A lot is happening in the satellite internet space in India right now, and it would be no exaggeration to call it the next big thing after the 5G services rollout. Several communication bigwigs, from Elon Musk’s Starlink to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, have made strides to offer satellite-based internet services to remote corners of the country where cable and fibre internet are yet to reach. A satellite internet connection provides high-speed internet connections using satellites orbiting in space.

The frontrunner
In September, Hughes Communications India, in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced the launch of its first high throughput satellite (HTS) broadband internet service in India. Hughes Communications India is a joint venture entity between Hughes Network Systems, US, and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. The launch is aimed at offering satellite internet services in India’s remote locations.

For the service, it will use ISRO’s geosynchronous satellite (GSAT)-11 and GSAT-29. The Indian space research body launched the two satellites in 2018, intending to offer higher bandwidth satellite connectivity. Following the launch, K Sivan, then ISRO chairman, said the satellite is capable to offer a peak data bandwidth of 14 Gbps through satellite networks. The service launched by Hughes Communications India reportedly can offer internet connectivity bandwidth of up to 100Mbps. Notably, Bharti Airtel in October became the first company to launch 5G services in India.

In the fray
Joining the still nascent satellite internet space in the country is Reliance Jio, which announced its foray into this space in February this year. For this, it has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES, under the name Jio Space Technology Limited. In September, the company received the department of telecommunications’ (DoT) nod to start high-speed broadband-from-space services in the country.

 For more than a decade, social media platforms have seen extreme highs when it comes to advertisement revenues and user growth but are things the same? Elon Musk is capable of thinking out of the box and may change the social media game. Let’s look at how the game can play out.

Twitter

Musk will need to take a hard look at the bottom line and come up with ways to make investors happy as well as pay the money Twitter owes banks. Expect Twitter to promote its Twitter Blue package.

The problem at hand: He has to deal with staff revolt and many may leave as soon as he makes his presence felt. The top management is undergoing a massive change.

Hope floats: Now that Twitter will stop being a publicly-traded company, he won’t have pressures of the market. He can come up with ways to push Twitter Blue subscription and offer an out-of-the-box cure for the platform, which has rarely turned in big profits.

Meta

Meta has spent huge amounts of money in its rebranding as well as investing in the so-called metaverse. Its Oculus dreams around the metaverse can best be described as an emerging technology and it won’t make investors happy in the short run. Young users in the West are spending more hours on TikTok and the loyalty of creators seems to have shifted. Further, Meta has also lost billions of dollars in advertising revenue because of changes Apple made in 2021 to its mobile operating system, which made it harder for apps to track users across the Internet.

The problem at hand: Control costs, win back users from TikTok.

Hope floats: Mark Zuckerberg has always managed to make a comeback and the company’s future technology looks promising.

Snapchat

The platform continues to be attractive among the youth but its advertising business has taken a hit and the company recently laid off roughly 20 per cent of its workers. Snapchat too has been a victim of Apple’s privacy changes but Snap is not complaining as much as Meta.

The problem at hand: Rebooting its ad business.

Hope floats: Youngsters are still using Snapchat and daily active users continue to grow.

 Elon Musk has taken charge of Twitter after months of uncertainty over whether or not his $44b acquisition of the social media platform would go through. Soon after taking over he tweeted “The bird is freed” and, as expected, he started clearing out the house, with some top Twitter executives getting fired.

The people who were let go include chief executive Parag Agrawal; chief financial officer Ned Segal; Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety; and general counsel Sean Edgett.

A few hours before the deal was sealed before the October 28 deadline, Musk said in a statement: “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”

The self-described “free speech absolutist” has said that he wants to make the social media platform an accommodating place for all types of commentary and that he would “reverse the permanent ban” of former US President Donald J. Trump from the service.

Now that the 51-year-old has taken the company private, he does not need to regularly answer shareholders and can make changes to the service as and when he wants.

Business Insider reports that the executives who were fired have received handsome payouts — Agrawal got $38.7 million, Segal got $25.4 million and Gadde got $12.5 million.

The Tesla CEO originally offered to buy Twitter in April, then he tried to back out in May and then again changed his mind on October 4, filing a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission affirming his commitment to the original deal.

It remains to be seen whether he would be successful in improving the company’s bottom line or reinventing the Twitter wheel. Working in favour of Musk is his track record, from PayPal to Tesla and SpaceX, the tech billionaire has had a hand in building some of the world’s most valuable companies. With Musk at the helm, it can be a fresh start for Twitter.

