JOMO: A daily digest of interesting tech, product and design news

[Akshay.Kanade]

3rd time unlucky | JOMO for 22nd Dec

In today’s JOMO: CES ‘no show’ for 3rd year, Tesla games and TikTok gets more traffic in 2021 than…. Google!

In the news

T-Mobile, Twitter, Meta scrap CES 2022 plans in Vegas due to COVID-19 - CNET

CES will take place virtually and in person from Jan. 5 to 8, 2022.

US probes potential of drivers playing video games in Teslas- AP

The probe, which covers all four Tesla models, the S, X, Y and 3, was opened “to evaluate the driver distraction potential of Tesla ‘Passenger Play’ while the vehicle is being driven.” Investigators “will evaluate aspects of the feature, including the frequency and use scenarios of Tesla “Passenger Play.”’

Investigating the obvious here.

India sees chipmakers starting local manufacturing in 2-3 years - ET

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is working on developing an entire ecosystem for the chip manufacturing industry and will start taking applications under the incentive schemes from Jan.1, 2022

Amazon’s AWS logs third outage this month, affecting Slack, Epic Games Store, Asana and more - Verge

Startups, funding etc

Swiggy in talks to invest in Rapido as part of a larger financing round - ET

“Fundamentally bike taxis and food-delivery are highly complementary in nature. As much as 80% of the deliveries happen during lunch and dinner time. So what has happened is there is idle capacity during mornings and evenings. Bike-taxis are the opposite.”

Interesting read

TikTok Got More Traffic Than Freakin’ Google in 2021 - Gizmodo

The video-sharing platform just pushed Google aside to become the most popular website in the world, according to web performance and security company Cloudflare’s 2021 Year in Review internet traffic rankings.

The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse - FT

For years, the Israeli spyware maker thrived through scandal. Then, US diplomats in Uganda got hacked by Pegasus

Closer home…. well… less said the better

Tweeter

You don’t own “web3.” - Jack Dorsey

You don’t own “web3.” The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…

Poll for the day

If you could, would you like to play games in a car?

Why? Why??

Oh ya, sure

Only if I’m not driving!

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Kid games | JOMO for 23rd Dec

In today’s JOMO: Andreeseen and Jack Dorsey play games on Twitter, a TV you can Taste and ‘Alexa, are you OK?’

In the news

Jack Dorsey blocked on Twitter by Marc Andreessen after Web3 comments - CNBC

“I’m officially banned from Web3,” Dorsey tweeted Wednesday alongside a screenshot showing he had been blocked by Andreessen.

Boo? Is it just me or does it feel like both these gentlemen want attention? Well they sure are getting it

Startups, funding etc

Nikola shares surge 20% after company delivers its first EV truck, says more to come - CNBC

New products, features, launches

Take a look at this delicious lickable screen to see the future we knew was coming - Verge

If you’ve ever thought, “This 4K HDR OLED TV is great, but I sure wish it tasted better when I licked it,” we may be getting closer to a world where that’s the case — a professor has created a device he calls “Taste the TV,” according to Reuters, and it does exactly what the name implies.

Interesting read

Alexa is nagging you more because Amazon knows you don’t care about its new features - Verge

If you regularly use an Alexa device, you’ve probably been upsold by Amazon’s assistant at some point. Ask Alexa to carry out some basic task like setting a timer, and it will finish its response with a cheery “By the way, did you know I could [insert feature you’ve never heard of here].”

From 360 Hz monitors to 8,000 Hz keyboards, 2021 was the year of the hertz - Ars Technica

Cool Products, websites and tools

The Huawei P50 Pocket is a great Galaxy Z Flip 3 alternative that you can’t buy - XDA

Quite the looker. Check out the video

Poll for the day

Do you use a voice assistant?

Yes, on my phone

Yes, have a separate device

Both of the above

None of the above

<did that feel like a competitive exam?>

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Happy vs Merry | JOMO for 24th Dec

In today’s JOMO: Did you know the British say Happy Christmas and the Americans use Merry Christmas? What does that have to do with tech news? Nothing. <Well, it is Christmas eve and so a rather slow news weekend>

In the news

Tesla will stop letting people play games in cars that are moving - Verge

Fun fact: the earlier version had a popup ‘I am a passenger’ which allowed you to play, even when the car was moving. Also, based on a Linkedin comment our earlier poll received, some ppl find this not at all dangerous. Probably cos they already do it, with an Xbox/Playstation in the back!

Chinese tech giant Baidu says it could be 6 years before it can fully deliver its metaverse - CNBC

Beijing-based Baidu plans to hold its annual developers’ event Monday in the virtual world of its metaverse app, XiRang. The company claims it will be China’s first metaverse conference.

Startups, funding etc

Purple Dot, a waitlist and pre-order platform for the fashion industry, raises $4M - TC

UK startup Purple Dot has an ecommerce ‘waitlist and pre-order’ platform, allowing fashion brands to only produce the exact volume of goods ordered, thereby cutting down waste.

Something tells me this, and the segment, is going to be pretty big, pretty soon

Interesting read

This is our first look at Android 13 “Tiramisu” and some of its upcoming features - XDA

Ola’s dream of world’s biggest e-scooter factory hits hurdle - ET

Customers waiting for their bikes are already voicing their unhappiness. When Ola began taking orders in September, it said deliveries would begin in October, which later got pushed to November and then to Dec. 15. Many disgruntled customers – some of whom paid the entire 99,999 rupees ($1,323) upfront – have taken to social media.

No wonder CoD was invented in our country

Poll for the day

Do you use CoD?

Yes, always

Sometimes, especially for new sites

Always pay upfront

That’s it folks for this week.
And ya, a Happy and Merry Christmas to you!

