Lamborghini has announced it is rolling out hybrid tech across all models in India by the end of 2024.
Automakers across the globe are racing to deploy hybrid vehicles as governments and companies try to address climate change. As one of the world’s largest economies and automotive centers, rolling out hybrid tech in India is an important step toward that goal.
While it’s not a major player in the Indian market, Lamborghini is nonetheless working to hybridize its lineup before the end of next year.
“The roadmap for us is that by the end of 2024 we are going to hybridise our entire model range. So this year we will have a first hybrid, the new V12, then in 2024 we will have the Urus hybrid and also a new V10 which is also going to be a hybrid,” Lamborghini India Head Sharad Agarwal told PTI.
India has become the second major political jurisdiction to require USB-C charging for all smartphones.
The European Union adopted legislation to mandate USB-C in October in an effort to make things easier on consumers and reduce e-waste. India has now followed suit, according to Business Standard, requiring USB-C charging ports by March 2025.
As part of the new rules, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has established quality standards manufacturers will need to meet.
“BIS has notified standards for type C chargers and the government will come up with two common types of charging ports for mobiles and wearable electronic devices,” said Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
“There is a broad consensus among the industry and government that the use of USB type C charging ports can be made mandatory after six months of the European Union’s rolling out of standards for USB charging ports in 2024 as electronic manufacturers have a global integrated supply chain,” Singh told Business Standard.
The news is a welcome development for smartphone users and should go a long way toward ensuring a more streamlined experience across mobile platforms.
The VLC media player is once again available in India following a ban that prohibited downloads of the popular software.
VLC is one of the most popular and powerful media players, capable of handling almost any video or audio format. Inexplicably, India ordered all telecom’s to block downloads of the app and access to its website more than nine months ago, without giving any indication as to the reason.
According to TechCrunch, the country has now lifted the ban.
“This ban was put into place without any prior notice and without giving VideoLAN the opportunity of a hearing, which went against the 2009 Blocking Rules and the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. This was strange because VLC Media Player is an open-source software which is used by nearly 80 million Indians,” the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement.
As TechCrunch points out, some have speculated that the ban may have been in response to a Symantec report that hackers with ties to Beijing were exploiting popular apps, including VLC, to gain access to users’ computers. By banning the official VLC, however, many users were driven to less secure alternatives, including versions of the open source program that were maliciously hacked.
Apple is ramping up its iPhone manufacturing in India, with Taiwanese firm Pegatron now assembling the devices in-country.
Apple has been looking to increase India’s roll in iPhone production in an effort to decrease its reliance on China. China’s ongoing COVID lockdowns have threatened iPhone production, as has the ongoing trade dispute with the US. Reports have indicated that Apple plans to move as much as one-quarter of iPhone production to India.
According to Reuters, those plans are well underway. Apple has added Pegatron as an iPhone supplier operating in India. The Taiwanese firm has already begun assembly operations.
India introduced legislation to force VPN providers to capture and collect customer data, defeating the very purpose of why many use VPN services. Many companies threatened to leave the country if the legislation passed, and they are now following through, according to Wired.
“As digital privacy and security advocates, we are concerned about the possible effect this regulation may have on not only our users but people’s data in general,” says a NordVPN spokesperson. “From what it seems, the amount of stored private information will be drastically increased throughout hundreds or maybe thousands of different companies.” She adds that similar regulations have been “typically introduced by authoritarian governments in order to gain more control over their citizens.”
Despite India having the highest VPN adoption rate last year, or perhaps because of it, the government began moving to force VPN providers to collect customer data. The government has tried to reassure the industry and its citizens that it would only take advantage of that data collection on a case-by-case basis. Many are not convinced, however, given India’s history of surveilling activists, critics, and political rivals.
“VPNs by nature can be a privacy advancing tool and can be capable of protecting information security in multiple ways, being used by individuals and companies to secure confidential information,” says Tejasi Panjiar, Internet Freedom Foundation associate policy counsel. “They also help secure digital rights under the constitution, especially for journalists and whistleblowers, because the nature of information that’s transferred over VPNs is primarily encrypted, which allows them not only to secure confidential information but also to safeguard their own identity, protecting them from surveillance and censorship.”
NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark have all taken steps to remove their servers from India while still providing ways for Indian customers to connect to their VPN services.
Apple is preparing to move a significant portion of its iPhone manufacturing to India as it tries to lessen its reliance on China.
The global pandemic shone a light on the challenges associated with relying on a single country for manufacturing. As lockdowns and quarantines impacted production, Apple and other companies were left scrambling to keep up with demand. The ongoing trade war between the US and China has exacerbated the situation, leading many companies to diversify their production.
Apple is looking to India for iPhone manufacturing, with plans to move as much as 25% of its production to that country, according to TechCrunch. The news comes via a JP Morgan research note predicting that 5% of global iPhone production will be based in India by late 2022. By 2025, that number will grow to 25%.
The same report also held good news for Vietnam, with Apple moving 20% of iPad and Apple Watch production there by 2025. In addition, the country will also make up 5% of MacBook and 65% of AirPod production.
Google is planning on releasing the Pixel 7 in India, marking the first time the company has released a flagship phone there in several years.
The Pixel 7 is Google’s upcoming line of smartphones and will build on the success it has enjoyed with the Pixel 6 and 6a series. Unfortunately for Indian fans, however, the last flagship Pixel to be released in-country was the Pixel 3 and 3XL.
According to Android Central, Google is finally changing course. There’s not been a specific release date announced, but at least Indian Pixel users shouldn’t have long to wait.
The move also marks a greater investment in the country by Google. News broke earlier this month that the company was looking to expand Pixel manufacturing in India in an effort to reduce its reliance on China.
India has pushed back the deadline for new rules governing VPNs by three months amid an uproar that has seen some providers leave the country.
India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) was set to enforce new rules that would require VPN providers to maintain information and records on their customers, including full names, contact info, reason for using a VPN, dates when they used it, and much more. According to TechCrunch, India has decided to delay the implementation of the rules for three months until September 25.
VPNs have been working to respond to the new rules. ExpressVPN and NordVPN made the decision to shut down their servers in-country, while other VPN providers threatened to do the same. Both companies would still provide services to the market, but customers in India would need to connect via servers outside the country. Other providers are still trying to determine the best path forward for them and their customers.
Cybersecurity experts around the globe have denounced the regulation, saying it would severely weaken privacy and security for the Indian market. It remains to be seen if India will back down permanently or if this is just a temporary reprieve.
Google may be throwing its full weight behind RCS messaging, but it’s been forced to suspend the feature in India due to businesses abusing it to spam users.
RCS is the successor to SMS, adding many of the features that have come to define other messaging platforms, such as Apple’s iMessage and WhatsApp. RCS adds in group administration, read receipts, file sharing, end-to-end encryption and much more. Google has been aggressively pushing the tech for some time, but it is now pulling back in the Indian market after uses complained of unrelenting spam messages.
“Google Messages is becoming the worst possible Google app. The amount of ads its sending is crazy, multiple every day. Yes, these are NOT messages, these are ads being pushed by the app to Indian users. It’s the default messaging app on most Android phones here.”
According to TechCrunch, the complaints have led Google to suspend RCS in India for the time being.
“Some businesses are abusing our anti-spam policies to send promotional messages to users in India,” Google said in a statement. Google is disabling the feature while it “works with the industry to improve the experience for users.”
RCS is a major step forward for messaging, and it’s a shame that businesses have ruined the experience to such a degree that Google had to take these measures. Hopefully the company will be able to put adequate safeguards in place to prevent this from happening in the future and pave the way for a return of RCS.
ExpressVPN has removed its servers from India in response to legislation that requires VPNs to track and log a significant amount of user data.
India recently passed the Cyber Security Directions legislation, requiring VPN providers to log customer names, IP addresses, email address, financial transactions, and more. The government has taken a hard line, insisting VPN providers must play ball or leave the country. ExpressVPN is opting for the latter choice, announcing it is shutting down its servers in the country.