What Elon Musk May Have In Store For Twitter

Elon Musk has finally bought Twitter after six months of extreme mood swings. Now it’s his turn to live up to the text that he had sent to former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal in April: “I just want Twitter to be maximum amazing.” Over the last six months, the 51-year-old has given us some clues as to how he may change the platform.

Free speech

Elon Musk is very clear as to where he stands on what is discussed on Twitter. He has indicated that he would reinstate former US President Donald Trump to the platform and wants to reduce Twitter’s content moderation to allow everything that doesn’t violate local laws. (Trump has made it clear he wants to stick to his platform, Truth Social.) Musk describes himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has said Twitter should be more cautious about removing tweets or banning users.

A ‘common digital town square’

Advertisers are concerned that Musk may allow Trump back on the platform, which is a no-no for many brands. In a message to advertisers on Twitter earlier this week, Musk said he was buying the company to “have a common digital town square” and added that Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences”. He also said that Twitter must be “warm and welcoming to all”.

Twitter has to be careful about its relationship with brands because the platform is taking on $13 billion in debt in the deal. The online ad markets already are shaky with Snap Inc. and Alphabet Inc. posting lower-than-expected revenue results for the September quarter.

Envisioning Twitter as the super-app WeChat

In the past Musk has tweeted: “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.” Here X refers to so-called “super apps” which are popular in China and other parts of Asia, pioneered by the likes of Chinese technology giant Tencent. Everyone wants to have a replica of WeChat. Mark Zuckerberg wants WhatsApp to be that one super app and so does Evan Spiegel’s Snapchat.

WeChat, run by Tencent, is the biggest super app in the world, with over a billion users. Yes, it’s that big and anyone planning to move to China should know about the app. WeChat is not just a messaging app; you can do mobile banking, pay for things online or in store by scanning a barcode, post videos, do online shopping and what not.

WeChat has been on Musk’s mind for a long time. The Tesla CEO expressed admiration for the Chinese app, calling it “great” during a town hall with Twitter employees in June. He said there is no WeChat equivalent outside of China. The problem for Musk would be regulators.

A little bit of Signal

Musk is a fan of the Signal messaging app. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, earlier this year, texted Musk that the future of Twitter should involve a protocol run by the foundation. “A bit like what Signal has done. Otherwise you have surface area that governments and advertisers will try to influence and control,” Dorsey wrote. Musk too has in mind a few of Signal’s features. “Trying to figure out what to do with Twitter DMs. They should be end to end encrypted (obv). Dunno if better [sic] to have redundancy with Signal or integrate it,” he texted Brian Acton, Signal’s co-founder and executive chairman.

Choose your algorithm

He has made his thoughts known about the algorithm Twitter needs to have — an endless feed like TikTok and at the same time, he also wants users to have the option to switch to the reverse-chronological feed and said that “you are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realise”. He wants to “open-source” the algorithm, allowing others to make new ones.

Big on Twitter Blue

Twitter Blue is the premium subscription feature of the platform and comprises paid membership. Musk wants to give this category a push. He pitched investors a plan that involved getting 69 million Blue subscribers by 2025 and 159 million by 2028. He wants to cut advertising to less than 50 per cent of Twitter’s revenue.

Creator-friendly platform

Why should TikTok have all the fun?! Users probably don’t want to see Twitter being turned into a video platform but Musk is interested in it and has spoken to colleagues about how to make video advertising work on Twitter and how to bring video creators over from other platforms. The Verge reported Vivien Hantusch, a longtime Musk fan who now works for him in Germany, texting to Musk: “From a social perspective — Twitter allowing for high-quality video uploads (1080p at a minimum) & adding a basic in-app video editor would have quite a big impact I think. Especially useful for citizen journalism & fun educational content. Might even help Twitter regain market share lost to TikTok.” Musk’s response: “Agreed.” He then added: “Twitter can’t monetise video yet, so video is a loss for Twitter and for the those [sic] who post.”

Some transparency…   in a way

Buying Twitter means that Musk won’t have to answer shareholders. At the same, he could be the person who will need to offer more transparency over how online conversations are moderated. At the moment, moderators make questionable calls and it’s almost impossible to know why Twitter takes down certain posts. Making Twitter’s inner workings transparent may help build the public’s confidence.

