Big tech stocks falter as investors question whether billions being poured into AI can generate returns quickly enough

A sell-off of tech stocks that began earlier this month and gained steam with disappointing earnings from leading tech companies drove US markets down by hundreds of billions of dollars Friday. In total, the decline has knocked nearly $1tn in value off the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in one week and erased about $2tn in a month.

The S&P 500, the index of the 500 most valuable companies in the US, fell by more than 1% Friday, losing hundreds of billions of dollars in market value. It was on track to erase its gain for October, even though it set its all-time high during the same month. The weakness for technology stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite down even further, more than 3%, also erasing hundreds of billions in value. The Down Jones Industrial Average fell less.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Big tech stocks falter as investors question whether billions being poured into AI can generate returns quickly enough

A sell-off of tech stocks that began earlier this month and gained steam with disappointing earnings from leading tech companies drove US markets down by hundreds of billions of dollars Friday. In total, the decline has knocked nearly $1tn in value off the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in one week and erased about $2tn in a month.

The S&P 500, the index of the 500 most valuable companies in the US, fell by more than 1% Friday, losing hundreds of billions of dollars in market value. It was on track to erase its gain for October, even though it set its all-time high during the same month. The weakness for technology stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite down even further, more than 3%, also erasing hundreds of billions in value. The Down Jones Industrial Average fell less.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The success of blockbuster hits like "Project Hail Mary" and "Verity" is only part of the story, Amazon's CEO says.

Amazon wants to be the king of AI cloud computing and become the first $1 trillion revenue business. But to do that it will have to continue on its capex spending spree, its CEO said Thursday.

E-commerce company posts high cloud computing sales but gives a cautious sales forecast for the fourth quarter

Amazon offered a mixed picture of its financial health on Thursday in its quarterly earnings report.

The e-commerce company gave a cautious sales forecast for the current fourth quarter, which encompasses the critical holiday shopping period, after delivering fiscal third-quarter results that came in below Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Charles-McClintock Wilson/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Charles-McClintock Wilson/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Charles-McClintock Wilson/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

The biggest ouch of the report was its negative free cash flow of $2.4 billion.

The update allows you to use Alexa to create lists, register them, see what's on them, and add or edit items. You can also manage subscriptions.

Constellation Energy will get $5 billion in government loans to modernize nuclear reactors. Most of the new capacity is already committed to Google, Amazon, and Meta.

Amazon's other new devices include an upgraded Echo Dot, an Echo Studio with visual intelligence features, and the Echo Show 16.

Massive note conversions reveal the true extent of Amazon's ownership in Anthropic.

Значительную роль в развитии современных подходов к машинному обучению сыграл французский исследователь Ян Лекун. В 1989 году он и его коллеги из AT&T Bell Labs представили свёрточную нейросеть, которая распознавала рукописные цифры. Систему обучали на тысячах изображений цифр из настоящих почтовых отправлений в США. В том же году разработчики описали результаты в научной статье (doi:10.1162/neco.1989.1.4.541).

Более того, эти разработки внедрили для реального использования. В девяностых на основе этих лабораторных экспериментов создали коммерческие системы распознавания банковских чеков. В статье 1998 года исследователи отчитывались об обработке нескольких миллионов чеков ежедневно (doi:10.1109/5.726791). Как рассказывал Лекун, к концу девяностых такие системы считывали от 10 до 20 % всех чеков в США.

Достижения отмечали как наградами в отрасли, так и славой вне неё: Лекун получил премию Тьюринга за 2018 год, а в «Книге рекордов Гиннесса» за Bell Labs зафиксирован рекорд по созданию первой нейросети, способной распознавать рукописные символы. В декабре 2024 года учёный не без удовольствия выложил на личном канале YouTube восстановленную видеодемонстрацию нейросети LeNet 1 от 1989 года.

Читать далее

As Amazon blocks AI agents from shopping on its site, Walmart is taking the opposite approach, introducing new technology that lets AI agents make purchases on customers' behalf, with controls over spending and transaction approvals.

Flipkart has expanded access to its food-delivery service to thousands of employees ahead of its public launch.

Amazon wants to break Nvidia’s hold on PyTorch, the free toolkit used to build most AI apps, so that more developers run their apps on alternative chips like its own.

Amazon and X-energy have inked another deal to deploy nuclear power to the grid. This one will generate nearly 1 gigawatt of electricity.

The Amazon Alexa 12 Pro’s matte screen delivers a (mostly) squint-free experience for less than Apple’s comparable model