🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #272

It's Wednesday! Time to keep the momentum going!

#WarehouseAutomation - Amazon's testing robots to pick and stow products in its warehouses, but they're not quite ready to replace humans yet - the "Stow" robot got it right 85% of the time, and the "Pick" robot did even better at 91%, but still had some failures, especially with books.

#LifetimeSubscriptions - VPNSecure customers have complained that their lifetime subscriptions are no longer working. The new owners of VPNSecure say they DIDNT KNOW about the lifetime subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure. So they cancelled them!

PhonePe's UPI Outage: A Lesson In Disaster Recovery
Phonepe, India’s digital payment platform, faced a significant UPI outage on Monday around 7:30 PM, due to a network capacity shortfall at the newly deployed data centre. The incident occurred due to recovery drills initiated by Phonepe in response to escalating geopolitical tension.

Meta-powered Ray-ban Glasses Arrive In India
Meta has partnered with Ray-Ban to create smart glasses that combine style with cutting-edge tech. These glasses can translate languages in real-time, play music, and even let you take calls and send messages hands-free. They're now available for pre-order in India starting at ₹29,900.

Amazon Prime Video To Introduce Ads In India
Amazon introducing ads to their content in India starting June 17. They'll offer an ad-free add-on for an extra fee, similar to what they did in the US last year, which helped them secure big ad spending commitments. This move is likely to generate more ad revenue for Amazon in India, where they also have another ad-supported streaming service called MX Player.

Samsung Launches World's Thinnest Phone Yet: Galaxy S25 Edge
The Galaxy S25 Edge is the world's thinnest phone. It is just 5.84 mm thick and weighs 163 grams. It features a 6.7-inch QHD+ 2X AMOLED display. The main camera is a 200MP wide f/1.7 snapper with a sensor size of 1.56″.

Microsoft Announces 6,000 Job Cuts
Microsoft, a tech giant and one of the world's largest software companies, is laying off over 6,000 employees, around 3% of its workforce, due to organizational changes and a dynamic market, impacting various levels and departments, including LinkedIn and international offices.

iPhone - Added support for carrier-provided satellite features on iPhone 13 models.

PhonePe SmartSpeaker - Upgraded with 4G connectivity, faster charging, and extended battery life, while retaining popular features like voice notifications and celebrity voice options.

Duolingo - Replaces hearts with a new "energy" mechanic that rewards streaks of correct answers and removes penalties for mistakes.

FireFox - Shifted their code base from mercurial to git and are now hosting their code on Github. They still have mercurial bits but they intend to slowly replace them with git going forward.

Codigo - Explore over 1,000 programming languages with Codigo, a beautifully designed, open-source repository for developers and tech enthusiasts. Discover trending languages, compare features, view code samples, and stay updated with curated news from sources like PyPL and TIOBE. Whether you're exploring new tools or tracking language trends, Codigo is your go-to resource.

Spotted In Prod - Ever wondered what tech stack powers your favorite websites? Uncover the secrets behind the digital giants! Explore the technologies that make them tick and get inspired for your own projects. Click to dive in!

Three Essential Soft Skills For Software Professionals To Climb The Corporate Ladder
Build trust with regular 1:1s, use your manager to make decisions for you, and show what they might not have time to see by writing it down. These skills help you stay connected, make intentional decisions, and track progress, ultimately leading to growth and success in your career.

Golang's Popularity Wanes
Golang, once hailed as "the C of the cloud", is losing favor among developers due to its low-level and rigid nature, making it less suitable for fast-paced product development and modern AI workflows, with many turning to languages like Kotlin and Rust instead.

Vulnerabilities Exposed In Dating App Cerca
Cerca, a dating app, had several security vulnerabilities, including exposed API endpoints and a one-time password (OTP) system that could be exploited to access user accounts. Despite being notified, the company failed to publicly acknowledge or inform users about the issues, which have since been patched.