Author: omc_admin

OpenAI’s decision to buy Jony Ive’s gadget company, io, is about distribution.The generative AI race has entered a new stage. It used to be about creating the best AI models, but they’re all pretty similar these days.Who ultimately wins will depend a lot more on distribution, and less on the quality of the underlying technology.Getting ChatGPT and other OpenAI models and products into the hands of users — that’s what really counts. Without that direct relationship, these products won’t be used as much, or it will cost a lot to get the offerings to consumers indirectly.Ive designed the ultimate distribution…

Johannesburg, South Africa – When the millionaire mining magnate-turned-president of South Africa landed in Washington to meet the billionaire real estate tycoon-turned-president of the United States, it was with a deal in mind. Tensions have been escalating between the US and its African trade ally since Donald Trump took office this year, cut off aid to South Africa, repeated false accusations that a “white genocide” is taking place there and began welcoming Afrikaners as refugees. At the meeting between Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House on Wednesday, the South African president began by focusing heavily on trade and…

Oil dropped after a second consecutive weekly gain in US crude inventories overshadowed a CNN report that Israel is preparing for a potential strike on Iranian nuclear sites. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.7% to settle below $62 a barrel after the government reported US crude inventories climbed to the highest since July and gasoline demand fell. A lackluster Treasury sale also weighed on broader markets, adding to the declines. Brent futures slid below $65. Oil has been volatile since last week on mixed headlines about the fate of Iran-US nuclear talks, which could pave the way for more barrels to…

The Trump administration is setting the stage to sell mining rights off the coast of American Samoa as demand surges for critical materials used in electric vehicle batteries, smart phones and other technology. The Interior Department said Tuesday it planned to seek information from the public and gauge commercial interest from companies in potentially exploring the area, a first step toward a possible lease sale near the US territory in the South Pacific. The move follows a request for a lease sale from a company the Interior Department identified as US-based Impossible Metals. It also comes less than a month…

Secretary Wright’s opening remarks:Chairman Kennedy, Ranking Member Murray, and members of the committee, it is an honor to appear before you today as Secretary of Energy to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget request for the Department of Energy. I want to commend this committee for its longstanding commitment to energy policy and to the mission of the Department.Energy is the backbone of civilization. It is the essential catalyst of human progress— enabling everything we do, everything. From the lights in our home, the heat in our homes, the process heat in our factories, and the innovation in our…

(Investing) – MOSCOW/LONDON – Behind OPEC+’s plan to ramp up oil output and punish over-producing allies, group leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia are pushing a second objective: taking on U.S. shale production to win back market share from the United States. OPEC’s last price war on U.S. producers 10 years ago ended in failure, as breakthroughs in technology and drilling allowed U.S. shale companies to cut costs, compete at lower prices and in the following years take market share from the 12-member group. U.S. production is, however, more vulnerable now to a price war. U.S. shale producers have seen costs rise…

South Sudan relies on oil for more than 90 percent of its government revenues, and the country depends entirely on Sudan to export the precious resource. But this month, Sudan’s army-backed government said it was preparing to shut down the facilities that its southern neighbour uses to export its oil, according to an official government letter seen by Al Jazeera. That decision could collapse South Sudan’s economy and drag it directly into Sudan’s intractable civil war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), experts warned. The announcement was made on May 9 after the RSF launched suicide drones…

Subsea 7 S.A. on Wednesday announced the award of a sizeable1 subsea contract in West Africa. Subsea7 will be responsible for transporting and installing flexible pipelines, umbilicals, and associated subsea components for the connection of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel as well as the pre-laying activities for an upcoming drilling campaign. Project management and engineering work will begin immediately at Subsea7’s offices in Sutton, UK and Suresnes, France, and offshore activity is expected to start in 2026. “Our close and agile collaboration with our clients allows us to make possible cost-effective and reliable offshore solutions…

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A fire that severely damaged a historic Black church that served as the headquarters for a 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, which brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, was intentionally set, investigators said Wednesday.The fire at the Clayborn Temple, which was undergoing a yearslong renovation, was set in the interior of the church, the Memphis Fire Department said in a statement. Investigators are searching for a person suspected of being involved with the blaze.Flames engulfed the downtown church in the early hours of April 28. Later that day Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat said…

Sam Altman’s OpenAI announced on Wednesday that it is buying a hardware startup called io from Jony Ive, the former Apple exec who led the design of the iPhone and other iconic products. The deal is valued at nearly $6.5 billion, a spokesperson confirmed to BI.Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom, began working with Altman and OpenAI two years ago before he founded the AI hardware startup one year later with Scott Cannon, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey. Ive left Apple in 2019 after nearly 30 years at the company.Now, io will merge with OpenAI to “work more intimately with…