Sadler’s Wells, London Kameron N Saunders’s ambitious sci-fi-coded fable is paired with a showcase of Crystal Pite’s mastery in contrasting order with human messiness The headline news here is Taylor Swift’s star backing dancer getting a major commission for English National Ballet. If it looks nothing like a pop concert, that’s because Kameron N Saunders is a choreographer who has worked with Chi...
Sadler’s Wells, London Kameron N Saunders’s ambitious sci-fi-coded fable is paired with a showcase of Crystal Pite’s mastery in contrasting order with human messiness The headline news here is Taylor Swift’s star backing dancer getting a major commission for English National Ballet. If it looks nothing like a pop concert, that’s because Kameron N Saunders is a choreographer who has worked with Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet among others. He is also an early career artist, who in his piece Proper Conduct has thrown a huge amount of ideas into a high concept dance that leaves a few question marks. The first section is breezy ballet, Justin Peck style, saturated colours and sunshine. But don’t get comfortable, because Saunders is about to pull the rug. A sci-fi-voiced narrator tells us of the rot in society and it segues into nude-costumed conjoined dancers, in striking formations and fleshy connections (the dancers are excellent throughout). But then in comes an army of AI robots in Daft Punk-style visors. It’s visually impactful, with genre-fluid movement, but flails a bit in terms of conveying meaning. Is the message to beware of people who tell you how to live as they’ll steal your soul? That big tech promises to solve your problems, but will actually erase your humanity? Not sure. But Saunders’ ambition is admirable, and we will see more from this creative mind. Continue reading...
Photoboyko/iStock via Getty Images Hyperscaler is a word that was only very recently added to investor lexicons. For those that are still a little fuzzy on what a hyperscaler actually is, it is a subset of the largest cloud computing firms that operate physical data centers to support their cloud operations. The “Big 5” hyperscalers in the U.S. are Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Amazon ( ...
Photoboyko/iStock via Getty Images Hyperscaler is a word that was only very recently added to investor lexicons. For those that are still a little fuzzy on what a hyperscaler actually is, it is a subset of the largest cloud computing firms that operate physical data centers to support their cloud operations. The “Big 5” hyperscalers in the U.S. are Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Meta ( META ), and Oracle ( ORCL ). Together, they represent $600B+ in estimated capital expenditures—mostly spending on the data centers that they are hyperscaling (lacking a better term) to run AI models across their cloud platforms—which is the vast majority of private spending being done on data centers in the world at the current moment. IEEE The CapEx Supercycle Despite the surge in spending noted above, hyperscalers are still making surprise announcements of even more spending. Amazon raised their expected spending by 50% for 2026, Google is now issuing 100-year bonds to cover their spending, and Meta is starting to employ creative financing to keep debt off its books; and those are just some headlines from the last month. While there is no denying that hype and the hype cycle itself are driving in part, the math currently works in favor of hyperscalers. The boardroom math—and I use that distinction carefully—currently works like this: More data centers (which necessitate more GPUs, more equipment, more power needs, etc.) directly translate into additional compute. “Compute” is an effective way of measuring the free hardware necessary to run AI models. Take this one step further and measure the output of the AI models themselves, tokens, and you get a situation where the MSFT CEO, Satya Nadella, is substituting the phrase “token factory” for “data center.” So data centers run on compute and make tokens, all of which allows for the further development and deployment of AI models. Since there's currently a fairly linear relationship between GPUs in data centers...
If you're new to required minimum distributions (RMDs), it's easy to get confused about what you're actually supposed to do. You don't want to withdraw too little because you'll pay a 25% tax penalty on the RMD you failed to withdraw. And withdrawing too much could raise your tax bill and cause you to miss out on valuable investment earnings. The good news is, once you know a few basic rules, the ...
