Private Whatsapp | JOMO for 26th May

In today’s JOMO: WhatsApp suddenly values privacy, JP Morgan’s IndexGPT and there’s a new Tako in town

🗞In the news
WhatsApp Usernames May Let You Keep Your Phone Number Private
WABetaInfo has spotted a WhatsApp username field in the latest beta Android app, allowing users to choose unique usernames for their accounts. The likelihood is that WhatsApp intends to let users reach other people by entering a username instead, much like Telegram.
MacRumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/25/whatsapp-usernames-in-development/
This is a BIG step for WhatsApp, given its stubborn insistence, so far, for a mobile number. Looks like the recent spam calls nudged up this feature’s priority

With new grant program, OpenAI aims to crowdsource AI regulation
OpenAI says it’s launching a program to award ten $100,000 grants to fund experiments in setting up a democratic process for deciding what rules AI systems should follow — “within the bounds defined by the law.”
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/25/when-new-grant-program-openai-aims-to-crowdsources-ai-regulation/

YouTube Stories are shutting down June 26 as company focuses on Shorts
The Google-owned video site announced today that YouTube Stories will be shutting down on June 26, 2023, as the company aims to focus on other key areas, like Shorts, Community posts and live videos, in addition to its traditional long-form content
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/25/youtube-stories-are-shutting-down-june-26-as-company-focuses-on-shorts/
Wonder if Instagram stories will become Reels only then?


🤩New products, features, launches 
Google starts rolling out Search Generative Experience (SGE) in preview
Instead of just seeing 10 blue links, Search will now generate an AI-powered “snapshot” of information and other insights/tips to answer your question brought in from multiple sources and then summarized by Google. It will appear beneath the search bar with a color background used to differentiate it from the usual light/dark theme.
9to5google: https://9to5google.com/2023/05/25/google-search-generative-experience/
Finally something tangible from Google, but it sure is playing it slow on this compared to Microsoft

TikTok is testing an AI chatbot called Tako
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/25/23737017/tiktok-ai-chatbot-tako-test
Interrresting


🤔Interesting read
JPMorgan is developing a ChatGPT-like A.I. service that gives investment advice
“This is a real indication they might have a potential product to launch in the near future,” Gerben said. “Companies like JPMorgan don’t just file trademarks for the fun of it,” he said. The filing includes “a sworn statement from a corporate officer essentially saying, ‘Yes, we plan on using this trademark.’”
CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-develops-ai-investment-advisor.html
From copywriters to now financial advisors ‘khatre mein hai!’

Info Edge, reeling from Rahul Yadav’s startup loss, now writes off Bijnis
Info Edge, the largest shareholder in Bizcrum Infotech, the holding firm of Bijnis, has written off its entire investment in the Indian startup, citing “principles of conservatism and prudence,” in the latest drastic market correction in the fast-growing South Asian ecosystem grappling with the weakening global economy.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/26/info-edge-reeling-from-rahul-yadavs-startup-loss-now-writes-off-bijnis/
Some rather dubious investments lately from InfoEdge, but hey, the stock’s up almost 10% today!

Netflix might ruin password sharing for everyone
Whether or not paid sharing ends up hurting Netflix’s balance sheet, it could have huge implications for the entire streaming industry. Other companies, like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount, are likely looking to see how consumers respond to Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown.
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/26/23737858/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-streaming-industry
Winter is coming, for password sharing

Google starts rolling out ChatGPT like features in Search | 9to5google

New FAANG on the block | JOMO for 30th May

In today’s JOMO: A company known for gaming is powering AI, Jio breaks a record and should you trust that Glassdoor rating?