More scrutiny from Washington

Elon Musk has tried to offer unsolicited peace plans for Taiwan and Ukraine, antagonising the leaders of those countries and giving Washington a new headache. Further, he irritated some Pentagon officials by announcing he didn’t want to keep paying for his private satellite service in Ukraine but then made a U-turn. Many in Washington see Musk as extremely powerful as well as reckless. In January, he called US President Joe Biden “a damp sock puppet in human form” after Biden said, “Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before”, without mentioning Tesla, the world’s biggest EV maker.

Billionaires and social media dreams

What does a billionaire want? A social media platform. The world’s richest man now owns Twitter, the social media platform used by politicians, businessmen and celebrities around the world. But he is not alone.

Donald Trump

After being banned from various social media platforms, former US President Donald Trump has invested in Twitter clone called Truth Social. It markets itself as a platform that “encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation” but is primarily a platform for Trump. Trump’s use of Twitter redefined politics, letting him sidestep mainstream media to control the political narrative. Permanently banned from Twitter, Trump is trying to drum up conversations on Truth Social.

Kanye West

Kanye West has announced that he is buying the rightwing social network Parler for an undisclosed sum. George Farmer, the chief executive of Parler's parent company, Parlement Technologies, said: “This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech. Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.” What remains to be seen is whether Kanye is still a billionaire after Adidas and several other brands decided to cut ties with the rapper for his antisemitic comments.

 

Writer-MATHURES PAUL

 Writing in the journal BioScience,  an international coalition led by Oregon State University researchers says in a report published today that the Earth’s vital signs have reached “code red” and that “humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency.”

In the special report, “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022,” the authors note that 16 of 35 planetary vital signs they use to track climate change are at record extremes. The report’s authors share new data illustrating increasing frequency of extreme heat events, rising global tree cover loss because of fires, and a greater prevalence of the mosquito-borne dengue virus. Further, they note that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have reached 418 parts per million, the highest on record.

William Ripple, a distinguished professor in the OSU College of Forestry, and postdoctoral researcher Christopher Wolf are the lead authors of the report, and 10 other U.S. and global scientists are co-authors.

“Look at all of these heat waves, fires, floods and massive storms,” Ripple said. “The specter of climate change is at the door and pounding hard.”

The report follows by five years the “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice” published by Ripple and colleagues in BioScience and co-signed by more than 15,000 scientists in 184 countries.

“As we can see by the annual surges in climate disasters, we are now in the midst of a major climate crisis, with far worse to come if we keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them,” Wolf said.

“Climate change is not a standalone issue,” said co-author Saleemul Huq of Independent University Bangladesh. “To avoid more untold human suffering, we need to protect nature, eliminate most fossil fuel emissions and support socially just climate adaptations with a focus on low-income areas that are most vulnerable.”

The report points out that in the three decades since more than 1,700 scientists signed the original “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” in 1992, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 40%.

“As Earth’s temperatures are creeping up, the frequency or magnitude of some types of climate disasters may actually be leaping up,” said the University of Sydney’s Thomas Newsome, a co-author of the report. “We urge our fellow scientists around the world to speak out on climate change.”

Scientists have unravelled more details about how various stages of sleep help in memory formation and storage, according to a study.

A team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania has found that as the body moves between rapid-eye movement (REM) and slow-wave sleep cycles, the hippocampus and the neocortex interact in ways that are key to memory formation.

The hippocampus is the brain's centre for new memories and is tasked with learning the world's day-to-day episodic information while the neocortex is responsible for facets such as language, higher-level cognition and more permanent memory storage.

 

"We have known for a long time that useful learning happens during sleep," said lead researcher Anna Schapiro.

"You encode new experiences while you are awake, you go to sleep, and when you wake up your memory has somehow been transformed," the researcher said.

Yet, precisely how the new experiences get processed during sleep has remained largely a mystery, according to the team.

Using a neural network computational model that the researchers built, they now have new insight into the process.

As the brain cycles through slow-wave and REM sleep, which happens about five times a night, the hippocampus "teaches" the neocortex what it learned, transforming novel, fleeting information into enduring memory, according to the study, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"This is not just a model of learning in local circuits in the brain. It is how one brain region can teach another brain region during sleep, a time when there is no guidance from the external world," Schapiro said.

"It is also a proposal for how we learn gracefully over time as our environment changes," she said.

