Here are the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
IRCTC now wants to sell passenger data
Indian Railway’s official ticketing platform IRCTC, which already makes huge amount of money by selling online tickets, is now planning to sell the passengers’ data and earn handsome profit from the same. According to Entrackr, the online ticketing giant has put out a tender whereby it is seeking advice from experts on how it can monetize its passengers’ data. The data that every IRCTC passenger has to give if anyone wishes to book online ticket, which includes names, email address and even phone numbers. This can seriously give rise to the problem of data privacy violation. What makes the situation even worse, India still does not have a strong data protection law.
2)
YouTube removes controversial Tesla Videos showcasing kids
YouTube has pulled out some Tesla videos from its platform, deeming it as controversial and dangerous. These videos demonstrated drivers conducting safety tests using their own children instead of mannequins on the road or highway. These tests basically wanted to ascertain whether Tesla’s self-driving car will be able to automatically avert colliding or bypass the pedestrians – in this case the children. However, these videos were found to be against YouTube’s policies. The Google owned streaming platform said that it doesn’t allow content showing “a minor participating in dangerous activities.” Self-driving car technology is still in nascent stage and human intervention is essential for safety purposes.
3)
Mark Zuckerberg’s VR Avatar gets mocked by Netizens
Mark Zuckerberg has been forced to come with a major assurance, claiming that all the VR avatars in the company’s metaverse platform ‘Horizon Worlds” will actually ‘look great’ and ‘impressive.’ Zuckerberg had to give this assurance following the wide-spread criticism of his VR avatar, the screenshot of which was recently shared on Facebook and Twitter. The netizens said that Zuckerberg’s VR avatar looked absolutely ‘amateur’ and ‘creepy,’ strongly suggesting that Meta’s metaverse technology needs a huge upgrade & improvement. Ever since changing the company’s name to Meta, Metaverse has become the main focus of Zuckerberg’s company and until has invested billions of dollars in this nascent technology.
4)
HBO MAX’s India launch has been put on hold
America’s popular OTT platform HBO MAX’s launch in the Indian market has been indefinitely put on hold. HBO MAX, which is owned by Warner Bros, was scheduled to launch in India by end of this year. However, latest media reports now claim that the Warner Bro’s OTT platform won’t be launched until the end of 2024. Although the company hasn’t given any exact reasons, sources claim that Netflix’s failure to crack the Indian market may have forced Warner Bros to give a hard thought on the India launch. Notably, despite spending huge amount of money since past few years, Netflix hasn’t been able to make much profit from the Indian market.
5)
Vijay Shekhar Sharma reappointed as Paytm MD & CEO amid IPO flop show
Paytm’s IPO last year may have proved to be disastrous but this hasn’t stopped the company’s shareholders from reposing their faith in Vijay Shekhar Sharma. During the 22nd general meeting of One97 communications, which is the parent company of Paytm, nearly 99% of shareholders voted in favor of Sharma’s reappointment. Paytm’s stock has lost more than 60% value since its high voltage IPO debut in November last year, leading to massive erosion of wealth for its investors. However, Sharma has assured that Paytm will achieve operational profitability by next year.
