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  • Black men say they feel ignored by politicians. A historic Senate face-off between two Black men isn’t helping | CNN Politics

    Black men say they feel ignored by politicians. A historic Senate face-off between two Black men isn’t helping | CNN Politics

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    Atlanta
    CNN
     — 

    Aaron Bethea says he has voted election after election for US presidents, governors and senators – and yet those lawmakers have done little to nothing to improve life for him, his family or his community.

    Bethea said he believes the issues he cares about, financial freedom and equal investment in predominately Black schools, have largely been ignored.

    “Where we are from, nobody really cares about what Black men think,” said Bethea, an Atlanta father of six who owns a wholesale company that sells televisions. “They don’t do anything for us.”

    Bethea, 40, said he still plans to vote Democratic in Georgia’s hotly contested gubernatorial and US senate races. But he’s not voting with enthusiasm. He said he is hoping that one day someone will prioritize the needs of Black men.

    Bethea is not alone. Political analysts, researchers and Black male leaders say politicians are failing to reach some Black men with messaging that resonates with them and visibility in their communities. Those shortcomings could particularly hurt Democrats in the upcoming midterms given Black men are the second most loyal voting bloc for the party next to Black women, experts say.

    And while Black men have increasingly supported Republicans in recent years, some say the GOP is still missing the mark. Many Black men say they are concerned that Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker does not represent them in a positive light given his many public gaffes, history of domestic violence and being an absentee father.

    Political analysts worry that the lack of effective messaging could result in Black men sitting home on Nov. 8 and Democrats like Stacey Abrams – who has made a late attempt to reach Black men with a series of events – losing their races.

    “If some of them feel unmotivated because they don’t feel spoken to then you’ve really got a problem,” said Jason Nichols, a professor of African American studies at the University of Maryland College Park. “A lot of these campaigns don’t hire Black male advisers. They don’t hire Black men to actually tell them how to reach Black men.”

    So far, 39% of Black voters have been men, and 61% have been women, according to Catalist, a company that provides data and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and gives insights into who is voting before November. Those breakdowns were the same at this point in the early voting period in 2020.

    Some polls have suggested that Black men were gradually leaving the Democratic party to vote for Republicans. In 2020, 12% of Black men voted for former President Donald Trump.

    Ted Johnson, a senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, said some Black men find Republicans more attractive because they promote individualism and the idea that hard work, not government dependence, leads to financial success. In 2016, Johnson wrote in the Atlantic that a Black person who supported Trump was likely a “working-class or lower-middle-class Black man, over the age of 35, and interested in alternative approaches to addressing what ails Black America.”

    Still, Johnson said Black men are not naive and will vote against a Republican candidate who they feel is unfit. And for some Black men, that is the case with Walker who is running against incumbent US Sen. Raphael Warnock.

    The match-up between Walker and Warnock is one of the closest and most critical Senate races in the country, as Republicans seek to win back control of the body, which is currently split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote.

    Walker has been criticized by his opponents for being violent toward his ex-wife and the claim that he paid for the mother of one of his children to get an abortion. Walker told Axios last year that he was “accountable” for his past violent behavior, and that people shouldn’t be “ashamed” for confronting mental health issues.

    Walker speaks at a campaign event in Carrollton, Georgia, on October 11.

    In an interview with NBC News, Walker acknowledged that he sent a $700 check to a woman who alleges the money was provided to reimburse her for an abortion, but denied the check was for that purpose. Walker has been vocal about his anti-abortion views but has gone back and forth about whether he supports exceptions.

    Walker is currently polling at 11% with Black men compared to 74% for Warnock.

    “(Walker) is just not an attractive, viable candidate for most Black folks,” Johnson said. “I think there are Black men who won’t vote for Stacey Abrams but will vote for Raphael Warnock.”

    Recent polls show Republican Gov. Brian Kemp with support from 16% of Black men compared to 77% for Abrams. Johnson said he believes Kemp has more support from Black men because some men still refuse to vote a woman into office.

    “There is a strain of conservatism in Black men that comes with a strain of sexism,” Johnson said, noting that in 2016 some Black men sat home because they didn’t like Trump but also didn’t want to see Hillary Clinton as the first female president.

    In recent years, Republicans have faced criticism for being sexist, misogynistic and rejecting women’s rights.

    Walker’s candidacy was the topic of discussion for several Black men who gathered at Anytime Cutz barbershop in Atlanta on a recent Monday afternoon. The chat was part of a series hosted by the Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s Black Male Voter Project and Black Men Decide offering Black men a chance to discuss voting and the issues that matter to them.

    Some of the Black men present said they found it offensive that the GOP would pit Walker – a former NFL running back with no political experience and a troubled past – against Warnock, a beloved figure in Atlanta’s Black community who pastored the church once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Aaron Bethea, second from right, speaks during a discussion about voting with other Black men at Anytime Cutz barbershop.

    Barber Antwaun Hawkins poses for a portrait in his barber's office at Anytime Cutz.

    “The guy is looking like a fool,” said Antwaun Hawkins, a 46-year-old barber. “That’s who we want to put in place to speak for us? Because he’s a Black man? No. To me, he looks like an idiot.”

    Bethea said after the barbershop event that Walker’s candidacy feels like a “sick joke.”

    “I think he’s embarrassing himself,” Bethea said. “I don’t play the field in a position that I don’t know how to play. Someone talked him out of staying in his lane.”

    Bethea said he plans to vote for Warnock because he’s a more qualified candidate and pillar in the community.

    Moyo Akinade, a 29-year-old soccer coach from Atlanta, said he too will vote for Warnock because he’s a positive role model. Walker, meanwhile, perpetuates negative stereotypes about Black men, Akinade said.

    Those stereotypes are “that we are aggressive, we aren’t intelligent and we are abusive,” Akinade said. “It portrays Black men as being violent. And that’s still inaccurate.”

    But one barber said he doesn’t think voters should judge Walker by his past.

    “Everybody has a past, everybody has done something wrong, everybody has lied before, everybody has done something that they shouldn’t have done,” said Charles Scott who manages Anytime Cutz. “But at one point, people can change. Just like they are bashing Herschel Walker. How do you know he’s not a changed man?”

    Anytime Cutz manager and barber Charles Scott think that voters shouldn't judge Walker by his past.

    Black men interviewed by CNN said they look for more than just character and experience in politicians, but also the issues they address.

    A report released by the NAACP in September found that Black men believed racism/discrimination, inflation/cost of living and criminal justice reform/police brutality were the most important issues facing the Black community. The survey also concluded that 41% of Black men disapproved of the job President Joe Biden is doing to address the needs of the Black community.

    The group at Anytime Cutz named financial security, student loan forgiveness, police reform, healthcare reform and improving jail conditions as their top concerns.

    Most said they vote in elections but rarely see lawmakers making decisions that help them personally or their communities.

    “Do something about policing,” Hawkins said. “Do something for the people that can’t really help themselves. I don’t think people choose to be homeless and hungry.”

    Hawkins and Bethea said they have given up waiting for policies that will close the wealth gap and give Black Americans a fair shot at success. They are focused on providing for their families.

    “We can’t sit around and wait for legislation to change because the kids are at home hungry,” Hawkins said.

    Hawkins gestures while speaking about voting at Anytime Cutz.

    Some of those same sentiments are felt by Black men nearly 900 miles away in New York.

    Mysonne Linen, a popular activist and rapper from the Bronx, said he can’t remember the last time a political candidate spoke directly to Black men during their campaign and delivered on those promises after winning. Linen said Black men are tired of “pandering.” Linen wants politicians who genuinely care about Black men living in marginalized communities and will follow through on addressing police reform, livable wage jobs and investment in mental health resources.

    “They have to do a better job with having tangible results,” Linen said. “Tell us how you to plan to invest in the communities to change those realities. Get into office and actually fight to do those things.”

    In the last few months, Abrams has hosted a series of events that targeted Black men in Georgia and released a “Black Men’s Agenda” that details her plans to invest in Black-owned small businesses, expand Medicaid, increase funding to schools and opportunities for job training and hold police accountable.

    Stacey Abrams speaks during a campaign event and conversation with Charlamagne tha God, 21 Savage and Francys Johnson at The HBUC in Atlanta on September 9.

    But Linen and Nichols both agreed that Abrams’ efforts may have come too late. Nichols said he fears that some Black men are already planning to sit home on Election Day or vote for Kemp.

    “I think she didn’t necessarily get the right advice at the right time and now it feels like she’s pandering,” Nichols said. “I think she really is concerned but I think it comes across to some like ‘we’ve been ignored all this time.’”

    Nichols said he urges 2024 election candidates to do more outreach to Black men and Black families. The organization Black Men Vote has already launched a national campaign to register one million Black male voters by November 2024.

    NAACP President Derrick Johnson said those seeking public office must prioritize the needs of Black men if they want to win.

    “It is incumbent upon both political parties and all candidates to understand that the votes of African American men are not guaranteed,” Johnson said. “It’s an important voting bloc and candidates must speak to them so they can see how their vote really can support democracy and their quality of life.”

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  • US curbs on microchips could throttle China’s ambitions and escalate the tech war | CNN Business

    US curbs on microchips could throttle China’s ambitions and escalate the tech war | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN Business
     — 

    Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s push to “win the battle” in core technologies and bolster China’s position as a tech superpower could be severely undermined by Washington’s unprecedented steps to limit the sale of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to the country, analysts say.

    On October 7, the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping set of export controls that ban Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license. The rule also restricts the ability of “US persons” — including American citizens or green card holders — to provide support for the “development or production” of chips at certain manufacturing facilities in China.

    “The US moves are a major threat to China’s technological ambitions,” said Mark Williams and Zichun Huang, analysts at Capital Economics, in a recent research report. The analysts pointed out that the global semiconductor industry is “almost entirely” dependent on the United States and countries aligned with it for chip design, the tools that make them, and fabrication.

    “Without these,” the analysts said, “Chinese firms will lose access not only to advanced chips, but to technology and inputs that might over time have allowed domestic chipmakers to climb the ladder and compete at the cutting edge.” They added: “The US has chopped the rungs away.”

    Chips are vital for everything from smartphones and self-driving cars to advanced computing and weapons manufacturing. US officials have talked about the move as a measure to protect national security interests. It also comes as the United States is looking to bolster its domestic chip manufacturing abilities with heavy investments, after chip shortages earlier in the pandemic highlighted the country’s dependance on imports from abroad.

    Arthur Dong, a teaching professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, described the recent US sanctions as “unprecedented in modern times.”

    Previously, the US government has banned sales of certain tech products to specific Chinese companies, such as Huawei. It has also required some major US chip-making firms to halt their shipments to China. But the latest move is much more expansive and significant. It not only bars the export to China of advanced chips made anywhere in the world using US technology, but also blocks the export of the tools used to make them.

