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Lightning ride electric power play to 4-2 victory over CanucksJudge hears closing arguments on whether Google's advertising tech constitutes a monopoly ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Justice Department and Google have made their closing arguments in a trial alleging Google’s online advertising technology constitutes an illegal monopoly. The arguments in federal court Monday in northern Virginia came as Google already faces a possible breakup of the company over its ubiquitous search engine. The Justice Department says it will seek the breakup of Google to remedy its search engine monopoly. The case in Virginia focuses not on the search engine but on technology that matches online advertisers to consumers on the internet. A judge is expected to rule by the end of the year. ‘Busiest Thanksgiving ever’: How the TSA plans to handle record air travel DALLAS (AP) — The Thanksgiving travel rush is expected to be bigger than ever this year. AAA predicts that nearly 80 million people in the U.S. will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday — most of them by car. Thanksgiving Day falling so late this year has altered traditional travel patterns. At airports, the Transportation Security Administration says it could screen a record number of U.S. air travelers on Sunday. Meanwhile, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration says a shortage of air traffic controllers could cause flight delays. Transportation analytics company INRIX says roads could be congested on Monday with both commuters and returning holiday travelers. Macy’s says employee hid up to $154 million in expenses, delaying Q3 earnings Macy’s says it’s delaying the release of its fiscal third-quarter earnings results after it discovered an up to $154 million accounting-related issue. The company did provide some preliminary results for its third quarter, including that net sales fell 2.4% to $4.74 billion. It anticipates reporting its full third-quarter financial results by Dec. 11. Newsom says California could offer electric vehicle rebates if Trump eliminates federal tax credit SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California could offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Gov. Gavin Newsom says Monday he'll propose creating a new version of the state’s successful Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding nearly 600,000 new cars and trucks. Officials didn’t say how much the program would cost or how the rebates would work. Newsom’s proposal is part of his plan to protect California’s progressive policies ahead of Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. But a budget shortfall could complicate California’s resistance efforts. Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his death OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by handing out more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations Monday, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death. Buffett has said previously that his three kids will distribute his remaining $147.4 billion fortune in the 10 years after his death, but now he has also designated successors for them because it’s possible that Buffett’s children could die before giving it all away. Buffett said he has no regrets about his decision to start giving away his fortune in 2006. Stock market today: Dow hits another record as stocks rise NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose, with those benefiting the most from lower interest rates and a stronger economy leading the way. The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% Monday to pull closer to its record set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 440 points to its own record set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. They got a boost from easing Treasury yields after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent to be his Treasury Secretary. Smaller companies can feel a big boost from easier borrowing costs, and the Russell 2000 index of small stocks finished just shy of its record. Workers at Charlotte airport, an American Airlines hub, go on strike during Thanksgiving travel week CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — American Airlines says it doesn’t expect significant disruptions to flights this week as a result of a labor strike at its hub in Charlotte, North Carolina. Service workers there walked out Monday during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages. Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services authorized the work stoppage. Union spokesperson Sean Keady says the strike is expected to last 24 hours. The companies contract with American Airlines to provide services such as cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs. The companies have acknowledged the seriousness of a strike during the holiday travel season. At the crossroads of news and opinion, 'Morning Joe' hosts grapple with aftermath of Trump meeting The reaction of those who defended “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for meeting with President-elect Trump sounds almost quaint in the days of opinionated journalism. Doesn't it makes sense, they said, for hosts of a political news show to meet with such an important figure? But given how “Morning Joe” has attacked Trump, its viewers felt insulted. Many reacted quickly by staying away. It all reflects the broader trend of opinion crowding out traditional journalist in today's marketplace, and the expectations that creates among consumers. By mid-week, the show's audience was less than two-thirds what it has typically been this year. Eggs are available -- but pricier -- as the holiday baking season begins Egg prices are on the rise again as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with high demand during the holiday baking season. The average price for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities was $3.37 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up 63% from October 2023, when a dozen eggs cost an average of $2.07. Avian influenza is the main culprit. The current bird flu outbreak that began in February 2022 has led to the slaughter of more than 111 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens. But the American Egg Board says egg shortages at grocery stores have been isolated and temporary so far. Detroit's iconic Renaissance Center could see 2 towers razed in $1.6B redevelopment plan DETROIT (AP) — Two towers at Detroit’s iconic Renaissance Center would be razed and the complex converted to a mix of housing and offices under an ambitious $1.6 billion plan announced on Monday. GM will move its headquarters out of the complex next year. The towers are a symbol of Detroit, with aerial views often shown on television sports broadcasts. GM announced that it would join forces with the Bedrock real estate development firm and Wayne County to turn the partially vacant property into a roughly 27-acre entertainment complex across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ontario. Bedrock would invest at least $1 billion, with roughly $250 million more coming from GM and another $250 million in public money, possibly from the state of Michigan.None

