid a freeze on tech spends and delay in decision making.

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Martin Goetz, who received the first software patent, dies at 93

In 1968, nearly a decade after he and several other partners started the company Applied Data Research, Martin Goetz received his patent, for data-sorting software for mainframes. It was major news in the industry: An article in Computerworld magazine bore the headline "First Patent Is Issued for Software, Full Implications Are Not Known."

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Indian IT companies likely staring at slowest growth since start

For the country’s fourth-largest IT services provider Wipro, growth numbers are down to their FY99 levels.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/romxP8I

WhatsApp Business tests new 'quick action bar' feature on Android

Currently, the quick action bar feature is available to some beta testers who install the latest versions of WhatsApp Business beta for Android, and it will roll out to more people over the coming days.

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49% of teachers not prepared for AI impact, need urgent support: Report

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes all-pervasive, at least half (49 per cent) of the teachers feel unprepared for its impact, saying more must be done to empower and help them prepare students for an AI-enabled future, a new report has revealed.

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SpaceX aims for 12 launches a month as it eyes satellite-based phone service

Elon Musk-run aerospace company SpaceX aims for 12 launches per month, or one launch in less than three days, the media reported.

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Foxconn subsidiaries faces tax audit, land use probe: report

China's natural resources department conducted on-site investigations on the land use of enterprises of Foxconn in Henan, Hubei provinces and other places

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Web Summit CEO resigns after comments on Israel-Hamas conflict

Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave resigned on Saturday after comments he made on the Israel-Hamas conflict prompted some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal next month.

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New-age brokers ride on futures option to the bank

But the question remains with Sebi becoming careful about the sudden spurt in retail participation in this risky trading segment, how long will the party last?

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Apple's new film strategy debuts with 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Until now, Apple's films were streaming-first. But "Killers of the Flower Moon" won't reach its streaming service, Apple TV+, for at least 45 days. It is Apple's clearest embrace of movie theaters since the start of Apple TV+ four years ago, and the first of three major theatrical releases from the company scheduled for the next six months.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/dIJ8xVc

As Google pushes deeper into AI, publishers see fresh challenges

Since May, Google has begun rolling out a new form of search powered by generative AI, after industry observers questioned the tech giant's future prominence in providing consumers with information following the rise of OpenAI's query-answering chatbot, ChatGPT.

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Wipro reports muted Q2, net profit almost flat at Rs 2,667 crore

India's fourth-largest software company also gave a tepid outlook, citing an "uncertain" business environment.

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Celesta Capital to play on front foot on startup investments

India is the most interesting place after Silicon Valley and it is an exciting time for India’s startup ecosystem, Kumar said.

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Showroom B2B raises $6.5 million in funding led by Jungle Ventures

The latest round of funding will help scale the company’s experience store model across Tier II and III markets in India, as per a statement. These stores facilitate access to garment samples and catalogues for fashion retailers and wholesalers.

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AWS previews customisation ability of coding assistant CodeWhisperer

Amazon CodeWhisperer is an artificial intelligence (AI) coding companion that generates real-time single-line or full-function code suggestions for developers.

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Qualcomm, Google partner to make RISC-V chip for wearable devices

RISC-V, pronounced as "risk five," is an open-source technology that competes with costly proprietary technology from British chip designer Arm Holdings.

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WhatsApp rolls out passwordless logins with passkeys on Android

Passkeys were previously being tested by WhatsApp in its beta channel, but it's now coming to regular users. There is still no information on support for WhatsApp passkeys on iPhones.

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US tackles loopholes in curbs on AI chip exports to China: official

The new rules will be added to sweeping US restrictions on shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China unveiled last October.

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Tether freezes $873,000 in crypto linked to 'terrorism and warfare' in Israel and Ukraine

Tether did not provide details of the owners of the addresses, when they were frozen, nor the nature of their activity. It also did not provide a breakdown of the split between Ukraine-related and Israel-related addresses.

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Ecommerce festive sales off to a bright start on deep discounts

Brands and ecommerce platform executives said they have seen a better-than-expected start to festive season sales at the end of the first week, with deep discounts, shaking off concerns around an impact from the ‘Shradh’ period, which lasted till October 15.

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Flipkart claims 1.4 billion customer visits during Big Billion Days sale

Flipkart claimed that the artisan community, onboarded under its Samarth programme, observed a six-fold growth compared to the pre-festive period.

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Disney+Hotstar creates new viewership record of 3.5 crore in India-Pak match

With this, it has surpassed the peak concurrency of 3.2 crore in the IPL finale between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, played earlier this year.

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Global AI guidelines 'normative', unclear about implementation, say researchers

To determine if a global consensus existed regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the researchers identified and analysed 200 documents related to AI ethics and governance published between 2014 and 2022 from 37 countries and six continents and written or translated into five different languages - English, Portuguese, French, German and Spanish.

