News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. * The upcoming launch will be the second for the new, larger V3 prototype and will carry 20 Starlink satellites for the first time. * SpaceX is developing Starship for NASA's Artemis moon missions and Elon Musk's long-term goal of colonizing Mars. * The launch is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, with a window opening from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. * The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast at both the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
Elon Musk Reverses Course and Calls Anthropic the AI Leader - Memeburn
For South African businesses, the deal shows how access to AI tools increasingly depends on a small group of foreign infrastructure providers. Elon Musk has made a sharp U-turn on Anthropic. After months of attacking the Claude developer as "woke," hypocritical and unlikely to win the AI race, Musk now says Anthropic has become the industry's clear leader. He also praised its newest models and promised that he wouldn't use his control over computing infrastructure to seriously harm the company. The warmer language matters because Anthropic isn't just one of Musk's competitors anymore. It's also a major customer. Musk admits he got Anthropic wrong Musk acknowledged the reversal in a post on X, writing that he was "clearly wrong about Anthropic." "They are obviously currently the leader in AI," he added, while praising Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models. The comments represent a dramatic change from his earlier public attacks on the company, as detailed in Business Insider's report on Musk's Anthropic reversal. Earlier in 2026, Musk accused Anthropic of stealing training data, promoting political bias and acting hypocritically. He also dismissed the company's chances of beating rivals such as OpenAI, Google and his own AI operation. Now, he's describing the company's technology as the best available. That doesn't mean the rivalry has disappeared. Musk continues to promote Grok as a serious challenger, especially after the release of Grok 4.5. You can read our breakdown of Elon Musk's Grok 4.5 "Opus-class" claims for a closer look at how his model compares with Anthropic's systems. The compute deal changed the relationship The friendlier tone emerged after Anthropic signed a major computing agreement with SpaceX. According to Anthropic's official announcement of the SpaceX compute partnership, the company gained access to more than 300 megawatts of capacity, representing over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs at the Colossus 1 data centre. Anthropic said the added infrastructure would increase usage limits for Claude subscribers and API customers. Reported contract documents indicate that Anthropic agreed to pay around $1.25 billion per month for capacity through May 2029. However, termination clauses may allow either party to leave the agreement with relatively short notice. That creates an unusual relationship. Musk responded to suggestions that he could simply cut Anthropic off. He said he wouldn't end access in a way that seriously damaged the company, even though Claude competes with Grok. Praise doesn't remove the business risk Musk's assurance may calm some concerns, but Anthropic still faces a clear dependency. A frontier AI company needs more than clever researchers and strong software. It needs enormous data centres, reliable electricity, advanced chips and enough cooling equipment to run those chips around the clock. Only a small number of companies can provide that infrastructure at the required scale. We think the real story here isn't Musk's change of heart. It's the growing power held by companies that control computing capacity. Musk can compete against Anthropic through Grok while earning billions from Anthropic's demand for GPUs. In other words, he can benefit whether customers choose his AI model or one built by a rival. That helps explain why public criticism may now matter less than commercial cooperation. What it means for South African AI users For South African companies, the dispute may feel distant. But the infrastructure behind Claude, Grok and other major models directly affects local pricing, reliability and availability. A startup in Cape Town or Johannesburg might build its customer service, coding or research workflow around Claude. Yet the servers powering that service sit overseas and may depend on commercial agreements between a handful of American technology companies. If those agreements change, local customers have limited influence. This matters because African businesses often access AI as imported infrastructure, rather than technology they control themselves. The Anthropic-SpaceX relationship offers another reminder that model access can depend on corporate negotiations taking place thousands of kilometres away. It also strengthens the argument for more African investment in data centres, energy capacity and locally hosted AI systems. South Africa has a growing cloud and data-centre sector, but training a frontier model still requires infrastructure on a completely different scale. Musk's endorsement could shift again Musk's latest position combines praise with competition. He has acknowledged Anthropic's technical lead while continuing to argue that his younger AI business could catch up. The recent release of Grok 4.5 shows that Musk hasn't abandoned the race; he's simply recognising the strongest current opponent. What we're watching now is whether the cooperation survives the next major model launch. Anthropic needs stable computing capacity. Musk wants Grok to win. Those goals can coexist while the infrastructure deal remains profitable, but a closer contest could test that arrangement. So, is Musk genuinely reconsidering Anthropic, or has a billion-dollar customer simply become harder to criticise? FAQs Why did Elon Musk change his opinion about Anthropic? Musk admitted that he had misjudged Anthropic's progress and now considers it a leader in artificial intelligence. The company's newer Claude models have performed strongly in coding, reasoning and business tasks. Anthropic's commercial relationship with Musk-controlled infrastructure may also have softened the rivalry. Does Anthropic compete with Elon Musk's xAI? Yes, Anthropic and xAI are direct competitors in the advanced AI model market. Anthropic develops Claude, while xAI offers Grok across X and other Musk-owned platforms. However, the companies can still cooperate on computing infrastructure while competing for users. Why does Anthropic need so much computing power? Training and operating advanced AI models requires thousands of powerful chips, large data centres and substantial electricity. More computing capacity allows Anthropic to improve Claude and support more users without severe usage limits. It also helps the company compete with OpenAI, Google and xAI.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. Starship: Recapping all 12 previous flight tests When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
Anthropic's Push Into AI Drug Discovery and Medical Research
The release of Claude Science marks a new era for AI leader Anthropic as it positions itself as a critical tool for researchers engaged in drug discovery AI has the potential to rapidly accelerate the pace of drug discovery and the development of healthcare interventions. With the release of Claude Science, this potential could soon evolve into practical reality for all Claude paid subscribers. Anthropic's "AI workbench for scientists" aims to support medical researchers by providing open access to an AI agent equipped with more than 60 curated skills and connectors spanning a range of life science disciplines, all within an interface designed for the unique demands of scientific research. Anthropic will also leverage its new product to pursue its own research and drug development programmes for rare and neglected diseases. "We're doing this because we believe first and foremost that to build the right models, products and tools to accelerate the industry, we need to live it along with all of you," says Eric Kauderer-Abrams, Head of Life Sciences at Anthropic.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
My favorite Razer Kraken Kitty headset has never been this cheap, but there's less than 50% left of this purr-fectly ridiculous deal
A meowvelous good deal for those after a cute, quality headset Razer is known for its cat-ear headsets, but the Kraken Kitty V3 Pro is the set I'd recommend the most for those after the purrr-fect pair. While the majority of the Kraken Kitty line is full of limiting wired or Bluetooth-only headsets, the Kraken Kitty V3 Pro is the first to bring 2.4GHz into the mix. Its extra wireless options don't make it an entirely no-brainer recommendation as its $179.99 MSRP is a bit much for its boasted features. However, today's discounted $104.99 rate at Amazon feels far more reasonable, especially as it's never been this cheap before. There's always a bit of an assumption that headsets that cater to players with a love of everything cute and cozy must be pretty rubbish, but the Kraken Kitty V3 Pro is proof that's not the case. While it's definitely priced a bit higher than I'd like on a normal discount-free day, this is still a fantastic wireless option. Finding a pair with a trio of connectivity options around the $100 mark isn't a difficult feat, but it's important when you consider that so many of Razer's other pairs aimed at 'cute and cozy' players are usually wired or Bluetooth only. Even the most recently announced Cinnamoroll Edition Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT pair drops 2.4GHz. Those after a cute pair with customizable Chroma-powered RGB ears deserve to take advantage of a low-latency wireless connection as much as anyone. * Join GamesRadar+ Deals on WhatsApp for our top daily discounts The headset also features the brand's 40 mm Razer TriForce Titanium audio drivers, the very ones found in the Razer Barracuda X Chroma -one of my favorite Razer releases. Amazon states that today's Razer Kraken Kitty V3 Pro headset is a "limited time" deal, and as of typing, 53% of people have already claimed one for their own setups. That's not too surprising given this is the lowest I've ever seen for this headset, which I'm more used to seeing marked down to $129.99, as it was during March earlier this year. But with that in mind, you need to be quick if you want to pick this up for a price that seems more than reasonable for its specs on offer. * View all Razer Kraken Kitty gaming headsets at Amazon If you're not a cat person, I've also rounded up the best PC headsets for gaming, the best PS5 headsets, and the best Xbox Series X headsets for your setup.
