Business

TikTok has left social media giant Facebook behind in terms of maximum download in the social media category. TikTok is a Chinese short-video making platform. It is hugely popular and attracts young people. It has now surpassed Facebook as the most downloaded app. According to a global survey of downloads conducted in 2020, TikTok grabbed the first rank in the list of social media providers. TikTok was followed by Facebook. While Facebook was the second most downloaded app, other apps owned by the US-based social media company too figured in the list. WhatsApp became the third-highest downloaded app. The fourth and fight positions were held by Instagram and Facebook Messenger, respectively. Notably, Facebook Messenger was most downloaded in 2019. It was followed by Facebook’s main app and WhatsApp.

Another chatting app Telegram has fetched a high ranking on account of providing better personal privacy. It figured among the top 10 most downloaded apps. Social media platforms saw a rise in demand during the pandemic. This period also saw users giving priority to data privacy. The other apps that figured in the latest list are Snapchat, Telegram, Likee, Pinterest, and Twitter. Notably, TikTok had come under fire from the US government over its links to the Chinese military. However, the app’s popularity grew despite challenges and went on to become the leading download. The pandemic also contributed to the numbers, especially from Europe and South America.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance in 2017 launched the international version of the app. It attracted users from around the world because of its frivolous nature. It offers easy editing tools to make the content engaging. The company follows trends and thus users are attracted to it. The funny videos increase the engagement time. The company claims that it wants to make TikTok a destination where users can learn and entertain. TikTok faced huge criticism in the US over privacy concerns. It even faced a ban by the Trump administration. Earlier in June, the Joe Biden administration revoked orders targeting the Chinese app.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla has announced that its Cybertruck will be delayed. The company said that Cybertruck will now be launched in 2022. The confirmation comes amidst ample hints that Tesla could delay the Cybertruck. Cybertruck is an electric pickup. The company said that the production of the pickup will start next year. Tesla has updated the same on its order page. The footnote said that the vehicle will not hit roads this year. Tesla is planning to launch three variants of Cybertruck. The footnote is common for all the variants. Tesla had previously promised to launch two variants first. Both are higher-end models — Dual Motor and Tri-Motor.

The Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019. Tesla had then said that the vehicle will become available in the market by 2021 end. But the company hinted at a possible delay with the timeline coming closer. Tesla said that it has completed Cybertruck’s engineering design. But the production will take some extra time. Notably, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had earlier said that the company is facing challenges in the production of the electric pickup. He said that the production is delayed mainly because of the features. He said that new manufacturing processes are needed for its steel exoskeleton body. Despite these challenges, Tesla during its second-quarter results announced not to change the timeline.

Tesla had earlier said that Cybertruck production will begin at Gigafactory Texas. But now the company has confirmed that the production will be delayed, paving the way for the production of Model Y at the factory. Cybertruck’s design is like a trapezoid. Musk had even admitted that Cybertruck could be a flop. Musk, however, said that he loves the design and virtually ruled out any change in the design. He had underlined that other trucks are copies of the same design. But Cybertruck’s design gives an impression that aliens have made it. Cybertruck is likely to come with 4-wheel directional steering. Besides, Tesla is also believed to be updating its adaptive air suspension.

Space tourism is now becoming a reality. After Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos’s space flights, there was a buzz when commoners will get a chance to travel to space. Virgin Galactic has now announced to take commercial bookings. The American spaceflight company has reopened ticket sales. Virgin Galactic’s reopening of ticket sales comes after Richard Branson’s successful space trip. The company is offering a seat for USD 450,000. Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, flew to the edge of on July 11. This was the first-ever manned space trip. He along with three Virgin Galactic employees flew aboard SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes. It is a Suborbital spaceplane designed by Virgin Galactic for space tourism.

The current price is more than double what the company had announced before closing the sales in 2014 when the flight had met an accident during a test flight. Virgin Galactic said that it has reported a massive surge in consumer interest after Richard’s flight. The company said that it is excited to resume bookings. The tickets are initially available for the Spacefarer community. Virgin Galactic said that space tourism will bring wonders to people. It will open the door to a new industry and offer a new kind of experience. The company said that Richard wants to make space more accessible to humans. Virgin Galactic said that it is targeting to launch the first flight by September end.

