TecQ is our weekly round-up of top technology stories.
1. Govt’s Efforts to Regulate Online Content May Open a Pandora’s Box
In the aftermath of a botched attempt to regulate journalists for fake news, one aspect about the committee formed to create a framework for regulating online media is that it isn’t just about news, it’s about all the internet.
The notification for the creation of the 10-member committee clearly mentions that it will create a framework for “online media/news portals including digital broadcasting and entertainment/infotainment sites and news/media aggregators”.
With billions of status updates each day, and millions of hours of video uploaded online each minute, it’s not clear how this committee will regulate (police?) online content, or expect platforms to do it pro-actively.
Read the full story here.
2. Samsung Galaxy S9+ Review: Does it Get Better Than Last Year?
3. Forget Cheap 4G Phones, India Needs Jio 4G-Powered Laptops Now
After bringing out cheap 4G plans for smartphones and feature phones, Reliance Jio could now be bringing out affordable 4G-powered laptops.
Yes, laptops, and according to an ET Telecom report, the telecom provider is reportedly in talks with Qualcomm to launch its ‘always connected PCs’ for the Indian market.
Unlike smart feature phones, which are still waiting for key apps like WhatsApp, laptops running on Windows 10 are sorted in that arena and could surely benefit from push by a brand like Jio.
The report also claims that Smartron – an India-based Internet of Things (IoT) brand is keen on bundling its Tbook for the ‘always connected’ initiative, offering laptops at a budget price.
Read the full story here.
4. Amazon May Have Offered a Break-Up Fee in Bid to Buy Flipkart
If you can’t beat them, buy them! Word on the street is that Amazon is offering a break-up fee between $1 billion and $2 billion in its rumoured bid for Flipkart, according to a report in Factor Daily.
A few days ago, while there was speculation on the Walmart-Flipkart merger, news that global e-commerce giant Amazon might also submit an offer to rival Walmart’s bid to buy India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart also surfaced, according to a report in LiveMint.
A break-up fee is an amount offered as a surety by a party interested in picking up a stake in another company, in case the deal does not go through. This shows how serious Amazon is about the deal with Flipkart, if the report is true. This fee of over $1 billion applies if Flipkart’s valuation is between $18 billion and $20 billion.
Read the story here.
5. Facebook Can’t Exist Without Sharing Data: Zuckerberg to US Lawmakers
On 11 April, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook, appeared before the US Congress to testify on the Cambridge-Analytica privacy breach fiasco. Zuckerberg was grilled for Facebook’s apparent involvement in the Trump Election campaign in 2016, its relations with the Russians, and why on earth did they allow Cambridge Analytica to access data of over 87 million users.
Read this and more from Zuckerberg’s testimony here.
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