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That’s according to Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem 2020 report launched today at TNW’s Ecosystems Couch Conference. But how are the rest of the world’s startup ecosystem fairing? Let’s take a closer look. Unsurprisingly, the US is still leading the way with several of its cities making the ranking. On closer inspection, Silicon Valley is still the number one startup ecosystem, scoring 10 in every category aside from connectedness. New York and London also have pristine scores, but lagging behind SV in “knowledge....

You’re home. You’re bored. You’ve got a lot of time to kill. You’ve got a smartphone. So we’re going to assume every single one of you checking all those boxes at some point recently also thought, I should really make a video. Whether you want to pontificate on YouTube, interact with friends on Facebook Live streaming or just start creating phone videos that look and sound a whole lot better, it’s time to make a small investment in the necessary equipment to make that leap....

My business partner had decided to hang up an abstract painting by modern Ukrainian artist Anton Popernyak he owned. The painting undeniably brightened up the space, but its real value was the course it put us on — turning our office into an art gallery. Putting on an art exhibition in your office might sound like an indulgent thing to do for a startup, but we discovered that it actually led to a lower turnover rate and increased offer acceptance among candidates we interviewed....

A company spokesperson told The Verge that politicians on Twitch must adhere to its terms of services: It’s not clear how long this ban will last. But Trump might not be worried. As the New York Times noted, his Twitch account had just 125,000 followers as compared to a massive 83 million on Twitter. Recently, social media platforms have taken a tougher stance on Trump’s content. In the past couple of weeks, Twitter has flagged his tweets on multiple occasions....

— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) March 4, 2020 The idea behind Fleets, according to Twitter Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour, appears to be to give people the opportunity to tweet thoughts they’re not comfortable having a permanent part of their timeline. Tweets are always public (unless your account is protected), and anyone can retweet or like them. Apparently people also feel they’re “performative” in that you have to post that which will give you maximum likes and retweets....

The announcements came as part of Twitter’s ‘Analyst Day.’ here are some of the biggest ones. Communities Communities is essentially the Twitter version of Facebook Groups. It allows Twitter users to hubs where they can gather based on common interests or locations, an extension of the company’s current topics feature. Per Twitter, Communites will make it “easier for people to form, discover, and participate in conversations that are more targeted to the relevant communities or geographies they’re interested in....

This sounds good, but if you ask me? It’s nothing but a marketing stunt. Before you call me biased, let’s take a closer look at what Khosrowshahi said: I love the wording here. The certainty of “absolutely” paired with an indefinite future time is the perfect way to make a promise without really making one. It also reminds me of my own recurring statement to my friends: I’ll definitely enroll at a gym at some point....

Uber hands thousands of vital ‘pieces of intelligence’ to UK authorities each year, complying with over 2,000 requests for data in the capital alone last year. The information emerged at a London court in September as the ride-hailing company fought to regain its license to operate in the city. The final decision was made on 28 September that Uber would be granted its license. Concerns have been raised as to the exact nature of the data shared with authorities, and whether this was been leveraged by Uber to support its case for a license....

Binh Thanh Le, 22, Steven McCall, 23, and Allante Pires, 22, were each charged with conspiring to make and distribute MDMA, Ketamine, and Xanax. Authorities also seized 20 kilograms of MDMA, more than seven kilograms of Ketamine, over 10,000 Xanax pills, and more than $100,000 in cash. The arrests were made after the execution of a search warrant at an office space where agents found and arrested McCall, who was wearing latex gloves and a respirator, and was believed to be in the process of filling drug orders....

Reuters is now reporting that particular block will be lifted very soon. U.S Commerce Secretary Wibur Ross confirmed to Reuters that US companies will be allowed to collaborate with Huawei on developing standards for 5G networks. The US government is expected to make a public announcement later today. Ross also said “The United States will not cede leadership in global innovation,” and “the department is committed to protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by encouraging U....

