Larry Dignan

MapQuest is proclaiming a return as the No. 1 navigation and mapping app in the US Apple App Store. The company is the No. 8 overall free app in the US and No. 2 overall in the Canada Apple App Store. Why? MapQuest is sticking to Lake Ontario as a name. The surge comes as Google lists Lake Ontario as Lake America per President Trump's executive order in the US.

Will MapQuest's surge last? Possibly. Aside from the lake naming hubbub retro brands are in.

Nvidia will invest $3.5 billion in convertible bonds issued by MediaTek in an expanded strategic partnership that will cover AI infrastructure, local AI compute via Nvidia RTX Spark and DGX Spark systems and automotive. MediaTek will also adopt Nvidia's NVLink Fusion platform.

OpenClaw launched its latest version with easier setup and browser-based experiences. OpenClaw in a blog post said Open Claw 2.0 is the largest release in its history, which isn't saying a lot since no one really heard of it 12 months ago. What's more interesting is how OpenClaw was the rage in March and then faded into the background. Nevertheless, the project is worth watching.

OpenAI said that it will remove its models from SpaceX's Cursor as of November 12. OpenAI said: "We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts."

It's a safe bet that you'll see more of these moves ahead.

Nutanix, HP, Okta, Rubrik and SentinelOne.

Elastic reported a better than expected fiscal first quarter. The company reported a net loss of 16 cents a share on revenue of $478 million, up 15% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the quarter were 70 cents a share, 12 cents better than Wall Street estimates.

As for the outlook, Elastic is projecting revenue growth of nearly 15% in the second quarter and 15.2% for the fiscal year.

OpenAI published a technical report on the Hugging Face attack and what its plans are to prevent it from happening again.

CrowdStrike revenue growth accelerated in the second quarter as concerns about securing AI drove demand.

The company reported second quarter net income of $5.3 million, or a penny a share, on revenue of $1.47 billion, up 26% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 31 cents a share.

CEO George Kurtz said the quarter was its best performance in CrowdStrike's history. "The Mythos moment translated into mass-market acceptance that AI adoption needs security, and that's CrowdStrike. Every enterprise will run on AI, and securing it is the largest market opportunity in our history," he said.

CrowdStrike projected third quarter revenue of $1.523 billion to $1.529 billion with non-GAAP earnings of 31 cents a share. For fiscal 2027, CrowdStrike projected revenue of $5.99 billion to $6.01 billion with non-GAAP earnings of $1.25 a share to $1.26 a share.

Bill Gates penned an AI treatise that warned that there's no plan for AI disruption. Here are some choice excerpts from Gates' note:

• "I don’t see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era. Part of the reason for this is that many commentators underestimate the extent of the impact AI will have."
• "For as long as I can remember, I’ve wished innovation could happen faster. With AI, my feelings are more complicated."
• "I’m especially worried about young people, who will enter a workforce with fewer entry-level openings. They understand the challenge because they are the most active users of AI and see both the capabilities and the rate of improvement. It’s no wonder that so many of them feel negatively about AI."
• "Maximizing the benefits is just as important as minimizing the harms. If people see how AI makes their lives easier, it will help build the public trust that is necessary for managing the harder parts of the transition. If the first thing AI does in most people’s lives is take away their job, those who are already skeptical about it will outright reject it. This will make it harder to ever deliver on the benefits and it is another reason why governments, industries including the medical industry, and AI companies should be working together now."

Intuit delivered strong fourth quarter results, but its outlook fell short of expectations for the first quarter and fiscal 2027.

The company reported fourth quarter revenue of $4.35 billion with non-GAAP earnings of $4.03 a share. Wall Street was expecting Intuit to deliver non-GAAP earnings of $3.59 a share on revenue of $4.27 billion.

Intuit's outlook was weaker than expected. The company projected first quarter revenue of $4.294 billion to $4.313 billion, compared to estimates of $4.35 billion. Non-GAAP earnings will be between $1.71 a share and $1.75 a share.

For fiscal 2027, Intuit projected revenue of $23.28 billion to $23.51 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $22.88 a share to $23.12 a share.

Box reported revenue growth of 9% in the second quarter and largely met expectations. The company reported earnings of 9 cents a share on revenue of $321.1 million. Non-GAAP earnings were 40 cents a share. Wall Street expected Box to report non-GAAP earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $319.1 million.

For the third quarter, Box said revenue will be about $329 million, up 9% from a year ago with non-GAAP earnings of 39 cents a share. For fiscal 2027, Box said revenue will be up 10% from a year ago to $1.29 billion. Non-GAAP earnings will be about $1.54 a share for the year. Box reports a big chunk of its international revenue in Japanese Yen, which has been volatile vs the US dollar.

Google Cloud launched Gemini Enterprise for Legal and Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services. Rest assured this launch is just a first installment. LLMs will have to go industry specific or become total commodities.