Researched by: Rachel John, Nirmal Bhansali, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
Return of import licence raj?
Companies like Apple, Dell, Lenovo and HP will now have to apply for a special licence to import laptops, tablets and personal computers. The aim: to push these companies to assemble their products in India. Imports of these devices stood at $19.7 billion in the April to June quarter—up 6.25% year-on-year. And the numbers have been rising: imports of just laptops increased to $8 billion as of March 2023. The aim is also to curb electronic imports from China—which hit $27.6 billion in FY23. Without naming Beijing, government officials cited “security risks.”
How does this affect you? The immediate effect is likely to be shortages—or sharp price hikes. FYI: you can still buy a laptop or PC abroad as an individual—subject to customs rules. But the rules for businesses are still unclear. As you might expect, Indian companies who assemble these products in India are delighted—others are not:
No brands are happy with this decision, especially those that don’t make anything here. It will disrupt supplies. And those that make a few models locally will have to expand their local manufacturing capabilities. Licensing means that for every consignment that a brand imports, they will have to take a licence; so it will be very cumbersome, time-consuming and will make product availability a problem for consumers.
Mint has the best reporting on the move.
In happier ‘Make in India’ news: After years of false starts, Tesla has finally set up shop in Pune—taking a five-year lease on a 5,850 sq feet office space. This may be the outcome of a convo between founder Elon Musk and PM Modi in New York in June. The government has been pushing Tesla to make its cars in India—rather than grant a reduction in import tariffs. But, but, but: Tesla opened an office in Bangalore back in 2021—and not much came of it. (The Hindu)
Haryana violence: The latest update
Reports of violence continue to trickle in. Another mosque was set on fire—though there were no casualties. And two men were assaulted by a mob. But authorities insist the situation is now under control. And the External Affairs ministry hopes all will be well when the G-20 summit kicks off in the NCR on September 8.
Twitter X gets sued… again
The news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has sued the company formerly known as Twitter. The reason: in 2019, France enacted a law that requires large social media platforms to negotiate with publishers looking to be compensated for their content:
The extension to EU copyright law covers article extracts and all but the shortest snippets of news content which are shared on digital platforms. It isn’t limited to text either — also covering other content produced by news publishers, such as photographs, videos and infographics. News publishers’ content is covered for two years after its publication date.
But X has refused to do so—hence, the lawsuit. Musk criticised AFP, saying: "This is bizarre. They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don't!?" FYI: squeezing actual click throughs to a news site on any social media platform is like squeezing water from stone. Trust us, we know. (Reuters)
In other X-related news: In a bizarre move, the company will now allow paid users to *hide* their blue tick—so people won’t know they are paying for Twitter Blue. Yes, this is how silly the whole thing has become. (TechCrunch)
Also experiencing a ‘name change’ problem: Max. The Warner Bros Discovery move of rebranding HBO Max to simply Max does not seem to be working out. The platform bled 1.8 million subscribers in its second quarter—bringing the total down to 95.8 million. Ofc, in India, it doesn’t make a difference since all things HBO now live on Jio Cinema—as does NBC Universal. (Gizmodo)
Doing far better than Twitter: Zomato—which has reported a profit for the first time in its history. The happy number: Rs 20 million (2 crores) for the June 2023 quarter. In comparison, the company reported a loss of Rs 1.86 billion during the same period last year. (Economic Times)
Two key stories about AI
Breast cancer: Women have a 99% chance of survival if breast cancer is detected early. Last week, we were celebrating the invention of the mammogram bra—a device that you can use at home to detect the first signs of the disease. Now, a new Swedish study shows that AI-supported scanning is 20% more effective at detecting cancer—and it reduced the workload of human radiologists by 44%. FYI: machines are only a tool and can’t replace doctors… as yet. (CNN)
Alibaba: The Chinese giant released two open-source AI models called Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat. Similar to Meta’s Llama 2, they will be freely available to researchers and companies across the world. This is the first time a Chinese company has made its Large Language Model available to the public. These are small-size versions of Alibaba’s own LLM Tongyi Qianwen—and is aimed at helping small and medium businesses. Why this matters: open source AI is a clear and present danger to paid AI models like ChatGPT. (Reuters)
‘Barbenheimer’ offends the Japanese
And for good reason. Indians may get their panties in a twist over some sex scene featuring the Bhagavad Gita. But two Japanese cities were devastated by nukes—for real! Now imagine pairing images of the bomb with ‘Barbie’—to create a ‘Barbenheimer’ (Barbie+Oppenheimer) meme:
In one such instance, the official “Barbie” movie account responded to a fan-made image depicting Barbie with an atom bomb bouffant with the comment, “This Ken is a stylist.” In another, it replied with a kissy-face emoji to a movie poster showing Barbie and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, against the backdrop of a nuclear explosion. “It’s going to be a summer to remember,” the studio’s tweet said.
