iRobot to fire 350 employees to focus on profitability and growth

iRobot says it will have to terminate 350 employees, which is around 31 percent of the total workforce. The company has announced a strategic organizational restructuring plan aimed at improving profitability and key growth.iRobot, which is popular for robotics vacuum cleaning solutions, has announced a strategic organizational restructuring plan aimed at improving profitability and key growth. The company plans to stabilize its position in the current environment while extending market share in the mid-tier and premium segments. Following this, iRobot says it will have to terminate 350 employees, according to ET. This is around 31 percent of the total workforce.The restructuring will incur estimated charges ranging between $12 million and $13 million, mainly for severance and other related costs. These charges are expected to be recorded over the first two quarters of 2024, with a major portion anticipated in the initial quarter. Andrew Miller, Chairman of the Board, expressed the necessity of these decisions for the company to adopt a more sustainable business model and focus on profitability, ensuring long-term value creation. As part of the strategic shift, iRobot also announced leadership changes. Colin Angle, the former Chairman of the Board and CEO, has stepped down from his positions. Glen Weinstein, iRobot's Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, has been appointed as the Interim CEO, while Andrew Miller, the lead independent director, resumes the role of Chairman of the Board. Angle will continue to serve on the iRobot Board until May 2024. He has also agreed to stay on as a senior advisor for up to 12 months, as per the report.It is being said that iRobot was slated to be acquired by Amazon, with an announcement made in 2022. However, both companies mutually agreed to terminate the acquisition. The current restructuring and leadership changes suggest that iRobot is now taking big steps to sustain in the market. While decisions impacting the workforce are acknowledged as difficult, the company remains optimistic that these actions will lead to a better future. It seems that the layoff season is back because many major tech companies are firing employees in big numbers. Microsoft recently announced a fresh round of layoffs after eliminating thousands of employees last year. The company sacked people who work at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week. While Microsoft has cut jobs in Xbox and Blizzard gaming divisions, cutting roughly 8 percent of the overall Microsoft Gaming division that currently has around 22,000 employees. Google also reportedly eliminated around 1,000 employees.    

Amazons video advertisement push aims to turn TVs into shopping carts

Amazon.com Inc., joining streaming peers like Netflix, Disney and Peacock, will start running ads on its US Prime Video service on Monday. Beside generating new revenue for its $50 billion-plus advertising business, the e-commerce giant is betting it can persuade viewers to shop from their televisions.  For decades, TV commercials have inspired and influenced future buying decisions rather than impulse purchases, and that hasn’t changed in the streaming era. Flo from Progressive still dukes it out with Geico’s gecko to peddle car insurance. She’s just increasingly seen on YouTube or Hulu rather than NBC. Amazon has the potential to upend the status quo because it’s the world’s largest online retailer, with detailed shopping profiles on Prime Video viewers. The company has an unrivaled delivery network that can ship millions products to much of the US population in a day or less. That combination could make the living room TV screen more than a place to spotlight brands. It could compel people to make purchases via smartphones, remote controls or voice-activated devices. “Prime Video might be Amazon’s best hope to make shoppable TV actually happen,” said Sky Canaves, an analyst at Insider Intelligence in New York. “Shoppable video ads will be part of its strategy to get brands that are already selling products on Amazon to advertise on Prime Video.” Selling billions of dollars in advertising will be the easy part. Brands for years have been shifting their marketing budgets from traditional TV to streaming services, and Amazon is offering low rates to reach a US audience second only to Netflix Inc. But training viewers to use their televisions as shopping carts and compelling advertisers to rethink an 80-year-old format will take time and effort—and could well fail as it has so many times before. Prime subscribers will see commercials in movies and TV shows unless they choose to pay an extra $3 a month for an ad-free service. In an effort to avoid alienating viewers, Amazon plans to air fewer ads than linear television and other streaming providers. (The company prohibits election and alcohol commercials.) In part because the video service is included in a Prime subscription that offers speedy shipping, music and other perks, most viewers are expected to accept the ads without much protest. Bank of America analysts estimate that 70% of Prime subscribers will opt to watch commercials rather than pay the extra fee to avoid them.  

