White House says at least 8 U.S. telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaignHow to protect your communications through encryption

Aggressors and victims: A warped worldview of high-profile Zionist-hating Jews

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) Shares Acquired by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.There are a lot of things to like about Altria ( MO 1.25% ) , particularly if you are a dividend investor. But there are also a few very important things to be worried about. No company is perfect, so you always have to take some bad with the good. But if you are hoping to retire a millionaire on Altria's dividend, you'll want to think extra hard about the bad here. Altria is an industry leader To give credit where credit is due, Altria owns the most important brand in its category in North America. And it isn't even close when you look at the market share numbers. Altria's market share in cigarettes was a huge 45.7% in the third quarter of 2024. The Marlboro brand alone accounted for 41.7 percentage points of that total. Put simply, Altria's Marlboro brand is a category dominator. The strength of the Marlboro brand has allowed Altria to increase its dividend annually for decades. And given the dividend yield of 7.3% today, it makes sense for income-focused investors to take a close look. Think about that yield for a second. All Altria needs to do is increase the dividend 2.7 percentage points and you would likely be getting the 10% total return investors generally expect from the broader market over time. For investors who are already retired, buying Altria certainly looks like a chance to set up a lifetime of lofty dividend payments. For those not ready to turn on that income stream, dividend reinvesting would allow the payout to compound over time. It isn't unreasonable to think that Altria could help you retire a millionaire. There's just one problem: the product. Altria is facing down a major headwind Cigarettes are increasingly falling out of favor in the North American market that Altria serves. Having the most important high-end cigarette brand in a cigarette market that is, effectively, drying up isn't necessarily a great long-term proposition for shareholders. The numbers are getting worse, too, not better. In 2022, Altria's cigarette volume fell 9.7%. In 2023, the decline was 9.9%. And through the first nine months of 2024, the drop was 10.6%. Sure, that trend could turn around, but are you willing to bet your retirement on it? So far, Altria has been able to offset those declines with price increases. That's great, for now. But at some point, price increases are likely to make the volume declines worse. At that point, the price increases may have to slow down or possibly even stop. Or the company may have to consider other options for conserving cash, such as cutting its dividend. The other big issue here is that Altria knows there's a problem and so far hasn't had much success doing anything about it. It has tried. For example, it bought a stake in vape maker Juul and a marijuana company , but neither worked out, and the company had to take massive write-offs. The recent acquisition of vape maker Njoy appears to be working out better, but the business is too small to have much impact on the company's results (it is still classified in an "other" catchall revenue category). Is it worth betting your retirement on the success of a tiny little business that isn't even big enough to break out on its own yet? Altria is a high-risk, high-yield stock Altria has a storied history, but the future is not going to look like the past given the changes taking shape in the cigarette market. The company is trying to adjust as best it can, but Wall Street is worried that it won't succeed, which is why the dividend yield is so high. Given the failures so far and the small size of the one successful new business that the company hopes will solve its cigarette problems, most dividend investors should tread with extreme caution here. Could Altria help you retire a millionaire? Sure, but it could also leave you broke. The risk/reward balance is probably tilted too far to the risk side right now for all but the most aggressive investors.Business News | Indians Now Daring to Create Multinational Companies, Says Hardeep Singh Puri

How to protect your communications through encryptionCSO calls for actualization of Ibom Science ParkLuca Maraschi is the cofounder and CEO of Platformatic . Enterprise software frameworks have gone through wave after wave of change since the start of the 21st century. Over a decade ago, the cloud revolution fundamentally altered how we think about infrastructure. It introduced platforms designed to meet broad, generic parameters, unbound by any particular programming language or technology stack. This shift, from highly specialized frameworks to language-agnostic infrastructure, was liberating in many ways but brought its own set of challenges. The Importance Of Context In Optimization The flexibility of the cloud came with a trade-off: Optimization and scaling became more complex. Most enterprise organizations operate diverse technology stacks, yet they rely on one-size-fits-all infrastructure. Cloud platforms aren’t built with specific frameworks such as Node.js or .NET in mind—they’re designed for general use. This lack of contextual optimization makes scaling