Latest news with #May15
CBC
20 hours ago
- General
- CBC
The moment family meets Good Samaritans who helped save their loved one's life
When 87-year-old Sabato Borrelli went into cardiac arrest May 15, a group of strangers stepped in to help. After reading about Borrelli's recovery, one of them reached out to CBC.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
26.4% of Warren Buffett's $258 Billion Portfolio Is Invested in 2 Leading Artificial Intelligence Stocks
Warren Buffett isn't known for his technology investments, but he will make an exception for particularly interesting players. He's held these two for years, and one is even his biggest position. 10 stocks we like better than Apple › Four times every year, we get a fantastic opportunity to take a peek inside top investor Warren Buffett's portfolio to see which stocks he's recently bought or sold. At the same time, we can examine which stocks have been around for a while and could be considered key positions for the billionaire. This moment happens as managers of more than $100 million in U.S. securities are required to file Form 13F, detailing their latest moves, to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It happens quarterly, this past May 15 being the latest deadline for first-quarter trades. Here, we can see that Buffett, as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, continued to maintain his position in two top artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. In fact, together, they make up more than 26% of his $258 billion portfolio. Buffett isn't known for investing in technology, but he and his managers have made exceptions for certain incredible businesses with strong competitive positions. Of course, in true Buffett style, he's always gotten in on these players when they've traded for reasonable prices. Let's check out these two AI leaders that Buffett loves and consider whether they're still buys today. Warren Buffett bought Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares in the first quarter of 2016 and progressively added to his position until it became his very biggest. In fact, even after Buffett sold shares of the company last year, it remains his largest holding. Comments he's made throughout the years suggest Apple and its CEO, Tim Cook, remain near and dear to his heart. During the recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Buffett even thanked Cook for the performance he's driven at Apple. Buffett said the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs "really made the right decision" when choosing Cook to take over. Apple clearly has something Buffett cherishes: a solid moat or competitive advantage. This takes the form of Apple's brand, which is so strong that customers wait eagerly for the next product update and won't switch from the company's flagship product, the iPhone, even though other brands are cheaper. Now, Apple is infusing its products with AI in the form of Apple Intelligence. Apple wasn't first to the AI market, instead preferring to take its time to develop tools suited to its style. Apple Intelligence's very own foundation models power features that can make a difference in users' daily lives -- from writing tools to a smooth connection to ChatGPT. Requests are processed either on-device or in the cloud, but in both cases, the focus is on something very important to Apple: privacy. Cook says AI is making a difference for growth, with the iPhone 16 performing better in markets where Apple Intelligence is available than in markets where it has yet to be launched. Apple stock has slipped in recent weeks on concerns about the company's manufacturing dependence on China -- a country the U.S. has particularly focused on for import tariffs. But a recent initial deal between the two countries suggests the impact on companies such as Apple will be limited. On top of this, Apple has made efforts to diversify its manufacturing base, transitioning some business to India and Vietnam. All of this means that today, trading at 28 times forward earnings estimates, down from 35 times at the start of the year, Apple looks like a great buy for long-term investors. Warren Buffett once publicly chastised himself for not buying Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) sooner. "I blew it," he told CNBC in a 2018 interview. He said he didn't realize the company's true potential. But the following year, Amazon appeared on Berkshire Hathaway's 13F after one of Buffett's investment managers bought the shares. Amazon has remained a Berkshire Hathaway holding ever since. Buffett's comments during that 2018 interview show that he's impressed by all that Amazon has accomplished, so it's not surprising that Buffett has held on to the company after the initial Amazon buy. Amazon has "far surpassed anything I would have dreamt could have been done," Buffett said in the CNBC interview. So, let's take a quick look at this company that, though a small part of Buffett's portfolio, has securely kept its spot. Amazon is an e-commerce giant and generates explosive growth in this market, but its biggest profit driver is its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The great news is that AWS has become a giant in AI, a market expected to reach into the trillions of dollars by the 2030s. AWS, which offers customers a wide range of AI products and services, has already gained from its investment in this technology. In the recent quarter, Amazon said AWS reached a $117 billion annual revenue run rate, thanks to demand from AI customers. And since Amazon is the worldwide leader in cloud services, it's well positioned to keep growing its AI customer base. All of this is set against the backdrop of an already solid earnings picture. Over time, the company has increased revenue and net income into the billions of dollars. So, today, trading at 32 times forward earnings estimates, down from about 45 times in December, this stock looks like another Warren Buffett favorite that makes a smart long-term buy for both growth and security. Before you buy stock in Apple, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Apple wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $639,271!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $804,688!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 957% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 167% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adria Cimino has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 26.4% of Warren Buffett's $258 Billion Portfolio Is Invested in 2 Leading Artificial Intelligence Stocks was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sky TV users are furious over 'outdated' free gift offer after their service crashed for more than 12 hours
