Note: Starting today we’ll be crossposting our JOMO newsletter here too
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JOMO stands for Joy Of Missing Out
A daily digest of interesting tech, product, UX & design news with some interesting articles thrown in the mix. Feel the joy of missing out, on nothing 
Jhakkas | JOMO for 25th Nov
In today’s JOMO: The cost of diversity, the cost of non-compliance and the cost of a robotaxi
In the news
Pinterest settles lawsuit alleging racial and gender discrimination - CNET
It’ll also spend $50 million on reforms based on the discrimination allegations.
China’s State-Run Companies Limit Use of Tencent’s Messaging App - WSJ
Related: Tencent must get approval from Chinese regulators before publishing new apps and updates
Instagram head to testify before Congress - Axios
Adam Mosseri, head of Meta-owned Instagram, has agreed to testify before Congress in early December about Instagram’s impact on young people, he said in a video posted to Twitter Wednesday.
Startups, funding etc
A marketplace for luxury watches: interesting! PS: Pre-owned/pre-loved all mean 2nd hand, unless people have you believe otherwise. Check the site here
New products, features, launches
Spotify tests a TikTok-like vertical video feed in its app - TC
The new addition was first spotted by Chris Messina, who tweeted out a video of the Discover feature in action. He described it as a “pared-down version” of a TikTok-style feed of music videos.
Ultra-tall 7:32 monitor is ready for your never-ending newsfeed - Ars Technica
8.8-inch portable monitor is built for scrolling, with slimmer, vertical form factor.
Baidu kicks off its robotaxi business, after getting the OK to charge fees in Beijing - CNBC
While the company did not disclose exact pricing, it said fares would be comparable with the premium level ride-hailing charges available through apps like Didi, which can cost twice as much as ordinary rides. Baidu has offered free robotaxi rides in Yizhuang since October 2020
They said autonomous vehicles will reduce costs, did they not? For whom though. Oh costs, not fares!
Interesting read
Pyxo wants to build the biggest network of reusable food containers - TC
Pyxo’s biggest market opportunity comes from a regulatory change. In July 2020, France’s parliament passed an anti-waste law with some drastic changes. Restaurants have to switch to reusable food containers by January 2023.
Cool Products, websites and tools
Figma Kit for all your Social Media Needs
Danke!
Generate massive amounts of product descriptions in bulk
Not sure who needs this, but incase someone does, it’s out there 
Jhakkas, a crowdsource study to map Indian phrases into quantitative metrics. - India Pixels
Trust me this is fun. For greater effect turn NSFW mode on. Kids, makes sure you keep it off
Poll for the day
Have you ever bought pre-loved goods?
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Tweet tweet | JOMO for 29th Nov
JOMO stands for Joy Of Missing Out
A daily digest of interesting tech, product, UX & design news with some interesting articles thrown in the mix. Feel the joy of missing out, on nothing 
In today’s JOMO: A CEO steps down, another Unicorn is born and what exactly is Web3?
In the news
Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal will replace Jack Dorsey as CEO - CNBC
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief of the social media company, effective immediately. Twitter shares were up around 2% on the news.
Well, looks like they are listening to Scott Galloway: Overhauling Twitter
Jack Dorsey’s goodbye email
WhatsApp Pay said to win NPCI approval to double its user base in India - ET
Startups, funding etc
India’s Slice becomes unicorn with $220M funding from Tiger Global, Insight Partners and Advent - TC
Slice says it is issuing over 200,000 cards each month, which according to a person familiar with industry figures, makes the startup the third largest card issuer in India after two banks. Slice has a waitlist of over a million users, it said on Twitter.
A million user waitlist? That much love for offers? And 3rd largest card issuer in the country? wow
Design, Research, UX
293k new UX designers emerging from Google’s UXD Certificate alone | $15 a common starting price for UX gigs on Fiverr | 700+ newcomers joining our UX Group on LinkedIn every day | 289% increase in interest in UX roles in 2020 according to Hired.com
Interesting read
Battle for the soul of a new web - Axios
A well-funded and intensely motivated chunk of tech’s hive mind is finding common cause in a vast new project: rebuilding the web on a foundation of cryptocurrency and blockchain tech. They call it “Web3.”
Cool Products, websites and tools
Sell what you know and see what sticks
‘Figma’esque look to the site
Offer NFT-based memberships and benefits in one place
Did someone say Partaaayy?
Automatically summarize audio and video files with an API
Poll for the day
Do you know what Web3 is?
Yes, hearing a lot about it
Nope
Er… kinda
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Agarwalji ka beta | JOMO for 30th Nov
JOMO stands for Joy Of Missing Out
A daily digest of interesting tech, product, UX & design news with some interesting articles thrown in the mix. Feel the joy of missing out, on nothing
In today’s JOMO: UK regulator says Meta is a bad boy, some football news and ofcourse: Agarwalji ka beta
In the news
Meta ordered to sell Giphy by UK regulator - Verge
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it had come to the decision after its investigation found an acquisition could harm competition between social media platforms, and that its concerns “can only be addressed by Facebook selling Giphy in its entirety to an approved buyer.”
Aww… Meta could ‘harm competition’. Really? noooo.