Apple opens iPhone ecosystem in EU: What it means for consumers, developers

Apple has announced that it will bring changes to iOS, Safari browser, and the App Store in the European Union (EU) to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). With the new changes, iPhone users in the EU will get access to third-party App marketplaces, ability to change default browser, and set preferred payment method other than Apple’s for in-app purchases. Apple said the new changes will be limited to the 27 EU member countries and will roll out with the iOS 17.4 update in March. Here is a roundup of the changes coming to Apple iPhone platformplatform.  With the iOS 17.4 update, users in the EU will get the option to install apps from a third-party app stores that Apple is calling “alternative app marketplaces”. Users will be able to download alternative app stores from the respective developer’s website. Apple said, the alternate app marketplaces can install and support software on iOS devices, access data across a catalogue of apps, manage user’s purchases and subscriptions, and more. However, developers managing these app marketplaces would need to meet Apple’s “Notarization” requirements, like other iOS apps. Apple said notarization is its review system for apps that ensure that the iOS apps are free of known malware, viruses, or other security threats. It includes a combination of automated checks and human review. Notarized apps will undergo checks during installation to check for user’s authorisation. If the app fails to comply with the Notarization regulations, the app will be prevented from launching and new installations will be halted.With the update, users will be able to manage the list of allowed app stores and installed apps from settings. Removing a third party app store will prevent app installations and updates from the developer’s website. Users can also set a third-party app store as their default app installation source.  

Ram Mandir Ayodhya Pran Pratishtha

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates that the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha Ceremony in Ayodhya generated business revenue worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore nationwide.The CAIT study claims that before to the famous 'Pran Pratishtha' event of Ayodhya's Ram temple, people went on a shopping binge. According to the CIAT report, Delhi generated revenue of Rs 25,000 crore, while Uttar Pradesh registered commerce of Rs 40,000 crore.According to CAIT's National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, small traders have benefited the most. The "Har Sheher Ayodhya, Har Ghar Ayodhya" campaign was also praised by him. Almost 1.5 million programs were hosted by small and major corporate organizations nationwide as part of the campaign, which ran from January 1 to 22.According to CAIT, sales of candies, decorations, devotional souvenirs, and other spiritual things contributed to the enterprises' significant growth. A CAIT had previously predicted that the dedication of the Ram temple will bring in commerce of up to Rs 1 trillion. The estimate provided by CAIT was derived from input gathered from thirty different state trade associations.Khandelwal had said that there is a lot of demand in the marketplaces for printed "kurtas," caps, t-shirts, banners, flags, and banners with images of the Ram temple. On January 22, the freshly built Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya hosted the Pran Pratishtha ritual for Lord Ram.PM Modi is praised by Swami Govind Dev Giri: Lord Shri Ram is seated at the temple of Ayodhya. Ram Lalla was ceremoniously sanctified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This gathering was graced by the presence of numerous national leaders. The saint who broke PM Modi's fast has made a significant announcement about the politician.  

Akasa Air plans its expansion in the cutthroat Indian aviation industry.

Anand Srinivasan, Chief Information Officer of Akasa Air, discusses the airline's growth strategies and insights during a Masters' Union business school session. According to Srinivasan, Akasa Air is taking cues from market leader IndiGo and giving operational procedures precedence above short-term worries about market dominance.Srinivasan underlined that Akasa Air's market share would depend on the size of the fleet in the upcoming years, highlighting the airline's order of 76 aircraft and the delivery of 20 of them thus far. With the latest order for 150 more Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the fleet size is predicted to reach above 200. Speaking to the strong demand in India's aviation industry, Srinivasan said that the problem is supply limitations brought on by airports, infrastructure, laws, and capital availability.In reference to the competition with IndiGo, Srinivasan expressed appreciation for IndiGo's profitable business model while acknowledging that a confrontation was inevitable. Though he expressed the desire to take on IndiGo head-on in the future, he compared Akasa Air to a “little pesky mosquito” at the moment.Even though IndiGo recently made a sizable order with Airbus for 500 A320s with the goal of doubling the size of its fleet by 2030, Srinivasan is still optimistic about Akasa Air's ability to efficiently and professionally compete in the changing aviation market.  

