The Robots are Coming 🤖
Android 11 unveiling postponed, Covid cases rise, and phased openings are coming.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary: 😍
US - S&P 500 up 0.38% 🔼
India - Sensex up 2.71% 🔼
Deal to buy Egyptian theater 🎭
Netflix has closed on a deal to buy Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theater. The streaming company has always tried to disrupt the mainstream Hollywood film making industry with a radical direct to consumer approach but this deal is now an attempt to try to get accepted by the industry.
According to Netflix, it would invest in the Egyptian’s renovation so that it can host movie premieres and events in the space. The deal also offers a hint of what’s next for the streaming giant. Netflix spends the most money of any media company on producing original content each year and experts for a while had been debating whether the company will be interested in owning theaters next.
The Egyptian is located on the Hollywood boulevard and was the site of the movie premieres of many famous movies such as Charlie Chaplin’s, The Gold Rush and Robin Hood (1922). In the recent times, the theater is known for showing rare indie and classic movies.
Civil unrest is rattling the USA 👊
The peaceful demonstrations that started to protest an African-American man’s unprovoked killing at the hands of a cop have spiraled into violence and destruction with people burning down several stores in Minneapolis as well as other cities across the US. George Floyd was a black male who died after Derek Chauvin a white police officer pressed his knee down on Floyd’s neck for more than 8 mins while trying to arrest him.
Cities that were battling the virus are now struggling with violence. Some of the worst hit areas include Minneapolis, Southern California, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, Dallas, and even New York City. The National Guard (a federal interior policing body) had to be deployed in 15 states in the US.
Even the White House was not spared as people set fires outside on the streets and as a result President Donald Trump had to be briefly taken to the underground White House bunker.
Major retailers such as Target, Whole foods and Apple announced that they would close stores accordingly to adjust to the curfews imposed and to prevent vandalism by protesters.
The protests are taking place amidst the coronavirus pandemic which has taken a toll on public health and economy. The virus has killed over 100,000 people in the US and rendered over 40 million unemployed.
The police officer who was responsible for the death of George Floyd has been arrested and charged with third degree murder and manslaughter. The eruptions of violence continue despite the arrest.
Delhi is planning its first phase of reopening🔓
Delhi is planning to reopen in a controlled and systematic manner.
CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that all shops and shopping complexes in Delhi will be allowed to open including salons and barbershops, but spas will remain closed. Borders will be sealed for a coming week but restrictions on intra-city public transport is lifted.
The city along with rest of the nation was under a 2 month lockdown because of the coronavirus and on Monday entered the first phase of the third phase unlock plan.
India is currently at 7th position among the worst hit nations by COVID-19. The lockdown will continue in containment zones till June 30.
Robots finally seem ready to take over from us🤖
The robots have long been feared to take our jobs. That day may finally be here.
Taking advantage of the weak economic conditions, world’s largest company Microsoft has laid off dozens of journalists to replace them with Artificial Intelligence (AI) software for news-writing. Around 27 individuals lost their jobs.
The journalists used to do the job of manually curating the news and selecting headlines for Microsoft’s MSN news portal and ensured that no inappropriate content was shown when the browser was opened. Microsoft had launched MSN back in 1995 and has been in the news business for over 25 years.
The news received mixed reactions. Technologists lauded the progress we’re making with leveraging AI to make us more productive while journalists were critical of the change. Most concerns were about the AI’s lack of familiarity with general editorial guidelines and that it could still be manipulated to show inappropriate content. Also, more companies could do this soon, terribly hurting employment stats in the industry.
Many tech companies including Google are already experimenting with the idea of using AI and robot journalism to replace journalists which will in turn help to cut costs. The tech companies are even thinking about licensing their software to news companies and publications. The future is coming fast, and we have to adapt.
Tweet of the day -
We made it to June and here’s a little monthly motivation.
The last 2 months have been extremely frustrating for most, but we hope you used the opportunity to embark on a new journey - professionally, or personally. If you haven’t yet, all is not lost. You can still push yourself to get started with something this month. As we have said before, it can be a project or a hobby or a simple Instagram page. Doesn’t matter as long as you build something, or create something.
Feel free to share with us what projects you are working on!
See y'all later.
What else are we Snackin’🍿
🌧️Heavy showers expected on Konkan coast due to cyclone Nisarga - the west coast of India might get some relief from the heat but the cyclone could be super strong when it hits the coast. India Meteorological Department has issued cautions to citizens. Also, medical professionals worry for the transmission of coronavirus during monsoon.
☹️India at number 7 among 10 worst hit nations by coronavirus - the nations statistics continue to worsen, and mass migration from cities into remote parts of the country start hurting control of transmission. The silver lining however is that recoveries remain strong and the hope is that we can keep fatalities under control.
🆕Google postpones unveiling of Android 11 because of protests - with more and more companies taking a stand and speaking out supporting tighter laws around racial discrimination, Google has decided to suspend its live-stream launch of the new Android OS.
🤝Uday Kotak to sell stake in Kotak Bank - in a bid to raise about $950M to comply with central banking regulations to continue functioning, Uday Kotak is planning to sell some of his stake in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank. The sale will reduce Mr. Kotak’s ownership from 29% to about 26%.
📈Spending on online subscriptions is spiking - according to credit management startup CRED, Indians in metros are spending more on online subscriptions during the pandemic. Data shows that spending on subscriptions through credit cards is up 18% in Delhi, 11%in Bangalore and 8% in Mumbai. This comes as the world moves towards subscription consumption models for everything from media, to grocery, to healthcare services.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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