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Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian revealed the company has already made billions from AI by monetizing through consumption-based pricing, subscriptions, and upselling. "Our backlog is now at $106 billion -- it is growing faster than our revenue," said Kurian, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference in San Francisco. "More than 50% of it will convert to revenue over the next two years." CNBC reports: Kurian said some people pay Google by consumption, giving the example of AI infrastructure purchased by enterprise customers. "Whether it's a GPU, TPU or a model, you pay by token -- meaning you pay by what you use," he said. Tokens represent chunks of text that a AI models process when they generate or interpret language. Some people use customer service systems, paying for it by what Kurian called "deflection rates." Such rates are priced based on the business value customers get -- things like uptime, scalability, AI features and security. Google Cloud also provides tools like a "deflection dashboard," that customers can use to track and manage agent interactions. Last month, Google won a $10 billion cloud contract from Meta spanning six years. Meta had largely been reliant on Amazon Web Services for cloud infrastructure, though it also uses Microsoft Azure. Some customers pay for cloud services by way of subscriptions. "You pay per user per monthly fee -- for example, agents or Workspace," said Kurian, referring to the company's Gemini products, which has its own subscription tiers with various storage options, and the Google Workspace productivity suite, which also has several subscription tiers. Google One, a popular personal cloud storage subscription, offers a basic monthly service to users for $1.99 a month. Earlier this year, the company offered a new subscription tier called "Google AI Ultra," which offers exclusive access to the company's most "cutting edge" AI products with 30 terabytes of storage for $249.99 per month. Kurian gave an example of Google Cloud's cybersecurity subscription tiers, saying "we've seen huge growth in that." Kurian said that upselling is another key aspect of Google Cloud's strategy. "We also upsell people as they use more of it from one version to another because we have higher quality models and higher-priced tiers," Kurian said. He said that once customers use Google's AI services, they wind up using more of the company's products. "That leads customers who sign a commitment or contract to spend more than they contacted for, which drives more revenue growth," he added. Kurian says it is capturing new customers more quickly too. "We've seen 28% sequential quarter-over-quarter growth in new customer wins in the first half of the year," said Kurian, adding that nearly two-thirds of customers already use Google Cloud's AI tools in a meaningful way. "Selling to existing customers is always easier than selling to new customers, so it helps us improve the cost of sales," Kurian said.

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The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress shows U.S. high school seniors' math and reading scores at their lowest in decades, with nearly half failing to reach basic proficiency in math and one-third below basic in reading. The Associated Press reports: A decade-long slide in high schoolers' reading and math performance persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 12th graders' scores dropping to their lowest level in more than 20 years, according to results released Tuesday from an exam known as the nation's report card. Eighth-grade students also lost significant ground in science skills, according to the results from the National Assessment of Education Progress. The assessments were the first since the pandemic for eighth graders in science and 12th graders in reading and math. They reflect a downward drift across grade levels and subject areas in previous releases from NAEP, which is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress of U.S. schools. "Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows," said Matthew Soldner, the acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. "These results should galvanize all of us to take concerted and focused action to accelerate student learning." [...] In reading, the average score in 2024 was the lowest score in the history of the assessment, which began in 1992. Thirty-two percent of high school seniors scored below "basic," meaning they were not able to find details in a text to help them understand its meaning. In math, the average score in 2024 was the lowest since 2005, when the assessment framework changed significantly. On the test, 45% of high school seniors scored below "basic" achievement, the highest percentage since 2005. Only 33% of high school seniors were considered academically prepared for college-level math courses, a decline from 37% in 2019.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Hardware: Intel has removed its chief executive officer of products, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, as part of a major shake-up of the executive branch of the embattled chip firm, according to Reuters. This is part of new CEO Lip-Bu Tan's plan to reshape the company under his leadership, flattening the leadership structure so he makes more of the important decisions about day-to-day operation. [...] Holthaus is the latest high-profile figure at Intel to get the axe, ending a 30-year career at Intel, but a mere 10 months in her CEO of products role, and a temporary position as co-CEO after the previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, suddenly left in 2024. "Throughout her incredible career, Michelle has transformed major businesses, built high-performing teams and worked to delight our customers," Tan said in a statement. "She has made a lasting impact on our company and inspired so many of us with her leadership. We are grateful for all Michelle has given Intel and wish her the best." Intel has said Holthaus will remain with the company in an advisory role, but her position will not be filled by anyone else. What Intel is doing, though, is bringing in executives from elsewhere, including one who worked at Tan's previous endeavour, Cadence. Srinivasan Iyengar joined the company in June and will take on the role of head of a new central engineering division. This group will focus on developing a new custom silicon business for external customers. Although Intel's fabrication business has been one of its worst-performing in recent years, and there are still talks of it selling large portions of it, it's found a new lease of life following U.S. government investment and Bu Tan's leadership. With Iyengar's new role, though, it's possible we'll see Intel designing chips for customers, rather than merely producing them. That could see it compete against the likes of Broadcom and Marvell. With Tan pushing for a faster, leaner business overall, Iyengar will report directly to him in his new role. Intel also announced that it had acquired the services of former executive vice president of solutions engineering at Arm, Kevork Kechichian. He'll begin heading Intel's datacenter group, and brings years of experience at ARM, NXP Semiconductor, and Qualcomm.

