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☆ Some Diablo 4 players are reporting invalid license error messages after the video game's early access launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Early access for Diablo 4 faced issues, including licensing errors for some PlayStation users. Diablo 4 marks the latest installment of Blizzard "Diablo" series, which began in 1996, and arrives more than a decade after "Diablo III" was released in May 2012. Here's what you need to know about Thursday's early access launch and the coming official release of "Diablo IV." It's unclear how many early access players have been impacted by the error. According to Blizzard, Diablo 4 is set decades after the events of "Diablo III: Reaper of Souls."

Persons: Blizzard, Rod Fergusson, Adam Fletcher, Inarius, Liam Deane, Omdia Organizations: Diablo, PlayStation, Morning, Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Blizzard, Activision, Windows, Blizzard, Xbox, Associated Press, Druids, Sorceresses, Microsoft, European Union, Sony Locations: U.S

☆ Japan is in a 'Goldilocks' position, Credit Suisse says. Here's how to play it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Japanese economy appears to be on stable footing and its stock market should continue to climb, according to Credit Suisse. Read more: Japan stocks are on fire this year. Ways to play it The simplest way for U.S-based investors to add exposure to Japan is through exchange-traded funds. The biggest U.S. ETF that tracks Japan is the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) . When the yen falls versus the dollar, that can mute the returns of Japanese stocks for U.S. investors.

Persons: Andrew Garthwaite, Garthwaite, Read, BlackRock's iShares, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Credit Suisse, Global, U.S, JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan, JPMorgan, Japan Hedged Equity Locations: Japan, U.S

☆ Wind energy has a massive waste problem. New technologies may be a step closer to solving it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It’s a problem that’s vexed the wind energy industry and provided fodder for those who seek to discredit wind power. But in February, Danish wind company Vestas said it had cracked the problem. It announced a “breakthrough solution” that would allow wind turbine blades to be recycled without needing to change their design or materials. Wind energy has been growing at a fast pace. It is the world’s leading renewable energy technology behind hydropower, and plays a vital role in helping countries move away from fossil fuel energy, which pumps out planet-heating pollution.

☆ Asian shares rise as investors cheer US debt ceiling agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Asian stocks mostly rose on Monday as investors cheered an agreement in principle between the White House and House Republicans to raise the US debt ceiling that could avert a cataclysmic default. The index has rallied more than 20% this year, outpacing global benchmark indexes including the S&P 500 and the Stoxx 600. WTI crude, a US benchmark, rose 0.9% to $73.32 a barrel. The agreement seems to mark “a significant progress in the US debt ceiling situation,” said Jun Rong Yeap, an analyst at IG. China and Japan are the largest foreign holders of American debt, owning a combined $2 trillion in US Treasuries.

☆ Strikes, Delays and Lost Luggage: How to Survive Air Travel This Summer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Elaine Glusac | The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +27 min

Illustration by Yukai Du Strikes, Delays and Lost Luggage: How to Survive Air Travel This Summer With the travel season in full swing, we compiled a guide to help you navigate the year’s most hectic time in the skies. If you don’t care which beach, shop around.” If you haven’t booked summer flights, do it now. For one, avoiding the airports with the highest levels of delays and cancellations last summer may be a good idea. They’re also getting longer inside airport lounges, longtime havens from the masses clogging the terminals at peak times. Standard membership in Priority Pass, a network of 1,300 airport lounges, starts at $99 a year, with each visit costing $35 at that level.

