It’s well known that the secret to any business’s success is a genuine passion for what you do as a leader and entrepreneur. For Leah Wise, the reason she has become so successful as a lawyer and entrepreneur is that this passion radiates throughout every one of her business ventures — including her clothing line, CrashGal Couture. Leah Wise — perhaps better known by her social media handle, @CrashGal — is a McAllen, Texas-based attorney and entrepreneur. After graduating from the St. Mary’s University School of Law with a JD in 2016, Wise founded her own practice, the first Latina-owned law firm in Texas dedicated 100% to personal injury law. However, Wise’s venture into entrepreneurship doesn’t stop with being the owner of a law firm. She has also founded a real estate investing company, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women in the community, and perhaps most surprisingly, a clothing line. How Leah Wise founded CrashGal Couture to pursue her passion for fashion As one of her many business ventures, Wise founded CrashGal Couture to pursue her passion for fashion design beyond her primary career as a lawyer. Wise is a testament to the fact that with an entrepreneurial spirit, it’s possible to turn your passion into a significant profit. CrashGal Couture sells clothes in an online store that offers shipping, as well as inside the McAllen, Texas boutique Shop 112. Whether you are in the Rio Grande Valley or across the United States, you can take advantage of the sleek, affordable style of the CrashGal Couture line. According to Wise, the philosophy behind CrashGal Couture is to “bring the modern, working woman a clothing line that would allow them to express themselves at an affordable price.” Because of this, customers will find clothes from all sorts of styles in CrashGal Couture’s online or physical store — from dresses and rompers to two-piece sets and even cover-ups. This makes CrashGal Couture a perfect fashion line for the everyday woman’s needs, whether it’s showing up to work in style or finding the perfect outfit for a girls’ night out. One of the defining features of the CrashFal Couture line is that all pieces are priced under $100. As a result, Wise is putting upscale, elegant fashion into the hands of women from all walks of life at a price they can afford. How Leah Wise gives back to the community as a successful Latina entrepreneur Through her actions, Wise has shown a continued commitment to giving back to the community — both in terms of the local Rio Grande Valley and those in her community of Latina entrepreneurs. In terms of her practice, Wise regularly shows the willingness to help clients financially while their cases are being resolved, setting them apart from large corporate firms who treat their clients like they are “just another case.” At the same time, Wise goes above and beyond to give back to the community and empower other Latina entrepreneurs. For one, Wise refuses to let her social media following go to waste. She started an initiative called “Latina Feature Friday” on her social media platforms to highlight other Latina-owned businesses in the Rio Grande Valley. Through her business ventures — including CrashGal Couture and her law firm — Wise has grown a following of thousands across her various accounts. She believes that using this following to help other Latina entrepreneurs is an important part of giving back and supporting those experiencing the same challenges she did in her journey. Wise has also shown her commitment to elevating fellow Latina entrepreneurs through her philanthropic efforts. For example, she recently founded the CrashGal Mentorship Group, a program through which she provides Latina entrepreneurs with mentorship and guidance to help them in their journey toward becoming successful entrepreneurs. She also began the Leah Wise Latina Student Hardship Fund at St. Mary’s University School of Law in 2022, pledging $50,000 to help Latina law students going through financial hardship. The goal of both initiatives is to empower the next generation of great female entrepreneurs and lawyers. Leah Wise’s story should be an inspiration to any Latina who hopes to start her own business and pave a path for herself in whatever industry she chooses. Wise has not only seen success as a lawyer, but also as a fashion designer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur in general. Her unwavering desire to give back to the community makes her an extraordinary role model for girls and women who hope to take their passions and turn them into profitable ventures.

Google Photos on the web is getting some new capabilities. This comes soon after the Android’s default gallery app received a redesign for foldables and tablets. The gallery app on the web has received a new editor as reported by 9to5Google. The update also includes some minor changes to the overall user interface.What users get with Google Photo’s new editorGoogle Photos now shows a new contextual Suggestions tab first with necessary options like Enhance, Warm and Cool, similar to what we see on the Photos app. Google One subscribers will also see more features here. This includes Portrait light, Blur, Sky, Color, and HDR. Next to that, there’s the Aspect Ratio which has been updated to offer more options to users. The tool, instead of opening the photo into full screen crop mode, offers users the multiple aspect ratios to choose from, including Free, Original, Square, 16:9 (9:16), 5:4 (4:5), 4:3 (3:4), and 3:2 (2:3). Earlier these options were tucked within a dropdown menu. Thanks to the bigger screen, all the editing controls are shown in one go, instead of grouping them under Light, Color, and Pop. However, the icons accompanying these options are similar to the Android version of the app. In the end, the Filters tab is there which by the way used to be the first tab before the update. Nothing much has changed here. Users can simply click on the available filters to apply on the photo. The biggest takeaway from this is Google Photos on web also offers an almost similar set of features and options as the mobile version and this makes things easier for users. Rollout detailsThe report says that the updated editor in Photos’ web version is rolling out now and users will see a new popup “Try the new editor” when opening a picture.