NASAs Hubble Telescope Finds Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of a Small Exoplanet

A tiny, scorching exoplanet located 97 light-years from Earth has water molecules in its atmosphere, according to research done by astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The planet, known as GJ 9827d, may serve as an example of prospective planets with atmospheres rich in water found elsewhere in our galaxy. Its diameter is about twice that of Earth. "This would be the first time that we can directly show through atmospheric detection, that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can exist around other stars," said team member Bjorn Benneke of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Universite de Montreal. "This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets"Water on a planet this small is a landmark discovery," said Laura Kreidberg, a co-principal investigator from Heidelberg, Germany's Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. "It pushes closer than ever to characterizing truly Earth-like worlds."Life depends on water, but the exoplanet's extreme heat would likely turn any water-rich atmosphere into steam, making it unlikely that any kind of life could exist there. Astronomers still don't know everything there is to know about the unusual atmosphere of this world.    The study's conclusions were presented in a report that The Astrophysical Journal Letters published on Thursday.   Because the host star evaporated GJ 9827d's atmosphere, the research team is currently unable to determine whether Hubble detected water vapor traces within a puffy, hydrogen-rich atmosphere or whether the planet has a water-rich atmosphere."Our observing program was specifically designed to look for water vapor as well as detect molecules in the planet's atmosphere. It is overseen by principal investigator Ian Crossfield of Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas. "Any outcome would be fascinating, regardless of whether water vapor is the predominant species or merely a minor species in an atmosphere dominated by hydrogen," stated Pierre-Alexis Roy, the primary author of the scientific paper from Universite de Montréal's Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets.   "We had not yet been able to directly detect the atmosphere of a planet this small. And we're now gradually implementing this regime," Benneke continued. "At some point, as we study smaller planets, there must be a transition where there's no more hydrogen on these small worlds, and they have atmospheres more like Venus (which is dominated by carbon dioxide)."  

India, France agree on joint defence production, expanding bilateral ties in technology, space, and AI

India and France have agreed to work together on the joint production of defence equipment including helicopters and submarines for the Indian armed forces and production for friendly countries, New Delhi said.Macron and Modi agreed to expand bilateral ties in defence production, nuclear energy, space research and the use of artificial intelligence for public services like climate change, health and agriculture, the statement said. After Russia, France is the largest arms supplier to India, which has relied on its fighter jets for four decades. The leaders welcomed the setting up of maintenance, repair and overhaul services by France's Safran for leading-edge aviation propulsion (LEAP) engines in India and adding such services for Rafale engines, and a helicopter partnership. The bilateral summit during Macron's 40-hour visit, was the fifth Macron-Modi meeting since May. India's Tata Group and France's Airbus have signed an agreement to manufacture civilian helicopters together, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said. French jet engine maker CFM International also announced an agreement with India’s Akasa Air to buy more than 300 of its LEAP-1B engines to power 150 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.Akasa Air previously ordered 76 aircraft powered by the engine, of which 22 are in use. India and France agreed to intensify cooperation in the southwest Indian Ocean, building on joint surveillance missions carried out from the French island territory of La Reunion in 2020 and 2022, the government statement said. Macron also said France would create conditions to attract up to 30,000 Indian students a year for higher education.  

Fossil exits smartwatch market, ceding ground to tech giants

American watchmaker Fossil Group has decided to stop producing smartwatches, ending its years-long endeavour of bringing stylish tech timepieces to the market. The company said on Friday that its latest Gen 6 watch using Google’s Wear OS software will be its final release in the smartwatch category. Fossil’s exit comes as the landscape has evolved, with tech giants like Google and Samsung taking over with their own branded devices. “We have made the strategic decision to exit the smartwatch business and redirect resources to our core strengths,” a spokesperson for the Texas-based firm told reporters. Fossil’s sub-brands like Michael Kors, Skagen, and Diesel will also discontinue smartwatches. The company said it will provide support for existing models for a few more years. Fossil was one of the few traditional watchmakers trying to adapt to the new smartwatch trend over the past decade, even as big players ignored the struggling Wear OS platform. But the category finally gained momentum in 2021 when Google and Samsung partnered on a major software update. Industry analysts say Fossil struggled to compete with the tech giants’ marketing power and resources. The company had not released a new smartwatch model since 2021, already signaling its retreat. Fossil provided a unique focus on fashionable design in the smartwatch space. With its exit, there is an opening for other players to fill the void in sleek, designer tech watches. For now, Fossil says it will concentrate on its traditional watches, jewelry and leather goods. Even as smartwatches go mainstream, old-school timepieces still make up the vast majority of Fossil’s business.  