Czech Republic Orders Polymarket Block Over Gambling Rules - Crypto News Flash
* Czech authorities have classified Polymarket as an unauthorized gambling platform under national law. * Internet service providers have been ordered to block access to the platform within 15 days. * The decision follows similar enforcement actions across several European jurisdictions. * The case highlights the growing regulatory divide over how blockchain-based prediction markets should be supervised. Czech Republic Orders ISP Block on Polymarket The Czech Ministry of Finance has officially published an updated List of Unauthorized Internet Games, effective July 13, 2026, adding Polymarket to the register of operators deemed to be offering gambling services without the licenses required under Czech law. The updated register was published by the Ministry of Finance's Department for Procedural Agendas and Gambling Regulation under Section 84d(5) of the Czech Gambling Act. Under the law, Czech internet service providers (ISPs) must block access to listed websites within 15 days of publication. Under the decision, internet service providers (ISPs) must restrict access to the platform for users in the Czech Republic within 15 days. The ruling places Polymarket alongside other online operators that Czech authorities consider to be offering gambling services without regulatory authorization. Authorities Reject Polymarket's Business Model The decision reflects the Czech government's view that prediction markets should be regulated according to their economic function rather than their underlying technology. Officials, including representatives of the Institute for Gambling Regulation, argue that users are effectively wagering money on uncertain future events regardless of whether transactions are structured as blockchain-based contracts. Authorities also cited broader regulatory concerns, including the absence of locally approved consumer protection measures, anti-money laundering safeguards and regulatory oversight required under Czech gambling law. For regulators, changing the terminology from bets to contracts does not alter the legal nature of the activity when participants risk money on uncertain outcomes. Part of a Broader European Crackdown The Czech Republic is the latest European jurisdiction to take action against Polymarket. Similar restrictions or enforcement measures have already been introduced in: * France * Belgium * Germany * Spain * Italy * Romania * The Netherlands Outside Europe, regulators in India and Argentina have also moved against the platform during 2026, citing concerns over licensing requirements and consumer protection. The growing number of enforcement actions suggests regulators are increasingly applying existing gambling laws to prediction markets rather than creating new crypto-specific rules. Not Every Jurisdiction Is Taking the Same Approach While enforcement has intensified across much of Europe, regulatory approaches are not uniform. Earlier this year, Gibraltar announced plans for a dedicated framework governing prediction markets instead of regulating them solely as gambling or financial derivatives. That approach reflects a broader policy debate facing regulators worldwide: whether blockchain-based prediction markets should be incorporated into existing legal categories or governed under rules tailored specifically to their hybrid structure. The Czech decision demonstrates that, for now, many European regulators continue to favor applying established gambling legislation over creating new regulatory frameworks for decentralized prediction markets.
Polymarket lifts US-Iran invasion odds to 18.5% after blockade, strikes
Polymarket Reprices "U.S. Invade Iran Before 2027?" After Blockade-and-Strikes Catalyst Polymarket traders have pushed the "Will the U.S. invade Iran before 2027?" contract up to 18.5% Yes (81.5% No) on $41.7M in volume. The move follows fresh headlines about a renewed U.S. blockade and expanded strikes, giving a read on how quickly the market reprices tail-risk escalation versus a still-dominant No base case. Key Takeaways * Prediction market pricing still favors No at 81.5%, with Yes at 18.5% on Polymarket. * Traders repriced upward after reports of a reimposed blockade and intensified strikes, lifting Yes from 11.5% to 18.5% (+7.0pp). * The contract resolves by 2026-12-31, so pricing reflects a multi-month escalation window rather than a near-term headline bet. A report says the U.S. military reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports and carried out another wave of strikes hitting dozens of targets over several hours, after Tehran's attacks on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and as an interim deal to end the war unraveled. The report also describes Iranian threats to halt Middle East energy exports and cites Iranian officials on casualties and injuries from strikes. Market Reaction: Yes Jumps to 18.5% (from 11.5%) on $41.7M Volume as No Holds 81.5% This is a binary Polymarket contract: buying Yes pays out if the U.S. "invades Iran" before the 2026-12-31 resolution time, while No pays otherwise; today's 18.5% Yes price is the market's implied probability of that settlement outcome. The repricing is sharp in level terms (+7.0pp from 11.5% previously), but it still leaves a clear skew toward No at 81.5%, suggesting traders are treating the catalyst as escalation risk rather than a base-case shift. Volume sits at $41.7M, indicating the move is being expressed in a relatively well-trafficked venue rather than a thin, one-off print. The historical summary flags reversal_detected=true with moderate volatility and a "stable" consensus, consistent with a market that can jump on new information yet repeatedly mean-revert toward a lower Yes baseline (change_24h -2.0, change_7d -2.0) even after spikes. For pricing follow-through, watch whether Yes can hold above the recent 5-point average (avg_last_5 17.9%) or fades back toward the lower end implied by the bearish trend and negative 24h/7d changes; the longer time to 2026-12-31 also leaves room for repeated repricings as definitions of "invade" and escalation pathways become clearer to traders. What Traders Watch Next on Polymarket: Strait of Hormuz Disruption Odds, Oil Shock Contracts, and 2026 Macro Risk Market Beyond the headline invasion contract, traders are also spreading exposure across adjacent Polymarket lines that track the diplomatic and shipping aftershocks. "Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by July 31?" is priced at 98.85% (leading outcome: No) on $16.79M volume, while "US-Iran Final Nuclear Deal by...?" sits at 29.5% (December 31) on $10.11M. On the process side, "Iran announces withdrawal from MOU negotiations by...?" leads at 40.0% (August 15) with $5.78M traded, and "US charges Hormuz fees by...?" is just 9.5% (December 31) on $705K -- useful for gauging whether traders see escalation translating into policy and timeline shifts rather than just volatile headlines. Odds Trend By the Numbers * Platform: Polymarket * Market: Will the U.S. invade Iran before 2027? * Resolution window: Dec 31, 2026 (UTC) * Status: Active (open for trading) * Leading implied prob.: 18.5% * Volume: ~$41,700,626 * Top outcomes: Yes: Yes 18.5% / No 81.5%; No: Yes 18.5% / No 81.5%
SpaceX ushered in a 'new era' for investing in space. Why the stock is now cratering.