ExpressVPN announced its course of action in a blog post, saying it was a “very straightforward decision to remove” its servers from India. At the same time, the company plans to continue supporting its Indian customers.
“Rest assured, our users will still be able to connect to VPN servers that will give them Indian IP addresses and allow them to access the internet as if they were located in India,” the company writes. “These ‘virtual’ India servers will instead be physically located in Singapore and the UK.
“In terms of the user experience, there is minimal difference. For anyone wanting to connect to an Indian server, simply select the VPN server location ‘India (via Singapore)’ or ‘India (via UK).’”
By giving Indian users the ability to use servers outside the country, ExpressVPN can provide the privacy and security its users expect while remaining outside the reach of India’s new law. The company makes it clear it has no intention of ever complying with Cyber Security Directions.
“ExpressVPN refuses to participate in the Indian government’s attempts to limit internet freedom. As a company focused on protecting privacy and freedom of expression online, we will continue to fight to keep users connected to the open and free internet with privacy and security, no matter where they are located.“
VPN providers may be forced to pull out of the Indian market over a new law that undermines the privacy VPNs offer.
India passed the Cyber Security Directions, a directive that requires VPN providers to keep records of customer names, IP addresses, email address, financial transactions, and more for a period of five years. India has now signaled there will be no tolerance for companies that refuse to comply, according to TechCrunch.
Numerous companies have expressed concern over the laws, especially VPN providers that specifically guarantee anonymity. Many, such as Mullvad, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and others guarantee their customers a service that doesn’t track them or keep the kind of logs the Indian government wants.
“The new Indian VPN regulations are an assault on privacy and threaten to put citizens under a microscope of surveillance. We remain committed to our no-logs policy,” said ProtonVPN.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the junior IT minister of India, told TechCrunch that VPN providers who conceal who uses their services “will have to pull out.”
The only services exempted are corporate and enterprise VPNs. The new directive goes into effect for everyone else in June.
India, the third-largest pollution emitter, has announced plans to be net-zero by 2070.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is currently underway, with nations discussing ways to address the current climate crisis. According to Bloomberg Green, India has come out swinging, making the most ambitious commitment of any country yet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the country’s intentions, including its plan to increase its non-fossil fuel power capacity to 500 gigawatts and use renewable resources to provide half the country’s electricity by 2030.
“India’s pledges are significantly more ambitious than its current NDC,” said Ulka Kelkar of the World Resources Institute India, referring to Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris accords. “These will take the country on a low-carbon development pathway and give strong signals to every sector of industry and society.”
Huawei and ZTE are in an all-too-familiar situation, both of them being excluded from a country’s 5G trials.
Huawei and ZTE have both been under international scrutiny over their ties to Beijing. Governments and intelligence agencies around the world have warned that the companies, especially Huawei, pose a threat to national security and could be an avenue for the Chinese government to spy on others.
The US, in particular, has been aggressive in its dealings with both companies. The firms are banned from US networks, and officials have pressured allies to do the same — often with great success.
Although India has not officially banned any company from its wireless networks, BBC News is reporting Huawei and ZTE were not included in 5G trials involving a dozen other companies. Despite not implementing an outright ban, Delhi has indicated it would focus more on security and “trusted” vendors for telecom equipment rollouts.
India’s stand is another blow to the Chinese firms, and illustrates why Huawei is increasingly looking to diversify outside the telecoms industry.
A German regulator is the latest to object to data being shared between WhatsApp and Facebook, and is taking steps to stop it.
WhatsApp and Facebook drew worldwide ire when it was announced that WhatsApp user data would be shared with other Facebook-owned companies. The backlash was immediate, with Facebook initially delaying the move to give people time to adjust. Ultimately, however, the company is moving forward with its plans, and users will either have to accept the change or lose access to WhatsApp.
A German regulator wants a third option, according to Bloomberg, with the regulator for Hamburg seeking an order that would block the data sharing. Given the data sharing is set to go into effect May 15, the regulator is seeking an order that would be “immediately enforceable.”
