The Weekly Slice by Vedaslabs.io - Issue 29

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Hello Friends!

Here’s the latest scoop from the markets, events, and tech world in this edition of The Weekly Slice, brought to you by our sponsors.

What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join early adopters reading The Rundown– the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.

Market Analysis - Last 7 days

The market has been flat in the last week, however the Energy sector is down 4.1%. As for the longer term, the market has risen 23% in the past 12 months. Earnings are forecast to grow by 14% annually.

Morning in the city

On May 2, 2024, the Nasdaq rebounded from recent volatility related to Federal Reserve actions, bolstered by a strong earnings report from Apple which surpassed expectations. This positive movement in the market comes as Wall Street anticipates the upcoming jobs report. The overall market sentiment was lifted by Apple's performance, contributing to gains in stock values ahead of significant economic announcements​

SVB Financial Group, which previously collapsed, announced it will sell its investment platform business, SVB Capital, to Pinegrove Capital Partners. The deal includes a combination of cash and other considerations, with backing from Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage. Awaiting bankruptcy court approval with a hearing scheduled for June 5, the sale also requires regulatory nods and customary closing conditions. This transaction follows SVB Financial's filing for bankruptcy last year after the significant bank failure impacted other regional lenders.

Conferences

June 13th - 14th, 2024  | Berlin

Merge, a developer conference in Berlin on June 13-14. Showcase your project and connect with your community. Accepted projects receive a free conference ticket.

July, 8th - 9th, 2024 | New York

A 2-day technology expo returning July 8 – 9, 2024 to The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel in San Francisco, California. TECHSPO Silicon Valley brings together developers, brands, marketers, technology providers, designers, innovators, and evangelists looking to set the pace in our advanced world of technology.

Communities - Let’s Grow Together 🌱

An end-to-end cloud-native open-source database, SurrealDB supports all kinds of applications, including serverless, traditional web and mobile apps, Jamstack, and backend. The NewSQL multimodal database, written entirely in Rust, is versatile by design and supports multiple querying languages, including GraphQL, structured and unstructured data (e.g., tables and graphs), ACID transactions, and geospatial querying, providing developers with several different ways to store and model data. SurrealDB is also highly scalable and teams can deploy it in many different environments, including on-prem, in the cloud, on the edge, or embedded. 

Emerging Technology Review

3D render of AI and GPU processors

Meta's battle in the AI space is heating up with the expansion of its AI assistant across its social platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook, and the introduction of Llama 3, its latest AI model. As detailed by Alex Heath, Meta aims to compete directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT by enhancing the capabilities and accessibility of its AI assistant. The assistant is now integrated into the search functionalities of Meta's major platforms and is also available through a standalone website.

Llama 3, described as superior in performance to its predecessors and other models in its class, is pivotal to this strategy. It boasts improvements in tasks such as coding and will soon be available in multimodal versions that further its functionality. This rollout is part of Meta's broader ambition to position its AI as a global leader, accessible and useful worldwide.

Moreover, the integration includes advanced features such as real-time image generation and enhanced search capabilities that leverage both Bing and Google. This strategic deployment underscores Meta's intent to make its AI assistant ubiquitous across its platforms, enhancing user interaction and utility.

Space Out

Wings of Orion!

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has made significant advancements in exoplanetary science by mapping the weather conditions of the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b, about 280 light-years from Earth. The Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) captured detailed brightness measurements across mid-infrared light, which, combined with 3D climate models, provided insights into the planet's atmospheric dynamics. This included the discovery of thick clouds covering the nightside and clear skies on the dayside, with extremely fast equatorial winds that mix atmospheric gases.

WASP-43 b is a tidally locked 'hot Jupiter' with a dayside that faces perpetual daylight and a nightside in constant darkness. Despite the absence of direct sunlight on the nightside, the temperature there remains high due to heat being transported by powerful winds from the dayside. This unique planet completes an orbit around its star every 19.5 hours and has served as a significant subject for telescopic studies, including past observations by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. These studies have now been expanded with Webb's capabilities, allowing scientists to explore the temperature variations, atmospheric composition, and potential cloud coverage across the entire planet.

The Crypto State


Reps. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., and Mike Flood, R-Neb., have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expedite the approval of options trading on spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Despite the SEC's previous approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January—a decision that has led to substantial financial inflows—the commission has yet to approve options trading for these ETFs. The lawmakers highlight a discrepancy between the rapid approval of options for Bitcoin futures ETFs and the ongoing delays for spot Bitcoin ETF options. This issue was emphasized following a court ruling over the summer, which criticized the SEC for its inconsistent treatment of similar financial products, labeling it as "arbitrary and capricious." This ruling was part of a legal challenge by Grayscale against the SEC after it rejected their proposal to convert its GBTC fund into a spot bitcoin ETF. The SEC's hesitancy and the legislative push for clarity reflect ongoing regulatory challenges in the evolving crypto market space.

Startup Spotlight

OpenSauced is a platform tailored for nurturing and expanding open source communities, while acknowledging the contributions of every participant. It features a dashboard designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of open-source projects and their contributors. Users can discover emerging trends, identify pivotal contributors, and generate detailed reports to visualize community impact. This tool is invaluable for project maintainers, Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), contributors, companies, and community managers involved in the open-source ecosystem.

That’s a Wrap Slice

What is VedasLabs.io again?

VedasLabs.io is a Web3 funding and networking platform that incentivizes an active, global community comprising founders, mentors, and investors. Our vision is to create a world where investment, the exchange of knowledge, and collaboration among investors, issuers, and industry experts are secure, instantaneous, and without friction.

All information provided is for informational purposes only, and shall not be relied upon as personal financial advice. VedasLabs is not a registered investment advisor, and thus, does not give any investment advice, endorsement, analysis, or recommendations with respect to any securities. Content is created to inform, and give more information, and should never be relied upon solely when making investment decisions.

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