Connecting the Dots - 5-12-2025
Today we cover a national weather summary highlighting heavy rainfall in the Southeast and critical fire weather in the Northern Plains/Upper Midwest, along with a local forecast for Sacramento and recent stock market closings for the Dow Jones and S&P 500. The second topic examines President Trump's potential strategy of leveraging the U.S.'s leadership in AI chips to forge stronger relationships and deals with oil-rich nations in the Middle East, discussing the desire of these countries for this technology and the views of U.S. tech leaders on maintaining dominance in the AI technology stack. Finally, the third topic centers on Apple's upcoming iPhone lineup, exploring the possibility of price increases in the fall, strategies Apple might employ to justify such increases or avoid them entirely despite potential tariff impacts, and the company's ongoing efforts to diversify its supply chain and encourage customers toward higher-margin models.
Farewell to AOL Dial-Up, AI Talent Wars, and a New Chip Deal with Washington
GPT-5 Arrives – Smarter, Faster, and More Personal
GPT-5 Leaks, Chip Tariffs, and the AI Talent War
Chips, Streaming, and Storm Fronts
IPOs, Interactive Worlds, and a New Player in Streaming
From Crypto to CPB: Funding, Fraud, and the Future of Public Media
Apple’s Billion-Dollar AI Bet and a 3 Billion iPhone Milestone
Health Data Sharing, Developer AI Skepticism, and Apple Watch Updates
Australia Targets Youth on Social Media, While Meta Aims for Superintelligence
AI in Photoshop and Chrome, and Bitmain’s Made-in-America Pivot
AI Hits the Big Screen, Earthquake Alert Gaps, and Tariffs Reshape Fast Fashion
Intel’s Workforce Shakeup and Apple’s Liquid Glass Era
Trump’s AI Action Plan and Google’s Virtual Shopping Suite