Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Friday
Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Friday
My top 10 things to watch Friday, Nov. 15 1. President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has vast implications for ***** companies. That’s why shares of pharma stocks, and vaccine makers in particular, sold off late Thursday when reports of the pick first surfaced. We own Eli Lilly for the Club. 2. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold most of its stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter after only building its position in the second quarter, regulatory filings show. Did Buffett ever know about the Ulta stake beyond the cursory? Not clear. He never spoke to management. Worth noting: Buffett has two investing lieutenants, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, who control some money. 3. On the other hand, Berkshire built a stake in Domino’s Pizza in the quarter, sending shares of the chain higher Friday. Should you buy Domino’s off of Berkshire’s move? Maybe buy Domino’s off of CEO Russell Weiner. We don’t know how involved Buffett is anymore. Is he titular on these investments? 4. Multiple price target bumps for Club holding Disney after its good quarter and upbeat multiyear earnings guidance . TD Cowen goes to $123 a share from $108, but kept its hold rating on the stock. Wells Fargo goes to $138 from $116 and kept its buy. Bank of America’s new price target of $140, up from $120, is the highest I’ve seen. BofA reiterated its buy call. 5. Alibaba shares rose after the ******** e-commerce and cloud giant, not surprisingly, reported better-than-expected profits. Companywide sales were a bit light. However, year-over-year cloud revenue growth slightly accelerated in the quarter, helped by triple-digit-percentage growth in AI-related products. 6. Shares of Applied Materials are getting crushed after the semiconductor equipment company’s sales outlook for the current quarter came up short of expectations. Analysts lowered their price targets in response, but not too badly. Could the stock’s roughly 9% drop be an overreaction? 7. Palantir is transferring its listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange, in a move that would make the data analytics software firm eligible for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 . That index consists of 100 largest nonfinancial companies on the exchange, and it’s tracked by the the popular Invesco QQQ ETF . 8. Kate Spade and Coach owner Tapestry landed a couple price target hikes now that its merger with fellow luxury player Capri has officially been terminated. A federal judge blocked the tie-up last month. Wells Fargo went to $75 a share from $65 and maintained its buy rating on Tapestry stock. Baird went to $64 from $58 and reiterated its buy call. 9. Cowen upped its price target on Mastercard to $587 a share from $533 after the payments network provider’s investor day made clear that its durable growth trajectory is intact. I really liked what Mastercard had to say, too. 10. Morgan Stanley has grown more cautious on the clean technology industry ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, saying there’s uncertainty about changes to the policy environment. Still, analysts lifted their price target on GE Vernova , which makes gas and wind turbines, to $367 a share from $301 and reiterated their buy-equivalent rating. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
*********** presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on October 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
My top 10 things to watch Friday, Nov. 15
1. President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has vast implications for ***** companies. That’s why shares of pharma stocks, and vaccine makers in particular, sold off late Thursday when reports of the pick first surfaced. We own Eli Lilly for the Club.
2. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold most of its stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter after only building its position in the second quarter, regulatory filings show. Did Buffett ever know about the Ulta stake beyond the cursory? Not clear. He never spoke to management. Worth noting: Buffett has two investing lieutenants, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, who control some money.
3. On the other hand, Berkshire built a stake in Domino’s Pizza in the quarter, sending shares of the chain higher Friday. Should you buy Domino’s off of Berkshire’s move? Maybe buy Domino’s off of CEO Russell Weiner. We don’t know how involved Buffett is anymore. Is he titular on these investments?
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Valencia chief Carlos Mazón admits flood mistakes but defies calls to quit
Valencia chief Carlos Mazón admits flood mistakes but defies calls to quit
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
The sludge after the 29 October flood ******** in Paiporta and Carlos Mazón has faced calls to resign
Valencia’s under-***** leader Carlos Mazón has conceded mistakes were made on the day that floods overwhelmed his region but said it was down to two government agencies that people were not given enough warning.
More than 220 people lost their lives when areas of Spain were hit by floods on 29 October, and most of the fatalities were in Mazón’s eastern coastal region.
Valencia’s ************* leader ignored calls for his resignation during his first appearance before the regional parliament since the floods.
He has been widely criticised for spending much of the afternoon having lunch with a journalist rather than focusing on Valencia’s response to the rapidly developing crisis.
No alert was sent to residents in the region until 20:11 on the Tuesday, by which time the floods had already reached the congested V31 highway known as the Pista de Silla in the Valencia suburbs.
Mazón spoke at length in the regional parliament Les Corts on Friday, defending his handling of the disaster, and explaining that the text alert system had never been used before.
A police helicopter hovered above as dozens of protesters, held back by police from the building where Mazón was speaking, chanted ****** calls for him to resign or face arrest.
Getty Images
Protesters stood outside the parliament building in Valencia, some calling for the regional leader to go to jail
“El President a Picassent,” they shouted, saying that the regional leader belonged in a local prison.
Some of the protesters held placards that read: “Our hands are stained with mud. Theirs are stained with blood.”
He pointed the finger at Spain’s Aemet weather agency as well as the independent Júcar authority that looks after the river basin and water resources.
Aemet had issued a red alert early on 29 October and extended it to the entire Valencia area, with the threat of “extreme” danger”. By mid afternoon it was warning of 150-180 mm of rainfall over 12-24 hours.
“I’m not going to deny mistakes,” he said, promising that he would not shirk his responsibilities, while explaining that not enough details had been provided.
“We did the best we could in the situation we were in, with the information available and with the resources we had, which was clearly not enough.”
EPA-EFE/REX
Carlos Mazón said it was not necessary for him to be at operational HQ because his colleagues were
Spain had not witnessed such a devastating natural disaster in recent history, he insisted and it was “as terrifying as it was unprecedented”. That explained why there was a widespread feeling that help was not coming or it was insufficient, he said, adding: : “I want to apologise to those who felt that way.”
“The mismanagement was abhorrent,” one young man told the BBC, adding that lives could have been saved if the disaster had been better handled: “He has declared he’s not willing to step down so we need to keep up the volume against him.”
On the outskirts of Valencia in the town of Paiporta, which was hit hardest by the flood, a sludge of mud is everywhere, blocking drains so that many residents cannot use their toilets and the air carries the smell of sewage.
Weary residents trudge through the streets as bulldozers try to scoop up the liquid mess. The army is still towing away wrecked cars which were tossed around in the floodwaters.
On Florida Street, people are busy at work trying to fix broken doors and clear out the mud.
“It’ll be months before it’s back to normal,” said father of two José Sánchez Maigallon, whose 43-year old neighbour was swept away by the torrent. “Everyone has messed up, from the local mayor to the regional president to the government in Madrid.”
Eventually Carlos Mazón sought to explain why he had not gone to the Operational Coordination Centre until 19:00 on the evening of the flood as the regional interior minister Salomé Pradas was already there.