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Miscreants cost victims time rather than money

During the two-hour window on Monday in which hijacked npm versions were available for download, malware-laced packages reached one in 10 cloud environments, according to Wiz researchers. But crypto-craving crims did little more than annoy defenders.…

Apple's new Watch lineup introduces blood pressure monitoring, sleep scoring, and upgraded hardware across the Series 11 ($399), Ultra 3 ($799), and SE 3 ($249). Ars Technica reports: The Apple Watch 11 is supposed to be able to alert users about "possible hypertension" by using data from an optical heart rate sensor "to analyze how a user's blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart," per its announcement. According to Apple's presentation, the smartwatch will look for chronic hypertension over 30-day periods. Apple's presentation noted that the Watch Series 11 won't be able to identify all hypertension, but the company said that it expects to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension during the feature's first year of availability. The feature is based on machine-learning and training data built from multiple studies examining over 100,000 people combined, Apple noted. Apple said it expects the blood pressure monitoring feature to receive Food and Drug Administration clearance soon and to get approval in 150 regions this month. The new watch will use a 5G modem and also introduce a feature that provides wearers with a "sleep score" that's based on the duration of their sleep, the consistency of their bedtime, how often they awaken from their sleep, and how much time they spend in each sleep stage. The Watch will analyze those factors every night and then provide a breakdown of how each score is calculated. The feature is based on an algorithm tested with 5 million nights of sleep data, Apple said. Other updates include the use of INX glass with ceramic coating that's supposed to make the Watch Series 11 two times more scratch-resistant than its predecessor. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 also debuted with hypertension notifications and sleep scoring, but comes equipped with a brighter edge-viewable OLED display, stronger radios with 5G and satellite support, and a larger 42-hour battery. It starts at $799. Meanwhile, the budget-friendly SE 3 adds the new S10 chip with always-on display, faster charging, and expanded health tracking -- including sleep scores, apnea alerts, and temperature monitoring. It starts at $249.

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iPhone 17 Air shows company lightening up

Apple on Tuesday showed off its iPhone 17 lineup at a media event dubbed, "Awe Dropping," favoring timeworn self-adulation over a more literal pun like "Four Play."…

Apple has unveiled the AirPods Pro 3 with heart-rate sensing, improved noise cancellation, a more compact case, and upcoming live translation features powered by Apple Intelligence. They'll be available for preorder today at a price of $249. TechCrunch reports: One of the standout features of the AirPods Pro 3 is its heart-rate sensing capability, a first for the AirPods line. This addition will operate similarly to the Powerbeats Pro 2, using LED sensors to provide precise measurements. The collected data will sync with Apple's Fitness app. The active noise cancellation, which reduces external noise, has been significantly improved. Apple says it removes twice the noise compared to Pro 2. A noteworthy upcoming feature is a live translation capability, thanks to Apple's iOS 26 software update. This lets you have conversations in different languages, using your iPhone to translate while the phone plays one language and the AirPods handle the other. Other notable updates include smaller, more comfortable earbuds. Apple now offers foam ear tips in five different sizes, and the company claims it's "the best-fitting AirPods."

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Now if only someone would remember to apply those rules inside the DoD

It's about to get a lot harder for private companies that are lax on cybersecurity to get a contract with the Pentagon, as the Defense Department has finalized a rule requiring contractor compliance with its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.…

Canon will rerelease its 2016 PowerShot Elph 360 HS point-and-shoot camera as the PowerShot Elph 360 HS A in late October for $379 -- $169 more than the original's $210 launch price. The camera retains the same 20.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, Digic IV Plus processor, 12x optical zoom, 1080p video recording, and USB Mini port. The new version switches from SD to microSD cards and removes Wi-Fi image transfer and direct printing capabilities. The rerelease comes after celebrities including Kendall Jenner and Dua Lipa popularized the original model on social media. The camera will be available in black or silver only; the original purple option has been discontinued.

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If you're within 50 miles of Redmond, then it's time to come in

Microsoft is rolling out a new return-to-office policy that will see first Redmond, then US, and then global staff getting back on-prem at least three days a week.…

Apple has unveiled its iPhone 17 lineup, introducing three distinct models targeting different market segments. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max feature an aluminum unibody design incorporating a vapor chamber for thermal management, enabling the A19 Pro chip to deliver 40% better sustained performance than its predecessor. Both Pro models include three 48MP cameras offering 8x optical zoom -- the longest in an iPhone -- and an 18MP Center Stage front camera. The standard iPhone 17 gains ProMotion display technology previously exclusive to Pro models, along with dual 48MP rear cameras and the Center Stage system. Apple introduced iPhone Air as the thinnest iPhone at 5.6mm, built on a titanium frame housing the A19 Pro, N1 wireless, and C1X cellular chips. All models feature Ceramic Shield 2 protection offering three times better scratch resistance than previous generations. The iPhone 17 starts at $799 with 256GB storage, iPhone Air at $999, iPhone 17 Pro at $1,099, and Pro Max at $1,199.

