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Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Ant Group

Jack Ma’s Ant Group Wins Approval for $1.5 Billion Capital Raise

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The government-ordered makeover of the financial technology company is progressing after Chinese regulators accepted a plan by billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. to fund 10.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) for its consumer unit.

Ant Group
Image Source: forbes.com

A bid by billionaire Jack Ma‘s Ant Group to raise 10.5 billion yuan for its consumer division was authorized by Chinese regulators, signifying headway in the government-ordered reorganization of the financial tech firm.

According to a notice published on December 30, the Chongqing branch of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission approved the company’s intention to increase its capital to 18.5 billion yuan.

An entity held by the city of Hangzhou would hold 10% of the company’s shares after the deal, making it the second-largest shareholder behind Ant, which committed 5.25 billion yuan as part of the plan.

The deal removes a significant barrier for Ant as it works to satisfy regulatory requirements in the wake of a crackdown on its operations following the failure of its big initial public offering in 2020. Ant is still trying to receive a financial holding license that will oversee it more like a bank. Chinese officials have curbed shadow banking over the past few years to lower economic risk.

The approval is another indication that Beijing is easing its position on its enormous internet sector, which has historically been a major driver of growth as the second-largest economy in the world struggles.

Authorities granted approval for the largest group of brand-new major game releases in months last week, enabling Tencent Holdings to restock a pipeline that had been depleted by the crackdown.

After the Ant news broke and the Hang Seng Tech Index continued its uptrend to gain 3.3%, shares of Ma’s Alibaba increased by as high as 7.7%. While Baidu Inc. rose by 6%, Tencent increased by over 4%. According to Leon Qi of Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd., “we view it as a signal on Ant’s regulatory rectification wrap-up.”

Once the funding is finished, he predicted that the consumer division will be able to manage 1.1 trillion yuan in loans. Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment & Supply Co. and Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. are two additional recent investors.

The consumer finance division combines Huabei and Jiebei, Ant’s two most successful online lending businesses. A previous attempt to increase capital to 30 billion yuan has been toned back and is now included in the present plan.

One of China’s bad-debt managers, Cinda Asset Management, canceled a deal to invest 6 billion yuan for a 20% interest in the market leader in consumer financing last year without providing a rationale.

Jack Ma has kept a quiet profile since Ant’s IPO was put on hold. Alibaba reaffirmed that Ma “intends to reduce and thereafter limit his direct and indirect economic interest in Ant Group over time” to a level that does not exceed 8.8%” in a filing in July.

Afeela

CES 2023: Sony and Honda reveal Afeela, their joint EV brand

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According to Sony Honda Mobility Inc., its electric vehicle will debut under the brand Afeela. This marks the newest entry in a market already packed with established players like Tesla Inc.

Afeela
Image Source: techcrunch.com

Yasuhide Mizuno, chief executive officer of Sony Honda Mobility, revealed the first prototype of the project during Sony’s CES press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The Afeela prototype was unveiled by Sony and Honda over a year after the two companies announced their intentions to jointly produce and market electric automobiles.

The four-door sedan was demonstrated on stage as Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida discussed the company’s mobility strategy, which places an emphasis on creating automobiles with autonomous features and the ability to turn into “moving entertainment spaces.”

According to the CEO of Sony, the Afeelas’ first preorders will take place during the initial half of 2025, and sales will start the following year. Buyers in North America will receive the first shipments in the spring of 2026.

The new EV will initially be produced at Honda’s North American factory and will have Level 3 automated driving features under certain restrictions, according to prior statements from Sony and Honda. In a vehicle with level 3 autonomy, the driver can still operate the vehicle in congested areas, but only when the system explicitly requests it.

The incorporation of external media on the front of the car, which enables it to communicate with other drivers and transmit critical information, was one of the new design aspects that Sony presented at the event.

The prototype is also outfitted with 45 cameras and sensors both inside and outside the car to assure security. To avoid accidents, the in-cabin sensors will keep track of the driver’s condition.

As per Yoshida, CEO of Sony, Afeela will also offer top-notch entertainment to its patrons. The Sony-Honda JV will use the 3D computer graphics game engine Unreal Engine from Epic Games in its automobiles to help envision not only entertainment in cars but also connectivity and safety.

CEO Yoshida noted, “In addition to movies, games, and music, we envision a new in-cabin experience using our expertise in UX and UI technologies.”

The Snapdragon digital chassis from Qualcomm, along with its system-on-a-chip technology, will be the foundation for Afeela cars. Through the continual inclusion of games and other improvements over the period of owning one of its vehicles, Tesla Inc. has established the benchmark for connected vehicle experiences.

Together with electronics companies’ expertise in entertainment, networking, and sensors, Sony, Honda, and numerous European manufacturers, including Volkswagen AG, are now striving to accelerate the development of intelligent electric vehicles.

According to Epic Games Chief Technology Officer Kim Libreri, the company would collaborate with Sony Honda to “deliver connected automotive experiences that lead the way not only in visual communication and safety but also entertainment.”

