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My Lungs Are Physically Sore From Laughing So Hard At These 50 Hilarious Tweets From January My Lungs Are Physically Sore From Laughing So Hard At These 50 Hilarious Tweets From January Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways While we can’t endorse what X has become, we can bring you the worthwhile moments that still exist there, curated and free of the surrounding chaos. Folks, 2025 is off to a rough start, but we’ve scoured the online chaos to find some funny moments from January to distract us from all the doom and gloom. So, let’s get into it: 1. @LivingWithTola / Via x.com 2. @billybrizzle420 / Via x.com 3. 4. 5. 6. @realemilyattack / Via x.com 7. Fox News / @TheDailyShow / Via x.com 8. @stupid4lauren / Via x.com Twitter: @NickStillHere 9. — Slick (@NickStillHere) January 2, 2025 That’s how many years the judge gonna give you [Hidden Content] 10. 11. 12. 13. @kirawontmiss / Via x.com 14. @bigfatmoosepssy / Via x.com 15. 16. @momjeansplease/ / Via x.com 17. 18. @miranda_nover / Via x.com 19. 20. CNN / @RyanLostinTX / Via x.com 21. 22. @MeekyBlinders / Via x.com 23. 24. 25. @DeaconBlues0 / Via x.com 26. @StansaidAirport / Via x.com 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. CSPAN / Twitter: @hjessy_ 32. — Jessy Han (@hjessy_) January 9, 2025 seeing your friend get along with your opps pic.twitter.com/Rzhasnrc0v 33. 34. @EV_Ventures_LLC / Via x.com 35. @megannn_lynne / Via x.com 36. @superloafcat / Via x.com 37. 38. 39. 40. @superstar1roro / Via x.com 41. 42. @JoJoFromJerz / Via x.com 43. 44. 45. @dylanonvinyl / Via x.com 46. @strangeharbors / Via x.com 47. 48. 49. 50. BRAVO / @CGSnow_ / Via x.com Let us know which joke made you laugh the hardest, and we’ll see you back here next month! Source link #Lungs #Physically #Sore #Laughing #Hard #Hilarious #Tweets #January Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Asus comments on Q-Release Slim damaging GPUs, issues official removal guidelines Asus comments on Q-Release Slim damaging GPUs, issues official removal guidelines Asus has issued a statement after reports claimed that the recently launched Q-Release Slim release mechanism for graphics cards could scrape off the sides of the PCIe connector. The company advises users to follow the official removal guidelines and claims that the mechanism does not damage graphics cards unless they are removed and installed frequently. However, Asus’s wording implies that it is aware that in some cases sides of the PCIe connector can be scraped. “In our internal testing and evaluation of the extremely small number of cases reported, we found no damage to the motherboard or graphics card that would affect functionality and/or performance,” a statement by Asus reads. “However, it is important to emphasize that any type of PCIe add-in card will exhibit signs of usage and wear marking after 60 continuous insertions and removals.” The Asus Q-Release Slim release mechanism for graphics cards — which is used on premium AMD and Intel 800-series motherboards — lets users eject their graphics cards by tilting the card while pulling it upward (or sideward) as the PCIe push-latch releases it automatically. While this sounds easy, in some cases tiny pieces of the PCIe connector can break off. Based on images published, this does not affect actual PCIe contacts, so this should not affect functionality or performance. However, PCB abraisions are never good. (Image credit: Uniko’s Hardware) Asus argues that if users follow its removal guidelines, connectors do not scrape. Still, it stresses that signs of usage and wear tend to appear after dozens of insertions and removals. In fact, it should be noted that like other board‐to‐board connectors, PCIe slots and corresponding card‐edge connectors are subject to a rated number of insertions/removals cycles (mating cycles). While the exact rating can vary by manufacturer and product series, the typical industry standard for PCIe x4/x8/16 connectors is around 50 mating cycles for standard slots and more for highly-durable slots. We can assume that a particular slot configuration can minorly damage graphics cards’ PCIe connectors more than others. But after dozens of mating cycles, any card-edge connector will likely see visible wear or some kind. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #Asus #comments #QRelease #Slim #damaging #GPUs #issues #official #removal #guidelines Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Patrick Graham returning as Raiders’ defensive coordinator: Source – The Athletic – The Athletic Patrick Graham returning as Raiders’ defensive coordinator: Source – The Athletic – The Athletic Patrick Graham returning as Raiders’ defensive coordinator: Source – The Athletic The AthleticReports: Raiders bringing back Graham as DC ESPNPete Carroll Tabs a Familiar Face As Raiders Defensive Coordinator for 2025 Sports IllustratedReport: Raiders Working on Patrick Graham Contract to Return as DC Under Pete Carroll Bleacher ReportReport: Patrick Graham, Raiders working on a deal to bring him back as DC NBC Sports Source link #Patrick #Graham #returning #Raiders #defensive #coordinator #Source #Athletic #Athletic Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Starlink delivers connectivity to Oracle Enterprise Communications Starlink delivers connectivity to Oracle Enterprise Communications For better or worse, the battle of tech oligarchs to rule space-based communications is propelling the satellite enterprise comms market, and the latest expansion of this sector has seen Starlink announce a partnership with Oracle to enable high-speed communications for the latter’s Enterprise Communications Platform (ECP) to support customers in previously poorly connected regions, ensuring they have access to critical services. Built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, ECP delivers real-time information for connected devices, internet of things (IoT) endpoints and mobile applications. It can also secure and monitor equipment against misuse or failures. With edge component Oracle Cloud Connector, ECP can be used to host and remotely manage video and audio applications to address a variety of industry use cases. Oracle claims that its redundant backhaul connectivity can enable industry applications customers to maximise application uptime – even during an outage on the primary connection. Starlink claims to be the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet, and Oracle said customers using ECP can now unify fixed and mobile, taking advantage of the Starlink networks to securely manage and ensure cloud application delivery in remote or previously poorly connected areas. It added that with the integration of Starlink’s network on Oracle ECP, Oracle industry applications – such as real-time video and audio streaming – can be accessed through satellite connectivity in a growing list of more than 100 countries and territories. Real-time connectivity is regarded by Oracle as essential in supporting some of the biggest challenges in industries, such as healthcare, construction and engineering, utilities, hospitality, and the public sector. Oracle offered the example that hospital systems could use Starlink and Oracle ECP to gain reliable access to Oracle’s clinical applications in metro hospitals through to suburban and rural clinics in desert or mountainous areas. Similarly, public safety agencies could use capabilities that help keep first responders connected and safe, even in areas with limited or no mobile coverage. “By adding Starlink’s proven performance and expansive network to our established network relationships, we’re powering ubiquitous IoT connectivity, safeguarding mission-critical operations, and protecting data integrity during emergencies,” said Andrew Morawski, executive vice-president and general manager at Oracle Communications. “Together, we’re creating the intelligent communications foundation that will accelerate business transformation across industries around the world.” Jason Fritch, SpaceX’s vice-president of Starlink Enterprise Sales, said: “Starlink provides reliable high-speed connectivity for those in areas where it has been historically difficult due to lack of infrastructure or natural obstacles. Providing fast and secure broadband to all corners of the world will help Oracle expand the reach of cloud technology and real-time information for its customers in invaluable ways.” Source link #Starlink #delivers #connectivity #Oracle #Enterprise #Communications Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

First new medal winner recalls ‘extreme devastation’ First new medal winner recalls ‘extreme devastation’ Sean Coughlan Royal correspondent BBC Anna Daniell becomes one of the first to be awarded the Humanitarian Medal The first recipients of the new Humanitarian Medal have been announced, recognising aid workers, rescuers and emergency services sent by the *** government to international disasters and conflicts. Anna Daniell is among the award winners, honoured for her efforts to provide medical services after dam bursts and deadly flooding in Libya in 2023. She told the BBC she would never forget her first sight of the scale of devastation, which had taken lives, destroyed neighbourhoods, smashed roads and left cars “like empty Coke cans that have just been crumpled”. Anna welcomes the public recognition of humanitarian workers: “It really fills me with confidence that this is something that’s being valued.” Reuters The aftermath of flooding in Libya in which thousands lost their lives The new type of medal, conferred by King Charles, was announced by the Cabinet Office in July 2023 as a way of honouring those deployed by the *** to assist in major international disasters. The first batch of 30 winners has been announced, with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, calling them “shining examples of public service” who have shown “selfless dedication to saving lives”. Anna went to Dern in Libya in September 2023 to lead the *** Emergency Medical Team, in the wake of floods in which an estimated 20,000 people lost their lives, a situation she describes as “extreme devastation”. She has worked in Ukraine and also in Turkey after the earthquake, but she says arriving in Dern had been shocking. “We fell completely silent.” The bursting of dams had “swept whole neighbourhoods into the sea”. “Just the power of seven-metre waves coming down in the middle of the night into a city. I think you can know intellectually what that might be like, but actually seeing it for real, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that,” she says. EPA *** health teams working in Gaza were among those honoured The task of the *** medical team was to provide healthcare, helping traumatised survivors alongside local health workers, who Anna says were often exhausted and had lost members of their own families. “Many people were dead and missing, but we were there providing mobile healthcare, such as primary health care and maternity care,” she says. Anna, who is based in Manchester, says it was an “amazing surprise” to become one of the first winners of the medal, which she says “highlights the importance of humanitarian aid”. Their efforts are more important than ever, she says, adding: “These are extremely fragile times that we are living in at the moment, you know, due to climate change or prolonged conflict.” Humanitarian Medals will recognise those who help in disasters Also among the first medal winners is Shyam Rana. Shyam’s regular job is as a firefighter in the West Midlands, but he was honoured for his work after the Morocco earthquake in 2023 with the *** International Search and Rescue team, which has a specialism in searching for people in collapsed