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An anonymous reader writes: Reuters News on Friday withdrew a four-minute video containing an exchange between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the possibility that humans can live to 150 years old, after China state TV demanded its removal and withdrew the legal permission to use it. The footage, which included the open mic exchange from the military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, was licensed by the China state television network, China Central Television (CCTV). The clips were edited by Reuters into a four-minute video and distributed to more than 1,000 global media clients including major international news broadcasters and TV stations around the world. Other news agency licensees of CCTV also distributed edits of the footage. Reuters removed the video from its website and issued a "kill" order to its clients on Friday after receiving a written request from CCTV's lawyer. The letter said the news agency exceeded usage terms of its agreement. The letter further criticized Reuters "editorial treatment applied to this material," but did not specify details.

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'The practice… has since been fixed,' Pentagon official tells The Reg

The US Department of Defense, up until this week, routinely left its social media accounts wide open to hijackers via stream keys - unique, confidential identifiers generated by streaming platforms for broadcasting content. If exposed, these keys can allow attackers to output anything they want from someone else's channel.…

BrianFagioli writes: Microsoft has decided it is time to rein in remote work. The company will soon require employees to spend at least three days per week in the office, starting with those in the Puget Sound region by February 2026. From there, the policy will spread across the United States and eventually overseas.

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HelloGym's data security clearly skipped leg day

Exclusive Sensitive info from hundreds of thousands of gym customers and staff – including names, financial details, and potentially biometric data in the form of audio recordings – was left sitting in an unencrypted, non-password protected database, according to a security researcher who shut it down.…

Public companies in the U.S. have dutifully shared financial results with investors every three months for the past 50-plus years. A new proposal hopes to change that. WSJ: The Long-Term Stock Exchange plans to petition the Securities and Exchange Commission to eliminate the quarterly earnings report requirement and instead give companies the option to share results twice a year, the group told The Wall Street Journal. It says the idea would save companies millions of dollars and allow executives to focus on long-term goals instead of worrying about hitting quarterly targets or prepping for earnings calls. "We hear a lot about how it's overly burdensome to be a public company," said Bill Harts, the exchange's chief executive officer. "This is an idea whose time has come." President Trump briefly explored the idea during his first term, and current SEC leadership has signaled an interest in reducing regulation. LTSE representatives recently discussed their proposal with SEC officials and left the meeting encouraged, people familiar with the matter said. LTSE is a stock-trading venue for companies focused on long-term goals. Its proposal would apply to all U.S. public companies, not just the few listed on its exchange. The group thinks such a move could revive the shrinking number of public companies, which some see as an existential threat for the American economy and investors.

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Microsoft invitation lost in mail after HoloLens made soldiers sick

The US Army's troubled attempt at outfitting soldiers with mixed-reality headsets is getting a $354 million boost and a new pair of lead contractors as part of a second attempt to make the kit stick without making troops sick.…

Microsoft feared too many machines would end up bricked

Microsoft vet Raymond Chen first told the story of HLT and Windows 95 more than 20 years ago. The instruction tells the CPU to effectively shut itself down until the next hardware interrupt – ideal for laptops, since power consumption would be hugely reduced.…

U.S. jobs growth was much slower than previously reported, according to revised data released on Tuesday. From a report: The number of jobs created in the United States from April 2024 to March 2025 was revised down by 911,000 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That would roughly amount to 76,000 fewer jobs created each month of the year up until March. The revision draws fresh attention to the weakening U.S. labor market, which added an average of only 29,000 jobs in each of the three most recent months. The August jobs report showed that the U.S. added only 22,000 jobs that month and also revised June's job growth down to a loss of 13,000 jobs. Those datapoints have led economists and some policymakers to conclude that the U.S. labor market is now at a standstill. "The jobs engine that has been integral to U.S. economic growth defying expectations for the past four years is stalling," Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo, said in a note on Friday.

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Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok, writing in a blog post There are fewer public companies to invest in, and firms that decide to do an IPO are getting older and older. In 1999, the median age of IPOs was five years. In 2022, it was eight years, and today, the median age of IPOs has increased to 14 years. The rise in the age of companies going public is not only a result of the Fed raising interest rates in 2022, but also the consequence of more companies wanting to stay private for longer to avoid the burdens of being public. Combined with the domination of passive investing, failure of active managers and high correlation in public markets, and high concentration in a few stocks, the reality is that there is no alpha left in public markets.

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