Diwali gifting market; Uber faces network breach
Indian govt calls for new law for online gaming
A fresh edition of nextbigwhat newsletter, a link-less newsletter that brings you all the important tech news, summarized for you.
Over 5 crore items are purchased for gifting during annual Diwali season: CAIT
Estimatedly more than 5 crore items including a range of articles are purchased during every Diwali festival for gifting purposes, said traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders, urging people to buy souvenirs inscribed with ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, celebrating 75 years of independence.
Over 40,000 Zoom users reported connectivity issues; Problem fixed by the platform
After receiving more than 40,000 complaints regarding problems while working on the video-conferencing platform, Zoom assured its users that it is actively working to resolve the problem.
Within an hour, the platform made another announcement to inform that the issue has been fixed and users may not face the difficulty anymore.
Uber faces network breach; investigation by company underway
Uber is responding to a cybersecurity incident after it was reported that a hack had breached the company’s network and forced it to take several internal communications and engineering systems offline.
A hacker compromised an employee’s workplace messaging Slack app and then used it to send a message to Uber employees announcing that it had suffered a data breach.
Redington partners with Google to help SMBs embrace Cloud in India
As part of the collaboration, Redington will drive the distribution and adoption of Google Workspace and Google Cloud with SMBs, education and public sector, mid-market and enterprise segments.
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Tech giants are expanding policies to grapple online extremism
Major tech companies on Thursday committed to taking fresh steps to combat online extremism by removing more violent content and promoting media literacy with young users.
YouTube said it will expand its policies on violent extremism to remove content that glorifies violent acts, even if the creators of the videos are not related to a terrorist organisation.
Govt will provide subsidy to companies to set up EV charging infrastructure
The Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar has said that the central government is working to introduce a subsidy for companies looking to set up electric vehicle charging hubs across India.
He added that a subsidy of around Rs 4-5 lakh will be provided to set up 200-KW charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Indian govt calls for new law for online gaming
A panel comprising top government officials has called for a regulatory body and federal rules to regulate the sector and crack down on outright gambling.
The panel has for months been drafting regulations for the country’s online gaming sector, in which foreign investors such as Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital have backed startups such as Dream11 and Mobile Premier League.
Meta’s CPO directed the New Product Experimentation division to scale back and focus entirely on short-form video innovation
Facebook’s New Product Experimentation division is scaling back its mission dramatically, Platformer has learned.
The move comes amid concerns that Meta’s own short-form video product, Reels, is failing to keep pace with its rival TikTok.
YouTube showing up to 10 unskippable ads on a video
Now it really seems YouTube is pushing the boundaries with ads, showing as many as 10 unskippable ads during a single break.
From what we’ve been able to see from user reports, these ads are largely only five or six seconds each, meaning that even an ad break with 10 unskippable ads would only be around 60 seconds.
SEC Signals Extra Scrutiny for Proof-of-Stake Cryptocurrencies: Report
U.S. SEC Chair Gary Gensler said that staked cryptocurrencies may be subject to federal securities regulations, repeating a pro-oversight stance in the wake of Ethereum’s transition to just such a method.
Gensler said that proof-of-stake blockchains, which generate new coins for inventors who pool their holdings, take on investment contract-like attributes that could bring them under his agency’s purview.
Adobe to acquire Figma for $20Bn
Adobe has announced that it’s acquiring Figma, a popular design platform, for around $20 billion in cash and stock.
Adobe now plans to combine its own community with Figma, and it’s likely that will involve bundling Figma products and services into Adobe Creative Suite at some point in the future.
Amazon Alexa introduces a feature that let advertisers answer your questions
Amazon has launched the Customers ask Alexa feature, and it works when customers pose questions to Alexa, including queries related to a product’s features or compatibilities.
Brands registered with Amazon Brand Registry will see the new Customers ask Alexa feature in Seller Central, where they can easily discover and answer frequently asked customer questions using self-service tools.
Google’s Play Store reviews to be based on device types, report says
Google has reportedly introduced a new feature that will show reviews on the Play Store based on the type of device a person is using.
In the reviews section of the Play Store, there is now a notice to let you know that you are being shown feedback from people using the same type of device as you.
Paytm collaborates with Flipkart for The Big Billion Days 2022
One97 Communications Limited, the parent company of Paytm, announced its partnership with Flipkart’s flagship event – The Big Billion Days – to be the payment partner.
During The Big Billion Days, customers shopping on Flipkart will receive a ₹25 instant cashback on purchase of ₹250 and above on paying via Paytm UPI and instant cashback of ₹50 on spends of ₹500 and above through Paytm.
Instagram rolls out parental control to let parents monitor kids’ social media experience
After unveiling it in December last year, and subsequently rolling it out in the US in March, Instagram’s parental controls for parents of underage social media users are finally here.
Called Parental Supervision, the suite of settings offers controls that parents can tweak in order to see the kind of internet experiences that their kids are exposed to.
US consumer watchdog CFPB is set to regulate ‘buy-now, pay-later’ companies
The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to start regulating “buy-now, pay-later” (BNPL) companies like Klarna and Affirm Holdings due to worries their fast-growing financing products are harming consumers.
The watchdog, which does not currently oversee BNPL companies or products, will issue guidance or a rule to align sector standards with those of credit card companies.
Indonesia antitrust agency starts investigating Google over app payments
Indonesia’s anti-trust agency said on Thursday it is investigating potential unfair business practices by Google over the use of proprietary payment services for its software distribution platform Google Play Store.
An initial investigation found that since June 1 Indonesian app developers had been required to use Google’s payment system, which charges a 15% to 30% fee, the KPPU said.