Dark Sky

Apple officially shuts down popular iOS weather app ‘Dark Sky’

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The well-known weather application Dark Sky has been officially discontinued by Apple. The Cupertino-based tech giant bought Dark Sky in April 2020. The company removed the weather app from the App Store in September 2020, and all of its users have since been unable to use it.

Dark Sky
Image Source: newsachieve.com

Following its acquisition, Apple quickly discontinued the Wear OS and Android versions of Dark Sky and announced it would no longer accept registrations for Dark Sky’s API, which had given access to the company’s database of weather predictions and historical weather data to third-party app developers.

Later, it announced that the iOS application would be discontinued at the same time as the API service, postponing its closure only until the end of 2022.

The Weather app that comes pre-installed on iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices now contains a number of Dark Sky’s features thanks to Apple’s acquisition of the company in 2020. The Dark Sky components have been incorporated into Apple Weather.

For the current location, Apple Weather offers hyperlocal forecasts, notifications, high-resolution radar, hourly weather predictions for the upcoming 10 days, and next-hour precipitation.

Precipitation, quality of air, and temperature are just a few of the overlays that are available for the maps; to switch between them, tap on the bottom button on the top-right side of the map view.

Apple boasts that several of Dark Sky’s capabilities “have been integrated into Apple Weather” in the support guide. The remainder of the support guide is devoted to instructing Dark Sky users on how to use the Apple Weather app’s capabilities and interface.

Apple explains the app’s functionality in detail, including how to utilize the maps, handle notifications, and more. Despite Apple’s assurances, some customers aren’t sure Apple Weather is a good alternative to Dark Sky. Several Dark Sky users claim that Apple Weather still lags behind Dark Sky in a recent Reddit thread.

Recent sources claim that Apple is working on new iPad Pro variants. According to MacRumours, the two new OLED iPad Pro models should start selling within the first quarter of 2024.

The corporation intends to launch the new iPad Mini concurrently with the new iPad Pro models in early 2024, the source added. If that the story is true, Apple will for the first time increase the screen size of iPad Pro models.

It is believed that the company may reduce the bezel size in order to achieve the aforementioned screen size. Apple updated its 11-inch and 12.3-inch iPad Pro models in October 2022 by giving them the most recent M2 CPU.

Since the release of iOS 16, Apple has also made its WeatherKit subscriptions available. The company noted that developers can now access this weather information in apps created for iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, tvOS 16, and watchOS 9 using a platform-specific Swift API and for other portals using a REST API.

According to the corporation, developers can use the Account tab in the Apple Developer app to upgrade for additional calls or downgrade at any time.

FTX

Bahamas authorities seized $3.5 billion in FTX assets

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The Bahamas’ securities regulator revealed on Thursday that it had on November 12 confiscated $3.5 billion in digital assets belonging to FTX Digital Market. 

FTX
Image Source: businessinsider.com

The watchdog confirmed the exact amount seized from FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, in a media release late on Thursday. It also stated that the monies were transferred into its own digital wallets “for safekeeping.” The regulator previously acknowledged that it was in possession of some of FTX’s digital assets, but it did not say how much.

According to the commission, the monies were worth more than $3.5 billion based on market rates at the time of transfer. The transfer happened on November 12, the day following FTX’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in the United States. The money is being kept “temporarily,” according to the Bahamian Securities Commission until the Bahamas Supreme Court orders it to be given to clients, creditors, or estate liquidators.

The regulator claimed that it withdrew the money after learning about cyberattacks on the Bahamian unit of FTX from discredited co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Following FTX’s bankruptcy filing, the company was allegedly the subject of a breach that resulted in the theft of $477 million from its cryptocurrency wallets.

The perpetrator’s identity is yet unknown. The Bahamian regulator has come under fire for its part in the demise of FTX and related litigation actions. The commission sought to manage FTX’s bankruptcy procedures in the Bahamas.

The move was opposed by FTX’s American attorneys, who claimed in a filing on November 17 that the regulator worked with Bankman-Fried to get “unauthorized access” to FTX systems in order to transfer digital assets to its own possession. 

The Bahamian regulator responded by calling the allegations “inaccurate” and stating that it moved the funds to safeguard the interests of investors and clients. Bankman-Fried, 30, who was formerly the CEO of FTX, was detained in the Bahamas before being extradited to the US, where he is currently awaiting trial on accusations of fraud, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the US, and conspiracy to break campaign finance rules.

His parents, who are both Stanford law professors, agreed to sign a $250 million recognizance bond and pledge their California house as security in exchange for his release. According to news sources, two additional friends who had substantial assets also signed. After posting a $250 million bond, he was freed last week.

Michael Lewis, the author of “The Big Short,” has reportedly been visiting him at his parents’ California home. On January 3 in federal court in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried is anticipated to be charged and enter a plea. 

The SEC alleges in its civil complaint, “Bankman-Fried was orchestrating a massive, yearslong fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire.”