    With its Made in China 2025 road map, Beijing has set a target for China to become a global leader in a wide range of industries, including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G wireless, and quantum computing. At the Communist Party Congress earlier this month, where he secured a historic third term, Xi highlighted that the nation will prioritize tech and innovation and grow its talent pool to develop homegrown technologies.

    “China will look to join the ranks of the world’s most innovative countries by 2035, with great self-reliance and strength in science and technology,” Xi said in the party congress report, released on October 16.

    Dong said the latest US sanctions will make it harder for China to advance in AI as well as 5G, given the role advanced chips play in both industries.

    “In any circumstances,” Williams from Capital Economics said, “China would find achieving global tech leadership hard to achieve.”

    One dramatic, and potentially disruptive aspect of the rules is the ban on American citizens and legal residents working with Chinese chip firms.

    Dane Chamorro, a partner at Control Risks, a global risk consultancy based in London, said such measures are usually “only enacted against ‘rogue regimes’” such as Iran and North Korea. The decision to use this against China is “unprecedented,” Chamorro said.

    Many executives working for Chinese firms may now have to choose between keeping their jobs or acting as lawful US residents. “You can’t do both,” Chamorro said.

    The ban could lead to a mass resignation of top executives and core research staff working at Chinese chip firms, which will hit the industry hard, Dong from Georgetown University said.

    So far it’s not clear exactly how many American workers there are in China’s domestic chip industry. But an examination of company filings indicates that more than a dozen chip firms have senior executives holding US citizenship or green cards. At Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China (AMEC), one of the country’s largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers, at least seven executives, including founder and chairman Gerald Yin, hold US citizenship, the latest company documents show.

    A woman inspects the quality of a chip at a manufacturer of IC encapsulation in Nantong in east China's Jiangsu province Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.

    Other examples include Shu Qingming and Cheng Taiyi, who currently serve as vice chairman and deputy general manager, respectively, at GigaDevice Semiconductor, an advanced memory chip firm. The Financial Times report said in a recent report that Yangtze Memory Technologies has already asked American employees in core tech positions to leave, citing anonymous sources. But it’s unclear how many.

    AMEC, GigaDevice Semiconductor, and Yangtze Memory Technologies didn’t respond to requests for comments.

    If these senior executives depart, “this will create a leadership and technological void within China’s chipmaking industry,” Dong said, as the country loses executives with years of chipmaking experience in an industry with “one of the most complex manufacturing processes known to mankind.”

    While much of the world’s chip manufacturing is centered in East Asia, China is reliant on foreign chips, especially for advanced processor and memory chips and related equipment.

    It is the world’s largest importer of semiconductors, and has spent more money buying them than oil. In 2021, China bought a record $414 billion worth of chips, or more than 16% of the value of its total imports, according to government statistics.

    But some Western suppliers have already started preparing to halt sales to China in response to the US export curbs.

    ASM International

    (ASMIY)    , the Dutch semiconductor equipment supplier, said Wednesday that it expected the export restrictions will affect more than 40% of its sales in China. The country accounted for 16% of ASML’s equipment sales in the first nine months of this year.

    Lam Researc

    (LRCX)    h, which supplies semiconductor equipment and services, also flagged last week that it could lose between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in annual revenue in 2023 as a result of the US export curbs.

    The party congress, which recently wrapped up, has slowed China’s response to latest US export controls, analysts said. But as Beijing starts assessing the significance of the measures, it might retaliate. Xi is “concerned” about US plans to bolster domestic chip production as his administration moves to restrict China’s ability to make them, said US President Joe Biden in a speech on Thursday.

    “This conflict is just beginning,” said Chamorro.

    Chamorro said the most valuable “card” in China’s hand might be the supply of processed rare earth minerals, which Beijing could embargo. Rare earth minerals are important materials in electric vehicle production, battery making and renewable energy systems.

    “These are not easily or quickly replaced and China dominates the processing and supply chain,” Chamorro said.

    The Biden administration, meanwhile, is also weighing further restrictions on other technology exports to China, a senior US Commerce Department official said Thursday, according to the New York Times.

    If either country takes these steps, it could shift the tech arms race between the United States and China to a whole new level.

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  • Amazon stock falls 14% on light holiday quarter sales forecast | CNN Business

    Amazon stock falls 14% on light holiday quarter sales forecast | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    Amazon

    (AMZN)     stock fell some 14% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company forecast its holiday quarter sales would be lighter than analysts had expected.

    The e-commerce giant said it expects revenue for the final three months of the year to be between $140 billion to $148 billion, significantly below the $155 billion analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected. The weaker forecast comes as rising inflation and looming recession fears weigh on consumer purchasing decisions.

    Amazon reported revenue of $127.1 billion for its third-quarter, a 15% increase from the prior year but just missing Wall Street estimates.

    “There is obviously a lot happening in the macroeconomic environment, and we’ll balance our investments to be more streamlined without compromising our key long-term, strategic bets,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement accompanying the earnings release.

    The company reported its Amazon Web Services segment sales increased 27% year-over-year to $20.5 billion – representing a slower pace of growth for a closely-watched business unit than Wall Street had expected.

    But Amazon’s cloud computing division continues to be a strong profit driver for the company. Amazon posted a $2.9 billion profit for the three-month period, much improved from the prior quarter when it posted $2 billion net loss largely due to its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian.

    The latest results comes at a precarious time for the e-commerce giant. Amazon initially saw its business boom during the pandemic, as more consumers relied on online shopping. This year, however, the company is confronting a shift back to in-person shopping as well as a souring economic outlook has hampered consumers’ demand.

    Jesse Cohen, a senior analyst at Investing.com, said Amazon’s earnings report “proves it’s not immune to the challenges facing the tech industry at large as it struggles in the face of worsening macroeconomic headwinds, such as soaring inflation and worries about a possible recession.”

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  • Facebook became Meta one year ago. Its metaverse dream feels as far away as ever | CNN Business

    Facebook became Meta one year ago. Its metaverse dream feels as far away as ever | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    Even by Facebook’s standards, 2021 was a rough year.

    A series of damning reports based on leaks from a whistleblower raised uncomfortable questions about Facebook’s impact on society; the company continued reeling from concerns about the use of its platform to organize the January 6 Capitol riot; and privacy changes from Apple threatened its core advertising business. Meanwhile, young users were flocking to TikTok.

    At a virtual reality event on October 28, 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to turn the page. Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would change its name to Meta and go all in on building a future version of the internet called the “metaverse,” proving to all in the process that the company he launched in 2004 was more than just a social media business.

    One year and billions of dollars later, the so-called metaverse still feels years away, if it ever manifests at all. And the company formerly known as Facebook remains very much a social media business — one that is facing more financial pressure than when it announced the change.

    Meta’s Quest 2 consumer virtual-reality headset, released two years ago, is popular in its category but remains a niche product overall. Its newest headset, the much pricier $1,500 Quest Pro, is intended for enterprise customers and likely won’t move the needle with everyday consumers. And Meta’s flagship social VR app Horizon Worlds can feel like a ghost town (albeit a ghost town with laser tag).

    While some brands have since made measured bets on the metaverse, including by hiring “chief metaverse officers,” it’s not clear whether consumers actually want to work or play in it, or even know what the hard-to-define term means. The metaverse refers, generally, to a sort of virtual world that people can walk around in, as well as the idea of making the internet more ubiquitous and interconnected.

    Meanwhile, Meta’s core business is contracting as it confronts growing competition from TikTok and an advertising industry in retreat amid looming recession fears. The company this week reported its second-ever quarterly drop in revenue and saw profit cut in half from the prior year. It’s selling more ads but making less money on them, and user growth on its social media platforms is slowing. After hitting a $1 trillion market cap for the first time last summer, it’s now worth about a quarter of that, or less than Home Depot.

    “The business is not growing in 2022,” said Gil Luria, technology strategist at D.A. Davidson. “There is expectation that it will grow going forward, but that expectation may prove to be optimistic.”

    A bet that looked bold a year ago now looks borderline unhinged. Meta lost $9.4 billion in the first nine months of 2022 on its metaverse efforts and expects losses from the unit to “grow significantly year-over-year” in 2023. This has prompted even some of Meta’s supporters to urge it to rethink its strategy shift, and possibly slow it down. (It also prompted a tearful Jim Cramer, host of “Mad Money,” to apologize to viewers for trusting Meta’s management team and recommending that investors buy the stock.)

    “People are confused by what the metaverse even means. If the company were investing $1-2B per year into this project, then that confusion might not even be a problem. You would simply do R&D quietly and investors would focus on the core business,” Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital, a shareholder in Meta, wrote in an open letter to Zuckerberg this week. He urged Meta to “cap its metaverse investments to no more than $5B per year with more discrete targets and measures of success.”

    The current pace of spending, he added, “is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards.”

    Meta did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

    Though the name change was just announced a year ago, the shift from Facebook to Meta has been years in the making. Zuckerberg has said in the past that it’s a long-term bet for the company — not an overnight transformation. It began with Facebook’s 2014 purchase of Oculus VR, and in the years since, the company has rolled out a series of headsets that are increasingly capable, affordable and portable.

    Meta’s latest headset, the Quest Pro, is its first effort at combining the immersiveness of VR with the real world. It can display text and fine details in VR, track your eyes and facial features to give you a sense of connection with other people in virtual spaces, and show you a view of the world around you in color while letting you interact with digital objects — all nods toward Meta’s goal of attracting more business users.

    It’s a far cry from the Oculus Rift headset available in 2016: That cost $599, but users also had to connect it to a powerful PC and use it with a sensor camera on a stand that tracked the headset. At first, that headset didn’t even come with tracked hand controllers; it initially shipped to customers with an Xbox controller and a small handheld remote.

    Although the headsets have improved dramatically, VR and AR are still nascent technologies searching for purpose and popularity. The VR headset market is still tiny compared to, say, an established gadget market like console video games. ABI Research expects 11.1 million VR headsets will ship out this year, about 70% of which it predicts will be Quest 2 headsets. That’s a drop from its estimate of 14.5 million headsets in 2021, of which Quest 2 headsets made up 85% of the total.

    There’s potential for these products, some technology experts say, including in the workplace, but in the near term its adoption by everyday users remains uncertain at best.

    “I’m not sure this is going to translate to end-user consumers any time soon,” said David Lindlbauer, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who leads the school’s Augmented Perception Lab. (Meta is sponsoring Lindlbauer’s research into developing advanced user interfaces for AR and VR.)

    For Zuckerberg, and Meta, that creates a unique challenge.

