Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launch gets stranded on the runway amid launch woes
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launch gets stranded on the runway amid launch woes
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 officially launched today, at 8am PST. And that’s about the best we can say about the game so far. Xbox Game Studios declined to provide reviewers pre-launch access, offering up this statement:
“Due to the availability of online services and scope of the planned Day One patch update, we will distribute codes on launch day rather than in advance. We also want to avoid reviewers being under unrealistic timelines to complete their reviews, and thus made the decision not to have a shortened review *******.”
As you can imagine, that’s going to have the opposite result. Instead of being able to play through the game in advance and figuring out what to say, reviewers and testers will now be scrambling in a **** race to see who can post content first. Except… you can’t post anything about how the game runs and how good or bad it is when you can’t get into it at all.
We were able to download the game, via Steam, without any trouble. It didn’t take long, probably because the initial download was only 11.6 GiB. Steam knows how to handle massive game launches, including games that might be up to 200 GiB in size. But once you launch the game, it needs you to log in to your Xbox / Microsoft account. That shouldn’t be a problem, and everything seemed to go fine, until I was greeted with the loading screen.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
The loading screen took forever, and it wasn’t clear what exactly was going on in the background. Initially, it said “0% — Loading language…” but that stuck around for at least ten minutes on my first launch. I stopped paying attention and after about 30~40 minutes, I noticed that the game had apparently finished loading. I also found another 16 GiB of data downloaded (into the AppData\Roaming folder), but it’s not clear when that happened or at what rate. It definitely didn’t happen quickly, on a gigabit internet connection.
Once into the game proper, after poking around at the settings, I tried to launch a flight. And I was stymied. The “go” buttons for various flight options, including the tutorial, were all greyed out. I went into the Activities menu as well, and almost all of the screens there were blank (except for tutorials). Basically, things seemed like maybe I needed to restart, so I did… and then I was effectively locked out.
Microsoft has a status page for the Xbox Series S|X that says it’s aware of the problems and working on a fix, but there’s no word on when it might be available. It also says in a tweet that “a subset of users may be experiencing slow download and install times” for the game. That seems a ****** understatement, as we have three different people scattered around the US that are all experiencing the same problems.
We’re sure things will eventually get fixed, but how long that will take and what state the game will be in at that point ******** to be seen. The loading screen video looks pretty nice, so we’re excited to see how the game runs. Maybe it won’t be quite as CPU-limited as the previous Flight Simulator 2020 release? That’s probably wishful thinking. We’ll update this with our actual performance testing and analysis once we’re able to get into the game and run some benchmarks, so stay tuned.
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Nvidia Q3 Earnings Preview: 9% Stock Move Likely Amid High Expectations
Nvidia Q3 Earnings Preview: 9% Stock Move Likely Amid High Expectations
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) is poised to release its , with analysts projecting earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74 on revenue of $33 billion.
The technology giant, known for its innovations in graphics processing units and artificial intelligence (AI), continues to capture market attention with robust growth expectations across its key segments. The Data Center segment is anticipated to generate $29 billion, marking a 100% increase from the previous year, while gaming revenue is expected to rise by 7% to $3 billion.
****** margins are forecasted to hover around 75%, reflecting the company’s efficiency in managing production costs and maximizing profitability. As Nvidia contends with Microsoft (NASDAQ:) for the title of the most valuable publicly traded company by market capitalization, investors are keenly watching for any updates from CEO Jensen Huang on the highly anticipated Blackwell AI chips, set to ramp up production in the fourth quarter.
NVDA Faces High Expectations, Stock Likely to See High Volatility with a +/- 9% Move Expected
Nvidia has established a reputation for exceeding Wall Street expectations in recent quarters, having surpassed analyst EPS estimates in seven of the last eight quarters by an average of 15%. This consistent outperformance has historically driven the company’s stock upward, with an average post-earnings rise of more than 9%. Year-to-date, Nvidia’s stock has surged by an impressive 189% (at the time of writing).
However, past performance also highlights the volatility associated with high expectations; Nvidia’s stock dipped by 6% following the second-quarter earnings despite beating expectations, underscoring the high bar set by the market.
As the third-quarter results approach, the implied volatility on options suggests a potential stock movement of +/- 9%, emphasizing the market’s anticipation and the potential for significant price swings based on the latest financial disclosures.
Nvidia Stock Brief
As of November 19, 2024, Nvidia’s stock opened at $141.325 and reached a current price of $146.38 at the time of writing.
This positions the stock closer to its 52-week high of $149.77, far above its 52-week low of $45.01, reflecting the company’s substantial growth trajectory over the past year. Nvidia’s market capitalization stands at a staggering $3.56 trillion, supported by strong financial metrics, including a trailing PE ratio of 67.22 and a forward PE ratio of 34.18.
Despite a modest dividend yield of 0.03% on a dividend rate of $0.04, the stock’s robust price-to-book ratio of 60.46 and a low debt-to-equity ratio of 17.221 highlight the company’s solid financial health and investor appeal. Analysts maintain a “Strong Buy” recommendation with a mean target price of $160.67, indicating confidence in further upside potential.
Investors are eagerly awaiting Nvidia’s guidance for the fourth quarter, with revenue expectations set at $37 billion. The focus will be on CEO Jensen Huang’s insights regarding the Blackwell AI chips, particularly in terms of supply and demand dynamics, which could significantly impact future earnings and market positioning.
Nvidia’s ability to navigate these dynamics will be crucial in maintaining its competitive edge in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. The company’s strategic investments and innovations continue to capture investor interest, driving expectations of sustained growth and profitability.
***
Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our website policy prior to making financial decisions.
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Democrats suffered devastating losses in 2024 elections. The race to take over the party has begun
Democrats suffered devastating losses in 2024 elections. The race to take over the party has begun
Two candidates have officially launched their campaign to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, kicking off the race to determine who will lead the party’s recovery after widespread losses in 2024.
Martin O’Malley, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor, became the first notable figure to jump into the race on Monday. Ken Martin, who is the chair of Minnesota’s arm of the Democratic party, and a DNC vice chair, announced his campaign Tuesday morning.
Democrats are sifting through the fallout of the 2024 presidential election, where they not only lost the White House and control of the Senate but also ******* to win back control of the House. The party finds itself without a clear leader and unified vision for the future, representing both a hurdle for the next DNC chair but also an opportunity to overhaul Democrats’ approach with voters across the country in the coming years.
Whoever the party’s over 440 members elect to lead the party’s national committee will be in charge of the party’s top-level infrastructure, organizing and fundraising. And while DNC members tell CBS News that the eventual chair won’t determine the widespread policy of the party, that person will serve as a notable mouthpiece to help craft the Democratic message.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris hugs Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Jamie Harrison on Nov. 5, 2024.
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
While the party itself was locked out of federal control after the elections, fundraising remained strong. As a candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris raked in over $1 billion within the few months she was in the race. Her sum includes money raised by the DNC.
Jamie Harrison, the current DNC chair, has said he would not seek reelection.
The timeline for the election is not yet determined, though it will be addressed in a DNC Rules & Bylaws committee meeting on Dec. 12. DNC members expect the election itself to take place at their widespread member meeting before early spring 2025.
In their launches, O’Malley and Martin both said prioritizing the party’s message on the economy is essential. The state of the economy was a big issue that bolstered President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office, according to a CBS News exit poll.
“When I’m traveling around the country, most people I chat with want the same things: to stay ahead on their bills, to give their families a better life and to live in safe and healthy communities. That’s exactly what Democrats stand for, but we need to reconnect our ideas,” Martin said in his campaign video.
Chuck Rocha, a political strategist who worked for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and Sen-elect Ruben Gallego’s campaign, told CBS News he is “seriously considering” a run for chair and has fielded calls from a handful of DNC members and nonprofits.
Rocha said he’s still waiting to see how the field develops before jumping in, and “if there’s a better candidate that really stands for what I want to see done with the party.”
But Rocha has set several action items he would take as chair: eliminate education requirements for senior DNC positions, mandating that state parties “be more inclusive” and diverse with consultant hiring, and to focus on building party infrastructure in all 50 states.
