A global Internet outage

The world’s biggest websites—including Hulu, CNN, Amazon, Reddit etc.—suffered a massive glitch. People trying to access a wide number of sites encountered messages such as “Error 503 service unavailable” or “connection failure.” The entire outage lasted only an hour, and there were a number of exceptions for unknown reasons:

“The failure was not geographically universal. Users in some locations, such as Berlin, reported no problems, while others experienced massive failures across the internet. Outages were reported in locations as varied as London, Texas and New Zealand.”

What happened here: The culprit was a cloud computing provider called Fastly. The company offers ‘edge computing’ that essentially ensures a website loads faster, its images are optimised, and  videos and other ‘heavy’ content shows up quickly when you land on a page. It also protects websites from hacks etc. But to do all of this, Fastly essentially sits between the front-end (what you see) and the backend server. When it glitches out, so does your access to a website. 

Why it happened: All we know is that the outage was caused by a “service configuration.” The exact cause won’t be known until Fastly conducts a full investigation. Cnet has all the details you need.

A more terrifying tech disaster: This one affected a single woman, but created far greater havoc in her life. She sent her iPhone to an Apple-approved service contractor in California. The technician then uploaded “extremely personal and private material” to her Facebook account and other websites—making it seem as though the woman herself had shared them. Apple has since paid out a multi-million dollar settlement for what is essentially a twisted (and frightening) version of online assault. (The Guardian)

A giant global sting operation

More than 800 criminals were arrested across 100 countries thanks to a fiendishly clever law enforcement operation nicknamed Trojan Shield/Greenlight. Here’s how it worked:

• The FBI created an encrypted chat app called ANOM, and covertly distributed 12,000 devices with this app among 300 crime syndicates via informants.
• And these devices seemed alluringly super-secure, according to police officials: “You had to know a criminal to get hold of one of these customised phones. The phones couldn't ring or email. You could only communicate with someone on the same platform."
• Soon authorities had real-time access to chats about drug smuggling, money laundering, murder plots and other crimes. 
• Apart from the arrests, the police also seized eight tonnes of drugs, 250 guns and $48 million in cash and assets, and acted on 20 “threats to kill”, potentially saving those lives.
• BBC News has all the details.

The great pandemic: A quick update

• First the numbers: India recorded 92,596 new cases and 2,219 deaths on Tuesday. 
• A video of a hospital owner in Agra bragging about a ‘mock oxygen drill’ went viral. The hospital—facing a severe oxygen shortage—decided to experiment with cutting the oxygen supply for five minutes to see “who will die.” The owner said that as a result, 22 patients were “turned blue”—which was misreported as 22 had died. Hospital has since been shut down and a criminal probe is underway. Indian Express has a lengthy report on the incident.
• The union government has ordered  440 million doses of Covishield and Covaxin—and 300 million doses of the new made-in-India vaccine Corbevax. If the estimated 1.27 billion doses become available, it will be sufficient to ensure that 940 million (94 crore) Indians get at least one dose of a vaccine.
• The government also announced the new prices for vaccines distributed by private hospitals: Covishield will cost Rs 780, while Covaxin and Sputnik V are capped at Rs 1,410 and Rs 1,145, respectively. 
• Good related read: Jacob Koshy in The Hindu offers a scathing fact check of PM Modi’s claim that India has a dismal vaccination history. 

• A new study put out by scientists at the National Institute of Virology shows that antibodies generated by Covaxin are less effective in neutralising the Delta (Indian) variant compared to other iterations of the virus. But it doesn’t tell us anything about efficacy since we don’t know the level of antibodies generated by Covaxin—and whether such a reduction will have a significant impact. 
• Pfizer and Moderna will soon start testing their vaccines on very young children between the ages of 5 and 12—and infants as young as six months. They hope to have a vaccine for them by fall.

• Indian doctors are worried about the increasing incidence of severe symptoms not typically associated with Covid—including hearing impairment, severe gastric upsets and blood clots leading to gangrene. And these are being linked to the rise of the Delta (formerly known as Indian) variant—but there isn’t enough genomic data to confirm the link. Indian Express has more details.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, a classified report prepared by a leading US lab in May, 2020, concluded that the lab leak hypothesis “is plausible and deserves further investigation.” We don’t know the details of the report except that its assessment drew on genomic analysis of the virus. For more on the lab leak theory, check out our explainer.
• While humans in many parts of the world are struggling to get vaccines, Russia has already started doling out jabs to dogs. The so-called ‘Carnivac-Cov’ is said to provide 100% protection against the virus. What’s really weird about this: Dogs are not really susceptible to Covid unlike cats.
• Speaking of cats, a lioness at the Chennai Zoo recently died of Covid, while nine other lions tested positive. Worried about spread among animals, the Tamil Nadu authorities have now tested 56 elephants in two camps in Coimbatore and Nilgiris. No news yet on the results.
• In related news: Bangalore’s Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) has been badly hit by the pandemic—and has issued an urgent appeal for donations. People can adopt animals and pay for the partial cost of feed and veterinary care. Point to note: With 2,388 animals belonging to 102 different species, bigger zoos like BBP need Rs 1.5-2 million (15-20 lakhs) for daily operations. If you’re interested, check out the details here.
• Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, has temporarily closed because its owner Asian Hotels has defaulted on loans to Yes Bank due to financial stress caused by the pandemic. The company currently owes Rs 2.625 billion (262.54 crore) of which Rs 43.2 million (4.32 crore) are loans from Yes Bank.
• Dating apps in the UK—including Bumble, Tinder and Hinge—will soon offer perks for users who have been vaccinated: “On Tinder, users will be allowed to add a pro-vaccination sticker to their profile, and will receive a free ‘Super Like’ for doing so. Hinge will give users a free ‘Rose’ to give to potential matches, while Bumble will give non-paying customers discounts on premium features.”

