AWS pledges to go water positive by 2030; iPhone rumour: no physical buttons next; Table Space raises $300 mln

Amazon Web Services at its annual re:Invent conference, which began yesterday, said it will be water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations, according to a press release. Table Space, a co-working space provider, has raised $300 million in fresh funding, Economic Times reports. And the high-end versions of next year’s iPhones may not have physical buttons and use haptic tech, according to some of the latest rumours. Notes: Amazon Web Services at its annual re:Invent conference, which began yesterday, said it will be water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations, according to a press release. In India, AWS supports water replenishment projects with the non-profit organisation WaterAid that include rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, and piped water installations in communities in Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad, Telangana. In more AWS news, Tata Consultancy Services has opened a quantum computing lab on AWS to help customers explore, develop, and test business solutions and accelerate the adoption of quantum computing, considered one of the most promising technologies of the decade, the Indian IT services company said in a press release. The new TCS Quantum Computing Lab on AWS will offer a virtual research and development environment using Amazon Braket, a fully managed quantum computing service from AWS. On the ecommerce front, Amazon is shutting down its wholesale distribution business in India, the latest in a series of closures as a tough 2023 is anticipated with a global economic slowdown. Amazon said Monday that it is discontinuing Amazon Distribution, its wholesale ecommerce website available in small neighbourhood stores in Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubli, TechCrunch reports. Amazon Distribution was designed to help kiranas, the neighbourhood stores in India, pharmacies and department stores secure inventory from the e-commerce giant, according to TechCrunch. Table Space, a co-working space provider, has secured nearly $300 million from private equity fund Hill House Capital to expand its operations across India, Economic Times reports. The deal was closed in October this year and the funding will be received in two tranches, according to the report. Simplilearn, an up-skilling edtech platform provider, has acquired US-based bootcamp education company Fullstack Academy, as it looks to expand into the US, Economic Times reports. Simplilearn acquired Fullstack from publicly traded US edtech company Zovio, which has over the past few months been taking steps to dissolve the company, according to ET. The latest rumours about Apple’s next iPhones have the company ditching physical buttons in favour of haptic feedback. The iPhone 15 will also likely have USB-C charging ports. There could be a periscope zoom camera for at least one iPhone 15 model, Dynamic Island for all four 2023 iPhones, and a new 3nm chip for the Pro models, Phone Arena reports. And Tom’s Guide, a popular tech news and analysis site, pointed out that the well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction last month that Apple would abandon physical buttons for two high-end iPhones seems to have been validated by an investor note from analysts at investment bank Barclays. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds