🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #61

Sending you positive vibes this Tuesday morning!

#RemoteWorkRevoked - HCL Technologies India has made on-premises attendance a condition of eligibility for leave. Indian labor org has condemned the move as draconian and illegal.

#WeToldYouSo - Microsoft is apparently whining that the CrowdStrike fiasco would not have happened if the European Union had not passed a law a decade ago forcing Microsoft to allow third party software access to the Windows kernel.

#AdMoney - Somebody did the math. The latest AI model gpt-4o mini from OpenAI is apparently very cheap - enough to use it to generate content for your website, setup Ads on it and then get enough returns to justify paying OpenAI.

#ZuckVsGoogle - Meta is planning to shell out billions to snag a major stake in EssilorLuxottica (RayBan sunglasses owner), but it seems Google is trying to steal the show by proposing its AI assistant for smart glasses

#GamingGossip - Microsoft and Marvel Studios are joining up for yet another promotional Xbox Wireless Controller. The Xbox Cheeky Controller was unveiled a week ago, and was "modeled after Deadpool’s much-discussed, perfectly rounded tush".

WazirX, India’s Cryptocurrency Trading Platform, Halts Trading
WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has “temporarily” suspended all trading activities on its platform. The move comes days after the firm lost about $230 million in a security breach, attributed to hackers from North Korea

The streaming war in India
Disney+ Hotstar saw its monthly active user (MAU) share surge by 17 percentage points to 46% in June. This propelled Hotstar to within 3 percentage points of its 49% peak achieved during the ICC Cricket World Cup in November 2023. JioCinema, which had enjoyed a significant boost during the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, saw its fortunes reverse sharply.

Swiggy Minis Pivots
Swiggy Minis, a Shopify-like platform for small businesses, is pivoting to become a link-in-bio service, allowing service providers like nutritionists and fitness trainers to create a landing page. They can add integrations with Google Calendar for booking and Google Reviews for ratings. No more discovery layer, sellers need to promote themselves on social media. This move is expected to help repeat purchases. Swiggy will focus on repeat customers, citing better conversion rates.

Color Thief | Grab the color palette from an image using just Javascript. Works in the browser and in Node.

Nextra | Simple, powerful and flexible site generation framework with everything you love from Next.js.

Effective Data Storytelling for Engineers
As an engineer, you look at data a lot. But you don't just look at data - you present it to drive decisions. Presenting data effectively can influence outcomes. Here are 3 biggest lessons learned about using data to influence outcomes, including how to compare numbers, providing context, and avoiding number overload.

Rise and Fall Of Software Developer Jobs
Demand for software developers has plunged from the boom times of 2021 and 2022. There was a pandemic hiring frenzy for these roles. Workers were fielding multiple calls a day from recruiters and naming their price when it came to salary. Now, companies are slower to hire now and less willing to expand headcount.

Amazon's Logo Evolution
Amazon's logo has evolved over three decades. The retailer's first logo featured a stylised 'A' logo mark with a winding river above a simple sans serif wordmark. In 1997, Amazon briefly adopted a logo reminiscent of the excesses in late '90s design trends. 1998 marked a pivotal year in Amazon's evolving brand journey.

Google Vids
Google introduces Vids, an AI-powered video creation app, deeply integrated with Workspace, allowing users to build narratives with high-quality templates and royalty-free stock content.