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Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company's need to excel in AI during an all-hands meeting, following an earnings call where increased AI investments were announced.
Cook reportedly told employees that dominating AI is 'ours to grab,' acknowledging past instances where Apple wasn't first but innovated modern versions of existing products.
Despite recent AI-powered features, promised upgrades to Siri have faced delays, indicating a need to catch up with competitors in the AI landscape.
Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, views Figma's successful IPO as a validation of her approach to scrutinizing mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the tech industry. Khan argues that allowing startups like Figma to grow independently fosters innovation and generates greater value, referencing the failed Adobe acquisition of Figma due to regulatory concerns. While critics attribute Figma's success to its innovation, Khan sees it as a win for employees, investors, and the public.
Anthropic has revoked OpenAI's access to its Claude family of AI models due to concerns that OpenAI was using Claude to benchmark its own models, potentially violating Anthropic's terms of service. Anthropic's terms prohibit using Claude to build competing services. While access is cut off, Anthropic will allow OpenAI access for benchmarking and safety evaluations. OpenAI expressed disappointment, noting their API remains available to Anthropic. This decision follows previous resistance from Anthropic to providing access to competitors.
According to Sapphire Ventures partner Cathy Gao, startup founders seeking Series C funding in 2025 face a complex capital market where access to capital is challenging. Only a small fraction of startups raising a Series A make it to Series C, and investors are prioritizing certainty and market leadership over mere growth.
Companies should demonstrate they are category leaders with efficient growth and undeniable market pull. Metrics are important, but investors need to be convinced of the company's potential to dominate its space. Gao emphasizes that continuity and sustainable growth are more valuable than short-term virality, with investors seeking compounding loops where the company strengthens as it scales.
Founders should treat fundraising like a go-to-market campaign, building relationships with VCs well in advance. Creating an "investor CRM" to track investor preferences and sending periodic updates can be beneficial. Most importantly, companies should only initiate a fundraise after receiving interest from multiple firms, as timing and planning are critical at the Series C level.
A Florida jury has found Tesla partially responsible for a 2019 fatal crash involving Autopilot. The company must pay approximately $242.5 million in damages, including punitive fines.
The crash occurred when neither the driver nor Autopilot braked, resulting in the death of a 20-year-old pedestrian. The jury assigned two-thirds of the blame to the driver and one-third to Tesla.
Tesla plans to appeal the verdict, arguing that it will hinder automotive safety advancements. The company claims the driver was responsible and that no car in 2019 could have prevented the crash.
The case highlights concerns about overconfidence in driver assistance systems like Autopilot, a problem previously acknowledged by Elon Musk and investigated by the NTSB.
A Florida jury found Tesla partially responsible for a 2019 fatal crash involving Autopilot, awarding $329 million in damages. The crash, which killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured Dillon Angulo, was attributed to both the driver's negligence (two-thirds) and Tesla's Autopilot system (one-third).
The plaintiffs' attorney argued Tesla designed Autopilot for controlled highways but didn't restrict its use elsewhere, with Elon Musk promoting its capabilities beyond its limits. Tesla plans to appeal, citing errors in law and claiming no car in 2019 could have prevented the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) previously criticized Tesla for ignoring safety recommendations after a 2018 fatal crash where a driver using Autopilot was playing a mobile game. Musk acknowledged in 2018 that driver complacency with Autopilot was a problem.
The trial coincides with Tesla's rollout of its Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas, utilizing an enhanced version of its Full Self-Driving system.
A federal jury in Miami found Tesla partially responsible for a fatal 2019 crash involving Autopilot. The plaintiffs were awarded $200 million in punitive damages. The crash, which killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured Dillon Angulo, was attributed to both the driver and Tesla's Autopilot system. The jury assigned two-thirds of the blame to the driver and one-third to Tesla. The verdict marks a significant legal decision against Tesla regarding its driver assistance technology. Tesla plans to appeal the verdict, citing errors of law and irregularities at trial.
The acquisition of Windsurf by Google for $2.4 billion has stirred controversy in Silicon Valley, particularly regarding the distribution of funds. While VCs (Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst) and the co-founders (Varun Mohan, Douglas Chen) benefited significantly, many of Windsurf's 250 employees were left without a payout.
Google split the payment into two $1.2 billion portions: one for investors and one for employee compensation. Investors saw returns of about 4x their original funding. Greenoaks made approximately $500 million on their $65 million investment, and Kleiner Perkins returned about 3x its invested capital.
Approximately 200 Windsurf employees not hired by Google did not receive a payout, despite the company retaining over $100 million in capital. This decision has drawn criticism, with some suggesting the funds could have been used to compensate all employees. Some Google-hired employees had their stock grants revoked and vesting timelines reset.
Vinod Khosla criticized Windsurf's founders for not sharing the proceeds with the team. Following the Google deal, Windsurf's remaining entity was acquired by Cognition, allowing all remaining employees to benefit financially. Cognition reportedly paid $250 million for Windsurf’s IP and product.
Lovense, a manufacturer of internet-connected sex toys, has confirmed the resolution of security vulnerabilities that exposed users' email addresses and allowed account takeovers.
CEO Dan Liu mentioned the company is considering legal action in response to reports about the bug.
A security researcher disclosed the bugs, reporting them earlier in the year after Lovense's delayed response.
Lovense claims that there is no evidence suggesting user data was compromised, despite reports indicating otherwise.
The company did not respond to requests for clarification on how it determined the lack of compromise.
Instagram now requires users to have a public account with a minimum of 1,000 followers to go live.
This change restricts the live feature, previously available to all users regardless of follower count or account privacy.
The new requirement aligns Instagram with TikTok, which also mandates 1,000 followers for live streaming, while YouTube requires only 50 subscribers.
Instagram states the move aims to improve the overall Live consumption experience, potentially by limiting lower-quality streams and saving on hosting costs.
Users have expressed displeasure, with some requesting the change be reversed.