Firmus’s $30B IPO Price Met $51M in Revenue
Firmus’s reported $30B IPO valuation met reported FY2026 revenue of $51M. CoreWeave, further along the same buildout, reported $2.58B in quarterly revenue and a $104B backlog.
HackerOne’s $81 Million Year, curl’s Bounty Exit
HackerOne’s record $81 million reward year preceded curl’s planned exit from its bounty program over low-quality AI reports. Browser agents carry the permission question from vulnerability disclosure to ordinary web actions.
TikTok’s 37-to-13 Cut in Immediate Ad-Ban Triggers
TikTok reportedly cut immediate advertiser-ban categories from 37 to 13. Google blocked 8.3 billion ads in 2025 while suspending fewer advertisers.
TypeSafe’s $870M Bet on the Merge Button
A16z led TypeSafe AI’s $870 million round weeks after Jev launched. GitHub’s project rules and Cursor’s triggered agents leave open who can enforce a decision.
Philadelphia police say Anthropic informed them on Oct. 7 that one of its models submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder via a public web form on July 18
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Cloudflare acquires Deno, co-founded by Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, which had developed an open-source alternative to Cloudflare Workers and had raised $26M
Cloudflare is buying the startup co-founded by Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, a longtime competitor that recently built its own open-source version …
In PA, FBI agents arrested a co-founder of a Canadian cybersecurity firm specializing in ransomware negotiations, as part of the ShinyHunters investigation
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday arrested the co-founder of a Canadian cybersecurity firm in connection …
“Super Intelligence systems” are black boxes that shouldn't be trusted by companies, and strong deterministic systems are needed around their deployment
As traditional software systems were being deployed across the economy over the last few decades, we had the tools …
Sources and internal docs: TikTok cut the violations for which an advertiser could be immediately banned from 37 to 13 last fall, leading to a surge in scams
This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. — Last year, TikTok's executives quietly defanged its advertising rules …
Verizon closed down 8.75%, its worst day since 2002, while T-Mobile fell 13.27% and AT&T 9.81% after SpaceX announced a nationwide spectrum deal on Thursday
Telecommunications stocks sold off on Friday after Elon Musk's SpaceX announced an agreement to purchase a nationwide spectrum portfolio …
Sources: top execs at Anthropic, OpenAI, and others are gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt following a catastrophic AI event
- The first example of significant real-world harm caused by unsafe AI would turn an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders …
Hundreds of AI-decompiled or vibe-coded clones of games appeared in recent weeks, ported to run in browsers; some big titles like GTA: Vice City, Halo play well
Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo: CE, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Skate 3 and many more titles have been decompiled and ported to web browsers overnight
Jev developer TypeSafe AI raised a $870M Series A led by a16z at a $7.5B valuation with Sequoia and others participating, says ~33% of the Fortune 500 use Jev
TypeSafe AI, the startup behind Jev, a new artificial intelligence model that went viral after it launched only a few weeks ago …
Tesla renames Full Self-Driving to Tesla Assisted Driving in Europe after pushback from Germany, whose transport minister will now back its EU-wide approval
Tesla has changed the name of its advanced driver assistance system in Europe after pushback from Germany's transportation ministry.
A look at differing revenue calculations of Anthropic and OpenAI, as Anthropic books gross sales through cloud partners, while OpenAI records only its net share
When measuring the race between artificial intelligence leaders OpenAI and Anthropic PBC, investors have run into a problem …
Sabi, which is building a baseball cap that uses 100K non-contact neuro-sensors to convert neural signals into text prompts for AI systems, raised a $50M seed
Palo Alto-based Sabi is betting its cap, outfitted with 100,000 sensors, will enable people to talk to their AI agents just by thinking.
Circana: US Xbox unit sales fell 33% YoY to an all-time low in 2026 through August, while PS5 sales fell 25%, as both consoles hit record high average prices
“Price sensitivity is becoming a real problem.” — Follow Grand Theft Auto VI … PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles …
Sources: Nvidia is in talks to acquire or invest more into US open-weights AI startup Reflection AI; the deal may be an acquihire to avoid antitrust scrutiny
Donald Trump's administration hopes the company will rival cheap Chinese alternatives such as DeepSeek
Oxide Computer, which helps companies build their own clouds, raised a $445M Series D led by Eclipse at a $6B valuation, taking its total funding to ~$835M
Oxide Computer Company, which helps companies build their own on-premise integrated cloud computer systems, raised a $445 million Series D led …
Cloudflare debuts Clef-omni, an open-weight decision model supporting audio and video input alongside text and image, and cuts Clef-flash's price below Jev's
Following last week's release of Clef and Clef-flash, Cloudflare's open-weight decision models, we decided to bring forth more gifts.
