BREAKING: Biden allows Ukraine to strike Russia with U.S. long-range missiles... China discovers ancient volcanoes on dark side of Moon... Apple to release a TV?
Plus, new lasers zap your eyes to the color of your dreams... for $12K!
BREAKING NEWS
BIDEN BACKS UKRAINE STRIKES USING U.S. MISSILES IN RUSSIA, via Associated Press: President Joe Biden has authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike even deeper inside Russia, the latest easing of limitations meant to prevent the conflict from further spiraling, according to one U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter.
—> The weapons are likely to be used in response to the decision by North Korea to support Russia, via Associated Press.
—> North Korea may deploy as many as 100K troops to aid Russia, via Bloomberg.
—> The inexperience of the North Korean soldiers as well as the Russian language barrier are likely to minimize their impact on the battlefield, via NBC News.
—> Ukraine is producing millions of small, lightweight drones. But Kyiv has a limited budget to buy them, via Bloomberg.
hello, future. it’s me, kev.
…and this is a dispatch from the digital frontier. Your one-stop shop for markets, tech, and the future. The day is 322. The year is 2024. The planet is Earth. My name is Kevin Cirilli —> LinkedIn.
Happy NVIDIA week to all who celebrate…
Back to the future...
FUTURES
NVIDIA EARNINGS WEDNESDAY AFTER THE CLOSE. Good preview from TheStreet.com here.
TSMC SECURES $11.6B IN U.S. FUNDING DESPITE UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR CHIPS ACT, via Financial Times: Biden administration is pushing to distribute funds before Donald Trump retakes the White House.
PALANTIR JUMPS 11% AFTER MOVING TO NASDAQ, via CNBC.
WILL APPLE FINALLY MAKE A TELEVISION? They need a hit… and honestly they haven’t had one since the Air Pods. Steve Jobs wanted it, Apple Insider notes, so why won’t Tim Cook give it?
GEOPOLITICS
BIDEN URGES CHINA’S XI JINPING TO STOP NORTH KOREA FROM HELPING RUSSIA IN UKRAINE, via Associated Press. In his likely last meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, President Biden urged the Communist Party of China to pressure North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un to stop sending troops to Russia.
—> Xi used his final meeting with Joe Biden to send a clear message to Donald Trump: China wants to be friends, but is ready for a fight if necessary, via Bloomberg.
T-MOBILE HACK LINKED TO CHINA HACKERS, via Techcrunch.com: U.S. phone giant T-Mobile was hacked as part of a broad cyberattack on U.S. and international phone and internet companies in recent months, according to the Wall Street Journal.
—> Remember what the FBI said last week, via AP report:
Hackers affiliated with Beijing have compromised the networks of “multiple” telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals,” according to a joint statement issued by the FBI and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
BIG DEAL: BYTEDANCE WORTH RISES TO $300B, via WSJ scoop: Investors see Trump victory as a positive with threat of TikTok ban looming in U.S…. Trump had supported a ban of the app as president, but reversed his stance during his recent campaign after meeting with billionaire Jeff Yass, a major ByteDance investor and GOP megadonor.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
NEW TECH TREND: CHANGE YOUR EYE COLOR FOR $12K, via WSJ: Keratopigmentation could be dangerous, doctors warn. Patients say it’s worth the risks.
INSIDE BIG TECH’S BID TO SINK ONLINE CHILD SAFETY BILL, via WSJ: Tech giants and their allies lean on culture-war issues to splinter bipartisan support for the bill.
SPACE
PENTAGON: NO ALIEN EVIDENCE IN NEW UFO REPORTS, via USA Today: The U.S. government has received more than 700 reports of unexplained phenomena but have found no proof of extraterrestrial life, the Pentagon’s UFO office confirmed at a Thursday briefing. SOURCE material, via Department of Defense.
NOTABLE: CHINA DISCOVERS PROOF OF ANCIENT VOLCANOES ON DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, via CBS News: “Volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago just like on the side that we can see, new research confirms. Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-6, the first spacecraft to return with a haul of rocks and dirt from the little-explored far side.”
SPACE STOCKS SOAR AMIDST TRUMP-ELON TRADE RALLY. More via CNBC:
Several pure-play space stocks rallied 20% or more this week, in part driven by what sector analysts called a “Trump-Elon trade.” …So far in 2024, “space has been one of the best outperformers in the market,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard told CNBC.
ONE MORE THING
This holiday season, Hollywood seems poised for a massive movie comeback — something to rival the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer battle of yesteryear. This week, Gladiator II and Wicked both are coming to movie theaters. We’re ready for both…
For as much as we love the future and the technology revolutionizing life here on the fourth rock from the Sun… nothing competes with human talent… and that includes Gladiator II star Paul Mescal fighting with his director Ridley Scott to let him perform his own stunts… and over in the land of Oz?
—> QUOTABLE: “These are live vocals. When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘Fuck the pre-records. We’re going live,’” — Wicked director Jon M. Chu on co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo singing live during filming.
With gratitude,
Kev
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