Google Play apps downloaded 300,000 times stole bank credentials - Ars Technica
Startups, funding etc
SoftBank Bets on Asian Metaverse Platform Selling Digital Gucci, Dior - WSJ
Keep an eye out for this one
TransitTech company Via raises $130 million at $3.3 billion valuation - Ctech
TransitTech: new term
Thought Machine closes $200M for its cloud native banking SaaS and becomes a unicorn - TC
Incase you are curious about what cloud native actually means head over here: nice explainer by Microsoft, with examples from Netflix, Uber and WeChat (personally read only the first 15-20%, has the gist)
Navi turns profitable in FY21 - Entrackr
New products, features, launches
Semi-automated offsides trialled at Fifa Arab Cup and could be used at 2022 World Cup - BBC
Tech in sports is always interesting. Fans are gonna have a love/hate relationship with this, of that I’m sure. If this interests you, and you are new to tech in sports, check out VAR
Zomato launches new platform ‘Zomato Wings’ to connect investors with restaurants - VCCircle
Design, Research, UX
It’s time to study the health impacts of TikTok, researchers say - Verge
“The platform is so massive, but there’s almost no scholarly investigation into it,” says Marco Zenone, a health policy researcher at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Pretty late in the day for that.
Interesting read
Who Is Twitter’s New CEO Parag Agrawal? - Bloomberg
From The Verge: An introduction to Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s new CEO
Related: Nice take by Morning Brew on Jack’s term at Twitter
Has Google search become quantitatively worse? - HackerNews
‘I used to have better time googling in the past. I struggle to find things I remember finding in the past using google. I think I might be stuck in some old habits of googling and I’ve lost touch with modern google’
Cool Products, websites and tools
Introducing Amazon Brand Detector
Verrrry interesting. ‘Amazon has registered more than 150 private-label brands with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and carries hundreds of thousands of items from these house brands on its site.’
Automate your work on any website
Turn voice recording into shareable video
Poll for the day
Where do you stand on the ‘Indian’ tech CEOs debate
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Losing Mojo | JOMO for 1st Dec
In today’s JOMO: Swiggy valuation to soar to $10bn, Teams takes on Zoom, Slack AND Meet and why founder CEO’s have lost their… mojo. Oh and ofocurse, it’s Spotify Wrapped time
In the news
Not much happening here
Startups, funding etc
Swiggy Nears $700 Million Fundraise in Invesco-Led Round - Bloomberg
The deal values Swiggy, formally known as Bundl Technologies Pvt., at about $10.5 billion, they added. Swiggy is expected to follow Zomato with an initial public offering about a year or so later, one of the people said.
Butter raises $7M to end ‘accidental’ customer churn due to payment failure - TC
Payment failure, in fact, is the among the biggest causes of customer churn and represents nearly half of all subscription churn. Menon estimates that on average, 4% of subscription customers are lost to legitimate payments failing.
Cred to acquire Happay to expand its suite of fintech offerings - ET
New products, features, launches
Microsoft Teams Essentials is a new standalone version for small businesses - Verge
If you’re a small business weighing the cost of Zoom, Google Workspace, Slack, and other tools, Microsoft Teams Essentials could look appealing at just $4 per user per month, especially when a Zoom Pro license is $14.99 per month.
Killer pricing but one here’s it’s not a great product 
Users revolt as Microsoft bolts a short-term financing app onto Edge - Ars Technica
Two weeks ago, Microsoft said it planned to bake an app called Zip directly into Edge. The so-called “buy now, pay later” app, which used to be known as Quadpay, lets shoppers break purchases into equal installment payments so they get their merchandise upfront, rather than having to wait until it’s paid in full.
The first comment on effects of BNPL and lack of regulation in Australia is worth reading
Interesting read
For CEOs, social media has lost its fun - Axios
Coming on the heels of Facebook’s name change and new metaverse focus, Dorsey’s resignation is another sign that the industry now views the massive social networks it built over the last two decades as buggy “legacy applications” mired in annoying social problems.
The Wait Is Over. Your Spotify 2021 Wrapped Is Here.
It’s here
Related: What the World Streamed Most in 2021
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Oh no la | JOMO for 2nd Dec
In today’s JOMO: Of Square and Blocks (no it’s not about Squid Games), dark stores and Ola’s Bhavish problem
In the news
Jack Dorsey’s Square changes corporate name to Block - CNBC
Apple announces the 2021 App Store Award winners and most downloaded apps of the year - TC
Children’s app maker Toca Boca won iPhone App of the Year for “Toca Life World,” and Riot Games’ “League of Legends: Wild Rift” was the iPhone Game of the Year.
Southeast Asia’s Grab slumps in U.S. debut after record SPAC deal - Reuters
Shares in Grab , Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm, fell 9% in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday following its record $40 billion merger with a blank-check company.
Startups, funding etc
Swiggy earmarks $700 million for Instamart amid instant grocery wars - ET
The delivery platform, which competes with Zomato-backed Grofers, Mumbai-based Zepto and Tata’s BigBasket in the quick commerce category, is clocking more than one million grocery orders per week and runs 150 dark stores across 18 cities. It will add 100 more of these so-called dark stores, over the next few months.
New products, features, launches
Uber to allow users to book rides via WhatsApp in India - Reuters
“Riders will no longer need to download or use the Uber app. Everything from user registration, booking a ride, and getting a trip receipt will be managed within the WhatsApp chat interface,” Uber added.
The feature will be available in Lucknow first, but you can check the user flows here
AWS launches Amplify Studio, a new low-code app development tool - TC
At its re:Invent conference, AWS today announced Amplify Studio, a new Figma-connected no-code/low-code service that is meant to help developers quickly build cloud-connected apps.
