It became five o’clock strong test between TikTok CEO Shou Chew and US lawmakers, who have found TikTok’s suspicion a rare source of bipartisan agreement. It comes as US officials have told the company they may ban the app if it does not split from ByteDance.
As in previous hearings with social media executives, lawmakers pressured Chew for often impossible yes-no answers to complex questions and became frustrated when he refused to give one. In one exchange, Rep Tony Cardenas asked Chew if ByteDance was a Chinese company. He would only admit that it was a “global” company with a Chinese founder. The hearing was also very different from previous hearings with other CEOs of social media companies, as the vast majority of lawmakers are not active on TikTok. Not all of their questions were nuanced, either: Rep. Richard Hudson asked if TikTok could “access home Wi-Fi.” The future of TikTok remains uncertain, Chinese officials said Thursday they oppose a sale of the social network.
– Matt Smith.
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They did not reveal that they were paid to promote certain plays.
Hippolyte Petit on Getty Images
The Securities and Exchange Commission has cracked down on the businesses of crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and indicted him for the unregistered offering and selling of Tronix and BitTorrent tokens. If these tokens seem familiar to even non-diehard crypto enthusiasts, it’s because several celebrities have been promoting them on social media — and now they’re being charged by the agency, too. According to the SEC, eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon, illegally promoted the tokens online without disclosing that they were paid to do so. All of the celebrities charged, with the exception of Soulja Boy and musician Austin Mahone, have agreed to pay a collective $400,000 in penalties to settle the charges.
The Tech Preview requires the latest and most expensive NVIDIA graphics cards.
A new Cyberpunk 2077 Technology Preview (Overdrive Mode) supports path tracing, the next goal to make games look even better and entice you to buy expensive new GPUs, courtesy of GPU maker NVIDIA. The two-year-old game joins Minecraft, Portal And Earthquake II — old… classics? – in technology support. While ray tracing follows a single beam of light across a virtual scene, path tracing follows light as it bounces around an environment, more realistically mimicking how it works in the physical world. But the heady math behind it means you’ll need the most powerful NVIDIA RTX 40-series GPUs to enjoy it. Cyberpunk 2077‘s path-tracing makeover – and you might still experience performance issues.
The objective is spaceflight at a lower cost.
After several cleanup attempts, Relativity Space has finally launched its 3D-printed rocket. But the results have been mixed. His successful Terran 1 vehicle took off from Cape Canaveral late Wednesday but failed to reach orbit after the second-stage engine only momentarily ignited. It is unclear what led to the failure, but relativity is promising updates in the “coming days”. Terran 1 endured Max-Q (maximum dynamic pressure), the time supposed to put the most stress on the 3D printed design, so this is considered an achievement. The 3D printing process theoretically provides simpler, more reliable rockets that are cheaper to manufacture and could be ready in weeks, reducing satellite orbiting costs.
It’s a bigger challenge.
The Framework Laptop 16 is the company’s second product after its 13-inch upgradable laptop, but there’s not a whole lot of information – or specs – to follow just yet. Yesterday’s announcements essentially set the stage for a fuller media blitz as we approach the opening of pre-orders later this spring. But according to company founder Nirav Patel, the new laptop has “pretty much complete flexibility to support GPU changes.”
Companies say the journey from the city center will only take 10 minutes.
Archer Aviation / United Airlines
Archer Aviation and United Airlines today announced a partnership to launch a commercial air taxi route between Downtown and O’Hare International Airport in 2025. In addition to being the headquarters and largest hub of United, Chicago Airport makes it an ideal test bed for flying taxis. The drive to or from O’Hare, in the western suburb of Rosemont, can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour, depending on traffic. Archer estimates that a flight in one of its air taxis will only take 10 minutes to get from O’Hare to its destination at a downtown heliport.