Schapiro, who studies learning and memory in humans, had long thought that sleep played a part here, something she and her team have been testing in a lab, and recording what happens in the brain as participants sleep.

Her team also builds neural network models to simulate learning and memory functions. For this work specifically, Schapiro and her colleagues built a neural network model composed of a hippocampus and the neocortex.

During simulated sleep, the researchers can watch and record which simulated neurons fire when in these two areas, then analyse those activity patterns.

 

The team, according to the study, ran several sleep simulations using a brain-inspired learning algorithm it built. The simulations revealed that during slow-wave sleep, the brain mostly revisits recent incidents and data, guided by the hippocampus, and during REM sleep, it mostly reruns what happened previously, guided by memory storage in the neocortical regions.

"As the two brain regions connect during non-REM sleep, that is when the hippocampus is actually teaching the neocortex," Dhairyya Singh, another researcher in Schapiro's lab, said.

"Then, during the REM phase, the neocortex reactivates and can replay what it already knows, solidifying the data's hold in long-term memory," he said, adding that the alternation between the two sleep stages matters too.

"When the neocortex does not have a chance to replay its own information, we see that the information there gets overwritten. We think you need to have alternating REM and non-REM sleep for strong memory formation to occur," Singh said.

The findings are consistent with what is known in the field, though aspects of the model are still theoretical, the team said in a statement.

"We still need to test this," Schapiro said.

"One of our next steps will be to run experiments to understand whether REM sleep is truly bringing up old memories and what implications that might have for integrating new information into your existing knowledge," she said.

Because the current simulations were based on a typical adult getting a healthy night of sleep, the research findings do not necessarily transfer to other types of adults or less-than-stellar sleep habits, the scientists said.

They also do not offer insight into what is happening with children, who require different amounts and types of shut-eye than adults.

Schapiro said she sees great potential for her model to answer some of these outstanding questions.

"Having a tool like this allows you to go in many directions, especially because sleep architecture changes across the lifespan and in various disorders, and we can simulate these changes in the model," she said.

In the modern era, the most powerful person is the one who possesses the most data. If we talk about quantum computers, then it is such a feature that increases the speed of data analysis. A quantum computer can store a large amount of data in a small amount of space, making computational technology more efficient. This reduces energy consumption. Today, large multinational corporations such as Microsoft, Intel, Google, and IBM, as well as governments in many countries, including India, are investing heavily in the development of quantum computers.

A quantum computer is a very interesting and exciting tool because it has the ability to perform complex assessments required in areas like cyber security. It is unnecessary to say that, nowadays, digital computers do this type of assessment. Quantum communications will improve cyber security and may lead to the development of unique fingerprints. Also, for the Internet network, it can increase the current bandwidth. Quantum computers operate solely on the basis of quantum mechanics.

Quantum computing is a broad concept or technology on which quantum computers are based. Quantum computers are based on Qubits, i.e. Quantum Bits. In other words, quantum computers perform calculations, data collection and analysis through qubits. Qubits have only two binary digits (0 and 1) as in traditional digital electronic computers, but qubits can be present at the same time as 0 or 1 or a combination of 0 and 1. Traditional digital electronic computers, on the other hand, are based on the technology of bits. Bits also have only two binary digits (0 and 1), but the bits will be either 0 or 1 at a time. As a result, it is clear that the technology used in quantum computing (qubits) is distinct and more advanced than traditional computing.

Quantum computing follows the principles of quantum physics, which would lead to the creation of smaller transistors (molecule sizes) that would not only increase energy savings but also reduce the size of a quantum computer. At present, all the supercomputers in the world perform calculations and data processing millions of times faster than all other normal personal computers. A normal computer has a single processor, while a supercomputer has multiple processors that increase the speed of computation and data analysis. But the irony is that both normal computers and supercomputers work on the same technology, that is, they work on a technology based on traditional binary digits. A quantum computer, on the other hand, is based on quantum computing, which works according to the principles of quantum physics. Therefore, if powerful super quantum computers are made using quantum computing, then the future of “Information and Communication Technology” and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change. In a quantum computer, there is a secure way of 'encryption' of information or data. There will be no problems like hacking in this. Some scientists are considering the quantum computer as a completely secure computer. It is thus clear that quantum computing will be of great help in the future in storing or reading sensitive information and various uses of quantum computers are possible for scientists.

