u/Chance_Role_4184

Bitchat is Jack Dorsey's messaging app. It works over Bluetooth so it keeps running when the internet is off.

In July, during the protests, internet was shut and people used it. For one week, 85% of Bitchat downloads worldwide came from India.

The government then asked GitHub to take the code down.
Yesterday Dorsey posted Apple's notice. The app has been removed from the India App Store on an order from the IT ministry. It's gone from Google Play too.

China removed it in April. If it's already on your phone, it still works.

The Internet Freedom Foundation says the order is unconstitutional because the law allows blocking illegal content, not banning an app for working offline.

Not here to argue either side. Curious what people think, and whether anyone here actually used it.

In town for World Summit AI on Oct 7 and 8, staying through World AI Week.

I've built startups for 14 years, mostly gaming and marketing, now working on an AI product. Would love to meet angels, founders or accelerators in the Dutch scene.

Any side events or meetups worth going to that week? And who's the one person in Amsterdam I shouldn't leave without meeting?

Coffee's on me.

Edit: Correction. The AI runs on Meta's servers, not on the chip. The chip only connects to it. My title is wrong.

Nat Friedman (ex GitHub CEO) released free software that lets a cheap ESP32 chip connect to Meta's AI assistant, Muse.

Basically you can now build your own AI device at home.

The chip costs INR 300-500 on Amazon or Robu. Every engineering college already has them. The expensive part of building AI gadgets was never the chip, it was the software.

That just became free….Compare that with Rabbit R1 and Humane Pin. They burned millions trying to sell a finished product. This does the opposite. Gives you the parts, you build what you need.

What would you build? A voice helper for parents who don't type? Something for a kirana shop? A tool for farmers? Feels like the good ideas will come from tier 2 cities, not Silicon Valley.