 Apple has just launched the latest iteration of the iPhone, the iPhone 15. But what does this phone say about the state of technology today? Media Tycoon Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as the chairman of Fox and Newscorp. What is the legacy of this controversial figure? And finally, the 19th Asian Games has begun in Hangzhou, China. What can sports fans anticipate? This is the DailyBD Brief. These are your stories for the day. And before we go any further, if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Apple fans, especially those with deep pockets, have had reason to celebrate as the latest model of the iPhone. The iPhone 15 has been launched. Now, the regular launches of various iterations of the iPhone are news not only for fans of the brand, but also for those watching the tech space because of what it says about the state of technology today. To get answers on some of these questions, we go to our resident tech expert, Bappa Sinha. Bappa, thank you so much for joining us. It's not often that we do a segment which starts off with a tech review, but I think there are deeper technological and political trends at play that we'll also talk about. But first, since the iPhone has been launched, maybe a quick, let's just maybe quickly take us through what you think is significant or maybe not so significant about this launch. Right, so for the last few years, the launch of the new iPhone is a big event, right? Because iPhone kind of represents the most premium product in the market. Apple is the largest company by market cap. So there's a lot of excitement about the launch of an iPhone. And Apple kind of launches a new iPhone around once a year or once in one and a half years. And so the iPhone 15 was launched this year. And like with every iPhone launch, there were a lot of speculation, a lot of excitement on what the new iPhone will bring, what are new features it will bring. Unfortunately, it has turned out to be a bit of a dud, right? Because the iPhone 15 doesn't seem to have any new path-breaking features which people have kind of come to expect of Apple. And it's really, in all ways, it's just incremental progress over the iPhone. There is no real pressing new exciting feature which will make people kind of dump their old iPhones and buy the new iPhone. Really the only significant change which people are talking about is the USB-C charger. So as you know that till iPhone 14 and all previous products, Apple have their own proprietary charger, right? What's called the Lightning charger. And that's not compatible with any of your other phones. Most of the Android phones have USB chargers. And so the chargers are interchangeable between the Android phones, but Apple kind of had its own charging system. That changes with iPhone 15. So Apple has finally jumped on the USB-C bandwagon. And Apple is pitching it as a feature, though it's something which Apple has been forced into because the EU mandated that all new phones support USB-C chargers. And now other jurisdictions have joined into it. So Apple has kind of been dragged, kicking and screaming into the USB-C bandwagon. And that looks like that's about all there is to the new iPhone. And so Apple fans I think have been disappointed with the latest release. Right, Wapa, we often talk about phones not because they're just devices you can use for a variety of purposes, but also in some senses it seems like they do also mark one of the frontiers of where we are at with technology today in terms of a lot of, in fact, what is called the tech war, a lot of the tech competition, a lot of the debates around the progressive technology itself somehow seem to bring in the technology that is very essential to actually manufacturing these phones. So how do you sort of, say if you were to take a survey of globally how we are at right now, how do you sort of assess the scenario? Right, because the phones are kind of more compact instruments as compared to servers and laptops. In some sense they are at the cutting edge of technology. So the most compact, the latest process chips go into a phone. And so in that way the phones become a proxy of the limits of technological progress. And Apple kind of has pushed that envelope. So Apple became kind of one of the first companies to embrace what is called the five nanometer process technologies. And now with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, they are moving into like four nanometer, what they call four nanometer and the A16 chip in iPhone 15 has what it's called the four nanometer process. The next chip apparently has a three nanometer process. So that's kind of the frontier of chip manufacturing. And that's where it generates a lot of interest. However, the latest chip is not too different from the iPhone 14 chip in terms of its performance. So that's why it's kind of seen as a marketing hype rather than like advancement in technology. Now in contrast, Huawei kind of preempted Apple's iPhone 15 launch with their launch of the Huawei 60 Mate phone. And that kind of created far more buzz in the tech sector, at least in the tech sector. And the reason for that was Huawei was kind of face the brunt of US sanctions since 2019. Like all the leading chip manufacturers were banned from selling chips to Huawei. As a result, Huawei's phone business, which is a flourishing business kind of went downhill. And so it was thought that with the sanctions, there were both sanctions on Huawei not being able to use the Android operating system as well as not being able to use the latest chips. And that kind of people thought that that would kill off Huawei. But with the latest announcement, Huawei seems to have overcome all these very stringent sanctions and create a really competitive phone, which is at par with the latest iPhone. And that's kind of generating a lot of buzz inside China, but also in the tech community because they've kind of broken the sanctions. Now Huawei, it seems the latest phone is a 7 nanometer process technology. And it was thought that Huawei will not be able to reach 7 nanometer process because the latest EUV lithographic machines are banned from China. But Huawei seems to have found a way to use the old lithographic machines to produce this chip, which is at par in performance with Apple chips. Also, this chip supports 5G, even though Huawei has not explicitly said that this is a 5G phone, but the internet speed tests which have been conducted show that