Techme101.com

The month of Ramadan is underway and to celebrate, Lantern Fest has returned to Fortnite, which has now recovered from the semi-disastrous launch of Chapter 5 Season 2, but also, for the first time will feature in Lego Fortnite and, in another first, be much more representative of Middle Eastern culture than ever before, including two Middle Eastern-inspired outfits to play with.
The Anwar and Noorah skins are set to become available during Lantern Fest – although nobody is quite sure when as yet, but it is definitely good to get Lantern Fest more cosmetically in line with the other holidays Fortnite tends to celebrate with big events.
A post on X from former Fortnite Senior Marketing Manager Islam Ibrahim seems to suggest it has been a long time coming. The post read, “Since the cat (is) out of the bag.

Since the cat out of the bag.
This was the last thing I worked on before leaving Epic. It took me years of convincing the decision makers at Fortnite team about the importance of having ME inspired outfits with Ramadan event – which was my brain child too –
Enjoy https://t.co/7qjwwiGfEq
— إسلام إبراهيم | Islam Ibrahim (@khwarezm89) March 11, 2024

This was the last thing I worked on before leaving Epic. It took me years of convincing the decision makers at Fortnite team about the importance of having ME-inspired outfits with Ramadan event – which was my brainchild too.”
Finally, it seems Epic Games has taken heed and this year’s Lantern Fest is a step up from what we have seen prior.
What is Lantern Fest 2024 and when does it finish?

The crux of this year’s Lantern Fest which will last the full month until April 10th is a new Creative mode island called Lantern Fest Oasis. A series of challenges will feature in this Oasis that you can visit and play in by using the code: 5629-9147-3382.
In terms of the Noorah and Anwar outfits, they will come in both regular and Lego Fortnite flavors as part of the Radiant Moon set in the Item Shop and include Lunar Lantern and Moonlight Blades Back Bling.

The post Fortnite’s Lantern Fest returns bigger than ever to celebrate Ramadan appeared first on ReadWrite.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings have yielded an unrealized profit of $84 million, with the treasury’s value increasing by 69% to over $206 million due to Bitcoin’s 250% appreciation over the past year.
According to data gathered from NayibTracker, since September 2021, El Salvador has seen its Bitcoin investments swell to an unrealized profit of $84 million. The value of its Bitcoin treasury has soared to more than $206 million.
This marks a 69% increase from El Salvador’s initial investment, thanks to the cryptocurrency’s 250% appreciation over the past year. El Salvador now possesses 2,681 BTC, bought across 12 transactions at an average price of $42,600 each.
El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in 2021, following the enactment of the “Bitcoin Law.” This legislation allows for the use of Bitcoin in transactions for goods, services, and taxes within the country. The country is also working to launch its “Volcano Bonds” backed by Bitcoin.
President Nayib Bukele has shared that El Salvador is generating additional Bitcoin revenue through various services. These revenue streams include a citizenship passport program, converting Bitcoin to U.S. dollars for local businesses, proceeds from Bitcoin mining operations and government service fees.

+ #BTC revenue from our passport program+ Revenue from converting #BTC to USD for local businesses+ #BTC from mining + #BTC revenue from government services https://t.co/O1sjKoJRiq
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 11, 2024

El Salvador also launched the “Freedom VISA” program in December. The program offers residency to up to 1,000 individuals yearly who invest a minimum of $1 million in Bitcoin or Tether (USDT) stablecoins.
Those who qualify are granted long-term residency permits and can eventually apply for full citizenship. Application to the program also costs a non-refundable fee of $999 in either Bitcoin or USDT. Tether announced that the firm will be managing the technical aspects of the project, by providing technology and payment infrastructure.
The post El Salvador gained $84M from Bitcoin holdings appeared first on ReadWrite.

Covariant has announced the launch of an artificial intelligence (AI) program with a difference, described as what is “basically a large language model (LLM), but for robot language.”
Peter Chen, co-founder and CEO of the Berkeley, California-based company spoke to TechCrunch to introduce RFM-1, and the aim of “giving robots human-like reasoning capabilities.”
A press release detailed the full development of the foundation model which Covariant wants to utilize to deliver the next phase of robotics beyond carrying out fairly basic, repeated tasks.
RFM-1 has been delivered thanks to a vast collection of data gathered from Covariant’s Brain AI program, which has been harnessed with customer consent to build up a ChatGPT for robots.
“The vision of RFM-1 is to power the billions of robots to come,” said Chen.
“We at Covariant have already deployed lots of robots at warehouses with success, but that is not the limit of where we want to get to. We really want to power robots in manufacturing, food processing, recycling, agriculture, the service industry and even into people’s homes.”

Very excited to share what our research team at Covariant has been working on: RFM-1, our latest Robotics Foundation Model. Built on top of high-quality multimodal data the Covariant robotics fleet has collected over the years, this project embodies our commitment to pushing the… pic.twitter.com/RoVh55BVKR
— Rocky Duan (@rocky_duan) March 11, 2024

Will human job functions be impacted?
With human-like reasoning, comes risks to human functions. There will be significant challenges to come, in line with the advances of AI. If robots are to be scaled up for human job roles like those listed above, companies like Covariant will need to be part of the conversation as to how the human workforce can be upskilled and prepared for a different future.
Chen tried to allay fears on just what is meant by human-like reasoning, in this instance it’s the ability of the robots to process real-time information and choose the best course of action for the relevant task.
The CEO tempered that his firm is not quite at the stage they are ultimately aiming for.
“We do like a lot of the work that is happening in the more general-purpose robot hardware space,” Chen explained.
“Coupling the intelligence inflexion point with the hardware inflexion point is where we will see even more explosion of robot applications but a lot of those are not fully there yet, especially on the hardware side. It’s very hard to go beyond the staged video. How many people have interacted with a humanoid in person? That tells you the degree of maturity.”
Image credit: Covariant.AI
The post AI-powered robot maker Covariant debuts RFM-1, a ‘robot language’ appeared first on ReadWrite.

