role

Dave Burke, Android Engineering VP, relinquishes position to pursue “AI/bio” roles within the company

Dave Burke
Long-time Android Engineering VP Dave Burke said today that he is stepping down from the role. Burke, who spent 14 years building Android, is not leaving Alphabet and is exploring “AI/bio” projects within the company. Burke was involved in pivotal projects, including building Nexus/Pixel phones, developing Chrome for mobile phones, starting Android TV, and spearheading efforts to build and ship developer tools. “So… after 14 yrs leading Android engineering, I’ve decided it’s time for a change. So… after 14 yrs leading Android engineering, I've decided it's time for a change.

Resignation of Stability AI CEO due to inability to outmatch centralized AI with further centralization

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Stability AI founder and chief executive Emad Mostaque has stepped down from the top role and the unicorn startup‘s board, the buzzy firm said Friday night, making it the second hot AI startup to go through major changes this week. Stability AI, which has lost more than half a dozen key talent in recent quarters, said Mostaque is stepping down to pursue decentralized AI. In a series of posts on X, Mostaque opined that one can’t beat “centralized AI” with more “centralized AI,” referring to the ownership structure of top AI startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic. “We should have more transparent & distributed governance in AI as it becomes more and more important. “The payoffs on proper generative AI R&D are clearer and faster to market than just about anything we’ve seen.

Russian Citizen Accused of Masterminding Medibank Ransomware Attack Faces US Sanctions

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The U.S. government sanctioned a Russian national for allegedly playing a “pivotal role” in the ransomware attack against Australian health insurance giant Medibank that exposed the sensitive information of almost 10 million patients. The breach is believed to have impacted several high-profile Medibank customers, including senior Australian government lawmakers. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Ermakov shortly after the Australian government imposed first-of-its-kind sanctions against the Russian national. According to the U.S. Treasury, REvil ransomware has been deployed on approximately 175,000 computers worldwide, garnering at least $200 million in ransom payments. The FSB’s surprise operation came just months after the U.S. Department of Justice charged a 22-year-old Ukrainian citizen linked to the REvil ransomware gang due to his alleged role in the Kaseya attack.

“Unstoppable: 1X Secures $100M from OpenAI for Advancements in Humanoid Robotics”

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The race to perfect the humanoid form factor will be one of 2024’s defining tech stories. 1X is a name (well, a number and letter) that surprisingly doesn’t get as much column space as most of the above. That underlying technology will almost certainly play an outsized role in shaping robotics’ future, and OpenAI has seemingly picked its horse. The humanoid robot strikes a similar figure (so to speak) as some of the competition. The logic (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) is that humanoids are the ideal form factor for navigating environments built by humanoids for humanoids.

The Optimal Time to Employ a CFO

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But when is the right time to hire a CFO, and is a full-time CFO even necessary in this age of C-level-as-a-service? It is common for founders to think narrowly about accounting when considering whether to hire a CFO. It is common for founders to think narrowly about accounting when considering whether to hire a CFO. Startup coach and CFO Evgeny Popov said that hiring a CFO was a no-brainer, akin to finding a CTO for your tech company. “Unfortunately, hiring a CFO is not an obvious move for founders because most founders come from the product or tech worlds and don’t see the CFO as vital to growth.”

“The Bold Influence of Technologists on Product Innovation”

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Product design makes innovation less daunting and increases chances for success because it is a multidisciplinary process with structures and frameworks to catalyze innovation. Before discussing the nontraditional ways technologists participate in product innovation, let’s conceptually examine innovation and product design. A progressive role for technologistsTechnologists play a strategic role in product innovation and should bring a metaphysical perspective in addition to being punctilious. Product innovation is experimental and should not always be expected to yield productive results. Technologists add value to the product design process by sharing their expertise on a technology’s characteristics.

Co-Founder of Credit Karma, Nichole Mustard, Announces Departure After 16+ Years

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Credit Karma co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer Nichole Mustard is leaving the company after 16-and-a-half years, TechCrunch has exclusively learned today. Chief people officer Colleen McCreary left her role in January before joining Ribbit Capital as an investor in June. Intuit closed on its $8.1 billion cash and stock purchase of Credit Karma in 2020 and things have been a bit bumpy since. Last November, Credit Karma confirmed to TechCrunch that it had “decided to pause almost all hiring,” citing “revenue challenges due to the uncertain environment.” At that time, the company shared that all Credit Karma verticals had been “negatively impacted by macro uncertainty. Credit Karma experienced further deterioration in these verticals during the last few weeks of the first quarter [of 2022].”In August, Intuit reported that Credit Karma had seen its revenue decline by 9% to $1.6 billion for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2023.

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