Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
OpenAI announced on Thursday it has acquired Software Applications, Inc., the makers of an AI-powered natural language interface for Mac computers called Sky. The software product, which had not been released to the public, is designed to work alongside you throughout your day, as you use apps on the computer, writing, planning, coding, and more. Similar to AI browsers, Sky can see what’s on the your screen and take action in your apps for you. The move is a significant step toward embedding OpenAI’s technology into consumers’ everyday lives and within businesses that run on Mac. “We’ve always wanted computers…
Rivian plans to cut more than 600 roles, according to an internal memo shared with the company on Thursday that was viewed by Business Insider.The electric vehicle maker’s decision to lay off around 4.5% of its workforce of 15,000 comes as administrative changes loom over the EV industry.The reduction is one of several rounds of layoffs that Rivian has conducted over the past three years.Although EV sales in the US hit a record high in the third quarter of 2025, EV makers are facing the Trump Administration’s elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit. Americans had until September 30 to…
Five million users. Eight-figure annual recurring revenue. Twenty thousand new users joining daily. These are some solid numbers for a startup called Turbo AI launched in early 2024 by Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan, two 20-year-old college dropouts. Most of this growth has come in the past six months, the founders tell TechCrunch, during which their AI-powered note-taking and study tool grew from one million to five million users, while remaining profitable. They say the idea for Turbo stemmed from a classroom problem many college students face, which is trying to take notes while paying attention to a lecture at…
Meta is bringing its AI-powered photo and video editing tools directly to Instagram Stories, allowing users to enter text prompts to add or remove things in photos and videos or even change it completely. While Meta has already offered image editing capabilities on Instagram, those tools were limited to interactions with the Meta AI chatbot. The addition of text-based prompts in Stories now makes these editing features much more accessible. The new features can be found in the “Restyle” menu located at the top of Instagram Stories when tapping the paintbrush icon. To edit an image, choose “add,” “remove,” or…
Microsoft released a new batch of features for its AI assistant Thursday, including an ambitious project that builds artificial intelligence directly into one of its most central products. More than a simple extension, the Copilot Mode in Microsoft’s Edge browser is Microsoft’s take on the long-hyped AI browser category — an intelligent and flexible AI assistant that follows you as you browse the web. Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, even described the new product in those terms in the announcement. “Copilot Mode in Edge is evolving into an AI browser that is your dynamic, intelligent companion,” Suleyman wrote…
By Sriparna Roy(Reuters) -The U.S. could have saved up to $1.5 billion in the first year following approval of a drug if the price after rebates and discounts aligned with its benchmark, an analysis from an influential drug pricing watchdog showed on Thursday.The data from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, based on an analysis of 23 drugs previously reviewed by the research firm, comes as President Donald Trump has called for U.S. drug prices to match those paid in other high-income nations.Last month, Pfizer and Trump cut a deal to cut prices for drugs the company sells to…
President Donald Trump said he no longer plans to send federal forces to San Francisco over the weekend — and he says that’s in part because some tech CEOs encouraged him to hold off.In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said that he was preparing to “surge” federal forces into the city on Saturday, but decided to hold off after “friends of mine who live in the area” called him on Wednesday night.He specifically named Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as among the “great people” who called him and urged him to call off the…
Nearly one in five urinary tract infections in a group of patients in Southern California were linked to E. coli from contaminated meat, a four-year study found. And researchers say the problem could be occurring across the United States.The researchers found 18% of the more than 2,300 urinary tract infections, or UTIs, in the study — published in the mBio journal on Thursday — were linked to E. coli strains found in meat samples from grocery stores in the same area. The meats most commonly found to test positive for E. coli were turkey and chicken, followed by pork and…
By Siddhi Mahatole(Reuters) -The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will temporarily bring back furloughed staff next week to support open enrollment for Medicare and Affordable Care Act plans, despite the ongoing government shutdown, a spokesperson said on Thursday.The agency said the move was needed “to best serve the American people” during the enrollment periods.Staff had been furloughed for three weeks and will return on October 27, according to the spokesperson.CMS will fund the return using user fees collected from data-sharing agreements with researchers, allowing it to resume limited operations without congressional appropriations.It did not disclose how many workers are…
Microsoft has a new Clippy, and it’s an AI friend called Mico. At the company’s Copilot fall release press event on Thursday, the company introduced a range of new features and updates for its AI chatbot, but one that telegraphed how the tech giant intends to bring AI to consumers was the official introduction of its AI chatbot’s “face” — an expressive avatar blob named Mico. The company explains that Mico (its name a nod to “Microsoft Copilot”) is meant to offer consumers a “warm” and “customizable” visual presence that “listens, reacts, and even changes colors to reflect your interactions.”…