In today’s newsletter we discuss Cisco acquires Splunk, ChatGPT update DALL-E 3, NASA’s asteroid return mission lands, how to binge Netflix as a job, NYC’s 15,000+ private pools, Billie Jean King gets Congressional Gold Medal, and finance a mortgage with crypto.

Business

The world just got a little safer, if not scarier for Hackers, with Cisco’s acquisition of Splunk for $28 Billion. Splunk has developed AI-enabled security (I know you’re probably thinking robot dolphins with lasers, but Splunk just makes enterprise software security tools so don’t get too excited).

This isn’t the first time Cisco has expressed interest in Splunk. Nearly a year ago they shot down rumors of a $20 Billion acquisition (sounds like that might have been a better deal and saved them $8 Billion, but when you’re Cisco what’s a few Billion between friends).

Cisco To Acquire Splunk For $28B To Drive ‘AI-Enabled Security And Observability’

Tech

OpenAI is out with an updated DALL-E 3 that enables their ChatGPT to generate image prompts for DALL-E 3. For those of us who are artistically challenged this integration makes generative AI more accessible all from an easy to use text prompt. Move over Andy Warhol.

Dall-E and ChatGPT Unite: OpenAI’s Powerful Fusion #AIxImagination

Space

Over the weekend NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft’s reentry capsule landed successfully in the western Utah desert on a military base with samples from the space rock Bennu that the mission visited back in December of 2018.

The spacecraft is now in an extended mission to visit a near earth asteroid known as Apophis on April 8, 2029 where it will study the asteroid for 18 months but not land. Once upon a time the asteroid Apophis was thought to have a chance of smashing into Earth in 2068, but now is no longer considered a threat. So I’ll cross that worry off my list of the millions of things that could destroy our planet.

After NASA's epic OSIRIS-REx capsule landing success, spacecraft heads to asteroid Apophis on new mission

Entertainment

I may have just found my perfect job! A company named Online Casinos is going to pay one lucky fan of Netflix series to watch some of their most popular shows and determine which one is the most bingeable (which is a real word - I checked!) According to the contest “the winning participant will receive $2,000 in payment, as well as $500 to spend on snacks and a Netflix subscription if they don’t already have one.”

What’s the catch (because you know there always is)? Participants will have 1 month to watch all of the seasons of “Squid Game,” “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday” and give them a score rating of 10. That’s a total of 51 episodes, which is a lot to squeeze into 1 month of viewing, but this contest isn’t for the faint of heart. On no! They only want the most hardcore participants sitting at home for a month binging Netflix shows. Sign me up!

You can get paid $2,500 to watch Netflix’s most popular shows

Real Estate

You know what city you’d never think had 15,000 private pools, but they do and that number is growing? New York City! The vast majority are privately owned, with the city of New York only opening a grand total of 5 new public pools in the last 50 years! And access to those private pools doesn’t come cheap. Some monthly rents in the builds that house these private pools can reach up to between $10,000-$15,000 a month in rent!

New York City’s 15,000 (and Counting) Private Pools

Sports

Last week Billie Jean King was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal who’s a “tennis Hall of Famer and activist who was a driving force behind the creation of the women's pro tour and equal prize money for men and women.”

According to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, one of the three congress people who were on hand to award Billie Jean King, “"I think it's important for women and girls to know that the playing field has not been level for a very long time, but that there are champions and advocates who have been fighting on their behalf for generations to get that playing field leveled," Gillibrand said.

I’m of the opinion that without Billie Jean King’s determination and tenacity we wouldn’t have amazing athletes today like Serena and Venus Williams, Megan Rapinoe, and all of Spain’s women’s World Cup champions!

Billie Jean King to be nominated for Congressional Gold Medal

Crypto

Just when many of you thought nothing good could come of crypto, now you can use crypto to secure a downpayment on a new home. According to an article in The Street, “Moon Mortgage, a crypto-focused lending firm, now allows investors to leverage their crypto holdings into real estate investments.”

So while it might be crypto winter out there right now, all those millennials who made millions of NFTs can sit at home warm and smug this winter in their new homes that they financed with their crypto holdings. (*sarcasm*)

Now you can use your crypto to secure a home loan

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris