Hi Everyone. This is Take Off, your personal tech news barista. We'll whip up frothy, piping hot insights that'll give you that extra jolt you need to tackle the market.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Twitter Showered $5 Million to it’s Users 🤑

• Driverless Rentals are here 🚗

• Asteroids ☄️

• Futuristic Fridays 🔮

Twitter Showered $5 Million to it’s Users 🤑

What’s the best way to incentivize someone?

1. Promise them an unlimited supply of Doritos?

2. Offer them a chance to buy (NASDAQ:NVDA) at the start of 2023?

Or you could simply wave a thick wad of green bills in their face. It’s not subtle, but hey, it works.

To make sure people don’t flock and start Threading, Elon decided to fatten the Twitter creators wallets.

Now, to be fair, this isn’t a complete surprise. Elon had mentioned earlier that Twitter users could earn some dough via ads.

However, that tweet was waaaayyyy back in February. So, we’re pretty sure that this move isn’t entirely altruistic.

How do we get a share of the money?

To get a share of the money being shelled out, there are 3 conditions you have to fulfill.

1/ Pay $8/month to be a Twitter Blue subscriber.
Easy! Tell us the next step.

2/ Have a Stripe account.
Done! Just give us the money already.

3/ Have at least 5 million tweet impressions each month for the last 3 months.
Ummmm! I think we’re good, Elon. You can keep your money.

Unfortunately, Twitter hasn't let us in on the secret sauce that determines the payout amounts. All we know is that it’s monetizing the ads served in Tweet replies for now.

How much money are people making?

Well, if you have a big audience on Twitter, the payday ain’t bad.

1. @Shibetoshi Nakamoto claims to have earned $37K.

2. Youtuber @Benny Johnson posted he got a $10k paycheck.

3. Musk Twitter-stalker @Elon_alerts bagged around $2k as well.

The total payout seems to be $5 million according to Elon.

Twitter’s traffic has been tanking since Musk’s takeover and it’s definitely on a war with Threads now, which possibly poses a threat to its existence altogether.

Do you think this move is a step in the right direction? Let us know by replying.

Driverless Rentals are here 🚗

Las Vegas-based startup, Halo.Car, is all set to revolutionize the way we rent cars.

Imagine this: You’re late for a date. The anxiety is real, the suit is creased, and the only thing you’re missing is .. a car.

What do you do? You reach for your phone, open an app and voilà - an EV pulls up to your door without a human inside it.

No, it’s not a driverless cab. It’s a rental car for you for $12/hour.

Halo's remote-piloted technology does just that.

Here's how it works:

• Halo's fleet of EVs are retrofitted with cameras, modems, and antennas.

• A trained 'remote pilot' at a Halo operations center takes control of the vehicle, driving it to your location using live video and sensor data.

• Once delivered, control of the car is handed over to you.

Tested for four years, this is not just another "in theory" story. Halo has been refining this tech with a safety driver always in the vehicle, but now they're saying "Hasta la vista, baby!" to the backup.

The cars are going solo, with a car following close behind. Don’t worry, it’s not your ex stalking you. It’s a buddy car for safety and support.

This exciting update will initially roll out in Downtown Las Vegas, with plans to expand to other areas soon.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Twitter's cracking down on spammy DMs! Soon, only DMs from folks you follow will land in your main inbox. Others? They're heading to the "Message Request" zone. 📬🚫

Reddit is getting rid of its Gold awards system, including the iconic Reddit Gold. They're planning a simpler, more meaningful system for the future. 🏅👋

Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma is under scrutiny by the UK's competition watchdog. They're investigating if this deal would lessen competition for designers. 🕵️‍♀️🔍

🔮 Futuristic Fridays 🔮

Google has been secretly testing Med-PaLM 2, a medical AI chatbot, in hospitals. But don't trust it for your medical advice just yet, it seems to have a penchant for making things up! Even Google admits it's not quite ready for prime time, despite its potential. 🏥🤖

NASA's Perseverance rover hit the Martian jackpot, finding "preserved organic matter" in a crater. No ETs yet, but these molecules are a step closer to understanding Mars' past. 👽🔬

Software creates entirely new views from existing video. A team at Cornell and Google Research developed DynIBar, an algorithm that can stabilize footage, change viewpoints, and more. 🚀🎬

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