• How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation: Enrollment at US community colleges focused on vocational skills rose 16% in 2023 to its highest level since 2018, according to National Student Clearinghouse data. The number of students enrolled in four-year colleges rose just 0.8%. Gen Z is driving that trend as a generation faced with unique challenges. he price to attend traditional four-year colleges has surged. Some private colleges and universities recently announced $90k+ annual tuition for the 2024-25 school year. (WSJ - Paid)
• Thousands of Meteorites Are Vanishing in Antarctica. Now Scientists have Revealed Why : A team of European researchers has reported that a significant number of meteorites in Antarctica, crucial for understanding early Earth, are rapidly vanishing. Their findings suggest up to 75% could vanish by 2050. (The Debrief)
• Asia Venture Funding Continues to Struggle, Hits Lowest Level Since 2016 : The Asia region experienced a decrease in startup funding during the first quarter of this year, with late-stage and growth rounds seeing a decline. Both dollar amounts and deal counts decreased, despite China showing healthy VC investment gains and large funding rounds.. (Crunchbase)
• China aims to Break the Jet-Making Duopoly with a Plane to Rival Boeing and Airbus : The commercial aircraft market is primarily controlled by American Boeing and European Airbus, forming a significant duopoly. Amidst Boeing's challenges, emerging competitors like China's Comac are gaining momentum. Comac, or the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, aims to eventually compete with Boeing and Airbus using its C919 aircraft model. (Robinhood)
• ‘AI Instagram Influencers’ Are Stealing Women’s Bodies: Individuals are managing Instagram profiles for AI-generated entities and individuals working in the adult entertainment industry. They are acquiring popular Instagram videos, enhancing them with AI technology, and utilizing the modified content to drive subscriptions to the AI-generated accounts on competing platforms like OnlyFans. Consequently, some of these AI-generated accounts have garnered substantial followings on Instagram through primarily unauthorized material. (404)
• We Were Very Wrong About Birds: In two studies recently published in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and Nature, scientists have unveiled findings indicating that a genetic anomaly around 65 million years ago has led to misconceptions regarding the authentic progression of avian evolution. Specifically, a segment of a chromosome failed to undergo the expected mingling with adjacent DNA. Although this section constitutes merely a small portion of the avian genome, its existence posed challenges for researchers striving to construct a comprehensive bird genealogy. (Popular Science)
• The Best Coffee for the Planet Might Not Be Coffee at All : To address imminent challenges, agricultural scientists are diligently developing climate-resilient coffee variants. Kunz, founder of "flavor engineering" company Stem, proposes cultivating coffee cells in labs to combat issues efficiently. Entrepreneurs explore sustainable coffee alternatives, like barley beverages, aiming to preserve coffee's essence and caffeine content responsibly. (Grist)
• Small Business Optimism hit an 11-year Low as Inflation Fears Persist: Small businesses in the U.S. are feeling less optimistic as they continue to deal with a slowdown in sales and inflationary pressures, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) found. According to the NFIB, the sector’s sentiment index decreased by nine-tenths to 88.5 in March, reaching its lowest level since December 2012. The decline in part means that business owners are still dealing with lingering woes tied to the covid-19 pandemic, which placed significant stress on small businesses. (Qz)
• Why Ford and Tesla are Pulling Back on New EVs : In a recent development pointing towards challenges in the EV transition, Ford announced last week a postponement of certain upcoming EV launches. Simultaneously, the company is increasing focus on hybrid vehicles. Subsequently, significant impact reverberated through Wall Street upon news of Tesla deferring its highly anticipated $25,000 EV release, originally scheduled for the following year.(Emerging Techbrew)
• The Scale Of Food Waste In Europe: Each person in the European Union generated an average of 131 kilograms of food waste in 2021, according to estimates by the European statistics office Eurostat. This is based on data from the 27 member states. Total food waste in the EU amounted to over 58 million tons in 2021. Private households made up 54 percent of this, with more than 31 million tons of "fresh mass" generated by the category every year. (Statista)
• Cancer Rates Rising in Young People Due to ‘Accelerated Aging’: Accelerated aging, a condition where an individual's biological age surpasses their chronological age, has been linked to an elevated susceptibility to cancerous growths. This insight comes from recent research shared at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Ruiyi Tian, MPH, a graduate student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study researchers, highlights the conventional perception linking cancer and aging predominantly to older demographics. (NY Post)
• You Can’t Fake Live: How Franz Harary Fools People For a Living – And Admits It! Franz Harary says it straight: “There’s no way to explain what I do without sounding like a douchebag.” While the rest of us unconsciously stumble through life inside various illusions, Harary creates them intentionally. His spectacular stadium experiences leave audiences gasping from Macau to L.A. to Dubai and beyond. His ability to seemingly invert Newtonian physics has made him a magic-maker of grand illusions for Michael Jackson, Usher, Earth Wind & Fire, Missy Eliot, Prince, and more. (METAL Men Daily)
• Harvard Develops "Intelligent" Liquid That Can Be Programmed : Harvard researchers have innovated an "intelligent liquid" - a programmable fluid with unique properties. Their study in Nature reveals its programmable compressibility, optical behavior, and viscosity, along with its Newtonian and non-Newtonian transitions. (Futurism)
• Autonomous Vertical Farming Startup to Grow Crops in Space in 2026 : A vertical farming startup based in the UK is advancing its technology to unprecedented levels. The UK Space Agency has granted Vertical Future £1.5 million to establish an autonomous farm in space. The cutting-edge vegetable garden will be located on the inaugural commercial space station, presently under development by US firm Axiom Space, set to welcome astronauts in 2026. (TNW)
• Photo, Image / Video of the Day: Check out this view of the solar eclipse from a Starlink satellite on orbit
• Notable Statistics: Number of vegetarians (% of population)
• YouTube Worth Watching: The End of Tax-Free Dubai (They’re HIDING This)
• Ken's Book Pick: Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
• Ken's Website / Tool Pick: Notepad s time tracking, tasks, reports, invoices, and contacts — in one tool. Here's the best part: Notepad is designed with simplicity in mind. You don't need to be a tech wizard to use it. Whether you're a seasoned freelancer or just starting out, Notepad is intuitive and user-friendly. You can treat Notepad as a simple TODO list. But there's so much more: auto-generated reports and invoices with a single click, connecting the dots between tasks and tracked time, downloading PDFs, sharing reports and invoices as web pages, live currency exchange rates... oh, and you can bill the tracked time even on the free plan.
The History of Gaming Acquisitions
You might recognize some familiar characters in this story. Massive Chinese conglomerate Tencent is the biggest investor, with the biggest total spend ($11.5B) across just three acquisitions: Supercell, Leyou, and Riot Games. Tencent is now “the largest company in the industry, generating an estimated $US19.4 [billion] in revenue and $US6.3 [billion] in profit,” according to recent court documents. That’s more than Nintendo, EA, and Activision combined.
Microsoft is trying to keep up, spending $11B on ZeniMax Media, Mojang Studios, and Rare, Inc. And the familiar logo of Electronic Arts shows up as the third biggest investor, with a $7.8B spend across seven acquisitions
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