buildings. Melanie Johnson has been honoured for leading a *** medical team in Gaza during the recent conflict, providing surgical, primary, and community healthcare support in a field hospital. Such awards are a long time in development and the design on the reverse was approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “This new medal recognises the incredible dedication and selfless service of individuals on the front line of the ***’s responses to some of the world’s most devastating crises.” Source link #medal #winner #recalls #extreme #devastation Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Don’t play this new Block Breaker game in Google Search – I’m already hopelessly addicted to the nostalgia Don’t play this new Block Breaker game in Google Search – I’m already hopelessly addicted to the nostalgia Google has added a Breakout-style game as a new Easter egg The game can be played entirely within your web browser It’s sure to bring back nostalgic memories for retro games lovers I was just as much of a gamer when I was a child as I am now, but back then it was Aladdin and Space Rocks 3D that occupied my time rather than Stardew Valley and Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so every time I see one of these classic titles it sends me back to my early years. And that’s exactly what happened when I was alerted to a new Easter egg from Google. Type the words “block breaker” into the search engine and you’ll see a large tile for a playable Breakout-style game. Just click Play to get started – it runs within any of the best web browsers. Breakout is a classic Atari game from 1976 that puts you in control of a paddle at the bottom of the screen. You’ve got to bounce a ball upwards into rows of colored bricks at the top of your monitor, breaking them down until none remain. I never played the original Breakout, but we had a clone on my family’s home PC. The name of the game escapes me, and a quick bit of research shows a nearly unlimited number of Breakout copycats exist, but it was enjoyable enough that the game’s imagery is still seared into my memory. Embrace the power-ups (Image credit: Google) Just a few seconds with Google’s Easter egg is enough for that nostalgic feeling to return. Google’s effort is complete with old-fashioned sound effects and blocky graphics that any retro games lover will enjoy. But what really hits home for me is its inclusion of power-ups, from those that increase the paddle size to lasers that fire at the blocks, Space Invaders-style. The pick of the power-ups is the one that introduces additional ****** into the mix. It transforms the game from one where you can carefully aim the ball at specific bricks to one where you frantically race your paddle across the screen in a desperate bid to prevent the ****** from going out of play. Hitting bricks becomes secondary at this point – and forget trying to aim properly at them – yet it’s a wildly enjoyable mad dash of a game mode. Google’s game captures many of the features that made this game type great, including the unbeatable feeling you get when the ball bounces between the top row of bricks and the upper limit of your screen, smashing block after block as a reward for your perfectly placed shot. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. So feel free to give it a go and see what high score you can get. Just be careful you don’t forget your day’s other tasks in the process. You might also like Source link #Dont #play #Block #Breaker #game #Google #Search #hopelessly #addicted #nostalgia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Treasury yields near flat as investors digest Fed’s latest interest rate decision – CNBC Treasury yields near flat as investors digest Fed’s latest interest rate decision – CNBC Treasury yields near flat as investors digest Fed’s latest interest rate decision CNBCFed hits pause on interest rate cuts amid Trump’s flurry of economic plans CNNTranscript: The Fed ignores Trump’s calls to cut rates Financial TimesFederal Reserve Pauses Interest Rate Cuts—First Meeting Without A Cut Since July ForbesHere’s what changed in the new Fed statement CNBC Source link #Treasury #yields #flat #investors #digest #Feds #latest #interest #rate #decision #CNBC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

US and Russian figure skaters were reportedly on crashed plane US and Russian figure skaters were reportedly on crashed plane US and Russian figure skaters were reportedly among the passengers on board an aeroplane that hit a helicopter above Washington DC on Wednesday evening. “Several” athletes, coaches and family members involved with US Figure Skating were on the flight, the sport’s US governing body said in a statement. Russian citizens were also on board, the Kremlin confirmed – after local media reported that ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the plane. US officials have not provided a number of casualties, although a law enforcement source told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that at least 19 bodies had been recovered from the icy cold Potomac River. The plane was carrying 64 passengers and crew when it collided in mid-air with a US Army helicopter just after 21:00 local time on Wednesday (02:00 GMT), and then fell into the water. As many as 15 people on the flight may have been involved in figure skating, an unnamed source told the Reuters news agency. The statement from US Figure Skating confirmed that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342”. The group were returning home from a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, the statement added. Wichita hosted the US National Figure Skating championships from 20 January to 26 January. Following the competition, there was a development camp for young skaters. It has not been confirmed whether or not the former Russian skaters were at the same event. Without specifying names, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the “sad information” that Russian citizens were on the flight – following Russian news agency reports that named Shishkova and Naumov. The married couple are retired Russian pairs skaters who won the world championships in 1994. They also competed at the Olympics. They now work as coaches in the US. Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater for the Soviet Union, was also on board the flight, according to Russian news agency Tass. Rescue teams are continuing to search the freezing waters of the Potomac River where the remnants of both aircrafts remain. Nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has grounded all flights. Besides the undisclosed number of individuals associated with US figure skating and the two Russian figure skaters, there is limited information about the individuals on board. In 1961, the 18-person US figure skating team was killed in a plane ****** in Belgium on their way to Prague. Source link #Russian #figure #skaters #reportedly #crashed #plane Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Jackson Barrett: How West *********** Josh Inglis rose to score stunning century on Test debut in Sri Lanka Jackson Barrett: How West *********** Josh Inglis rose to score stunning century on Test debut in Sri Lanka Coaches close to Josh Inglis believed their was ‘something about’ him as a youngster and it’s that temperament that has taken him to an historic Test century on debut, writes Jackson Barrett. Source link #Jackson #Barrett #West #*********** #Josh #Inglis #rose #score #stunning #century #Test #debut #Sri #Lanka Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What does it take to retire with a comfy $10,000/month in America? It’s probably less than you think What does it take to retire with a comfy $10,000/month in America? It’s probably less than you think What does it take to retire with a comfy $10,000/month in America? It’s probably less than you think The latest data from the Federal Reserve indicates that households of Americans aged 55 to 64 have a median of $185,000 in their retirement accounts. That may be enough to retire on if you’re open to living frugally and depending on Social Security for most of your income. But it’s not nearly enough to spend $10,000 a month. That’s not to say you need tens of millions of dollars to live a comfortable life during your golden years. Spending $10,000 a month without running out of money during retirement may be possible for you with some careful calculations and saving strategies. As you try to work out how much you’ll need in savings to retire with the spending rate you want, gather information on all the sources of income you’ll have once you stop working. For many folks, Social Security payments tend to be a large chunk of income. According to Gallup’s 2024 Economic and Personal Finance survey, around 59% of retirees say that Social Security makes up a large portion of their retirement income. Many may also have other sources, like employer-sponsored retirement accounts like 401(k)s, annuities, pensions and IRAs. You’ll also need to consider factors that will affect this income. For one, how much you pay into Social Security will affect how much you receive, as well as when you choose to receive benefits. If you claim your benefits starting at age 62, the amount you receive will be lower than someone who starts claiming them at 67 or 70. Your portfolio allocation — the types of investments you hold — in your retirement or brokerage accounts could also affect how much you will have by the time you’re ready to retire. Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they’re banking on instead While investing in more volatile investments may give you an opportunity to earn more in returns, you could also risk more losses as well. Once you stop investing in these accounts, any market downturns may have a huge impact, since you don’t necessarily have time to recover from them. Story Continues Let’s not forget when you retire will have an impact on what it’ll take for you to comfortably take out $10,000 a month without running out of money. The average retirement can last decades, so the earlier you retire, the more you may need to have invested to make your money last. Most experts use the 4% rule as a general guideline to determine how much you need to have saved for a comfortable retirement. William Bengen, a now retired financial adviser, first came up with this “rule” back in 1994 to help retirees understand how much they can withdraw safely from their accounts without outliving their funds. The rule is simple: your balanced retirement portfolio should last you 30 years if you withdraw 4% in the first year and then adjust the amount each year after that based on inflation. So if you wanted to spend $10,000 per month in retirement, it would mean you’ll need to have around $3 million invested. Though if you’re factoring Social Security payments and other regular income sources, this amount could be less. Some also look towards Jonathan Guyton and William Klinger’s “guardrails” framework to determine how much you can withdraw safely and in turn, the amount you’ll need saved for retirement. With this framework, you choose an initial withdrawal rate — which could be anywhere from 4% to 6%. Depending on market returns, you could increase or decrease your withdrawal by 10%. That way, you can make sure that you have enough money to last you no matter how the markets perform. Keep in mind these rules and guidelines are just that, guidelines. Morningstar recently said the safe withdrawal rate for its base case (30-year time horizon is 3.7%, 90% probability of success, 50% equity weighting) this year is 3.7%. Suze Orman has called the 4% rule “very dangerous.” It may be a smart idea to speak with a trusted financial adviser to take a look at your current financial situation and retirement goals to see what approach works best for you. This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Source link #retire #comfy #10000month #America Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

