The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple’s Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide rush to “raise a lobster”. Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan (US...
The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple’s Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide rush to “raise a lobster”. Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan (US$73) for a basic Mac Mini model, which comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of memory and 256GB storage and...
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US-Israel war on Iran has sparked a legal and ethical debate, as well as condemnation from countries including China after a deadly missile strike on a primary school. To prepare for its operations against Iran, the US military reportedly used Palantir’s Maven Smart System, an AI platform that incorporates models like Anthropic’s Claude to aggregate l...
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US-Israel war on Iran has sparked a legal and ethical debate, as well as condemnation from countries including China after a deadly missile strike on a primary school. To prepare for its operations against Iran, the US military reportedly used Palantir’s Maven Smart System, an AI platform that incorporates models like Anthropic’s Claude to aggregate large amounts of data. A US-based source familiar with the matter said the only thing that Claude or...
Last year, Peloton Interactive Inc. was preparing a sweeping overhaul of its equipment and software for the AI era. The plan was a suite of cool new products and features that would help it capture new customers while locking in the already faithful. A key idea was an upgrade kit that let Bike and Tread owners attach a camera to monitor their workouts. But in the lead-up to the introduction, Pelot...
Last year, Peloton Interactive Inc. was preparing a sweeping overhaul of its equipment and software for the AI era. The plan was a suite of cool new products and features that would help it capture new customers while locking in the already faithful. A key idea was an upgrade kit that let Bike and Tread owners attach a camera to monitor their workouts. But in the lead-up to the introduction, Peloton leaders reached a startling conclusion: Too much of the legacy systems would need to be swapped out, making it impractical for customers to replace the parts on their own. So, late in the development of its product revamp, Peloton decided that old bikes and treadmills wouldn’t get the camera add-on, requiring interested users to buy the fresh, much pricier Cross Training Series models with the sensor built-in. Wall Street wasn’t impressed by the hardware updates, customers weren’t tantalized, and Peloton investors punished the stock, which has plummeted nearly 60% since the October product announcement . Now, Peloton is working on yet another comeback attempt, looking to woo investors, customers and employees before it’s too late. As part of the latest efforts, the New York-based fitness technology company, known for its $1,695-and-up bikes, is planning to make treadmills a larger priority and is considering lower-priced versions, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Peloton currently sells its entry-level Tread for $3,295 and a high-end Tread+ for $6,695, but a more affordable model could create momentum in a category the company now sees as having better growth potential. Global treadmill sales were estimated to top $6 billion last year, making it a several times larger market than stationary bikes. The company is also exploring a slew of new product categories, including a deeper push into strength training, and weighing a series of new marketing levers to bring in fresh customers, said the people, who declined to be named discussing unannounced plans. Bu...
Meta Platforms (META) stock has been relatively subdued this year, seeing 3% upside in the last 52 weeks. While fundamentals remain strong, markets concerns related to massive capital spending have persisted. Amid the sideways price action, Meta has continued to focus on investments that are likely to accelerate growth. This includes bolstering its superintelligence efforts and driving growth from...
Meta Platforms (META) stock has been relatively subdued this year, seeing 3% upside in the last 52 weeks. While fundamentals remain strong, markets concerns related to massive capital spending have persisted. Amid the sideways price action, Meta has continued to focus on investments that are likely to accelerate growth. This includes bolstering its superintelligence efforts and driving growth from the hardware business. From the perspective of inorganic growth, Meta recently announced the acquisition of Moltbook, an AI agent social networking platform. Further, the Moltbook team is expected to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. Meta Platforms has already been working on strengthening its Superintelligence Lab to accelerate new AI model development. Overall, this acquisition is likely to support the company's efforts to compete against AI rivals like OpenAI, among others. About Meta Platforms Stock Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and originally founded as Facebook, Meta Platforms rebranded in 2021 to emphasize its focus on building beyond 2D screens. The company develops products that enable people to connect and share, sporting a suite of social apps such as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Currently, Meta is focused on building “personal superintelligence” for users. The objective is to integrate AI into existing apps and also leverage AI for advanced wearable products. For example, Meta is already dominating the smart glasses market that’s driven by AI-enabled models. For fiscal 2025, Meta Platforms reported revenue growth of 22% year-over-year (YOY) to $201 billion. For the same period, operating cash flow was robust at $115.8 billion, providing high financial flexibility for investments in innovation. However, even with the robust growth, META stock has corrected by almost 16% in the last six months. This seems like a good opportunity for investors to accumulate shares as Meta focuses on “advancing personal superintelligence” in 2026. Ampl...
