A quiz, Sukalyan and I conducted in 2020. Biz Tech Quiz

1. Dhande Ka Funda
The Biz Tech Quiz (Prelims)

2. 1.
Recently the makers of X fired back at Apple for banning X from the Apple App
Store. They decided to release a short film titled Y to take a dig at one of Apple’s
very famous ad campaigns which was based on a very famous literary work. Id X
and Y. ( Hint : Y is a pun on the famous literary work)

3. 2.
Several posters (image follows) cropped up across New York recently that
initially appeared to be promoting the company X. However on a closer look they
are found to be fake and rather criticize the company. Id X and which feature of it
is being criticized here?

5. 3. Simply identify which famous personality filed this
patent

7. 4.
In the late 1950s, John Whitney was hired by the director of the movie X to create
the opening sequence of the movie.
Whitney used a World War 2 anti aircraft targeting machine called the M5 gun
director for the purpose. The main motif was to create accurate spirals that
formed a very important element of the movie X.
Id the movie and what probable first was achieved by this?

8. 5.
Most of us must be familiar with X’s iconic soundmark. However X felt the need
of making their short soundmark more symphonic and orchestral and hence
roped in the likes of Hans Zimmer who added his own flavor to the iconic sound.
Id X and why did they rope in Hans Zimmer?

9. 6.
Co-Star is an AI driven app/platform founded in 2017 that provides personalized
horoscopes. The platform describes itself as being “driven by X and generated by
AI” and is the world’s first AI powered astrology app.
What is X and how does Co-Star leverage X to provide accurate and personalized
horoscopes to their users?

10. 7.
In 2018 when Pewdiepie and TSeries were battling it out for the #1 spot on
youtube, a few ardent Pewdiepie fans came up with an idea to spread Pewdiepie
propaganda. The propaganda listed down a few to-do items ending with by
saying they should fist pump a piece of paper. How were these ardent fans
spreading this piece of odd propaganda?

11. 8.
In 1878, a year after the invention of the phonograph, The Daily Graphic
envisioned a future application of it in the drawing published in the paper. The
application would not however be possible until the early 1930s when the
American Foundation of the Blind started their X project. What future application
and what is X?

13. 9.
In the early 20th century Godrej produced the world’s first X soaps. Before this all
European soaps had different ingredients which according to Godrej did not align
with the principles of non violence in India.
They launched their first X soaps in 1919 before launching them widely in 1922.
With the swadeshi movement gaining momentum in India the soaps struck a
chord with the masses. Godrej even brought in Y, who was a nationalist himself
and had made a name for himself outside India to promote the soaps.
Id X and Y.

14. 10.
In 1901, Franz Eher a journalist and publisher by profession started his own
publishing company Franz Eher and Successors also referred to as the Eher
Publishing. After the death of Franz, the ownership of the company changed
hands until X bought the company. Among its notable publications are “From
Lemberg to Bordeaux”, “Tanks Break Through” and Y with Y being the most
popular among all, popular even to this date.
Id X and Y

15. 11.
The company X was launched in 1979 and the name X was derived from a movie
theater which actually charged 5 cents for admission. The first logo of X featured
a man looking through a kinetoscope within the first letter of X thus representing
the theater concept. Id X which has now grown into one of the leading television
networks around the world.

16. 12.
Sigmund Freud in his 1909 essay “The Family Romances” introduced the idea of
family romance, a psychological complex where children have to deal with the
fact that their parents are emotionally unavailable.
A century later in 2009 Yuichi Ishii would found his first company which provides
a very specific service to people, something that had originated in Japan in the
1990s. He would fittingly name the company taking inspiration from the above
mentioned essay by Freud.
What specific service am I looking for?

17. 13.
On August 30, 2017 Point Bridge Capital launched an ETF fund to track the
performance of index of stocks meeting the following criteria:
“Companies whose employees and Political Action Committees are highly
supportive of Republican candidates for selection to the United States Congress,
the Vice Presidency or Presidency and party-affiliated federal committees or
groups that are subject to federal campaign contribution limits”
Simply tell me what is the ticker symbol of this ETF fund?

18. 14.
Although now banned, a X deal was a practice in UK where the holder of a
security sells it by end of the day on the last day of the financial year and buys it
back the next morning. The purpose for doing such a deal was to gain tax
savings for selling the security at the end of the financial year.
The company Y is widely known for disrupting the X industry and recently filed for
an IPO amid the Covid19 crisis.
Id X and Y.

19. What is this device a prototype of which came into news earlier this year?
15.

20. 16.
In 1979, looking at the dissatisfaction among general public for the Eisenhower
dollar coin, the US Treasury decided to replace it with a smaller coin known as
the Susan B Anthony Dollar coin.
The main reason being the Eisenhower coins were large in size and hence
uncomfortable to use. The Susan B Anthony coin was thua introduced with the
size of a quarter.
Among others, the US video game industry rallied for the Susan B Anthony coin.
What was the reason that the video game industry started to raise requests for a
smaller coin?