inefficient because it's often based on generic metrics rather than what truly matters for a particular application. Take, for example, a typical web application using Node.js. Node.js is known for aggressively utilizing memory—sometimes consuming every last kilobyte. This isn’t a sign of malfunction; it’s how the runtime operates. Yet many cloud platforms interpret this as a signal to allocate more resources unnecessarily. Critical Node.js-specific metrics, such as event loop utilization (ELU), which directly impact performance for server-side rendering, are rarely monitored. As a result, enterprises may end up paying for resources they don’t need while neglecting optimizations that could genuinely improve efficiency. Context is crucial. Without it, planning a cohesive strategy becomes guesswork. It's similar to going grocery shopping for ingredients when you don't know what you're cooking. If I ask you to buy Parmesan cheese, you need to know what recipe I'm making to make the right choice. Is it for risotto, pasta or to eat on its own? If I tell you it's to make the classic Roman dish cacio e pepe, then we can determine that a young Parmesan, a grana padano or a pecorino romano would be the best fit for the recipe. Cost Pressures Drive Technology Decisions In today’s economic climate, cost considerations often outweigh technical preferences. CFOs increasingly drive decisions that were once the domain of CTOs, pushing technical teams to prioritize operational efficiency. Scaling decisions are now more about dollars and cents than developer preferences. To thrive in this “economy of cost,” enterprises must rethink how they scale. The following strategies can help organizations achieve scalability that’s both context-aware and cost-effective. Four Strategies For Scaling Effectively In Enterprise Organizations 1. Measure What Matters Move beyond generic metrics. Measure the metrics that really matter for your application, your technology and, most of all, your business. This may sound like common sense, but it is often overlooked in enterprises. Each application and technology stack has its own performance indicators. Identify and track these specific metrics within their broader context. It's not enough to track general factors such as latency or uptime. You need to understand what's happening on a deeper level to effectively optimize your technology. 2. Deconstruct Your Applications Start with the macro, then zoom in on the micro. Break software applications into their individual components to understand how each contributes to overall performance. This approach allows you to optimize applications at a granular level without losing sight of the bigger picture. Think of it like deconstructing a recipe. When you see the role each ingredient plays in the final dish, you can make adjustments to make it precisely to your taste. Don't be afraid to challenge the status quo and experiment with nontraditional ideas. Embrace trial and error, simplifying and improving solutions as you go. Sometimes you find the most effective solution when you approach the problem from a different angle. 3. Automate Monitoring For Continuous Insights To enable dynamic scaling, you need to collect valuable data continuously. Automate monitoring processes so you can maintain a bird's-eye view of your application's metrics. Architecture is not written in stone. Adopt a "crawl, walk, run" mindset for finding solutions. Deploy technologies and methodologies that give you maximum flexibility in the beginning, then enable you to fine-tune the final recipe. Once you have a winning recipe, you can successfully reproduce it over and over again. 4. Bridge The DevOps Divide In recent years, our industry has been trying to blend development and operations roles into one. But in my experience, this is like attempting to mix water and oil; it simply doesn't work. Instead, we need to bridge the gap between these distinct areas of expertise while respecting their boundaries. Take a step back, and recognize the development and operations needs in your own organization. Don't force processes on your team, but look for sustainable solutions that facilitate better collaboration. The era of generic, one-size-fits-all infrastructure is behind us. We need solutions that take context and cost into account when scaling to meet both technological and business demands. By measuring what matters, breaking down applications for better understanding, automating insights and fostering collaboration, enterprises can optimize their scaling strategies. The result? Infrastructure that aligns with the unique demands of your applications and the financial realities of your business. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

