Zomato Completes Runnr Acquisition, Will Continue to Operate Independently

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Zomato on Wednesday announced that it has completed its acquisition of food delivery service Runnr, adding over 1,500 people. Runnr was originally known as Roadrunnr, and offered B2B services for hyperlocal deliveries - this grew slowly, and last year, Roadrunnr

acquired troubled food delivery service TinyOwl, and changed its name to Runnr, through which you could order food and track delivery, much like with Swiggy.

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With the Zomato acquisition, Runnr's run comes to an end, but the former is going to use Runnr's logistics to offer delivery services to restaurants, complete with live order tracking, to catch up to the feature that Swiggy popularised in India.

Describing Zomato as an amalgam of many companies (online ordering, point of sales, infrastructure services, advertising, etc.), founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal wrote in a blog post that it provided Runnr with the tools needed to build its business while being aligned with Zomato's larger mission.

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"For us at Zomato, we saw that we were going to be working with a team of extremely driven individuals who had figured out how to solve for a vital piece of our puzzle—the one that affects our user delight: logistics," Goyal wrote.

This is contrary to his earlier position that handling delivery logistics is not a cost-efficient business, and that's something Goyal also addressed in the blog post. "For the record, we have always maintained that the most cost-efficient delivery fleet is the restaurant’s own, where they can utilise the same staff during off-peak hours for back-of-house and marketing activities. 

That belief is still intact," he wrote. "Keeping that in mind, Runnr will continue to function as an independent logistics company (owned by Zomato) offering the full stack of logistical services to players other than Zomato as well - e.g. pharma, grocery, e-commerce, and so on."

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In other words, Runnr will continue to try and grow its B2B business, while also servicing Zomato. However, at the time of the Tiny Owl acquisition, the company had mentioned that around 95 percent of its B2B business was from food, so the other delivery services likely remain a small part of the company, particularly given the increased focus on food since 2016. 

Also, funnily enough, on Reddit, Goyal had written two years ago that he would not acquire TinyOwl, because "don't like the name"; since Runnr acquired Tiny Owl and Zomato acquired Runnr, it looks like he did end up acquiring the company, yet losing the name.

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Going forward, this will mean that one of Swiggy's big plus points - being able to track your order in real time - is taken away. Zomato isn't the only competition that the company will have to face either - Uber launched Uber Eats in Mumbai, then expanded the service to Delhi. It is now testing the deliveries in Bengaluru as well.

 Like Swiggy (and now some Zomato orders), Uber Eats also provides live order tracking. The competition is food delivery appears to be heating up again, though the question of efficiency that Goyal mentioned remains to be answered for now, for all the companies.

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Facebook allows publishers put logos next to headlines

According to a report in Adage on Tuesday, publishers can put their logos next to headlines in the trending and search sections to give readers an idea about where the news is generating from.

In a move to give publishers a brand recognition on its platfrom,Facebook has released new tools that lets media houses display their logos alongside headlines.

According to a report in Adage on Tuesday, publishers can put their logos next to headlines in the trending and search sections to give readers an idea about where the news is generating from. The tools come as a relief for publishers who had been lamenting about losing their brand identities on social networking site where the headlines and layouts of all the brands looked similar.

“When people see those three red letters, they know it symbolises trusted, reliable and real news, so any effort by Facebook to emphasis the brand and credibility of a story benefits the audience as well as the publisher,” Samantha Barry, CNN’s executive producer of social and emerging media, was quoted as saying.

The move is a result of recommendations made during Facebook’s journalism project, which was launched in January. According to a Pew Research survey, only 56 per cent of readers recalled the source of news read through social media sites. “By surfacing publisher logos next to article links, we want to make it easier for publishers to extend their brand identity on Facebook – to enhance people’s awareness of the source of content,” Facebook was quoted as saying.

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OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T won’t get major updates after Android O, reveals company

OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T smartphones won't receive any Android version update after Android O, revealed Oliver Z, who is OnePlus' Head of Product. He revealed the latest information on company's forum page, and posted answers to several other questions about OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T as well.

OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3Tsmartphones won’t receive anyAndroid version update after Android O, revealed Oliver Z, who is OnePlus’ Head of Product. He revealed the latest information on company’s forum page, and posted answers to several other questions about OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T as well.

“Android O is going to be the last Android version update we’ll release for OP3/3T. We’ll continue to release security patch updates for the foreseeable future, and offer support for individual application updates,” the post read. The company will also start moving its Open Beta Program from OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T to OnePlus 5 after the release of Android O for the two smartphones.

Currently, OnePlus releases Open Beta updates for OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T approximately once every month. The company plans to launch August security patch for OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T users first followed by Oxygen OS version 4.5, which will be rolled out in a month or two.

OnePlus’ CEO Pete Lau earlier confirmed that OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will get Android O update within this year. In a Reddit AMA, OnePlus said that “OP3/3T will receive Android O within this year.” Google’s Android O is in its beta stage as of now. The stable version of the operating system is tipped to roll out August 21, though the same hasn’t been confirmed officially.

 OnePlus has already said that OnePlus 3T will be out of production and get discontinued globally. However, in its blogpost, OnePlus also mentioned that it will continue to bring software updates and support for OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. Also, in India, OnePlus 3T will continue to sell.

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Google Has Fired The Employee Behind That Controversial Diversity Manifesto, Reports Say

After a controversial memo by a Google engineer about diversity programs at the company and gender differences went viral over the weekend, sparking an explosive reaction on social media, the search giant did not dispute media reports late Monday that the employee had been fired.

The memo - in which the author suggested, among other things, that biological factors were part of the cause for the gender gap in the tech industry and that Google should "stop alienating conservatives" - prompted a fiery outcry on social media in recent days. Critics pounced on statements about biological differences such as women, on average, having "lower stress tolerance" or how Google needs to "de-emphasize empathy." Others, including fellow Googlers, according to the author, defended his remarks, leaving Google's human resources shop between a rock and a hard place regarding how to respond.

Yet on Monday, following an email from Google chief executive Sundar Pichai that "portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," Bloomberg News reported that the employee had been terminated. A spokesman said the company does not comment on individual employees but did not dispute that the memo's author was fired.


Earlier Monday, human resources experts said the situation was a volatile one that risked angering people on both sides. "I'm glad when I woke up this morning I wasn't the head of HR at Google," said Brian Kropp, who leads the human resources consulting practice at CEB. 

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Nokia Camera app is now available on the Play Store

HMD, the company responsible for Nokia-branded smartphones, has promised to provide regular software updates to its new Android handsets. So far, the company has been very reassuring in this regard; and now, there are more reasons to believe in its commitment.

The Nokia Camera app is now available to download from the Play Store. Companies usually offload their first-party apps when they plan to provide app updates without needing to bundle them with an OS update. Handset manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, and HTC have most of their apps available in the Play Store.

Recently, HMD acquired the patent to use Lumia Camera UI from Microsoft. If this is any indication, we might soon see the dial-like UI make its way into the Nokia Camera app. Photographers looking for more convenient access to finer camera controls will definitely appreciate this addition.

Barring a few exceptions, the software present in the new Nokia smartphones is identical to vanilla Android. It won't be surprising if Nokia becomes one of the earliest OEMs to seed the next Android update.

You can head over to the Play Store to download the app to compatible HMD Nokia devices.

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Apple, Google dump over 300 trading apps

Google and Apple have removed over 330 shady financial trading apps from its App Stores following an intervention by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Google and Apple have removed over 330 shady financial trading apps from its App Stores following an intervention by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

According to a report in Fortune on Tuesday, ASIC discovered that unlicensed individuals were operating the apps, which focused on binary trading.

"In binary trading, people predict whether the price of a given option will go up or down in a short amount of time, and then buy or sell based on their predictions," the report explained.

