The government has asked social media platforms TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and ShareChat to take down videos of what is known as the ‘skull breaker’ challenge, which has resulted in serious head injuries among students across the globe. The social media challenge, popularised first on short video app TikTok, starts with three people standing alongside […]
Archives for 2020
About 30% of fitness-trackers are abandoned — non-profit Recycle Health finds them a second home
Team-members from Recycle Health Recycle Health For many of us, wearable gadgets that track steps, heart rate and other health metrics are a novelty item to play around with for a few weeks. After that, they end up in a drawer to gather dust. Lisa Gualtieri, an assistant professor at Tufts Medical School, is asking […]
India clarifies size of gold discovery in Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) – India has clarified the nature of a gold discovery in Uttar Pradesh, after a government official said on Saturday that fields with reserves of more than 3,000 tonnes of gold ore had been found, prompting a flurry of activity on social media. Central and state departments have discovered traces of gold […]
The rise of self-improvement & productivity apps, hacks
Manas Saloi is obsessed with productivity. “I’m always trying to make the most of my time,” says the 28-year-old from Bengaluru over a WhatsApp call, while pacing up and down his room to keep the step count going. A product manager at the tech company Gojek, his work requires him to create a goal-setting framework […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX aims to raise $250M, to hit $36B in valuation
Elon Musk-run SpaceX is aiming to raise around $250 million in new funding that would bring the rocket launch company’s valuation to $36 billion. The fundraising comes as SpaceX continues development on three important programmes: Crew Dragon, Starlink and Starship, reports CNBC. The company raised $1.33 billion during 2019 and has raised more than $3 […]
Lyft buys digital car-top advertising startup Halo Cars
Lyft Inc has bought U.S.-based startup Halo Cars, which allows drivers to make money through digital advertisements displayed on top of their vehicles. The deal, first reported by Axios, was confirmed by the ride-hailing company on Friday. Lyft did not comment on the financing of the deal. Halo Cars was founded in 2018 and has […]
What needs to change before folding phones become something everyone wants
A Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Z Flip smartphone is displayed during the Samsung Unpacked product launch event in San Francisco, California, U.S. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. Michael Short | Bloomberg | Getty Images I reviewed Samsung’s latest phone with a folding screen, the Galaxy Z Flip, earlier this week. It’s neat, but it’s still […]
India says discovers fields with over 3,000 tonnes of gold ore
LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) – India, the world’s second-biggest gold consumer, has discovered gold fields with reserves of over 3,000 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, a government official said on Saturday. India mines between 2 to 3 tonnes of gold annually, relying on expensive imports to fulfil nearly all of its demand, which averaged 843 tonnes per […]
Amazon removing products that claim to cure coronavirus
E-commerce giant Amazon has warned sellers that it is removing listings for products from the platform that claim to cure the novel coronavirus. With the coronavirus spreading to over two dozen countries and the overall death toll in mainland China surpassing 2,000, fighting misinformation about the virus has become a major challenge. On top of […]
Rivals slam PhonePe’s ‘ATM’ biz, question launch in absence of rules
PhonePeATM, a new service that lets consumers withdraw cash from its offline merchants via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), has angered rivals who have drawn the attention of the regulator to the issue, three people aware of the matter said. On Friday last week, this became the centre of an intense debate during the steering […]