LinkedIn adds Hindi to reach 500 million people in India - TC
In the meanwhile, a handful of startups are beginning to address the same problems as LinkedIn. Apna, a two-year-old startup that is helping people find jobs in India, became the youngest unicorn in the country two months ago. The startup, which as of September was facilitating over 18 million job interviews each month and offers its app in multiple Indian languages, recently conducted a survey that found that 57% of users in India preferred using a vernacular interface over English.
Interesting read
Particle Will Cut a Banksy Into 10,000 NFTs - Morning Brew
10,000 “Particles” will go up for sale in early January. Buyers will receive a digital collector’s card, permission to view the painting IRL, and “the right to call the painting theirs.” Notably, Particle will earn royalties from any resale action.
Bhavish Aggarwal is choking Ola - Morning Context
Ola has a massive problem. It is called Bhavish Aggarwal. Insiders also say he is distrustful, insists on signing off on the smallest of details, can’t focus on one thing for too long and keeps moving from one project to another.
Poll for the day
Do you own an NFT?
Nope
Yes
Whoever votes yes, plz comment
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Hey Rohan | JOMO for 3rd Dec
In today’s JOMO: Microsoft’s dark patterns, Google might make a watch and Ambani talks about blockchain and crypto
In the news
FTC sues to block Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of Arm - CNBC
Arm’s role in the chip industry was historically as a neutral supplier, raising concerns that Nvidia could cut off competitors from essential Arm technology.
Google workers in U.S. won’t return to office as expected on Jan. 10 - CNBC
The company still encourages employees to come into the office, where conditions allow, to build “muscle memory.”
Muscle memory
Food Delivery, Ride Apps to Pay Billions More in EU Plan - Bloomberg
As many as 4.1 million people working through food delivery and ride-hailing apps could be reclassified as employees under a forthcoming European Union plan meant to improve gig workers’ labor rights.
In India and the SE Asia, the business model would go completely for a toss if this happened. So expect Zomato, Swiggy, ToGo, Grab etc lobby hard
New products, features, launches
Google is making its first in-house smartwatch that could launch in 2022 - Verge
While Google has made its own smartphones for years under the Pixel line (which has since extended to other accessories, like wireless headphones), the company has never designed its own smartwatch, despite the fact that Google has had a companion wearable platform for Android since 2014.
Long time overdue. Now we can have some real competition to the Apple Watch. Bring it on!
Design, Research, UX
Microsoft backtracks on Windows 11’s controversial default browser changes - Verge
Dieter takes Microsoft to the cleaners and highlights its many dark patterns for Edge
Interesting read
Blockchain will redefine the financial world: Mukesh Ambani - Livemint
“Blockchain is the technology I believe in. We are on the verge of introducing a data privacy bill, which I look forward to, and also the crypto currency bill. So I think we are on the right track,” Ambani said
Good timing? Coincidence? Probably not
Poll for the day
Which is your default browser
Chrome of course!
Edge
Other
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Fired on a Zoom Call | JOMO for 6th Dec
JOMO stands for Joy Of Missing Out
A daily digest of interesting tech, product, UX & design news with some interesting articles thrown in the mix. Feel the joy of missing out, on nothing
In today’s JOMO: That sinking feeling, the Tik Tok Algo and George Clooney
New: We are rolling out JOMO cards from today so that you can… er… share them forward? Like post them on social and Twitter and WA statuses you know? Tell us what you think about them: your encouragement is directly proportional to how long they will last
In the news
SoftBank shares fall as value of portfolio companies plummets - FT
SoftBank Group shares fell 8 per cent on Monday, their seventh consecutive day of losses, as mounting problems at its portfolio companies Didi Chuxing and Arm revived concerns over the Japanese technology conglomerate’s business model.As of Monday morning, SoftBank was trading at more than a 50 per cent discount to its October 1 NAV.
That sinking feeling
New York CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call
The CEO of New York-based online mortgage lender Better.com has sacked a total of 900 employees with immediate effect during a now-viral Zoom call
The part when he says: ‘if you are on this call, you are getting fired’, is really yikes. The Zoom call video
New products, features, launches
DoorDash launches ‘ultra-fast’ delivery in NYC, with couriers who are actual employees - Verge
DashMart workers will be part of what the company calls DashCorps, considered full- and part-time employees — instead of independent contractors — and many will be eligible for benefits. DashCorps workers will have set schedules and be paid $15 per hour, plus tips, the company said.
Design, Research, UX
Duolingo interprets 2021, with TikTok and Squid Game inspiring users to learn new languages - Verge
More than two-thirds of users Duolingo surveyed said a “cultural event” might inspire them to try to pick up a new language, with 29 percent saying TikTok videos in other languages served as motivation. Among those who were inspired by a streaming show to learn a new language, 37 percent started lessons in Spanish after watching Money Heist; 28 percent decided to learn Korean after watching Squid Game, and 20 percent took up French after watching Emily in Paris.
And here I am stuck on Lesson 1 German 
Interesting read
How TikTok Reads Your Mind - NYT
It has chosen to optimize for two closely related metrics in the stream of videos it serves: “retention” and “time spent.” The app wants to keep you there as long as possible. “This system means that watch time is key. The algorithm tries to get people addicted rather than giving them what they really want,”
Not really sure what is so revealing in this story: almost every algorithmic feed is this. Or maybe the NYT realised this today
Users have spent $26.9B+ on NFTs in 2021 so far, most transactions are under $10,000, and CryptoPunks is the most popular collection with $3B sales
To be read with a wholesome spoon of salt
Twitter Has a New CEO; What About a New Business Model? - Stratechery
There is a reason that Twitter’s userbase is only a fraction of Instagram’s, and it’s not a lack of awareness; the reality is that most people are visual, and Twitter is textual. Which, of course, is exactly why Twitter’s most fervent users can’t really imagine going anywhere else.