Notably, Virgin Galactic has already a backlog of around 600 passengers who wish to fly to space first. At least 1,000 likely passengers have also deposited USD 1,000 with the company to reserve seats. Virgin Galactic said that it will offer multiple options to hitch rides. This includes a single-seat, package for couples or friends, or family. The company is also offering a package for a full-flight buyout. Notably, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has booked a seat for a space ride aboard Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane. He has paid USD 250,000 for a seat. Musk’s company is already sending crew for trips to the ISS. It is now planning to send an all-civilian crew into orbit in September.

Lockdown has impacted air travel across Australia and as a result around 2,500 employees of Qantas will be stood down for almost 2 months. The Australian airline said that the decision has been taken because of the impact of the lockdown on air travel. The announcement comes at a time when some of the major cities of Australia are under lockdown. The lockdown in these cities has been imposed because of the increase in the number of cases of delta variant of Covid-19. Sydney and Brisbane are also under lockdown these days. It is pertinent to mention that these cities are the largest and third-largest biggest cities ¬¬¬respectively. Growing clusters of delta variants is a cause of concern in these areas.

Among those affected by the decision will also include employees of the budget subsidiary Jetstar. There is around 26,000 staff of the airlines in the country. Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said that considering the present situation, it is most likely that the borders of Sydney will remain closed for another two months at least. Qantas is headquartered in Sydney. It is under lockdown since June 26. There are other cities too where similar curbs are in place. The lockdown will remain in place at least August 28.

Meanwhile, experts are saying that the focus should be on vaccinating as many people as possible. There were even suggestions from the opposition to the citizens for getting vaccinated. However, Australia’s prime minister has outrightly rejected the proposal saying it would be an insult to Australians. There is an urgent need to focus on vaccination strategy in Australia as just 19 percent of adults in the country had been vaccinated so far. The dismal figure is mainly because of the concerns over the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines. There were reports of blood clotting caused by AstraZeneca and this is why most people want Pfizer. However, Pfizer is short in supply in the country and the only alternative is AstraZeneca.

Walmart has announced that it will now pay 100 percent of the college tuition and book costs for its around 1.5 million employees in the United States. The decision will be applicable from August 16. The retail giant is the largest private employer in the country and this announcement has been to attract as well as retain talent in a tight job market. Most employers are facing a tough time while retaining their workforce after the pandemic. They are announcing several perks to attract new workers as life is limping back to normalcy with more and more people being vaccinated for the Covid-19. As the number of coronavirus cases is depleting, all major offices are opening and trying to reach their full strength. But they are short of workers as several companies had laid off employees when the pandemic struck and led to the lockdown. Now when things are back to normal, employees are not willing to return. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the retail industry had around 974,000 unfulfilled jobs in the month of May. Because of this scarcity of workers, Walmart had raised the minimum wage of around 425,000 employees.

The move was intended at retaining current workers. After the raise, Walmart workers are now getting at USD 13 an hour. The minimum wage given by the retail giant is USD 11 an hour. This was below that what is being paid by its competitors such as Amazon and Target. Hourly starting wages given by these companies are considerably higher than Walmart. Other retailers are also increasing wages, offering referral bonuses and giving more benefits as they continue to hunt for more employees. Meanwhile, the new announcement made by Walmart will be applicable to some schools in the country. The academic partners for this program include likes of University of Arizona and Southern New Hampshire University. The company said that the number of academics partners has now increased to 10 as it recently added four more. The new partners include Johnson & Wales University and the University of Arizona. They will offer more certificate options and degrees in areas like business administration. These partners will also provide degrees in cybersecurity and the supply chain. In order to get benefits of the program, participants need to be full-time or part-time employees at the retail giant. With the help of these initiatives, Walmart is apparently trying to prepare workers for the jobs of the future.

The company also said that it will drop its ongoing USD 1 per day fee for workers who are part of its Live Better U education program. Under this program, the fee was paid by workers of Sam’s Club and Walmart who were willing to pursue a course and earn a degree. The program was launched in the year 2018. According to the company, there were around 52,000 workers who took part in the program. Out of them, around 8,000 have already graduated. Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart said that the decision of eradicating the USD 1 fee will remove the financial barrier faced by some employees while getting enrolled for the program. “We want to give them an opportunity to grow at Walmart. This will help them build better lives not for themselves but also for their families. The decision is just another way to support our workers. We have tried to remove the barriers that very often keep your workers away from learning. This is one of the largest investments on the education of the American workforce,” Stomski said.