Managing qubits is a big challenge for scientists, as their life span is short. Quantum technology can put the security of any country at risk. This can also increase the risk of breaches of confidential information from other countries. The US National Security Agency (NSA) wants to build a quantum computer that can penetrate all types of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and other government records stored on computers around the world. India lacks funds for research and development in the field of quantum computing and this problem becomes more serious when about a quarter of India's population is still living below the poverty line. The lack of infrastructure and scientists in India is a major impediment to the development of quantum computing.

In the future, this technology will change the face of our digital world. With its help, a way to solve complex problems can be found. But the government aims to gain an edge in the defence sector through this. However, the use of this technology can be expected to create many possibilities in areas such as health and science, safety, drug manufacturing and industrial manufacturing.

 

 

Writer-Pradeep Vaishnav

 

Kelowna [Canada],: Ever wonder what happens to tyre tread when a car’s tyres lose their rubber traction?

According to new modelling by UBC Okanagan researchers, more microplastics–fragments from tyres and roads–are finding their way into lakes and streams.

Researchers from the UBCO School of Engineering created a conceptual framework to analyse potential contamination that results from regular vehicle use on roads and highways. According to their research, an area like the Okanagan releases more than 50 tonnes of tyre and road wear particles into waterways every year.

“The results are quite significant,” says Dr Haroon Mian, a UBC Postdoctoral Research Associate and study lead author. “It’s especially alarming considering that this microscopic waste can contaminate our freshwater sources.”

About 1.5 billion tyres are produced each year to meet global demand, which results in the production of nearly six million tonnes of tyre and road wear particles globally. Tires are essential for transportation.

Both vulcanised natural rubber and synthetic rubber are regarded as types of elastomeric polymers that contribute to microplastics. Dr Mian claims that contamination is a problem that extends beyond rubber.

He explains that all of those materials eventually start to degrade and may release chemical additives that have an impact on aquatic species.

The majority of tyre and road wear particles are dispersed across roads and eventually end up in aquatic environments, though some of the materials do end up in the atmosphere. According to the findings of his study, nearly 15 tonnes of tyre and road wear particles can enter lake surface water annually.

He emphasises that this is a local issue as well as a global one. According to his local research, thousands of people pass by lakes like Okanagan and Kalamalka every day as they travel the highways that link the interior communities of British Columbia.

“This analysis focused on a small section of highway in the BC interior, but the findings suggest that other regions across Canada may experience the same challenges with this type of contamination,” says Mian. “A more uniform and comprehensive management and treatment strategy must be developed to limit the possible environmental ramifications.”

As part of his research, Mian also performed a scenario-based assessment to calculate the emissions of road wear and tyre wear while taking into account a number of real-time variables, including seasonal variations and environmental degradation of the road and tyre.

The report urges the adoption of tyre pressure monitoring systems, tyre wear labels, standardisation policies, and wetlands or roadside swales as secondary runoff treatment methods.

The study was published in the most recent issue of Science of the Total Environment. (ANI)

New Delhi: Users of Android mobile devices will now be able to get rid of pre-installed Google apps, including YouTube and the Chrome browser, if they wish to, courtesy India’s competition regulator.

In a Thursday order, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), a statutory body under the Union government’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs, imposed a fine of Rs 1337.76 crore on Google for alleged violations relating to its dominant position, while also directing the tech giant to take various steps that will ultimately allow consumers to have wider access to apps that compete with Google’s services.

The CCI has said that Google violated rules under Section 4 in the Competition Act, 2002 (abuse of dominant position) in multiple markets and ordered the internet giant to cease such activities.

The violations related to the Indian markets for licensable smartphone operating systems (OS), the app store for Android smart mobile OS, general web search services, non-OS specific mobile web browsers, and online video hosting platforms (OVHP).

The CCI found that Google was dominant in all of these markets and was unfairly taking advantage of its position. The tools of this misuse, the CCI found, were the various types of agreements Google signs with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for the use of Google’s Android Operating System (OS) and Play Store.

These agreements govern the rights and obligations of the OEMs and include Mobile Application Distribution Agreements (MADAs), Anti-fragmentation Agreements (AFAs), Android Compatibility Commitment Agreements (ACCs), and Revenue Sharing Agreements (RSAs)

“MADA assured that the most prominent search entry points i.e., search app, widget and Chrome browser are pre-installed on Android devices, which accorded significant competitive edge to Google’s search services over its competitors,” the CCI said in a release announcing its decision.

