10 Tech Portal stories you don’t want to miss this week

Technology is something which evolves every second. And we at Tech-Portal, try our very best to capture every bit of that evolution. So here are the 10 unmissable stories of this week, just in case you missed out on the week’s most important tech stories.

1. Smart Cities. A world we quite commonly see in almost every science fiction flick these days. Well, a Gartner report now suggests that by the end of this year itself, we homo sapiens will be employing a staggering 1.1 Billion smart/connected devices alone. And by the end of 2020 ? Well, that number will become almost 9 times, and will stand at a whopping 9.7 Billion devices. Now those are some numbers !

2. It looks like Uber just won’t stop raising money, doesn’t matter the amount. The U.S.-based ride-hailing app raised a speculated 100-150 crores from Times Internet, the digital arm of India’s largest English daily, The Times Of India. Well, TOI says that they have kept aside a specific fund to invest in companies who want to make inroads into India. Well TOI, just so you know, Uber already has a significant presence in 11 Indian cities, and your over-cash could be better used in some budding Indian startups. Food for thought.
3. Quite possibly, one of the most promising and inspiring stories for India’s, and more importantly Rajasthan’s start-up ecosystem, was the selection of Jaipur-incubated cashless payment system startup RazorPay into Y-Combinator’s winter batch. The startup became India’s first selection this year. Kudos champs !

4. Instagram finally thought of launching an in-house photo collage making app, named Layout. Now there are many such apps on App Store already and all of them are equally good. So I still think that Instagram’s Layout is a bit late to the party. But then, when you are backed by somebody like Facebook, you’ll definitely find your way out.
5. Well, a week in tech is incomplete without Apple getting a few out-of-the-box patents. This week too, Apple received two major patents, one for a breathtaking location tracking tech which could revolutionise its current Find My Friend App. The other one though, was even more breathtaking with Apple registering a patent for a three sensor iPhone camera for more efficient low-light photography.
6. Indian Supreme Court gave a breakthrough judgement, re-instating the long lost Freedom of Speech on the Internet within the country. The Supreme court abolished a controversial Section from India’s highly scrutinised IT act, and termed the entire section as “Unconstitutional”.
7. Facebook was in highlights as it made the much awaited announcement of Messenger’s availability as a Platform. You can now add third-party apps to Messenger with over 40 choices currently available. The social networking giant also made numerous other announcements, one of which was an astonishing new Artificial Intelligence tech. The new AI tech could identify content from videos and texts.
8. Twitter’s most recent acquisition, Periscope, went LIVE. And that’s it about that announcement.

9. Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched the fourth satellite of India’ sself-developed regional navigation system. The IRNSS, upon full deployment would get India into an exclusive club of nations with their own navigational systems.
10. Ending it up, let’s take a look at all those funding rounds and acquisitions which happened this week :
    • Chargein raises $100K from Pittie Group’s family office to juice up your smartphone battery
    • CleanTech startup Urjas Energy grabs $100k in angel round from Solidarity Venture and others
    • Microsoft acquires PowerPoint collaboration startup LiveLoop
    • Automated video interviews platform ePoise raises undisclosed amount to fuel product development
    • SoftBank eyeing 20 percent stake for $1 Billion in Micromax : Reuters
    • Roposo secures $5 million Series A round led by Tiger Global
    • Housing.com buys Indian Real Estate Forum for $1.2 Million
    • Consumer Electronics startup Mango-Man grabs $1.75 Million Seed round led by Sequoia Capital
    • Oyo Rooms scoops up $24 Million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital
    • With a $6.4 Million Series A round, Teabox wants to take India’s favourite beverage to the world
    • Online foreign exchange platform FxKart secures $2 Million seed round, launches India’s first forex booking app
    • Artoo grabs $500K Series A to help lenders better their customer relationship management
    • Apple has acquired Database tech startup, Foundation DB
    • Cyanogen lands another $80 Million in Series C round from Premji Invest and others