Google Allows Spotify Its Own In-App Payment Option in New Pilot

Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday said it would allow Spotify to use its own payment system in its Android app as part of a new pilot aimed at countering appmakers’ concerns about high fees and allegedly anticompetitive behaviour. Users who have downloaded Spotify from the Google Play Store will be presented with a choice to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or with Google Play Billing in some countries in the coming months. The pilot will allow a small number of participating developers, starting with Spotify, to offer an additional billing option next to Google Play’s billing system…

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Nippon India Mutual Fund marks down its investment in Yes Bank to zero

NEW DELHI : Nippon India Mutual Fund on Friday said it has marked down the value of its investments to zero in bonds issued by troubled private sector lender Yes Bank. In addition, the fund house has imposed a limit of ₹2 lakh on fresh inflows into the impacted schemes till further notice, Nippon India MF said in a statement. This limit is imposed only on the new applications, switch-ins, systematic transfer plans and systematic investment plans received after March 5, it said. The announcement came hours after Yes Bank was placed under a…

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My daughter died at 13 feeling worthless – social media played its part and now I want answers

Our family’s anguish and our search for answers led us to Molly’s social media accounts (Picture: Ian Russell) Two years ago, my family lost our beloved youngest daughter. In the early hours of Tuesday November 21, 2017, Molly took her own life, just days before her 15th birthday. Adored as a friend, sister, daughter and granddaughter, Molly had showed no obvious signs of mental anguish. Finding her lifeless body on what we thought was just an ordinary weekday morning left us not only confronted by the onslaught of raw grief,…

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BJP’s Record on Education Runs Afoul of Its Own Manifesto

In their short social life and even shorter life in public memory, election manifestos perform a variety of tasks. Attempting to strike different notes at once, they sway between grandiose promise-making, novelty and a teaser of all good things that would unfurl post-elections. Intentions, promises and possible actions form common elements of the script that covers broad issues including foreign relations, defence and social security. While revealing an overall direction, focus and emphasis, manifestos also do the work of re-framing, re-naming and signalling. Given its crucial role in not just…

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Guess who’s working on a health data-slurping digital tool. Bzzt! Nope, it’s the UK Department for Work and Pensions

The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions is drawing up plans for an internal service that allows it to automate slurps of medical data on claimants to dole out health-related benefits. In an ad posted on the UK’s Digital Marketplace, DWP said the work was currently in alpha and it now wanted a supplier to deliver a technical proof of concept to expose NHS data to the department’s systems. The aim, it said, is to cut down the time and cost involved in gathering information the department needs to make a…

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Why Sterling Holidays is pivoting its business

The scalability issues with timeshare vacation business have galvanised Sterling Holidays to pivot its business. Chennai-based Sterling Holiday is going whole hog into becoming a regular hotels company. Unlike in the past where it owned resorts or leased them from developers, the company is actively looking at managing properties which are owned by developers, an asset-light model which is famous with international branded hospitality chains in India. Sterling has already signed five management contracts and is hoping to sign 10 hotel properties this year under the managed model, adding 400…

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