Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
As AI-powered search tools reshape how businesses are discovered online, India-founded startup Gushwork is helping companies capture customers from platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — with early traction that is beginning to draw investor support. The two-year-old startup said Thursday it had raised $9 million in a seed round led by Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Lightspeed, with participation from B Capital, Seaborne Capital, Beenext, Sparrow Capital, and 2.2 Capital. The round values Gushwork at $33 million post-money, up from about $7.5 million following its Lightspeed-led $2.1 million pre-seed in July 2023, a person familiar with the matter…
Anthropic on Wednesday announced that it has acquired Vercept, an AI startup with deep roots to some of the biggest names in Seattle’s tech scene. The acquisition marks the latest after Anthropic acquired coding agent engine Bun in December to help scale Claude Code. Vercept had created tools for more complex agentic tasks, including its product Vy, a computer-use agent in the cloud that could operate a remote Apple MacBook. Vercept is one of the many startups working on re-imagining the personal computer for the age of AI agents. As part of the deal, Anthropic is shuttering Vercept’s product on…
Researchers say seven seal pups have tested positive for an avian flu virus at California’s Año Nuevo State Park and several more are showing signs of the illness. The outbreak has prompted park officials to cancel the park’s popular seal-watching tours for the remainder of the seal breeding season.Researchers with University of California-Santa Cruz and University of California-Davis made the announcement Wednesday, calling it the first detected outbreak of the virus among marine mammals in California.The worldwide bird flu outbreak that began in 2020 has led to the deaths of millions of domesticated birds and spread to wildlife around the…
The AI data center boom has triggered a dramatic spike in electricity costs, and President Donald Trump has a plan to stop it.To do this, Trump said at Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he issued a mandate for data centers to build their own power plants.Trump said he’d “negotiated” a ratepayer protection pledge with major technology companies and billed it as a unique solution to Big Tech’s mounting power demand that would also protect American consumers from higher electricity bills.”They can build their own power plants as part of their factory,” Trump said.Many data center sites have already…
Los Angeles schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who has developed a reputation for improving academics and graduation rates while leading two major U.S. districts, had his home searched Wednesday by the FBI as part of a federal investigation. Agents served search warrants at the home as well as the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District and a location near Miami, where Carvalho was superintendent previously. Authorities have not given details on what they are investigating.Here’s what to know about Carvalho: A challenging start in the countryCarvalho has described his background in numerous news conferences and interviews over the years.…
Chip giant and world’s most valuable company Nvidia reported record profits in its most recent quarter on Wednesday, as demand for AI compute continues to skyrocket. “The demand for tokens in the world has gone completely exponential,” CEO Jensen Huang said on a call with analysts following the results. “I think we’re all seeing that, to the point where even our six-year-old GPUs in the cloud are completely consumed and the pricing is going up.” The company reported $68 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter, up 73% from the prior year, with $62 billion of that revenue coming…
Seven elephant seal pups have tested positive for avian flu at California’s Año Nuevo State Park, after scientists noticed several seals showing abnormal respiratory and neurological signs.Scientists at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the outbreak late Tuesday evening, marking the first outbreak of HPAI H5N1 in marine mammals in California, according to a press release from UC Davis.Male and female elephant seals, Ano Nuevo State Park, California, USA“This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals,” said Professor Christine Johnson, director of the Institute for Pandemic Insights at…
Covid vaccines are once again on the agenda for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel.The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to meet next month and plans to discuss Covid vaccine injuries, as well as potentially vote on recommendations, according to a Federal Register notice for the meeting posted Wednesday.The panel was entirely appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who last year dismissed all of its previous members. Many of Kennedy’s picks are vaccine skeptics.Numerous studies have shown the Covid shots are safe and effective.”Some committee members have made repeated claims…
A New Jersey baby who was born at 24 weeks gestation is home from the hospital after spending the first nine months of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit.The baby, Chimamanda Myla Obidike, who goes by Myla, was treated in the NICU by the same doctor who treated her mom, Chi Obidike, as a premature baby over 30 years ago.”It feels so surreal. I can’t believe [we are] finally going home after 285 days. But I’m so, so grateful and so, so excited,” Obidike said in an interview shared by Virtua Voorhees Hospital, where she gave birth to…
A Rhode Island college football player died from carbon monoxide poisoning after he tried to charge his phone in his car during a massive snow storm in a power outage.The storm knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people across the Northeast.First responders found 21-year-old Salve Regina University student Joseph Boutros unresponsive in his car on Monday in Newport, Rhode Island, where he was parked outside of a university building. Police said the vehicle’s exhaust pipe was obstructed by snow and that his death from carbon monoxide poisoning was accidental.The area didn’t have power at the time and Boutros…