they reach 5G speeds. So it looks like Huawei has been able to circumvent the US sanctions and kind of bring in all these technologies from which were barred to it in-house. So people are saying that pretty much 90% of the components in the Huawei phone are manufactured by local Chinese companies. So that's a huge progress about the Android operating system. Huawei once it was banned from using the Android operating system, kind of created a fork of Android and it's called Harmony OS and Harmony OS is running in this phone. So all in all, it's been viewed like by tech enthusiasts and by people across the globe that it's a significant tech achievement for Huawei to kind of produce this phone which is at par with the best phones available in spite of the crippling sanctions which the US has sought to put on. Right, Baba. Thank you so much for that analysis. Of course, like we said, talking about phones is not just about phones, but so many global trends and so we'll keep following that. Thank you so much. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of Newscorp and Fox after decades heading these extremely controversial media houses. He's not going to go gentle into the good night, of course, as he will still be chairman eminence. Now, the 92-year-old Murdoch did transform the media space in many countries, but not in a good way really. It won't be wrong to say that his empire began a race to the bottom and everyone followed and all of his consumers and newswatchers are suffering for it. To understand the legacy of Murdoch, we go to Anish. Anish, so Rupert Murdoch for the longest time has been associated with a particular kind of media culture, so to speak, a media culture which is actually, I think, percolated to every part of the world. No country is probably immune even if it is not through organizations controlled by Murdoch. So, while of course he's not obviously completely going out of the picture, he's still going to be chairman emeritus and all that, but how do you sort of see the legacy of Murdoch, so to speak? Well, the legacy of Murdoch is not as complicated as many of the mainstream media would like to say. It's quite straightforward. He may tabloid the mainstream manner of style in journalism, especially print and TV journalism, and he pretty much appreciated a large part of media culture, as we pointed out, around the world. It wasn't just in this home country, Australia, where obviously Murdoch's use of control is a big share of newsprint and television media. He also affected the manner in which news is produced, news is covered in different parts of the world, especially the United Kingdom, in US, United States, Canada, and especially Anglo-Saxon world has seen that effect that the Murdoch media has had. And as much as many of the other groups, media houses would like to pretend otherwise, it has also affected their style as well. Many of them have taken to the kind of tabloid style in more or less different, you know, different degrees, but definitely they have taken to it. They have taken to that level of sensationalization. They have taken to that level of alarmism and obviously the kind of narratives that they set up. And that is pretty much how Murdoch has appreciated, and this is just without monopolies in most of these countries, apart from Australia, he did not really have that major monopolistic tendency in other places like the US or UK, but definitely it actually, even at certain levels, they started setting political narratives for political parties even in different parts of the world. And that clearly shows this, you know, media empire as having a significant impact that we don't really see on the face value of it, but definitely there is the impact that's definitely there, and it's there to stay because and the fact that, as you pointed out, that he's not really going to be out of picture, he's pretty much there as chairman emeritus, a very new novel kind of position, obviously he has missed out on himself. There is definitely going to be that sort of business as usual, despite the change in God in the Murdoch empire. And that shows that the media houses are pretty much also benefiting from this legacy as well. And that is something that most media houses do not want to really phase up to in most cases. Right, also Anish, I believe along with tabularization also came this whole, the question of misinformation itself, the question of fake news. Many of these trends actually have their root in that sort of tabularization, I guess. Definitely, in many ways, this whole trend of sending out quick news, flashy bulletins and flashy headlines created a situation where more than actually being factually correct, it was more important for you to get the news out first, and that created its own set of problems because obviously in truth, it itself did not really matter in most cases. In the case of Fox or, say, News Corp and other News Corp controlled media houses, they went a mile ahead and said that they really don't care about the truth in most cases, and it was pretty much their political bias that they wanted to cater to. And obviously, as you pointed out, that led to a lot of disinformation and even though Fox or Sky was in the first to actually begin with disinformation campaigns in many cases, especially when we've seen during the Iraq War era or the Afghanistan War, or any of the empire-led wars where pretty much all of the mainstream media has engaged in such different kinds of lies and disinformation, most of which they haven't owned up to. In the case of Fox, it goes ahead and actually even engages in disinformation at all. And we have seen that recently with the US presidential election in 2020 for which it had to give up a significant share of money in settlement about, I think, close to a third quarter of a billion dollars in settlement to companies that actually run the elections in the United States. And very similarly, we are seeing right now a significant barrage of disinformation being led by the mode of media in Australia regarding the voice campaign. We've spoken about the voice for the parliament and how there is a massive disinformation campaign that has affected and dented its credibility. But we did not really focus on how significant mode of media has, which actually started calling it apartheid by a different name or something that is going to augur apartheid into Australia because it gives constitutional recognition to First Nation peoples. So