Category: U.S. government

Rigetti Computing took a $71 million down round, because quantum computing is hard

The $71 million in financing that quantum computing technology developer Rigetti Computing recently raised came at a significant cut to the company’s valuation, according to several sources with knowledge of the company. The company declined to comment on its valuation or the recent round of funding it secured. Rigetti is…

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FDA allows new diagnostic technologies to test for coronavirus before receiving emergency approvals

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said today that it would allow new diagnostics technologies to be used to test for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at elite academic hospitals and healthcare facilities around the country. The agency’s new initiative comes as critics have assailed various U.S. government agencies for being…

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ACLU says it’ll fight DHS efforts to use app locations for deportations

The American Civil Liberties Union plans to fight newly revealed practices by the Department of Homeland Security which used commercially available cell phone location data to track suspected illegal immigrants. “DHS should not be accessing our location information without a warrant, regardless whether they obtain it by paying or for…

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SpaceX will now let you book a rocket launch online starting at $1 million

SpaceX has launched a new web-based booking tool for its rideshare Falcon 9 launches, a service it announced last year to expand its addressable market to include small satellite customers who don’t have the budget or need to book a full rocket, which can cost upwards of $60 million. Prices…

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Trump to halt immigration from Africa’s top tech hub, Nigeria

The Trump administration announced Friday it would halt immigration from Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with the continent’s largest economy and leading tech hub. The restrictions would stop short of placing a full travel ban on the country of 200 million, but will suspend U.S. immigrant visas for Nigeria —…

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Google’s Dataset Search comes out of beta

Google today announced that Dataset Search, a service that lets you search for close to 25 million different publicly available datasets, is now out of beta. Dataset Search first launched in September 2018. Researchers can use these datasets, which range from pretty small ones that tell you how many cats…

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