Latest news with #DanHowley
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta and Oakley partner on new AI glasses: What to know
Meta (META) and Oakley have teamed up to create new performance artificial intelligence (AI) glasses. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley breaks down the details. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft's reported job cuts & OpenAI beef: What to know
Microsoft (MSFT) is reportedly planning to cut thousands of jobs, according to Bloomberg. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley outlines the latest, including how the tech giant's hefty artificial intelligence (AI) spending, notably its multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI ( could intensify the need to cut costs. This comes amid reported turmoil between Microsoft and OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal reports that the ChatGPT maker has considered pushing for an antitrust case against its partner, while the Financial Times reports that Microsoft is ready to walk away from the deal. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Microsoft is reportedly planning to cut thousands of jobs as part of the company's latest move to trim its workforce. Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley here with more on the story. So what are these cuts all about? And they come on the heels of cuts that the company's already been doing, right? Yeah, thousands of jobs, uh this is according to a Bloomberg report, are kind of up in the air at this point. Microsoft could start to announce the layoffs at the end of its fiscal year, which is coming up. Uh and yet, this comes after they left uh laid off thousands of workers uh earlier in in May. So it it's kind of a a recurring thing for Microsoft at this point where they continue to lay off uh workers every few months. They they say that it's part of uh their kind of right sizing, I guess, is the corporate parlance, uh or, you know, a means of making sure that they can be as dynamic as possible. Uh it it really, I think, comes down to making sure that uh they have uh the people that they want in the right places at the biggest positions of the company, which are at this point, AI and cloud. Uh and so, you know, don't forget they're also spending billions of dollars on their infrastructure build out on the cloud. So I think that's where a lot of uh of this is coming from. But you know, Microsoft isn't the only company that has gone through this where they've laid off workers, uh as a result of, as they see inefficiencies, or things along those lines. Uh Google had big layoffs. Meta had big layoffs. Uh and so, you know, it it seems to be uh this this kind of continuation of those layoffs going forward. Dan, while you're here, I want your take on another tech headline. What did you make of Sam Altman saying Meta was offering open AI staff I read this twice because I thought I misread this was $100 million bonuses. Look man, I'd lie. I would lie and be like, "Yeah, I work there. I I know I know Sam." Uh yeah, I mean, this is basically just, you know, their way of trying to catch up, right? Uh they're disappointed with the way that La 4 hasn't really lived up to their own expectations. They've had to push that back, that release back. Uh they have Scale AI now. Or they're you know, they they've put in was it $14.3 billion to get Scale AI. Uh this is a race to see who can get the most talent, the best talent, and beat the the kind of behemoth that is OpenAI still at this point, right? Now, that's not to say that, you know, other companies aren't aren't doing the same thing, or, you know, trying to poach people. $100 million is pretty rich. Um but you know, uh I do Well and and I don't know that we need to take him literally about one hundred He was saying this in a podcast, right? Even if it's a million dollars, even if it's $5 million, like the point is I'd still take it. The point is, is that the war for AI talent has become and and the irony of course, is that AI's going to replace a lot of jobs, but at the same time that it's creating this huge war for talent. I mean, then on the flip side you got the FT now reporting that Microsoft is talking about halting talks with OpenAI, if they can't come together on issues. Now maybe they're just putting out there that out there in order to put pressure on OpenAI. But again, it speaks to this sort of competitive competitiveness around all of these issues, right? Yeah. And and look, this this report comes out after a prior Wall Street Journal report saying that Microsoft, or OpenAI was willing to uh go the antitrust route, and make an antitrust complaint about Microsoft. So this is a back and forth, uh no love lost between uh the two at the moment. We reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI and we got a statement for Microsoft saying, you know, basically everything's hunky-dory there. You know, they're working together, uh you know, and they they like their relationship. Um but this this idea that Microsoft would be prepared to walk away, I mean, that's just the the the the talks right now, not away from OpenAI. Uh if they do walk away and they can't agree on anything with OpenAI as far as uh the restructuring goes, then OpenAI could lose out on $20 billion in funding from SoftBank. That's a big hit. Um and so, you know, this is kind of a a tightrope that both companies are walking at this point. Yeah. Right. Dan Howley, thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Hundred million dollar man.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Mobile: Can the smartphone actually be made in the US?
