Meta onboards Kalaari Capital to scale early-stage startups in India

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced a partnership with VC fund Kalaari Capital to upskill and scale young, invested businesses in India by providing them with timely business skilling support.

Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday announced a partnership with VC fund Kalaari Capital to upskill and scale young, invested businesses in India by providing them with timely business skilling support. The partnership is a part of Meta’s ‘VC Brand Incubator Initiative’ for the growth of micro, small and medium businesses in the country.

“As part of this initiative, Meta has partnered with India’s largest VC funds. We are thrilled to now partner with Kalaari Capital that has been instrumental in the growth journey of many startups,” said Ajit Mohan, VP and MD at Meta in India. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. “As startups scale, they need to leverage several tools and platforms like Meta to support their growth,” said Vani Kola, Founder and Managing Director, Kalaari Capital.

World could be entering worst part of pandemic: Bill Gates on Omicron surgeV

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned against the rising Omicron cases around the world, saying that the world could be entering the worst part of the pandemic

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned against the rising Omicron cases around the world, saying that the world could be entering the worst part of the pandemic as the variant will result in the “worst surge” the world has seen so far.

In a series of tweets, Bill Gates said he has cancelled most of his holiday plans after his close friends have been infected with the Omicron variant. “Omicron is spreading faster than any virus in history. It will soon be in every country in the world,” he said. Noting that the “big unknown” is how lethal the variant is, Gates claimed: “Even if it’s only half as severe as delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it’s so infectious.”

He advised people to take booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying it gives the best protection. “In the meantime, we all have to look out for each other, especially the most vulnerable, whether they live down the street or in another country. That means wearing masks, avoiding big indoor gatherings, and getting vaccinated. Getting a booster gives the best protection,” he tweeted….

Facebook changes name to Meta as it refocuses on virtual reality

The new name reflected its ambitions to build the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service, said CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Inc is now called Meta, the company said on Thursday, in a rebrand that focuses on its ambitions building the “metaverse,” a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the next big computing platform. The name change comes as the world’s largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its platforms.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its ambitions to build the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service. The metaverse, a term first coined in a dystopian novel three decades ago and now attracting buzz in Silicon Valley, refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices.

“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” said Zuckerberg. The company, which has invested heavily in augmented and virtual reality, said the change would bring together its different apps and technologies under one new brand. It said it would not change its corporate structure. The tech giant, which reports about 2.9 billion monthly users, has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years from global lawmakers and regulators.

Assam NRC data vanishes from website, home ministry says it is safe

“The NRC data is safe. Some technical issues are in visibility on cloud. These are being resolved soon,” a home ministry spokesperson said

The Centre on Wednesday said the NRC data in Assam is safe even though some technical issues were visible and that will be resolved soon. The Union Home Ministry clarification came in view of reports that data of the final list of the National Register of Citizens has been made offline from its official website.

“The NRC data is safe. Some technical issues are in visibility on cloud. These are being resolved soon,” a home ministry spokesperson said. The data was not available for a couple of days and it created panic in the public, mostly among the people excluded from the list as the rejection certificates were yet to be issued. NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma accepted that the data has been made offline, but refuted the allegation of any “malafide” intent in it.

The cloud service for the huge set of data was provided by IT firm Wipro and their contract was till October 19 last year. However, this was not renewed by the previous coordinator. So, the data got offline from December 15 after it was suspended by Wipro, Sarma said. He said the state coordination committee had decided to do necessary formalities in its meeting on January 30 and wrote to the Wipro during the first week of February. “Once Wipro makes the data live, it will be available for public. We hope people will be able to access it in the next 2-3 days,” Sarma said…Keep Reading

Spectrum price reform in the works: Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Telecom operators, battling financial stress, have for long voiced their protest against high base price of 5G spectrum

Inaugurating the annual India Mobile Congress on Monday, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Centre was considering “pricing reforms in the sector”, possibly hinting at making the upcoming spectrum auction, especially in the 5G band, more attractive to the industry. Telecom operators, battling financial stress, have for long voiced their protest against the high base price of 5G spectrum. Most telcos are planning not to bid for 5G unless the government reviews the price.