Electric vehicle start-up Rivian has raised USD 2.5 billion in the latest fundraising round that was led by Amazon and Ford Motor. The company said that it has so far raised around USD 10.5 billion to date. Rivian had raised USD 2.65 billion in the month of January and another USD 2.5 billion round in July last year. Earlier in December 2019, the company had managed to raise USD 1.3 billion and USD 1.5 billion before that. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said that it is important for the company to make plans for the next. “Rivian is all set to start production of vehicles. While it is a very important stage for the company, it is vital that we continue to have a forward plan. There is a need to push the company to the next phase of the growth,” Scaringe said in a statement.

Explaining how the company plans to spend the money raised in the latest round of funding, Scaringe said that it will be used to expand new vehicle programs. “Apart from investing in new vehicle program, we would use this fresh funding on the rollout of our products in the international market along with increasing domestic facility footprint.” The company announced the funding just days after Rivian said that it is planning a second manufacturing plant in the United States. The facility is internally being referred to as ‘Project Tera.’ Several states of the US have submitted the bid for it. The company is planning to announce the plant in the next few months and reports suggest that it is most likely that the groundwork would begin early next year.

Rivian currently has a manufacturing plant operational in Normal, Illinois. The company is most likely to manufacture its all-electric pickup R1T and SUV R1S at this plant. However, Rivian recently announced that it would delay the deliveries of both vehicles. The company said that the delivery of the much-awaited R1T is now likely to start from September and that of the R1S in the fall. Scaringe has blamed a number of issues including the supply of semiconductors behind the delay in production. However, this has not impacted the plans of providing electric delivery vehicles to its investor Amazon.

Electric car giant Tesla has resumed the deliveries of Model S. This comes after a weeklong pause by the company. There were reports of delay in the deliveries by the company from customers’ end. Those with a booking for Model S were told by the company that delivery of their booked vehicles will be done later. Tesla, however, didn’t mention the reason behind the delay and preventing customers from booking the new vehicle. Several Model S buyers earlier reported that their vehicles arrived at the local delivery center. The sales advisers told them that the new cars cannot be delivered to them. Several buyers who reported about delayed deliveries have now confirmed picking up their new electric cars.

Buyers had said that sales advisers gave many different reasons about why the new cars cannot be delivered to the buyers. Initially, it was believed that the waiting could be due to some update in its software or missing part. The Model S was launched by Tesla in 2012. It is a five-door liftback sedan. In 2019, the 2013 model of the electric car was named the ‘car of the year’ by renowned American automobile magazine Motor Trend. The company launched a refreshed model of the variant in June 2021. Tesla has introduced changes in the new version of the variant. The company has updated its interior and exterior design.

Model S is one of two Tesla flagship electric vehicles. The second is the Model X. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had earlier announced that the company will no longer provide a regular steering wheel with the refreshed versions of the two vehicles. It has completely redesigned its steering. It looks like a yoke instead of a wheel. Tesla has also updated the vehicle’s battery pack. The 2021 version of the vehicle has already received an Environmental Protection Agency range rating. It tells the vehicles’ fuel-economy ratings. As per the law, car manufacturers must obtain fuel-economy ratings for their vehicles by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA rating shows an improvement in the new car’s efficiency level.

More than three weeks after US software firm Kaseya was hit by a massive ransomware attack, the software vendor has managed to get hold of the universal decryptor key. Swedish grocery chain Coop was among the first whose businesses were impacted by the ransomware attack. Overall, there were more than 1,500 businesses and public organizations whose computers were seized by hackers. Russia-linked REvil gang has claimed responsibility for the attack. But the notorious group responsible for this hacking disappeared from the internet. This left the Florida company with no option of paying up in order to get decryptor keys. But the issue seems to have been resolved now with the surprise appearance of the universal key required to decrypt all the files crippled in the attack. The hack was so widespread that not only Kaseya’s clients but also the files of all their customers were targeted by the group. The group managed to do it by exploiting a bug in managed service provider software known as Virtual System Administrator. This resulted in a wave of devastation. Kaseya is a company that provides software services to companies that would not deal with IT infrastructures.

