International

The US is launching retaliation strikes in response to drone attack

After a drone attack in Jordan killed US soldiers, the US has carried out over 100 strikes on Iran-supported militant groups. On Friday, the US began a series of airstrikes, hitting targets in Iraq and Syria in response to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US soldiers.

The targets in Iraq and Syria included command and control operation centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, unmanned aired vehicle storage warehouses, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups.

In total, US forces struck more than 85 targets on Friday, according to officials. The offensive is expected to be the first in an upcoming series of retaliation strikes that could take place over days, or even weeks.

These come as the Biden administration tries to balance its efforts to hit back at the militant groups without escalating the conflict in the Middle East into a larger war or engaging Iran directly.

Instability in the region

One day after, on Saturday, US and British forces attacked 36 Houthi targets in Yemen. The second wave of assaults were unrelated to the 85 strikes on Friday, according to a senior administration official.

The US, UK, and other allies said their goal is to “de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea” through these acts of deterrence, but the Houthis do not appear to be deterred and have pledged to retaliate. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the strikes were just “the beginning” of its response.

El-Salvador’s president is running for re-election

Everyone’s crypto loving uncle who happened to become president will probably be re-elected. The self-titled “world’s coolest dictator,” El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, is expected to win reelection in a landslide tomorrow.

Bukele is most widely known for making bitcoin legal tender in his country and for having the Central American nation host flashy events, like last year’s Miss Universe pageant. But that’s not why the hat wearing millennial has a 71% lead, according to one poll.

No shortcuts

Bukele owes much of his popularity to his drastic, relentless stance on violent crime in the country, which has plagued it for years:

• At least 70,000 people (over 1% of El Salvador’s population) have been jailed under an ongoing state of emergency that doesn’t require due process.

• Homicides in El Salvador dropped almost 70% last year, and now other countries in the region want to replicate Bukele’s draconian measures.

But Bukele isn’t just fighting crime. He’s also alarming democracy watchdogs by modifying the country’s election system and filling its top court with loyalists who have reinterpreted the Constitution to allow him to run for a second term.

Plus, there are other issues: The nation’s $120 million bitcoin portfolio might finally be turning a profit, and El Salvador’s tourism industry is expanding. But economic growth is slow, and nearly half the population experiences food insecurity.

Berlin scientists may have saved rhinos from extinction

We have found a breakthrough that might just save the northern white rhino. Scientists in Berlin announced this week that they successfully transferred a rhino embryo into the womb of a female rhino through in vitro fertilization (IVF) for the first time, marking a huge step forward in efforts to save the northern white rhino, a near-extinct subspecies.

What is IVF?

IVF is a common process for humans and other animals but it had never been used before with rhinos. The unprecedented transplant marks a big leap for reproductive scientists and adds to a growing list of species that could come out of extinction with the help of IVF:

• In 2022, scientists at the University of Queensland created the world’s first donkey embryo with IVF.

• The first amphibian to be hatched as a result of IVF was named Olaf, a Puerto Rican crested toad.

• Scientists at the University of Newcastle use “biobanking,” or the practice of preserving sperm, to support koala population recovery.

What’s the situation? Poaching has left only two northern white rhinos on Earth. A mother, Najin, and a daughter, Fatu. The scientists’ experiment used one of Fatu’s eggs and the preserved sperm of deceased male northern white rhinos to make the embryo.

That embryo was then implanted in a southern white rhino, a close cousin of the northern white rhino. Now, scientists will try to replicate the procedure with one of the two remaining northern white rhinos in hopes to keep the species from dying out.

Business

The Vision Pro is finally here, and it might revolutionize the tech industry

With enthusiasts lined up down the block from the Apple store, it feels like Apple might have another “iPhone moment”. The long-awaited Vision Pro was released to the general public on Friday, and tech connoisseurs are saying it might change the way we do just about everything.

While early reviews are mixed, the Vision Pro has many saying it has the potential to evolve how we live…. as long as Apple can convince customers that it’s worth $3,500 and the priceless fact that you look like you’re constantly wearing oversized ski goggles.

This could be a turning point

Despite the continued efforts of companies like Meta and Samsung in the virtual/augmented/mixed reality headset space, we really haven’t seen anything take off, at least not as much as everyone expected when they first hit stores.

Apple thinks it can be the one to change this. By marketing the Vision Pro as a necessary tool for work, and well, everything else, they think that it could bring in a new era that Apple calls “spatial computing”. Which is just fancy-talk for working in a 3D virtual space instead of on a computer.

It’s possible that Apple has already sold around 200,000 headsets in preorders, but it only expects to sell 400,000 total units this year. Still, that equates to $1.4 billion in sales.

Vision Pro in the wild

Since it’s release, many have been spotted wearing the device in public… in a rather atypical fashion:

• One video shows someone driving a Cybertruck with the device on, and proceeding to do some neo-tech sign language.

• One man strapped on the headset and got behind the wheel of a Tesla in a video which ended with the police on the scene.

• A pedestrian wearing a headset was seen crossing an intersection that thankfully did not also include drivers in headsets barreling toward him.

So, is it actually good?