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How UPI tips the scale against hotel staff

Guests widely shifting to online payments is threatening tip culture, hurting employees’ income

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EU warns Google over YouTube disinformation in wake of Hamas attack

In the latest in a series of messages to tech CEOs that has already seen him sparring with Elon Musk on X, formerly Twitter, the EU industry commissioner wrote to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

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EV scooter makers deposit customer refunds; IT firms see dip in hiring

Four e-scooter makers have deposited part of the over Rs 300 crore they have to refund to buyers for mispricing their ebikes to avail of subsidies.

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Lens on payment firms seeking aggregator tag

In the payments business, access to sensitive data needs to be monitored and many payment companies do not have such access controls, or do not maintain proper audit checks. The regulator wants fintechs to be serious about these aspects of business before they are issued a licence.

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47% of Indians to surpass Rs 10,000 in festive spending this year: ShareChat & Moj festive report

This year, the platforms said home improvement has made a strong entry into the top three product categories that Indians are likely to spend on while clothing and mobile phones continue to dominate the purchase categories.

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Caltech ends high-stakes US patent fight with Apple and Broadcom

Pasadena, California-based Caltech sued Apple and Broadcom in 2016, alleging that millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and other Apple devices using Broadcom chips infringed its wireless-communication patents.

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Fintech startup Jiraaf raises $8.7 million in funding led by Accel, Harmony Partners

“We will be using this money to mainly build our team, improve customer service across categories of business and also for originating more customers,” said cofounder Saurav Ghosh.

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Internet companies Google, Amazon and Cloudflare report biggest-ever denial of service operation

Denial of service is among the web's most basic form of attack and it works by simply overwhelming targeted servers with a firehose of bogus requests for data, making it impossible for legitimate web traffic to get through.

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Karnataka’s new procurement policy aims to give slice of government business to startups

The government has not decided on the share of procurement that should go to startups, but it’s speculated that the figure may be set at 5%.

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Rule curbing AI chip exports to China under final review

The regulation on controls on high-end chips, advanced computing integrated circuits (ICs), and supercomputing was received for review on Oct. 10, according to the Office of Management and Budget website.

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OECD publishes treaty that would replace national digital taxes

The release of the text puts pressure on the United States in particular, where a two-thirds majority in the deeply divided Senate is needed to ratify treaties. The document is the first pillar of a two pillar overhaul of rules for the cross-border taxation of multinational companies, which was agreed in 2021 by nearly 140 countries but whose implementation is proving slow and complicated.

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Govt to seek info from YouTube, Telegram on curbing sleaze; InsuranceDekho raises $60M in funding

Social media companies may have to provide detailed information on the steps they’ve taken to curb pornographic and child sexual abuse material on their platforms. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Jungle Ventures launches programme to invest $2 million or above in seed capital

Jungle Ventures invests in early- to growth-stage companies in Southeast Asia and India. Its portfolio includes Moglix, Livspace, Builder.ai and Atomberg among Indian startups.

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Apple updates iPhone 12 software to address France's radiation testing

Apple has disputed the findings of French regulators who said that the iPhone 12, which has been on the market for three years, gave off more than permissible amounts of radiation and halted sales of the device.

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Ninjacart helping farmers to reach more buyers: CEO Kartheeswaran KK

Ninjacart is aiming to post revenue of more than Rs 2,500 crore in fiscal 2024, compared with about Rs 1,212.5 crore that it made in the last fiscal year ended March 2023, CEO Kartheeswaran KK told ET in an interview.

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Online bargains recede as festive sales outperform; Dunzo reviews expenses to conserve cash

Ecommerce discounts and promotional offers came down on the third day of the biggest annual online festive sales, as brands and online sellers over achieved their targets in sales by value compared to the year-ago period. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Razorpay leans on existing customers on signup freeze

On Monday, Razorpay launched its latest solution, Optimizer, which will allow businesses with large transaction volumes to avoid failures by rerouting them in real time.

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India market to turn largest for Zoho in 10 years: founder Sridhar Vembu

Vembu, who operates out of his native town Tenkasi, said the prediction is driven by India's demographic advantage as it witnessed more than 20 million child births last year, which is higher than the US, China, Japan and South Korea combined.

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Collaborative commerce platform Oyela raises Rs 14.4 crore led by Prime Venture Partners

The company said it will use the funds to develop ecommerce technology, build chatbots for selling on various platforms with public profiles like Pinterest, YouTube, Threads as well as streamline the supply chain to help people set up and expand their own Instagram stores.

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Zepto CEO's big sales target; sustainable ventures in focus for public markets at ET Startup Awards 2023

India's newest unicorn Zepto has set its sights on an ambitious sales target, CEO Aadit Palicha said during The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023 (ETSA).

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ET Startup Awards 2023 | Pedigree of India's tech ecosystem firmly established: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The minister said in the past there was some scepticism about young Indians building companies and startups. But over the past five to six years "the confidence amongst the world's investors, consumers, companies, and enterprises about the capabilities that this generation of entrepreneurs bring to bear is unprecedented", he added.