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Double standards | JOMO for 27th Dec

In today’s JOMO: Didi plays big brother with employees, Dutch regulators like dating apps (more) and Indian startups bag a cool haul of dough in 2021: $36bn worth

In the news

Didi blocks employees from selling shares indefinitely - FT

Didi’s big investors will still be able to start selling their shares on Monday. This includes SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Didi’s single largest shareholder, which paid $11.8bn for a 20.1 per cent stake in 2019. The stake is now worth $5.4bn

Will they… won’t they?

Apple must let dating apps offer alternate in-app payment options, says Dutch regulator - Verge

Why only dating apps you may ask. Check the Top Grossing App in Netherlands for a clue

Startup world mourns the loss of Narendra Gupta and Pankhuri Shrivastava - ET

Narendra Gupta, 73, who cofounded Nexus Venture Partners, one of India’s oldest venture capital firms, passed away on December 25, a day after Pankhuri Shrivastava, 32, who founded women-focused social community platform ‘Pankhuri’.

New products, features, launches

This ambitious smart ring hopes to one day monitor chronic illnesses - Verge

The Movano Ring will measure all the basic metrics, including heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, respiration, temperature, blood oxygen levels, steps, and calories burned. However, instead of a raw data dump, Movano says it’ll distill how your metrics relate to each other “take a more proactive approach to mitigating the risks of chronic disease.”

Interesting read

Indian startups bag record $36 billion funds in 2021 - ET

However, the bulk of the investments were directed towards pre-IPO financing rounds in companies such as Zomato, Ola, Policybazaar and Paytm, with the top 10 deals totalling upto $5.58 billion

Lots of interesting data points to chk out

Poll for the day

Would you wear an always on health tracker?

• Yes
• No
• Already do

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Alexa Challenge goes wrong | JOMO for 28th Dec

In today’s JOMO: Alexa talks to a 10 yr old…. and things go wrong, some much needed advice for SharkTank India and why investors are bullish on India’s startups for 2022

In the news

Alexa tells 10-year-old girl to put penny in plug socket - BBC

Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it “challenged” a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug. “Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” the smart speaker said.

Startups, funding etc

Indian neobank Jupiter raises $86 million to launch lending and wealth management services - TC

Tiger Global, QED and Sequoia Capital India co-led the two-year-old startup’s Series C round, Gupta told TechCrunch in an interview. The new round values the startup at $711 million, up from about $300 million in its August Series B funding.

Interesting read

Why investors remain bullish on India’s start-up outlook for 2022 - CNBC

Still, there will likely be appetite for future IPOs, according to Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Indian brokerage platform Zerodha. The bigger question, however, would be how those companies would fare in the longer term

35 non-founders in Rs 100-crore Esop club - ET

“With buybacks happening, employees see the opportunity of wealth creation being real,” said Harshil Mathur, cofounder and CEO of Razorpay. “Contrary to the popular misconception that if a company allows Esop buybacks soon, employees will sell and leave, they actually stay longer and do not sell their options in a rush.”

Tweeter
‘A short thread to help makers of shark tank potentially learn from and do a runtime fix of the format.’- Ashish Sinha, Founder NextBigWhat

TL;DR for #SharkTankIndia team:

• Respect the founders.

• You (=VC) need founders as much as they need you

• Don’t be an asshole (applies to both founders and VCs)

• Don’t get investors who have no long-term skin in the game. They don’t care abt their reputation (as investors)
  

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

No steering, no problem | JOMO for 29th Dec

In today’s JOMO: A taxi with no steering wheel, Insta’video’ and an AI powered meme maker that’s not bad at all

In the news

Apple puts Foxconn India plant on probation after protests over food and accommodation conditions - TC

Foxconn’s factory in the state of Tamil Nadu employs about 17,000 people. Protests erupted in the factory last week after hundreds of women who work at the plant and live in one of the hostels had to be treated for food poisoning and more than 100 were hospitalized

Instagram will ‘double down’ on video in 2022 and focus on Reels - Engadget

“We’re going to have to rethink what Instagram is because the world is changing quickly and we’re going to have to change with it”

Startups, funding etc

Zetwerk raises $210 mn from Greenoaks Capital, others at $2.7 bn valuation - Livemint

New products, features, launches

Waymo plans fleet of self-driving, all-electric robotaxis with Chinese automaker Geely - Verge

Waymo says future models will have an interior without steering wheel or pedals — just a screen (presumably to let riders check on the progress of their journey).

Look ma… no steering wheel

Fiverr rolls out new Pinterest-like personalized discovery feature - TC

Cool Products, websites and tools

makememe.ai

Make a meme in under 5 seconds by providing a description

Tried this: Problems are easy. Impressed with the result (see below)

Blobby
The cutest habit tracker ever

If you say so

Poll for the day

Instagram will have more videos in 2022

• Yaay
• Naaa
• I dont use Instagram

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Better than Bitcoin | JOMO for 30th Dec

In today’s JOMO: An altcoin that gave 1300% returns, Google pays for customers and the Smartphone of the year awards

In the news

Korea pushes Google, Apple to pull play-to-earn games from stores - Tech in Asia

An important development as what Korea does, other markets have followed

Startups, funding etc

OneCard raises $75 Mn at over $720 Mn valuation - Entrackr

The Pune-based company had already raised $35 million in two tranches in its Series B round led by Sequoia and QED Fund in 2021.