🗞In the news
Reliance’s JioCinema breaks world record with free cricket streaming
The Indian streaming platform drew over 32 million simultaneous viewers for the finale of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, featuring Chennai Super Kings versus Gujarat Titans.
In what was a high point for Hotstar, the platform drew an impressive 25.3 million simultaneous viewers for a cricket match in July 2019
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/29/jiocinema-concurrent-global-record/
Free works in India, bigtime

BlackRock slashes edtech major Byju’s valuation to $8.2 billion
BlackRock has again slashed edtech major Byju’s valuation, this time to $8.2 billion; down 62.7% from $22 billion when it last raised fresh capital.
ET: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/newsletters/tech-top-5/fidelity-investments-cuts-meeshos-valuation-by-10-two-wheeler-beneficiaries-tally-under-fame-slashed/articleshow/100625041.cms


🤩New products, features, launches 
Amazon is testing dine-in payments in India
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/30/amazon-is-testing-dine-in-payments-in-india/
Taking a cue from Zomato

🤔Interesting read
Investors flabbergasted by Nvidia guidance
Nvidia makes the chips used to train AI models—for instance, ChatGPT’s training was powered by 10,000 Nvidia graphic processing units (GPUs) on a Microsoft supercomputer, according to the BBC. And as every company scrambles to add AI to their products, demand for that hardware is booming. In its gangbusters earnings report earlier this week, Nvidia projected $11 billion in revenue this quarter, annihilating expectations for $7.2 billion.
Morning Brew: https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/05/25/investors-flabbergasted-by-nvidia-guidance
BTW, Nvidia is now worth $1 trillion, joining Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Some company that

Layoffs push down scores on Glassdoor: this is how companies respond
The Glassdoor site makes it very clear companies cannot remove reviews. 
Well, this statement is somewhat inaccurate, as Glassdoor does remove some reviews. I talked with several HR folks whose mandate was to remove unfavorable reviews. This is possible.
The Pragmatic Engineer: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/layoffs-push-down-scores-on-glassdoor
Oh the shady shady world of Glassdoor reviews. Quite detailed from @GergelyOrosz


😎Cool Products, websites and tools
Magicflow 2.0
Designed to help founders and makers do deep work
https://magicflow.com/
OK

minimalist phone: Launcher App
Productivity meets minimalism
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/minimalist-phone-creating-folders-1
In times when everything is a about AI and ChatGPT et al, the slow key product is COOL. Some really interesting design choices

📊Poll for the day
Have you heard of Nvidia
Ofcourse!
Nope
Came to know recently

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

Nvidia enters the $1 trillion club

Pricey Vision | JOMO for 6th Jun



In today’s JOMO: Apple’s headset (of course), avoiding AI hype and about those spam job messages you get on WhatsApp



🗞In the news

Apple Vision Pro is Apple’s new $3,499 AR headset

Vision Pro is positioned as primarily an AR device, but it can switch between augmented and full virtual reality using a dial. The device is controller-free, and you browse rows of app icons in an operating system called visionOS by looking at them.

Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23738968/apple-vision-pro-ar-headset-features-specs-price-release-date-wwdc-2023

From early reviews (read: MKBHD), the eye tracking on this is simply… amazing. For now an early adopter toy, but the possibilities from ver 2 and so on can be tremendous. MKBHD’s early review: https://youtu.be/OFvXuyITwBI



SEC sues Coinbase over exchange and staking programs, stock drops 16%

The SEC sued Coinbase on Tuesday, alleging that the company was operating as an unregistered exchange and broker, and that 13 assets listed on its platform were considered crypto asset securities.

CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/06/sec-sues-coinbase-over-exchange-and-staking-programs-stock-drops-14percent.html

Ooooops





🤑🚀Startups, funding etc

Byju's sues term loan lender; won't make further payments

The development comes a day after reportedly a deadline for Byju's to make a $40 million quarterly interest payment on its $1.2 billion loan lapsed.

ToI: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/byjus-sues-term-loan-lender-wont-make-further-payments/articleshow/100798507.cms





🤔Interesting read

Apple avoids “AI” hype at WWDC keynote by baking ML into products

While "AI" is a very ambiguous term these days, surrounded by both astounding advancements and extreme hype, Apple chose to avoid that association and instead focused on terms like "machine learning" and "ML."

Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/06/at-apples-wwdc-keynote-ai-never-came-up-by-name-but-it-was-there/

Guess they were very conscious after Sundar Pichai’s AI AI AI moment at Google I/O



Lose money online working from home: Job scams spike in India

Victims are offered quick money in exchange for simple “work from home” tasks, such as liking videos on YouTube, following celebrities on Instagram, rating movies, or buying products on e-commerce sites. Those who sign up in the hope of earning extra income are instead losing their hard-earned savings to these scams.