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ET Startup Awards 2023 | Chant profitability, sustainability, with us: panel on Awards night

A high-powered panel, with some of the top names from India’s tech brigade, discussed the new order and how they were laying the foundation for sustainable revenue and profitability. The panel also touched upon how the focus for startups continues to be public markets.

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ETSA at the time of World Cup: pitstop on way to Chepauk

As it turns out, the ETSA event was a happening pitstop for entrepreneurs on the way to watch India take on five-time ICC world champions Australia at the Chepauk stadium.

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ET Startup Awards 2023: Profitability the ‘biz’word for Indian startups now

With union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal and minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar as the guests of honour, ET feted eight startup champions at a gala ceremony in Bengaluru on Saturday.

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ET Startup Awards | Funding winter only in the mind, there is enough cash available for good ventures: Piyush Goyal

The minister urged industry to promote India-made goods and inform customers of the country of origin as they should be given a choice to be part of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

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Aditya-L1 spacecraft healthy, on its way to the Sun-Earth L1 point: ISRO

Aditya-L1 had escaped Earth’s sphere of influence on September 30. It underwent a trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) on October 6 for about 16 seconds, the space agency said.

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Microsoft likely to unveil its first AI chip next month to cut Nvidia GPU costs

Microsoft's data centre servers currently use Nvidia GPUs to power cutting-edge LLMs for cloud customers, including OpenAI and Intuit, as well as for AI features in Microsoft's productivity apps.

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Thane payment gateway fraud: Rs 16,180 crore siphoned off after hacking

​​The fraud was taking place since long and came to light following a complaint lodged with Srinagar police station in Maharashtra's Thane city of hacking of the payment gateway account of the company here in April 2023 and Rs 25 crore being siphoned off, an official from Naupada police station said.

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Intel prepares for Windows 'refresh' amid likely Windows 12 launch

The company last month previewed the next generation of Intel Xeon processors, revealing that 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors will bring a combination of performance improvements and faster memory, while using the same amount of power, to the world's data centres when they launch on December 14.

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Elon Musk's X now showing 'clickbait' ads that users can't block or report

According to a report from digital news platform Mashable, these new X ads don't allow users to like or retweet the ad posts and the new ad format also doesn't disclose who is behind the ad.

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Google shipped almost 40 million Pixel phones since 2016, 10 million in last 12 months

The all-new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones with next-gen AI capabilities, and Pixel Watch 2 are now available in India.

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ET Startup Awards 2023 | Strong vote of confidence a boost for startups Inc

Optimism takes centre stage as entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers gather to celebrate the best of new economy

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Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai set to testify in Google Play trial

Pichai and Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney have been listed as witnesses in a trial scheduled to start Nov. 6 in San Francisco federal court over whether Google Play policies are unlawful and thwart competition, according to court filings.

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BBC blocks OpenAI data scraping, to harness Generative AI

The BBC's director of nations, Rhodri Talfan Davies, believes that the use of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically Generative AI (Gen AI), can provide opportunities to deliver more value to audiences and society. He also stated that Gen AI has the potential to help teams work more effectively and efficiently across various areas.

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Amazon launches first test satellites for Kuiper internet network

Amazon successfully launched its first pair of prototype satellites for its Kuiper internet network from Florida. The launch is the first step in Amazon's plan to deploy thousands more satellites to provide global internet service and compete with SpaceX's Starlink.

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Winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023 to be feted today, and other top tech, startup stories this week

The Economic Times Startup Awards, honoring Indian entrepreneurs, will take place in Bengaluru. The winners across eight categories were announced, including OfBusiness as Startup of the Year and Jishnu Bhattacharjee of Nexus Venture Partners as Midas Touch winner. The event will also feature a panel discussion on sustainable businesses.

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All roads lead to The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023 in Bengaluru today

Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal and minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be the guests of honour at the high-octane event.

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Several US regulators seek information from Kazakh fintech Freedom

In August, Freedom was under attack from Hindenburg that said its research into the company had revealed "hallmark signs of fake revenue" and market manipulation in both its investments and stock.

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Tesla engineer defends 'full self-driving' name at crash trial

The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, alleges the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee's Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour (105 kph), strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds.

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Nvidia rival Graphcore in need of funding as losses mount

Graphcore produces AI chips called intelligence processor units (IPUs) that aim to take on Nvidia. It reported pre-tax losses widened 11% to $204.6 million, according to a filing of its 2022 financial statements filed Wednesday.

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Belgian intelligence service monitors Alibaba hub over 'espionage' worry: report

Alibaba signed an agreement with the Belgium government in 2018 to open an ecommerce trade hub, run by its logistics arm Cainiao, that would include investment in logistics infrastructure.

