Ford CEO Mark Fields and Executive Chairman Bill Ford have released a statement on Donald Trump’s immigration order, making them the first major U.S. automaker to offer an official comment or position. The statement reads as follows, and was shared internally with Ford employees as well as made available to …
Read More »Elon Musk could soon share more on his plan to help humans keep up with AI
In nearly the same breath as he shared updates on his plans to dig tunnels, Elon Musk also noted he’s looking to hopefully share more on his progress with developing a “neural lace” next month. That’s a technical term for direct cortical interface, and it’s something that the SpaceX and …
Read More »Court won’t reconsider DOJ argument in Microsoft customer data case
Microsoft won a narrow victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals today, as the court split 4-4 on whether to rehear arguments from the Department of Justice about why it wants to access Microsoft customer data stored on servers in Ireland. The Justice Department and Microsoft have grappled over …
Read More »Elon Musk actually believes Rex Tillerson could be an “excellent” Secretary of State
Tesla and SpaceX CEO met with Donald Trump on Monday, and just a day later, he’s expressing optimism about Trump’s choice for Secretary of State, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. On the surface, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Tillerson as Secretary of State would be at odds with Musk’s …
Read More »Why even the best tech couldn’t give us a precise inauguration headcount
Alternative facts aside, attendance at President Trump’s inauguration was low. Citing crowd scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, the New York Times reported an estimated 160,000 people attended Mr.Trump’s speech. Yet the administration continues to unrealistically assert that attendance was considerably higher. The President claimed between a million and 1.5 million attended the …
Read More »Uber hires former YouTube exec Kevin Thompson as VP of Marketplace Engineering
Uber is picking up a lot of ex-Googlers lately – earlier on Thursday, I reported that ex-Google SVP of Engineering Amit Singhal was headed to the ride-hailing startup, and former Google VP of Engineering on YouTube’s ads team Kevin Thompson is also joining the company as VP of Marketplace Engineering. …
Read More »Theranos closed its last remaining blood-testing lab after it reportedly failed an inspection
Theranos closed its last remaining blood-testing facility after the lab reportedly failed a regulatory inspection, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The company, once valued at $9 billion, is shifting its focus to a portable ‘lab on chip’ virus-detection box after its blood-testing business, once labeled revolutionary, came under repeated fire …
Read More »Selling a toolkit for investors of all stripes, Starburst Labs raises $6.25 million
Selling a suite of online and mobile services for wealth managers and individual investors, Starburst Labs, a new New York-based startup has landed $6.25 million in its first institutional round of financing. A relatively new entrant into the market, Starburst Labs began working on its first product in 2013 and …
Read More »Department of Labor sues Oracle over discriminatory pay and hiring practices
The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Oracle for discriminatory employment practices, the government body announced on Wednesday. The Department of Labor specifically states that the company has “a systemic practice” in place of paying white male workers more than others in the same role, including “women, African American and …
Read More »Microsoft to double its Montreal AI R&D office and invest $7M in academic research
Microsoft is following its acquisition of Montreal-based Maluuba with additional investment in the city that’s become quite the artificial intelligence hotbed. Microsoft announced at Davos on Wednesday that it will be growing its research and design office there (which is what Maluuba will be post-acquisition) to double the size over …
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