Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

The ink has dried.SpaceX closed its $60 billion acquisition of the AI coding startup Cursor on Friday. The two companies first partnered in April, giving Elon Musk’s space company the right to buy Cursor. SpaceX officially committed to the acquisition in June.On SpaceX’s August earnings call, Musk was hesitant to give any details about the SpaceX-Cursor partnership. “We don’t want to jump the gun on regulators for closing the acquisition,” he said.The two companies, however, have already been close collaborators. Here’s how.Supporting GrokUsed a new Grok model? You have Cursor to thank.Cursor trained Grok 4.5 jointly with SpaceX. That included…

After years of snapping up wind and solar developments, hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are betting that natural gas will power the data centers behind their lofty AI ambitions. But a new research report suggests they may regret their newfound affinity for the fossil fuel. Natural gas prices could triple in some parts of the U.S. in the coming years as hyperscaler demand collides with declining supply growth and rising exports of liquefied natural gas, according to Noreva, an energy research firm. Hyperscalers might not be prepared for future price shocks. “I think everyone in the energy markets…

SpaceX’s stock could come under pressure again as more early investors gain the freedom to cash in their stakes, said research analyst and “Prof G Markets” podcast co-host Ed Elson.Elson discussed the risks surrounding SpaceX’s mega IPO in June during an episode of Kara Swisher’s “On” podcast, released on Thursday.He said that although SpaceX’s first major lockup expiration didn’t trigger the sell-off some investors feared, the company still has seven more rounds of shares scheduled to become eligible for trading by the end of the year.Elson predicted “a lot of selling pressure” as early backers look to realize their SpaceX…

Elon Musk’s long battle with Tesla’s striking workers in Sweden is finally coming to an end.On Thursday, IF Metall said it is suspending its nearly three-year industrial action against Tesla, effective August 19, after the company bought out all of the Swedish union’s striking workers.The fractious dispute has disrupted Tesla’s operations in the Scandinavian country, with dockworkers refusing to unload the company’s EVs from ships and cleaners boycotting Tesla’s showrooms and offices as other unions joined the fray.The strike action, which lasted more than 1,000 days, has drawn Musk’s attention, with the Tesla CEO previously calling it “insane.” Musk has been…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Western civilization and Christianity this fall in the schools it operates for military families, part of an effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning. The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.The…

Aaron Sorkin is surprisingly upbeat about AI. It’s mostly because he doesn’t think it’ll make good art.During an interview with Esquire’s “What I’ve Learned” podcast, released on Wednesday, the “West Wing” and “The Social Network” creator responded to a question about technology in Hollywood.”I have a very optimistic view of our future with AI,” the award-winning writer answered. “And here’s why: I don’t think it’s going to work.”He recalled seeing an abstract painting at a party. When its owner revealed that it was computer-generated, he said the art lost its emotional connection.”I was impressed by the technology that could do…

YouTube star Cliff Tan apologized for promoting AI, but he doesn’t regret it.Tan, who came under intense backlash from fans after he posted a paid promotion for an AI company on Monday, told Business Insider that, like it or not, interior designers need to learn to use AI if they want to secure future work.”You can’t just avoid it forever,” Tan said. “The industry is using it. You need to embrace it if you don’t want to be out of a job.”Tan is based in London and runs a popular interior design YouTube channel called “Dear Modern” that has 2.4…

Nvidia is squeezing even more value out of its deal with AI chipmaker Groq by turning a former rival into a customer.Groq said Wednesday it plans to put Nvidia systems in its data centers — meaning customers of its AI cloud service, GroqCloud, can access Nvidia technology alongside Groq’s signature language processing units (LPUs), chips designed as a fast and efficient alternative to Nvidia’s AI chips.It’s an about-face from where the companies started — and highlights Nvidia’s strategic approach to fending off competition, analysts said.Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman said Groq’s surviving entity “is proving something different: that the fastest…

The price of AI is falling fast. That might sound like bad news for the industry. Early evidence suggests the opposite is happening.OpenAI recently slashed the price of its GPT-5.6 Luna model by 80%. It also cut the price of its mid-range Terra model by 20%.Then something striking happened: Customers started using dramatically more AI.TD Cowen analysts studied usage data from OpenRouter, a service that lets developers access different AI models. They found that the effective price of using Luna fell roughly tenfold after the cuts. Meanwhile, consumption jumped about 14-fold. Terra’s effective price fell roughly threefold while usage increased…

Lovers and haters are erecting monuments for their favorite tech billionaire, Elon Musk.Just north of the US-Mexico Border, near Brownsville, Texas, sits Starbase, SpaceX’s massive rocket launch and development site. In 2025, the surrounding area became incorporated as the City of Starbase, with a population of more than 500 residents, though thousands of people work at the complex.Recently, Starbase has turned into a locus of monuments tied to Musk and the achievements — or excesses, depending on your point of view — of his companies.A French foundry group, Atelier Missor, shared photos on X last week, showing its progress in…