2026 has already broken records for investment in the so-called 'space economy' with half a year left to go Rocket-launch businesses can enable companies like SpaceX or Rocket Lab to pursue more lucrative markets, experts say. SpaceX has paved the way for the space industry to flourish, and its initial public offering drove investment to new heights. Space Capital, a venture-capital firm, reported Wednesday that some $31.6 billion had been invested in 129 companies in what it calls the "space economy" in the second quarter of 2026. That includes companies developing space-related infrastructure and those making hardware and software connecting and using space-based assets, as well as ventures that benefit from those assets. In just six months, 2026 is already a record-breaking year for investment in the sector, according to Space Capital. Both the first and second quarters of 2026 are the top periods ever tracked by the firm, which declared a "new era" for the space economy marked by the SpaceX (SPCX) IPO. Much of that investment is tied to dozens of infrastructure-related funding rounds. That includes the orbital-data-center startup Cowboy Space's $275 million fundraise and orbital-transfer-vehicle maker Impulse Space's $500 million fundraise. Prometheus, the Jeff Bezos-backed physical artificial-intelligence startup, raised $12 billion last month in the biggest round tracked by Space Capital for the quarter. It's reportedly pursuing technology for aerospace activities; Bezos' Blue Origin is also raising outside cash to fund its own space business. Space investing has grown over the last few decades, largely thanks to SpaceX, according to Space Capital's Chad Anderson. The company "made the space economy an investible category," he told MarketWatch, when it began flying the Falcon 9 rocket. Leading up to SpaceX's record-breaking IPO in June, space stocks surged. But those gains were sharply reversed last month, and losses have continued this month. After soaring 26.5% in May, the Procure Space exchange-traded fund UFO fell 22.4% in June and has so far shed 9.7% in July, according to FactSet. The Tema Space Innovators ETF NASA has shown comparatively steeper losses of 24% in June and 17% so far in July, per FactSet, after running up 36.7% in May. Anderson and others chalk the recent selloff to a case of "FOMO," which stands for "fear of missing out." First, that drove investment in public space companies while SpaceX lingered in the private market, then sold those stocks to buy SpaceX's newly minted shares. One expert previously told MarketWatch that space ETFs are feeling an "investment coma" as investors grapple with owning volatile space stocks. "People wanted access to SpaceX and they couldn't get it, and so they got similar exposure to other companies playing in the space," Anderson said. While there's "a lot of opportunity" with some of those companies, he said, some investors probably sold their shares to buy SpaceX, which has been volatile since its IPO. On both Monday and Tuesday, SpaceX nearly retreated to its IPO price of $135 a share, which valued the company at more than $1.7 trillion. The stock closed on Tuesday at $136.08 a share, down 32.6% from its June 16 closing price of $201.80. On Wednesday, the stock bounced 0.7% to get back to the $137 level in premarket trading. Don't miss: SpaceX's stock threatens to fall below the IPO price. Do investors face a 'crisis' if it does? "There's going to be even more volatility," Anderson said, citing the immense demand around the IPO and interest in SpaceX, the "apex player" in the space economy. Thanks to SpaceX's complicated lockup schedule, a large portion of insider-held shares is set to be released for trading next month. But if investors can stick it out, they could reap the rewards, analysts say. The average target price for SpaceX stock is $241.80 a share, according to the FactSet consensus, implying about 78% upside to Tuesday's closing price. And some analysts see potential in its rivals as well. KeyBanc analyst Michael Leshock sees room for Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Firefly Aerospace (FLY) to compete in "niche" markets for rocket launches, according to a note to clients last month. Both companies are currently working on new vehicles. Rocket Lab has also agreed to buy Iridium Communications (IRDM), its latest acquisition - one it called a "shortcut" to offering space-based applications. It somewhat mimics Amazon's purchase of Globalstar (GSAT) in April, which includes valuable spectrum licenses. Anderson said his firm expects to see more mergers and acquisitions in this quarter as space companies expand their offerings in search of profits. "Launch alone doesn't make a great business," he said. Most of SpaceX's revenue comes from its Starlink internet business, which comes from its rockets that send satellites into orbit. SpaceX has also agreed to buy an AI-coding startup to boost its Grok models. It also plans to eventually give its AI offerings a boost with space-based data centers. -William Gavin This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 07-15-26 0758ET Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch on July 16? (Full mission timeline)
Viewers can watch the launch online through SpaceX's livestream or Space.com's simulcast, with in-person viewing options available near the launch site in South Padre Island or Port Isabel, Texas. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SpaceX is just a day away from its first Starship test flight of the summer, and if you're hoping to watch the world's largest rocket lift off, you'll need to know where and when to tune in. But don't worry -- we've got you covered. The next Starship test flight, called Flight 13 (SpaceX doesn't appear to be superstitious), is scheduled to launch from the company's test site in Starbase, Texas near Boca Chica Beach on Thursday, July 16. Liftoff is set for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). As its name suggests, the upcoming flight will be the 13th test launch overall of SpaceX's Starship megarocket. It will be the second such flight this year, after the May 22 launch of Starship Flight 12. SpaceX is designing Starship, which stands more than 400 feet (121 meters) tall, to be a fully reusable rocket capable of launching missions to the moon, Mars or beyond. NASA picked Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon by 2028, and SpaceX has sold at least one Starship passenger flight to Mars as well. But before SpaceX can carry astronauts to other worlds with Starship, it has to complete a series of suborbital flights and, eventually, reach Earth orbit for in-flight fueling tests, docking demonstrations and more. SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 is a suborbital test that will be the second flight of SpaceX's new V3 Starship. Below you'll find details on what time Flight 13 will launch, what the mission will do and a full timeline for the mission. What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch? SpaceX is currently targeting the launch of Starship Flight 13 for no earlier than 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) on Thursday, July 16. However, the exact timing of the launch could change. That's because SpaceX has a 90-minute window in which to launch Flight 13 from Starbase Pad 2. Liftoff could occur anytime between 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. EDT (2245 to 0015 GMT). SpaceX's launch webcast will begin 30 minutes before liftoff. And remember, SpaceX has at least one backup day, so the launch could slip to July 17 if needed. In that case, it would likely lift off at the same time -- 6:45 p.m. EDT -- and have a 90-minute window, as on the first attempt. Related: Read our SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy guide for a detailed look Can I watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch? Yes, you'll