is the Verge’s weekend editor. He has over 18 years of experience, including 10 years as managing editor at Engadget. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. A site called PSprices has been tracking prices on Sony’s digital game store and noticed something unusual: some games were being offered at different prices to different users. What’s more, tho...
is the Verge’s weekend editor. He has over 18 years of experience, including 10 years as managing editor at Engadget. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. A site called PSprices has been tracking prices on Sony’s digital game store and noticed something unusual: some games were being offered at different prices to different users. What’s more, those offers are tracked in the PlayStation API with experiment identifiers like IPT_PILOT and IPT_OPR_TESTING. Dynamic pricing is nothing new and is used across a number of industries. But it’s often met with backlash and isn’t typically found in online game stores. According to PSprices, Sony is running A/B testing on prices for over 150 games in 68 regions, though the US doesn’t currently appear to be part of the experiment. For now, at least, Sony isn’t toying with raising prices. Instead, the program appears to offer discounts to select users, ranging from 5 percent to 17.5 percent, on titles like Spider-Man 2, God of War, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Still, even if Sony’s version of dynamic pricing is focused on lowering costs for some users, it’s likely to draw ire. Customers receiving a 10 percent discount on Sid Meier’s Civilization VII probably won’t be thrilled when they find out their next-door neighbor was offered 25 percent off. We reached out to Sony for comment, but have yet to receive a response.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 4.49%) had been one of the restaurant industry's steadier stocks. For two straight years, transactions grew around 5% annually. Then last year, traffic turned negative in all four quarters. Entering 2026, the restaurant landscape had shifted. Fast-casual and fast-food prices had climbed so much that some diners needed a rest. Casual dining chains like Chili's picked up ...
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 4.49%) had been one of the restaurant industry's steadier stocks. For two straight years, transactions grew around 5% annually. Then last year, traffic turned negative in all four quarters. Entering 2026, the restaurant landscape had shifted. Fast-casual and fast-food prices had climbed so much that some diners needed a rest. Casual dining chains like Chili's picked up traffic, while Wingstop and Chipotle lost it. A brand built on affordable food and quality ingredients is not supposed to be on that list. Management has been fairly specific about who is pulling back. Households earning under $100,000 a year make up about 40% of Chipotle's sales. Younger diners in the 25 to 35 range are visiting less, too. Lunch and snack visits took the biggest hit last year. The company says these customers aren't leaving for competitors. They're eating out less often and shifting more spending to groceries and food at home. Maybe. But not every investor is going to buy the idea that they are suddenly home, cooking for themselves. Fewer orders, same overhead Transactions fell 4.9% in the second quarter, improved to a 0.8% decline in Q3, then slipped to negative 3.2% in Q4. That's not a recovery. It's a bounce that faded. For the full year, same-store sales fell 1.7%. Check growth alone won't cover the fixed costs. The efficiency that makes this model best in class on margins is the same reason there's not much flexibility when volume drops. When traffic falls, Chipotle is still running the same kitchens with the same labor for fewer orders. It is a model built for throughput, and weaker traffic shows up quickly in margins. Restaurant-level operating margin fell from 28.9% in Q2 2024 to 23.4% in Q4 2025, roughly 550 basis points in six quarters. In a model this lean, it is tough to cut fat. The fix is getting customers back through the door. No discounts, just patience Management's answer is to push the value messaging harder without discounting, feeling ...
US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins. Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington’s interests in the western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was “in its last moments o...
US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins. Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington’s interests in the western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was “in its last moments of life” and advocating tough action by allies against organised crime blighting the region. He formally launched a 17-nation “counter cartel” coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use “hard power” against security threats. Advertisement “We’re working with you to do whatever we have to do. We’ll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They’re extremely accurate,” Trump told a dozen right-wing leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club near Miami. “‘Piu’, right into the living room,” he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. “That’s the end of that cartel person. But we’ll do whatever you need.” US President Donald Trump reacts after signing the “Commitment to countering cartel criminal activity” document during the “Shield of the Americas” summit with Latin American leaders in Miami, Florida, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters Trump has already staked bold claims in Latin America with the ousting of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and working with his replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, to claim Venezuelan oil reserves for America.
Key Points With the upcoming MI450 release this year, AMD could potentially be in a position to challenge Nvidia. The company predicts a 35% compound annual growth rate for revenue over the next three years. 10 stocks we like better than Advanced Micro Devices › In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to it...