To get Industrial Strength delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Airlines have been retiring older, gas-guzzling jets at a historically low rate for the past five years as post-pandemic supply-chain bottlenecks and production challenges have capped deliveries of new planes. But if the recent spike in oil prices from the Iran war proves durable, airlines will be under pressure to pick up...
To get Industrial Strength delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Airlines have been retiring older, gas-guzzling jets at a historically low rate for the past five years as post-pandemic supply-chain bottlenecks and production challenges have capped deliveries of new planes. But if the recent spike in oil prices from the Iran war proves durable, airlines will be under pressure to pick up the pace. About 2% of the world’s jet fleet was retired last year, below the longer-term average annual pace of about 2.6%, according to Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu. Supply-chain challenges continue to dog the aircraft manufacturers, with Boeing Co. just this week warning that a wiring flaw will delay some deliveries of its 737 Max jet and Airbus SE recently dialing back its production goals due to a lack of engines . Limited deliveries of new jets have forced airlines to keep flying older planes for longer to keep up with travel demand, fueling a boom in demand for airplane parts and repair services. But the Iran war may mark a tipping point. Historically, spikes in oil prices have tended to drive a step-up in aircraft retirements as airlines rethink how much capacity they need to serve a retreating consumer and whether it’s still economical to keep older, fuel-thirsty models flying. Since the late 1980s, the rate of aircraft retirements in one year has been closely correlated to the prior year’s oil prices, Kahyaoglu said a research note earlier this month. A slump in Middle East traffic could shave as much as a half a point off global air travel growth and translate into about 140 additional aircraft retirements, she said in a follow-up note this week. Much will depend on how long the conflict and disruption to Middle East oil shipments persists. At the moment, there is no sign of an off-ramp. If anything, the chaos in oil markets appears to be accelerating. President Donald Trump has offered conflicting sentiments about the timeline of the war, indicating both t...
When you open your Peacock mobile app this summer, you might see the AI likeness of TV host Andy Cohen pop up on your homepage. In an announcement on Friday, NBCUniversal said Cohen's avatar will serve as a guide through Peacock's "infinitely swipeable" feed of clips from Bravo shows, like Love Island , The Real Housewives series, and Below Deck . The feed, called "Your Bravoverse," will surface c...
When you open your Peacock mobile app this summer, you might see the AI likeness of TV host Andy Cohen pop up on your homepage. In an announcement on Friday, NBCUniversal said Cohen's avatar will serve as a guide through Peacock's "infinitely swipeable" feed of clips from Bravo shows, like Love Island , The Real Housewives series, and Below Deck . The feed, called "Your Bravoverse," will surface clips from the shows that you choose when you first open up the new experience. NBCUniversal will use AI to scan and pick out scenes from your favorite shows, while an AI-generated Cohen offers input about what's happening on screen. Video: Peacock / … Read the full story at The Verge.
Peacock is rolling out a native vertical video format for live sports, allowing you to watch games without turning your phone sideways. The feature will roll out to NBA games first this spring and will use an algorithm to track players and zoom in on the action. The launch of this feature comes just months after a report from Nikkei Asia revealed that NBC Sports plans on using a player tracking sy...
Peacock is rolling out a native vertical video format for live sports, allowing you to watch games without turning your phone sideways. The feature will roll out to NBA games first this spring and will use an algorithm to track players and zoom in on the action. The launch of this feature comes just months after a report from Nikkei Asia revealed that NBC Sports plans on using a player tracking system called viztrick AiDi. The technology was developed by a Japanese broadcaster and uses facial recognition to allow viewers on mobile to tap their screen to focus on specific players. It's unclear whether Peacock's vertical NBA streams will use … Read the full story at The Verge.