Asked about Martin’s and O’Malley’s campaigns, Rocha called them “names that are from the institution.”
“I think we need somebody from the outside and a strategist to come in and rebuild the party,” said Rocha, who noted that his non-college background and upbringing in East Texas could be an advantage as the party looks to reconnect with working-class voters.
Other names that could potentially run include Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, who is “seriously considering” a run for chair according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Rahm Emanuel, the current U.S. ambassador to Japan and former Chicago Mayor, is also mulling over a run according to Axios. But potentially choosing Emanuel, a polarizing figure in the Democratic party, has been panned by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and progressive groups.
Martin, a DNC member since he became a state party chair in 2011, may be the early favorite. Alan Clendenin, an executive DNC board member who is already supporting Martin, said he has “a lot of friends in the DNC” and pointed to relationships built from his time as President of the Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC). Clendenin said Martin already has support from just under 100 DNC committee members.
“The party is in a place where we have to have someone who has a really solid understanding of existing party infrastructure. What’s there, what’s not there. People who have walked the walk. Talked the talk. People who have had to deal with the frustration of what’s lacking and be able to understand what it takes to turn things around,” Clendenin said about Martin and the chair position.
Democrats’ lack of success in 2024 could linger over any of the candidates in the race. While Minnesota has been a reliably blue state under Martin’s watch, it’s not seen as a presidential battleground state. But if Democrats wanted to gravitate towards someone from any of the seven presidential battlegrounds, the fact that the Harris-Walz ticket lost every one of them may prove to be a hindrance for a party incredibly eager to avoid a repeat performance in 2028.
“We just need to win,” said one DNC member about the stakes of the chair race. “We need to know who’s coming with the game plan to make it happen… We don’t make policy. We win elections, and we win presidential elections. That’s our priority.”
Aaron Navarro
Aaron Navarro is a CBS News digital reporter covering the 2024 elections. He was previously an associate producer for the CBS News political unit in the 2021 and 2022 election cycles.
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Listen: Farmer v Starmer
Listen: Farmer v Starmer
And, Ukraine uses US long range missiles inside Russian territory for first time.
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Kuntillet Ajrud: The Ancient Fortress that Puzzles Archaeologists
Kuntillet Ajrud: The Ancient Fortress that Puzzles Archaeologists
In the Sinah desert stands Kuntillet Ajrud, a remote settlement that was found in 1975 by the archaeologist Ze’ev Meshel of the University of Tel Aviv. The settlement is dated to the 8th century BC and is suggested to be one of the border fortresses built by King Solomon. The name of the fortress in Arabic, means ‘Hill of the Water-Source’.
Religious Syncretism: Yahweh, El, and Baal Worship at Kuntillet Ajrud
Two major buildings were found preserved at Kuntillet Ajrud. The largest one contained numerous inscriptions—of early Hebrew and Phoenician writings—and paintings on the walls, door posts, pottery and stone jars, as well as numerous drawings of men, animals and gods. It is interesting to note that in addition to Yahweh (the **** of the ******) being mentioned in the inscriptions, the Canaanite gods, El and Baal, were also worshipped. It was only later that Baal was ‘transformed’ to a ****** and was considered evil in the scriptures.
Baal with Thunderbolt (Public Domain)
The Connection Between Yahweh, Baal, and El in the Inscriptions
Even if it has been proposed that Kuntillet Ajrud was used as a fortress, the actual nature and function of the place is not clear. Various ******** that were found, including the inscriptions, suggest that it also served as a kind of religious center, with one phrase of particular importance creating debate amongst archaeologists: “I have blessed you to Yahweh of Shomron (Samaria) and to His Asherah”. Asherah was a Semitic mother goddess. The question has therefore been debated among scholars as to whether she may have been the wife of ****? Asherah was known to be the consort of the **** El, however it seems that she disappears at some point from Phoenician/Canaanite inscriptions.
Under that inscription is a drawing of two figures, possibly **** and Asherah, and one that resembles the Egyptian **** Bes, which is a collective name for a group of dwarf deities. A few scholars have suggested that the drawings were added after the initial inscriptions and may not be related, but both of the drawings are very interesting in terms of how they present the **** and his possible wife—if that is their purpose, of course.
Painted on a jar found in Kuntilat Ajrud in the Sinai Peninsula. Might point to a local polytheistic belief. Polytheism was outlawed in ******* Sinai, though some local mystery cults still continued with the practice, though were often stoned or *********. (Public Domain)
Another inscription found on the walls says the following:
“When **** shines forth … Yahweh … The mountains will melt, the hills will crush … The Holy One over the gods … Prepare to bless Ba‘al on a day of war … to the name of El on a day of war”
Kuntillet Ajrud baffles archaeologists—especially biblical archaeologists—because of the complexity of early Israelite worship and the mixing of the **** of the ****** with many different deities, showing a different ‘face’ of the **** and a gradual movement towards monotheistic worship without any other ‘interferences’. The controversial inscriptions at Kuntillet Ajrud serve to shake the foundations of monotheism.
Top image: Painted on a jar found in Kuntilat Ajrud in the Sinai Peninsula. Right: Part of the first line of the inscription found on a large “Petus” type storage can at Kuntillet Ajrud in northern Sinai. The usual translation of the two lines is: 1: “Will live long and thrive… will give Yhowe Yemen and to his Ashera…”. 2: Yehowe… will help… The rest of the 2nd line is unclear. Source: Public Domain, Pashute/CC BY-SA 4.0
By John ******
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Asus ROG Ally Gaming Handheld Is Only $350 For ****** Friday
Asus ROG Ally Gaming Handheld Is Only $350 For ****** Friday
The Asus ROG Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 chip is discounted to $350 (was $500) at Target for ****** Friday 2024. This matches the lowest price ever for the handheld gaming PC.
Meanwhile, the more powerful ROG Ally Z1 Extreme is on ***** for $500 (was $650) at Best Buy. But you can get it for $450 with a My Best Buy Plus membership. If you aren’t a member, it makes sense to sign up since it only costs $50 per year; you’re essentially getting the membership for free.
$350 (was $500)
The base model ROG Ally comes with a sharp 1080p screen, AMD’s Ryzen Z1 processor, 16GB LPDDR5 6400 RAM, and an internal 512GB NVMe SSD.
If that’s not enough space, you can always make use of a microSD card for a quick and cheap storage upgrade. Alternatively, you can upgrade the internal SSD with the WD ****** SN770M 1TB or 2TB drive, which is on ***** at Best Buy, too. If you want to upgrade your SSD without spending over $100, the Corsair MP600 Core Mini 1TB SSD for only $70 at Amazon.
The ROG Ally offers impressive performance for the price. It’s not going to play graphically demanding games at high settings, but you still can play many AAA titles in 1080p resolution with at least 30fps. It’s an especially great little machine for older AAA titles and indie games that feel right at home on handhelds.
It’s worth noting that Windows can be cumbersome on gaming handhelds, unless you pair it with a traditional mouse and keyboard setup. We’d recommend grabbing a budget-friendly docking station, so you can use the device like a regular desktop PC when needing to do anything complex within Windows. Asus also makes a 65W Charger Dock, which has ports for USB-C, USB 2.0, and HDMI 2.0.
Asus has a proprietary app called Armoury Crate that gives you a more traditional console-like interface for gaming, which is quite helpful after you have things squared away on the Windows side.
The ROG Ally with the Z1 Extreme chip has two additional CPU cores and a better GPU, which can make a difference for newer, more graphically demanding games.
The Z1 Extreme chip is also used in the newest addition to the Asus handheld PC family: the ROG Ally X. The ROG Ally X offers a more substantial performance leap with 24GB RAM and has other welcome improvements, including a 1TB SSD, better battery life, and upgraded joysticks. The ROG Ally X is pricey, though. All of these premium features will cost you $800.
If you’re interested in the ROG Ally X, it’s worth noting Asus is releasing a $900 edition with a 2TB SSD on December 9.