People on Kash Patel’s so-called ‘enemies list’ taking drastic steps for protection before his potential FBI takeover – CNN People on Kash Patel’s so-called ‘enemies list’ taking drastic steps for protection before his potential FBI takeover – CNN People on Kash Patel’s so-called ‘enemies list’ taking drastic steps for protection before his potential FBI takeover CNNWho is Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to shake up the FBI? BBC.comScoop: Key GOP senator who hesitated on Pete Hegseth pushes Kash Patel for FBI Fox NewsKash Patel is a crackpot The Economist Source link #People #Kash #Patels #socalled #enemies #list #drastic #steps #protection #potential #FBI #takeover #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Hundreds Died When This Steamship Sank in the Pacific Northwest in 1875 With Gold Worth Millions On Board Hundreds Died When This Steamship Sank in the Pacific Northwest in 1875 With Gold Worth Millions On Board View of the S.S. Pacific anchored near Fort Tongass in Alaska in 1868 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons The loss of the steamship Pacific on November 4, 1875, left the community of Victoria, British Columbia, in shock. Laden with at least 250 passengers and crew, along with 600 tons of cargo and gold worth millions of dollars, the ship struck another vessel about 20 miles off the coast of Washington State. As water flooded the Pacific’s hull, the crew struggled in vain to launch the lifeboats. Soon after the collision, the ship split in half and sank. Of the hundreds on board, only two survived. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the wreck, which was one of the deadliest maritime disasters in the Pacific Northwest’s history. In 2022, Rockfish, a Seattle-based salvage company, discovered what it believes to be the wreck’s location, bringing renewed attention to the Pacific and its gold cargo. A century and a half after its sinking, the story of the Pacific remains a wrenching drama—and a witness to the perils of 19th-century sea travel. A late departure, insufficient lifeboats and poorly loaded cargo plagued the final voyage of the Pacific, which departed for San Francisco on November 4. David W. Higgins, editor of the local British Colonist newspaper, boarded the ship for a bit that morning in Victoria’s Esquimalt Harbor to speak with a business acquaintance. He later estimated that at least 500 people were on board the vessel, which was equipped with just five lifeboats designed to carry 160 passengers. The true number of passengers is unknown due to poor record-keeping and a rush of last-minute ticket sales, but experts generally place the disaster’s death toll between 250 and 300. An illustration of the S.S. Pacific, circa 1870 University of British Columbia Library When the Pacific finally departed, nearly an hour late, “the multitude on the wharf gave three rousing cheers to speed departing friends on their way,” Higgins wrote in his 1904 memoir. But the voyage was still not smoothly underway. Civil engineer Henry F. Jelly, a passenger aboard the Pacific, noticed that the ship was tilting to its starboard (right) side. Workers on a nearby dredger said the vessel was steering so badly that “something must be wrong with her,” according to the Colonist. To correct the list, the crew filled the port (left) side lifeboats with water. Later, when the ship tilted the other way, the crew emptied the port lifeboats and filled the starboard boats instead. The crew’s struggle to right the ship might have been due to the sheer weight on board. In addition to passengers, the Pacific carried 600 tons of freight. By one account, this included $79,220 in gold rush treasure from Victoria, along with hops, oats, animal hides, coal, cranberries, sundries and merchandise, six horses, two buggies, and two cases of opium. The Colonist, meanwhile, calculated the value of the treasure to be far higher than $79,220. “Shipped was as follows,” the newspaper reported. “Mr. F. Garesche, $29,220; Bank British North America, $28,336; Bank British Columbia, $21,245; and about $100,000 in private hands.” Today, the gold entombed within the Pacific is estimated to be worth upward of $5 million. Jefferson Davis Howell, captain of the Pacific Naval History and Heritage Command The Pacific’s captain was Jefferson Davis Howell, a Civil War veteran named for his much older brother-in-law, Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The ship’s passengers came from all rungs of Victoria society, including bankers, entrepreneurs, socialites, entertainers, miners and immigrant laborers. Among the passengers featured in Higgins’ recollection were Francis Garesche, a banker and agent for Wells Fargo, who accompanied a shipment of treasure, along with his own private money, and Sewell P. Moody, the principal owner of a sawmill and lumber export business, as well as the founder of a company town still known as Moodyville. Fanny Palmer, the 18-year-old daughter of a Victoria professor, planned to visit her brother in San Francisco but told friends before departing that she “felt she would never see them again in this world,” the Colonist reported. Palmer’s mother shared a sense of foreboding, too. After Higgins had said his final farewells, he disembarked and passed her on the street. She stood facing the harbor with tears in her eyes. The ship had passed behind a grove of trees and was no longer visible, but a plume of ****** smoke billowed skyward. “I’m seeing the last of Fanny!” she told Higgins. The Pacific’s sinking “rings to me as a very 19th-century tale,” says James Delgado, a maritime archaeologist, historian and former director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum. “Shipwrecks were the most common cause of mass fatality in peacetime, other than major earthquakes or things like that. Globally, you could have more than a shipwreck a day.” Newspaper articles about the wreck of the Pacific Newspapers.com and the Internet Archive The risks of sea travel were known and accepted at the time, Delgado says. But passengers on the Pacific likely had no idea how dangerous this particular ship had become. Built in New York in 1850, the Pacific ferried Gold Rush traffic from the East Coast to the West Coast via the Isthmus of Panama. In 1861, the steamship struck the ominously named Coffin Rock in Washington’s Columbia River and sank en route to Astoria, Oregon, with no lives lost. The ship was raised, repaired and returned to service for ten years, then retired in 1871. Past the useful life span of a wooden-hulled steamer, the vessel might have rotted away on the mud flats near San Francisco if not for a new gold rush in the British Columbian Cassiar district, which spiked shipping demand. “Suddenly, all sorts of ships, steamships in regular service, get swept up in this and sent out,” Delgado says. “It’s all part of that gold mania.” Shipping entrepreneurs Charles Goodall, Christopher Nelson and George C. Perkins purchased the Pacific in 1874. They later claimed to have refurbished the ship at an expense of $75,000, but these repairs were likely little more than cosmetic. In his memoir, Higgins wrote that the Pacific was “innately rotten, but the paint and putty thickly daubed on covered much of the rottenness … and scarcely anyone was aware of the ship’s real condition, although she was regarded as unsafe.” According to the Colonist, one witness told a Victoria coroner’s jury that the ship’s “timbers could be shoveled out of her,” while another claimed that “when it was said she was overhauled and repaired, it meant from the water’s edge up and that the lower timbers were not touched.” “There’s a good chance” the Pacific was rotten, Delgado says. “Given the longevity of the vessel, it’s possible. And bear in mind that ships are being inspected, but not to the same standard that we would do today.” On the day of the shipwreck, the Pacific made slow progress through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, laboring against a strong headwind toward the open sea. Finally, around 4 p.m., the ship passed the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Washington’s Tatoosh Island and headed south into the Pacific Ocean. Quartermaster Neil Henley was asleep in his bunk around 10 p.m. when he heard a ****** and woke to see water rushing into the ship “at a furious rate.” He threw on a jacket and rushed up the companionway. “On reaching the deck, all was confusion,” he said. Neil Henley, one of two survivors of the Pacific disaster University of British Columbia Library Jelly, the civil engineer, had also been asleep at the time of the collision. Awakened by the noise and commotion, he went on deck, where the crew told him an accident had occurred, but that the ship had sustained no damage. Reassured, Jelly went below again, but just as he climbed into bed, the vessel shuddered under his feet, and he heard the roar of water. The Pacific had struck the Orpheus, a 1,100-ton square-******* that was traveling north along the Washington coast to load a shipment of coal at Nanaimo in British Columbia. Charles Sawyer, the captain of the Orpheus, later said he’d gone below at 9:30 p.m., leaving the second mate with orders to keep the ship directed northwest, off shore, if he saw anything. Sawyer had just sat down at the table in his cabin to look at his chart when the ship rapidly turned to port. He hurried on deck, where the officer told him the beam of the Cape Flattery Lighthouse had appeared on the port bow, so he’d turned the ship northwest, as instructed. “I told him it was impossible to have Flattery light on that bow, and just then I saw the light on the starboard bow,” Sawyer said. The captain brought the ship to a relative standstill and looked at the light through his glasses, soon realizing the beam was coming from an oncoming ship. Sawyer believed the Pacific would see the Orpheus and change course—but the steamer showed no sign of slowing down. “I made up my mind that she would hit us, and shortly afterward, she blew her whistle and immediately struck us,” Sawyer said. “The blow was a light one. She had evidently stopped her engines and was backing [up] and gave us a glancing blow.” Though newspapers would later cast him as a villain for not coming to the aid of the Pacific, Sawyer claimed not to have heard calls for help or seen distress lights. He said he was busy inspecting the damage to his own ship, which was substantial but luckily above the water line. “When, after I found I was not seriously damaged,” the captain added, “I looked for the steamer. I just saw a light on our starboard quarter, and when I looked again, it was gone.” The collision threw the Pacific into chaos. After Jelly returned to the deck, he found that the lifeboats had not been lowered. Searching for blue lights to burn as distress signals, he discovered that the pilot house was empty, with “the wheel deserted and the ship steering wildly,” he later told the Colonist. The engine was still running. Sewell P. Moody, a passenger on board the Pacific Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Jelly found a lifeboat and decided to make his stand there. He recognized one of the women being helped into the boat as Jennie Parsons. She was weeping and clutching the body of her 18-month-old son, who had just been crushed to death by a man who fell on him in the confusion. Jelly also helped a girl into the boat who was later identified by description as Palmer. Members of the ship’s crew crowded into Jelly’s lifeboat, claiming they were required to help the women, and a scuffle