The Monthly Beat - August '24 Edition
A recap of the most interesting news from July 2024, plus some extras for the months ahead.
Good morning!
Hope you all are having a fantastic summer. As I’m writing this, I am recovering from COVID-19, so I’m blaming any mistakes in this month’s edition on brain fog and too much DayQuil. Otherwise, it’s been a great summer for me, but a mixed bag for the local tech scene.
Let’s get into it. All companies are local to Pittsburgh, unless otherwise noted.
What Happened in July
A botched CrowdStrike software update crippled businesses and public services around the world, and Pittsburgh was no exception. PRT riders couldn’t purchase new tickets on the mobile app, the Pittsburgh Zoo had to go cash only, and the Bridgeville DMV had to close entirely for several hours. (If your local business was affected by the CrowdStrike incident, I would love to hear your story in the comments!)
In a huge blow to Astrobotic, NASA canceled their plans to use their lander for their moon rover mission. The blame was placed on increased costs ($433.5M → $609.6M) and testing taking too long—classic. Despite this setback, Astrobotic still plans to launch the lander as a demonstration, and it now has about 1,000 pounds of spare cargo space that it’s looking to fill. Personally, I think it’d be sweet to send an IC Light or some other yinzer stuff up there, provided it wouldn’t burst open while exiting the atmosphere.
A staple of the Pittsburgh city skyline, 4Moms, has now been acquired by global baby products company UPPAbaby. There’s no word yet on whether or not they’re giving up that office space or laying off staff as part of the deal.
Skild AI, a local artificial general intelligence robotics startup founded last year by two ex-Meta AI researchers, is now valued at a massive $1.5 billion. The company is using massive data models to train robots to do things like humans.
Warehouse automation company Lucas Systems announced the launch of their new AI-powered Dynamic Slotting product. What does that even mean, you ask (don’t worry, that’s what I asked too)? Slotting is the process of organizing warehouse inventory to maximize efficiency, or, in other words, putting things where they’re easy to get to. So by using Dynamic Slotting, you’re having an AI choose where you store various items rather than having a human make those choices, which Lucas promises will deliver a 20–40% increase in overall throughput.
Duolingo acquired Hobbes, a Detroit-based animation and design studio. The acquisition will form a new twelve-person in-house motion design team to add more fun to their product.
Speaking of Duolingo, the PTB Good Read of the Month Award goes to this essay about Pittsburgh tech scene by Noelle Mateer. I tried to skim this one initially and got totally lost because of how much it jumps around. Once I sat down and read it straight through, it hit different. I’m definitely interested in what other folks’ thoughts are on this one in the comments.
In local government tech news, PublicSource published a piece that looks into how the City of Pittsburgh is regulating the use of AI. The City is actively evolving its policy based on the recommendations of the 250+ municipal agencies that make up the Government AI Coalition, a group founded by the City of San Jose, California.
Also in tech-adjacent local government news, the vote on whether or not to expand Bakery Square got pushed back to September 3rd. TL;DR: Walnut Capital doesn’t want to pay for infrastructure changes, and the Pittsburgh City Planning Commissioners said “pause.”
Near Earth Autonomy is teaming up with Honeywell and Leonardo to fully automate helicopters for the Navy. The helicopters already have an autopilot system made by Honeywell, but this project will both enhance its in-flight capabilities and automate take-off and landing.
Carnegie Mellon and Meta are partnering up to make a wearable wristband that translates muscle signals into computer input. The goal of the project is primarily “to enable people with different motor abilities to perform everyday tasks and enjoy gaming in digital and mixed reality environments.”
You might remember Abridge, the doctor voice-to-text AI company, from a previous Monthly Beat. Well, now they’re expanding the product to serve nurses as well.
Northside-based XYCOM, in partnership with the UK-based Watson Institute, is building immersive learning environments for students with special needs. Check out the article for some photos of a few of the environments here in Pittsburgh.
For the Months Ahead
Pittsburgh Startup News posted an updated version of their top Pittsburgh coworking spaces if you’re a remote worker and looking to get out of the house. I’m thinking about trying out Alloy26 here soon.
August 17th, local frontend dev Brad Frost is throwing Frostapalooza, a benefit concert featuring the musical performances of several other local devs. See the full lineup and get tickets here!
August 26th, Code and Supply is hosting another build night at the Code & Supply Community Center. Build Night is a time to get together and build some awesome stuff with code!
October 14th, CMU is hosting an AI summit at Bakery Square with some big names in attendance.
I’m still looking for guest writers and guest podcasters! Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well.
That’s all for now! Make the most of this last month of summer!
—Austin