Mandatory reading from Ben Thompson from last week, ICYMI.
Three steps to the future - Benedict Evans
The most exciting themes in technology today are transformative visions for 2025 or 2030: crypto, web3, VR, metaverse… and then everything else. Meanwhile, hundreds of start-ups take ideas from the last decade and deploy them over and over in one industry after another. And trying to keep up, the old economy faces waves of disruption from ideas we first talked about in the 1990s.
To be consumed, slowly, throughout the week: total 94 slides
Poll for the day
If you were to get fired, got forbid, which medium would you prefer
Zoom call
Phone call
Face to face
Reminds me of George Clooney’s Up in the Air ‘Fire me’ scene
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Lobbying | JOMO for 7th Dec
In today’s JOMO: Apple’s big secret, a way to actually read articles ‘saved for later’ and the reason why your song may not be streaming
In the news
Apple pledged to invest over $275 billion in China while facing declining iPhone sales - 9to5Mac
From The Information: ‘Throughout that pivotal year, Cook, who was the architect of Apple’s supply chain in China, personally lobbied officials over threats that would have hobbled the company’s devices and services, including Apple Pay, iCloud and the App Store, the documents show.’
Explain a lot of things. Lobbied means exactly what you think it means
Ha! Gotta pay what you gotta pay. A moat if ever there was one
I distinctly remember my conversations with this company, many years back. Their pitch: we help keep your family members safe. Ya right!
An Amazon server outage is causing problems for Alexa, Ring, Disney Plus, and others - Verge
And us too!
Startups, funding etc
Twitter buys up (and shuts down) Slack competitor Quill - 9to5Mac
Spinny joins unicorn club with $283 million funding led by ADQ, Tiger Global, Avenir Growth
New products, features, launches
Discord’s new Premium Memberships let creators monetize servers - Verge
“We see Discord becoming a home for more creators and communities through products like Premium Memberships,” explains Sumeet Vaidya, director of engineering at Discord, in an interview with The Verge. “By providing tools that let community creators earn money, more of them will run healthy engaged communities for longer periods of time.”
Music to the ears
Instagram announces changes ahead of political grilling - BBC
Parents will be able to see how much time their children spend on Instagram and set time limits, while teens will get reminders to take a break.
This whole ‘grilling’ is becoming a joke. Meta and Insta continue to do what they do. The US is lagging here: other countries have been faster and stronger in taking action, where necessary. Ofcourse I did not mention India, because well, maybe we just dont care. Remember the whole Whatsapp privacy policy debate? No? Oh
Interesting read
European start-up funding triples to a new record above $100 billion this year - CNBC
Europe is now home to 321 billion-dollar “unicorn” companies, 98 of which were minted this year.
WOWser!
Snap’s first AR Spectacles are an ambitious, impractical start - Verge
Snap is aware of the limitations. Instead of releasing these glasses publicly, it’s treating this generation of Spectacles like a private beta. The company has given out pairs to hundreds of its AR creators since the glasses were announced in May and has recently made a few notable software updates based on user feedback
Cool Products, websites and tools
Actually read articles saved for later
hahahahah. I feel seen. also did you read it as Alfred too?
Poll for the day
How many articles have you ‘saved for later’ reading?
99+
None, I dont need to
Er… I dont know
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Infy ‘Mess’ | JOMO for 9th Dec
In today’s JOMO: Tesla playing games, Amazon ads and ‘The Mess Comes Home’
In the news
iOS Users Who Opt-Out of App Tracking Continue to Be Tracked by Facebook and Snapchat - MacRumors
The Financial Times said that Apple’s position was the result of “an unacknowledged shift that lets companies follow a much looser interpretation of its controversial privacy policy.” Apple has instructed developers that they “may not derive data from a device for the purpose of uniquely identifying it,” which developers have interpreted to mean that they can still observe “signals” and behaviors from groups of users instead, enabling these groups to be shown tailored ads anyway.
Complaint to FTC: Amazon search results full of potentially deceiving ads - Axios
The complaint alleges that more than a quarter of Amazon search results were third-party ads, but the company does not clearly identify which ones are sponsored results, which could be deceiving to consumers.
‘ 
︎Sponsored’ 14px, #565959!important
Meta India, formerly Facebook unveils its new office in Gurugram - CNBCTV18
Startups, funding etc
Lydia grabs another $100 million for its European financial super app - TC
Worth checking the interface demo on the site
New products, features, launches
Tesla allows drivers to play video games in moving cars, raising safety concerns - Verge
An over-the-air software update was pushed out last summer enabling the ability to launch some games regardless of whether the car was stationary or not, raising serious concerns about safety.
Would love to see their product roadmap: some top level prioritisation right here!
AWS opens ‘top secret’ western region for US government customers - TC
The company, which is experiencing an outage today in its East Coast region, recognizes that government clients have different needs.
Must be just a ‘co-incidence’ right? Right??
