Connor Hughes, Author at IIB Network

Donald Trump’s Budding Bromance with Tech Moguls

07

Jun

Investments and Business

Donald Trump’s Budding Bromance with Tech Moguls

Sacks gave his case for backing Trump. Top of the list: the economy. The U.S. is performing far better than its peers, but he blames President Biden for sticky inflation, weak growth and rising debt (though Trump too added trillions to the national debt).But Biden has huge support in Silicon Valley. The president has raised millions from tech industry leaders this election cycle. Last month, he attended a fund-raising event hosted by Vinod Khosla, the venture capital investor, and Marissa Mayer, the former Yahoo C.E.O., and Silicon Valley includes some of his biggest business allies.Hoffman broke down why no C.E.O.…

How Electric Car Batteries Might Aid the Grid (and Win Over Drivers)

05

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Science and Technology

How Electric Car Batteries Might Aid the Grid (and Win Over Drivers)

Electric cars are more expensive than gasoline models largely because batteries cost so much. But new technology could turn those pricey devices into an asset, giving owners benefits like reduced utility bills, lower lease payments or free parking.Ford Motor, General Motors, BMW and other automakers are exploring how electric-car batteries could be used to store excess renewable energy to help utilities deal with fluctuations in supply and demand for power. Automakers would make money by serving as intermediaries between car owners and power suppliers.Millions of cars could be thought of as a huge energy system that, for the first time,…

Europe Has Fallen Behind the U.S. and China. Can It Catch Up?

05

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Investments and Business

Europe Has Fallen Behind the U.S. and China. Can It Catch Up?

Europe’s share of the global economy is shrinking, and fears are deepening that the continent can no longer keep up with the United States and China.“We are too small,” said Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who recently delivered a report on the future of the single market to the European Union.“We are not very ambitious,” Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, told The Financial Times. “Americans just work harder.”“European businesses need to regain self-confidence,” Europe’s association of chambers of commerce declared.The list of reasons for what has been called the “competitiveness crisis” goes…

Can Artificial Intelligence Rethink Art? Should it?

04

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Science and Technology

Can Artificial Intelligence Rethink Art? Should it?

Anadol said every artist wanted to see “what is beyond reality” and “perceive worlds that don’t exist.” A.I. was a vehicle for the imagination, one that, he said, could represent “hallucinations, dreams, fantasies.”The technology we are dealing with today is no longer “just a pen, or a printing press,” and “not just a car or a wheel.” Instead, “it is intelligence,” he said. “It is mimicking our reasoning at the moment, and it will evolve. It will turn into something else.” And that “has never happened in our history before.”Currently, he explained, A.I. is “50 percent human, 50 percent machine.”…

Sam Butcher, Who Gave the World Precious Moments, Dies at 85

04

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Investments and Business

Sam Butcher, Who Gave the World Precious Moments, Dies at 85

Sam Butcher, the soft-spoken artist whose doe-eyed, pastel-hued porcelain Precious Moments figurines ignited a global collecting frenzy and made him a wealthy man, and whose Christian faith spurred him to build his own version of the Sistine Chapel in Carthage, Mo., died on May 20 at his home there. He was 85.His death was confirmed by his son Jon.Mr. Butcher was the Michelangelo of Missouri, and his adorable snub-nosed Precious Moments characters were “the Beanie Babies of porcelain,” as The Wall Street Journal once put it. Their zealous collectors, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands, built rooms for their…

Google Rolls Back A.I. Search Feature After Flubs and Flaws

02

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Science and Technology

Google Rolls Back A.I. Search Feature After Flubs and Flaws

When Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, introduced a generative artificial intelligence feature for the company’s search engine last month, he and his colleagues demonstrated the new capability with six text-based queries that the public could try out.The questions included “how do you clean a fabric sofa” and “what should I use to get a coffee stain out of my carpet.” These were intended to highlight how Google’s new feature, A.I. Overviews, could generate full and useful information summaries above traditional search results.But by Friday, only one of the six queries still yielded an A.I. Overview, according to tests by The…

The Floating Traffic Jam That Freaked Us All Out

02

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Investments and Business

The Floating Traffic Jam That Freaked Us All Out

Southern California appeared to be under siege from a blockade.More than 50 enormous vessels bobbed in the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean, marooned off the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. As days stretched into weeks, they waited their turn to pull up to the docks and disgorge their cargo. Rubberneckers flocked to the water’s edge with binoculars, trying to count the ships that stretched to the inky horizon.This was no act of war. This was what it looked like when the global economy came shuddering to a halt.It was October 2021, and the planet had…

Mijael Attias explains the role of empathy in investment success

01

Jun

By Connor Hughes

Social Responsibility

Mijael Attias explains the role of empathy in investment success

In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern life, where financial markets are consistently subject to variation and regulatory shifts are frequent, the act of investing has grown more intricate. Where investment choices were once confined to a handful of financial vehicles, they now span a diverse array of possibilities, including stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, and digital assets. Amidst these conditions, comprehending the elements that affect market dynamics and crafting robust, varied business strategies has become essential.Investing transcends the mere acquisition of financial assets; it is a strategic endeavor. It requires defining precise goals, evaluating risk tolerances, and selecting investments that align…

Elon Musk Lobbies on X for His .5 Billion Tesla Pay Package

31

May

By Connor Hughes

Science and Technology

Elon Musk Lobbies on X for His $46.5 Billion Tesla Pay Package

Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, offered a personal tour of the electric carmaker’s factory in Austin, Texas, to select shareholders this week.“Please let us know if you have any questions about voting your Tesla shares!” Mr. Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns.It was just one of at least a dozen posts that Mr. Musk has published on X in recent weeks as Tesla’s shareholders have been voting on a $46.5 billion pay package for him.To encourage approval of the package, Mr. Musk has shared on X a sizzle reel of Tesla’s vehicles speeding through deserts at…

Netflix Wins .8 Million in Fight Over Planned TV Series

31

May

By Connor Hughes

Investments and Business

Netflix Wins $8.8 Million in Fight Over Planned TV Series

An arbitrator ruled in Netflix’s favor in a high-profile dispute between the streaming giant and the Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch over a science-fiction series that never aired, awarding the company nearly $9 million in damages.Mr. Rinsch had sold Netflix the television show, “Conquest,” near the height of the streaming boom in 2018, but he never delivered any episodes. Netflix had to write off the $55 million it had spent on the project — a fiasco that became a symbol of the era of profligate spending that Hollywood studios are trying to put behind them as they focus on increasing…