this sort of disinformation is something that has become a culture in itself for obviously mode of media, but that has obviously percolated into other media houses. Thank you so much, Anish. Of course, many of these trends are structural. Many of these issues also have to do with, of course, how imperialism functions, how the military industrial complex functions, et cetera, so many dimensions. But no way that, you know, we can ignore the fact that this ownership pattern and the kind of culture that Murdoch promoted definitely had a huge role to play in this. Thank you so much for talking to us. And finally, the 19th Asian Games, the biggest so far, began in Hangzhou, China. Thousands of athletes from 45 countries have gathered to showcase the diversity and abilities of the continent. And we even have some new events this time. Let's go to Siddharthane to find out what's special about this edition of the Asian Games. Siddharthane, thanks so much for joining us. The Asian Games often does not get the attention related to its name. After all, it's the Games of Asia, the biggest continent. So many countries participating. So tell us a bit about, you know, what it's like, the kind of athletic teams that have come in. What are the highlights? Yeah, over 12,000 athletes are in Hangzhou, in China for the 19th edition of the Asian Games. The entire process of having an Asian Games was started off by, you know, it was part of the newly independent countries of Asia kind of getting together to celebrate the diversity as well as as uniting through sport. And India, of course, hosted the first of these games in 1951 in the capital, New Delhi. So it's gone a long way from then where there were just at that point 24 medal events for the men and just nine for the women and all of the world medals in the women, for example, were taken by the Japanese athletes. So of course, sport in general, but also sport in Asia has grown tremendously over that time. At this edition of the Asian Games, we have 37 sports that are actually being competed in, including some of that in the category of mind sports. So games like chess, bridge, and eSports has been included for the first time as a medal event as well, which is a huge thing both in terms of, of course, the market that the video game industry and eSports presents. The popularity of the sport around the world, of course. And also it's growing push to become part of the Olympic program. So in addition to the 28 core disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, the Asian Games has another and additional nine events as well. So it is really, really a massive 44 venues, if I'm not wrong, are being used for the event. Unfortunately, China has the kind of infrastructure and is focusing this time on the sustainability of these kind of mega events. We talk often on this show as well about how much sort of impact on the environment, impact on, of course, the lives of those who live in these cities where these events happen, the burden on taxpayers and all of those things that go into hosting this kind of a tournament. And as a lot of focus is being paid on that, if you look at the logo that was designed for the event, it symbolizes waves of water, of course, but also it's meant to symbolize an athletics track and the signal that, you know, we are now very accustomed to the Wi-Fi signal. So radio waves in that sense. So, and the opening ceremony was just concluded a few minutes before we started recording. Two hour long opening ceremony was a celebration of many of those things from a Chinese perspective, of course, as a host country. The President Xi Jinping was present at the opening ceremony as well. So showcasing, of course, the socialist project in China and how it successes Chinese traditions and, you know, the natural diversity and beauty that exists there, but also bringing in aspects of technology, artificial intelligence. The fireworks, for example, that were used at this event were not real fireworks, they were electronic fireworks, smokeless fireworks. So a lot of attention is being paid, even the flame that symbolizes, you know, the eternal flame that symbolizes the Olympic movement. Even that is a zero emissions flame this time around. So aspects of real life being brought into these games on this occasion, to at least give people the sense that it's not something that is completely disconnected from reality. And of course, we've also seen some of the politics playing out on the sidelines. The current tensions, for example, between India and China. It was interesting that the head of the Olympic Council of Asia is from India. He's a former member of the International Olympic Committee as well. And he made a speech at that opening ceremony welcoming the athletes and all of that. But at the same time, India's sports minister not going for the opening ceremony because of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. So those things will also play out several heads of state who are present, the prime ministers of Nepal, of Timor-Leste and other countries from around the world were there. So it becomes also, I suppose, a platform to engage in some of these regional conversations that are so important and that we discuss so frequently on the review platform. Rajasthan, thank you so much for that. We'll keep tracking the events as it goes. And also, as you said, it's a combination of both aspects reflected some of the tensions because the Chinese didn't apparently gain recognition to athletes from India's state of Arunachal Pradesh, but also the fact that there are solved all these spaces of coming together as you talk about. So I guess, multi-parity is also something like that, that constant pusher pull. So we'll keep tracking a lot of that happening in coming weeks in the Asian Games again. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And because we have the Paris Olympics also in 2024 coming up very soon and coming out of the pandemic, this is also where a lot of Asian athletes will have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games. So that's another aspect why we assume special importance stand out. That's all we have in this episode of the Daily Deep Brief. We'll be back on Monday with a fresh episode of developments from around the world. Until then, keep going to our website peoplesdispatch.org. Follow us on all our social media platforms. And on YouTube, if you haven't hit that subscribe button already, please do.