    Zuckerberg successfully pivoted Facebook’s operations once before from desktop to mobile devices shortly after taking the company public, a move that helped supercharge its advertising business and ensure its dominance for much of the next decade. But smartphones were already ubiquitous at that time; if anything Facebook was a bit late.

    Now, the company is trying to spearhead a new technology and hoping consumers will follow its lead.

    Meta has positioned the shift as a sort of existential imperative for the company. After Apple’s app tracking changes hurt Meta’s ability to target ads to its users, the company doesn’t want to rely on any outside hardware or app store in the future.

    A visitor to the 2022 Tokyo Game Show tests the Meta Quest 2 VR headset.

    But there’s a big difference between looking at a computer or smartphone display and wearing a headset. While Lindlbauer can imagine using a headset for perhaps an hour a day, alternating between immersive views in VR and digital imagery that mixes with the physical world, “I think we haven’t hit the sweet spot yet of something I want to wear all day,” he said.

    Meta is also facing an enormous challenge when it comes to showing off VR content that users like the looks of and want to use repeatedly. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, internal documents show Horizon Worlds has fewer than 200,000 active monthly users, a rounding error for a company with 3.7 billion monthly active users across its various services. (A Meta spokesperson told the Journal that it’s “easy to be a cynic about the metaverse” but Meta thinks it is “the future of computing.”)

    “They’re starting with this idea that they want to build one big space like Horizon Worlds in which everybody’s just going to show up and start building stuff,” said Avi Bar-Zeev, founder of AR and VR consultancy RealityPrime and a former employee at Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, where he worked on the HoloLens VR headset. “There’s no virtual world that was ever successful building a canvas that people would just come and start painting.”

    Zuckerberg has personally received intense criticism for the way Meta envisions work and play interactions in virtual spaces after posting on Facebook an image of his blocky, cartoon-like avatar in Horizon Worlds — an image he later admitted was “pretty basic.”

    “As far as the quick-twitch, give-me-more public is concerned, the progress seen so far is a letdown,” said Janna Anderson, director of the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University. “Meta is suffering tremendous ridicule in social media and in the overall public zeitgeist.”

    The Quest Pro’s face-tracking capabilities can help make avatars’ facial expressions look more realistic: Initially, users can access this tracking in Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms, Meta said, as well as in several developers’ apps such as Painting VR and DJ app Tribe XR.

    But even with facial tracking, what users see when they pop in to Horizon Worlds — blocky, human-like avatars that exist only from the torso up, floating around a virtual plaza — will for now continue to contrast sharply with the image Zuckerberg portrayed during Meta’s Connect event on October 11 of his own full-body avatar.

    In the meantime, investors appear to be getting fed up with the investments in the metaverse at a time when the future of its core business is also deeply uncertain.

    “I think kind of summing up how investors are feeling right now is that there are just too many experimental bets versus proven bets on the core,” Jeffries analyst Brent Thill said on Meta’s earnings call this week.

    Zuckerberg, for his part, is defending the strategy shift. “I’d say that there’s a difference between something being experimental and not knowing how good it’s going to end up being,” he responded. Separately, he added: “I think people are going to look back decades from now and talk about the importance of the work that was done here.”

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  • Microsoft earnings hit by personal computing slowdown | CNN Business

    Microsoft earnings hit by personal computing slowdown | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    Microsoft posted a double-digit profit decline in the three-month period ending in September as the company confronted a slowdown in the personal computing industry and a broader economic downturn.

    The tech giant on Tuesday reported net income of $17.6 billion for the quarter, a decrease of 14% from the year prior. Microsoft

    (MSFT)    ’s revenue, meanwhile, grew a modest 11% to $50.1 billion. Both results were better than analysts had expected.

    Microsoft’s Azure cloud services unit saw revenue increase by 35% from the prior year, but the growth was slower than some analysts had hoped for a division that has been one of the company’s biggest bright spots in recent years.

    Other parts of Microsoft’s business declined. Microsoft said revenue from its Windows OEM operations fell 15% from the year prior, which comes as demand for personal computers has fallen sharply on the heels of a pandemic-fueled boom. Consulting firm Gartner reported earlier this month that worldwide PC shipments declined 19.5% in the third quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year. This marks the steepest market decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s.

    Microsoft also said revenue from Xbox content and services declined by 3%. The company reportedly recently laid off employees in its Xbox division, among other parts of the company, as it — like many other tech companies right now — looks to cut costs.

    Shares of Microsoft fell 2% in after-hours trading Tuesday following the earnings report.

    Microsoft’s stock has fallen more than 25% since the beginning of the year, amid a broader market downturn as rising inflation, geopolitical uncertainty from the war in Ukraine and more macroeconomic headwinds continue to wreak havoc on the tech industry.

    “In this environment, we’re focused on helping our customers do more with less, while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way,” Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said in a statement Tuesday announcing the quarterly earnings.

    Haris Anwar, senior analyst at Investing.com, called Microsoft’s earnings report a “mixed bag” in a commentary after the results were released on Tuesday.

    “It shows that Microsoft is weathering the economic storm better than other technology players and its diversified business model is playing a big role in doing so,” Anwar said. But he added that the slowing cloud computing growth was cause for concern.

    “If this growth deceleration continues, it could harm an investment case in the company’s stock which is considered a safe-haven amid the market turmoil, with these concerns reflected in the company’s shares being down in extended trading,” Anwar said.

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  • Dow hits 2-month high as blue-chip gauge heads for longest winning streak since May

    Dow hits 2-month high as blue-chip gauge heads for longest winning streak since May

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    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 600 points on Friday to its highest level in two months as the blue-chip gauge remained on track for a sixth straight session in the green in what would be its longest winning streak since May 27, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    All three major indexes were trading higher as expectations that the Federal Reserve will shift toward smaller interest-rate hikes after its November meeting have offset weak earnings this week from some of the market’s biggest megacap technology names.

    How are stocks trading?
    • The S&P 500
      SPX,
      +1.67%
      gained 59 points, or 1.6%, to 3,866.

    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average
      DJIA,
      +1.98%
      rose 589 points, or 1.8%, to 32,623.

    • The Nasdaq Composite
      COMP,
      +1.80%
      advanced 181 points, or 1.7%, to 10,974.

    Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on track to cement their second weekly gain in a row on Friday, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq has substantially lagged after Thursday’s performance, where it was the only one of the major indexes to finish in the red following abysmal earnings from Meta Platforms Inc.

    Barring an intraday turnaround, the Dow is on track to log its fourth straight weekly advance. It remains down just 10.2% so far this year.

    The blue-chip gauge has risen 5% so far this week, while the S&P 500 is up 3.1% and the Nasdaq has risen 1.1%.

    What’s driving markets?

    All eyes were on the Dow Friday as the blue-chip gauge was the only major index to reach new notable highs late this week as its advance during the month of October has somewhat ameliorated its losses for the year so far.

    The Dow has risen 13.5% since the start of the month, leaving it on track for its best October performance since it was created in the late 19th century.

    Perhaps the biggest reason for the Dow’s rise this month is tied to its composition. The average is generally light on technology stocks, while including more of the energy and industrial stocks that have outperformed this year.

    “The Dow just has more of the winners embedded in it and that has been the secret to its success,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B.Reily Wealth.

    Despite some volatility in the premarket session, all three major indexes turned higher after the open as investors remained fixated on expectations for the Fed to down shift to smaller interest rate hikes after next week’s policy meeting — an expectation that endured after the latest reports on inflation and wage growth released Friday.

    See:Market expectations start to shift in direction of slower pace of rate hikes by Fed

    Brad Conger, deputy chief investment officer at Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., said Friday’s data didn’t interfere with mounting expectations that the Fed might soon pause its campaign of aggressive rate hikes.

    “Basically, the market is starting to price in a pause, not a pivot, but maybe a pause. The end is in sight,” Conger said.

    The September core personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation pressures — came in roughly in line with economists expectations, while a more modest 1.2% gain in private wages and salaries in the third quarter was interpreted as a sign that wage growth may have finally peaked, according to Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

    “The Federal Reserve has not yet broken the persistent trend in core inflation and so will likely stay aggressive at next week’s meeting. However, some areas of the economy show significant weakness and could build the case that the Fed downshifts to smaller rate hikes in 2023,” Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial in Charlotte, NC, said.

    The final reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for October added 1.3 index points from 58.6 in September, and was up slightly from an initial reading of 59.8 earlier in the month.

    See: GDP looked great for the U.S. economy, but it really wasn’t

    Since the start of the week, investors have digested a batch of disappointing numbers from some of America’s largest tech companies, which helped to sully the overall quality of S&P 500 earnings this quarter.

    On Thursday night, Amazon.com
    AMZN,
    -9.29%
    joined Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +2.75%    ,
    Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    +2.76%
    and Meta
    META,
    +0.34%
    by publishing disappointing earnings for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.

    But despite the disappointing results reported this week, in aggregate, S&P 500 firms are beating earnings expectations by 3.8%, according to Refinitiv data. That’s compared to a long-term average of 4.1% since 1994. However, if energy firms are excluded, the picture darkens substantially.

    Opinion: The cloud boom has hit its stormiest moment yet, and it is costing investors billions

    Shares of Amazon were off 10% after the e-commerce giant, which dominates the consumer-discretionary sector, predicted slower holiday sales and profit while also reporting slower-than-expected growth in its key cloud-computing business.

    Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, said investors were unnerved by Amazon’s guidance cut.

    “The outlook for Q4 was what terrified investors with the retailer guidance operating income in the range $0-4 billion vs est. $4.7 billion and revenue of $140-148 billion vs est. $155.5 billion,” he said in a note.

    One notable exception to the downbeat earnings news this week was Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +7.21%    ,
    which proved a bright spot after the iPhone maker’s revenue and earnings topped forecasts, helped by record back-to-school sales of Macs. Shares were up nearly 0.9% in premarket trading.

    Companies in focus
    • Oil giants Chevron Corp. CVX and Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM were climbing on Friday after reporting strong results. Chevron is a Dow component.

    • Pinterest Inc. PINS also saw strong sales and profit in the third quarter, beating Wall Street expectations. Its shares were up more than 14%.

    • Intel Corp. INTC shares advanced more than 8% after reporting an earnings beat. The chip maker said it would cut costs by $3 billion next year, and lay off employees, as it trimmed its outlook again.

    See also: Live Markets coverage:

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  • Best mesh Wi-Fi routers of 2022 | CNN Underscored

    Best mesh Wi-Fi routers of 2022 | CNN Underscored

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    With more and more devices in our homes — phones, tablets, TVs, computers, game consoles, smart appliances and more — demanding Wi-Fi bandwidth, a reliable, speedy network is more important than ever. And if your home has a challenging layout, or you live in an older building with impenetrable walls, a single router might not cut it, leaving you with poor connectivity or dropouts. The answer is a mesh system, which in place of a single router uses multiple miniature units you can place throughout your home to effectively eliminate dead zones and improve wireless internet speeds.

