Latest Updates: XRP and Ripple Labs (2024–2025) Recent years have been eventful for XRP (the cryptocurrency) and Ripple Labs (the company behind it). Key developments include: Background: What Are XRP and Ripple Labs? XRP is a digital asset native to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a blockchain originally launched in 2012 by Ripple’s founders 21shares.com. It…
Read more
Summary of Recent Developments (Mid-2025) SpaceX’s Starship vehicle lifting off on its ninth test flight from Starbase, Texas in May 2025. Starship is the company’s next-generation, fully-reusable rocket system under development. In summary, by mid-2025 SpaceX is breaking launch records, advancing Starship’s development amid regulatory hurdles, expanding its Starlink network, and securing a growing share…
Read more
Q1 2025 fintech funding jumped 18% quarter-over-quarter to over $10 billion, the highest level in two years. The U.S. FedNow real-time payment rails had onboarded more than 1,200 banks by early 2025 and processed 1.3 million transactions in Q1 2025, up 43% QoQ. In June 2025, the European Payments Initiative launched a cross-border collaboration to…
Read more
Global semiconductor revenue reached $626 billion in 2024, up 18.1% from 2023, with Gartner projecting about $705 billion in 2025. Data-center AI chip sales rose to $112 billion in 2024, up from $64.8 billion in 2023, making generative AI workloads the second-largest semiconductor market after smartphones. Memory revenue jumped about 72% in 2024 and accounted…
Read more
Late 2024, the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based therapy exagamglogene autotemcel (Casgevy) reached patients, with Vertex reporting $2 million in revenue from this sickle-cell gene-editing therapy in Q3 2024. Prime Medicine’s PM359 autologous CRISPR prime-edited cell therapy for chronic granulomatous disease began a Phase I/II study in 2024, with initial first-in-human data expected in late 2025. Wave…
Read more
Gartner projects worldwide generative AI spending will reach $644 billion in 2025, up 76% from 2024. By mid-2025, over 72% of companies have adopted some form of AI, with about 65% of firms using generative AI in 2024. Deloitte predicts 25% of AI-using companies will pilot autonomous “agentic AI” systems in 2025, rising to 50%…
Read more
The national fiber-optic backbone, about 1,300 km long, was completed in 2018 by Huawei to connect major cities and border links in Malawi. In July 2023, ESCOM linked Malawi to Tanzania’s national broadband backbone, a move expected to lower international bandwidth costs and extend connectivity to rural areas. In 2023, Liquid Intelligent Technologies launched a…
Read more
ESA’s Biomass satellite, the first with a P-band SAR, released its initial high-resolution images and enables 3D mapping of forest structure for carbon accounting. Rocket Lab’s 67th Electron launch deployed four satellites—three HawkEye 360 Cluster 12 microsatellites and the experimental Kestrel-0A—marking the ninth Electron mission in 2024. Amazon’s Project Kuiper added 27 satellites to reach…
Read more
Huawei Pura 80 Ultra features a 1-inch main sensor with dual telephoto zooms (3.7× and 9.4×), a 120 Hz OLED display, a 5,700 mAh battery, 100 W wired and 80 W wireless charging on Pro/Ultra variants, priced at ¥10,999. OnePlus 13s (global/India) uses a 6.32″ LTPO AMOLED display at 1.5K resolution with 120 Hz, is…
Read more
Nintendo Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, alongside a wave of first-party titles, with Mario Kart World as a day-one exclusive priced at $79.99. Enhanced Switch 2 editions of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were released on launch day with improved performance.…
Read more