Key Points With the upcoming MI450 release this year, AMD could potentially be in a position to challenge Nvidia. The company predicts a 35% compound annual growth rate for revenue over the next three years. 10 stocks we like better than Advanced Micro Devices › In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to its all-time high in January, its most recent earnings report appeared to disappoint investors, leading to a 25%-plus decline from the stock's October 2025 all-time high price. It now trades around $196 a share. Despite the recent drop, the 2025 surge has some investors wondering if AMD stock could reach $300 per share. There are reasons to believe that milestone could come in 2026, and here's why. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Where AMD stock stands AMD is a semiconductor company specializing primarily in the design and sale of CPUs, GPUs, and embedded chips. Although it still drives significant revenue from all of those business segments, the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market is its largest and fastest-growing. Management is forecasting a 35% revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next three years for AMD. That CAGR rises to 60% for the data center segment, which designs AI chips. Although Nvidia leads the AI chip market, AMD is emerging as the second-most prominent company in this area. AMD has historically been adept at catching up to competitors, and AI chips are no exception. The MI450 will have a 2-nanometer node thanks to its work with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, an advantage over Nvidia's Vera Rubin, which will run on the 3nm node. Moreover, AMD's MI450 chip just delivered its first megadeal, as Meta Platforms has agreed to a $100 billion deal where Met...
In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 3.46%) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to its all-time high in January, its most recent earnings report appeared to disappoint investors, leading to a 25%-plus decline from the stock's October 2025 all-time high price. It now trades around $196 a share. Despite the recent drop, the 2025 surge has some invest...
In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 3.46%) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to its all-time high in January, its most recent earnings report appeared to disappoint investors, leading to a 25%-plus decline from the stock's October 2025 all-time high price. It now trades around $196 a share. Despite the recent drop, the 2025 surge has some investors wondering if AMD stock could reach $300 per share. There are reasons to believe that milestone could come in 2026, and here's why. Where AMD stock stands AMD is a semiconductor company specializing primarily in the design and sale of CPUs, GPUs, and embedded chips. Although it still drives significant revenue from all of those business segments, the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market is its largest and fastest-growing. Management is forecasting a 35% revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next three years for AMD. That CAGR rises to 60% for the data center segment, which designs AI chips. Although Nvidia leads the AI chip market, AMD is emerging as the second-most prominent company in this area. AMD has historically been adept at catching up to competitors, and AI chips are no exception. The MI450 will have a 2-nanometer node thanks to its work with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, an advantage over Nvidia's Vera Rubin, which will run on the 3nm node. Moreover, AMD's MI450 chip just delivered its first megadeal, as Meta Platforms has agreed to a $100 billion deal where Meta will purchase 6 gigawatts of custom AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs and sixth-gen AMD EPYC CPUs. This includes a performance-based warrant for Meta to purchase up to 160 million AMD shares, about 10% of the current total shares. AMD made a similar deal with OpenAI for another 160 million shares. Admittedly, those deals could be somewhat dilutive in later years, but they are undoubtedly a huge step forward for its business. Expand NASDAQ : AMD Advanced Micro Devices Today's Change ( -3.4...
In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to its all-time high in January, its most recent earnings report appeared to disappoint investors, leading to a 25%-plus decline from the stock's October 2025 all-time high price. It now trades around $196 a share. Despite the recent drop, the 2025 surge has some inve...
In 2026, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) stock has arguably become a struggle for investors. After almost returning to its all-time high in January, its most recent earnings report appeared to disappoint investors, leading to a 25%-plus decline from the stock's October 2025 all-time high price. It now trades around $196 a share. Despite the recent drop, the 2025 surge has some investors wondering if AMD stock could reach $300 per share. There are reasons to believe that milestone could come in 2026, and here's why. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Image source: AMD. Where AMD stock stands AMD is a semiconductor company specializing primarily in the design and sale of CPUs, GPUs, and embedded chips. Although it still drives significant revenue from all of those business segments, the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market is its largest and fastest-growing. Management is forecasting a 35% revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next three years for AMD. That CAGR rises to 60% for the data center segment, which designs AI chips. Although Nvidia leads the AI chip market, AMD is emerging as the second-most prominent company in this area. AMD has historically been adept at catching up to competitors, and AI chips are no exception. The MI450 will have a 2-nanometer node thanks to its work with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, an advantage over Nvidia's Vera Rubin, which will run on the 3nm node. Moreover, AMD's MI450 chip just delivered its first megadeal, as Meta Platforms has agreed to a $100 billion deal where Meta will purchase 6 gigawatts of custom AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs and sixth-gen AMD EPYC CPUs. This includes a performance-based warrant for Meta to purchase up to 160 million AMD shares, about 10% of the current total shares. AMD made a similar de...
Iran Foreign Minister Claims U.S. Attacked Water Desalination Plant First we warned that data centers would become drone targets, and then IRGC strikes hit Amazon AWS and Microsoft-linked AI infrastructure across the Gulf. Next, we flagged water desalination plants as another target. Now, with reports that a desalination facility in Iran has been struck, it is increasingly clear that this conflict...
