For Leo, the key will be AI agents. In the meantime, filling it up is crucial. That is why many are using the ai summaries to get as much here as we can.
That is what the deal is. I dont know why people do not get it. Data is the new oil and we have the ability to generate it in a way that we financially benefit. Yet people still prefer not to provide much or feed Big Tech all they can.
yes yes...we will enforce behavioural equity at an individual capacity. Unless data is decentralized we can not decentralize AI. Output is contigent upon input. And input is vested in individual spirited citizens.
Leo/Hive needs to really maximize the data it has available. As the data grows, then other AI applications can use it. That will make it a destination for those developing.
Mnuchin: No Signs of Recession, 'People Are Overreacting'
Mnuchin, who served in President Donald Trump's Cabinet during his first term in office, said that I don’t think we’re going to have a recession.
Those who criticize policy changes carried out by the current Trump administration are "overreacting a bit," former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, adding that he does not see signs of an imminent slowdown for the U.S. economy.
Mnuchin, who served in President Donald Trump's Cabinet during his first term in office, said that "I don’t think we’re going to have a recession. I don’t think the outlook looks like we’re going to have a recession. And Larry Summers saying there’s a 50% probability, I just don’t agree with that," Mnuchin said, referring to a recent remark from another former Treasury head.
"I don’t think anybody should look at what’s a natural, healthy correction of these indexes as indicating that the economy’s in trouble," he said.
Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, said that he did not focus his attention on the ups and downs of the stock market on a daily basis when he was heading the Treasury Department. Instead, he said he saw them as a good "barometer" long term.
Worm 'Blood' Moon, Total Lunar Eclipse on Friday
A rare celestial event will light up the night sky on Friday as the full worm "blood" moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse visible across North America, the Almanac reported.
A rare celestial event will light up the night sky on Friday as the full worm "blood" moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse visible across North America, the Almanac reported.
This astronomical occurrence will give the moon a striking reddish hue, creating a stunning spectacle for skywatchers.
March's full moon, known as the worm moon, will reach peak illumination at 2:55 a.m. EDT on Friday. This year, it will be accompanied by a total lunar eclipse, often referred to as a blood moon due to the deep red color the moon takes on during the event.
A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth moves directly between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow over the lunar surface. The red appearance results from sunlight filtering through Earth's atmosphere, scattering shorter wavelengths and allowing longer, redder wavelengths to reach the moon.
The eclipse will begin late Thursday, with the moon entering the penumbra — the Earth's outer shadow — at 11:56 p.m. EDT.
The moon will move into the umbra, or complete shadow, at 1:09 a.m. EDT on Friday and reach maximum eclipse at 2:55 a.m. EDT.
The event will conclude as the moon exits the umbra at 4:48 a.m. EDT and leaves the penumbra at 6:02 a.m. EDT.
Observers will have multiple opportunities to see the moon at its brightest on Thursday, even if the weather is less than ideal. The full moon will be visible on the horizon Thursday evening, offering a spectacular view as it rises. If conditions remain cloudy, skywatchers can try again Friday night.
Some lucky viewers might also spot a rare moonbow — a lunar rainbow created when moonlight refracts through water droplets in the atmosphere. These occur only when the full moon is relatively low in the sky, making early evening and late-night hours the best time for potential sightings.
The worm moon is a name that originated in Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions.
US firm to develop first-ever utility-scale geothermal plants for military
This collaboration aims to tap into America’s substantial geothermal resources to provide reliable power to military bases worldwide.
In a significant move to strengthen energy security, Baker Hughes has been selected by the U.S. Air Force and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to investigate the potential of geothermal energy to support military operations.
This collaboration aims to tap into America’s substantial geothermal resources to provide reliable power to military bases worldwide.
The CDAO’s Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, which aims to make it easier to acquire advanced energy solutions, gave Baker Hughes, which is known for its proficiency in energy technology, an “Awardable” status.
For hot water to circulate and produce electricity when brought to the surface, an EGS’s basic function is to inject fluid deep below to make new fissures in rock formations.
This technology is especially appealing for military applications because it is positioned as a sustainable substitute for conventional energy sources.
In 2024, Sage Geosystems also announced it had secured a contract with the U.S. Air Force to pilot-test its innovative geothermal energy system, Geopressured Geothermal Systems (GGS), in Starr County, Texas.
This hybrid approach harnesses heat and pressure, presenting a dual energy generation and storage opportunity.
