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☆ The man who led Google Photos to 1 billion users is now the newest group partner at Y Combinator
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Lieb, having a background in semiconductors and not server management, reached out to his fellow Y Combinator founders for support. After a year and a half of advising at the accelerator, he's stepping up as a group partner, Y Combinator tells Business Insider exclusively. It was never released, but many of the ideas would later come back in the form of Google Photos. From there, he reached into the Y Combinator alumni network to find other promising upstarts. David Lieb, second from left, speaks to a group of Y Combinator founders.

Persons: David Lieb, Lieb, Alex Polvi, Combinator —, Garry Tan, Jared Friedman, Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel, Sam Altman, it's, Y Combinator, " Lieb, Dan Lieb, Y, Xoogler, Patrick, John Collison's, Mixpanel, Jake Mintz, Forbes, Kevin Systrom, Flock, Andy Huibers, Mary, 72m2YgJZq8 — David Lieb, Ryan Peterson, He's Organizations: Apple, Business, Investors, Google Locations: Cloudkick, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Flexport

☆ Apple reportedly exploring personal home robots
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook (2nd R) greets customers as he arrives for the release of the Vision Pro headset at the Apple Store in New York City on February 2, 2024. Apple is exploring the development of personal home robots after ditching its electric vehicle project, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. In recent years, the company has also invested heavily in products and services like its Apple Watch and Vision Pro virtual reality headset. The Vision Pro, however, will likely take years to create meaningful revenue. Apple's hardware engineering division and its artificial intelligence and machine learning group are overseeing the work on personal robotics, Bloomberg reported.

Persons: Tim Cook, Read, Leswing, Annie Palmer Organizations: Apple, Bloomberg, Engineers, Group, Apple Watch, Vision, Amazon Locations: New York City

☆ The breathtaking scope of Sam Altman's future AI empire
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

If Sam Altman is to achieve his dream of artificial general intelligence in his lifetime, that number will need to double or triple every year for the foreseeable future. These wide-ranging plans for global transformation go far beyond Altman's role as the CEO of generative AI behemoth OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT. EnergyThe first pillar of Altman's grand unified theory of the future rests on energy. Headlining the event was company chairman and investor Sam Altman, who appeared via video call projected on a towered cineplex. And Altman's AGI empire extends beyond just the energy and raw material required to build AGI.

Persons: Sam Altman, he's, Altman, it's, Max, Jack, Sam himself, Sam, David Kirtley, Helion, He's, Joe Betts Lacroix, Lacroix, where's, Joe Biden, Tade Oyerinde, Oyerinde, Ali Ghodsi, Ghodsi Organizations: Nvidia, Business, Elon, Altman, OpenAI, Energy, Bloomberg, Concorde, Wall Street, Retro Biosciences, Capitol, PAC Locations: Silicon Valley, OpenAI, Davos, New York, Redmond , Washington, Washington

☆ Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus: Why moon-landing missions are hard to do
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kristin Fisher | Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The lunar lander called Odysseus or IM-1, created by Houston-based company Intuitive Machines, is barreling toward the moon. If it fails, Odysseus would become the third lunar lander to meet a fiery demise on the moon in less than a year. Russia’s first lunar lander mission in 47 years, Luna 25, failed in August 2023 when it crash-landed. Overall, more than half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure — tough odds for a feat humanity first pulled off nearly 60 years ago. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission.