Persons: Yukai Du, we’ve, haven’t, Hopper, What’s, ”, Laura Lindsay, Ted Rossman, Priceline, Mr, Rossman, Charlotte Douglas, Toronto Pearson, it’s, “, Carter Langston, Rhonda Lawson, C.B.P, you’ve, you’re, You’ll, Lawson, Emmanuel Macron, Tomasz Pawliszyn, Jamie Larounis, Larounis, they’re, SITA —, They’re, Eric Goldmann of Atlanta Organizations: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Google, Miami, JetBlue, Heathrow Airport, Amsterdam Schiphol, Gatwick, Air Canada, Labor, Newark Liberty International, La Guardia Airport, Kennedy Airport, Reagan, Miami International, Orlando International, Boston Logan International, Charlotte Douglas International, Toronto Pearson, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington , D.C, Customs, Western, Gulf, Phoenix, Transportation Security Administration, Global, Border Protection, Clear, PreCheck, Heathrow, Air, SNCF, U.S . State Department, Smart, Union, Travelers, New Tech, Airlines, Lufthansa, Siemens, Alaska Airlines, KLM, U.S . Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Apple, The Department of Transportation, American, Venture, Dallas Fort Worth International, JPMorgan Chase, Club, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Americas Locations: Europe, United States, Asia, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Fla, Miami, London, Amsterdam, U.S, La, New York, Washington, Charlotte, N.C, Newark, Orlando, Toronto, Sydney, Jakarta, Frankfurt, Munich, Heathrow, Washington ,, States, Denver, Seattle, Reno, Nev, Gulf Coast, Atlantic, Houston , New Orleans, Atlanta, Luton, T.S.A, ’, noncitizens, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Berlin, Dutch, Swiss, Delta, United, Hong Kong, Dallas, Boston, North, Central, South America, Dallas , Newark

☆ EV startups conserve cash as make-or-break moment approaches. Here's where everyone stands
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( John Rosevear | In Jrosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

As legacy automakers increasingly ramp production of all-electric vehicles, cushioned by the profits of gas-powered models, a handful of EV startups are scrambling to conserve cash and stay in the mix. It also means the amount of cash Fisker had left as of the end of March, $652.5 million, isn't yet cause for alarm. Still, Fisker cut its production guidance for 2023 to between 32,000 vehicles and 36,000 vehicles, from 42,400 in its original plan. Or as Evercore ISI analyst Doug Dutton wrote before Fisker's earnings report, "Fisker is beginning to turn into a story of binary and 'show me' outcomes." It had $108.1 million remaining as of the end of March, but it lost $171.1 million in the first quarter .

Persons: Tesla, Rivian, Claire McDonough, Rivian's, It's, McDonough, Deutsche Bank's Emmanuel Rosner, Rosner, Sherry House, Peter Rawlinson, Bank of America's John Murphy, Murphy, Aston Martin, Henrik Fisker, Fisker, Doug Dutton, Dutton, Nikola Nikola, Trevor Milton, Nikola, Voltera, TD Cowen, Jeffrey Osborne, Osborne, Polestar Polestar, it's, Johan Malmqvist isn't, aren't, Deutsche Bank's Rosner, Lordstown, Foxconn, Foxconn doesn't Organizations: EV, Amazon, Deutsche, Lucid's, Bank of America's, BMW, Global, Magna International, Nikola, Iveco, Volvo Cars, Geely, Lordstown, Nasdaq, General Motors Locations: Georgia, Magna, Austria, U.S, Europe, North America, Nikola's, Swedish, China, Ohio, Lordstown

☆ Google just revealed what its new generative AI ads will look like as it races to keep up with Microsoft and Amazon in the AI gold rush
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Google is introducing generative AI to its adtech products as it races against Amazon and Microsoft. Revenues from generative AI software will surge to $81 billion by 2027, per a TD Cowen report. The value of generative AI software is primed to explode, and a recent TD Cowen report projected that generative AI software revenues will surge to $81 billion by 2027, from under $1 billion in 2022. Google's generative AI can automatically create image variants GoogleGoogle had previously said at its I/O conference that there would be new search formats from generative AI. Dischler said the move to bring generative AI, which automatically creates content, to Google's ad products was the natural next step of Google's AI evolution.

Global supply chains grew overwhelmed as they struggled to deliver. But Prange said most of his supply chain had stabilized - meaning he was able to get most of what he needed - by the end of 2021. "One of the headwinds is inflation," said Kevin Austin, the supply chain chief for Toyota Motor North America. Meanwhile, the global supply chain snarls of the pandemic have diminished. The New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index ticked down to a reading of -1.32 in April, compared to a revised -1.15 in March.