The three-day telecom summit, which got off to a slow start, was marked by the absence of industry majors including Bharti’s Sunil Mittal and Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani. The two business rivals had shared the dais at the event last year and had turned heads with their contrasting comments on the telecom sector.

Prasad, while addressing stakeholders, said the government was in the process of taking reform steps in spectrum pricing as well, cheering the industry. Signalling a need for change, Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said, “We seek an enabling regulatory environment so that we can make the necessary investment in this sector.”

Bharti Enterprises Co-Vice Chairman and Managing Director Rakesh Bharti Mittal pointed out that the industry wanted spectrum at the right price. “We need large quantities of spectrum at the right price as the prices set by Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authortiy of India) are seven times higher than the global prices,” Mittal said…

 

US ban on Huawei presents Nokia, Ericsson with a huge opportunity

The Chinese supplier’s supremacy is being challenged by its Nordic rivals

In the course of recent decades, China’s Huawei Technologies Co. has come to rule the worldwide telecom hardware showcase, winning contracts with a blend of refined innovation and alluring costs. Its ascent crushed Europe’s Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB, which reacted by eliminating positions and making acquisitions. Presently, with Huawei at the focal point of a US-China exchange war, the tide is changing.

Nokia and Ericsson—savage opponents themselves—have as of late wrested outstanding long haul bargains from Huawei to manufacture 5G remote systems, to empower everything from self-sufficient autos to robot medical procedure. Investigators state more could come their way as Huawei ponders a U.S. fare restriction and limitations from different governments worried that its gear could empower Chinese secret activities.

“Huawei will, for a long time to come, face a more extensive haze of doubt,” said John Butler, an investigator at Bloomberg Intelligence in New York. “Nokia and Ericsson are very much situated to profit.” In May, the European organizations both won 5G contracts from SoftBank Group Corp’s. Japanese telecom unit, supplanting Huawei and Chinese companion ZTE Corp. Ericsson marked a comparative settlement in March with Denmark’s greatest telephone organization, TDC A/S, which had worked with Huawei since 2013 to modernize and deal with its system.

Different bearers, expecting government controls on Huawei, have begun expelling its gear from delicate pieces of their frameworks. BT Group Plc is removing Huawei from its system center, and Vodafone Group Plc has suspended center gear buys from Huawei for its European systems. Deutsche Telekom AG, which has Huawei all through its 4G framework, is reconsidering its buying procedure.

As many telephone organizations—incorporating those in Canada, Germany and France—plan to pick 5G providers in the coming months,Cisco Systems Inc. andSamsung Electronics Co. are likewise competing for arrangements. Be that as it may, the key recipients of Huawei’s challenges are probably going to be the two Europeans, which contend straightforwardly with the Chinese organization in providing radio-get to arrange gear.

JustDial data leak exposed personal details of 100 million users: IT expert

Cyber-security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia claims that user data ‘including name, email, mobile number, gender, dob, address, photo, company, occupation & other details’ are publicly accessile

Technology News: Justdial, a company that provides local search for different services in India over voice calls and internet, suffered a data breach last week that compromised the personal details of 100 million users, according to independent cyber-security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia.

Inc42 quoted a senior JustDial executive on Monday as saying that the company is investigating the alledged loopholes in its database and that the company’s systems are foolproof. Rajaharia said on Wednesday that user data “including name, email, mobile number, gender, dob, address, photo, company, occupation & other details are publicly accessible” on the site. An Economic Times report on Thursday quoted the expert as saying that the company has not been able to fix the breach. He said that 70 per cent of the data was of users who called JustDial’s customer care number ‘88888 88888’.

He told Inc42 that the link between JustDial application and database is not protected. Data breach incidences in India were the second highest globally in 2018, according to a report by digital security firm Gemalto.

