1 🚀 Yope: In the race to become the new Instagram!
📸 Yope is a photo-sharing app that added 2.2 million monthly and 8 lakh daily users with 30 times growth in 6 months. Seeing its popularity, investors gave $4.65 million in funding at a $50 million valuation. The app has fun features like private group photo-sharing, streaks and automatic photo collages. 70-80% of its user base came from invites, meaning people are adding their friends themselves. The target is to reach 5 crore users by 2026, in which new things like video feature and family groups will be added. Like apps like BeReal, will it also fade soon or will it really compete with Instagram? 🚀
2 📢 Apple’s $500B US investment
Apple has announced to spend $500 billion to increase manufacturing in the US. This includes a new 250,000 square foot AI server factory in Houston, Texas, which will be ready by 2026. The company raised a $10 billion fund to strengthen its production and will open an “Apple Manufacturing Academy” in Michigan, where training will be given in AI and smart technology. There is a plan to provide 20,000 new jobs in the next 4 years. Also, data centers will be expanded in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada and there will be a big investment to make silicon chips in Arizona’s Fab 21. This move is considered a big decision towards increasing production in the US and reducing dependence on other countries.
3 Meta AI now available in MENA countries!
Meta has now launched its AI chatbot in 10 new countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Users can now use it by tagging @meta on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The company has also added Arabic and will soon introduce a selfie-making tool called “Imagine Me” and an audio dubbing feature for Instagram Reels. Meta AI is now available in 42 countries in 13 languages, where more than 700 million people are using it. However, some features will be limited in Europe due to data protection rules.
4 🚀 Patlytics created a stir in the patent industry with AI!
Google-backed startup Patlytics raised $14 million in new funding led by Next47, bringing its total capital to $21 million. This AI-powered platform helps companies and lawyers make patent search, analysis and litigation easier and faster. Its customer base grew 18 times in the last 6 months, including big companies like Google and Xerox. Now it is also launching its services in the European and Asian markets. With the new funding, Patlytics will invest in improving its technology and team to make it easier to resolve patent-related cases. #TechNews #AI #Patents #Startup 🚀
5 Cambium is saving the wood of 5 cut trees!
In America, after trees are cut, their wood often goes waste, but a startup named Cambium is working to save and reuse it. Ben Christensen and his team have created a system that simplifies the process of buying and selling wood with the help of software and AI. This will not only reduce the waste of wood, but will also benefit the environment. Cambium has also raised $18.5 million in funding to take this idea forward. Now it will be interesting to see how big a change this company can bring in the wood business! 🚀
6 Jio’s new ₹195 plan: Big gift for cricket fans!
Jio has launched a ₹195 prepaid plan, which will offer 15GB data and free JioHotstar membership for 90 days. This is especially for cricket fans, so that they can enjoy live matches and entertainment. This is an additional plan, for which an active recharge will be required in advance. If you want more data, then in the ₹949 plan you will get 2GB 5G data every day, free calling and JioHotstar membership.
7 🚀 Beeper launches new iOS and desktop apps
Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, bought Beeper for $125 million and merged it with Texts.com. Now Beeper has launched new apps for iOS and desktop, which are faster, consume less battery, and more secure than before. Currently, the app stores messages and login data in the Beeper Cloud, but going forward, it will be directly saved on the user’s device and on-device encryption will also be available in it. The facility to send and receive iMessages will be added to the new Mac app. Beeper’s founder Eric Migicovsky recently left the company and is now working on the new Pebble smartwatch.
8 AI race: US vs. China
Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang took out a large ad in the Washington Post saying, “America must win the AI race,” which led to a mixed response to his statement at Web Summit Qatar. When his statement was put to a vote, very few people agreed while many disagreed. Wang says AI will change security practices and that China could overtake the US by creating autonomous AI weapons. He also said that US AI models promote freedom of expression, while China’s AI models are under government control. Meanwhile, Scale AI signed a deal with the Qatar government to create 50 AI government apps, but the summit also made it clear that many people are concerned about the growing influence of US AI.
9 Musk vs. federal employees: Uproar over new policy
Elon Musk conducted a survey on X, asking if government employees should report their work every week. More than 70% of the people said yes, after which OPM ordered all employees to send a list of their weekly achievements by Monday. Musk warned that anyone who does not respond will be considered a resignation. There was an uproar on social media against this decision, and people are planning to send useless messages to the government email inbox, such as the entire script of “Bee Movie”. Activists and K-pop fans have adopted such tactics before. At the same time, questions are being raised about the security of the new government email system, as OPM’s data has been hacked in 2015. Musk’s DOGE team has got great access to the government system, but the risk of server crash and cyber attack is also increasing. Now it remains to be seen whether Musk’s policy will work or opponents will stop it.
10 🚀 Starship explosion: SpaceX explains the reason
SpaceX said the Starship explosion in January was caused by a fuel leak, which caused a fire and lost contact. According to the company, strong vibrations caused excessive pressure on the fuel system and caused a malfunction. Now the FAA is awaiting approval so that the next test flight can take place. The explosion sent debris to the shores of Turks and Caicos, causing minor damage. Improvements have been made to the fuel system to prevent such accidents in the future.
11 New video transcript feature in Google Drive!
Google Drive has added a new feature, allowing users to view and search the written text (transcript) of their videos. This feature will help in quickly finding any part of the video. The transcript will appear in a sidebar near the video player and will highlight whatever is being talked about. To use it, the user has to open the captioned video in Google Drive and go to Settings and select the “Transcript” option. If the video doesn’t already have captions, you can go to “Manage caption tracks” and click “Add automatic captions”. The feature will soon be available to all Google Workspace and personal account users.
12 TikTok sets new record: $6 billion in in-app purchase earnings
In 2024, TikTok became the first non-game app to earn $6 billion from in-app purchases. With $1.9 billion in revenue in Q4 2024, it was only surpassed by YouTube and Google One for the full year. Instagram remained number one in terms of downloads, while TikTok came in second. TikTok and its Chinese sister app Douyin operate separately, with Douyin being more controlled due to China’s strict regulations and focusing on e-commerce. In the US, former President Trump extended the TikTok ban by 75 days. This TikTok revenue reflects the growing business of creators, where users buy virtual gifts and TikTok takes a 50% commission on every transaction. Previously, TikTok became the first non-game app to record $10 billion in user spending in 2023.
13 🚨 Australia bans Kaspersky software 🚨
Australia has banned the use of Kaspersky software in government systems for security reasons and has ordered all agencies to remove it by April 1. The government says that this software can increase the risk of espionage and cyber attacks. Earlier, the US, UK and Canada have also banned it. Kaspersky expressed disappointment over this decision and said that the government has taken this step without any discussion. The US had completely banned this software in June 2024, after which the company had to shut down its business there. Kaspersky is also slowly ending its work in the UK.
14 Bybit Crypto Hack: North Korea’s hand?
On Friday, hackers stole Ethereum worth $1.4 billion from crypto exchange Bybit, which is being described as the biggest crypto theft so far. Crypto experts ZachXBT, blockchain research companies Elliptic and TRM Labs have claimed that North Korea’s Lazarus Group is behind this attack. They say the stolen funds are similar to wallets used in earlier cyber attacks linked to North Korea. Elliptic said that attempts are being made to hide the stolen money using North Korea’s old methods. TRM Labs has also blamed North Korea and called it a confirmed case. Bybit said that the investigation is still going on, while North Korea did not respond to this at the United Nations.