Usually, in the cases of such ransomware attacks, the victims have two options – rebuild the entire thing again with the help of backup or simply pay the ransom to get access. In this case, the hackers demanded roughly USD 45,000 from individual businesses. REvil has initially demanded USD 70 million for a universal decryptor. However, the group later brought down this amount to USD 50 million. But eventually, the hackers vanished, leaving everyone stranded. They even took away their payment portal. Victims were not able to pay even if some of them wanted to. But the company has now confirmed that it had got access to the universal key. According to a spokesperson of the company, Kaseya got a universal decryptor from a ‘trusted third party.’ However, the spokesperson refused to elaborate on how exactly they got it. “Our team is actively working with companies and organizations that were affected. We will soon share the information about how the universal key will be made available to all who need it. The spokesperson said that the company is taking the help of antivirus firm Emsisoft in order to reach victims. The outreach program is already underway and the company hopes to reach most of them in a very short span of time.

Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow said that they confirmed that the universal key is effective files affected in the attack. “We are working with the software firm to provide all necessary support to its customers. The key is effective and we will help customers of Kaseya to access their files. However, experts believe that the number of victims at this point may be relatively small. “It is good news that we finally have a universal key. It would definitely help some clients. But it is likely that it’s too little too late. This is because all those who could have managed to rebuild their data through backups would have done it by now,” Jake Williams, CTO of security firm BreachQuest, was quoted as saying in a report. But many victims of this global ransomware attack were those who preferred to outsource their IT needs and hence it is very likely that they would have any reliable backups. While the development brings a sigh of relief for many, the larger concern about the ransomware threat still remains. Before targeting Kaseya, the group shut down the food supply giant JBS. REvil is known for using ransomware against big companies. There are other such groups who are active in these things. Earlier to this, another notorious group, known as Darkside, targeted Colonial Pipeline and cut off a large portion of the East Coast’s fuel supply.

Intel is leaving no stone unturned in its attempt to regain the lead in the chip-making space. The company has now chalked out a strategy to catch Asian rivals like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics. Intel said that is expanding its new foundry business with the goal of retaking the top position in the space by 2025. The company also said that its factories would start building Qualcomm chips. Intel has been a leader in the field of building the smallest and fastest computing chips for decades. Speaking at Intel Accelerated webcast, chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger made several plans for the next five years. One of the major announcements made was Intel will no longer use the nanometer-based nomenclature.

There are several chip manufacturers that are still using this nomenclature. For decades this was considered to be a gold standard. But as companies are working to pack more transistors in their small area of chips, things are bound to change. The company has announced a new scheme to name its chips. Intel said that new nomenclature being adopted by it would give a more “accurate view of process nodes across the industry.” Under this, 10nm chips would no longer be referred to as some name base on 10nm. Instead, they would be called ‘Intel 7.’

But there are some who believe that it could simply be a marketing tactic. Commenting on this, Intel senior vice president Sanjay Natarajan said that the shift is aimed at making it easier for customers to make a comparison with rivals. Natarajan said that it is important as the company is moving into a foundry market. But these changes came a little late as Intel has lost the title of being a leader in the industry to TSMC and Samsung. Intel’s rivals Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia have used their manufacturing services to manufacture chips that outperform those produced by Intel.

HBO Max has been getting new subscribers over the past year and the streaming service is hopeful of adding more in the coming days with the help of exclusive content provided by Warner Bros. The American entertainment company has said that it would produce over 10 movies exclusively for HBO Max next year. Speaking during the second-quarter earnings call of AT&T, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said HBO Max cannot ignore the success of at-home viewing. Kilar also said that theatrical releases are significant for the company. WarnerMedia caught everyone by surprise with a day-and-date release model for HBO Max and big screens. The feature allowed the release of the feature films on both big screens as well as on the streaming platform on the same day.

However, this strategy will not be seen in 2022. Next year, films that will be released in theatres will run exclusively on big screens for at least 45 days. Similarly, films that are made for HBO Max will be released on big screens only at select locations, and that too when those movies have the potential to be Oscar contenders. Commenting on the distribution strategy of the company, Kilar said that there is no way the world is going back to the period of 2015 or 2016. “I want to say this, and I have said this before publicly, that we are going back to the period of 2015 or 2016. This is the period when the window between theatrical release and home exhibition was quite lengthy.”

Meanwhile, HBO and HBO Max have added over 10 million new subscribers in the past year. With this, the combined subscribers of the services are 67.5 million. Out of this, 47 million subscribers of the services are only in the United States. Warner media, which is owned by AT&T, expects this number to grow to above 70 million by the end of this year. On the other hand, Netflix, which is the market leader, has a total of 209 million subscribers. Out of this, around 66 million are in America. However, Netflix is facing tough competition from rivals including Disney Hotstar and the growth in terms of subscribers seems to have reached a saturation point.