(BPT) - Tech gifts are consistently some of the most popular presents to give and receive during the holidays. In fact, according to the annual Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns report , a record 233 million U.S. adults (89%) will buy tech products during the 2024 holiday season. But with so many devices out there, it can be hard to decide on the perfect option for the loved one on your list. A tablet like the new Fire HD 8 from Amazon offers the versatility of an all-in-one device, with access to streaming, gaming, video chatting, reading or writing all at your fingertips. Fire HD 8 also features a vibrant 8-inch HD display and lightweight, portable design, for high-quality entertainment on the go. Plus, Fire HD 8 comes with three new AI features that can help you get the most out of your tablet experience. Check them out below and learn how they can help you with daily tasks this holiday season and beyond. 1. Meet your personal writing assistant Do you struggle with writing a heartfelt message or finessing a tricky email? Fear not! Writing Assist is here to help. Writing Assist works as part of your Fire tablet's device keyboard and compatible apps, including email, Word documents and social media. In just a few taps, you can transform your writing from good to great. Try Writing Assist's pre-set styles to turn a simple email into a professionally written note. Or, you can ask Writing Assist for grammar suggestions to make your writing more concise, or elaborate on your ideas. You can even "emojify" your writing to add more fun and personality. 2. Learn more in less time Say goodbye to scrolling through pages of information. The new Webpage Summaries feature allows you to learn pertinent information as quickly as possible. Available on the Silk browser on Fire tablets, Webpage Summaries provides quick insights on web articles. In a matter of seconds, this feature will distill the key points in an article or on a webpage into a clear, concise summary of what you need to know. 3. Get creative with your device wallpaper With Wallpaper Creator, you can easily add a touch of creative flair and customization to your tablet's home screen. You can choose from one of the curated prompts to get started on creating a unique background. Or, if you're ready to let your imagination run wild, type a description of what you'd like to see. For example, you can ask for an image of a tiger swimming underwater or a watercolor-style image of a desert landscape in space. Wallpaper Creator will then turn your vision into a reality, delivering a high-resolution image that you can use as your tablet's wallpaper. Celebrate an AI-powered holiday season Writing Assist, Webpage Summaries, and Wallpaper Creator are now available on Amazon's new Fire HD 8 and other compatible Fire tablet devices, including the latest Fire HD 10 and Fire Max 11 tablets. To learn more, or to order a new Fire tablet this gift-giving season, visit Amazon.com .

Republicans rally around Hegseth, Trump's Pentagon pick, as Gaetz withdraws for attorney general

Right now Samsung’s Black Friday sale is offering some incredible pricing discounts on TVs, like this deal on the Samsung 85-inch Neo QLED TV that comes with a 3.1.2 Channel soundbar at a massive $2,550 discount. Normally this setup would cost you $4,799.98 if it was still available at its full retail price. However, Samsung has it discounted down to $2,249.98. We can’t stress enough how good this deal is. You get a large 85-inch TV with 4K resolution and all the benefits of a Neo QLED panel, along with the soundbar so you’re set up with everything you need for great entertainment. All for under $2,300 and well under the normal price. To top things off, the package also comes with a subwoofer so you truly are good to go. Now you could certainly add to that sound system setup with additional speakers if you wanted to. But there’s really no need because this will give you the whole experience right out of the box. For starters, this is a 3.1.2 Channel Dolby Atmos soundbar. It’s also wireless and uses Samsung’s Q-Symphony technology for crisp, room-enveloping sound that will wrap you up in the audio of whatever you’re watching. The Dolby Atmos technology is going to enhance that immersion even further. Then, the subwoofer is there for some bass during those pulse-pounding moments. As for the visuals, the TV offers high contrasts with rich color for unparalleled picture quality. It also features a refresh rate of up to 120Hz with Samsung’s Motion Xcelerator tech which is great for gamers. Now this is an online exclusive deal that only Samsung is offering. So if you’re looking for a TV upgrade and a sound system to pair with it, don’t skip this deal. Buy at SamsungMansions are selling for $100 million and up in markets around the country, thanks to a surging stock market and wealth created from booms such as cryptocurrency and the frenzy over artificial intelligence. In June, a mansion in Malibu, California, sold to an unidentified buyer for $210 million, a record for that state. Last year, music power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce paid $190 million for a house that is also in Malibu. And billionaire and former Chicago resident Ken Griffin in 2019 paid a U.S. record $239.96 million for a triplex penthouse atop a building on Central Park South in New York City. Griffin has also paid $250 million for various properties in Palm Beach, Florida, in recent years. Deals in the $50 million to $100 million range have become almost commonplace in southern California, New York City and south Florida. And yet, in one of the stranger conundrums of the local market, the Chicago area has yet to see a single megasale — a residence that sells for $100 million or more — or even a quasi-megasale. The Chicago area has never even seen a $25 million sale of a single residential property. The dearth of megasales in the Chicago area is probably linked to the fact that local listings tend to be less pricey than in other cities, families here tend to assemble large homesteads rather