Nigerian authorities arrested former United States federal agent and Binance’s criminal investigations team Tigran Gambaryan along with another company official, according to a Wired report published on Tuesday (Mar. 12)
During his tenure as a federal agent in the United States, Tigran Gambaryan played a pivotal role in spearheading significant investigations that led to the apprehension of cryptocurrency criminals, dark-web narcotics vendors, and networks involved in child exploitation financed through crypto.
Following his government service, Gambaryan joined the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange Binance, only to find himself ensnared by a different kind of crypto-focused crackdown by Nigerian authorities. For the last two weeks, Gambaryan and another executive from Binance have been forcibly detained by Nigerian officials.
Why is Nigeria cracking down on Binance?
Since the 26th of February, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla — the regional manager for Africa based in Kenya — have been held at a government facility in Abuja, Nigeria, without their passports. They have not been formally charged or informed of any criminal allegations against them, according to their relatives.
It appears their detention is part of Nigeria’s sweeping measures to prohibit cryptocurrency exchanges amidst a significant devaluation of the Nigerian currency, as initially reported by the Financial Times, which covered their detention without naming the executives.
Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, and Anjarwalla, who holds dual citizenship in the UK and Kenya, arrived in Abuja on the invitation of the Nigerian government to discuss the ongoing ban on Binance and other crypto exchanges. This ban was implemented as the exchanges were accused of contributing to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and facilitating illegal financial flows.
Following their initial meeting with Nigerian officials, they were taken from their hotels, instructed to pack up, and relocated to a “guesthouse” under the administration of Nigeria’s National Security Agency, where they remain detained.
Both Gambaryan and Anjarwalla have received visits from officials from the U.S. State Department and the UK foreign office, respectively, but their meetings were overseen by Nigerian guards, preventing any private conversation. Binance has refrained from commenting on the specifics of the accusations or the demands made by the Nigerian government for their release, emphasizing ongoing cooperation with Nigerian authorities to ensure the executives’ safe return to their families.
Gambaryan’s recruitment by Binance in 2021 was seen as a move to enhance the exchange’s compliance with regulations and its collaboration with law enforcement, given his achievements in cryptocurrency investigations with the IRS Criminal Investigation division. His work included leading significant cases against corrupt federal agents, tracking down stolen Bitcoin, and dismantling criminal networks funded by cryptocurrency.
The news comes on the heels of Binance recently putting a stop to its cryptocurrency services in Nigeria. This is not the first time that local authorities put pressure on the crypto industry, with a previous ban having been lifted by the Central Bank of Nigeria at the end of 2023.
The post Binance executives detained in Nigeria appeared first on ReadWrite.

Genshin Impact, the world’s most profitable gacha game and one of the two miHoYo behemoths alongside Honkai Star rail is about to get its 4.5 updates and the world is excited. So when can you get it and what will you get? All important questions that we are going to answer for you right here.
What’s new in Genshin Impact 4.5?
Well first up, and probably most important is the new 5-star Chori character. Chiori’s weapon is the Uraku Misuguri sword which brings a tasty Defensive bonus along with it.
Chronicled Wish is the new banner and with it, you will be able to pull for certain 5-star characters we haven’t seen for a while.
We will also get the Leyline Overflow as a re-run event alongside a new Hangout Quest and three new events set in Mondstadt.
There have been some leaks already around 4.6 but they are for a later date right now.
Genshin Impact 4.5 release date
Depending on your planetary location the 4.5 update will go live for you on either the 12th or 13th March. Either way, it is very soon. We are expecting the usual amount of around five hours of maintenance time between 4.4 and 4.5.
Genshin Impact 4.5 release time
Your time zone affects what time Genshin Impact 4.5 will go live for you. It will be live at the same point for everybody, but, well pesky time zones eh? If you are in the UK and Europe it’s a middle-of-the-night job, elsewhere and the launch is a little more friendly. Simply find your nearest city in the table below and you will know what time to set your alarm for

Location
Date and Time (US)

Auckland, New Zealand
March 13, 2024, 4:00 PM

Austin, USA
March 12, 2024, 10:00 PM

Beijing, China
March 14, 2024, 11:00 AM

Berlin, Germany
March 12, 2024, 4:00 AM

Cape Town, South Africa
March 13, 2024, 5:00 AM

Denver, USA
March 12, 2024, 9:00 PM

Dubai, UAE
March 13, 2024, 7:00 AM

Los Angeles, USA
March 12, 2024, 8:00 PM

New Delhi, India
March 13, 2024, 8:30 AM

New York, USA
March 12, 2024, 11:00 PM

Phoenix, USA
March 12, 2024, 8:00 PM

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
March 13, 2024, 12:00 AM

Sydney, Australia
March 13, 2024, 2:00 PM

Tokyo, Japan
March 13, 2024, 12:00 PM

UK, London
March 13, 2024, 3:00 AM

The post Genshin Impact 4.5: Everything we know – Release date, worldwide start time, contents appeared first on ReadWrite.