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SoftBank's Masayoshi Son says AI will surpass human intelligence in a decade

It will affect every industry, from transportation and pharmaceuticals to finance, manufacturing, logistics and others, and the companies and people that work with AI will be the leaders in the next 10 to 20 years, Son said.

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EV ride-hailing startup BluSmart tweaks fare structure in Delhi-NCR to expand customer base

The company has reduced the range of its fare slabs from 5 km to 3 km to offer more fare choices to consumers. Further, BluSmart last increased its base fare to Rs 149 in December 2022, up from Rs 139 in August 2022, Rs 119 in April last year, and Rs 99 in December 2021.

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Ex-Tesla factory worker loses bid for new trial in race bias case

US District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco in a written order upheld a $3.2 million verdict that a jury awarded to plaintiff Owen Diaz in April, denying his motion for a new trial while also rejecting Tesla's bid to cut the award in half.

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NPCI to sign pact with Al Etihad Payments of UAE for cross-border transactions

​​The memorandum of understanding (MoU) aims to develop the domestic card scheme of the UAE based on India's RuPay debit and credit card stack.

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Gaming major Krafton launches incubator programme for Indian startups

The incubator programme will enrol between six to ten “teams” every year, and offer between $50,000 and $150,000 as funding support, with “exceptional” teams getting up to $250,000.

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Meta to lay off employees in metaverse silicon unit

Employees were informed of the layoffs in a post on Meta's internal discussion forum Workplace on Tuesday. The post said they would be notified about their status with the company by early Wednesday morning, one of the sources said.

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Russian court rejects Apple appeal against abuse of dominant market position: report

Russia's federal anti-monopoly service (FAS) fined Apple in January over what it said was the US company's abuse of its dominant market position.

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WeWork misses $95 million in interest payments

WeWork has chosen not to make two interest payments totaling $95 million, in an effort to kick-start negotiations with its lenders and reduce costs with landlords. Although this move may prompt speculation of a potential bankruptcy filing, WeWork claims to have enough cash on hand.

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Visa launches $100 million venture fund for generative AI startups

Generative AI is a technology that creates brand new content based on what it has learnt from past data.

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TikTok parent ByteDance's valuation slumps to $223.5 billion in stock buyback: report

Chinese company ByteDance is reportedly buying back shares from its U.S. employees at a valuation of $223.5 billion, down 26% from the previous year. The company aims to purchase at least $300 million worth of stock from current and former employees. This comes as the private investment market experiences a decline in valuations due to the waning effects of the pandemic-era exuberance.

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NeoGrowth evaluates strategic deal as business becomes profitable

The Mumbai-based NBFC has reported a net profit in the last fiscal after two years of losses, now its stakeholders are evaluating if they can exit on a high.

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Elon Musk's X hit with trademark lawsuit from marketing agency

The lawsuit by X Social Media claims that X Corp, which owner Elon Musk began rebranding to X from Twitter in July, was likely to cause consumer confusion.

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China moves to strengthen innovation in smart driving

China plans to support firms in the smart vehicle supply chain to form innovation consortia in order to foster technological breakthroughs and spread innovation in the field of assisted and autonomous driving. The country aims to establish standards for intelligent connected vehicles by 2025 and become a leading global player in the industry.

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Sam Bankman-Fried explored paying Donald Trump not to run for president, book excerpt says

Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently in jail, considered paying Donald Trump not to run for re-election in 2020, according to a forthcoming book by Michael Lewis. Bankman-Fried was also planning to give millions to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to defeat "Trumpier" candidates in the Senate races.

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Japanese startup develops 'Gundam'-like robot with $3 million price tag

Tokyo-based start-up Tsubame Industries has developed a 4.5-meter-tall robot called ARCHAX, which resembles the popular Japanese animation series "Mobile Suit Gundam." Priced at $3 million, the robot has cockpit monitors that allow the pilot to control its movements using joysticks.

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Piyush Goyal, Rajeev Chandrasekhar to grace ET Startup Awards ceremony; Dunzo cofounder to exit

The awards ceremony of the Economic Times Startup Awards 2023, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on October 7, will see Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal and minister of state for information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar attending as guests of honour. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Neobanking company Fi’s revival hinges on its credit offerings

Internally, the Fi is experimenting with a new user onboarding flow called Fi Lite, where customers are not mandated to open a digital banking account anymore, rather can directly opt for credit products. Fi is also planning to rejig its one-time joining fee of Rs 2,000 for credit card customers to expand its card base.

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Meta technology chief defends tech titan's AI strategy

Meta unveiled AI-infused chatbots with personalities at the gathering, along with tools for creating images or written content using spoken prompts. The company that owns Facebook and Instagram has been seen as lagging rivals like Microsoft and Google, which have pushed out generative AI products and invested heavily in the technology seen as a force poised to shape the future.

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India's private space sector skyrockets

There are now 190 Indian space startups, twice as many as a year earlier, with private investments jumping by 77% between 2021 and 2022, according to Deloitte consultancy.

