Author: GT

British oil giant Shell on Thursday said it has “no intention” of making an offer for its embattled domestic rival BP , further distancing itself from reports of a blockbuster takeover . It comes shortly after the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Shell was in early-stage talks to acquire BP in a deal valued near $80 billion. Shell swiftly denied talks were taking place and re-emphasized its commitment to focus on capital discipline. A spokesperson at BP declined to comment. BP has been thrust into the spotlight as a prime takeover candidate , following a protracted period of…

Indian drone startup Raphe mPhibr has raised $100 million in an all-equity Series B round led by General Catalyst, as the startup aims to boost its R&D and local production capabilities amid growing demand for drones in battlefields and for border surveillance. Drones are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in global military operations. In recent and ongoing conflicts, countries have turned to drones for rapid infiltration and high-impact strikes. The recent India-Pakistan war is a prime example, with both militaries deploying drones at scale despite having advanced fighter jets and missile systems. The conflict spurred New Delhi to triple its drone spending…

In the fight for top AI talent, Meta just reportedly snagged a win, poaching three OpenAI researchers despite rival Sam Altman’s public mockery of Mark Zuckerberg’s lavish hiring tactics. The latest victory in Zuckerberg’s widely-reported recruiting blitz: Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai – who established OpenAI’s Zurich office – have joined Meta’s superintelligence team, the WSJ reports, suggesting Zuckerberg’s methods can deliver. As Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, first revealed in a recent podcast with his brother Jack, Zuckerberg has been dangling $100+ million compensation packages in an effort to lure top talent from OpenAI. The Journal subsequently…

Satellites can accomplish incredible tasks like provide internet or help monitor wildfires. But many of them ultimately meet a fiery death burning up in Earth’s atmosphere. Others use their last bit of fuel to move to “graveyard” orbits, where they circle the planet in a perpetual deep freeze. A new startup called Lux Aeterna wants to change this. The Denver-based company, which is coming out of stealth today, has designed a reusable satellite called Delphi that it aims to launch — and land — in 2027. If successful, it could help slash the cost to get satellite payloads into space.…

Nearly a year after raising a mega seed round of $50 million, e-commerce veteran Julie Bornstein’s startup Daydream is releasing its AI-powered chatbot for shopping with a focus on fashion. After testing the product with select users, the company on Wednesday is releasing the chatbot to all users in a public beta. People can sign up for the chatbot, which will ask them their name, birthdate, price range they shop in, and brand preferences, if any. You can type a query like “I want a dress to wear to the wedding this summer in Paris” or upload an image and…

Self-driving trucks developed by Kodiak Robotics contain some remote-driving DNA courtesy of Vay, a driverless car-sharing startup out of Berlin.  The two companies, which announced a partnership on Wednesday, have been working together since last year, when Kodiak’s self-driving trucks began making driverless deliveries for Atlas Energy Solutions in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The partnership will play a critical operational and safety role when Kodiak, which plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, begins commercial driverless deliveries on public highways in Texas in the second half of…

Amazon-owned Ring announced on Wednesday that it’s introducing a new AI-powered feature to its doorbells and cameras, which offers users specific text descriptions of current motion activity. Now, when users receive real-time notifications about happenings at their property, the updates will be more descriptive. For instance, “A person is walking up the steps with a black dog,” or “Two individuals are looking into a white car parked in the driveway.” The feature aims to improve upon the vague notifications that were previously available. Users will be able to know exactly what is happening and can quickly decide whether it requires…

Google is launching a new agentic AI tool that will put its Gemini AI models closer to where developers are already coding. The company announced on Wednesday the launch of Gemini CLI, an agentic AI tool designed to run locally from your terminal. The new tool connects Google’s Gemini AI models to local codebases, and it allows developers to make natural language requests, such as asking Gemini CLI to explain confusing sections of code, write new features, debug code, or run commands. Gemini CLI is part of Google’s efforts to get developers using its AI models in their coding workflows.…

For her 6th grade honors class, math teacher Ana Sepúlveda wanted to make geometry fun. She figured her students “who live and breathe soccer” would be interested to learn how mathematical concepts apply to the sport. She asked ChatGPT for help.Within seconds, the chatbot delivered a five-page lesson plan, even offering a theme: “Geometry is everywhere in soccer — on the field, in the ball, and even in the design of stadiums!”It explained the place of shapes and angles on a soccer field. It suggested classroom conversation starters: Why are those shapes important to the game? It proposed a project…

“Someone, somewhere is having data exfiltrated from their machines as we speak,” says Volodymyr Diachenko, co-founder of the cybersecurity consultancy SecurityDiscovery.Sarayut Thaneerat | Moment | Getty ImagesCybercriminals have intensified their efforts to steal and sell online passwords, experts warn. The alarm comes after the discovery of online datasets containing billions of exposed account credentials. The 30 datasets comprised a whopping 16 billion login credentials across multiple platforms, including Apple, Google and Facebook, and were first reported by Cybernews researchers last week. The exposures were identified over the course of this year by Volodymyr Diachenko, co-founder of the cybersecurity consultancy Security Discovery, and…