be able to watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch online, but you'll have your pick on where to watch. SpaceX will provide its own livestream of the launch via its X account and the official Flight 13 mission page. If everything is on time, that livestream will begin at 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT) -- 30 minutes before the planned Flight 13 liftoff. Space.com will simulcast the SpaceX Flight 13 launch webcast on this page, as well as an our homepage and YouTube channel. A prelaunch show Now, if you need to get your Starship Flight 13 fix earlier than SpaceX's stream, a good place to look is the NASASpaceflight preshow. They'll have a livestream the day before launch, then constant live views of the pad on launch day many hours ahead of SpaceX's livestream. The NASASpaceflight preflight show will begin on July 15 at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). NASASpaceflight has a wealth of cameras installed around SpaceX's Starbase test facility, and the company will share up-close views and live commentary for all preflight activities. In-person launch options While SpaceX does not have an official Starship launch viewing site, there are several places where you can see the launch in person around the Starbase area. For first-time spectators, I recommend watching Starship launch from near the Cameron County Amphitheater at Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island, which is just across the bay from Starbase. The rocky beaches around the amphitheater offer a clear line of sight of the Starship launch pad, and there are often spectators on boats out of nearby Port Isabel offering a picturesque view. It's about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the launch site, and the park has bathrooms. The traffic getting to South Padre Island (if you're not staying at a hotel on the island) can be heavy on launch days, so another option is watching from the shore in Port Isabel, which is home to Hopper Haus, a SpaceX-themed bar and grill that I can confirm makes awesome burgers. There is also a shoreline stretch of Highway 48 between Brownsville and Port Isabel, from 6 to 8 miles (10 to 13 km) from the launch site, where you can pull up for the day to watch the launch. It's just the side of the highway, so you won't find amenities like bathrooms there. You can learn more about that at the site SpaceLaunchSchedule.com. If you're looking for a more rustic experience (and have cash for a $200 ticket, though kids under 17 are $40), you can camp at the Rocket Ranch, which is 3.8 miles (6.1 km) from the Starbase launch site, and camp there for one day and night. It has two viewing locations available, one at an "Outpost" and the other on the campground itself. The Outpost location is the closest and has "unmatched media service," so you can stay connected. Larger four-day camping packages are also available. The ticket includes bus transportation from the ranch campground to a viewing site and back for one launch attempt. I've actually never visited this ranch, but I wanted to include it so you know it's an option. Be sure to read the full Rocket Ranch FAQ so you know what to expect. How long is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13? SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight will last just over 1 hour and 5 minutes and should follow the same mission profile as the company's last test, Flight 12, in May. This will be the second flight of SpaceX's new Starship Version 3, or V3. During Flight 12, the giant Super Heavy booster stage failed to return to Earth properly for a controlled landing and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico (which the Trump Administration has renamed the Gulf of America). Instead, the booster crashed into the ocean. "The booster's primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America," SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight." Starship Flight 13 will launch from SpaceX's new Pad 2 at Starbase, which the company upgraded with shorter, faster "chopsticks" -- capture arms that can catch returning Starship Super Heavy boosters and Ship upper stages during landing, as well as lift vehicles into place on the pad for launch. Check out our full overview on how SpaceX changed Starship for V3 here. SpaceX will not try to reach orbit with Starship Flight 13 or return its Ship back to Earth for a capture at the launch pad. Instead, both vehicles aim to make controlled descent and water landings, before falling over and sliding into the sea. While the Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Boca Chica, the Ship upper stage will follow a suborbital trajectory for a target splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. During the flight, the Ship vehicle will attempt to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the company's newer and larger satellite-internet units, but they won't reach orbit. They will follow Starship's suborbital trajectory back down to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. Six of the Starlink V3 satellites are equipped with cameras to record live views of Starship and its heat shield and beam them back to Earth for analysis. "For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers," SpaceX wrote in the mission overview. "The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment." What if Starship Flight 13 can't launch? If SpaceX can't launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16, the company does have at least one backup day available. According to a Starship town beach closure notice, SpaceX is targeting both July 16 and July 17 as launch days for Flight 13. So, it bad weather or a minor technical issue delays launch, SpaceX could try again on Friday, July 17, at the same time as the original target. It is possible that SpaceX may have additional backup days beyond July 17. That was the case in May for Flight 12, when a series of delays postponed launch from May 19 to May 22. Whichever date SpaceX launches Starship Flight 13, you will be able to follow the mission on Space.com. Be sure to return to Space.com on launch day for complete Starship Flight 13 coverage.
Anthropic Launches Claude Sonnet 5 with Stronger Coding and Debugging
Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5, a mid-tier AI model designed for agentic coding tasks, tool use, and debugging workflows. The model brings stronger reasoning for long-running code execution while cutting costs compared to previous iterations. Claude Sonnet 5 sits between Anthropic's faster, cheaper Haiku and its most capable Opus model. The positioning targets developers who need serious capability without the highest latency or cost of the full-power tier. Agentic AI Moving Into Production Agentic AI -- systems that can reason through multi-step problems, use tools, and debug themselves -- has moved from research projects into paid production work. Pricing and access now matter almost as much as raw model quality. Claude Sonnet 5's improvements in tool use and debugging make it particularly suited for this shift. Developers deploying autonomous coding agents can now use a more capable model without the expense of Opus. Broader AI Market Trends The July 2026 AI landscape features more capable multimodal models, rapid growth in autonomous agents, faster and cheaper AI chips, and record enterprise adoption. OpenAI has pivoted toward specialized models -- Sol for demanding tasks, Terra for balanced performance and cost, Luna for speed. This fragmentation suggests the era of one-size-fits-all AI is ending. Companies now choose models based on their specific use case, budget, and latency requirements. Claude Sonnet 5 reflects the market's shift toward practical, deployable AI rather than raw capability theater. References Medium. (2026). AI NEWS: Week of July 6 to July 12, 2026. Published July 2026.
Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman Says Elon Musk Found a 'Pretty Good Idea' in Leasing SpaceXAI's Unused Grok Capacity to Anthropic
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Cerebras Systems Inc. CEO Andrew Feldman says SpaceXAI, formerly xAI, moved into rented AI computing because its processors were not busy enough, as Grok drew less usage than expected. Feldman Blames Grok's Weak Early Adoption Speaking with Molly O'Shea on the Sourcery podcast on Monday, Feldman explained that Musk's company pivoted to an operator that rents out AI infrastructure because its Grok model struggled with early enterprise market adoption, leaving billions of dollars in hardware sitting idle. "You have to ask why they had available capacity," Feldman said. "They had available capacity because the Grok model wasn't used very much." Cerebras CEO @andrewdfeldman explains why @elonmusk and SpaceXAI made a deal to lease GPUs to Anthropic: "You have to ask why they had available capacity... They had available capacity because the Grok model wasn't used very much." "They had these GPUs sitting around, and... https://t.co/1IHsE98NR3 pic.twitter.com/ssomhhLJJl -- sourcery (@sourceryy) July 13, 2026 Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your 'Safe' Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time Feldman said SpaceXAI could not afford to leave equipment idle. "They had these GPUs sitting around, and that's a bad idea," he said. He pointed to IPO-bound Anthropic's agreement to use SpaceX's Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. Anthropic said the site provides more than 300 megawatts through over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs, allowing it to double Claude Code limits, remove peak-hour reductions and raise API ceilings. "They leased a whole block of them to Anthropic, and looked up and said, 'Whoa, that's a pretty good idea,'" Feldman said. "We had all these GPUs. Our model wasn't a success, but we can have a great business by stepping into what is a constrained market." Anthropic Deal Monetizes Idle GPU Capacity In May, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.25 billion per month for Colossus and Colossus II capacity through May 2029. Both sides can terminate with 90 days' notice, and Musk described the arrangement as a six-month lease, leaving its long-term value uncertain. See Also: Skip the Regrets: The Essential Retirement Tips Experts Wish Everyone Knew Earlier. Colossus 1 supported Grok's development, but Reuters described its capacity as unused prior to the Anthropic agreement. SpaceXAI said Grok 4.5 trained across tens of thousands of Nvidia GB300 processors.
SpaceX is the Dutch East India Company of the space age
In August 1602, more than 1 100 investors - from wealthy merchants to ordinary craftsmen - subscribed to the world's first initial public offering. The Dutch East India Company, the VOC, raised Gld6.4-million to build a maritime trade network stretching from Amsterdam to the East Indies. On 12 June 2026, SpaceX raised US$75-billion in the largest IPO in Wall Street history, pricing at $135/share and closing its first session more than 19% higher. Demand was roughly double the shares on offer - and South Africans were not left out, pouring R179-million into the stock through EasyEquities in just two days. Separated by 424 years, the parallel is worth taking seriously. Neither company was first into its frontier - Portuguese fleets reached the East Indies long before the Dutch, and governments have been launching rockets since the 1950s. What both did first was ask the public capital markets to fund a frontier, at a scale and time horizon no private syndicate would stomach. The VOC's real innovations were financial. As economic historian Gerard Koot notes in his history of the company, it introduced limited liability for shareholders and, unlike earlier ventures wound up after a single voyage, locked in its capital for a decade - a permanent fund for voyages that took years to pay off. Tradeable shares made the risk bearable, and gave the world the Amsterdam Stock Exchange as a by-product. SpaceX's logic is strikingly similar. The capital-hungry Starship programme - the company wants to be flying a rocket every 53 minutes within five years - and the Starlink constellation that is rewriting the economics of global connectivity consume cash on a scale that outgrew even Silicon Valley's deepest private pockets. As in 1602, the public market was the only pool of capital big enough. State-like influence The VOC's monopoly came stamped with sovereign powers: the right to make treaties with Asian governments, enlist soldiers, wage war, and build and administer forts - a company that behaved like a state. SpaceX holds no royal charter, yet its position is not far off a monopoly in practice. In 2025 it accounted for roughly half of all orbital launches worldwide and, by mass delivered to orbit, more than 80% of global upmass. It is also the de facto ferryman for Nasa astronauts: when a bungled test flight of Boeing's Starliner left two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station for 286 days, it was a SpaceX capsule that brought them home last year. Read: China nets a falling rocket in reusability race with SpaceX More telling still is Starlink's geopolitical weight. The constellation became crucial to Ukraine's communications infrastructure within days of Russia's invasion, and decisions about its coverage have shaped battlefield outcomes - leading Foreign Policy to argue that Starlink has effectively privatised a slice of geopolitics. Buyers of SPCX are not simply buying a technology company; they are buying into an entity with sovereign-level leverage over who connects, where and on what terms. The VOC was never just a shipping line: it ran an inter-Asian trading system from Persia to Japan, dealt in spices, textiles, porcelain and silver, and administered territory - a diversified enterprise built on control of a frontier's logistics. SpaceX, likewise, is no longer just a rocket company. In February 2026, it executed the largest M&A deal on record: an all-stock acquisition of Elon Musk's xAI valued at $250-billion, folding the X social platform and Grok AI models into the listed entity in service of Musk's ambition to build orbital data centres. The result is a company betting the rocket farm on AI: a space, connectivity and AI conglomerate whose parts reinforce one another the way the VOC's ships, ports and monopolies once did. The VOC is one of the few frontier enterprises with a share price record spanning two centuries - and its first lesson is patience. Shareholders waited more than seven years for a dividend, and the first, in 1610, was paid in mace - the spice, not money. Frontier infrastructure pays out slowly. There is no SpaceX moonbase yet, let alone Mars colonies. The second is that the frontier premium was real, but earned over decades. Economist and historian Lodewijk Petram, who reconstructed the price record from 17th-century merchants' papers, calculates an average annual return of 8.69% between 1603 and 1697 - comfortably above the 4-6% paid on Dutch government bonds. The third is that the premium decays as the frontier matures. After 1650, returns settled at a bond-like 3.5-4% a year. As economic historians Jan de Vries and Ad van der Woude concluded: "The profits earned by the Company's actual equity were modest after the 1650s, and vanishingly small after 1730." The fourth is that price and reality can part ways entirely. The VOC's share price hit its all-time high in 1720 - not because of anything happening in Batavia, but because a speculative frenzy had spread from London across the continent. By then the company's underlying returns were already bond-like. (And the viral claim that the VOC was once worth $8-trillion in today's money is, as Petram has shown, off by a factor of roughly 8 000. SpaceX, at over $2-trillion, is already far larger in real terms than the VOC ever was - the comparison is about the category of enterprise, not its size.) Where the analogy strains The last lesson is the bleakest: dominance is not a perpetuity. From 1730, the VOC paid dividends it had not earned, funding them by drawing down its capital. War with Britain finished the job, the state nationalised the wreck in 1795 