- Front Research
- Posts
- 📬 Reality Labs Bleeds Billions & Stability AI Launch
📬 Reality Labs Bleeds Billions & Stability AI Launch
Today: Reality Labs Bleeding Billions | Slow Gen-AI Adoption | Meta's Revenue Surge
Kristoffer Lindström
July 27, 2023
Hey there!
It's a beautiful Thursday, July 27, and we have some exciting tech news to share with you. So, let's dive right in and check out the most important topics of the day:
Meta's Reality Labs Bleeds Billions
Tech Giants Unite Against Mapping Duopoly
Generative AI Adoption Wavers
Advanced Image-Generating AI Unveiled by Stability
Meta Bounces Back with Revenue Surge
Hidden Gems in iOS 17 Unveiled
and more...
READ TIME: 7.0 MINUTES
🌐 Tech Companies
Apple and Amazon are targeted by a UK class-action lawsuit alleging a secret deal in 2018 that inflated prices of Apple and Beats products on Amazon's marketplace. The claim seeks compensation of at least £500 million for UK consumers since October 2018.
Meta, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and TomTom are releasing data through the Overture Maps Foundation to break Google and Apple's control over online maps. The data, including 59 million "points of interest", aims to enable companies to develop their own map applications. Overture's dataset is open and free, providing an alternative to the mapping services of Google and Apple.
Twitter (now X) is providing a 50% discount on video ads to some advertisers and planning to de-verify brand accounts that don't meet specific spending thresholds from August 7th.
X, formerly Twitter, acquired the '@x' handle from original owner Gene X Hwang without offering any monetary compensation. Hwang, who had the handle since 2007 and amassed over 53,000 followers, was given a significantly longer handle instead.
Meta's Reality Labs, the unit responsible for developing VR and AR technologies, reported a $3.7 billion operating loss in the second quarter, with sales of $276 million, down from $339 million in the first quarter. The unit's total losses now stand at $21.3 billion. Despite these losses, Meta expects operating losses to increase due to ongoing product development and investment in scaling their ecosystem.
🚀 Startup Scene
Protect AI, a startup focused on bolstering AI system security, has raised $35 million in a Series A round. The funds will be utilized for platform enhancement, research expansion, and new open-source projects.
Collaborative Robotics, developing a 'novel cobot', has garnered $30 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. Funds will be used for initial field deployments and manufacturing scale-up.
🤖 AI Corner
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledges the potential for generative AI like ChatGPT to increase productivity but warns some jobs will "definitely go away." New, possibly higher-paying jobs could be created, but not all displaced workers will benefit.
Although over half of organizations are experimenting with generative AI, and a few have implemented it, only a small percentage (18.2%) plan to increase their budget for this technology. This spending mismatch is due to budget constraints, lack of prioritization for generative AI, and insufficient support from leaders. The largest use case for generative AI is natural language processing tasks, followed by content creation.
Stability AI has launched Stable Diffusion XL 1.0, its latest and most advanced text-to-image model yet. It boasts improved color accuracy, contrast, and lighting, with enhanced text generation capabilities, ready for fine-tuning for concepts and styles.
At the AWS Summit, Amazon launched HealthScribe and HealthImaging, leveraging AI for healthcare applications. HealthScribe transcribes and analyzes doctor-patient conversations, integrating the data into electronic health records. Meanwhile, HealthImaging facilitates medical imaging data storage, transformation, and analysis at a petabyte scale, offering potential cost reduction.
💰´Markets & Money
US stocks showed mixed responses to the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point interest rate hike, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining to close out a 13-day winning streak, its longest since 1987. Despite the rate hike, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hasn't ruled out further increases to combat persistent inflation. Markets, however, predict an end to the current tightening cycle.
Facebook-parent Meta posted an 11% year-on-year revenue growth to $32 billion for its quarter ending in June, surpassing Wall Street expectations. This marks the company's second consecutive quarter of revenue growth, sparking a 7% rise in Meta's stock in after-hours trading.
Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike is reportedly in advanced negotiations to acquire cloud security platform Bionic.AI, with the deal estimated between $200M-$300M.
📱 Gadgets & Apps
Netflix's latest iOS update replaces the downloads tab with a new 'My Netflix' button, streamlining access to saved content, notifications, and user viewing history. Also included is a dedicated section for finding behind-the-scenes content based on viewing habits. Android users can expect the update in August.
Apple is set to announce its new M3 chip soon. The M3 is a significant upgrade from the M2, fabricated using a 3-nanometer process for improved performance and efficiency. It will feature in Apple's upcoming MacBook Air, 24-inch iMac, and MacBook Pro models.
The newly introduced 15-inch MacBook Air's sales are reportedly 50% below Apple's expectations, as per Digitimes' supply chain sources. The weak demand may lead to reduced production or even a halt.
Promotional materials for Samsung’s forthcoming products were leaked ahead of its Unpacked event. The lineup includes Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, a new Galaxy Watch 6 series, and a range of Galaxy Tab S9 tablets.
iOS 17 brings several under-the-radar features enhancing user experience, including advanced search in Messages, ability to read laundry symbols, identification of car's warning lights, interactive widgets, a 'listen to page' feature, and automatic deletion of one-time passwords.
Reply