“Further, Google also secured significant competitive edge over its competitors, in relation to [another] revenue earning app i.e. YouTube in the Android devices,” the CCI added.

In a statement Friday, Google said the CCI’s order was a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses.

“CCI’s decision is a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses, opening serious security risks for Indians and raising the cost of mobile devices for Indians,” the statement said. “We will review the decision to evaluate next steps.”

‘Significant entry barriers’ for Google competitors

The competition watchdog noted that Google’s competitors could never have as much market access as the US company had secured for itself through MADAs.

“Network effects, coupled with status quo bias, create significant entry barriers for competitors of Google to enter or operate in the concerned markets,” the CCI said.

Further, AFAs/ACCs “guaranteed that distribution channels for competing search services were altogether eliminated” by prohibiting original equipment manufacturers from offering devices based on Android forks, the CCI said. “It ensured that OEMs are not able to develop and/or offer devices based on forks, which are outside the control of Google.”

A fork is when a software developer uses a copy of the source code of a programme — in this case, the Android OS — to create a new software or OS based on it. Such restrictions deprived competing search services of sufficient distribution channels for their market to grow. At the same time, RSAs helped Google secure exclusivity for its search services.

Altogether, these agreements worked to leave competitors out in the cold and to deprive consumers of choice, the regulator said.

“The combined results of these agreements guaranteed a continuous access to search queries of mobile users which helped not only in protecting the advertisement revenue but also to reap the network effects through continuous improvement of services, to the exclusion of competitors,” the CCI said.

“With these agreements in place, the competitors never stood a chance to compete effectively with Google and ultimately these agreements resulted in foreclosing the market for them as well as eliminating choice for users,” It added.

The CCI also found that the mandatory pre-installation of the Google Mobile Suite (GMS) — a collection of Android apps such as YouTube, Duo, Chrome, etc — with no option of uninstalling them amounts to the imposition of unfair conditions on device manufacturers. It further said that Google had “perpetuated its dominant position” in the online search market and the app store markets to deny market access to its competitors and protect its position.

“Google, by making pre-installation of Google’s proprietary apps (particularly Google Play Store) conditional upon signing of AFA/ACC for all Android devices manufactured/distributed/marketed by device manufacturers, has reduced the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android i.e., Android forks and thereby limited technical or scientific development to the prejudice of the consumers, in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(b)(ii) of the [Competition] Act,” the CCI added.

What this means for consumers & manufacturers

One of the CCI’s decisions most relevant to consumers of Android devices is that “Google shall not restrict un-installing of its pre-installed apps by the users”.

In other words, if users find that Chrome is consuming too much of their RAM, they can now uninstall it. Or if they want to clear up space on their phone by deleting other unused Google apps, they can now do so.

The order also directed Google to allow users, during the initial set-up of the device, to choose their default search engine, and give them the flexibility to easily change the default settings in the device “in minimum steps possible”.

Google now must also allow OEMs to choose not to have Google’s bouquet of applications pre-installed on their smart devices, the CCI said, adding that Google can’t link the licensing of its Play Store services to this mandatory requirements of pre-installing Google apps.

Further, Google must allow interoperability of Android apps between its own platforms and the Android fork platforms.

This, and the decision to make Google allow developers of app stores to distribute them on the Play Store, is likely to give users in India much greater choice over the operating systems and apps they will have access to on their phones.

On Apple vs Android

During the inquiry, Google argued that it faced “competitive constraints” from Apple and that there was a degree of substitutability between its Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

The CCI, however, rejected these claims and said that the Apple and Android ecosystems followed different business models, which affected the “underlying incentives” governing their decisions.

“Apple’s business is primarily based on a vertically integrated smart device ecosystem which focuses on sale of high-end smart devices with state of the art software components,” the CCI said.

Google’s business, on the other hand, it said, “was found to be driven by the ultimate intent of increasing users on its platforms so that they interact with its revenue earning service i.e., online search which directly affects sale of [its] online advertising services…”

Regarding the app stores, the CCI said that the demand for app store services came from three quarters: Smart device OEMs who wish to install an app store to make their smart devices commercially viable and marketable, app developers who want to offer their services to the end users, and end users who wish to access app stores to access content or avail of other services.

“The Commission examined the substitutability between Google’s Play Store for Android OS and Apple’s App Store for iOS from the perspective of all three demand constituents and found that there is no substitutability between Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store,” the CCI said. “The Commission further noted that there might be some degree of competition between the two mobile ecosystems i.e., Android and Apple, however, that too is also limited at the time of deciding as to which device to buy.