Interesting read

This Altcoin Smoked Bitcoin and Ether With 1,300% Gain This Year - Bloomberg

Among the three largest digital tokens by market value, Binance Coin, or BNB, significantly outperformed its two larger rivals Bitcoin and Ether. The coin – issued by crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. – gained roughly 1,300% in 2021, according to Arcane Research. By comparison, market leader Bitcoin increased 65% while Ether, the second-biggest token, rose 408%.
Better than Bitcoin | JOMO for 30th Dec

In today’s JOMO: An altcoin that gave 1300% returns, Google pays for customers and the Smartphone of the year awards

In the news

Korea pushes Google, Apple to pull play-to-earn games from stores - Tech in Asia

An important development as what Korea does, other markets have followed

Startups, funding etc

OneCard raises $75 Mn at over $720 Mn valuation - Entrackr

The Pune-based company had already raised $35 million in two tranches in its Series B round led by Sequoia and QED Fund in 2021.

Interesting read

This Altcoin Smoked Bitcoin and Ether With 1,300% Gain This Year - Bloomberg

Among the three largest digital tokens by market value, Binance Coin, or BNB, significantly outperformed its two larger rivals Bitcoin and Ether. The coin – issued by crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. – gained roughly 1,300% in 2021, according to Arcane Research. By comparison, market leader Bitcoin increased 65% while Ether, the second-biggest token, rose 408%.

Google and Tech Rivals Tap Cash Reserves to Realize Cloud Ambitions - WSJ

Google has taken equity stakes over the past year in companies including Univision Communications Inc. and CME Group Inc.,i n turn winning multiyear commitments to its cloud service worth as much as $1 billion or more. Google now claims 6% of the cloud market, up 1 percentage point from a year earlier, though still far behind Amazon’s 41% share and Microsoft’s 20%.

Rather interesting strategy to pay to get customers

The relentless 2021 news cycle in one chart - Axios

The single topic to receive the highest percentage of Google searches all year was the Olympics, during the week of its opening ceremonies. Next came searches about stimulus checks at the very start of the year, followed by searches related to Trump during the week of Jan. 6.

Videos and Podcasts

Smartphone Awards 2021! - MKBHD

Some surprises

Poll for the day

Which is your favourite smartphone of 2021?

• S21 Ultra
• iPhone 13
• Google Pixel
• Other

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

Google and Tech Rivals Tap Cash Reserves to Realize Cloud Ambitions - WSJ

Google has taken equity stakes over the past year in companies including Univision Communications Inc. and CME Group Inc.,i n turn winning multiyear commitments to its cloud service worth as much as $1 billion or more. Google now claims 6% of the cloud market, up 1 percentage point from a year earlier, though still far behind Amazon’s 41% share and Microsoft’s 20%.

Rather interesting strategy to pay to get customers

The relentless 2021 news cycle in one chart - Axios

The single topic to receive the highest percentage of Google searches all year was the Olympics, during the week of its opening ceremonies. Next came searches about stimulus checks at the very start of the year, followed by searches related to Trump during the week of Jan. 6.

Videos and Podcasts

Smartphone Awards 2021! - MKBHD

Some surprises

Poll for the day

Which is your favourite smartphone of 2021?

• S21 Ultra
• iPhone 13
• Google Pixel
• Other

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Apple’s New Year Gift | JOMO for 31st Dec

In today’s JOMO: Apple gets a New Year’s Gift it did not want, how Tesla navigated the chip shortage and saying bye bye to Blackberry, for good this time

In the news

India antitrust watchdog orders investigation into Apple’s business practices - TC

The Competition Commission of India said it is of the prima facie view that the mandatory use of Apple’s in-app payments system for paid apps and in-app purchases “restrict[s] the choice available to the app developers…

Timing. For the record, Apple has less than 2% market share in India

BlackBerry will die on January 4th — for real this time - Verge

As of January 4th, any phones or tablets running BlackBerry’s own software will “no longer reliably function”. Whether on Wi-Fi or cellular, there’ll be no guarantee you can make phone calls, send text messages, use data, establish an SMS connection, or even call 9-1-1.

Remember Blackberry?

New products, features, launches

Samsung’s leaked Galaxy S22 Ultra is just straight up a Galaxy Note now - Verge

Gotta love how these are still called ‘leaks’. That said, it’s quite the looker

Interesting read

How Elon Musk’s Software Focus Helped Tesla Navigate Chip Shortage - WSJ

Faced with shortages earlier this year, for example, Tesla was able to quickly rewrite the software necessary to integrate alternative chips into its vehicles, the company’s chief executive officer, Mr. Musk, has said.

Tech debt is not a burden, it’s a strategic lever for success - Reforge

Just like with debt in real life, if you take on debt right now, you can get something of higher value today and pay it off over time. This means you should view tech debt as a strategic lever for your organization’s success over time.

Long read, incase you are up for a rehaul in the new year

Cool Products, websites and tools

Try What’s Good

A review site, without the reviews

Try: ‘a good coffee’

Tweeter

The number of people having severe heart issues in my extended circle is terrifying. - Nithin Kamat, Co-Founder Zerodha

Some great, sensible advice on cutting off work messages post 6PM

Poll for the day

So, are you looking forward to 2022?

• Absolutely!
• Cant get any worse, can it?
• Not really

That’s all folks for this… year! Wish you a tremendous, fun filled, prosperous 2022. Boy am I happy to say bye bye to 2021.

Happy New Year!

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Apple Vision? | JOMO for 17th Jan

Aaaaand we are back!

In today’s JOMO: Michelin Star… NFTs, Oppo == OnePlus and figuring out a name for Apple’s AR/VR headset

In the news

Safari 15 bug can leak your recent browsing activity and personal identifiers - Verge

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to get around the issue, as FingerprintJS says the bug also affects Private Browsing mode on Safari. You can use a different browser on macOS, but Apple’s third-party browser engine ban on iOS means all browsers are affected.

Spain leads European crackdown on crypto promotions - FT

Spain is imposing restrictions on influencers’ promotion of cryptocurrencies as European authorities struggle to get to grips with the unregulated sector. In an apparent first for the EU, Spain’s national securities market commission has been given the power to regulate crypto advertising.