broke out between them and other men already in the boat, who refused to give up their places. By now, the Pacific was sinking fast. The cranes holding the lifeboat would not release, but as the ship rolled, the smaller vessel touched the water. Someone on deck cut the fastenings with an ax, freeing the lifeboat. But the craft, overloaded with people and still half-full of water from the earlier attempt to balance the Pacific, capsized. The women sank immediately, burdened by their heavy clothing. Jelly clung to the overturned boat, watching as the steamer settled onto its side, broke in half and plummeted into the depths, dragging down at least 150 people still on the deck. He swam to a piece of wreckage, a remnant of the empty pilot house, which he clung onto for another day and a half, until he was picked up by the bark Messenger on the morning of November 6. The Oliver Wolcott, the ship that rescued survivor Neil Henley Public domain via Wikimedia Commons The Pacific’s quartermaster, Henley, was the wreck’s only other survivor. His lifeboat had struck the ship and capsized instantly. He caught hold of a fragment of the ship’s deck, joining the captain, second mate, cook and four other passengers. “When I looked around, the steamer had disappeared, leaving a floating mass of human beings, whose cries and screams were awful to hear and the sight of which can never be effaced from my memory,” he said. “In a little while, it was all over: The cries had ceased.” The sea grew rougher, and as the hours passed, Henley’s companions fell away, one by one. He survived on the makeshift raft for nearly 80 hours and was rescued on the morning of November 8 by the revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott. “Scarcely a household in Victoria but has lost one or more of its members, or must strike from its list of living friends a face,” the Colonist reported on November 9. “A bolt out of the blue could not have caused more widespread consternation.” 18 year-old Fanny Palmer of Victoria, BC perished on the steamer Pacific when it sank 11/4/1875, 12 miles off Cape Flattery, WA. Most victims were never found, yet in a twist of fate Fanny’s body drifted nearly 100 miles to wash ashore less than a mile from her parents’ home. pic.twitter.com/vO1rQY9Zgj — Northwest Shipwreck Alliance (@NWShipwreckAll) December 21, 2022 Palmer’s body washed up on Washington’s San Juan Island on November 25. The Victoria police chief found her near the United States Garrison, noting her “light brown hair [and] medium size.” Her attire suggested she had been in bed when the ship’s alarm sounded. It included a nightdress, a waterproof cloak, striped hose, unlaced No. 3 kid boots and a life preserver marked Pacific. After 21 days at sea, Palmer’s body had retraced the ship’s 100-plus-mile journey, coming to rest almost within sight of her home. The Pacific “was the worst shipwreck disaster in the region,” says Scott Williams, a federal preservation officer and former executive director of the Maritime Archaeological Society. Williams, who has also investigated the wreck of a Manila galleon in Oregon, hopes renewed interest in the Pacific will raise “awareness of the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest.” If artifacts are recovered, they could shed new light on that history, not only clarifying the circumstances of the wreck but also expanding what historians know about the people on board. “The most amazing thing to find would be someone’s personal diary or something like that,” says Jeff Hummel, president of the salvage company Rockfish. “And that’s not out of the question. … Who knows what can be found there?” Seattle-based salvage company preparing to recover pieces of maritime history off Washington coast The gold is important, Hummel says—the investors funding his recovery operation expect a payout—but he maintains that his primary interest is the ship’s history, which has fascinated him since he started researching it in 1989. “The gold is interesting, but it’s really the artifacts,” he says. “It’s the personal contact. And to me, it’s like a way of time travel. You’re really touching something from the past, and the last person to touch it was the person who owned it.” Delgado agrees that, if recovered, artifacts could clarify enduring mysteries about the wreck. “One of the things [archeologists] start with early on … is the forensics of the accident,” he says. “Where was it? How did it sink? How did it break apart?” Depending on their state of preservation, artifacts might even answer questions about the Pacific’s condition prior to the collision—for example, whether the ship’s hull was dangerously rotten. A sonar image of the Pacific‘s suspected paddle wheels lying in silt Northwest Shipwreck Alliance via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 It’s also possible that artifacts could paint a more personal picture. “What we’ve seen with other wrecks, like the work done by salvors with the Central America, there are trunks that are sitting there that are intact, and with contents intact,” Delgado says. “[There are] daguerreotypes that still have their images preserved in the deeper ocean.” Six weeks after the Pacific disaster, a portion of railing or stateroom stanchion washed ashore. Scratched onto it was the signature of lumberman Moody, along with a message: “All lost.” “I’ve held that piece of wood from Pacific in my hands more than once,” says Delgado, who worked with the artifact in his previous role as director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum. “I can only imagine Sewell Moody with a pencil stub, writing that note, hoping that it would wash ashore, and then sinking, most likely. … In your mind’s eye, you could put yourself in that situation. And that’s the power of the artifact in a museum for everybody.” Get the latest History stories in your inbox. Filed Under: American History, Archaeology, Canada, Death, Gold, Gold Rush, Pacific Ocean, Ships, Shipwrecks, Transportation, Water Transportation Source link #Hundreds #Died #Steamship #Sank #Pacific #Northwest #Gold #Worth #Millions #Board Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Washington plane ******: American figure skaters were on plane that crashed into Potomac River Washington plane ******: American figure skaters were on plane that crashed into Potomac River Members of the United States figure skating community were on board an aeroplane that crashed near Washington DC, the country’s governing organisation for the sport says. A passenger plane carrying 64 passengers and crew crashed into a river in the capital after a mid-air collision with a US Army helicopter. A police official at the scene told the BBC’s broadcast partner CBS News that 19 bodies had been pulled from the water. It is unknown if anyone survived the ******. US Figure Skating said athletes, coaches and family members were on the plane that crashed. “These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” the organisation said. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.” The US Figure Skating Championships finished on 26 January, and many competitors remained in Wichita afterwards for a training camp. The International Skating Union said: “We are heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. Figure skating is more than a sport – it’s a close-knit family – and we stand together. We remain in close contact with US Figure Skating and offer our full support during this incredibly difficult time.” Russian news agency Tass reported that two of the people on board the American Airlines flight were former figure skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova. The couple, who married in 1995 and live in Connecticut, won the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships pairs. Legendary Soviet Union figure skater Inna Volyanskaya was also named by Tass as one of the passengers on the flight. About 300 responders in rubber boats have been deployed to search for survivors, said Washington DC Fire and Emergency Services chief John Donnelly. “The challenge is access, there is wind and pieces of ice [in the water]. It is dangerous and hard to work in,” he said. Source link #Washington #plane #****** #American #figure #skaters #plane #crashed #Potomac #River Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Australia in Sri Lanka: Milestones tumble as Aussie batters grind Sri Lankans into Galle dirt Australia in Sri Lanka: Milestones tumble as Aussie batters grind Sri Lankans into Galle dirt Australia’s near-two-day epic has seen milestones tumble in Sri Lanka as Usman Khawaja struck a maiden double century, Steve Smith reached 10,000 Test runs, and WA’s Josh Inglis cracked a debut ton. Smith had an anxious wait for his incredible milestone after being dismissed a run short in Sydney but ensured no one would ever forget it as he went on to his 35th Test century. Alongside Khawaja, who made up for the heartbreak of being declared on while unbeaten on 195 in 2023, Smith was the driving force behind the pair, breaking Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh’s record for the largest partnership in Sri Lanka. Australia also set the second-largest total ever in Galle when they declared at 6-654. Here are some of the milestones Australia achieved in the first innings. Australia’s all-time largest run total for a single innings in Asia (Previous record: 617 v Pakistan in 1980)The second-largest team total scored at GalleSteve Smith the 15th player to hit 10,000 Test runs and now 13th highest of all timeUsman Khawaja’s highest total in a single innings (232, beating previous record of 195* v South Africa in 2023)Khawaja becomes third oldest double centurian this centuryKhawaja joins Sir Don Bradman as only batter aged over 38 to hit 200Josh Inglis makes second fastest debut century (90 ******, behind record of 85)Past four Australians to make a century on debut are all West *********** after Inglis’ tonAustralia’s highest Test partnership in Sri Lanka (266 runs for the third wicket between Khawaja and Smith)Australia’s third highest partnership in AsiaFifth highest all-time third-wicket partnership in Tests Source link #Australia #Sri #Lanka #Milestones #tumble #Aussie #batters #grind #Sri #Lankans #Galle #dirt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tuscaloosa police respond after arrest video circulates on social media Tuscaloosa police respond after arrest video circulates on social media The Tuscaloosa Police Department is defending its officers Wednesday after video of an arrest circulated on social media. The 35-second-long video shows Tuscaloosa police using a child’s bedroom window to enter a residence while attempting to make an arrest Tuesday night. Some people commenting on the video on Facebook questioned the officers’ tactics. Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley said he reviewed the video, and he believes officers followed correct procedures while making a lawful arrest. Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley, shown in this Jan. 28, 2022, file photo, said he believes officers followed correct procedures after a video of a Jan. 28 arrest circulated on social media. “The suspect knew officers were outside her residence for nearly an hour. They had seen her and spoken to her through an open window, but she ignored multiple opportunities to come outside or even engage with officers,” Blankley said in the Wednesday news release from TPD. “Instead, she chose to not comply and created a situation that forced officers to enter her home to take her into custody. Our officers will continue to protect our community, enforce our laws and arrest violent offenders.” said Blankley, who has served as TPD’s chief since March 2020. The backstory At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tuscaloosa Police Department officers went to 3501 Loop Road to serve 29-year-old D’ereka Renee Geter Scott with warrants for felony second-degree assault and failing to appear in court on eight outstanding traffic offenses, said Stephanie Taylor, a TPD spokeswoman. Taylor said officers knocked on her door and announced their presence multiple times over the next 50 minutes without response. During that time, officers could see Scott and a man — later identified as Timothy Williams — turning off lights and moving inside the residence, but they never came to the door. Rather than breaching and damaging the doorway, the officers opened an unlocked the window of an unoccupied bedroom and continued to announce their presence, calling ‘Tuscaloosa Police, come to the door’ for the next five minutes. Officers entered through the window at 8:21 p.m., and were immediately met by Scott, who was recording using her phone to record the officers. Scott moved to the kitchen, declining to comply with officers. Taylor said both Scott and Williams actively resisted as officers attempted to take them into custody. Upon entering the apartment, one officer found a child in the residence and took her to another room for her safety. The second-degree assault charge originated Nov. 24, when a woman reported that Scott, accompanied by another person, broke the woman’s front window with a metal pole. The woman said Scott then used the metal pole to strike her in the ribs and arm. The woman, who was hospitalized for her injuries, later obtained the warrant, which officers were attempting to serve Tuesday night, Taylor said. Scott was charged with one count of resisting arrest, along with the felony assault charge, in addition to failure to appear in court for three seat belt violations, driving without insurance, following too closely and three speeding tickets. Williams, 33, was charged with resisting the arrest of another person. Reach Jasmine Hollie at *****@*****.tld. This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa police chief defends officers after arrest video circulates Source link #Tuscaloosa #police #respond #arrest #video #circulates #social #media Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why Salesforce Stock Could Be at Fresh Highs by February Why Salesforce Stock Could Be at Fresh Highs by February Shares of Salesforce (NYSE:) were the outlier in Monday’s session, logging nearly a 4% gain against a sharp drop in tech stocks. While the tech titan ended last year on a weaker note, selling off in the final few weeks of December, the start of this year has been kinder to Salesforce bulls. The past two weeks alone have seen the stock gain 10%. In early trading on Tuesday, the stock was logging even further gains and coming within just a few dollars of December’s high. The San Francisco-headquartered company has a $300 billion market cap and is a leader in customer relationship management (CRM). Its products help businesses manage customer data, sales pipelines, and marketing automation, making it an almost must-have tool for many companies across industries. Looking ahead into 2025, there are plenty of reasons for investors to be excited, especially around the prospect of the stock getting back to fresh all-time highs in the coming weeks. Let’s jump in. Salesforce Sets a Strong Foundation Heading Into 2025 Salesforce’s fundamental performance over the past couple of quarters has been mixed, but there’s plenty to like. The company smashed revenue expectations with its latest earnings report, delivering a record-high print, though a miss on EPS spooked some investors. Despite this, management’s bullish outlook and guidance for 2025 should not be ignored. The December report suggested there’s a strong foundation in place, with Salesforce navigating market headwinds while continuing to scale its operations. This optimism sets the tone for the year ahead, particularly as investors eye Salesforce’s next earnings report in early March. Another record revenue print—this time ideally paired with beats on both top and bottom-line expectations—should support the stock as it rallies back towards highs. Analysts Point to Salesforce’s Bright Future One of the main reasons we’re so excited about Salesforce shares is the analysts’ coverage of the stock. In a note to clients last week, the team over at TD Cowen upgraded CRM shares from a Hold rating to a Buy while increasing their price target from $380 to $400. From where the stock closed on Monday, that’s pointing to a targeted upside of some 15%, well into fresh all-time high territory. This bullish stance is echoed by Piper Sandler and Needham & Company, both of which reiterated their Buy ratings earlier this month. Piper Sandler set a price target of $405, while Needham is targeting $400, underscoring the broad confidence in Salesforce’s ability to deliver strong returns. Much of this optimism stems from Salesforce’s dominant market position and its AI-powered tool, Agentforce, which analysts believe could drive significant revenue growth by early 2026. Bearish Views Remain in the ********* Among Analysts It has to be noted, though, that while there’s a lot to like about Salesforce, there are some reasons to be cautious. Not all analysts are on board with the bullish narrative. Earlier this month, Guggenheim downgraded the stock to a Sell rating, while Macquarie assigned a Neutral rating in December. These more cautious stances are primarily tied to concerns around Salesforce’s ability to consistently beat analyst expectations. After missing on EPS last quarter, they’re likely waiting to see if the company can reestablish its track record of strong beats. Still, it’s worth pointing out that these bearish takes are in the *********, standing out against the backdrop of overwhelmingly positive sentiment from Wall Street. Salesforce: A Stock to Watch Closely in the Year Ahead Overall, heading into the rest of the quarter, there’s much to like about Salesforce. This is supported by the technical setup, with the stock’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) currently at a nicely bullish 63. This suggests there’s a ton of bullish momentum with plenty of room to run before the stock enters overbought territory. For those of us happy to lean into the analysts’ bullish outlook, this has all the makings of a fantastic entry opportunity. The broader macro environment, strong recent performance, and supportive technicals all point to Salesforce being a stock that’s worth watching closely in 2025. Original Post Source link #Salesforce #Stock #Fresh #Highs #February Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

China’s DeepSeek has some big AI claims; not all experts are convinced China’s DeepSeek has some big AI claims; not all experts are convinced ******** artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek rocked markets this week with claims its new AI model outperforms OpenAI’s and cost a fraction of the price to build. The assertions — specifically that DeepSeek’s large language model cost just $5.6 million to train — have sparked concerns over the eyewatering sums that tech giants are currently spending on computing infrastructure required to train and run advanced AI workloads. But not everyone is convinced by DeepSeek’s claims. CNBC asked industry experts for their views on DeepSeek, and how it actually compares to OpenAI, creator of viral chatbot ChatGPT which sparked the AI revolution. What is DeepSeek? Last week, DeepSeek released R1, its new reasoning model that rivals OpenAI’s o1. A reasoning model is a large language model that breaks prompts down into smaller pieces and considers multiple approaches before generating a response. It is designed to process complex problems in a similar way to humans. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, co-founder of AI-focused quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, to focus on large language models and reaching artificial general intelligence, or AGI. AGI as a concept loosely refers to the idea of an AI that equals or surpasses human intellect on a wide range of tasks. Much of the technology behind R1 isn’t new. What is notable, however, is that DeepSeek is the first to deploy it in a high-performing AI model with — according to the company — considerable reductions in power requirements. “The takeaway is that there are many possibilities to develop this industry. The high-end chip/capital intensive way is one technological approach,” said Xiaomeng Lu, director of Eurasia Group’s geo-technology practice. “But DeepSeek proves we are still in the nascent stage of AI development and the path established by OpenAI may not be the only route to highly capable AI.” How is it different from OpenAI? DeepSeek has two main systems that have garnered buzz from the AI community: V3, the large language model that unpins its products, and R1, its reasoning model. Both models are open-source, meaning their underlying code is free and publicly available for other developers to customize and redistribute. DeepSeek’s models are much smaller than many other large language models. V3 has a total of 671 billion parameters, or variables that the model learns during training. And while OpenAI doesn’t disclose parameters, experts estimate its latest model to have at least a trillion. In terms of performance, DeepSeek says its R1 model achieves performance comparable to OpenAI’s o1 on reasoning tasks, citing benchmarks including AIME 2024, Codeforces, GPQA Diamond, MATH-500, MMLU and SWE-bench Verified. Read more DeepSeek coverage In a technical report, the company said its V3 model had a training cost of only $5.6 million — a fraction of the billions of dollars that notable Western AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic have spent to train and run their foundational AI models. It isn’t yet clear how much DeepSeek costs to run, however. If the training costs are accurate, though, it means the model was developed at a fraction of the cost of rival models by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others. Daniel Newman, CEO of tech insight firm The Futurum Group, said these developments suggest “a massive breakthrough,” although he shed some doubt on the exact figures. “I believe the breakthroughs of DeepSeek indicate a meaningful inflection for scaling laws and are a real necessity,” he said. “Having said that, there are still a lot of questions and uncertainties around the full picture of costs as it pertains to the development of DeepSeek.” Meanwhile, Paul Triolio, senior VP for China and technology policy lead at advisory firm DGA Group, noted it was difficult to draw a direct comparison between DeepSeek’s model cost and that of major U.S. developers. “The 5.6 million figure for DeepSeek V3 was just for one training run, and the company stressed that this did not represent the overall cost of R&D to develop the model,” he said. “The overall cost then was likely significantly higher, but still lower than the amount spent by major US AI companies.” DeepSeek wasn’t immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Comparing DeepSeek, OpenAI on price DeepSeek and OpenAI both disclose pricing for their models’ computations on their websites. DeepSeek says R1 costs 55 cents per 1 million tokens of inputs — “tokens” referring to each individual unit of text processed by the model — and $2.19 per 1 million tokens of output. In comparison, OpenAI’s pricing page for o1 shows the firm charges $15 per 1 million input tokens and $60 per 1 million output tokens. For GPT-4o mini, OpenAI’s smaller, low-cost language model, the firm charges 15 cents per 1 million input tokens. Skepticism over chips DeepSeek’s reveal of R1 has already led to heated public debate over the veracity of its claim — not least because its models were built despite export controls from the U.S. restricting the use of advanced AI chips to China. DeepSeek claims it had its breakthrough using mature Nvidia clips, including H800 and A100 chips, which are less advanced than the chipmaker’s cutting-edge H100s, which can’t be exported to China. However, in comments to CNBC last week, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, said he believed DeepSeek used the banned chips — a claim that DeepSeek denies. Nvidia has since come out and said that the GPUs that DeepSeek used were fully export-compliant. The real deal or not? Industry experts seem to broadly agree that what DeepSeek has achieved is impressive, although some have urged skepticism over some of the ******** company’s claims. “DeepSeek is legitimately impressive, but the level of hysteria is an indictment of so many,” U.S. entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, who founded Oculus and Anduril wrote on X. “The $5M number is bogus. It is pushed by a ******** hedge fund to slow investment in American AI startups, service their own shorts against American titans like Nvidia, and hide sanction evasion.” Seena Rejal, chief commercial officer of NetMind, a London-headquartered startup that offers access to DeepSeek’s AI models via a distributed GPU network, said he saw no reason not to believe DeepSeek. “Even if it’s off by a certain factor, it still is coming in as greatly efficient,” Rejal told CNBC in a phone interview earlier this week. “The logic of what they’ve explained is very sensible.” However, some have claimed DeepSeek’s technology might not have been built from scratch. “DeepSeek makes the same mistakes O1 makes, a strong indication the technology was ripped off,” billionaire investor Vinod Khosla said on X, without giving more details. It’s a claim that OpenAI itself has alluded to, telling CNBC in a statement Wednesday that it is reviewing reports DeepSeek may have “inappropriately” used output data from its models to develop their AI model, a method referred to as “distillation.” “We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the U.S. government to protect the most capable models being built here,” an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC. Commoditization of AI However the scrutiny surrounding DeepSeek shakes out, AI scientists broadly agree it marks a positive step for the industry. Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, said that DeepSeek’s success represented a victory for open-source AI models, not necessarily a win for China over the U.S. Meta is behind a popular open-source AI model called Llama. “To people who see the performance of DeepSeek and think: ‘China is surpassing the US in AI.’ You are reading this wrong. The correct reading is: ‘Open source models are surpassing proprietary ones’,” he said in a post on LinkedIn. “DeepSeek has profited from open research and open source (e.g. PyTorch and Llama from Meta). They came up with new ideas and built them on top of other people’s work. Because their work is published and open source, everyone can profit from it. That is the power of open research and open source.” Meanwhile, Matt Calkins, CEO of U.S. software firm Appian, told CNBC that DeepSeek’s success simply shows that AI models are going to become more of a commodity in the future. “In my opinion, we’re going to see a commoditization of AI. Many companies will achieve competitive AI, and a lack of differentiation will be bad for high-spending first-movers,” Calkins said via email. WATCH: Why DeepSeek is putting America’s AI lead in jeopardy – CNBC’s Katrina Bishop and Hayden Field contributed to this report Source link #Chinas #DeepSeek #big #claims #experts #convinced Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

This 13% Dividend Could Soar on a Little-Reported Buyback This 13% Dividend Could Soar on a Little-Reported Buyback BlackRock (NYSE:) is making changes to some of its highest-yielding funds. Today we’re going to zero in on a 13%-yielder that’s at the center of the action: the tech-focused BlackRock Innovation and Growth Term Trust (NYSE:). Yes, the fund focused on tech. So the pullback in American AI stocks on news that ******** AI chatbot DeepSeek, which was launched earlier this month, can rival the latest version of Open AI’s ChatGPT, factors in here, too. BIGZ is a closed-end fund (CEF) with nearly $2 billion in assets under management—enormous for a CEF (The “BIG” is right in the ticker, after all). So any changes to BIGZ are worth watching, especially when, as is the case now, those changes (including a big share-buyback program) are partly a response to activist action, both around the fund’s sponsor, BlackRock, and the CEF industry as a whole. Let’s dive into exactly what’s going on here. The best place to start, actually, is with BlackRock’s other two big tech CEFs, the 8.2%-yielding BlackRock Science & Technology (NYSE:) and the BlackRock Science and Technology Trust II (NYSE:), another 13% yielder. Unlike BIGZ, these funds aren’t changing, for reasons that should be clear in a bit. (BST and BSTZ are both buy recommendations of my CEF Insider advisory.) These funds’ portfolios overlap, but they’ve recently taken different paths. BSTZ, for its part, has been focusing more on private tech firms, as well as fast-growing public companies. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:), its largest holding, and Astera Labs (NASDAQ:), are examples of the latter. Both are at the heart of AI’s continued growth. Even with the DeepSeek news on Monday, and the pressure it put on American AI stocks, these two have still posted strong gains, up 31% and 34%, respectively, since Astera’s IPO in March 2024. However, as the developments around DeepSeek showed us, there’s still a lot of uncertainty around AI. That’s why BSTZ’s sister fund, BST, bolsters its NVIDIA position with mature tech firms like Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Apple (NASDAQ:), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), all top-10 holdings. As a result, BST has been less volatile in the past year, on the basis of the performance of both its underlying portfolio (a.k.a. its net asset value, or NAV), and its market price (both including dividends). (Since CEFs have fixed share counts, there is often a difference between the market price and NAV returns, with the market price often discounted). But BSTZ (in purple below) put up a stronger market price–based total return as investors got aggressive about tech after the 2022 rout. BST and BSTZ Combine for Strong Gains, Lower Volatility This, by the way, is exactly why we hold this duo—to get tech exposure and use BST’s large-cap focus to temper our volatility. That’s worked well, with BST and BSTZ delivering us a 24% average return between them in the last year, well above the ’s 16% return, with a big slice of that in cash, thanks to their 10.5% average yield. So where does BIGZ fit in here? It has some investments in private firms, similar to BSTZ and, to a lesser extent, BST. But the key difference is that BIGZ has major holdings a little outside tech, with military contractor Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:), data-center servicer Vertiv Holdings (NYSE:) and plumbing/HVAC specialist Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:) being its biggest positions. As you can see, the focus here is on small firms that are growing fast. This should mean fast returns for BIGZ—but that’s not what we’ve seen. Check its performance based on the latest numbers for its total NAV return (or, again, the return of its underlying portfolio, including dividends). BIGZ’s Portfolio Gets Dusted As you can see, it was much weaker than those of the other two CEFs. This lag was unacceptable, as activists reminded BlackRock, which responded by shaking up BIGZ in several ways. For one, BIGZ will get a new management team and a new mandate tightening its focus on tech. You can read more about those changes here. BlackRock is also bringing in a buyback program under which shareholders can tender shares of BIGZ for 99.5% of the fund’s NAV per share. The company is offering this for half of the total number of shares outstanding, and the stop and start dates haven’t been announced yet. That’s a massive program that should help support BIGZ’s market price. BIGZ’s Big Opportunity With a 9.1% discount to NAV, investors can buy BIGZ at 90.9 cents on the dollar and sell at 99.5 cents on the dollar, a 9.5% gain separate from BIGZ’s market performance. The risk here is that, if BIGZ’s NAV drops before an investor can redeem their shares, they might end up redeeming them for less. But in that case, they could simply ignore the redemption and keep collecting BIGZ’s 13% dividend—provided the fund’s new management keeps earning enough profits to maintain that payout. My Prediction: DeepSeek Will Put AI—and These 9.5% Dividends—in Hyperdrive One thing we do NOT want to do now is let something like a cheaper AI chatbot from China scare us out of the field entirely. If anything, this development will accelerate the growth of AI—and more importantly, its integration into the apps and other tools we use every day. Because if there’s one thing you can bet on it’s this: China’s move will prompt American tech giants to double down and produce even cheaper, better AI—and much more quickly than would otherwise be the case. Disclosure: Brett Owens and Michael Foster are contrarian income investors who look for undervalued stocks/funds across the U.S. markets. Click here to learn how to profit from their strategies in the latest report, “7 Great Dividend Growth Stocks for a Secure Retirement.” Source link #Dividend #Soar #LittleReported #Buyback Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Salwan Momika, Who Burned a Quran in Sweden, Is Killed Salwan Momika, Who Burned a Quran in Sweden, Is Killed Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant who set off enormous protests when he burned a Quran in Stockholm in 2023, has been killed, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said Thursday morning. The police said that they had arrested five people and that a ******* investigation had been launched. Mr. Momika had been set to appear in Stockholm District Court on Thursday on a charge of agitation against an ethnic or national group. The Stockholm police, who declined to confirm that Mr. Momika had been killed, said that there had been a shooting late on Wednesday in Sodertalje, a city near Stockholm, and that a man had died. The prosecution authority then confirmed that Mr. Momika was that man. The authorities did not say if the killing was connected to Mr. Momika’s burning of the Quran. Mr. Momika set off protests around the ******* world and in Sweden after he burned the Quran outside a mosque on one of the holiest days in Islam. He had expressed anti-Islam views and said he was trying to raise awareness about the mistreatment of Christian minorities by Islamists in some parts of the ******* world. Many Muslims were angry with the Swedish authorities, who did not act to stop his protest. Although the authorities condemned Mr. Momika’s anti-******* actions, they said that Swedish free speech laws meant they had little power to intervene. A permit obtained for Mr. Momika’s gathering, however, had said that demonstrators were not allowed to burn objects in Stockholm. Mr. Momika was charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group, said Rasmus Oman, the prosecutor assigned to the case. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Source link #Salwan #Momika #Burned #Quran #Sweden #Killed Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Microsoft shares slide on dour cloud outlook, Meta rises on revenue beat – Reuters Microsoft shares slide on dour cloud outlook, Meta rises on revenue beat – Reuters Microsoft shares slide on dour cloud outlook, Meta rises on revenue beat ReutersMicrosoft shares slip on weak quarterly revenue guidance CNBCMicrosoft’s Cloud Computing Business Hits a Speed Bump The Wall Street JournalMicrosoft Continues A.I. Spending Growth as Profit Grows 10% The New York TimesPress Release & Webcast Microsoft Source link #Microsoft #shares #slide #dour #cloud #outlook #Meta #rises #revenue #beat #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Women’s Ashes Test 2025: England bowled out for 170 as Australia dominate day one Women’s Ashes Test 2025: England bowled out for 170 as Australia dominate day one England are already on the back foot in their attempt to avoid a 16-0 clean sweep in the Women’s Ashes, having been bowled out for 170 on day one of the one-off Test. Leg-spinner Alana King took 4-45 as England crumbled inside 72 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. All-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt provided the only resistance for England with a gritty 51 from 129 ****** amid an array of wasteful dismissals. England then bowled 22 overs at the end of the day, in favourable conditions with the pink ball under floodlights, but Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland batted sensibly to reach 56-1 at the close of play, trailing by 114 runs. Earlier, England had been put in to bat and it took just four ****** for the all-too-familiar batting woes to resurface with Maia Bouchier caught behind in Kim Garth’s opening over. Garth also removed captain Heather Knight for 25, Tammy Beaumont was trapped lbw by Darcie Brown for eight before a stand of 50 between Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley led a rebuilding effort from 47-3. But Australia expertly exposed England’s spin weaknesses once more as they lost four wickets to King and Gardner combined in the afternoon session to dent any hopes of posting a competitive total. Australia will be confident of accelerating on day two with their formidable batting depth, having only lost debutant Georgia Voll to Lauren Bell for 12. Having won all six preceding white-ball matches, Australia are now eyeing all 16 points from the series, which has never been achieved in the multi-format Ashes. More to follow. Source link #Womens #Ashes #Test #England #bowled #Australia #dominate #day Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lara Croft: Guardian of Light is bringing the ruins-exploring heroine back to mobile next month Lara Croft: Guardian of Light is bringing the ruins-exploring heroine back to mobile next month Rage against the god of death and misfortune Gamepad support and customisable touch controls Landing on iOS and Android on February 27th If you’ve always been a fan of dungeon-exploring adventures with a protagonist who doesn’t seem to have any sense of danger, then Feral Interactive’s latest announcement should be right up your alley. In particular, Lara Croft: Guardian of Light will be landing on mobile this February 27th, which means the titular heroine is back and, once again, seemingly unfazed by the dangers of the world around her. In Lara Croft: Guardian of Light, you can look forward to an isometric platforming puzzler where you’ll leap, roll, and slide your way across ******** jungles littered with dangerous traps. From toxic swamps to hordes of the undead, there doesn’t seem to be any limit to the obstacles standing in your way – all in a day’s work for THE Lara Croft. Now, since you’re going up against Xolotl, the god of death and misfortune, you’ll be happy to know that the touchscreen controls are fully customisable – or if you fancy something a bit more console-like, there’s always the platformer’s gamepad support to give you a helping hand. Are you on the hunt for something similar while you wait for February 27th? Why not take a look at our list of the best platformers on Android to get your fill? In the meantime, if you’re eager to join in on all the fun, you can do so by pre-registering for Lara Croft: Guardian of Light from the App Store and on Google Play. It’s a premium purchase at $9.99 a pop or your local equivalent. You can also join the community of followers on the official Facebook page to stay updated on all the latest developments, visit the official website for more info, or take a little peek at the embedded clip above to get a feel of the vibes and visuals. Source link #Lara #Croft #Guardian #Light #bringing #ruinsexploring #heroine #mobile #month Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

China’s DeepSeek has some big AI claims; not all experts are convinced China’s DeepSeek has some big AI claims; not all experts are convinced ******** artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek rocked markets this week with claims its new AI model outperforms OpenAI’s and cost a fraction of the price to build. The assertions — specifically that DeepSeek’s large language model cost just $5.6 million to train — have sparked concerns over the eyewatering sums that tech giants are currently spending on computing infrastructure required to train and run advanced AI workloads. But not everyone is convinced by DeepSeek’s claims. CNBC asked industry experts for their views on DeepSeek, and how it actually compares to OpenAI, creator of viral chatbot ChatGPT which sparked the AI revolution. What is DeepSeek? Last week, DeepSeek released R1, its new reasoning model that rivals OpenAI’s o1. A reasoning model is a large language model that breaks prompts down into smaller pieces and considers multiple approaches before generating a response. It is designed to process complex problems in a similar way to humans. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, co-founder of AI-focused quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, to focus on large language models and reaching artificial general intelligence, or AGI. AGI as a concept loosely refers to the idea of an AI that equals or surpasses human intellect on a wide range of tasks. Much of the technology behind R1 isn’t new. What is notable, however, is that DeepSeek is the first to deploy it in a high-performing AI model with — according to the company — considerable reductions in power requirements. “The takeaway is that there are many possibilities to develop this industry. The high-end chip/capital intensive way is one technological approach,” said Xiaomeng Lu, director of Eurasia Group’s geo-technology practice. “But DeepSeek proves we are still in the nascent stage of AI development and the path established by OpenAI may not be the only route to highly capable AI.” How is it different from OpenAI? DeepSeek has two main systems that have garnered buzz from the AI community: V3, the large language model that unpins its products, and R1, its reasoning model. Both models are open-source, meaning their underlying code is free and publicly available for other developers to customize and redistribute. DeepSeek’s models are much smaller than many other large language models. V3 has a total of 671 billion parameters, or variables that the model learns during training. And while OpenAI doesn’t disclose parameters, experts estimate its latest model to have at least a trillion. In terms of performance, DeepSeek says its R1 model achieves performance comparable to OpenAI’s o1 on reasoning tasks, citing benchmarks including AIME 2024, Codeforces, GPQA Diamond, MATH-500, MMLU and SWE-bench Verified. Read more DeepSeek coverage In a technical report, the company said its V3 model had a training cost of only $5.6 million — a fraction of the billions of dollars that notable Western AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic have spent to train and run their foundational AI models. It isn’t yet clear how much DeepSeek costs to run, however. If the training costs are accurate, though, it means the model was developed at a fraction of the cost of rival models by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others. Daniel Newman, CEO of tech insight firm The Futurum Group, said these developments suggest “a massive breakthrough,” although he shed some doubt on the exact figures. “I believe the breakthroughs of DeepSeek indicate a meaningful inflection for scaling laws and are a real necessity,” he said. “Having said that, there are still a lot of questions and uncertainties around the full picture of costs as it pertains to the development of DeepSeek.” Meanwhile, Paul Triolio, senior VP for China and technology policy lead at advisory firm DGA Group, noted it was difficult to draw a direct comparison between DeepSeek’s model cost and that of major U.S. developers. “The 5.6 million figure for DeepSeek V3 was just for one training run, and the company stressed that this did not represent the overall cost of R&D to develop the model,” he said. “The overall cost then was likely significantly higher, but still lower than the amount spent by major US AI companies.” DeepSeek wasn’t immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Comparing DeepSeek, OpenAI on price DeepSeek and OpenAI both disclose pricing for their models’ computations on their websites. DeepSeek says R1 costs 55 cents per 1 million tokens of inputs — “tokens” referring to each individual unit of text processed by the model — and $2.19 per 1 million tokens of output. In comparison, OpenAI’s pricing page for o1 shows the firm charges $15 per 1 million input tokens and $60 per 1 million output tokens. For GPT-4o mini, OpenAI’s smaller, low-cost language model, the firm charges 15 cents per 1 million input tokens. Skepticism over chips DeepSeek’s reveal of R1 has already led to heated public debate over the veracity of its claim — not least because its models were built despite export controls from the U.S. restricting the use of advanced AI chips to China. DeepSeek claims it had its breakthrough using mature Nvidia clips, including H800 and A100 chips, which are less advanced than the chipmaker’s cutting-edge H100s, which can’t be exported to China. However, in comments to CNBC last week, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, said he believed DeepSeek used the banned chips — a claim that DeepSeek denies. Nvidia has since come out and said that the GPUs that DeepSeek used were fully export-compliant. The real deal or not? Industry experts seem to broadly agree that what DeepSeek has achieved is impressive, although some have urged skepticism over some of the ******** company’s claims. “DeepSeek is legitimately impressive, but the level of hysteria is an indictment of so many,” U.S. entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, who founded Oculus and Anduril wrote on X. “The $5M number is bogus. It is pushed by a ******** hedge fund to slow investment in American AI startups, service their own shorts against American titans like Nvidia, and hide sanction evasion.” Seena Rejal, chief commercial officer of NetMind, a London-headquartered startup that offers access to DeepSeek’s AI models via a distributed GPU network, said he saw no reason not to believe DeepSeek. “Even if it’s off by a certain factor, it still is coming in as greatly efficient,” Rejal told CNBC in a phone interview earlier this week. “The logic of what they’ve explained is very sensible.” However, some have claimed DeepSeek’s technology might not have been built from scratch. “DeepSeek makes the same mistakes O1 makes, a strong indication the technology was ripped off,” billionaire investor Vinod Khosla said on X, without giving more details. It’s a claim that OpenAI itself has alluded to, telling CNBC in a statement Wednesday that it is reviewing reports DeepSeek may have “inappropriately” used output data from its models to develop their AI model, a method referred to as “distillation.” “We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the U.S. government to protect the most capable models being built here,” an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC. Commoditization of AI However the scrutiny surrounding DeepSeek shakes out, AI scientists broadly agree it marks a positive step for the industry. Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, said that DeepSeek’s success represented a victory for open-source AI models, not necessarily a win for China over the U.S. Meta is behind a popular open-source AI model called Llama. “To people who see the performance of DeepSeek and think: ‘China is surpassing the US in AI.’ You are reading this wrong. The correct reading is: ‘Open source models are surpassing proprietary ones’,” he said in a post on LinkedIn. “DeepSeek has profited from open research and open source (e.g. PyTorch and Llama from Meta). They came up with new ideas and built them on top of other people’s work. Because their work is published and open source, everyone can profit from it. That is the power of open research and open source.” Meanwhile, Matt Calkins, CEO of U.S. software firm Appian, told CNBC that DeepSeek’s success simply shows that AI models are going to become more of a commodity in the future. “In my opinion, we’re going to see a commoditization of AI. Many companies will achieve competitive AI, and a lack of differentiation will be bad for high-spending first-movers,” Calkins said via email. WATCH: Why DeepSeek is putting America’s AI lead in jeopardy – CNBC’s Katrina Bishop and Hayden Field contributed to this report Source link #Chinas #DeepSeek #big #claims #experts #convinced Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Tesla reported weaker-than-expected earnings. Here’s what analysts had to say Tesla reported weaker-than-expected earnings. Here’s what analysts had to say Analysts largely view Tesla’s fourth-quarter results as lackluster. The electric vehicle giant reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that missed expectations. The company also noted that automotive revenue pulled back 8% in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. Overall revenue, however, inched up roughly 2%, while its net income was aided by a $600 million gain thanks to an accounting rule change that affected its bitcoin holdings throughout the quarter. To be sure, Tesla’s total net income plummeted 71% from a year earlier. Shares did tick slightly higher in the premarket on the back of the results. Here’s what analysts at some of the biggest shops on Wall Street had to say on the report. Wells Fargo, underweight, $125 per share price target Analyst Colin Langan’s forecast implies about 68% downside from Wednesday’s close. “We see moderating delivery growth driven by lower demand & diminished return on price cuts. We are cautious on margins given likelihood of more price cuts & lower volumes,” Langan said. “Moreover, we are concerned about the rollout of their next models and their demand & margins. We also see risks around increased US regulation on Autopilot & risk to the rollout of previously promised technologies (Dojo, Optimus, true FSD, etc.).” UBS, sell rating, $259 per share price target Despite UBS’ sell rating, the firm upped its price target to $259 per share from $226. This still equates to more than 33% downside. “It’s one thing to say we believe TSLA can eventually capitalize on humanoid robots. But conceptually, it does matter to today’s valuation how quickly that occurs and ramps,” said analyst Joseph Spak. “Further, if one believes that the direction of travel on forward 1-2 year EPS estimates dictates the stock (which we tend to believe), we don’t believe they will meaningfully contribute to earnings in 2026.” Goldman Sachs, neutral rating, $345 per share price target Goldman’s forecast implies about 11% downside ahead. “We maintain our Neutral rating on the stock, with our positive view of the company’s long-term potential offset by what we believe is full valuation and risk to the company’s near-term targets (e.g. timing for FSD to be safer than a human driver, and lower delivery growth than the 20-30% that Tesla had initially guided to for 2025),” analyst Mark Delaney said. Evercore ISI, in-line rating, $275 per share price target Evercore’s target calls for more than 29% downside moving forward. “As we have highlighted in the past, analyzing TSLA from a quarterly results perspective is becoming increasingly problematic as we now observe the core EV/Energy Industrial business (i.e. things TSLA makes today) only comprises < 40% of its [market cap] (implied ~$600Bn of $1.5Trn),” analyst Chris McNally said. Morgan Stanley, overweight rating, $430 per share price target Analyst Adam Jonas was undeterred in his overall view of Tesla following its disappointing fourth-quarter results. “Tesla’s 4Q results are emblematic of a company in the transition from an automotive ‘pure play’ to a highly diversified play on AI and robotics,” Jonas said. “As AI moves from the digital world (bits and bytes) to the physical world (atoms and photons) we expect to see TSLA’s TAM [total addressable market] aperture further expand to broader domains, many of which are still not included in buy-side or sell-side financial models for the company.” Source link #Tesla #reported #weakerthanexpected #earnings #Heres #analysts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU stock rumored to be ‘basically non-existent’ for launch day, and RTX 5080 doesn’t sound like it’ll be much better Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU stock rumored to be ‘basically non-existent’ for launch day, and RTX 5080 doesn’t sound like it’ll be much better More last-minute rumors are swirling about low stock for Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and 5080 Launch day stock for the RTX 5090 is claimed to be very thin on the ground The RTX 5080 situation sounds better, but stock looks to be only about half of that seen with the RTX 4080 launch, which still isn’t great Want more bad news about the stock of Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs? No, I bet you don’t, but unfortunately – and predictably – there are several final helpings of inventory-related woe as we head into the day when these graphics cards actually go on *****. First up, we have Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), who in his latest YouTube video addresses RTX 5090 and 5080 stock (among other topics) once again. According to the YouTuber this is a ‘lack of a launch’ from Nvidia, in fact, and what MLID presents is a very similar collection of feedback (sprinkle the usual seasoning) from inside sources to that aired in another recent video. Those sources come from three major retailers (two in the US, all anonymous as ever) and all basically say that RTX 5090 graphics cards are pretty much non-existent in terms of stock. One retailer actually had zero RTX 5090s in stock as of last night. Now, as MLID points out, it’s possible some RTX 5090 graphics cards could show up today, at the last minute – this has happened before with Nvidia (and was the case with Intel Battlemage apparently, with launch stock turning up on sales day) – but let’s face it, this is unlikely. And presumably it wouldn’t be many units, even if it did happen like this. The picture with the RTX 5080 GPU sounds a little healthier, but sadly with the emphasis on ‘little’. One of those big US retailers claims to have around 60 units of the 5080, which doesn’t seem so bad – though that compares to about 100 boards that were in stock for the RTX 4080 launch. Another source echoes that rough estimation of half the RTX 5080 stock compared to the RTX 4080. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Broad comparisons are also drawn to Nvidia’s RTX 3000 launch, which was poor for quantities of stock due to the global chip shortage caused by the pandemic, of course. So, it’s all pretty pessimistic stuff, and underlining this is a further tale of woe, a story picked up by Wccftech whereby a Japanese retailer is selling ‘lottery tickets’ for the chance to buy an RTX 5080 or 5090 on launch day. Note that the prize is the opportunity to pay for an Nvidia GPU, not to win one for free. Those queued outside the store will be given a lottery ticket, and must hope they win in order to get to the till and buy an RTX 5090 or 5080. (Image credit: Moore’s Law is Dead (YouTube)) Analysis: Severe skewing for supply and demand, with pricing as a further concern With stories of folks already queuing up outside stores for their shot to buy an RTX 5090 at launch, or needing to enter a lottery to buy one as seen over in Japan, it seems like there’s an unsurprising demand among PC enthusiasts to own the best of the best GPUs (for outright performance, anyway). Couple that with an apparently very low level of supply (certainly for the RTX 5090), and you have the perfect storm for a GPU demand/supply imbalance the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the pandemic and the RTX 3000 launch. Obviously, we need to take all these rumors with some caution, as already noted, but there’s so much speculation along these lines that you have to pretty much accept there must be some truth to this. Further consider MSI admitting it won’t ship RTX 5090 models from its store until February 6 – you’ll only be able to pre-order later today, not purchase as such – and Nvidia itself conceding that “stock-outs may happen” in this initial launch *******. Another notable element from this MLID video includes, as you can see in the above screenshot, is one source talking about the pricing for RTX 5080 models being pitched mostly in the $1,100 to $1,300 range in the US (where the MSRP is $999). This backs up some pre-release pricing in early product listings that have already been aired suggesting that most RTX 5080 models won’t be at the MSRP, so you’re looking at paying a fair bit more than a grand (before stock shortages and scalpers worsen this situation, of course). As for the RTX 5090, we’re told to expect pricing more in the range of $2,300 to $2,600 in the US, versus the $1,999 MSRP. So that looks even worse when premiums for fancy third-party boards are factored in. On a final note, one of MLID’s sources makes a comment about not expecting a significant amount of RTX 5090 stock until March 2025. Now, that doesn’t apply to the RTX 5080, but it’s still a suggestion that supply will be slow to crank up after this initial launch *******, and that makes me wonder whether this is something AMD caught wind of. Right around the time, or just before, Team Red announced that its RX 9070 models weren’t going on ***** until March 2025 (later in Q1 than expected). Maybe AMD got to thinking there’s no real need to rush RDNA 4, and that it can afford to take its time to fine-tune the GPUs (drivers and such) and better pitch pricing compared to the performance of Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics cards and their reception. Of course, RTX 5070 stock could be an entirely different matter when these models emerge in February, but there are already rumors that it won’t be great, and even that the vanilla RTX 5070 could be delayed until March (heap on the salt there, naturally). If you are hoping to get one of Nvidia’s new Blackwell graphics cards when they launch later today, TechRadar has some resources to help. Check out our where to buy the RTX 5090 live blog, with recommendations on the best retailers to hit up, and we have a separate blog for the RTX 5080. By all accounts, you’ll need all the help you can get. You might also like… Source link #Nvidia #RTX #GPU #stock #rumored #basically #nonexistent #launch #day #RTX #doesnt #sound #itll Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]