This Week I Learned - Week #48 2024

This Week I Learned -  

* "India continues to remain a super important market for Meta globally. It’s one of the largest user markets for us and the trends that we’re seeing here are definitely about continued growth and engagement across all our platforms. It’s not just Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, but even for the recently launched Threads, India is one of the largest markets globally with over 200 million downloads. We’re seeing continued momentum and growth, across the board. Also, we are witnessing an equally strong adoption of newer products such as AI platform Llama. India provides the largest user base for Meta’s platforms. I think we are almost sort of using India as the playbook, you know, for global.

Consider this: India was one of the first countries to test and launch (Instagram) Reels in 2020. Today, it’s one of the strongest products that we have globally. India is also the first country where we launched Payments on WhatsApp Business. Also, India is the biggest market for Meta AI in terms of usage. It is among the top three markets globally for the adoption of our open-source large language AI model Llama." - Sandhya Devanathan, Meta India Head

* Do we still need to use web frameworks?

React was released almost 10 years ago in 2013. Vue followed shortly afterward in 2014. AngularJS was first previewed in 2009, and its successor Angular was released in 2016. They made up for critical shortcomings in the end-to-end web app development experience and capabilities. Some of the foundational gaps web frameworks had to close were no longer as valid in 2022 as they were in the 2010s. It is now possible to build a really powerful, performant, and maintainable app without using any web frameworks at all.

* Cybercriminals posing as representatives of the popular Zerodha trading app scammed businessman Guntha Rajesh Kumar out of ₹64 lakh. The 37-year-old from Secunderabad discovered the fake app, first called ‘Zeradha App’ and later renamed ‘Zd Trade Pro,’ via a Facebook ad in September 2024.

* Sousveillance or reverse surveillance is the recording of an activity by a member of the public, rather than a person or organisation in authority, typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies.

* There are five times as many pigs and cows in Denmark as there are people. Nearly two thirds of its land is taken up by farming.

* The active ingredient in Ozempic, as in Wegovy, Zepbound and several other similar new drugs, mimics a natural hormone, called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), that slows digestion and signals fullness to the brain. Around seven million Americans now take a GLP-1 drug, and Morgan Stanley estimates that by 2035 the number of U.S. users could expand to 24 million. That’s more than double the number of vegetarians and vegans in America, with ample room to balloon from there. More than 100 million American adults are obese, and the drugs may eventually be rolled out to people without diabetes or obesity, as they seem to tame addictions beyond food — appearing to make cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes more resistible. Research is at an early stage, but they may also cut the risk of everything from stroke and heart and kidney disease to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. - NYT

* The Bald Eagle was chosen in 1782 as the emblem of the country, it represents national bird and symbol of the United States. Benjamin Franklin reportedly preferred the turkey as the national bird and symbol of the United States, considering it a more "respectable" bird, though the Bald Eagle ultimately won out due to its majestic and powerful image.

* Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das who has been leading the RBI since December 2018, is the longest serving RBI Governor since Sir Benegal Rama Rau who served for 7 years between 1949-1957.

* The largest public market debuts for new-age companies include Swiggy's $1.35 billion this year, Zomato's $1.26 billion, and Paytm's $2.5 billion in 2021.

* Aster DM Healthcare has announced a merger with Blackstone-owned Care Hospitals, creating India's third-largest private hospital chain. The merged listed entity — Aster DM Quality Care — will have a combined portfolio of four leading brands: Aster DM, CARE Hospitals, KIMSHEALTH and Evercare. It will include a network of 38 hospitals and over 10,150 beds spread across 27 cities.

* The current number of PAN card holders is approximately 78 crore.

* "Nationalism is the measles of mankind" - Einstein

Source: In Science We Trust