Microbiome startups respond as industry is accused of ‘questionable practices’

The biotech sector has embraced the microbiome in recent years, a green field market powered by cheap genome sequencing and venture dollars, promising bespoke treatments for everything from gut troubles to skin problems. But a report in Science alleges that these companies lack scientific rigor and meaningful regulation, offering little more than guesswork on a […]
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TikTok Turns to Creators to Fight Possible Ban

Dozens of popular figures on the app have traveled to Washington to urge lawmakers to oppose a bill that could result in the platform being blocked in the United States.

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After AWS and Google, Microsoft says it’s removing Azure ‘egress’ data transfer fees — but with caveats

Microsoft has revealed that it too will allow business customers to transfer data out of its Azure cloud infrastructure with no so-called “egress fees” attached, following hot on the heels of similar moves by cloud rivals AWS and Google. While Microsoft positions the announcement as a voluntary pro-customer move, the fact that it was quietly […]
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VCs will get liquidity in 2024 from the secondary market, not IPOs

If you asked a bunch of VCs at the end of 2023 if the IPO market would finally open again in 2024, most of them would have said yes. We know because TechCrunch surveyed more than 40 of them in December and that’s what they said. Yet, there are two weeks left in Q1, still […]
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Apple Vision Pro expected to launch in nine countries soon

After Apple Vision Pro’s initial release in the United States, Apple now appears to be preparing to launch in nine other countries.
Apple Vision Pro currently only supports English (US) and Emoji as languages but a closer look at the code that underpins the technology by MacRumors suggests that preparations are underway for 12 new languages coming soon.
Apple plans for a wider Vision Pro launch
This is a vital step to bringing the Vision Pro to new countries. The code appears to demonstrate that Apple is planning to add support for the following languages:

Cantonese, Traditional
Chinese, Simplified
English (Australia)
English (Canada)
English (Japan)
English (Singapore)
English (UK)
French (Canada)
French (France)
German (Germany)
Japanese
Korean

Judging from these languages, the code seems to hint that Apple will launch the Vision Pro in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, as well as possibly Hong Kong and Taiwan.
However, it’s worth noting that this is speculation for now and Apple hasn’t confirmed where it plans to launch the VR headset next. It could easily be that support for wider languages is planned but the device will still only be sold in the United States – although this seems less likely with the inclusion of regional dialects like English (Australia), English (Canada), English (Japan), English (Singapore), and English (UK).
Apple has openly stated that it plans to bring the Vision Pro to more countries later in 2024 but without defining exactly when or where. This comes after the VR product got largely glowing reviews from critics, despite an admittedly slow start during the pre-order phase.
Despite being an impressive product for people who get their hands on it, the high price might be getting in the way of people wanting to try it out, especially considering the steep production cost for the headset.
Featured image: Apple
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Musk axes planned Don Lemon talk show after being first interviewee

Elon Musk has abruptly pulled the plug on Don Lemon’s upcoming talk show on the X platform, after a tense inaugural interview between the former CNN anchor and the billionaire.
Lemon said Musk texted him to say “contract terminated”. He then shared a post and a video on X discussing the interview and the outcome. “Elon Musk is mad at me,” he said. “His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me,” he elaborated.

Elon Musk canceled #TheDonLemonShow
Watch on YouTube and listen everywhere on Monday March 18. pic.twitter.com/AAhnvcY0ny
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 13, 2024

“Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times, I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange, and that they would learn from our conversation,” he said in the video.
Why did Elon Musk cancel the Don Lemon show on X?
Musk, who owns X, posted on the site about the decision, and the company’s official account stated: “after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
When pressed for a specific reason, the 52-year-old himself stated that he believed Lemon was taking the wrong approach.
“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying. And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else,” said his post.
He clarified that Don Lemon is welcome to share and host the show on X, but there will be no commercial agreement between the entities.

is welcome to monetize on this platform, just like everyone else.
What we aren’t going to do is guarantee minimum payments to him, as he was demanding, which would be going beyond everyone else!
Unfortunately, all wants to do is rehash the dying CNN business model “but…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

The talk show was announced in January as part of a way to encourage advertising revenue back to X after significant ad revenue losses. The interview with Elon was intended to be the first episode of the new venture. Don Lemon has stated that the show will be available across platforms including YouTube and X on Monday, March 18, and will include the interview with Musk, despite the dissolution of the partnership.
With news that X is coming to TVs, this seems like a serious blow to Musk’s plans to expand the platform.
Featured Image: midjourney
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Spotify adds music videos to its streaming platform

