Tech
U.S. Government Tells ByteDance to Either Sell TikTok or Prepare for Ban
Tensions between the Biden administration and China’s ByteDance have hit a turning point following an official order from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). The U.S. has been debating whether to ban TikTok for some time now, initially requiring just politicians to delete the app from their work phones.Now, the CFIUS has demanded that ByteDance sells its stakes in the app if it wants to avoid a ban in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported. The committee is dedicated to overseeing potential national security risks regarding investments abroad, meaning that it’s determined ByteDance’s ownership of the app to pose a concern to U.S. safety.60% of the Beijing-founded ByteDance belongs to global investors, while 20% is owned by employees and 20% by the company’s founder...
Slay vampiric gods in Redfall’s new story trailer
/ The story of how Redfall, Mass, got flipped turned upside down, literally. Redfall, Arkane Austin’s co-op vampire shooter, has a new story trailer that gets to the heart of just what happened to Redfall, Massachusetts. Apparently, some bloodsucking scientists at the mysterious Aevum Therapeutics did a bit of medical malpractice and accidentally (or purposely) summoned ancient vampire gods in their quest to attain immortality. As a result, Redfall got flipped turned upside down by the ravenous gods, and it’s up to our four heroes to slay the gods and save the city. The trailer starts with a voiceover of a woman explaining how her blood was supposed to be the cure for everything. If that sounds familiar, maybe Redfall’s trying to capture the waning energies of The Last of Us season finale....
‘The Goliath is Amazon’: after 100 years, Barnes & Noble wants to go back to its indie roots
CEO James Daunt explains how Barnes & Noble is different than Amazon. Share this story *:last-child>*:last-child]:mb-0″> Listen to Decoder, a show hosted by The Verge’s Nilay Patel about big ideas — and other problems. Subscribe here! To put it another way, they were hiring in various executives one after another from other retailers, each of them bringing a very rational chain-retail philosophy, which is that you try to run a very consistent retail operation and that you use your scale and leverage for both operational efficiencies and purchasing efficiencies. That works pretty much across the board, whether you’re Best Buy, Staples, Zara, H&M, whatever it is. Each of those seeks to put an identical store pretty much in front of its customers in a very coherent, ve...
Biden administration reportedly demanding that TikTok sell or face a ban
/ TikTok is under intense scrutiny over user safety and whether the app poses a national security risk. CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before Congress next week.
Match Group’s CEO says he spent $50K in three months on Clash of Clans
/ Suddenly Tinder Platinum doesn’t seem like such a bad deal.
Google Brings Generative AI To Its Workspace Suite
Building upon existing features such as Smart Compose and Smart Reply, Google is bringing a whole new host of features to its Workspace suite starting with the first set of AI-powered writing features in Docs and Gmail followed by new functions on Sheets, Meet, and Chat.To help get the juices flowing, Workspace can automatically generate a rough draft for a text document simply from the topic line. Once the text is finalized, a Rewrite function can then alter the text using different selected tones to be more formal, playful, etc. A random "I'm feeling lucky option" is also included if you're willing to let the AI decide.Other functions include auto-generated images, audio, and video in Slides, self-completing insights and analysis from raw data in Sheets, auto-generating backgrounds and c...
Samsung Adds Two New Additions to Galaxy A Series
Samsung is continuously building on its Galaxy smartphone lineup. Today, the company shared the latest two additions: the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34. The 5G phones tack on to the Galaxy A series, which is geared at giving users pro-grade cameras and has debuted around 20 phones since the line was launched in 2014.Both the A54 and A34 are designed for optimal photo quality, even in harsh or low light conditions. The phones pack Samsung’s Light Boosting technology, which, true to its name, increases light in a setting, doing away with harsh flashes. Night Mode can also be enabled to heighten the phones’ awareness of dark environments.Samsung has been leaning more into AI as of late, something it doesn't skimp out on with the A54 and A34. Both phones use AI to increase the camera’s pixel size ...
SpaceX Starlink rolls out $200 per month ‘global’ satellite internet package
/ Formerly known as Starlink for RV, you can now get satellite internet service that follows you across any continent and most countries.
You can play with Microsoft’s Bing GPT-4 chatbot right now, no waitlist necessary
Microsoft/ Tech / Microsoft opens up access to Bing Chat just a day before it plans to detail AI-powered features in Office apps.
Master & Dynamic Unveils Updated MH40 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones
Continuing to advance its offerings, New York-based premium audio brand Master & Dynamic has now updated its signature MH40 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones. Expressing an intersection of state-of-the-art tech and timeless design, the audio option features updated 40mm titanium drivers, longer battery life, enhanced microphone performance, and customizable sound with the M&D Connect app."It’s remarkable and satisfying to see how the original MH40 design has remained relevant and coveted over the years. We couldn't be more thrilled about its continuous reinvention, first as a wireless product and now with updated features and a new sound with improved musical separation," said Jonathan Levine, CEO and Founder of Master & Dynamic.Coming a long way from its inaugural analog corded rel...
NASA Is Revealing Its New Artemis Moon Suit
NASA is revealing a prototype of its latest Artemis Moon Suit via a live-streamed video today, March 15. Hosted by Axiom Space, the vendor NASA chose to build the suits, the event is taking place at Houston, Texas' Space Center and will feature astronauts from both NASA and Axiom Space as well as a live demonstration of the suit (officially dubbed the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU for short) and a Q and A session.In September 2022, Axiom Space signed a $228.5M USD deal with NASA to design, produce and test updated space suits in time for NASA's Artemis 3 mission to the moon, which is currently scheduled for late 2025. Artemis 3 will be the first time the US has sent a man to the moon in over 50 years — the last manned spaceflight to the moon was Apollo 17, which took pl...
T-Mobile is buying Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion
/ Mint Mobile already relied on T-Mobile for its network. Now it, along with Ultra Mobile and Plum, will be owned by the carrier once the deal closes. T-Mobile is buying Mint Mobile, the budget-friendly mobile carrier that’s partially owned by Ryan Reynolds. In a post published on Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that the deal’s valued at up to $1.35 billion and comes as T-Mobile looks to build out its prepaid phone offering. The acquisition should close later this year and involves a 39 percent cash and 61 percent stock purchase of Mint’s parent company, Ka’ena Corporation. The price could change, however, as it depends on Mint’s performance. Once the deal closes, Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will join T-Mobile to continue managing the brand, which T-Mobile says “will gener...