NoneOver the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as part of our Best of 2024 series. This article was originally published in August. Enjoy! The entirety of the trading card community — that is, people who collect, buy, and sell the Pokémon Trading Card game, sports cards, Magic: The Gathering, Disney, or literally any trading card game you can think of — has gradually become aware of what might be an existential threat to the entire concept of opening up a blind pack of trading cards. Over the past month or so, a series of events occurred across different corners of the trading card hobby which have snowballed into a panic, all stemming from one unlikely thing: CT scanners . Yes, computed tomography, like the kind of thing doctors typically use to see your insides, has now effectively been demonstrated on trading card packs and boxes to accurately show what’s inside without needing to open them. Not only that, but in the aftershock of the news, a business named Industrial Inspection + Consulting LLC has already come to market with an attempt to monetise CT scanning trading card boxes and packs, suggesting on its brand new website, “If some people have access to this technology, you should too.” First, A Loose Timeline of Events Back on June 24th, 2024, Instagram user Dtaoooooo uploaded what they alleged was a video of a CT scan displaying a box of officially licensed basketball cards, posted with the following caption: Today, panini’s NBA copyright is about to expire, I hereby disclose a secret that is clear in the blind box industry, so that consumers can see how to ”unbox without damage“ through CT scanner technology, merchants are unscrupulous offline to find logoman‘s speculative way without loss! #logoman @paniniamerica @psacard #logomancard The X-ray displayed what skilled hobbyists would relatively easily be able to identify as a “Logoman'' card floating inside of a sealed box. That’s an extremely rare, serialised type of trading card that features an NBA patch from a real player’s jersey, even the least valuable of these sell for hundreds, while the rarest sell for thousands. This Instagram claim raised plenty of eyebrows after it was circulated, but most of the conjecture uneasily concluded this was either fake, or hoped it was too impractical to be of much consequence. However, a few weeks later on July 16th, 2024, a YouTube channel called “Ahron Wayne's Strange Brain” posted an entirely unrelated vlog on the same topic titled “ Digitally Peeking Inside a Pack of Pokemon Cards ”. In this far more wholesome yet still astonishing video, Ahron Wayne details how his young career in science eventually led him to an eBay listing for a local pickup of two broken-down CT scanning machines, which in total cost him $1,500. After using his own technical expertise to fix the machines and initially using them for more typical endeavours, Wayne spends the video explaining an initial curiosity to test their limits before visually detailing his process of scanning 25-year-old vintage Pokémon packs. The result? The machine produced fuzzy yet unmistakable images of holographic hits from inside the packs — packs which still remain unopened. This video was released in earnest, but the reactions from trading card streamers (if the Youtube videos accompanied by shocked-faced-thumbnails totalling in the dozens are any indication) were cataclysmic . And it’s not hard to imagine why. What This Means For Magic , Pokémon , and More In short, nobody really knows what this means for the hobby for certain, but this is not entirely without precedent. Historically, within the Pokémon card game but also in others, re-sellers have been able to physically weigh vintage packs in order to identify packs with rarer holographic cards inside of them, with relatively repeatable consistency. But X-ray vision is an entirely new ballgame that would permanently alter the massive economy of vintage collectibles. Try to imagine the concept of “scanned” versus “unscanned” packs adding and subtracting value to sales listings, or how literally any sealed box of anything would fall suspect to having been pre-scanned for top hits. Yet just weeks ago, no one could fathom a use case where both industrial machinery and skilled machinist could be paired up for the explicit purpose of finding Charizards. But after someone showed they were able to do it shockingly effectively for a mere $1,500, an amount equal to many run-of-the-mill business expenses, many began to piece together not whether the technology to scan packs was possible or practical, but rather, how long this has already been going on for? The Company Who Wants To Scan Your Cards Finally, on June 26th, 2024, a company called Industrial Inspection + Consulting LLC posted a blog post titled “ NOW YOU CAN PIKACHU CARDS WITHOUT OPENING THE BOX ”. This post came complete with high-resolution video and detailed imagery of their professional scanning machines scanning shrink-wrapped boxes of Pokémon cards, as well as scanning single cards sandwiched between other cards. From that, the company showed off how it was able to produce strikingly detailed scans of individual cards inside of unopened merchandise, as well as those blocked by other cards. In response to the tidal wave of reaction within the card community, the company quickly pivoted to produce an e-commerce page, complete with pricing tiers for scanning services wherein you can physically mail unopened packs or boxes of cards in exchange for digital CT scans of your items. Nintendo Life reached out to Industrial Inspection + Consulting LLC to ask more questions about how their business intends to operate, as well as their opinions on the CT scan phenomenon in general. [ Editor’s Note: Nintendo Life has confirmed the subject’s identity, but has granted their spokesperson anonymity on the basis of continued threats to their workers. While it is not our preference