Pradas herself has since conceded she was not aware of the ES-Alert text message system that was available to warn the local population of the flood risks.
Shortly after 20:00 on 29 October a first message was sent out warning of the imminent risk of a dam being breached.
Many in Paiporta complain about the slow response of authorities to help survivors.
“If it weren’t for the volunteers, we would have ***** of hunger,” said José Sánchez Maigallon. “They’re the ones bringing us food. And hope.”
Across the road, his 62-year old neighbour Antonio shook his head at the task ahead, recalling “a scene from a horror movie”.
His mother, Josefa, 92, looked down from her balcony on an army of people at work, some wearing masks and protective clothing.
“One day it will be beautiful here again,” she said with a smile.
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Avowed’s $90 version will let you play the game 5 days early
Avowed’s $90 version will let you play the game 5 days early
Avowed is the latest game to offer early access as part of a more expensive edition.
For $90/£90, the premium edition of Avowed includes a skin pack, a digital art book, and the game’s soundtrack. It also includes five days early access to the game, meaning premium edition players can start playing the game on February 13, as opposed to February 18, 2025.
Many games in recent years have offered early access as a paid perk for buying a more expensive edition of a game. Microsoft‘s Starfield also offered this and offered a premium edition upgrade which meant players who planned to play the game on Game Pass could pay a one-time fee to just receive the premium edition contents.
Avowed, developed by Obsidian, will be released on Xbox and PC on February 18. The game will be added to Game Pass one day one.
This week Microsoft said that Avowed’s delay wasn’t the result of quality concerns with the game.
Announced in July 2020, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG set in the world of Eora, which was originally introduced in Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series.
Game director Patel Carrie Patel has said Avowed will be similar in length to The Outer Worlds and that it has over 10 different endings.
In an interview this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer expressed his dislike of “manipulative” expansions that don’t offer players “a unique point of view”.
In a separate Bloomberg interview published this week, the executive said Xbox is still open to more acquisitions following last year’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard.
He also said Xbox wouldn’t rule out any first-party game coming to PS5 or Switch, and that Xbox is working on handheld prototypes.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Makes Its Geekbench Appearance With Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 12GB RAM
Samsung Galaxy S25 Makes Its Geekbench Appearance With Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 12GB RAM
Samsung is expected to unveil its Galaxy S25 series in the first half of next year. Several reports have claimed that all models in the Galaxy S25 lineup will pack the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. A new Geekbench listing offers some proof that the leaks could be right. An alleged Korean variant of the vanilla Galaxy S25 has surfaced on the Geekbench benchmarking site with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB RAM. Samsung could use the Snapdragon 8 Elite with overclocked GPU and CPU cores in the flagship Galaxy S series.
First spotted by Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve), a Samsung handset with model number SM-S931N has showed up on the Geekbench database, which is most likely the Korean model of the standard Galaxy S25. It has a Snapdragon chipset under the hood with 4.47GHz clock speed and 3.53GHz base speed, hinting that the handset will ship with a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset with overclocked CPU scores. The regular Snapdragon 8 Elite chip used in the OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 has a 4.32GHz clock speed.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Could Pack 12GB of RAM
As per the listing, the Galaxy S25 scored 2,481 points in single-core testing and 8,658 in multi-core testing. The listing suggests an Android 15 operating system and 10.75GB of RAM. This could translate to 12GB on paper.
Samsung was initially speculated to use the Exynos 2500 chipsets in the Galaxy S25 lineup and we even saw the Galaxy S25+ on Geekbench with the Exynos SoC. However, several prominent tipsters recently claimed that all Galaxy S25 models worldwide will use the Snapdragon silicon. The US variant of the Galaxy S25 Ultra earlier appeared with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC on Geekbench.
This year’s Galaxy S24 series came with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC processor in select markets including the US and an Exynos 2400 chip for the rest of the world. However, all 2023 Galaxy S23 series were exclusively powered by Snapdragon chipsets.
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Lag in response to tackle methane emissions, UN says
Lag in response to tackle methane emissions, UN says
Since a UN initiative began monitoring for methane leaks from oil and gas infrastructure last year, it has issued 1200 alerts to governments and companies.
But only 12 of those alerts for major plumes – just one per cent – garnered a “substantive response” with action taken to plug the leaks, according to a report by the UN International Methane Emissions Observatory on Friday.
“We had expected (the response rate) to be substantially higher,” the program’s lead architect, Roland Kupers, told a presentation at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.
Many who were notified of the large methane plumes detected by satellites within their borders had signed up to a global pledge launched three years ago to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030.
“Governments and oil and gas companies … must stop paying lip service to this challenge,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, under which the Methane Alert and Response System monitoring program is run.
“They should recognise a significant opportunity that this system presents and start responding by plugging leaks that are spewing out climate-warming methane.”
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year *******. To date, methane emissions have driven about 0.5 C in global warming, or a third of global temperature rise seen since the mid-19th century.
Capping leaks from oil and gas wells and equipment is one of the fastest ways to start tackling the problem, experts say. It also makes financial sense, they say, noting that lost methane means lost product.
Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry have remained at a record high since 2019, despite 150 countries signing onto the Global Methane Pledge.
Roughly 140 companies have signed onto another effort, the UN’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, committing to tackle unintentional methane outputs.
From the UN program’s data, Turkmenistan had the most ***** incidents of any country, with nearly 400 plumes detected.
The ******* States came in second, with 178 incidents, while this year’s COP29 host Azerbaijan received alerts for 32 plumes.
The report’s findings were limited by the fact that methane can sometimes be obscured from satellite detection by cloud cover.
The few responses made to ***** alerts were in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and the ******* States, the UNEP report said.
With a number of satellite programs launched over the last year to track methane, some companies have said they would use the data to comply with any new national methane regulations.
Developing countries can also use ***** data to solicit financing to address the problem, and philanthropies last year announced nearly half a billion to support that effort.
Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, which joined other national oil and gas companies in last year’s voluntary Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter committing to zero out methane this decade, said it also has so far identified 400 leaks through satellite monitoring.
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Splinter Cell Movie Sneaks Back To The Shadows After Being Canceled
Splinter Cell Movie Sneaks Back To The Shadows After Being Canceled
After years of development *****, Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell movie has been canceled. Originally announced back in 2012, the film would have starred Venom actor Tom Hardy as Sam Fisher, a ******-ops agent who carries out missions with lethal (or non-lethal )efficiency for a secret sub-division of the NSA known as Third Echelon.
“That movie would have been awesome,” producer Basil Iwanyk said to The Direct. “Just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise. But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be ********* and awesome. That’s one of the ones that got away, which is really sad.”
Details on the film were hard to come by during its development years, but in 2017, Iwanyk mentioned how it was going to be a “badass” action movie that attempted to put a fresh spin on the genre. While the Splinter Cell movie is *****, an animated adaptation from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad called Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is on the way. Liev Schrieber voices Fisher in this Netflix series, but it doesn’t have a confirmed release date locked in yet.
