đź Big Tech's fight to take over classrooms
Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller, in an interview to Cnet, took shots at Google Chromebook. He said,
Kids who are really into learning and want to learn will have better success. Itâs not hard to understand why kids arenât engaged in a classroom without applying technology in a way that inspires them. You need to have these cutting-edge learning tools to help kids really achieve their best results.
Yet Chromebooks donât do that. Chromebooks have gotten to the classroom because, frankly, theyâre cheap testing tools for required testing. If all you want to do is test kids, well, maybe a cheap notebook will do that. But theyâre not going to succeed." (His clarification on Twitter)
There have bigger concerns about Google's inroads into schools. A New York Times story last year explored both its motives (âIf you get someone on your operating system early, then you get that loyalty early, and potentially for lifeâ) and concerns (data collection and privacy implications, and whether schools really get as much as they give). Full story here.
Big Tech firms will learn a lot from Kentaro Toyamaâs key insight after working to take tech to society during his time in India a co-founder of Microsoft Research Labs.
"In project after project, the lesson was the same: information technology amplified the intent and capacity of human and institutional stakeholders, but it didn't substitute for their deficiencies."
With respect to schools, Toyama had this to say.
"In several projects to design educational technology for schools, we found that teacher and administrator attitudes were the real keys to success."
Full story here. (He expanded on these ideas in his book Geek Heresy)
đ° News/Views
Softbank lays down an IPO within five years as a condition for funding Paytm (One97). Paytm is raising $1 billion ($150-20m from T Rowe Price and rest from SoftBank and Ant Financial person. FY19 Revenue Rs 3,319 crore (Rs 3,229 crore in FY18), Net Loss Rs 3,959.6 crore (Rs 1,490 crore) (ET)
Reserve Bank of India's technical specifications for Account Aggregators is out. (RBI)
Banking on tech to reach Bharat (Sahil Kini/Mint)
Github stores the world's open-source software in an ice cave for safekeeping (Bloomberg)
Nike will stop selling its sneakers and athletic gear directly to Amazon (AP)
How developing countries can most benefit from new technologies (Pathways for Prosperity Commission)
đ Numbers
Disney has crossed 10 million subscribers (Netflix has 158 million. (TC)
Facebook received 128,617 demands for user data from governments across the world during the first half of this year, up 16% from the second half of last year. (Facebook)
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