to publish anonymous comments, we ultimately felt it is still valuable to let readers discern the proposed overall viewpoints of the company for themselves.] Nintendo Life [Alan Lopez]: What does your company do, specifically? And what services do you sell? Industrial Inspection & Consulting is an engineering support company offering a variety of niche inspection services, including non-destructive testing for X-ray, CT Scanning, 3D Scanning, Reverse Engineering, Metrology, Dye Penetrant, Magnetic Particle, Ultrasonics, and consulting and oversight. Your website postures Industrial Inspection + Consulting LLC as a response to an unchecked trend of CT scanning trading card packs. Your website reads : First, we made public what’s been happening in secret. Now we are bringing x-ray vision to the masses. If you haven’t heard, we are able to identify holographic cards inside unopened card packs. [...] If some people have access to this technology, you should too. It’s what’s fair and the next logical step. How do we know? Because of the explosion of interest we’ve received. Between calls from reporters, endless requests to scan packs and kits from collectors, investors, card stores, and auction houses, and a 28,000% spike in traffic to our website, the demand is clear. That’s why we’ve worked around the clock to develop a reliable method and affordable cost per pack for CT scanning. Pandora’s box is open – jump in. To your knowledge, what specifically has been happening in the trading card industry, and for how long? And how did you find out? There is ample evidence, with more being released at a fast pace, that this has been occurring in secret for a long time. From video-based evidence of people attempting it for years, to anecdotes in community comment sections about medical systems being used, it’s been happening likely as long as the technology has been available. We stumbled upon this [trend] by accident after producing a standard case study on our website. It went relatively viral due to other parties’ reactions who were working on [CT scanning trading cards] in secret, [and then] also releasing their findings. So do you believe CT scanning is a positive development for the world of collectibles? And why or why not? We believe CT scanning is an inevitable development. The technology is not going away, and people know what it can do. To argue if it is positive or negative does not matter because interested parties will find a way to use it regardless of public opinion. How prevalent do you think CT scanning is in the collectibles economy? We do not have data for this. Roughly how many CT companies/services for collectibles exist today? Or rather, what does the privatisation landscape of this technology look like right now? We are the only company offering CT scanning for collectibles to date. Do you know if there are any safety concerns with CT scanning items, not just for you, but specifically for anyone who might see this and attempt to do this on their own? We are certified non-destructive testing experts with years of experience handling our equipment and complex projects. We cannot speak to the safety of someone trying this on their own. That is dependent on their expertise and the equipment they use. As for safety to the general public, X-Rays are non-destructive to inorganic material and they pass harmlessly through objects like this without altering molecular structure. Once exposure is complete, there is no residual radioactivity or damage. It's clear that by monetising the issue, your solution appears to be regulation and normalization of the technology. However, one of the biggest challenges to an approach between a private third party and a person with unopened packs is trust ; how does a third-party company instil trust in a potential customer that they would both a) receive an accurate assessment and b) actually get back the unopened item that they sent in? Some readers have expressed serious doubts that if their packs had valuable cards in them, that they would actually receive them back. Product safety is left up to the consumer. When the chain of custody is considered, as soon as that product leaves the user, they are no longer aware of their product. The product must be sealed in tamper-proof packaging . If it is not, the client is then using our services at their own risk with our reputation as collateral. There are endless and customisable product security solutions available online. And how accurate do you believe the scans to be? Is there a mathematical percentage? From an accuracy and repeatability standpoint, there is an uncertainty of about 9UM (micrometres) for these scans. From a practical, imaging standpoint, and our ability to witness card characteristics, that is entirely dependent on the type of card and the care the operator uses to evaluate the data. For example, a Pokémon reverse holographic card can be seen in a scan, but the only way to identify the particular card would be to read the moveset, or by other special markings. There is no character silhouette [in this instance]. Does this mean the scan is inaccurate? No, it means we captured the data available for that type of card. We offer no guarantees beyond what has been demonstrated on our website. [However], we have received endless requests for products we are unfamiliar with. We will offer our best effort to produce data for these products. Do you believe that this technology will ultimately become as standard as weighing packs? This technology will not replace weighing because weighing is cheap, fast, and able to be performed by anybody. So then, exploring that barrier to entry, are all CT scan machines similarly effective, or is there variance in the technology? What is the current price point of owning and operating one of these machines? Not all systems are equal; there are low-cost-to-entry systems with results to match (higher noise, diminished resolution, slower processing.) Our systems cost high 6-7 figures each, but with results to match those figures. Finally, as of this interview, there has been no comment from the makers of these cards. But do you believe that there will be actions taken by Wizards of the Coast, Pokémon Int., Topps, etc, in response to you, or this phenomenon? We do not know if manufacturers will respond. ​​This interview has been very lightly edited for clarity. Nintendo Life has also reached out to The Pokémon Company International, Topps, and Wizards of the Coast, but they did not respond for comment prior to publication. We will update this story if they provide any future comment.