Author: Raghu Gopal

India’s Streaming Star

Disney’s Hotstar crosses 400 million app downloads Disney-owned streaming platform Hotstar, the dominant video-on-demand service in India, has now surpassed 400 million app downloads in the country. Launched in 2015,…

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Mi Credit

Xiaomi joins the Indian financial technology market Last week, Xiaomi launched a personal loan service in India aimed at young professionals and millennials, as the Chinese smartphone maker looks to…

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Facial Recognition Creeps Further into China

New mobile users to be subject to face-scans Telecom operators in China are now required to collect face scans when registering new phone users at offline outlets in a move…

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Black Digital Gold

Black Friday exposes bleak outlook for bricks-and-mortar retailers This year, on Black Friday, which took place on 29 November, US shoppers made more purchases online than in shopping malls, further…

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Las Vegas Bets on AI to End Gridlock

Cameras and traffic sensors installed at 30 intersections A couple of weeks ago, Las Vegas city officials announced a plan to deal with the city’s gridlock and traffic congestion. Las…

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Getting Rich Slowly

US carriers team up to make RCS messaging service a hit The four major wireless carriers in the US — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — recently announced the formation…

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Artificial Intelligence Automates Driving Tests

Microsoft deploys a smartphone-based driving test system Artificial intelligence (AI) is a mega trend that will affect most processes and people in the coming years. Here’s another example. Microsoft Research…

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A Mobile Species

Has the smartphone become a basic human right? In a growing number of countries, smartphones are not just a convenience, but an expectation. They’ve moved beyond critical mass, becoming a…

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Can Uber Fly?

Uber wants to go vertical, starting with its Copter service Earlier in 2019, Uber started offering helicopter trips from Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for select passengers….

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Flight Plan

Another step for drone delivery ecosystems Last week, United Parcel Service (UPS) announced that it has received the official nod from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a…

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