Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com

“The Lord of the Rings,” or LotR to those in the know, isn’t just standard reading among those in the tech industry.It also inspires their ventures.Billionaire PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, for instance, has started several companies inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien series.The fantasy trilogy, a sequel to 1937’s “The Hobbit,” was first published in the mid-1950s. It follows an unlikely hero, Frodo Baggins, as he and a team of allies adventure across Middle Earth to destroy a powerful ring that could bring darkness to the world if it fell into the hands of Sauron, the dark lord.On Halloween in 2018,…

While the China technology story hasn’t changed enough to warrant major changes to portfolios, local stock investors are now being encouraged to take a more conservative turn as they gear up for the second half. “We caution against a potential volatility surge in the next month or two,” a team led by Morgan Stanley’s chief China equity strategist Laura Wang said in a report Thursday. The analysts noted that sentiment toward mainland Chinese stocks, known as “A Shares,” dropped in the past week as Chinese policymakers have so far failed to bolster growth, nor are they expected to in a…

Academics may be leaning on a novel strategy to influence peer review of their research papers — adding hidden prompts designed to coax AI tools to deliver positive feedback. Nikkei Asia reports that when examining English-language preprint papers available on the website arXiv, it found 17 papers that included some form of hidden AI prompt. The paper’s authors were affiliated with 14 academic institutions in eight countries, including Japan’s Waseda University and South Korea’s KAIST, as well as Columbia University and the University of Washington in the United States. The papers were usually related to computer science, with prompts that…

Companies have struggled to adopt the right AI tools as the technology evolves at a far faster pace than their slow sales cycles. Corporate credit card company Brex is no different. The startup found itself facing the same issue as its enterprise counterparts. The upshot: Brex completely changed its approach to software procurement to ensure they wouldn’t get left behind. Brex CTO James Reggio told TechCrunch, at the HumanX AI conference in March, the company initially tried to assess these software tools through their usual procurement strategy. The startup quickly discovered its months-long piloting process was just not going to…

The battle for talent in the hedge fund world is fiercer than ever — and it cuts across all levels and positions.With six-figure starting salaries, intense work environments, and the chance to work alongside some of the industry’s top investors, these roles are among the most competitive in finance.Internships can pay over $5,000 a week. Salaries for entry-level analysts and software engineers are often in the six-figure range. Portfolio managers with winning strategies can take home tens of millions.Business Insider spoke with top hedge fund managers like Citadel, Millennium, and Point72 about how they attract and evaluate talent, and what…

CNN  —  Dinosaurs are alive and well at the box office as Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” trampled competitors, grossing $147 million domestically over five days of the Fourth of July weekend. The fourth installment of the “Jurassic World” series outperformed early estimates of nearly $80 million for the three days and $135 million for the five days. It nearly matched its predecessor from 2022, “Jurassic World Dominion,” which grossed $145 million in its first three days before raking in over $1 billion worldwide. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is another win for Hollywood, which has effectively rebounded from a sluggish start to…

Expect bitcoin to reach fresh all-time highs in the second half of the year as corporate treasuries accelerate their bitcoin buying sprees and Congress gets closer to passing crypto legislation, investors say. The cryptocurrency climbed nearly 30% in the second quarter although, strangely, many investors have called it a period of consolidation, with returns declining each month and bitcoin’s price remaining in the same narrow range for more than half the three months. It gained almost 15% in the first half of the year, compared to 45% in the same period a year ago. But Bitcoin is ready to fly…

President Donald Trump’s announcement of a U.S.-Vietnam trade deal and a solid June jobs report lifted stocks last week, but investors can still find plenty of opportunities to snap up names at attractive levels.The recommendations of top Wall Street analysts can help inform investors as they search for the stocks of companies with strong fundamentals and solid growth opportunities.  Here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.Dell TechnologiesThis week’s first stock pick is Dell Technologies (DELL), a provider of IT hardware, software, and services.Following meetings with management,…

CNN  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said tariff letters will be sent to about 100 countries over the next several days, as the Trump administration’s 90-day tariff pause comes to an end Wednesday. “If you don’t move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level,” Bessent said about trading partners Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Dana Bash.” President Donald Trump has suggested the letters would include duty rates at the current 10% baseline, or as extensive as 70%. Bessent said Sunday the United States would not impose 70% tariff…

Four years ago, when people asked me which part of college I was most excited for, I always said having my own room.Yale’s dorms were a welcome change from the living conditions in my Brooklyn neighborhood. On the outside, the place my parents rented looked like any other two or three-family house, but inside, every floor was leased out to multiple families.My upbringing was many things: love and a chorus of voices that included a Vietnam War veteran, four children, and an expert crocheter. They were all my neighbors — many of them low-income. Every evening, we gathered for communal…