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Bloomberg: Bending Spoons, which owns Vimeo and AOL, closed up 40% in its US market debut on Wednesday at a $25.7B valuation, after raising $1.68B in its IPO  —  Bending Spoons SpA shares surged 40% above their initial public offering price after the company and some of its backers raised $1.68 billion.

Distributed GPU training has become routine across the industry. Teams now train...

Lauren Ohnesorge / Triangle Business Journal: Higharc, which uses AI to assist house builders in design and construction, raised a $95M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to $170M+  —  A Durham-based artificial intelligence company targeting the homebuilding industry has raised $95 million and is hiring.

The company has grown rapidly by acquiring and revamping last-generation tech brands like AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo.

The co-founders of Bending Spoons, the Italian company quietly buying beloved, ailing Internet brands, learned big lessons from their own startup's failure.

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We are excited to announce the winners of the 2026 Built-On Databricks Startup Challenge...

LayerX found that BioShocking could trick AI browsers into leaking credentials by disguising malicious prompts as game rules. The post New BioShocking Attack Tricks AI Browsers Into Leaking Credentials appeared first on TechRepublic.

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Reuters: Lime's shares closed up 4% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, valuing the company at ~$1.7B, after Lime and existing stockholders raised ~$174M in its US IPO  —  Uber-backed (UBER.N) Lime's (LIME.O) shares rose 4% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, signaling robust investor confidence …

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Microsoft is reportedly preparing thousands of job cuts as AI spending rises, with sales, consulting, and Xbox among the areas expected to be affected. The post Microsoft Reportedly Plans Thousands of Layoffs Amid Cost-Cutting Push appeared first on TechRepublic.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple is working on new iPad Pros and an entry-level 14" MacBook Pro with a new design in line with the upcoming touch-screen laptops for H1 2027  —  Apple Inc. is preparing an upgraded iPad Pro line and a redesigned entry-level MacBook Pro for next year, adding to a slate of several …

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T-Mobile wants Broadcom to keep supporting its VMware perpetual licenses.

Reuters: Alibaba and its US payment processor AUS agree to pay $600M to resolve DOJ allegations that they failed to prevent illegal sales of drugs and other products  —  Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988.HK) and its U.S.-based payment processor have agreed to pay $600 million …

Egg prices were allegedly manipulated during 2022-2025. CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images The Department of Justice proposed a settlement with big egg producers over alleged price-fixing. Egg prices have gone way up in the last few years, mainly because of bird flu. But maybe also this! Egg prices were such a huge talking point in the 2024 election, but not possible secret manipulation. "I wish I had good news about eggs, but alas, I do not," my colleague Emily Stewart wrote back in January 2025 in an article about how eggs are probably just going to be expensive… forever. She talked to a ton of people well placed to know what was driving the cost of eggs: egg industry experts (there's someone with the amazing job title "managing editor of eggs in the Americas"), professors of veterinary medicine, epidemiologists, and the CEO of the American Egg Board. The experts agreed that, in addition to factors like certain state laws on farming practices (a few states have cage-free laws that make local egg production more expensive), the biggest factor was the spread of avian flu, which was more widespread than in the past. What no one seemed to know at the time was that there was perhaps another factor going on: price fixing. The egg price-fixing scandal The Department of Justice just announced this week that it has proposed a settlement for an investigation against three big egg producers, alleging that between 2022 and March 2025, they colluded to keep prices high by coordinating bids on egg exchanges, or the market where egg producers buy and sell from each other. The three egg producers, Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's Egg Ranch, allegedly spoke on the phone and over text to make plans about how to keep prices high, which ultimately would affect what you saw in the grocery store. The proposed settlement by the DOJ, along with 17 state attorneys general, requires the three egg companies to pay a combined $3.3 million fine and donate over 50 million eggs to food banks. The settlement has to be accepted by a court. The companies have agreed to the settlement, which doesn't require admission of any wrongdoing. In a statement, a representative for Versova said, "Our decision to accept this settlement simply reflects our firm intention to put this matter behind us and focus on our business." A representative for MTQ USA, Hickman's owner, said that the issue predates its acquisition of the company in November 2025. This isn't to say that manipulation was the main or only factor. The avian flu epidemic was real and affected lots of producers. Hickman's, for example, said in June 2025 that the flu was responsible for the deaths of 95% of its flock. Egg prices got political What feels, to me, so infuriating about this (alleged) price-fixing is how huge a deal egg prices were at the time. We couldn't stop talking about egg prices! It was constantly in the news. (I admit some bias here, as someone involved in writing about egg prices during this period.) Eggs became the avatar of the entire cost of groceries and the overall cost-of-living crunch for average Americans. Inflation during the 2020s made nearly everything more expensive, and rising grocery prices hurt the pockets of millions of families. It was incredibly political, too. During the 2024 election cycle, the cost of groceries — especially eggs — was a top issue for candidates. It's probably a stretch to say egg prices clinched the election for Donald Trump, but it's not totally wrong. Lots of voters listened to his promises to ease inflation, especially around grocery prices. Trump himself believed he won based on egg prices. In an interview with "Meet the Press" just before he took office, he said, "When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that." In January 2025, at the same time Emily Stewart wrote about eggs being expensive forever, prices hit $4.95 a dozen, Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to the President specifically about egg prices, demanding to know when he'd fulfill his campaign promises to lower them. Three months later, when prices hit an all-time high of $6.23, the Department of Justice announced its investigation into the alleged price-fixing scheme. As someone who eats a decent amount of eggs, it's indeed aggravating to have to pay more. It's extra infuriating to imagine that this isn't just because of unfortunate circumstances like a bird flu outbreak, but because of some form of illegal manipulation. I'm mad! I mean, I guess I'm always mad about illegal price fixing, but this affected me directly — both because I had to pay more at the store, and also because so much of our mental energy had gone into talking about the price of eggs. I feel glaslit! Read the original article on Business Insider