A report by news agency IANS said on Wednesday that cyber security experts have raised alarms over an ‘advanced phishing attack’ on IT bellwether Wipro, saying that no organisation, regardless of its size, is immune from sophisticated cyber criminals in India. The IT giant suffered an attack on its employee database. E-commerce giant Amazon faced a data leak in December last year that exposed some sellers’ private financial information to other users. Amazon India has 150 million registered users and around 4 million merchants sell on its platform.

The issue of safety of user data took centre stage after Facebook, the global social media giant, disclosed that an obscure gaming app fed users’ data to political data mining firm Cambridge Analytica without authorisation in early 2018. Data of about 87 million users, by one estimate, were left exposed.

Lok Sabha polls: Sonia Gandhi to contest from Raebareli, Rahul from Amethi

The first list, finalised at a meeting of the party’s central election committee chaired by Rahul Gandhi, names 11 candidates from Uttar Pradesh and four from Gujarat

The Congress Thursday released its first list of 15 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Raebareli and party president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.

The first list, finalised at a meeting of the party’s central election committee chaired by Rahul Gandhi, names 11 candidates from Uttar Pradesh and four from Gujarat. Former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Jitin Prasad and R P N Singh have been fielded from their traditional seats of Farrukhabad, Dhaurahra and Kushi Nagar respectively.

Former UP Congress chief Nirmal Khatri will contest from Faizabad, while Bharatsinh Solanki, the party’s ex-chief of the Gujarat unit, has been fielded from the state’s Anand constituency.

Will preserve right to expression, privacy if we return in China: Facebook

The social-media giant made the comments in a written response to questions from US senators

Facebook Inc. said if it ever returns to China, the company will do it in a way that preserves rights to free expression and privacy — issues that make such a move almost impossible today.[International News]

The social-media giant made the comments in a written response to questions from U.S. senators. Facebook’s stance is more cautious than Google, which is trying to get its search engine back into China. That project has sparked harsh criticism and debate from employees and outsiders, who say the company is violating its mission. Google’s leader, Sundar Pichai, has said the Chinese market is too big to ignore.

Since 2013, Facebook said it has been a member of the Global Network Initiative, a digital rights organization that adheres to United Nations’ principles on businesses and human rights. The company is assessed on how well it adheres to the goals every two years.

“In keeping with these commitments, rigorous human rights due diligence and careful consideration of free expression and privacy implications would constitute important components of any decision on entering China,” the company told U.S. senators. “Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, and no decisions have been made around the conditions under which any possible future service might be offered in China.”

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Vivo V11 Pro India launch at 12 PM: Watch livestream, know expected specs

The Amazon-exclusive smartphone will feature a screen with tiny notch on top, similar to waterdrop design first seen in the Oppo F9 Pro. The Vivo V11 Pro will also get in-display fingerprint sensor

Vivo, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, is all set to launch the Vivo V11 Pro in India on September 6 at 12 PM. The Amazon-exclusive smartphone will feature a screen with tiny notch on top, similar to waterdrop design first seen in the Oppo F9 Pro. The phone will also get in-display fingerprint sensor, which uses a part of screen to recognise fingerprint and unlocks the screen.

The Vivo V11 Pro is expected to feature a mammoth 6.41-inch fullHD+ super AMOLED screen. The screen will boast a tiny notch on top, accommodating front camera. The earpiece and sensors would find their spot somewhere on the thin bezel space above the screen. The phone is expected to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 system-on-chip, mated with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

Like Oppo F9 Pro, the Vivo V11 Pro is also expected to feature a proprietary fast charging technology. Powering the device would be a 3,400 mAh battery.

Imaging would be taken care by a dual camera module on the back that is expected to feature a 12-megapixel primary sensor, mated with a 5MP depth-sensing lens. On the front, the phone is expected to sport a 25MP lens. Both the front and back cameras are expected to feature artificial intelligence for portrait and beautification mode, along with HDR mode. The front camera is expected to also double up as a biometric unit for face unlock, and the phone is expected to feature infrared-based face recognition.

The Vivo V11 Pro is expected to be priced below Rs 25,000. However, the final price and sale details would be declared at the launch, which would be livestreamed here

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