From classics like Yeti and Stanley to new tumblers from OtterBox and Snow Peak, here’s what will keep your libations piping hot.
Category: Tech news
hacking,system security,protection against hackers,tech-news,gadgets,gaming
Astronomy Expands Its Scope From the Heavens to Humans
Every 10 years, astronomers weigh in on the state of their field. For the first time, they’re tackling Earth-centric issues like gender bias and diversity.
Today’s Cartoon: Telecommuting Games
Slack-a-Mole brings a modern twist to the beloved arcade classic.
Silicon Valley Ruined Work Culture Everywhere
Why does every damn place—even old-school corporate offices—have to be fun and full of foosball?
Locally Grown Is PBS for the Streaming Age
The site’s channels are a reminder of the days when cultural events, whether local or international, happened around TV screens.
The Profound Loneliness of New York Subway Platforms
Natan Dvir’s photographs capture commuters inventing new ways to ignore each other.
A Cruise Ship Quarantine, a Hunt for Cheaters, and More Car News This Week
Plus: A new helicopter ditches the traditional tail rotor for four fans, which could make the devices safer and quieter.
Julian Assange Tops This Week’s Internet News Roundup
Also, SpaceX has formed a partnership to send average citizens into orbit.
A Star’s Auroras Light the Way to a New Exoplanet
For the first time using this new technique, astronomers have identified an Earth-size planet by observing telltale solar flares.
Embr Wave Review: The End of Thermostat Wars
Too cold or hot at the office? This wearable tricks your brain into thinking your body is at a comfortable temperature.
How to Share Your Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Spotify Accounts the Safe Way
Be generous, but also be careful.
This Technique Uses AI to Fool Other AIs
Changing a single word can alter the way an AI program judges a job applicant or assesses a medical claim.
A Cobalt Crisis Could Put the Brakes on Electric Car Sales
First it was lithium, now it’s cobalt. Factories are churning out only so many batteries, and it’s creating a bottleneck.
Investors in LatAm get bitten by the hotel investment bug as Ayenda raises $8.7 million
Some of Latin America’s leading venture capital investors are now backing hotel chains.
In fact, Ayenda, the largest hotel chain in Colombia, has raised $8.7 million in a new round of funding, according to the company.
Led by Kaszek Ventures, the round will support the continued expansion of Ayenda’s chain of hotels in Colombia and beyond. The hotel operator already has 150 hotels operating under its flag in Colombia and has recently expanded to Peru, according to a statement.
Financing came from Kaszek Ventures and strategic investors like Irelandia Aviation, Kairos, Altabix and BWG Ventures.
The company, which was founded in 2018, now has more than 4,500 rooms under its brand in Colombia and has become the biggest hotel chain in the country.
Investments in brick and mortar chains by venture firms are far more common in emerging markets than they are in North America. The investment in Ayenda mirrors big bets that SoftBank Group has made in the Indian hotel chain Oyo and an investment made by Tencent, Sequoia China, Baidu Capital and Goldman Sachs, in LvYue Group late last year, amounting to “several hundred million dollars”, according to a company statement.
“We’re seeking to invest in companies that are redefining the big industries and we found Ayenda, a team that is changing the hotel’s industry in an unprecedented way for the region”, said Nicolas Berman, Kaszek Ventures partner.
Ayenda works with independent hotels through a franchise system to help them increase their occupancy and services. The hotels have to apply to be part of the chain and go through an up to 30-day inspection process before they’re approved to open for business.
“With a broad supply of hotels with the best cost-benefit relationship, guests can travel more frequently, accelerating the economy,” says Declan Ryan, managing partner at Irelandia Aviation.
The company hopes to have more than 1 million guests in 2020 in their hotels. Rooms list at $20 per-night, including amenities and an around the clock customer support team.
Oyo’s story may be a cautionary tale for companies looking at expanding via venture investment for hotel chains. The once high-flying company has been the subject of some scathing criticism. As we wrote:
The New York Times published an in-depth report on Oyo, a tech-enabled budget hotel chain and rising star in the Indian tech community. The NYT wrote that Oyo offers unlicensed rooms and has bribed police officials to deter trouble, among other toxic practices.
Whether Oyo, backed by billions from the SoftBank Vision Fund, will become India’s WeWork is the real cause for concern. India’s startup ecosystem is likely to face a number of barriers as it grows to compete with the likes of Silicon Valley.
SpaceX said to be seeking around $250 million in funding, boosting valuation to roughly $36 billion
SpaceX is looking to raise around $250 million in new funding according to a new report from CNBC’s Michael Sheetz. The additional cash would bring SpaceX’s total valuation to around $36 billion, according to CNBC’s sources — an increase of more than $2.5 billion versus its most recently reported valuation.
The rocket launch company founded and run by Elon Musk is no stranger to raising large sums of money — it added $1.33 billion during 2019 (from three separate rounds). In total, the company has raised more than $3 billion in funding to date — but the scale of its ambitions provides a clear explanation of why the company has sought so much capital.
SpaceX is also generating a significant amount of revenue: Its contract to develop the Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the NASA commercial crew program came with $3.1 billion in contract award money from the agency, for example, and it charges its customers roughly $60 million per launch of one of its Falcon 9 rockets. Last year alone, SpaceX had 13 launches.
But SpaceX is also not a company to rest on its laurels, or its pre-existing technology investments. The company is in the process of developing its next spacecraft, dubbed “Starship.” Starship will potentially be able to eventually replace both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, and will be fully reusable, instead of partially reusable like those systems. Once it’s operational, it will be able to provide significant cost savings and advantages to SpaceX’s bottom line, if the company’s projections are correct, but getting there requires a massive expenditure of capital in development of the technology required to make Starship fly, and fly reliably.
Musk recently went into detail about the company’s plans to essentially build new versions of Starship as fast as it’s able, incorporating significant changes and updates to each new successive version as it goes. Given the scale of Starship and the relatively expensive process of building each as an essentially bespoke new model, it makes perfect sense why SpaceX would seek to bolster its existing capital with additional funds.
CNBC reports that the funding could close sometime in the middle of next month. We reached out to SpaceX for comment, but did not receive a reply as of publication.