Blizzard Entertainment first released World of Warcraft in November 2004, so The New York Times celebrated an anniversary describing how 20 years later we will still see the influence of online multiplayer role-playing games.

First, while multiplayer games and early social networks like MySpace already existed, WoW provided an actual preview of a future where anyone could connect with friends and strangers on the (*20*). Second, the sport made billions of dollars on a business model that combined monthly subscriptions with in-game purchases (including pets and animals that players could ride), becoming a large money cow for Blizzard and paving the way in which for future online business models.

The game also appeared immortal memesattracted celebrity fans and suggested epidemiologists argue that an incident involving the uncontrolled spread of a fantasy disease could possibly be investigated to realize insight into real-world epidemics.

Other than that, I didn’t think the movie was that bad.

Only two firms currently deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station, and each are based within the United States. Exploration Companywhich operates in Germany, France and Italy, wants to change that: it has just closed a big round of financing to proceed its mission to construct Europe’s first reusable space capsule.

The $160 million Series B round will fund further development of the Nyx spacecraft, which is able to find a way to carry 3,000 kilograms of cargo to Earth and back. The company, founded three years ago by aerospace engineers Hélène Huby, Sebastien Reichstat and Pierre Vine, goals to conduct Nyx’s maiden flight to and from the ISS in 2028.

“We are the first company in the world where, for the first time, it is funded primarily by private investors,” Huby said in a recent interview. This contrasts with SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which it said was “primarily funded by NASA.”

With the brand new financing, led by Balderton Capital and Plural, the startup’s total funding now stands at over $208 million. Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital and two European sovereign funds, French Tech Souveraineté and DeepTech & Climate Fonds, also participated within the Series B.

“We have managed to deliver on the promises we have made over the last three years,” Huby said. “We were able to hit our cash target every quarter… Investors could see that we were basically able to deliver on time, on cost and with quality.”

The startup has partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA), which has recognized the necessity to support indigenous space launch and transportation capabilities. Earlier this 12 months, Exploration Company was awarded a research contract value roughly €25 million ($27 million) to develop cargo return services. This contract will run until 2026, after which additional competitive contracts are expected to follow. ESA’s goal is to launch no less than one capsule to the ISS in 2028.

The structure of the contract, called the LEO Cargo Return Service Contract, is similar to the NASA Commercial Orbital Return Transportation Services program, which the agency launched in 2006. This program resulted in multi-billion-dollar transportation contracts with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Northrop Grumman).

It’s a promising start, but equally promising is the potential The Exploration Company sees on the industrial side. About 90% of the startup’s $770 million order book comes from private station developers Vast, Axiom Space and Starlab, according to the most recent reports.

The first Exploration Company demonstration vehicle was launched this summer on the maiden flight of Ariane 6, but it surely was not deployed due to an issue with the rocket’s upper stage. A second, smaller-scale demonstration mission, called Mission Could, is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 next 12 months.

“I really respect what SpaceX has accomplished,” Huby said. “We try to get the most out of it, we are inspired by what they achieved. However, we also believe that the world needs more competition and we want to build an alternative step by step. We are very aware that we are late, that we are much smaller, etc., but we have to start.”

Welcome back to the week in review. This week, we discuss the large surge in Bluesky users, Elon Musk co-heading Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” and Mark Zuckerberg’s latest foray into extreme wife-male behavior. Let’s go.

Bluesky is experiencing significant growth as X users dissatisfied with the platform’s latest political decisions move to a rival social network. The decentralized social media platform has grown to over 16 million users, including Swifties. If you are making a change – or no less than want to see if the grass is greener (or bluer) on the opposite side of the road – we have put together a guide on how to start.

Tesla’s Cybertruck faces sixth recall in the course of the 12 months, affecting 2,431 units. Tesla’s report shows that these trucks are or were equipped with a faulty inverter. Unlike the October Cybertruck recall, which might be resolved with an over-the-air update, Tesla will need to physically replace the recalled inverters for this batch. The electric vehicle maker said it could do it without cost.

Elon Musk will co-chair with President-elect Donald Trump Department of Government Effectiveness, whose acronym refers to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency. Musk, together with biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the department to help the Trump administration “dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excess regulation, slash wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies.”

News

Mark Zuckerberg 🤝 T-Pain: Mark Zuckerberg commissioned T-Pain to write and record an acoustic cover of Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz’s “Get Low” as a present to his wife Priscilla Chan. Please note that he actually sings the infamous “to the window, to the wall” lyric. Read more

Standing desks usually are not as healthy as you think that: Apologies to standing desk users, but a brand new study has found that standing for greater than two hours a day doesn’t protect against the chance of heart problems and really increases the chance of circulatory problems. Read more

Talk to Tuah dating coach: Social media star Haliey Welch launched Pookie Tools, an AI-powered dating advice app for Gen Z singles. The app’s chatbot helps you write conversation starters, and one other tool predicts whether a possible match is lying about your height. Read more

The author took home $200 million: The generative artificial intelligence startup raised $200 million at a $1.9 billion valuation to expand its platform. CEO May Habib says the brand new funding will probably be used for product development and “consolidating the company’s leadership in the enterprise generative AI category.” Read more

Amazon fights against Temu: To higher compete with highly popular competitors Temu and Shein, Amazon launched the Amazon Haul store, offering discounted and mass-produced products, most of that are shipped from China. Read more

Just Eat sells Grubhub: The Dutch food delivery company sells Grubhub to Wonder Group in a deal valued at $650 million. That’s 91% lower than the $7.3 billion Just Eat Takeaway paid the corporate just 4 years ago. Read more

SBF is coming to the large screen: Lena Dunham is working with Apple and A24 on an adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book “Going Infinite,” which chronicles the lifetime of Sam Bankman-Fried and the implosion of FTX. Now I ponder who will probably be solid as SBF… Read more

Get ready for more AI video mistakes: InVideo launches an AI-powered generative video creation feature that enables users to use prompts to create videos in a wide range of styles, including live-action, animated, or anime. Read more

Apple Wall Mount Tablet: Apple is reportedly planning to release a tablet that might be mounted on a wall, control smart home appliances and make video calls in March 2025. The device will, in fact, be equipped with Apple Intelligence technology. Read more

Ads appear on Perplexity: An AI-powered search engine is experimenting with promoting. Ads on the positioning will initially run within the US and will probably be formatted as “sponsored follow-up questions” from partners including Indeed, Whole Foods, Universal McCann and PMG. Read more

You can now play Hot Cross Buns in your phone: The latest Artinoise product is a new edition of the classic plastic recorder. The portable device might be connected to any smartphone, tablet or PC equipped with a USB-C port, effectively transforming it right into a musical instrument. Read more