The European Commission is reportedly analysing India’s newly-formed data protection law EU’s GDPR requires other countries to be fully compliant with its norms and ensure an adequate level of data protection for transferring the personal data of EU citizens to those countries Following President Droupadi Murmu’s assent to the DPDP Bill, the Indian government is now gearing up to notify the establishment of the Data Protection Board Amid privacy-related concerns around the recently passed Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, the European Commission is reportedly analysing the data protection law. “We take note of the adoption of the law, and we are analysing it,” a European Commission spokesperson was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol following its query to the Commission on whether the DPDP Act would have an impact on data transfer from the EU to India. The European Commission is the European Union’s (EU’s) politically independent executive arm responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation and implementing the union’s laws. Inc42’s email to the European Commission to clarify the matter did not elicit a response till the time of publishing the article. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires other countries to be fully compliant with its norms and ensure an adequate level of data protection for transferring the personal data of EU citizens to those countries. There have been some concerns around the amount of privacy the DPDP Act provides, particularly because certain clauses of the Act allow exemptions to the central government in the processing of personal data. As per the report, experts are of the view that such an exemption could affect the EU’s assessment of India’s newly-formed data protection law. It is pertinent to note that the DPDP Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on August 7 amid protests from the opposition parties. Soon, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha and on August 11, President Droupadi Murmu finally granted her assent to the Bill to become an Act. Besides opposition MPs, the bill has received criticism from industry stakeholders, civil society, and rights groups alike. They have raised concerns that the DPDP Act would lead to state-sponsored surveillance of citizens and it violates the right to privacy. As part of the Act, there are also hefty penalties for non-compliance with its provisions. For instance, a failure to take security measures to prevent data breaches could invite a penalty of up to INR 250 Cr. Non-fulfilment of obligations related to children, violators could attract penalties up to INR 200 Cr.  Now, the government is also gearing up to notify the establishment of the Data Protection Board (DPB). The government is actively formulating the criteria for selecting members and the chairperson for the functioning of the board, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said recently. Meanwhile, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission reportedly welcomed India’s DPDP Act. Being an EU member country, Ireland also comes under the jurisdiction of GDPR.

Back in 2017, Microsoft announced that it won’t be making Kinect, a device that came with a depth camera and microphone. Two years later, the company introduced Azure Kinect Developer Kit. And now the company has discontinued that as well. According to a company blog post, the Azure Kinect Developer Kit is being ‘killed’. “We have made the decision to end production of Azure Kinect Developer Kit, but this is far from the end of this technology as it will continue to be available through our partner ecosystem,” said company executive Swati Mehta. While Microsoft is doing away with Kinect, it is offering certain options to developers who want a similar gadget. “If you are an existing user of Azure Kinect Developer Kit or are planning to use it for your application, you can continue to do so without disruption. The Azure Kinect Developer Kit SDK (software development kit) will continue to be available for download,” said Mehta in the blog post. Buyers can also purchase additional devices until the end of October or until supplies last. “If you are looking for a long-term solution or need to customise the hardware for your specific needs, we encourage you to explore the offerings from our partners,” Mehta said. What options is Microsoft offeringThe Femto Bolt from Orbbec is an option for those interested in a solution like Azure Kinect Developer Kit can consider. Orbbec’s camera offerings use the same depth camera module as Azure Kinect Developer Kit, and developers can migrate their existing applications using Azure Kinect Developer Kit to Orbbec’s cameras using the API bridge provided as part of their SDK, said Microsoft. “We believe that with these partnerships the community will have access to a broad variety of sensors, camera modules and camera systems built on top of Microsoft iToF technology,” added Mehta in the blog post.

BRICS Summit 2023: PM Modi to attend 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa along with Xi Jinping, Lula da Silva BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as its member nations, is scheduled to take place from August 22-24, in Johannesburg. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited 55 members of the African Union (AU) and 20 other leaders from across the globe to be a part of this annual summit which is taking place in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch to know more!

