EaseMyTrip Backs Lakshadweep 🏖️, Tax Evasion Uncovered 💼, VinFast's EV Investment 🚗

Catch up on the latest in tech, business and startups - all in 5 minutes. [Newsletter Banner] Daily News Roundup Welcome to today's edition of NextBigWhat Daily News! Major headlines include EaseMyTrip's switch to Lakshadweep tourism, tax evasion by fake firms, and VinFast's investment in India's EV market. 🌍 Help us reach your your friends and colleagues! Share the NextBigWhat newsletter. [Tweet it]( [Whatsapp]( EaseMyTrip halts Maldives bookings, promotes Lakshadweep tourism in response to derogatory comments - EaseMyTrip suspends all Maldives bookings following derogatory remarks about India and PM Modi by Maldivian ministers. - CEO Nishant Pitti announces the decision and launches a campaign promoting tourism to Lakshadweep. - The controversy triggers a #BoycottMaldives trend and encourages Indian tourists to visit domestic destinations. Government uncovers tax evasion by over 29,000 fake firms since May - Since May 2023, 29,273 bogus firms suspected of evading ₹44,015 crore in Input Tax Credit (ITC) have been detected. - The government is considering technology-based risk profiling to pre-empt such frauds, which have cost over ₹4 lakh crore in the past four years. - To combat these frauds, measures such as biometric-based Aadhaar authentication at registration and system-generated intimations for tax liability reconciliation are being implemented. Transform your 2024 : Build winning habits ! [NBW Newsletter Ad]( 50% Launch Discount ! Win your 2024 🚀 "We are what we repeatedly do." Reset and Build Better Habits for 2024​! 21-days email based course, No app to download 😎 [Enroll 👊]( VinFast to invest $2 billion in Indian EV market - Vietnam’s EV manufacturer VinFast plans to invest $500 million initially to establish a facility in Tamil Nadu, India, with a total investment of up to $2 billion. - The facility, which will have an annual capacity of 150,000 units, is expected to create 3,000-3,500 jobs and VinFast also plans to develop a pan-India dealership network. - Despite facing financial challenges and criticism over quality and safety issues in existing markets, VinFast aims to tap into India’s growing EV market, which is targeted to reach 30% electrification by 2030. Expert cautions about potential misuse of AI in law enforcement - AI researcher Eliezer Yudowsky warns about the potential misuse of AI in enforcing laws, including those that are outdated or nonsensical. - Yudowsky argues that AI could enforce every law in the legal code, which no human can fully know or obey, leading to excessive police reports and lawsuits. - Despite the potential benefits of AI in simplifying legal language and aiding in legal tasks, Yudowsky highlights the risk of AI enforcing laws with unflinching precision, causing undue stress and legal complications. Be the smartest thinker in the room with BigIdeas app (delivers bite-sized ideas from world's best podcasts, books.) [App Store]( [Google Play]( ISRO’s Aditya-L1 spacecraft successfully enters final orbit for Sun study - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully placed its Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India’s first mission to study the Sun, into its final orbit. - The spacecraft will observe the Sun from the ‘halo’ orbit around the L1 point in the Earth-Sun system for the next five years. - ISRO is the third space agency, after NASA and the European Space Agency, to station a spacecraft at the L1 point to study the Sun. Harvard’s robotic exoskeleton enhances mobility and reduces falls in Parkinson’s patients - Harvard and Boston University researchers have developed a soft robotic exoskeleton to aid Parkinson’s patients with mobility issues. - The wearable technology uses sensors and algorithms to estimate the wearer’s gait and assist in walking, significantly reducing ‘freezing’ episodes. - Early results show the device has potential for commercialization, following the path of a similar exosuit designed for stroke patients by the same team. Apple and Google pull foreign eSIM apps Airalo and Holafly from Indian stores - Apple and Google have removed international SIM service apps Airalo and Holafly from their app stores in India, following instructions from the Department of Telecommunications. - The move was prompted by concerns that fraudsters were using unauthorized eSIMs with international numbers to commit cybercrimes in India. - The apps, based in Singapore and Spain respectively, have not yet received official statements from Apple or Google regarding the removal. Electric vehicles depreciate faster than traditional cars, Tesla Model 3 fares better - Electric vehicles (EVs) have a five-year depreciation rate of 49.1%, compared to the industry average of 38.8%. - The Tesla Model 3 retains its value better than other EVs, according to a study by iSeeCars. - The high depreciation rate of EVs is attributed to heavy discounts, government incentives, and consumer uncertainty about long-term ownership costs. AI industry may face stagnation, warns robotics expert Rodney Brooks - Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot, predicts a potential stagnation in AI advancements. - Despite AI’s success, Brooks believes the industry is following a repetitive hype cycle and warns of a ‘tech winter’. - While not predicting doom, Brooks emphasizes that ambitious technological advancements require significant time. Apple delays AirTag 2 launch to 2025 due to surplus of first-gen inventory - Apple has postponed the launch of its second-generation AirTag to 2025 due to an overproduction of the first-gen model. - The delay is attributed to the lack of competition in the Find My network and the satisfactory performance of current AirTags. - The upcoming AirTag 2 is expected to feature an upgraded wireless chip for improved communication with other devices. US startup Frontdesk lays off entire staff during brief Google Meet call - Frontdesk, a US startup managing over 1000 furnished apartments, laid off its entire workforce of 200 people over a two-minute Google Meet call. - CEO Jesse DePinto attributed the layoffs to the company’s failure to raise more capital and announced plans for state receivership. - The layoffs occurred seven months after Frontdesk’s acquisition of smaller rival, Zencity, and the company has raised about $26 million since its 2017 inception. Google’s DeepMind develops Asimov-inspired ‘Robot Constitution’ for safety - Google’s DeepMind team is creating a ‘Robot Constitution’ for their AutoRT system, inspired by Isaac Asimov’s ‘Three Laws of Robotics’, to ensure safe task selection by robots. - The Constitution, part of a larger system that deploys robots to gather training data, includes foundational, safety, and embodiment rules to prevent harm to humans and the robots themselves. - While the system shows promise for embodied AI, it’s still in preliminary stages and it remains to be seen how these rules will be incorporated into existing AIs and potential loopholes addressed. © 2023 Zakti Techmedia Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. | [Unsubscribe](