Google to pay $2.4 billion in deal to license tech of Windsurf, WSJ reports
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Earlier on Friday, a Google spokesperson told Reuters that the company has hired Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and select members of the coding tool's research and development team to join its DeepMind division, in a move to strengthen itself in the race for AI leadership.
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JPMorgan lifts interest income forecast after profit beat
July 15 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab raised its net interest income forecast for 2025 after strong performance in its investment banking and trading divisions helped it surpass profit expectations for the second quarter. The bank now expects $95.5 billion of NII, or the difference between what it earns on loans and pays out on deposits, compared with an earlier estimate of $94.5 billion. "The U.S. economy remained resilient in the quarter. The finalization of tax reform and potential deregulation are positive for the economic outlook," CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement. However, he highlighted that significant risks persist, including from tariffs and trade uncertainty, worsening geopolitical conditions, high fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices. Investors are closely scrutinizing banks' results and their executives' commentary this quarter to assess the impact of tariffs and the tax and spending bill Trump signed into law earlier this month. Market activity surged as investors seized opportunities and hedged risks in response to shifting U.S. tariff policies. The turmoil propelled JPMorgan's trading revenue 15% higher to $8.9 billion, driven by gains in both fixed income and equities. Investment banking fees rose 7% to $2.5 billion, underpinned by a rise in initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Overall profit was $14.99 billion, or $5.24 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $18.15 billion, or $6.12 per share, a year earlier, the largest U.S. bank said on Tuesday. The comparisons were skewed by a nearly $8 billion one-off gain the bank had recorded on a share exchange agreement with Visa (V.N), opens new tab last year. Excluding one-off costs, JPMorgan earned $4.96 per share, compared with the $4.48 per share that analysts were expecting, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. Shares were marginally up before the open.
The Sun
30 minutes ago
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Selfish WhatsApp trend sweeping UK has gone too far – I'm ready to bin phone over chat misery that's only getting worse
EXACTLY 2,120 notifications. This simply can't go on. That's how many times WhatsApp pinged me last week. It works out at over 300 texts a day. I'm exhausted, and a nightmare app trend is making it even worse. 5 5 I'm talking about group chats. Endless buzzing conversations with loved ones, pals, colleagues, strangers, and people I don't even like. It seems like everything gets its own group chat these days. For a start, you've got chats with every possible configuration of family and pals you could imagine. Then there are the groups for long-forgotten after-work drinks, stag dos and birthday parties that won't die. They pop up every few weeks like notification zombies, eating away at my brain and my patience. Why does being pulled into a chat for arranging some beers mean I'm condemned to a lifetime of tedious GIFs and tired memes? Yes, I know I can leave group chats, or just archive them. But it's like playing whack-a-mole. Leaving them seems to invite even more into my life. It's like one of those cursed dolls from a horror movie. Unsolicited invitations to conversations I don't need to be a part of abound. Dozens of groups, all bombarding me like a digital Luftwaffe. I just went into WhatsApp Settings > Storage and Data > Network Usage to look at my all time stats. I've sent about 200,000 messages since getting WhatsApp, and received nearly 700,000. I can't keep pace. And when I go into Settings > Screen Time on my iPhone to look at my WhatsApp notification count, I'm opening WhatsApp 16 times a day on average – with thousands of pop-ups a week. WhatsApp reveals exacty how to block one of your contacts By my maths, last week there were nearly 19 notifications every time I opened the app. It's sickening. This isn't how humans were meant to live. My phone isn't always with me – so even going outdoors doesn't fix it. There's no escape unless I chuck my mobile in the bin. It's tempting. Isolated, most of these group chats don't seem too bad. I even like most of the people in them, honestly. But their misery is greater than the sum of their parts. They come together like a snowball of spam, crushing me under the immense weight of mindless chatter. SHOWER THOUGHTS The whole concept of online chatting is oppressive too. Just the other day, I was texting a pal and felt bad about going to hop in the shower mid-conversation. What if they think I'm ignoring them? Will they think something happened to me? It's obviously nonsense, but the app makes it feel like you're "always on". I felt like a prisoner in my own bathroom. I did shower in the end, obviously. I won't let the apps win. But their dominating effect is real. The sad truth is that I get so many messages that it's literally impossible to read, absorb, and reply to them all in a meaningful way. Not unless I pack my job in, cut off my hobbies, and glue myself to my phone. 