Solar Powered Bitcoin Mining in Texas
Blocksteam and Block, two prominent crypto companies, are piloting a new crypto mine in Texas, powered by Tesla solar panels and batteries. The project will cost an estimated $12 million and operate completely off-the-grid when it’s completed this summer.
Niantic’s Peridot
The creator of Pokemon Go has a new AR game: Peridot, a game focused on breeding and caring for magical creatures called Peridots. Each critter is a unique combination of procedural generation and hand-drawn assets. The game will follow a similar format to Pokemon Go, Ingress, and other titles by Niantic where players interact with the real world to unlock in-game experiences. Periot will soft launch in select markets at the end of April.
DALL-E 2
OpenAI released its second iteration of the DALL-E platform. DALL-E 2 uses a trained neural network to create images from text captions written in natural language. Essentially, a user can input a sentence or phrase and the algorithm will generate an original image based on the description. In the example above, the text description was “Teddy bears mixing sparkling chemicals as mad scientists as a 1990s Saturday morning cartoon.” Want to try DALL-E 2? Anyone can join the waitlist on OpenAI’s website.
Airfare Prices Surging
As summer approaches and pandemic restrictions ease, travelers are booking more flights, causing prices to surge (up 28% from March 2019). . . Inflation and fuel shortages have pushed prices even higher. If you plan on traveling in the next few months, we suggest booking sooner rather than later.
MoonPay $555 Million Round
MoonPay recently closed its Series A funding round, earning a $3.4 billion valuation. Their high-profile cap table includes Drake, The Weeknd, Diplo, Paris Hilton, Gal Gadot, and Justin Bieber. Following the raise, the company plans to expand its crypto exchange, where users can buy popular cryptocurrencies with traditional payment methods.
Nike Dunk Low
Nike is back with another installment in the Dunk lineup. This version features a two-tone brown model with hints of white on the laces, swoosh, and midsole. The dunk is a surprisingly simple, clean design with leather and suede. The pair is set to retail for $100 and will drop on Nike.com as well as other select retailers.
Fun fact: Niantic’s Pokemon Go had ~80,955,401 active users in the month of March.
