Tech
California Suspends Enforcement of Law Requiring VCs to Report Diversity Data
Under a new state regulation, venture capital firms operating in California were supposed to submit demographic data about their portfolio companies, including the gender and race of startup founders they backed. But amid public criticism from some tech leaders, the California agency administering the new requirement suspended it just before the Wednesday deadline for firms to make their first disclosures.
“The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has announced that it plans to initiate rulemaking in response to comments by various stakeholders relating to the Fair Investment Practices by Venture Capital Companies Law,” the state agency posted on its website in mid-March. “Implementation and enforcement of the [law] will be suspended pending completion of the rulemaking and until final regulations are in place.”
California lawmakers first passed the measure in 2023, and it was signed into law shortly thereafter by Governor Gavin Newsom. For decades, women and people of color have received only a small share of overall startup funding relative to their representation in the US population. Lawmakers hoped putting more public scrutiny on investment decisions would help foster greater equity in the market, including for people who are disabled, retired military, or LGBTQ+.
The law called for venture capital and some other investment firms to file annual reports starting March 1 of last year about the overall makeup of the founding teams they had invested in and the amount of money they provided to diverse founders. Firms were meant to collect the demographic data through a voluntary survey that was then anonymized. California authorities planned to publish the filings online. Lawmakers amended the law in 2024 to delay reporting until April 1, 2026, and enable the state to levy daily fines for noncompliance.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the authority it used to sidestep the deadline set by lawmakers. Newsom’s office also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Financiers focused on funding entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds had supported the law. But the National Venture Capital Association, the tech investment industry’s leading trade group, opposed it. The group argued that voluntary data collection would inflate diversity statistics and that publishing inaccurate data could lead to unfair attacks on investors genuinely trying to tackle diversity issues. Over the past year, the Trump administration has defunded and attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives in both the public and private sectors, leading many businesses and organizations to pull back from them.
In February, the venture capital association wrote to Newsom asking for the reporting deadline to be pushed back again because, in its view, the state had bungled the process. California authorities didn’t publish the standardized survey that founders were supposed to fill out until early this year, and at the time they still hadn’t introduced a way for firms to register with regulators as required by the law, according to the association. “This administrative timeline creates an environment ripe for error and threatens to produce the misleading and counterproductive data we previously warned against,” association president and CEO Bobby Franklin wrote.
Last month, as the deadline for the first reports loomed, some entrepreneurs and investors began complaining on social media about the survey effort. “The latest California malarky is a requirement for venture investors to collect/report racial and gender statistics,” wrote Blake Scholl, the founder and CEO of venture-backed aviation startup Boom Supersonic. “I want to live in a world where merit matters—not skin color or what you have between your legs.”
Tech
Artemis II Mission Launches Successfully
At 6:36 pm Cape Canaveral time, NASA’s SLS rocket lifted off without incident with the four members of the Artemis II spacecraft aboard. During the first few hours, Orion will complete its journey into Earth orbit and, throughout the first day, will conduct critical navigation and systems tests. Around the third or fourth day, the spacecraft will begin its trajectory toward the moon and cross its gravitational sphere of influence. In total, the mission will last approximately 10 days.
The mission includes the first woman and the first Black person on a crewed mission to lunar orbit. The launch comes 53 years after Apollo 17, the last crewed mission to the Moon.
The Artemis II crew will not land on the moon (that will happen on Artemis IV ). Instead, their capsule will fly at altitudes between 6,000 and 9,000 kilometers above the surface of the far side of the moon, circle it, and begin the return journey to Earth. The mission’s main objective is to demonstrate that the space agency has the technological capability to send people to the Moon safely and without incident.
Once they achieve this, NASA will begin preparations for new moon landings in the following years, which will aim to establish the first lunar bases in history and, with them, the sustained and sustainable presence of humans on the satellite.
The launch was successful and occurred on schedule. The launch window opened on Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 pm Eastern Time (EDT) and could have been extended for two hours, if necessary. NASA would have had five more days to attempt another launch.
Mission Details
The astronauts took off on a NASA SLS rocket and are traveling inside the Orion capsule, described as a spacecraft about the size of a large van. They will orbit Earth for at least two days to test the onboard instruments. Then they will align the spacecraft to begin its journey to the moon. By the fifth or sixth day of flight, the capsule is expected to enter the moon’s sphere of influence, where the satellite’s gravity is stronger than Earth’s, and dock with its orbit.
When the spacecraft passes “behind” the moon, the most dangerous phase will begin. The crew will be out of contact with Earth for about 50 minutes due to interference from the moon itself. During this crucial moment, the crew must capture images and data from the moon, taking advantage of the far-more-advanced technology they carry than was available during the Apollo era.
After completing the return, the capsule will head home, taking advantage of the Earth-moon gravity field to save fuel. According to NASA estimates, by the 10th day of flight the crew will be close to reaching the planet.