Two unhappy famous people

One: Someone slapped Emmanuel Macron. The French president was smacked across his face while he was meeting with aam janta on a walkabout. The angry citizen lashed out without provocation, yelling “à bas la Macronie” (down with Macronism). France 24 has more details. Watch the assault below. 

Two: Someone impersonated Malayalam star Prithviraj Sukumaran on Clubhouse—where he held forth in a session while mimicking his voice. Sukumaran first called Sooraj Nair’s act “criminal,” but later he put out a more forgiving note:

“I understand that it was all meant to be a harmless joke. But I hope by now you’ve realised that something like this could have very serious repercussions. At one point, I believe more than 2500 people were listening in to you and that a good majority of them thought it was me speaking… I’m glad you admit that it was a mistake.”

FYI: fake celeb profiles are becoming a real problem with several Malayalam actors including Dulquer Salmaan and Nivin Pauly forced to clarify they are not on Clubhouse.  (The News Minute)

FYI: Loki is gender-fluid

In its new trailer for ‘Loki’, Marvel confirmed what most fans already knew about the shape-shifting God of Mischief. But it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment—just an entry under gender that reads ‘fluid’ on his paperwork. Sooo… yeah. Watch it below:

Karnataka vs big tech

Two tech giants managed to upset Kannadigas in quick succession. First, a Google search for the key phrase “ugliest language in India” threw up Kannada as the top result. The company had to apologise for “the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments”—and fix its search algorithm. Then, Amazon—in Canada, Mexico, and UK—was caught hawking a bikini with the state’s flag colours and emblem. That ‘cultural insult’ has been quickly rectified as well. Also, the offending item looks like this:

In happier tech inclusivity news: Snapchat has added ‘Learn Language’ lenses that allow users to brush up on their Bengali, Punjabi, and Telugu—in addition to existing lenses in Hindi, Kannada, and Marathi. (NDTV)

Speaking of new tech tools: Tinder has introduced a ‘Block Contacts’ feature that lets you avoid bumping into people you know on the app—be it avoidable exes or embarrassing relatives. (USA Today)

Three animal things

One: Say hello to the Bdelloid rotifer—a microscopic organism that has returned to life after being frozen in the permafrost in Siberia for 24,000 years. And once thawed, it was able to reproduce asexually! Nope, we don’t know exactly how it managed this feat. Scientists are calling it “a dream of many fiction writers.” BBC News has the story. See a gif of this miraculous creature below: 

Two: Remember the herd of wandering elephants in China? Well, here’s an update: they are still wandering—but they took a little break from their 15-month, 500 km trek. Also, in case you’re worried about these nomads:

“More than 410 emergency personnel, 374 vehicles and 14 drones were deployed on Monday with more than two tonnes of elephant food, in continuing efforts to lead the elephants away from human areas, and to evacuate people in their path.”

Below is drone footage of them taking a well-earned nap:

Three: Scientists have confirmed a new kind of plant-eating dinosaur called  ‘Australotitan cooperensis’ or Cooper. It is the largest ever found in Australia and one of the biggest in the world: “It was between 25 metres and 30 metres long, stood between 5 metres and 6.5 metres from the ground to its hip and had a very long neck and tail.” The Guardian has more details. Also, this is what it looked like:

In our gratitude jar…

We want to say thank you to Akanksha Sharma and Vernon Fernandez for being among our biggest supporters—and spreading the word far and wide. Also, mucho gratitude for our founding members Basreena Basheer, Nauzad Kapadia, Tripti Singh, Hita Kumar, Ishita Mishra, Bhavna Jaisingh, Dhruv Sood, Dev Pathi, Resham Gupta and Divya Anand. You have all helped splainer grow bigger and better!

Dine With Data: All About Pet Loo 🐕

Company: Pet Loo 🐕

About: Pet Loo is a startup that solves the problem of 'letting the dog out' with a practical solution—it sells a square of fake grass that sits on a waste containment system. Urine soaks through the fake grass, which is made from an odour-reducing material. Many pet owners prefer it to pee pads! ⚠️

Food for thought: Pet Loo was invented by Tobi Skovron, an Australian native and was then sold to PetSafe. He had presented the product at 'The New Inventors' (a show similar to Shark Tank) in Australia and was voted as the best idea. In a 24-hour period, he sold 500 units. That turned into a AUS$1.2 million a year business! 💰

DWD Take: Two years of R&D as well as patent and trademark filings was what protected this business from going bust when they ran out of cash at one point. It is extremely crucial to protect your ideas/inventions with an IP certificate! 📃

URL: https://www.petsafe.net/petloo

About DWD: Dine With Data🍴 sends you a short summary of one new startup every day, delivered straight to your WhatsApp inbox!