Twitter is the latest platform to test a TikTok copycat feature - TC
Visa launches crypto advisory service for financial institutions, merchants - ET
Interesting read
The Dark Side of 15-Minute Grocery Delivery - Bloomberg
Mini-warehouses dubbed “dark stores” are quietly taking over urban retail space. Left unregulated, the insatiable demand for faster delivery will only hasten the erosion of community life. Sidewalk life is already suffering. While a glut of vacant storefronts plagued American cities even before the pandemic, dark stores reinforce those holes in the urban fabric by plugging them with services that move the point of sale from the street to the doorstep, discouraging the hustle and bustle that defines cities.
In India, even a normal store looks dark, so guess this should be fine. And hustle bustle actually thoda kam hi chahiye. Already have too much of it
Meta and IBM join a new group trying to stop AI bias in hiring - Protocol
What about the human bias? Tier 1 colleges only…
“It feels like I am being wasted, I could be doing more, and I’m not,” Josh said. “That’s the part that feels bad. I want to do things, but I can’t.”
Looks like this is the first time The Verge came to know of the Bench. The original title of the article is The Mess Comes Home
Poll for the day
Do you think Amazon ads are misleading?
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Bye Bye Alexa | JOMO for 9th Dec
In today’s JOMO: An apology, a big fine and crypto on Whatsapp
In the news
Italy fines Amazon $1.3 billion for abusing its market position - TC
According to the antitrust watchdog, Amazon has abused its dominant market position and pushed third-party sellers to use the company’s logistics service ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’ (FBA).
Hmmmm… somebody’s paying attention
Better.com CEO apologizes for Zoom mass layoff - CNET
Was the apology done on a…. Zoom call too?
Startups, funding etc
IPO-Bound India Firm Powering Apple Maps Eyes Overseas Expansion - Bloomberg
MapmyIndia, a digital mapping company which began an initial share sale on Thursday, plans to expand internationally as the company seizes on a niche field after winning businesses for Apple Inc.’s Maps and Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa in its home nation
Indian ride-hailing startup Ola valued at $7.3 billion in new funding - TC
New products, features, launches
Instagram will bring back a chronological feed in 2022 - Engadget
Launching an option for a chronological feed would be a major reversal for the photo sharing app, which has consistently defended its algorithmic feed despite persistent complaints and conspiracy theories from users about how their posts are ranked
Apple’s AR headset reportedly uses 3D sensors for hand tracking - Verge
The headset is said to have four sets of 3D sensors, compared to the iPhone’s single unit, which should give it more accuracy than the TrueDepth camera array currently used for Face ID.
So much detailing, for something that may never even exist
Amazon is shutting down Alexa.com, but don’t worry about Alexa - TechHive
Back in the day, a site’s Alexa traffic ranking was a big deal. Not only could website owners stack their properties up against competitors, they could also raise their advertising rates if their rankings were high enough
Uber-owned Careem gets in on the surging rapid grocery delivery market with UAE launch - CNBC
WhatsApp launches cryptocurrency payments pilot in the US - Verge
Interesting read
Social platforms say it’s hard to tell which users are kids - Axios
Contradicting themselves here. Because not so long ago, FB or rather Meta said this: How Do We Know Someone Is Old Enough to Use Our Apps?
How to Spend Less Time on YouTube
The UX of YouTube has been A/B battle-tested to make users consume content for as long as possible. A way to break out of this loop can be to make the UI worse. A uBlock Origin extension can help you with that.
Liking what I’m reading here… Worsen the UI to make life better. Interesting
Cool Products, websites and tools
In India, which colour dress to wear in navratri searches doubled in 2021 compared to 2020.
Some fun trivia right there!
Poll for the day
Did you know Alexa?
Yes, the voice assistant, right?
Ya… old times. Will be missed
Wait what happened to her?
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Hunter becomes the hunted | JOMO for 10th Dec
In today’s JOMO: A CEO ‘takes a break’, a neobank breaks the markets and Google gets cold feet
In the news
Better CEO ‘Taking Time Off Effective Immediately’: Email - Vice
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is “taking time off effective immediately,” the digital mortgage company’s board of directors said in an email on Friday morning. The company has also hired an outside firm to “do a leadership and cultural assessment,” according to the email.
What a story: the hunter… er the ‘fire’er becomes the fired
US wins appeal over extradition of WikiLeaks founder - TC
Google blinks again: New Play Store policy to come into effect from Oct 2022 now - ET
Still a touchy topic… eh? Or maybe it’s because there is an ongoing CCI case
Startups, funding etc
Buffett-backed Nubank closes up nearly 15% in trading after blockbuster fintech IPO - CNBC
“We don’t think the banking branch will survive the way it is,” Vélez said. “It is too costly to serve the majority of users, especially in emerging markets”
Indian fintech firms are going to get ever more motivated by this. Also, this seems like a potentially great read for the weekend: How to Build a Neobank: the Nubank Story
New products, features, launches
Facebook finally has live chat support for people who are locked out of their accounts - Verge
Hard to believe that it never had support. Rather, never needed it
Mercedes-Benz gets world’s first approval for automated driving system - Ars Technica
Drivers will be able to take their eyes off the road at speeds of up to 37 mph.
Do visit the comments for some interesting use cases: contrary to normal understanding that this is great for highways, it could actually be very useful in stressful traffic jams
Interesting read
Football fans spending millions on club crypto-tokens - BBC
Football clubs have potentially made hundreds of millions of pounds selling controversial crypto “fan tokens”. Analysis commissioned by BBC News estimates more than £262m ($350m) has been spent on the virtual currencies.
