*By Madison Alworth*
[George Takei](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/06/25/george-takei-trump-immigration-rhetoric-bts-rs.cnn) is an outspoken critic of President Trump.
And now the actor is taking his gripes to a new, augmented level, with the app House of Cats. The app launched this week and allows users to interact with animated characters "Trumpy Cat," "Meowlania," and "Vladdy Putin," to name a few.
"I'm a political animal, feline inclined" said Takei in an interview with Cheddar Thursday. "We love cats and we all love politics and to put them together is the House of Cats with a Trumpy Cat."
The satirical Trump can be superimposed onto any surface. Users then instruct him to recite dialogue of their own choosing or even any of the president's real tweets. Users can also record and share videos of themselves in conversation with Trumpy Cat and his band of feline followers.
The app, available on Apple products and Google Play, costs $0.99. As of now, there are no plans to develop costlier, subscription-only content. Takei will donate a certain percent of the profits to Refugees International, a charity for displaced people.
"We are going to counter \[Trump's]\ hostility with support," Takei said.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/george-takei-launches-new-ar-mobile-game-house-of-cats)
SpaceX launched its first all commercial-crew mission to the International Space Station on Friday. Cheddar News speaks with Jim Cantrell, CEO and President of Phantom Space Corporation why this launch is a big leap for space tourism.
Nautilus Labs closed $34 million in funding from investors including the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The company plans to use its funding to improve shipping industry efficiency with its software. Nautilus CEO Matt Heider joined Cheddar News to talk about how it tackles the carbon emissions in the global supply chain. "We've seen on 10-day voyages saving $60,000 worth of fuel just by managing speed with greater confidence around the future. The environmental impact of that is also huge," he said. "Saving that amount of fuel is a kind of taking over 1000 cars off the road this year."
A Glassdoor study reports that internship programs at companies like Roblox, Uber, and Salesforce offered the highest compensation levels in 2020 — nearly $10,000 a month. Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor, joined Cheddar News to talk about why big tech companies are paying top dollar for their interns. "I think what we're seeing is that companies are pushing more aggressively to engage with these candidates before they’ve even graduated, really because of the level of competition that they are facing, especially for these very high-value STEM graduates," he said.
