Company Overview - Rooms is a 3D design app launched in beta in 2023 by former Google employees, allowing users to create interactive 3D rooms and mini-games using a library of over 10,000 items and the Lua programming language [1] - The company was founded by ex-Googlers Jason Toff, Bruno Oliveira, and Nick Kruge, who have backgrounds in AR/VR, games, and YouTube [2] - Rooms has surpassed 1 million rooms built on its platform and offers over 10,000 digital items for designing, up from 7,500 in April 2024 [6] - The app is available on the web and iOS but has not yet introduced monetization [8] Funding and Partnerships - Google invested $1 million in Rooms as part of a partnership deal, providing early access to Google's Gemini AI [1] - The funding, closed in December, was structured as a SAFE, giving Google the option to invest in Rooms' Series A round [7] - Previously, Rooms raised $10 million in seed funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Adobe's Scott Belsky, and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger [7] Product Features and Updates - Rooms version 3.0, released on November 26, 2024, introduced a new Actions editor enabling users to animate rooms without coding [4] - The app plans to leverage Gemini AI for text-to-speech capabilities, allowing creators to add narration and character dialogue, enhancing storytelling [4] - Creators can choose from various tones for character dialogue, such as angry, bored, calm, confident, enthusiastic, happy, and excited [5] User Trends and Engagement - Initially, creators built simple spaces and mini-games, but recent trends show users creating larger spaces and using the app for storytelling [3] - An example is user eodqueen, who transitioned from standard rooms to larger spaces with animation and interactivity [3] - Rooms had grown to 250,000 registered users last year, though current user numbers and engagement times are not disclosed [6]

The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has taken the stock market by storm. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.55%) has advanced 55% in the last two years, and AI promises to drive more upside in the coming years as it boosts productivity and efficiency across industries.Experts have compared AI to transformative events like the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, and the internet. Technological shifts of that magnitude come along maybe once in a decade, and investors that want to benefit as the AI boom ...

Google DeepMind's New Initiative - Google DeepMind announced the creation of a new team focused on developing "massive" generative models to simulate the world, advancing AI capabilities in decision-making, planning, and creativity [1] - The team will collaborate with existing projects like Gemini, Veo, and Genie, leveraging their advancements in large multimodal models and video generation [5] World Models and Their Applications - World models are computational frameworks that enable AI systems to understand and simulate real or virtual environments, with applications in robotics, gaming, and autonomous systems [2] - Autonomous vehicles use world models to simulate traffic and road conditions, while generalist AI robots benefit from diverse training environments [3] - Scaling AI models, particularly through pretraining on video and multimodal data, is critical for achieving artificial general intelligence [4] Genie 2 and Its Capabilities - Genie 2, a world model developed by Google DeepMind, transforms text and images into 3D worlds that respond to user actions, an upgrade from Genie's 2D capabilities [7] - The model learns from large video datasets, compressing video frames into meaningful representations and predicting video progression using transformer-based methods [8] - Genie 2 can simulate object interactions, complex animations, physics, and agent behavior, creating worlds lasting up to a minute [9] Industry Context and Competition - Google DeepMind's focus on world models aligns with industry trends, as AI startup World Labs raised $230 million in September 2023 to develop large world models [6] - The company competes with OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon in advancing AI systems for enterprise applications [9] Innovations and Achievements - Google DeepMind's innovations include AlphaFold2, an AI model that predicted the nature of all known proteins, earning Nobel Prize recognition for its CEO and researcher [10] - The company also developed the Habermas Machine, a large language model that mediates group discussions on controversial topics by generating shared viewpoints [11]

Quantum Computing Breakthrough - Alphabet unveiled a breakthrough with its new quantum chip, Willow, leading to a surge in quantum computing stocks [1] - Willow achieved state-of-the-art performance, reducing errors exponentially as more qubits were used, a challenge in quantum error correction for nearly 30 years [3] - Willow completed a benchmark computation in less than five minutes that would take a top supercomputer 10 septillion (10^25) years, showcasing the potential of quantum computing [4] - Alphabet's announcement set off a boom in quantum computing stocks, with Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing, and D-Wave Quantum all more than doubling last month [5] Stock Performance - Alphabet shares finished the month up 12%, with significant gains following the quantum computing announcement on Dec 9 [2] - Alphabet shares jumped 5 6% on Dec 10 and another 5 5% on Dec 11 after the Willow announcement [3] AI and Quantum Computing Impact - Alphabet's quantum computing breakthrough reassures investors that the company remains on the cutting edge of technology, which could be as important as delivering business gains [8] - The company has overcome setbacks in generative AI by replacing Bard with Gemini and adding an AI assistant to Google searches, maintaining steady growth in revenue and profits [7] Industry Perception - Alphabet was perceived as a loser in the tech arms race after Bard's initial mistakes, but the company has since regained its position with advancements in AI and quantum computing [6] - Alphabet is cheaper than most of its "Magnificent Seven" peers, making it a better value in the tech sector [7]