Rest of World: https://restofworld.org/2023/india-job-crisis-scams-spike/



📊Poll for the day

What do you think about Apple’s new headset

Coooool
Ho hum
What headset?


Curated from:

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

‘Channel’ing the Energy | JOMO for 8th June

In today’s JOMO: Google asks employees to mark attendance, WhatsApp copies Telegram and the amazing UX of Apple Vision Pro’s keyboard

🗞In the news
Google Gets Stricter About Employees’ Time in Office
Google will consider office attendance records in performance reviews and send reminders to employees with frequent absences, becoming the latest company to urge a return to in-person collaboration following an embrace of remote work during the pandemic.
WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-gets-stricter-about-employees-time-in-office-9a20f2e
Is this really Google we are talking about? Part of performance reviews??


🤩New products, features, launches 
WhatsApp’s new Channels feature brings social media to your messaging app
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23753404/whatsapp-channels-broadcasts-app
An obvious question to ask is, why so late WhatsApp. Hope they given an option to discover channels from users too. For now a limited trial where Channel creation is restricted to businesses

Adobe brings Firefly to the enterprise
Maybe the most interesting of these use cases here is that Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Journey Optimized now get a generative AI-based marketing copy generator (currently in beta). This will allow brands to edit, rephrase and summarize their marketing copy by selecting their preferred tone of voice, for example. 
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/08/adobe-brings-firefly-to-the-enterprise/
Possible game changer: unlike Microsoft which isn’t at the centre of a creative team, Adobe is. So generative copy has a LOT of meaning for creative teams.

🤔Interesting read
A closer look at Apple’s Vision Pro keyboard and other controls
So let’s talk about the Vision Pro’s virtual keyboard. Apple designer Eugene Krivoruchko explains that it’s important to offer plenty of visual and audio feedback while using it, to make up for the “missing tactile information” involved with touching a read peripheral. 
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23753618/apple-vision-pro-virtual-keyboard-controls-wwdc-2023
That demo is sick cool. Do check it out. Surreal because it feels like sci fi: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10073/?time=741

Rahul Yadav's house of cards
You see, in 2017, in an interview with Quartz, he specifically said that one of the problems he faced at Housing.com was that investors wanted revenue. But, he wanted scale. Both of these things apparently don’t go hand in hand in the early years of a startup.
Finshots: https://finshots.in/archive/rahul-yadavs-house-of-cards/
A masala read if ever there was one. Burnt away Rs 280cr like pooof. Good read


📊Poll for the day
How many days are you expected to be in office?
3 days
5 days
Remote FTW

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

Channels coming to Whatsapp | Verge

Apple Vision Pro's Keyboard | Verge, Apple

Netflix Bites | JOMO for 15th Jun

In today’s JOMO: Intel hopes a rebranding will help, about try-on models and Netflix gets into… food

🗞In the news
Netflix will open a restaurant that serves food from ‘Chef’s Table,’ ‘Nailed It!’ and more
 The company announced yesterday that it’s opening a pop-up restaurant called Netflix Bites, featuring chefs from various Netflix cooking series, such as “Chef’s Table,” “Nailed It!” and “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.”
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/netflix-will-open-a-restaurant-that-serves-food-from-chefs-table-nailed-it-and-more/
No, it’s not an April Fools joke


LVMH Expands Partnership With Epic Games
LVMH is increasing its use of Epic Games’ technology to create new virtual experiences across its brands, such as virtual fitting rooms and fashion shows and digital twins, the luxury conglomerate announced on Wednesday at the Viva Technology conference in Paris.
Business of Fashion: https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/technology/lvmh-expands-partnership-with-epic-games/


🤑🚀Startups, funding etc
ChrysCapital invests $100 million in India’s Lenskart
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/chryscapital-invests-100-million-in-lenskart/


🤩New products, features, launches
Google’s new generative AI lets you preview clothes on different models
Starting today, U.S. shoppers using Google Shopping can virtually try on women’s tops from brands including Anthropologie, Everlane, H&M and LOFT. Look for the new “Try On” badge on Google Search. Men’s tops will launch later in the year.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/googles-new-generative-ai-lets-you-preview-clothes-on-different-models/
Creepy, spooky, yet interesting. That is generative AI for you today


