DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF by Maryanne Kane, Journalist

DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF

By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane

THREADS SIGNS UP 30 MILLION IN A FEW HOURS

Source: Meta and Stock

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has launched a "conversation app" called Threads, which is designed to compete directly with Twitter
According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, more than 10 million signed up for Threads within 7 hours, which Zuckerberg called mind-blowing - total now is 30 million
New members include a lot of celebrities like football legend Tom Brady, actress Jennifer Lopez and music group Coldplay
Zuckerberg is hoping for 1 billion members in the Threads community
Meta is calling Threads "Instagram's text-based conversation app"
Twitter is now threatening to sue Threads for "poaching some Twitter employees" and stealing its intellectual property rights to set up its new system
Meta has denied the allegations
Threads is similar to Twitter for conversations on topics and is considered an alternative & rival
Threads is linked to Instagram which has 2 billion monthly users
Meta allows you to create a Threads account with your Instagram username and connect with the people who follow you there
Twitter is the biggest conversation app with 288 million daily users
The launch of Threads is expected to trigger a battle for dominance with Twitter and spark some fiery social media competition between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which it already has tonight.

AI & MUCH MORE ACCURATE WEATHER FORECASTS

Source: Stock Images

Earth has experienced its highest record temperatures for the past 3 days, culminating on the 4th of July at 62.9 degrees (F), according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer that uses satellite data and computer simulation to set the global temp milestone
Experts say the cause is Climate Change and the extreme weather it's triggering is increasingly unpredictable
New research suggests that AI has the potential to be a major catalyst for much more accurate real-time and global weather forecasting
Results on 2 new AI forecasting systems have just been published in Nature
The Pengu-Weather AI model accurately forecasts global weather patterns up to a week in advance and is 10,000-times faster than current systems
A second AI model called NowcastNet is highly accurate on forecasting extreme weather events within 3 hours, which is a very rare capability
The researchers say these AI systems now need to be shaped with the help of meteorologists to make them practical for their use and for our daily weather forecasts.

1st ALZHEIMER'S DRUG THAT SLOWS DISEASE GETS FDA APPROVAL

Source: Eisai & Stock

Tonight, there is some real hope for early-stage Alzheimer's disease patients and their families
The FDA has given full approval to a breakthrough drug Leqembi which is the first medicine that has shown effectiveness to slow the cognitive decline caused by the disease
The drug is a breakthrough for patients with early-stage Alzheimer's and mild dementia
Full FDA approval means Medicare and some insurers will cover the cost, estimated at $26,000 per year for the patient
FDA says it is "safe and effective" treatment
Developed by Japanese drugmaker Eisai and co-marketed with Biogen of Cambridge, MA
Eisai estimates at least 100,000 Americans newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's will be receiving the drug within the next few years.

Important Innovations