dna Tech Reads: From Twitter's possible takeover to Snapchat's first hardware product, Spectacles

1. Twitter discussing a possible takeover; potential suitors said to include Salesforce, Google
Twitter has initiated talks with several tech companies to explore selling itself.

2. Snapchat just released its first hardware product, Spectacles!
And in the process, renamed itself to ‘Snap Inc’ as well.

3. Uber drivers in the US will now take selfies for added security
Apparently, during our pilot of Real-Time ID Check over the past few months, the majority of mismatches were due to unclear profile photos.

Source:-dnaindia
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Drunk Ola drivers gangrape, kill minor in Kolkata: Accused arrested, body recovered

In a horrifying incident, a 12-year-old girl was reportedly gangraped and strangled by two men in an Ola cab in Kolkata on Wednesday. According to reports, the body was found near a canal.

The accused have been arrested and according to police sources, the drivers confessed to picking up the girl from a footpath when they were drunk, CNN-News18 reported.

This is not a solitary incident which brings into question the safety and security of taxis run by cab aggregators like Ola and Uber but this is the first time that such a heinous crime has been reported in Kolkata.

According to Hindustan Times, Shankar Shaw and Guddu Singh told the police that they picked up the minor after they were drunk and were looking for some "merriment."

After killing her, Shaw and Singh threw her body into a canal below the Park Circus flyover. “Around 5 AM we received information that a girl was picked up in a car. From traffic control room the number of the car was established,” Hindustan Times quoted a Kolkata Police officer as saying.

In December 2015, an Ola driver had raped a woman passenger in Delhi, according to this Firstpost article. The driver stopped the vehicle at a deserted location and raped the woman in the car, threatening to kill her if she told anyone.

In May, 2016 a Belgian national was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in Delhi.

Uber has been under the scanner since can driver Shiv Kumar Yadav raped a woman executive in Delhi on 5 December. According to the police, the woman had dozed off on the back seat of the car, and she later woke up to find that the car had stopped at a secluded spot. When she tried to raise an alarm, the driver is said to have assaulted and raped her.

Source:-firstpost
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India ride-hailing firm Ola sideswiped as Uber, Didi team up in China

Didi Chuxing's acquisition of Uber's China business last week reshapes the landscape in Asia's growing ride-hailing sector, and leaves India's Ola more vulnerable to attack by Uber in its $12 billion home market.
Four months ago, Ola executives met with Didi hoping the Chinese firm would invest fresh capital to help it fight Uber Technologies Inc which, with its deeper pockets, has made rapid inroads into India.
They were told Didi wanted first to sort out its own challenges in China, said a person with direct knowledge of Ola's plans. Didi and Uber have raised and spent billions of dollars in a discount slugfest to win drivers, passengers and market share in China.
Didi, now worth around $35 billion, last year invested about $30 million in Ola, which is also backed by Japan's SoftBank Group (9984 T), and the two are allies in an anti-Uber group that also includes U.S.-based Lyft and Southeast Asia-focused Grab.
"This (Didi/Uber China) deal changes the dynamics of how they (Didi) will invest in India," said the person, who didn't want to be named because the discussions were private. If Didi invests more in Ola, it's effectively betting against Uber, its new partner in China, the person said.
It's not clear whether Didi would provide equity or debt to Ola, which has raised around $1.3 billion in funding and is valued at over $5 billion. SoftBank Capital, Ola's key investor, faces its own financial issues and is selling assets to raise cash and reduce debt, which may pose another fundraising challenge for Ola, which was aiming to raise another $1 billion this year.
Ola did not respond to an email request for comment. Didi said in an email that it will focus in the coming months on "ensuring smooth integration internally." It did not comment on its meeting with Ola. Didi has no immediate overseas investment plans, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The stakes are high in India, already one of the world's fastest growing taxi markets. Ola and Uber have burnt through investors' money and clashed in legal battles over alleged dirty-tricks tactics and pricing.
After the Didi deal, Uber is even more focussed on India, which it has previously called its No. 2 priority overseas market, doubling down on resources, staffing and technology deployed there, said two people familiar with Uber's plans, one of whom is based in the United States.
MISSION INDIA
Ola, founded by two graduates from India's premier technology institute, commands half of the country's taxi market as of end-June in terms of the number of cars registered on its platform, according to Counterpoint Research, with Uber on around 30 percent market share, and catching fast.
Uber has previously launched a bike taxi and autos service in India - a sign that it wants to localize transport options and a lesson from China where it focussed on privately-owned cars in big cities, where car ownership has historically been low.
Source:-reuters
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