🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #392

You've made it halfway through - happy Wednesday!

#OpenAI - OpenAI, the company behind the AI chatbot ChatGPT, is making its premium subscription plan ChatGPT Go free for users in India for one year, starting November 4, coinciding with its first DevDay Exchange event in Bengaluru.

#Grokipedia - Elon Musk launched Wikipedia’s competitor - Grokipedia. That crashed for few hours upon launch. And when people were finally able to access it, they realized that it’s contents were simply cloned from Wikipedia itself! There was some changes though - like the article for Elon Musk has him portrayed as more benevolent then they really are.

#Signal - Signal, the secure messaging app, like many other internet services, failed briefly during the sizable AWS outage. Users were shocked to know that Signal too runs on AWS resources and revolted. Signal president Meredith Whittaker had to step in and explain how cloud services are now the norm and nobody can escape using any of the existing ones.

ISRO's New Satellite Launch Scheduled For November 2nd
India's space agency ISRO is launching the CMS-03 communication satellite, the heaviest satellite ever, that will boost the country's communication network, especially in ocean and coastal areas. The satellite will provide secure and reliable communication for civilian and strategic users, and will replace older systems, extending coverage to ocean regions.

Ola Electric's Hyperservice To Make Spare Parts & Tools Available
Ola Electric has announced a major change in how its scooters are serviced and repaired. The company launched “HyperService,’ a platform that lets independent garages, fleet operators, and customers directly access Ola’s spare parts, service tools, and training programs. This move aims to make electric scooter maintenance more open and convenient for everyone.

Amazon Plans Mass Layoffs
Amazon, the e-commerce giant, is cutting around 14,000 corporate jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive, with employees getting 90 days to find new roles internally. This is a smaller layoff than expected, and Amazon plans to continue hiring in key areas in 2026.

OpenAI Adopts For-profit Structure
OpenAI said it had become a public benefit corporation, or P.B.C., which is a for-profit corporation designed to create public and social good. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, will also maintain a stake in the new company worth roughly $130 billion as well.

Twitter Security Key 2FA Update
By November 10, Twitter is asking all accounts that use a security key as their two factor authentication (2FA) method to re-enroll their key to continue accessing X. If you haven’t re-ENrolled, your account will be locked until you do. You can also choose a different 2FA method or elect not to use 2FA.

Japan Introduces World's First Stablecoin Pegged To The Yen
Japan's JPYC, a small startup, is launching a stablecoin backed by the yen, marking a significant move in a country where cash and credit cards dominate financial transactions.

Fitbit - Introduces AI-powered Personal Health Coach with Public Preview, offering a fitness trainer, sleep coach, and health and wellness advisor to help users achieve their goals.

GitHub - Multiple announcements from its Octoverse event - a new Agent HQ website was announced to manage your agents. Typescript apparently became the most used programming language on the platform surpassing Python. India became the single largest source of new developers on Github.

A different job for today - OpenAI is hiring in India! Specifically in Bangalore. This is not your regular job posting though - the requirements are of a higher calibre than you would usually come across but our subscribers are from myriad backgrounds so we are sure some of you may find this useful. Check out this LinkedIn post from their recruiter.

The Art And Discipline Of Prompt Engineering
The quality of an AI's output is directly tied to the clarity of its input. Vague requests yield vague results, while thoughtfully structured prompts can produce sharp outcomes.