The Signal Brief

Microsoft has let go of its ethics and society team within the AI division. Now the tech company finds itself without a designated squad to ensure that its AI principles are woven into product design even as it plans to make AI tools more accessible to the general public. Are big tech companies more focused on growth and taking market share from competitors than on responsible innovation? In other...

Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown has caused some serious trouble. The latest casualty of this financial upheaval is Signature Bank, a prominent institution based in New York, which was forced to close its doors on Sunday.   In other news, Academy Awards are back! This year, Netflix had 16 nominations across all categories, and took home six Oscars including Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga's Netfl...

Campa Cola — the homegrown fizzy drink of India is making a timely comeback with cola, lemon and orange flavours! But can it beat Pepsi and Coke which together command 80% of India's market share? Listen in to know more! In other news, we are talking about Silicon Valley Bank's abrupt collapse last week, leaving its high-profile customers and investors in a state of flux. It is the second-largest...

If you are a content creator looking to expand your engagement, maybe you should try dubbing your videos in different languages. That's what some top YouTubers are doing to tap into a wider audience and simultaneously increase monetisation on the same video. In other news, “blunder” seems to be the theme of Musk's leadership at Twitter. The platform encountered its third technical snag within a mo...

Women's cricket is finally catching up up in India. A significant shift occurred when India defeated the formidable Australian team in the 2017 World Cup semi-final in England. Cut to 2023, Women's Premier League is the new talk of the town. To understand the this transformation better, we interviewed Jaideep Vaidya, our in-house sports expert, and author of the sports and gaming newsletter, The P...

After years and years of negotiation, UN member states have finally agreed on a treaty to protect open oceans from exploitation. This pact, which is called the High Seas Treaty wants to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Why is this being hailed as a landmark move? Also in this podcast, we take a look at India’s booming wedding industry.  Tune in to this episode of The Signal Daily! See om...

Elon Musk's third ‘Master Plan’ for Tesla was a bit of a letdown for investors. So, Musk revealed that the company is going full throttle on its mission to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and promote sustainable energy worldwide. But, there was no sign of a new car.  In other news, Blinkit is all set to challenge Urban Company in the app-based at-home services sector. Do you think it will succee...

India reported the warmest February since 1901. Unlike the cool Februaries of the past decades, the average maximum temperature in the month this year soared to as high as 29.5 degrees across the country.  In other news, we are talking about the IPL viewership war between Viacom18 and Disney Star. Both the networks are vying to keep IPL free for the masses.  Tune in to The Signal Daily to know mor...

Alphabet's shareholders are concerned about Google.  In fact, even technology experts believe that Google's leadership style of its CEO, Sundar Pichai, are having a negative impact on the company. In other news, the Indian government has decided that anti-tobacco warnings and disclaimers aren't enough to deter smoking. And hence, new amendments proposed to film-making rules will require filmmakers...

On 17 February, it was reported that Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, and Roald Dahl's estate collaborated with Inclusive Minds a collective that is passionate about inclusion, to remove "offensive language" from certain Roald Dahl classics that are in circulation in the UK. In other news,  Just last week, Ola, Uber, and Rapido hit a major roadblock as the Delhi Transport Departme...

Telecom company Nokia's new budget phone — Nokia G22 comes with its own repair kit. This DIY-friendly phone allows users to replace the battery in under five minutes. Is this going to be a game changer in the smartphone market?  Also in today's episode, we talk about how Indian fintech firm Paytm may just be making its way towards a deal with telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal to merge Airtel Payments Ba...

A century-old sport, Korfball, is now starting to gain popularity globally. The fact that Korfball is a co-ed sport, in which men and women compete equally, is one thing that makes it unique. In other news, today marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 365 days of war and yet no end in sight. Tune in to The Signal Daily, to know further details! And for the Friday Segment,...

While Twitter has been having a hard time trying to get users to buy its blue ticks for $8 a month, people are more than happy to pay for Tumblr's double blue ticks purely for the value of its parody. In other news, Walmart International's operating income took a hit in the last three months to January 31, dropping from around $800 million in the same period last year to just $300 million. The rea...

The UK conducted the largest four-day work week trial in the world last year. Between June and December 2022, about 2,900 employees from 61 companies voluntarily took part in this trial. And the results are actually quite encouraging!  In other news, the terrorist attacks of 2015 in Paris and 2017 in Istanbul have reared their ugly head. This time, to target Big Tech. Two important cases are now c...

After the pandemic lull, the great Indian vacation seems to be back on track. Just in the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal, people spent a whopping $10 billion on international trips.  In other news, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is launching a new paid subscription service called Meta Verified.  Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more!  You can listen to this show an...

There’s a bidding war for Manchester United! Two contenders are ready to throw in some serious cash to claim ownership of the iconic football club. Who do you think will win?  In other news, Pakistan’s bad days are far from over. The country’s Defense minister Khawaja Asif has gone on to declare that the country has gone “bankrupt".  Tune in to The Signal Daily for more further details on both the...

Microsoft's Bing AI is getting emotional and filmmakers are ditching their high-end cameras for the humble phone.

For the first segment, we are talking about an Indian man from Australia who conned a boatload of cash out of Deloitte's executives and top partners. Like, we're talking millions of dollars! In other news, we are talking about how Google had promised to improve its privacy features for its Android devices to cut down data sharing and earlier this week, it finally launched the beta version of the P...

The DCGI recently issued show cause notices to 20 online drug sellers in India, including tech giants Amazon, Flipkart Health+ and Tata1mg prohibiting them from selling medicines online. Why has e-pharmacy always been in a bit of a legal controversy?  In other news, HYBE the company that manages BTS is already on the lookout for the next big thing. Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more about bo...

The Adani Group may have hired America’s most expensive lawyers to fight short-seller Hindenburg Research, but boy has it taken quite the beating! In the latest episode of 'Keeping Up With Adani', the conglomerate has halved its revenue growth target from earlier estimated 40% to between 15% and 20% for at least the next financial year. What does it mean for its businesses and how will it affect i...

5.9 million tonnes of Lithium reserves have been found in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. This discovery could be an important step towards meeting the rising demand for lithium brought on by India's booming electronics and electric vehicle industries.  In other news, a group of scientists have proposed spraying moon dust in space to tackle global warming on Earth. How will this work? Tun...

Coca-Cola wants Thums up and Maaza to go international. Meanwhile, Disney+ has lost a significant number of subscribers in last quarter.

Telemedicine is picking up in India even as we put the terrible Covid years behind us. In other news, Meta expanding its Horizon to teenagers.

Google and Microsoft are battling it out on the AI front. On one side we have Bard, Google's experimental conversational AI service, and on the other side there's Microsoft's Bing GPT. And it's not just the big tech companies investing in chatbots, but even go-to QnA platform, Quora. In other news, millets are making a comeback in India. But why, though? Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more! ...

Coca-Cola is bringing back Coke Studio to India after 8 years. But what's the reason behind this? Well, it's a marketing move.  In other news, we take a look at Manchester City's troubles. The Premier League club is now being charged with 100 charges related to financial irregularities. What does this mean for the club? Tune in to The Signal Daily, to know more!  You can listen to this show and ot...