and the charter lapsed on 31 December 1799. There are caveats. The VOC's monopoly was granted by the state and enforced by cannon - its most profitable decades followed ruthless violence in the Banda Islands - while SpaceX's dominance is commercial and contestable. Rivals are massing: Europe's Iris2 constellation and Amazon Leo, which is heading for South Africa before Starlink is even licensed here. And as TechCentral has noted, the biggest IPO ever is also one of the riskiest, given its dependence on one man and on programmes whose economics remain unproven. None of this is a prediction about the share price. What the comparison establishes is the category of thing investors have just been offered: not a stake in a product company but a stake in the infrastructure of a frontier, with all the reach, entanglement and political gravity that implies. The VOC's record suggests such an investment can beat the market for decades - and that the premium fades once the frontier is tamed, and that the price, at the moment of greatest euphoria, can be the least reliable guide to what lies beneath. Space is the "final frontier", after all: no one knows how it will play out. Going boldly where no company has gone before carries immense potential reward - and equally immense risk. - © 2026 NewsCentral Media
Anthropic official says stopping AI usage is 'the wrong' response to AI cost concerns
* Anthropic officials are cautioning companies against knee-jerk reactions to rein in AI use. * Angela Jiang, head of product for the Claude Platform, said some customers are making those sorts of moves. * The initial tokenmaxxing hype has morphed into a more ROI-focused moment. Top Anthropic officials are cautioning against companies cutting back on their AI use as costs increase. "Something that's really top of mind for us that we kind of try to spend some time with users on is what you don't want to do is stop AI usage. That's kind of the wrong move," Angela Jiang, head of product for the Claude Platform, recently told Sequoia Capital's "Training Data" podcast. "And we do actually see some of our customers do that." Katelyn Lesse, head of platform engineering at Anthropic, said the focus on costs was part of "a normal natural cycle for companies" as they figure out the best way to deploy AI. "The thing that gets dangerous is when you're kind of just like, here's a cap and you're stuck within your cap," said Lesse, who joined Jiang for the interview. Jiang said that Anthropic often finds that AI spending has "erupted" in companies where employees procure Anthropic's AI models themselves through "some kind of shadow IT." Instead of curtailing usage, she said companies can find ways to use AI more efficiently. "What we try to kind of encourage our customers is like, you don't want to stop the innovation," she said. "If you are getting returns on top of this, you are shipping faster than ever before, you can run more operationally efficient -- then those are gains." Lesse said it's about "encouraging innovation" while understanding the different ways to get the desired result. "One is like you take Opus and you run it all night and you do something crazy," she said. "And another is maybe to get a little bit smarter with the strategies that you put together in order to create that same outcome within a lower cost. And I think that's the next layer of thinking that everyone's going to start to do." AI companies are facing an increasingly skeptical Corporate America that sees rising AI bills without what some executives have said is an adequate ROI to justify the spending. In response, AI companies like Anthropic have emphasized the cost efficiency of their models and services, which can better tailor AI to specific enterprise needs. Cost concerns could weigh on the broader AI market as companies like Anthropic approach highly anticipated IPOs. A new kind of router. Companies like Vercel are seizing this cost-conscious moment by offering customers a way to route their AI usage to the best model suited for the task. Analysts have said that routing requests will remain in high demand so long as AI token costs remain high.
SpaceX's slide risks turning blockbuster IPO into confidence test
NEW YORK -- SpaceX's slip close to its initial public offering price risks turning a marquee stock-market debut into a confidence test, potentially unsettling retail investors and complicating decisions for other companies weighing high-profile listings. Elon Musk's company, spanning rockets to AI, debuted on June 12 and soared in the ensuing days, at one point valuing the company at well above US$2 trillion. Since then, trading has been rocky. The stock has slipped below its $150 opening price, but remained above the $135 offer price, with concerns about lofty tech stock valuations continuing to weigh on global indexes. SpaceX shares are at risk of falling below that level. They ended on Tuesday down 2.2 per cent at $136.08, their lowest closing level since the IPO, a week after they started trading as part of the Nasdaq 100 index. The stock dipped as low as $135.52. A break below the IPO price would be a psychological blow for SpaceX shares, said Matthew Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. "It raises the narrative that the stock is up on fluff, on speculation, on froth, and not on real fundamentals," Maley said. Investors who bought into the excitement around SpaceX's listing, "hoping to 'make a killing' will be disappointed," said Greg Halter, director of research at Carnegie Investment Counsel. He said weakness in SpaceX would put it more in line with 30 years of heavily hyped IPOs, where average and median returns over the first month are often negative. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Price discovery not panic? A drop below the IPO price would not be unusual for a newly listed company. Shares of Cerebras Systems, which went public in May, have dropped below the IPO price, and Meta, formerly known as Facebook, fell similarly after its debut. Investors often fixate on IPO prices and early trading, said Ryan Lee, senior vice president of product and strategy at financial services firm Direxion. "The reality is, (SpaceX) is still undergoing some of this price discovery process," Lee said. A fall for SpaceX below $135 would reflect "normal, albeit painful" market mechanics, especially as investors, venture capitalists and employees sell shares after lockups expire, said Gabriel Shahin, CEO at Falcon Wealth Planning. "A near-term dip below the $135 threshold would not fundamentally alter our current positioning or cause us to panic-sell," he said. Caution or green light for next IPOs? Some investors think SpaceX's stock performance could influence the market for future public listings. OpenAI and Anthropic are eyeing the public markets. Neither company responded to a request for comment. Carnegie's Halter said companies and investment banks considering large IPOs this year are watching SpaceX closely. "No one wants an IPO to flop or have the initial price be ratcheted down," Halter said. He suspects some IPOs would be pulled rather than priced at lower valuations. But Direxion's Lee said SpaceX's capital raise could encourage some companies with large funding needs to move faster. "If I'm OpenAI or if I'm Anthropic and I'm in this true arms race to build the frontier AI model and I need capital, I'm going to try to beat the other one out the door," Lee said. Risking retail traders' skepticism A drop below the IPO price could hit retail investors, who received about 20 per cent of the allocation, hard. "Many novice investors have approached SpaceX with a 'meme stock' mentality, buying in with capital they cannot afford to lose," Shahin said, warning that losses could fuel perceptions that markets favor insiders. "The market needs to understand that post-IPO volatility is normal." SpaceX's first earnings report will be a major test for the stock. Underwriters typically support stocks in the first 30 days and may do more for SpaceX given the deal's size, the public attention and the fact other high-profile offerings are imminent, said Maria Llerena, director of financial research at Domini Impact Investments. "Loss-making companies without a clear path to profitability are typically volatile and can fall below their IPO price," said Llerena.