    After months of testing mesh routers to find the best of the best, we found one that rises to the top.

    Best mesh Wi-Fi router

    Eero continues to master making Wi-Fi easier and better for the masses with a streamlined setup, wide-ranging coverage, high speeds and affordability combined with easy-to-manage parental controls, ad blocking, and network security.

    EERO

    The Eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system is our new top pick for the best mesh Wi-Fi system, replacing the very similar Eero 6. The two systems are similar, with the 6+ gaining critical features such as more bandwidth, which improved the overall experience in our testing. On top of new capabilities, the Eero 6+ is currently priced lower than the Eero 6 (which remains on the market for now), at $194 for a three-pack, compared to $199 for an Eero 6 router and two extenders.

    As was the case with the earlier version, initial setup of the Eero 6+ is streamlined, with the iPhone or Android app making the process easy enough for even the non-tech savvy to upgrade from a traditional Wi-Fi router to a mesh system with multiple access points.

    You’ll need access to your internet service provider’s modem in order to connect one of the Eero access points directly to it. Unlike the Eero 6 which had a dedicated base station meant to serve as the router access point, the 6+ units are interchangeable and you can use any of them as your main access point.

    The app will walk you through giving your wireless network a name, adding any additional Eero access points, and starting your 30-day free trial of Eero Plus, the company’s subscription service that adds additional features to the Eero offering, such as ad blocking, advanced security, content filtering (including parental controls) and access to the password managing app 1Password, VPN service Encrypt.me, antivirus software Malwarebytes, and a DDNS service as a means to access your home network from anywhere.

    Formerly Eero Secure+, an Eero Plus subscription costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year after your trial expires. There’s no longer a basic tier without apps as there was in earlier versions, and there have been some understandable complaints about this from users. Still, for $100 a year, you’re gaining access to plenty of handy features on your home Wi-Fi network, in addition to apps that collectively cost more than the Eero Plus subscription. For comparison, TP-Link’s Deco HomeCare Pro subscription is bit better deal at $55 a year for similar features, without any third-party app access. To get the same level of functionality from Netgear, you need two different subscriptions (parental controls and security features) for its Orbi systems, totaling $170 a year. But all things considered, $99.99 a year for Eero Plus isn’t the worst deal in the mesh networking landscape.

    With an active subscription, you’ll have the ability to block certain websites, apps or services for specific user profiles. For instance, you can create a profile for your kids’ devices and set time limits, and schedules for bedtime or dinner to pause internet access, and track data usage.

    Also part of Eero Plus is the option to block ads as you browse the internet. The ad-blocking feature isn’t quite as good as running a homemade PiHole server, but it does a good job at blocking a lot of ads, in turn speeding up website load times and preventing tracking.

    As for security features, which are also part of the subscription, you can turn on Advanced Security to allow Eero to prevent anyone on your network from accessing harmful sites that may contain viruses or be phishing attempts.

    The software experience is a big part of any mesh Wi-Fi system’s story, but not the entire story. For the Eero 6+, you’re getting a kit with powerful hardware that’s sure to provide fast internet access to your home and the devices inside it for years to come. The Eero 6 had a top speed of 500Mbps. The Eero 6+ doubles that to 1Gbps. Of course, your internet service provider will need to provide that type of speed to your home in order for you to see those speeds in real-world use.

    Over the course of a few weeks, we tested a three-pack of the Eero 6+, one unit in the basement of a ranch-style home. A second unit was placed upstairs on the opposite end of the house, with the third unit in a detached garage.

    During testing, we consistently saw speeds around 700 Mbps on our smartphones using the Speedtest.net app. The speed results would drop the further away we got from an access point, but that’s to be expected.

    Often times there would be two to three gaming PCs connected and actively playing games — think Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of Duty — while Netflix or Hulu were streaming 4K content on a TV.

    Outside of having to adjust a Wi-Fi antenna that had been moved on a gaming PC, there weren’t any instances of lagging while gaming or buffering while streaming content, even when everyone was connected and active, including countless smart home connected devices such as Ring cameras, smart locks, a video doorbell, light switches and random light bulbs.

    Alternatively, you can use the Ethernet ports to connect a gadget that’s near the access point to boost its Wi-Fi connectivity. So, if you have an older PC that lacks Wi-Fi 6 capabilities, you can connect the PC to the Ethernet port on the back of the Eero 6+ and it’s now getting faster internet without having to upgrade any components on the PC. `

    You can get the Eero 6+ in three different configurations. A single pack is $139, a two-pack is $155 (normally $239) and a three-pack is $194, marked down from its typical price of $299.

    The core features remain the same, regardless if you have a single access point or three. You get dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, which translates to multiple radios inside the access points to carry your data transitions back and forth at higher speeds. On the back of each Eero 6+ unit, you’ll find two Ethernet ports, which allow you to connect a secondary unit to Ethernet (if your house is wired for it) as a hardwired system, which can help boost performance.

    The Eero 6+ is very much a set-it-and-forget-it system. Once turned on and devices started connecting to them, there wasn’t a whole lot of management or worry on our part. We could get as granular as we wanted within the Eero app about usage, setting up profiles and what to block, or we could just let the network run and forget about having to manage a thing.

    We crafted our testing pool based on current Wi-Fi standards, top-rated mesh routers and our own expertise with products on the market. We then designed testing categories that would make for a fair comparison across all routers.

    Once each router arrived, we began our analysis by examining everything from the packaging and labeling of the hardware to the included instructions. We also paid close attention to what interface we had to use for setup, determining if it was a web page to visit, a desktop app or a purely mobile experience. When it came to placing the router, we noted if the onboarding process helped by suggesting where the router and each node should be placed and tested the connection strength afterward.

    After we set up the network, we took a look at the included features. For instance, are parental controls available out of the box, or did we need to sign up for a monthly plan? What type of security protocols and protections were in place from the get-go?

    We then conducted a number of speed tests and benchmarks to test connectivity in a quantitative format. After those benchmarks, we measured the performance in a qualitative manner with our everyday workflows on a plethora of devices. We also stress-tested with more than 100 devices on the network at any given time. In the realm of smart home, we looked at what extra connectivity was included inside the router.

    Without a doubt, the ZenWiFi AX (XT8) is the most advanced mesh networking system we tested in our first round. And Asus has taken the kitchen sink approach here — it’s a tri-band system with a single lane for 2.4 GHz and two lanes for 5 GHz. You can opt to broadcast a single network, combining all three bands, or split them up if you want to decide which network a device connects to. Additionally, the XT8 offers a built-in VPN that will keep your coffee shop Wi-Fi sessions safe and allow you to access your home network. It also works with Amazon’s Alexa platform, or you can create automations with the website If This Then That (IFTTT).

    The XT8 will block malicious sites, allows for parental controls and will even let you designate which device or content types should be prioritized across your home network. Each access point supports an external hard drive for network access, which, if combined with VPN features, will put your files at your fingertips no matter where you are.

    Our lone complaint about the XT8 has nothing to do with performance but rather the overall interface for managing the network. There are so many options; this system is clearly designed for someone who is comfortable with managing a network, and even then it’s still somewhat intimidating.

    Asus sells the XT8 in two-packs for $449, making it the most expensive setup we tested.

    In terms of its feature set, the Eero, originally known as the “all-new Eero” (in 2019), is pretty similar to the Eero 6. It has a slightly bulkier design, lacks the Zigbee antenna for easy smart home connectivity and, most importantly, is missing Wi-Fi 6 support. At only $80 more for a three-pack, it makes sense to spend the extra for the latest-generation router.

    Eero 6 and two extenders

    With its foolproof setup process, nearly unrivaled speeds and coverage areas, Eero 6 was our favorite mesh system before the introduction of the Eero 6+, which we recommend at this point (the systems will set you back the same amount, so there’s no reason to sacrifice the bandwidth gains you’ll get from the newer version. If prices drop on the old version and your needs are modest, it could be worth a look.

    The Eero Pro 6 is the step-up model from the Eero 6, now supplanted by the newer Eero Pro 6E (which is a better deal, and provides better performance). Aside from a shorter and wider design, it has a few other pro features. Notably, this supports gigabit speeds (aka 1,000 Mbps) on upload and download in a mesh configuration. If you’re paying for those speeds, like with Fios Gigabit, it makes sense to pay the extra and opt for the Pro 6.

    It also has a bit more room for devices to connect with a tri-band setup. That means it has a three-lane highway versus a two-lane setup on a dual-band router. In total, the Eero Pro 6 features a single 2.4 GHz band and two 5 GHz bands. It’s a noticeable difference if you have more than 100 data-heavy devices connected all at once.

    $699 $419 at Amazon

    Eero’s Pro 6E system has all of the bells and whistles as our top pick the Eero 6+ such as Eero Plus, parental controls, easy setup and an easy-to-use

    What makes the Pro 6E so special, and more expensive, is that it supports the latest connectivity standard Wi-Fi 6E, which increases overall throughput and speeds and the number of devices your network can handle at the same time. More specifically, the Eero Pro 6E can support up to 2.3Gbps, over 100 devices and covers 2,000 square feet per access point.

    Google’s Nest Wi-Fi mesh networking system used to be the gold standard of mesh systems: It’s incredibly simple to set up and manage, with everything done directly in the Google Home app. You can bundle devices into groups and set access schedules, or pause Wi-Fi access on demand through the app or by telling Google Assistant.

    You can also use those same groups to block access to inappropriate websites. From the initial setup process to more advanced controls, using Nest Wi-Fi is very easy and meant for those who aren’t all that tech-savvy. It’s truly a set-it-and-forget-it mesh networking system.

    Each Nest Wi-Fi access point acts as a Google Home device, meaning you can use the wake phrase of “OK/Hey Google” to ask questions and control your smart home devices.

    The Velop MX4200 is Linksys’ original Wi-Fi 6 mesh networking system, with useful features such as supporting network hard drives, support for up to 2,404 Mbps on Wi-Fi 6 and three gigabit LAN ports on each access point.

    You can tell the system to prioritize a device if you need to ensure you don’t break up during a video call, for example, or if you want to be certain your gaming session is getting all the bandwidth it needs. You can also set up basic parental controls, like pausing internet access on a specific device, setting a schedule or blocking specific websites.

    The Linksys Atlas Max 6E hits all of the marks for a Wi-Fi 6E system — a wide 9,000 square foot coverage area, support for over 195 devices at the same time, and speeds up to 8.4 Mpbs. Our testing showed the system can indeed put out impressive speeds (though we don’t have the capabilities to test its full potential), and coverage was slightly above average. Although, we did have to adjust our normal testing placement to bring two of the access points closer together, which isn’t something we have to often do. Furthermore, the app for controlling the system doesn’t provide an option to group devices for parental controls, for instance, if your kids are like ours, they have multiple devices and having to manually adjust individual devices all the time gets tiresome.

