⏱Dr. Apple
Good morning everyone and welcome to Friday Jr., it’s all downhill from here!
0:05- U.S Troops to withdraw from Afghanistan
Yesterday President Biden announced that the US would be withdrawing all remaining American troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of September 11th. During his speech he told the nation, “...it’s time for American troops to come home.” Furthering that thought, he continued, “We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result.” The removal will begin with 3,500 troops on May 1st and continue through September.
0:28- Social media working to become more responsible
As a part of a larger movement towards healthier social media, both Twitter and Instagram announced new updates yesterday. Twitter shared that they will be studying the fairness of their algorithms, and have committed to publishing the results, and fixing any biases found. Instagram (and therefore Facebook as well) announced that they would begin rolling out the option in the apps to hide both the user’s like totals as well as the totals of others. This feature was originally tested more than a year ago but was pushed back when Covid hit.
0:53- $COIN flipped
Today Coinbase began trading on the NYSE and immediately fetched an $85Bn valuation—roughly $20Bn more than the reference price. While the opening price was $381, the stock peaked at $429 before closing at $328. Barry Shculer, an early investor in Coinbase and former CEO of AOL, said, “For both Coinbase and crypto, this is the graduation from the early, nascent days.”
1:09- A doctor on your wrist
Researchers at the University of Washington announced yesterday that they had partnered with Apple to study the ability of an Apple Watch to detect Covid, as well as other respiratory illnesses. Over the next six months, study participants will have their health data monitored to see if illnesses can be predicted.
1:22- Epic Games receives an epic valuation
The creator of Fortnite, Epic Games announced yesterday that they had completed a $1Bn fundraising round that featured Sony, Walt Disney, and Tencent Holdings. This new round values the company at a staggering $28.7Bn.
Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!
-The 90 Second News Team
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