Page 2 - Silicon Valley

He made billions on Google and PayPal. Now, he's betting on news

Michael Moritz co-founded The San Francisco Standard, a local news organization. It is acquiring Charter, a start-up focused on the future of work

World's first silicon-free computer proves potential for future replacement

Researchers have built a computer from scratch without silicon, a "milestone" in showing that it is possible to one day replace the material that fuelled the bulk of technology advancements over the past half a century, by making devices smaller and faster. Built at a nanofabrication unit at The Pennsylvania State University in the US, the research team has demonstrated the successful working of the world's first CMOS computer made using two-dimensional materials, which are paper-thin, but at the nano-level. It is described in a paper in the journal Nature. 'Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor', or CMOS, is widely used in designing electronic circuits. It consumes low power and accommodates more components. The development is acknowledged as pioneering and a starting point in creating not just alternatives to silicon, but a roadmap for a new generation of still smaller, more flexible electronics. Saptarshi Das, professor of engineering science and mechanics at the The Pennsylva

WhatsApp to start showing ads to users in parts of messaging app

WhatsApp said Monday that users will start seeing ads in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people that use the messaging service. Advertisements will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day. However, they won't appear where personal chats are located, developers said. The personal messaging experience on WhatsApp isn't changing, and personal messages, calls and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be used to show ads, WhatsApp said in a blog post. It's a big change for the company, whose founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009. Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 and the pair left a few years later. Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has long been trying to generate revenue from WhatsApp. WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or

Inside Google's $100 mn gamble to retain YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in 2011

In 2011, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was key to Google's ad and product strategy when X, backed by ex-boss David Rosenblatt, approached him to be its Chief Product Officer

Tales of influence, ambition: 3 books about tech, politics and big business

Germany's big businesses profited thanks to their collaboration, and after the war most executives escaped blame, keeping much of the plundered wealth even after millions died

How a vegan cult leader became centre of murder investigations in US

LaSota dressed in all black, adopted the name 'Ziz' from a comic-book villain, and promoted extreme veganism, including the belief that meat-eaters should face Nuremberg trials

Artificial intelligence is changing how Silicon Valley builds startups

Lee, 41, would normally be flattered. In the past, a fast-growing startup like Gamma, the artificial intelligence startup he helped establish in 2020, would have constantly looked out for more funding

Advent of Chinese AI firm DeepSeek shakes up US-based Silicon Valley

Some industry watchers initially reacted to DeepSeek's breakthrough with disbelief

FDIC sues 17 former Silicon Valley Bank executives, directors over collapse

FDIC faulted the bank's overreliance on unhedged, interest rate-sensitive long-term government bonds such as US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities as rates looked to rise

Apple CEO Tim Cook to attend Trump's inauguration alongside tech titans

If Tim Cook decides to attend the event, he will join other prominent Silicon Valley figures, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk

Amitav Ghosh slams Silicon Valley's 'extermination' view amid global crises

Celebrated author Amitav Ghosh warned Tuesday that the top brass in Silicon Valley are preparing for "The Event" -- a potential collapse of the global systems -- as various interconnected worldwide crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and the spread of new pathogens pose a growing threat to the world. Delivering the annual Dr CD Deshmukh Memorial Lecture here at the India International Centre (IIC), the award-winning writer offered a stark view of the interwoven disasters threatening the planet and said it would be "a mistake to think that we are living in a period of just one axis of disaster." "There are various interlinked axes of disasters. That's why I don't even talk about climate change. I think one has to speak of the planetary crisis. "Because there's biodiversity loss, which is perhaps an even greater threat than climate change... the species extinctions and there are the new pathogens that are sort of whirling around the world so we can see that there are al

Here's a list of tech leaders joining Trump's new Silicon Valley entourage

There's a larger coterie of tech world Trump supporters who are now working with the incoming administration

AICTE, apna.co conclude youth empowering Silicon Valley Immersion Programme

Jobs and professional networking platform apna.co in partnership with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has concluded the Silicon Valley Immersion Programme, which enables Indian youth to connect with global technology leaders. This programme is designed to connect Indian youth with global tech giants and equip them with the skills needed to seize international opportunities, foster creativity, and enhance problem-solving abilities for a future-ready India, according to a release. The Silicon Valley Immersion Programme (SVIP), a national competition aimed at nurturing creativity and problem-solving skills, has culminated with Teena Chhatria, Aradhya Pitlawar, Kabir Arora, and Chaitanya Sai Krishna as its distinguished winners, it added. These talented individuals, hailing from institutions such as XLRI Jamshedpur, WCE Sangli, and PEC Chandigarh, have earned a fully-funded trip to Silicon Valley in the US. "This initiative, developed in collaboration with apna.co

Why JD Vance as Donald Trump's VP pick has Silicon Valley celebrating

Elon Musk called the decision a "great choice" and said the lineup "resounds with victory" on X, the social platform he owns

Sam Altman driving Koenigsegg Regera; Musk takes jibe after video surfaces

Musk takes a dig at OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman for driving a $1.9M Koenigsegg Regera. Social media users wonder how a non-profit organisation's CEO could afford it

US-based AI company Glean Technologies launches its first office in India

Glean's launch in Bengaluru underscores its commitment to empowering Indian enterprises through advanced AI technologies and expanding its customer base in the Asia-Pacific region

'Boring' bitcoin sends weekend trading volume to all-time lows: Research

Bitcoin trading gained notoriety for its "Wild Weekends," where the digital currency would experience wide price fluctuations

South Park Commons enters India in collaboration with Binny Bansal

In collaboration with Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, the early-stage fund will provide a supportive environment for India's most talented founders

As Nvidia hits $3 trn, Jensen Huang's wealth surpasses Michael Dell's

Dell, 59, with a net worth of $105.9 billion, has been a computer hardware-industry outlier among the tech super-rich, who often owe their wealth to software companies

Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg lead Magnificent Seven insider stock sales

The moves underscore how Silicon Valley insiders are monetizing their holdings after tech stocks rallied to fresh records, rebounding from a 2022 slump caused by accelerating inflation, rate hikes