The headset comes with 600 specialized apps but is missing Meta, Netflix, Spotify, Google, and YouTube, to many’s dismay. Avatar director James Cameron said his demo was a “religious” experience, while other reviewers who got early access had (mostly) positive reviews:

• The good: The Vision Pro boasts 23-million-pixel visuals (how is that possible), and the devices immersive content and theater mode are especially eye-popping, according to John Gruber. Plus, navigating the screen with your eyes alone is a pretty awe-inspiring experience, said Casey Newton.

• The bad: Downsides include the virtual keyboard, the battery pack (which has about one and a half hours of battery), the fact it can only be used by one person, a potentially miniscule effect on productivity, and the size/weight.

Despite the downsides, many are saying after trying the Vision Pro, they don’t even want to go back to their prehistoric age 2D devices. If you end up buying one, I wouldn’t mind taking it for a test drive (I’m serious).

TikTok’s big push on shopping is turning users away

While some might appreciate the option to get a cheap Valentines day gift on TikTok, other users are fed up with the app’s shop. But the video sharing app plans to go even further by testing a new feature that will automatically identify products in videos and allow users to click into a page that displays similar items for sale.

The feature is part of TikTok Shop, the app’s built in e-commerce platform that launched last year. It intention is to combine the ease of shopping on a platform like Amazon with recommendations from TikTok influencers (that pop up a little too often for my liking).

The wildly popular app is allegedly targeting $17.5 billion in sales in the US in 2024, relying on e-commerce to maintain revenue growth instead of just social media advertising. According to The Information, the company also plans to put together live streaming houses across America, where creators could sell products to users.

But, the plan isn’t foolproof

As the company dips further into the e-commerce sector, it has to compete not only with established giants Amazon, Temu, and Shein, but also against its own users.

The app saw 3% year on year quarterly growth in 2023, compared with 12% in 2022, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. And there’s some evidence that the TikTok Shop partially caused it:

• Users have reported that the new automatic shopping feature is full of cheap rip offs and counterfeit copies of popular items (which I can attest to).

• Across Reddit threads and TikTok videos, users said the Shop feature diminished the app experience and ruined their For You Page (I can also attest to that).

Early last year, Instagram removed the Shop tab from its app amid criticism from some users who thought it took away from the apps main focus. While users clearly like to get some inspiration from social media, it’s not as obvious if they like to do the same with shopping.

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Grab Bag

Freeze your body, wake up a billionaire?

A select group of (soon to be frozen) people think that when they wake up, they’ll be rich. At the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, there are 225 frozen patients (and a few pets for good measure), that think they’ll be immortal and wealthy after they thaw out. Interesting line of thinking.

How does that work?

Well, thats a good question. It’s actually a pretty intricate process, according to Mother Jones…

• Blood is swapped for a chemical that preserves organs.

• The corpse is injected with what’s essentially antifreeze.

• The body is cooled to -321 degrees Fahrenheit and stored in what’s called a “Dewar”: a tank full of liquid nitrogen, where you’d remain until science finds a way to bring it back to life.

The whole procedure will cost you over $200,000 for the whole body or $80,000 for just the brain, so they had to have had a bit of money saved up anyway.

But, can they bring you back?

In 1967, James Bedford, a 73-year-old man with terminal cancer, became the first person to be cryogenically frozen. He’s still in ice form, and currently at Alcor. So if anyone has a right to be concerned about this issue, James is at the top of the list.

However, so far no one who has been cryogenically frozen has been successfully revived. Scientists have scratched their heads at this problem, and many think they will forever. Good luck, James.

Wanna see the total solar eclipse? Then you might want to start saving

Get ready for one of the most rare celestial events of the century… or not. April 8th will be your last chance to see a total solar eclipse in the US mainland until 2044, which you’d think leaves plenty of time to plan your travel to the path of the eclipse.

But, it doesn’t. Harcore fans of celesital events have already planned wayyy ahead of you, which leaves very few and mostly costly options left to view the moon passing between the sun and Earth.

• The “path of totality” (or the tracking of the moon’s shadow across Earth) will split the country nearly in half, with skygazing options ranging from Texas to Maine.

While it’s possible to predict the path of totality, predicting the weather might prove a bigger challenge. According to Axios, Texas tends to be the best bet for an unrestricted view, after looking at average cloud cover over the past 30 years.

A good view might be costly

We did mention Texas had a good view, so of course hotel prices in Texas increased almost 400%. Airbnb also reported that some residences in the path of totality have raised rates to more than $1,000 per night. One home in Texas was listed on Airbnb for $1,789 a night, a 1,100% increase over the previous month, per the WSJ.

However, you might still have some options: A “Total Eclipse of the Park” event in Addison, Texas, is a more affordable option and is expected to have a smaller crowd. Campspot also offers a comprehensive list of campgrounds throughout the US that won’t require your life savings to see the eclipse.

Fast Facts

Dentist Dog: A dentist’s office in Minneapolis, MN, has a goldendoodle lay on patients who have anxiety about getting their teeth looked at.

Crime Closing: In-N-Out will close a store location for the first time in its 75-year history. It blamed crime at the Oakland, California outpost for the decision.

Mac Map: Here’s a map of how much a Big Mac costs across the US. You’re welcome.

Boeing Bust: Boeing said it found misdrilled holes on some fuselages of undelivered 737 Max planes, marking yet another manufacturing setback for the company. They really can’t keep it together.

Laptop Love: A new dating app called Volar lets you train a chatbot to go on virtual dates with other potential partners’ bots.

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