    Plume’s $159 SuperPods with Wi-Fi 6 are incredibly easy to set up and start getting better Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home. You could opt to use a single SuperPod as a traditional router or pair it with additional pods for a full mesh system. Either way, Plume’s $99 per year HomePass subscription service takes care of optimizing the network, blocking malware and ads, and gives you access to parental controls. In addition to managing your network for you, HomePass also doubles as a home security system; the Pods have built-in motion sensors that can alert you if something or someone is moving in your home — and it’ll even include the name of the room where the movement has been detected. It’s really cool and all of this aims to let you forget about your network setup.

    In our test setup, we used five SuperPods to cover a two-story home and a detached office. Each Pod also features two Ethernet ports, which is handy if you prefer a hardwired connection, say for a smart TV or computer or gaming console.

    One potential downside to Plume’s offering is that without the yearly HomePass subscription, the pods won’t include many of the advanced features such as guest modes, content filets and parental controls. For this reason, for most people, we’d recommend our top pick of the Eero 6 whether you want to use it as a traditional router or in a mesh setup. But if you don’t mind paying extra for a reliable mesh Wi-Fi network with some added smarts, then the Plume SuperPods are worth looking at.

    The Netgear Orbi AX600 supports the current Wi-Fi 6 standards and features some smart home connectivity. But you’re paying a lot of money for the AX600: $999 for a two-pack.

    For that price, it’s a tri-band experience and 6 Gbps-capable router (which translates to 6,000 Mbps in total). But you’ll need a really fast connection from your service provider to deliver that. Given this router’s high price point, you’re much better off opting for an Eero 6E system.

    $199.99 at B&H Photo Video

    The entry-level Orbi AX1200 from Netgear is a bare-bones mesh system that features a neat geometric design pattern on small square routers. Like the Eero 6, it’s a dual-band system that can cover 4,500 square feet of space, slightly less than what our top pick can deliver. In our testing, it was about 50 Mbps to 75 Mbps behind the other routers we tested, and it doesn’t feature Wi-Fi 6 support.

    Like the Eero and SmartThings Wi-Fi, there’s a companion Orbi app that hides a majority of security and parental control features behind a monthly plan. Netgear has partnered with Circle for parental controls here. The combination of subscriptions ends up being pricier than Eero’s, so given the balance of price and performance we’d recommended going with that system instead.

    The biggest — and really, only — problem we have with the Netgear Orbi AXW11000 is its price. At $1,500, you’d better be really sure you have to have this system. That said, its specification sheet does begin to explain its high price tag. The AXW11000 supports up to 10.8Gbps speeds, 9,000 square feet of coverage, and 200 devices on the same network. On top of that, the Orbi app isn’t as intuitive as Eero’s for common tasks like parental controls. And more advanced tasks require you to use a dedicated admin portal via your web browser.

    That said, this system is fast and powerful and definitely something we’d urge you to consider if it wasn’t so expensive, or if you have the budget and need for its ultra-high performance.

    Samsung’s SmartThings Wi-Fi launched in late 2018 and hasn’t received a hardware update since. The real highlight of the SmartThings Wi-Fi system, outside of its mesh networking capabilities with support of up to 32 different hubs (yes, you read that right, 32) is that it doubles as a smart home hub for the SmartThings platform.

    That means you can use it to connect to and control any product or service that works with SmartThings, such as the recently added Nest product line, along with countless other accessories and devices. SmartThings Wi-Fi has support for Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols, allowing compatible devices to connect directly to the hub, adding to its feature set.

    As for its Wi-Fi capabilities, you get free access to the Plume app, which provides access to more advanced Wi-Fi controls and mesh networking features. But despite the capabilities of Plume’s networking features, it’s also a drawback of SmartThings Wi-Fi because you’re forced to use two different applications to manage your home network, with each one offering different settings.

    We hope that Samsung updates SmartThings Wi-Fi with modern features and connection speeds, because its smart home features and platform are some of the best for a mesh networking system.

    On paper, the TP-Link Deco XE75 checks all of the boxes. It supports Wi-Fi 6E, up to 200 devices, 7,200 square feet and speeds of up to 5,400mbps. But we struggled with interference issues, which often lead to troubleshooting in the Deco app for network interference — of which, there was a lot — and that’s not something we experienced with other systems we tested in the same environment. When the Deco XE75 was working properly, the speeds were slightly lower than the Eero 6+, and the parental controls felt well thought out and streamlined for anyone to put to use.

    The Deco X55 is an affordable Wi-Fi 6 mesh system, with a three-pack priced at $219. For that, you get three access points with coverage of 6,500 total square feet, a max speed of 2,400Mbps, and the same Deco app for parental controls and managing your network. However, the X55 was also impacted by interference issues in our testing. Again, that’s not something we experienced with other systems that we tested. When it was working, speeds weren’t as impressive as the competition. This is not a system we’d recommend — it’s better to step up to the Eero 6+, especially when its available at a comparable price.

    A three-pack of Vilo’s mesh Wi-Fi system is priced incredibly low at $80 and does a good job of covering your space in Wi-Fi. It’s a system designed for basic internet use and streaming, and not for a household with multiple online gamers or 4K streams. The Vilo app is basic and frustrating at times, but once your system is set up, you shouldn’t have to spend too much time using the app. If you need a bare-bones network and don’t want to spend a ton, Vilo surely gets the job done.

    Read more from CNN Underscored’s hands-on testing:

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  • Inflation data shows US prices were still uncomfortably high last month | CNN Business

    Inflation data shows US prices were still uncomfortably high last month | CNN Business

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    Minneapolis
    CNN Business
     — 

    New inflation data shows that US prices were still uncomfortably high last month, despite aggressive action from the Federal Reserve to rein in decades-high inflation.

    The Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, which measures prices paid by consumers for goods and services, climbed by by 0.3% from August to September but remained unchanged at 6.2% for the year.

    Core PCE, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, climbed by 5.1% on an annual basis, higher than the August rate of 4.9% but below the consensus estimate of 5.2%, per Refinitiv.

    From August to September, the core index rose by 0.5%, matching estimates. The prior month’s jump was revised down to 0.5% from 0.6%.

    The latest PCE numbers come just days before the central bank meets to discuss another rate hike — and as Americans hit the polls to vote in midterm elections.

    This story is developing and will be updated.

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  • ‘He’s not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities’: My boyfriend wants me to move in and pay half his monthly costs. Is that fair?

    ‘He’s not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities’: My boyfriend wants me to move in and pay half his monthly costs. Is that fair?

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    Dear Quentin,

    My boyfriend owns a house with a 30-year mortgage balance of $150,000 on a 4% interest rate. He has $275,000 in cash and retirement accounts. He is retired.

    My house is paid off. I have $50,000 in cash and retirement accounts. I would like to retire within one to two years.

    We wish to cohabitate but have not been able to agree on a fair “rent” to pay. He is not willing to live in my house because it has fewer amenities. 

    “‘He believes I should pay half of his monthly cost at his nicer, more expensive house. He could pay off his mortgage and save $600 a month, but he likes to have cash. ‘”

    He believes I should pay half of his monthly cost at his nicer, more expensive house. He could pay off his mortgage and save $600 a month, but he likes to have cash. 

    I have forgone that luxury and paid off my mortgage. I am now working on building my savings. I don’t feel it is fair for me to pay half of the mortgage interest expense. 

    I don’t know what repair and maintenance costs should be expected from me, if I have no equity in his house. There are many points of view, none of which feels fair.

    These are the options he set forth:

    · I live in his house and thus get to rent mine out. Pay him half of what I net from that rental.

    · Pay half of the actual costs of living expenses and upkeep on his house while I live there.

    · Pay him what I pay to live in my current home for taxes, insurance, and utilities: $800/month.

    What say you, Moneyist?

    House Owner & Girlfriend 

    Dear House Owner,

    I’m sure your house is just as nice. And just because he believes you should pay half his costs, does not make it so. If you are paying no mortgage on your own home, I don’t believe you should pay one red cent more to live in his home. 

    That is to say, you should not come out of this arrangement paying more, just because (a) he would like you to live in his home and (b) he would like you to help him pay off his mortgage, or his tax and maintenance.

    You both made different choices: Yours was to have a home that’s free-and-clear of a mortgage, so you can spend this time building up your savings for retirement and/or a rainy day. 

    You have worked hard to pay off your mortgage, and you have $50,000 in savings, less than 20% of your boyfriend’s savings. He has $150,000 left on his mortgage, and that’s his choice.

    “If his aim is to find help to pay off half of his mortgage, he can find a tenant to do that for him. ”

    You are not the answer to his long-term financial plans, you are his partner in life. If his aim is to find help to pay off half of his mortgage, he can find a tenant to do that for him. What do you expect of you? Forget what he expects.

    By the way he is approaching this arrangement, it seems like he wants the equivalent of a detergent and a fabric softener — a girlfriend and a tenant in one handy bottle to keep his financial plans smooth and clean.

    Bottom line: You should not compromise any plans to build your nest egg. The lady’s not for turning. Only acquiesce to his plan if — with the help of an actual tenant in your home — it helps you too. 

    In other words, the desired outcome for you is more important than the suggestions he has put forward. He could save $600 a month! That’s his business. Not yours. What do you want to have in your pocket every month?

    Figure out what you want, and then work your way backwards based on that goal. For instance, if you can pay him $800 a month, charge $1,600 rent for your home, and put $800 towards your savings, do that.

    You’ve come a long way. Don’t let these negotiations scupper that.

    Check out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

    The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

    By emailing your questions, you agree to having them published anonymously on MarketWatch. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

    Also read:

    I built a property portfolio with 23 units while we were dating. How much should I give to my fiancé in our prenup?

    ‘We will not outlive our money’: How can we give $10,000 to our nieces and nephews without offending the rest of the family?

    ‘S‘I hate to be cheap’: Is it still acceptable to arrive at a friend’s house for dinner with just one bottle of wine?

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  • Soaring inflation is throwing retirees’ budgets into chaos | CNN Business

    Soaring inflation is throwing retirees’ budgets into chaos | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    At the Senior Friendship Center in Sarasota, Florida, talking about inflation really strikes a chord.

    At a card table there, CNN met with a group of seniors, all on fixed incomes, who spoke about feeling the squeeze from steep price hikes over the past year.

    Katherine Janes, 81, said she had to turn to her son for financial help.

    “It makes things a little easier,” Janes said. “Everything is expensive.”