American multimedia platform Snap has acquired Vertebrae. It is a 3D and augmented reality commerce solutions provider. The company was founded in 2015. Snap, however, did not disclose the amount for which it acquired Vertebrae. Snap said that Vertebrae’s team will continue to work for its existing clients. Besides, it will also provide services to the new clients. Vertebrae CEO Vince Cacace said that joining Snap will help strengthen the 3D asset platform worldwide for brands, and retailers as well. Vertebrae in just five years of its service helped leading brands to create and manage 3D versions of their products.

The company had in 2019 working with social media giant Facebook on AR shopping tech. Toyota, Adidas is also among other leading brands as its clients. Vertebrae have so far managed to raise USD 10 million in venture funding. Snap’s idea behind acquiring Vertebrae is to ease uploading visuals and details about a product in 3D. Snap believes that this will open a new window for shoppers to access the products directly with detailed information and create engagement. It will increase the potential of buying the product directly. Snap sees AR as a new way to shop and enhance shopping experiences. The company earlier used AR tech for effects.

Snap has been working on enhancing AR shopping experiences. Vertebrae in a statement said that it will continue to work to make AR commerce easy and offer a new kind of experience to customers at touchpoints. Snap recently had a collaboration with Gucci. It allows customers to virtually try its products and make the right choice before buying. In May this year, Snap acquired WaveOptics. The company is an AR display provider. It will power Snap’s new Spectacles glasses. The company claims that the next-gen Spectacles seek to bring AR to life. Meanwhile, Snap has launched new AR tools and camera experiences. It has also launched Story Studio. It is a standalone app that comes with powerful editing tools for creators.

A long-awaited electric pickup truck by Rivian has once again hit a roadblock. The electric pickup maker has once again delayed deliveries of its debut vehicle. The company said that the delay is because of a shortage of component supplies. Chief executive officer RJ Scaringe shared the news with buyers via email. Rivian, an electric vehicle startup which is backed by Amazon and Ford, had initially planned to deliver its electric pickup R1T in 2020. The company was also scheduled to deliver its first SUV last year. But the pandemic forced the company to change its plan. Rivian said at the starting of the coronavirus pandemic that it would start delivering electric pickup in 2021 instead. Eventually, the company fixed the month of June this year for deliveries of the R1T. It was then pushed to July and now to September. Scaringe said that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted everything which has delayed the deliveries. “We know that you guys are eager to get behind the wheel of R1T. Earlier this year, we told you that the vehicle will be delivered to you in July. But the timing for the first deliveries has now been shifted to September. Also, R1S will be delivered to you shortly after fall. I am sharing this news as I wanted to make sure that you get this from me directly,” the CEO said in the mail.

“The coronavirus pandemic impacted us more than anybody had anticipated. From equipment installation to the supply of components for the vehicle, the pandemic has impacted everything.” He also said that the manufacturing facility in Illinois along with launching three vehicles in a go makes things more complicated. “Even the smallest issue translates into ramp delays,” Scaringe said. The electric vehicle startup has already delayed mass production. But the CEO said that the company has already produced hundreds of vehicles under the validation process. The process is necessary to make sure that everything is running efficiently and vehicles manufactured are meeting all the required specifications among other factors. Scaringe also touched upon the topic of poor communication with reservation holders. “I have had interacted with some of you. But I know this needs to be improved. There should be better communication around deliveries. We will try to meet the new deadlines and our Guides will be there for any questions you have in mind in between,” The CEO promised that all reservation holders will get more updates in the coming weeks.

Despite all these things, the company has said that the deliveries of electric vans to Amazon will not be delayed. Amazon is a partner and investor in the electric startup and it has agreed to purchase 100,000 electric vehicles in 2019. Amazon signed this deal with the ambition of reducing carbon emissions. The e-commerce giant wants to make its entire fleet run entirely on renewable energy at the earliest. The company hopes that it would get to test these vans in at least 16 cities by the end of this year. Spokespersons of both the companies have confirmed that Rivian is still hopeful of starting deliveries on time. Rivian is planning to start the production of electric delivery vans this year. It has set the goal of delivering at least 10,000 vehicles as early as 2022. Rivian was founded more than a decade ago but kept a low profile until 2018. People got to know about it when the company debuted the R1T and R1S at the Los Angeles Auto Show that year. There was no looking back since then and the company has raised over USD 8 billion. Among those who have funded the startup are Amazon, Ford, and other institutional investors. The company is likely to have more money in its war chest as it is working on going public. The strength of its employees has also ballooned to over 7,000.