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Addlink G55 SSD review: More budget PCIe 5.0 love
Addlink G55 SSD review: More budget PCIe 5.0 love
If you’re looking for nearly-unparalleled performance and chart-topping power efficiency, the Addlink G55 is certainly worth a look. New hardware helps push this SSD to levels once unthinkable for a “budget” drive, although there are some caveats. Price is certainly the biggest one, but sometimes you have to pay for cutting-edge technology. The era of PCIe 5.0 drives that don’t require active or even passive cooling is here, and that’s a good thing for storage enthusiasts everywhere. The G55 helps usher that in, although you can still get a heatsink with the G55H if that’s your thing.
Addlink has done a good job of surprising us with its SSDs in recent times. Earlier this year we looked at the NAS D60, a drive with power loss protection and enterprise TLC flash that’s tailor-made for NAS use and is ready to go for server workloads. Last year, we reviewed the excellent A93, a budget drive with many similarities to the G55, including having a similar optional heatsink. Addlink caps off this good run with an entry-level PCIe 5.0 SSD, which sounds a little ridiculous — and, at this time, it is — but the G55 does deliver the goods.
The goods in this case refer to the drive’s excellent all-around performance and record-breaking power efficiency. Gone are the days of needing a heatsink to cool a 12W PCIe 5.0 SSD. You can throw the G55 into a laptop and, even if it’s being used in a 4.0 slot, it’s going to give you excellent performance with low power draw. We already saw this recently with the Corsair MP700 Elite, with the G55 standing out from that drive by having lower street prices and a promised 4TB SKU. It ******** to be seen where prices will end up on these drives, but for the time being you do pay a decent premium for the courtesy of running cutting-edge SSD hardware.
The Phison E31T controller used in these drives is ostensibly a budget solution. The “T” suffix means there’s no DRAM cache, which reduces cost and can boost power efficiency. That should make the drives less expensive as well, but while these newcomers do undercut the existing Phison E26 PCIe 5.0 drives, it’s not by much. At the same time, paying more than you would for a good PCIe 4.0 drive makes sense, considering the potential boost in performance.
Addlink G55 Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Product
1TB
2TB
4TB
Pricing
$115.44 / $116.44
$195.44 / $197.44
N/A
Form Factor
M.2 2280 SS
M.2 2280 SS
M.2 2280 SS
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 5.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0
PCIe 5.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0
PCIe 5.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0
Controller
Phison E31T
Phison E31T
Phison E31T
DRAM
N/A (HMB)
N/A (HMB)
N/A (HMB)
Flash Memory
Kioxia 218-Layer (BiCS8) TLC
Kioxia 218-Layer (BiCS8) TLC
Kioxia 218-Layer (BiCS8) TLC
Sequential Read
10,2000 MB/s
10,300 MB/s
10,300 MB/s
Sequential Write
8,300 MB/s
9,000 MB/s
9,000 MB/s
Random Read
1,300K IOPS
1,300K IOPS
N/A
Random Write
1,500K IOPS
1,500K IOPS
N/A
Security
TCG Pyrite
TCG Pyrite
TCG Pyrite
Dimensions
22mm x 80mm x 2.3mm
22mm x 80mm x 8.75mm (HS)
22mm x 80mm x 2.3mm
22mm x 80mm x 8.75mm (HS)
22mm x 80mm x 2.3mm
22mm x 80mm x 8.75mm (HS)
Endurance (TBW)
600TB
1,200TB
2,400TB
Part Number
ad1TBG55M2P
ad1TBG55HM2P
ad2TBG55M2P
ad2TBG55HM2P
ad4TBG55M2P
ad4TBG55HM2P
Warranty
5-Year
5-Year
5-Year
The Addlink G55, or G55H with a heatsink, launched at 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. 4TB is a higher capacity than what we saw with the Phison E31T ES preview and in our Corsair MP700 Elite review. The possibility for 4TB was always there, but it’s up to the manufacturers to actually get those models to market. This can be somewhat challenging as there is dependence on Phison and flash makers to support this higher capacity with a cutting-edge drive like this.
At the time of review, we could not find a 4TB G55 or G55H, but the 1TB and 2TB models were going for $115.44 / $116.44 and $195.44 / $197.44. This is substantially less expensive than the MP700 Elite’s MSRPs but still significantly higher than many good PCIe 4.0 SSDs. The 2TB Crucial T500 is only $151.99, which is generally a much better deal. Prices will have to come down more on the E31T, but at least your options are expanding.
The G55 can achieve up to 10,3000 / 9,000 MB/s for sequential reads and writes and up to 1,300K / 1,500K random read and write IOPS. This is incredibly high for a DRAM-less drive with a four-channel controller. It doesn’t saturate the PCIe 5.0 link, but it’s almost as fast and powerful as original E26-based drives like the Corsair MP700 Pro. That’s pretty impressive. Addlink supports the drive with a five-year warranty at up to 600TB of writes per TB capacity.
Addlink G55 Software and Accessories
Addlink does offer its own SSD toolbox for download, which has the basic functionality you would expect. It’s useful for checking drive health with SMART sensor information and the application can also be used to securely erase the drive. There are many ways to safely format an SSD, but using the toolbox may be the most direct way. We recommend the free CrystalDiskMark for benchmarking, CrystalDiskInfo for checking drive health data, and Clonezilla for your backup and imaging needs.
Addlink G55: A Closer Look
Image 1 of 9
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Addlink sent us the G55 version of the drive, along with a separate heatsink that turns it into the G55H. We did run some thermal tests with the G55H, but otherwise we expect performance to be identical (within the normal margin of error). From what we can tell, the G55H comes with the heatsink unattached, so you can use it or not, as you please.
It’s refreshing to see the company not charging obscene amounts for an inexpensive heatsink, so the extra dollar or two for the G55H to get the extra flexibility seems like the better option for most people. The heatsink itself is not much to write home about but should be enough to keep the drive from throttling in any environment where that condition might be a risk. That’s assuming you have space for the added height (thickness) that the heatsink requires. It would fit just fine in a PS5, while it’s doubtful most laptops could support the extra couple of millimeters.
The 2TB drive is single-sided — a bonus for compatibility and cooling — and should be single-sided at 4TB, too, even with just two NAND flash packages. It should be possible to orient four packages on one side or to do at least two per side, but the default layout of the E31T drives we’ve seen favors just two on top. This might be why we haven’t seen any 4TB models out in the wild yet. That configuration could also see higher pricing, which means that sticking with a budget 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD makes more sense if you’re going for just one drive for games and storage.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Here we see the standard layout with the DRAM-less Phison E31T SSD controller and two NAND flash packages, as well as the Phison PMIC for power management. Each package is 1TB using eight 1Tb, 218-Layer BiCS8 TLC flash *****. There’s not much to this drive and that’s a good thing — this is an elegant, low-power design that superficially doesn’t look like much. However, it packs a punch, as we will soon see.
MORE: Best SSDs
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Is Monolithic Power Systems Stock a Screaming Buy After Near 40% Drop?
Is Monolithic Power Systems Stock a Screaming Buy After Near 40% Drop?
Monolithic Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ:) is a chip stock that isn’t nearly as talked about as some other companies in its industry, like NVIDIA (NASDAQ:) or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:). But that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t had great success over the years. It has been able to amass a value of nearly $28 billion, a number that looks much smaller after the last few weeks. Since Oct. 29, the company has lost over 39% of its value.
However, regardless of what the market says, it’s fair to question whether this massive drop justifies itself. Has the company’s intrinsic value really dropped by $18 billion in a mere two weeks, or is the market overreacting to recent news?
Monolithic’s Chips Power the Industry
First, it is important to understand what Monolithic does. Monolithic designs power chips. These chips regulate the use of power in other chips, like an NVIDIA AI accelerator, for example. This ensures that chip has the right amount of power, in the right places, at the right time, so that it can perform properly and efficiently.
Because Monolithic’s chips regulate the power of other chips, they are needed in all parts of the semiconductor industry. This is evident when looking at the company’s financials. It generates significant amounts of revenue from enterprise data, storage, automotive, consumer, and industrial semiconductor applications.
Two Pieces of Bad News Tank Monolithic, but Wall Street Appears Sanguine
The company’s Q3 earnings report on Oct. 30 certainly has caused concern in the market. The company’s shares dropped massively on earnings. They beat expectations for revenue and adjusted earnings per share (EPS). However, the company ******* to raise its guidance above expectations, the source for the drop.