Persons: Odysseus, Luna, Ispace, Japan —, hasn’t, Scott Pace, George Washington, “, ” Pace, Artemis, ”, Greg Autry, “ There’s, India’s, Jitendra Singh, Satish, Satish Baby, ” Singh, Astrobotic, Steve Altemus, it’s, Glynn Lunney, ” Autry, “ Neil, Armstrong, “ We’ve, Joel Kearns Organizations: CNN, Technology, Policy Institute, ”, Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, State for Science, Indian Space Research Organisation, Space, Getty, Economic Times, NASA, Payload Services, Johnson Space Center, AP Locations: United States, Houston, Japan, Soviet, States, China, India, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, AFP, New York, Los Angeles, what's

☆ Kam Ghaffarian’s Moonshots
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Tim Fernholz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Much of the American space program is run out of nondescript offices in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. That’s where Kam Ghaffarian, the billionaire space entrepreneur, could be found on an auspicious day. Mr. Ghaffarian, 66, sat at a table made of gently glowing white onyx, also from Iran. Mr. Ghaffarian said he imported the stone because of its unique translucence when lit and because of the energy (spiritual, not physical) that the billion-year-old mineral emits. Just a few weeks later, Mr. Ghaffarian’s company tried to do something no private organization has ever done: Touch down softly on the surface of the moon.

Persons: Kam Ghaffarian, Ghaffarian, ”, Ghaffarian’s Organizations: D.C Locations: Washington, That’s, United States, Iran

At Meta, in CEO Mark Zuckerberg's words, 2023 was the "year of efficiency," and the stock jumped almost 200% alongside 20,000 job cuts. AI demand is so great that some tech companies are cutting headcount in parts of the business to invest more heavily in developing AI products. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, appears at the Political Opening of the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 23, 2023. Within tech, a wide variety of companies, big and small and spanning the consumer and enterprise markets, are eliminating jobs. But, he added, there's an "enormous base" of small and mid-sized tech companies across the U.S., and that in some cases contractors, freelancers and overseas workers are being hit particularly hard.

Persons: Peter Kramer, They've, Mark Zuckerberg's, Zeile, Phil Spencer, Franziska Krug, Sundar Pichai, Bob Carrigan, Nigel Vaz, Publicis Sapient, Salesforce, Meta's, " Vaz, Levi Strauss, Bob Bakish, Tim Herbert, Herbert, there's, Vaz, Michael Bloom, Annie Palmer, Jennifer Elias Organizations: Nasdaq, CNBC, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Investors, Activision Blizzard, SAP, Microsoft Gaming, Facebook, Citigroup, Paramount, Commerce Department, Gross Locations: Cologne, Germany, U.S

☆ People think self-driving cars should be 'better' than human drivers, executive says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementMany people think self-driving cars should be better than human drivers, an industry executive said. "There's a difference between an accident caused by a human driver, and an accident caused by an autonomous system," said Majors. Advertisement"I think that the expectation is that they have to be a lot better than a human driver, because when there is an accident and the computer's involved, there's less empathy or understanding." Majors said that Motional, a Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture developing autonomous technology, had operated more than 2 million miles autonomously with no at-fault crashes. Cruise, which was trialing "robotaxi" services that ferried passengers around San Francisco without a human driver, was forced to recall its entire fleet late last year.

Persons: Laura Majors, Motional, Cruise, —, Majors, Tesla, Elon Musk's, Robert Falck, " Falck Organizations: Hyundai, Tesla, Service, Economic, GM, Einride, Business Locations: San Francisco, Davos, Cruise, California

☆ Investing in Space: A reality check on SPAC frenzy revenue projections
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Overview: Forecast or fantasyWe're now at least two years on from when a slew of space companies went public during the SPAC frenzy, and, look, none of them look great. Now a bit further down the road, I want to look at a different financial metric: 2023 revenue projections. I ran an informal series for a while to mark when a space company announced it was going public. The rest of the pack isn't as on the mark: A few companies are roughly halfway to their earlier 2023 revenue projections, or performing even better. Spire forecast 2023 revenue of $227 million and is closing in on about $107 million.

