In Brief: TikTok may move headquarters to London; Jiomart launches mobile app

Bytedance owned popular short video platform TikTok has chalked up plans to move its headquarters to London and is in talks with the UK government, according to a report by the Economic Times. London is among several other locations that the company has considered but is yet to finalise the move. TikTok has also been active in hiring onboarded Walt Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its chief executive in May.

Jiomart launches mobile app for Android users; makes home delivery free with no minimum order value

Reliance Jiomart has launched its Android app, Economic Times reports. Additionally, the company has enabled free delivery service, with no minimum value required, on its JioMart app. Earlier, the company required a minimum order value of Rs 750 for delivering the items for free.

YouTube resumes 1080p streaming option in India

Google-owned online video sharing platform YouTube has removed constraints on 1080p HD video streaming in India, as it had limited the streaming quality to 480p or standard definition (SD), in March this year, according to a report by the Economic Times. The reason behind restricting the video playback quality was to lessen the burden on servers, the report said. The streaming quality option only appears when the user is watching videos using Wifi, whereas mobile data browsing is still restricted to SD quality.

Govt issues notice to Twitter 

India’s nodal agency for cybersecurity, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), has issued a notice to social network company Twitter, asking it to provide details of the recent global hack, Inc42 reported. This move is in line with an alleged Bitcoin scam that took place on Wednesday, targeting high-profile users like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk on the platform. CERT-In has also sought complete information on the number of Indian users affected as well as the impact on data, the report said.

AWS makes Amazon Interactive Video Service generally available

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made the Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS) generally available. The service makes setting up live, interactive video streams for a web or mobile application easy and reportedly takes a few minutes, according to a statement. With the Amazon IVS software development kit (SDK) and application programming interface (APIs), customers can also build interactive features into their live streams like virtual chat spaces, votes and polls, moderated question and answer sessions, and synchronised promotional elements. 

Edtech startup Ken42 appoints Sasi Kumar Sundarajan as an advisor

Bengaluru headquartered edtech superapp platform Ken42 has appointed Sasi Kumar Sundararajan as its Advisor, according to a statement. He will be based out of the Bengaluru office. Sundarajan has over 23 years of experience in the industry and has worked with PwC, Deloitte, and Ernst and Young.

IISc’s SID incubates space-tech startups Digantara

Space-tech startup Digantara Research and Technologies has been incubated by Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The SID incubates deep science startups and nurtures them by providing mentorship and guidance along with required infrastructure and financial assistance. Digantara has been offered a grant of Rs 25 lakhs to support its ongoing research and product development, according to a statement.

Facebook, IPRS ink music licensing deal

Social networking giant Facebook has signed a music licensing deal with the Indian Performing Rights Society. Under the deal, people can now choose music from the IPRS repertoire with hundreds and thousands of songs, to add in their own videos they share on Facebook and Instagram, according to a statement. The IPRS is a representative body of authors and owners, which include composers, lyricists, and owner publishers of music.

Mitesh Agarwal appointed as director of customer engineering for Google Cloud India

Search engine giant Google has appointed Mitesh Agarwal as its director of customer engineering for Google Cloud India. In his new role, Agarwal is expected to lead a team of engineers and consultants who are focused on helping Indian organisations accelerate their ability to transform through data-powered innovation with Google Cloud Platform and G Suite, a statement said. He will report to Andrew Hobby, senior director of customer engineering for Google Cloud in APAC, who is based in Singapore.