There was more bad news surrounding Monolithic. An Edgewater Research report said Monolithic may lose orders to power NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell chips. It cited technical performance issues as the cause. This sent shares down even more than the earnings report. Still, Needham and Oppenheimer did not change their price targets based on this.
In conversations with Needham, Monolithic defended itself against this report. It said it wasn’t aware of these technical issues and hadn’t received any order cancellations from NVIDIA. The company pushed back further in another report. It stated that with Blackwell production in late stages, notification of these changes to the supply agreement would be required. It has not received such notification.
The change in Wall Street price targets has not been even close to the stock’s drop in price. The target changes from TD Cowen, Needham, and Truist have fallen an average of just 9% since Oct. 30. When adding in the price targets from three more analysts that either initiated the stock or didn’t change their target, the average price target sits at $875. Based on a Friday afternoon share price of $566, that implies an upside in the shares of 55%. At first glance, it’s hard to reckon that Monolithic Power Systems didn’t just go on *****.
With Other Parts of the Business Rebounding, Monolithic May Be Cheap
Another concerning point is that the company’s enterprise data revenue declined slightly from the previous quarter. This isn’t great to see, as this part of the company’s business is what has been driving growth. However, enterprise data revenue was still up 86% year-over-year. Every other segment of the business saw negative year-over-year growth for at least the last three quarters.
However, in Q3, all other segments returned to growth on a year-over-year basis and increased revenues from the previous quarter. This signals that other parts of the business enterprise data growth slows, are picking up . This is important because although enterprise data revenue has grown exponentially, it only makes up 30% of total revenue.
Overall, I see the massive drop in Monolithic Power stock as an opportunity. The analyst’s price target reactions and statements from the company throw cold water on the claims made by Edgewater. Additionally, the company’s diversified business makes the risk in the enterprise data segment less worrisome. This doesn’t mean that shares can’t keep dropping from here, but this is still a strong business whose products are needed in every part of the chip market. It appears to me that shares have gone on discount.
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G20 leaders urged to move faster on climate targets
G20 leaders urged to move faster on climate targets
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged leaders of the Group of 20 major economies to accelerate their national climate targets, calling on them to reach net zero climate emissions five to 10 years ahead of schedule.
Opening the last session of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, Lula suggested countries bring forward their targets to reach climate neutrality by 2040 or 2045, instead of 2050 as Brazil and many others have pledged.
“We have to do more and better,” Lula said, noting that this is likely the world’s warmest year on record as climate disasters such as flooding and droughts become more frequent and intense.
“There is no time to lose.”
World leaders are trying to shore up a global response to climate change before
Donald Trump retakes the US presidency in January, when he plans to roll back US policy on global warming and reportedly exit the landmark Paris Agreement.
G20 nations are seen as vital to shaping the response to global warming, as they account for 85 per cent of the world economy and more than three-quarters of climate-warming emissions.
The G20 leaders called in a ****** statement on Monday for “rapidly and substantially increasing climate finance from billions to trillions from all sources” to confront global warming.
They also urged COP29 negotiators to reach a deal on a new financial goal for how much money rich nations must provide to poorer developing nations in climate finance, the main sticking point in the climate talks.
At the G20 summit on Tuesday, when leaders turned their discussion to the environment, Lula urged developing countries to broaden their climate targets to address all emissions that cause global warming, not just from certain sectors or gases.
US President Joe Biden told the gathering that developing countries need to have “enough firepower and access to capital,” to slow climate change and protect their countries from its effects. That money needs to flow into their economies and give breathing room to debt-laden countries.
“History is watching us,” Biden said.
“I urge us to keep the ****** and keep going. This is the single greatest existential threat to humanity.”
Lula criticised developed countries for falling short of a promise to deliver $US100 billion ($A153 billion) of climate financing annually to developing countries by 2020.
Lula noted that negotiators at the ******* Nations COP29 climate summit underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, are pushing for a new global goal of how much wealthier countries should provide to developing nations. Economists suggest the goal should be at least $US1 trillion ($A1.5 trillion) annually.
Those talks, set to conclude on Friday, have bogged down as developed countries call for more countries to contribute toward the goal, while the developing world argues that the rich nations most responsible for climate change need to pay up.
The G20 leaders’ statement on Monday said nations must break the impasse on finance, but they did not give clear guidance on a solution.
“G20 leaders have sent a clear message to their negotiators at COP29: do not leave Baku without a successful new finance goal. This is in every country’s clear interests,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell said in a statement responding to the G20 communique.
The G20 also committed to agreeing on a legally binding treaty to limit plastic pollution by the end of 2024, with talks resuming next week to hammer out a deal two years in the making.
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What’s New in Starfield Update 1.14.74 (November 19)?
What’s New in Starfield Update 1.14.74 (November 19)?
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November 19, 2024
Following recent news that, despite all the naysayers, Starfield is doing relatively well with more than 15 million total players since launch, Bethesda pushed out a brand-new update to the open-world exploration game. Starfield update 1.14.74, released on November 19, 2024, features a handful of bug fixes, performance improvements, and tweaks to Quests. It’s a relatively quick download, just over 1.2 GB on PC.
Starfield Update 1.14.74 – Full Patch Notes
Overall, the new update is small and straightforward. It features general performance and stability improvements that should make for a smoother experience for everyone, along with an uncapped frame rate option for Xbox Series X players, and console command fixes. Most importantly, Shattered Space ownership on Steam is now resolved, so if you were struggling with the expansion appearing on your game and account, that should be fixed now.
General
General performance and stability improvements.
The uncapped frame rate option is available again for Xbox Series X users.
The Message of the Day now displays more consistently on the Xbox.
Addressed an issue where some console commands did not disable certain achievements.
Shattered Space will now show ownership correctly for Steam users.
Features
Creation Kit: Lipsync animation data generation is now available.
Gameplay
The Annihilator Particle Beam damage-over-time effect no longer triggers companion reactions.
Resolved a Leadership skill issue that could cause companions to not speak up.
Improved function of the stealth bar while around crowd NPCs.
Addressed an issue where destroyed ships could load in without collision.
Addressed an issue where loading a save the relied on missing content could place the player in an undesirable location.
Trackers Alliance – ****** will now accurately track the number of completed bounties.
Trackers Alliance – Bounty targets will now appear in Akila, Gagarin, and Cydonia.
Trackers Alliance – Fixed an issue where the player could receive additional credits by extorting the target and then ******** them.
Trackers Alliance – Bounty targets should now have a larger variety of appearances.
Trackers Alliance – Bounty targets will now be removed after being dealt with and leaving the area.
Trackers Alliance – Extorting or bribing a bounty target is no longer a guaranteed success.
Related: The Starfield Money Console Command Will Help Prep You For Shattered Space
Quests
The Starjacker – The correct quest objective will display when the player boards the Junker Watchdog.
Legacy of the Fang – Addressed an issue that could cause the key to no longer open the door if the player had left the area.
The Duel – If the player attacks Danika and gets arrested, they are now able to speak to her afterwards to complete the quest.
The Scaled Citadel – Anasko’s ID Key is now flagged as a quest item.
What ******** – Addressed an issue where having certain creations installed could make the hatch on The Oracle non-interactable.
What ******** – The Engineering Bay Access Card is now flagged as a quest item.
A House Divided – The doors in the Radiology center will stay unlocked during this quest if the player exits the area and returns.
A House Divided – The player can now obtain the keycard from Madri after the quest is completed.
Zealous Overreach – Fixed an issue that could occur if the Va’ruun Zealots at the exterior of Shadow Station Epsilon were ******* before receiving the quest.
Zealous Overreach – Addressed an issue that could prevent the player from speaking to Razma or Viktor if the quest “Conflict in Conviction” is started at the same time.
Zealous Overreach – Vortex Phantoms will no longer spawn close enough to interrupt the negotiation scene.
Are you done with Starfield or still exploring the Settled Systems? Let us know in the comments below, or visit our community forum to discuss the game with others!
Hopefully, this new update resolved many of your woes, but if you’re still dealing with Starfield stuttering every few seconds, we can hopefully help with that!
