With the rise of AI, energy and heat efficiency have once again become pressing concerns for companies that use and build chips. The skyrocketing demand for hardware to run AI models is dragging up energy bills, as these servers require vast numbers of chips and enormous cooling setups. Vaire Computing, based in London and Seattle, … Read more
Preliminary findings by the European Commission investigating a controversial binary choice Meta has forced on regional users of its social neworks, Facebook and Instagram, since last fall does not comply with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Failure to abide by the ex ante market contestability regulation, which has applied on Meta and other so … Read more
SmartHR, a cloud-based human resources and labor management software startup, said on Monday that it has raised $140 million in a funding round led by KKR and Teachers’ Ventures Growth, an investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, with participation from existing investors. The Series E round, which comes three years after the company raised … Read more
The first self-checkout system was installed in 1986 in a Kroger grocery store just outside of Atlanta. It took several decades, but the technology has finally proliferated across the U.S. Given the automated direction grocery stores are heading, it seems that robotic bagging can’t be too far behind. MIT’s CSAIL department this week is showcasing … Read more
AI is here to help, whether you’re drafting an email, making some concept art, or running a scam on vulnerable folks by making them think you’re a friend or relative in distress. AI is so versatile! But since some people would rather not be scammed, let’s talk a little about what to watch out for. … Read more
When Til Klein and Jochen Beutgen came across Gaingels, the U.S.-based syndicate of angel investors backing LGBTQ+ founders, they wondered why there wasn’t a firm looking to do the same for the European LGBTQ+ startup community. Five years later, when a firm like that still didn’t exist, Klein and Beutgen decided they should try to … Read more
In the early 1990s, a researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology began work on what would become Paro. More than 30 years after its development, the doe-eyed seal pup remains the best-known example of a therapeutic robot for older adults. In 2011, the robot reached the zenith of pop cultural … Read more
If data is truly the fuel for generative AI, and one of the keys to a successful implementation is access to data meaningful to running the business, it would seem that certain SaaS vendors have a built-in advantage where the data is concerned. Executing is another matter, but if the data is there, the models … Read more
India is very far from the “uncanny valley” of San Francisco, but it has a massive trove of engineering talent, and some of those people are hopping on the train and turning into founders and builders of AI startups. The story of the AI startup ecosystem in India today is reminiscent of the early days … Read more
We live in a very different world since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. With global military expenditure reaching $2.4 trillion last year, startups are hoping to get a share of the pie, and formerly reluctant investors are keen to help them do so. The U.S. budget … Read more