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IBM reports 15 federal contract cancellations and $100 million in future payments cut due to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts.
Windsurf cuts prices across the board, touting 'massive savings' for users as competition with Cursor intensifies. Let’s dive deeper…
In today's ContentBuffer update:
IBM contracts cancelled due to DOGE cuts
Windsurf slashes prices, offers massive savings in AI coding wars
Tesla tests autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin and Bay Area
Netflix aims for $1 trillion valuation by 2025
Discord names new CEO amid IPO rumors, co-founder Jason Citron steps down
OpenAI's Image Generation API Now Available
5 new AI tools & 5 new AI jobs
More tech news
Latest Development
Federal Contracts
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: IBM reported 15 federal contract cancellations and $100 million in future payments cut due to DOGE cuts. CEO Arvind Krishna downplayed the impact on IBM's business, citing critical work areas such as veterans benefit claims processing.
Key Points:
IBM's consulting revenue was down 2% overall in Q1.
The company reported that the cancellations were related to cutbacks at USAID.
Arvind Krishna and James Kavanaugh, IBM's CFO, downplayed the potential impact of DOGE on the company's future business.
Why it matters: DOGE cuts affect IBM's federal government consulting contracts, but CEO Arvind Krishna believes the company's diverse portfolio positions it well to navigate the current climate.
Tech News
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Windsurf cuts prices across the board, touting 'massive savings' for users as competition with Cursor intensifies. The company eliminates flow action credits and reduces team plan pricing to $30 per user per month.
Key Points:
Windsurf is optimizing its GPU usage to achieve better pricing
The company is getting rid of its complex system of 'flow action credits'
Team plans are now priced at $30 per user per month down from $35
Enterprise plans are being made 'much cheaper'
Why it matters: Windsurf's price cut may prompt Cursor to respond, potentially sparking a price war in the AI coding assistant market.
Self-driving Cars
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Tesla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with employees in Austin and the Bay Area ahead of the company's planned robotaxi launch this summer. The FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees, with over 1.5k trips and 15k miles of driving completed so far. The service will theoretically be used by non-Tesla owners to hail a vehicle in the fleet.
Key Points:
Tesla's FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin and the Bay Area.
The service has already completed over 1.5k trips and 15k miles of driving.
The service will theoretically be used by non-Tesla owners to hail a vehicle in the fleet.
Why it matters: Tesla's autonomous ride-hailing service is significant as it paves the way for the company's planned robotaxi launch this summer, which could revolutionize the transportation industry.
Tech_news
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Netflix's CEO has set a goal for the company to reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion by 2025, contingent upon continued success. The streaming giant has achieved significant growth in recent years, doubling its revenue and growing profits tenfold.
Key Points:
Netflix aims to achieve a $1 trillion market capitalization through its streaming business alone.
The company plans to explore additional ventures beyond its core streaming service.
Netflix's revenue has doubled over the past five years, with profits growing by 10 times.
Why it matters: Netflix's goal is significant because it reflects the company's ambition to become a major player in the global entertainment industry.
Tech Gaming News
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Discord appoints Humam Sakhnini as new CEO, co-founder Jason Citron steps down; company to focus on gaming, explore monetization options through ads and microtransactions amid IPO rumors
Key Points:
Humam Sakhnini, former Activision Blizzard Vice Chairman, appointed as Discord's new CEO.
Jason Citron will remain involved with Discord as an advisor to the CEO and a member of the board of directors.
Discord refocusing on its gaming roots, exploring monetization opportunities through advertising and microtransactions.
Company to focus on gaming, potentially making changes to its social media platform
Why it matters: The appointment of Sakhnini as CEO and Discord's refocus on gaming may raise concerns among fans about the company's direction and potential changes to its social media platform.
Computervision
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: OpenAI's new image generator creates realistic Ghibli-style photos and AI action figures. Developers can generate multiple images at a time using gpt-image-1, and control the generation quality — and therefore speed.
Key Points:
The 'gpt-image-1' model is powered by an AI model that can create images across different styles, follow custom guidelines, leverage world knowledge, and render text.
Developers can control moderation sensitivity, which can be set to 'auto' for standard filtering or 'low' for less restrictive filtering.
All images created with gpt-image-1 are watermarked with C2PA metadata so they can be identified as AI-generated by supported platforms and apps.
Why it matters: OpenAI's image generation API has significant implications for the tech industry, allowing developers to create innovative applications and services that generate realistic images.
New Tools & Job
Landing Page 📊 - AI-powered landing page generator for effortless customization.
Site Builder 💻 - Unleash creativity and build dynamic websites with ease using AI technology.
Debater 🤔 - Improve debating skills with AI-powered web app for effective arguments.
Buildshare 💡 - Default public building platform for collaborative project development.
Sora 📹 - AI-powered video creation from text input with effortless editing.
Patchstack - Senior Backend Developer (PHP/Laravel)
WebPunch - Mid-Senior Rails Systems Monitoring & Quality Assurance
SimplyAnalytics - Senior Data Engineer
Aurora Payments - Senior Financial Data Engineer (EU/UK/LatAm/UAE)
ZipChat - AI RAG engineer, Ruby on Rails | Earn equity
QUICK HITS
📰 Meta's Instagram Threads app expands ads to all advertisers worldwide, allowing access to over 320 million monthly active users.
🛰️ Amazon's project Kuiper is struggling to meet its production targets, with only a few dozen satellites built so far.
📱 New feature prevents export, auto-download of chats and media.
🚫 Bluesky censored 72 accounts in Turkey after receiving a government request, marking the arrival of censorship on the platform.
💻 OpenAI plans to release a new open language model with few restrictions, aiming to surpass other open models.
THAT’S A WRAP
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