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Bitcoin ETF options begin trading, offering a new way to hedge bitcoin exposure
Bitcoin ETF options begin trading, offering a new way to hedge bitcoin exposure
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Options on BlackRock’s popular iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) began trading on the Nasdaq Tuesday, ushering in a new way to trade and speculate on the price of bitcoin.
IBIT traded 73,000 options contracts in the first 60 mins of trading Tuesday, Nasdaq told CNBC, placing the fund in the top 20 of the most active nonindex options.
Options trading allows investors to play bitcoin’s notorious volatility by letting them buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price based on whether they anticipate the price will rise or fall in a given *******.
“Bitcoin has a lively derivatives market, but in the U.S. it is still tiny compared to other asset classes, and is largely limited to institutional players,” said Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter. “A deeper onshore derivatives market will enhance the growing market sophistication. This will reinforce investor confidence in the asset, bringing in new cohorts while enabling a greater variety of investment and trading strategies … [That] should, all else being equal, dampen both volatility and downside.”
The market for options contracts on major ETFs can be extremely active, and are widely used by more sophisticated traders. For example, over the past five business days, Interactive Brokers clients have more options orders on the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and the SDPR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) than for the funds themselves, according to data from the brokerage.
The launch of the bitcoin ETF options will likely also lead to new funds that incorporate those options, said Todd Sohn, ETF strategist at Strategas.
“Grayscale already did a filing for a covered call [fund], and I’m sure BlackRock will come out with it too. And then we’re going to get buffers, and then we’re going to get whatever other trend-following-type strategy that folks think of. I think the ecosystem’s really going to start to fly here,” Sohn said.
Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC PRO:
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CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna sue to block FTC case over insulin prices
CVS, UnitedHealth, Cigna sue to block FTC case over insulin prices
CVS Pharmacy logo is seen in Washington DC, ******* States on July 9, 2024.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna sued the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, claiming that the agency’s case against ***** supply chain middlemen over high insulin prices in the U.S. is unconstitutional.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, is the latest move in a bitter legal ****** between the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, in the U.S. and the FTC.
The FTC in September sued CVS’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx in the agency’s administrative court, accusing those PBMs and other ***** middlemen of using a “perverse” rebate system to boost their profits while inflating insulin costs for Americans.
The FTC’s in-house administrative process initiates a proceeding before an administrative judge who would hear the case. FTC commissioners then vote on that opinion.
The Tuesday complaint argues that the FTC’s process violates the companies’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. The companies also allege that the FTC’s claims involve private rights that must be litigated in federal court rather than in the agency’s in-house administrative court.
The companies called that process “fundamentally unfair,” noting that commissioners and an administrative law judge are “unconstitutionally insulated from removal by the President and thus are insulated from democratic accountability.”
“This sweeping attempt to reshape an entire industry via law enforcement would never pass muster in a US district court,” the complaint said.
In a statement Tuesday, FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said “it has become fashionable for corporate giants to argue that a 110-year-old federal agency is unconstitutional to distract from business practices that we allege, in the case of PBMS, harm ***** patients by forcing them to pay huge sums for life saving medicine. It will not work.”
PBMs sit at the center of the ***** supply chain in the U.S. They negotiate rebates with ***** manufacturers on behalf of health plans, reimburse pharmacies for prescriptions and create lists of medications covered by insurance.
The complaint comes a month after CVS, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna demanded FTC Chair Lina Khan and two other commissioners recuse themselves from the agency’s in-house suit. In separate motions, the companies argued that all three commissioners have an extensive track record of making public statements that indicate allegedly serious bias against the PBMs.
Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx are all owned by or connected to health insurers and collectively administer about 80% of the nation’s prescriptions, according to the FTC.
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Bodies lie in the street after upscale Haiti neighborhood targeted in gang attacks
Bodies lie in the street after upscale Haiti neighborhood targeted in gang attacks
Bodies lie in the street after upscale Haiti neighborhood targeted in gang attacks
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Alan Wake 2 surpasses 1.8 million units sold
Alan Wake 2 surpasses 1.8 million units sold
Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 has surpassed 1.8 million units sold since its debut last year. Back in August, we understood the game recouped most of its costs.
Remedy revealed the sales of the game during its annual Capital Markets Day, its new sales number is up a pretty noticeable chunk since last we heard back in February.
News from our Capital Markets day: Alan Wake 2 has sold over 1.8M units Control Ultimate Edition will release on Mac February 12th 2025 Control 2 will be an action RPG Control will receive a free update in early 2025, unlocking some previously released content [Hidden Content]
— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames.com) 2024-11-19T12:34:28.983Z
Even still, the game feels like it’s lagging behind what it could do were it elsewhere than just the Epic Games Store on PC. To be clear, though, 1.8 million sold isn’t anything to scoff at, either.
The game has welcomed a wealth of acclaim, including its DLC, The Lake House, which released last month. Smash Jump’s Nicole Rodriguez-Galdo said in her review of the DLC: “Filled to the brim with fun references and teaser moments for Control 2, Lake House is the perfect experience for Remedy fans.”
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Corsair MP700 Elite 2TB review: PCIe 5.0 for the rest of us
Corsair MP700 Elite 2TB review: PCIe 5.0 for the rest of us
Corsair MP700 Elite
MSRP $260.00
“Corsair is first out of the gate with a PCIe 5.0 you might actually buy.”
*****
Very reasonable price at 1TB
Heatsink option available
Blistering benchmark performance
5-year warranty
*****
Expensive at 2TB
Real-world gains are small over PCIe 4.0 drives
Corsair is pushing PCIe 5.0 into the mainstream. Although it’s easy to find PCIe 5.0 drives among the best SSDs, we’ve seen very few that skip the DRAM cache to reach a more affordable price, and that’s exactly what Corsair is offering with the MP700 Elite. Borrowing some system memory for caching, the MP700 Elite is able to provide a significant uplift in performance over DRAM-based PCIe 4.0 options for not much more money.
It’s an impressive design, and one that absolutely crushes benchmarks when it comes to sequential reads and writes. However, the MP700 Elite is living proof that the PCIe 5.0 standard is still struggling to scale above 1TB, with PCIe 4.0 options offering very similar real-world performance in higher capacities for less money.
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If your head is already spinning from PCIe versions and SSD specs, make sure to check out our SSD buying guide.
Pricing and specs
1TB
2TB
Sequential read/write
Up to 10,000MB/s, 8,500MB/s
Up to 10,000MB/s, 8,500MB/s
Random read/write
Up to 1.3M IOPS, 1.4M IOPS
Up to 1.3M IOPS, 1.4M IOPS
Cache
HMB
HMB
Memory
Kioxia BiCS 8 TLC
Kioxia BiCS 8 TLC
Interface
PCIe Gen 5.0 x4
PCIe Gen 5.0 x4
Form factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Average power consumption
5.9W
5.9W
Dimensions
80 x 22 x 2mm (80 x 24 x 9mm w/ heatsink)
80 x 22 x 2mm (80 x 24 x 9mm w/ heatsink)
Price
$150 ($160 w/ heatsink)
$260 ($270 w/ heatsink)
Corsair has a limited lineup for the MP700 Elite, featuring 1TB and 2TB versions either with or without the heatsink. Don’t get it confused with the MP700 or the MP700 Pro, however — this is the MP700 Elite. The MP700 is discontinued, the MP700 Pro is not, and neither is the MP700 Pro SE. You would assume the MP700 Elite is a step above the MP700 Pro, but it’s not — it’s actually slower.
Naming nonsense aside, there are two big differences between the MP700 Elite and its older counterparts. First, it’s using new Kioxia memory modules, along with a new Phison controller. The ******* difference is the DRAM-less design, however. The MP700 Pro line has a DRAM cache, and with a generous ratio of 2GB per terabyte of storage. The MP700 Elite uses a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) and skips the DRAM.
In short, the MP700 Elite borrows some of your system memory for caching instead of using an on-board DRAM cache. An HMB design means the MP700 Elite is slower than the MP700 Pro, but it’s also cheaper — without dedicated DRAM, Corsair is passing on some savings to you. It’s about $40 cheaper at 1TB and $65 cheaper at 2TB, which makes quite a big difference.