🤔Interesting read
Intel is officially killing off the ‘i’ in Core i7 — as it goes Ultra
Why? Intel branding experts tell me the all-important word “Intel” was getting lost, and the radically different Meteor Lake chips coming in the second half of 2023 offered an opportunity to change things up. The company says its research found that it was “Core,” not “i5” or “i7,” that triggered associations with Intel
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/21559670/intel-core-rebrand
A company that has simply fallen off, looking to make a comeback. Rebranding smacks a bit of desperation as it simply makes things ‘more’ confusing

The store is for people, but the storefront is for Google’s web crawlers
The SEO arms race has left Google and the web drowning in garbage text, with customers and businesses flailing to find each other. Online shoppers will increasingly encounter computer-generated text and images, likely without any indication of AI tools
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/23753963/google-seo-shopify-small-business-ai
Fascinating read about how stores need to cater to the whims of Google’s crawlers even if users like something else

The revolt of the Redditors
Nearly 3,500 subreddits will be inaccessible for the next 48 hours and perhaps much longer, according to the BBC. The protest includes five of the 10 most popular forums, such as r/gaming, r/aww, and r/todayilearned.
Morning Brew: https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/06/11/the-revolt-of-the-redditors

📊Poll for the day
Which Intel processor do you use?
Don’t know
Use a Mac
Core i 3/5/7 et al

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

Google Shopping's try on models feature created using Generative AI

Prime Dark Patterns | JOMO for 22nd Jun

In today’s JOMO: Amazon gets sued for terrible UX, a techbro fight and let Bjyu’s be bygones

🗞In the news
FTC sues Amazon for using ‘deceptive’ tactics to sign up customers for Prime
“These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike. The FTC will continue to vigorously protect Americans from “dark patterns” and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets.” The FTC also says users have to click through five pages on desktop or six on the mobile app when trying to cancel their subscriptions.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/21/ftc-sues-amazon-over-deceptive-tactics-used-to-sign-up-customers-for-prime/
Well, if only we had an FTC like body in India. It would have a field day. Wait.. we already do?

Deloitte, three board members quit Indian edtech giant Byju’s
In a letter to Byju’s board on Thursday and seen by TechCrunch, Deloitte said that it had not undertaken the auditing of the edtech giant’s accounts for the year ending March 2022 and cited the delay as a reason for its resignation.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/22/byjus-board/
Ahem ahem. The only question I have: when will BYJU’s shut shop. Or rather, as it happens in India, get ‘acquired’ by one of the large conglomerates 


🤔Interesting read
Mark Zuckerberg is ready to fight Elon Musk in a cage match
After Elon Musk recently tweeted that he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO shot back by posting a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “send me location.”
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/21/23769263/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-fight-cage-match-worldstar
Everyone going: Fight! Fight! Fight!


Spotify’s podcast plan is going off the rails
s those pillars of Spotify’s podcast strategy continue to falter, Spotify seems to be shifting its attention to one big — and much more obviously lucrative — remaining element: its ability to sell ads. Among Ad Analytics’ offerings is Pixel, a new ad-tracking tool that helps advertisers track leads and find out which podcasts drove the most purchases. 
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/23768886/spotify-podcast-strategy-mistakes-joe-rogan-exclusives-trevor-noah

The hottest new perk in tech is freedom
Smaller tech companies have since picked up the mantle of remote work. They are much more likely than their larger peers to allow people to work fully remotely, with 81 percent of those with fewer than 5,000 employees either allowing remote work or only having remote options
Vox: https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/6/20/23762655/tech-perk-remote-work-freedom-airbnb-yelp

📊Poll for the day
Would fully remote be a reason for you to shift jobs/take a pay cut?
Yes
No

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

‘Thread’ing those limits | JOMO for 4th Jul

In today’s JOMO: Flipkart gets into lending, Musk stays random and Instagram’s Twitter competitors is launching, soon

🗞In the news
Threads, Instagram’s Twitter competitor, is expected July 6
It’s a good time for Instagram to enter the fray — this past weekend, as Twitter fumbled the bag with rate-limit errors, competitors like Spill, Bluesky and Post saw significant growth. 
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/03/threads-instagrams-twitter-competitor-is-expected-july-6/
Timing, if ever there was one. Musk, thank you for the painful one year with Twitter news. Speaking of which

