Things I learned lately 1 Apr

• If lately you came across a photo of the Pope wearing a white puffy coat, I have news for you. It was an AI generated fake.
• The expected lifespan of an electric vehicle’s battery pack is 12 to 15 years. But once these packs reach their end of life, they can still be repaired, refurbished, remanufactured, repurposed, or  recycled. 
• Genesis’ last studio album did not include Phil Collins. 1997’s ‘Calling all stations’ was recorded without Phil on the drums. They never recorded another song after that.
• Kiss tried to make a concept album in 1981 titled, ‘Music from The Elder’. It was so badly received that they didn’t even bother touring it. Kiss, Pink Floyd you are not.
• In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, approached Yahoo to sell Google to them for $1 million. Yahoo refused the offer. In 1999, Yahoo buys Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion, betting on online radio. Also in 1999, Yahoo buys Geocities for $3.6 billion. In 2002, Google was much more valuable. Yahoo approached Larry and Sergey to buy Google for $3 billion, but Google wanted $5 billion. Yahoo refused the offer again. Also in 2002, Yahoo's broadcast services (remember Broadcast.com?) were shut down. Yahoo tried to acquire Facebook in 2006 for $1.1 billion. Facebook agreed to the deal, and they were ready to be acquired. Yahoo lowered their offer to $800 million. Mark Zuckerberg refused and cancelled the deal. In 2008, Microsoft approached Yahoo to buy it for $44.6 billion. Yahoo rejected it. Microsoft wanted to create a synergy with Yahoo to compete with Google, a rising player in the tech business. Geocities closed down in 2009. In 2017, Verizon bought Yahoo for $4.5 billion.