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Kodak denies it's shutting down amid media reports of finicial struggles
TechCrunch· 2025-08-14 16:39
Company Overview - Eastman Kodak is denying reports of shutting down operations and has stated it has "no plans to cease operations" or file for bankruptcy protection [2] - The company aims to "repay, extend, or refinance" its debt before the due date and expects to have a stronger balance sheet by early next year [2] Financial Situation - Kodak is facing ongoing financial challenges, with warnings in its earnings report about lacking "committed financing or available liquidity" to meet debt obligations due within 12 months [1] - The company plans to utilize $300 million in cash from its pension plan termination in December 2025 to address a significant portion of its $477 million in term debt [3] - After addressing the term debt, Kodak will focus on the remaining $177 million in debt and an additional $100 million in preferred stock outstanding [3] Historical Context - Kodak has a long history of financial struggles, particularly as digital technology has surpassed film sales [4] - The company previously filed for bankruptcy in 2012, highlighting its ongoing financial difficulties [4] - Despite challenges, there is a noted resurgence in interest from some Gen Z users in older technologies, such as compact cameras and dumb phones, driven by nostalgia [4]
Amazon rolls out same-day delivery of perishable groceries in 1,000 US cities
TechCrunch· 2025-08-13 14:40
Core Insights - Amazon is expanding its Same-Day Delivery service to include perishable food items in 1,000 cities across the U.S. and plans to reach over 2,300 cities by the end of the year [1] Group 1: Service Expansion - The Same-Day Delivery service now includes fresh grocery items such as produce, dairy, meat, seafood, and baked goods, in addition to everyday household products and electronics [2] - Amazon's specialized temperature-controlled fulfillment network ensures the integrity of perishable groceries, with a six-point quality check for orders [3] Group 2: Pricing Structure - Same-day delivery is free for Prime members on orders over $25; otherwise, a $2.99 fee applies for Prime subscribers, while non-Prime customers face a $12.99 fee regardless of order size [4] Group 3: Customer Adoption - The introduction of perishable groceries has been well-received, with items like strawberries and avocados ranking among the top 10 in Same-Day Delivery carts, indicating strong customer demand [5]
Apple dismisses Elon Musk's claims that App Store favors OpenAI over other AI apps
TechCrunch· 2025-08-13 13:13
In Brief Apple has rejected Elon Musk's accusations that its App Store is biased against AI apps that compete with OpenAI. "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria," the BBC quoted Apple as saying. The response comes after Musk threatened to sue Apple via xAI, claiming the iPhone maker was "behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store." Apple and Ope ...
StubHub is once again working on its IPO that could raise $1B
TechCrunch· 2025-08-12 22:08
Group 1 - StubHub is indicating that its IPO is back on track, having filed an updated S-1 that includes Q1 2025 results after initially pausing due to market concerns [1] - IPO experts Renaissance Capital estimate that the IPO could raise $1 billion, with a potential debut next month [1] - StubHub's revenue for 2024 was nearly $1.8 billion, with a net loss of $2.8 million [2] Group 2 - The largest shareholder of StubHub is Madrone Partners with a 27.1% stake, followed by WestCap Management at 10.8% and Bessemer at 9.6% [2] - Founder CEO Eric Baker holds only 5.2% of the Class A shares but controls 90% of the voting power through super-voting rights Class B shares [2]
Australian court finds Apple, Google abused app store market power
TechCrunch· 2025-08-12 13:00
Core Viewpoint - Epic Games has achieved a significant legal victory against Apple and Google regarding their app store policies, with the Federal Court of Australia ruling that both companies engaged in anti-competitive conduct in app distribution [1]. Group 1: Legal Ruling - The Federal Court of Australia found that Apple and Google abused their dominant market positions to limit competition in app distribution [1]. - The court rejected Epic's claims of "unconscionable conduct" by the tech giants [1]. Group 2: Implications for Epic Games - Following the ruling, Epic Games' CEO Tim Sweeney indicated that the Epic Games Store and Fortnite would soon return to the Apple App Store in Australia [2]. Group 3: Responses from Apple and Google - Google expressed disagreement with the court's characterization of its billing policies and practices, while welcoming the rejection of Epic's demands regarding app store distribution [3]. - Apple stated that its app store is the safest way for users to obtain apps and disagreed with some aspects of the court's ruling on Epic's claims [4].