Tech
Samsung’s Best OLED From Last Year Is Priced as Low as I’ve Seen It on Amazon
Samsung’s S95F QD-OLED is one of the best TVs we’ve ever tested. Its potent display provides brilliant brightness, vivid colors, and incredible contrast thanks to OLED’s ability to adjust each tiny point of light independently. This TV may be a 2025 model, but it’s still a premium screen, now priced lower than I’ve ever seen it. Right now, a 65-inch model is just $2,198 for Amazon’s Big Spring Deal, a $300 savings from earlier this month.
Samsung’s S95F is different than any of the other best OLED TVs we tested last year because of its distinctive matte screen, which swallows up even direct glare better than any TV I’ve seen. As anyone with a bright living room can attest, that’s an important trait, and while the rival LG G5 provides deeper black levels, even that model can’t match the S95F’s glare reduction. (If you’ve got a darker room, the G5 is still my favorite TV overall.)
Cutting reflections doesn’t matter much if the picture isn’t great, but as Samsung’s flagship display for 2025, this TV delivers. Reviewer Parker Hall praised the S95F’s gorgeous colors and contrast, while its brightness ranks among the best we’ve ever seen for an OLED display, sparring with even many of the best LED TVs, like Sony’s Bravia 9.
The TV matches its top-notch picture quality with a posh design, including a stylish pedestal stand and fancy accessories like a solar-powered remote and Samsung’s One Connect box that lets you connect all your source devices to the TV over a single cable.
While I’m not a huge fan of Samsung’s Tizen smart interface, I do enjoy its built-in gaming hub, which lets you stream games from multiple services directly. The TV’s zippy refresh rate matches up with the latest games and gaming consoles for fluid response. The S95F’s biggest downside is its lack of Dolby Vision HDR (High Dynamic Range) support, something all Samsung TVs lack. You’ll still get good performance, though, with Dolby Vision videos defaulting to standard HDR for impressive contrast and expansive colors.
It all adds up to a sweet package, especially for anyone after a TV that looks as good in the bright sun as it does with the lights down on movie night. At this price, the value is hard to beat, and based on past years, I’d wager we won’t see it much cheaper until the end of the year.
Tech
FDA Approves Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 Pill
The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new obesity pill called Foundayo. Taken once daily, the pill is made by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which also manufactures the popular weight-loss injection Zepbound.
Foundayo is a type of medication known as a GLP-1, a category that includes rivals Ozempic and Wegovy. These drugs mimic a naturally occurring hormone in the body that regulates blood sugar, slows digestion, and signals a sense of fullness to the brain.
It’s now the second GLP-1 pill for weight loss on the market. In December, Novo Nordisk received FDA approval for its pill form of Wegovy. The company’s original version of Wegovy is a weekly injectable. While the Wegovy pill must be taken on an empty stomach in the morning, Lilly says Foundayo can be taken any time of day without food or water restrictions.
With injectable GLP-1 drugs in high demand, pharma companies have been racing to develop weight-loss pills, which could be preferable for some patients and could potentially expand the market for GLP-1s. Pills are also easier to manufacture than injectable medications, which could help maintain continual access for patients. GLP-1 medications were in severe shortage from late 2022 through early 2025 because demand outstripped manufacturing capacity.
“Beyond supply and affordability, one of the bigger barriers to adoption has been that some patients just don’t want to take an injection,” says Ken Custer, executive vice president of Eli Lilly. “That could be because it’s a needle, but it also may just be that for them, an injection signifies that their condition is more severe than they feel it is at that point. For patients looking to get started with their weight management journey, maybe a pill is an easier place for them to start.”
Like injectable GLP-1s, Foundayo starts at a low dose and is gradually increased to minimize nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea that can come with these drugs.
In a clinical trial, individuals taking the highest dose of Foundayo over 18 months lost an average of 27 pounds, or 12.4 percent of their body weight over 18 months. Those taking a placebo lost just 2 pounds, or less than 1 percent of their body weight, over the same time. Lilly’s tirzepatide, the active ingredient in its injectables Mounjaro and Zepbound, has shown a more than 20 percent reduction in weight.
For Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, study participants achieved an average weight loss of 13.6 percent by 16 months. There have been no head-to-head trials comparing the efficacy of Foundayo and the Wegovy pill.
Eli Lilly did run a study to find out what happens when people switch from an injectable GLP-1 drug to Foundayo and found that it helped people maintain most of their weight loss. Those who switched to the pill from injectable Wegovy regained an average difference of 2 pounds, while those who switched to Foundayo from Zepbound gained an average of 11 pounds. The active ingredient in Foundayo, orforglipron, is also being studied as a potential treatment for type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis knee pain, and other conditions.
Foundayo is now available via the direct-to-consumer platform LillyDirect, with shipping beginning April 6. Eli Lilly says Foundayo will be available more broadly across US retail pharmacies and telehealth providers shortly after that. The pill was included in a November 2025 deal to be offered through the TrumpRx platform.
In its announcement on Wednesday, the FDA said it reviewed Foundayo in just 50 days as part of a new pilot program intended to expedite approvals for drugs that align with national health priorities. New drug approvals typically take six to 10 months.
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