    Ron Longhurst cut back on evening socializing, which has been difficult as a single 79-year-old.

    “Day-to-day, I stay home more,” he said. “You think twice about the big night out… I’m taking maybe a week or two longer between haircuts.”

    Ann Smith, 82, cut down on her favorite “simple pleasure” — drinking soda.

    “I used to enjoy a Coke or two a day,” she said. “I now do one a day, maybe one every other day instead.”

    Seniors on a fixed income have been hit particularly hard by inflation, with September prices up 8.2% from a year ago. The price hikes are even steeper in areas like Tampa, Florida, where the housing market has exploded.

    Sharon Johnson, 67, said her family’s monthly rent in Tampa jumped $350 this year, rising to roughly $3,100 per month. And with other bills surging, like her utilities, it has thrown her budget into chaos.

    “The cost of living is not working well right now for us. It’s hard,” Johnson said. “I’ve never had to feel a worry about how we were going to eat, but today, we’re only doing light foods, sandwiches.”

    Sharon Johnson, 67, said her rent jumped by $350 a month this year, throwing her budget into chaos.

    They already have some boxes packed, expecting another rent hike when their lease ends early next year.

    Johnson, a retired university counselor, and her husband, a retired engineer and teacher, moved to Florida from Michigan three years ago, bringing along her sister and nephew to live with them.

    The family would like to buy a home, but the draining price hikes and red-hot housing market are making that more difficult. Johnson says they may have to downsize as a result.

    “We are middle income, but with less to work with than when we worked full time,” Johnson said. “We have worked hard. And we’ve been honest. Then why is it going in reverse?”

    Next year, Social Security recipients will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment of 8.7%, the largest increase since 1981.

    But for now, many seniors are feeling little relief.

    Barbara Smith, 70, is a caretaker and also volunteers at Trinity Cafe in Tampa, a restaurant that serves free meals to the less fortunate. But she said she has come to rely on the take-home meal she gets after her shift and it is often the only one she eats all day.

    “Then I don’t have to go and purchase it, because I don’t have the money to do that,” Smith said.

    As she weathers price hikes on food, gas, and personal items, she’s stopped buying puzzles, her favorite hobby. The strain of inflation can be isolating, she said.

    “If it wasn’t for volunteering, I’d probably be insane by now,” she said.

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  • Apple raises prices for music and TV streaming services | CNN Business

    Apple raises prices for music and TV streaming services | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    Apple on Monday raised the price of its music and video streaming services, in the latest example of streaming products getting more expensive in recent months.

    An Apple Music subscription for individuals will now cost $10.99 per month, up from $9.99, and a family plan supporting up to five people is now $16.99 per month, up from $14.99.

    The price of Apple TV+ will increase to $6.99 per month, a 40% increase from the $4.99 it cost previously, the company said Monday.

    In a statement to CNN Business, Apple

    (AAPL)     said the change in Apple

    (AAPL)     Music’s cost is “due to an increase in licensing costs, and in turn, artists and songwriters will earn more for the streaming of their music.”

    The company also said Apple TV+ was introduced “at a very low price because we started with just a few shows and movies.” Apple has since expanded its slate of offerings and won the best picture award at the Oscars this year for the movie “CODA.”

    But the new price hikes could be the latest test of how much consumers are willing to spend on streaming products at a time when rising inflation has more broadly driven costs up for Americans across a wide range of services.

    In August, Disney announced that the price of the premium tier of Disney+ would jump $3 to $10.99 per month, its largest price increase since the streaming service launched nearly three years ago. Hulu, which is majority owned by Disney, raised its subscription prices earlier this month.

    Apple’s price increase also comes as macroeconomic pressures have hit the tech sector especially hard, pushing companies to scramble for new ways to generate revenue. Apple, which has seen its stock decline nearly 18% so far this year, has increasingly bet on revenue from its subscription services to bolster its bottom line in recent years at a time when iPhone sales growth has slowed.

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  • Lana Del Rey says laptop containing her new album was stolen | CNN

    Lana Del Rey says laptop containing her new album was stolen | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Lana Del Rey says she was robbed of a backpack that contained her laptop, which had her new album on it.

    The singer said along with the computer, multiple hard drives and a camera were also stolen.

    “A few months ago, I parked my car on Melrose Place — actually Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles — and I stepped away for a minute,” she said on Instagram. “And the one time I left my backpack inside my car, someone broke all the windows and took it.”

    Del Rey added that another project, a book she is working on, was stolen as well.

    “I had to remotely wipe the computer that had my 200-page book for Simon and Schuster—which I didn’t have backed up on the cloud,” Del Rey said. And despite that, people are still able to remotely access my phone and leak our songs and personal photos. I loved the book that I lost with all of my heart and put a lot of passion into it.”

    The artist asked her fans to not to listen to any leaked music, and said she will continue to work on new music.

    “I just want to mention that despite all of this happening, I am confident in the record to come, despite so many safety factors at so many different levels. I really want to persist and make the best record I can,” she said. “Please don’t listen to the music if you hear it, because it’s not coming out yet,” she said.

    Del Rey concluded: “Obviously I won’t ever leave anything in the car again, even if it’s just for a moment. But we’ve had the same issues at the house, and it is a constant thing. And although I’m so grateful to be able to share all of the good stuff, I just also want to share that it has been a challenge.”

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  • The US is spending billions to boost chip manufacturing. Will it be enough? | CNN Business

    The US is spending billions to boost chip manufacturing. Will it be enough? | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    The United States government is pulling out all the stops to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, injecting billions of dollars into the beleaguered sector and flexing all policy muscles available to give it a leg up over competition from Asia.

    When the pandemic hit in 2020, firms initially curtailed orders for these micro building blocks needed for smartphones, computers, cars and many other products. Then, as people began working from home, demand soared for information and communication technology – and the chips that power them. A chip shortage ensued, and auto plants had to stop production because they could not obtain chips. This contributed to skyrocketing new and used vehicle prices, a major driver of the painful inflation Americans were feeling.

    In a statement earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo dubbed the semiconductor shortage a “national security” issue because it exposed the dependency of US manufacturing on imports of semiconductors from abroad. Chips also serve critical military applications and are necessary for cybersecurity tools.

    The Biden administration and lawmakers rallied in response, passing the CHIPS and Science Act into law in August. The legislation includes $52 billion to strengthen semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Of this, $39 billion is earmarked for manufacturing incentives, $13.2 billion for research and development and workforce training, and $500 million for international information communications technology security and semiconductor supply chain activities.

    Against that backdrop, several prominent companies have announced significant investments in US manufacturing. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a powerhouse in the industry committed at least $12 billion to build a semiconductor fabrication plant in Arizona, with production expected to begin in 2024. At the start of the year, Intel said it planned to build a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ohio, and groundbreaking for the new chip plant took place just last month. And this month, Micron said it would invest up to $100 billion over the next two decades to build a massive semiconductor factory in upstate New York.

    In a flurry of tweets earlier this month President Joe Biden pledged: “America is going to lead the way in microchip manufacturing.”

    But the US has much catching up to do. US-based fabs, or chip manufacturing plants, currently only account for 12% of the world’s modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association trade group. Some 75% of the world’s modern chip manufacturing is now concentrated in East Asia – a majority of that in geopolitically-vulnerable Taiwan. And even with these renewed efforts, the United States does not currently have the same talent and supply chain pipeline as some Asian markets do to support a robust homegrown industry.

    To complicate matters, the surge in public and private investments comes at a questionable time, as concerns over the global chip supply shortage have eased. Pandemic-related supply chain blockages are letting up somewhat and a worsening economic outlook has hampered demand.

    In an earnings call last week, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei warned it expects the “semiconductor industry will likely decline” in 2023. “TSMC also is not immune,” Wei added, but said it expects “to be more resilient than the overall semiconductor industry.”

    Promoting semiconductor manufacturing in the United States now may risk leading to overcapacity and excess supply. And with demand weakening, it isn’t immediately clear if government subsidies will be enough to overcome other obstacles the country faces in developing a competitive semiconductor manufacturing hub.

    To understand the latest US efforts, it’s important to be clear on where the country stands – not just in the overall chip industry, but in relation to specific, valuable pockets of it.

    “The US is very unlikely to increase its share of global production because even as the US brings online more fab capacity; TSMC, Intel and others are announcing fabs in other places and building them even more quickly,” said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    “But I don’t necessarily think that’s really a huge problem,” he added. He noted that measuring manufacturing based on pure output lumps together the lower-end chips and the cutting-edge, higher-end chips that are a more realistic and significant measure of chip manufacturing success. “The US does need to expand chip production for a specific kind of chips, that are directly related to American national security,” he said.

    The Biden administration last Friday imposed sweeping new export curbs designed to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors made with US equipment, in a move that targets the manufacturing of advanced weapons systems.

    While only “about 10% to 14% of chips sold [globally] come from US manufacturing facilities,” according to Columbia Business School professor Dan Wang, the United States does have other strengths. “In terms of design expertise, a lot of that still resides in the U.S.”

    Technicians inspect a piece of equipment during a tour of the Micron Technology automotive chip manufacturing plant Feb. 11, 2022, in Manassas, Va.

    Still, the shortcomings are real. “When it comes to foundries, which are the manufacturing side of semiconductors, the U.S. has not really been a major player for many, many years,” said Wang. While it very much used to be, manufacturing began migrating to Asia during the 1980s and ’90s, Wang said. “One of the big reasons for this is that the cost of labor is lower, and it’s just far cheaper to produce at a very massive scale, integrated circuits and chips, in those parts of the world,” Wang added. Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, said that it costs 50% more to manufacture chips in the U.S. than in Taiwan.

    Now, simply having the facilities already set up to produce or expand chip manufacturing gives Asia a big advantage. Wang said he thinks that might be why you see the U.S. “axe-throwing so much money at companies to set up plants in the United States.” It’s not just to respond to demand and become more self-reliant, “but also because you need to get these things up and running very, very quickly, in order to even be in the race at all.”

    Building new chip fabs itself is a costly and time-consuming endeavor. “A modern fab is something like half a million square feet,” said Bob Johnson, an analyst at Gartner, and requires “monstrous clean rooms that have massive air handling capabilities.” He added that these massive buildings require “exceptionally strong foundations.” As he put it, “you cannot have any vibration in the fab because it can wreck the manufacturing process.”

    In addition, a single extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, required to map out the circuitry of chips, costs about $150 million, and Reuters reports “a cutting-edge chip plant needs 9-18 of these machines.”

