Good morning!
Welcome to another Sunday edition featuring:
Microsoft and Miami-Dade partner up
Facebook and Instagram went down again Friday
White House scientists call for an ‘AI Bill of Rights’
Apple’s new watch is in tight supply
And the mission on Mars carries on
It’s October 10, 2021.
1. #MiamiTech
To bridge the digital skills divide, Microsoft, the County, and partners launch Accelerate Miami-Dade (Refresh Miami)
Two realities so very far apart: Miami-Dade is experiencing a tech boom that looks poised to deliver hundreds of high-paying tech jobs in fast-growing, emerging industries to the region’s economy that is currently dominated by lower-wage service-oriented jobs. But Miami-Dade also has one of the nation’s largest digital divides, and those communities on the other side face barriers to acquiring new-economy skills.
Microsoft, Miami-Dade County, and a host of community partners have announced the launch of Accelerate Miami-Dade, which aims to bridge the digital skills divide and provide a pathway from skilling to employment. Accelerate is fundamentally different from other skilling initiatives in that the model is based on an ecosystem partnership that provides upskilling, re-skilling, and cross-skilling for in-demand jobs and a path to keep pace with the skills of the new economy.
With a focus on underserved communities, this coalition of partners will create the right conditions and a local pipeline for delivering the high-tech skilling, and then help match the right skills with the right corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, and startups, said Jacky Wright, Chief Digital Officer for Microsoft US. The goal: “To help drive economic development and growth, but also ensure that we bring everyone along,” said Wright, in an interview with Refresh Miami.
2. Facebook
Facebook and Instagram went down again this afternoon (TechCrunch)
It’s been a rough week for Facebook. After one of their longest outages in company history on Monday, Facebook went down again on Friday afternoon. The outage affected all Facebook properties, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.
It doesn’t seem that the outage lasted long, as services were back up and running for some less than 30 minutes after Facebook tweeted about it. But after this week’s more serious outage, the repeated lapse might spark concerns about the reliability and safety of the app.
Repeated outages are especially concerning for small business owners who use Facebook’s tools to communicate with customers or users who use WhatsApp as their primary texting app.
Monday’s outage was caused by configuration changes to the routers in Facebook’s data centers. Facebook told TechCrunch that Friday’s outage was also due to configuration changes, which impacted people globally, but that it was unrelated to Monday’s downtime.
3. AI
White House science advisors call for an “AI Bill of Rights” (Axios)
The Biden administration is exploring a "bill of rights" to govern facial recognition and other potentially harmful uses of artificial intelligence, but the problems AI poses are much bigger than figuring out how to regulate a new technology.
There's no good way to regulate AI's role in shaping a fair and equitable society without deciding what that society should look like, including how power should be balanced among individuals, corporations, and the government.
The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy just launched a fact-finding mission that will ultimately result in a "'bill of rights' to guard against the powerful technologies we have created," OSTP director Eric Lander and his deputy Alondra Nelson wrote in an op-ed published by Wired.
The original Bill of Rights is nearly 230 years old, and we're still debating the meaning of nearly each of its 652 words. If an AI Bill of Rights is our ultimate goal, we're still at the stage of haggling over the Articles of Confederation.
4. Wearables
Apple’s new watch is in tight supply, leading to long wait times (Bloomberg)
The Apple Watch Series 7, which was unveiled in mid-September, became available for preorders at 8 a.m. New York time, with the product slated to reach stores on Oct. 15. Within minutes, it was difficult to get the watch delivered by that date. Customers ordering the stainless-steel models and other versions were told it wouldn’t arrive until November.
By afternoon, some stainless-steel models weren’t available until later in November. And certain high-end models are constrained to the point that Apple listed them as “currently unavailable.” Models made in partnership with Hermes are seeing shipments delayed until late November or early December.
The Series 7 line, which comes in larger 41-millimeter and 45-millimeter sizes, has suffered production snags. And when Apple didn’t initially give a release date at the watch’s unveiling last month, it renewed fears about manufacturing problems. Apple announced the Oct. 15 release earlier this week, but the current delivery delays suggest its supplies remain thin.
Apple also has more aggressive promotions this year, which may be boosting demand. The company is offering as much as $270 for users trading in a last-generation Apple Watch, and wireless carriers such as T-Mobile US Inc. have rolled out deals that -- in some cases -- can cover the whole cost of a new iPhone.
5. Misson On Mars
Perserverance rover pinpoints its best chances of finding ancient Mars life (Engadget)
NASA landed the Perserverance rover in Mars' Jezero Crater knowing it had the potential for signs of ancient life, but now it's clearer where the rover should be looking. Scientists have just published a study providing insights into where the rover can "best hunt" for traces of past microbial life. The findings and images confirm that Jezero once had a lake and river delta, and that certain patches are ideal targets for the search.
The breakthrough moment came when Perserverance captured images of "Kodiak," a rock outcropping that would have been at the edge of the delta. It represented the best-preserved stratigraphy ever seen on Mars, confirming the existence of the lake and river delta. The imagery gave the Perserverance team an idea of where to search months in advance of the rover reaching the area.
Scarps northeast of Kodiak also provided a surprise. Boulder-laced layers suggest flash floods reshaped the otherwise slow, relatively still river. It now appears that Jezero's waterways were considerably more complex than previously thought. The lake's water levels must have changed wildly over the years before eventually disappearing.
The discoveries should save researchers valuable time as they collect samples for an eventual return to Earth. However, they might also help scientists understand why Mars dried out. In that light, Perserverance should be useful even if there are no hints of past life to be found.
6. Funding, IPOs, M&As
🖥 Rigetti Computing To Go Public Via SPAC: Rigetti Computing is a maker of quantum computers and processes.
❤️ Boston Scientific To Pay $1.75 Billion For Baylis Medical: Baylis Medical is the maker of technologies for heart patients.
☁️ AppLovin To Buy MoPub For $1.05 Billion: MoPub, owned by Twitter, will be offloaded for 3X what it paid for it in 2013.
📦 Pattern Bags $225 Million: The Utah-based e-commerce accelerator helps brands optimize sales.
⚕️ Elemy Closes $219 Million: Autism-care provider Elemy has raised funds from SoftBank at a $1.15 billion valuation.
🛵 GoTo Global Acquires Emmy: The Israeli mobility startup backed by Adam Neumann is acquiring the German moped-sharing startup.
💰 Modern Treasury Announces $85 Million: Altimeter led the round in the San Francisco-based payments startup.
☁️ NeuroBlad Raises $83 Million Series B: The Israeli startup has developed a new data analytics architecture.
👩💻 Aquant Lands $70 Million Series C: Aquant leverages AI to support customer service workers.
🗣 Wizard Secures $50 Million Series A: The conversational commerce startup has raised funds led by NEA.
☁️ ArangoDB Raises $27.8 Million Series B: The open-source graph database company has raised funds led by Iris Capital.
☁️ Autify Announces $10 Million Series A: Autify will advance its no-code AI-powered software testing automation platform.
📖 Matter Secures $7 Million Series A: The startup aims to build a better reading app for today’s internet.
🕹 echo3D Nabs $4 Million Seed: echo3D builds tools and infrastructure to help developers create 3D games and apps.
🧪 Bisu Closes $3.1 Million Seed: Japanese healthcare startup Bisu will launch its lab-on-a-chip product.
As always, please feel free to share questions, feedback, or requests for future newsletters.
Cheers!
Eric
#BeAmbitious