Shares of tech giant Alphabet (GOOG 2.13%) (GOOGL 2.66%) rallied as high as 3.4% today, before retreating to a 2% gain as of 3:04 p.m. ET, still well ahead of the Nasdaq Composite.Lots of technology names rallied today on the back of strong numbers out of Hon Hai Precision, which released very strong artificial intelligence (AI) server numbers for the month of December.However, Alphabet got an additional boost thanks to a positive note from a prominent Wall Street analyst.J.P. Morgan likes Alphabet for 2025 ...

Google is forming a new team to work on AI models that can simulate the physical world. Tim Brooks, one of the co-leads on OpenAI’s video generator, Sora, who left for Google’s AI research lab, Google DeepMind, last October, will lead the new team, he announced in a post on X. It’ll be a part of Google DeepMind. “DeepMind has ambitious plans to make massive generative models that simulate the world,” Brooks wrote Monday morning. “I’m hiring for a new team with this mission.”According to job listings Brooks ...

Alphabet Inc‘s GOOGL GOOG innovation machine is revving up for 2025, and Wall Street has its eyes firmly set on the tech titan. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth is bullish on Alphabet’s Google, citing a flurry of advancements in generative AI, technical infrastructure, and autonomous driving as key growth drivers for the year ahead. “Google's accelerated pace of innovation is very evident into the new year with many significant recent product announcements,” says Anmuth, who reiterates his Overweight rating and ...

The average investor can find potential buying opportunities by looking at what some prominent billionaire hedge fund managers own in their own portfolios. Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management, and Chris Hohn of TCI Fund Management, collectively worth an estimated $25 billion, are worth keeping tabs on.All these billionaires manage massive sums of capital and also love one monster tech stock. Continue reading to learn more about this business and whethe ...

Alphabet's Business Overview - Alphabet's business remains strong with signs of continued dominance in its core areas [6] - The company's long-term bets in potentially world-altering technologies add significant upside for investors [6] - Alphabet has the lowest forward valuation multiple among the Magnificent Seven stocks, trading below or equal to the broader market valuation [12] Google Search Performance - Google Search is the biggest revenue driver, accounting for around 55% of total revenue last quarter [8] - Google Search revenues have grown by over 10% year-over-year in each of the last five quarters [13] - Despite competition from chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Search remains the dominant internet search engine [25] Other Revenue Streams - Alphabet's other revenue-generating segments include YouTube ads, third-party ad sales, subscriptions, platforms, device revenue, and Google Cloud revenue [14] - Each of these segments contributed between 8% and 13% of total revenue last quarter, with most showing solid growth [14] - YouTube ad revenue benefits from the secular trend away from traditional television [22] - Google Cloud is experiencing accelerating growth [22] Long-Term Projects and Innovations - Waymo and Google Quantum AI are two massive projects with long-term potential [15] - Waymo is a leader in autonomous driving and robotaxi services, with the ride-sharing market projected to nearly quadruple by 2032 [15] - Google's Willow quantum chip represents a breakthrough in quantum computing, though it is a long-term bet with no immediate revenue impact [23] Market Position and Analyst Outlook - Alphabet is considered one of the best Magnificent Seven stocks to own for long-term investment [3] - The company has a "Moderate Buy" rating based on 42 analyst ratings, with a high forecast of $240 and an average forecast of $206.69 [6] - The 12-month stock price forecast suggests a 7.23% upside to $206.69 [27] Competitive Landscape - Google is combating the rise of chatbots by integrating AI capabilities into Google Search through its Gemini model [21] - Google's daily user base is significantly larger than ChatGPT's 300 million weekly users [21] - The potential antitrust breakup of Google Search is a concern, but any real impact is likely delayed by appeals [26]

If you'd like to learn more about how to best position yourself in under valued stocks mispriced by the market to end 2024, consider joining Out Fox The Street .Mark leads the investing group Out Fox The Street where he shares stock picks and deep research to help readers uncover potential multibaggers while managing portfolio risk via diversification. Features include various model portfolios, stock picks with identifiable catalysts, daily updates, real-time alerts, and access to community chat and direct ...