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In November 2023, computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee unveiled an open-source AI model that’s said to be bilingual. What does that mean? To be open-sourced?

Because AI has been having its moment since late 2022. Take generative AI, for instance. You open a large language model, write an input and get an input of text or photo or video, as per the model. It's cool. But, how does that happen?

There are said to be proprietary secrets guarding that. Usually, the AI model has an underlying source code that’s not openly available to the public. The code and architecture of the AI model are said to be kept private and are typically owned and controlled by a specific organization.

But, is there a paradigm shift that may invite everyone to partake in the magic of these intelligent systems?

A CleanTech startup specializing in the manufacturing and development of environmentally-friendly rechargeable batteries may be on the brink of a fundraising milestone.

Nexus Power, whose batteries are created from agricultural leftovers, are said to be designed to have significant advantages over traditional options by charging faster, lasting longer and minimizing reliance on lithium.

In a podcast with RizingTV, in April 2024, Nikita Baliarsingh, Co-Founder & CIO of Nexus Power indicated that the company is in the process of raising its second round.

Baliarsingh remarks, "This would be used for a pilot line and we have almost closed on the paperwork. It's much bigger than the first round for sure".

While the specifics of the second round have not yet been disclosed, Baliarsingh shared insights into the financial history of Nexus Power.

"The future of money". That's how crypto was heralded. And the markets seemed to agree. At one point in time, in November 2021, it hit close to $70,000. Then, there was an FTX debacle in 2022 that seemed to hurt the sentiments around crypto. A stablecoin called Terra and its sister token Luna collapsed, wiping out about half a trillion dollars from crypto markets. And after peaking at $3 trillion in November 2021, the crypto market plummeted in 2022, hitting a 2-year low of about $795 billion. So, Bitcoin got to a point as low as about $16,000 in 2022 after its high point of about $70,000.

Though, since then, Bitcoin gradually began to rise. In April 2024, it hit the $71,000 mark. Yet, it's fallen a bit since then.

And at a time that's being considered the golden age of AI, is something like crypto a neglected child? How relevant is it in 2024?

The big fish eating the small fish. That's what acquisitions are typically seen as. Something that achieves the strategic objectives that an acquiring company sets out to create. Those objectives could include entering new markets or acquiring new tech or even great talent. Or it could be about growing product and service offerings. And that success may be measured in terms of financial performance or market share growth.

But, maybe over time, that's changing in a quickly evolving business landscape. It may not just be about gaining market share or tick-marking the assets a company has brought on. The kind of innovative tech that's being harnessed, the cutting-edge capabilities, the business models on the brink of disrupting the status quo: these are changing acquiring companies into upgraded Pokémons with renewed opportunity and efficiency.

So, in 2024, what makes for a great acquisition? Especially considering a 2015 KPMG study that indicates 83% of merger deals did not boost shareholder returns.

In September 2023, it was announced that Saudi Arabia may be considering setting up an office of its Sovereign Wealth Fund in GIFT City. So, GIFT City, located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, seems to be positioned as a hub for India's financial services sector, boasting high-quality physical infrastructure and providing numerous incentives to attract finance and tech firms, including tax benefits, stamp duty exemptions and more.

What's going on? It seems like the goal is to transform India into a global financial and tech leader. And since being established in 2015, it's said to be designed to host international and domestic financial services, IT companies and other businesses. It's said to have attracted investment from tech firms, banks, insurance companies and more.

If you're from India, it's probably been a while since you were on TikTok. But, if you're from the US, the Chinese entity ByteDance-owned social media platform may be part of your daily diet of social media. That may change.

In April 2024, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok in the country. And if this Bill is passed by the US Senate and signed by US President Joseph Biden, it's said it could be the first time the government is taking drastic measures to kill a social media entity. Unlike some other social media platforms which may have fizzled out on their own.
But, why does the US government care about banning TikTok?

In June 2023, when Indian PM Narendra Modi visited the US during a 3-day visit, he gifted US First Lady Jill Biden a 7.5-carat diamond. But, it wasn't like the diamonds you've heard of or seen: this one was grown in a lab.

Lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) are different from natural diamonds. A natural diamond is formed deep within the Earth over billions of years and is mined from the Earth’s crust, which is said to be a complex and costly process. Each natural diamond is different and has variations in colour and quality & can be quite expensive.

There are said to be environmental and ethical concerns related to the mining of these natural diamonds. Some natural diamond mining operations are said to have had human rights abuses, like exploitative labour practices. And diamond mining could lead to habitat destruction, deforestation and water pollution.

So, in April 2024, there was a Bitcoin halving event, which is said to occur approximately every 4 years. 
If you're into puzzles, this is for you. Because if you like solving complex math puzzles, you could be a Bitcoin miner. In the Bitcoin network, as a miner, not a minor, you get rewarded with newly-created Bitcoins when transactions are verified and added. For every block that gets mined, there's a set amount of Bitcoins rewarded. So, if it were 12.5 bitcoins per block, it'd be halved to 6.25 bitcoins per block.

Still not in with the jargon? There's a public ledger called Blockchain, which you may have heard of. And Bitcoin mining is how transactions are verified and added to this ledger. If there's a transaction on the Bitcoin network, Bitcoin gets transferred from one user's digital wallet to another. Miners are said to collect these individual transactions from the network and organize them into a block. This means verifying each transaction to make sure the sender has the authority to transfer them. And by forming a block, multiple transactions could be simultaneously processed efficiently. And if you're able to tell Pat you can solve the puzzle, you get rewarded with newly minted Bitcoins.

In a post-pandemic world with a shift towards sustainability and health, sometimes, it feels like the chicken isn't chicken. The pork isn't pork. The bacon you're bringing home isn't bacon. And it's part of a much broader trend: the meat isn't actually meat, it's plant-based.

So, a meatless phenomenon, in this regard, may be more about people opting for plant-based meat, instead of meat.

All of the carnivorous satisfaction, none of the guilt.

In India, people who don't eat animal meat and stick to lentils, vegetables and other sources of protein might do so due to the dietary restrictions and laws of widely practiced religions. According to a Pew Research Center survey in 2021, about 80% of Indian adults have some restrictions on meat in their diet. This could be refraining from meat altogether or not eating meat on certain days. Though, only close to 40% of Indian adults are said to identify as "vegetarians".

So, what's leading to a meatless rise?