Persons: Angela Weiss, CNBC's Michael Sheetz, it's, I'd, Here's, Derek Tournear, Ron Rosano, Trevor Beattie, Namira Salim, –, REx, Christopher Povak, Lisa Watson, Morgan, – Watson, Morgan Starliner, General, NASA Astrobotic, Andy Lapsa Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, AFP, Getty, Terran, Galactic Astra, CNBC, Pentagon, Space Development Agency, LinkedIn, Galactic, NASA, NASA NRO, Soyuz, – Reuters, Reuters SpaceX, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, IAC, Lunar Research, SpaceX, Boeing NASA, Moonshots Capital, Lavrock Ventures, Veteran Fund, Mana Ventures, AIN Ventures, Capital Factory, Astra, – Bloomberg, ViaSat, Viasat Locations: Russian, Azerbaijan, Russia, Venezuela, South Africa, Florida, Washington, CNBC Los Angeles

☆ The U.S. government is investing $22 million into developing surveillance clothing that includes shirts, pants, and underwear that can record video and audio
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The federal government has a $22 million surveillance clothing program, according to The Intercept. The initiative will develop shirts, pants, socks, and underwear that can record audio and video. In other words, funding moonshots like underwear that's as stretchable and washable as normal underwear, but can also record your every move. Some are worried, though, that the SMART ePANTS program could lay the groundwork for more invasive forms of surveillance. She added, "now suppose SMART ePANTS detects a chemical on your skin — imagine where that can lead."

Persons: Dawson Cagle, Cagle, Annie Jacobsen, they're, IARPA Organizations: Apple, Oura, Textile Systems, SMART, Intercept, Smart, National Intelligence, Intelligence, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, SMART ePANTS, United, TSA

☆ Russia dominated the first space race, but now it can't even land on the moon. Photos show the US and China are way ahead.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

China, Russia, and the US (with its international allies) are all plotting huge new moonshots. Photos of the space efforts of the US, China, and Russia reveal how far behind the former space power has fallen. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe US and China are innovating, while Russia's space tech agesNASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Berger cited other underlying issues that are stifling Russia's space ambitions, like budget cuts, quality control, and corruption. Western sanctions have harmed Russia's space program in other ways, limiting its access to high-quality microchips, the AP reported.

Persons: Artemis, Russia isn't, hasn't, Russia's Luna, Bill Nelson, Luna, NASA’s, —, Tingshu Wang, Sergei Markov, Russia's, Steve Seipel, Yuri Borisov, Borisov, Bill Ingalls, Eric Berger, Vladimir Putin's, Berger, Xue Lei, landers, Roscosmos, Victoria Samson Organizations: Service, NASA, AP, Soviet Union, Operation, Space Corporation, Politico, New York Times, China National Space Administration, Vostochny, Luna, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight, Arizona State University NASA, Orion, NASA NASA, SpaceX, National Museum, Reuters, Kremlin, Kennedy Space Center, CNN, Russian Soyuz, Baikonur, Future Publishing, Getty, European Space Agency, ESA, Secure, Foundation Locations: Wall, Silicon, China, Russia, Soviet, Soviet Union, China National Space Administration Russia, Russia's Far, India, Russian, Beijing, Ukraine, Florida, Kazakhstan, Washington

☆ Alphabet moonshots are ready for launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Alphabet logo and AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alphabet (GOOGL.O) is poised to welcome the autumn harvest. Verily boss Stephen Gillett told employees this month that it will cut its ties to several of Alphabet’s services next year. Such a financial services business strays from Alphabet’s wheelhouse, and with artificial intelligence demanding fresh attention, it’s wise to be prudent about capital allocation. Waymo, the autonomous vehicle technology business, secured a vote of approval this month from San Francisco to operate driverless rideshares in the city.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley, ”, Stephen Gillett, wheelhouse, Chris Hohn’s, Ford, Porat, Verily, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Life Sciences, Wall Street Journal, Temasek, TCI Fund Investments, Google, Sciences, Wall, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

☆ All Hail the Long-Suffering Cadaver
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Amor Towles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

For over 100 years the cadaver, that unsung hero of murder mysteries, has been accommodating, gracious and generally on time. But through it all, the cadaver has shown up without complaint to do its job. But decade in and decade out, the cadaver has remembered its lines and hit its mark. And all of this — the loss of life, the autopsies, the recriminations — the cadaver has suffered in silence, on our behalf. After all, it was the cadaver who set the wheels of a mystery in motion.