On the video game side, a remake of the first Splinter Cell game is also in production, but Ubisoft has been keeping very quiet on its progress lately. The last solid piece of information came in 2022, when Ubisoft celebrated the 20th anniversary of Splinter Cell by revealing some of the new tech being used to develop the remake.
Meanwhile, filming on Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs recently wrapped up, and the movie is now in post-production. Hunger Games actor Tom Blyth plays one of the lead roles opposite Talk to Me’s Sophia Wilde.
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Piper Sandler sees 50% upside for this renewable energy play
Piper Sandler sees 50% upside for this renewable energy play
Bloom Energy may be due for massive gains on the heels of its recent supply agreement with ********* Electric Power , according to Piper Sandler. Analyst Kashy Harrison upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and raised his price target by $10 to $20. That reflects 50.6% upside from Thursday’s close. While the stock has seen sizable gains recently, rising about 27% in the past one month, it’s still fallen more than 10% this year. BE YTD mountain BE, year-to-date On Thursday, Bloom Energy announced that it reached an agreement with AEP to power artificial intelligence data centers and supply up to 1 gigawatt of its products. The company also said that AEP has ordered 100 megawatts of fuel cells, with more orders expected next year. Harrison believes the scale of the agreement – he estimates that the equipment alone could be worth $3 billion – could mean more growth opportunities for the company in the future, despite softened sentiment around the name among investors. “Despite BE’s insistence that it was working on 100 MW deals and extremely bullish commentary from the [Chief Commercial Officer Aman Joshi] in a Taiwanese interview, the market has been generally skeptical on BE’s ability to deliver power to large data centers given prior grand unfulfilled promises,” he wrote in a Thursday note. “The 100 MW order from AEP is inline with prior commentary; however, upside potential to 1-GW is literally 10x what we were expecting,” the analyst continued. “Given the endorsement of BE’s technology from a large utility, agreements with other large players could materialize.” With the AEP order and potential momentum from other domestic customers as catalysts for growth, Harrison expects revenue to reach $1.8 billion in 2025. The majority of the Street is bullish on the name, with 14 of the 26 analysts covering it having a strong buy or buy rating. Even though 11 of the 26 have taken a neutral stance, the average target price for the stock still implies big gains from here, reflecting more than 23% upside, as of Thursday’s close.
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Apple’s 10th-gen iPad is $50 off for ****** Friday
Apple’s 10th-gen iPad is $50 off for ****** Friday
Update 8:30am ET: The 10th-gen iPad has gone back up to $319, but we expect it to drop again during the ****** Friday time *******. Elsewhere in the Apple ****** Friday deals landscape, the 11-inch iPad Air M2 is $50 off and down to $549
Apple’s ****** Friday deals have started popping up, and this is your chance to grab a new iPad at a discount if you’ve been thinking of getting one. The 10th-gen iPad is currently on ***** for $299 at Amazon, $50 less than what it usually costs. Apple released the tablet back in 2022, but it’s still our best budget iPad option for 2024. Although the 10th-gen iPad went for a record low of $298 back in October, $299 is most likely the lowest it will go for ****** Friday this year. Costco’s flyer for the holiday lists the tablet for $299, and other retailers typically follow its pricing.
Apple
The 10th-gen iPad is only slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad Air. It looks similar to the iPad Air, too — the tablet no longer has the Home button that its predecessor did, and it has a ******* screen with smaller bezels. The device is powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, which was first seen on the iPhone 12 and is powerful enough that we could edit RAW photos in Lightroom when we tested the tablet. When we ran a test for battery life, we discovered that the model could play movies continuously for 11 hours and 45 minutes on a single charge.
Unlike previous models with Lightning ports, this one comes with a USB-C port for charging. Apple moved its front-facing camera to its landscape edge, as well. The company gave it a larger display, measuring 10.9 inches, so it doesn’t feel as cramped as previous models even with a lot of apps. While the iPad Air does have a better display overall with its lamination and anti-reflective coating, the 10th-gen iPad’s isn’t bad at all seeing as it costs significantly less, especially with this discount.
Check out all of the latest ****** Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.
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Sam Houser’s Blueprint for GTA Might Backfire for GTA 6 After Donald Trump’s Win
Sam Houser’s Blueprint for GTA Might Backfire for GTA 6 After Donald Trump’s Win
Rockstar Games finds itself in uncharted territory as GTA 6‘s Fall 2025 release looms on the horizon. With Donald Trump’s unexpected return to the Oval Office, the franchise’s signature blend of satire and social commentary faces its toughest challenge yet.
As the lines between parody and reality blur, Sam Houser’s long-standing vision for the iconic series now teeters on a ******’s edge.
A potential threat to the very foundation upon which the series was built. | Image Credit: Rockstar Games
The gaming community holds its collective breath, wondering if GTA‘s legendary irreverence can survive in a world that often feels beyond satire. With billions of dollars and the legacy of gaming’s most iconic franchise at stake, Rockstar’s next move could redefine the industry—or signal the end of an era.
GTA 6 and the Trump Effect
The irony isn’t lost on anyone familiar with Dan Houser’s 2018 GQ interview. At the time, he expressed relief that GTA 6 wouldn’t be launching during a Trump presidency, citing concerns about the increasingly polarized political climate:
It’s really unclear what we would even do with it, let alone how upset people would get with whatever we did. Both intense ******** progression and intense conservatism are both very militant, and very ******. It is scary but it’s also strange, and yet both of them seem occasionally to veer towards the absurd.
But fate, it seems, had other plans. With GTA 6 set to launch in fall 2025, right in the midst of Trump’s second term, the studio finds itself in precisely the situation they hoped to avoid. It’s a far cry from the simpler times when the studio’s philosophy was straightforward.
As Sam Houser, co-founder and current president of Rockstar Games, put it in a 2001 interview with IGN:
Well, Grand Theft Auto was the original ****** game when it first appeared in late 1997, and we’ve always been concerned with putting people at the center of their own ********* universe.
The question now becomes: How does one satirize a world that seems to have embraced the very excesses that Grand Theft Auto has long lampooned? It’s a delicate balance, one that requires finesse, wit, and perhaps a dash of audacity that even Rockstar might find challenging to muster.
The Hype Train and the Political Minefield
When creative freedom meets politics. | Image Credit: Rockstar Games
There’s no denying that GTA 6 is the most anticipated title of the decade. The fervor surrounding its release is unprecedented, with fans dissecting every leaked screenshot and rumor with the intensity of *********** theorists. But with great anticipation comes great responsibility, and Rockstar finds itself in the unenviable position of having to meet sky-high expectations while navigating a political minefield.
Sam Houser’s words ring eerily prescient in this context:
Part of the game’s appeal has always been freedom—back then, this freedom came at a price—top down graphics, which weren’t to everyone’s taste. But, as far as we are concerned, you can’t be tough and be told what to do.