Waiting for the IPL to join in the fun
Spain moves closer to passing a startup law - TC
The package also targets reforms at stock options and access to visas in a bid to make the country a more attractive place for entrepreneurs and digital talent.
Music to the ears… incase you are planning to, you know, move to Spain
Cool Products, websites and tools
Send bulk DMs to all Twitter replies in just 2 clicks
Could be useful you know. Guess this is the based on leveraging the new Twitter APIs
Get the essentials of top books in under 3 minutes
A TL;DR for books?
Launch a membership NFT for your community
No-code web app builder where design meets function
Another… one
That’s all folks. Have a great weekend!
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Fat finger fail | JOMO for 13th Dec
In today’s JOMO: (13th, just to clear ) Log4J, Adobe (tries) to take on Canva and a bored monkey
In the news
Extremely Critical Log4J Vulnerability Leaves Much of the Internet at Risk
Log4j is used as a logging package in a variety of different popular software by a number of manufacturers, including Amazon, Apple iCloud, Cisco, Cloudflare, ElasticSearch, Red Hat, Steam, Tesla, Twitter, and video games such as Minecraft.
Everyone present? Check
Facebook exec blames society for COVID misinformation - Axios
“Individual humans are the ones who choose to believe or not believe a thing. They are the ones who choose to share or not share a thing,”
What term would appropriately describe this individual? Not too hard to come up with one is it?
Indian Prime Minister Modi’s Twitter account was ‘briefly compromised’ - TC
And what did the attacker post about? You guessed it… bitcoin
Startups, funding etc
Good on ya Airtable! Kudos. Fun fact, depending on where you read this, this JOMO has been possible thanks to Airtable
New products, features, launches
Adobe launches Creative Cloud Express - TC
Looks like Canva is eating into revenues… big time
Toyota owners have to pay $8/mo to keep using their key fob for remote start - Ars Technica
Right from the Apple playbook: take a useful feature away, then charge users to use it. I wonder how long we have to wait till using tires become a subscription: TaaS
Interesting read
Bored Ape NFT accidentally sells for $3,000 instead of $300,000 - BBC
The owner of Bored Ape number 3,547 made a “fat fingered” typing error when listing the item for sale online. The NFT was instantly snapped up by an automated account - and put back on sale at nearly $250,000.
Question, if I may: why exactly is this even worth $3000?
Lucid Motors CEO sees $25,000 electric cars in 4 years - Axios
Guess he isnt counting China, because this is already the case there. Well almost. Discovered this rather cool site with ALL electric cars in China (present and upcoming) on a timeline
Poll for the day
Would you pay for a bored monkey?
What?
Oh ya, supercool! How much?
No, not in a million years
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Netflix<$2 | JOMO for 14th Dec
In today’s JOMO: ‘Cheap’er Netflix, NFT Shoes and Disney goes all silent on Youtube
In the news
Instagram surpasses 2 billion monthly users while powering through a year of turmoil - CNBC
Netflix lowers prices in a bid to woo Bharat - Livemint
The basic plan that allows access to all content on anyone device is priced at Rs. 199 versus Rs. 499 earlier.
Dont know about the ‘wooing Bharat’ part, but who doesn’t like a discount!
Startups, funding etc
Nike acquires virtual sneakers and crypto collectibles startup RTFKT - Engadget
Earlier this year, RTFKT teamed up with 18-year-old artist Fewocious to release three NFT sneakers for $3,000, $5,000 and $10,000. Within just seven minutes, over 600 people purchased their own virtual pairs for a total of US$3.1 million.
From bored monkeys to cool shoes. Seen it all this week. And it’s only Tuesday
Flipkart, Walmart invest $145 million in Ninjacart in online grocery push - ET
New products, features, launches
Oppo announces Air Glass ‘assisted reality’ device - Verge
Oppo describes the Air Glass as an “assisted reality” product, as opposed to augmented reality, meaning it projects 2D information into your field of view rather than overlaying 3D objects onto the real world. (Yes, sort of like Google Glass.)
The Log4J Vulnerability Will Haunt the Internet for Years - Wired
To exploit Log4Shell, an attacker only needs to get the system to log a strategically crafted string of code. From there they can load arbitrary code on the targeted server and install malware or launch other attacks. Notably, hackers can introduce the snippet in seemingly benign ways, like by sending the string in an email or setting it as an account username.
Interesting read
Snap paid $250 million to creators on its TikTok clone this year - TC
Now, Snap says that 65% of Spotlight submissions use a Snapchat creative tool like an augmented reality lens — in particular the Cartoon Style 3D Lens, which went viral this summer, generated 2.8 billion impressions in just its first week on the app.
Related: Snap launches Story Studio, a standalone video editing app for mobile
YouTube TV warns it may lose all Disney-owned channels amid contract dispute - Ars Technica
“We’re now in negotiations with Disney to continue distributing their content on YouTube TV …. Our deal expires on Friday, December 17, and we haven’t been able to reach an equitable agreement yet, so we wanted to give you an early heads up so that you can understand your choices,” the Google-owned YouTube wrote in a blog post.
Well well. Disney not answering your mails Youtube? Clearly the battle lines are drawn and Disney has all the content cards
How hologram tech may soon replace video calls - BBC
When Swiss watch boss, Christoph Grainger-Herr, was unable to fly to a global trade show in China because of Covid-19 restrictions, he decided to beam in Star Trek-style instead. Appearing in 4K resolution, he was able to talk to, and see and hear the people who were physically attending the event. “We beamed him from his office in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to the event in Shanghai,” says David Nussbaum, the boss of US holograms firm Portl.
