SkyDrive has successfully tested its flying car with a passenger on board, the Japanese company announced in a news release.
Why it matters: The modest test — four minutes in the air — brings humanity one step closer to one day combining the automobile and airplane, potentially doing away with the hassle of airports, commercial pilots and traffic jams, according to AP.
The big picture: The Trump administration has been forcing a sale of TikTok due to ongoing national security concerns over ByteDance, it's Chinese owner. The app is most popular with young people who could be the future of Walmart's customer base, AP notes.
Amazon's new Halo health wearable device will track your physical activity, your sleep patterns — and, by listening to your voice, your emotional tone.
Why it matters: The device's tone-tracking service raises questions about user privacy, but it's also part of a growing industry that employs AI and voice-recognition to analyze the emotional affect in a human voice.
Elon Musk gave the world a progress update on his brain-machine interface startup Neuralink on Friday, showcasing a small implant that can read and transmit the neural activity of a pig.
Why it matters: The Neuralink implant still has yet to be tested in human beings, but it's part of a wave of brain-machine interface technologies that aim to address neurological diseases and injuries, and eventually directly link human brains to the internet.
Discord began in 2015 as a way for gamers to talk to one another before, during, and after play. Now, the chat company is pursuing a far broader vision: to be the Slack for your non-work life.
Why it matters: In the age of COVID-19, more than ever before, people need the online equivalent of social spaces like bars, restaurants and stages.
As Microsoft and Walmart work together on a deal to buy TikTok's U.S. business from China's ByteDance, the giants each see fresh opportunities to expand into long-coveted markets — advertising in Microsoft's case and e-commerce for Walmart. But both companies have decidedly mixed track records in these realms.
By the numbers: Walmart currently makes less than 8% of its total revenue on e-commerce, despite pricey forays into the industry, like its $3.3 billion acquisition of the now-defunct Jet.com in 2016. Microsoft makes less than 5% of its revenue on digital ads, despite its $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016 and numerous other forays into ad-supported businesses