If you're new to required minimum distributions (RMDs), it's easy to get confused about what you're actually supposed to do. You don't want to withdraw too little because you'll pay a 25% tax penalty on the RMD you failed to withdraw. And withdrawing too much could raise your tax bill and cause you to miss out on valuable investment earnings. The good news is, once you know a few basic rules, the whole RMD process starts to feel a lot easier. One of the most important things to understand is that you don't have to take RMDs from all your retirement accounts. Roth IRAs have always been exempt from RMDs because you fund them with after-tax dollars. The government doesn't take a cut of these distributions, so it has no reason to force you to take money out of these accounts in retirement. As of a few years ago, Roth 401(k)s also don't require RMDs. You usually have to take RMDs from all tax-deferred retirement accounts, including traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. But there is an exception for your current 401(k) if you're still working and own less than 5% of the company. In that case, you can delay RMDs from that account only until the year after the year you retire. You also don't have to take RMDs from every traditional IRA. But the total amount you withdraw from your IRAs must equal the total of all your IRA RMDs. So, if you had two traditional IRAs, you would calculate RMDs for each. If one was $5,000 and one was $1,000, you could take all $6,000 from one account, $3,000 from each, or any combination you like as long as total IRA withdrawals equaled or exceeded $6,000. Consult with a tax professional if you have any questions about how RMDs work or how much you need to withdraw. Try not to put this off at the end of the year. Understanding the rules earlier gives you more time to figure out the best withdrawal strategy for you.
March 20 (Reuters) - Videogame platform Roblox said on Friday it would take a portion of revenue from in-game brand deals starting next year, as part of a broader advertising-policy overhaul designed to draw in more brand dollars and increase creator earnings. The company has been expanding beyond gaming to transform its platform into a hub for e-commerce, socializing and advertising, and had a...
March 20 (Reuters) - Videogame platform Roblox said on Friday it would take a portion of revenue from in-game brand deals starting next year, as part of a broader advertising-policy overhaul designed to draw in more brand dollars and increase creator earnings. The company has been expanding beyond gaming to transform its platform into a hub for e-commerce, socializing and advertising, and had announced a new ad format and a partnership with Google last year to grow its nascent ad business. The revenue share, effective January 2027, aims to end what Roblox called a "race to the bottom" on pricing caused by a lack of standardized measurement and price transparency, according to a post on its developer forum on Friday. "A revenue share that scales like media will help brands report, measure and value advertising integrations in a similar way to other scaled media formats on other platforms. Today, the flat fee deal structures leave creators earning less, not more," Roblox said. It is still finalizing details with creators and would share more in the second quarter. The company also said starting May 4, age-appropriate advertising formats would be permitted on its platform. "Content will now be classified as an ad if it involves compensation from a brand to feature within a creator's experience, or if it promotes off-platform products," it said. Under the framework, creators will be required to register all advertising integrations with Roblox before campaigns go live, and submit assets for moderation. It will also introduce new advertising labels applied directly in its Studio tool, allowing users to report unwanted ads. Roblox said rewarded advertising formats and certain brand categories, including food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and financial services, would be prohibited for users under the age of 13. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Nintendo plans to release a Switch 2 revision in the European Union that will let users replace their own batteries, Nikkei reports. The current version of the Switch 2 has a glued-in batt...
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Nintendo plans to release a Switch 2 revision in the European Union that will let users replace their own batteries, Nikkei reports. The current version of the Switch 2 has a glued-in battery. But Nintendo apparently plans to make the change in order to comply with EU rules going into effect in February 2027 that will require devices to let users easily swap out portable batteries. The new version of the Switch 2 will be released “soon,” and both the console and the Joy-Cons will have replaceable batteries, according to Nikkei. In Japan, the console’s specifications will remain the same, Nikkei says. Nintendo didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge. Should this Switch 2 revision be released in the EU and remain exclusive to the region, it wouldn’t be the first time a device-maker has decided to do something like that; FujiFilm’s Instax Mini Link 3 has a user-replaceable NP-70S battery, but only if you’re in Europe. But I’m really hoping Nintendo launches this revision more widely. Phone makers in particular have been better about offering more repairable devices in recent years — perhaps in response to right-to-repair legislation — and now that console generations are lasting for nearly a decade, any way that Nintendo (or other game hardware makers) can make its devices easier to use for longer without costly repairs or replacements would be much welcomed.
JasonDoiy/iStock via Getty Images Carson City District Court Judge Jason Woodbury has temporarily blocked Kalshi ( KALSHI ) from offering event contracts related to sports, elections, and entertainment to Nevada's residents, Reuters reported . Woodbury issued the restraining order at the behest of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, aiming to prevent the prediction market operator from contin...