Experts and local businesses have instead called for federal money services regulations to be changed to include Bitcoin ATMs, reports The Star. Vancouver’s city council already moved to regulate usage and operation of cryptocurrency ATMs with a bylaw in January. This enforces operators to hold business licenses, verify identities, and even warn users away from common types of fraud. Despite these efforts, police reiterated warnings that local fraudsters have been using cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency ATMs to launder money....

The outcome of this has been increased anxiety, stress, and just a general sense of unease. We weren’t built to deal with this mental load. [Read: Smart locks are cool as fuck — but I’ll never trust them] And what’s technology’s solution to this? That’s right: More goddamn technology. So, welcome to the room, the Muse 2! Basically, this is a headband that can provide real-time feedback on brain activity, heartbeat, breathing, and movement....

The Mojave-based firm only made $529,000 revenue last quarter, leading to a loss of $55 million, higher than analysts anticipated. The quarter previous saw it generate more than $800,000 in revenue, but lose $51.5 million overall. While losses mount, Virgin Galactic says customer demand has doubled, having garnered almost 8,000 reservations of interest since December 2018’s successful powered test flight — the first since 2014’s tragic crashing of its SpaceshipTwo VSS Enterprise....

According to a Financial Times report, Geely has created a new process for building electric vehicles, which it hopes will be one of a handful of platforms that will dominate the industry in the coming years. The report says the new BEV (battery electric vehicle) platform could offer ranges of up to 700 km, make vehicles lighter, and scale from two-seater cars up to large minibuses that transport dozens of people at a time....

But concerns have emerged about the accountability of AI and related technologies like machine learning. In December 2020 a computer scientist, Timnit Gebru, was fired from Google’s Ethical AI team. She had previously raised the alarm about the social effects of bias in AI technologies. For instance, in a 2018 paper Gebru and another researcher, Joy Buolamwini, had shown how facial recognition software was less accurate in identifying women and people of color than white men....

The Perseverance rover left for the red planet on 30 July 2020. After a mostly uneventful transit through space, it managed to touch down on the surface of Mars at 20:55 UTC on 18 February 2021. — NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 19, 2021 Its mission, per NASA: The rover’s been hard at work in the red dirt of Mars all weekend and will probably remain there, well, forever....

According to The Verge, Waymo is “temporarily pausing” its autonomous vehicles tests in San Francisco for two days, starting Tuesday, November 3. The company has moved its fleet to Mountain View to be stored at a “secured location.” Trasndev, the company that operates the fleet, shared the news in an email seen by The Verge. [Read: 4 ridiculously easy ways you can be more eco-friendly] The decision was taken “out of an abundance of caution ahead of some of the planned protests around the general election,” Chris Cheung, general manager at Transdev North America, wrote in the email....

Walking might involve a journey that begins on a residential street and travels through bustling commercial strips, past cyclists and delivery drivers that would need to be dodged and manoeuvering through busy intersections. The pandemic altered the commute for most and changed our experience of moving through cities. Municipalities have been installing bike lanes, reducing car lanes and parking, widening sidewalks and green spaces, and creating space for electric cars....

A key component of the metaverse ecosystem will be the creator economy. The virtual worlds within the metaverse need to be conceived, designed, and built by individuals and organizations. To that end, I established a module at the University of Nottingham in 2020 where up to 100 of my engineering students interact with each other in avatar form in a virtual world known as Nottopia. Nottopia began as a fantastical virtual island, and has since become a floating castle in the sky....

This began to change during the 1920s and 30s, as astronomer Edwin Hubble set his sights on other galaxies, using the 2.5-meter (100-inch) telescope recently constructed on Mount Wilson in southern California. For the first time, Hubble was able to clearly see individual stars within M31 — the Andromeda Galaxy. For the first time, families of stars were known to exist beyond the Milky Way. Hubble also discovered something else — nearly every galaxy races away from each other at tremendous speeds....