    Moreover, the manufacturing of semiconductors requires a range of specialized inputs, including pure chemicals such as fluorinated polyimide, and etching gas, chip etching machines, and more. In places like Taiwan and Fukuoka, Japan, supply chains have developed where the providers of these products are located close to the semiconductor factories. There are also one or two companies that produce vital inputs and that have been trustworthy suppliers to companies in Asia for a long time. This is not yet the case in places like Arizona and Ohio, where plans to build massive chip manufacturing plants are already underway.

    You also need a labor force willing and able to do the work.

    In the United States, there is both a shortage of new graduates and experienced workers with the technical and engineering knowledge necessary to manufacture semiconductors. Many of those who might have the right experience instead prefer to work in trendier industries, according to Kennedy.

    “If we were to today, snap our fingers and have ten new fabs with the world’s leading chips, we probably wouldn’t have enough people to staff them,” Kennedy said. “That’s the biggest bottleneck to the expansion of America’s fab capacity, not capital.”

    Intel has tried to establish close relations with Arizona State University to recruit engineers, but it is unclear whether it and other companies building fabs in America will be able to hire enough trained engineers and technicians. If not, even the billions of dollars committed by the private and public sector may not be enough to reshore semiconductor manufacturing.

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  • Home builders sentiment index falls for record tenth month in a row in October. Home builders say the ‘situation is unhealthy and unsustainable.’

    Home builders sentiment index falls for record tenth month in a row in October. Home builders say the ‘situation is unhealthy and unsustainable.’

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    The numbers:  The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) monthly confidence fell 8 points to 38 in October, the trade group said on Tuesday.

    It’s the tenth month in a row that the index has fallen.

    Outside of the pandemic, the October reading of 38 is the lowest level since August 2012.

    A year ago, the index stood at 80.

    The index’s ten-month drop is a new record. The index last fell for 8 months straight in 2006 and 2007.

    Key details: All three gauges that underpin the overall builder-confidence index fell.

    • The gauge that marks current sales conditions fell by 9 points. 

    • The component that assesses sales expectations for the next six months fell by 11 points.

    • And the gauge that measures traffic of prospective buyers fell by 6 points.

    All four NAHB regions posted a drop in builder confidence, led by the south and the west. 

    It’s also likely that this year will be the first time since 2011 that single-family starts see a decline, the NAHB added.

    Big picture: Builders continue to struggle to find buyers with the current rate environment.

    Now they’re saying they’re worried about that depressed demand impacting supply moving forward.

    Specifically, they’re concerned about housing affordability worsening, with potentially fewer new homes being built in the future.

    Mortgage rates have doubled from last year, now exceeding 7%, which has considerably cooled buyer demand. 

    Home price growth is moderating, but prices have not come down substantially — yet. 

    The median sales price for a new home was $436,800 in August, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    What the NAHB said: Builders are expecting single-family starts to fall for the first time in 11 years — and expect additional declines through 2023, said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz, due to the Federal Reserve’s projected rate hikes to control inflation.

    “While some analysts have suggested that the housing market is now more ‘balanced,’ the truth is that the homeownership rate will decline in the quarters ahead as higher interest rates, and ongoing elevated construction costs continue to price out a large number of prospective buyers,” he added.

    “This situation is unhealthy and unsustainable,” Jerry Konter, a home builder and developer from Savannah, Ga. and the NAHB’s chairman, said in a statement.
    “Policymakers must address this worsening housing affordability crisis,” he added.

    What are they saying? “The housing sector – sentiment, building activity and sales – is collapsing under the weight of a rapid increase in interest rates and elevated prices, which are crimping affordability and demand,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note.

    So expect building activity to be depressed, she added.

    Market reaction: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.989%
    fell to 3.98% on Tuesday morning.

    While the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF
    XHB,
    +2.15%
    traded slightly higher during the morning session, and the big home-builder stocks, from D.R. Horton Inc.
    DHI,
    +2.90%
    to Toll Brothers
    TOL,
    +1.87%
    to Lennar
    LEN,
    +2.97%    ,
    edged higher.

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  • Halloween spending expected to increase by $500 million — as candy prices soar at the highest rate on record

    Halloween spending expected to increase by $500 million — as candy prices soar at the highest rate on record

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    It’s going to be a big year for Halloween, despite millions of Americans feeling under financial pressure due to inflation.

    Total spending is expected to hit $10.6 billion, an increase of 5% or $500 million on last year, the National Retail Federation estimates. That’s up $2 billion or 20% on the $8.8 billion Halloween expenditure in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Spending on costumes expect to reach $3.6 billion this year, the NRF survey finds, the highest since 2017. Adult costume spending could reach $1.7 billion this year, $200 million more than last year.

    More than half (57%) of Americans said that inflation did impact their Halloween spending, according to a separate LendingTree Halloween spending survey. In fact, nearly a quarter of this group said they were buying less candy.

    Inflation was 8.2% in September compared to last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It was among the highest level in the past four decades.

    Candy and chewing gum rose 13.1% year-on-year in September, the highest increase on record, the BLS said. To put that in context: Candy and chewing gum increased 13% from December 1997 to December 2006.

    “Candy and chewing gum rose 13.1% year-on-year in September, the highest increase on record.”

    For those who haven’t started, the competition was already on. In July, Home Depot
    HD,
    +2.13%
    announced that its popular 12-foot skeleton was sold out, three months before the celebration. 

    A Home Depot spokesperson confirmed the initial sellout of the skeleton in summer, and said the company has been releasing more of these items periodically since then.

    Supply-chain disruptions could also complicate the competition. During Hershey’s
    HSY,
    +0.57%
    second-quarter earnings call in July, Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck said the candy manufacturer had to prioritize the everyday candy packaging over the Halloween ones. She said that decision was “critical to enable us to increase advertising and merchandising levels.”

    In an email to MarketWatch, however, a Hershey’s spokesperson said this decision was not a sign of shortage, adding that the brand had produced more candies for the season than they had in previous years, as Halloween demand remains high. 

    “Like every season over the past few years, sell-through at retail remains high with people purchasing candy, décor and other seasonal items earlier and more often. As a result, seasonally packaged candy may be more limited on the shelf as we get to the final week of the season. Fortunately, the same great brands in snack sizes are available to help fill trick-or-treat bags and buckets,” she said.  

    “On average, Americans plan to spend between $100 and $169 on Halloween candy, décor, cards and costumes.”

    On average, Americans plan to spend $100 on average for Halloween candy, décor, cards and costumes, the National Retail Federation said. LendingTree estimates that households will spend $169 this year, with six-figure salary earners and parents with young children planning to spend the most — $340 and $309 respectively.

    More than a third of the consumers surveyed admit they plan to spend more than they can afford this year. Generation Z — those aged 18 to 24 — and parents with younger children are the most likely to admit to overspending.

    “With the worst of the pandemic further in the rearview mirror, people are excited to get back to spending on the things they love most —, particularly the things they maybe couldn’t fully enjoy over the last few years,” LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz said.

    The most common reason for overspending: 44% of respondents said they spent more than they had expected, while 34% said they were making their children happy.

    The NRF concluded that 40% of people are shopping at discount stores this Halloween, 36% at specialty Halloween costume stores, and 31% online. Another 11% said they will shop at thrift stores and resale shops.

    “Social media is playing an increasingly important role in consumer behavior, and Halloween is no different,” Phil Rist, executive vice-president of strategy at Prosper Insights & Analytics, said. “Younger consumers, particularly those under the age of 25, will look to platforms like Instagram and TikTok for costume inspiration this year.”

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  • With product innovation lagging, Silicon Valley bets on a fresh coat of paint | CNN Business

    With product innovation lagging, Silicon Valley bets on a fresh coat of paint | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    When Google unveiled its new Pixel 7 smartphone lineup earlier this month, the devices looked largely the same as the year prior. But there was at least one subtle change: the colors.

    Whereas the Pixel 6 had come in sorta seafoam (a light blue) and kinda coral (a pale pink), the Pixel 7 now comes in lemongrass (a green) and snow (off-white). Google has also swapped the stormy black (a stormy black) option on the Pixel 6 for obsidian (still black) on the Pixel 7.

    The emphasis on a new color palette for devices isn’t unique to Google. As tech companies showed off their latest smartphones, tablets and laptops at splashy press events over the last two months, many of the products had only limited changes on the outside but boasted elaborately named color options.

    Microsoft launched its Surface Pro 9 tablet in shades such as sapphire (blue) and forest (green), and its Surface Laptop 5 comes in metal (silver), sage (green) and sandstone (tan). Apple’s new iPhone 14 lineup comes in Starlight (a champagne color) and midnight (black), and the company has previously unveiled two shades of green (“green” and “alpine green”) and purple (“purple” and “deep purple”).

    Purple, in particular, has been having a moment in tech. Earlier this summer, Samsung unveiled a “bora purple” color for its flagship Galaxy S22 smartphone — the word “bora” in Korean translates to “purple,” effectively dubbing the color “purple purple.”

    At a time when many of the biggest upgrades to smartphones and other gadgets are under the hood, drumming up consumer interest with a fresh coat of paint may be easier in some ways than getting people excited about faster processors.

    “The quality of all phones is so high, it’s getting difficult for consumers to even notice what ‘better’ is anymore,” said Kelly Goldsmith, professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University. “As a result, tech brands need to adopt new strategies. Introducing different, niche colors is just one way to do it.”

    For consumers, there can be a real value to a broader range of colors. “Devices — whether they’re smartphones, wearables, PCs, or tablets — are an extension of the user’s persona, both in terms of who they are and who they aspire to be,” said Ramon Llamas, an analyst at IDC Research. “Introducing a different color is a way for devices and their owners to distinguish themselves.”

    But just as basic black, white, gray and silver are the top colors in the automobile industry, these colors tend to resonate most with smartphone owners, according to Peggy Van Allen, a color anthropologist for the Color Marketing Group. Still, she noted, a shift has been underway toward stronger colors.

    The Pixel 7 comes in obsidian, snow and lemongrass. The Pixel 7 Pro is available in obsidian, snow and hazel.

    Apple famously brought “Bondi Blue” to its Mac line in the late 1990s after Steve Jobs’ return to the company (it was a huge success). More recently, it created a splash with the introduction of the rose gold iPhone in 2015.

    “Warm metallics went away and then came back in style, and rose gold really reached mass appeal,” Van Allen said. “It peaked at a time when social media influencers were gobbling it up, and the popularity of Millennial Pink also helped to usher it in.”

    Both pinks lasted longer than most forecasters would have predicted, she said. “It was carried along by other trends of the time that enforced the desire for personalization and female empowerment.”

    The names of more recent colors have become increasingly esoteric in the last year or so. This is also likely a strategic play, according to Barbara Kahn, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

    “Color names that are descriptive but odd can spark positive reactions because the consumer likes being able to ‘solve the puzzle,’” she said. “Color names that are ambiguous also spark attention and customers work to figure out what the meaning might be.”

