Vikas SN

TECHNOLOGY

Spotify Premium gets costlier in India with price hike of up to 28%

Spotify’s first price hike in India comes amid the audio streaming service's broader efforts to improve margins and achieve long-term profitability.

TECHNOLOGY

CCI expands AdTech antitrust probe against Google

In a separate order, CCI has rejected ADIF’s complaint against Google’s online search advertising services related to its Google Ads policies.

TECHNOLOGY

Reddit to unify its search experience in a bid to become a 'go-to search engine'

Reddit is sharpening its focus on improving its core product and expanding into international markets. At the same time, the social platform is deprioritizing several 'user economy' initiatives.

TECHNOLOGY

Apple 'open to' AI acquisitions to accelerate roadmap, says Tim Cook

Apple is stepping up its AI investments and also reallocating employees as it tries to catch up with rivals such as Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft amid growing competition.

BUSINESS

Gaming community app Stan bags $8.5 million from Google, Nazara, others

Stan plans to use the funds raised to expand its presence in India and other mobile-first markets, and invest in AI-driven personalisation and creator tools.

TECHNOLOGY

Google proposes allowing all RMG apps on Play Store, finalising 'appropriate' business model

Google’s proposal comes as CCI investigates its policies related to the RMG sector in India. The company has been accused of abusing its dominant position, denying market access and misleading warnings during app downloads, among others.

TECHNOLOGY

Meta's AI hiring blitz: Employee compensation to drive up 2026 expenses

In recent months, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pursuing and poaching some of the most sought-after AI talent from rivals such as OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Apple, offering billion-dollar compensation packages

TECHNOLOGY

How Spotify is rewiring for AI era to supercharge personalisation? Top executive explains

Spotify’s AI DJ and AI Playlist features signal the audio streaming giant's broader effort to tap generative AI for next-level personalisation.

TECHNOLOGY

Spotify nears 700 million users but swings to quarterly loss in Q2 2025

Higher expenses related to employees, professional services, marketing, and so-called social charges pushed Spotify to a $100 million loss in Q2 2025.

TECHNOLOGY

AI talent wars: Google ‘competitive on all fronts,’ will keep investing in people and compute, says Sundar Pichai

Google and other tech giants are competing fiercely to attract and retain top researchers, engineers, and developers in the race to dominate the rapidly evolving AI sector

TECHNOLOGY

Google parent to hike its spending to $85 billion in 2025 as AI race heats up

Over the past year, Google has released a slew of new AI-powered products and rapidly integrated these capabilities across its product suite amid intensifying competition.

STARTUP

Want to build a lasting company? Accel's Subrata Mitra says resilient teams and enduring problems are key

Accel's Subrata Mitra, an early backer of the e-commerce giant Flipkart, said that startups should pick a problem they believe will stand the test of time.

BUSINESS

Google expands data residency efforts in India with local processing of Gemini 2.5 Flash

This move is expected to help Google attract customers in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, and the public sector, which handle sensitive data and have strict data residency needs, as AI becomes more widely adopted.

TECHNOLOGY

From India to the World: Google steps up AI research to help solve real-world challenges

Google DeepMind researchers believe that by building for India's linguistic, economic, and cultural complexity, their work could lay the foundation for solutions that could benefit people across the world.

TECHNOLOGY

Netflix's Ted Sarandos on how AI is helping creators make better films, series

Netflix’s first use of GenAI footage in an original production appears in an Argentine series, where the technology was used to create a costly scene.

TECHNOLOGY

Airtel to offer free 1-year Perplexity Pro subscription to its customers

Perplexity, which seeks to disrupt Google’s flagship search engine, has seen growing adoption of its service in India in recent years

STARTUP

Nazara Technologies to give up majority control in esports firm Nodwin Gaming

Nazara Technologies said the move to give up control of Nodwin Gaming is in line with its strategy to sharpen focus on core gaming IPs

TECHNOLOGY

Elon Musk's X slashes subscription prices by up to 47% in India

X has revised the pricing for its Basic, Premium, and Premium+ tiers for the first time since introducing the service as Twitter Blue in India back in February 2023.

TECHNOLOGY

Google to bring ads to AI Overviews in India later this year; unveils AI-powered marketing tools

Google is also bringing shoppable connected TV ads on YouTube to India, along with shoppable mobile mastheads.

STARTUP

Delhi HC restrains Kuku FM from releasing new episodes of 5 series, after Pocket FM copyright complaint

Pocket FM has filed a lawsuit against Kuku FM parent Mebigo Labs, alleging repeated instances of infringement of its intellectual properties. The company has sought around $10 million in damages.

TECHNOLOGY

Linda Yaccarino to step down as CEO of Elon Musk's social media firm X

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI acquired X in an all-stock transaction that valued the social media platform at $33 billion in March 2025.

STARTUP

Karnataka plans regulatory authority to license real-money gaming, ban online betting

Karnataka’s draft bill seeks to prohibit all forms of online betting, wagering, or gambling involving games of chance. The Congress-led government is likely to introduce it in the upcoming legislature session.

TECHNOLOGY

Google to roll out ‘AI Mode’ search feature for all users in India

AI Mode is Google's attempt to counter answer engines like Perplexity, which have gained ground over the past couple of years.