During the past week, some big developments happened. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a major step towards India’s goal of becoming a global hub for chip manufacturing by laying the foundation for three semiconductor plants. On the other hand, the Indian government took action against 18 OTT platforms for hosting obscene content. In the US, the House passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok.In the smartphone arena, Samsung released the Galaxy A35 and A55 in India; iQoo and Asus debuted the Z9 and Zenfone 11 Ultra, respectively. Here are all the top tech news of the week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of three semiconductor plants
Prime Minister Modi initiated the construction of three semiconductor plants in India, with a combined value of over Rs. 1.25 lakh crore. Tata Electronics will be investing Rs. 1,18,000 crores in two facilities: the Tata-PSMC chip foundry at Rs. 91,000 crores and the Tata OSAT facility at Rs. 27,000 crores. Read more.
Government bans 18 OTT platforms, apps, websites and social media accounts for porn content
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) blocked 18 OTT platforms, along with their associated 19 websites, 10 apps, and 57 social media accounts, for hosting obscene and pornographic content, despite multiple warnings to refrain from promoting such material under the pretext of “creative expression,” invoking the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Read more.
NPCI grants Paytm third-party licence as Paytm Payments Bank shuts down
Paytm, owned by One97 Communications Ltd, has been granted a third-party application provider licence by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). This licence allows Paytm to continue facilitating payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) after its banking unit, Paytm Payments Bank, shut down on March 15. Read more.
CCI orders probe against Google
The Competition Commission of India is probing Google’s Play Store billing policy for imposing an “unfair service fee” on app developers. The investigation was initiated following concerns raised by some homegrown companies. Read more.
US House passes bill that could ban TikTok
The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill that could see TikTok banned in America. TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would have to sell its controlling stake or the app would be blocked in the US. The bill still needs to clear the Senate and be signed by the president to become law. Read more.
Airbnb asks hosts to remove security camera from inside their properties
Airbnb has been dealing with privacy concerns related to hosts who have installed cameras inside their homes. As a precautionary measure to avoid potential privacy breaches that could harm the company’s reputation, Airbnb has prohibited the use of any indoor cameras by its hosts. Read more.
Pornhub shuts down in Texas
Pornhub has decided to disable its website in the state of Texas, following the implementation of the state’s online age verification law. Instead, the website now displays a message to its users in Texas, stating that requiring users to provide identification when accessing an adult website is not an effective solution to protect users online. Read more.
Apple acquires Canadian AI startup
Apple has reportedly acquired DarwinAI to enhance its upcoming AI features in iOS 18. The startup specialises in making deep neural networks more efficient and will help boost on-device processing, aligning with Apple’s focus on privacy. Although the deal hasn’t been announced, Bloomberg reports that it took place earlier this year. Some of DarwinAI’s employees have joined Apple, and Alexander Wong, an AI researcher who contributed to the company’s development, is now a director in Apple’s AI department. Read more.
Spotify now has music videos
Spotify is introducing full music videos to its platform. However, the new feature will not be accessible to everyone at the moment. The feature is currently available in beta only for Premium subscribers in roughly a dozen countries on mobile, desktop, and TV devices. Read more.
Apple to let developers distribute apps directly from websites
Starting this spring, software developers in Europe will be able to distribute their apps directly to EU customers from their own websites. However, it is important to note that developers must still comply with Apple’s terms and conditions. Additionally, a “core technology fee” of 50 euro cents per user account per year has been introduced. Read more.
Samsung launches Galaxy A35, Galaxy A55 in India
Samsung launched the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 smartphones in India with 120Hz Super AMOLED display, 50MP main camera with OIS, and Android 14 with One UI 6.1. They have IP67 ratings, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, and a 5000mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging. The Galaxy A55 is powered by Exynos 1480 SoC and the A34 has an Exynos 1380 SoC. Read more.
iQoo Z9 launched in India
iQOO launched iQOO Z9 5G, the successor to iQOO Z7 in India. The phone features a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 16MP front camera, and is powered by Dimensity 7200 SoC with 8GB RAM. It runs on Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14. The phone has a 50MP rear camera with Sony IMX882 sensor, a 2MP depth sensor, and packs a 5000mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. Read more.
Asus debuts Zenfone 11 Ultra
ASUS announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Zenfone 11 Ultra, which shares many specs with the ROG Phone 8. It has a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED HDR 1-120Hz LTPO display, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC with up to 16GB of RAM, and a 50 MP main camera with Sony sensor, 6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabiliser 3.0, 13 MP ultrawide camera and a 32MP 3X telephoto lens with built-in OIS. Read more.
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