Sounds all hunky dory this, but, these folks said the same thing about a year back. So ya. Also remember this scene from Kingsman?
Cool Products, websites and tools
Your year in code
Want one for design. Figma, éscoutes-tu?
Poll for the day
So are you sold on a cheaper Netflix?
Still expensive
Not enough content
Yes!
Already have a subscription
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Google: ‘Go jab or Go home’ | JOMO for 15th Dec
In today’s JOMO: India bets big on semiconductors, Google says ‘Go jab or Go Home’ and how Shein beat Amazon anticlimax
In the news
No jab, no job: Google will fire unvaccinated employees - Ars Technica
The document said employees who haven’t complied with the vaccination rules by the Jan. 18 deadline will be placed on “paid administrative leave” for 30 days. After that, the company will put them on “unpaid personal leave” for up to six months, followed by termination.
India outlines $10 bln plan to woo global chip makers - Reuters
Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told a news briefing the plan would help develop “the complete semiconductor ecosystem - from the design of semiconductor chips to their fabrication, packing and testing in the country”.
If done right, this could lead to a step change for India
Cryptocurrency Bill may not be introduced in Winter Session - ET
What an anti-climax
Startups, funding etc
Innovaccer valued at $3.2 billion in $150 million funding - TC
The startup, which began its journey in India, has developed a cloud software layer that works on top of the existing systems employed by healthcare facilities and enables patients’ data to be fetched and perform analysis on.
JusPay raises $60 mn from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 & others at $460 mn valuation - Livemint
New products, features, launches
Oppo’s Find N is an impressive first folding phone - Verge
No, it isnt cheap: starts at $1200. But yes, waaaay cheaper than the $1799 that Samsung asks for the Z Fold 3
Interesting read
How Shein beat Amazon at its own game — and reinvented fast fashion - Rest of World
Over the summer, when a roughly $16 criss-cross crop top from Amazon went viral, TikTok users began pointing out that it was available for only $13 on Shein and as low as $3.83 on AliExpress.
Very insightful read
Poll for the day
At what price would you buy a foldable phone?
Wouldn’t buy at any price
<$800
<$600
(multiply by 80 for approx Rs price)
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Groped on Meta | JOMO for 16th Dec
In today’s JOMO: Meta has a groping problem, The Greater Fool and Adidas says to Nike: ‘whatever you can….’
In the news
Apple Scraps Office-Return Deadline Without Setting New Date - Bloomberg
Apple Inc., facing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases and a fast-spreading new variant, is delaying its corporate return-to-office deadline from Feb. 1 to a “date yet to be determined.”
The metaverse has a groping problem already - MIT
A woman was sexually harassed on Meta’s VR social media platform. She’s not the first—and won’t be the last.
Hey Mark: you have a problem. Better fix it.
Adidas is launching an NFT collection with exclusive access to streetwear drops - Verge
Startups, funding etc
Reddit files to take the company public - Verge
The company has been rumored to be considering an IPO for some time, and in August announced it had raised a $700 million round of funding at a valuation of more than $10 billion.
India’s Byju’s in talks to go public via SPAC deal at $48 bln valuation - Reuters
Heard of the Greater Fool theory? No? Well hold tight…
India’s ShareChat raises $266 mln for valuation of $3.7 bln - Reuters
New products, features, launches
TikTok to diversify its ‘For You’ feed, let users pick the topics they want to avoid - TC
The company now says it’s working to implement new technology to interrupt “repetitive patterns” on its app and is also developing a tool that would allow users to have a say in the matter by letting them pick which topics they want to avoid.
First create the tech to enable ‘repetitive patterns’, then build the tech to disable ‘interrupt’ those same patterns
Spotify Is Launching Podcast User Ratings, Playing Catch-Up to Apple - Variety
TikTok tests PC game streaming app that could let it take on Twitch - TC
Interesting read
Who pays when an Uber driver is killed? - TC
The brother of an Uber driver who was killed during an armed robbery in San Francisco has published a letter to the ride-hailing giant demanding access to his brother’s Uber account, $4 million in immediate aid for the victim’s family and better pay for all Uber drivers.
The next time you take an Uber, do think about it. And also think about Uber’s valuation ($77.85bn)
Poll for the day
What do you think of BYJU’s $48bn ‘valuation’?
Inflated
Worth it
Dont get me started
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Droned out | JOMO for 17th Dec
In today’s JOMO: DJI gets blacklisted, Tiktok is on Discord and Windows is losing Control… Panel
In the news
U.S. blacklists world’s largest commercial drone firm for Uyghur surveillance - Axios
The U.S. is cracking down aggressively on virtually any company — American or Chinese — believed to be complicit in the Chinese government’s genocide of Uyghur Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang. DJI is accused of providing surveillance drones to authorities that operate mass detention camps in Xinjiang.
India antitrust watchdog suspends Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future, imposes fine - TC
‘Buy now, pay later’ stocks tumble after U.S. consumer watchdog launches probe - CNBC
U.S.-based Affirm’s shares closed down by 11% Thursday, while Australian companies Afterpay, Zip and Sezzle on Friday dropped 8%, 6% and 10%, respectively.