Persons: Agatha Christie

☆ Want to work in tech? Don't work in tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Tien Tzuo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

I advise young engineers today to work for Fortune 500 companies, not Big Tech. Today, however, he's working on a project for a different kind of tech company: John Deere. There is no magic at Big Tech companies, there's only money. And Fortune 500 companies simply don't have the luxury of buying talent just to park it. Today, all companies are tech companies, and they all want to see more recurring revenue in their business models, which means they need smart, restless engineers.

Persons: moonshots, Jon Weisz, John Deere, Weisz, Peter Thiel, that's, Philips, Ford, Tien Tzuo, Tzuo Organizations: Fortune, Big Tech, Corporations, Oracle, Apple, Nike, Honeywell, Volvo, Boeing, Whirlpool, Technologists, Facebook, Consumer, SEI, Microsoft, EV, Cornell, Stanford Locations: Columbia, Baltimore, Hulu, Atlanta, Salesforce

☆ A top AI expert says most outsourced coders in India will be out of a job in 2 years thanks to the technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque thinks AI will eliminate most outsourced coding jobs in India. AI will soon eliminate most outsourced coding jobs in India as the technology will drastically reduce the need for them, according to a leading AI expert. Tech jobs are one of the professions most likely to be replaced by AI, Insider's Aaron Mok and Jacob Zinkula previously reported. GitHub's CEO Thomas Dohnke told Computer Weekly last year that AI could help developers be more productive. Additionally, workers with AI skills stand to gain as the tech industry is placing a greater focus on talent in this area, Insider's Thomas Maxwell reported.

Persons: Emad Mostaque, you'll, Mostaque —, Insider's Aaron Mok, Jacob Zinkula, Thomas Dohnke, Insider's Thomas Maxwell Organizations: Morning, UBS, CNBC, Bloomberg, Computer Locations: India, France

REUTERS/Nathan FrandinoMOUNTAIN VIEW, California, June 26 (Reuters) - Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) has already tried and failed to bring internet access to rural and remote areas by using high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere. But now, the company is delivering internet service to remote areas by using beams of light. It was initiated in 2016 after attempts at using stratospheric balloons to deliver internet ran into problems due to high costs, company executives said. Taara executives and Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS), one of India's largest telecommunications and internet providers, told Reuters they are now moving toward larger-scale deployment of the new laser internet technology in India. Bharti Airtel's chief technology officer, Randeep Sekhon, said Taara will also help deliver faster internet service in urban areas in developed countries.

Persons: Nathan, Mahesh Krishnaswamy, Taara, Krishnaswamy, Astro Teller, moonshots, Teller, Bharti, Randeep Sekhon, Jane Lanhee Lee, Nathan Frandino, Kenneth Li, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Bharti Airtel, Reuters, Econet Group, Liquid Telecom, Bluetown, Digicel, Airtel, Sciences, Bharti Airtel's, Google, Thomson Locations: Alphabet's, View , California, U.S, California, India, Australia, Kenya, Fiji, Africa, Pacific, Osur, Chennai, Mountain View

☆ Virgin Galactic defies gravity
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Virgin Galactic (SPCE.N) countdown has begun. Richard Branson’s space tourism company said on Thursday it plans to launch its first commercial flight within days. Virgin Galactic also depends on there being enough people willing to pay $450,000 for a few minutes in weightlessness. If Virgin Galactic could carry six passengers a week, and earn a 20% EBITDA margin, it would someday generate about $30 million of such earnings. For a company that has so badly missed previous projections, it’s Virgin Galactic’s valuation that is out of this world.

