Tech, Society + Business Daily #002
🔮 Business model, culture & perception: Why all the three matter
For all the technological progress made in the last several decades, we still haven’t solved some of our most pressing healthcare problems. Crunching data can help. But, there is a huge resistance to let tech meet data, especially in the healthcare sector. Health data is sensitive, and privacy matters. So, whenever there’s news about tech companies accessing health data, it triggers paranoia. It was Google’s turn to trigger it today. WSJ reports that Google is accessing a wide range of patient data, including names and diagnoses from Ascension, a non-profit hospital system that spans 2600 hospitals in 21 states in the US. Doctors and patients weren’t informed. Google has done nothing illegal. Nor is Google alone in doing this. (Google’s response.) Why are we worried? Google’s business model is about harvesting data and making money through ads. The company’s culture is Google-engineer friendly than user-friendly. And, tech companies have given enough reasons for people to be worried about their data.
Meanwhile, India is still struggling to pass a data protection law.
📰 News
“BERT is one of many universal language models used in industry and academia… They learn the nuances of language by analyzing enormous amounts of text… (and) pick up bias. (It) is more likely to associate the word “programmer” with men than with women.” (NYTimes)
Apple is aiming to release an augmented-reality headset in 2022 and a sleeker pair of AR glasses by 2023 (Information)
Twitter will warn about deep fakes, but might not remove the posts. (Twitter)
Amazon spends a record $1.5 million to get pro-business candidates elected to Seattle City Council - and fails. (Reuters)
After Shopclues exit, the fight is now between Paytm Mall and Snapdeal for the third place in Indian e-commerce space. Snapdeal lost ₹186 crore in FY19, while Paytm Mall lost ₹1,171.44 crore. (Mint)
India’s telecom regulator TRAI is looking at set-top box/cable interoperability. Today, you can’t use a set-top box from a different service provider on your cable to watch TV. (BL)
📊 Numbers
India’s IT spend expected to reach $94 billion in 2020 (up 6.6%). Breakup: Devices: $35.5B, Communications services $29.8B, IT Services $17.9B, Software $7B & Data Center Systems $3.8B. (Gartner)
Smartphone companies ship 46.6 million units in 3Q19. Marketshare: Xiaomi 27.1%, Samsung 18.9%, vivo 15.2%, realme 14.3%, OPPO 11.8%, Others 12.7% (IDC)