Ice Lounge Media

Ice Lounge Media

OpenAI on Monday announced that it closed one of the largest private funding rounds in history. According to a blog post on the company’s website, OpenAI raised $40 billion in a round that values the company at $300 billion post-money. SoftBank led the financing, CNBC reported. Other participants included Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive, all […]
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This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

The first trial of generative AI therapy shows it might help with depression

The first clinical trial of a generative AI therapy bot suggests it was as effective as human therapy for people with depression, anxiety, or risk for developing eating disorders. Even so, it doesn’t give a go-ahead to the dozens of companies hyping such technologies while operating in a regulatory gray area. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

How a bankruptcy judge can stop a genetic privacy disaster

—Keith Porcaro

The fate of 15 million people’s genetic data rests in the hands of a bankruptcy judge now that 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy. But there’s still a small chance of writing a better ending for users—and it’s a simple fix. Read the full story.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Meet the online activists fighting back against ICE raids
Their networks are warning migrants about ICE officer hotspots in major cities. (WP $)
+ Noncitizens are growing increasingly anxious. (NPR)

2 US health experts were ordered to bury a measles forecast
The assessment warned the risk of catching the virus was high in areas with lower vaccination rates. (ProPublica)
+ The former US covid chief has called the outbreak wholly preventable. (Politico)
+ How measuring vaccine hesitancy could help health professionals tackle it. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Donald Trump is confident a TikTok deal is forthcoming
Ahead of the impending deadline on Saturday. (Reuters)

4 China’s efforts to clean up air pollution are accelerating global warming
Its dirty air had been inadvertently cooling the planet. (New Scientist $)
+ Who’s to blame for climate change? It’s surprisingly complicated. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Brands are spending small amounts on X to appease Elon Musk
They’re doing what they can to avoid triggering a public fallout with the billionaire. (FT $)
+ Musk’s X has a new owner—it’s, err, Musk’s xAI. (CNBC)

6 Campaigners are calling to pause a mental health inpatient monitoring system
The Oxevision system remotely tracks patients’ breathing and heart rates. (The Guardian)
+ This AI-powered “black box” could make surgery safer. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The US and China are locked in a race to produce the first useful humanoid robot
The first to succeed will dominate the future of many labor-intensive industries. (WSJ $)
+ Beijing is treating humanoid robots as a major future industry. (WP $)

8 Data center operators are inking solar power deals
It’s a proven, clean technology that is relatively low-cost. (TechCrunch)
+ The cost of AI services is dropping. (The Information $)
+ Why the US is still trying to make mirror-magnified solar energy work. (MIT Technology Review)

9 H&M plans to create digital replicas of its models
Which means the retailer could outsource entire photoshoots to AI. (NYT $)
+ The metaverse fashion stylists are here. (MIT Technology Review)

10 What it’s like to drive a Tesla Cybertruck in Washington DC
Expect a whole lot of abuse. (The Atlantic $)
+ Protestors are gathering at Tesla showrooms across America. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“Viruses don’t need a passport.”

—Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, warns CNN that the US measles outbreak could spread widely to other countries.

The big story

Marseille’s battle against the surveillance state

June 2022

Across the world, video cameras have become an accepted feature of urban life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them, and London and New Delhi aren’t far behind. Now France is playing catch-up.

Concerns have been raised throughout the country. But the surveillance rollout has met special resistance in Marseille, France’s second-biggest city.

It’s unsurprising, perhaps, that activists are fighting back against the cameras, highlighting the surveillance system’s overreach and underperformance. But are they succeeding? Read the full story.

—Fleur Macdonald

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ The online pocket computer museum is exceptionally charming.
+ There’s an entirely new cat color emerging, and scientists have finally worked out why.
+ Experiencing Bluesky ‘skeets’ posted in real time is a seriously trippy business.
+ Never underestimate the power of a good deed.

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MARA Holdings plans huge $2B stock offering to buy more Bitcoin

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings Inc (MARA) is looking to sell up to $2 billion in stock to buy more Bitcoin as part of a plan that bears a resemblance to Michael Saylor’s Strategy.

MARA Holdings, formerly Marathon Digital, said in a March 28 Form 8-K and prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it entered into an at-the-market agreement with investment giants, including Cantor Fitzgerald and Barclays, for them to sell up to $2 billion worth of its stock “from time to time.”

“We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin and for working capital,” MARA added.

MARA’s move copies a tactic made famous by Bitcoin (BTC) bull Saylor, the executive chair of the largest corporate Bitcoin holder Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, which has used a variety of market offerings, including stock sales, to amass 506,137 BTC worth $42.4 billion.

MARA Holdings falls just behind Strategy with the second largest holdings by a public company, with 46,374 BTC worth around $3.9 billion in its coffers, according to Bitbo data.

In July, the company’s CEO, Fred Thiel, said it was going “full HODL” and wouldn’t sell any of the Bitcoin it mined to fund its operations, as is typical for crypto miners, and would purchase more of the cryptocurrency to keep in reserve.

Related: Crusoe to sell Bitcoin mining business to NYDIG to focus on AI 

The Bitcoin (BTC) miner’s planned stock sale follows a similar offering it made early last year that offered up to $1.5 billion worth of its shares. It also issued $1 billion of zero-coupon convertible senior notes in November with plans to use most of the proceeds to buy Bitcoin.

Google Finance shows that MARA closed the March 28 trading day down 8.58% at $12.47, following on from crypto mining stocks being rattled a day earlier with reports that Microsoft abandoned plans to invest in new data centers in the US and Europe.

MARA shares have fallen another 4.6% to $11.89 in overnight trading on March 30, according to Robinhood.

Bitcoin is trading just above $82,000, down 1.2% over the past 24 hours after falling from a local high of around $83,500, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat — Timeline and solutions (2025–2035) 

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