Vodafone has confirmed that it is in discussions over a merger deal that could create India’s largest telecom operator.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the telecom giant said it is in talks with Aditya Birla Group, the group that owns Idea Cellular, over a deal.
“Any merger would be effected through the issue of new shares in Idea to Vodafone and would result in… Read More
DraftKings was just approved for a Controlled Skill Games License from the Malta Gaming Authority, which is the entity that runs gaming in Malta – a small island nation south of Italy. While this may not sound like a big deal, (especially considering Malta has a population of under 500,000 people) the nation is part of the European Union, meaning DraftKings can now expand into some other… Read More
Google has created its largest humanitarian fund to date in response to President Trump’s executive order on immigration. The search giant’s newest ‘crisis campaign’ is $4 million in size. The money will be donated to four organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UN… Read More
For the authorities, encryption is a calamity. Where once they could pry open drawers to find incriminating letters, or force a company to reveal private records, now everything depends on the owner’s willingness to allow their data to be decrypted. So since they can’t go through the front door, they have asked repeatedly for a back door. But what exactly is a backdoor, and why… Read More
The ubiquity of big data is such that Gartner dropped it from their Hype Cycle of Emergent Technologies back in 2015. Across sectors, businesses are scrambling to make every function “data driven,” and there’s no shortage of firms lining up to help them. The big data analytics industry is worth $122 billion — and growing. Read More
Tech executives are offering to match donations to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) following the enactment of an executive order banning entry to refugees and visa holders from seven countries. As multiple executives and CEOs of technology companies have come out in opposition of what’s essentially being called an immigration ban, some have chosen to do so by offering to… Read More
I’ve advised recruiting operations at close to 300 startups, ranging from a five-person team at Scalyr to a several-hundred-person team at Gusto. Most startups share a common theme: Technical recruiting is often a top business priority — and every startup wants to improve its recruiting operations. Read More
Uber has apologized today for promoting surge pricing to and from JFK during yesterday’s protest and taxi strike. After the enactment of an executive order barring refugees and visa holders from seven countries from entering the U.S., protests gathered at JFK International and the NY Taxi Workers Alliance called for a stop on pickups from the airport. Uber said that riders could go to… Read More
We are a nation of immigrants, and we must not forget that is a key reason this country has been so successful. The Immigration Act of 1965, which re-oriented U.S. immigration policy to focus on reuniting families and attracting skilled labor, has had a tremendous impact on the technology industry and our country as a whole. To ignore its impact would be a shame. Read More
Elon Musk is asking for people to recommend “specific amendments” Trump and the White House should make to the executive order issues on Friday regarding immigration and barring entry for people seeking refugee status. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is a member of Trump’s economic advisory council, and he said via Twitter that he will be looking to build consensus within that… Read More
Uber says it will create $3 million defense fund to help cover legal, immigration and translation costs for drivers affected by Trump’s immigration and travel ban, which Uber CEO and founder Travis Kalanick calls “wrong and unjust” in a new note shared to Facebook and Uber’s newsroom. The post outlines in more detail Uber’s commitment to assist drivers impacted by… Read More
In the midst of chaos caused by President Donald Trump’s executive order, which stranded refugees, students and green card holders in American airports, Airbnb is offering housing to those affected. The executive order was countered with legal action and protests, which allowed some of the people detained in airports to be released. But it’s still not clear how Customs and… Read More
Every Sunday, our daily newsletter features a piece of analysis and opinion regarding the biggest stories of the week in tech. This Sunday, we’re republishing this week’s daily newsletter column here in its entirety. Resistance and reluctance: Trump’s most controversial act yet is a sweeping immigration order that bars refugees and even legitimate visa holders from a list… Read More
L.A. is getting a star turn, with the most iconic of its local startups — Snap — on the cusp of going public. Locals expect much more than an endless string of headlines about its IPO performance, too. “The initial performance of the stock will be almost irrelevant,” says Paul Bricault, cofounder of the L.A.-based accelerator and seed-stage venture fund Amplify.… Read More
Health tech investments have been red hot the last few years, but Rob Coppedge, the CEO of Echo Health Ventures says while the industry isn’t going to pop, it is a slowly deflating bubble. Echo Health is the recent creation of Cambia Health and Mosaic Health, the investment arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield and has a long-term strategy in the health investment space. Coppedge has been in… Read More
One of the most popular shows on television 30 years ago was “The A-Team” — the story of five rogue military commandos who teamed together to form an elite fighting unit. Now, a generation later, DARPA and the U.S. military are in search of a new “A-Team” — only this team won’t be comprised of just humans, it will include a few machines, as well. Read More
After a spending while on a sort of technological ‘walkabout’, Australia is experiencing something of a mini-tech boom. For a long time the biggest thing you could name out of the country was Atlassian. Now other startups are joining the roster, and VC investment is ticking up. The latest sign of this is the news that local VC AirTree Ventures has added UK-based VC James… Read More
If we can find a way to automate listening itself, we would be able to more intelligently monitor our world and its machines day and night. We could predict the failure of engines, rail infrastructure, oil drills and power plants in real time — notifying humans the moment of an acoustical anomaly. This has the potential to save lives, but despite advances in machine learning, we… Read More
Reports coming out of Iran suggest that Apple has allegedly started removing iOS apps originating from the country’s startups and developers. Prior to this, Apple had, in a limited manner, opened up its App Store to Iranians in September 2016 and appeared to be gradually lifting some of the limitations, periodically, since then. According to credible tech news site Techrasa, the… Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Keith Teare, Frank Radice, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Saturday, January 28, 2017. As Frank Radice says: The word “media” comes from “mediate” which is something in between what this guy says and this guy hears. In this gulf lies the vast stew of fake news and wrist supercomputers; now what? @stevegillmor, @kevinmarks,… Read More
