Author: Editor-In-Chief
Has AI coding reached a tipping point? At least that seems to be the case for Spotify, which said on its fourth-quarter earnings call this week that its talented developers “haven’t written a single line of code since December.” This statement from Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström came alongside other comments about how the company is leveraging AI to accelerate development. Notably, Spotify noted that it released over 50 new features and changes to its streaming app throughout 2025. And it recently rolled out even more features, including AI-powered prompt playlists, audiobook page matching, and About This Song, all of which…
The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to overturn a study on the harms of greenhouse gases may seem like a victory for gas-guzzling heavy vehicles and a disaster for the U.S. electric vehicle market. But critics of the move and some industry analysts argue that the U.S. auto industry can’t afford to retreat too far from fuel-efficient cars and EVs. EPA is reconsidering the legal framework known as endangerment certification for several reasons, chief among them the conclusion that the Clean Air Act of 1970 gave the agency authority to regulate airborne toxins that pose a direct threat to human health,…
OpenAI raises largest private technology funding round in history. Rival Anthropic currently holds second place. Anthropic announced Thursday that it has completed a $30 billion funding round at a post-money valuation of $380 billion. This is more than double what the artificial intelligence company was valued at when it last raised capital in September.The companies behind Claude are looking to align with OpenAI, which closed a more than $40 billion round led by SoftBank last year. The largest private deal before that was Ant Group’s $14 billion capital raise in 2018.Developing and training AI models is very expensive. This is…
Last spring, Chantel Williams’ position in the federal government was precarious. Williams, a former General Services Administration hiring team employee, found herself in a state of confusion and anxiety. The agency she worked for had fallen into a maintenance pattern as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency began an effort to aggressively reduce the size and scope of government agencies at the direction of President Donald Trump.The cuts to DOGE, a pillar of President Trump’s second term, were swift and widespread across the federal workforce. The most affected government agencies include the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer…
Two Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid have entered the port of Havana, the Cuban capital, as the United States continues efforts to cut off external fuel supplies from the island.On Thursday, pedestrians on Havana’s seawall watched as ships, including the Papaloapan, unloaded white pallets onto shore.Recommended stories list of 3 itemsend of listMexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the issue at a morning press conference and promised further assistance was on the way.”We’re sending different forms of aid, different forms of assistance,” Sheinbaum said. “The ship is arriving today. Once the ship returns, we will send more assistance of a different…
Arne Slott hailed the efficiency of Liverpool’s set-pieces in their 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. “Usually we concede one goal, but tonight we were able to score. That was the difference for us in this game,” he said in a press conference.Virgil van Dijk’s second-half header from Mohamed Salah’s shot was actually Liverpool’s third goal from a corner in their last four Premier League games. However, their total of four games this season is still the fifth-fewest in the Premier League. Slott cited the cost of failing to capitalize on set-pieces in close games earlier this…
Anthropic announced Thursday that it has closed a $30 billion Series G funding round. The company’s new value is $380 billion, a significant increase from the company’s previous Series F valuation of $183 billion. Some details of the round were reported by Bloomberg earlier this week. The new round was led by Singaporean wealth fund GIC and investment management firm Coatue, with a number of other notable companies co-leading the round, including DE Shaw Ventures, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX. Other significant investors listed include Accel, General Catalyst, Jane Street and Qatar Investment Authority. The AI startup’s…
A customer shops at Walmart on January 22, 2026 in Little Rock, Arkansas.Will Newton | Getty ImagesInvestors got some good news this week regarding the state of the labor market, but there could be more news on inflation on Friday.The consumer price index, a broad measure of the cost of goods and services across the U.S. economy, is expected to rise 2.5% from a year ago, according to Dow Jones consensus forecasts released in January. If that is ultimately accurate, the widely cited measure of inflation will return to May 2025 levels. This comes a month after President Donald Trump…
The Trump administration on Thursday rescinded a landmark scientific discovery that provided the legal basis for federal regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions, dealing a devastating blow to efforts to combat climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency, created in 2009 under President Barack Obama, classified carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases as threats to public health and welfare. It underpins Clean Air Act emissions standards and regulations for passenger cars and light trucks, power plants, and oil and gas industry facilities.President Donald Trump said at the White House with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin that EPA is “formally…
An illuminated logo sits outside the Cisco booth at ISE 2024 on January 30, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.Cesc Maymo | Getty ImagesCisco Systems Shares fell as much as 12% on Thursday as rising memory prices weighed on the networking company’s profits. It was the worst day for stock prices since 2022.Strong demand for artificial intelligence chips Nvidia The global memory shortage is causing component costs to rise. Large orders for data center memory limit production capacity for other devices, including smartphones.This is creating uncertainty for many technology companies, including consumer electronics manufacturers such as: apple and Dell Likewise, chip manufacturers…