As part of the next phase of implementation, BBNL will partner with village-level entrepreneurs and provide them with training and necessary equipment to set up connections at homes The entrepreneurs will be compensated based on a 50:50 revenue sharing model between BBNL and the local businesspersons 19.4 Lakh villages have already been connected under the scheme, with the remaining likely to be connected within two and a half years The union government has reportedly approved an additional outlay of INR 1.39 Lakh Cr for its flagship BharatNet initiative, which aims to provide last-mile broadband connectivity for 64 Lakh villages across the country.  Sources told The Hindu BusinessLine that the latest round of funds were approved by the union cabinet during its meeting on Friday (August 4).  “Cabinet has approved INR 1,39,579 Cr fund for providing last-mile optical fibre-based connectivity to homes in all the villages of the country. We have decided to scale it up in a significant way,” a top official said.  As per the report, 19.4 Lakh villages have already been connected under the scheme, with the remaining likely to be connected within two and a half years.  One of the world’s rural telecom projects, BharatNet has been envisaged with providing last-mile broadband connectivity to all 2.5 Lakh gram panchayats in the country in a phased manner.  As part of the next phase of implementation, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) will partner with village-level entrepreneurs and provide them with training and necessary equipment, including routers and additional fibre optic cable, to set up connections at homes. An arm of state telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, BBNL, has been tasked with executing the BharatNet project.  The move to onboard local entrepreneurs was finalised after the successful completion of a pilot project that helped connect villages in four districts, said the official. The trial run was then expanded to more than 60,000 villages, involving 3,800 entrepreneurs, across the length and breadth of the country.  As per the official, more than 3.51 Lakh broadband connections during the pilot and average data consumption per household was recorded to the tune of 175 GBs per month (compared to 230 GB in urban areas). The ‘enhanced’ execution model will utilise village-level entrepreneurs, employing them as partners with full responsibility for connecting and maintaining internet connections of the residences in their respective villages. The entrepreneurs will be compensated based on a 50:50 revenue-sharing model between BBNL and the local businesspersons. It is pertinent to note that the monthly broadband plan price under the scheme starts from INR 399 and goes all the way up to INR 799 with a minimum speed of 30 MBPS.  The official stated that the initiative has the potential to generate 25 Lakh jobs in the country. He also noted that out of the total 37 lakh route kilometres of OFC laid in the country, BBNL accounted for 7.7 lakh route km OFC. The BharatNet project was first approved by the union cabinet in October 2011. The second phase of the project was approved in 2017, with a total funding of INR 42,068 Cr for both phases of the project.

Ola Electric’s head of strategy and planning, Slokarth Dash, and head of growth and corporate affairs, Saurabh Sharda, have resigned Two other senior executives have also reportedly tendered their resignations. However, Ola Electric rejected this claim Ola Electric, which is preparing for a $1 Bn IPO in 2024, posted a revenue of nearly INR 2,750 Cr in FY23 and raked up an operating loss of nearly INR 1,116 Cr Ahead of its planned public listing in 2024, electric vehicle (EV) maker Ola Electric has been hit by top-level exits.  Ola Electric’s head of strategy and planning, Slokarth Dash, and head of growth and corporate affairs, Saurabh Sharda, have resigned from the company.  Confirming the development, an Ola spokesperson, in a statement, said, “Slokarth and Saurabh have delivered well for the company for over seven years, and we wish them well in their future pursuits.” The development was first reported by Livemint. As per the report, two other senior executives have also tendered their resignations and are expected to depart in the coming two months. There was no clarity on the identity of these two executives. However, the EV major rejected this, calling it a ‘mischievous attempt’ to build a fake narrative.  “This is a mischievous attempt to build a fake narrative. At Ola, we’ve built a world-class and highly experienced leadership team and hired more than 50 veterans just in the last year from Indian & global firms like Tesla, Apple, LG, among others. India is the future hub for tech and top global talent is eagerly joining new age companies like ours. Ola is the largest EV company in India thanks to the efforts of our world-class team,” added the Ola spokesperson. Both Dash and Sharda are said to have worked closely with founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal.  While Dash joined the ride-hailing company in 2015 as the program manager of leasing operations and strategy, he was elevated as the head of strategy and planning at Ola Electric in 2020.  On the other hand, Sharda joined Ola as an associate director in 2016 and rose quickly to his current position, as part of the core team, at the EV maker in 2019.  The exits come just a month after Aggarwal told a publication that, “I have a purpose and passion. Sometimes in the journey of a business, people don’t align with it and those separations are not as one wants. That sometimes leads to bitterness and sometimes the bitterness gets amplified.” Dash and Sharda’s resignations come as Ola Electric prepares for its high-profile $1 Bn public listing next year. While the company is leading the two-wheeler EV ecosystem in terms of sales, it has been plagued by a series of issues, including a spate of fires involving its vehicles and the Centre’s decision to cut incentives under the FAME-II scheme. Not just this, it was reported last month that Ola Electric missed its revenue goal in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The company posted a revenue of nearly INR 2,750 Cr during the year and raked up an operating loss of nearly INR 1,116 Cr. 