The irony is palpable. In a world where political correctness and cancel culture clash with the rise of populist movements, the very idea of “freedom” has become a contentious topic. How does GTA 6 maintain its edge without alienating half of its potential audience? Can it skewer both sides of the political spectrum with equal vigor, or will it be forced to pull its punches?
With a reported budget that could rival Hollywood blockbusters and a development cycle spanning nearly a decade, the stakes for Rockstar’s upcoming opus are astronomical. The game isn’t just expected to be a commercial success; it needs to be a cultural touchstone, a reflection of our times that manages to entertain, provoke, and perhaps even enlighten.
What do you think? Can GTA 6 maintain its satirical edge in the age of Trump, or will it be forced to tone down its commentary? Let us know in the comments below!
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A personal investigation into the crisis of men's mental health
A personal investigation into the crisis of men's mental health
The issue of men’s dangerously bottled-up emotions finds a fresh and personal voice in Silent Men, a documentary that is at its most powerful when director Duncan Cowles turns the camera on others
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Up your sound game with this amazing early ****** Friday deal on Audioengine’s A1-MR 60W desktop speakers — $99 for a limited time
Up your sound game with this amazing early ****** Friday deal on Audioengine’s A1-MR 60W desktop speakers — $99 for a limited time
****** Friday is still a few weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped the early deals from piling up ahead of time. Today, we spotted an amazing discount of over 50% on Audioengine’s A1-MR desktop speakers. We’re fans of Audioengine and rate their A2+ 2.0 speakers as the best premium speakers to buy on our best PC speakers list.
Today’s deal can be found at Amazon, where the Audioengine A1-MR desktop speakers are just $99 – reduced by 57% from their original $229 MSRP. This price discount matches the lowest-ever price recorded on the Camelizer price-watch extension. Compact and powerful for their size, the Audioengine A1-MR speakers can be used for your desktop PC or laptop, or as bookshelf speakers around your home. Easily connect to WiFi and stream lossless audio music between rooms from the accompanying mobile app.
The Audioengine A1-MR speakers are gray and have prominent open drivers on display as part of the aesthetic. The main speaker is a 2.75-inch, aramid fiber woofer with a 0.75-inch silk dome tweeter positioned above. The frequency range of the A1-MR is 65Hz to 22kHz. You can easily add a subwoofer to the mix for extra bass, just connect up to the included subwoofer port, or add an Audioengine W3 wireless transmitter and make your subwoofer wireless.
Contained in the box for these speakers is a pair of A1-MR PC speakers, a 6.5 ft speaker wire, power supply & cord, 5 ft USB cable, 5 ft mini-jack audio cable, microfiber speaker and cable bags, and a setup guide to get you up and running.
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Microsoft Shareholders to Vote on Bitcoin: Will Crypto Join the Balance Sheet?
Microsoft Shareholders to Vote on Bitcoin: Will Crypto Join the Balance Sheet?
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:) shareholders will soon vote on whether to add to the company’s balance sheet, a decision likely to impact the price of Bitcoin.
The tech giant will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting virtually on December 10, starting at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time. In addition to electing directors, reviewing the current corporate strategy, and discussing financial goals, shareholders face a noteworthy decision: whether Bitcoin should be included in Microsoft’s corporate balance sheet. The proposal, introduced by the think tank National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), encourages Microsoft to diversify its investment strategy with Bitcoin.
Board Recommends Rejection
Microsoft’s board advises shareholders to vote against the proposal, arguing that the company already closely monitors cryptocurrency through its in-house teams. The board suggests focusing on less volatile assets to minimize potential economic losses and counteract inflation effects.
Potential External Influence?
Some question whether external influence may come into play, as BlackRock (NYSE:), the world’s largest asset manager and Microsoft’s second-largest shareholder with a 7.1% stake, may have a vested interest in advancing Bitcoin adoption. BlackRock holds over $20 billion in Bitcoin through its own Bitcoin ETF. Similarly, Fidelity—a major Microsoft shareholder with multiple crypto-based investment funds—could share this interest.
Market Impact Anticipated
If shareholders vote in favor of adding Bitcoin to Microsoft’s balance sheet, it could have a significant ripple effect on other tech companies—and, naturally, Bitcoin’s price. With a market capitalization of approximately $3.2 trillion, Microsoft stands as one of the world’s most valuable companies. Approval would position the software giant as a major Bitcoin investor, possibly sparking a wave of adoption across the tech sector. This decision could reshape the perception of the cryptocurrency sector, giving it a new standing in the broader investment landscape.
Note: Our analysis of Microsoft’s stock price is available in both our Tech33 and US Titans share packages. We also offer in-depth analyses of Bitcoin and , which include opportunities for both long and short positions.
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François Hollande calls for a ******* Europe after Trump election win
François Hollande calls for a ******* Europe after Trump election win
French President Francois Hollande delivers a speech as he attends the inauguration of the new ‘Sud Europe Atlantique’ (South Europe Atlantic) high-speed rail line, linking Tours and Bordeaux, on February 28, 2017, in Villognon, central France.
Yohan Bonnet | AFP | Getty Images
Former French President François Hollande underlined the importance of Europe sticking together in the face of U.S. protectionism on issues like security and trade.
President-elect Donald Trump’s election win last week has fueled fears of an impending economic nightmare for the ********* Union after he threatened to impose an additional 10% in tariffs on these nations.
This would come at a time when traditional economic powerhouse Germany is dealing with an economic malaise and a political vacuum after its coalition government collapsed. There are also concerns over the Ukraine war and whether the U.S. could pull funding for the war-torn nation — leaving ********* allies to foot the bill.
Hollande told CNBC’s Charlotte Reed Wednesday that Europe must be worried.
“Europe is today a continent that is not *******. So what will be absolutely essential is the reaction to what Trump wants to do, particularly the U.S. disengaging from the ********* continent,” he said.
“This is what France, Germany, Poland and the ******* Kingdom, the four main countries that invest in defense, will do. If these four countries react together, both in relation to the security issue, the Ukraine issue and even the trade issue, then Europe will be respected. Otherwise it will be pushed aside,” he added.
Despite Germany and France seeing significant political volatility this year, Hollande said there could still be a “broad political consensus” in these major ********* nations, no matter who is in charge, that could “firmly resist what Donald Trump may undertake.”
Ukraine peace?
Hollande, the former socialist leader of France, led the nation between 2012 to 2017 and briefly crossed over with Trump’s first term. He recalled that Trump was often a man of his word.
Trump has previously boasted he could “end the war” in Ukraine in 24 hours if elected, signaling that he would pull the plug on funding in order to force the country into a negotiated settlement with Russia. Analysts say Ukraine could then be pushed into a “bad peace” with its powerful neighbor, and potentially forced to relinquish almost 20% of its territory in the south and east that’s currently occupied by Russian forces.
