Latest news with #Multiverse
Geek Dad
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Justice League Unlimited #7: The Omega Gambit
Justice League Unlimited #7 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: 'We Are Yesterday' is reaching its final act, and it's not looking good for the good guys. Inferno, better known as the Legion of Doom of yesterday, has invaded the present and used their time guns to scatter the Justice League across the timestream. With only Elongated Man left to oppose them, the stretchy hero is quickly overwhelmed and tortured in a pretty disturbing sequence before Grodd gets to his real plan – the Omega Rift, the hole ripped in time and space by Darkseid's death. It contains all the power in the Multiverse, and the plan is to divide it among the villains. Of course, that assumes everyone is willing to play fair and equal – something that lasts exactly as long as it takes for Luthor to get suspicious. All hell breaks loose, and when the smoke clears, one villain is left standing as the biggest threat he's ever been. And the heroes are nowhere to be seen – but they're about to get an unlikely assist. Battle for the Watchtower. Via DC Comics. There are some great segments of the heroes being stranded in time – both in the distant past, and in the far future – cut off from every possible way to get home and with their powers rapidly draining in some cases. And the one to blame for this is Air Wave, who was coerced into betraying the team by the lies and psychic influence of Grodd, and was then seemingly killed off right before the invasion began. But not all is what it seems, and the reveal of exactly what's happened to him is surprisingly clever and sets up a big showdown between the heroes and villains next month. But which heroes, exactly? The final page brings forward a group of characters I never thought I would see gracing a Justice League title, and that kind of unpredictability is what's making this book so much fun. Mark Waid has the entirety of the DCU to play with here, and he's making the most of it. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Image May Tie-In With THUNDERBOLTS* Post-Credits Scene
A new, perhaps spoilery photo from The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been released online. Via IGN, we've learned that many fans think this Fantastic Four photo ties directly into the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene. As you may recall, that scene jumped forward in time 14 months, and the Thunderbolts, now branded the New Avengers, detect a ship coming into Earth's orbit from another dimension. And we see that the ship has a '4' logo on it, letting us know it's the Fantastic Four. Is the ship we see them in below the one that they arrive in the Sacred Timeline with? We have a strong feeling it is. In the new photo, posted by Fandango, we see Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) on board a spaceship of some kind, one with '4' logos. This means it's definitely not the space flight where they got their powers. We see glimpses of that flashback in the trailer. In those scenes, their spacesuits are clearly just regular, standard-issue NASA style suits. The spaceship in this image is clearly one they have after they're a famous superhero team. So it could very likely be the ship we see them traverse the Multiverse with at the end of Thunderbolts.* This makes us wonder even more about the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Does Marvel's First Family defeat Galactus at the end of their film? We genuinely don't think it will end with the death of billions, it's just too much of a downer. Perhaps, they end his threat only temporarily. They may feel the need to go to another reality with more heroes for help. Maybe that's why they are heading to Earth-616. This is not because Galactus destroys their world, but because they know he is a bigger problem than one group of heroes can handle. We'll find out more about this connection with Thunderbolts* when The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tech training funding fails to keep pace with IT growth
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. As numerous reports have documented, most large companies are — as one would expect — spending more on technology each year. Does it follow, then, that their spending on technology training is on the same path? Not according to Multiverse, a learning company that identifies and closes skills gaps through personalized, on-the-job learning. It has an obvious interest in the topic, which led it to analyze 700 annual reports of the 100 most highly capitalized blue chips listed on the London Stock Exchange (i.e., the FTSE 100). The analysis was based on the hypothesis that if skills are critical to business strategy, you would expect them to play a prominent role in annual reports. The hypothesis proved invalid, according to Multiverse. While 69% of U.K. companies and 76% of those in the U.S. mentioned 'a strategic priority relating to technology' in their latest reports, only 7% and 8%, respectively, described skills and training as a strategic priority, the learning company said. 'This proportion has not improved since 2013, while technology has shot up in importance, suggesting that boardrooms are not yet recognizing its sweeping impact on workforce skills requirements,' Multiverse said. Similarly, while 49% of the U.K. FTSE 100 companies and 48% of U.K. firms mentioned AI as part of their strategy, only 34% and 18%, respectively, referenced AI training. Compared to mentions of other major training categories — DEI training (97%), compliance training (97%) and health/safety training (89%) — the proportion of reports containing references to AI training 'appears low for a technology that most companies are striving to adopt,' according to Multiverse. This embedded content is not available in your region. Further, while 78% of the FTSE 100 companies mentioned a strategic skills review at the board level in their latest annual report, just 17% mentioned a broader review of workforce skills. Multiverse's study report cited findings from the U.K.'s Institute for Fiscal Studies, confirming that the average number of days of workforce training received each year has fallen over the last decade. And according to a study of 251 U.S. companies by Training magazine, U.S. training expenditures decreased 3.7% in 2024, falling to $98 billion. Multiverse's study estimates that a median of 0.16% of company revenue was typically spent on training. Nearly a third (30%) of FTSE companies shared how much training employees received, which averaged 23.8 hours per year. 'Technology tools are only as good as the people who use them,' said Multiverse CEO Euan Blair. 'Without prioritizing people, companies will be left with tech strategies that are missing a key piece of the puzzle.' Multiverse said its study used a large language model (GPT-4o), keyword-based methods, and a manual labeling process for verification. The analysis took 2013 as a baseline for comparison against the most recent 2023 or 2024 annual reports while also examining incremental changes since 2018. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Euan Blair's start-up loses £60m after rushed US expansion
