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HHRD’s Africa Relief Program

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Africa is currently facing the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, according to Stephen O’Brien, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations. O’Brien and his department estimate that over 20 million people in 4 different countries in Africa are at risk of starvation over the next several months unless the world can come together and intervene. O’Brien’s specific request for monetary aid was $4.4 billion, which he estimates would be enough to stave off the growing hunger crisis and save millions of lives.

Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Northeast Nigeria have been particularly hard hit during this time due to a combination of internal conflict within the countries, and severe droughts during their growing seasons. In addition to the issues within these specific countries, Africa as a whole is facing severe climate change, population growth, widespread unemployment, extreme poverty, hunger, and now coronavirus. With all of these challenges facing their people, there has never been a time in Africa’s history when it has needed help more than it does today.

Help comes in many forms, and HHRD’s Africa Relief Fund aims to provide assistance to African countries through a multi-pronged approach. HHRD provides assistance in getting food and water to those in need. The care packages are thoughtfully put together and have enough food to last a family of 5-7 for 2 weeks. By including hearty, long-lasting staple food items, they ensure that every ounce of nutrition possible is being packed into their meal packages. For water insecure regions, HHRD’s Water for Life program works with engineers on the ground to determine ways to install, retrofit, or modify existing water supply schemes for long term sustainable use.

While food and water are the most immediate and life-threatening needs for most, HHRD also works to set local communities up for economic success through their Skills Development and Livelihood program. Economic depression is widespread in Africa, and by helping the local populations set up some form of business, HHRD hopes to secure long-term success and prosperity. HHRD’s Skills Development workers train the local population on how to create goods that will be desirable to the local community and the world at large. By imparting the knowledge of how to create quality products and sell them effectively, entire towns can be made economically self-sufficient.

Healthcare is also severely lacking across the continent. HHRD’s Health Care and Nutrition program works with the World Health Organization to provide free medical help to disaster areas. Free medical exams, diagnosis, and medicine are part of the standard treatment package for so many who do not have the opportunity to get their yearly checkup at the local doctor’s office. In addition to basic medical exams and screenings, HHRD is able to provide eye exams to the local populations. Free eye operations have helped over 1100 people in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa maintain their vision.

In the midst of a crisis, proper education tends to be hard to come by as well. HHRD’s Educational Support program works to provide education to over 300 orphans at a time in Mogadishu, Somalia. The orphans are sponsored, or “adopted”, by their donors, and are provided with school tuition, supplies, pocket money, medical screenings, and psychological support.

All of these efforts are supported by donations, and as Stephen O’Brien will tell you, the assistance currently required in Africa is not cheap. HHRD would love to expand all of its programs in the region, in order to help as many people as possible. Consider helping out today, with a small donation that will be used to directly benefit the people of Africa who need it most.

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Wiz will pay $450 million to acquire Cloud Remediation Startup Dazz

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Wiz revealed on Thursday that it will buy channel-focused company Dazz in an agreement to add cloud remediation capabilities to the vendor’s cloud and AI security platform.

With features like application security posture management and continuous threat and exposure management, Dazz provides a remediation-focused cloud security platform.

Jared Phipps, a seasoned cybersecurity industry executive who most recently worked for SentinelOne, was hired by Dazz in February as its CRO as the business sought to expand its collaboration with channel partners. Presidio, situated in New York, has been one of the key partners.

Dazz said in July that it has raised a $50 million round of funding, increasing its total funding since its 2021 launch to $110 million.

Dazz provides a “industry-leading remediation engine,” according to a post published on Thursday by Wiz Co-Founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport, which will allow Wiz to “empower security teams to correlate data from multiple sources and manage application risks in one unified platform.”

This is Wiz’s third purchase overall and its second acquisition of 2024 after the company’s April acquisition of cloud detection and response provider Gem Security.

Wiz, a four-year-old startup, reported in May that it had raised $1 billion in new capital at a $12 billion valuation, citing its continued strong development in the cloud and AI security areas. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the business reportedly increased from $350 million earlier this year to above $500 million.

