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Market summary: š
The US stock markets took a huge dump today, putting an end to a crazy rally. Expect India to mimic a frenzied withdrawal. Try not to look at your investments, peeps!
US:
S&P 500 - down 3.51%
Nasdaq 100 - down 5.23%
India:
Nifty 50 - down 0.065%
Sensex - down 0.24%
Appleās green energy wager š
Apple invested to build two of the worldās largest onshore wind turbine farms in Denmark, working to make true on its promise of carbon neutrality. The turbines produce 62 gigawatt hours each year - enough energy to power 20,000 homes. The energy will first be transferred to Apple datacenter in the nearby town, and rest will be given to the Danish grid. The pictures are gorgeousā¦.Ā
Long haul planning š±
Weāre going to be living with this virus for a long time, at least thatās what Apple and Google are betting. Hence, the two companies are going to embed the coronavirus contact tracing feature in the upcoming versions of Android and iOS by default.
The contact tracing service uses bluetooth to connect with other devices and basically detects whether youāve come in proximity of a positive tested patient, along with duration, frequency and other metrics.
So far, governments across the world have had decent success with alarming citizens with the tech, but it was mostly optional to use. Enabling it by default could go a long way, especially if weāre looking to get back to business without a vaccine. Between the two companies, some 3.5 billion people across the globe could be brought to access tech. RIP privacy. Read more.
In todayās paisa double... š¤
Transportation tech company, Railofy, which crunches data to solve the trivial yet frustrating railway waitlist problem in India has raised 7 crore in seed funding from Chiratae ventures.
The startupsās concept is quite interesting. The company sells you an insurance against your railway reservation, and if youāve not been allotted a seat after final charts have been prepared (WAC or Wait listed), then the company puts you on a flight for the price of the train ticket. Or you could take a bus free of cost.Ā
Quite indigenous to a specific problem, but the routing and optimization IP the company is building must be of most value here. Barely a year old, the service is available in 153 routes currently and the new funds acquired will be used to expand across the country. Whar!?
Vindicated finally, or are you really? š„±
Remember Edward Snowden? The cybersecurity engineer had blown the whistle on the US governmentās massive illegal citizen spying operations, which essentially woke the world up to a new reality that everything you do online is no longer private. Snowden was banished, declared a traitor, and prosecuted, while the cyber world cried for his vindication.Ā
Anyway, so after 7 grueling years, a US court has finally ruled that the NSA (national security agency) snooping on people and listening into their calls on an ongoing basis was in fact illegal. No shit. š The phone call tracking of not just Americans but also people worldwide went into effect post the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks as a frenzied government tried everything at its disposal to predict future attempts.
Yes, the tech was instrumental in several of the stateās attempts to foil terrorist attacks that could hurt thousands, but in that process we weakened and violated the most basic constitutional rights and countless other foreign treaties. However, it gets worse when you realize several foreign governments had unofficially okayed the surveillance and even benefited from it.Ā
Yeah, so please clear that browsing historyā¦ š
Key takeaway: citizen surveillance is a racket. While the courts may have pushed back, weāre marching very strongly in a direction where active surveillance is considered acceptable in the society. The mental shift is already here and privacy is becoming a myth. Read about the judgement more.Ā
Everytime you saved ā¹100 when FB messed upā¦ Ā š
...youād be a millionaire by now. The company is taking a lot of heat for trying to squirm its way out of the responsibility to help the US conduct fair presidential elections by doing the bare minimum only.Ā
In its latest move, the company will ban all political ads on the platform one week before the elections, to stop the spreading of misinformation. Zuck in his latest statement says that with COVID-19 already wreaking havoc in the country and with the nation more divided than ever before, FBā platforms could be used to spark civil unrest in the nation and these moves will help reduce the chances of that. Hereās more.
Governments across the world however believe the company could do a lot more. First of all, perhaps ban political ads altogether, just like how Twitter did. That wouldnāt hurt FBās revenues much anyway. But freedom of speech and all thatā¦ However, the company is often found exposed for leaving misinformation or for blatant bias in making decisions about what stays up what doesn't and the political affiliations of its management.Ā
To think a technology platform could be the nightmare of democracy.Ā
Main bhi karega š¼
Adapting to the new rules laid out by RelianceJio for the domestic telecom carrier market, Vodafone Idea will look to raise some fresh funds hopefully to reduce debt and fuel expansion.Ā
The company aims to raise about $1.5 billion or more by either selling more shares or via a convertible bond structure (all options being considered right now, but its most likely going to be an equity sale). Considering the company has over 25 crore active subscribers, there is no doubt that foreign investors will be keenly interested in pitching in.Ā
So on those lines, the company is working with New York based banker PJT Partners and looks to focus on US based investors exclusively, mimicking its rivals strategy. As soon as the news came out, stock popped nearly 30%.Ā
Takeaway: YES! Raising capital will be great for the entire telco ecosystem because it gives Vodafone more firepower and Reliance more competition, which will keep the market healthy. Also, Vodafone will have to invest heavily in building a digital services portfolio, which is great for some startups who may be acquired, partnered with, or invested into.Ā
What else are we snackinā šæ
š Perennial love for Kiranas - as Flipkart looks to capitalize on B2B commerce, its marketplace entity has launched a digital platform for Kiranas and SMEs, to connect manufacturers directly with retailers. Only a few cities are operational right now but wider expansion is imminent.
š The layoffs don't stop - Ford is planning to cut 5% or 1,400 of its salaried workforce in the US as part of a global reorganization to make the company more competitive and profitable.Ā
š One step closer - Vaccine maker GSK and Sanofi have started phase 1 and 2 human trials for its jointly developed COVID-19 vaccine. The 2 pharma giants will test the vaccine on 440 healthy adults across 11 sites in the US and are expecting to start phase 3 rials by the end of this year. On another note, the US has advised its 50 states to be ready for vaccine distribution by November 1st. Great news incoming?
š§ John Wick hacks Modi - PM Narendra Modiās twitter handle was hacked and the hacker asked users to send cryptocurrency in the name of a donation to the PMās National Relief Fund. The attack is similar to the one that took down Twitter of top world leaders a month ago, and a group called āJohn Wickā has now taken responsibility.Ā
ā FBās desi purge - In an attempt to handle hate speech Facebook banned BJP politician T Raja Singh from FB and Instagram for violating its policy around content which promoted hate and violence.
š Netflix choked - the streamer has faced a setback after SC refused to entertain its writ petition to allow the launch of its new series Bad Boy Billionaires, which explores major scandals in Indiaās free enterprise world. Subrata Roy had approached a Bihar local court to block the series from publishing.Ā
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