The announcements made by the Bahamian regulator are favorable for FTX’s clients and creditors, but it is uncertain whether they will receive their money right away since the bankruptcy of FTX is being handled in the United States in accordance with American law while the company is being liquidated in the Bahamas. 

amazon

Amazon planning a standalone app for sports content

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According to a source with firsthand knowledge of the project, Amazon is developing a stand-alone app for streaming sports material, the Information stated on Wednesday. 

Amazon
Image Source: techjuice.pk

Amazon Inc. is planning to create a standalone streaming platform that is exclusively focused on sports after experiencing tremendous success in the video streaming sector.

One of the main draws for cable TV consumers who are switching to streaming platforms in sports. This explains why there is fierce competition among streaming services for the sports streaming market. As more Americans migrate from pay TV memberships to streaming apps, sports continue to be one of the tops draws for live viewing.

The action will probably go hand in hand with Amazon’s efforts to increase its focus on sports content via its Prime Video service, a crucial avenue for luring customers to its e-commerce platform. 

At the moment, sports coverage is covered by an Amazon Prime Video subscription, which costs $14.99 USD each month. According to the source, Amazon would either keep offering the same package price or start charging customers a separate monthly subscription to receive sports content.

The business last year successfully negotiated an 11-year contract for the only media rights to the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football,” which will start in 2023. 

In order to better compete with the leader in sports streaming, Walt Disney Co., Amazon already has the rights to stream events like the National Football League’s Thursday Night Football franchise and Premier League soccer matches in the UK.

A multi-year agreement to exclusively stream the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package of events in the United States was also signed last week by YouTube, a division of Alphabet Inc. 

According to the article, it was unclear when Amazon would launch the sports app or if it would proceed with the plan. To meet growing costs and a decline in demand as individuals and businesses cut down on spending due to inflation anxiety, the corporation has been examining unproductive business segments and has laid off some employees. 

The development of a stand-alone sports app by Amazon suggests that the business is looking to explore new avenues for monetizing its live sports investments.

It wouldn’t be shocking if the firm intended to charge a separate membership price for sports coverage with this separate app given the high costs of streaming rights.

Additionally, Amazon can choose to provide a different subscription tier with access to its sports content.

Since other tech behemoths have also signed sports streaming agreements, Amazon isn’t the only significant corporation seeking to maintain its investment in live sports programming.

In a historic streaming deal last week, Google’s YouTube acquired the NFL Sunday Ticket. The rights to Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer games, on the other hand, have been acquired by Apple. 

Walt Disney Co. currently dominates the sports streaming business, but once Amazon enters the space with its resources, we should expect some fierce competition. 

robotaxi

Baidu gets license for driverless robotaxi tests in Beijing

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On Friday, Baidu Inc. said that it had received the first license to test autonomous cars on Beijing’s roads and that it would expand its network of robotaxi by 200 in the upcoming year.

robotaxi
Image Source: yahoo.com

The startup Pony. ai, which is sponsored by Toyota Motor Corp. and Baidu Inc., announced on Friday that it had been given the first permits to test completely autonomous vehicles in Beijing without the use of safety controllers as a backup.

As a first step toward providing commercial robotaxi services in the Chinese capital, Baidu and Pony.ai said that they would each start testing 10 autonomous vehicles in a technological park built by the Beijing government.

Over the last five years, Beijing-based Baidu, which derives the majority of its earnings from its online search engine, has concentrated on self-driving technologies in an effort to diversify. Last year, it began charging for its robotaxi service Apollo Go.

A robotaxi journey is expected to eventually cost approximately half as much as a trip in a commercial vehicle with a driver, according to the prediction.

In the upcoming year, the company announced that it would expand its network of robotaxis in China by 200 more.

Apollo Go, which runs without a safety driver in Wuhan and Chongqing, provided a total of 1.4 million driverless rides at the end of the third quarter, according to Baidu. In Guangzhou, where it runs a taxi service, rival Pony.ai, which has operations in both China and the US, has been developing autonomous drive systems.

Additionally, it is testing self-driving cars in Arizona and California while using safety drivers as a backup. Despite the aggressive implementation timetable expected a few years ago, manufacturers outside of China have backed off, and regulatory barriers have emerged, even as Chinese companies strive for self-driving cars.

Three years after CEO Elon Musk said the business was on schedule to produce a fleet of a million robotaxis, Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” technology needs a human behind the wheel who is prepared to take charge.

Due to claims that its electric vehicles can run themselves, Tesla is currently the subject of a criminal probe in the US. The robotaxi division of General Motors Co, Cruise, has announced intentions to expand its service throughout San Francisco and other American cities and to add thousands of automated cars in the upcoming year.

Following incidents in which the vehicles braked improperly or were immobilized, U.S. auto safety officials announced earlier this month that they had launched a safety inquiry into the autonomous driving system utilized by Cruise.

After determining that the mass implementation of a commercial automated drive system would require more money and time than the companies anticipated when they joined together in 2019, Ford Motor and Volkswagen AG closed down their collaborative self-driving company, Argo AI, in October.

A fault led to a test vehicle colliding with a traffic median in California, according to an informal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety, and Pony.ai agreed to fix a version of its automated driving software in the US in March.