Hollande predicted that Trump will try to propose a peace with Russian President Vladimir ****** that will exclude Ukraine from the negotiations, which could potentially allow Russia to take territories it already occupies.
“Are we going to let it happen? We must not let it happen,” Hollande said. “Because it would set an extremely serious precedent where force had prevailed over law.”
—CNBC’s Silvia Amaro and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this article.
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At least 15 rescue workers ******* in ******** strike
At least 15 rescue workers ******* in ******** strike
AFP via Getty Images
Lebanon’s health ministry says nearly 200 emergency and health workers have been ******* since September.
An ******** air strike on an emergency response centre in north-eastern Lebanon on Thursday ******* at least 15 rescue workers, officials say, in one of the deadliest attacks of its kind involving Lebanese emergency responders in the war.
The strike in Douris, near the city of Baalbek, destroyed a building of the civil defence agency, which is linked to the Lebanese government and not affiliated with the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. The regional governor, Bachir Khodr, said the victims included the city’s civil defence chief, Bilal Raad.
The ******** military has not commented on the *******, which was described by the Lebanese health ministry as “barbaric”.
The Lebanese civil defence carries out emergency services including search and rescue work and *****-fighting response.
In the southern Nabatieh region, another ******** air strike on Thursday destroyed the civil defence centre in the town of ***** Salim, ******** six people, including five paramedics, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 192 emergency and health workers have been ******* in ******** air strikes across the country since the escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah in September.
The attacks come as ******* has intensified its air campaign across Lebanon in recent days, including on Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah is based in the capital. The area was hit by air strikes for the fourth consecutive day on Friday following evacuation orders issued by the ******* Defense Forces (IDF), which says it is targeting infrastructure linked to the group.
This comes amid renewed international efforts for a ceasefire, with ********* officials delivering the first official proposal of a deal to Lebanese authorities.
Reuters
People gathered at the emergency response centre near Baalbek, following an ******** air strike
The Lebanese government says any agreement should be based on the ******* Nations Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and *******. The resolution includes the removal of the group’s fighters and weapons in areas between the Blue Line – the unofficial frontier between Lebanon and ******* – and the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the boundary with *******.
A potential deal would likely include the deployment of additional troops of the Lebanese army to the area and a mechanism to monitor its implementation, although details remained unclear.
*******, however, wants the right to act inside Lebanon if there is any violation of a deal. There are no signs that Hezbollah, or the Lebanese government, are willing to accept such a demand.
Hezbollah has been severely weakened after two months of intense air strikes that destroyed large parts of its infrastructure and ******* many of its leaders. But after the initial shock, the group seems to have regrouped, according to analysts, and continues to carry out daily attacks on northern *******, although not with the same intensity.
Speaking in Beirut during a visit of Ali Larijani, senior advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the Lebanese government’s priority was to reach a ceasefire and implement Resolution 1701 in “its entirety, without any amendments or interpretations that differ from the content of the resolution and its provisions”. He added that negotiations to try to reach “an understanding” were continuing.
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Apple’s 10th-gen iPad is $50 off for ****** Friday
Apple’s 10th-gen iPad is $50 off for ****** Friday
Apple’s ****** Friday deals have started popping up, and this is your chance to grab a new iPad at a discount if you’ve been thinking of getting one. The 10th-gen iPad is currently on ***** for $299 at Amazon, $50 less than what it usually costs. Apple released the tablet back in 2022, but it’s still our best budget iPad option for 2024. Although the 10th-gen iPad went for a record low of $298 back in October, $299 is most likely the lowest it will go for ****** Friday this year. Costco’s flyer for the holiday lists the tablet for $299, and other retailers typically follow its pricing.
Apple
The 10th-gen iPad is only slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad Air. It looks similar to the iPad Air, too — the tablet no longer has the Home button that its predecessor did, and it has a ******* screen with smaller bezels. The device is powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, which was first seen on the iPhone 12 and is powerful enough that we could edit RAW photos in Lightroom when we tested the tablet. When we ran a test for battery life, we discovered that the model could play movies continuously for 11 hours and 45 minutes on a single charge.
Unlike previous models with Lightning ports, this one comes with a USB-C port for charging. Apple moved its front-facing camera to its landscape edge, as well. The company gave it a larger display, measuring 10.9 inches, so it doesn’t feel as cramped as previous models even with a lot of apps. While the iPad Air does have a better display overall with its lamination and anti-reflective coating, the 10th-gen iPad’s isn’t bad at all seeing as it costs significantly less, especially with this discount.
Check out all of the latest ****** Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.
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There’s a new twist on the famous invisible gorilla psychology study
There’s a new twist on the famous invisible gorilla psychology study
A person in a gorilla suit can be easy to miss if you are focusing on something else
Skully/Alamy
When we are focusing on one task, we often fail to notice something obvious in our field of view. This phenomenon, known as inattentional blindness, was famously demonstrated in a study involving a person in a gorilla suit, which participants ******* to spot. But now it seems the gorilla isn’t so invisible, and we do actually take in information even when we might miss the wider picture.
In a classic experiment from 1999, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, then at…
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HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 review: Convertible Copilot+
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 review: Convertible Copilot+
The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is our first look at how Intel’s Lunar Lake platform performs in HP’s recently formed Omni realm (after it shook off most of its existing PC brands earlier this year). In recent months, we’ve tested the Arm-powered OmniBook X and AMD-equipped OmniBook Ultra from the company’s revamped lineup, both of which were slim and solid laptops.
This time around, we’re looking at a convertible that, while pleasing, doesn’t look or feel all that new. That, plus the ample amount of pre-installed software (most of which wants to track and / or push ads at you), the removal of the still-useful USB-A port, and Microsoft’s continuing delay of Recall (the promised flagship feature of Copilot+) makes the OmniBook Ultra Flip less appealing than its Spectre predecessor.
Design of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As its name implies, the OmniBook Ultra Flip is a convertible, with a fold-over hinge. Its solid-feeling metal shell and pleasing keyboard (complete with a retooled Function row and light-blue power button) give it design cohesion with its other OmniBook counterparts. But its angled rear edges, complete with USB-C ports, echo previous designs.
The OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is clearly a somewhat revamped and rebranded HP Spectre x360 14 with a different exterior finish. And that’s not a bad thing given we mostly liked the Spectre design. But the Flip’s 12.35 x 8.51 x 0.59-inch dimensions and 2.97-pound weight are strikingly similar to the 2024 Spectre x360 (12.35 x 8.68 x 0.67 inches and 3.19 pounds). The Ultra Flip is a little thinner and a little lighter, but to get there, HP has thrown out the handy USB-A port as part of the move to the Omni brand.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You do still get a decent number of ports by 2024 standards, though. On the left edge lives a 10Gbps USB-C port (on the rear corner), alongside an audio jack.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The right side houses two Thunderbolt 4 ports, again with one on the rear corner and one nearby on the side of the laptop. I do like that HP has included USB Type-C on both sides of the laptop, but only the Thunderbolt ports can be used for charging, so you’ll have to plug your charger in on the right side.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The angled nature of the rear ports on either side means, unfortunately, you can’t plug anything bulky into them, like one of the best flash drives, at least when using the device as a laptop, because the lid gets in the way.
Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition laptop manages to be slightly slimmer (0.55 inches) while adding both a USB-A and HDMI port. It’s also heavier than the OmniBook Ultra Flip, at 3.37 pounds, but packs in a larger 15.3-inch screen.
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
CPU
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
Row 0 – Cell 2
Graphics
Intel Arc 140V
Row 1 – Cell 2
Memory
32 GB LPDDR5x-8533 MT/s
Row 2 – Cell 2
Storage
2TB PCIe Gen4
Row 3 – Cell 2
Display
2800×1600 OLED
Row 4 – Cell 2
Networking
Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE201 (2×2), Bluetooth 5.4 wireless card
Row 5 – Cell 2
Ports
Camera 9MP IR camera
Row 6 – Cell 2
Battery
64 WHr
Row 7 – Cell 2
Power Adapter
65 W USB-C power adapter
Row 8 – Cell 2
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Row 9 – Cell 2
Dimensions (WxDxH)
12.35 x 8.51 x 0.59 inches
Row 10 – Cell 2
Weight
2.97 pounds
Row 11 – Cell 2
Price (as configured)
$1,899.99 ($1,499 ***** price)
Row 12 – Cell 2
Productivity Performance of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
We tested the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip against several recent systems, including recent Dell XPS 13 models with both Intel Core Ultra 7 258V and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUs, the 15-inch M3 Macbook Air, and Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i, a more affordable ($1,299 as tested) non-convertible laptop with a Core Ultra 7 256V CPU – effectively the same CPU as the 258V in the Ultra Flip, but with 16GB of integrated RAM rather than the 32GB of the 258V. We also included our results from the previous-generation HP Spectre x360 14, which is where the Ultra Flip gets most of its design DNA.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In Geekbench 6, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 beat the last-gen Spectre x360 and Lenovo’s Yoga in the single-core test and the Yoga in multi-core. But both the Qualcomm-powered XPS 13 and the M3-powered Macbook Air did better in both single- and multi-core results here.
Things looked better for the OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 on our file copy test, where it transferred our 25GB of test files at just over 1,700 MBps. That was faster than every other competing machine – save for the previous-gen HP, which was about 100 MBps faster.
With Handbrake, we have computers transcode a 4K video to 1080p. And we use the Arm-specific versions of Handbrake for the Arm-based laptops and the traditional x86 version of the program for Intel and AMD laptops. Here the OmniBook Ultra Flip’s showing of 6:37 outpaced the Intel-powered XPS 13 (8:35) and the Spectre x360 (7:09). But the other competitors were faster, with the Snapdragon-based XPS 13 easily outpacing everything else, finishing in just 4 minutes and 47 seconds.
To measure long-term performance, we run 10 loops of the Cinebench 2024 CPU test and observe how the scores change, with less change suggesting more stable thermal performance.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Ultra Flip started at a high of 528.2 before dipping about 100 points for one run, then recovering and hovering between 460 and 470 for the rest of the test. The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V’s performance cores ran at an average of 3.1 GHz, while the efficiency cores ran slightly higher at 3.3 GHz. During the stress test, the CPU averaged 76.3 degrees C.
Display on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
As a premium convertible, the 2800 x 1600 OLED screen is clearly a focus for the OmniBook Ultra Flip, and anecdotally it doesn’t disappoint. I watched the trailer for the second season of “Silo,” and the blue of Rebecca Ferguson’s eyes was striking against the deep OLED ****** of the background near the beginning, and the flame-like orange of the title screen at the end really popped. Watching on this screen made me more excited for the show’s return next month.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In testing, the Ultra Flip did better than most competitors in terms of ****** reproduction, delivering 84.3% of the DCI-P3 ****** gamut, and was close enough in all measurements to the Spectre x360 that the two likely share the same panel. That said, the Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition’s ******* screen was brighter and also more vivid in our tests. At 359.6 nits, the Ultra Flip was actually the dimmest of our premium competitors, with the MacBook Air being the second-brightest at 482.4 nits. But all of the displays here put out a good amount of light for most use cases. You might like the Yoga or MacBook a bit more if you frequently use your computer in direct sunlight, but the high contrast of OLED helps on that front as well.
Keyboard and touchpad on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
The keyboard on the Ultra Flip seems predominantly the same as the 2024 Spectre x360, and largely that’s a good thing. The half-height Function row is now a lighter gray than the rest of the keys, and the buttons get reshuffled a bit. A dedicated calculator button replaces the camera privacy button (which is now a physical switch up above the camera), and the power button in the upper right now sets itself apart in a pleasing light blue hue.The large, clean key labels remain, as does the pleasing tactility of the key feedback. The half-size up / down arrow keys also carry over, but they didn’t take much time for me to get used to. I don’t think I’d have major complaints using this keyboard as my daily productivity driver.
The large 6.25-inch diagonal touchpad also carries over from the Spectre, and I found it to work well for basic navigation and multi-touch gestures. That said, much like our reviewer for the previous Spectre x360, I found the default haptic intensity a little stronger than necessary, so I turned it down to 25%.
Audio on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
The speakers on the Ultra Flip sound solid, with a nice amount of volume and more lower-mids than I would expect from a PC this slim. I listened to Urban Heat’s album, “The Tower,” and the laptop’s speakers nicely showcased Jonathan Horstmann’s baritone crooning. As is usually the case with slim PCs, there isn’t a massive amount of true low-end here, but the speakers deliver a warm sound with quite a bit of volume and no audible distortion.
The MyHP app does have presets for movies, music, and voice, as well as an equalizer, but I was pretty happy with the sound profile of the speakers at their default setting.
Upgradeability of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
Getting inside the Ultra Flip is fairly easy, so long as you have a screwdriver with a tiny Torx or star bit. The bottom is held on by just four screws, two short ones up front and a pair of longer ones in the back. With those out, you’ll need some kind of prying device to begin loosening the clips. After I worked my way around a few sides, the bottom popped off easily.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Inside though, the only major component you’ll be able to upgrade is the SSD, which is housed under a metal cover that’s screwed down on both sides and doubles as a heat dissipator. The battery looks like it would be fairly easy to replace if you need to do that. But the wireless card is soldered down and the RAM is, of course, now integrated into the Intel CPU.
Battery Life on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
At 12 hours and 2 minutes, the OmniBook Ultra Flip lasted an hour and change longer than the previous-gen Spectre x360 on our battery test, which consists of web browsing, video streaming, and OpenGL graphics tests at 150 nits of screen brightness.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The UItra Flip outlasted the Spectre x360 from earlier this year, but everything else here lasted longer. The MacBook Air (15:05) was helped by its larger chassis and Arm CPU, while the two XPS 13s (17:29 Intel and 19:31 Qualcomm) were both aided by smaller displays and lower resolutions. The high pixel count and OLED tech of the Ultra Flip don’t do its longevity any favors, but 12 hours and 2 minutes of run time is still a decent showing.