Good on you Spain. Vamos!

Netflix raises prices on all plans in US - Verge

Significant move at a time when new user additions are plateauing. Btw worth checking out the comments: users dont seem happy

Education institutes ordered to cut ties with edtech firms - ET

A senior official explained that universities were outsourcing content creation to edtech players, some were asking faculty for such companies to teach and certain edtech companies also also awarding degrees

Well well well.

Startups, funding etc

INDmoney raises $75M for its super finance app in India - Techcrunch

New products, features, launches

Apple Vision? Apple Reality? What Apple Could Name Its AR/VR Headset - Bloomberg

As Apple Inc.’s first mixed-reality headset runs behind schedule, here’s a look at what the company could name the product

Oppo’s next flagship leaks with OnePlus-esque Hasselblad branding - Verge

Not sure present and prospective OnePlus users will be too pleased with this

Interesting read

China’s robotaxis charged ahead in 2021 - TC

An overview of China’s robotaxi services offered by AutoX, Baidu, Deeproute.ai, Didi, Momenta, Pony.ai, and WeRide, and the progress they made in 2021

Quietly and over some objections, a national digital vaccine card has emerged - NBC News

The SMART Health Card is voluntary and minimal by design to protect personal information. About 80 percent of vaccinated people in the U.S. most likely have access to it.

Maybe CoWIN, and other state initiatives, have something to learn here? Worth a read

World’s ‘first NFT restaurant’ is coming to Manhattan next year - Morning Brew

Sure, an NFT restaurant sounds goofy, but if you think of it more as a social club, like Soho House, it makes a little more sense. Flyfish is betting that people will buy its tokens as a way to signal their social status, similar to a luxury watch or vehicle. If it’s at least a little bit successful, expect more NFT restaurants to follow.

Yeh toh hona hi tha. Can we now have Michelin Star NFT restaurants too please?

Cool Products, websites and tools

UX Awards 2021 - UXHack

Plug… Check out the winner, incase you missed them

Poll for the day

What should Apple’s VR/AR headset be called?

• iView
• Apple Vision
• iGlass
• DKDC (Dont know dont care)

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Microsoft’s Candy ‘Crush’| JOMO for 18th Jan

In today’s JOMO: Microsoft loves Candy Crush maker, Nobody Cares and Meta wants to know when your nose twitches

In the news

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion - Verge

“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

The move will make Microsoft the 3rd largest gaming company. Yes, you read that right: ‘gaming company’. Nadella playing all the right cards

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says ‘nobody cares’ about Uyghur genocide in China - CNBC

Palihapitiya went on to say that he cared about supply chain issues, climate change, America’s crippled health-care system as well as the potential economic fallout of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

To be fair, reading beyond the headline gives real context to what he wants to say. But logical statements do not a great headline make… so we have this. What he also said: “Until we actually clean up our own house,” the idea of “morally virtue-signaling about someone else’s human rights record is deplorable.”

Startups, funding etc

Sebi clears Delhivery IPO - ET

New products, features, launches

Twitter expands misinformation reporting feature to more international markets - TC

In addition to the U.S., Australia and South Korea, where the feature had already gone live, Twitter is rolling out the reporting option to users in Brazil, Spain and the Philippines.

Notice an important omission? India? Twitter? Are you listening?

Interesting read

Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse - FT

Pupil movements, body poses and nose scrunching are among the flickers of human expression that Meta wants to harvest in building its metaverse, according to an analysis of dozens of patents recently granted to Facebook’s parent company.

Yikes! At this point I’m just hoping and praying Meta’s metaverse is a dud, because if it isn’t, we have a very dystopian future incoming

Why is LinkedIn so cringe?

One of the funniest running jokes on Twitter is people trolling cringey LinkedIn newsfeed content: humble brags, faux inspiration, hustle porn, buzzwords galore and more.

Brilliant breakdown. I’d very much like to see a Twitter India and startup version of this. There is just so much cringe to talk about

A new use for AI: summarizing scientific research for seven-year-olds - Verge

Ryan says that although tl;dr papers is undoubtedly a very fun tool, it also offers “a good illustration of what good science communication should look like.”

Poll for the day

Do you think Linkedin is cringe?

Oh yes

It is what it is

No, love it

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Shark ‘Tanked’ | JOMO for 19th Jan

In today’s JOMO: A shark gets tamed, some valuable passwords and collateral damage

In the news

Fintech founder Ashneer Grover takes a leave of absence after reports of questionable conduct - TC

Grover initially labeled the recording as “fake” in a tweet, which he later deleted. A Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson said the company was evaluating actions against Grover and confirmed the authenticity of the call.

‘Leave of absence’

Airlines Cancel Some Flights Ahead of U.S. 5G Wireless Launch - WSJ

Flight suspensions occur even as AT&T and Verizon agree to limit signals within 2 miles of runways to address air-safety concerns

Sony shares tank over 12% after Microsoft and Activision’s $68.7 billion tie-up plan - CNBC

Investors fear Microsoft’s announced acquisition of Activision will bring more competition to Sony’s PlayStation division and take away key games from the Japanese giant’s platform.

Collateral damage.

Startups, funding etc

Softr’s Series A is a reminder that the no-code boom continues - TC

Softr is a good example of the trend, with the startup raising $13.5 million in a Series A that it announced this week.

Canadian password manager 1Password valued at $6.8 billion in new funding round - CNBC

1Password, the Toronto-headquartered password management app, says it has raised $620 million at a $6.8 billion valuation, making it one of Canada’s most valuable tech firms.

New products, features, launches

Google kills YouTube Originals, its original video content group - Ars Technica

The YouTube division was founded six years ago to make exclusive, original content for the pay-per-month YouTube Premium service. Now, the group is being shuttered, and YouTube’s global head of original content, Susanne Daniels, is leaving the company in March.

