🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #183

Happy Thursday! You've got this - let's make today count!

It’s Tech Talks Thursday! Our new section that deals with tech sessions and presentations that cover a wide range of topics in the tech world. Scroll further below to check it out.

#ChinaVCs - VCs are trying to claw back their investments in failed startups by pursuing the personal assets of their founders in court. This is resulting in some Chinese founders owing millions of dollars to their investors and ending up on debtor blacklists. China's VCs are going after failed startup founders' personal assets, leaving them owing millions and blacklisted - talk about a total career killer, and it's only getting worse with the government crackdown on tech.

H&M India Moves Headquarters To Bengaluru
H&M (Swedish fast fashion retailer) is shifting its India headquarters from Delhi to Bengaluru to tap into the city's e-commerce and fashion tech ecosystem, amid increasing competition and declining profits in the Indian market.

India Launches Public Consultation For AI Regulatory Framework
India has launched a public consultation to undertake the development of an AI for India-Specific Regulatory Framework. A multi-stakeholder Advisory Group led by India’s principal scientific advisor has been tasked with shaping the framework. Key issues include whether AI-generated works qualify for copyright protection, amid concerns around innovation and accountability.

Swiggy Launches Snacc, A 15-minute Food Delivery App To Take On Zomato
Swiggy is a popular Indian food delivery platform, think of UberEats or GrubHub, and they just launched a new app called SNACC, that delivers quick bites, beverages, and meals in just 15 minutes, directly competing with Zomato's latest 15-minute delivery service.

South Park Commons Launches India-specific Fund
South Park Commons is a Silicon Valley collective of engineers, founders, and researchers founded by Ruchi Sanghvi, Facebook's first female engineer. They're now raising a $40 million India-specific fund, six months after entering the South Asian market, to back early-stage startups, focusing on the "pre-fundraise" stage and offering two programs for entrepreneurs and founders.

Telegram Under Scrutiny
Telegram is a messaging app known for its security features and user anonymity. Just recently, it was reported that the company has seen a significant rise in the number of data demands it fulfilled from law enforcement agencies, handing over phone numbers and IP addresses of thousands of users, a notable shift from its previous stance on user data privacy.

BMW Unveils Panoramic iDrive, A Revamped in-car User Interface
BMW (German multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles) is revamping its in-car user interface, Panoramic iDrive, featuring a widget-based system, windshield projection, and voice control, aiming to enhance the driving experience while reducing physical buttons.

Android Quick Share - Introduces QR code-based sharing, allowing users to transfer files between Android devices by scanning a generated QR code.

Nodejs v23 - Runs TypeScript files without extra configuration, stripping types with swc and executing resulting code.

Pixel 4a - New battery management features that may reduce battery life and charging performance added to improve device stability

Instagram - Introduction of AI-powered video editing feature allowing users to modify video aspects using simple text prompts.

What Is This OpenTelemetry Thing? - OpenTelemetry is the second most popular project from the CNCF, after Kubernetes, but what is it? In this talk, the presenter covers where OpenTelemetry comes from, what problem it's solving, and then into the components that make up OpenTelemetry.

DuckDB: Crunching Data Anywhere, From Laptops to Servers - This talk discusses DuckDB's key building blocks and demonstrates how it can handle hundreds of GBs of data on a laptop, or terabytes of data on a single server.

Exploring Vector Databases With Pinecone And Openai
What are vector databases? This tutorial will guide you through building a simple script that searches a set of recipes using vector databases, Pinecone, and OpenAI embeddings. You'll learn how vector databases differ from traditional SQL-style tables, how to generate embeddings with OpenAI, and store and semantically query data with ease.

Rise Of AI: Why Soft Skills Are Key To A Developer's Survival
As AI-generated code improves, developers who only write code risk redundancy. Expanding your skill set beyond coding, specifically in soft skills like communication, organization, and decision-making, is crucial for career growth. These life skills are essential for becoming a truly great developer.

Htmx Embracing Stability
HTMX, formerly intercooler.js, aims to emulate jQuery's success by prioritizing stability, backwards compatibility, and ease of use. The library will focus on quarterly releases with minimal new features, instead opting for stability and support for extensions.