Sage’s previous tests suggested that GGS could compete with more conventional energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and natural gas peaker plants—a claim the company hopes to substantiate during the pilot phase.
For military
To become the first geothermal plant to generate power, the GGS system’s planned 2025 start date could represent a turning point.
This project may open the door for more widespread use at military sites and other settings.
According to Kirk Phillips, Director of the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance, the initiative’s objectives transcend beyond energy production.
Enhancing operational resilience is its main goal, especially during an electrical grid failure.
Phillips highlighted the Air Force’s determination to increase geothermal power utilization.
“We would install geothermal energy power plants at every Air Force installation if we had the resources,” he said, adding that geothermal electricity is safe, dependable, and sustainable.
The enthusiasm surrounding these developments reflects a growing recognition of the strategic value of renewable energy sources in military planning.
Lt. Colonel Christian Campbell from the 147th Civil Engineer Squadron expressed optimism that the pilot program would serve as a precursor for broader adoption of geothermal technology within the Department of Defense and potentially other sectors.
Initiatives like those carried out by Baker Hughes and Sage Geosystems show a significant movement toward innovation in energy sourcing as the U.S. military looks to improve energy security and lessen its reliance on conventional energy sources.
Exploiting geothermal energy promises to deliver economic growth and a step towards energy independence, aligning with national security goals while addressing climate change concerns.
Initially believed to reference the reemergence of earthworms as soil warms, more recent research suggests it refers to beetle larvae that emerge from thawing bark as winter ends.
Other traditional names for this moon include the eagle moon and goose moon (Algonquin, Cree), the crow comes back moon (Northern Ojibwe), the sugar moon (Ojibwe), the wind strong moon (Pueblo), and the sore eyes moon (Dakota, Lakota, Assiniboine).
Skywatchers who miss this lunar eclipse must wait until March 3, 2026, for the next total lunar eclipse.
MoonPay's purchase comes one month after Stripe closed its $1.1 billion deal to buy a different payment infrastructure company called Bridge Network, the largest deal both for Stripe and the crypto ecosystem more broadly.
MoonPay, which has more than 30 million accounts in 180 countries, was last valued at $3.4 billion when it raised its last round of funding in 2021. The company tells CNBC it is cash-flow positive and profitable and that net revenue increased by 112% in 2024 from a year earlier.
UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri also called attention to Tan's relationships with China and Taiwan and "history of creating shareholder value" as another potential positive for Intel.
Tan "is likely to bring a customer service mindset to the company that is increasingly important to their goals but which has been lacking," wrote Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon. "We like him; he was at the top of our list of candidates from a desirability point of view, and we are genuinely happy for the company that he has taken the job."
Intel stock has gained about 3% this year after shedding nearly two-thirds of its market value in 2024. In August the stock dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade and suffered its worst decline in 50 years after cutting 15% of its workforce and issuing disappointing results.
The company's underperformance and struggling business has also made it a potential takeover target, with CNBC confirming in September that Qualcomm had approached the company about a takeover. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were weighing independent deals to break up Intel.
So far, about 200,000 people have signed up to become Community Notes contributors "and the waitlist remains open for those who wish to take part in the program," the company's blog post said.
Neil Johnson, a George Washington University physics professor and expert in how misinformation and hate speech spread online, told CNBC in February that a Community Notes program can help provide context for online content, but is not a substitute for "formal fact-checking."
Johnson characterized a Community Notes model as an "imperfect system" that can potentially be exploited by large groups or organizations with their own agendas.
Meta said in the blog post that "publishing a note requires agreement between different people," a policy that helps "safeguard against organized campaigns attempting to game the system and influence what notes get published or what they say."
The company said the model will be expanded across the country "once we are comfortable from the initial beta testing that the program is working in broadly the way we believe it should, though we will continue to learn and improve it as we go."
Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book
An emergency arbitrator ruled that former Meta staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting memoir of her tenure at the social media company.
Meta is seeking to stop the promotion of a new memoir by a former staffer that paints the social media company in an unflattering light, including allegations of sexual harassment by the company's policy chief.
An emergency arbitrator ruled Thursday that Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting "Careless People," her book that was released Tuesday by Flatiron Books, an imprint of publisher Macmillan Books.
Wynn-Williams also details in her book the company's various attempts to enter the Chinese market, including building tools that would censor content to appease the Chinese Communist Party. Wynn-Williams addressed some of these China-specific claims in a whistleblower complaint that she filed in April with the Securities and Exchange Commission, NBC News reported.