Euan Blair's technology start-up lost more than £60m last year as the company counted the cost of a rushed US launch. Multiverse was set up by Mr Blair – son of Sir Tony Blair, the former prime minister – in 2016. It offers to match apprentices to technology companies, and grew revenues by 29pc to £58.4m in the year to March last year. However, losses climbed from £45m to £60.6m. The company said it was on the path to profitability. Multiverse, valued at $1.7bn (£1.3bn), laid off staff in the US over the period after Mr Blair conceded that the company had expanded in America too fast. It left a federally-approved apprenticeship system last year after limited enthusiasm for the regulated scheme and said it had 'rightsized' staff numbers there. Mr Blair's company, which links apprentices with tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Just Eat and provides on-the-job training, has continually made losses. The figures were also affected by two acquisitions, of US companies Peergrade and Searchlight, and by a jump in overall staff numbers. Headcount grew from 690 to 822 despite the company losing 103 employees including from US redundancies. Jillian Gillespie, Multiverse's chief financial officer who recently joined from software company MongoDB, said companies in Europe need to become 'more comfortable' with loss making businesses. 'All my life I've worked at companies who found an enormous market by making losses for prolonged periods before becoming profitable,' she said. 'To be serious about creating great European tech companies we have to get more comfortable with businesses following this path. I joined MongoDB when it was a bit further behind in its journey to IPO than Multiverse is today: but the momentum in these annual accounts is a good sense of the direction we're taking the business towards.' Mr Blair, 41, owns almost 19pc of the company, according to Companies House records, a stake that would be worth around £250m at its $1.7bn valuation in 2022. The entrepreneur has targeted apprenticeships for people from underprivileged backgrounds, and has repeatedly said that an obsession with academia has held back opportunities. The position is in marked contrast to Mr Blair's father, who as prime minister targeted 50pc of school leavers going to university. Multiverse's investors include the Walton family, the American dynasty behind the Walmart retail giant. Investment company StepStone and venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst led a $220m funding round in 2022. The company said the number of apprentices it has trained now stands at 18,521, up from 13,300 a year earlier. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Sign in to access your portfolio
Telegraph
29-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Euan Blair's start-up loses £60m after rushed US expansion
Euan Blair's technology start-up lost more than £60m last year as the company counted the cost of a rushed US launch. Multiverse was set up by Mr Blair – son of Sir Tony Blair, the former prime minister – in 2016. It offers to match apprentices to technology companies, and grew revenues by 29pc to £58.4m in the year to March last year. However, losses climbed from £45m to £60.6m. The company said it was on the path to profitability. Multiverse, valued at $1.7bn (£1.3bn), laid off staff in the US over the period after Mr Blair conceded that the company had expanded in America too fast. It left a federally approved apprenticeship system last year after limited enthusiasm for the regulated scheme and said it had 'right-sized' staff numbers there. Mr Blair's company, which links apprentices with tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Just Eat and provides on-the-job training, has continually made losses. The figures were also affected by two acquisitions, of US companies Peergrade and Searchlight, and by a jump in overall staff numbers. Headcount grew from 690 to 822 despite the company losing 103 employees including from US redundancies. Jillian Gillespie, Multiverse's chief financial officer who recently joined from software company MongoDB, said companies in Europe needed to become 'more comfortable' with loss-making businesses. 'All my life I've worked at companies who found an enormous market by making losses for prolonged periods before becoming profitable,' she said. 'To be serious about creating great European tech companies we have to get more comfortable with businesses following this path. I joined MongoDB when it was a bit further behind in its journey to IPO than Multiverse is today: but the momentum in these annual accounts is a good sense of the direction we're taking the business towards.' Mr Blair, 41, owns almost 19pc of the company, according to Companies House records, a stake that would be worth around £250m at its $1.7bn valuation in 2022. The entrepreneur has targeted apprenticeships for people from underprivileged backgrounds, and has repeatedly said that an obsession with academia has held back opportunities. The position is in marked contrast to Mr Blair's father, who as prime minister targeted 50pc of school leavers going to university. Multiverse's investors include the Walton family, the American dynasty behind the Walmart retail giant. Investment company StepStone and venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst led a $220m funding round in 2022. The company said the number of apprentices it has trained now stands at 18,521, up from 13,300 a year earlier.