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Freelancers, startups drive demand for co-working spaces in Bengaluru

Flexible offices or co-working spaces are coming in handy for startups as they save a huge investment of renting, leasing or purchasing the office space. They provide office space as per the requirement, budget and time.

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Apple identifies issues causing overheating in the iPhone 15

After complaints that the new phones are getting very warm, Apple has said that the device may feel warmer in the first few days "after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity."

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GST on online gaming triggers CV deluge

The increasing number of job seekers reflects their concerns about the GST’s potential effects on their future, say experts.

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Walmart changes pay and titles for corporate staff

Walmart corporate staff are getting new titles and pay packages in the coming weeks to manage labor costs and simplify the structure of the company's workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

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A silver lining from the pandemic: A surge in startups

New research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may have sparked a surge in entrepreneurship in the United States. Economists from the University of Maryland and the Federal Reserve found evidence of a sustained increase in new business activity, ranging from restaurants to high-tech startups, during and after the pandemic.

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US SEC charges FTX's former auditor over independence violations

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged accounting firm Prager Metis with multiple violations of auditor independence. The SEC stated that between December 2017 and October 2020, Prager Metis added indemnification provisions to engagement letters for over 200 audits and other work, hindering the firm's required independence.

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Google opens generative AI search experience to teens

Google is expanding its generative AI search experience, known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), to teenagers in the US aged 13 to 17. The company aims to strike a balance between providing opportunities for teenagers to benefit from the technology while prioritizing safety and meeting their developmental needs.

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Elon Musk's X Corp in another legal fight over unpaid rent, this time as plaintiff

X Corp, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit against financial services company Atlas Exploration, seeking to recoup over $713,500 in allegedly unpaid rent and fees for office space in San Francisco. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and claims that Atlas terminated the sublease agreement early without paying the owed rent and early termination fee.

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The harsh ‘reality’ facing real money gaming firms, and other top tech, startup stories this week

The gaming industry in India is facing tax woes as the GST department issued pre-show cause notices to several cash flow-rich firms in the sector. One of the notices, amounting to an estimated Rs 25,000 crore, was served to fantasy sports company Dream11, making it the largest indirect tax notice in India. This move has sparked legal disputes and challenges from the gaming companies, who argue that the tax demands are retrospective and unfair. The Supreme Court will conduct further hearings on the matter on October 10.

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FinMin notifies Oct 1 date for implementing amended GST law provisions for e-gaming

According to the changes to the Central GST Act, these supplies will henceforth be treated as "actionable claims" similar to lottery, betting and gambling and subject to 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on full face value of bets.

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Festive fever may light up ecommerce sales by 16%

Sales in terms of gross merchandise value are likely to be between $9.7 billion and $11 billion this festive season, rising roughly 15-16% from a year earlier, according to data. Companies are betting on premiumisation and non-urban markets.

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IBM tries to ease customers' qualms about using Generative AI

IBM on Thursday announced its campaign to ease customers' qualms. The company said it would indemnify companies against copyright or other intellectual property claims for using its generative AI systems.

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AI startup AlphaSense valued at $2.5 billion after latest funding round

Market intelligence platform AlphaSense has raised $150 million in a fresh round of funding that boosted its valuation to $2.5 billion, underscoring strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) startups.

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Tax officers visit factory, Bengaluru office of China's Lenovo

The officials inspected laptops of Lenovo employees during the visit, one of the sources said. They also tried to contact Lenovo's senior management during and after the visit as part of the inquiry, the person added.

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Gaming startup QuriousBit raises $2 million in funding from Lumikai, General Catalyst

The funds will be used to expand the team size, currently at seven, in product and system development and in marketing its games. QuriousBit did not disclose the valuation at which the firm raised the funds.

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ETSA 2023 Woman Ahead Winner | HUFT’s Rishi Narang up for global market entry next year

Narang, winner of the Woman Ahead category at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023, impressed this year’s jury with the strong customer loyalty that she has built for her brand. The jurors acknowledged the difficulty of building a brand in a category like pet care in India and spoke about how HUFT’s offline strategy was a strong differentiator for the pet supplies business.

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New India CEO to cut Byju’s down to size; eGaming cos mull legal steps after GST shock

Byju’s new India CEO is setting about cleaning house with no stone unturned. Within a week of taking over, Arjun Mohan is planning to merge verticals and prune staff strength by a third – that’s over a whopping 4,500 jobs - to rein in costs. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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India will become top market in Asia in 3-5 years: Netapp CEO

Netapp expects the Indian market to accelerate and become the data storage firm’s largest market in Asia in the next three to five years from the top three position currently.

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US FCC chair proposes to restore net neutrality rules

U.S. Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday said she would move quickly to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules rescinded under former President Donald Trump.

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Wealthy have a social responsibility amid rising inequality: Rohini Nilekani

If wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few, the government may have reason to look to other means such as higher taxation to distribute wealth more fairly, Nilekani said.