Sky customers are venting over the 'insulting' compensation offered by the streaming service after tens of thousands across the UK were left without broadband and television following an outage. The widescale issue - which for some lasted more than 12 hours - caused a blackout for Sky Q box users, while others said their internet services went down, in the evening of May 15. At its peak, more than 30,000 people were reporting problems with their services on DownDetector and were having to keep restarting their Sky Q boxes. For some customers, the issue spilled over into the next day before Sky was able to resolve the technical problem fully. Now Sky has contacted affected customers and offered a free film from Sky Store Buy & Keep as a 'way of saying thank you for bearing with us.' The message stated: 'On the evening of 15 May, a technical issue caused some Sky Q boxes to enter standby mode. Our teams acted quickly to resolve the issue and restore services. 'We understand how frustrating it can be to lose access to your favourite shows and channels, and we apologise for any inconvenience this caused. 'We're taking every step to make sure it doesn't happen again.' The statement added: 'Delivering an outstanding entertainment experience is a core promise of Sky. 'We know we fell short this time and appreciate your understanding while we resolved the problem.' However not all were enthused after receiving the email, with customers taking to Reddit to express their fury after realising the film selection does not include latest releases. One title on offer is the Ridley Scott-directed historical epic, Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe - which was first released 25 years ago. 'Have you seen what's on offer?' wrote one disgruntled customer. 'It's all cr*p bar a few movies which the majority of people have probably seen.' Another said: 'Movies are all at least two years old. Absolute insult to offer these for free.' A third wrote: 'The selection of movies is genuinely dire... an actual insult.' One user reported: 'There's literally nothing for me to choose.' The free gift was offered in the wake of an outage that left thousands of customers frustrated by the interrupted service and called Sky 'an absolute disgrace' over the incident. One user at the time said she was greeted with the message 'please wait while we load your programme' before her television entirely shut down. Another person wrote: 'What's going on with #SkyTV ? It's crashed twice. Seems others are reporting the same.' A third, who still had no TV by the following morning said: 'Sky still no working, have tried to reboot it, it gets so far then switches off. Hope we are getting compensation for this. We pay extortionate amounts each month.' A Sky spokesperson said at the time: 'We're sorry some customers had trouble accessing Sky Q last night. 'The issue was quickly resolved, and service has been restored.'
The Sun
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Sky Q customers receive FREE upgrade gift after major TV outage – check account now to claim
SKY viewers affected by a major TV outage last week are being offered a freebie to make up for the disruption. Customers with Sky Q boxes across the country were unable to watch telly on the evening of May 15 for several hours, following a technical issue. Many frustrated users even struggled to regain service after restarting their boxes. The broadcasting giant faced calls for compensation from some annoyed viewers. A week later, the firm is offering customers a free offer by way of apology. Customers can redeem a movie from the Sky Store as a "small gift for your understanding" the email reads. "We're extremely sorry if you experienced disruption to your Sky Q services recently," it says. "On the evening of 15 May, a technical issue caused some Sky Q boxes to enter standby mode. "Our teams acted quickly to resolve the issue and restore services." Users welcomed the gesture on social media. "I'm delighted with the free movie!" one wrote. "I let my children pick what they wanted out and they picked the new venom film. Sky TV 'down' updates: Thousands 'unable to access shows' as viewers report mass outage "They were over the moon! I thought it was a nice gesture from sky." Another said: "I got venom as its 20 quid normally." TRY THESE SKY TRICKS! Got Sky Q? There are some handy tricks worth knowing about... Find your lost TV remote If you can't find your Sky Q remote, don't panic. Just press the Sky Q logo on the front of your TV box. It's actually a button that will trigger your TV remote's built-in ringer. You'll get 30 seconds of beeping to find where you've dropped it. Hint: it's probably under the sofa cushion. Search movies by quotes You might have already used voice search for controlling TV playback – but your remote's microphone has another clever trick. It turns out that you can say movie quotes into the remote and Sky will find the film for you. This is handy if you can't remember the name of a top movie or show. Here's a list of movie quotes to try on Sky. Save lost recordings Have you ever deleted something you'd recorded on Sky, only to regret it later? Or maybe someone in your family removed something without telling you – sparking a massive row. Don't panic: you can get them back. Just go to Recordings > Manage > Deleted and then simply hit Undelete on the item that you want to resurrect. If you do that, it'll return to your Recordings section as good as new. Picture Credit: Sky Discovery+ freebie Separately, Sky has made customers aware of another freebie available to football fans. Viewers can watch all three UEFA finals live on Discovery+ Basic at no extra cost. We've already seen the sensational all-Prem Europa League Final with Spurs beating Manchester United. And looking ahead, you'll be able to watch the Uefa Conference League final with Chelsea battling it out against Real Betis on May 28. That's followed by Inter Milan and PSG for the Uefa Champions League trophy on May 31.