Opera launches a dedicated crypto browser - TC

The aim is to “simplify the Web3 user experience that is often bewildering for mainstream users,” Opera EVP Jorgen Arnensen said in statement.

Cool Products, websites and tools

Framer Sites Beta

Design real websites right on the canvas, publish in seconds

Framer to Webflow… here I come

Poll for the day

Have you used a no-code tool?

Yes

No

Not yet, but interested

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Amazon’s got Style | JOMO for 20th Jan

In today’s JOMO: Google says pay up, Insta launches subscriptions and Amazon’ first physical clothing store

In the news

IRS Will Require Facial Recognition Scans to Access Your Taxes - Gizmodo

Online tax filers in the United States will soon be required to submit a selfie to a third-party identity verification company using facial recognition tech in order to file their taxes or make IRS payments online.

Soon… coming to India

Russia proposes ban on use and mining of cryptocurrencies - Reuters

Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying for Workspace this year - 9t5Google

After getting free Gmail, Drive, Docs, and other apps for the past several years, companies/people will need to start paying for those Google services and the ability to use your own custom domain (instead of just gmail.com).

New products, features, launches

Amazon’s first clothing store lets you summon clothes to the fitting room - Verge

Amazon Style is a new kind of physical store from the online shopping giant that will focus on clothing, footwear, and other fashion accessories, the company announced today. It’s due to open at The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Los Angeles later this year, where it will be Amazon’s “first-ever physical apparel store.”

Absolutely brilliant! Worth checking out the launch video

Instagram launches early test of creator subscriptions in the US - TC

Through the Subscriptions product, creators can choose their own price point for access to their exclusive content. There are eight price points to choose from, starting at $0.99 per to month to as much as $99.99 per month

Great to see Insta move beyond ads

Interesting read

Streaming music report sheds light on battle between Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and Google - Verge

Spotify was the largest music streaming service in the world as of the second quarter of 2021 with a market share of 31 percent, with Apple Music in second place at 15 percent, and Amazon Music and Tencent Music each tied at third with 13 percent apiece.

Poll for the day

Which music streaming service do you use?

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• Amazon Music
• Other

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Firesale | JOMO for 24th Jan

PS: The next few days (weeks?) will have a lot of market news, not so good news at that. Might be a good idea to take a break from reading about it, if you dont feel like it

In today’s JOMO: Tech stocks take a dive, in US, India and everywhere, Google Pay hits reset and translating Wordle

In the news

$130 billion wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours as bitcoin, ether drop to multi-month lows - CNBC

Investor calls for Peloton to fire CEO, consider selling company - TC

The letter concludes, “The ride for Mr. Foley is over. This Board must now independently chart a new path for Peloton.”

Speaking of letters and CEOs under pressure….

Startups, funding etc

’We are adequately capitalised’: Zomato CEO to employees amid market fall - BS

Not sure about you, but I’d worry if my CEO sends a mail every time the company stock falls/jumps. Maybe it’s a Zomato thing to just, well, be in the news *. For the initiated, volumes on Zomato trades jumped 4 times. Meanwhile…*

Indian food delivery giant Swiggy raises $700 million at $10.7 billion valuation - TC

Invesco led the Bengaluru-headquartered startup’s Series K round, which according to a source familiar with the matter values the seven year-old startup at $10.7 billion. Swiggy was valued at $5.5 billion in July last year.

The ’source familiar with the matter’ seems to have forgotten to mark to market

Ola Electric valued at $5 billion in new funding - TC

In the meantime, Bounce, a fellow Bengaluru-headquartered startup, has unveiled its own electric scooter that many analysts say promises to pack more than Ola’s offering.

Bikes delivered by Ola? Zilch. That said the 2 wheeler EV space is sure going to be interesting with a mix of traditional players and ‘new age’ players

New products, features, launches

Google Pay resets strategy again with new leader, might get into crypto - Ars Technica

Despite the just-canceled plans to launch a Google bank account, Google’s president of commerce (and another former PayPaler), Bill Ready, now tells Bloomberg, “We’re not a bank—we have no intention of being a bank.”

Btw this is Google Pay US, although this undoubtedly will have repercussions in India

Interesting read

Google is building an AR headset - Verge

The search giant has recently begun ramping up work on an AR headset, internally codenamed Project Iris, that it hopes to ship in 2024. Early prototypes being developed at a facility in the San Francisco Bay Area resemble a pair of ski goggles and don’t require a tethered connection to an external power source.

World Wide Wordle: What it takes to bring the viral game into other languages - Rest of World

As the game has gone viral around the world, over a dozen Wordle-inspired games have launched in languages other than English, including Spanish, German, Urdu, Hungarian, and Japanese.

Cool Products, websites and tools

Automator for Figma

Automate your Figma tasks in one click

Can be handy. Free trial available

Pallo

Manage your personal and business finances in one place

Nice story on why the creator built this

Poll for the day

Have you played Wordle?

Yes!

No

Word what?

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Netflix’s India frustrations | JOMO for 27th Jan

In today’s JOMO: Adobe takes on Deepfakes, a Cred Store and ‘Why Netflix boss is frustrated with Indian market’ (that is literally the headline)

In the news

Spotify picks Joe Rogan over Neil Young - Verge

‘Spotify has become the home of life threatening COVID misinformation,’ Young said. This week, Neil Young published an open letter demanding Spotify remove his music because he didn’t want to share the platform with podcaster Joe Rogan. It appears Young is getting his wish, as Spotify is now removing his music, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Well well well. Cash is king for Spotify, misinformation be damned

Tesla announced record profits, delayed Cybertrucks - Morning Brew

While Tesla isn’t introducing any new models this year, other automakers are picking up the slack. Thirty new EV models will be introduced to the US market this year, more than two times the amount that’s currently available

Startups, funding etc

DealShare turns unicorn; raises new round at $1.6 Bn valuation - Entrackr

DealShare directly competes with CityMall, Meesho (via Farmiso) and a few others

UBS steps up U.S. push with $1.4 bln Wealthfront purchase - Reuters

Swiss bank UBS has agreed to buy U.S.-focused automated wealth management provider Wealthfront, which has more than $27 billion in assets under management

New products, features, launches

iPhones might soon be able to accept contactless payments - XDA

Apple is planning a new service that would allow small businesses to accept payments directly through their iPhones, without external hardware

The flex of a walled garden: that’s billions of devices now able to do contactless payment. But, only amongst themselves. Also, why did Apple wait all this while?