The emergency arbitrator ruled in favor of Meta after watching a podcast appearance of Wynn-Williams in which she discussed her memoir and her allegations that Meta was attempting to "shut this book down."
"The Emergency Arbitrator finds that, after reviewing the briefs and hearing oral argument, (Meta) has established a likelihood of success on the merits of its contractual non-disparagement claim against Respondent Wynn-Williams, and that immediate and irreparable loss will result in the absence of emergency relief," the filing said.
Additionally, the arbitrator ruled that so much as Wynn-Williams can control, she is prohibited from further publishing or distributing the book and from further disparaging Meta and its officers or repeating previous disparaging remarks. The arbitrator also ruled that Wynn-Williams is to retract her previous disparaging remarks.
Meta alleged that Wynn-Williams violated the non-disparagement terms of her September 2017 severance agreement, resulting in the company filing an emergency motion on Friday. The emergency arbitrator then conducted a telephone hearing involving legal representatives of Meta and Macmillan Books, but not Wynn-Williams who did not appear though she was given notice, the filing said.
Wynn-Williams, Flatiron Books and Macmillan Books did not respond to requests for comment.
In July 2023, iRobot took a $200 million loan from the Carlyle Group to fund the company's operations as a stopgap until the Amazon deal closed. The company amended the loan for a temporary waiver on certain financial obligations, which requires iRobot to pay a fee of $3.6 million.
As part of Wednesday's report, iRobot said its board has initiated a strategic review of the business and is considering alternatives that could include refinancing its debt and exploring a potential sale. The board hasn't set a deadline for when its review will conclude, the company said.
Shortly after the Amazon deal fell apart, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy criticized regulators' approach to its iRobot acquisition. European Union regulators threatened to block the deal, and the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. was reportedly expected to challenge the acquisition in court.
The proposed merger, which was announced in late 2022, would have allowed iRobot to scale and better compete with its rivals, Jassy said. Several of the fastest-growing robotic vacuum businesses are based in China, such as Anker, Ecovacs and Roborock, all of which have eaten into iRobot's share of the market.
Vaccinating Poultry Could Help Cut Soaring Egg Prices
Vaccines could be a key means of suppressing bird flu and avoiding the slaughter of millions of chickens, which is blamed for egg prices averaging nearly $6 a dozen. But the move has been delayed in part because of concerns it could jeopardize chicken exports worth billions of dollars a year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced plans to spend $100 million to study bird flu vaccines to fight the disease in concert with meat chicken, egg and turkey groups. That's part of a larger $1 billion effort to invest in more protections to keep the virus off farms that President Donald Trump believes will help lower egg prices.
Another delay to vaccinating concerns distribution. Egg farmers want to administer it through chicken feed or water, saying it's not practical to give shots to millions of birds in a single barn.
It can also be difficult to tell the difference between a vaccinated bird and one that has been sick with the virus. That would make other countries nervous about importing meat.
“People have talked about how expensive it would be to monitor vaccinated populations. And it would be. But where do we want to spend our money?” said Dr. Carol Cardona, a bird flu expert at the University of Minnesota. “We’re spending our money hand over fist right now in depopulation and to buy eggs for breakfast.”
China and Mexico have been vaccinating their poultry for years, but they take different approaches.
“We’re going to have to wait to replace those with new hatched chicks, and it takes 20 weeks before they even start laying,” Shane said. “So I don’t know where they’re going to get the eggs from.”
Prices may ease somewhat later this year after peak demand, which happens around Easter, if massive egg farms in Iowa, Ohio, California and elsewhere can avoid more outbreaks.
The USDA has predicted that average egg prices will be 41% higher than the 2024 average of $3.17 per dozen. That would mean $4.47 per dozen, slightly below the current average.
What exactly LEO needs to do it to maximize the chance?
For Leo, the key will be AI agents. In the meantime, filling it up is crucial. That is why many are using the ai summaries to get as much here as we can.
Okay...let's train it as much as we could. The indiviual duty towards AI will become the collective strength.
That is what the deal is. I dont know why people do not get it. Data is the new oil and we have the ability to generate it in a way that we financially benefit. Yet people still prefer not to provide much or feed Big Tech all they can.
yes yes...we will enforce behavioural equity at an individual capacity. Unless data is decentralized we can not decentralize AI. Output is contigent upon input. And input is vested in individual spirited citizens.
Leo/Hive needs to really maximize the data it has available. As the data grows, then other AI applications can use it. That will make it a destination for those developing.
