Sci-Tech

Investors Pour $27.1 Billion Into A.I. Start-Ups, Defying a Downturn

Published

5 days ago

July 3, 2024

In May, CoreWeave, a provider of cloud computing services for A.I. companies, raised $1.1 billion, followed by $7.5 billion in debt, valuing it at $19 billion. Scale AI, a provider of data for A.I. companies, raised $1 billion, valuing it at $13.8 billion. And xAI, founded by Elon Musk, raised $6 billion, valuing it at $24 billion.

Such financing rounds have boosted the industry’s overall deal-making by dollar amount and number of deals, said Kyle Stanford, a research analyst at PitchBook.

“It’s not declining anymore,” he said. “The bottom has already fallen out.”

The activity has prompted some venture capital investors to change their message. Last year, Tom Loverro, an investor at IVP, predicted a “mass extinction event” for start-ups and encouraged them to cut costs. Last week, he declared that era over and christened this time the “Great Reawakening,” encouraging companies to “pour gas” on growth, particularly around artificial intelligence.

“The AI train is leaving the station & you need to be on it,” he wrote on X.

The start-up downturn began in early 2022 as many money-losing companies struggled to grow as quickly as they did in the pandemic. Rising interest rates also pushed investors to chase less risky investments. To make up for dwindling funding, start-ups slashed staff and scaled back their ambitions.

Then in late 2022, OpenAI, a San Francisco A.I. lab, kicked off a new boom with the release of its ChatGPT chatbot. Excitement around generative A.I. technology, which can produce text, images and videos, set off a frenzy of start-up creation and funding.

Source link

Sci-Tech

Russia’s Space Chief Finally Admits US Landed on Moon

Published

3 hours ago

July 8, 2024

EditorDavid

“Russia has finally admitted that American astronauts did, in fact, land on the moon,” reports Newsweek:

Head of Russian Space Corporation Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, accepted the truth of the U.S. putting a man on the moon in an address to the State Duma, Intellinews has reported.

“As for whether the Americans were on the Moon or not, I have one fact to share,” he was reported to have said. “I was personally interested in this matter. At one time, they provided us with a portion of the lunar soil that the astronauts brought back during their expedition.” Previous polling revealed that just under half of Russians believe America’s 1969 moon landing was a government hoax. However, Borisov said that tests performed on the samples by the Russian Academy of Scientists confirmed their authenticity.

Source link

Sci-Tech

How to watch Ariane 6 rocket’s maiden launch on Tuesday

Published

10 hours ago

July 8, 2024

Trevor Mogg

The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to conduct the maiden launch of its new Ariane 6 rocket. The new rocket builds on five decades of Ariane launches, and gives Europe a new spaceflight system for launching any type of satellite around Earth, to the moon, and beyond.

In the words of its operator, Arianespace, the new rocket will provide “new levels of efficiency and flexibility to meet customers’ evolving launch services needs across a full range of commercial and institutional missions.”

Arianespace is building two versions of the 63-meter-tall Ariane 6. Ariane 62 will fly with two strap-on boosters, while the more powerful Ariane 64 will fly with four.

Commenting on the upcoming launch, ESA said: “This is a big moment for Europe, as the rocket will ensure our guaranteed, autonomous access to space — and all of the science, Earth observation, technology development, and commercial possibilities that it entails. With many features brand new to Ariane 6, we’ll be able to carry more and take it further, while sustainably disposing of the launcher’s upper stage to prevent it becoming space debris.”

How to watch

Ariane 6 is scheduled to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Tuesday, 9 July, with a four-hour launch window opening from 2 p.m. ET.

The launch will be streamed live on ESAWebTV and the broadcast will begin half an hour before liftoff. You can also watch it via ESA’s YouTube channel, which we’ve embedded at the top of this page.

What to expect

Ariane 6’s maiden flight will comprise three phases, each of which will demonstrate the various abilities of Europe’s newest heavy-lift rocket.

Phase one will include the launch and early stage of the flight, as well as the separation of the rocket’s main stage from the upper stage. It also involves the first boost of the upper stage’s Vinci engine to take it into an elliptical orbit above Earth.

The second phase will put Ariane 6’s newest feature to the test — reignition of the upper stage to change Ariane 6’s orbit from elliptical to a circular orbit. It will then deploy three satellites — OOV-Cube, Curium One and Robusta-3A — and activate of two onboard experiments, YPSat and Peregrinus.

A few seconds later, the second batch of satellites will deploy — 3Cat-4, ISTSat, and GRBBeta. The last two experiments will also be activated, SIDLOC and Parisat. A third separation command will then deploy CURIE and replicator.

The final phase will push the rocket’s cryogenic upper stage to its limit to validate its ability to perform in microgravity conditions. Two reentry capsules will also separate from the upper stage and descend to Earth by surviving a fiery re-entry through the atmosphere.

With the mission complete, the upper stage will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere to avoid becoming another piece of hazardous space junk.

Source link

Sci-Tech

Best Buy Takes Up to $500 Off M3 MacBook Pro in New Sale

Published

17 hours ago

July 7, 2024

Mitchel Broussard

Best Buy this weekend is offering a big selection of discounts on Apple’s late 2023 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, with up to $500 off select models. These deals are available to all shoppers and do not require a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership.

macbook pro blue Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

14-Inch MacBook Pro

Starting with the 14-inch MacBook Pro, Best Buy’s new sale is focusing on the higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max models. Prices start at $1,699.00 for the M3 Pro 512GB model, and also include the M3 Max 1TB model for $2,899.00, both of which represent $300 discounts and all-time low prices.

16-Inch MacBook Pro

Moving to the larger display models, you’ll find up to $500 off select 16-inch MacBook Pros at Best Buy this weekend. Prices start at $2,199.00 for the M3 Pro, 18GB RAM, 512GB model, and reach $3,499.00 for the high-end M3 Max, 48GB RAM, 1TB model. Just like the 14-inch devices, every discount in this sale represents a record low price on each computer.

If you’re on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 ‘Slim’: Everything We Know So Far

In 2025, Apple is expected to discontinue the iPhone “Plus” device in its iPhone 17 lineup to make way for an iPhone “Slim” – although it may not actually be called this when it debuts in the fall of next year. Even though the iPhone 16 series launch is still over two months away, when you consider that we learned about larger displays on the iPhone 16 Pro models way back in May 2023, rumors…

Leak Confirms Apple’s Work On ‘Home Accessory’

Code discovered on Apple’s backend by MacRumors confirms Apple is indeed working on a long-rumored home accessory in addition to the HomePod and Apple TV. The code references a device with the identifier “HomeAccessory17,1,” which is a new identifier category. The name is similar to the HomePod’s “AudioAccessory” identifier. Interestingly, the 17,1 in the identifier name suggests that…

Apple Leak Confirms Four iPhone 16 Models With Same A18 Chip

Code discovered in Apple’s backend by Nicolás Alvarez and shared with MacRumors confirms Apple’s plans to release four iPhone 16 models this year, and it indicates that the devices will all have the same A-series chip. There are mentions of new model numbers that are not associated with existing iPhones, and that have the numbering scheme Apple uses for its flagship devices. The code…

Source link