👋 I'm Ken Metral, founder of Cosmico. I'm a serial entrepreneur and passionate technologist. I have 20+ years of experience with degrees in IT, MIS, and an MBA from Florida International University.
Retail
Tween-focused retailer Claire’s has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in seven years, aiming to restructure its business and avoid liquidation. The company, a longtime fixture in American malls known for its ear piercing services and affordable accessories, is currently saddled with approximately $500 million in debt
Media
Instagram is rolling out a wave of new features aimed at enhancing social discovery and interaction, headlined by Instagram Map — a tool that allows users to share their most recent location with friends and explore location-based content. The Meta-owned platform is also launching a Reposts feature and expanding its “Friends”
Manufacturing
Apple Inc. is set to deepen its commitment to U.S. manufacturing with a fresh $100 billion investment aimed at ramping up domestic production, according to a White House official cited by Reuters. The announcement, expected Wednesday, marks a significant expansion of the tech giant's efforts to localize
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In a major development for local AI computing, Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s latest open-weight GPT model, gpt-oss-20b, into Windows AI Foundry, making it easier than ever for Windows users to run powerful AI locally. The move comes just one day after OpenAI released the new model, marking a significant
Cloud Computing
In a bold move that shakes up the generative AI battlefield, OpenAI has announced a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking the first time OpenAI models will be natively integrated into Amazon’s AI ecosystem. The collaboration coincides with the release of OpenAI’s two new open-weight reasoning
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Google has rolled out a delightful new tool within its Gemini AI chatbot called Storybook, allowing anyone to spin a short, illustrated tale from nothing more than a simple idea. It’s designed to be easy, accessible, and fun — whether you’re entertaining your kids at bedtime or just testing
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Google DeepMind has announced the next major evolution in its AI-generated world modeling efforts with the release of Genie 3, a powerful new system that creates interactive 3D environments in real time. Designed for use by AI agents and human users alike, Genie 3 offers longer, more coherent interactions and
Media
After months of beta testing, Ghost—the open-source newsletter and publishing platform—has officially launched Ghost 6, a major new version of its software that brings native integration with the open social web. With this release, Ghost publishers can now extend their content beyond email and the web to platforms
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI audio unicorn ElevenLabs has officially stepped into the music generation space, announcing a new model on Tuesday that allows users to create AI-generated music—cleared for commercial use, according to the company. This marks a significant pivot for ElevenLabs, which has spent the last three years building its reputation
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In a significant move that signals a shift in its strategy, OpenAI has released two open-weight AI reasoning models—gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b—marking the company’s first truly open language model release since GPT-2 over five years ago. Available now on Hugging Face under the permissive Apache 2.0 license,
Transportation
Lyft is making a major play in the global robotaxi race by partnering with Chinese tech giant Baidu to bring autonomous vehicles to European streets. Announced in a press release on Monday, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company said it would begin deploying Baidu's sixth-generation Apollo Go self-driving robotaxis
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
ChatGPT's meteoric rise continues as the AI-powered chatbot is projected to hit a staggering 700 million weekly active users this week, according to OpenAI. The milestone marks another major leap in the platform’s rapid growth, coming just months after it reached 500 million weekly users in March.