Finnish quantum computing startup IQM is now a unicorn: The company just raised more than $300 million in a Series B funding round that was led by Ten Eleven Ventures, a U.S. investment firm focused on cybersecurity. A university spinout, IQM builds quantum computers meant for on-premises installations as well as …
Read More »Waymo expands to Denver and Seattle with its Zeekr-made vans
Waymo announced Tuesday that it’s going to bring both of its vehicles — the Jaguar I-Pace SUV and the Zeekr van — to Denver and Seattle starting this week, the latest move in a continued expansion across the United States. The vehicles will be manually driven to start, before the …
Read More »Google avoids break up, faces new oversight in search antitrust trial
Google will not be forced to break up its search business, but a federal judge has tentatively ordered other changes to the tech giant’s business practices to keep it from further anticompetitive behavior. U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta outlined remedies on Tuesday that would bar Google from entering …
Read More »Tesla’s 4th ‘Master Plan’ reads like LLM-generated nonsense
Tesla has published its fourth “Master Plan,” and at a high level it is about how the company wants to lead the charge into planet-wide adoption of humanoid robots and sustainable energy. But the post lacks an important building block of plans: specifics. Even CEO Elon Musk agrees. In one …
Read More »Judges side with Trump EPA over canceled Inflation Reduction Act grants to nonprofits
The battle over $20 billion worth of climate-related funding authorized by Congress continues as an appellate court ruled on Tuesday in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency, which had terminated Biden-era grants made to nonprofits. The legal tussle stems from EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s decision to cancel grants dispersed as …
Read More »Amazon launches Lens Live, an AI-powered shopping tool for use in the real world
Amazon is further investing in AI-powered shopping experiences with Tuesday’s launch of Lens Live, a new AI-powered upgrade to its Amazon Lens shopping feature that allows consumers to discover new products through visual search, similar to competitors like Google Lens and Pinterest Lens. The tool will also integrate with Amazon’s …
Read More »OpenAI acquires product testing startup Statsig and shakes up its leadership team
OpenAI announced in a blog post on Tuesday that it agreed to acquire the product testing startup, Statsig, and bring on its founder and CEO, Vijaye Raji, as the company’s CTO of Applications. OpenAI is paying $1.1 billion for Statsig in an all-stock deal — one of the largest acquisitions …
Read More »Klarna revives IPO plans, aims to raise $1.27B
Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup Klarna and its shareholders are reviving its initial public offering, hoping to raise as much as $1.27 billion in a listing that would value the company at up to $14 billion. The company and some of its shareholders are together selling approximately 34.3 …
Read More »MrBeast reportedly plans to launch a phone company
MrBeast, the 27-year-old popular YouTuber known for his elaborate challenges and giveaways, is venturing into a new realm: He’s reportedly launching his own phone company. According to Business Insider, which viewed a leaked investor deck, MrBeast is planning to launch a mobile phone service next year. Business Insider also reported …
Read More »Tesla Dojo: the rise and fall of Elon Musk’s AI supercomputer
For years, Elon Musk has spoken of the promise of Dojo, the AI supercomputer that was supposed to be the cornerstone of Tesla’s AI ambitions. It was important enough to Musk that in July 2024, he said the company’s AI team would “double down” on Dojo in the lead-up to …
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