Btw, the ‘atom bomb bouffant’ looked like this:
In a rare moment of internal rebellion at a corporate behemoth, the Japanese subsidiary of Warner Bros called out their colleagues in LA for being, well, “insensitive.” Of course, apologies have been offered and tweets deleted. (New York Times)
The Booker longlist is here!
The Booker longlist has only one author of Indian origin—Chetna Maroo who has been nominated for her debut novel ‘Western Lane’. Award organisers call it “a tender and moving debut novel that delves into grief, sisterhood and a teenage girl's struggle to transcend herself.” Also: it’s about squash. The Guardian takes a close look at all the likely winners that are likely to make it to your TBR list. It highly recommends Paul Murray’s ‘The Bee Sting’—“in terms of pure page-turning pleasure, this is probably the most enjoyable novel on the list.”
The Bellie of the elephant ball
Bellie and her husband Bomman were stars of the Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’—which spotlighted their tender care of two abandoned elephant calves Raghu and Amu. In recognition of her service, the Tamil Nadu government appointed her as the first permanent woman elephant caretaker at the Theppakadu elephant camp in the Nilgiris. And in more good news:
The state government had earlier announced that all 91 mahouts and cavadis (assistant caretakers) working at its two elephant camps — Theppakadu in Mudumalai and Kozhikamuthi in Anaimalai — would be provided Rs 1 lakh each from Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. Stalin also announced financial assistance of Rs 9.10 crore for constructing eco-friendly and culturally compatible houses for all elephant caretakers.
FYI, the couple have already been in photo-ops with PM Modi and President Murmu. Every neta loves an Oscar-winner. (The Hindu)
Two marine things to see
One: An ancient whale unearthed in Peru could well be the heaviest animal to ever inhabit Earth. Perucetus colossus—‘the colossal whale from Peru’—lived around 38-40 million years. Ok so how big is this beast? Each vertebra weighs over 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and its ribs measure nearly 5 feet (1.4 metres) long. But here’s the catch: The estimate for this monster’s actual weight is a bit fuzzy—anywhere between 85 and 340 metric tons. So it could be heavier than the biggest blue whale—180 metric tonnes. Or maybe not. But to give you some perspective, it is most definitely heavier than anything you’ve seen on Jurassic Park. The largest dino was around 75 tonnes. Check out the original study. (Associated Press)
Two: Ok, this may be the funniest public service announcement we’ve heard recently. Florida authorities have warned residents not to be alarmed if they spot “mounds of writhing sea creatures” on the beach. The reason: it’s most likely a crowd of manatees having a public orgy. According to the local sheriff’s office:
Don’t call us. ....We can assure you they are more than fine. Manatees actually mate in herds like these and often they are near the shore. They mate all throughout the year, but generally mating herds like these are seen in the summer months. So if you see this, there’s no need to call.
Of course, we dug up a video of manatee sex. What? It’s an educational vid from the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Also: Very G-rated, TBH.