Poco, a spun-off brand of Xiaomi, has launched a new smartphone – M6 Pro 5G – in India. The smartphone has a 90Hz display, Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, and a 50MP dual camera setup, among other features. Here’s everything you need to know about the Poco M6 Pro 5G. Poco M6 Pro 5G: Price, availability in IndiaPoco M6 Pro 5G is available in two storage variants – 4GB + 64GB model – priced at Rs 10,999 – and – 6GB + 128GB – priced at Rs 12,999. You can purchase it on Flipkart from August 9t at 12 AM. If you use ICICI Bank cards, you can avail an instant discount of Rs 1000. Poco M6 Pro 5G: Specifications, features, and morePoco M6 Pro 5G features a 6.79-inch FHD+ LCD display with an adaptive refresh rate of 90Hz. The smartphone has a 91 per cent screen-to-body ratio, the panel is 550 nits bright at peak, and it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.The smartphone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and an IR blaster. Additionally, it has a 3.5mm audio jack and bottom-firing speakers.Powering the Poco M6 Pro 5G is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, which is based on the 4nm process node, and features 2x 2.2 GHz A78, 6x 2GHz A55 Kryo CPU cores paired with Adreno 613 GPU. The smartphone has 4GB/6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB/128GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage, expandable up to 1TB with a microSD card. The M6 Pro 5G runs Android 13 with MIUI 14 out-of-the-box. The smartphone boasts a 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging.The smartphone has a dual camera setup consisting of a 50MP main camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, it has a 8MP camera housed inside the punch-hole cutout.Connectivity options include – 5G SA / NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS + GLONASS, and USB Type-C.