Heat on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
We measure a laptop’s surface temperature while running 20 loops of Cinebench 2024, which stresses the system for a couple of hours. During our testing, the Ultra Flip’s keyboard topped out at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, although that was between the 7 and 8 keys, while the letter keys where your fingers are going to be spending most of their time remained a cooler 93 degrees F or below. This is lower than plenty of other slip portables.
The touchpad topped out at 78.5 F in the upper-right corner. And the underside of the laptop didn’t get that much warmer than the top, peaking at 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle rear, near the hottest spot on the keyboard. I wouldn’t exactly say Flip Ultra runs cool, but it doesn’t get particularly hot. And while the fans were audible in my quiet home office while running Cinebench, they were more like a persistent whisper than anything approaching noisy or whiny.
Webcam on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The 9MP webcam and IR camera are also likely carryovers from the Spectre x360, and are quite good – especially if you’re coming from the 1080p or even 720p webcams that have been typical on most laptops for years. Colors were accurate and there was a fair amount of detail visible in my sun-lit home office. And perhaps most impressively, the webcam dealt with the light from my two windows about as well as my dedicated Anker webcam. You can still get better detail and contrast from one of the best webcams, but the camera here is more than good enough for meetings, family chats, and the occasional photo.
Software and Warranty on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
HP includes a fair amount of its own software as well as some third-party programs on the Ultra Flip. There’s Poly Camera Pro, which lets you adjust things like brightness and saturation on the webcam, as well as adding various filters and watermarks, as well as adjusting framing.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
HP Smart is an app that oddly focuses heavily on printing from its front page – which isn’t so odd once you remember that printers are still a big part of HP Inc.’s business.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The HP Omen gaming app is also here, which feels strange for a decidedly non-gaming PC, though Intel’s integrated graphics have decidedly improved, and as the app handily suggests, you can always use Nvidia’s GeForce Now to offload your game rendering to the cloud. In case this didn’t already feel enough like an ad, when you launch the app for the first time, it asks permission to push ads to you.
McAfee LiveSafe security and VPN software is also installed. And I thought perhaps HP had at least included a very generous trial. Because when I launched the program it said “Trial ends in 1,342 days — Buy now.” But, looking at HP’s product page, this is supposed to be just a 30-day trial. So there seems to be some kind of error with the installation on our review unit.
Then of course there’s Copilot+, a feature package that’s supposed to lean on the Intel NPU for locally computed AI tasks. The feature was first supposed to roll out with laptops based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors earlier this year. But the flagship Recall feature, which takes and serves up screenshots of nearly everything you do on your PC, was first… recalled in June over security and privacy issues. Then Microsoft said the feature wasn’t going to be optional when it eventually did roll out, but soon backpedaled. Then, amazingly as I was wrapping up this review, the company delayed the feature yet again – with a new promise that it will be available for preview in December to those running Windows Insider builds.
In all, HP includes a plethora of extra software here for a premium PC. And one of its key promised features – whether you want it or not – keeps getting pushed back. I generally wouldn’t buy any laptop for its included software, but Microsoft (and by extension HP and other Copilot+ PC makers) keeps trying to convince consumers (and the tech press) that localized AI software is the next big thing – while failing again and again to deliver its flagship feature in Windows 11 nearly six months after it was first announced.
I’m still fairly convinced that the best premium software feature for a PC is no extra software at all, save for your OS of choice. For better or worse, what HP delivers with the OmniBook Ultra Flip feels like the opposite of that, with the added bonus of some software features I probably don’t want coming at some point in the near future.
HP sells the Ultra Flip with a one-year warranty.
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 Configurations
Our review configuration of the Ultra Flip, with an Intel Core Ultra 258V (which includes 32GB of RAM), a 2TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen has an MSRP of $1,899. But when we wrote this it was currently on ***** for a more reasonable $1,499. HP also says this configuration will be available in mid-January at Best Buy for $1,899, though I’d hope the fact that HP is already selling it at a steep discount indicates the Best Buy price will be significantly lower as well.
All configurations of the Ultra Flip sport the same OLED display. But if you can live with two fewer CPU cores, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the Ultra Flip starts as low as $1,049.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In terms of hardware, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is mostly very good, with a great screen and keyboard for a light convertible, and more ports than most (even if there’s no USB-A and the angled ports on the corners aren’t always convenient). The upgrade to Arrow Lake is also mostly a positive one, delivering an hour extra of battery life in our testing and better single-core (though generally worse multi-core) performance. The high-resolution webcam is also arguably better than almost anyone needs for keeping up with colleagues and family while at home or on the go.
The primary letdown comes from the device’s software – both preinstalled and promised but delayed. HP includes several of its own apps, some of which are pleasingly functional (the Poly camera app in particular is nice), but many of which ask you for permission to track your use, push ads, or both. Then there’s McAfee and Adobe trials, Google Play Games Beta, and Dropbox. It all just feels like a lot for a device with a $1,899 MSRP as configured (though it was $400 off when I wrote this at HP).
There’s also the whole Copilot+ aspect, which Microsoft and its partners keep pushing with new premium devices, despite a repeated inability to actually ship the primary feature: Recall. As of this writing, Microsoft says Recall will be available in December – but only to those running its Insider Windows build. That’s not HP’s fault, though, and I don’t want to single one company out for the failings of its software partner, which of course affects every other Copilot+ PC, at least for now.
But without Recall or some other game-changing feature, the Ultra Flip feels like a slightly retooled Spectre x360 with a lot of unneeded and nagging software, somewhat better battery life, and performance that’s better in some ways but worse in others.
If you can find a last-gen Spectre x360 at a reduced price, you might want to consider that. If you like the idea of Copilot+, current-gen CPUs, and you want a convertible, the Ultra Flip seems to be the only option right now.
MORE: How to Buy a Gaming Laptop
MORE: Best Gaming PCs
MORE: Best Ultrabooks and Premium Laptops
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Ex-Bridgend councillor Darren Brown jailed for wife ******* attempt
Ex-Bridgend councillor Darren Brown jailed for wife ******* attempt
A former councillor has been jailed for 18 years for attempting to ***** his wife.
Darren Brown, 35, was convicted of attempted ******* by a jury after stabbing his wife Corrine at their home in Wildmill, Bridgend, on 10 July last year.
The court previously heard that he laughed as he tried to stab his wife to ******.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it hoped his wife could “take comfort” that “her husband has been brought to justice”.
Brown, a former member of Bridgend Town Council, was separated from his wife but remained living in the same property.
On 10 July 2023 the two were arguing when Brown retrieved a ****** from the kitchen and stabbed his wife twice in the back as she was trying to settle the baby.