Aramco awards Halliburton long-term contract for unconventional gas program
HOUSTON - July 15, 2026 - Aramco awarded Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) a multi-year contract to deliver integrated stimulation and completion services for unconventional gas development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This award is part of a broader multi-billion contract, supporting one of the largest unconventional gas development programs globally. This award builds on Halliburton's established portfolio supporting Aramco's unconventional program. Across many of the Kingdom's unconventional plays, Halliburton delivers a comprehensive suite of drilling and completion solutions. Its integrated service model is designed to support high-intensity development programs and improve operational efficiency, workflow predictability, and execution reliability. This collaboration supports broader regional efforts toward integrated unconventional development programs. This award highlights our long-standing collaboration with Aramco and builds on more than 80 years in the Kingdom, while advancing unconventional gas development in the Kingdom. Beginning in the third quarter of 2026, Halliburton will deploy the Kingdom's first fully integrated intelligent fracturing platform through OCTIV® Auto Frac and Sensori™ fracturing monitoring services to contribute to asset value for one of the world's largest unconventional fields. Under the program, Halliburton will deploy intelligent automation solutions for fracturing to optimize performance in real time and support disciplined implementation across multi-well campaigns. These technologies support digital integration across operations while advancing efficiency and operational reliability. Development activities in the Jafurah Basin are underway. To support this effort, Halliburton plans to increase its investment in local manufacturing, improve its supply chain, and expand workforce development programs within the Kingdom, aiming to scale operations and sustain high performance as unconventional activity accelerates. About Halliburton Halliburton is one of the world's leading providers of products and services to the energy industry. Founded in 1919, we create innovative technologies, products, and services that help our customers maximize their value throughout the life cycle of an asset and advance a sustainable energy future. Connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Hindi Claude's Personality Is Different From Others: Anthropic Research
Anthropic says Claude's personality shifts depending on the language it speaks File photo ShowQuick Read Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed * Claude AI shows varied behavior across languages, being warmest in Hindi and Arabic * It emphasizes warmth in Arabic and Hindi, and rigor in English and Russian responses * Differences may stem from uneven training data quantity and composition across languages Can I choose the personality style I want Claude to use? Anthropic's AI model Claude behaves quite differently depending on the language, the AI major revealed in a research report. It found Claude was warmest in Hindi and Arabic, using more polite, playful, and encouraging language. When Claude speaks in English, it emphasizes different values than when it speaks in Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, or Chinese. "The largest variation is in the Warmth vs. Rigor axis, with Claude leaning toward expressing warmth-related values most in Arabic and Hindi and rigor-related values most in English and Russian," the company said. The company grouped Claude's responses along several value dimensions; one of them was the "Warmth vs. Rigor" axis, which measures whether the AI tends to be more empathetic, encouraging and conversational, or more analytical, precise and matter-of-fact in its responses. Anthropic explained using the example of two people asking for feedback on the same business plan, one in Hindi and one in Russian, may come away with different impressions of its quality because Claude expressed different values in how it framed its assessment. The company itself is not sure what drives these differences. "We don't yet know which properties of our training data drive these differences. One possibility is that our training data is not evenly distributed across languages. Some languages have far more data than others, and training for Claude to express consistent values may be more effective in languages where data is abundant." "The composition of that data also varies. Some languages might be overrepresented in professional writing, for example, and this kind of text may reflect different values. Together, these imbalances in quantity and composition could lead Claude to express different values in different languages." Anthropic admitted it wasn't yet sure how much of this variation was desirable. "Different languages carry different conversational norms, and Claude may be responding with different values based on those norms." Claude may also be more closely matching humans' intended behaviour for some languages than others, resulting in a gap in how well Claude serves certain language communities. Anthropic researchers analysed more than 309,000 Claude conversations to study how it expressed values. They found that while Claude's core behaviour remained broadly consistent, the way it communicated could shift significantly depending on the language being used. Got a follow‑up question on this article? Go on How may i help you today Show full article Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
Inside Anthropic's state-by-state plan to ratchet up AI rules
Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic is pursuing a strategy of one-upmanship that encourages states to impose increasingly tougher AI guardrails, rather than align around a single set of regulations. The approach stands in stark contrast to the one favored by the company's archrival, OpenAI, which has pushed state lawmakers toward common ground on regulating the breakthrough technology. "While there are some in the industry that think of state policy as a way to create a ceiling for federal legislation, Anthropic is not just looking to support the same bill across the country in every single state," Cesar Fernandez, the company's head of U.S. state and local government relations, said in an interview with POLITICO -- which, like Business Insider, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network -- on Tuesday. "We're looking for legislation that meaningfully raises the bar on safety for the most capable AI systems." Fernandez's comments came in response to questions from POLITICO about OpenAI's ongoing campaign to shape states' AI regulations. The ChatGPT maker's top lobbyist, Chris Lehane, has coined the term "reverse federalism" to describe its attempts to bypass a paralyzed Congress and build a national AI framework by mirroring bills state-by-state. The veiled jab at OpenAI is on-brand for Anthropic, whose executives left OpenAI in 2020 over concerns the company wasn't prioritizing safety. Anthropic has consistently pushed for stronger AI safety rules at both the federal and state level -- an effort that some critics, particularly those close to the Trump administration and in venture capital, frame as an attempt to hamstring regulators and lock out competitors. In a statement, OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois defended its approach, saying "reverse federalism, where effective state safeguards shape national standards, helps regulators enforce the law, gives the public clearer protections, and allows developers to focus resources on safety rather than conflicting requirements." The split between OpenAI and Anthropic's approach to statehouses comes at a critical time for AI regulation. With Congress reluctant to act and the White House flip-flopping between a light touch and a heavy hand, the AI industry is increasingly looking to states for regulatory clarity. Whether state legislators ultimately coalesce around a single AI safety framework or work to outdo each other over time will have a massive impact on the final shape of AI rules in the U.S. Similar to Lehane, Fernandez said he wants a federal framework, but that a government response to the risks posed by advanced AI models "can't wait for action in Washington." The Anthropic lobbyist also set his company apart by touting its early inroads into state policy debates. Anthropic was the only leading AI lab to endorse California's 2025 law to regulate advanced AI models, the first such law in the country. OpenAI didn't take a position on the California proposal ahead of its passage. But it has since turned to the law, which aims to foster greater transparency into companies' safety plans, as an example for other states to replicate. Anthropic, on the other