Persons: Richard, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Robert Cyran, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Streisand Neto Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Virgin, Galactic, Origin, SpaceX, Southwest Airlines, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Cava

☆ A former Google exec warned about the dangers of AI saying it is 'beyond an emergency' and 'bigger than climate change'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mo Gawdat, a former top Google employee, said AI is a bigger emergency than climate change. Gawdat appeared in an episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett to discuss AI. A former Google officer has weighed in on the debate around AI and warned that it is a bigger emergency than climate change, in an an episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast released Thursday. "It is beyond an emergency," Gawdat told Bartlett in the podcast. It's bigger than climate change believe it or not."

Persons: Mo Gawdat, Gawdat, Steven Bartlett, —, Bartlett, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Emad Mostaque, OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, Sundar Pichai Organizations: Google, Elon, Apple, Financial Times

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Tech jumps, semis hot, Meta mania
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Club holding Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gets a big price target hike to $120 per share from $85 at Wells Fargo. 4. Credit Suisse raises price target on Club holding Meta Platforms (META) to $251 per share from $220. Deutsche Bank trims price target on Dow stock Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) by $1 per share to $46. Keeps buy rating. — Correction: This update makes clear Morgan Stanley cuts price target on Charles Schwab.

At some Silicon Valley Bank branch locations in California, depositors gathered early Friday to attempt to get their cash out, fearing it could be inaccessible in the coming days. It has had financial relationships with a who’s who of Silicon Valley firms over the years, including Snapchat's parent Snap Inc (SNAP.N). A locked door to a Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) location on Sand Hill Road is seen in Menlo Park, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. A Silicon Valley Bank spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday. As of Friday, FarmboxRx’s funds were still tied up with Silicon Valley Bank.

March 10 (Reuters) - The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday sent shockwaves through the startup community, which has come to view the lender as a source of reliable capital, particularly for some of tech’s biggest moonshots. It has had financial relationships with a who’s who of Silicon Valley firms over the years, including Snapchat's parent Snap Inc (SNAP.N)Snap declined to comment. A Silicon Valley Bank spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent Friday. Uncertainty swept through Silicon Valley as startup founders and venture capital firms worried they could, among other things, fail to make payroll. As of Friday, FarmboxRx’s funds were still tied up with Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ Google is spinning off the exoskeleton robotics project Skip, formerly known as Smarty Pants, amid a pullback on moonshots
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alphabet is saying goodbye to another robotics project. Formerly known as Smarty Pants, the project has been renamed Skip. That project, formerly known as "Smarty Pants" and now named "Skip," is in the process of being spun out of Alphabet. Google X previously spun out the industrial robotics company Intrinsic as an Alphabet company in 2021. An X spokesperson would not comment on whether Alphabet would retain any sort of stake in Skip once it's independent.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck three siblings used to raise $17 million in funding from Coatue for their mobile app performance startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The four Liberman siblings have been building companies together for nearly two decades. Their latest venture, Product Science, just raised $17 million in Series A funding. Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that scored the startup millions from Coatue and others. Although app delays aren't noticeable to most users, there's a long tail of consumers on older devices whose experiences can be significantly hindered by poor app performance, Liberman said. Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck Product Science used to raise $17 million of Series A funding from Coatue, K5 Global, and Peter Fenton from Benchmark:

☆ Investors need to embrace these stocks that we love
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

I’ve typically done this stock picking feature in early to mid February as a Stocks We Love type of story, pegging it to Valentine’s Day. The restaurant stocks in particular could do well. Inflation is obviously still a concern for big consumer brands. Consumer prices rose 6.5% over the past 12 months through December, down from a 7.1% pace in November. Up nextMonday: Earnings from TreeHouse Foods (THS), Avis Budget (CAR), FirstEnergy (FE), IAC (IAC) and PalantirTuesday: US CPI; Japan GDP; UK employment report; earnings from Coca-Cola, Asahi Group, Marriott (MAR).

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