Two crypto platforms, Voyager and Bittrex, have recently declared bankruptcy, and investors no longer have access to their crypto. To keep your crypto safe with other platforms, consider "cold storage," which refers to keeping your crypto offline. The Voyager and Bittrex bankruptcies are part of a prolonged "crypto winter" along with other crypto company bankruptcies of the past year, including FTX, Celsius, and more. Globally, countries are evaluating Central Bank Digital Currencies, the development of which you can track via the Atlantic Council's website. Regardless of the crypto winter and continuing cascade of crypto platform bankruptcies, digital currencies aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

[1/4] OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifies before a Senate Judiciary Privacy, Technology & the Law Subcommittee hearing titled 'Oversight of A.I. Some critics fear the technology will exacerbate societal harms, among them prejudice and misinformation, while others warn AI could end humanity itself. Globally, this is exploding," said Senator Cory Booker, one of many lawmakers with questions about how best to regulate AI. The White House has convened top technology CEOs including Altman to address AI. An OpenAI staffer recently proposed the creation of a U.S. licensing agency for AI, which could be called the Office for AI Safety and Infrastructure Security, or OASIS, Reuters has reported.

☆ US economy 'hangs in the balance' as debt limit impasse drag on, Yellen says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The standoff over the federal debt limit is already having dire consequences for the U.S. economy, driving borrowing costs higher and adding to the country's debt burden, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to say in prepared remarks on Tuesday. "The U.S. economy hangs in the balance. Congress should address the debt limit as soon as possible." Yellen said the 2011 crisis - when lawmakers raised the debt limit shortly before the government had to stop making payments - showed the serious repercussions of not acting sooner. Investors had already become more reluctant to hold government debt that matures in early June, and the deadlock was increasing the overall debt burden, she said.

☆ Can the Zibo barbecue frenzy save China from economic crises?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Zhu Zheng/Xinhua/Getty ImagesSo many tourists flocked into Zibo, now dubbed China’s outdoor barbecue capital, that even the local tourism authorities urged visitors to go elsewhere. A few may, but most won’t.”A shop owner shows off grilled meat during a barbecue festival on April 29, 2023 in Zibo, eastern China. The city Zibo became a tourism hot spot after videos of its barbecue went viral online. China’s economy is navigating a growing array of challenges. The informal trade might reduce unemployment temporarily, and give people feeling poorer a boost, but it “won’t save China’s economy,” Tsang said.

☆ Massive city growth and climate change are twin opportunities, says manager of $40 billion fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"Investing in infrastructure, climate-related technology is the future," Wahba told CNBC in a video interview in May. The road is made of bitumen," a derivative of an oil product, Wahba told CNBC. Each stage of that process poses an infrastructure climate problem. "There are very, very attractive returns," Wahba told CNBC. Of course, some climate investments are risky.

☆ New York Is Full of Empty Offices After Covid. Make Way for the Playground City. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Edward L. Glaeser | Carlo Ratti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

We are witnessing the dawn of a new kind of urban area: the Playground City. The transformation toward the Playground City will not happen on its own. To draw people into the Playground City, we need to show, not tell. 6.Engage citizensGovernments should empower citizens to participate directly in making the Playground City. The Playground City sees people as both a means and an end, and it should involve them in the process of its creation.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ Financials bounce back from Friday's slide to lift Indian shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Bharath Rajeswaran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) was up 0.81% at 18,215.75 as of 10:04 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.87%. Nifty Bank (.NSEBANK) and Nifty Private Bank (.NIFPVTBANK) also gained over 1%. On Monday, IndusInd Bank Ltd (INBK.NS) rose nearly 5% and was the top Nifty 50 gainer. Analysts expect the Nifty 50 to witness consolidation in the near-term with resistance seen near 18,200 levels. read more($1 = 81.7330 Indian rupees)Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia CheemaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Travel won’t fully recover this year — but it will get close
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | Morgan Awyong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The World Travel & Tourism Council says the global travel and tourism sector won't fully recover this year — but it will get close. The return of tourism jobsAnd this year, jobs in the travel and tourism sector will recover to 95% of 2019 levels, according to the report. In 2019, 334 million people worked in the travel sector — an all-time high, it said. By 2033, the WTTC forecasts the travel sector will employ some 430 million people around the world, representing nearly 12% of the global workforce. But "we can't expect that momentum to continue into 2023," according to a forecast published by the travel risk intelligence company Riskline.

☆ With 'The Ferryman,' Justin Cronin explores a brave new dystopian world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"I didn't sit down and say to myself, 'I'm going to write another dystopia,'" Cronin told CNBC in an interview Tuesday at a bustling lower Manhattan diner. There was a very specific arrangement, military and political, that's no longer there. Some point I'm going to do something else. As a writer, you need to walk a lot of different streets, in a lot of different ways, to know this stuff. Even where political will is absent, even where there are strong disincentives to change, things come along and make it happen.