JasonDoiy/iStock via Getty Images Carson City District Court Judge Jason Woodbury has temporarily blocked Kalshi ( KALSHI ) from offering event contracts related to sports, elections, and entertainment to Nevada's residents, Reuters reported . Woodbury issued the restraining order at the behest of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, aiming to prevent the prediction market operator from continuing to operate in the state without a license, the Friday, March 20, report noted. The board considers sports event contracts, and certain other event contracts, to constitute wagering under Nevada law. Therefore, any entity offering such event contracts must be licensed. Last month, the board had filed a civil enforcement action against Coinbase ( COIN ) Financial Markets, alleging that certain event contracts offered on its mobile app violate the state's law. More on Kalshi Inc Kalshi raises over $1B, resulting in a $22B valuation - report Fox and Kalshi are discussing a serious partnership - report Financial information for Kalshi Inc
00:00 Speaker A All right, Praz. We've been talking about the difficulties in the auto industry, but a bright spot seems to be truck drivers. I did a road trip last week. I was thinking a lot about how much easier it would be if this car or these trucks around me were driving themselves. That brings us of course to Tesla, which has been working on a semi truck, starting to get tests out there. See...
00:00 Speaker A All right, Praz. We've been talking about the difficulties in the auto industry, but a bright spot seems to be truck drivers. I did a road trip last week. I was thinking a lot about how much easier it would be if this car or these trucks around me were driving themselves. That brings us of course to Tesla, which has been working on a semi truck, starting to get tests out there. Seems like people are really into it. Drivers are really into it. 00:22 Pras Yeah. Drivers are into it because look, it's a number of things, right? It's they're easier to drive, right? You don't have an 18 gear, three clutch thing that you got to operate through traffic, right? It's all electric. You have a central seating position with with the Tesla semi. A lot of the drivers like that, apparently. Uh and then it's also it's super powerful in terms of torque, right? So it's easier to sort of modulate driving with this huge heavy load. So, yeah, I'm not surprised people are happy about these these trucks and I guess you're getting maybe 500 miles of range, maybe, uh but it's more about how long is that charging going to take, right? Massive batteries, we'll see, but hey, uh I guess people are happy, truckers are happy. 01:05 Speaker A You know, there's nothing worse than you're rolling along 80. Like you're cruise, you're flying. like this is awesome. And then you come to an uphill where there's an on ramp, and you see that truck because you see them from like a mile away. You're like, oh, here he comes. Here he comes. And then the truck that's two up from you, he's coming over to the left and now now we're doing three miles. I'm stuck behind a truck. I'm going 62 again. And I'm like, man, if these were all just Tesla's driving themselves, they could get up to speed and be fine. 01:36 Pras Yeah, I mean look you 01:37 Speaker A Maybe I should have been in the Tesla. The car could have driven itself anyway. 01:40 Pras Well, that's the future, right? It's like trucks with no on...
Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images Eight states, including California and New York, asked a judge to temporarily block Nexstar Media Group ( NXST ) from integrating its $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna ( TGNA ). The TRO request comes after the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Justice on Thursday approved the combination , and Nexstar ( NXST ) announced that it had closed its acquis...
Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images Eight states, including California and New York, asked a judge to temporarily block Nexstar Media Group ( NXST ) from integrating its $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna ( TGNA ). The TRO request comes after the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Justice on Thursday approved the combination , and Nexstar ( NXST ) announced that it had closed its acquisition following the approvals. Shares of Tegna were delisted with the close of the deal. "Plaintiffs move for an order temporarily enjoining and restraining Defendants from integrating and consolidating Nexstar and TEGNA," the states said in a court filing on Friday. "Immediate relief from the Court is necessary to preserve the status quo and ensure that competition and the public interest are protected by lawful and transparent judicial review." The TRO request follows California and seven other state attorneys 'general filing a lawsuit on Wednesday to block Nexstar's ( NXST ) purchase of Tegna over antitrust concerns. Shares of Nexstar rose 2%. More on Nexstar Media Nexstar Media's Aim For Scale Drives Instant Value, But Shares No Longer Cheap Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) Presents at Deutsche Bank 34th Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference Transcript Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript Nexstar Media Group plans $5.1B offering FCC clears $6.2B sale of Tegna to Nexstar despite state objections