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What Is Venture Capital Funding? Venture Capital (VC) funding is an investment route through which investors provide capital to high-potential growth stage startups in exchange for equity in the company. Venture capital firms also provide expertise and mentorship to their portfolio companies. A VC firm manages money from wealthy individuals, insurance companies, pension funds, foundations and corporate pension funds who pool their money to create a fund, aka VC fund. These funds are governed by VC firms that take all investment decisions. Typically, a VC firm raises capital for its funds from limited partners (LPs), with general partners (GPs) also making a capital contribution in some cases. The primary responsibility of a general partner is to allocate and manage the funds raised from limited partners. VC fund managers receive management fees and carry interest (a share of the profit made by the VC firm). About 20% of the profits made by the fund go to the VC firm, which manages the private equity fund. The remaining profits are distributed among limited partners who invested in the fund. The VC firm typically receives an additional 2% fee for its services. What Are The Benefits Of VC Funding? Venture capital provides startups with the necessary funds to scale their operations rapidly, hire talent, expand their market presence and develop innovative products or services. VC funding allows startups to focus on growth without any financial obligations like traditional bank loans or debt financing. VCs bring in their experience and expertise to assist startups with strategic planning, market research, and legal support, mitigating the chances of failure. VC  firms often provide long-term support to startups by participating in multiple funding rounds and acting as anchor investors, attracting other investors and providing stability to the business. Startups can leverage VC networks to connect with new clients, partners and employees, opening doors to new opportunities for growth and collaboration. VCs bring valuable mentorship to startups, helping them make informed decisions, overcome challenges, and optimise their operations. Venture capital firms facilitate collaboration among their portfolio companies, fostering synergies and mutual growth opportunities. Startups can benefit from partnerships within the VC’s network. A VC can enhance a startup’s credibility and visibility in the market and attract potential clients, partners, and investors. What Are The Risks Associated With VC Funding? To seek VC funding, startups often have to give up a substantial portion of their equity in exchange for funding. This dilutes their ownership and may lead to potential conflicts with investors’ short-term goals. A startup may lose substantial control over its company as investors may demand significant equity in the company. Raising venture capital is a time-consuming process, involving multiple rounds of negotiations, due diligence and investor pitches. Investors may seek a high level of expertise and experience in the startup’s team, making it challenging for first-time entrepreneurs to get investments. VCs may prioritise short-term gains over long-term growth, further conflicting with the interest of the startup founders looking to grow sustainably. Startups may face competition from portfolio startups when seeking VC funding as investors have multiple opportunities to choose from. How Do VC Firms Conduct Due Diligence? Initial Screening: Startup evaluation for due diligence starts with an initial screening to determine its viability. It usually involves the preliminary review of the startup’s business plan, market opportunity, and management team. It helps the VC firm filter out startups that are not aligned with the firm’s criteria or lack growth potential. Once a startup is selected, the VC firm proceeds to the subsequent stages of the due diligence process for deeper evaluation. Market Research: Investment analysts investigate the market size, product-market fit (PMF) competition, trends and growth potential. The analysts assess startups’ target market share and demand for their products. They also identify the risks and potential that come with these startups. Financial Analysis: They evaluate startups by examining their balance sheets, cash flows, revenues, expenses, and projections. They also study their capital structure and customer acquisition model and verify transparent accounting policies and practices. Legal Review: Analysts assess legal and regulatory compliance status to understand if the startup under review is under any legal or contractual liability that could potentially impact investments. They further review governance structure, contractual obligations, and intellectual property.  Technology Assessment: Investors also investigate the quality, capabilities, limitations and scalability of startups’ technology. Customer Validation: To validate the quality, uniqueness, and market appeal of startups’ offerings, VCs rely on customer feedback to ascertain if the founders have found the right product-market fit. Management Evaluation And Reputation Check: While assessing startups, investors evaluate teams’ experience, expertise and skills. Investors also seek feedback from peers about working with the founder. This helps them understand the founders’ ability to lead the company through growth and market changes. Once the due diligence report is ready, a VC analyst compiles all the evaluations of a report to present it to the investment committee with a recommendation. Conducting reverse due diligence on the VC firm’s background and reputation is also important for startup founders. What Is The VC Funding Scenario In India? How To Approach Venture Capitalist Firms To Raise Funding? According to experts, before reaching out to any VC firm to raise funding, entrepreneurs must thoroughly research the market and choose active investors within the respective sector.  Once the investor list has been narrowed down, startups must conduct background research on each investor and their VC firms. Founders must ensure that these investors have invested in their respective sectors before approaching them.  Once the research is conducted, potential founders can reach out to VC firms through networking events or online platforms like LinkedIn or directly through their websites.  Once the founders are connected to the VC firms and a meeting is arranged, they would be required to prepare a crisp pitch explaining the business plan, create an impact, and impress the investor in one meeting. How To Pitch For Venture Capital Funding? Following the MVP stage, founders can seek venture capital by preparing a to-the-point pitch to get venture