f11photo/iStock via Getty Images Hudson Pacific Properties ( HPP ) has reverted to its cheapest ever multiple on the aggregation of a perfect storm of headwinds, including a suspended dividend, unfavorable debt maturities, and a San Francisco office vacancy rate that continues to hover far above the national U.S. average. The office REIT engineered a 1-for-7 reverse stock split in November and has...
f11photo/iStock via Getty Images Hudson Pacific Properties ( HPP ) has reverted to its cheapest ever multiple on the aggregation of a perfect storm of headwinds, including a suspended dividend, unfavorable debt maturities, and a San Francisco office vacancy rate that continues to hover far above the national U.S. average. The office REIT engineered a 1-for-7 reverse stock split in November and has since seen the value of its stock dip by over 50% since then. The intense selloff, with HPP also down 97% more broadly over the last 5 years, reflects front-loaded debt maturities and a San Francisco office vacancy rate that stood at 24.7% as of the end of January. This was a 650 basis points difference from the national U.S. vacancy rate of 18.2%, with HPP's in-service office portfolio ending its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter with a 76.3% occupancy rate. The bullish play here is that not only is this occupancy rate on the up, boosted by demand from AI companies for office space in San Francisco. The city actually saw its vacancy rate dip by 460 basis points year-over-year, but it remains one of the highest in the U.S. The REIT's in-service studio portfolio continued to show weakness, with the total 67.1% leased, a significant drop from 73.8% a year ago. Hudson Pacific Properties Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter Supplemental Hudson Pacific Properties Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter Supplemental HPP's upcoming debt maturities represent its most poignant risk, with the REIT facing $540.77 million in debt repayments this year, dropping only slightly to $506.52 million in 2027. For context, HPP held cash and cash equivalents of $138.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter. This divergence means the REIT needs to sell off its assets to meet repayments this year and next, with HPP holding total debt of $2.83 billion at an effective interest rate of 5.0%. The blended years to maturity of this is 2.6 years, representing a material wall of debt that the REIT needs to refinance and address thr...
Key PointsDriehaus Capital Management added 7,704,785 Eos Energy Enterprises shares in the fourth quarter; the estimated transaction value was $110.72 million.
Key PointsDriehaus Capital Management added 7,704,785 Eos Energy Enterprises shares in the fourth quarter; the estimated transaction value was $110.72 million.
RHJ/iStock via Getty Images Wheaton Precious Metals ( WPM ) +1.4% in early trading Friday after reporting better than expected Q4 adjusted earnings , raising its dividend payout, and forecasting significantly higher production in 2026. Q4 net earnings soared to US$558.3M from US$88.1M in the year-earlier quarter, as revenues more than doubled to US$864.7M, sparked by higher gold and silver prices ...
RHJ/iStock via Getty Images Wheaton Precious Metals ( WPM ) +1.4% in early trading Friday after reporting better than expected Q4 adjusted earnings , raising its dividend payout, and forecasting significantly higher production in 2026. Q4 net earnings soared to US$558.3M from US$88.1M in the year-earlier quarter, as revenues more than doubled to US$864.7M, sparked by higher gold and silver prices and more metals production. Q4 a ttributable gold equivalent production rose 8% Y/Y to 205K oz, with gold output up 10% to 130K oz, primarily due to stronger production at Salobo, which achieved a new quarterly record, and Antamina, coupled with the commencement of production at Blackwater. For the full year, Wheaton ( WPM ) produced 689,864 gold equivalent oz, up from 635,488 oz in 2024 and exceeding company guidance of 600K-670K oz. FY 2025 gold production gained 9.2% to 416,171 f rom 381,248 oz in 2024, silver output rose 6.3% to 22,289 oz from 20,959 oz in 2024, cobalt production nearly doubled to 2,460 oz, while palladium output fell 34% to 10,265 oz from 15,632 in the previous year. Wheaton ( WPM ) confirmed the prior guidance for FY 2026 output of 860K-940K gold equivalent oz, to be driven mainly by an additional 70K gold equivalent oz stream from the Antamina site, which will start generating production in April. More on Wheaton Precious Metals Wheaton Precious Metals: Wait For Risk Clarification BHP Signs Wheaton Precious Metals Up For Worst Silver FOMO Deal Of The Century Wheaton Precious Metals: Streaming High-Margin Silver And Gold Profits
If the long-mooted third instalment of the 80s sword and sorcery series finally gets off the ground, it could be Arnie’s chance to go from ageing action hero to cinematic totem If you’re a fan of 1980s and 1990s Arnold Schwarzenegger , his late-era career has probably come as a bit of a disappointment. The Austrian oak was once Hollywood’s most reliable tool for punching killer robots, but he’s ne...