Talks between Broadcom and software company SAS Institutes have hit a dead end. According to people familiar with the development, the deal would have valued the North Carolina-based company at USD 15 billion to USD 20 billion. The person said that talks collapsed after the matter became public. The acquisition would have helped Broadcom to expand into the software industry. Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan has been trying to make several deals in order to transform his company. The company acquired CA Technologies in the year 2018 and American software company Symantec in 2019. It won’t be wrong to say that the company is largely built through acquisition. It was on the lookout for more deals. However, it has failed to finalize any.

The focus on software is even justified as it generated 27 per cent of the total revenue of the Broadcom in the quarter that ended. These acquisitions were initially not liked by investors. However, they have now reduced the company’s dependency on semiconductors for sales. The deal to acquire SAS was aimed at reducing the dependency further. SAS was established in 1976 by Jim Goodnight and John Sall. The company is in the business of software management and analytics. Goodnight is currently on the list of the top 50 wealthiest people in the United States. According to a report, Goodnight worked as a statistics professor at North Carolina State University when he started SAS.

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, SAS was profitable for around 44 years. More than 83,000 businesses, government office,s and universities used analytic platforms provided by the company. Commenting on the deal, the SAC founder said that “the company is not for sale. In a message, sent to all the employees, Goodnight said that the company is doing great and is focused on further innovation. While Broadcom has become a powerhouse with a string of acquisitions, SAS too wants to become the leader in the field of software.

Search engine giant Google is once again involved in an antitrust lawsuit. The company has been accused of abusing its market power. The lawsuit said that Google stifled its competitors. The lawsuit has been filed by a coalition of 37 attorney generals. They have alleged that Google forced developers and consumers to use its in-app payments. This granted the company a hefty cut, thus making profits. The lawsuit said that Google’s conduct was illegal. According to them, millions of people using Android turn only to Google for apps. People downloaded apps to their devices from the Play Store by paying fees. They argued that this affected millions of small businesses.

The lawsuit said that Google’s attempt to influence the users has affected the competition in the market. The company also indulged in illegal activities to ensure its user pool and developers don’t leave. It used misleading security warnings. These warnings were aimed at keeping developers and consumers within its walls and making profits. The lawsuit further said that Google acted unlawfully. It blocked companies from competing with its Play Store. Play Store is a distribution platform developed and operated by Google. It distributed apps for Android devices. The company collects fees from the developers for allowing them to sell their apps. Besides, it also charges consumers.

The lawsuit said that Google made earnings by locking app developers and consumers. Google compelled them to use its own payment system for the services. It charged that Google collected high fees by making them use its payment gateway. In December last year, Google faced a separate antitrust suit. The lawsuit was filed by 35 states. The lawsuit said that Google used its power for a monopoly on the online search business. Before that, Google was summoned in a case of antitrust violations filed by 11 states. The lawsuit accused Google of wrongly weaponizing its dominance in the online search and advertising market. It alleged that the company killed the competition in the market and caused harm to consumers.

Porsche has been synonyms to racing for a long. With focus shifting towards electric technology, the company has found new ways to remain relevant to be close to the track. The German automobile manufacturer has announced a joint venture for manufacturing battery cells. The carmaker has announced a partnership with Customcells for the joint venture called Cellforce. The company will manufacture battery cells best suited for high-performance race cars. The batteries developed by Porsche will also be used in some high-end, racing-inspired production vehicles. The company will be using silicon as against commonly used graphite for the anode material. Michael Steiner, member of the executive board, R&D at Porsche said that the research and pre-development are already underway. “We are working on gaining the cell chemistry. The partnership will Customcells has put us in a strong position. The joint venture will have a total of 80 engineers. Out of 80, 20 engineers will be in production while 60 will be in development. In the beginning, the main focus will be on the development of the cell and cell chemistry. Also, the company has decided to focus on high performance and not on high volume.