The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new culture — forced and then for some voluntary — of working from home. To keep employees safe, organisations had little choice but to allow them to work from home. However, in the last 12 months or so, a lot of organisations have some form of working from office policy. One of them is Meta, which has a three-day work from office rule. However, it seems like employees are flouting that rule. According to a report by Business Insider, Lori Goler, head of people, Meta sent a memo to employees warning them about the rule. Performance drop, termination and more In the memo, as per Business Insider, Goler said that, “Managers will review badge and Status Tool information on a monthly basis and follow up with those who didn’t meet the requirement, subject to local law and works council requirements.” Meta has different work from office policies in different regions but three-day is pretty much the norm. It is something that a lot of other tech companies follow. Apple, Google also have a similar three-day work from office policy. Goler warned employees not to violate the work from office policy and urged employees to follow it strictly. “As with other company policies, repeated violations may result in disciplinary action, up to and including a Performance@ rating drop and, ultimately, termination if not addressed,” she said in the memo. It’s not as if Meta is making all employees come to office. According to the report, the company has “remote” workers who are advised not to come to office for more than four days every two months. “We believe that distributed work will continue to be important in the future, particularly as our technology improves,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.“In the near-term, our in-person focus is designed to support a strong, valuable experience for our people who have chosen to work from the office, and we’re being thoughtful and intentional about where we invest in remote work,” the spokesperson added.

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eSIMs, slowly, but steadily gaining popularity. Apple made the entire iPhone 14 series lineup sold in US eSIM only. Now, Google is taking a step forward with the entire eSIM idea and is reportedly making it easier for users to transfer eSIM from one device to another. Google has already announced, earlier this year, that it is working on an eSIM transfer feature that will allow users move eSIMs from one device to another natively. Right now, there’s no way to move eSIMs between two devices and that leaves users with only the option to disable the eSIM from one device and activate it again on another device and that requires telecom service provider’s support and good luck with that. QR code system is supposed to get implementedAnyhow, the native eSIM transfer support allows users to move eSIM from one device to another natively based on QR codes. As per the report, the new system will ask users to scan a QR code to initiate the entire eSIM transfer process. The report mentions that the next steps are currently not available as the feature isn’t live right now. When the feature is expected to arriveWell, there’s no official timeline announced by the company as of now. And, we also don’t know if the upcoming Android 14 will include this feature in the first rollout phase. But, previous rumours suggest that it could become a part of Pixel smartphone’s setup process which makes sense. Eventually, Google could also make this standard through the Android ecosystem. How this will make things easier for usersGoogle’s forthcoming native eSIM transfer feature, employing QR codes, promises user-friendly convenience. Currently, transferring eSIMs between devices can be cumbersome. This innovation streamlines the process, eliminating reliance on telecom providers and simplifying the activation process. Its introduction, potentially with Pixel smartphones, aims to enhance user experience within the Android ecosystem.