Iran Foreign Minister Claims U.S. Attacked Water Desalination Plant First we warned that data centers would become drone targets, and then IRGC strikes hit Amazon AWS and Microsoft-linked AI infrastructure across the Gulf. Next, we flagged water desalination plants as another target. Now, with reports that a desalination facility in Iran has been struck, it is increasingly clear that this conflict has no boundaries when it comes to civilian infrastructure. On Saturday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi took to X and claimed that U.S. military forces had "committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island." "Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran," Araghchi said. The U.S. committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran. — Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 7, 2026 Shortly after Araghchi's post, a Community Note attached to his tweet read, "There is currently no independent confirmation from international media or monitoring organizations that the U.S. attacked a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island." Whether confirmed or not, the worst-case scenario for the conflict is one in which freshwater desalination plants are targeted, either intentionally or by accident. This risk was first raised earlier last week by Bloomberg commodities analyst Javier Blas, who said, "A lot of attention about 'soft targets' like hotels and airports. And about oil/gas facilities. But please keep an eye on what may prove the most strategic asset for Persian Gulf countries: water desalination plants." US-IRAN WAR: A lot of attention about "soft targets" like hotels and airports....
荷蘭電動胖胎車意外急升 一周近百人受傷 阿姆斯特丹擬禁公園行駛 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】「單車王國」荷蘭近年興起電動胖胎車熱潮,但涉及胖胎車的意外有上升趨勢,阿姆斯特丹市政府會禁止胖胎車在部...
荷蘭電動胖胎車意外急升 一周近百人受傷 阿姆斯特丹擬禁公園行駛 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】「單車王國」荷蘭近年興起電動胖胎車熱潮,但涉及胖胎車的意外有上升趨勢,阿姆斯特丹市政府會禁止胖胎車在部分地區行駛。 不少遊客到訪阿姆斯特丹都會入鄉隨俗,在逾160年歷史的馮德爾公園以單車代步,探索這個「單車之都」。電動胖胎車近年在荷蘭興起,顧名思義這種單車輪胎較闊,比傳統單車更高速。雖然胖胎車的輔助摩打限速在約每小時24公里,但有不少車被改裝,增速至每小時40公里,引發的意外亦隨之增加。 有交通安全監察組織估計,荷蘭每年約5千名騎電動胖胎車的人要到急症室求診,即平均每周近百人受傷,當中12至15歲年輕人佔最多。阿姆斯特丹市政府認為,胖胎車手經常不戴頭盔在市內穿梭飛馳,煞車也不靈敏,威脅公園行人、兒童和寵物安全,有長者嚇至不敢再踏單車上街,以免碰撞,亦有家長不敢讓孩子踏胖胎車上學。 市政府計劃禁止民眾在人流多區域騎胖胎車,馮德爾公園可能是禁令首個試點。有人認為做法荒謬,他們有權選擇以哪種交通工具代步,亦有人質疑禁令毫無意義,關鍵應在於改善駕駛態度,如何控制駕駛速度。
伊朗局勢|伊朗稱俘虜數名美軍 美中央司令部斥散佈謊言 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】伊朗聲稱數名美軍被俘虜,美軍否認。 伊朗最高國家安全委員會秘書拉里賈尼在社交平台發文稱,有幾名美國士兵被俘虜,但...
伊朗局勢|伊朗稱俘虜數名美軍 美中央司令部斥散佈謊言 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】伊朗聲稱數名美軍被俘虜,美軍否認。 伊朗最高國家安全委員會秘書拉里賈尼在社交平台發文稱,有幾名美國士兵被俘虜,但美方聲稱他們已陣亡,形容真相終究會被揭露。他又表明美國總統特朗普向伊朗發動戰爭,是他對國際形勢誤判的結果,陷入戰略僵局、無法實現打擊目標,強調伊朗絕不退縮,特朗普必須付出代價。 美國中央司令部則否認伊朗說法,批評對方竭盡所能散佈謊言。
伊朗局勢|陣亡美軍遺體移送返美 特朗普:死亡屬戰爭一部分 不排除再有死傷 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】在打擊伊朗行動中陣亡的6名美軍遺體移送回美國。 陣亡士兵遺體由C-17運輸機送到特拉華州多佛...
伊朗局勢|陣亡美軍遺體移送返美 特朗普:死亡屬戰爭一部分 不排除再有死傷 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 【有線新聞】在打擊伊朗行動中陣亡的6名美軍遺體移送回美國。 陣亡士兵遺體由C-17運輸機送到特拉華州多佛空軍基地,士兵陸續將靈柩抬出轉移至貨車,總統特朗普夫婦、副總統萬斯夫婦以及多名內閣官員在場迎接。特朗普其後在空軍一號上形容是非常悲傷的一天,但表明死亡是戰爭的一部分,不排除未來有更多美軍人員傷亡,又強調必須有充分理由才會派遣地面部隊到伊朗,但目前還不是時候。重申期望有份參與挑選伊朗最高領袖接班人,不希望每隔十年就要出兵攻打伊朗。