All posts tagged: companies

As AI companies race to go public, who else is along for the ride?

As AI companies race to go public, who else is along for the ride?

Published by skeptic

SpaceX went public this week in the largest IPO ever, making CEO Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Despite its name, SpaceX has been emphasizing the potential of its costly AI business, and competitors OpenAI and Anthropic may soon follow with their own public market debuts. So on the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Sean O’Kane, and I discussed what’s looking like a hot IPO summer. “We have SpaceX not only sucking up just a huge chunk of the money that’s available on public markets, but also really stress testing the limits of what a public company can be and how much it can be controlled by one single person,” Sean said. “My eye is really on these other tech companies that will go public and how much they will try to emulate.” Kirsten also noted that there are other startups trying to “ride that SpaceX IPO wave,” for example by raising money for orbital data centers after SpaceX helped to popularize the concept. “So there’s a ripple effect that’s happening throughout …

Oracle warns of security bug that hackers abused to breach 100+ companies

Oracle warns of security bug that hackers abused to breach 100+ companies

Published by skeptic

Oracle warned its corporate customers that there is a critical-rated vulnerability in its PeopleSoft software, which is used by large companies to manage payroll and human resources, a day after a cybercrime group took credit for abusing the flaw as part of a mass-hacking campaign. The company published the security advisory on Thursday after the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to have breached more than 100 organizations that use PeopleSoft servers. Mandiant, the Google-owned security unit that investigates cyberattacks, warned in a blog post that the new Oracle flaw is the same bug that the ShinyHunters group is abusing in its hacking campaign targeting PeopleSoft customers.  Oracle, which has not released a patch for the vulnerability at the time of writing, said in the advisory that the bug can be exploited over the internet without needing any authentication, such as a password.  The tech giant recommended that customers who use PeopleSoft software apply its mitigations to prevent exploitation. On Wednesday, a ShinyHunters member told TechCrunch that the gang compromised the companies by abusing an unpatched flaw …

Iran threatens Elon Musk companies in Middle East: State media

Iran threatens Elon Musk companies in Middle East: State media

Published by Sam Flores

Tesla CEO Elon Musk holds a mobile phone as he arrives to attend a state banquet with U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. Evan Vucci | Reuters Iran will treat all of Elon Musk’s companies in the Middle East, including SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, as military targets as it retaliates against the U.S., Iranian state media outlet Fars reported Thursday. Iran is targeting “all interests related to economic holdings managed by Elon Musk in West Asia,” including a regional Starlink ground station, according to a translated post on Fars’ Telegram page. Starlink has played a key role in U.S. military operations against Iran, supporting high-tech ordnance ranging from aerial attack drones to unmanned surveillance and strike vessels. Iran asserts the U.S. has committed war crimes against it with the support of Musk-related companies, Fars reported, citing an “informed source.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to attack all facilities related to [Musk]-managed holdings in the region and occupied …

Trump administration killed criminal investigation of GOP senator’s coal companies

Trump administration killed criminal investigation of GOP senator’s coal companies

Published by Sam Flores

Trump administration officials earlier this year killed a federal criminal investigation into the coal empire owned by Sen. Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and a close ally of the president’s. The investigation examined potential criminal violations of the Clean Water Act by the multistate mining operations largely run by Justice’s son, Jay, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter. The criminal probe was a significant escalation in the yearslong effort to police serial pollution offenses by Virginia-based Southern Coal and dozens of affiliated mining operations controlled by the family. In the past decade, Southern Coal and other Justice corporations have racked up tens of thousands of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and have been sued repeatedly by state and federal prosecutors over their failure to properly follow environmental laws at their mining sites. The investigation shuttered by the Trump administration was a joint effort by prosecutors and investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western …

Can tech companies learn to love cheaper AI models? 

Can tech companies learn to love cheaper AI models? 

Published by skeptic

The AI boom has been built on a basic assumption: Bigger models are more powerful, and the most powerful models win. Now, the industry is about to learn what happens if that assumption starts to break.   Mounting costs have already pressured users to give smaller and cheaper models a second look. This cost-conscious model-shopping is new and it’s unclear how it will affect the industry, but the impact is likely to be significant.  One prediction, laid out best by Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong, is that it will result in the vast majority of tasks shifting to cheaper models.  “[D]emand for intelligence is near infinite, but 80% of workloads will be running on 99% cheaper models within 12-18 months,” Armstrong wrote on X. “20% of workloads will still run on latest gen models where IQ maxing is important.”  It’s hard to overstate what a significant shift it will be for the AI industry if Armstrong’s prediction comes true.   Before now, most AI companies have competed on quality, which has meant defaulting to the most advanced available model. If those same jobs can be handled by cheaper models without affecting quality, it would mean a massive shift in the economics of AI. And critically, much of the savings …

Smart home companies have been selling you the worst battery format on purpose

Smart home companies have been selling you the worst battery format on purpose

Published by skeptic

My Ring alarm system covers 11 doors and windows. Every second-gen contact sensor runs on two CR2032 coin cells. The Ring Alarm Panic Button takes two more. The first-gen flood sensor uses a CR123A. The outdoor cameras run on Ring’s proprietary rechargeable pack. That’s four different battery formats inside one brand—and I haven’t even counted the Philips Hue motion sensors eating AA batteries in the upstairs hallway. This isn’t a coincidence or the result of engineers solving different problems independently. It’s a pattern, and it costs you money. Understanding why smart home reliability suffers starts with the hardware sitting in the wall right now. Every device uses different batteries The format zoo hiding in your smart home Ring alone spans CR2032 cells for contact sensors, two AA batteries for the outdoor contact sensor, CR123A for first-gen accessories, and proprietary lithium packs for its cameras. That’s one brand. Add a Schlage or Yale smart lock and you’re looking at four AA batteries. Philips Hue’s indoor motion sensor takes two AAs. Zigbee contact sensors from third-party brands …

Trump Says US Weighing Taking Stakes In AI Companies

Trump Says US Weighing Taking Stakes In AI Companies

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump told reporters on June 5 that his administration is exploring the possibility of the United States acquiring a public stake in artificial intelligence (AI) companies. Trump made the comment in response to a question about a recent News of the United States report, which suggested that unnamed senior U.S. officials had discussed with major AI firms the possibility of the federal government holding some shares in their companies. “There’s so much money that is so big that there are concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “I have spoken to all of [the AI companies]. There’s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public, and we’ll look into that,” he said. Trump said he and his team have a meeting scheduled in the “very near future” with major AI firms to discuss this possible venture. “We’re talking …

Russia’s Sechin says U.S. companies benefit from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz

Russia’s Sechin says U.S. companies benefit from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz

Published by Sam Flores

Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin said on Saturday that U.S. energy companies were the main beneficiaries of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and that Washington was trying to change the fundamental contours of the global energy markets to suit U.S. interests. Iran blockaded the Strait, the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilisers, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports. The closures of the Strait has rattled global markets, sending oil prices to multi-year highs, stoking global inflation and undermining economic growth world-wide. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin, a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, also said that the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers has lost some of its potential with the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates from the alliance. “The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is an attempt to reshape global energy market regulations to benefit the United States. The …

Collins bucks GOP on amendment to address insurance companies denying medical care

Collins bucks GOP on amendment to address insurance companies denying medical care

Published by Sam Flores

Vulnerable Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) broke with Senate Republican leaders Thursday and voted for a Democratic motion to commit the $70 billion budget reconciliation package to the Judiciary Committee to investigate insurance companies denying medical care to patients. The motion to send the package back to the Judiciary Committee to probe insurance companies’ abuses was… Source link