NY AG announces an up-to-$35M settlement with ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky that permanently bars him from the securities, commodities, and crypto industries
New York Attorney General Letitia James said Friday she secured up to $35 million from former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky …
A look at Walmart's troubled push to automate its ~200 US warehouses, as it and partners like Symbotic face technical setbacks; Walmart owns 12.6% of Symbotic
Machines programmed to sort merchandise in warehouses hit kinks with cardboard boxes and turkeys; automation push reaches ‘peak complexity’
Current and former employees say TikTok US still coordinates closely with the global TikTok org, and US staff continue to use ByteDance's internal chat app Lark
In the months before TikTok finalized a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors friendly to President Donald Trump …
Sources: as Google prepares to roll out its Gemini 4 Argon, staff are testing a new version internally named Carbon; one staffer says it “feels like Opus 5.5”
As Google prepares to roll out its new Gemini 4 ‘Argon’ model to the public, staff inside the company are testing better versions …
Sources detail how Firmus' IPO collapsed in 48 hours after US fund managers deemed its $30B valuation too rich for a company with just $51M in FY 2026 revenue
Nvidia-Backed Firmus IPO Collapses Video Player is loading. — Current Time 0:00 Loaded: 17.94% Playback Rate — This is a modal window.
Dozens of staff at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette: without author consent, publishers are quietly using AI to make back-cover copy, cover art, more
Workers at three major publishing houses tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy …Forums:r/publishingForums:r/publishing:Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI...
Vesta, which uses AI agents to automate much of the loan origination process, raised $30M led by Conversion, bringing its total funding to $85M
Vesta, an AI-native software startup that helps lenders originate mortgages, announced on Thursday that it raised a $30 million round led by Conversion Capital.
A profile of Zach Frankel, a secretive and unusually hands-on solo investor who wrote the first checks to startups like Ramp, Cognition, and Applied Compute
Last month, Zach Dell, son of billionaire Michael Dell and cofounder of Base Power, a billion-dollar battery startup …
Amazon unveils Alexa Tablets, replacing Fire tablets, with Android and Google Play Store: 12 Pro for $500+, 11 for $330+, and 8 for $230+, shipping October 14
IDC: Shenzhen-based DJI and Insta360, accounting for 73% and 20% of global smart camera market in Q2, are vying for the top spot as GoPro's share drops to 3%
DJI and Insta360 engaged in ‘civil war’ to become world's top smart camera maker — The decline of action camera pioneer GoPro …
A US Senate investigation led by Senators Warren, Van Hollen, and Blumenthal says some hyperscalers misled the public about AI data centers' costs and benefits
Nik Popli … As the world's biggest technology companies race to build data centers across the country to power an AI boom …
How Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown used GOP ties to end a June standoff over model safety and win over Musk, brokering a $1.25B/month SpaceX compute deal
Tom Brown is leveraging his Republican ties and business savvy to win over Washington and secure the computing power Anthropic needs
Google Cloud unveils the Gemini agent, which can handle multiday enterprise workflows in Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Slack using Gemini and other AI models
Laptop production share outside China is expected to fall from 24% in 2025 to 21% in 2026 as PC makers rethink shifting production amid soaring component costs
TrendForce's latest notebook industry research reveals that the primary risk facing the market in 2027 is expected to shift …
OpenAI says it didn't fire three researchers for “raising safety concerns or speaking out”, but for violating “clear policies on handling sensitive information”
Sources: Netflix is preparing to cut ~5% of employees, or ~850 jobs, as early as next week, amid pressure over weakened engagement and a depressed stock price
Sources: Dario Amodei spoke with Meta's Alexandr Wang earlier this year, hoping to source more compute; Meta declined the request
Bitter rivals are forming alliances and executives are having to personally intervene over the scramble for resources to fuel the AI boom
Blockchain.com seeks CFTC approval to offer event contracts and cryptocurrency derivatives in the US; it already offers some prediction markets internationally
Xbox launches XP, a unit that will manage four non-gaming “investment areas”: Xbox Pictures for film and TV, Xbox Products, Xbox Places, and Xbox Partnerships
Global PC shipments dropped 20.1% YoY in Q3 to 62.7M units due to higher prices and supply issues; Lenovo dropped 22.6% YoY, HP 30.9%, Dell 25%, and Apple 11.3%
Chip design software leader Synopsys says it is exploring partnerships with Chinese AI labs to develop AI-powered chip design tools for the Chinese market
PALO ALTO, California — Chip design software leader Synopsys says it is looking to help Chinese companies develop chips faster …
Sources: Ramp raised about $1.85B led by Dragoneer and Thrive Capital at a $60B pre-money valuation, up from $44B in June, when it raised $750M
Fintech startup Ramp has reached a roughly $60 billion valuation with its latest fundraising effort, according to people familiar with the matter.