Petitions filed by startups such as Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, Aha, Stage, and Kutumb, among others, were dismissed While the HC is yet to take a call on Disney+ Hotstar and Testbook’s pleas, it observed thatthe dismissed pleas fell under the ambit of the CCI The Madras HC also rejected Google’s contention that the cases ought to have been filed in the jurisdiction of the tech major’s headquarters in California In a major blow to Indian startups, the Madras High Court (HC) on Friday (August 4) reportedly dismissed 14 of the 16 petitions filed by homegrown players against tech major Google’s new user choice billing (UCB) system.  As per Moneycontrol, pleas filed by startups such as Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, Aha, Stage, and Kutumb, among others, were dismissed. On the other hand, the court is yet to take a call on similar petitions submitted by Disney+ Hotstar and edtech platform Testbook.  The HC observed that the dismissed cases fell under the ambit of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), adding that the lawsuits filed by Indian startups were barred by Section 61 of the Competition Act. The HC noted that the remedies available under the Competition Act were ‘more comprehensive than that before a civil court’.  The HC observed that while any order passed by it on the pleas filed by the startups would only be applicable to parties that have challenged the policy, any directive passed by the competition watchdog would cover all concerned businesses.  The court said that the petitions filed by the startups were not maintainable and issued the order for dismissal of the pleas. Google had argued before the HC that the lawsuits filed by the Indian startups were not maintainable and a civil court could not adjudicate in such cases as they involved allegations of antitrust violations. However, the HC rejected Google’s contention that said that the cases ought to have been filed in the jurisdiction of the tech major’s headquarters in California.  “Competition Act enacted by Indian legislature with the sole aim of preventing practices having adverse effect on competition will be of no use (if such a request is entertained). The preamble to Competition Act reads that it is an Act to ensure freedom of trade carried on by participants in (the) Indian market. Freedom of trade is a fundamental right available to Indian Citizens under Article 19 of the Constitution of India,” said the HC order seen by Moneycontrol. Google Rejoices, Startups Seethe The order came as a blow to Indian startups. In the past, the Madras HC barred Google from delisting homegrown players from its Play Store for not complying with the tech major’s contentious UCB policy till the matter was decided.  Not just this, the HC had even directed the startups to pay a flat rate of 4% gross commissions to Google, against a slab of 11-26% in the new billing regime. The matter dates to October last year when the CCI slapped a fine of INR 936 Cr on Google for abusing its dominance in the app marketplace segment. The competition watchdog directed the company to undertake sweeping reforms in its operations in India, and flagged its Google Billing and Payments System (GBPS), which levied commissions in the range of 15-30% on developers and companies. Subsequently, Google unveiled a new commission structure, which offered a rebate of 4%, effectively setting the stage for 11-26% commission rates. Aggrieved by this, Indian startups approached the Delhi and Madras HCs and sought to keep the new payments system in abeyance till the CCI looked into the billing policy. With the Madras HC’s decision, the ball is yet again in the competition watchdog’s court.

The Madras High Court has reportedly dismissed 14 of the 16 pleas filed by Indian startups against Google‘s app billing policy. The court said in its ruling that it was a matter falling under the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Industry body Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) led the appeals against Google’s Play Store’s billing policy. Some of these companies include Matrimony.com, Shadi.com and Unacademy. The two pleas that have not been rejected so far have been filed by streaming player Disney+ Hotstar and exam preparation app Testbook. What the court order says In its order Justice S Sounthar observed that the Competition Act was enacted as a special law to deal with abuse of dominant position by enterprises in the Indian economy. “Special law will prevail over the general law,” Justice Sounthar said. Section 61 of Competition Act expressly barred the jurisdiction of a civil court in respect of the matters which fall within the jurisdiction of the CCI, the judge said.The court however rejected Google’s contention that the cases should be filed in California. The court noted that “Competition Act enacted by Indian legislature with the sole aim of preventing practices having adverse effect on competition will be of no use (if such a request is entertained). The preamble to Competition Act reads that it is an Act to ensure freedom of trade carried on by participants in the Indian market. Freedom of trade is a fundamental right available to Indian Citizens under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.”Why these startups had approached the courtThe companies had approached the high court after Google asked them to either adopt the company’s mandated billing route or face the risk of being removed from the Play Store. All the startups had filed complaints that Google’s actions are against the Payments and Settlements Act and Contracts Law. In May this year, Google announced that Google Play’s payments policy is compliant with the Indian watchdog’s order and it is moving ahead with plans to enforce the policy in the South Asian market, weeks after some developers sought to suspend Google’s in-app billing fee system alleging it was not compliant with the watchdog’s directive.“In 2020, we clarified the requirements of our Payments policy and developers in India have had considerable time to make the necessary changes to their apps. We’re respectfully following the CCI’s October 2022 order, and in compliance with that order, we expanded user choice billing to all developers in India and updated our policy that went into effect starting April 26, 2023,” the company wrote in a blog post.What the count decision means for these startupsThe court decision leaves these companies without the protection of the interim injunction from the court that had prevented Google from delisting their apps from its app store, Google Play. Also, these startups are apprehensive that both authorities (CCI and RBI) will be able to grant appropriate relief where a conjoint reading of all the laws is required.

