Meta’s Quest 2 VR headset sees $50 price cut. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Meta’s Quest 2 Virtual Reality Headset Sees Permanent $50 Price Reduction

Meta has announced its decision to permanently reduce the prices of its Quest 2 headset, with the 128GB version now priced at $249, down from $299, and the 256GB version lowered from $349 to $299.

The revised pricing, according to Meta, was initially introduced during Black Friday, and now settling for a lasting adjustment.

In addition to the headset price cuts, however, Meta is also offering discounted rates on various Quest 2 accessories.

While boasting a diverse catalog of over 500 VR gaming titles, Meta secured a significant collaboration last year by facilitating the launch of Roblox’s game on the Quest headset through the Meta Quest Store.

The lowered cost of the Quest 2 may serve as an attractive option for potential buyers exploring VR, especially when compared to the $500 price tag of the more recent Quest 3 headset.

Trivia: Podcasts are most commonly saved in what file format?

A. WAVE
B. AIFF
C. MP3
D. MPEG
Find answer below

2. Fidelity slashes valuation of X Holdings by 71.5%

Fidelity, the mutual fund giant, has devalued its investment in X holdings—formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk—by 71.5%, as revealed in a recent disclosure.

This markdown is a substantial reduction from the original share valuation.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that Fidelity invested $19.2 million in acquiring a stake in X in October 2022.

A year later, the fund manager reduced the valuation by 65% in October 2023, and the November 2023 disclosure reflects an additional cut in X’s valuation.

It’s worth noting that Fidelity’s disclosures are consistently one month behind the current date.

Over the past year, X has undergone significant changes, including the appointment of Linda Yaccarino, former NBCU executive, as its new CEO.

3. BYD, China’s EV Leader, records profit amid fierce competition

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has reported a historic quarterly profit, selling an impressive 526,409 fully electric vehicles in the fourth quarter.

This robust performance solidifies BYD’s prominent position in the fiercely competitive high-tech sector, where it contends with both domestic and global rivals.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, the company disclosed a profit of 10.4 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) for the third quarter (July-September), marking its most substantial earnings for a single quarter to date.

This result reflects an impressive 82% annual increase, as outlined in a statement submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Accumulating a net total income of 21.4 billion yuan from January to September, BYD has more than doubled its earnings compared to the previous year.

Specializing in battery design and manufacturing, BYD crossed a milestone to become the first international manufacturer to produce over five million electric vehicles.

Trivia Answer: MP3

A podcast is an episodic audio program delivered over the Internet. Listeners can subscribe to a podcast to get new episodes delivered automatically to their podcast player app, or they may download individual episodes without subscribing.

The word “podcast” is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast,” reflecting that podcasts are like digital, on-demand versions of radio shows. Podcast episodes are typically saved as .MP3 files, although .AAC and .M4A files are also common.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now