Twitter Goes Down for an Hour: Biggest Outage Yet!
Big news in the tech world today! Twitter was down for about an hour this morning, leaving users with error messages and frustration. While the app seemed to still be working, links failed and users couldn’t access the home page. The outage was reported starting before 9AM Pacific.
Interestingly, Twitter recently cut off free API access to multiple companies, but it’s unclear if that’s related to this morning’s outage. The company has also recently cut 10% of its workforce, including a prominent product leader.
However, despite these challenges, Twitter’s service has remained surprisingly robust. Former GitHub CTO Jason Warner noted that it can “suffer lots and lots and lots of issues and it will still be a useful/amusing service for many.” In other words, Twitter may not be mission critical, but it’s definitely a beloved and valuable part of many people’s lives.
So while the Twitter outage may have caused some inconvenience last morning, it’s just a reminder that even the most popular tech services can experience hiccups. And as long as Twitter continues to provide a useful and amusing service, we’ll likely forgive the occasional outage.
India sees a massive surge in digital payments!
India’s digital payments is blowing up! The RBI governor, Shaktikanta Das, announced yesterday that the use of UPI has soared to incredible heights over the last 12 months. Daily transactions have surpassed a whopping 36 crore, skyrocketing by 50% from February 2022, when the number was 24 crore. These transactions have reached an impressive value of ₹6.27 lakh crore, which marks a 17% growth from ₹5.36 lakh crore in February 2022.
But that’s not all! In the past three months, overall monthly digital payment transactions have crossed the ₹1,000-crore mark, with UPI transactions exceeding 800 crores in January 2023. NEFT transfers have also reached its highest-ever daily volume of 3.18 crore transactions on February 28.
The UPI was launched back in 2016, and since then, it has become the most popular and favored payment mode, accounting for a staggering 75% of the total digital payments. It has facilitated digital payments to retail outlets, kiranas, street vendors, and more. Meanwhile, the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) has ensured the migration of bill payments from cash/cheques to digital mode, and the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system has migrated toll payments to digital mode. This alone has enhanced efficiency by reducing waiting times at toll plazas.
Das also announced that the RBI has decided to adopt 75 villages by involving village-level entrepreneurs as part of the “75 Digital Villages” program. And, under this program, PSOs will adopt 75 villages and convert them into digital payment-enabled villages.
The RBI’s commitment to deepening digital payments in the country through its “Har Payment Digital” mission is only going to make things even better. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
More layoffs to happen at Meta this week!
According to insiders, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram is about to embark on another round of layoffs. This round could see thousands of employees being let go as early as this week. The move comes on the back of a 13% reduction in staff that occurred last November, as the company seeks to streamline its operations and become more efficient.
Meta has been working to flatten its organization by cutting nonessential teams and offering buyout packages to managers. This latest phase of layoffs is being driven by financial targets and is separate from the “flattening” process, according to sources close to the matter.
Despite a slowdown in advertising revenue, Meta has been shifting its focus to a virtual-reality platform called the metaverse. This has prompted the company to ask directors and vice presidents to make lists of employees that can be let go. While the imminent round of cuts has not been confirmed by Meta, it is rumored that it could be finalized within the next week.
It’s no secret that Zuckerberg has dubbed 2023 as Meta’s “year of efficiency,” and the company has been communicating that theme to employees during performance reviews, which were completed last week. This is all leading to a tense atmosphere at the Menlo Park-based company. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Stay tuned!