This form of high risk and speculative trading is relatively new to Australia, ASIC said.

When the regulators reviewed the apps, they found that the owners of these apps failed to disclose to the users the risky nature of the trading practice.

"Instead they made it appear that people could get rich quickly by using their apps. Some of the apps contained marketing messages that bragged that people could `Earn up to 90 per cent in less than an hour`," the regulators revealed.

It was also discovered that about 80 per cent of the apps that were pointed out did not warn of any risks while few were collecting personal information from users which could be used for high-pressure cold calling.

After the Australian regulator notified both Google and Apple, the two tech companies promptly removed the apps from their online stores.

"We were encouraged with the speed both entities removed the relevant apps identified by ASIC from their respective app stores," the regulator said in a statement.

"We also note that Apple recently changed its review guidelines to state that apps that facilitate binary options trading will not be permitted in its app store," the statement added.

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Facebook, Google, Twitter Face Increased Pressure From EU Over User Terms

European Union authorities have increased pressure on Facebook, Google and Twitter to amend their user terms to bring them in line with EU law after proposals submitted by the tech giants were considered insufficient.

The European Commission and consumer protection authorities in the bloc wrote to the three companies in June, asking them to improve their proposed changes to user terms by the end of September, according to letters sent to the companies and seen by Reuters on Monday.

The authorities have the power to issue fines if the companies fail to comply.

Representatives of Facebook and Twitter did not respond immediately to emailed requests for comment and a Google spokesman declined to make immediate comment.

The authorities' concerns centre mainly on procedures the social media companies proposed to set up for the removal of illegal content on their websites, terms limiting their liability and terms allowing them unilaterally to remove content posted by users.

The US trio were given until July 20 to submit new proposals, which need to be implemented by the end of September, the letters said.

A person familiar with the matter said that two of the companies had submitted amended proposals, while a third had asked for more time, declining to specify which one.

The companies had first proposed changes to their terms and conditions in March to assuage the regulators' concerns in March. The sticking points were terms such as those that forced European consumers to seek redress in California, where the companies are based, instead of the consumer's home country.

US technology companies have faced tight scrutiny in Europe for the way they do business, from privacy issues to how quickly they remove illegal or threatening content.

The authorities and the Commission asked the companies to provide more detail on the timeframe and deadlines they would apply to dealing with notifications of content deemed illegal under consumer law, as well as dedicating a page or email address to notifications from consumer authorities.

In addition, the bodies are pressing for a procedure whereby consumers would be notified before their content is removed or given an opportunity to challenge it.

In the case of Alphabet's Google unit, the concerns were about its social network Google+.

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Microsoft Says MS Paint Isn't Going Away, Will Be Optional Windows Store Download

Microsoft recently released a list of features that are either removed or deprecated with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and the company received a huge backlash online for including everybody's beloved MS Paint in this list. However, the company has now clarified that it is not killing off MS Paint app with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

In a statement provided to MSPoweruser, Microsoft has clarified that it is not "killing" Microsoft Paint and will rather be bringing the app to the Windows Store as an optional download. As the MS Paint app was mentioned in the deprecated column in the released list, it was earlier assumed that the app will not be in active development and will likely be removed from future releases.

Microsoft said: "MS Paint is not going away. In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing and 2D creation are in Paint 3D - the new app for creativity, available for free with the Windows 10 Creators update. In the future, we will offer MS Paint in the Windows Store also for free and continue to provide new updates and experiences to Paint 3D so people have the best creative tools all in one place."

The company even shared an image (top) that said "We love [indicated by heart symbol] MS Paint" to indicate the affection toward the classic app that has been an integral part of Windows since ages.

The Redmond-based company has also said that the functionality of the MS Paint app will be integrated to the company's Paint 3D app, which was introduced to Windows with April's Windows 10 Creators Update. Moving the classic MS Paint app to the Windows Store might be a possible move to promote the usage of company's 3D Paint app, which is a more advanced tool in comparison.

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