5 5 I don't even think I'm particularly popular. Some of you reading this probably have it even worse. How do you cope? The worst thing is, I'm hardly using social media. I've basically come off Facebook and Instagram to try to spend less time on my phone. If I was using those apps too, I don't know how I'd deal with the onslaught. At least my bosses pay me to read my work emails. Trawling through my WhatsApp chats is thankless. It's gotten so bad that some days, I don't even bother opening the app. I think: if it's important, I'll hear about it in another way. Better yet, I remind myself that I can just talk to these people in person. Ask them about their lives in the flesh: "How are you? Going anywhere nice? What have you been cooking for dinner lately?" It doesn't need to be a constant back-and-forth on WhatsApp. One small saving grace I've found is the iPhone's Sleep Focus mode. TRY 'SLEEP FOCUS' TO SAVE YOURSELF It's not the perfect solution to your WhatsApp nightmare, but it's a start... Just go into Settings > Focus > Sleep on an iPhone. Then you can customise your Sleep Focus to shut out notifications while you're in bed. You can set up a schedule, so you won't see notifications until you leave the Focus in the morning. The schedule can even have different times for weekdays versus the weekend. And it'll even warn people trying to iMessage you that you've got notifications silenced (though they'll be given the option to break through). You can even set it up to allow notifications from specific people. I have mine set to allow my wife and closest family members – but you can block everyone if you prefer. Picture Credit: The Sun / Apple This mutes notifications coming through at night, and hides them when I wake up. It's only when I come out of the Sleep Focus that they appear. So I get some small respite from the WhatsApp carnage until my day properly begins. But it's not enough. There has to be a better way. PEN TO PAPER Honestly, I'm convinced we need to go back to writing letters. A couple of weeks ago, I read out a handwritten letter from a family member to my wife's 90-year-old grandad. It was a big update on their life in Australia, and it felt like a special moment. The message was an occasion. Not just a ping. Nothing feels special with WhatsApp. It's just a constant flurry of thoughts, feelings, updates, and memes. Wouldn't it be nice to write a letter to distant friends or far-off family members, maybe once a quarter? Tell them all the main bits, write it with love, and then get excited for the big update coming back in the post. There's no pressure to reply right away. Certainly no damning "blue ticks" cruelly revealing when I've peeled the envelope open. And try "tagging" me with a bit of paper. I dare you. The closest you'll get to rushing me is a first-class stamp. It would make chatting with loved ones feel more special. We'd all be reminded of what is actually important in our lives – and who we really want to share those thoughts, feelings, updates, and moments with. And you can bet I won't be getting 2,000 letters a week.
Reuters
38 minutes ago
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Trump joins tech and energy executives amid AI push
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, July 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will join executives from some of the largest U.S. tech and energy companies for a summit in Pittsburgh on Tuesday as the administration prepares fresh measures to power the U.S. expansion of artificial intelligence. Top economic rivals U.S. and China are locked in a technological arms race over who can dominate AI as the technology takes on increasing importance everywhere from corporate boardrooms to the battlefield. The Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University is expected to bring tech executives and officials from top energy and tech firms including Meta (META.O), opens new tab, Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Exxon Mobil to discuss how to position the U.S. as a leader in AI. Trump will use the summit - put together by U.S. Senator Dave McCormick, a Republican ally from Pennsylvania - to announce some $70 billion in artificial intelligence and energy investments in the state. Big Tech is scrambling to secure vast amounts of electricity supplies to power the energy-guzzling data centers needed for its rapid expansion of artificial intelligence. The CEOs expected to attend include Khaldoon Al-Mubarak of Mubadala, Rene Hass of SoftBank, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Darren Woods of ExxonMobil, Brendan Bechtel of Bechtel and Dario Amodei of Anthropic. The White House is considering executive actions in the coming weeks to make it easier for power-generating projects to connect to the grid and also provide federal land on which to build the data centers needed to expand AI technology, Reuters previously reported. The administration is also weighing streamlining permitting for data centers by creating a nationwide Clean Water Act permit, rather than requiring companies to seek permits on a state-by-state basis. Mike Sommers, head of the influential American Petroleum Institute, said executive action is welcomed to unlock the energy needed to power the data centers, but a more durable solution is needed. "Real durable permitting reform requires an act of Congress, not just an executive order," Sommers said in an interview with Reuters. Trump ordered his administration in January to produce an AI Action Plan that would make "America the world capital in artificial intelligence" and reduce regulatory barriers to its rapid expansion. That report, which includes input from the National Security Council, is due by July 23. The White House is considering making July 23 "AI Action Day" to draw attention to the report and demonstrate its commitment to expanding the industry, Reuters has reported. U.S. power demand is hitting record highs this year after nearly two decades of stagnation as AI and cloud computing data centers balloon in numbers and size across the country. The demand is also leading to unprecedented deals between the power industry and technology companies, including the attempted restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania between Constellation Energy and Microsoft. The surge has led to concerns about power shortages that threaten to raise electricity bills and increase the risk of blackouts, while slowing Big Tech in its global race against countries like China to dominate artificial intelligence.