than buy them, and buyers bring good old-fashioned Midwestern sensibility to the process, agents said. Agents specializing in high-end properties agree that the relative value of homes in the Chicago area compared with the country’s coasts has helped keep a lid on megasales. “Chicago always has been undervalued as a major metropolitan city because it’s such a great place to live,” Nancy Tassone of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty said. “It offers so much.” While places like New York, Los Angeles and other areas in California attract celebrity buyers, just like Chicago does, the residential market in the Windy City tends to be more local and not as transient, Tassone said. That means Chicago doesn’t go through the highs and lows that some other markets experience. “We have only so many people here who can afford or are willing to spend that much,” Tassone said. Jennifer Ames of Engel & Völkers Chicago said Chicagoans should “stand on top of the mountain” and celebrate local real estate values. “There’s a lot of people who don’t understand Chicago and don’t realize that we have all the culture and world-class museums and all the other things,” she said. “It’s sort of sad, but we are a flyover and yet, there’s so many features — we’ve got water, we’re centrally accessible.” Although the real estate taxes in Chicago are high relative to many other places in the country, they’re also high in places like Manhattan and San Francisco, Ames said. “Also, there’s obviously old money here, but a lot of the newer money is concentrated in the financial sector and they’re savvy people not making emotional decisions. Those decisions are grounded in other sales, so nobody’s really going to jump and pay double what somebody else paid just because they like something,” Ames said. “To some degree, to get us up into that high-priced (sale) range, it would be a gradual process. Some sale would ratchet it up, and then another one would ratchet it up. Nobody’s going to be the sucker who’s going to pay double what somebody else paid.” For now, the Chicago area’s three highest recorded residential trades are the $21.17 million that Griffin paid a developer for one of his full-floor spaces in the building at 9 W. Walton; the $20.56 million that Mexican billionaire German Larrea paid in 2022 for a 71st-floor condo in the St. Regis; and the $20 million that private equity executive Bryan Cressey paid in 2022 for the penthouse in the Trump International Hotel & Tower. The high-water mark in nearby Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, is the $36 million that billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid in 2022 for the late Richard Driehaus’ mansion. The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) The estate of late investment manager Richard Driehaus was a Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes paid $36 million for it in 2022. (Andrew Miller) While some Chicago-area billionaires have paid more than $30 million to create their own properties, they have done so by purchasing several properties and combining them, often with significant construction costs, rather than paying a single, up-front sum for them. For instance, Griffin famously paid a combined $58.75 million in 2017 in four separate transactions to buy the top four floors of the building at 9 W. Walton Street on the Gold Coast. He never combined them or built them out, and with his move to Florida, he sold two of the units on Nov. 12 for a combined $19 million. One of the remaining two units is on the market for $8.5 million. Justin Ishbia has paid a combined $39.9 million since 2020 for four separate lakefront homes in Winnetka — three of which are contiguous and had a combined $33.7 million cost — to assemble a homesite on which he’s building a mansion that will have a $44 million construction cost, according to the building permit. The $77.7 million that Ishbia apparently will spend on his new mansion and land likely will be the most money anyone in the Chicago area ever has put into a home. Construction continues on Justin and Kristen Ishbia’s lakefront mansion which measures more than 68,000 square feet on May 31, 2024 in Winnetka. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Construction workers and machinery fill the lakefront property of Justin Ishbia along Sheridan Road in Winnetka on July 19, 2023. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Construction continues on Justin and Kristen Ishbia’s lakefront mansion, left, which measures more than 68,000 square feet on May 31, 2024, in Winnetka. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Fences separate the beach from the construction site on Justin Ishbia’s 3.7 acre lakefront property on on July 19, 2023, in Winnetka. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Construction continues on Justin and Kristen Ishbia’s lakefront mansion which measures more than 68,000 square feet on May 31, 2024, in Winnetka. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Construction continues on Justin and Kristen Ishbia’s lakefront mansion which measures more than 68,000 square feet on May 31, 2024 in Winnetka. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) And filmmaker George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, paid $11.2 million in 2023 to buy one of Griffin’s full-floor Park Tower penthouses and are in the process of combining it with their existing full-floor penthouse one level below, which they bought in 2015 for $18.75 million. Once the couple spends the $3.5 million that their building permit estimates is the construction cost to combine the two units, the result will be a 16,000-square-foot duplex penthouse condo that will have cost them $33.5 million. Ames and Ryan Preuett of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty pointed out that both the city and suburbs have recently built mansions with what they deem to be very high values. However, those mansions still are under the control of their first owners, so there is no recorded sale amount yet. When those mansions one day are resold, Ames and Preuett separately said, their sale prices could rival some of the national megasales. Preuett said that since COVID-19, he has observed that “the people with means build a legacy, generational property so it’s like a home base created, where should something similar happen, they could accommodate a large family to kind of hunker down.” “Certainly people (in Chicago) are making these kinds of investments, but you just don’t see them, because they’re creating them as opposed to buying them from someone else,” he said. “I’d expect that down the road, things will change and people will be open to that. Privacy is also a consideration, Preuett said. “Once you get over the $20 million mark, you really start making a splash in the media if you were to list that, and the people I’ve worked with in that arena are cognizant of that, and privacy is important to them,” Preuett said. “So there’s almost an incentive to create what you want instead of buying it from someone else, and you can do it a little more discreetly instead of going in and buying the most expensive sale ever.” Given the upward movement nationally in purchase prices, is a record sale price for a single, finished Chicago-area property imminent? Jena Radnay of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate thinks so. She’s the listing agent for Windsor House — retired investment banker Muneer Satter’s seven-bedroom, 13,894-square-foot mansion on 2.3 acres on Lake Michigan in Winnetka — which is available for $35 million. That’s the Chicago area’s highest asking price for a home. Satter spent years developing the property, which includes 223 feet of private beachfront, along with a double-door boathouse and a commercial-level boardwalk. A seven-bedroom, 13,894-square foot mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka is available for $35 million, making it the Chicago area's highest asking price for a home. (David Ward) A seven-bedroom, 13,894-square foot mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka is available for $35 million, making it the Chicago area's highest asking price for a home. (David Ward) A seven-bedroom, 13,894-square foot mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka is available for $35 million, making it the Chicago area's highest asking price for a home. (David Ward) A seven-bedroom, 13,894-square foot mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka is available for $35 million, making it the Chicago area's highest asking price for a home. (David Ward) A seven-bedroom, 13,894-square foot mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka is available for $35 million, making it the Chicago area's highest asking price for a home. (David Ward) Radnay said Satter spent at least $65 million to develop and improve the estate and the mansion, which was designed by the Mayo & Mayo architectural firm. Satter paid $9.5 million in 2002 for the mansion and paid $4.1 million in 2013 for the property next door, which he then transformed into a commercial-level botanical garden with a Lannon stone custom fountain, an infinity pool and a heated motor court for 10 cars. Radnay predicted that the mansion will sell for close to its list price. “He spent in the $65 million to $72 million range (to develop) it and...it can’t be replicated,” Radnay said. “I think everyone is always thinking, what does this mean if I am buying the most expensive property on the lake in Illinois, but then they take a step back and realize that there is nothing that even comes close to this as it’s the best beach and boathouse and boardwalk in Illinois. Not one other lakefront property even starts with that.” The owners of other Chicago-area properties that have been listed with high asking prices have had to settle for far less to find buyers. For instance, United Automobile Insurance Co. Chairman Richard Parilllo and his wife, Michaela, listed their six-bedroom Lincoln Park mansion in 2016 for $50 million. They claimed to have spent $65 million building the estate, including the $12.5 million they spent on land acquisition. After a series of price cuts, they sold it in August for $15.25 million — still an all-time record sale for a house in Chicago’s city limits, but far less than they originally had sought. Another vivid example is the Highland Park estate of a man who needs no introduction, Michael Jordan. Listed since 2012, Jordan’s 56,000-square-foot lair on 7 acres first carried a $29 million price tag, but since 2015, the NBA Hall of Famer has not budged from his present $14.855 million price tag. The mansion currently is under contract. Still another recent sale price that was for far less than an owner once had wanted involves the six-bedroom