Honor has signed a licencing deal with former Relame India CEO Madhav Sheth-led HonorTech to manufacture smartphones in India Gurugram-based HonorTech will invest INR 1,000 Cr to set up software and hardware teams and service centres in India and launch three new smartphones by September this year All Honor-branded smartphones will eventually be manufactured in the country via a ‘PLI (production linked incentive)-approved domestic contract manufacturer’ by 2024 Chinese smartphone major Honor is reportedly gearing up for a relaunch in India in partnership with a local company. Honor has signed a licensing deal with Gurugram-based HonorTech, a joint venture between former Realme India top executive Madhav Sheth and Honor India distributor PSAV Global, to manufacture smartphones in India, news agency PTI reported. HonorTech will reportedly invest INR 1,000 Cr to set up operations for the Chinese smartphone brand’s reentry in the country. A major chunk of the infusion will go towards establishing software and hardware teams as well as to establish service centres in the country.  As per a Reuters report, the deal centres around an ‘agreed-upon cost’ linked to the transfer of technology and hardware.  “Their global expertise will be transferred to us. Honor’s global team will come to India to help with this know-how transfer. They will work as an ODM to us, while the partnership will help them expand globally,” Sheth told the publication. Under the pact, the duo will launch three ‘mid-range’ smartphone models under the Honor brand by as early as September this year. These smartphones will likely sell in the price range of $100-$1,000, including foldable phones, and will initially be imported.  As per Sheth, all Honor-branded smartphones will eventually be manufactured in the country via a ‘PLI (production linked incentive)-approved domestic contract manufacturer’ by 2024. Meanwhile, HonorTech expects to rake up a revenue of INR 10,000 Cr by December 2024 and is eyeing a 5% market share in the smartphone market by the end of 2022. As per Sheth, the partnership will generate 4,000 jobs in the country across operations,retail and R&D by the end of the next calendar year. The Chinese original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM’s) reentry into India comes nearly a year after it pulled the plug on its India smartphone operations as geopolitical tensions raged on between New Delhi and Beijing.  “The biggest challenge with the (Indian) government in the past was how can a (Chinese) brand be accountable in India?” Sheth told Reuters.  In partnership with HonorTech, the Chinese brand is expected to see some tailwinds as it regathers its India operations, alleviating a majority of the concerns of the Indian authorities.  Besides, this is potentially the first major development after the Centre reportedly directed Chinese smartphone makers to partner with local ‘equity partners’ to operate in India. Meanwhile, the move is expected to bring another Chinese player back to the country but with better data safeguards in place.  Honor will compete with other smartphone giants operating in the country such as Samsung and other Chinese competitors Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Realme.  The development comes at a time when other Chinese companies have been under regulatory scrutiny in India for alleged money laundering and tax evasion. While Xiaomi has shut some of its services in India, others have steadily offloaded their investments in Indian startups.  Meanwhile, Chinese and other global OEMs continue to make a beeline for India owing to the lucrative PLI schemes and have scaled investments in manufacturing facilities in the country. While Xiaomi has partnered with a local player to produce wireless audio products, tech major Apple has scaled up its production to billions of dollars in India.  With much at stake, it remains to be seen what kind of impact the relaunch creates in India. Meanwhile, the reentry could ramp up competition in the already heavily populated Indian smartphone space. 

In 2021, Intel announced a shift in strategy with the IDM 2.0 and the chipmaker strides towards reclaiming its position in the market by 2025. The chipmaker continues expansion in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region with growing investments towards packaging facilities, foundries and research and development across the globe. Spearheading this revival is the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, with India emerging as the fastest-growing market.Steve Long, Intel’s General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan, highlighted India’s demographic advantage, encapsulated by its representation of 50 per cent of the global population. Speaking at the inauguration of the Intel Tech Tour in Malaysia, Long pointed out the country’s dynamic growth in contrast to others facing stagnation and decline.“APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan region) has a demographic advantage, I boil it down to having 50 per cent of the world population. India is growing, and its population is unlike other areas that are stagnant and declining,” Steve Long, General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan at Intel, said in a keynote during a facility visit in Penang, Malaysia.Long emphasised that this trend is clearly reflected in India’s robust gross domestic growth, surpassing that of the rest of the world. He underlined that the region is shouldering the responsibility of driving innovation, underscoring its pivotal role in propelling global progress.Referring to India as an illustration and expressing Intel’s perspective on the potential, Long indicated that the nation is the world’s most rapidly expanding internet market, having gained 400 million new users following the Covid-19 pandemic.“It is a massive change in the country. This is both a domestic consumption opportunity and an opportunity for India to change what they mean on the global stage. This is once in a generation kind of a thing,” he further added.Long pointed out the attributes of India that contribute to the APJ region’s distinction, including its diversity, demographics, and robust services industry.Intel’s bid to catch up with competitors as the use cases for artificial intelligence advances relies significantly on its Indian engineers. Sandra Rivera, EVP & GM of Intel’s Data Center and AI Group, told the TNN that teams based out of India, in addition to Israel, are central to developing hardware and software for Intel’s Gaudi deep learning training processor aimed at AI applications, which is a contender to Nvidia’s offerings. Rivera noted Indian centre is a hub for diverse cutting-edge silicon products, spanning CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and AI accelerators.Long, during his keynote, also mentioned how researchers in India have been working towards embracing artificial intelligence, giving an example of researchers from the Cochin University of Science and Technology’s AI & Computer Vision Lab, who developed a CPU-powered solution for early breast cancer detection in medical images. Since assuming the CEO role in 2021, Pat Gelsinger has steered Intel towards fresh objectives, including securing market supremacy and establishing a foundry services enterprise for producing chipsets catering to customers and competitors.Under Gelsinger, the chipmaker has committed to achieve five nodes within four years, and out of the planned five nodes, two — 7nm and 4nm –are already under production, with 3nm nodes being ready for production in the latter half of the year.(Disclaimer: The author is covering the Intel Tech Tour at Penang, Malaysia, on the invite of Intel.)