The Trump Organization is entering the smartphone market with "Trump Mobile": a new US-made phone and plan. However, there is uncertainty about whether the phone can actually be manufactured in the US. Yahoo Finance Technology Editor Dan Howley joins Asking for a Trend with Josh Lipton to break down the details. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. President Trump's family's launching a smartphone alongside its own mobile service dubbed Trump Mobile. However, will it follow in Trump's made in America agenda? Yahoo Finance's tech editor Dan Howley joins us now with more. Dan. Yeah, Josh, this is, uh, something that, uh, the Trump family went out and announced yesterday, basically showing off, uh, the idea of this Trump mobile phone plan. Uh, it's basically a virtual mobile network. It's going to ride on what they say is the three major carriers in the US. It includes Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. I've reached out to them. I haven't heard back, uh, yet from any of the carriers on that. Uh, they also announced a new phone that they're calling the T1 phone. This phone, uh, is going to be available for 499, a down payment of $100. They say it'll be available, uh, in September. The big to-do though about this is that it's supposedly made in America. And that would be a big deal because we just don't have very many phone companies that manufacture in America. Uh, in fact, one that I spoke to, uh, is, uh, from Purism. It's the Liberty phone. Uh, it's a specialized phone that's all about security and keeping, uh, separate from big tech, uh, organizations. But that phone sells for $199, uh, sorry, $1,999. Uh, this phone, $4.99, sounds like a great deal. However, a number of experts that I've spoken to have kind of thrown cold water on the idea that it will actually be made in America. In fact, some have pointed out that the phone is eerily similar, uh, to another phone company, uh, their device, the Wingtech Rebel 7, uh, has similar cameras. That phone is a Chinese-made phone. Uh, T-Mobile also sells a version of that called the Rebel 7 under its Metro brand. Uh, that device has a Qualcomm processor. That processor is made in China, so it would take away from that whole made in America thing. Then Eric Trump had actually said during an interview with a conservative YouTube personality, Benny Johnson, that he, uh, eventually all the phones can be built in the United States of America. So, there's kind of mixed signals going on right here. Uh, the one thing that, uh, when I spoke to, uh, the head of Purism, uh, who develops that Liberty phone, said is, it took them 10 years to get to that point, to be able to actually get the phones in the US. And one of the issues was, you know, getting a processor that fits there. They say that all the electronics are built within the US. Uh, the frame for the phone, though, is built in China. Uh, so they make sure to point out that the electronics are all US made and developed. So, you know, something like that, it's taken them years to get to that point. And how much, Dan, did you say he's selling that phone for? $1,999. Their most recent phone. Uh, and so, you know, I think it's one of those things where we're just going to have to wait and see if this phone actually does come out, if it actually is built in the US. Um, right now, you know, you can see what different people are saying online. There's a lot of, uh, you know, show me, you know, rather than, uh, or will this just be vaporware where it's announced and it just never premieres, but they are taking cash for it now as far as those $100 pre-orders. So, we're just going to have to see. But all this again is part of the Trump administration's effort, uh, you know, to push that whole made in America idea. They've said that they're going to place tariffs on Apple or Samsung if they don't start building their phones, uh, in the US. Wow. That's not going to happen. Uh, you know, they'll, I mean, they'll be out of office before they even get facilities up and running. So, it's not something that I think anyone can confidently say would actually happen with Apple and Samsung. I look forward to the Dan Howley review of that phone though. That's what I'm waiting for. Thank you, Dan. Yes, sir.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What to know about Microsoft and AMD's Xbox partnership
Microsoft (MSFT) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced a partnership between Xbox and AMD. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley outlines what investors and gamers need to know. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. It's time for Tech Support, our weekly deep dive into all things technology. And this week, could a new chip maker be attempting to dethrone gaming giant Nvidia? AMD and Xbox announcing a new hardware partnership for their upcoming consoles. Yahoo Finance Tech editor Dan Howley is here to break down what we know so far. And Dan, how big of a deal is this for AMD? Uh, it's a big deal, right? Usually what happens is these companies come out and they say, okay, we have a an agreement to produce a console, right? But that's not what uh Microsoft and AMD are announcing here. They're announcing the next generation console, the next generation Xbox for the home, and then the next generation of handhelds, and then anything else, really. They kind of made it very broad saying it's a multi-year agreement. Uh, a lot of this ties back to Microsoft's want to get consumers to use its Game Pass service, which is its online gaming service where you're able to download games, stream them from the cloud. Actually, it's shocking how well that works. Uh, and get access to as many games as you want that that are available there. It costs between 9 and 19.99 uh a month, not a bad uh amount of money for what you're getting. Uh, and instead of a one shot where you, you know, you buy a console, you have recurring revenue from Microsoft over years and years as people continue to use it. So that's kind of where where this is going, but you know, this idea that they're they're expanding beyond just the home consoles kind of puts a a pin on uh in that because, you know, you have this this console at home and then you'll have this portable console to take with you, uh and then uh you'll have whatever else they they decide to cook up down the line. And it's it's just, you know, it's showing that, okay, Microsoft is ready for its next generation of consoles. Obviously, it's huge uh for the company, but Microsoft hasn't sold as well uh the Xbox hasn't sold as well as Sony's PlayStation, which is just blowing it out of the water or Nintendo Switch. So we'll have to see if they can turn that around, but I I think for Microsoft, as I said, the big deal is Game Pass. I mean, they spent $7.6 billion or something on ZeniMax Media. This is where they want people to go. And I'm curious if you think this partnership is enough to dethrone Nvidia's, you know, position in the video game marketplace. I mean, Nvidia's huge on the PC side and there are more PC gamers than console gamers in the world just by virtue of the fact that there aren't consoles available everywhere or they're just too expensive. So I still think that Nvidia's going to have, you know, a huge lead in in that market. Microsoft is though putting its console games on PCs and its PC games on consoles, so it's moving back and forth between them so that it's not kind of segregated between the two markets. So it could benefit uh AMD in that respect. Um, you know, they already power the the Xbox now, they power uh the PlayStation right now with their custom chips. Nvidia's got Nintendo though with the switch. It sold gangbusters, it just the Switch 2 just sold out. So I mean, it's hard to see if if AMD's going to to throne them, but you know, when it comes to graphics powering games, it really is still Nvidia's market. P 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
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What to know about Microsoft and AMD's Xbox partnership
Microsoft (MSFT) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced a partnership between Xbox and AMD. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley outlines what investors and gamers need to know. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