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Google, Walmart ask Bengaluru staff to work from home amid state water dispute

Internal memos seen by Reuters showed multinational firms such as Google, Walmart, IBM and Accenture have advised employees to work from home and avoid any non-essential commuting during Tuesday's strike.

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ETSA 2023 stars to be feted on Oct 7; Dream11, others stare at Rs 55,000 crore tax demand

The eight winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023 will be felicitated on October 7 in a grand ceremony in Bengaluru. Seema Prem of Fia Global, which won top honours for Social Enterprise, spoke to us about her startup’s journey, and its next aim. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Yelp wants Google's lawyers tossed from US antitrust case

Yelp and News/Media Alliance, which are not defendants in the litigation but are targets of Google's subpoenas, argue that law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison should be disqualified.

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Elon Musk showcases Tesla humanoid robot performing Yoga, Namaste

Elon Musk showcased the Tesla humanoid robot named 'Optimus' in a video where it performed yoga postures and greeted followers with a 'Namaste'. Optimus has the ability to self-calibrate its arms and legs and can locate its limbs in space using vision and joint position encoders.

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The threat of wildfires is rising. So is new artificial intelligence solutions to fight them

Firefighters and startups are using AI-enabled cameras to scan the horizon for signs of smoke. A German company is building a constellation of satellites to detect fires from space. And Microsoft is using AI models to predict where the next blaze could be sparked.

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Meta gears up to launch dozens of AI chatbots for younger users

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the company has tested a "sassy robot" persona inspired by Bender from Futurama and an overly curious "Alvin the Alien" that one employee worried could imply the bot was made to gather personal information.

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Groww may pip Zerodha in active user count; ETSA 2023 winner Gameberry Labs on its bootstrap journey

Talk about a growth story! Online stock broking platform Groww is all set to pip market leader Zerodha in terms of active investors next month. While Zerodha took almost a decade to achieve leadership status, Groww did it in just three years, having started in 2020. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Panel in place to modernise Mohali Semiconductor Lab: official

Chips from SCL, which is the only unit in the country to manufacture chips, have gone into previous space missions, however, the nodes are very old and need to be updated with the latest in modern technology.

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Hi, Robot: machines take over at China's Asian Games

Hangzhou is the unofficial home of China's tech industry and robots and other mind-boggling gadgets are set to serve, amuse and police visitors.

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Booking.com urges national watchdogs not to back EU antitrust veto on ETraveli deal

The European Commission will announce its decision next week, underlining its concerns that the deal could expand Booking's ecosystem of travel services which include flights, accommodation, car rentals and attractions.

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Netflix prepares to send its final red envelope

Netflix DVD distribution plant, once a bustling ecosystem that processed 1.2 million DVDs a week, employed 50 people and generated millions of dollars in revenue, now has just six employees left to sift through the metallic discs.

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How upstarts are challenging the dominance of ride-hailing giants Ola and Uber

The new players, including Rapido, Blu Smart, Drife, and Shoffr, are gaining traction by offering attractive packages for drivers, lower prices, more convenient booking options, and advanced features such as AI and blockchain-based business models. The traditional players like Ola and Uber have also bounced back from the pandemic decline and are adopting customer-friendly features to compete with the new entrants.

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As Micron unit kicks off, govt says two more proposals likely

Tata Projects will lead construction in the plant’s first phase, which entails building 500,000 square feet of planned cleanroom space, said Micron vice-president Gursharan Singh.

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US Supreme Court extends pause on order curbing Biden social media contacts

The decision to keep the matter on hold until Wednesday gives the court more time to consider the administration's request to block an injunction issued by a lower court that had concluded that federal officials likely had violated the free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by coercing social media platforms into censoring certain posts.

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Oracle spends more than $100 million on Ampere chips

Ampere builds custom server chips based on Arm technology that compete with designs produced by Intel and AMD, which use X86. Oracle has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Ampere since it was founded, according to filings.

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The Pai-and-Kamath way to startup investing; and other top tech stories this week

Bluestone is only the latest in the list of investments by Pai and Kamath, but this marks the growing pace at which they are signing new cheques at a time mid-to-large scale startups are finding it hard to score new funding.

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Arm and Instacart add to losses after lukewarm analyst reports

Shares of Arm Holdings and Instacart deepened their recent losses on Friday after analysts gave lukewarm ratings to the two companies that recently held highly anticipated initial public offerings.

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FTC to file antitrust case against Amazon as soon as next week: report

The FTC has been preparing the complaint since at least the start of this year, targeting an array of Amazon's business practices, according to the report, which said the exact details of the lawsuit were not known.

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As China's AI 'war of a hundred models' gains pace, investors warn of a shakeout

Tensions between Beijing and Washington have also weighed on the sector, as US dollar funds invest less in early-stage projects and difficulties obtaining AI chips made by the likes of Nvidia start to bite.