‘Hot garbage’ and ‘total farce:’ Apple’s new App Store policies trigger strong reactions

Apple recently announced changes to its App Store policies in Europe to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The new rules will allow sideloading and alternative app stores in Europe, as well as third-party payment systems. This has drawn mixed reactions from companies and developers who have long criticised Apple’s walled-garden approach. “We are still reviewing the technical details but are extremely disappointed with Apple’s proposed plan to restrict the newly-announced BrowserEngineKit to EU-specific apps,” Mozilla spokesperson Damiano DeMonte told The Verge. “The effect of this would be to force an independent browser like Firefox to build and maintain two separate browser implementations — a burden Apple themselves will not have to bear.” Mozilla argues that having to maintain an EU-only version of Firefox on iOS creates unnecessary complexity. “Apple’s proposals fail to give consumers viable choices by making it as painful as possible for others to provide competitive alternatives to Safari,” DeMonte added. “This is another example of Apple creating barriers to prevent true browser competition on iOS.”Music streaming service Spotify had harsh words for Apple’s plan. In a post on its website, Spotify said “As Apple has just shown the world, they don’t think the rules apply to them. Apple is nothing if not consistent. While they have behaved badly for years, this takes the level of arrogance to an entirely new place.”Spotify took particular issue with the new €0.50 fee Apple will charge developers for each annual install after 1 million downloads. “From our read of Apple’s proposal, a developer would have to pay this fee even if a user downloaded the app, never used it and forgot to delete it,” Spotify wrote. The post called the changes a “complete and total farce” and extortion. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also stated with a post on X that the company cannot afford the new fees if it wants to be profitable.    

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Corporate Leaders Appear Ready To Make More Deals in 2024

After high interest rates and regulatory scrutiny kept some corporate leaders from making deals in 2023, executives and analysts are expecting a rebound in mergers & acquisition (M&A) activity this year. A Deloitte survey showed that 83% of corporate and private equity leaders expected an increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) this year, with almost as many responding that they expect the volume of their own organizations' deal-making to grow. The executive sentiment recorded by Deloitte lines up with a forecast from Morgan Stanley Investment Banking that concluded M&A activity was positioned to increase in 2024 after sinking in 2023 as inflation, high interest rates and increased regulatory scrutiny all contributed to stifle deal-making last year. Data from FactSet showed M&A activity was down 14.1% in December from the prior month, although spending on deals jumped more than 40% in the month. Only four of 21 tracked sectors had year-over-year M&A growth during the year’s fourth quarter, the report said.M&A activity can be beneficial for investors by either pressing the share price higher for companies that are acquired, or by quickly adding scale, volume, or market share to corporations that take over smaller companies.   

What You Need To Know Ahead of Microsofts Earnings on Tuesday

Tech titan Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which just became the second company ever to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion, is due to report its second-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings on Tuesday after the market closes. Analysts expect Microsoft to post its highest revenue in seven quarters and an uptick in EPS, while the company's AI-powered cloud services continue to soar. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will announce net income of $20.6 billion, or $2.77 per share, compared with $17.4 billion and $2.20, respectively, in the prior-year quarter, according to data compiled by Visible Alpha. The company is also expected to report total revenue of $61 billion, a nearly 16% improvement year-over-year and the sharpest increase in this area in close to two years. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud quarterly revenue, which has roughly doubled in the last three years, is expected to reach an all-time high of $25.3 billion in the latest quarter, according to Visible Alpha. This would represent a roughly 18% increase YOY.While Microsoft's AI adoption might spell big gains for its top and bottom lines, the company has run into legal issues as a result as well. Late in 2023, the New York Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, contending that ChatGPT was trained using millions of copyrighted articles. The suit calls for "billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages." 6  The company is also being scrutinized by the U.K.'s competition watchdog, which is evaluating whether Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI could affect competition. Also recently, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into Microsoft and OpenAI as part of a broader look at investments and partnerships in the AI space.   

Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro Get New Mint Colour Option; Available in Only 128GB Variant

Google Pixel 8 series has been launched in a new colourway. After teasing the new colour option last week, Google announced the availability of the Google Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro in a new Mint colour. This is the fourth colour option for both handsets. In October 2023, the Pixel 8 was launched in Hazel, Obsidian, and Rose colourways, whereas the Pixel 8 Pro was offered in Bay, Obsidian, and Porcelain colourways. The price of the new Mint colour is the same as other colour variants. Last week, Google posted a binary code along with a video of a mint green colour splash on the Pixel 8 Pro on its social media handles. The binary code translated to “fresh year, fresh drop,” hinting at the new colour option. Interestingly, the new colour option will only be available in the 128GB inbuilt storage variant for both Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The higher storage variants will only be available in the original colour options. In India, the Mint colour option is only available on the vanilla Pixel 8. It can be purchased through Flipkart. The colour will be exclusive to the Google Store and Google Fi in the US. Those who have already purchased the Pixel 8 or the Pixel 8 Pro can still experience the new colourway, as Google also sells a Mint silicone case for both phones. Samsung Ties Up With Blinkit to Deliver Galaxy S24 Series in Select Cities Pixel 8 price in India starts at Rs. 75,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB inbuilt storage model and the Pixel 8 Pro starts at Rs. 1,06,999 with the 12GB RAM and 128GB inbuilt storage model. Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro specifications The Pixel 8 features a 6.2-inch full-HD+ OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, it is powered by the 4nm Google Tensor G3 SoC. For optics, the smartphone sports a dual rear camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel primary sensor and a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera. It carries a 10.5-megapixel camera on the front. The handset is backed by a 4,575mAh battery with support for 27W wired charging. In contrast, the Pixel 8 Pro features a 6.7-inch Quad-HD OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Just like the base model, it also runs on the Google Tensor G3 chipset. The rear camera visor houses three sensors including a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens, and another 48-megapixel ultrawide camera. It is backed by a 5,050mAh battery with support for 30W wired charging.  

Samsung Galaxy S24 Series to Be Available on Blinkit in Select Cities; Doorstep Delivery in 10 Minutes

Samsung Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra were unveiled at the company's Galaxy Unpacked event last week. The latest flagships are currently up for pre-orders in India and are set to go on sale for the first time starting Wednesday, January 31. Ahead of the sale, Samsung has joined hands with hyper-local delivery company Blinkit to offer doorstep delivery of the Galaxy S24 series in select cities. The company is claimed to deliver new handsets to buyers within 10 minutes of receiving the order. Samsung, via a press release on Thursday (January 25), announced a tie-up with Blinkit to deliver its recently launched Galaxy S24 series in India. Customers in Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai can order Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 smartphones on the instant delivery platform for doorstep delivery. The handsets will be delivered in less than 10 minutes of receiving the order, claims Blinkit. Meanwhile, other online retailers will take at least one day to deliver the handsets. Customers buying the Galaxy S24 series through the Blinkit app or website can avail of an instant cashback of Rs. 5,000 for payments made using HDFC Bank credit cards.Samsung's Galaxy AI Features Are Coming to These Older Devices: Report. The Galaxy S24 has a starting price tag of Rs. 79,999 for the base 8GB + 256GB variant, the Galaxy S24+ pricing starts at Rs. 99,999, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a starting price tag of Rs. 1,29,999. Samsung Galaxy S24 series run on Android 14-based One UI 6.1 and boasts Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays with up to 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy S24 packs 8GB of RAM, while the top-end Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra offer 12GB of RAM. The Galaxy S24 Ultra runs on a tweaked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC called "Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC for Galaxy" in all regions. The India variants of Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ smartphones have Exynos 2400 SoC under the hood. All three phones have IP68-rated dust- and water-resistant build. Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S24 Ultra with a quad camera setup led by a 200-megapixel primary camera. The regular models have triple rear cameras led by a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera. Samsung to Make Galaxy S24 Series in India for Local, Global Markets The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a 5,000mAh battery with support for 45W wired charging and Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 that offers 15W charging speeds. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ pack 4,000mAh and 4,900mAh batteries with 25W and 45W wired charging support, respectively.  