After making a number of management additions aimed at facilitating quicker partner-driven growth, Rappaport stated in February that Wiz would prioritize its channel operations moving ahead.

I“In cybersecurity partners are super, super important in the success of a company. So we’ve always [seen that] this has huge potential for us to tap into. I think there is so much more we can do,” he stated at the time.

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ProRata, an AI startup, Teams up with UK Publishers after reportedly Hitting $130 Million in Valuation

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A number of well-known British media outlets have joined ProRata, an AI firm that claims to compensate publishers for the usage of their work, in its expanding network of partnerships.

The Los Angeles-based firm announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with publishers such as Sky News, the Guardian, and the Daily Mail’s publisher, DMG Media.

In a recent Series A funding round, ProRata raised $25 million from investors such as the Mayfield Fund, Prime Movers Lab, and Revolution Ventures.

“ProRata’s founder and CEO Bill Gross said his firm’s AI technology is the only one that pledges to credit and compensate creators, while providing users with accurate search results.

“We have had hundreds of content owners and media companies reach out to us from around the world who are interested in piloting our technology. Stealing and scraping content is not a sustainable path forward,” he continued.

Similar alliances have previously been formed by ProRata with the German publisher Axel Springer, the Atlantic, Fortune, Time, and Universal Music Group (UMG).

Media firms are offered reasonable compensation by ProRata for the use of their content. The startup’s in-house technology may determine the proper amount of pay by evaluating the worth of the information used to create responses from an AI platform. This would make it possible to pay copyright holders for their work on a per-use basis.

Gross had previously said that AI platforms have been using “shoplifted, plagiarized content,” which fosters an atmosphere in which “disinformation thrives and creators get nothing.”

Gross is recognized for having created the pay-per-click model of internet search monetization with his business, GoTo.com, which was eventually acquired by Yahoo! in 2003.

In a recent blog post, Tige Savage, a cofounder of Revolution, stated that Bill Gross is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in monetization techniques.

“He’s attracted a world-class tech team led by AI luminary Tarek Najm to implement the vision and an accomplished business team, including Annelies Jansen and Jonas Lee to drive content and AI partnerships,” Savage continued.

The unpaid use of copyrighted materials by OpenAI and other tech companies to train their AI systems has led to litigation from media companies and other content creators.

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Film Bazaar Unveils an Interactive Cinema App from an Indian Tech Startup

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Arjun Nittoor, the founder of the Indian technology firm Vireza, disclosed at Film Bazaar that the company is creating a new mobile application that would transform the experience of watching movies in theaters by enabling viewers to engage with the films in real time.

The technology, which was created wholly in-house at the company’s research and development department in Bengaluru, allows viewers to use their smartphones to vote on important plot points during the movie. To keep up with the current screening, patrons download an app before entering the theater and scan a QR code at their seat.

“The film industry is one of the few sectors where the audience experience has seen minimal technological disruption in theatres,” Nittoor stated. “While screen and sound quality have advanced and 3D has been partially adopted, the viewing experience has largely remained the same for decades.”

The screen automatically brightens to show voting options and dims again when choices are made. The system uses discreet phone notifications to encourage audience participation around every ten minutes.

In 2026, Vireza intends to introduce the technology with a full-length interactive movie that will be produced in both English and South Indian for international distribution. The business is presently in the development stage and will shortly start doing multiplex chain trial screenings.

CtrlMovie’s prior success in the interactive film industry was mentioned by Nittoor. CtrlMovie is well-known for “Traces of Responsibility” and “Late Shift.”

In order to overcome the difficulties in cinematography, editing, shot composition, and writing that plagued previous attempts at the format, the firm has spent five years creating what Nittoor refers to as “a new science of filmmaking” that is especially tailored for interactive cinema.

“Despite the proliferation of viewing devices, big-ticket films continue to draw massive crowds to theatres, with box office numbers higher than ever,”  Nittoor stated. “This demand underscores the potential for a meaningful technology shift that could draw audiences out of their homes and into cinemas.”

Other Asian businesses are likewise investigating audience-driven narrative in motion pictures. In February of the following year, Japan’s King Records intends to release “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle,” an animated interactive film.

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