Spotify ties up with Shopify for artistes to sell merch

Spotify will partner with Shopify to allow music artistes to sell merchandise on their Spotify pages. The merch will only be visible to listeners in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.

Artistes will need admin access to their Spotify for Artist account and a Shopify store. They would need to sync these two accounts, after which the artist can list three items from the store that they want to feature in their artiste account.

Snap launches studio for augmented reality

Snap has launched Arcadia, a global creative studio for augmented reality (AR), which will develop new technologies to deliver AR experiences.

The creative studio will function as a division of Snap, and operate independently to serve clients’ AR needs across platforms. Arcadia already has partnerships with marketers, including P&G Beauty, Verizon, WWE, and Shake Shack, Snap said in a media statement.

“With Arcadia, Snap is further investing in an AR ecosystem backed by partners, creators and tools, that drives full-funnel results for businesses across the globe” said Jeff Miller, Global Head of Creative Strategy, Snap.

Mindtree Chief Operating Officer resigns

Dayapatra Nevatia resigned as Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of Mindtree on Wednesday. His last working day will be January 3, 2022.

In a separate statement, Mindtree said it has won a deal with Western Asset Management, an active fixed-income investment firm. It will work on Western Asset Management's IT infrastructure and application portfolio, and transition it to a platform-based operating model.

LTTS grows 6.7 percent sequentially

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) reported a profit of Rs 230.8 crore for the quarter-ended September 2021, registering sequential growth of 6.3 percent, and 38.7 percent higher than a year ago.

The Larsen and Toubro subsidiary reported consolidated income of Rs 1,637 crore, up 6.7 percent sequentially, and 19.5 percent higher on a year-on-year basis.

"The rising digital adoption across our customer base has led to our revenue from digital and leading-edge technologies increasing to 55 percent in Q2," said Amit Chadha, CEO and Managing Director of LTTS. "We are seeing a healthy deal pipeline and good traction in our six big bets: electric autonomous and connected vehicle (EACV), 5G, med-tech, AI & digital products, digital manufacturing, and sustainability."

Shoppers Stop narrows net loss

Shoppers Stop reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 3.68 crore in the second quarter of financial year (FY) 2022, compared to a net loss of Rs 104.89 crore in the previous quarter.

The retailer reported a consolidated total income of Rs 709.63 crore in the second quarter of FY 2022. This was up by 163.3 percent compared to the previous quarter, and 96.8 percent higher than in the same quarter a year ago.

Omni-channel sales contributed 40 percent of total sales in the quarter ended September 2021, growing by 103 percent sequentially. Shoppers Stop reported an investment of Rs 40 crore in technology during the financial year to drive sales and traffic, and integrate digital points.

BMW Group building My BMW and MINI apps

BMW Group has partnered with data and technology company HERE Technologies to make use of the 4.x HERE SDK (software development kit) for its mobile applications.

The BMW Group has been building companion mobile applications for its fleet of BMW and MINI vehicles, which act as universal interfaces with the car, providing information on the vehicle’s status at any time.

Depending on the equipment fitted, apps also enable remote operation of functions, such as vehicle locating, locking and unlocking of the doors, and monitoring the car’s immediate vicinity (Remote 3D View). 

Additional functions include sending destination addresses from a smartphone to the vehicle's navigation system, a clear display of electric charge and vehicle range, and services from Amazon Alexa.

Honeywell wins Bengaluru Safe City Project

Honeywell Automation India will lead the Bengaluru Safe City project under the Nirbhaya Fund by the Government of India to create a safe, secure and empowering environment for women and girls in public places. 

As a part of the $67 million deal, Honeywell will create an integrated command and control centre to manage a video system involving more than 7,000 video cameras deployed at more than 3,000 locations across the city. It will provide advanced video analytics with facial recognition features, a 'Dial 100' application, and drones.

The company will also improve the city police department’s existing Suraksha app to help improve incident response rate and citizen engagement, the company said in an exchange filing.