OpenAI raises additional $40 billion USD in latest funding round
Led by SoftBank, OpenAI has secured another $40 billion USD in funding as part of its latest funding round. This means the company is now estimated to be worth $300 billion USD and is the largest funding round ever for a private tech company. OpenAI has secured another huge round...
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Napster sells for $207 million USD to Infinite Reality
Napster was once synonymous with music piracy in the early noughties and has been credited with kickstarting the industry shift toward streaming services. It has just sold for $207 million USD. Napster still exists! The once-giant file-sharing platform has been bought by tech startup Infinite Reality for $207 million USD. The...
Tanzanian startup lighting up education with solar backpacks
In rural Tanzania, where many households do not have electricity, a startup is transforming how children study after dark. Soma Bags is providing a simple yet revolutionary solution: solar-powered backpacks made from repurposed cement bags. Tanzania’s Soma Bags are revolutionizing education in rural areas of the country. The startup...
US music subscriptions surpass 100 million and vinyl still rising
Streaming remains hugely lucrative as US subscriber numbers pass the 100 million mark, according to a new report from the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). Vinyl also remains on the uptick with young consumers.
It’s official – streaming services remain the absolute champion of music consumption.
According to
Meta stops promotion of negative book by previous employee
Facebook’s parent company has successfully blocked the promotion and future publishing of ‘Careless People’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a tell-all book about working for Zuckerberg. This past Wednesday, Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling to temporarily stop the promotion of ‘Careless People’ by Sarah Wynn-Williams. The book is a ‘tell-all’ style...
Speaking to the Gen Zers using ChatGPT for therapy
We are currently experiencing the worst mental health epidemic in history, but the unfortunate reality is that there simply aren’t enough therapists for us all. Is ChatGPT the answer? That is what some young people believe. ‘I never felt like I could be vulnerable,’ says Sabrina Stocker, who first went...
SpaceX Starship rocket explodes across Texas sky
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday, minutes after take-off. It marks the second consecutive failure for the tech mogul’s Mars rocket program. SpaceX has faced its second consecutive mishap, as its Starship spacecraft exploded minutes after lifting off in Texas this week. The project was an attempt to deploy mock satellites as part of SpaceX’s Mars rocket program, and comes one month after the company’s seventh Starship flight...
Thousands of musicians are going silent in protest against AI
A new ‘silent album’ featuring the likes of Kate Bush and Damon Albarn is taking aim at UK government plans that would allow tech companies to mine the work of creatives. Over a thousand artists, including Kate Bush and Annie Lennox, have come together to release a unique album – it’s silent from start to finish. Titled ‘Is This What We Want?’, the 12-track release is a direct protest against proposed changes...
Study reveals explicit deepfakes are rife among US teens
One in eight US teenagers under 18 personally know someone who has been targeted with pornographic deepfakes. What is being done about this privacy crisis? We all know what deepfakes are at this point. Generative AI is adept at accurately capturing a person’s likeness and superimposing it over existing photos or videos. A mere text prompt and a handful of JPEGs are sufficient to do so. The nefarious potential of the...
Research finds smartphones linked to depression and anxiety
A new study reported by NPR shows that taking two week breaks from the internet and your smartphone can improve your mood as effectively as medication. Here’s yet another study that suggests our smartphones and constant internet access may be causing us excessive levels of anxiety and depression. According to a new article by NPR, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Alberta in...