Spotify has announced adding full music videos to its platforms, amid a flurry of new features. The music streaming giant, however, clarified that the beta phase would only be rolled out to a handful of countries for Premium subscribers.
U.K., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Kenya are among the markets which will get access to this new feature.
The beta version of music videos on Spotify was released on Wednesday (March 13) with a limited catalog of music videos, including hits from global artists like Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, and Ice Spice, or local favorites like Aluna and Asake.
Listeners can head to their iOS, Android, desktop, or TV devices and select the “Switch to Video” toggle for supported music tracks. Then, the music video will start playing from the beginning within the Now Playing view.
It will also allow users to watch videos in full screen by turning their mobile device to watch in landscape mode.
In a statement posted on Spotify’s website, Vice President and Head of Music Product Charlie Hellman said: “So many times in my own experience and for countless others, music videos play a key role in hooking you: taking you from being a listener to leaning in and becoming a fan.
“They’re an important part of so many artists’ tool kits, and it’s a natural fit for them to live in the same place that more than half a billion people choose to listen to music,” he added.
It comes as Spotify revealed that it would cut 17% of its workforce in December 2023.
A potentially positive year ahead for Spotify
Despite the job losses, Spotify stock went up around 11% after the announcement. CEO Daniel Ek stated at the time, “Over the last two years, we’ve put significant emphasis on building Spotify into a truly great and sustainable business – one designed to achieve our goal of being the world’s leading audio company and one that will consistently drive profitability and growth into the future.”
It aims to cut operating costs at a time when capital costs are increasing, undoing several investments made during 2020 and 2021. Ek continued: “We now find ourselves in a very different environment. And despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big.”
Featured image: Canva
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US authorities seek to return $2.3m in crypto to victims of ‘pig butchering’ scam

In a major victory against cryptocurrency scams, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts have taken unprecedented steps to return $2.3 million worth of digital assets seized from fraudsters to victims duped by a devious “pig butchering” scheme.
The Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office (USAO) filed a motion on Wednesday (Mar.13) to return all the funds to victims.
The investigation began in spring 2023 after the USAO became aware of a ‘pig butchering’ cryptocurrency scam targeting the eastern state’s residents. 
The assets being sought for forfeiture include of 299,457.4 USD Coin (USDC), 1,455,305.997648 Tether (USDT), 102,278.515015 Tron (TRX), 3,032.1689461 Solana (SOL), 67.79400436 Binance Coin (BNB), 13,703.955431 Cardano (ADA) and 0.54151495 Ether (ETH), all of which were seized from two Binance accounts traced back to the scam. Binance is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service.
What is a ‘pig butchering’ crypto scam?
The ‘pig butchering’ crypto scam follows a methodology scammers have used for decades: build trust with the victim through lying, manipulation, and social engineering, persuade them to invest, then disappear with the money.
Frequently originating on dating sites or through ‘wrong number’ texts, scammers befriend the victim and either walk them through downloading an app to use for investing which is actually a fake app controlled by them, or they will get the victim to send money to their crypto wallet so they can do the heavy lifting.
Often the scammers will engineer the situation so it looks like the victim is making good returns. This encourages them to keep investing with higher and higher amounts of money – the proverbial fattening of the pig.
Make sure you know how to avoid the most common crypto scams with our handy guide.
Featured image credit: Generated with Ideogram
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Want to own a Fender Stratocaster? You can now in Fortnite, but it’s gonna cost you

The greatest rock guitarists of all time have at one point or another wielded the iconic Fender Stratocaster, and now you can too, indirectly, courtesy of a deal between Fender and Epic Games to bring its guitars to Fortnite Festival as skins.
Yes, no item is beyond getting a paid-for skin in the Item Shop. As well as future leaks about character skins such as the Turtles or yesterday’s PS+ exclusive skin, we look forward to exciting leaks about a new skin for a set of Maraccas or a deal with Korg for a keyboard skin. Ah well, such is the world we live in.
Initially, at least Fortnite will get two of Fender’s iconic axes – the aforementioned Stratocaster so you can re-enact your favorite Kurt Cobain moments, and the Precision Bass, in case you are more of a rhythm klng.

Get ready to hit the stage in classic Fender style.
The legendary @Fender Stratocaster and Precision Bass make their debut in the Shop tonight! pic.twitter.com/lYB2QbE37B
— Fortnite Festival (@FNFestival) March 13, 2024

Obviously, this is Fortnite so this stuff is not free. To be fair it is actually more reasonably priced than it could have been, with each coming in at 800 V-Bucks. Now obviously you can’t just buy 800 V-Bucks, but a 1000 will set you back $8.99/£6.99 so if you want both models you are going to be looking at around just shy of $15 in real, actual money.
Epic Games said of the partnership, “Over the years, through numerous live in-game performances to music video debuts, Epic has shown that Fortnite and music go hand in hand. The latest partnership with Fender further solidifies the game’s commitment to working with the most established and forward-thinking brands in music.”
Fortnite currently has a fair bit going on right now with Lantern Fest during Ramadan and the launch (eventually) of Chapter 5 Season 2. It also beat its record for a concurrent number of players this year.
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Forget Chatbots. AI Agents Are the Future

Startups and tech giants are trying to move from chatbots that offer help via text, to AI agents that can get stuff done. Recent demos include an AI coder called Devin and agents that play videogames.

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