Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Snorkel AI, a $1.3 billion startup spun out of Stanford that connects artificial intelligence companies to human “experts,” laid off about 13% of its employees this week, it confirmed to Business Insider.Snorkel AI is part of a boom in startups like Scale AI that help tech companies train their latest AI models, thanks in large part to human gig workers. Based in Silicon Valley, Snorkel announced it raised a $100 million Series D round this May at a $1.3 billion valuation and touts partners like Google and Anthropic on its website.31 out of 240 employees were cut on Wednesday, Snorkel…

NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Sproat answered a question about Juan Soto with a question.“What is there not to be impressed about?” Sproat said Friday night of his superstar teammate, after Soto hit his career-high 42nd homer to cap a six-run fourth inning that vaulted the New York Mets to a 12-6 win over the Washington Nationals.Soto reached the milestone in the first year of his record $765 million contract with the Mets. Last year, he hit 41 homers in his lone season with the crosstown Yankees.Soto is the 12th player to hit 40 homers in consecutive seasons with different…

Apple’s walled garden approach poses problems not only for regulators and small developers, but tech giants, too.This week, Meta, at its annual Meta Connect, introduced several new products, including its second-generation Ray-Bans, a neural wristband, Meta Ray-Bans Display, and sports-centered glasses in collaboration with Oakley.There’s one key integration that the AI-powered glasses won’t be able to manage, however: sending iMessages.Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said Apple’s tight controls of its API were to blame for that.”Right now it’s Messenger and WhatsApp, which obviously are, incredibly popular global messaging platforms. We’d love to expand and do more,” he said on Instagram on…

California’s state senate recently gave final approval to a new AI safety bill, SB 53, sending it to Governor Gavin Newsom to either sign or veto. If this all sounds familiar, that’s because Newsom vetoed another AI safety bill, also written by state senator Scott Wiener, last year. But SB 53 is narrower than Wiener’s previous SB 1047, with a focus on big AI companies making more than $500 million in annual revenue. I got the chance to discuss SB 53 with my colleagues Max Zeff and Kirsten Korosec on the latest episode of TechCrunch’s flagship podcast Equity. Max believes…

Finding product-market fit isn’t a milestone — it’s a messy, make-or-break journey. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 — taking place October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco — Rajat Bhageria (Chef Robotics), Ann Bordetsky (NEA), and Murali Joshi (ICONIQ) break down how to navigate this critical phase. Register now. No more guessing — just growth Rajat Bhageria: Founder and CEO of Chef Robotics, scaling AI-powered automation that’s transforming food production. Ann Bordetsky: Partner at NEA, previously at Uber and Twitter, spotting scrappy ingenuity that drives breakout success. Murali Joshi: Partner at ICONIQ, Forbes Midas Brink List honoree, with over $2.5…

Healthy kids and adults looking for an updated Covid shot this fall may have a tougher time getting it.On Friday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel unanimously recommended limiting the Covid shot to people 65 and older or those with underlying health conditions, based on an individual decision or with their doctor. The panel rejected a separate recommendation that the agency should encourage states to require a prescription.People under 65 are advised to consult with their doctor, the panel said, with “an emphasis that the risk-benefit of vaccination is most favorable for individuals who are at an…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee on Friday voted to abandon its recommendation for the COVID-19 vaccine, with the committee unanimously voting to recommend that Americans get the shot “based on individual-based decision-making,” meaning it’s a personal choice.It’s unclear what implications the vote will have for insurance coverage for Americans who want to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Many major insurers have said they would continue to cover the cost of the vaccines through at least 2026 no matter how the committee voted this week.In a separate vote, members decided not to require a prescription for the…

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new formulation of Merck’s blockbuster cancer therapy Keytruda that can be administered under the skin, offering a more convenient option of the widely used cancer immunotherapy, the health regulator said on Friday.The new version, branded as Keytruda Qlex, marks a major shift in how one of the world’s best-selling cancer drugs is administered, giving a faster alternative to the traditional intravenous method and shortening the time patients spend receiving the cancer immunotherapy.The under-the-skin version cuts down time to be administered in one minute if dosed every three weeks or…

The AirPods Pro aren’t just any pair of active noise-canceling earbuds; they’re one of Apple’s bestselling products. So, when the brand releases a new pair, they have a lot to live up to. Thankfully, the AirPods Pro 3 are more than up to the task.I’ve been testing audio products for well over a decade, and each iteration of the AirPods Pro has delivered an impressive set of features in a compact form factor. The AirPods Pro 3 are no different. These earbuds are the whole package with improved ANC, a built-in heart rate sensor, better water resistance, and refined sound…

(Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink plans to launch a trial in October aimed at helping people with speech impairments translate their thoughts into text, the company’s president said.Dongjin “D.J.” Seo told an audience at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul this week that the study targets people who have lost the ability to speak, enabling them “to go directly from brain to voice without any keyboards in between.””If you’re imagining saying something, we would be able to pick that up,” he said.Neuralink said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the device…