"Moto G24 Power India Launch Set for January 30; Teased to Offer 6,000mAh Battery, Helio G85 SoC "

Moto G24 Power is confirmed to be offered in Glacier Blue and Ink Blue colours.                                                                    Moto G24 Power will be launched in India next week. The Chinese smartphone vendor has announced the arrival of a new Moto G series smartphone through its official social media handle. Motorola has also listed the Moto G24 Power on its India website revealing its design and specifications. It is confirmed to come in Glacier Blue and Ink Blue shades. The Moto G24 Power is teased to run on the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC. Dual rear cameras, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a 6,000mAh battery are other key specifications of the handset. It will be sold via Flipkart. Motorola, through its official X account, confirmed that the Moto G24 Power will launch in India on January 30 and will go on sale via the company's official website, Flipkart, and other leading retail stores. The Lenovo subsidiary and Flipkart are both teasing the key specifications of the smartphone via a dedicated microsite. The price details of Moto G24 Power are not known at this moment. However, we can expect the handset to be priced at around Rs. 10,000. The Moto G24 Power is confirmed to be offered in Glacier Blue and Ink Blue colours. It is listed to run Android 14 and feature a 6.56-inch HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate. The handset will be powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 SoC, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Moto G04, Moto G24 With 5,000mAh Battery Unveiled: See Price For optics, the Moto G24 Power gets a dual rear camera unit, comprising a 50-megapixel primary camera with Quad Pixel technology alongside a 2-megapixel macro shooter. Selfies and video chats will be handled by a 16-megapixel front camera. It gets stereo speakers supported by Dolby Atmos and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for authentication. It will offer an IP52-rated build and pack a 6,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.    

Oppo, Nokia Resolve All Pending Patent Disputes via Cross Licencing Deal

Nokia said that Oppo will make royalty payments, along with catch-up payments to cover the periods of non-payment as part of the cross-licencing deal.Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia said on Wednesday it had signed a 5G patent cross-licencing deal with Chinese device maker Oppo that resolves patent litigation between the companies. Nokia has been involved in legal disputes with several Chinese tech firms, including Oppo and Vivo, over patent payments. The Finnish group recently signed an agreement with Chinese smartphone maker Honor."Under the agreement Oppo will make royalty payments, along with catch-up payments to cover the periods of non-payment," Nokia said in a statement. "The agreement resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties, in all jurisdictions."OP Corporate Bank analyst Kimmo Stenvall said investors had expected the parties to reach an agreement "sooner or later". Nokia' shares were roughly flat at 1049 GMT (4:19pm IST).Inderes analyst Atte Riikola said it was good uncertainty was now lifted about the timing of the deal, after the process had taken longer than expected.                                                                                                                                                 Nokia in December warned it would not meet its financial outlook for 2023, saying talks over unspecified licence renewals would continue into this year.  

How China Cannot Use Its Technology for Artificial Intelligence Because of US Intervention

The Biden administration is proposing requiring US cloud companies to determine whether foreign entities are accessing US data centers to train AI models, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Friday. "We can't have non-state actors or China or folks who we don't want accessing our cloud to train their models," Raimondo said in an interview with Reuters. "We use export controls on chips," she noted. "Those chips are in American cloud data centers so we also have to think about closing down that avenue for potential malicious activity."   The Biden administration is taking a series of measures to prevent China from using US technology for artificial intelligence, as the burgeoning sector raises security concerns. The "know your customer" rule that was proposed was made available to the public on Friday and will be published the following Monday. It is significant, according to Raimondo.   The US is "trying as hard as we can to deny China the compute power that they want to train their own (AI) models, but what good is that if they go around that to use our cloud to train their models?" she stated.   Raimondo stated last month that Nvidia would not be permitted by Commerce "to ship is the most sophisticated, highest-processing-power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models."For a variety of national security reasons, the US government is concerned about China developing sophisticated AI systems, so it has taken action to prevent Beijing from obtaining cutting-edge US technologies to bolster its armed forces.   Under the proposed legislation, foreign nationals who register for or keep accounts using US cloud computing would have to provide identification through a "know-your-customer program or Customer Identification Program." Additionally, cloud computing companies would have to certify compliance on an annual basis, and it would set minimum standards for identifying foreign users.Raimondo said US cloud computing companies "should have the burden of knowing who their biggest customers are training the biggest models, and we're trying to get that information. With that information, what will we do? Depending on what we discover.   President Joe Biden in October signed an executive order requiring developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government before they are released to the public.The Commerce Department intends to request those surveys from businesses in the near future. Companies will have 30 days to reply, Raimondo told Reuters. "Any company that doesn't want to comply is a red flag for me," she stated.   Biden's "illegal" executive order is being implemented by Commerce, according to Carl Szabo, general counsel at the tech industry trade group NetChoice, "to force industry reporting requirements for AI." He went on to say that making US cloud providers disclose how non-US organizations were using their resources "for training large language models could deter international collaboration."

