Meta has released the latest entry in its Llama series of open source generative AI models: Llama 3.
Meta describes the new models — Llama 3 8B, which contains 8 billion parameters, and Llama 3 70B, which contains 70 billion parameters — as a “major leap” compared to the previous-gen Llama models, Llama 2 8B and Llama 2 70B, performance-wise.
In fact, Meta says that, for their respective parameter counts, Llama 3 8B and Llama 3 70B — trained on two custom-built 24,000 GPU clusters — are are among the best-performing generative AI models available today.
So what about toxicity and bias, two other common problems with generative AI models (including Llama 2)?
The company’s also releasing a new tool, Code Shield, designed to detect code from generative AI models that might introduce security vulnerabilities.
Read More“Discover Llama 3: The High-Quality Open Model by Meta”
Serve Robotics, the Uber and Nvidia-backed sidewalk robot delivery company, debuted publicly on the New York stock exchange Thursday, making it the latest startup to choose going public via a reverse merger as an alternative path to capital needed to fund growth.
While Serve’s debut in the public markets comes from a reverse merger and not a SPAC, the two alternate paths to IPO are not too dissimilar.
However, Serve Robotics said it’s expecting enormous growth fueled by money generated by going public.
“I never thought that I would start a robotics company and then be in the ads business,” said a tired, but excited, Kashani in a phone interview minutes before the bell rang.
Upon the closing of the merger, Uber held a 16.6% stake and Nvidia an 14.3% stake in Serve, according to regulatory filings.
Read MoreInnovative Startup Serve Robotics, Supported by Uber and Nvidia, Makes $40M Debut on Public Markets
If you want to get your product in a grocery store in Mexico City, Dataplor has global location intelligence to help you do that.
The company raised $2 million in 2019 to bring Latin American food delivery vendors online.
Dataplor uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language models and a purpose-built technology platform to take in public domain data.
While that is not totally unique — there are companies like ThoughSpot, Esri and Near doing something similar around business and location intelligence — Dataplor’s “secret sauce” is combining all of that technology and public domain data with a human factor.
The round also includes participation from Quest Venture Partners, Acronym Venture Capital, Circadian Ventures, Two Lanterns Venture Partners and APA Venture Partners.
Read MoreLocation is Key: Unleashing the Power of Dataplor’s Data Intelligence Tool
Last month, a hacker wreaked havoc during an esports tournament of the popular shooter game Apex Legends, hacking two well-known streamers mid-game to make it look like they were using cheats.
“The exploit I’ve used in [Apex Legends Global Series] is fully patched,” the hacker who goes by Destroyer2009 said in an online chat.
Or other video game hacking incidents?
Or other video game hacking incidents?
Destroyer2009’s hacks were high-profile, disruptive, and caused a big stir in the Apex Legends community.
Read MoreHacker Claims Exploit Used on Streamers in Apex Legends Has Been Resolved by Game Developers
Humans have cast metal parts in basically the same way for thousands of years: by pouring molten metal into a mold, often made of compacted sand and clay.
To make those parts, Magnus Metals borrows elements of sand casting and 3D printing to perform what it calls digital casting.
Magnus Metals plans to sell its machines to customers as well as the proprietary ceramic that’s used to produce the bases.
And unlike 3D printing, which usually requires specific feedstocks, Magnus Metals said its system can use customer specified materials.
The method doesn’t require expensive tooling to create the bases, unlike molds for sand casting, according to the Magnus Metals.
Read MoreRevolutionizing Metal Part Production: Magnus Metal’s Plan to Modernize 4,000-Year-Old Methods
Building owners are often in the dark about their carbon pollution.
A new algorithm could shed light on itStarting this year, thousands of buildings in New York City will have to start reducing their carbon emissions.
There are plenty of tools out there that can convert an electric bill into estimated carbon emissions, but many are based on rough estimates.
It’s why Nzero, a carbon-tracking startup, developed a new algorithm, giving building owners reports that estimate carbon pollution down to the hour.
From there, the company’s software helps building owners identify upgrades and retrofits that will reduce emissions while also being the most cost effective.
Read MoreIlluminating the Carbon Footprint of Building Owners: A Revolutionary Algorithm
Clay Canning had an idea while in high school: smartphone screen protectors that featured logos, right on the screen.
“In December 2022, I resigned from my job to pursue building Screen Skinz with Clay full time.”Now, Screen Skinz can officially announce the closing of a $1.5 million seed round led by South Loop Ventures and Abo Ventures.
The company produces custom, patent-pending phone screen protectors that feature personalized logos or slogans that are visible when the phone screen is black and then disappear when the phone is in use.
The latest fundraise allowed Screen Skinz to move manufacturing from Asia to the U.S., allowing it to more easily control its supply chain.
Screen Skinz next has some partnerships lined up and is focused on customer acquisition and deepening licensing relationships.
Read More“Screen Skinz Secures $1.5M in Funding to Revolutionize Custom Screen Protection”
Google has terminated the employment of 28 employees following a prolonged sit-in protest at the company’s Sunnyvale and New York offices.
The protests were in response to Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract inked by Google and Amazon with the Israeli government and its military three years ago.
So many workers don’t know that Google has this contract with the IOF [Israel Offensive Forces].
Those of us sitting in Thomas Kurian’s office repeatedly requested to speak with the Google Cloud CEO, but our requests were denied.
Hundreds and thousands of Google workers have joined No Tech for Apartheid’s call for the company to Drop Project Nimbus.
Read MoreGoogle Terminates 28 Employees for Participating in Sit-In Against Contract with Israel’s Project Nimbus
The most notable bit of today’s news, however, is probably Nothing’s embrace of ChatGPT this time out.
Think Siri/Google Assistant/Alexa-style access on a pair of earbuds, only this one taps directly into OpenAI’s wildly popular platform.
Nothing says the Ear buds bring improved sound over their predecessors, courtesy of a new driver system.
A “smart” active noise-canceling system adapts accordingly to environmental noise and checks for “leakage” between the buds and the ear canal.
The Ear and Ear (a) are both reasonably priced at $149 and $99, respectively.
Read MoreUpgraded Earbuds Make ChatGPT Easily Accessible with a Simple Squeeze
Some call it the “commercial valley of death,” and it’s the point at which many climate tech startups struggle.
Climate nonprofit Prime Coalition is hoping to bridge the valley with a new program, Trellis Climate.
Trellis Climate follows the latter model with a focus on middle stages, where capital has grown scarce.
“There are more and more philanthropists that are really interested in solving the climate problem,” Lara Pierpoint, director of Trellis Climate, told TechCrunch.
“It is the most flexible and potentially risk-forward set of dollars that are out there.”For founders in climate tech, that sort of funding is likely welcome news.
Read More“Closing the Gap: Trellis Climate’s Mission to Overcome the ‘Commercial Valley of Death’ for Climate Technology”
