🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #209

Happy Friday! You're one step closer to the weekend!

#AIforSafety - India has a huge two-wheeler market… Like, 20.5 million units sold in 2024 alone! Anyway, this startup called BYTES is trying to make roads safer with AI-powered safety systems. They just launched a new system that predicts and prevents accidents. The first of its kind in India - an ADAS (popular in cars) for 2 wheelers.

Amazon Enters India's Quick Commerce Space
Amazon, a global e-commerce giant, has launched its quick commerce service, Amazon Now, in select pin codes of Bengaluru, promising 10-minute delivery, to compete with Blinkit, Zepto, and Flipkart Minutes, and plans to expand to more cities, scaling up operations with brands in beauty, home, and kitchen categories.

IIT Madras And ISRO Develop Indigenous Aerospace-grade Semiconductor Chip
IIT Madras is a top tech university in India and ISRO is India's space agency. They just developed a homegrown aerospace-grade semiconductor chip called 'IRIS' using RISC-V, an open-source architecture. This is huge for India's self-reliance in space tech and semiconductor technology. The chip was designed and made in India, with help from several Indian companies. It'll be used in ISRO's space missions and has potential for IoT and strategic computing applications.

Coinbase Eyes Return To India
Coinbase, a US-based crypto exchange, is working on re-entering India, a year after it stopped operations due to regulatory issues. The company is engaging with Indian authorities, including the Financial Intelligence Unit, to secure necessary approvals. This move follows a tumultuous history in India, where it previously launched and suspended services in 2022 due to informal pressure from the Reserve Bank of India.

Apple Allows Transfer Of Purchases Between Accounts
Apple has made it possible for users to move their purchased content from one Apple Account to a different one of their choosing. The change was revealed on Tuesday through a support document on the Apple website. The purchase transfer feature is intended for users who use two Apple Accounts for different features on their device.

Honda And Nissan Scrap $58 Billion Merger Talks
Honda and Nissan, two Japanese automakers, were in talks for a $58 billion merger but failed to agree on management and valuation. They'll now collaborate as strategic partners instead. Honda's doing well, but Nissan's struggling, with recent losses and a new turnaround plan involving job cuts and factory closures.

Telegram - Added improved sticker search with results from millions of stickers, video link timestamp sharing, customizable video covers, video editing features, and saved progress for videos, as well as a "Similar Bots" discovery feature.

YouTube - Added generative AI video features to Dream Screen, allowing creators to generate standalone video clips for Shorts using Google's Veo 2 video model.

Apple TV+ - Added ability to subscribe to Apple TV+ through the Android and Google TV apps using Google's payment system.

Unpic Img | Multi-framework responsive image component

System Design Primer | Learn how to design large-scale systems. Prep for the system design interview. Includes Anki flashcards.

Slidev | Presentation Slides for Developers

AI Stifling Innovation
The integration of AI models in developer workflows may be hindering the adoption of new technologies due to training data cutoffs and system prompt influence, creating a "knowledge gap" that favors established technologies like React and Tailwind, and discourages the use of newer frameworks and tools.

YouTube Privacy Breach
A security researcher discovered a vulnerability in YouTube's live chat feature that allows anyone to obtain a user's Google account identifier (Gaia ID) by simply clicking the three dots next to their name in live chat and eventually accessing their email address, potentially affecting 4 billion YouTube channels.