In short, the tentacles of US tech firms are everywhere—vaccines, food, cancer research, psilocybin centers, criminal justice reform, homelessness—the list could reach the moon. (Speaking of the moon, how could we forget commercial spaceflight?) And the AI boom is likely to further expand tech firms’ power and riches. Yet on Capitol Hill, some powerful Republicans are focused on one goal: ensuring American AI dominance. On this front, Rubio generally sees any new regulation as a needless-to-harmful constraint on US technology giants and their AI experiments. One near-universal takeaway from the briefings is that America can’t afford to be number two. “You’re dealing with a technology that knows no national borders, so even if we write laws that say a company can’t do that in America, it doesn’t mean some company in some other part of the world or some government in other parts of the world won’t innovate that, and use it, and deploy it against the US,” Rubio says. Senator Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican and one of four senators who spearheaded the all-senators briefings, echoes this sentiment. “AI is gonna advance regardless of whether it happens here in the United States or elsewhere. We have to be advancing faster than our adversaries,” he says. “We have to advance it, but we also want to put in appropriate safeguards.” Specifics remain impossible to pin down in most corners of the Capitol. Lawmakers are still taking in the potential of new language learning models, like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, even as AI laps us all. Rounds maintains an openness to nebulous new parameters, on the one hand, but in a critical, fatherly way, he also faults Americans for signing over our data privacy. “Here’s the deal, we voluntarily give it away,” Rounds says. “People don’t seem to realize that when they sign these agreements, they’re giving up a lot of their personal information.” Recklessly handing over our data might be fine if it’s American tech companies that are grabbing it. But Rounds, like most lawmakers, decries the idea of giving our private data to Chinese-owned TikTok. It’s the one privacy matter everyone can agree on—excluding, perhaps, the 150 million US-based users the company claims to have. “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of concern about it by a significant amount of the American public, which is unfortunate because that’s helping to create the databases that eventually may be used against us,” Rounds says. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the others tried to steer the conversation around artificial intelligence clear of politics, AI now seems lodged in the age-old partisan debate that pits laissez-faire capitalism against Big Brother, which New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich says is regrettably shortsighted. “We failed to regulate the internet when it was regulatable, and Republicans and Democrats today—for the most part—are going, ‘Holy cow, we subjected our entire teenage population to this experiment, and it’s not serving us well.’ So I just don’t think it’s helpful to get hardened,” Heinrich says.

