Apple yesterday released a new iPad with its A14 chip, and an iPad Pro running on its M2 processor. Microsoft is laying off some staff, Wall Street Journal reports, and the company is planning a new data centre in India, according to Economic Times. Cloud startup funding in Europe, the US and Israel fell significantly in the September quarter, global VC firm Accel said in a report. And electric scooter maker Ather Energy has raised more money. Notes: Apple yesterday introduced a new iPad with an all-screen design featuring a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display. The new iPad runs on Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, and the company promises all-day battery life. Apple yesterday also launched its new iPad Pro which is equipped with its most powerful processor, the M2 chip. The new iPads are available to order now, with availability in stores beginning Wednesday, Oct. 26. Microsoft laid off more employees this week, becoming the latest tech company to show signs of concern about future demand amid a global economic slowdown, Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, Microsoft is planning to build a hyper scale data centre near the western Indian city of Pune, Economic Times reports. Facebook’s parent Meta admitted defeat on Tuesday after Britain’s competition regulators issued a final verdict ordering the company to sell Giphy, the animated image-making company it had acquired, CNBC reports. More than 40 European rivals to Google's shopping service urged EU antitrust regulators this week to use newly adopted tech rules to ensure that the internet search giant complies with a 2017 EU order to allow more competition on its search page, Reuters reports exclusively. Ather Energy, an electric scooter maker in Bangalore, has raised $50 million in a funding round led by its existing investor Caladium Investment, Economic Times reports, citing a company filing with the Registrar of Companies. Cloud startup funding in Europe, the US and Israel fell significantly in the September quarter, global VC firm Accel said in a report on its website yesterday. “If you look at the total capital raised by cloud companies in Europe, Israel and the US this year to date, there’s not been a drastic change with total funding reaching $74 billion, just 12 percent lower than last year,” Accel’s Philippe Botteri, Will Sheldon and Richard Kotite, said the report. “However, if you zoom in on Q3, the numbers show a very different picture with a sharp 42 percent decline,” they write, in the post, titled Accel 2022 Euroscape: Reset. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds