Investopad

Have you subscribed to Crosstalk yet? Ankit, from MyPoolin wrote a very interesting piece on payments landscape in India. Cheggit!

Continuing on the same theme, Vivek Wadhwa argues that Silicon Valley would do well to learn from India with it's latest moves towards a cashless economy.
In other news, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have begun merger talks. If this goes through, the combined entity will be the largest telecom operator in India. Well, with Jio already becoming the primary source of data consumption for 42% of all 4G users across India, we're not sure how temporary that will be!

Fake news has become a big issue for tech companies with large audiences, this new tech just goes to show how easy it is to spread false stories that seem authentic, even on TV!

Google has been dealing with this issue for years. In 2016, they took down more than 1.7 billion ads that violated its policies — more than double from a year ago. Having said that, it's still just a drop in the ocean. Both Facebook & Google need to do a lot more and take responsibility for the content on their platforms. Let's not even get started with Twitter. *sigh*

As technology plays a more integral role in our lives, we need to seriously assess the ethical & security aspects of the very tech we get fascinated by. Experts have already called for the need for an AI Watchdog to ensure algorithms don't make bad decisions that have serious impacts on people’s lives. Hopefully that watchdog will also ban startups that claim A.I. as their only differentiation! #WishfulThinking

According to Google, 'Similar Audiences' can boost performance to the tune of 60% more impressions, 48% more clicks, and 41% more conversions. However, it's still one of the most under utilized features in online advertising. This guide to using AdWords Similar Audiences can be useful in making your online spend more efficient.

Here's a rather interesting transcript of a talk by Matt Monihan on how the World just needs a better spreadsheet! A great read for anyone building a SaaS product.

No? You want more doom and gloom? All right then! Read on...

• Cipher War [Deep Dive]
• Tech’s Most Unlikely Venture Capitalist [Rags to riches, literally!]
• In world first, Denmark to name a ‘digital ambassador’ [Intriguing]
• The implications of climate change on financial markets [Doomsday]
• Airbnb enters the Land of Profitability [Uptick]
• Hotel ransomed by hackers as guests locked out of rooms [Implications]