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US venture firm GGV Capital to separate China business amid geopolitical tension

GGV Capital, a U.S. venture capital firm, plans to split its business into two entities, one focusing on Asia and the other on the U.S., amid increasing political pressure on American companies to limit investments in Chinese technology. The move follows a similar decision by Sequoia Capital in June. GGV Capital's Singapore arm, which will solely invest in China, is expected to complete the separation by the first quarter of 2022.

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Govt’s big leg-up for Startup Inc; Antler India closes Rs 500 crore maiden fund

The government is revving up in a big way to achieve India’s startup ambitions. A detailed plan is in the works to energise the ecosystem and remove all impediments to investment in the sector, we’re told. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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MeitY reviewing Tarq’s revised semicon proposal

Hiranandani-group firm likely to invest Rs 2,500 crore initially for its ATMP facility

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YouTube 'Dream Screen' tool to soon let AI create videos for Shorts

The feature, called 'Dream Screen' and expected to roll out early next year, will allow users to create an AI-generated video or image background just by typing in what they want to see.

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ET Soonicorns Summit 2023: Delhi-NCR chapter to chart the roadmap for enabling India's next tech disruption and building startup resilience

The ET Soonicorns Summit 2023, with its 'Resilience. Reset. Results' theme, brings together tech leaders, investors, and innovators to discuss India's tech evolution. Diverse formats, expert insights, and report launches will spotlight emerging startups at the Delhi-NCR edition of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2023 to be held on November 3, 2023.

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Sebi’s finfluencer crackdown may be off target; String Bio CEO on why businesses must pivot

Cracking down on so-called finfluencers is easier said than done. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may well find that not all of them are likely to pay heed to its recent directions on operating within the regulatory grid. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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E-visa startup Atlys raises $12 million from Elevation Capital, Peak XV, others

The funds raised will be used to expand the platform’s product offerings for travellers, attract customers and further strengthen the team through talent acquisition, the statement added. The San Francisco, California-headquartered startup had previously raised a $5 million seed round in 2021.

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OpenAI's ChatGPT can now generate images, too

On Wednesday, OpenAI, the San Francisco artificial intelligence startup, released a new version of its DALL-E image generator to a small group of testers and folded the technology into ChatGPT, its popular online chatbot.

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Flipkart lining up $20 million for in-house credit marketplace

The investment will be done gradually as the team is working on several products, and the platform is expected to be ready by end-2023 or early next year.

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Elon Musk's Neuralink to start human trials for brain implant

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday that it has received approval from an independent review board to start the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients.

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Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropy project plans AI system for life sciences research

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, created by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, will use the computing system to run openly available AI models, the philanthropy venture said on Tuesday.

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Verizon India GCCs employee strength grew 15%: Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath

Verizon Consumer Group in 2022 contributed $105 billion in revenue to the company’s overall revenue of $136 billion. As per Investopedia, Verizon is the second largest provider of cellular service in the US that provides communications, information, and entertainment products and services worldwide to consumers, businesses, and government organizations through its consumer and business segments.

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US argues Google wants too much information kept secret in antitrust trial

The government is seeking to show that Alphabet's Google broke antitrust law to maintain its dominance in online search. The search dominance led to fast-increasing advertising revenues that made Google a $1 trillion company.

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Microsoft's chief product executive Panos Panay to step down after 19 years

Another longtime executive, Yusuf Mehdi, will take lead on the Windows and Surface businesses and products. The note said Panay would be helping with the transition.

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Lyft to pay $10 million civil penalty over disclosure failures

Lyft has agreed to pay $10 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges it failed to disclose a board member's financial interest in a transaction involving the company, the U.S. regulator said on Monday.

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Australia tells dating apps Tinder, Bumble and Hinge to improve safety standards or face regulation

The government is responding to Australian Institute of Criminology's research published last year that found three-in-four users of dating apps or websites had experienced some form of sexual violence through these platforms in the five years through 2021.

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EU may become as hooked on China batteries as it was on Russian energy: research paper

While the EU has a strong position in the intermediate and assembly phases of making electrolysers, with a more than 50% global market share, it relies heavily on China for fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries crucial for electric vehicles.

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South Korean broadband firm says it is ending all disputes with Netflix

South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband said on Monday it is ending all disputes with Netflix Inc, after the firms engaged in lawsuits on whether Netflix must pay for costs from increased network traffic and maintenance work.

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Chinese AI firm Fourth Paradigm leads Hong Kong IPO surge to raise $280 million

Three Chinese firms, including AI software company Beijing Fourth Paradigm, are planning to raise a total of $280 million through initial public offerings (IPOs) in Hong Kong. Beijing Fourth Paradigm aims to raise $144 million by selling 18.4 million shares. New China Capital Management and other investors have subscribed for around $96.8 million worth of stock. Chinese cloud hospital platform Neusoft Xikang plans to raise $81 million to $101 million, while ZX Inc, a mobile games operator, aims to raise between $27 million and $34 million.

