Silicon Florist links arrangement for October 20, 2026

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Z School is (back) in session! – by Dr. Astrid J. Scholz

“Capitalizing Your (Social) Business” addresses some key underlying issues across all these questions, and provides entrepreneurs with reliable, easy to digest information about how to think about capital, how to get their business ready for it, how to find investors, and how to structure an investment.

(2009) Portland’s Jive Software secures another $12 million in venture capital from Sequoia

While it may be hard for folks to agree on whether venture capital investing is on the rise or decline, one thing is for sure: Portland-based Jive Software certainly has a little more ammo in the old war chest. And it’s all thanks to another investment from Sequoia Capital—to the tune of $12 million. That brings Jive’s VC total to $27 million.

Advancing coding in low‑resource programming languages | OpenAI

Our latest model advances bring stronger capabilities for building and migrating software in low-resource programming languages such as COBOL, Fortran, and Visual Basic. These languages have less code and documentation available for models to learn from than languages like Python and JavaScript, yet support critical infrastructure and essential services around the world. COBOL supports⁠(opens in a new window) more than 40% of online banking systems, 80% of in-person credit card transactions and 95% of ATM transactions, while Fortran is used in weather forecasting⁠(opens in a new window) and nuclear reactor safety analysis⁠(opens in a new window). Improving AI’s ability to work in these languages could help teams maintain and modernize the software that essential services depend on.

Anthropic quietly pitches its own AI safety bill to lawmakers – POLITICO

The confidential draft, obtained by POLITICO and not previously reported, marks a notable effort by the frontier AI lab to shape the rules governing its own technology as Congress weighs how to respond to the fast-moving industry.

1 in 5 Americans Regularly Get News on TikTok | Pew Research Center

Younger adults are especially likely to regularly get news on TikTok. Among Americans ages 18 to 29, around four-in-ten (39%) say they do this regularly. That compares with 25% of those ages 30 to 49, 11% of those ages 50 to 64 and 4% of those ages 65 and older.

Apple broke an essential presentation feature of iPads | Teddy Svoronos

As of iPadOS 27, if you have multiple windows open while AirPlaying (whether or not Stage Manager is on), tapping on anything other than the presenting app will snap the external display into showing your whole iPad screen. This means that my students see all my notes on who I want to call on, or poll results that should be hidden from them. They also get distracted from what we’re learning by all these jarring windows popping up and disappearing. If you’re presenting at a big conference, it’s extremely embarrassing.

Startup Cafe | Metro Region Innovation Hub

Whether you sell products, offer services, or are simply curious whether this could work for you, this session is designed to demystify government contracting and help you take your next step with confidence.

Three candidates make their case to be Multnomah County Chair – OPB

Voters in Multnomah County will see three familiar names on their ballots running for county chair. It’s the first time ranked-choice voting will be used for this position.

AI Benchmarks: Climbing the Wrong Hills | Contrary Research

AI benchmarks no longer just measure models; they shape how models are evaluated in training and the capabilities they are designed to have. Poorly constructed, error-ridden benchmarks risk pushing the industry up the wrong hills. Correcting over-indexing to benchmarks, or “benchmaxxing,” will require expert-built benchmarks that measure what we actually want from AI systems.

Startup taps underwater volcano as energy source in “proof point” test – Ars Technica

“The deep ocean gives us unlimited cold seawater for cooling, and its weight keeps the system and the well pressurized, so our plants can be compact,” said Andrew Redd, founder and CEO of Endurance Energy, in an email to Ars.

Netflix, America’s Dominant Streaming Service, Has Hit a Wall – WSJ

It abruptly replaced content chief Bela Bajaria last week just hours after a layoff of 1,000 employees that she helped engineer. By Monday, film chief Dan Lin lost his job, too.

ZoomInfo settles class action investor lawsuit – Portland Business Journal

ZoomInfo⁠ (Nasdaq: GTM) entered into a proposed settlement for $44 million in exchange for dismissal of the suit, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Staff Front-End Engineer, Creative Tools Job at HILOS in Portland, Oregon | Silicon Florist

We’re looking for a Staff Front-End Engineer to be the technical owner of the GHOST front end: a professional creative tool running in the browser, on Mac and Windows desktops, and on iPad with Apple Pencil.