THIS WEEK IN ENTERPRENEURSHIP POLICY + RESEARCH

Welcome to ‘The Startup State’ - a weekly bulletin from the GEN Policy and Research team highlighting key entrepreneurship news, reports, commentary and features from around the world. The GEN Atlas is the world’s largest entrepreneurship policy compendium, featuring over 350 case studies from 70 countries. Our latest entry to be updated examines Germany’s Better Regulation Program - a wide-reaching initiative to reduce red tape, simplify regulations, and improve the overall quality of policymaking. Read the Atlas entryThe UNDP, the presidents of Rwanda and Ghana, and Nigeria’s digital economy minister Bosun Tijani used Davos to launch ‘Timbuktoo’, an ambitious pan-African development initiative with the aim to mobilize $1bn capital to create 10 million jobs and transform 100 million lives. It will include legislative reform, derisking investment, and ‘university innovation pods’, among other efforts to strengthen African entrepreneurship ecosystems (UNDP). Saudi Arabia has boosted its Aramco Ventures unit by $4bn, more than doubling the state oil company’s overall venture capital funds (Aramco).The United Kingdom’s technology secretary Michelle Donelan has announced a government “scaleup policy sprint” with the aim of matching US levels of VC investment as a share of GDP by 2030 - which would mean an additional £5bn ($6.3bn) per year into British startups (Sifted | Speech transcript).Nigeria’s minister of women affairs and social affairs Uju Kenedy-Ohaneye has launched a new unit in the SME Development Agency of Nigeria dedicated to supporting women and youth entrepreneurship (Blueprint) Publications and analysis This World Bank report examines ten years of data behind a public-private matching grant program to answer the question of whether public funding can help startups innovate and subsequently improve their performance. This Tony Blair Institute for Global Change report sets out how the UK can reset its historically aid-focused African engagement approach to embrace emerging economic opportunities and achieve mutual prosperity and cooperation. This World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship report is the first, comprehensive global dataset to estimate the size and scope of social enterprise worldwide. It finds 10 million social enterprises globally, with $2 trillion annual revenue and 200 million jobs.This World Economic Forum report introduces a multidimensional framework to assess the quality of growth across 107 countries globally. It characterizes nations’ economic growth across four dimensions: innovativeness; inclusiveness; sustainability; and resilience. This World Economic Forum and Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance report reveals new data on the rapidly evolving fintech ecosystem and the opportunities fintech activities are offering traditionally underserved consumers and businesses.   

These innovators are accelerating the aviation industrys transition to net-zero

Aviation accounts for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, with air travel projected to increase, these emissions are poised to escalate.The Sustainable Aviation Challenge on UpLink called for innovators who accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable aviation fuel and other propulsion solutions.16 Top Innovators were selected as winners and will gain visibility opportunities, special event invitations and curated introductions to industry partners and potential funders. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), aviation accounts for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and with air travel projected to increase over this decade, these emissions are only poised to climb. The challenge is to reinvent flying and make it compatible with our global net-zero emissions targets. Decarbonizing aviation is one of the toughest challenges of the clean energy transition and one that will require many technological breakthroughs and a concerted effort by innovators, industry, governments, and finance providers.                                                                                                                                                                  To accelerate and support the transformation of aviation and expedite its journey to net-zero, UpLink and the First Movers Coalition have launched the Sustainable Aviation Innovation Challenge to identify and accelerate the most innovative and promising start-ups in this sector. With 130 high-quality submissions received from around the globe, 16 Top Innovators were selected by industry partners to join the UpLink Innovation Ecosystem. To this end, we’re excited to announce the cohort of Sustainable Aviation Top Innovators to accelerate the development and adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and other propulsion solutions, with the broader vision of enhancing the viability of promising start-ups in this space. Innovation ignites the spark, but collaboration fuels progress. These 16 innovators are now plugged into World Economic Forum formal programming and a support ecosystem of industry partners and investors to scale up their ventures through business and technology collaborations.