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Tata chief puts profits first for Neu; Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath's latest bet

Black is beautiful and that’s the colour Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran wants the salt-to-software conglomerate’s digital arm to focus on. ‘Chandra’ has ordered top leaders at Tata Neu to forget the existence of all else for the time being and focus solely and urgently on profitable growth, sources have told ET. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

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Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath set to join Ather’s cap table

It isn’t clear how much Kamath would invest in Ather but one of the persons said the transaction would be made through a secondary share sale.

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Google tests Microsoft Edge-like 'read aloud' feature on Chrome

With this, users can control the rate at which articles are read aloud by adjusting the playback speed.

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Tinder partners with Centre for Social Research for user safety

The additional safety guide, along with the existing 15 safety features on the app, is part of Tinder's efforts to ensure the safety of its users.

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Policy predictability for EV adoption needed to make investments: Ather CBO Ravneet Phokela

Pholeka said, "Unpredictability is not good for business because my business plans are based on a certain assumption of subsidy. If the assumption changes then the plans change and if I'm not certain about my plans, I can't make investments."

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Slack is ready to ride AI wave: CEO Lidiane Jones

just nine months after taking on one of the most high profile jobs in Silicon Valley. "It's amazing what has happened to the world," Jones said of this AI moment that has captured the imagination of Silicon Valley and the world.

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Advent explores sale of car insurance software vendor CCC

Private equity firm Advent International is considering selling CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc, a software provider to the car insurance industry, which has a market value of $7.1 billion. CCC is being advised by Morgan Stanley in its discussions with potential buyers, including other private equity firms. There is no certainty of a deal. Advent, which owns a 56% stake in CCC, declined to comment. CCC shares rose 8.6% to $12.50 in after-hours trading on the news. CCC, founded in 1980, supplies software to automotive claims and collision repair companies.

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Public markets pricking the valuation bubble & other top tech, startup stories of this week

After a slowdown in technology IPOs in 2022, several tech companies including Arm, Instacart, and Klaviyo have returned to raise funds from the public market. However, the valuations of these companies have fallen significantly compared to their peak valuations. Instacart, for example, is aiming for a $10 billion valuation, which is only a quarter of its peak valuation of $39 billion. The sentiment in the market has shifted, and investors are now looking for right-sized offerings rather than inflated valuations.

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Apple moves to defuse French iPhone 12 dispute as EU scrutiny steps up

France this week suspended sales of iPhone 12 handsets after tests which it said found breaches of radiation exposure limits.

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Amazon enhances search features on app to take on Google

Ecommerce giant Amazon has introduced new features on its app for search and discovery of products. Here’s a look at them.

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Blockchain analysts suspect North Korea-linked hackers behind $70-million crypto theft

Blockchain research firm Elliptic said that "a number of factors" indicate that the Lazarus Group - a hacker group associated with North Korea - was responsible for the attack.

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People come to India for its talent, not to cut costs: Capgemini global CEO Aiman Ezzat

Aiman Ezzat during his ongoing India visit, said that he is hopeful of the demand situation improving over the next two-to-four quarters but is waiting for an inflection point.

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Disney holds talks with Nexstar on ABC sale: report

Disney CEO Bob Iger said in July that the company could sell some of its traditional TV assets that have struggled for years due to the rise of streaming services.

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Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to meet Elon Musk amid antisemitism storm

An official in Netanyahu's office on Thursday confirmed the meeting. Musk said on X that their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology and not the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), with whom Musk is feuding over antisemitism on X.

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SoftBank's Arm valued at nearly $60 bln in stellar Nasdaq debut

Its stock opened at $56.1 per American Depositary Share compared with the initial public offering (IPO) price of $51, in a sign of confidence for other companies planning to list

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ET Startup Awards 2023: Gameberry wins Bootstrap Champ award

Three Bengaluru-based firms — Boldfit, a manufacturer of health and fitness equipment; Fyers, an online trading platform; and Gameberry Labs, an online game publisher — came through as the top contenders for the spot.

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Central Bank digital currencies to replace cash in the coming decade: report

The report, titled ‘Future of Money’, said CBDCs have the capacity to boost financial inclusion by offering a safe and affordable means of making transactions for people with no access to traditional banking services.

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A who's who of Silicon Valley is convening with lawmakers on AI

The closed-door meeting is the first in a series of crash-course lessons on AI for lawmakers.

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US justice department blasts Google's monopolistic tactics as antitrust trial begins

Google denied that it had illegally used agreements to exclude its search competitors and said it had simply provided a superior product, adding that people can easily switch which search engine they use.

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IBM executives foresee robust growth in Indian tech market

Speaking at the flagship IBM Think conference in Mumbai, on Tuesday, Paul Burton, general manager, IBM Asia Pacific, and Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India and South Asia, said that skill gaps and talent scarcity are also driving larger investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

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