“WhatsApp is now used by almost 60 million people in Germany and is by far the most widely used social media application, even ahead of Facebook,” Johannes Caspar, the data commissioner, said in a statement. “It is therefore all the more important to ensure that the high number of users, which makes the service attractive to many people, does not lead to an abusive exploitation of data power.”
India has similarly taken steps to block data sharing between the services. With Germany now taking action as well, more jurisdictions may start taking a closer look and enacting privacy protection measures before it’s too late.
In its bid to become a major manufacturing powerhouse, India is offering $1 billion in cash incentives to chipmakers that set up in-country.
Countries and companies the world over are more concerned with the semiconductor supply chain than ever before. The global pandemic illustrated the shortcomings of having the world’s mobile manufacturing and supply of semiconductors concentrated in just a couple of countries.
India wants to change that, with its sights set on becoming the second-largest mobile manufacturing country in the world.
“The government will give cash incentives of more than $1 billion to each company which will set up chip fabrication units,” a senior government official told Reuters.
“We’re assuring them that the government will be a buyer and there will also be mandates in the private market (for companies to buy locally made chips).”
India’s plans will likely benefit from tensions with China, including the current trade war between the US and China.
India is asking a court to block WhatsApp from sharing data with Facebook, saying the change violates local laws.
Facebook made waves in January with an announcement it was changing how data was shared between WhatsApp and other Facebook-owned companies. While the immediate backlashforced Facebook to delay its plans, it did not change them, only pushed them back. Ultimately, users who failed to accept the new terms would still lose access to their accounts.
India is now pushing back, saying the change violates local laws, according to TechCrunch. The government is taking the matter to court in an effort to block Facebook’s actions.
“Social media in recent years has been used by billions of people around the world and millions of Indians today are dependent on WhatsApp. Therefore, information that is generally personal is shared at an enormous level. This information is susceptible to being misused if the social media giant decides to either sell or exploit the information, sensitive to the users, to any third party,” said the government’s filing.
It remains to be seen if the Indian government will be successful. If it is, however, it could set a precedent other countries will follow, given how unpopular the change has been.
India has proposed legislation that would ban cryptocurrencies, in the most restrictive such legislation worldwide.
Under the proposed bill, India would criminalize owning, mining, trading, issuing and transferring cryptocurrencies, according to Reuters. A government official with knowledge of the plan spoke directly to the outlet.
The bill would have serious repercussions for investors at a time when cryptocurrencies are gaining widespread acceptance worldwide. Tesla’s Elon Musk recently said Bitcoin was on the verge of mainstream acceptance, and his company invested $1.5 billion in the currency.
Unfortunately for the cryptocurrency community, the bill is likely to be passed into law. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government holds a comfortable parliamentary majority, clearing the way for passage.
Once the bill goes into effect, investors will have six months to liquidate their holdings before penalties are levied.
India has asked WhatsApp to reconsider its announced privacy changes, the latest backlash the company is facing.
WhatsApp made headlines when it notified users it was changing its privacy terms. Under the new terms, the company would share data it collects with other Facebook-owned companies, regardless of whether users have accounts with them or not. Users originally had until February 8 to accept the terms or stop using WhatsApp.
Needless to say, the backlash was swift and severe. Users began abandoning WhatsApp, migrating to Signal and Telegram, while new downloads of WhatsApp plummeted. As a result, the company announced it was moving back the implementation date till May 15.
In the meantime, however, India is asking WhatsApp to abandon the plans altogether, according to Reuters.
“The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens,” wrote the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in an email to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart and seen by Reuters. “Therefore, you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes.”
Given how popular WhatsApp is in India, not to mention the company’s plans to expand its services there, India’s request could pose significant issues for WhatsApp’s proposed changes.
Despite allegations that Huawei represents a major security risk, India is set to include the company in 5G trials, according to the International Business Times.
Huawei is facing pressure around the world due to concerns it represents a way for China to spy on foreign governments and corporations. While all Chinese companies are required to cooperate with Beijing, Huawei is known for having closer ties than many companies.
As a result of these concerns, the U.S. has banned Huawei and engaged in a campaign to pressure its allies to do the same. In spite of that, India plans to include the telecommunications equipment company in upcoming 5G trials.