Grand Reve mansion in Winnetka. After more than 10 years on the market, the mansion sold in 2020 to Stephen Kao for $8.75 million — far less than the $32 million that sellers Sherwin and Deborah Jarol initially had sought. As for some recent big discounts relative to what sellers originally had asked, Preuett said that a lot of those properties are constructed without any thought of resale on the back end. “A lot of people say, I’m gonna live here forever, and life happens and things change,” he said. “So some things get built very specifically and they don’t necessarily resonate with a buyer. Typically the ones that have been on the market for a long time and sold finally for a fraction were very specific and were not what the current buyers in the market are looking for.” The Chicago area’s lack of megasales may also have to do with an innate trait of the region, Ames said. “There’s another element that goes to the heart of who we are as Midwesterners. This is not a town of glitz and pretense. As a culture, we’re more grounded in the Midwest, and we’re not trying to outspend our neighbor and I think in some parts of the country, that is more the case,” Ames said. “So I think when you think of the mindset of Midwesterners, it kind of makes sense that even super-wealthy people are not going to make dumb decisions, or emotional decisions. We’re more practical. If you think about Malibu, or Manhattan, there’s a lot of showing off.” Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

China set to narrow digital divide

MONTREAL — Second Cup Canada is cutting ties with a franchisee operating at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital who was allegedly filmed making hateful and antisemitic comments during a protest in the city last week. Second Cup Canada announced Saturday it was cutting ties with a franchisee for "making hateful remarks and gestures," and adding in a statement the actions breach the franchise agreement as well as inclusion and community values ​​held by the chain. Peter Mammas, CEO of Montreal-based Foodtastic, which owns Second Cup Canada, said in an interview on Sunday that he was at the movies when his phone started pinging non-stop. He saw the videos and the company's operations staff spoke to employees that knew the woman, and they confirmed it was indeed the franchisee. Video shot during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside of Concordia University's downtown Montreal campus Thursday shows a woman walking around, masked, saying the "final solution is coming your way" — wording used to describe a Nazi plan to eliminate Jews in Europe during the Second World War. Another video also shows what appears to be the same woman, unmasked, making a Nazi salute while walking away. "We're all for free speech and respectful conversations, but this wasn't that," Mammas said. "This was hate speech, and it was something that we thought could incite violence and we're completely against that, so we sat down with our team and decided to revoke the franchise agreement." Attempts to reach the franchisee were unsuccessful on Sunday. "Second Cup has zero tolerance for hate speech," the coffee chain said in a statement on X. "In co-ordination with the hospital, we've shut down the franchisee's café and are terminating their franchise agreement." Mammas said lawyers for the franchisee and Second Cup were expected to meet on Monday. The regional health agency serving West-Central Montreal, which includes the Jewish General Hospital, said it was made aware of the video "containing antisemitic and hateful messaging." The video is related to a franchisee of Second Cup, one of the private tenants operating within the (Jewish General), Carl Thériault, a spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday. "We fully support Second Cup's decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter by shutting down the franchisee's cafés and terminating their lease agreement." The hospital has two locations operated by the same franchisee and both were shuttered on Saturday by the owners of the chain. The health agency "is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and stands firmly against antisemitism and any other form of discrimination or hate speech," Thériault said. "We have franchisees who are Muslim, we have franchisees who are Jewish, we have franchisees that are Greek, French, we have employees from all different nations," Mammas said. "So we definitely have no issue with that and we don't take any political side, but ... hate speech ... you know we can't accept that." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2024. Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian PressCartessa Aesthetics Introduces Three New Technologies to Give Providers a Head Start for 2025(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. assured investors that its new product lineup will continue to fuel an artificial intelligence-driven growth run, while also signaling that the rush to get chips out the door is proving costlier than expected. Listen to the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen. Speaking after the release of quarterly results, Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said that Nvidia’s highly anticipated Blackwell products will ship this quarter amid “very strong” demand. But the production and engineering costs of the chips will weigh on profit margins, and Nvidia’s sales forecast for the current period didn’t match some of Wall Street’s more optimistic projections. That brought a tepid reaction from investors, who had bid up Nvidia shares almost 200% this year heading into the earnings report. After that dizzying rally, which turned the chipmaker into the world’s most valuable company, anything but a blowout quarter was bound to be a disappointment. The shares fell as much as 3.6% on Thursday before rebounding by the afternoon. They closed up 0.5% at $146.67. Nvidia predicted fiscal fourth-quarter sales of about $37.5 billion. While the average analyst estimate was $37.1 billion, projections ranged as high as $41 billion. “The guidance seems to show lower growth, but this may be Nvidia being conservative,” said Alvin Nguyen, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “Short term, there is no worry about AI demand. Nvidia is doing everything they should be doing.” The company’s biggest moneymaker is its accelerator chip, which helps develop artificial intelligence models by bombarding them with data. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot debuted in 2022, a frenzy of AI services has created insatiable demand for the product. All About Nvidia Chips, AI Hype and What Lies Ahead: QuickTake Wall Street has been closely watching the launch of Blackwell, the latest entry in that category, which is faster and has an improved ability to link up with other semiconductors. Manufacturing challenges have slowed the rollout, and Nvidia warned again of supply constraints on Wednesday. Demand for the products is expected to exceed supply for several quarters. “Critical questions around Blackwell’s production ramp and customer concentration remain key concerns,” Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said in a note. “There’s little room for execution missteps in 2025.” Huang said that Blackwell is now in “full production,” and there’s still an appetite for Hopper, the previous design. “Blackwell is now in the hands of all of our major partners,” he said during the conference call. But the switch to Blackwell has taken a toll on profitability. The company’s gross margin, which measures the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the cost of production, will dip to as low as 73% this quarter from 75% in the previous period. The figure is expected to rebound when the new products reach larger-scale production, and the economics are more favorable. When asked whether Nvidia’s gross margin could be back in the mid-70s by the middle of next year, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said that’s a reasonable assumption. Nvidia remains far above its peers in this category: Its nearest rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., has a gross margin that’s 20 percentage points narrower. Intel Corp.’s isn’t even half of Nvidia’s total. Nvidia’s growth over the past two years has been staggering. Its sales are poised to double for a second year in a row, and it now notches more money in profit than it used to generate in total revenue. Nvidia’s revenue rose 94% to $35.1 billion in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Oct. 27. Excluding certain items, profit was 81 cents a share. Analysts had predicted sales of about $33.25 billion and earnings of 74 cents a share. Nvidia’s biggest division, the data center unit, saw revenue double from a year earlier to $30.8 billion. That beat Wall Street estimates. But networking revenue within that unit declined sequentially, and the business is more dependent than ever on a small group of customers: cloud service providers. That cohort, which includes companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS, accounted for 50% of data center revenue, up from 45% in the prior period. Investors want that number to go down, to show that the use of AI is spreading across the economy. Other recent earnings reports have given strong signals for AI. Nvidia customers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms Inc., have reaffirmed their commitment to spend heavily on AI infrastructure. WATCH: Nvidia's Surprising AI Origin Story Nvidia has only missed analysts’ estimates on quarterly revenue once in the past five years. And it has exceeded expectations by as much as 20% in recent periods, creating a high bar for its performance. Its data center division alone now has more revenue than rivals Intel and AMD have in total, combined. Net income this year is on course to exceed revenue at Intel, a business that was the chip industry’s biggest company for decades. Nvidia made its name by selling graphics processors, but discovered that the technology also has applications for AI. Its chips help software models during the training process, when they learn to recognize and respond to real-world inputs. Nvidia’s components are also used in systems that then run the software, a stage known as inference, and help power services such as ChatGPT. The Santa Clara, California-based company has rapidly expanded its product lineup to include networking, software and services, as well as fully built-out computer systems. Huang is traveling the world lobbying for a broader adoption of his technology and trying to spread its use by corporations and government agencies. “The age of AI is upon us and it’s large and diverse,” Huang said. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.