Elon Musk imposes daily limits on reading posts on Twitter
Musk elaborated on the limits Saturday, saying unverified accounts will temporarily be restricted to reading 600 posts per day, while verified accounts will be able to scroll through up to 6,000. After facing backlash, he tweeted that the thresholds would be raised to 800 posts for unverified accounts and 8,000 for verified accounts before later settling on 1,000 and 10,000 tweets, respectively.
AP News: https://apnews.com/article/twitter-outage-musk-complaints-restrictions-b59ef586491891fdd3d6c8220ba2ec0d
Mr. Randomness Pro Max. Would be a torture working with him.


🤩New products, features, launches
India’s Flipkart begins customer lending in bid to boost sales
The Walmart-owned Bengaluru-headquartered firm, in partnership with lender Axis Bank, is extending a credit of up to 500,000 Indian rupees, or $6,100, according to a description on its app.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/03/flipkart-begins-lending-to-drive-sales/

🤔Interesting read
So where are we all supposed to go now?
An era of the internet is ending. Twitter has been on a steep and seemingly inexorable decline for, well, years, but especially since Elon Musk bought the company last fall and made a mess of the place. Reddit has spent the last couple of months self-immolating in similar ways. TikTok remains ascendent — and looks ever more likely to be banned in some meaningful way. Instagram has turned into an entertainment platform; nobody’s on Facebook anymore.
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon
Good question, no real answers. Advertisers will find it difficult where to spend

Mukesh Ambani seeks winning edge over Disney in India’s streaming battle
JioCinema attracted more than 400mn viewers to its streams of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in April and May. It has bought the rights to shows and films made by global networks NBC, HBO and Warner Bros. Ambani is making most of it available for free, sparking a price war in India’s fast-growing streaming market. “It’s just the beginning of the disruptions,” one person familiar with JioCinema’s strategy said.
FT: https://www.ft.com/content/ece39430-06fd-4813-b217-18cca8db9b96
You might hit a paywall on this. Google the title and the 1st link should work

Cool Products
Giraffe.io
Boost your startup with unique discounts & software credits
https://thegiraffe.io/deals


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

Stable Doodle | JOMO for 13th Jul

In today’s JOMO: Amazon’s biggest Prime day, Mac starts looking like the iPhone and a Stable Doodle

🗞In the news
Amazon boasts record sales for Prime Day as US shoppers spent $12.7 billion during the sales event
The online retail giant says shoppers purchased more than 375 million items during the two-day sale event, up from 300 million items sold last year. Across both days, 6.5% of orders leveraged Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), driving $927 million in revenue, up 20% year-over-year. 
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/13/amazon-boasts-record-sales-for-prime-day-as-us-shoppers-spent-12-7-billion-during-the-sales-event/

🤩New products, features, launches
Stability AI releases Stable Doodle, a sketch-to-image tool
The sketch-to-image service, Stable Doodle, leverages the latest Stable Diffusion model to analyze the outline of a sketch and generate a “visually pleasing” artistic rendition of it.
TC: https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/13/stability-ai-releases-stable-doodle-a-sketch-to-image-tool/

Apple introduces bilingual Siri and a full page screenshot feature with iOS 17
Apple is late to the game as Google Assistant got multilingual support in 2018 and Amazon launched multilingual support in 2019.


🤔Interesting read
The Mac sure is starting to look like the iPhone
The icons have become iOS icons, and their shape has become the iOS shape, and you can now use your iPhone as the Mac’s webcam, etc. etc. This occasionally comes at the expense of other functionality (ask me how I feel about the new Settings menu), but it is the direction that Apple has clearly been heading in since (arguably) Big Sur
Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/12/23792490/macos-sonoma-public-beta-preview

Disney pulling back on making Marvel, Star Wars content, Iger says
While also noting that Disney had some Pixar animation misses in recent months, he called out Marvel as being a particular example of the company’s “zeal” to pump up its original content on streaming.
CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/disney-cuts-back-on-marvel-star-wars-content.html


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