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
Particularly for a 1TB model, $150 is very reasonable for a PCIe 5.0 SSD. The Samsung 990 Pro, which is a PCIe 4.0 design, clocks in at $130 for 1TB. Things change for the 2TB capacity, however, where the MP700 Elite clocks in at $80 more than the 990 Pro. Despite PCIe 5.0 SSD prices dropping, scaling the storage capacity at the same rate is a struggle.
That puts the MP700 Elite in an interesting spot. It’s cheap enough at 1TB to be a reasonable alternative to a PCIe 4.0 SSD like the 990 Pro or the WD ****** SN850X, but expensive enough at 2TB as to not make PCIe 4.0 alternatives obsolete. It also strikes a balance of speed between PCIe 4.0 and 5.0, falling well short of the 14,000MB/s speeds on more expensive PCIe 5.0 drives like the Sabrent Rocket 5 and Crucial T705.
It’s a drive that forces you to choose between speed or capacity. You could say that for just about every PCIe 5.0 drive, but the MP700 Elite makes the decision tough. If you value speed on a budget, going with a 1TB design makes sense. However, for gamers and those less tuned into transfer speeds, a larger PCIe 4.0 drive is going to offer just slightly lower performance and much more capacity.
Software and features
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
For managing the MP700 Elite, Corsair offers its SSD Toolbox. You get a standard suite of features in SSD Toolbox, including manual over-provisioning options, TRIM optimization to surface empty blocks of data, a drive cloning tool, and a secure erase tool that will reformat the data structure to fully erase whatever was stored on the drive.
The features are all here, but SSD Toolbox is rough on the eyes. It looks like it was pulled out of Windows 95, with a static blue background and clipart-style icons fit with their own white squares. Everything works just fine, but you see the image — this isn’t exactly the SSD management app you’d expect to see in 2024.
In addition to downloading SSD Toolbox, you’ll also need to make some changes in Windows to get the best performance out of the MP700 Elite. You’ll need to turn on write-cache buffer flushing in Windows (you can find it in the properties window for the MP700 Elite through device manager) due to the HMB design. It’s not a big deal but still important to note.
Performance
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
Setting the stage with CrystalDiskMark, the MP700 Elite reaches above its advertised sequential read and write speeds, and by a decent margin. Random reads and writes suffer, however. With the HMB design, you’re getting random read and write speeds that are very similar to what you’ll find with a speedy PCIe 4.0 drive.
It’s really in large sequential file transfers that the speed of the MP700 Elite shows up, as you can see in the AJA Video System test below. There’s a large bump in write speeds over the 990 Pro, and nearly double the performance of the slower, larger capacity WD Blue SN5000. Write speeds don’t scale as high, as expected, but the MP700 Elite still carves out a solid lead over PCIe 4.0 alternatives.
Corsair MP700 Elite 2TB w/ Heatsink
Samsung 990 Pro 2TB w/ Heatsink
WD Blue SN5000 4TB
AJA Video Systems (read/write)
7,690 / 6,240MB/s
6,090 / 5,994MB/s
4,353 / 4,589MB/s
PCMark 10
4,211
3,677
3,523
3DMark
3,922
3,372
3,621
Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail (seconds, lower is better)
6.73 seconds
7.59 seconds
7.11 seconds
Those leads echo in PCMark 10, though with slightly thinner margins due to the slower random reads and writes. Gaming is where things get interesting. There’s a solid bump in loading time, both in Final Fantasy XIV and 3DMark, which uses real games as the basis for testing. In 3DMark, there’s a 16% jump over the 990 Pro, while in Final Fantasy XIV, the total loading time was 11% faster.
Context is important here, though. Even with those leads, the MP700 Elite wasn’t even able to shave a full second off the loading time in Final Fantasy XIV across a five-minute benchmark with several loading screens. DirectStorage is available on both PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 SSDs, and the loading advantages of PCIe 5.0 alone aren’t enough to justify the extra cost for gamers.
You really need to buy into those large file transfers for the MP700 Elite to make sense. I won’t argue with any gaming leads, but the sequential read and write speeds are the reason to go PCIe 5.0 at this point. If you’re solely in the market for a speedy SSD to store games on, the MP700 Elite is overkill, at least right now.
Should you buy the Corsair MP700 Elite?
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
The Corsair MP700 Elite brings PCIe 5.0 drives down to a more reasonable price, nearly matching speedy PCIe 4.0 options like the 990 Pro and SN850X. However, it only makes sense right now at 1TB, and in particular, if you have large files you’ll be transferring. Gamers will see a slight bump technically, but any speed advantages will be almost invisible compared to a fast PCIe 4.0 drive.
The 2TB version is too expensive to justify right now considering how much cheaper PCIe 4.0 options are and how close they are in speed. At the time of writing, for example, you can for the same price as the 2TB MP700 Elite.
As for the heatsink version of the MP700 Elite, save yourself some money. The extra size of the heatsink is impractical for most laptops and mini PCs, and the extra cost of PCIe 5.0 goes to waste inside of the PS5. I actually had issues installing the heatsink version inside a Gigabyte motherboard due to the extra size of the cage, in fact.
Even with those issues, the MP700 Elite is a drive to keep an eye on. Particularly as we go into holiday sales, it could be a very compelling drive if Corsair is able to get close to the price of flagship PCIe 4.0 options, especially at 2TB.
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Baron small-cap funds have beaten the market for decades
Baron small-cap funds have beaten the market for decades
Small-cap stocks could be on the verge of a renaissance as attractive valuations and secular trends bring about sharp gains, according to portfolio managers at Baron Capital. Baron Capital, known for being an early and big investor in Tesla, has a sizable exposure to small caps, especially those with a growth tilt. The Baron Growth Fund (BGRFX) , Baron Small Cap Fund (BSCFX) and Baron Discovery Fund (BDFFX) all invest in the small-cap universe, and they have produced double-digit annualized returns since inception and outperformed their respective benchmarks, according to Morningstar. “Small cap stocks are the cheapest they have been in the last 25 years,” portfolio manager Laird Bieger said at the firm’s annual investment conference in New York on Friday. “Small caps are under-owned by investors. Total small-cap growth exposure recently hit a 10-year low when investors are shunning the asset class. This could be a contrarian indicator and a positive predictor of performance in the future.” The Baron Growth and Small Cap funds were created in the 1990s, while the Baron Discovery Fund was launched in 2013. The three funds all charge around 1.3% in fees, Morningstar data shows. Small companies, which are more domestic-oriented and cyclical, are seen as beneficiaries from President-elect Donald Trump’s tax cuts and protectionist policies. The Russell 2000 benchmark has gained more than 5% in November, outperforming the S & P 500 ‘s 3.4% gain during the same *******. .RUT mountain 2024-10-31 Russell 2000 in November “We find these stocks are under-followed and they’re under-researched,” Randolph Gwirtzman, another portfolio manager, said at the conference. “We do an incredible amount of research on these companies, which allows us to find small companies that can have great competitive advantage. So, we find hidden gems in this market.” AI plays Artificial intelligence has been the hottest investing theme over the past two years, and Baron found a few companies in the small-cap space that practically use the technology to improve their products. The managers highlighted SentinelOne , which uses AI to enhance its cybersecurity software that protects client networks. Another pick from Baron is Kratos Defense & Security Solutions , which uses AI to fly unmanned military jets. The managers also like Tempus AI , a biotech firm that incorporates AI to enhance its ******* diagnostic tests, as well as mine its database of ******* information to help pharmaceutical companies develop drugs that ****** *******. S YTD mountain SentinelOne Data firms and sports ******** Companies in the proprietary data business, such as MSCI , Gartner and CoStar , are also worth taking a closer look at, according to Baron’s managers. “We think AI is going to let them drive human insights from their growing data … it will also help them raise prices to reflect the greater value they deliver,” Gwirtzman said. The asset manager is also bullish on DraftKings , as the gambling platform could benefit from new states legalizing sports ********. Baron sees DraftKings’ revenue growing to $3 billion over the next five years, a 10–fold increase from current levels, prompting the stock to more than double during the timeframe. DKNG YTD mountain DraftKings
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Bitcoin rises to new record above $94,000: CNBC Crypto World
Bitcoin rises to new record above $94,000: CNBC Crypto World
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CNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today’s show, Dennis Kelleher, co-founder and CEO of Better Markets, shares his criticism for the crypto industry’s influence on the 2024 election.