    But for all the varied colors out there, it’s important to remember customers still overwhelmingly keep their phones in a case, essentially covering up the color that once helped entice them to upgrade.

    “There are some transparent cases available from both first and third parties,” said Eric Abbruzzese, research director at market research firm ABI Research, “but at least anecdotally, they don’t seem as popular as regular cases.”

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  • What to do with your old phones, gadgets and other e-waste | CNN Business

    What to do with your old phones, gadgets and other e-waste | CNN Business

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    CNN Business
     — 

    In the past two months, Apple, Google and Samsung have all unveiled their newest smartphones and other devices with the goal of getting consumers to upgrade ahead of the holidays. But in the process, these and other companies may also be adding to a growing problem: electronic waste.

    The limited lifespan of many tech gadgets combined with few options to fix older devices, have caused the issue of e-waste to surge over the years. United Nation’s data indicates the world generated a staggering 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste in 2019, and only 17.4% of that was recycled.

    Friday marks International E-Waste Day, an annual opportunity to reflect on the impacts of electronic waste and do more to repair or recycle them. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEE) Forum, a Brussels-based nonprofit that has spearheaded the occasion since 2018, said the focus this year is on taking action with the small bits of e-waste many people may unintentionally hoard, including your old cell phone, headphones, remote controls and computer mouse.

    “People tend not to realize that all these seemingly insignificant items have a lot of value, and together at a global level represent massive volumes,” Pascal Leroy, director general of the WEEE Forum, said in a statement.

    The issue of e-waste is about much more than just cleaning out space in your junk drawers.

    The US Environmental Protection Agency says large swaths of e-waste are shipped to developing countries that lack the capacity to reject these imports or infrastructure to safely recycle them. The World Health Organization also warned that children, with their smaller hands, are often used to process mountains of e-waste in developing nations in search of valuable elements such as copper, silver, palladium and more. The WHO said more than 18 million children are exposed to a range of negative health impacts as they engage in this informal e-waste processing industry.

    Here are a few steps you can take with the phones, laptops and chargers you have stashed at home to alleviate the e-waste burden.

    If you live in an area that offers e-waste disposal services (either via specific pickup dates or at a drop-off location), experts say that’s among the easiest and most intuitive ways to clear out old gadgets.

    Various coalitions have emerged in recent years to give consumers the option to responsibly dispose of devices. The e-Stewards group and Sustainable Electronics Recycling International each offer online tools to find recycling centers that they have certified.

    The collective impact of recycling e-waste can be staggering. For every 1 million cell phones that are recycled, the EPA says 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.

    But not all municipalities in the US offer infrastructure for e-waste recycling.

    If you can’t find a recycling center nearby, a growing list of major retailers — including Staples and Best Buy — also have programs that let customers bring in e-waste for recycling. And many producers, including Apple

    (AAPL)    , have programs that offer credits or free recycling in exchange for trading-in used gadgets. Google

    (GOOG)    , for example, offers an option to request a free shipping label to mail in some used gadgets and electronics for recycling.

    Environmental advocates say the most important step to tackling the mounting e-waste problem is simply to try and use your electronics for as long as possible. In some ways, that’s getting easier than ever.

    While tech manufacturers have come under fire for tactics aimed at making you upgrade, policymakers have recently enacted changes to push companies to make it easier for customers to repair consumer electronics and support the rise of the Right-to-Repair movement.

    Earlier this year, Apple and Samsung launched their self-service repair stores, offering parts for users seeking do-it-yourself fixes for their smartphones. Google similarly announced it would offer genuine Pixel parts for DIY-ers at an online store this year.

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  • High levels of toxic chemical found in sports bras, watchdog warns | CNN Business

    High levels of toxic chemical found in sports bras, watchdog warns | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    New testing on a variety of popular branded sports bras and athletic wear has revealed high levels of BPA, a chemical compound that’s used to make certain types of plastic and can lead to harmful health effects such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and obesity.

    Sports bras sold by Athleta, PINK, Asics, The North Face, Brooks, All in Motion, Nike, and FILA were all tested for BPA in the past six months, and the results showed the clothing could expose wearers to up to 22 times the safe limit of BPA, based on standards set in California, according to the Center for Environmental Health. The CEH, which conducted the testing, is a non-profit consumer advocacy group focused on exposing the presence of toxic chemicals in consumer products.

    Under California law — specifically Proposition 65, enacted in 1986 — the maximum allowable dose level for BPA via skin exposure is 3 micrograms per day.

    The group also tested athletic shirts from brands that included The North Face, Brooks, Mizuno, Athleta, New Balance, and Reebok and found similar results.

    The CEH said Wednesday it has sent legal notices to the companies, which will have 60 days to work with the center to remedy the violations before the group files a complaint in California state court requiring them to do so.

    To date, the watchdog said its investigations have found BPA only in polyester-based clothing containing spandex. “We want brands to reformulate their products to remove all bisphenols including BPA. In the interim, we recommend limiting the time you spend in your activewear by changing after your workout,” the group said.

    Athleta, Nike, Reebok, The North Face and Victoria’s Secret (which owns PINK) did not immediately provide a comment.

    BPA (Bisphenol A) is found in a large number of everyday products, from water bottles and canned foods to toys and flooring. In adults, exposure to BPA has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity and erectile dysfunction.

    Premature death was also associated with BPA exposure, a 2020 study found. More recently, BPA has also been linked to asthma in school-age girls.

    “People are exposed to BPA through ingestion, from eating food or drinking water from containers that have leached BPA, or by absorption through skin,” Kaya Allan Sugerman, CEH’s illegal toxic threats program director, said in a statement.

    “Studies have shown that BPA can be absorbed through skin and end up in the bloodstream after handling receipt paper for seconds or a few minutes at a time. Sports bras and athletic shirts are worn for hours at a time, and you are meant to sweat in them, so it is concerning to be finding such high levels of BPA in our clothing,” Allan Sugerman said.

    Over the past year, the group has asked more than 90 companies, including Walgreens and socks and sleepwear brand Hypnotic Hats, to reformulate their products to remove all bisphenols, including BPA. Some have already agreed to do so.

    “Even low levels of exposure [to BPA] during pregnancy have been associated with a variety of health problems in offspring,” said Dr. Jimena Díaz Leiva, science director with CEH.

    Although CEH litigates under California’s Clean Drinking Water and Toxics Enforcement Act of 1986, it says the repercussions of its settlements extend beyond California “as it is most often economically infeasible for companies to reformulate for just the California market.”

    “Our legal action has been successful in pushing entire industries to remove certain chemicals from products like children’s candy or toys,” the group said in a statement to CNN Business. “These cases not only serve to protect California consumers but also consumers throughout the country.”

    – CNN’s Sandee LaMotte contributed to this story

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  • Some good news: One key driver of inflation is finally showing signs of easing

    Some good news: One key driver of inflation is finally showing signs of easing

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    Rent growth is beginning to cool. But it’s descending from a heck of a peak.

    Rental prices climbed 7.2% between September 2021 to September of this year, the largest annual increase since 1982, according to consumer price data released Thursday. Overall, shelter costs were also among the most significant drivers in rising consumer prices, along with the cost of food and medical care, the Labor Department said.

    Still, it’s not all bad news for tenants. A new report from Realtor.com out Thursday found that nationwide, median rental prices in 50 large metros grew at their slowest annual pace in 16 months in September — at 7.8%. That marked the second consecutive month of single-digit year-over-year growth for 0-2 bedroom properties, and it meant that median asking rents fell by $12 in a month, Realtor.com said. 

    Housing inflation in the Consumer Price Index lags trends in the rental market, though, meaning the slowdown in rent growth might not register in the data for a while. 

    While median rental prices are still nearly 23% higher than they were two years ago, they’re no longer climbing at breakneck speeds with no end in sight. These days, economists say, that counts as a silver lining. 

    “After more than a year of double-digit yearly rent gains and nearly as many months of record-high rents, it’s especially important to see consistency before we confirm a major shift like the recent rental market cool-down,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in a statement. “But September data provides that evidence, as national rents continued to pull back from their latest all-time high registered just two months ago.”

    “This return of more seasonal norms indicates that rental markets are charting a path back toward a more typical balance between supply and demand, compared to the previous year,” Hale added. “We expect rent growth to keep slowing in the months ahead, partly driven by the impact of inflation on renters’ budgets.” 

    Affordability, however, is worsening, Realtor.com said. Blame the fact that consumer prices are rising faster than wages. 

    (Realtor.com is operated by News Corp
    NWSA,
    +1.64%
    subsidiary Move Inc., and MarketWatch is a unit of Dow Jones, which is also a subsidiary of News Corp.)

    A Redfin
    RDFN,
    -3.55%
    report out Thursday, meanwhile, said rents grew 9% year-over-year in September — the slowest pace since August 2021. Rents were still way up year-over-year in cities like Oklahoma City (24.1%), Pittsburgh (20%), and Indianapolis (17.9%.) 

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  • Food prices are still surging — here’s what’s getting more expensive | CNN Business

    Food prices are still surging — here’s what’s getting more expensive | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    Prices at the grocery store continued to soar last month, adding even more pressure to shoppers’ wallets.

    The food at home index, a proxy for grocery store prices, increased 0.7% in September from the month prior and a stunning 13% over the last year, according to new government data released Thursday.

    Just about everything got more expensive in September.

    Fruits and vegetables surged 1.6% for the month, while cereals and bakery products rose 0.9%. Other groceries increased 0.5% in September, following a 1.1% increase in August.

    Meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose 0.4% over the month and beverages increased 0.6%.

    Prices on many of these items are up double digits annually.

    A number of factors have contributed to the surge in prices. Producers say they’re paying more for labor and packaging materials. Extreme weather, including droughts and flooding, and disease, such as the deadly avian flu, have been hurting crops and killing egg-laying hens, squeezing supplies.

    “The environment clearly is still very inflationary with a lot of supply chain challenges across the industry,” Pepsi

    (PEP)    CEO Ramon Laguarta said on an earnings call Wednesday. The company’s prices increased 17% annually.

    Meanwhile, demand is high. Consumers may be able to pull back on some discretionary items, but they have to eat. Many people are still working from home and consuming more of their meals there than they did before the pandemic.

    This imbalance between supply and demand means companies can pass along higher prices to shoppers without sales plunging.

    But higher prices at the grocery store are forcing customers to make some trade offs.

    Many shoppers are buying fewer products, switching to cheaper private-label brands and pulling back on discretionary items.

    More than one million new households have shopped at discount grocery chain Aldi for the first in the past year, according to the company.

    Walmart

    (WMT)     said recently that high levels of food inflation are impacting customers’ ability to purchase discretionary goods such as clothing and furniture.

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