!summarize #davidcrockett #jimcrockettproductions #wrestling
Mnuchin: No Signs of Recession, 'People Are Overreacting'
Mnuchin, who served in President Donald Trump's Cabinet during his first term in office, said that I don’t think we’re going to have a recession.
Those who criticize policy changes carried out by the current Trump administration are "overreacting a bit," former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, adding that he does not see signs of an imminent slowdown for the U.S. economy.
Mnuchin, who served in President Donald Trump's Cabinet during his first term in office, said that "I don’t think we’re going to have a recession. I don’t think the outlook looks like we’re going to have a recession. And Larry Summers saying there’s a 50% probability, I just don’t agree with that," Mnuchin said, referring to a recent remark from another former Treasury head.
"I don’t think anybody should look at what’s a natural, healthy correction of these indexes as indicating that the economy’s in trouble," he said.
Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, said that he did not focus his attention on the ups and downs of the stock market on a daily basis when he was heading the Treasury Department. Instead, he said he saw them as a good "barometer" long term.
Worm 'Blood' Moon, Total Lunar Eclipse on Friday
A rare celestial event will light up the night sky on Friday as the full worm "blood" moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse visible across North America, the Almanac reported.
A rare celestial event will light up the night sky on Friday as the full worm "blood" moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse visible across North America, the Almanac reported.
This astronomical occurrence will give the moon a striking reddish hue, creating a stunning spectacle for skywatchers.
March's full moon, known as the worm moon, will reach peak illumination at 2:55 a.m. EDT on Friday. This year, it will be accompanied by a total lunar eclipse, often referred to as a blood moon due to the deep red color the moon takes on during the event.
A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth moves directly between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow over the lunar surface. The red appearance results from sunlight filtering through Earth's atmosphere, scattering shorter wavelengths and allowing longer, redder wavelengths to reach the moon.
The eclipse will begin late Thursday, with the moon entering the penumbra — the Earth's outer shadow — at 11:56 p.m. EDT.
The moon will move into the umbra, or complete shadow, at 1:09 a.m. EDT on Friday and reach maximum eclipse at 2:55 a.m. EDT.
The event will conclude as the moon exits the umbra at 4:48 a.m. EDT and leaves the penumbra at 6:02 a.m. EDT.
!summarize #intel #ceo #semiconductor #business
!summarize #hollywood #galgadot #disney
Observers will have multiple opportunities to see the moon at its brightest on Thursday, even if the weather is less than ideal. The full moon will be visible on the horizon Thursday evening, offering a spectacular view as it rises. If conditions remain cloudy, skywatchers can try again Friday night.
Some lucky viewers might also spot a rare moonbow — a lunar rainbow created when moonlight refracts through water droplets in the atmosphere. These occur only when the full moon is relatively low in the sky, making early evening and late-night hours the best time for potential sightings.
The worm moon is a name that originated in Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions.
US firm to develop first-ever utility-scale geothermal plants for military
This collaboration aims to tap into America’s substantial geothermal resources to provide reliable power to military bases worldwide.
In a significant move to strengthen energy security, Baker Hughes has been selected by the U.S. Air Force and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to investigate the potential of geothermal energy to support military operations.
This collaboration aims to tap into America’s substantial geothermal resources to provide reliable power to military bases worldwide.
The CDAO’s Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, which aims to make it easier to acquire advanced energy solutions, gave Baker Hughes, which is known for its proficiency in energy technology, an “Awardable” status.
For hot water to circulate and produce electricity when brought to the surface, an EGS’s basic function is to inject fluid deep below to make new fissures in rock formations.
This technology is especially appealing for military applications because it is positioned as a sustainable substitute for conventional energy sources.
In 2024, Sage Geosystems also announced it had secured a contract with the U.S. Air Force to pilot-test its innovative geothermal energy system, Geopressured Geothermal Systems (GGS), in Starr County, Texas.
This hybrid approach harnesses heat and pressure, presenting a dual energy generation and storage opportunity.
Sage’s previous tests suggested that GGS could compete with more conventional energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and natural gas peaker plants—a claim the company hopes to substantiate during the pilot phase.
For military
To become the first geothermal plant to generate power, the GGS system’s planned 2025 start date could represent a turning point.
This project may open the door for more widespread use at military sites and other settings.
According to Kirk Phillips, Director of the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance, the initiative’s objectives transcend beyond energy production.
Enhancing operational resilience is its main goal, especially during an electrical grid failure.
