Life is on hold in one of the last coronavirus-free places on Earth

-
The isolated Pacific island nation of Vanuatu cut itself off to prevent Covid-19 from reaching its shores. Then a devastating cyclone hit

from WIRED UK https://ift.tt/2XRzCw8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 investors discuss what’s in store for venture debt following SVB’s collapse

-
There are many questions around the implications of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse that won’t be answered for a long time. But there’s one question that many startups and investors are hoping will get answered sooner rather than later: What happens to venture debt? SVB was one of the larger, if not the largest, providers of venture debt to U.S.-based startups. And now that First Republic Bank has also gone under, that question has spiraled, growing ever more complex. Many startups rely on venture debt: it’s both a cheaper alternative to raising equity and can serve as a capital tool that helps companies build in ways that equity isn’t great for. For some companies in capital-intensive areas like climate, fintech and defense, access to debt is often the only avenue to growth or scale. Thankfully, venture capitalists aren’t too worried about the SVB collapse’s impact on venture debt as a whole. We’re widening our lens, looking for more investors to participate in TechCrunch su...
Read more

This Week in Apps: Android’s Privacy Sandbox, Super Bowl app ads, App Annie rebrands

-
Image
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports . App Annie says global spending across iOS, Google Play and third-party Android app stores in China grew 19% in 2021 to reach $170 billion. Downloads of apps also grew by 5%, reaching 230 billion in 2021, and mobile ad spend grew 23% year-over-year to reach $295 billion. In addition, consumers are spending more time in apps than ever before — even topping the time they spend watching TV, in some cases. The average American watches 3.1 hours of TV per day, for example, but in 2021, they spent 4.1 hours on their mobile device. And they’re not even the world’s heaviest mobile users. In markets like Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea, users ...
Read more

An AI-generated ‘South Park’ episode, Microsoft’s security woes, and Tesla’s first Cybertruck build

-
Image
Hey, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR) , TechCrunch’s regular roundup of the past week in tech. Too busy to check the headlines this week? Don’t sweat it. That’s why WiR exists — we’ll get you caught up to speed. This edition of WiR features pieces about a fake AI-generated “South Park” episode; the surging downloads of Threads, an app that shares the same name as Meta’s Twitter competitor; and Tesla’s first Cybertruck build. We also recap the CEO of OnlyFans stepping down; Wix’s new tool that can create websites on the fly, using generative AI; and Plex’s free Winamp-inspired music player. That’s a lot to cover, so let’s get cracking. Oh, and if you haven’t already, sign up here  to get WiR in your inbox every Saturday. Most read Poor timing for AI-generated TV: AI startup Fable Studios demoed its platform this week, using it to create a full, fake “South Park” episode in which Cartman tries to apply deepfake technology to the media industry. The tech was impressive, Dev...
Read more