Education on technology

E-bike rental startup Yulu , which is looking to go public, expects to turn operationally profitable by September and plans to expand its presence in India and abroad, its chief executive said. The startup, which currently operates in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai, will venture into cities including Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad over the next 15 months. It will also explore partnerships with local entrepreneurs in smaller markets such as Varanasi, Agra and Goa. "Yulu is open to give its technology platform to anyone who wants to run a small fleet in cities where we do not have a long-term plan to run it," CEO Amit Gupta told Reuters. The plan comes amid a broader government push for the electrification of shared transport and at a time when Yulu relies on its tie-ups with delivery firms Zomato , Swiggy and Zepto to fend off rivals, including Gogoro-backed Zypp Electric and SoftBank-backed Ola Electric . Delivery executives account for 60 percent of Yu

Smartphone major Samsung has opened its biggest premium experience store in Telangana as it eyes to increase the share of business from premium products to 60 percent in the state, the company said on Wednesday. Spread over 3,500 square feet, it is at par in terms of Samsung's premium experience store in Delhi. "We are excited to bring the next-gen Premium Experience Store to our consumers in Hyderabad. Our aim is to connect the diverse local community with the best of Samsung technology. We have tailored unique experiences through zones such as Samsung SmartThings, Gaming and Bespoke DIY Customisation, designed especially for Gen Z consumers," Samsung India, Senior Director, Sumit Walia said in a statement. Samsung has the biggest Premium Experience Store in Bengaluru, spread over an area of around 33,000 square feet. The company has plans to set up a total of 15 premium experience stores across the country by December as it aims to enhance the share of revenue from

EU lawmakers agreed on Wednesday to changes in draft artificial intelligence rules proposed by the European Commission in a bid to set a global standard for a technology used in everything from automated factories to bots such as ChatGPT . The lawmakers will now have to thrash out details with European Union countries before the draft rules become legislation. "AI raises a lot of questions – socially, ethically, economically. But now is not the time to hit any 'pause button'. On the contrary, it is about acting fast and taking responsibility," EU industry chief Thierry Breton said. The biggest issue is expected to be facial recognition and biometric surveillance where some lawmakers want a total ban while EU countries want an exception for national security, defence and military purposes. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday backed a proposal by some artificial intelligence executives for the creation of an international AI watchdog body l

Alphabet's Google was charged by EU antitrust regulators with anti-competitive practices in its digital advertising business on Wednesday and may have to sell part of this business to address their concerns. The European Commission set out its charges in a statement of objections, two years after it opened an investigation into the case. "The Commission takes issue with Google favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers," the EU competition enforcer said in a statement. It said Google has since 2014 abused its dominance by favouring its own ad exchange AdX in the ad selection auction by its dominant publisher ad server DFP and also by favouring its ad exchange AdX in the way its ad buying tools Google Ads and DV360 place bids on ad exchanges. The EU competition watchdog said a behavioural remedy is unlikely to be effective to stop the a

Google announced a new 'Help Me Write' feature at its annual Google I/O 2023 event, alongside other features based on artificial intelligence (AI). The AI-based writing enhancement tool will work in Gmail and Google Docs, and the had revealed that the feature would roll out to Google Workspace who enrolled to test the feature. It is now available to testers who have enrolled in the Workspace Labs program, on iOS and Android. According to a 9to5Google report , the search giant's AI-powered Help Me Write feature has started rolling out to Workspace Labs testers on Gmail for Android and iOS. Until now, the Help Me Write feature in Gmail was only available for desktop users as part of Workspace Labs. The feature will help drafting emails by composing a draft based on the prompts provided by the user. Google has also explained how to use the new AI-enabled Help Me Write feature in Gmail to compose an email via its support page. Users can tap the compose button on Gmail for

French videogame titan Ubisoft is eyeing artificial intelligence and virtual reality as the next big things in gaming, its chief executive said, especially ahead of the release of Apple's new mixed reality headset. Ubisoft has long been known to take chances on new gaming innovations -- the company launched an early partnership with Nintendo on its 2006 sensation the Wii console. Now, ahead of next year's release of Apple's Vision Pro headset, Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot is ready to make another bet on the future of gaming -- that virtual reality is around the corner. After a decade that saw the revolutionary rise of free-to-play smartphone games and titles streamed directly from the internet cloud, Guillemot thinks VR is likely to be the next major industry disruptor. "VR is eventually going to happen," he told AFP Monday at a company showcase event in Los Angeles. "Apple investing massively in the field is fantastic for all of us,"

Alphabet 's Google said on Wednesday it is launching two new artificial intelligence -powered features for advertisers that will automatically find the best ad placements for brands across the tech company's services. AI has dominated the tech industry in recent months as Google and other companies have developed novel chatbots that can respond to users in open-ended conversations. AI is also being increasingly deployed to serve advertisers, who contribute to the companies' revenue. While Google has previously introduced AI tools for advertisers, it is now using the technology to help brands achieve more specific goals for their ads. One of the new features called Demand Gen will use AI to place an advertiser's photo and video ads across several products such as Gmail , the YouTube feed and Shorts , which is YouTube's competitor to popular short-form video app TikTok . AI will remove the need for advertisers to think about where they should place their ads,