Patriotism, protests mark Washington's U.S. Independence Day Parade
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Why Is Everyone Talking About SoundHound AI Stock?
Key Points SoundHound provides an independent AI voice platform to customers across multiple industries. It has a total addressable market of $140 billion. The company is growing at triple-digit rates. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most significant trends of our generation, thanks to its transformative effects that will impact almost every aspect of our lives. Think of it as revolutionary as electricity and the internet. Unsurprisingly, investors have been doubling down on companies well-positioned to leverage this trend, such as Nvidia, Palantir, and Tesla. But AI will bring opportunities not only to these big tech giants but also to smaller, up-and-coming future tech giants. SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is one of them. A leading voice AI platform Initially founded in 2005 as a music recognition company, SoundHound has evolved into a broader AI voice platform company with proprietary technology that understands and responds to human speech in real time. The company's value proposition, though complex to achieve, is relatively straightforward. It provides a voice platform that's embedded directly into products (such as cars) without requiring the use of cloud-based assistants like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. With the help of its software, users can use voice as an interface to interact with smart devices, cars, or other Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Leveraging its technology in voice recognition and natural language understanding, the company has built a proprietary offering that's independent of consumer tech companies like Microsoft and Alphabet. According to the company, its technology surpasses that of competitors in terms of speed, accuracy, and understanding of complex language. With its technology stack, it allows for the provision of best-in-class service while giving customers complete control over their brand, users, and data. Additionally, SoundHound has leveraged the latest AI technologies, including generative AI, to develop its voice AI agent. The AI agent can function on smartphones, SMS, kiosks, mobile apps, and web chats, helping customers tackle a wide range of customer service activities across multiple industries. Currently, the company's main customers are automotive and hospitality businesses, quick-service restaurants, and call centers. In return for providing its voice platform, SoundHound generates revenue primarily through three channels. First, it receives royalties on products -- cars, smart TVs, and IoT devices -- that incorporate its voice platform. Here, customers pay based on volume, usage, per device, or user. Next, it generates software-as-a-service revenue from services such as food ordering and customer service. Here, customers pay on a monthly contract or a usage basis. The last pillar of SoundHound's revenue centers around advertising and commerce, where it earns a commission by enabling sales of customer products and services. Ample opportunity to grow Although AI voice platform adoption may still be in its early stages, customers appreciate the solutions SoundHound provides, which explains its solid growth rate. In the first quarter of 2025, revenue grew 151% to $29.1 million. Better still, there are good reasons to expect the company can sustain its high growth trajectory for a while. According to the company, it has a total addressable market (TAM) of $140 billion across various industries. At an annualized revenue rate of around $120 million, it has just scratched the surface. Let's consider a few of the most apparent areas, starting with the automotive industry. SoundHound has just achieved 3%-5% penetration of its existing customers' 25 million unit sales. That's 28% of global light vehicle sales of 88 million in 2024 -- a vehicle category that may reach 95 million units in 2028. The company can increase its penetration even further by growing with existing customers or adding new client brands. To this end, the tech company's existing experience working with automakers, its leading technology, as well as its independent platform (an alternative to Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant) are some advantages it can leverage to grow its market share. The other obvious growth avenue is its subscription service in the restaurant industry. Increasing labor shortages, rising wages, and customer demand for fast service make voice automation an attractive tool for restaurant operators. Just in the U.S. alone, SoundHound has a revenue opportunity of $1 billion and a TAM of 0.8 million restaurants. Chipotle, Five Guys, and Casey's are a few examples of its growing list of customers. It is also worth noting that the SoundHound voice AI platform offers solutions in 25 languages (which can expand further over time), allowing it to provide its services to customers globally. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, the company announced deals with customers in Latin America, Europe, and Japan and joined forces with Tencent Intelligent Mobility. The sky seems to be the limit. What it means for investors SoundHound AI is no longer just a niche voice assistant company -- it's evolving into a mission-critical AI platform for some of the world's largest industries. Whether it's powering intelligent voice assistants in cars, automating food orders at restaurants, or handling customer service calls with conversational AI agents, SoundHound is betting on voice recognition to be the next central interface -- and it's building a proprietary infrastructure to support its expansion. Still, investors should be mindful that the road ahead will be rocky, especially with the adoption of new technologies like AI voice platforms. It's best to monitor the company closely to build your understanding and conviction. Should you invest $1,000 in SoundHound AI right now? Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $976,677!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to180%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Lawrence Nga has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Tencent, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Casey's General Stores and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, and short June 2025 $55 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Perma Bull and Wall Street Strategist Tom Lee Is Betting $250 Million On This Cryptocurrency (Hint: Not Bitcoin)
Given Strategy 's (formerly MicroStrategy) success as a Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) treasury company, many other companies are now following in its footsteps. For those unaware, Strategy, formerly a business intelligence company founded by Michael Saylor, who remains the company's executive chairman, began using corporate capital to buy Bitcoin in 2020. The stock has rocketed since then, and eventually, Saylor and Strategy gained enough credibility to tap the capital markets for funding that it could then use to buy Bitcoin. This essentially made Strategy a leveraged play on Bitcoin. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Recently, Bitmine Immersion Companies (NYSEMKT: BMNR), a Bitcoin mining company, just named the prolific Wall Street strategist Tom Lee of Fundstrat as its chairman. The company also announced a $250 million private placement, which it will use to purchase Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. Is it Ethereum's time? Since Donald Trump won the presidential election last November, several of the largest cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and XRP, have done quite well. Ethereum, not so much. Bitcoin Price data by YCharts It's hard to pinpoint exactly why Ethereum has not shared in the gains, but perhaps a better explanation is that Bitcoin and XRP have simply enjoyed more catalysts. Bitcoin has benefited from being viewed as a form of digital gold, while XRP has surged as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended its long-standing lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind XRP, and due to the possible launch of spot-XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The underperformance has opened the door for investors who feel like Ethereum is being unjustly left behind, Lee being one of them. Not only has Lee become a well-known contributor on CNBC, but he's made some prescient calls in recent years on the price of the broader market, as well as Bitcoin. Lee is typically bullish and nailed bull market calls in 2023 and 2024. Lee has previously said he thinks the broader benchmark S&P 500 could hit 15,000 by 2030 (the index now trades at about 6,200). He's also quite bullish on Ethereum as the crypto and financial sectors become more integrated, as he recently said on CNBC: The financial services industry and crypto are converging and it really started with stablecoins, which is the ChatGPT of crypto because it's viral adoption by consumers, business banks and now even Visa. Underneath the stablecoin industry is Ethereum -- that is really the backbone and architecture of stablecoins so it's important to create a project that accumulates Ethereum to essentially protect and have some influence on the network. As a reminder, stablecoins are digital assets pegged to a currency or commodity. They are intended to take advantage of the technology behind the blockchain while leaving behind the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies. Many believe they could be extremely helpful for those without access to the banking system because you can use them to transfer money anywhere with internet access. Lee thinks banks could use Ethereum's proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to secure stablecoin issuances in the future. PoS involves selecting validators based on the number of Ether tokens users have to confirm transactions and mint new blocks. In a way, Ethereum is already a core part of the plumbing of the burgeoning stablecoin network. That's because it's one of the most commonly used blockchain networks in the U.S. Circle's USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, with a market cap of about $61 billion, is an ERC-20 token, meaning it was initially created on Ethereum's blockchain. Lee also noted that more than 30% of fees generated on Ethereum are from stablecoins. Is Ethereum about to go on a Bitcoin-like run? Part of Lee and Bitmine's bet on Ethereum has to do with the stablecoin market. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already said he thinks stablecoins could go from a $250 billion market today to $2 trillion. If that happens, Lee thinks Ethereum's network is likely to benefit immensely because of all the network fees, which will perhaps make Ethereum more ubiquitous. Interestingly, since the news of Tom Lee joining as chairman and the $250 million private placement, Bitmine's stock has soared more than 1,300% (as of July 1), although Ethereum's price hasn't moved much. Remember, cryptocurrencies are difficult to value because they don't generate earnings like a company. I've been surprised that Ethereum's price has stayed so muted while Bitcoin has soared. As a cryptocurrency, Ethereum certainly has one of the best use cases due to all of the activity on its network from decentralized applications and its proof-of-staking concept, so I think it could be due for a run at some point. Should you invest $1,000 in Ethereum right now? Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $697,627!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $939,655!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,045% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to178%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