Even at the point of purchase, the CCI said that the most significant factor affecting the purchase decision was the device price and its hardware specification.

Antitrust allegations not new

News reports from last week show that the European Commission, the EU’s competition regulator, was considering launching an investigation into Google’s adtech business over concerns that the tech giant might be getting an unfair advantage over rivals and advertisers. Google has reportedly had to pay up over €8 billion (about $7.7 billion) in EU antitrust fines over the last decade.

In June 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion (about $2.39 billion) “for breaching EU antitrust rules”.

“Google has abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service,” the European Commission’s order at the time said.

In September 2022, a US court allowed a case to proceed against Google for similar reasons.

The abuse of dominance by tech firms — not just Google — is something competition watchdogs in several major economies are struggling with.

Back in 2009, the European Commission dropped a case against Microsoft once the software major agreed to give users of its Windows platform a fair choice of internet browsers, apart from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. In 2013, the Commission fined Microsoft $731 million for failing to live up to the agreement.

Courts in the UK are currently entertaining a lawsuit against Amazon for damages worth £ 900 million (about $1 billion) over alleged abuse of its dominant position in the online marketplace by favouring its own products.

(Edited by Asavari Singh) 

New Delhi, October 20

This time, countries worldwide will witness a partial solar eclipse on October 25 and this will happen just after the festival of Diwali.

The eclipse will begin before sunset in the late afternoon and will be visible from most areas.

It will not be visible from some eastern regions of the nation, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as the north-eastern cities of Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Sibsagar, Silchar, and Tamelong, among others.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, obstructing the sun's light from reaching the earth. As a result, the moon casts a shadow on the earth, resulting in a solar eclipse.

Even for a short time, viewing the eclipsed sun with the naked eye is not recommended. Even if the moon hides the majority of the sun, it will still cause lifelong eye damage and blindness.

Let's look at the dos and don'ts to keep you safe during the solar eclipse.

Dos

The most secure and recommended approach to seeing the solar eclipse is with the help of appropriate filters like solar viewing or eclipse glasses, telescopes and others.

NASA recommends wearing eye protection before even glancing up at the sky during a solar eclipse.

During the eclipse, keep your headlights on.

Don'ts

It is not safe and advisable to wear conventional sunglasses instead of solar viewing or eclipse glasses.

Avoid taking pictures of the eclipse with your camera. There is always a danger that the sun's powerful rays will hurt your eyes if you are not wearing suitable glasses.

If you aren't going to be present to monitor your children, keep them away from eclipse viewing places.

During the maximum eclipse, the moon will hide the sun to a degree of around 40 to 50 per cent in the country's northwestern areas. The percentage coverage will be lower than the statistics indicated above in other parts of the country.

At the time of the maximum eclipse, the moon will cover around 44 per cent of the sun in Delhi and 24 per cent in Mumbai.

From dawn to sunset, the eclipse will last 1 hour 13 minutes in Delhi and 1 hour 19 minutes in Mumbai. The eclipse will last 31 minutes and 12 minutes in Chennai and Kolkata, respectively.

 

 Reuters

 

October 21

Twitter Inc on Thursday clarified to staff that there are no plans for company-wide layoffs since it signed a deal to be acquired by billionaire Elon Musk, after a media outlet reported that Musk is considering layoffs at the company.

Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett emailed employees on Thursday saying the company does not plan layoffs, according to a source who viewed the email.

The Washington Post reported earlier on Thursday that Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy Twitter that he planned to get rid of nearly 75% of the company's 7,500 workers, citing interviews and documents.

The job cuts are expected in the coming months, no matter who owns the company, according to the Washington Post report.

Twitter's current management planned to pare the company's payroll by about $800 million by the end of next year, a number that would mean the departure of nearly a quarter of the workforce, the report said.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Human resources staff at the social media company have told employees that they were not planning for mass layoffs, but documents showed extensive plans to push out staff and cut down on infrastructure costs were already in place before Musk offered to buy the company, the Washington Post reported.

Musk had tried to walk away from the deal to buy Twitter in May alleging the company understated the number of bot and spam accounts on the social media platform, which started a series of lawsuits between the two parties.

Earlier this month, Musk reversed course and said he will proceed with the deal on original terms.