She managed to get into the bathroom and lock the door but he kicked the door so hard it came off its hinges.
She was then stabbed a third time to the back before Brown left the property and drove off.
Initially, her husband said she had the ****** and he tried to take it off her, during which she was injured.
He later pleaded guilty at court to wounding with intent but denied attempted *******.
However, he was convicted of the offence following a trial, after the jury had heard all the evidence.
Hannah West of the CPS said: “Any one of the wounds could have been fatal and the evidence we presented to the jury demonstrated Brown’s intention was to ***** his wife.”
She added that she hoped his could “take comfort from knowing her husband has been brought to justice for this appalling *******.”
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DIG VR – Quest 3 Review | Thumb Culture
DIG VR – Quest 3 Review | Thumb Culture
“The Watford-based (the ***) indie games publisher Wired Productions snd Leeds-based (West Yorkshire., the ***) indie games developer Just Add Water , are tody very thrilled and glad to announce that their VR light-simulation game “DIG VR” , is coming to Meta Quest this year (2024).” – Jonas Ek, TGG´.
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How we misunderstood what the Lucy fossil reveals about ancient humans
How we misunderstood what the Lucy fossil reveals about ancient humans
A reconstruction of the famous hominin Lucy
Frank Nowikowski/Alamy
This is an extract from Our Human Story, our newsletter about the revolution in archaeology. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every month.
One hundred years ago, on 28 November 1924, anthropologist Raymond Dart opened a crate. It held a consignment of fossils from Taung, a quarry in South *******, including a small skull that looked part-ape, part-human. Dart named it “Australopithecus africanus: The Man-Ape of South *******”. It was the first Australopithecus specimen to be identified, and the first evidence that early humans evolved in…
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iQOO Neo 10 Series Pre-Reservations Begin; Design Teased
iQOO Neo 10 Series Pre-Reservations Begin; Design Teased
iQOO Neo 10 series is all set to hit the ******** market. The Vivo sub-brand has not disclosed the launch date yet, but it has opened pre-orders for the iQOO Neo 10 series via its official online store in China. The listing and new Weibo teaser confirm the design of the phones. The iQOO Neo 10 Pro model is confirmed to be available in an orange-grey dual-tone finish. The standard iQOO Neo 10 is speculated to run on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, while a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset could power the Pro variant.
iQOO Neo 10 Pro Design Revealed
iQOO has started accepting pre-reservations for the iQOO Neo 10 series through Vivo’s official website, JD.com, Tmall and other e-commerce websites in China. Customers pre-booking the devices will get benefits worth CNY 2267 (roughly Rs. 26,000). The listing and latest Weibo teasers reveal the design of the Pro model. It appears to have a dual-tone back panel with orange and grey finish. The power button is arranged on the right side and it is likely to double up as a fingerprint scanner.
At the back, the iQOO Neo 10 Pro is seen with a rectangular dual camera module housing squarish camera sensors. The OIS text engraved in the camera module indicates that the primary sensor will support Optical Image Stabilisation. The rear panel also includes Neo branding below the camera module.
The launch date of iQOO Neo 10 series is still under wraps, but several reports have claimed that the lineup will be launched by the end of this month in China.
iQOO Neo 10 is tipped to ship with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, while the Pro version is said to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset. They are expected to offer a 1.5K resolution display, metal middle frame, and silicon batteries with 100W fast charging support. The battery capacity is likely to be more than 6,000mAh.
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Tasmania’s Milton Doyle shoots down NBL Bullets
Tasmania’s Milton Doyle shoots down NBL Bullets
A career-best eight three-pointers from “silent *********” Milton Doyle in the NBL has inspired Tasmania to a come-from-behind 95-92 win over Brisbane.
After a week in which online ****** levelled at JackJumpers’ players and their families made headlines, Doyle starred with 32 points at Hobart’s MyState Bank Arena on Friday night.
Four of his three pointers came in the final quarter, with the most crucial arriving with 38 seconds on the clock to give Tasmania a four-point buffer.
Doyle, who has been inconsistent this season, also claimed seven rebounds as the JackJumpers went back-to-back for the first time in 2024/25.
His performance came after he scored just three points in his side’s win over the high-flying New Zealand Breakers.
“The silent ********* … he was all-in at both ends of the floor, which I love,” coach Scott Roth said.
“Last week ? he was controlling the game and this game we needed him to score.”
Defending champions Tasmania (5-8) are just one win outside the top six and seemingly on an upward trajectory after a sluggish start to the season.
They welcomed back big man Will Magnay, who got through 28 minutes on return from a shoulder injury and finished with an equal team-high seven rebounds.
Sean Macdonald (ankle) also made a comeback after an eight-week lay-off and was influential off the bench with seven assists.
Roth said his team’s upswing in form began “three or four” weeks ago.
“We were starting to click in some areas and our defence started to get really good in some areas,” he said.
“I’m very big about process and not skipping steps, not panicking or overreacting … and remaining really strong with our culture.”
Brisbane came flying out of the blocks, opening up a 17-3 lead in less than three minutes – ********* at 63 per cent for the first quarter.
But turnovers and wayward ********* allowed Tasmania to claw back momentum, with the home side hitting the lead midway through the third quarter off a Magnay dunk.
The JackJumpers took a 68-60 advantage into a final quarter in which both teams traded three pointers.
********* guard Keandre Cook (23 points) kept Brisbane in the contest with several clutch shots in the final few minutes, while 23-year-old Josh Bannan was also strong (15 points and nine rebounds).
Bullets coach Justin Schueller said his team’s ********** wasn’t the best at the ******.
“It’s a frustrating one. We (also) had a couple of the boys go down with ********,” he said.
The second-last Bullets (3-6) host Perth on Sunday, while Tasmania’s next fixture is on November 30 away to Adelaide after the FIBA break.
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Pelican News
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The best gifts for book lovers in 2024
The best gifts for book lovers in 2024
I know what you’re about to say: “reMarkables aren’t e-readers!,” which I wholeheartedly agree with. They may have e-paper displays, but they’re not in any way actual e-readers, and I’m just being a big ‘ol silly goose. That said, you can actually load DRM-free ePub files onto the slate if you use the company’s homegrown transfer app.
The reMarkables all support the format, and you can even amend and highlight text on them, which will transfer to cloud-based saves. If you’re elbows-deep in a textbook and you’ve got to get some notes made quickly, it’d make plenty of sense to use one of these things. Plus, if I was on a long-haul flight, I’d opt for the extra screen real estate over my dinky Kindle some of the time.
Plus, if you’re getting it for its potential as an e-reader, you might as well then enjoy its actual purpose as a distraction-free writing slate. As I wrote in our review, the Type Folio is pretty much essential if you want to really be productive with it, but it’s worth the cost. — Daniel Cooper, Senior Reporter
Read more: The best E Ink tablets
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#gifts #book #lovers
Pelican News
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