Phillips highlighted the Air Force’s determination to increase geothermal power utilization.
“We would install geothermal energy power plants at every Air Force installation if we had the resources,” he said, adding that geothermal electricity is safe, dependable, and sustainable.
The enthusiasm surrounding these developments reflects a growing recognition of the strategic value of renewable energy sources in military planning.
!summarize #cnn #trumps #economy
!summarize #jordanpeterson #communism
Lt. Colonel Christian Campbell from the 147th Civil Engineer Squadron expressed optimism that the pilot program would serve as a precursor for broader adoption of geothermal technology within the Department of Defense and potentially other sectors.
Initiatives like those carried out by Baker Hughes and Sage Geosystems show a significant movement toward innovation in energy sourcing as the U.S. military looks to improve energy security and lessen its reliance on conventional energy sources.
Exploiting geothermal energy promises to deliver economic growth and a step towards energy independence, aligning with national security goals while addressing climate change concerns.
!summarize #rosieodonnell #trump #ireland #hollywood
!summarize #cartel #colombia #bolivia #drugs #southafrica #peterjaggers
Initially believed to reference the reemergence of earthworms as soil warms, more recent research suggests it refers to beetle larvae that emerge from thawing bark as winter ends.
Other traditional names for this moon include the eagle moon and goose moon (Algonquin, Cree), the crow comes back moon (Northern Ojibwe), the sugar moon (Ojibwe), the wind strong moon (Pueblo), and the sore eyes moon (Dakota, Lakota, Assiniboine).
Skywatchers who miss this lunar eclipse must wait until March 3, 2026, for the next total lunar eclipse.
!summarize #peterjaggers #colombia #cartel #bolivia #mafia #drugs #death
!summarize #peterjaggers #southafrica #colombia #cartel #drug #mafia
#drug #bulgeria
!summarize #eddiemathis #rape #extortion #crime
!summarize #mafia #wives #marriages
!summarize #yachting #sex #celebrities #wealth #nude #women
!summarize #china
!summarize #marriage #ghosthunter #television #hitman #wife
!summarize #nygiants #aaronrodgers #nfl
!summarize #legacymedia #elonmusk #globalelites
MoonPay's purchase comes one month after Stripe closed its $1.1 billion deal to buy a different payment infrastructure company called Bridge Network, the largest deal both for Stripe and the crypto ecosystem more broadly.
MoonPay, which has more than 30 million accounts in 180 countries, was last valued at $3.4 billion when it raised its last round of funding in 2021. The company tells CNBC it is cash-flow positive and profitable and that net revenue increased by 112% in 2024 from a year earlier.
UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri also called attention to Tan's relationships with China and Taiwan and "history of creating shareholder value" as another potential positive for Intel.
Tan "is likely to bring a customer service mindset to the company that is increasingly important to their goals but which has been lacking," wrote Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon. "We like him; he was at the top of our list of candidates from a desirability point of view, and we are genuinely happy for the company that he has taken the job."
Intel stock has gained about 3% this year after shedding nearly two-thirds of its market value in 2024. In August the stock dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade and suffered its worst decline in 50 years after cutting 15% of its workforce and issuing disappointing results.
The company's underperformance and struggling business has also made it a potential takeover target, with CNBC confirming in September that Qualcomm had approached the company about a takeover. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were weighing independent deals to break up Intel.
!summarize #oscars #culture #hollywood #movies
So far, about 200,000 people have signed up to become Community Notes contributors "and the waitlist remains open for those who wish to take part in the program," the company's blog post said.
Neil Johnson, a George Washington University physics professor and expert in how misinformation and hate speech spread online, told CNBC in February that a Community Notes program can help provide context for online content, but is not a substitute for "formal fact-checking."
Johnson characterized a Community Notes model as an "imperfect system" that can potentially be exploited by large groups or organizations with their own agendas.
Meta said in the blog post that "publishing a note requires agreement between different people," a policy that helps "safeguard against organized campaigns attempting to game the system and influence what notes get published or what they say."
The company said the model will be expanded across the country "once we are comfortable from the initial beta testing that the program is working in broadly the way we believe it should, though we will continue to learn and improve it as we go."
!summarize #trump #ukraine #war
Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book
An emergency arbitrator ruled that former Meta staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting memoir of her tenure at the social media company.
Meta is seeking to stop the promotion of a new memoir by a former staffer that paints the social media company in an unflattering light, including allegations of sexual harassment by the company's policy chief.