Electronic Arts blocks more than 300,000 attempts to cheat after launching Battlefield 6 beta
TechCrunch· 2025-08-11 16:01
Core Insights - Electronic Arts launched an open beta for Battlefield 6, which quickly faced issues with cheaters [1][2] - The company reported 104,000 instances of potential cheating and stopped 330,000 attempts to cheat within the first two days [2] Anti-Cheat Measures - Electronic Arts employs a kernel-level anti-cheat system called Javelin, which has high privileges on users' computers to monitor for cheats [2] - The system is not foolproof, and the company acknowledges that it cannot guarantee the absence of cheaters [4] - Secure Boot is utilized as an additional security measure, but it is not a complete solution [5] Industry Context - Cheating remains a widespread issue in online gaming, affecting various companies including Riot Games and Activision, which have also implemented kernel-level anti-cheat systems [8][9] - Other companies, like Riot Games, have developed multi-faceted approaches to combat cheating, including hardware fingerprinting and community infiltration [10]
Elon Musk confirms shutdown of Tesla Dojo, ‘an evolutionary dead end'
TechCrunch· 2025-08-11 14:50
Core Insights - Tesla has disbanded the team working on its Dojo AI training supercomputer, shifting focus to AI5 and AI6 chips [1][3][4] - The D2 chip development has been shelved, and resources will be concentrated on the AI5 and AI6 chips, which are being manufactured by TSMC and Samsung [3][4] - Musk indicated that the new strategy aims to reduce complexity and costs by consolidating efforts on fewer chip designs [4] Company Strategy - The decision to shut down Dojo was made after determining that it was an "evolutionary dead end," with future efforts now directed towards AI6 systems-on-a-chip [2][4] - The AI5 chip is designed for Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, while AI6 is intended for both onboard inference and large-scale AI training [3][4] - Musk suggested that the new approach could be referred to as "Dojo 3," focusing on integrating multiple AI5/AI6 chips on a single board [4] Market Context - The shift in strategy occurs amid declining electric vehicle (EV) sales and brand challenges for Tesla, particularly following Musk's political engagements [8] - Despite these challenges, Musk is attempting to reassure investors about Tesla's future in autonomy, even as the robotaxi launch has faced difficulties [9]
Nvidia, AMD may sell high-end AI chips to China if they pay US a cut
TechCrunch· 2025-08-11 13:09
Core Viewpoint - The narrative surrounding the AI chip race has shifted from U.S. national security concerns to tariff implications, as Nvidia and AMD agree to pay 15% of their revenue from high-end AI chip sales to China in exchange for sales licenses [1][2]. Group 1: Company Agreements and Revenue Sharing - Nvidia will share revenues from its H20 AI chip sales in China, while AMD will share a portion of its MI308 chip sales [2]. - The U.S. government has begun issuing licenses for the sale of these chips by Nvidia and AMD [2]. Group 2: Historical Context and Policy Changes - The Trump administration initially restricted sales of certain high-performance AI inference chips to China in April but paused the ban after Nvidia committed to $500 billion in domestic data center investments [3]. - Nvidia announced in July that it would resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China, which were specifically designed for that market following earlier restrictions by the Biden administration [3]. Group 3: Trade Discussions and Criticism - Nvidia's decision to change its sales strategy is linked to trade discussions with China regarding rare-earth elements, essential for manufacturing components like electric vehicle batteries [4]. - The approval of Nvidia's H20 chip sales has faced criticism from national security experts and former officials, who have urged the government to reconsider its stance [4].
NASA and Google are building an AI medical assistant to keep Mars-bound astronauts healthy
TechCrunch· 2025-08-08 17:17
Core Insights - As human-spaceflight missions extend in duration and distance, maintaining astronaut health becomes increasingly complex [1] - NASA is working towards making on-orbit medical care more independent from Earth, with a focus on developing an AI medical assistant in collaboration with Google [2] Group 1: AI Medical Assistant Development - The AI tool, named Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA), aims to assist astronauts in diagnosing and treating medical issues when communication with Earth is unavailable [2] - CMO-DA operates under a fixed-price agreement with Google, which includes cloud services and application development, while NASA retains ownership of the source code [3] - Initial evaluations of CMO-DA showed high diagnostic accuracy: 74% for flank pain, 80% for ear pain, and 88% for ankle injury [4] Group 2: Future Enhancements and Applications - NASA plans to incrementally enhance the AI tool by integrating more data sources and training it to be aware of space-specific medical conditions [7] - There is potential for the AI medical assistant to be validated for use in terrestrial healthcare settings, although regulatory clearance details remain unclear [8] - Insights gained from the CMO-DA project could have broader implications for health applications beyond space missions [9]
Pinterest CEO says agentic shopping is still a long way out
TechCrunch· 2025-08-08 16:33
Core Insights - Pinterest's CEO Bill Ready described the platform as an "AI-enabled shopping assistant," but believes the concept of an agentic web where AI shops on behalf of users is still a long way off [1][3] Company Positioning - Pinterest positions itself at the early stages of the shopping journey, where users seek ideas that may lead to purchases, raising concerns that AI could redirect users to personalized recommendations instead of using Pinterest [2] AI Integration - The company referred to the current exploration of AI-driven experiences as a "Cambrian moment," highlighting its use of AI for recommendation systems, multimodal AI, visual search, conversational search, and advertising efficiencies [5] User Experience - Ready emphasized that Pinterest's proactive recommendations resonate with users, who feel that "Pinterest just gets me," akin to a personal shopping assistant [4] User Concerns - There are growing user concerns regarding the prevalence of AI-generated low-quality content on Pinterest, leading to the introduction of tools to label AI-generated images and filter out such content [8] Talent Acquisition - Pinterest aims to attract AI talent focused on using AI responsibly and positively, distinguishing itself from other social media platforms [9] Financial Performance - Pinterest reported Q2 revenue of $998 million, exceeding expectations, but earnings per share of 33 cents fell short of the anticipated 35 cents, leading to a drop in stock price [10]