Sunday, April 10, 2022

News: April 10



Javelin missiles: Thank DARPA for Ukraine’s success against Russian tanks Javelin missiles have been an effective force multiplier, the latter-day equivalent of the slingshot that David used against Goliath. .......... Javelin missiles have helped Ukraine repel the numerically superior Russian military. These missiles are the result of a competition between DARPA and the U.S. Army. They are capable of penetrating tanks and circumventing various countermeasures, such as reactive armor. ......... It is a relatively large, shoulder-fired guided missile with a range of about two miles, and it has transformed the war in Ukraine. Its explosive warhead is capable of penetrating heavy armor (like tanks) and is highly lethal against other targets, like low-flying helicopters. ......... it is a fire-and-forget guided missile, which means that the operator locks the missile on to a target before it is launched and then the missile guides itself to the target ....... the ability to follow either a straight trajectory like most missiles, or a lofted (arch-like) trajectory that enables the Javelin to hit the larger, less protected top of a target such as a tank. ....... The weapon is so critical that Ukraine has requested deliveries of 500 of them — daily. .......... Army personnel were skeptical about a “fire-and-forget” missile, which they dismissed as, “You fire, and the missile forgets.” ........ The Army later renamed the weapon Javelin, and it entered full-scale production in 1997 — the world’s first medium-range, one-man-portable, fire-and-forget, anti-tank weapon. ......... hundreds of tanks and other vehicles (as well as some helicopters) reportedly have been destroyed in Ukraine by Javelins. Used against the overwhelming numbers of Russian forces, the Javelin has been an effective force multiplier, the latter-day equivalent of the slingshot that David used against Goliath. .

Inside Sanjay Mehta's ambition to build India's Y Combinator at 100X.VC Entrepreneur-turned-investor Mehta is making life easier for early-stage startups, helping them to focus on their ideas, while handholding them to raise money ....... “Many times, startups can build something that no one wants, which are recipes for failures,” he says. ....... When Kumar met 100X.VC she had finished three pilots to test her idea but had not opened for business, “so a lot of what we were talking about was still only on paper”. But the VC firm took the time and made the effort to validate what she was telling them. ........ While 100X’s first cheque of Rs 2.5 million is a small one, it’s really the downstream impact of the firm’s backing that founders value. “To be honest, the capital infusion per se is the least helpful thing they did for us, compared to many other areas where they added value,” says Omkar Pandharkame, co-founder and CEO of BHyve. “I’m not sure if it’s fair or right to call them this, but they are pretty much the Indian version of Y Combinator.” ........

“There were two meetings, one negotiation, one term sheet, and money in the bank in less than a week.”

.......... Today, a growing share of the startup founders in India comprises those under 25 ...... We are on the cusp of a significant change in India’s startup ecosystem and the 100 unicorns dream by 2025 will be realised before that ........ unicorns are being created the world over at least in a significant part because of cheap money from the US. What will really change India’s startup landscape is if more local investors and domestic capital gets involved. ........ Even today, the valuations and outcomes are being driven by companies like SoftBank and Tiger Global, he says. “What we need is more of Tata acquiring BigBasket rather than Walmart acquiring Flipkart. That’s the truth of it. Walmart really gave a jolt to a lot of Indian corporates when Flipkart got acquired. It was like a jewel going away.” .......... If the top 200 established corporate businesses in India allocate Rs 500 million a year to startups at the seed stage, they will change the landscape ....... “And they have enough cash on their balance sheets to easily do this,” and they will see the benefits to their own businesses too. .......

while there are many Indian unicorns today, none comes even remotely close to dominating its particular market segment even locally, let alone becoming a global story.

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No One Wants to Go Back to the Office As Much As White Men
What is the Lightning Network in Bitcoin, and how does it work? The Lightning Network is a second layer added to Bitcoin’s (BTC) blockchain that allows off-chain transactions, i.e. transactions between parties not on the blockchain network. Multiple payment channels between parties or Bitcoin users make up the second layer. A Lightning Network channel is a two-party transaction method in which parties can make or receive payments from each other. Layer two enhances the scalability of blockchain applications by managing transactions outside the blockchain mainnet (layer one), while still benefiting from the mainnet’s powerful decentralized security paradigm.

I tried Experian Boost three times – here’s how it’s helped my credit The concept sounded pretty amazing: Your utility and telecom data gets added to your credit file and raises your score. Essentially, you’d get rewarded for paying your bills. ....... Then, to boost my score, I connected my bank account, which was also easy ....... Experian found my utility bill, and my FICO score went from 640 to 654. I was ecstatic. ...... And one credit limit increase, one credit card upgrade and one new credit card later (thanks, CardMatch!), I got to 667 this January. ...... I was paying for the Internet with a card I hadn’t connected yet. Plus Experian now lets you report your Netflix payments. ...... This time, I’ve added all of my credit card accounts, just to be sure every eligible payment will count toward my score. ....... My score has increased by 13 points, taking my score to the next credit tier—from “fair” to “good”. ...... Now my FICO score is at 680, and in total, Experian Boost has raised my score by 22 points. ...... Now that years of fair credit are officially behind me, I may qualify for some of the most exciting credit cards (I’m looking at you, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card), and I’m considering refinancing my car loan. ..... 90 percent of top lenders use FICO scores, and while you likely won’t know which credit bureau’s data your lender will pull, it doesn’t hurt to improve your chances by boosting your score with Experian. ...... Experian Boost is an easy way to increase your FICO Score with Experian. It may benefit some users more than others, but it never hurts to try—the service is free and won’t use any negative payment information.

Experian Boost Review On-time payment history is the most important factor in your credit score accounting for 35% of your total credit score, followed by credit utilization which makes up 30% of your credit score.

How To Get Rent Payments Added To Your Credit Report Credit is king in America. A credit score determines eligibility for even the most basic necessities of life, including housing. Having a healthy credit score requires years of credit, combined with factors like positive payment history and low credit utilization. .......

about 26 million Americans are credit invisible

, meaning they have no credit score at all. There are multiple factors contributing to this trend, including insufficient credit history. ........ Experian, for example, receives rent payment data through Experian RentBureau, and updates its database every 24 hours from property management companies and electronic rent payment services across the country. ...... Some cost as low as $6.95 per month; others charge annual fees upwards of $95-plus. The services are usually rent payment platforms with the additional option to report your payments to your credit report. ....... people who have little to no credit, or a rock-bottom score, will benefit the most from reporting their payment history to credit bureaus...... TransUnion states that out of a sample of 300,000 residents, 8% of the population with no credit score achieved an average score of 635 after reporting their rental payments on time.


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