The.com launches a low-code, collaborative website builder that uses customizable ‘blocks,’ not templates - TC

Quite a handful, to be totally honest. Interesting onboarding though: The.com

As fintech Cred diversifies, it is betting on video commerce and group buying - ET

According to an internal seller communication sent by Cred earlier this week, its team is “working on building and launching various product features on store that aim to boost user engagement and thereby screen time, retention and ultimately transactions. Some of the features that are work in progress are group buying, video commerce, etc”

Okkkk… this is interesting. One would have guessed this would eventually happen

Interesting read

Adobe’s effort to catch deep fakes hits key milestone - Axios

As part of its effort to fight deepfakes, a coalition of tech companies co-led by Adobe has finalized the details for a standard way to verify how a photo or video was captured and to document any subsequent edits.

Excellent development. Quite a mouthful though: Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA)

Gig workers ride solo during third wave - ET

India’s gig workers — who primarily operate as delivery staff for major online platforms — have raised red flags over what they say is a lack of proactive assistance from their employers in terms of second-dose vaccinations as well as an alleged failure to supply adequate protective and safety equipment, in light of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A gathering storm…

Why Netflix boss is frustrated with Indian market

On an investor call last week, he bemoaned the California-based firm’s lack of success in India. “The great news is in every single other major market, we’ve got the flywheel spinning. The thing that frustrates us is why we haven’t been as successful in India. But we’re definitely leaning in there,” he said.

Content. Content. Content. And ofcourse your ‘premium’ pricing. And piracy. And….

Cool Products, websites and tools

Stonly No-Code Digital Adoption

A set of no-code tools for interactive onboarding & adoption

Poll for the day

Why do you think Netflix isnt ‘successful’ in India?

Pricing too high

Poor Indian content

Piracy

How would I know?

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Lucky 13 | JOMO for 28th Jan

In today’s JOMO: Apple makes some money, Lewis Hamilton likes super fast delivery and Zomato financial services

In the news

Apple made more money than ever, even with the supply chain crunch - Verge

The iPhone enjoyed a supercharged sales quarter, no surprise given that it was a holiday period and the first full quarter of availability for the iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max. The iPhone unit took in $71.63 billion, up 9 percent over the year-ago quarter.

To put the numbers into context, Apple made almost $1.4bn in sales every day of the last quarter. This in a quarter when Apple was ‘constrained’ by supply chain issues. Phew!

Google relents: Legacy G Suite users will be able to migrate to free accounts - Ars Technica

Last week, Google announced a brutal policy change—it would shut down the Google Apps accounts of users who signed up during the first several years when the service was available for free

Guess Google was testing the waters: to see how deep the love really is and if people would pay. Well, they now have the answer

Startups, funding etc

Google Pours $1 Billion in India’s Second-Largest Phone Operator - Bloomberg

There was news of something like this (it was rumoured to be Amazon) last year. For Google this is the next best thing to ‘owning the pipes’ while not having to deal with regulatory issues of doing it directly, and yet getting a seat at the table. Remember Google also has a similar investment in Jio. For airtel: the money is good, plus having the Google logo helps in enterprise and SME sales (something which Jio already has, along with the Microsoft logo)

India’s Moglix valued at $2.6 billion in $250 million funding - TC

Formula One star Lewis Hamilton invests in rapid grocery delivery start-up Zapp - CNBC

Well since it is speed we are talking about, Hamilton is a pretty good ‘ambassador’ to have onboard. Maybe Max would have been even better, just saying

New products, features, launches

Zomato to form non-banking finance company to enter financial services biz - BS

Did a man once not say: ‘Lending is a feature’. Know the man? Also would be interesting to look at Zomato’s numbers this quarter

Interesting read

Why designers should remove “Hooked” from their reading list

If you don’t want the pile of books on your nightstand to get any shorter, I suggest you read “Ruined by design” by Mike Monteiro, instead. More so, if you read Hooked before.

Nice read, and makes a lot of sense

Cool Products, websites and tools

TeamOut

The Airbnb for team retreats

… incase you are planning, you know, a team outing

TemplateTo

Document generation API

Poll for the day

Do you think the book ‘Hooked’ is still a worthy read, even today?

Absolutely

No, it’s time to move on

Haven’t read it

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Spotify: cancelled | JOMO for 31st Jan

In today’s JOMO: Spotify faces its Facebook moment, why you are unlikely to see Indian ‘tech’ IPOs anytime soon and Hagrid answers some questions

In the news

Following his fiery Twitter tirades, Bolt founder Ryan Breslow is no longer CEO — and he says it’s his choice - TC

Is Mr Grover inspiring others too? Or is it just that these founders are looking for some self validation?

Spotify faces its Facebook moment as musicians boycott platform over Joe Rogan podcast - CNBC

Spotify on Sunday said it would add disclaimers to any podcast episodes that include a discussion about Covid, and direct users to public health sites for more information. CEO Daniel Ek said the platform didn’t want to “take on the position of being content censor,” but would ensure there are consequences for creators who break its rules.