Wall Street Journal
20-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Apple Embraces Brain-Implant Technology to Control Devices - Tech News Briefing
Apple wants to make iPhones more accessible to people with disabilities. Digital-health reporter Rolfe Winkler takes us into the world of brain computer interfaces . Plus, reporter Amrith Ramkumar talks about the revocation of the AI Diffusion Rule and how companies are reacting. Victoria Craig hosts. Full Transcript This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. Victoria Craig: Hey, TNB listeners, before we get started, heads-up, we're going to be asking you a question at the top of each show for the next few weeks. Our goal here at Tech News Briefing is to keep you updated with the latest headlines and trends on all things tech. Now we want to know more about you, what you like about the show, and what more you'd like to hear from us. So, our question this week is what kind of stories about tech do you want to hear more of? Business decision-making, boardroom drama, how about peeking inside tech leaders' lives or tech policy? If you're listening on Spotify, you can look for our poll under the episode description, or you can send an email to tnb@ Now on to the show. Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Thursday, May 15th. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. A controversial rule restricting the spread of US AI technology around the world has been canceled, but what comes in its place is still unclear. Then, controlling your devices with just your thoughts isn't only the stuff of science fiction anymore. Our reporter has an exclusive look at how Apple is embracing development of brain implant control technology. But first, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the next industrial revolution and create high-paying US jobs. That is how chip-making giant Nvidia described a US Commerce Department decision on Wednesday to rescind the so-called AI Diffusion Rule. It's a Biden-era policy that the Trump administration rolled back a day before it was due to go into effect. It would have imposed limits on how many AI chips US companies could sell to other countries. Speaking at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh earlier this week, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks explained why he believed the rule was flawed. Audio: Imagine if Washington had created a diffusion rule for the iPhone because it was worried about bad guys somehow getting a hold of iPhones, and every iPhone transaction had to be licensed in Washington. This technology would not have spread all over the world. And the diffusion of iPhones is a very good thing for the United States of America. I think in a similar way, we want our technology to diffuse. Victoria Craig: WSJ reporter Amrith Ramkumar has been following the fallout of the rule since it was announced in January. Amrith, this rule has been a controversial one, not just for US tech companies, but ones outside the US that want to import these AI chips. So, just bring us up to speed. Remind our listeners why this has been so controversial. Amrith Ramkumar: In the final days of the Biden administration, their Commerce Department put out this super complicated rule that would limit how many chips, many countries and countries that are friendly with the US, the amount of advanced chips they could buy. A lot of companies thought that would limit their business opportunities abroad and push those countries to embrace Chinese companies, like Huawei, if they had easier access to those chips. So, people were really upset and frustrated and they weren't really sure what the Trump administration was going to do. Last week, people basically found out that the Trump administration was going to completely rescind that Biden-era rule, and then they'll come out with their own rule in the coming months. And we have reporting showing that one of the options they're considering is basically instead of having a tiered system where countries have caps on the amount they can buy, they're going to do a series of bilateral country-to-country chip purchase agreements. So far, the early indications are based on the president's trip to the Middle East and the big chip deals with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in Saudi Arabia and expected announcements to come in the UAE that this will all be good for US companies, because a lot of them were looking at caps in an uncertain environment, and now it seems like the administration with countries that are friendly with the US is basically willing to take off a lot of the guardrails. So, that's pushed up some of the stocks and there's a lot of enthusiasm now. People in the national security community though, are very cautious about this, and they're unhappy in some cases, because they worry that countries like the UAE could still send Nvidia chips or other sensitive technology to China. So, there is this tension that will play out in the administration over time. Victoria Craig: Is there a blueprint for what kind of guardrails the US could put in place since it's now taking this rule away for exactly what you just said, for preventing other countries from eventually just getting those chips in China's hands anyway? Amrith Ramkumar: It's not super clear. We have reporting showing that the Commerce Department has said that they want to crack down on smuggling and how chips get routed through third-party countries to China, but that's more on the enforcement side of these rules. And we've heard that whatever the Trump team decides to do, there will be language basically saying if these end up in China, you'll be in deep trouble. But again, that might not be the deterrent that some national security hawks want. Victoria Craig: Is there any indication how long some of these negotiations could take if they do adopt this country-by-country approach to rules-making? Amrith Ramkumar: People have said it could take up to a few months potentially to iron these out, and the assumption is that they'll start with big countries where US firms do a lot of business and try to reach those deals that way. But a lot of this is evolving rapidly, so the Commerce Department could end up not doing a bunch of bilateral deals. We've heard they're not too far along in the process. It's definitely going