Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Aces hadn’t spent a lot of time working on zone defense, so what better time than the fourth quarter of a WNBA Finals game?It worked out perfectly for Las Vegas.The zone cooled off hot-shooting Phoenix just enough to allow the Aces, who received 21 points each from A’ja Wilson and Dana Evans, to rally for an 89-86 Game 1 victory Friday night.Wilson scored 12 points over the final 14 minutes, and Phoenix’s Satou Sabally missed a long 3-pointer with 2 seconds left that would have tied it.Game 2 is Sunday in Las Vegas.The Mercury made…
Naveen Rao, who was formerly the head of artificial intelligence at Databricks, is in talks to raise $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation for a new startup, called Unconventional, Inc., that’s building a new type of computer, according to four people familiar with discussions. Andreessen Horowitz has agreed to lead the investment, and Lightspeed and Lux Capital are also participating in the deal, two of the sources said, although none of those VC firms responded to our request for comment. Databricks is also said to be investing in Rao’s new company, Bloomberg reported last month. Rao has already raised…
OpenAI is gearing up to host its third annual developer conference, DevDay 2025, on Monday. The company says more than 1,500 people are scheduled to convene at Fort Mason in San Francisco for OpenAI’s “biggest event yet,” which features announcements, keynotes from OpenAI executives, and a fireside chat between CEO Sam Altman and longtime Apple designer Jony Ive. From the sound of it, DevDay 2025 is shaping up to be a grand display of OpenAI’s rising dominance in Silicon Valley against giants like Apple, Google, and Meta. OpenAI is currently building an AI device, a social media app, and an…
After the success of OpenAI’s video editing app Sora, now at the top of the U.S. App Store, Google may be looking to give its Gemini AI app a more visually focused revamp. The company is seemingly experimenting with a new user interface that would shift the app from having a chatbot-style look and feel to one offering a scrollable feed with suggested prompts accompanied by eye-catching photos. The changes were spotted in a recent version of the Gemini Android app by the news site Android Authority but are not yet live to the public. Instead, by looking into the…
TORONTO (AP) — From April through September, the Toronto Blue Jays got the best of the New York Yankees, winning the AL East in a tiebreaker based on 8-5 head-to-head record that included a 6-1 advantage north of the border.Starting Saturday, in the first October postseason meeting between these longtime division rivals, they’ll battle for a spot in the AL Championship Series against Seattle or Detroit.Kevin Gausman will start Game 1 for the Blue Jays, opposed by the Yankees’ Luis Gil. Manager John Schneider said Gausman’s steadiness made him an easy choice.“He’s the same guy every single day,” Schneider said.…
As the saying goes, “All publicity is good publicity.”Friend CEO Avi Schiffman said the response to his company’s seven-figure ad buy for the New York City subway has been “entertaining” during Thursday’s episode of Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger’s “Access” podcast.Friend is an AI companion in the form of a pendant necklace. The pendant listens to conversations unprompted and can respond through a related app on the user’s phone.Last month, Schiffman told AdWeek that Friend spent more than $1 million on the print ad campaign, which included over 11,000 subway car ads, over 1,000 platform posters, and 130 urban panels.New Yorkers…
Meta is ramping up the pressure for its employees to use AI.The Facebook parent company is tracking how extensively its teams are using AI through dashboards it rolled out earlier this year, and it created a game to boost employees’ usage, Business Insider has learned.Expectations around AI usage vary by teams. Staff in some departments are encouraged to play with AI tools, while others are being pushed to meet specific targets, according to four current employees.Across Big Tech, companies are dangling both carrots and sticks to get employees on board with AI.At Meta, engineers and staff are nudged to experiment…
It’s been a whirlwind year for the vibe-coding world’s database of choice: Supabase. On Friday, Supabase announced that it raised a fresh $100 million Series E at a $5 billion valuation, led by Accel and Peak XV. This is just four months after closing its $200 million Series D at a $2 billion valuation, led by Accel. And that Series D was just seven months after raising an $80 million Series C led by Sequoia spinoff Peak XV and David Sacks’ Craft Ventures at an undisclosed valuation. PitchBook estimated Supabase was valued at around $765 million in that deal, post-money.…
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is more the Sultan of Squat than a modern day Babe Ruth when the Los Angeles Dodgers star plays in Philadelphia.He’s yet to hit any of his 250 homers in Philly. He’s batting .250 lifetime in Citizens Bank Park with just two extra-base hits and four RBIs over 12 games and 44 at-bats. He struck out 16 times.So if the bat is cold, why not pitch?Ohtani finally makes his postseason pitching debut when he takes the mound Saturday for the Dodgers in the NL Division Series opener against the Phillies.The best-of-five series between two franchises…
Ozempic and Wegovy are coming to a Costco near you.Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, announced Friday it will be selling the prescription injectable pens at the warehouse chain’s pharmacies. A four-week supply of the weight loss drug will cost $499 out of pocket.Novo Nordisk already sells the monthly supply for $499 at its direct-to-consumer website, and it offers the same discount through CVS and Walmart.Novo Nordisk and other manufacturers of the hugely popular weight loss drugs have been competing against compounding pharmacies, some clinics and medical spas who sell cheaper versions of the branded medications.“We want…