Three different malware strains are using tricky methods to trap users on the internet. According to a report by Kaspersky, three malware strains — DarkGate, Emotet, and LokiBot are using “intricate infection tactics” to steal user data. The security research company has explained how the ever-advancing cybersecurity landscape is being affected by “DarkGate’s unique encryption, Emotet‘s robust comeback and LokiBot exploits”. DarkGate malware strainIn June 2023, Kaspersky’s researchers discovered a new loader named DarkGate that has multiple features that go beyond typical downloader functionality. Some of the notable capabilities include hidden VNC, Windows Defender exclusion, browser history stealing, reverse proxy, file management and Discord token stealing. DarkGate’s operation involves a chain of four stages, designed to lead to the loading of the malware itself. This loader has a unique way of encrypting strings with personalised keys and a custom version of Base64 encoding, which utilises a special character set.Emotet malware strainEmotet is a botnet that resurfaced after it was taken down in 2021. The report also mentions that this malware’s activity has been recently recorded. In this latest campaign, users who unwittingly open the malicious OneNote files trigger the execution of a hidden and disguised VBScript. The script then attempts to download the harmful payload from various websites until successfully infiltrates the system. Once inside, Emotet plants a DLL in the temporary directory and then executes it. This DLL contains hidden instructions, or shellcode, along with encrypted import functions. By decrypting a specific file from its resource section, Emotet gains the upper hand, ultimately executing its malicious payload. LokiBot malware strainKaspersky has also detected a phishing campaign targeting cargo ship companies that delivered LokiBot. It is an info stealer malware which was first identified in 2016. LokiBot is designed to steal credentials from various apps, including browsers and FTP clients. These emails carried an Excel document attachment which prompted users to enable macros. The attackers exploited a known vulnerability (CVE-2017-0199) in Microsoft Office, leading to the download of an RTF document. This RTF document subsequently leveraged another vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882) to deliver and execute the LokiBot malware.

If you’ve been eyeing on buying a new AirPods, then it may be a good time to get one as the AirPods 2nd-generation is currently selling at lowest-ever price during the ongoing Great Freedom Sale. AirPods 2nd-generation is cheapest right nowDuring the ongoing sale, the AirPods has received a discount of Rs 5,901. The AirPods usually retails at Rs 14,900 and right now it can be purchased under Rs 10,000. In addition to this, buyers will also have the option to get additional discounts on bank cards. AirPods 2nd-generation: Discounted priceAfter the discount, the AirPods 2nd-generation is available for purchase at Rs 8,999. But, it can be purchased for as low as Rs 7,499 during the sale period by using ICICI bank card discount of up to Rs 1,500. Here’s the list of all the bank offers applicable on the purchase:10% Instant Discount up to Rs 1250 on SBI Credit Card Non-EMI Trxn. Min purchase value Rs 500010% Instant Discount up to Rs 1500 on SBI Credit Card EMI Trxn. Min purchase value Rs 5000Apple AirPods 2nd-generation: Specifications Aspect Details Sensors – Dual beam-forming microphones – Dual optical sensors – Motion-detecting accelerometer – Speech-detecting accelerometer Chip – H1 headphone chip Controls – Double-tap to play, skip forward or answer a phone call – Say “Hey Siri” for various actions Size and Weight (Each) Height: 40.5 mm (1.59 inches) Width: 16.5 mm (0.65 inches) Depth: 18.0 mm (0.71 inches) Weight: 4 grams (0.14 ounces) Height: 53.5 mm (2.11 inches) Width: 44.3 mm (1.74 inches) Depth: 21.3 mm (0.84 inches) Weight: 38.2 grams (1.35 ounces) Charging Case – Works with the Lightning connector Battery AirPods: – Up to 5 hours of listening time with a single charge – Up to 3 hours of talk time with a single charge AirPods with Lightning Charging Case: – More than 24 hours of listening time – Up to 18 hours of talk time – 15 minutes in the case provides up to 3 hours of listening time or up to 2 hours of talk time Connectivity – Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology In the Box – AirPods – Lightning Charging Case – Lightning to USB-A Cable – Documentation Accessibility – Live Listen audio – Headphone levels – Headphone Accommodations System Requirements – iPhone and iPod touch models with the latest version of iOS – iPad models with the latest version of iPadOS – Apple Watch models with the latest version of watchOS – Mac models with the latest version of macOS – Apple TV models with the latest version of tvOS