A man US authorities called a “fixer”, who was charged alongside Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan Liaw with smuggling restricted chips to China, pleaded guilty
A man charged along with Super Micro Computer Inc. co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw of conspiring to send cutting-edge chips …
Warehouse robotics startup Ultra raised a $12M seed and a $50M Series A, and expands its deal with Physical Intelligence to supply AI software for its robots
Finance editor Jeff John Roberts here. The explosive growth of the robotics industry in recent years is reflected in new technology feats …
The UK plans to curb non-compete rules that force employees to wait before moving jobs or starting companies, an issue that has drawn complaints from startups
OpenAI disrupts a Russian influence campaign tied to the Politology network that targeted schools, media, and foreign officials, and gives it a 5/6 impact score
Sources detail Mark Zuckerberg's decision to launch Muse despite safety concerns, after seeing that AI startup Instinct's similar agent product gained traction
Meta had delayed releasing Muse, its A.I. agent app, for months over safety concerns. Then new competition forced Mr. Zuckerberg's hand.
Meanwhile, a Sam Altman-backed bitcoin life insurance provider, raised $37.5M led by Bain Capital, sources say at a $350M valuation, up from $190M in April 2025
Sources: Nuvacore, a six-month-old Sequoia-backed chip startup that's designing a new central processor for data centers, is raising funds at a ~$2.5B valuation
Six-month-old microchip startup Nuvacore, which does not yet have a product, is raising hundreds of millions of dollars …
Sources: Flock plans to let go of ~270 employees, or 18% of its staff, at the end of October; the layoffs come after a voluntary buyout program in September
A record 42 startups became decacorns so far in 2026, beating 2021's 34; PitchBook: the average time to hit $10B dropped to 5.5 years in 2025 vs. 9.4 in 2020
Analysis of 857 releases from nine Chinese AI labs from 2021 to September 2026: just 3.6% included safety results from the developer and only 1.1% did at launch
The Chinese developer of ARTEX says they have converted the AI agent into a closed-source project after CrowdStrike said it was used to hack South Korean banks
A slew of cyberattacks hit Japanese companies in September, exposing the data of millions and prompting calls for security checks, as AI lowers hacking barriers
Nvidia commits $1B over five years to build out the US' “capacity for super intelligence R&D” in fields like quantum computing, healthcare, and energy security
Sources: Anthropic's AI agents submitted 20 visa applications via a form on the US State Department website; the applications were incomplete and not processed
The Philadelphia Police Department said the agents had also sent in a false homicide tip. The incidents led the White House …
A look at a 1,700-member Slack run by Medicare agency CMS where Microsoft, OpenAI, and other companies help shape policy on AI apps and medical records access
A cadre of elite techies, financiers, and high-level Trump administration officials have spent a year quietly charting an extraordinary …
Trump admin says it's now mandating AI companies “immediately disclose incidents involving their models” and move swiftly to remedy harm from security incidents
Trump administration officials say they are now mandating that AI companies notify and correct security incidents …
Anthropic says it is barring live internet access for internal evals until monitoring is reliable, after its agents exploited websites and bypassed restrictions
Anthropic said its models exploited websites on the internet, including some run by U.S. government agencies …