to take some time, and that's an issue because there's also evidence that countries like Malaysia are getting a lot more chips that are then going to China. Also, the technology is evolving so rapidly that a lot of the thresholds that are set for what's a high-performing chip and what you can buy, those can be outdated in a short amount of time. So, it's definitely a tricky one for commerce to figure out. Victoria Craig: Which countries are on the list of ones that could potentially be easier to strike first deals with? Amrith Ramkumar: Well, they're definitely prioritizing, again, this week they wanted to have good news in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. So, those are a few. And then there are many other allies that were in tier two under the old rule basically, that people were very confused about and they thought shouldn't have such limits on chip access. So, countries like India, even a bunch of European countries like Switzerland, Israel, you can go on and on. Victoria Craig: That was Amrith Ramkumar, a WSJ reporter covering tech and crypto policy. Coming up, Apple has joined with a startup that's developed a brain implant that will help people who can't use their hands to better use technology. We'll tell you how after the break. What if to use an iPhone, you never have to actually touch the device? The idea is becoming more plausible thanks to new technology Apple hopes to harness with a startup called Synchron and its implantable brain device. Rolfe Winkler covers digital health for The Wall Street Journal. Rolfe, just explain how this new technology could actually work. Rolfe Winkler: Apple has always been big on accessibility features for disabled people, and they have something called Switch Control on your iPhone, for instance, that literally switches control of the device. Normally you use a finger to scroll around the screen, or on your Mac you're using a mouse, and it switches control to another input device like a joystick. But in this case, they're going to make Switch Control accessible via brain-computer interfaces. So, it's a neural signal that is being relayed, translated, and then relayed to the computer. Victoria Craig: And so, this could make Apple's devices more accessible for tens of thousands of people, like you just said, through a brain implant. Can you just explain a little bit more for our listeners how that exactly will work? If you have the implant, how then can you control your devices? And what devices? Rolfe Winkler: So, there's a number of companies that are working on these next-generation brain implants. They're called brain-computer interfaces because they're an interface between your brain and a computer. Basically electrodes that are implanted inside your skull and that read neural signals. And the way they work is those neural signals are relayed to a chip, which then relays the data to a decoding device. And that device, you basically trained this whole apparatus to understand which neural signals translate to actions in the real world. The first use of these devices is really to interact with technology. So, the first company to do this was a company called Synchron. Victoria Craig: So, how is Apple working with Synchron on this? Rolfe Winkler: Well, Apple isn't going to put an implant in your brain, to be clear. A better way to think about it, hearing aids, people with hearing aids wanted to be able to access their Apple devices. So in 2014, Apple creates a standard by which hearing aids connect via Bluetooth to your iPhone or to your other Apple devices. Makes a lot of sense, right? So, I'm wearing AirPods, that's how I hear my conversations on the phone, and that's how people with hearing aids would do it. So, let's just connect them. What we're talking about here is basically something similar where people who manufacture these devices will have an on-ramp to the Apple devices. Apple is building the on-ramp for them to make it easier for them to connect to its devices. Victoria Craig: And there have been some human trial participants who have had these kind of implants implanted into their brains. You spoke to one of those people. How have these early tests worked and what is their view about how they work? Rolfe Winkler: I spoke to Mark Jackson who has the Synchron implant, and Mark says, look, the Synchron implant can help a little bit. It's slow. This is the beginning of a clinical trial of this device. It's going to be a few years yet before it's proved out, it gets commercial approval, and lots of people are able to get these implanted. So, right now with the tests, Mark is saying, look, it's slow going. It basically mimics scrolling and clicking. It doesn't quite do what you do with a mouse where you can move the cursor around and select something. Imagine that you're in Netflix and there are rows of icons. What Switch Control might do is select the whole screen and then you think click, and then it narrows it to, okay, you want this row, you want dramas. Well, all right, now I'm going to run the selection tool over each individual one in that row because I know you selected that row. And then when you get to the one that you want, you can think click again. So, then drama, I just picked Marriage Story and that's the movie I'm going to watch. But that's not as fast as scrolling with a scroll wheel and moving across with your mouse. And if you want to type out a message, you're not typing on a keyboard very quickly. You're having this selection tool go across, okay, I want the first row of letters. I think click. Okay, A through G. I want F, or I want E, or something. But all that said, it still gives him an ability to interact with devices in a way he hasn't been able to. Victoria Craig: So, there's still a ways to go with the development of these kinds of implants. How far away is this technology from becoming more widely available? Rolfe Winkler: Synchron says theirs is several years away. Morgan Stanley thinks that commercial approval for BCIs won't come before 2030. Synchron says they can beat that. Victoria Craig: That was WSJ Digital Health Reporter Rolfe Winkler. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang with supervising producer Emily Martocci. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back this afternoon with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.