The Great American State Fair runs from June 25 to July 10. Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images Reagan National Airport will close for 15 hours for America250 celebrations. Airlines adjusted schedules in advance, and the airport will see about 600 fewer flights on July 4. The festivities include flyovers by B-2 bombers and a giant fireworks show. Washington is throwing a party for America's 250th birthday this weekend that's so big the city is shutting down a major airport for nearly 15 hours. The Federal Aviation Administration recently announced that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the closest airport to downtown Washington, D.C., will close from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 3 for aerial rehearsals, and again from noon until midnight on July 4 for the Independence Day celebrations, which include military flyovers. Reagan National typically handles about 850 flights a day, but aviation analytics company Cirium estimates airlines have scheduled only 260 flights on July 4, roughly one-third of its normal daily traffic. Operations will resume on July 5. Airlines appear to have received months of notice, allowing them to trim schedules rather than cancel flights at the last minute and disrupt thousands of travelers. Flight operations are usually paused for short periods during Washington's annual Fourth of July fireworks show, sometimes forcing aircraft to circle until the airspace reopens — and giving passengers a unique view of the show. This takeoff from Reagan National shows how close the flight path is over downtown DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images The FAA stopped flights at Reagan National for an unusually long two hours on July 4, 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term, causing delays and cancellations. But a nearly full shutdown is unprecedented. The closure makes way for the gigantic airshow and fireworks display the White House has planned for Saturday, including flyovers by Air Force One, demonstration teams like the US Air Force Thunderbirds, and B-2 stealth bombers. In statements to Business Insider, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines said they adjusted their schedules earlier this year to account for the closure and made alternate flight arrangements for affected customers. Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Air Canada, all of which also fly to Reagan National, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. Cirium data shows American, Reagan National's largest airline, will be hit the hardest by the closure, operating about 50 fewer flights than usual. Other carriers serving the airport have also trimmed service for the holiday weekend. Nearby Washington Dulles and Baltimore airports could accommodate flights originally destined for Reagan National, but they, along with airports around New York City, also have airspace restrictions for American 250 celebrations and are expecting fewer flights this weekend. American, Delta, and JetBlue are already offering travel waivers to customers flying to airports affected by the Independence Day celebrations, in anticipation of possible delays. Trump has been heavily involved in planning the July 4 festivities, which are expected to take over major US cities such as DC, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. In the DC epicenter, events include the free Great American State Fair on the National Mall, running through July 10 and featuring exhibits from all 50 states, live entertainment, food, rides, and military displays. A B-2 bomber and F-35 stealth fighters flew over DC on June 24. Bloomberg/Getty Images The festivities are set to ramp up on Saturday, with the annual Independence Day parade down Constitution Avenue, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, along with major concerts, and aerial demonstrations. So far, reports show thin crowds at the fair, and much of the East Coast is facing a heat wave, with temperatures above 100 in DC this week and expected to last through Friday. Read the original article on Business Insider

How companies are burning through their AI tokens; and the fake AI-generated flowers all over Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.