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****** Ops 6 owners get a 30% XP boost in Warzone
****** Ops 6 owners get a 30% XP boost in Warzone
Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 owners earn Warzone XP at a faster rate than other players.
An XP boost is advertised in a new ****** Ops 6 and Warzone trailer released on Tuesday, which is titled ‘Maximize Your Gameplay’.
“Get a 30% XP boost” during ****** Ops 6 seasons of content, reads a message in the trailer, which is viewable at the top of this page. “Level up faster in Warzone.”
As spotted by Charlie Intel, the post-game report screen in Warzone also sometimes advertises a “premium XP boost” for players who purchase ****** Ops 6.
The After Action Report in Warzone may show the “Purchase ****** Ops 6” to activate the XP boost pic.twitter.com/80nWRuFQfJ
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) November 19, 2024
Full ****** Ops 6 and Warzone integration launched with the release of the Call of Duty Season 1 update last week.
It introduced a new Warzone Resurgence map called Area 99, and returning maps Urzikstan and Rebirth Island, although the latter was pulled on Monday while the game’s developers “investigate map-specific issues”.
A ****** Ops 6 update released on Tuesday has added support for legacy XP tokens.
Unlike recent series entries Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3, ****** Ops 6 wasn’t originally due to support XP tokens players had stored from previous games.
However, the Season 1 update introduced a “UI bug [that] allowed players to activate legacy XP tokens in ****** Ops 6”, according to developer Treyarch. “Unfortunately, it also introduced some potential risk to game stability”, so the studio patched it out.
The move didn’t go down well with players, and the studio has now added support for legacy XP token functionality once more.
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Two undersea internet cables connecting Finland and Sweden to Europe have been cut — EU leaders suspect sabotage
Two undersea internet cables connecting Finland and Sweden to Europe have been cut — EU leaders suspect sabotage
An internet cable connecting Finland to Germany and another one between Lithuania and Sweden, both running under the Baltic Sea, were cut within 24 hours of one another. While accidental damage on undersea cables happens, CNN says these are rare events. So, the disruption of two cables around 65 miles apart and happening nearly simultaneously is a sign of sabotage, says ******* Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
“Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed,” said Pistorius. “We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action, and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage.” The Finnish and ******* foreign ministers have also issued a ****** statement, saying, “The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicious of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times.” They also add, “Our ********* security is not only under threat from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors.”
These events came a few months after NATO warned that Russia was developing strategies to disrupt the global internet, with the latter mapping undersea fiber optic cables as future reference. Right before the suspected sabotage occurred, the US government also recently allowed Ukraine to use some long-range US weapons to ******* targets in the Kursk region inside Russia, enflaming tensions further and heightening suspicions of Russian involvement.
In recent history, this isn’t the first such act of internet sabotage in NATO, though, as France suffered fiber optic cable sabotage during the Olympic games in Paris. There are also other reports of acts of sabotage, like arson, cyberattacks, and even bombings, that happened within NATO’s borders during the past few years.
Despite these attacks, internet disruption ******** limited. Telia Lithuania, the company that runs the Lithuania-Sweden cable, says that the damaged cable handled about a third of Lithuania’s internet capacity but that traffic has already been restored even though the cable is yet to be repaired. Cinia, the company behind Finland-Germany fiber optic cable, also confirmed that service through that line was down. It also said that its telecommunications network is run through multiple links, thus limiting disruption.
Still, Western nations plan to secure their undersea communications while cutting out companies with links to current adversaries like Russia and China. After all, keeping lines of communication is key for effective coordination, and one of the opening moves of any offensive is to disrupt it. Ensuring that the front lines and headquarters can communicate could mean the difference between holding an incursion back by routing reserves to where they’re needed or allowing a division to steamroll through an area because your troops aren’t where they need to be.
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Trump urges Senate GOP to block Biden’s last judicial nominees
Trump urges Senate GOP to block Biden’s last judicial nominees
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 14, 2024.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed his fellow *********** senators to stop Democrats from confirming any more of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with ******** Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“*********** Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” he wrote.
Democrats will lose their narrow Senate majority on Jan. 3. Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20.
The Senate has confirmed 216 of Biden’s nominees to the federal judiciary. The most recent addition, Judge Embry Kidd, was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Monday.
Biden has put forward 261 total nominees to the judiciary, the White House said in a Nov. 8 press release announcing his 56th round of judicial hopefuls.
There are currently 45 total vacancies in the federal judiciary. That is less than half as many openings as when Trump took office in 2017.
Trump appointed 227 judges during his first term. Biden is on pace to surpass that number, with about two dozen nominees currently awaiting final confirmation or pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump had previously demanded that “no judges should be approved” during the lame-duck session.
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“The Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans ****** over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social less than a week after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to secure another term.
At least two moderate GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have shrugged off that command and voted to confirm some Biden judicial picks.
With the clock running out, Democrats are working overtime to seat Biden’s judges.
“We’re not done. There are more judges to consider and confirm. We’re going to spend the rest of this week and the rest of this year focused on confirming them,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the chamber floor Tuesday morning.
“I was on the Senate floor until almost midnight last night voting to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominees,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote on X.
“We’ll keep doing this until the clock runs out to confirm as many qualified Judges as we can & deliver for the people who elected us to stand up for their values,” Murray wrote.
Heeding Trump, many conservatives have taken to social media to castigate Senate Republicans for what they see as inaction against Democrats’ efforts to confirm judges. They include right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich, the ************* lawyer Mike Davis and Grace Chong, who works for Trump ally Steve Bannon’s show “War Room.”
Chong had tagged Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s vice president-elect, in a since-deleted post urging Republicans to “show up and do your one fricken job!!”
Vance on Tuesday afternoon replied that Chong was “a mouth breathing *********,” arguing that Biden’s latest nominee would have been confirmed regardless of whether he was there for the vote or not. Vance later deleted his reply.
“When this 11th Circuit vote happened, I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director,” Vance wrote.
“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45. But that’s just me,” he wrote.
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#Trump #urges #Senate #GOP #block #Bidens #judicial #nominees
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Don’t Let Control 2 Update Overshadow Remedy’s Industry-First Move Clearly Inspired by Marvel Studios
Don’t Let Control 2 Update Overshadow Remedy’s Industry-First Move Clearly Inspired by Marvel Studios
During Remedy Entertainment’s Capital Markets Day, it was revealed that its upcoming game, Control 2, will be an action RPG, unlike its predecessor, Control, which was an action-adventure game. Remedy Entertainment had a great year, thanks to the success of Alan Wake 2, but this is just the beginning as it has ***** out a plan that is inspired by Marvel Studios.
2019’s Control was an action-adventure game (Image via Remedy Entertainment)
Last month, Remedy revealed FBC: Firebreak, the studio’s first multiplayer game. Now, the studio plans to integrate Alan Wake, Control, and Firebreak into one universe, creating an MCU-like interconnected universe. What Remedy is trying to create here is indeed unique and it makes us wonder why other video game publishers never tried to create something like this.
Remedy Entertainment Gave Fans A Major Update About Control 2
During an investors presentation, Remedy Entertainment revealed that Control 2 will be an action RPG, a surprising reveal as 2019’s Control was an action-adventure game at heart. The studio also revealed that their 2023 survival horror video game, Alan Wake 2, has sold over 1.8 million copies so far. Last month, the game’s second expansion titled The Lake House was released and was well-received by the fans.
Further in the presentation, Remedy also revealed that Control Ultimate Edition will also be released on Mac on February 12th, 2025 and the game would also receive a free update in early 2025, unlocking some previously released content.