“We have taken the decision to give 5G spectrum for trial to all the players,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s telecom minister, said late Monday.
Given the size of the Indian market, if Huawei is able to secure a sizable stake, it should help the company offset losses from the U.S. and other Western countries.
Zak Doffman at Forbes is reporting on a newly discovered vulnerability in the Truecaller app that puts 150 million iOS and Android users at risk.
Truecaller is one of the premier caller ID apps, identifying unknown calls from mobile, landline and prepaid phones. It also provides the ability to block numbers and auto-block robocalls and telemarketers. The app also offers VoIP calling, call recording, SMS and group chat, as well banking and payments.
Truecaller just recently passed the 500 million download mark, with 150 million daily users. Of those, 100 million are in India, where the app has surpassed Facebook in popularity. According to the company’s blog, “every tenth active user in India has linked their bank account to Truecaller Pay.” The app’s popularity, not to mention the breadth of services offered, makes the vulnerability even more concerning since it is a flaw in the Truecaller API.
According to Mr. Doffman, “India-based researcher Ehraz Ahmed discovered the flaw, disclosing it to local media and the company and waiting for a fix before going public. He explained to me that ‘the flaw allows an attacker to inject his malicious link as the profile URL. The user viewing the attacker’s profile by search or through a popup gets exploited.’ Ahmed has said the flaw could be used to mount serious attacks on target machines, although this was not the scope of the proof of concept and has been played down by the company.
“What Ahmed did manage through his POC was ‘to fetch a user’s information like IP address, User-Agent, and time. The user visiting the profile would not notice this as it all happens in the background, and for the user, it would look like any other profile.’ With the now-patched flaw impacting Truecaller’s API, it is a potential threat to all apps and platforms.”
Mr. Ahmed worked with Truecaller to identify the bug and a patch was immediately released. Because the issue was with the app’s API, the company was able to patch the flaw on their end, although all users should update to the latest version to be on the safe side.
As more and more apps offer services that cross a range of industries, such as communication and banking, flaws like this will represent a much greater threat to users.
Bumble is launching their app in Inda with the help of its new investor and brand ambassador actress Priyanka Chopra. The actress should help Bumble India get off to a fast start, having already announced it to her 23.6 million followers on Twitter.
Whitney Wolfe commented on CNN about changes Bumble made in an effort to make them feel more comfortable using the app in India:
Bumble is a Recalibration of Human Behavior
I believe that no matter what area of the planet you are trying to enter you have to be so in tune with the customs and the culture. We’ve taken a lot of measures, both in the product and in the go-to-market strategy to really be mindful and to bring something that the girls and women of India would actually want to use.
In India, in particular, we have deleted first names. Now you use your first initial. We want you to feel safe and secure and have your anonymity and know as a woman that you can really hide behind all these different shields Bumble provides you. So, a first initial for starters, verified photos, and then women make the first move on Bumble. This is a huge thing.
There were a lot of naysayers at the beginning of Bumble four-plus years ago that this is a gimmick, this is just a way to enter the space. But no, it’s not a gimmick. It’s a recalibration of human behavior and the way we treat each other. This creates safety in and of itself.
Women Need Empowerment Globally
I think that women need empowerment globally, it doesn’t matter where it is. The more disempowered the mindset, the culture, wherever that might be. You can even take America, for example, there are different parts of the country that are a bit more archaic in mindset. We had a lot of people challenge us here as well at the beginning of Bumble. You will never survive in the South, or you will never survive in this state or that territory. To be candid, we thrived.
The more disempowered, the more archaic, the more desire to rise and be equal women truly are at their core. We need to provide that globally. Yes, we need to be really mindful of culture and tradition. But at the end of the day, we aren’t doing anything other than saying we want to encourage empowerment and equality.
About Bumble
Bumble is a social network that allows you to feel empowered while you make those connections, whether you’re dating, looking for friends, or growing your professional network. When members of the opposite sex match on Bumble, women are required to make the first move, shifting old-fashioned power dynamics and encouraging equality from the start.
