tech:

taffy

Apple spending $450M to support iPhone SOS via satellite

Apple says a $450 million investment from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund has been allocated to build the infrastructure that supports Emergency SOS via satellite for iPhone 14 models.

The majority of the funding goes to Globalstar, a global satellite service headquartered in Covington, Louisiana. At Globalstar, more than 300 employees support the new service, according to the Cupertino giant.

The ground stations use new high-power antennas designed and manufactured specifically for Apple by Cobham Satcom in Concord, California. These antennas were installed in all Globalstar worldwide ground stations, says Apple. 

Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite service utilizes the spectrum in L and S bands specially designated for mobile satellite services by ITU Radio Regulations.

Emergency SOS will be available to customers in the US and Canada beginning later this month. The service will allow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models to connect directly to a satellite, enabling messaging with emergency services when outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

[Image courtesy: Apple]

Just in

Tembo raises $14M

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Tembo, a Postgres managed service provider, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round.

Raspberry Pi is now a public company — TC

Raspberry Pi priced its IPO on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning at £2.80 per share, valuing it at £542 million, or $690 million at today’s exchange rate, writes Romain Dillet. 

AlphaSense raises $650M

AlphaSense, a market intelligence and search platform, has raised $650 million in funding, co-led by Viking Global Investors and BDT & MSD Partners.

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B to take on OpenAI — VentureBeat

Confirming reports from April, the series B investment comes from the participation of multiple known venture capital firms and investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding, writes Shubham Sharma. 

Capgemini partners with DARPA to explore quantum computing for carbon capture

Capgemini Government Solutions has launched a new initiative with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to investigate quantum computing's potential in carbon capture.