The cookie crumbles, oh so quickly. Related: Why Spotify can’t afford to lose Joe Rogan

New products, features, launches

Meta adds 3D avatars to Instagram Stories, with updates for Messenger and Facebook - Verge

Yuck

Interesting read

Workplace Disruption Reported at Meta Amid AR and VR Push, Some Staff Defecting to Competitors Like Apple - MacRumors

While some workers were excited about Meta’s new direction, others have taken issue with the company’s approach toward employees and questioned whether the company was sidelining existing problems.

Excellent and inevitable

Paytm’s crash and the puzzling future of Indian tech stocks - Rest of World

“I don’t think, in the next six months, you’re going to see many new-age business IPOs coming up,” said Amit Kumar Gupta, portfolio advisor at financial markets services firm Adroit Financial Services. Several startups that were poised to hit the market until last month “have now pushed their IPOs because of what happened with Paytm,” Kumar said.

Delhi dethrones Bengaluru as startup capital of India - ET

The survey said more than 5,000 recognised startups were added in Delhi while 4,514 startups were added in Bengaluru between April 2019 and December 2021. With a total of 11,308, Maharashtra has more recognised startups than any other state.

Quite the headline. Reality, well is a bit different

Google critiqued the practice of displaying ads above search results - Via HN

The post critiques the practice of displaying ads above search results, a method used by some of Google’s competitors back then. At the time Google published this, it only put ads in the sidebar to the right of search results

Hypocrisy ki bhi ……

Cool Products, websites and tools

hagrid

No-code user-generated FAQ, for any webpage

What an unforgettable name for a product. And an interesting twist to FAQs

identi

The social network for habit builders

Poll for the day

Is this Spotify’s Facebook moment?

Er what happened?

Yes, an important moment

This too shall pass

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

30% cut | JOMO for 1st Feb

In today’s JOMO: India proposes 30% crypto tax, NYT loves Wordle and a new Gmail, for work

In the news

India proposes 30% tax on crypto and NFTs income - TC

Income from the the transfer of any virtual assets will be taxed at 30%, the nation’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday. To capture details of all such crypto transactions, she also proposed a 1% tax deduction at source on payments made related to purchase of virtual assets.

In a way, this legitimises cryptos

New York Times buys Wordle - Livemint

Wordle went viral this year, with millions of people playing the puzzle daily, according to the New York Times. Only 90 people played it on Nov. 1.

Truly ‘viral’

India’s Rahul Gandhi Says His Twitter Following Was Squashed by Modi Government - WSJ

“I have been reliably, albeit discreetly, informed by people at Twitter India that they are under immense pressure by the government to silence my voice. You have an enormous responsibility to ensure that Twitter does not actively help in the growth of authoritarianism in India,” Mr. Gandhi wrote.

Rather serious allegations

Startups, funding etc

Subscription management platform Chargebee nabs $250M as SaaS soars - VentureBeat

Upskilling platform Scaler tops $700 million valuation in new funding - TC

The Series B funding – led by Lightrock India – values the startup at $710 million, up from about $110 million two years ago

New products, features, launches

Your work Gmail is about to look different - Verge

Starting February 8th, Google says you’ll be able to start testing the layout for yourself. By April, anyone who hasn’t opted in (Google shows that there’ll be a prompt at some point, encouraging you to do so), will be switched over to the new layout, but will be able to switch back in settings

Looks cleaner for sure and more like other office mail clients

Tweeter

**’**30% tax on #cryptocurrency

Le cryptocurrency investor :

Dukaan jama hi haha the, aap log make berozgaar car diye’ - Devrat Kumar Mahto
Some more memes here

Poll for the day

Are you affected by the ‘Crypto Tax’

Naa

Ya

Hum to fakir……

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Nightrider Taxis | JOMO for 2nd Feb

In today’s JOMO: Cruise will test robot axis at night, Google reports stellar results and a PM who writes code (no pun intended, an actual Prime Minister)

In the news

Alphabet stock jumps on back of blowout earnings - CNBC

The search giant relies heavily on Google’s advertising revenue, which soared in the quarter. Revenue for the segment came in at $61.24 billion, up 33% from $46.2 billion in the year-earlier period.

Just keep the flywheel going. Amazing. The cloud business did even better, clocking 45% growth

Startups, funding etc

Canva acquires Flourish in mission to tell better stories with data - TC

Rather interesting product and seems like a good fit for Canva. Check out some examples here

New products, features, launches

Cruise, loaded with another $1.35B from SoftBank, opens up driverless ride-hailing to the public - TC

Cruise’s initial driverless service is from 11 pm to 5 am, a company spokesperson confirmed, adding that night driving is part of its strategy to start where it can have the best impact and expand methodically from there

One could argue that more accidents by human errors happen at night, but interesting to see a tome specific

SpaceX’s new Starlink Premium tier promises up to 500Mbps for $500 a month - Verge

Rather expensive. Actually, very expensive. There’s a $2500 charge for the dish too

Microsoft’s take on task management is available for a test run - Verge

Microsoft Lists is now available as a free preview to users with personal Microsoft accounts — but only for the first 200,000 people who sign up to try it. Lists, which is a sort of task management meets to-do list app, has only been available to business and enterprise users up until now.

Trello beater? Take it for a spin

Interesting read

Gaming the Smiling Curve - Stratechery

Another week, another gaming acquisition. First Take-Two acquired Zynga, then Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard, and now Sony just announced the acquisition of Bungie. Each of these acquisitions is interesting in its own right, but taken as a set they paint a picture of industry evolution that extends far beyond gaming.