Powering a race car with batteries is not an easy task. This is for the reason that technology adds weight and requires much more time to charge when compared to filling up a fuel tank. But Porsche is working on solving this issue. The company believes it is on the verge of a breakthrough. It is finding the solution by using silicon as the anode material. Porsche believes that it will help engineers to boost the power density of batteries. This will in turn decrease the overall size and weight of the battery and hence improve the performance. The new chemistry on which Porsche is working will reportedly reduce the internal resistance of the battery and hence the pack will take less time to charge. It is also believed to withstand higher temperatures than currently available in electric cars. But the carmaker has clearly stated that it is not a tipping point that will be a breakthrough in the field of Electronic Vehicles. It said that the batteries are not designed to perform in freezing temperatures nor they can withstand years of use and abuse. But this is perfectly fine as it is not common to held a race when it is 10 degrees below zero. And components of race are regularly replaced in pursuit of reliability.

Michael Steiner, the head Porsches’ research and development department, said that they are in no way trying to provide an answer to Gigafactories of Tesla. Because the focus of Porsche is mainly on racing-oriented projects, the size of Cellforce will be significantly smaller. “It will be much smaller when compared to all of the Gigafactories. The production capacity that we are targeting is around 100 megawatt-hours. This is not an exact figure and it could be slightly more than this. But we see in terms of cars, it should be about 1,000 units a year,” Steiner said. The company has not provided any detail about the technology but hinted that the production is not likely to start anytime before 2024. For those who are unaware, Customcells is a German company founded in the year 2012 to manufacture lithium-ion battery packs. Under the joint venture, Porsche will hold 83.75 per cent of Cellforce while the remaining is owned by Customcells. Both of them have remained silent on the financial terms of the deal. The German carmaker has hinted that its investment in Cellforce is in the middle of the double-digit-millions range.

After over 3 decades of planning, the installation of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) observatory is finally set to begin this year. Upon completion, it will become the biggest radio telescope ever made. In February, the nations that are backing the project created the telescope’s governing body, SKAO. Construction on the locations in South Africa and Australia, where the two distinct sections of this telescope network are being built, is expected to commence in July. The members of SKA Organization (SKAO) announced the plan at the European Astronomical Society (EAS) annual conference on 29^th of June.  The telescope’s $1.55 billion (€1.3 billion) development and the $0.83 billion (€0.7 billion) necessary for the first decade of operations are jointly funded by SKAO’s 16 member nations.

The telescopes will have a combined collecting area of a square kilometer and will monitor radio signals at frequencies ranging from 70 MHz to at least 25 GHz. Rather than depending on one large dish, it will be comprised of a carefully planned network of antennas and dishes dispersed between both its locations. The SKA-Mid array, which will be situated in South Africa’s Karoo desert, will utilize 197 dishes, each one 50 feet in diameter, to monitor middle-frequency bands. The SKA-Low array comprises 131,072 antennas positioned in the north of Perth, monitoring to lower frequency bands.

The SKAO Council officially authorized the development last week. Philip Diamond, SKAO director-general, expressed his excitement regarding this project. The telescope will be capable of detecting objects so far away that radio waves will take 13 billion years to reach telescope. The facility will offer insights into the early steps of the Universe’s emergence. It is ideally positioned to solve certain lingering issues regarding the development of galaxies. The telescope will provide a chance to begin investigating the raw material behind the evolution and genesis of luminous bodies from the cosmological beginning to the present.

According to their website, SKAO was initially suggested by the International Union of Radio Science in 1993. It is intended to deliver photos of greater resolution than those captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope will capture around 13 TBs of data every second, which is comparable to downloading three hundred 4k films per second. The information will be far more complex than previously recorded radio pictures and radio data, as the telescopes can view deeper in space compared to existing radio telescopes could. As a result, the pictures will be very crowded, with galaxies overlaying one another. This observatory is set to begin making initial research observations in 2024, when the first two sub-arrays are completed, according to a schedule provided with the announcement. SKAO aims to eventually upgrade this telescope to encompass hundreds of thousands of antennas and hundreds of dishes.

