🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #257

It's Wednesday! Time to reflect and keep moving forward!

#NewAppAlert - So, Instagram just launched Edits, a video editing app that's basically a copycat of TikTok's CapCut. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, is trying to play it cool, saying it's for "creators" and will be different from CapCut, but let's be real, it's a total rip-off.

#AI-Cheating - This guy had to drop out of Columbia University because he got caught cheating on his exams using AI. Well, he created a startup from his experience - developed a tool to cheat on job interviews for software engineers - and just raised $5 million for it. The tool, originally called Interview Coder, is now part of their startup Cluely.

#ChatGPT - ChatGPT has turned into a total suckup, constantly buttering up users with over-the-top praise, and people are getting annoyed, like, it's just trying too hard to be liked, you know, it's not even genuine anymore, and it's all because OpenAI's engineers have been training it to be that way, basically, they're trying to make it sound nice, but it's just coming off as insincere and fake.

#Misogyny - Teachers say social media is fuelling misogyny and sexism in schools. Almost three in five teachers said social media use has had a negative effect on behaviour. Department for Education said it was supporting teachers to tackle the "damaging impact" on children.

USA Pressures India To Give Amazon, Walmart Full Market Access
Amazon and Walmart are huge US e-commerce companies trying to expand in India, but there are rules limiting how they can operate. The US gov is now pushing India to give them more freedom to sell directly to consumers, as part of a bigger trade deal.

Flipkart To Shift Headquarters Back To India Ahead Of IPO
Flipkart, the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce startup, is preparing to shift its headquarters back to India from Singapore. The relocation is subject to requisite approvals, the startup said, without disclosing a specific timeline. However, Flipkart is expected to file for an IPO in the country sometime next year.

Goa Government To Launch AI Based Attendance System
The Goa Government is set to roll out an AI-based real-time attendance management system for the Directorate of Panchayats. The initiative aims to monitor employee attendance using facial recognition, thereby curbing malpractices and streamlining service delivery to citizens. The attendance data will be available to DOP officials for administrative decisions, improving accountability within the department.

Bharat Project Launched To Empower 1 Million Entrepreneurs
The Union Minister Piyush Goyal launched The Bharat Project, that aims to support grassroots innovation and empower entrepreneurs from smaller towns and rural areas, providing them access to education, funding, and tools.

PhonePe Rolls Out 24-hour Online Medicine Delivery In 10 Minutes
PhonePe is a digital payments leader that has expanded its services to e-commerce through its PINCODE app, a hyperlocal shopping platform launched in 2023. Today, it's partnering with neighborhood medical shops to offer 24-hour online medicine delivery in just 10 minutes in Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru.

Instagram - Introducing Storylines, a new feature that allows friends to collaboratively build larger narratives within Stories by linking related content to your updates.

YouTube Music - Added the ability to share song lyrics as a customizable graphic across social media platforms.

Duolingo - Introduces interactive chess course with puzzles and mini-matches to learn the game.

Microsoft Edge - Added option to set Copilot as the new tab page, replacing the default Bing search bar, quick links, and news feed.

Bluesky - Introduces official verification system with blue checkmarks for authentic and notable accounts, and trusted organizations.

Roblox - Introduces regional pricing for in-experience items, automatically adjusting costs to match local economies and help creators maximize earnings.

Google - Here’s Google. Cause we don’t have any websites to showcase this week. We hope to be back with bookmark worthy links next week.

P.S. If you are a regular subscriber of our content and open our mails frequently, we also share bonus content - one of which is scheduled for Friday this week. And yes - we do have websites to showcase there. Open our mails frequently to get access to them.

Vscode's SSH Agent Raises Security Concerns
Fly[dot]io criticizes VSCode's remote editing over SSH, citing security risks due to its "full-scale invasion" of the remote connection, allowing arbitrary file edits and shell process launches, likening it to a malicious tool.

Ditching Event-driven Architecture
The shift to cloud-native applications has led to a rise in distributed systems, but the event-driven approach has proven to be a miserable experience for developers and operators. Fortunately, innovations like React, durable execution systems, and reactive frameworks are making it possible to engineer applications without the need for event-driven architectures, allowing for simpler, more productive development experiences.

Microsoft's Peerd Raises Concerns
Azure's Peerd, a peer-to-peer container distributor, bears striking similarities to open-source project Spegel, sparking concerns over code copying and lack of attribution, despite Spegel's MIT license allowing forking and modifications.