Remedy Entertainment Is Setting Up Its Own Interconnected Universe
Alan Wake, Control, and Firebreak are all set in the same universe (Image via Remedy Entertainment)
The studio is clearly experimenting with new ideas but this news shouldn’t disappoint Control fans. The genre might be slightly different but the game is set in Remedy’s interconnected universe. Alan Wake, Control, and Firebreak are all set to be a part of one shared universe, which will allow Remedy to experiment with more ideas in the future, a crossover in particular. During the presentation, creative director Sam Lake explained,
What we create at Remedy is special, and we must never lose that – Alan Wake, Control, and Firebreak are all set in the Remedy connected universe – Now, there are many fictional universes out there of course. But in games, an original universe that contains multiple franchises is a unique concept.
This is certainly a unique concept and if studios like Bethesda or FromSoftware use it for their beloved franchises, these studios will be able to create more exciting games for the fans. Remedy Entertainment deserves the credit as it will certainly normalize this concept, inspiring many other major video game publishers.
Lake also gave fans an update on the development of FBC: Firebreak and Control 2. Firebreak, the three-player cooperative first-person shooter, is in “full production” while Control 2 is in “production readiness.” It is to be noted that Remedy is also working on a Max Payne remake, so it is clear that Control 2 will not be released until December 2026.
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#Dont #Control #Update #Overshadow #Remedys #IndustryFirst #Move #Inspired #Marvel #Studios
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H&R Block, Intuit stocks fall following Trump tax-filing app report
H&R Block, Intuit stocks fall following Trump tax-filing app report
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The stock prices for H&R Block and Intuit fell after a report Tuesday said Trump’s government efficiency team is considering creating a free tax-filing app.
Intuit, which makes the TurboTax tax-filing software, was down 5%, putting it on pace for its worst day since Aug. 23, when the company’s stock price fell nearly 7%. H&R Block was down 8% and on pace for its worst day since 2020.
President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” has held “highly preliminary” discussions about creating the free tax-filing app, The Washington Post reported. The so-called DOGE will not be an official government department but an outside advisory commission. It will be led by billionaire Elon Musk and former *********** presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and aims to slash government spending.
A DOGE tax-filing app would be a competitor of both H&R Block and TurboTax.
Intuit spokeswoman Tania Mercado didn’t directly address the prospect of a government tax-filing app, but told CNBC in a statement that, “For decades, Intuit has publicly called for simplifying the U.S. tax code so individuals, families, and small businesses can better understand their finances.”
George Agurkis, H&R Block’s director of government relations, said in an email that the company looks forward “to engaging with the new Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency on their ideas related to sound and efficient tax administration.”
It’s unclear where a new DOGE tax app would bridge with newer policies the Biden administration already implemented. Under the Biden administration, the IRS in March rolled out a pilot Direct File program in 12 states, allowing qualified taxpayers to file directly through a government portal. The IRS also offers free filing services through its Free File program for taxpayers who make an adjusted ****** income of $79,000 or less.
While both Intuit and H&R Block have free filing options, neither have had stellar records when it comes to transparently offering those services.
The Federal Trade Commission in February filed an administrative complaint against H&R Block for deceptively marketing free filing products and wrongfully deleting users’ in-progress tax data. Intuit, meanwhile, agreed to pay $141 million in restitution “for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free,” according to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
WATCH: Spruce Point shorts Intuit
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#Block #Intuit #stocks #fall #Trump #taxfiling #app #report
Pelican News
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Trump urges Senate GOP to block Biden’s last judicial nominees
Trump urges Senate GOP to block Biden’s last judicial nominees
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 14, 2024.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday pushed his fellow *********** senators to stop Democrats from confirming any more of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with ******** Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“*********** Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” he wrote.
Democrats will lose their narrow Senate majority on Jan. 3. Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20.
The Senate has confirmed 216 of Biden’s nominees to the federal judiciary. The most recent addition, Judge Embry Kidd, was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Monday.
Biden has put forward 261 total nominees to the judiciary, the White House said in a Nov. 8 press release announcing his 56th round of judicial hopefuls.
There are currently 45 total vacancies in the federal judiciary. That is less than half as many openings as when Trump took office in 2017.
Trump appointed 227 judges during his first term. Biden is on pace to surpass that number, with about two dozen nominees currently awaiting final confirmation or pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump had previously demanded that “no judges should be approved” during the lame-duck session.
Read more CNBC politics coverage
“The Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans ****** over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social less than a week after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to secure another term.
At least two moderate GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have shrugged off that command and voted to confirm some Biden judicial picks.
With the clock running out, Democrats are working overtime to seat Biden’s judges.
“We’re not done. There are more judges to consider and confirm. We’re going to spend the rest of this week and the rest of this year focused on confirming them,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the chamber floor Tuesday morning.
“I was on the Senate floor until almost midnight last night voting to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominees,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote on X.
“We’ll keep doing this until the clock runs out to confirm as many qualified Judges as we can & deliver for the people who elected us to stand up for their values,” Murray wrote.
Heeding Trump, many conservatives have taken to social media to castigate Senate Republicans for what they see as inaction against Democrats’ efforts to confirm judges. They include right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich, the ************* lawyer Mike Davis and Grace Chong, who works for Trump ally Steve Bannon’s show “War Room.”
Chong had tagged Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s vice president-elect, in a since-deleted post urging Republicans to “show up and do your one fricken job!!”
Vance on Tuesday afternoon replied that Chong was “a mouth breathing *********,” arguing that Biden’s latest nominee would have been confirmed regardless of whether he was there for the vote or not. Vance later deleted his reply.
“When this 11th Circuit vote happened, I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director,” Vance wrote.
“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45. But that’s just me,” he wrote.
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#Trump #urges #Senate #GOP #block #Bidens #judicial #nominees
Pelican News
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Winter fuel cut to put 50,000 pensioners into relative ********
Winter fuel cut to put 50,000 pensioners into relative ********
An additional 50,000 pensioners will be living in relative ******** next year as a result of cuts to the winter fuel allowance, the government’s own estimates have revealed.
Earlier this year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the £300 payment would be restricted to all but the poorest pensioners – those eligible for pension credit.
In a bid to soften the impact of the cuts, the government launched a campaign to encourage eligible pensioners to apply for pension credit.
In a letter clarifying the figures, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the estimates did not take into account any increased take-up of pension credit.
According to the estimates provided by the government, in the years ending March 2025, March 2026 and March 2028 there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in relative ******** after housing costs.
In the years ending March 2027, March 2029 and March 2030 an additional 100,000 pensioners would be in relative ******** after housing costs.
The annual figures are rounded to the nearest 50,000. Kendall said this meant “small variations in the underlying numbers impacted can lead to much larger changes in the rounded headline numbers”.
The cumulative total over the years does not necessarily refer to individual pensioners, who could move in and out of relative ******** over time depending on their personal circumstances.
Currently the government estimates 1.9 million pensioners – around 15% – are in relative ********.
The new estimates, published on Tuesday, suggest the cuts to the winter fuel payment would increase pensioner ******** by 0.5 percentage points.
A person is considered to be living in relative ******** if they have less than 60% of the median income.
In her letter, Kendall said the work and pensions department had written to 120,000 pensioners to encourage them to claim the pension credit to which they may be entitled.
She added that the decision to cut the winter fuel payments was “not a decision this government wanted or expected to take”.
“However, we were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22bn ****** ***** we inherited.
“Given the dire state of the public finances, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most.”
Helen Whately, the Conservatives’ shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Finally the dam breaks and we get to see what Labour have known all along.
“Their winter fuel payment cuts are going to plunge 100,000 pensioners into ******** in the next few years.
“Clearly Keir Starmer feels like that’s a price worth paying to make a political point. But I don’t think those pensioners would agree with him.”
Daisy Cooper, the ******** Democrats’ Treasury spokesperson, said: “While the Conservatives undoubtedly left this government a dire fiscal inheritance, that’s no excuse to push more pensioners into ******** as the temperature plummets.”
During a press conference in Brazil, where the prime minister is currently attending a G20 summit, Sir Keir Starmer was asked about the figures.
He said that the state pension would rise by £470 in the spring and that pensioners would be better off.
Earlier in the day, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar diverged from Sir Keir by pledging to increase eligibility for pension credit if they formed the next government.
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#Winter #fuel #cut #put #pensioners #relative #********
Pelican News
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