hand, saw the California law as a springboard to ratchet up its efforts on AI safety. Fernandez said the rapid development of increasingly powerful AI models was the main factor behind his company's endorsement of more ambitious bills -- in New York, Illinois and now Massachusetts -- and its move to weigh in earlier in the legislative process. "Each one of those bills was stronger than the previous bill, and the bills all moved real safety obligations forward," Fernandez said. "Transparency and self-reporting, we don't believe are sufficient anymore." He pointed to Anthropic's powerful Claude Mythos model, which the company found to be capable of exploiting security flaws in every major computer operating system during its testing. The cybersecurity concerns raised by Mythos (and its public-facing version, known as Fable) sparked panic inside the Trump administration, which slapped export controls on the technology until Anthropic and the government could address alleged vulnerabilities. Late last year, OpenAI lobbyists successfully pressed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to amend her state's AI safety bill to more closely resemble California's rules. But to the surprise of some safety advocates, it joined Anthropic in backing an Illinois measure seen as stricter than those in New York and California. That proposal, signed into law this month by Gov. JB Pritzker, requires leading AI companies to submit to annual independent third-party audits of their safety plans -- a first-of-its-kind mandate. Anthropic is pushing the bar further. In late June, it endorsed regulations under development in Massachusetts for an economic development bond bill that Anthropic calls the nation's strongest state AI safety proposal. The language it supported included a requirement for leading AI companies to hire independent evaluators to assess the potential for catastrophic risks such as the technology assisting in the development of bioweapons, as well as a provision empowering the state's attorney general to enforce that mandate. Bourgeois, the OpenAI spokesperson, said the company is still reviewing the Massachusetts proposal, but added OpenAI supports the state legislature's focus on AI safeguards. The AI giants have also clashed on the campaign trail. Each is associated with dueling super PAC networks that so far have sunk tens of millions of dollars into political campaigns across the country. And in June, Anthropic started cutting checks directly to California legislators. "We back candidates for election and re-election when their point of view of AI safety regulation is aligned with our mission to make sure that the transition to a world with powerful AI does well for people in this country and throughout the world," Fernandez said. "We're very much supporting candidates where there's ideological alignment." Fernandez said the company isn't coordinating with employees who also have made contributions to political candidates in California and elsewhere. "We don't direct our employees to make contributions, but they work at Anthropic because they're concerned about the future of AI and where this is headed if there's not proper safety policy that's enacted by governments," said Fernandez. "I would assume that that drives them to engage in the political process." The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists -- including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt -- to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio.
Aramco Awards Halliburton Long-Term Contract for Unconventional Gas Program
Aramco awarded Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) a multi-year contract to deliver integrated stimulation and completion services for unconventional gas development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This award is part of a broader multi-billion contract, supporting one of the largest unconventional gas development programs globally. This award builds on Halliburton's established portfolio supporting Aramco's unconventional program. Across many of the Kingdom's unconventional plays, Halliburton delivers a comprehensive suite of drilling and completion solutions. Its integrated service model is designed to support high-intensity development programs and improve operational efficiency, workflow predictability, and execution reliability. This collaboration supports broader regional efforts toward integrated unconventional development programs. Anzeige "This award highlights our long-standing collaboration with Aramco and builds on more than 80 years in the Kingdom, while advancing unconventional gas development in the Kingdom," said Rami Yassine, president, Eastern Hemisphere, Halliburton. "Beginning in the third quarter of 2026, Halliburton will deploy the Kingdom's first fully integrated intelligent fracturing platform through OCTIV Auto Frac and Sensori fracturing monitoring services to contribute to asset value for one of the world's largest unconventional fields." Under the program, Halliburton will deploy intelligent automation solutions for fracturing to optimize performance in real time and support disciplined implementation across multi-well campaigns. These technologies support digital integration across operations while advancing efficiency and operational reliability. Development activities in the Jafurah Basin are underway. To support this effort, Halliburton plans to increase its investment in local manufacturing, improve its supply chain, and expand workforce development programs within the Kingdom, aiming to scale operations and sustain high performance as unconventional activity accelerates. ABOUT HALLIBURTON Halliburton is one of the world's leading providers of products and services to the energy industry. Founded in 1919, we create innovative technologies, products, and services that help our customers maximize their value throughout the life cycle of an asset and advance a sustainable energy future. Visit us at www.halliburton.com; connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715096562/en/ The Halliburton Stock at the time of publication of the news with a raise of +0,90 % to 31,31EUR on Tradegate stock exchange (15. Juli 2026, 09:30 Uhr).
Aramco Awards Halliburton Long-Term Contract for Unconventional Gas Program
All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here Aramco awarded Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) a multi-year contract to deliver integrated stimulation and completion services for unconventional gas development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This award is part of a broader multi-billion contract, supporting one of the largest unconventional gas development programs globally. This award builds on Halliburton's established portfolio supporting Aramco's unconventional program. Across many of the Kingdom's unconventional plays, Halliburton delivers a comprehensive suite of drilling and completion solutions. Its integrated service model is designed to support high-intensity development programs and improve operational efficiency, workflow predictability, and execution reliability. This collaboration supports broader regional efforts toward integrated unconventional development programs. "This award highlights our long-standing collaboration with Aramco and builds on more than 80 years in the Kingdom, while advancing unconventional gas development in the Kingdom," said Rami Yassine, president, Eastern Hemisphere, Halliburton. "Beginning in the third quarter of 2026, Halliburton will deploy the Kingdom's first fully integrated intelligent fracturing platform through OCTIV Auto Frac and Sensori™ fracturing monitoring services to contribute to asset value for one of the world's largest unconventional fields." Under the program, Halliburton will deploy intelligent automation solutions for fracturing to optimize performance in real time and support disciplined implementation across multi-well campaigns. These technologies support digital integration across operations while advancing efficiency and operational reliability. Development activities in the Jafurah Basin are underway. To support this effort, Halliburton plans to increase its investment in local manufacturing, improve its supply chain, and expand workforce development programs within the Kingdom, aiming to scale operations and sustain high performance as unconventional activity accelerates. ABOUT HALLIBURTON Halliburton is one of the world's leading providers of products and services to the energy industry. Founded in 1919, we create innovative technologies, products, and services that help our customers maximize their value throughout the life cycle of an asset and advance a sustainable energy future. Visit us at www.halliburton.com ; connect with us on LinkedIn , YouTube , Instagram , and Facebook . View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715096562/en/
