Artificial Intelligence

Google Vids Adds Gemini Omni Video Generation And Personal AI Avatars

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Google has rolled out two significant updates to Google Vids, its AI-powered video creation tool within Google Workspace: Gemini Omni, which enables text- and image-to-video generation and conversational editing, and personal avatars, which allow users to create a digital likeness of themselves to appear in videos without being recorded on camera.

Boston Globe Media Acquires InstaTrac, A 30-Year-Old Massachusetts Government Intelligence Platform

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Boston Globe Media has acquired InstaTrac, a Massachusetts-based government information company that has provided legislative and municipal tracking services to professionals, public officials, and organizations across the state for more than three decades. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Instacart Acquires Arpalus To Bring Real-Time Computer Vision To Grocery Shelf Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Instacart has acquired Arpalus, an AI-powered computer vision company that specializes in real-time shelf intelligence for grocery retail. The acquisition is designed to sharpen inventory accuracy across Instacart's ecommerce fulfillment network and in-store operations, targeting one of the most persistent pain points in online grocery: out-of-stock items that trigger substitutions, cancellations, and eroded customer trust. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Bunkerhill Health Raises $55 Million Series B To Scale Agentic AI Platform For Health Systems

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Bunkerhill Health, a San Francisco-based company that builds agentic AI infrastructure for hospitals and health systems, has closed a Series B funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with continued participation from Sequoia Capital, Felicis, Optum Ventures, and Y Combinator. The Series B brings total funding across all rounds to $55 million. The company's platform, Carebricks, is in production at Cleveland Clinic, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), and Intermountain Health.

Applied Computing Raises $20 Million Led by KBR To Scale Orbital, An AI Foundation Model For Energy Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Applied Computing, a UK-based AI company, has raised $20 million in a funding round led by KBR, the global engineering and technology services firm, with Databricks Ventures joining as a new investor. The announcement follows the company's annual demo day, held at the Energy Institute in London, where Applied Computing demonstrated Orbital, described as the first foundation model built specifically for energy operations working live.

beehiiv Launches Community, AI Copilot, Programmatic Ads, and Visual Editor in Major Platform Expansion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

beehiiv, the newsletter-first publishing platform, has announced its most significant product expansion to date, introducing four major new capabilities: Community, Copilot, programmatic advertising, and a redesigned visual editor alongside enhancements across its podcast, website, and monetization tools. The announcements were made during the company's virtual Summer Release Event.

Orum Acquires Scout AI To Improve Phone Data Accuracy For Sales Teams

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Orum, an AI-powered calling platform used by more than 1,200 sales organizations, announced it has acquired Scout AI to help sales teams identify the most reliable phone number for reaching each prospect. Scout AI uses autonomous data agents to connect a company’s customer relationship management system with more than 30 external data sources and Orum’s proprietary calling intelligence. The system evaluates available phone numbers, identifies the one most likely to reach a live person, and continuously updates that information as new data becomes available.

IBM Launches Power Autonomous Operations, IBM Bob for IBM i, and Entry-Level Power S1112 Server

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

IBM has announced three additions to its Power platform: IBM Power Autonomous Operations, an AI agent designed to monitor and self-resolve infrastructure issues; IBM Bob Premium Package for i, an agentic development assistant for IBM i application modernization; and the Power S1112, a new entry-level one-socket Power11 server built for compact on-premises deployment. The announcements extend IBM's strategy of embedding autonomous AI capabilities across its Power infrastructure stack, from hardware through operations and application development.

Proaction Announces $4.2 Million In Funding To Build The Modern Alternative To Legacy Fleet Management Services

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Proaction, an AI-native fleet management technology and services company, announced $4.2 million in funding to build a modern alternative to the expensive, outdated methods commercial fleets are traditionally managed. New investors include GTMfund, Breakers, Aviso Ventures, and Iowa InnoVenture, with continued participation from Holman Growth Ventures and the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

LatentView Analytics Appoints Sonal Ramrakhiani As Chief Executive Officer To Accelerate Global AI-Led Growth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Latent View Analytics, an AI-driven analytics, data engineering, and consulting firm, announced the appointment of Sonal Ramrakhiani as its Chief Executive Officer, effective July 15, 2026. Rajan Sethuraman, who has served as CEO since 2019, will transition to the role of Strategic Advisor to the CEO, working closely with Ramrakhiani and the Board for up to six months to ensure a seamless handover of leadership responsibilities.

Google Renames NotebookLM As Gemini Notebook And Adds Native Code Execution

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 16, 2026

Google is renaming NotebookLM as Gemini Notebook, marking the next phase for the AI-powered research and learning product that was first introduced at Google I/O 2023 as Project Tailwind.