Google Cloud on Tuesday joined AWS and Azure in announcing its first custom-built Arm processor, dubbed Axion.
Based on Arm’s Neoverse 2 designs, Google says its Axion instances offer 30% better performance than other Arm-based instances from competitors like AWS and Microsoft and up to 50% better performance and 60% better energy efficiency than comparable X86-based instances.
To be fair, though, Microsoft only announced its Cobalt Arm chips late last year, too, and those chips aren’t yet available to customers, either.
In a press briefing ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Google stressed that since Axion is built on an open foundation, Google Cloud customers will be able to bring their existing Arm workloads to Google Cloud without any modifications.
“Through this collaboration, we’re accessing a broad ecosystem of cloud customers who have already deployed ARM-based workloads across hundreds of ISVs and open-source projects.”More later this year.
Hiring portal Indeed has redesigned the profile page for users, allowing individuals to use an AI-powered writer to fill up work experience and also added support for multiple resumes.
The company has also launched a set of smart sourcing suites for recruiters with features like AI-powered candidate summaries and custom messages.
The new AI-powered work experience writer helps people form better descriptions of different projects.
The job seeking portal already had a toggle to make a user’s profile visible to recruiters.
Indeed is also adding AI-powered smart messaging and automated interview scheduling.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has a seat at the table — or board, rather — once again.
OpenAI today announced that Altman will be rejoining the company’s board of directors several months after losing his seat and being forced out as OpenAI’s CEO.
Joining alongside him are three members, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former Sony Entertainment president Nicole Seligman and Instacard CEO Fidji Simo — bringing OpenAI’s board to seven people.
Seligman was Sony’s VC and general counsel before rising through the ranks to CEO of Sony Corporation and president of Sony Corporation of America.
Both OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever, a former OpenAI board member and the startup’s chief scientist, approached members of OpenAI’s previous board to express concerns about Altman’s behavior prior to his ouster last year, according to The Times.
Rivian just surprise-announced an all-electric hatchback called the R3 — giving the company a big Apple-esque “one more thing” announcement at the event that was ostensibly supposed to be all about its new R2 SUV.
And it represents an entirely new market for Rivian to try and play in of smaller EVs — crucially, one that Tesla currently dominates.
While we knew Rivian was working on an “R3,” I’m not sure many people expected it to look quite like this.
Unfortunately, the company didn’t immediately share… any real details whatsoever about when the R3 will be available, or how much it will cost.
The R3 is a near-term fix for that, apparently, as Rivian’s stock price soared after the surprise reveal.
Apple announced new MacBook Air models with 13-inch and 15-inch screen sizes with M3 Chip.
The 13-inch model starts at $1,099 and the 15-inch model starts at $1,200.
Both variants are available for pre-orders in the U.S. starting today with general availability slotted for March 8.
Apple unveiled the M2 Macbook Air in 2022 and added the 15-inch model to the portfolio last year.
Both Macbook Air models have 18 hours of claimed battery life, a 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, and support for two external displays.
Lightricks, the company that makes popular apps like Facetune and Videoleap, announced a new AI-powered filmmaking tool called LTX Studio today.
LTX Studio, which is currently inviting users to sign up for a waitlist, is a web-based tool.
Creators can first type an idea they have and LTX Studio will create a script and a storyboard for them along with characters through a prompt.
That thought process led the startup to make LTX Studio.
Plus, with the latest LTX studio launch, it is aiming to cater to more professionals.
It also includes a commitment to let customers change cloud providers, or services within the cloud, if they choose to.
It also details a focus on building cybersecurity around AI services; attention to building data centers and other infrastructure in an environmentally-sound way; and education investments.
Brad Smith, the president and vice chair of Microsoft, announced the framework today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The announcement comes at the same time that Microsoft is coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny for its $13 billion investment in OpenAI, which currently gives it a 49% stake in the startup that is leading the charge for generative AI services globally.
In January, the European competition watchdog said that it was assessing whether the investment falls under antitrust rules.
Google announced a new set of features for phones, cars, and wearables today at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
The company said that starting this week, Google Messages will get a feature that lets you access Gemini in the app.
Google is also rolling out a feature for Android Auto that reads out summaries of long text messages and contextualizes group chats.
On the productivity front, Google is extending support for handwritten notes to docs on Android phones or tablets using just a finger or a stylus.
Google is also updating the Fitbit app with support to get data from different sources like AllTrails, Oura Ring, and MyFitnessPal.
Twitch is introducing a new tier to its premium revenue share program — currently known as the “Partner Plus Program” — that would grant a 60/40 revenue split and has lower qualification requirements than the existing tier, expanding access to smaller creators.
Under the existing program, Partner Plus streamers receive 70% of the first $100,000 of net subscription revenue, and then 50% of any revenue after that.
The update also lowers the requirement to qualify for the 70/30 split from 350 Plus Points to 300 Plus Points.
Many streamers argued that the Partner Plus Program excluded the majority of creators because the qualification criteria was so high.
One is informed by the other, he said, but changes to Prime subscription payouts and the Plus Program have been in the works for months.
Google announced a bunch of new features for classroom management, accessibility, and AI-powered features for creating questions and lesson plans as part of the Bett ed-tech event in the UK.
AI-powered featuresGoogle already allows teachers to add questions to a YouTube video as part of its Classroom assignment.
Additionally, the company mentioned that its generative AI tool for Google Workspace, Duet AI, can assist teachers in coming up with a lesson plan.
The company is also adding features to Google Meet such as closed captions in 30 languages and the ability to pin multiple hosts.
Plus, Google is soon updating Chromebooks so that students can look at their upcoming assignments directly from the home screen.
