Kyle Nowak

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

–Albus Dumbledore (1881-1997)

🤖 Get ready to experience the digital equivalent of meeting a new person. At a live event yesterday, Amazon unveiled its revamped Alexa+ voice assistant featuring generative AI. 

🏬 Joann, the 80-years-old go-to plug for fabric and crafts-minded individuals, is closing all ~800 of its stores in the US, the retailer announced this week, reversing an earlier bankruptcy plan that would have left some stores open.

📝 The nature vs. nurture debate just got some new data. Human health and aging is significantly more impacted by living conditions and lifestyle choices than genetics, according to a new study published in Nature Medicine.

❓ Our question to you: In general, how do you feel about the way America’s role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has changed since President Trump took office?

🔥 It’s Thursday, February 27th – and here’s what’s hot, hot, hot.

🍿 At the moves with The DONUT...Three different films hold the title for most Oscars won, with 11 apiece. Can you name them?

🖱📰 Click to see a list of bite-sized stories you should know for today.

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”

–Sun Tzu (544 B.C. – 496 B.C.)

🤖⌨️ A free version of Gemini Code Assist, Google’s enterprise-focused AI coding tool, is now available for solo developers, the tech giant announced yesterday, as it ramps up efforts to compete with Microsoft in the developer tools space.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Monday marked exactly three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, kicking off an ongoing war with major global implications.

🏖️ Resorts featured in The White Lotus can count on waving hello to more new visitors. The widespread popularity of HBO’s hit TV show is spurring a huge surge in tourism to those locations, in a phenomenon travel agents have dubbed the “White Lotus Effect.”

🔥 It’s Wednesday, February 26th – and here’s what’s hot, hot, hot.

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🖱📰 Click to see a list of bite-sized stories you should know for today.

“Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.”

–George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

🚀 ☄️ AstroForge is on a mission to build a space mining operation rivaling RDA’s unobtanium-gathering enterprise in Avatar.

🇯🇵 The Japanese government has relaunched its “Cool Japan” campaign, which seeks to reestablish the creative industry as one of its leading exports and boost the country’s soft power globally.

❓ Our question to you: In general, how do you feel about DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts across the federal government thus far?

☕️ Starbucks, the siren logo’d coffee chain, will be reducing the size of its workforce, the company announced yesterday – a siren singing a swan song, if you will.