Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

The IPO window may have cracked open, but it seems some former startups have no intention of going public. Makes sense, in a way: IPOs were traditionally a way to raise money, and if you can manage to raise ungodly amounts without having to put your company through public scrutiny, why do it? Databricks is proving that point: the data intelligence company has just raised more than $4 billion in a Series L funding round at a $134 billion valuation — up 34% from the $100 billion valuation that it achieved just three months ago. This is Databricks’ third major…

Even when Americans have health insurance, they can have a hard time affording the drugs they’ve been prescribed.About 1 in 5 U.S. adults skip filling a prescription due to its cost at least once a year, according to KFF, a health research organization. And 1 in 3 take steps to cut their prescription drug costs, such as splitting pills when it’s not medically necessary or switching to an over-the-counter drug instead of the one that their medical provider prescribed.As pharmacy professors who research prescription drug access, we think it’s important for Americans to know that it is possible to get…

BAYAHIBE, Dominican Republic (AP) — Oxygen tank strapped to his back, Michael del Rosario moves his fins delicately as he glides along an underwater nursery just off the Dominican Republic coast, proudly showing off the “coral babies” growing on metal structures that look like large spiders. The conservationist enthusiastically points a finger to trace around the largest corals, just starting to reveal their vibrant colors.Del Rosario helped plant these tiny animals in the nursery after they were conceived in an assisted reproduction laboratory run by the marine conservation organization Fundemar. In a process something like in vitro fertilization, coral egg…

Adobe is updating its AI video-generation app, Firefly, with a new video editor that supports precise prompt-based edits, as well as adding new third-party models for image and video generation, including Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.2 and Topaz Astra. Until now, Firefly only supported prompt-based generation, so you would have to recreate the entire clip if any part of the video was not to your liking. With the new editor, you can use text prompts to edit video elements, colors, and camera angles, and we also get a new timeline view that lets you adjust frames, sounds and other characteristics easily.…

EVs aren’t really working out for Ford, so now it’s chasing the AI boom instead.The Detroit auto giant said on Monday it would pull back from electric vehicles in a move that would cost the company $19.5 billion.In addition to scrapping planned electric models and building more hybrids, Ford said it would repurpose its EV battery factory in Kentucky to build batteries to power data centers and energy infrastructure.The Mustang maker added that it would invest $2 billion to scale the new energy storage business, which it said would “leverage currently underutilized electric vehicle battery capacity.” Ford plans to deploy…

In its push to create an “AI-first” workplace, Meta is expanding employees’ access to tools from rivals such as Google and OpenAI, Business Insider has learned.The social media giant has been encouraging employees to integrate AI tools into nearly everything they do, according to multiple internal documents and posts seen by Business Insider.One of the company’s priorities is to “make AI core to how we work,” Meta’s chief information officer, Atish Banerjea, told employees in a June memo outlining a plan to use Meta’s own models — which use the naming convention “Llama” — alongside products from other firms.In November,…

Cashmere sweaters are everywhere these days, often at unbelievably low prices. The appeal is obvious: if you’ve ever worn cashmere, you know it’s soft, light, and warm — an impressive fiber that’s hard to give up. Unfortunately, those bargain prices usually come with a catch. Cashmere comes from the fine undercoat of a handful of goat breeds. Typically, one goat will be sheared twice a year, producing just four to six ounces (113 to 170 grams) of cashmere annually. That’s not a lot of supply for a growing market. “The producers of raw materials are actually under a lot of…

Four of the nation’s top retail stores failed to promptly pull contaminated infant formula tied to a dangerous botulism outbreak from their shelves, federal health officials said in warning letters posted Monday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent letters to leaders at Walmart, Target, Kroger and Albertsons saying the companies continued to sell ByHeart infant formula for days or weeks, despite a Nov. 11 recall of all products in the outbreak that has sickened more than 50 babies in 19 states. “As a participant in the supply chain, your firm should take prompt and effective action when notified of…

US tech companies are hoping soon to gain clearance for flying taxis that make short commercial hops like Manhattan to LaGuardia Airport. Eyeing defense dollars, they’re also equipping air taxies for the battlefield.Air taxis have wings and propellers, allowing them to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. You can’t yet hail a flying taxi anywhere in the US, though those futuristic flights could be coming in the next couple of years.Pentagon leaders have shifted their focus to the tech industry, arguing that traditional defense contractors can’t deliver new weapons fast or cheaply enough to…

Adtech company Fluency has built a platform that helps brands and agencies automate their campaigns across Meta, TikTok, Google, and other platforms. Now, it aims to introduce AI agents to the mix.Large brands and agencies typically manage campaigns across multiple platforms and ad buying tools, known as demand-side platforms, each with separate logins and interfaces.Founded in 2017 in Burlington, Vermont, Fluency created what it describes as a digital advertising operating system. It connects to the various platforms’ application programming interfaces (APIs) and lets its customers manage their digital ads using a single workflow.”It takes a lot of people, and hours,…