All posts tagged: bet

Google’s billion bet on Africa’s digital future

Google’s $1 billion bet on Africa’s digital future

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing above. It’s 2030, and more than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is now online. While this internet access is helping residents combat poverty, disease, illiteracy, and more, continuous effort will be required to ensure the benefits of the tech outweigh its potential harms. Africa’s “digital decade” It’s been 55 years since a team of researchers at UCLA sent a message from their university’s room-sized computer to another massive machine housed at Stanford, giving birth to the technology that would eventually become the internet. Since then, computers have gotten small enough to carry around in our pockets, the wires are optional, and two-thirds of the world’s population is now online.  For individuals, this internet access has meant opportunities in work, education, …

‘He’s been silly, hasn’t he?’: Welshpool voters on Craig Williams’ election bet | General election 2024

‘He’s been silly, hasn’t he?’: Welshpool voters on Craig Williams’ election bet | General election 2024

Published by skeptic

They don’t get too many political scandals in Welshpool. Repairs to a canal bridge were the most eye-catching agenda item at the last full town council meeting. But the place was abuzz on Thursday with talk of why on earth its local lad done good, Craig Williams, Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, had placed a bet on a July election three days before the prime minister named the date. “He’s been silly, hasn’t he?” said Paul Alexander, who runs a hardware and camping shop on the main street of the mid-Wales town, down the road from Williams’ white-washed constituency office. “It’s not a great look. It feels a bit greedy. He’s risking his political future on a flutter.” Opposite, a woman came out of the Coral betting shop having placed a wager on a horse. “Why didn’t he get someone else to put a bet on for him if it was going to be embarrassing?” she asked. The woman asked not to be named for two reasons: her husband doesn’t realise she bets, and she …

Watch Travis Kelce Celebrate After His First Bet Hits at the Kentucky Derby

Watch Travis Kelce Celebrate After His First Bet Hits at the Kentucky Derby

Published by Sam

Travis Kelce can’t stop, won’t stop. He’s been in party mode ever since winning his third Super Bowl ring, and the party continued in Louisville, Kentucky, where he celebrated hitting his first bet at the famed racetrack. The Kentucky Derby’s official Instagram account on Saturday shared video of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end celebrating after winning his first bet at Churchill Downs for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. You can see he’s dripping in style with an off-white, pinned stripe, double-breasted suit. He finished the look with a fedora hat. The night prior, Kelce hit up Sports Illustrated‘s Revel at the Races bash at the Ice House. He was there to see his friends, The Chainsmokers, and he spent the evening dancing with his group at an exclusive table for the majority of the night. The star-studded event also included A-list attendees like New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his former Green Bay Packers teammates — Davante Adams, A.J. Hawk, Jimmy Graham and David Bakhtiari. The entire bunch are likely to attend Saturday’s big …

We Bet You Didn’t Know These Voting Day Facts About Other Countries

We Bet You Didn’t Know These Voting Day Facts About Other Countries

Published by skeptic

People all over England and Wales have been trying to come to terms with a few new ways of voting today in the local elections. Londoners now have to use the first-past-the-post system to vote for their mayor for the first time, and mandatory photo ID is also needed for people to pick up their ballot papers in any elections But it’s not just the Brits heading to the ballot box this year. In fact, 2024 is a historic year for elections, with two billion people around the world heading to the ballot box. So here’s a look at just how different other countries’ systems can be… 1. India marks people’s fingers with ink To show someone has cast their vote in the election and to prevent them from voting more than once, officials put indelible ink on voters’ left index fingers. The ink is applied after they cast their vote at the electronic voting machine. This is a tactic used in India since the 1950s, although many countries around the world have also used …

Does shooting her puppy rule out Kristi Noem as Trump’s running mate? Don’t bet on it | Emma Brockes

Does shooting her puppy rule out Kristi Noem as Trump’s running mate? Don’t bet on it | Emma Brockes

Published by skeptic

There is a familiar moment in Republican electoral politics when an obscure politician thrust into the limelight during election season comes under intense public scrutiny and is found to be not quite as first impressions suggested. This was Sarah Palin in 2008, or Ben Carson in 2016, and the inflection point is the moment at which the supposedly promising new face shades into what Mitch McConnell once delicately referred to as the Republicans’ “candidate quality problem”. Or, as most of us know it colloquially, the moment we realise: oh, this person is unhinged. So it was last week for Kristi Noem, the formerly obscure governor of South Dakota, propelled into the big time as a possible running mate for Donald Trump, and who at first glance appeared appalling in all the ordinary ways. The 52-year-old, who was elected to the governorship in 2018, echoes the Republican party’s hardline positions on abortion, immigration and offshore drilling in ways indistinguishable from the rest of the VP field. She is telegenic, charismatic, reliably rightwing, and, according to her …

