Quick notes: Metaverse | Hot iPhone...

• Real life is stubbornly appealing: Metaverse: what happened to Mark Zuckerberg's next big thing? VR is still fringe. It definitely isn't how most people choose to spend their time.



• iPhone 15 gets really hot: Widespread iPhone 15 overheating reports, with temperatures as high as 116F



• It's 'really the Google web': "Everybody talks about the open web, but there is really the Google web," Satya Nadella testifies about how hard it is to break into search. Google pays Apple an estimated $19 billion a year for default placement on its devices.



• Digital detox for children: China cracks down on screen time for kids. Internet access will be blocked from 10pm to 6am. The amount of time they can spend online each day will also be limited, according to their age.



• Vishwaguru running after F-1: When will India have world-class universities?

2,26,450 Indian students went to Canada in 2022.
About 1,36,000 of them were from Punjab.

Each student spends about CAN $17,000 during the first year. Plus they deposit CAN $10,200 in Guarantee Certificate.

Do the math on Punjab's contribution to the Canadian economy.

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) September 28, 2023




• Skills gap: India's population has surpassed China's, but its labor force is still lagging by a large margin. Labor force participation is only at 51%, trailing China by 25 percentage points.



• Can India-Europe corridor rival China's BRI?: "It may make excellent political sense, but it goes against all the tenets of transport economics". China has a 10 year head-start with BRI with total investments under the initiative crossing an eye popping $1 trillion this July. Over 150 countries have joined as partners.



• Brits want everyone to pay: Richest oil states should pay climate tax, says Gordon Brown... How about reparations for colonial loot?



• Uncontrolled Vikas threatens Himalayas:Shimla was established during the British era to sustain 16,000 people. However today, the numbers have exploded and are estimated to be around 3,25,069.



• 'Fear And Anxiety': Pakistan's minority Sikhs flee restive province in face of rising violence



• Raag Nand: Vidushi Padma Talwalkar

Quick notes: Tone it down | Addicted kids...

• Tone it down on Khalistan: To be sure, there is no longer an active Khalistan insurgency in India, and Sikh extremist violence is rare now. One can ask what is gained by focusing so much attention on a relatively small group of people thousands of miles away who are committed to a cause that has essentially petered out in India itself.



• Kids Addicted To Social Media, OTT: Majority of Indian parents say their kids addicted to social media, OTT. "Gadget addiction by children between ages 9-18 has become the new reality. The addiction, in some children, is leading to emotional, mental and physical disturbances".



• 'Coaching industry is toxic': It is unnatural to study without any purpose day and night. Your personality gets stunted. "Many of my engineering friends who are following the typical definition of success, have an elevated 'unhappiness level'. Many who have cracked these exams are now planning to go into business. They are realizing this much later after having run too far into this race. They join the corporate world and some feel burnt out".
  
  The coaching industry is the byproduct of a third world country. Since there are so many unemployed, it creates a competition among the unemployed. The institutes make you feel that if you clear the entrance exam you are very special.



• NYT features Anand Malligavad: India’s ‘Lake Man’ relies on ancient methods to ease a water crisis... After Anand Malligavad tumbled into a lake, he thought he might die. Not from drowning, but the stench. Like hundreds of other lakes in Bengaluru, the one Mr. Malligavad suddenly found himself in was a receptacle for sewage, plastic debris and construction waste.



• Millets for all: The pitfalls of growing too much wheat and rice can no longer be denied. The dominant varieties of these staples require large quantities of fertilizer, chemicals and water. They have been linked to lifestyle diseases. Meanwhile, the natural resource economy and nutritional benefits of millets are beyond dispute.



• Earthing Experiment with Dr Christy Westen: Power of Grounding




• Science with a spoonful of humor: Sabine Hossenfelder got famous on YouTube. Now it helps fund her research in quantum gravity



• Layered AI: Huawei vows to build 'Computing Backbone' for China's AI ambitions. . . . China stimulates investments in chips with massive R&D incentives . . . . . China's third Exascale supercomputer reportedly comes online. Meanwhile, the US currently only has two exascale machines, Frontier and Aurora, in operation.



