Author: Naveed Ahmad

Microsoft’s Big Bet on Carbon Removal: A Deal with India-Based Varaha In a move to accelerate its carbon-negative journey by 2030, Microsoft has just signed a whopping deal with Indian startup Varaha to buy over 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits over the next three years. This massive agreement is part of the tech giant’s efforts to scale up its AI and cloud operations while reducing its carbon footprint. So, what’s the deal all about? Varaha will convert cotton crop waste into biochar, a charcoal-like material that can be added to soil to store carbon for long periods while…

**Revolutionizing Language Models: Introducing Engram, a Conditional Memory Axis** In a landmark innovation, researchers at DeepSeek.ai have unveiled Engram, a game-changing technology that’s poised to transform the field of Sparse Large Language Models (LLMs). Engram is designed to revolutionize memory storage and retrieval in LLMs, unleashing new possibilities for efficient and effective language processing. **How Engram Enhances DeepSeek Transformers** Engram is built on top of the powerful DeepSeek V3 tokenizer, which has been pre-trained on an impressive 262 billion tokens. The backbone of the model is a 30-block Transformer with a hidden size of 2560 and Multi-head Latent Attention. Engram…

**Digg’s Back: The Revival of a Social Media Classic** Ah, nostalgia! Remember Digg, the pioneering social media platform that once shook up the internet with its addictive score system and community-driven news aggregation? Yeah, that Digg is back, and it’s looking to take a swing at the current king of the internet hangouts, Reddit. Under the guidance of co-founders Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian (yes, that Alexis Ohanian), Digg 2.0 is poised to relaunch in an open beta tomorrow, January 15th. This time around, the platform is all about fostering community and tackling the toxic elements that often plague social…

**Liftoff Mobile Takes the Leap: Files for $400 Million IPO Amidst Strong Investor Interest** In the world of tech IPOs, it’s always exciting to see a new name pop up on the radar. And boy, do we have one today! Liftoff Mobile, a mobile app advertising platform, has officially filed its S-1 document with the SEC, kicking off its journey to become a publicly traded company. But before we dive into the juicy details, let’s take a step back and understand what’s at stake. According to Renaissance Capital, the whisper number for Liftoff’s IPO is estimated to be a whopping…

**The Math Revolution: AI Is Solving High-Level Problems Like Never Before** I recently stumbled upon an article that left me speechless – a software engineer and mathematician, Neel Somani, tested the math capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the results were mind-blowing. He fed the program a complex math problem, and after a mere 15 minutes, it came back with a full solution. The program was able to grasp and apply advanced mathematical concepts, including Legendre’s formula, Bertrand’s postulate, and the Star of David theorem. **The Power of AI in Math** ChatGPT is a large language model that’s been trained on…

**Netflix Takes a Massive Leap into Video Podcasts with Pete Davidson and Michael Irvin** Hey there, podcast enthusiasts! You might want to sit down and take a deep breath because I’ve got some major news to share. Netflix is finally jumping into the podcast game in a big way, and I couldn’t be more stoked! The streaming giant is launching two brand-new video podcasts, featuring none other than comedian sensation Pete Davidson and former NFL superstar Michael Irvin. Yes, you read that right – we’re talking video podcasts, baby! **Pete Davidson’s Kickoff** First up, ‘The Pete Davidson Show’ is a…

**Emversity Doubles Valuation as it Fills the Skills Gap with Human Touch** As AI automation continues to sweep the workforce, Indian startup Emversity is charting a unique course to address the growing skills gap. The company has just secured a whopping $30 million in series A funding, led by Premji Invest, with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Z47 joining the party, to expand its job-ready training programs in the world’s most populous market. The funds will be used to take Emversity’s footprint to over 200 locations in the next two years, all while deepening its focus on healthcare and hospitality, and…

**The AI Brain Drain: Co-Founders Leave Considering Machines Lab for OpenAI** In a surprising turn of events, Mira Murati’s startup, Considering Machines Lab, has announced that two of its co-founders are peacing out to return to OpenAI. Just a few months after closing a record-breaking $2 billion seed round, valuing the company at a staggering $12 billion. According to a tweet from Murati herself, the company’s CTO, Barret Zoph, is outta there. Soumith Chintala, a seasoned AI researcher, will take over as the new CTO. But, just 58 minutes later, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, tweeted that Zoph, along…

**The Great Flip-Flop: Pondering Machines Founders Make a Shocking Return to OpenAI** Get ready for a whirlwind of controversy and drama, folks! It’s official: Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, the cofounders of Pondering Machines, are ditching their own lab coats for OpenAI’s sleek new jerseys. The news dropped like a bombshell yesterday, courtesy of an email from OpenAI’s CEO of Operations, Fidji Simo. And let me tell you, there’s a whole lot of intrigue and mystery surrounding this move. First off, the rumor mill has been churning out whispers about Zoph’s alleged “unethical conduct” at Pondering Machines. According to a…

**GM’s Data Sharing Scandal: A Wake-Up Call for Transparency** In a major win for consumer privacy, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized an order requiring General Motors (GM) and its OnStar telematics service to get explicit consent from customers before collecting, using, or sharing their data. This comes after a 2024 report exposed how GM was collecting and selling drivers’ geolocation data and driving habits to third-party companies. **The Smart Driver Program: A Data-Collection Scandal** In 2024, a New York Times investigation revealed that GM’s Smart Driver program, a feature within its connected car apps, was tracking and rating…