B.C. judge reserves decision on the fate of homeless encampment in Prince George
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has reserved his decision following a three-day hearing that concluded Friday in which the city is seeking an order allowing it to close a downtown homeless encampment and remediate the site. The city's lawyer, Jeffrey Locke, argued that supportive housing in Prince George now exceeds the requirements set out in a previous court decision that saw the encampment gain legal protection. The encampment on Lower Patricia Boulevard, known as Moccasin Flats, was first established in the spring of 2021 on city-owned land, on an empty dirt lot between an industrial yard and a steep hill leading to a residential neighbourhood. In August of that year, the city asked for an injunction to remove over 50 campers there, citing public safety risk and the need to enforce city bylaws on overnight camping. But in October 2021, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an order stating that residents could stay "absent other suitable housing and daytime facilities." That ruling was upheld in a 2022 decision, after the encampment survived a partial demolition in November 2021, which the city subsequently apologized for. Locke says, in 2023, the city changed its course of action and began working with the province and B.C. Housing to set up a 42-unit temporary transitional housing facility in Atco trailers on Third Avenue near the encampment. "The city, province, and B.C. Housing really doubled down on creating new supportive housing in Prince George," he said . Locke says the Third Avenue site serves as a safe, comfortable place to provide unhoused people with 24-hour access to secure private rooms and supportive services while they await long-term housing solutions. Fluctuating number of occupants The city says the remaining long-term occupant of the encampment is Belvery Edward Johnny, who was identified in the city's notice of civil claim, and has been living at Moccasin Flats since it was established. "The encampment, since the dismantling of Nov. 2021, has continued to be occupied by a transient population with the exception of Mr. Johnny, who has been there the whole time," said Locke. He says the city knows of 11 people still sheltering at Moccasin Flats and said eight rooms are being held at the Third Avenue Site for encampment residents in "various states of readiness". Locke said that as the number of encampment occupants and rooms available is constantly in flux, the city would not require the residents of the encampment to decamp until seven days after they had an offer of housing. "Now we have a seamless transition from homelessness until they have a home." Suitable housing for vulnerable people Lawyers representing the residents of Moccasin Flats, however, argued that the city is premature in coming to the court seeking an order to close the encampment without housing readily available for everyone. Lawyer Claire Kanigan and co-counsel Casey St. Germain said they found there to be at least 18 residents remaining at the encampment and said there are only three rooms currently ready to be occupied at the Third Avenue site. Kanigan said there's no timeline as to when more beds will be made available and that the city should be able to prove they have enough beds before they're given permission to close the site. "The basic calculation of number of beds to number of people is foundational," she said. "It is not an overly onerous burden to meet." Kanigan said that because the city is also seeking the right to refuse anyone the ability to encamp on city-owned property if they refuse to apply to B.C. Housing or decline an offer from B.C. Housing, it would leave vulnerable people with complex needs with nowhere to go. The matter is further complicated by the city's Parks and Open Space bylaw, which was amended in 2023 to designate an area of Moccasin Flats as the only allowable place for temporary overnight shelter between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. "This would be highly problematic," she said. "My ultimate submission is that the level of evidence the city has brought to this court has continuously narrowed." St. Germain also argued that the housing offered may be suitable for some but is not suitable for all, especially individuals who are suffering from complex mental health issues and may not be able to follow the rules of the Third Avenue site. Locke said the Third Avenue site is intended to be broadly accessible but "cannot be everything, to everyone, all at once." At the conclusion of the hearing, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Elwood said he had a lot to consider and that he hopes to complete his written decision before mid-August.
