In a series of tweets, Elon Musk said some things that may not have gone down well with investors resulting in a loss of $14 billion in value for Tesla. Tesla stock price too high, imo Musk tweeted adding that he wanted to sell all his possessions including his house. Musk also said that there was one condition to a sale. The house formerly owned by actor and producer, Gene Wilder was also going up for sale, but cannot be torn down. Trying to get some clarification from the Tesla founder, the Wall Street Journal asked if the tweet was a joke, to which Musk replied, No. The electric carmakers market cap is currently around $130 billion and it last traded for $701.32 (closing market price May 1).

Xiaomi reportedly recorded data of millions of its users and sent it to remote servers hosted by another Chinese firm, Alibaba. Cybersecurity researcher Gabi Cirlig told Forbes that the default Xiaomi Mi browser recorded all the websites that were visited on the device. Furthermore, the device tracked his activities even when he was supposedly using the incognito mode a setting that prevents browsing history or cache from being stored. Xiaomi India responded saying the report is 'absolutely inaccurate'. "As an internet company, Xiaomi takes user privacy extremely seriously. Mi Browser follows similar protocols are any other leading browser in the world. It does not collect any user data that the user has explicitly given permission and consent to." The company further added that Mi Browser will never know what you browse in incognito mode as the user data is encrypted and anonymised. 'Lastly, all Mi browser and Mi Cloud data of Indian users is stored locally in AWS servers in India," the company further stated.

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Samsung has confirmed to launch new Galaxy Note and foldable smartphones in H2 2020. The company typically launches its Galaxy Note series in August at the Unpacked event. This means we could possibly see the Galaxy Note 20 series sometime during the second half of 2020. The other confirmed news is a new foldable phone. Rumours of the Galaxy Fold 2 launch have been floating on the internet. Samsung was previously rumoured to launch the Galaxy Fold 2 in Q2 2020. However, the launch date must have been pushed forward due to the global crisis.

Apple and Google have rolled out the first set of COVID-19 contact tracing tools to developers. The coronavirus exposure notification API in a new beta update of iOS 13.5. For Android, Google has rolled out a new beta of its Google Play Services with the exposure notification API and an accompanying SDK to select developers. Both companies have also released the first seeds of the exposure notification API to public health authority developers to collect feedback on how to improve the API ahead of its slated release in mid-May. Apple and Google will share additional information with these developers, which will also include a sample code for developers to understand how the exposure notification system will work.

Xiaomi has globally unveiled the Mi Note 10 Lite and Redmi Note 9. The Mi Note 10 Lite is a toned-down version of the Mi Note 10 and features 6.47-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a waterdrop notch for the 32MP front camera, a Snapdragon 730G processor with 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and a 5,260 mAh battery with 30W wired fast charging support. There is a 64MP + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro+ 2MP depth sensor setup for photos and videos. Mi Note 10 Lite comes in two storage options and starts at EUR 349 (roughly Rs. 28,400). Redmi Note 9 specifications include a 6.53-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD, a MediaTek Helio G85 processor with up to 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, and a 5,020 mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. There is a 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP camera setup on the Redmi Note 9. For selfies, you get a 13MP front camera. Redmi Note 9 starts at USD 199 (roughly Rs 14,900).

Search engine giant Google has released a data set that reveals the difference in mobility trends in certain types of areas before and after the lockdown. The Google COVID-19 Community Mobility report until April 26 suggests that places that fall under the retail and recreation category witnessed a decline of 86 percent in terms of footfall. Among the worst-hit were public transport services, which saw a 66 percent decline in footfall between March 15 and April 26 across India. As many people are working from home, while the remaining stay isolated indoors, Google reported a surge of 22 percent in residential spaces. Surprisingly, Google recorded a 51 percent drop in areas like grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, speciality food shops, drug stores, and pharmacies. These places have been allowed to remain open for providing essential items while following social distancing.

Video-sharing app TikTok has reportedly surpassed 2 billion downloads across Android and iOS devices. The reason for the sudden surge in the number of downloads for TikTok is said to be the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has forced people to stay at home and find new ways to keep themselves entertained. Outside China, India is TikToks largest market, which accounts for over 30.3 percent or 611 million app downloads The Sensor Tower report further reveals that TikTok generated significantly higher revenue from its iOS app compared to Android. iOS users spent over USD 435.3 million in lifetime revenue, compared to USD 21.4 million in revenue on Android.

First Published on May 2, 2020 07:49 pm

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Tech Weekender: Musk's tweets cost Tesla $14bn, Xiaomi's privacy issues and TikTok's 2 billion downloads - Moneycontrol