PsiQuantum: Australia places A billion bet on quantum computing

PsiQuantum: Australia places A$1 billion bet on quantum computing

Published by skeptic

A silicon photonic chip from PsiQuantum PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced it will invest nearly A$1 billion into the development of quantum computers, staking a claim in a race currently dominated by the US and China. PsiQuantum, which is headquartered in the US but was co-founded by a team including two Australian researchers, will get A$470 million from both Australia’s federal government and the state government of Queensland, totalling A$940m ($613m). In return, the company will build and operate successive generations of its quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia. Stephen Bartlett at the University of Sydney says the announcement amounts to Australia staking a claim to sovereign capability in quantum computing and building up a quantum technology ecosystem. “What gets me really excited about this is that the scale of investment means we are serious,” says Bartlett. While big technology companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft have made multi-billion dollar investments in quantum computing, Australia’s funding makes PsiQuantum one of the biggest dedicated quantum computing companies in the world. Quantum computers offer the potential to …

ESPN Bet opens retail sportsbook in Downtown Detroit

ESPN Bet opens retail sportsbook in Downtown Detroit

Published by skeptic

ESPN Bet has opened its first physical location at Hollywood Casino at Greektown in downtown Detroit. The newly branded sportsbook from PENN Entertainment will be the flagship retail environment that will inspire all other PENN portfolio locations. The media and gambling giant has many locations where the iconic ESPN brand will be emblazoned on the entrances. ESPN Bet opens physical location The retail space boasts “4,500 square feet of betting and dining space, with high-tech wagering kiosks, big-screen TVs, a 30’ video wall for the ultimate sports viewing experience.” It is no coincidence that the 2024 NFL Draft is taking place less than a mile down the road from the newly minted location. ESPN’s broadcasting of this year’s draft is a given, but the sporting giant’s coy marketing heads will use the Detroit location as a base of operations during the draft. The newly opened ESPN Bet location will also serve as a dynamic venue for hosting a series of upcoming shows. John Drake, Hollywood Casino at Greektown General Manager said “This is an exciting week …

Commentary: A wider war in the Middle East is a risky and self-serving bet for Israel

Commentary: A wider war in the Middle East is a risky and self-serving bet for Israel

Published by Sam

DIMINISHING SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL In Israel, the calculations might be different, however. With international support for the country diminishing over its retaliation in Gaza after the Hamas attacks on Oct 7, 2023, the current Israeli government is under pressure both internationally and domestically. Internationally, the tens of thousands of civilian casualties and the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza are at the forefront of the criticism of the Netanyahu government from its longstanding allies, in particular the US. Directly related to the recent tit-for-tat with Iran is also the fear that the different crises across the Middle East could morph into a broader regional conflagration with potential for even wider escalation. Yet, an escalating conflict that imperils Israel’s existence might also realign regional and global powers in ways that benefit the current Israeli government, diverting attention away from Gaza and supporting Israel in a more direct confrontation with Iran and its allies and proxies. The US’ and G7’s affirmations of their iron-clad commitment to Israel’s right to existence point in that direction. Domestically, the Israeli …

Beeper Messaging App Is Acquired as a Bet on a Regulatory Shift

Beeper Messaging App Is Acquired as a Bet on a Regulatory Shift

Published by skeptic

Beeper, the app that brought iPhone messaging features to Android smartphones, has been acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, to support the development of a single service for sending and receiving chats from WhatsApp, Signal, LinkedIn and others. The deal, which is valued at about $125 million, was announced on Tuesday. It comes as regulators in Europe and the United States pressure the biggest tech companies to open their messaging services to third parties. Regulators believe doing so will make it easier for people to communicate with friends and family and to switch messaging providers. Automattic is betting that the changing regulatory environment will make people more interested in finding a unified messaging system like Beeper, said Toni Schneider, Automattic’s interim chief executive. Beeper is Automattic’s second messaging service acquisition. Last year, it bought Texts, an iPhone app that brings together messages from Instagram, iMessage and others. Mr. Schneider said Beeper and Texts employees would combine their systems into a single app that worked on iPhones and Android smartphones as well as computers. “Everyone …

How to pick the winner and best ante-post bet

How to pick the winner and best ante-post bet

Published by skeptic

The 2024 Grand National is fast approaching and for many that means it is time to start the process of finding the winner.  The winning horse will obviously have to stay but it can be no coincidence that two novice chasers, therefore potentially unexposed to the handicapper, have won recently. Rule The World (2016) had never won a chase while Noble Yeats (2022) had been campaigned, for the most part, over distances we now know were way too short for him. Last year’s winner Corach Rambler entered the race incredibly well handicapped at 10st 5lbs and cruised to victory in the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival, meaning his rating had jumped by another 10lb by the time the tapes went up at Aintree. This year, he is likely to be in a similar position following a third-placed finish in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In truth, picking a Grand National winner does require as much good fortune as it does good research but even with that in mind, Telegraph Sport will do its utmost to find …