The explainer we’ve been waiting for

The Pixel 6 is a hit: Google touts “record sales” in Q4 2021 - Ars Technica

‘In Q4, we set an all time quarterly sales record for Pixel. This came in spite of an extremely challenging supply chain environment. The response to Pixel 6 from our customers and carrier partners was incredibly positive.’ Google said

No actual numbers quoted, so difficult to say how big this is, in comparison to other manufacturers. But it is sold out, so there’s that

Taking stock of the global electric vehicle race - Axios

Global EV sales — battery-electric and plug-in hybrid combined — more than doubled last year to around 6.6 million vehicles. They accounted for 8.6% of the global light-duty vehicle market, compared to about 2.5% in 2019, per a new International Energy Agency commentary.

Worth taking a look back, before looking forward. Tesla leads, by a fair margin. But others are catching up

Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Sudoku Solver code runs in 1ms - Leetcode

Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong showcased his Sudoku Solver C code. You can read his original Facebook post here and another news reporting it here.

Wow, the Singapore PM writes (used to write?) code!? And that too for Sudoku!

Cool Products, websites and tools

ThreadStart

Write & schedule great Twitter threads with a rich editor

Why not? Check out Typefully while you are there. Really nice product

Beseda Share

Async audio & video discussions – right from your browser

Verrry interesting. Unique landing page too

Poll for the day

Can you write code?

Yes and I like it

Yes but I dont want to

Nope

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Meta worse | JOMO for 3rd Feb

In today’s JOMO: Meta, aka FB, aka Zuckworld collapses, Apple does brisk business in India and a weak CEO’s weak defence

PS: Looks like ET beat us to the headline, their’s is awesome: From Bad to Meta Worse

In the news

Facebook Owner Meta Set for $200 Billion Wipeout, Biggest in Market History - Bloomberg

Shares slump 24%, dragging down Snap, Pinterest, Twitter.

Ouch…. Ouch, ouch, ouch. This is going to hurt… everyone

India Smartphone Market Records Highest Ever Shipments, Revenue in 2021 - Counterpoint Research

Apple was one of the fastest growing brands in 2021 with 108% YoY growth in shipments. It maintained its lead in the premium segment (>INR 30,000, ~$400) with a 44% share.Aggressive offers during the festive season, strong demand for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 and increased ‘Make in India’ capabilities drove high growth

Startups, funding etc

Jar raises $32 million in Tiger Global-led funding to help Indians start their saving and investment journeys - TC

Nice idea, nice simple site. Only issue: gold, at this point, may not be the most ‘lucrative’ option for young, new investors. Maybe the can/will pivot to other investment opportunities (liked Mutual Funds?)

Interesting read

Spotify CEO defends Joe Rogan deal in tense company town hall - Verge

Ek instead offered an impassioned pitch for why Rogan is critical to Spotify’s well-being. Despite Rogan’s show never being available on Spotify prior to its deal, the program was the most searched podcast on the platform. Notably, Ek did not defend Rogan’s views. “There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,” he said.

Dear Daniel, you cannot have it both way: you want Joe Rogan, the biz, yet you are opposed to Joe Rogan and his views. Either you endorse him or you put your money where your mouth is and de-platform Joe, if you can that is. The weakest defence one has ever seen for spreading misinformation. Unfortunate. Oh btw, when you signed the exclusive, you knew, almost expected, something like this would happen one day. So yeah, makes it worse

Cool Products, websites and tools

Antetype

Complex UX prototypes solved: responsive, interactive & free

Check out the Space Station demo. Cooool

Learnflow

A free template to learn how to no-code in Webflow

Give it a a shot, maybe?

Poll for the day

Do you use Facebook anymore?

Nope

Yes, sometimes

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more

[Akshay.Kanade]

Flower samjha hai kya | JOMO for 10th Feb

In today’s JOMO: RBI guv calls cryptocurrency ’not even a tulip’, a desk that tracks your posture and Apple ‘Associates’

PS: We’ve been away for a week, attending to… well, life events. This time we are well and truly back

In the news

India’s Central Bank Chief Says Crypto Is ‘Not Even a Tulip’ - Bloomberg

Cautioning investors, the governor said such assets have no underlying value whatsoever, “not even a tulip".

Pushpa… I hate flowers re. Jokes aside, some rather strong words coming from RBI, Finance Ministry et al in the last few days

Zomato Q3 results: Loss narrows sharply to ₹63 cr, aided by a one-time gain - Livemint

The company’s gross order value (GOV) grew by 84.5% year-on-year and 1.7% quarter-on-quarter to ₹5,500 crore in the reporting quarter.

Hard to make head or tail of these numbers. Tomorrow’s market reaction will be worth watching

Startups, funding etc

India’s ShareChat and MX Player merge their short video apps - TC

New products, features, launches

Is ‘realityOS’ Apple’s newest operating system? - Verge

Apple’s long-rumored virtual or augmented reality headset might not launch until 2023, but developers have spotted additional mentions of a new “realityOS” that could power it.

The Galaxy S22 line is official for $800-$1,200, ships February 25 - Ars Technica

The Ultra looks beautiful… but we already knew that

Interesting read

Every employee who leaves Apple becomes an ‘associate’ - WaPo

In job databases used by employers to verify resume information, every former Apple employee’s title gets erased and replaced with a generic title

Disappointing

Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia. Here’s why - Rest of World

The answer, surprisingly, has less to do with Facebook, and more to do with the complexity of the Khmer language, and the way users adapt for a technology that was never designed with them in mind. Keyboards weren’t designed for Khmer. So Cambodians have just decided to ignore them

What an amazing article

A chat with YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan on new features coming this year - Verge

Cool Products, websites and tools

Notion Freelancer OS

Manage and grow your freelance business in Notion

Norm Model B Desk

Solid-stone desk with built-in power and posture tracking

Super interesting product

Poll for the day

Would you buy a desk that tracks your posture?

Would be nice

Already have one

Nope

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more