If the long-mooted third instalment of the 80s sword and sorcery series finally gets off the ground, it could be Arnie’s chance to go from ageing action hero to cinematic totem If you’re a fan of 1980s and 1990s Arnold Schwarzenegger , his late-era career has probably come as a bit of a disappointment. The Austrian oak was once Hollywood’s most reliable tool for punching killer robots, but he’s never really had his Unforgiven moment. Despite an absurdly influential run of science fiction and fantasy movies, Schwarzenegger has missed out on the sort of grizzled, late-career reckoning that might have deconstructed his own youthful myth, just as Clint Eastwood’s epic 1992 western confronted the very legend the actor-director spent decades building. It’s not as if Hollywood hasn’t tried. In fact, studios have spent the last decade or so trying to produce Schwarzenegger ’s “old warrior” phase, as if prodding the action hero myth with a stick to see if it still roars. The problem is, nothing has quite landed. Terminator: Dark Fate turned the T-800 into a retired drapery salesman reflecting on his own violent past. Maggie had him as a grieving father in a quiet zombie family drama. Aftermath is essentially a sombre meditation on grief that briefly veers into revenge thriller territory. None quite managed to become the monument to the Schwarzenegger enigma that the actor’s era-defining body of work seemed to demand. If Arnold fans wanted the sort of late-career statement that turns an ageing action star into a cinematic totem, they instead got an increasingly mortal-looking man who turns up in mid-budget streaming thrillers looking faintly concerned. Continue reading...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images In the recent past, U.S. economic policy has been centered on the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Going back to 2008 or so, the dominating policy of the government has been the "quantitative" stance of the Federal Reserve System. The system was constructed and implemented while Ben Bernanke was the Chairman of the Fed's Board of Governors and then fo...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images In the recent past, U.S. economic policy has been centered on the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Going back to 2008 or so, the dominating policy of the government has been the "quantitative" stance of the Federal Reserve System. The system was constructed and implemented while Ben Bernanke was the Chairman of the Fed's Board of Governors and then followed up on by Janet Yellen and Jay Powell when they served as the chairman. The primary tool of this policy system was the Fed's portfolio of securities. When the Fed conducted a policy of quantitative easing, it added securities to its portfolio, bought outright, and when it conducted a policy of quantitative tightening, it reduced the securities it had in its portfolio. Currently, the Federal Reserve is adding securities to its portfolio, so it is in a phase of quantitative easing. The latest policy program began in early December 2025. Four rounds of quantitative easing were run in the 2010s. One round of quantitative tightening was run from March 2020 up until early December last year. The Federal Reserve would establish a "policy stance" for its primary tool, and then it would manage its policy rate of interest, the Federal Funds rate, to be consistent with what was being done with the securities portfolio. This policy program, conducted by the Federal Reserve, served as the main economic policy of the Federal Government for the period between 2008 and the current time period. The Federal Government ran budget deficits during this period of time, but there was no real policy connection between what the Federal Government was doing and what the Federal Reserve was doing, so that the Federal budget was basically run independently of the monetary policy of the government. During this time, the Federal Government ran budget deficits and accumulated a substantial amount of debt. Here is a picture of the budget outcomes from 2001. Federal Surplus or Deficit (Federal Reserv...
Antitrust law has come into sharper focus over the past year, with several high-profile cases, including in Big Tech. Bilal Sayyed, former Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning and current competition counsel at TechFreedom, as well as counsel at the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, joins Bloomberg Intelligence litigation analysts Jennifer Rie and Justin Teresi on this Votes and...
Antitrust law has come into sharper focus over the past year, with several high-profile cases, including in Big Tech. Bilal Sayyed, former Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning and current competition counsel at TechFreedom, as well as counsel at the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, joins Bloomberg Intelligence litigation analysts Jennifer Rie and Justin Teresi on this Votes and Verdicts episode to talk about the state of US antitrust enforcement one year into the Trump admini