An emergency arbitrator ruled Thursday that Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting "Careless People," her book that was released Tuesday by Flatiron Books, an imprint of publisher Macmillan Books.
Wynn-Williams also details in her book the company's various attempts to enter the Chinese market, including building tools that would censor content to appease the Chinese Communist Party. Wynn-Williams addressed some of these China-specific claims in a whistleblower complaint that she filed in April with the Securities and Exchange Commission, NBC News reported.
The emergency arbitrator ruled in favor of Meta after watching a podcast appearance of Wynn-Williams in which she discussed her memoir and her allegations that Meta was attempting to "shut this book down."
!summarize #whitehouse #biden #president
"The Emergency Arbitrator finds that, after reviewing the briefs and hearing oral argument, (Meta) has established a likelihood of success on the merits of its contractual non-disparagement claim against Respondent Wynn-Williams, and that immediate and irreparable loss will result in the absence of emergency relief," the filing said.
Additionally, the arbitrator ruled that so much as Wynn-Williams can control, she is prohibited from further publishing or distributing the book and from further disparaging Meta and its officers or repeating previous disparaging remarks. The arbitrator also ruled that Wynn-Williams is to retract her previous disparaging remarks.
!summarize #texas #rangers #pitcher #mlb #velocity #jacobdegrom #injuries
Meta alleged that Wynn-Williams violated the non-disparagement terms of her September 2017 severance agreement, resulting in the company filing an emergency motion on Friday. The emergency arbitrator then conducted a telephone hearing involving legal representatives of Meta and Macmillan Books, but not Wynn-Williams who did not appear though she was given notice, the filing said.
Wynn-Williams, Flatiron Books and Macmillan Books did not respond to requests for comment.
!summarize #klaythompson #nba
In July 2023, iRobot took a $200 million loan from the Carlyle Group to fund the company's operations as a stopgap until the Amazon deal closed. The company amended the loan for a temporary waiver on certain financial obligations, which requires iRobot to pay a fee of $3.6 million.
As part of Wednesday's report, iRobot said its board has initiated a strategic review of the business and is considering alternatives that could include refinancing its debt and exploring a potential sale. The board hasn't set a deadline for when its review will conclude, the company said.
Shortly after the Amazon deal fell apart, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy criticized regulators' approach to its iRobot acquisition. European Union regulators threatened to block the deal, and the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. was reportedly expected to challenge the acquisition in court.
The proposed merger, which was announced in late 2022, would have allowed iRobot to scale and better compete with its rivals, Jassy said. Several of the fastest-growing robotic vacuum businesses are based in China, such as Anker, Ecovacs and Roborock, all of which have eaten into iRobot's share of the market.
!summarize #demographic #china #childless
Vaccinating Poultry Could Help Cut Soaring Egg Prices
Vaccines could be a key means of suppressing bird flu and avoiding the slaughter of millions of chickens, which is blamed for egg prices averaging nearly $6 a dozen. But the move has been delayed in part because of concerns it could jeopardize chicken exports worth billions of dollars a year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced plans to spend $100 million to study bird flu vaccines to fight the disease in concert with meat chicken, egg and turkey groups. That's part of a larger $1 billion effort to invest in more protections to keep the virus off farms that President Donald Trump believes will help lower egg prices.
Another delay to vaccinating concerns distribution. Egg farmers want to administer it through chicken feed or water, saying it's not practical to give shots to millions of birds in a single barn.
It can also be difficult to tell the difference between a vaccinated bird and one that has been sick with the virus. That would make other countries nervous about importing meat.
“People have talked about how expensive it would be to monitor vaccinated populations. And it would be. But where do we want to spend our money?” said Dr. Carol Cardona, a bird flu expert at the University of Minnesota. “We’re spending our money hand over fist right now in depopulation and to buy eggs for breakfast.”
China and Mexico have been vaccinating their poultry for years, but they take different approaches.
!summarize #epstein #murder #sex #crime
!summarize #latimes #gang #reporter #jessekatz
“We’re going to have to wait to replace those with new hatched chicks, and it takes 20 weeks before they even start laying,” Shane said. “So I don’t know where they’re going to get the eggs from.”
Prices may ease somewhat later this year after peak demand, which happens around Easter, if massive egg farms in Iowa, Ohio, California and elsewhere can avoid more outbreaks.
The USDA has predicted that average egg prices will be 41% higher than the 2024 average of $3.17 per dozen. That would mean $4.47 per dozen, slightly below the current average.