• Radical gender ideology: Trudeau accuses parents protesting grooming of manifesting ‘hate’

Quick notes: IMEC | Gigacasting 2.0...

• India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor to counter China? The new trade corridor linking India and the Mideast to Europe is being hailed as a modern version of the Spice Route. "The project is a geopolitical game changer and will also benefit Southeast Asian countries."
  
  “Chinese officials know that when it comes to infrastructure building, they are the No. 1 in the world. They are the ones who have the deep pockets, and they know BRI is 10 years ahead.” Yet the BRI finds itself on shaky ground as well.
  
  "Great geopolitical idea, but it doesn’t make much economic sense"



• Khalistanis increase vulnerability of Indian diplomats: (article from 13 July 2023): The campaign suggests that the Indian intelligence agencies are playing the Israeli playbook in hunting down wanted terrorists.
  
  The Khalistani 'movement' has seen deaths or killing of four of its top leaders in the last six months. They include Khalistan Tiger Force chief Harmeet Singh Nijjar shot dead in Canada on June 19, Khalistan Commando Force chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar killed in Lahore on May 6, Sikhs for Justice leader Avtar Singh Khanda who ostensibly died of cancer in a UK hospital last month and a narco-terrorism accused Khalistan exponent, Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD, who was shot in Lahore in 2020.
  
  Other than Khalistani terrorists, in the last six months several Kashmiri extremists have been mysteriously killed by gunmen in Pakistan where they were sheltered.



• Italy wakes up: Italy tells China it plans to exit Belt and Road project 



• U.S. vs. China: The U.S. is pouring resources into Hypersonic missiles but has struggled to develop them. China and Russia are far ahead




• Leaving China, but not to India: HP to relocate PC Assembly to Thailand, Mexico, and Vietnam. . . . . . Gadkari's highways won't save India
  



• Gigacasting 2.0: Tesla reinvents carmaking with quiet breakthrough



• Huawei rolls out ‘de-Amricanized’ phones: Apple made 19 percent of its total fiscal year 2022 revenue in China, totaling $74 billion
  
  EU arm-twists Apple: USB-C changes everything.
  



• 'Third-party chats': Meta caves to EU pressures with an apparent cross-platform messaging feature for WhatsApp



• How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education: Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, thinks AI could spark the greatest positive transformation education has ever seen. Demos some exciting new features for their educational chatbot, Khanmigo.




• Google v US Dept of Justice: DoJ alleges Google uses ‘Feedback Loop’ of payoffs to maintain search dominance.
  

Quick notes: Super bugs | Earthing...

• Risk of 'Superbug' infections at Kumbh Mela: Clinics at Kumbh Mela have prescribed an excessive amount of antibiotics to the tens of thousands of pilgrims, primarily arriving with respiratory tract infections.
  
  Antibiotics disrupt gut bacteria: Every course of antibiotics disrupts our gut bacteria because antibiotics aren't targeted enough to only kill the pathogenic bacteria causing the infection. Instead, they go after all bacteria in our guts - 'Collateral impact'.



• The 'go barefoot' movement: Your shoes are harming you... "Earthing is your birthright because you live on the earth".




• New Mystery 7nm Chip from Chinese Fab: Teardown of Huawei's new phone shows China's chip breakthrough. . . . . . . . China to launch $40 billion state fund to boost chip industry

In China, this vlogger took apart a Huawei Mate 60 Pro #smartphone, and all components are 100% developed/made by China (from #Kirin9000S chip to the camera)! This is proof that US tech blockade against Huawei failed! #China #HuaweiMate60Pro#Huawei @DongshengNews #TechNews pic.twitter.com/Ozw0fF5Smh

— China4Tech (@China4Tech) September 5, 2023




• Tech treat: How a Kalman filter works, in pictures



• Cyber Crime: Every day, around 20,000 Indians fall victim to cyber criminals, who also scam more than 140 Americans daily.