The company’s revenue was slightly better than what Wall Street had expected, but it nonetheless represented the second consecutive quarterly revenue decline for the iPhone maker. Despite the continued revenue decline, there were bright spots in the report. Apple also posted an all-time services sales record of $20.9 billion for the quarter. The services business — which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ — is an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple that is less cyclical than hardware sales. Apple’s latest quarterly earnings report comes amid a sharp decline in PC and smartphone sales globally after a surge earlier in the pandemic.

While Qualcomm hopes smartphone sales will recover in China in the second half of the year, CEO Cristiano Amon told investors on a conference call that "we have not seen evidence of meaningful recovery and are not incorporating improvements into our planning assumptions." The company said a larger-than-normal decline in its chip revenue forecast from the prior quarter was mainly due "to the timing of purchases by a modem-only handset customer." Qualcomm forecast chips revenue of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion. Qualcomm also faces stiffer competition, especially for high end smartphone chips, from Taiwan's MediaTek (2454.TW). Qualcomm forecast total revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion in the third quarter.

The company said a larger-than-normal decline in its chip revenue forecast from the prior quarter was mainly due "to the timing of purchases by a modem-only handset customer." Qualcomm forecast chips revenue of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion. Smartphone demand has remained weak despite promotions and price cuts. Qualcomm also faces stiffer competition, especially for high end smartphone chips, from Taiwan's MediaTek (2454.TW). Qualcomm forecast revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion in the third quarter.

☆ Fed's Powell: don't assume Fed can shield U.S. economy from debt limit default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Powell told a news conference after the Fed's latest rate hike decision that resolving the debt ceiling standoff between Republicans and Democrats was a matter for Congress and the Biden administration. "We don't give advice to either side," Powell said. A U.S. default would be unprecedented and have "highly uncertain" and "quite diverse" consequences for the U.S. economy, Powell said, but he declined to enumerate them. "No one should assume that the Fed can really protect the economy and the financial system and our reputation globally from the damage that such an event might inflict," he added. Yellen has warned that a debt ceiling default will cause "severe hardship" to American families by raising borrowing costs, and harm the U.S. global leadership position.

☆ JPMorgan could be the banking sector’s biggest hero — or biggest risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And as the bank swells in size, so does the potential risk it poses to the nation’s financial system. Some experts say they’re concerned that JPMorgan’s continued intervention during times of crisis has broader implications for the banking sector, the US financial system and its regulation. And with every failed bank that JPMorgan snaps up, the conundrum becomes clearer: JPMorgan is essentially the biggest risk to the financial system — and every time it expands to uphold the sector’s stability, so does its risk to the financial system. It has “that ability once again, to signal to the world that JPMorgan is a fortress, JPMorgan is the ultimate. But recent failures and the missteps that led to them indicate that deep flaws underline the financial system.

☆ India's ties with Russia remain steady. But Moscow's tighter embrace of China makes it wary
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

(PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images) Prakash Singh | Afp | Getty ImagesIndia's relationship with Russia remains steadfast as both sides seek to deepen their economic ties. Russia also wants to "intensify" free trade discussions with India, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said during a visit to Delhi. watch nowIt's becoming "more difficult with every passing day because of the closeness that we are witnessing between Beijing and Moscow," Pant noted. This defense cooperation is vital given India's tensions along the Himalayan border with an increasingly assertive China, said ORF's Pant. Now, the country cannot expect Russia to play "the same strategic role for India as it used to prior to the Ukraine war.

☆ China’s Midea regains outbound deal appetite
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, May 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Midea (000333.SZ), a $58 billion Chinese white goods champion, made waves in Europe in 2016 when it bought German robot maker Kuka for nearly $5 billion. Seven years later, the company is eyeing Sweden’s home appliance brand Electrolux (ELUXb.ST), a complementary asset currently worth around $7 billion including debt. A successful tilt could mark the beginning of a revival in outbound M&A by Chinese firms after offshore deals touched a historic low of $29 billion in 2022, per EY estimates. To close the Kuka acquisition, Midea offered a 36% price premium and generous guarantees including leaving management in place until 2023. Nevertheless, it seems likely that more cash-rich Chinese companies like Midea, seeking to hedge weak domestic demand with overseas customers, will gingerly test cross-border M&A markets this year.

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