Startups, funding etc
No-code data pipeline platform Hevo raises $30 million led by Sequoia Capital India - TC
New products, features, launches
Well, TikTok has a Discord now - TC
“This server’s just like your for you feed: it’s made for you, some of its comments are spicy, and your parents have no idea what it is”
Microsoft is pushing the Control Panel aside in its latest Windows 11 updates - Verge
Interesting read
Celebrity SPACs Leave Famous Winners Looking More Like Losers - Bloomberg
Not counting the SPAC tied to former President Donald Trump, which minted a phenomenal gain of more than 400%, the rest of the group averaged an 11% drop through Dec. 13, with rapper Jay-Z’s 84% plunge the worst of the bunch. Only two managed gains of more than 10%, trailing far behind the S&P 500’s 24% rally.
That week went by fast. 2 to go. Have a nice weekend!
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
Money Money Money | JOMO for 20th Dec
In today’s JOMO: 3 big deals, Everyone has a Gen Z problem and TikTok… Kitchens
Also we want some feedback on JOMO: If you love it, this is a good time to tell us why. And if you hate it, well this is a definitely a great time to tell us, HERE. Bhar diyo, pleeez
In the news
Disney and YouTube TV cut a deal to bring back ESPN, FX, and other channels - Verge
“We are pleased to announce that after a brief disruption, we have reached a new distribution agreement with Google’s YouTube TV for continued carriage of our portfolio of networks,”
Hehe, looks like Disney was testing how far YT will go. Wait till next year, or till the deal reaches renewal time, for more drama
Startups, funding etc
Also…
Indian fintech giant Razorpay valued at $7.5 billion in $375 million funding - TC
And…
OfBusiness raises $325 Mn at around $5 Bn valuation - Entrackr
Three massive fund raise announcements in a day. Wow
Self-driving startup Vay to launch commercial teledriven service in Hamburg in 2022 - TC
Teledriven aka a valet to deliver and pick up your car.
New products, features, launches
TikTok Kitchens will bring viral culinary creations to fans - Verge
TikTok is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to launch TikTok Kitchens, a delivery-only service that will cook up some of the trendiest recipes on the app
Has to be an April Fool’s joke. Right? Seriously?
Design, Research, UX
Frame 2021: design by the numbers - Figma
Aside from Roboto, Figma’s default font, Inter, Open Sans, and SF Pro Text were the post popular fonts. Since 2019, Montserrat slipped from the top spot to number four on the list.
Interesting read
Spotify Has a Gen Z Problem. Or Is It an Opportunity? - Bloomberg
Executives at Spotify are worried that the youngest generation of listeners isn’t using its product enough. Don’t take it from me. Take it from co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek. “We could be doing better in that group,” he told me in November, right after he cited a quote from Intel’s legendary CEO Andy Grove – “only the paranoid survive.”
Electric vehicles ask a lot of their tires—here’s why - Ars Technica
“We like to design [the tire] as the car is being designed,” explained Ian Coke, director of quality at Pirelli. That means getting started with the OEM several years before the car is due on sale, when it’s still just a concept being developed. “Or if you’re Tesla, six weeks, because they work in a different way,” he laughed.
Cool Products, websites and tools
Workations simplified, quick guides from travel influencers
Made in Softr
5 Minutes Daily Sketching Community
Feel creative and happy with 5 minutes of daily sketching
Tweeter
Here’s why we are temporarily closing down areas without 10-minute delivery service
Grofers, now Blinkit, founder’s note on them ditching non 10 min delivery pincodes
Poll for the day
Do you want 10 min delivery?
Why even??
Yes! Absolutely
It’s alright: a good to have, not a want or need
Curated from:
Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more
You have arrived at your destination | JOMO for 21st Dec
In today’s JOMO: MapMyIndia ‘arrives’, Musk pays some taxes and a token mess
In the news
Google pushes developers to adapt Android apps for Chromebooks - ArsTechnica
The number of people using Android Apps on Chromebooks grew 50 percent year over year. In May, Google reported that use of the 10-year-old operating system (OS) grew 92 percent over the last year
Tech firms say tokenisation will cause mayhem, urge RBI to postpone it - ET
“We are asking for more time. No one wants to wake up to mayhem on January 1,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director of ADIF, which represents companies such as Paytm and BharatMatrimony.
Absolute geniuses running the show. Grab some popcorn, this is going to be fun. Unless ofcourse you are a small internet business that relies on subscriptions
Startups, funding etc
MapmyIndia sees stellar debut despite market volatility, lists with 53% premium - Moneycontrol
The initial public offering of MapmyIndia saw tremendous demand from investors as the offer was subscribed 154.71 times during December 9-13
Indian e-commerce startup Snapdeal files for IPO - TC
Airtable acqui-hires Walrus.ai’s founding team - TC
The two companies argue that their overall vision was very much aligned. While the Walrus team aimed to make building end-to-end software tests easier by helping users write their tests in plain English, Airtable wants to turn all of its users into app developers.
Interesting read
Oracle follows Microsoft into healthcare push with Cerner — is Salesforce next?
Oracle Corp. on Monday confirmed plans to acquire Cerner Corp. for nearly $30 billion, pushing into the healthcare space a few months after another software giant, Microsoft Corp., made a similar acquisition, leaving analysts to wonder what other software companies will look to buy their way into hospitals.
Elon Musk says he’ll be paying $11bn in tax this year - BBC
Last week, Mr Musk was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. That prompted Senator Warren to tweet: “Let’s change the rigged tax code so ‘The Person of the Year’ will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”
Cool Products, websites and tools
11 great shows from 2021 to stream on Netflix - Verge
Not really a cool website, but a useful list, incase you need it
Curated from:
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