Category: News

Meta, the owner of Facebook, will soon open its first store, based on the company’s campus in Burlingame, California.

The Meta Store is the company’s first attempt to sell its physical products in person. Consumers can find the Quest 2 virtual reality headset and the Portal video calling device. The store will also feature demonstrations of the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that were developed with Ray-Ban.

By opening its first store, Meta is following the lead of other big players in the industry.

Google opened such a store in New York last year. Microsoft reconfigured some of its stores into experience centers and began selling products there in 2021. And Apple has hundreds of stores around the world.

According to Meta, the Meta Store opening on May 9 will also be an opportunity for consumers to experience the “metaverse,” the immersive Internet that company boss Mark Zuckerberg dreams of.

The latter was in the last hours at the Meta Store where he met the first employees of the store. He also published images of his visit on his Facebook account.

Elon Musk is getting Twitter, according to information obtained by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The richest man in the world already got a little more than 9% of Twitter at the beginning of the month to become the majority shareholder of the network. On April 14, he did it again by indicating that he was ready to pay 41 billion (US) to buy the whole company and thus take it private.

Even for Elon Musk, raising such a large amount of cash is no small matter. But it seems that the man who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX seems to have won his bet and that the closing of the deal is imminent.

Twitter ‘s board of directors met Sunday to evaluate the offer, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.

If the deal is approved, the billionaire would find himself at the helm of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. Elon Musk has repeatedly stressed that his goal is to support freedom of expression on the platform and to work to “unleash” the “extraordinary potential” of Twitter.

A few days after becoming the largest shareholder, Elon Musk is making an offer of 41 billion (US ) in cash to get his hands on the remaining shares of the social network Twitter.

The billionaire has already acquired about 9.2% of Twitter‘s shares ten days ago. Now he decided yesterday (April 13) to go further. He now proposes to buy 100% of the shares at a price of $54.20 per share, which values the company at $43.4 billion.

The world’s richest man, who is reportedly worth $259 billion (U.S.) right now according to Bloomberg’s Real-Time Billionaires Index, said his offer was his “best and final offer,” according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“I invested in Twitter because I believe in its potential as a platform for free speech around the world, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. However, since I invested, I realize that the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter must be transformed into a private company,” explains the businessman.

Elon Musk owes most of his fortune to his stakes in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and his aerospace company SpaceX.

After hotels and vacation home owners opening their doors, now a large cruise ship is welcoming its first Ukrainian refugees.

Since February 24, millions of Ukrainians have been fleeing their country invaded by Russia. The tourism industry quickly stepped in to help accommodate these unfortunate people who have often left everything behind.

At the beginning of March, the Airbnb platform opened the ball by making available tens of thousands of residences in Europe.

Now, a few hours ago, Holland America Line‘s Volendam, a 237-meter-long cruise ship docked in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, has been recruited to offer temporary shelter to nearly 1,500 Ukrainians.

The initiative is the initiative of the Dutch government, which has pledged to house up to 50,000 displaced Ukrainians.

The Volendam had not yet returned to service after the Covid-19 pandemic and was therefore fully available to assist the refugees.

With Rotterdam experiencing a housing shortage, the cruise ship solution makes the reception operations easier for the city.

“That’s why we decided to house a number of these refugees on this ship for the next few months,” a Rotterdam spokesperson told CNN.

The Ukrainians staying on board the Volendam will receive three hot meals a day, and will also be able to use the ship’s various facilities, including housekeeping and Wi-Fi. Those on board can disembark whenever they wish, including to go to school.

The Volendam ‘s upcoming cruises have been cancelled. The ship is expected to resume regular service in July.