SenseTime is preparing for a $2 billion public listing in Hong Kong that may come before the end of the year. The company has raised more than $3 billion from investors including SoftBank, Alibaba, Tiger Global and Silver Lake. All four companies have suffered concerns over the use of their technology and have been hit by sanctions from the US for allegedly aiding human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
With a record 12,200 outlets being shuttered in the US in 2020 alone, retailers across the world have pivoted to omnichannel strategies as part of the new normal, even with reopening efforts well underway around the world, retailers are likely to persist with their omnich channel endeavors due to the pandemic accelerating shifts in customer behavior and the deployment of AI-based retail technology solutions.
Procore Technologies launched its IPO and the shares jumped by 31%. The company operates a leading cloud-based platform to manage construction projects, has over 800 customers and the ARR is more than $400 million. But if you look at the S-1 filing, there are some interesting details about the construction industry, including the investment in technologies has generally lagged.
Google announced that it will be applying AI advancements, including a new technology called Multitask Unified Model, to improve Google Search, to better connect web searchers to the content they’re looking for, while also making web search feel more natural and intuitive. This feature will focus on making it easier for people to understand new topics they”re searching for, including the feature that understands how people typically explore various topics.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said on Tuesday that there's no returning to the pre-pandemic workplace, saying that he expects 50% to 60% of Salesforce employees to work from home even after the pandemic. Beniof's pronouncements on the future of the office are notable since his company’s gargantuan 61-floor tower in San Francisco opened just over three years ago.
Australia's competition watchdog expressed concerns about the dominance of Alphabet Inc.’s Google in a large part of the online-advertising sector, considering regulatory action against the tech giant. Google has a dominant position in key parts of the so-called advertising technology supply chain.
YouTube deleted RT's German-language channels on Tuesday, saying it had breached its COVID misinformation policy. RT's channel was issued a strike for uploading content that violated YouTube's COVID policy, resulting in a suspension of posting rights on the platform for a week. During that suspension, RT tried to use another channel to circumvent the ban on uploading.
Astro can be remote controlled when not at home to check on pets, people, or home security, and patrol a home automatically and send owners a notification if it detects something unusual. Amazon said it was more than "Alexa with wheels" and had been programmed with a range of movements and expressions to give it personality.
Amazon announced a slew of new connected devices with new privacy features that users will be able to take advantage of, including the new privacy feature that will allow users to choose to have all of their voice commands processed on their Alexa devices. This means these audio clips won't be sent to the cloud and they'll be automatically deleted after the Alexa device processes them.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow have figured out a method of using machine learning to comb through the viruses’ genomes and predict their likelihood of infecting humans. The method may help scientists develop vaccines to protect against the most likely candidates before they reach humans.
The fallout from The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files series continues, with Facebook announcing that it will “pause” plans to build Instagram Kids while it consults with more outside groups. The company published a point-by-point rebuttal to the Journal”s story on Instagram’’ effects on teenage girls.
Netflix's Korean horror-thriller series Squid Game is likely to become its most popular show yet, according to co-CEO Ted Sarandos. The show would be Netflix's biggest non-English language show in the world. But Sarandos said that there's a good chance it will be our biggest show ever.