DiDi Global Inc., a Chinese ride-hailing startup, raised $4.4 billion in its US IPO on Tuesday. DiDi issued 317 million American Depository Shares (ADS) at $14 each. Considering absolute share dilution, DiDi would receive a valuation of almost $73 billion; on a non-diluted basis, it will be valued at around $67.5 billion. On June 30, DiDi made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.  Owing to factors such as an increase in the number of potential investors as well as the existing number of shares, DiDi has been forced to revise its existing guidelines that presently govern its IPO offering. This is the largest U.S. share sale by a Chinese firm since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014. The offering comes during an annual surge in IPO activity as organizations compete to convince investors that are based in the U.S. stock market.  However, investors have been reportedly informed that their orders are to be scaled-back, after allocations were completed on Wednesday, the 30^th of June.

According to Reuters, Didi’s IPO is considered to be relatively conservative in comparison to its original market capitalization target of up to $100 billion. The size of this transaction was reduced during investor briefings before DiDi’s IPO debut, owing to investor concerns regarding a probable anti-trust crackdown being initiated by the Chinese government, as well as those concerns related to unpredictable international IPO landscapes in 2021. Didi’s IPO was completed early on the first day of the book-build last week, and investor books were closed on Monday, a day sooner than expected. There is also an existence of an over-allotment option, often known as a greenshoe, in which an extra 43.2 million shares could be made available for sale to increase the size of this deal.

Didi was co-founded in 2012 by former Alibaba employee Will Wei Cheng, who currently serves as its chief executive officer. Cheng was accompanied by Jean Qing Liu, the current president of the ride-sharing service and a former Goldman Sachs banker. Softbank, Uber Technologies Inc., and Tencent are among the company’s major stakeholders. Didi is also famous for effectively evicting Uber from the Chinese market. The American firm lost a pricing battle and wound up selling its Chinese assets to Didi in exchange for a percentage. Didi had previously remained unprofitable prior to it recording a $30 million turnover in the first quarter of 2021. According to a regulatory filing, DiDi recorded a $1.6 billion deficit last year, and an 8% decline in revenues to $21.63 billion as business prospects plummeted during the recent pandemic. Its shares are set to begin trading under the ticker “DIDI.”

Amazon is following the footsteps of tech giants Google and Apple to attract more developers to its Android and Fire OS app store. For this, it has introduced Amazon Appstore Small Business Accelerator Program. Under this new program, it will charge less money from app developers that are new or whose net income is less than USD 1 million from apps on the Amazon Appstore. So the app that will qualify for the smaller businesses will have to pay 20 percent of total revenue in a calendar year. Earlier, Amazon used to charge 30 percent of the total revenue from these apps, including that from in-app purchases. Developers who are earning more than USD 1 million will continue to pay at the original rate. The new program launched by Amazon will additionally offer AWS credits. While it is a good deal for some developers, for others it is not better than what being offered by Google and Apple. Apple had announced App Store Small Business Program last year. Under the program, the tech giant announced that it has reduced its cut to 15 percent for all the developers who are earning less than USD 1 million in a given year. For those earning more than this threshold, the cut will be at a standard rate 30 percent.

Google too reduced the rate recently but in a slightly different way. The search engine giant said that it has lowered the commission to 15 percent from 30 per cent on the first USD 1 million revenue made by developers through the Play billing system each year. When compared to other platforms, Amazon is taking a larger cut at 20 percent. But the e-commerce giant is providing developers on its platforms Amazon Web Services credits in form of perks. The company said that all the developers that are making less than USD 1 million from Amazon Appstore will get promotional credit from AWS services. The credit will be 10 percent of the revenue in a calendar year. The credit will include infrastructure and technology support like artificial intelligence and others. Amazon said that the total combined benefits of the program will be equivalent to 90 percent of revenue. In case the revenue of the developer crosses the threshold of USD 1 million during the current year, the benefits provided under the AWS credits will cease with immediate effect for the rest of the year. The charges for such apps will revert to the standard royalty rate.

If the revenue of developers drops below USD 1 million in the future, they will by default become eligible for the Small Business Accelerator Program in the next calendar year. Amazon Appstore Director Palanidaran Chidambaram said that the company is making it easier for new and small businesses to grow through AWS credits. “Amazon is helping small businesses to build and grow their app. We are giving them access to a broad range of AWS technologies that can help them innovate and develop an app like they imagined,” Palanidaran noted in an announcement. Amazon said that the program will be launched in Q4. It said that more details about the program and how to get benefitted from it will be provided at that time. The changes in the commission have been announced at a time when tech giants are being accused of an anti-competitive approach. These companies are also increasingly under pressure from regulatory authorities. Recently, Epic Games sued Apple over its app store fees.