November 2, 2025, 3:38 PM EST. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman forecasts a packed 2026 for Apple, including up to 15 new products and a brisk iOS 26.2 beta rollout. Early 2026 could bring the iPhone 17e, a 12th-gen iPad with an A18 chip, the M4 iPad Air, and M5 MacBook Air/Pro/Max, plus new external displays. Between March and April, expect a revamped Siri under Apple Intelligence with In-app Actions, Personal Context Awareness, and On-Screen Awareness, plus a new smart home display. In the fall, rumors point to the iPhone 18 lineup, the first foldable iPhone, new Apple Watches, and other launches like a smart home camera, M5/M6 Pro/MAX Macs with OLED, and an OLED iPad Pro. The iOS 26.2 beta is tipped for Tuesday, following iOS 26.1's Live Translation and MCP groundwork.
November 2, 2025, 3:34 PM EST. Concerns are rising that the OpenAI and broader generative AI industry has become "too big to fail." The piece cites warnings from prominent voices and outlets-the WSJ, Governor Ron DeSantis, and The New Yorker-as well as investigative reporting by Seth Harp and academics like Gary Marcus about the industry's brittle economics. Critics argue that the rapid, capital-intensive growth of the LLM ecosystem risks systemic disruption if funding, regulation, or consumer trust falters. The debate spans tech business, policy, and ethics, urging clearer accountability, sustainable economics, and safeguards as the sector reshapes markets, labor, and daily life.
November 2, 2025, 3:32 PM EST. While Nvidia is a dominant AI chip designer, ASML presents a compelling case for a different kind of upside. ASML is the sole manufacturer of EUV lithography machines, a technology that streamlines the most advanced chip fabrication and differentiates it from peers using DUV systems. That leadership helps fuel steady growth in free cash flow and a critical role in the AI-enabled semiconductor supply chain. The piece contrasts Nvidia's vast revenue ($130.5B in 2025) with ASML's strong, albeit smaller, sales footprint and impressive cash-flow generation (€9.1B FCF in 2024, up from €3.2B in 2023). The takeaway: for investors seeking semiconductor exposure beyond Nvidia, ASML offers a high-quality, leverageable position in the AI hardware cycle.
November 2, 2025, 3:30 PM EST. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests Apple is preparing iOS 26.1 this week, introducing a toggle to soften the Liquid Glass redesign seen after WWDC 2025. The update aims to improve readability and reduce lag, with a tinted option added in the fourth beta. Gurman notes iOS 26.1 could roll out as early as Monday, followed by the first beta of iOS 26.2 for developers the next day. Besides the visual toggle, the release includes an updated Apple TV icon and various bug fixes. Apple typically follows the same pattern, with macOS 26.1 and watchOS 26.2 betas arriving afterward.
November 2, 2025, 3:28 PM EST. Three 22-year-old high school friends in Silicon Valley-Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha-are reportedly the world's youngest self-made billionaires after Mercor raised $350 million and reached a $10 billion valuation. Foody serves as CEO, Hiremath as CTO, and Midha as board chairman; their stakes total about 22% each, pushing their net worth over $2 billion. The trio met at Bellarmine College Preparatory and later studied at Georgetown, Harvard, and Georgetown respectively before reuniting to launch Mercor in 2023. What started as a freelance marketplace for Indian software engineers pivoted into an AI-powered platform that automates recruitment and labels data with a global pool of 30,000 vetted specialists. Major clients include OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and the other six of the Magnificent Seven. Mercor aims to unify a global labor marketplace, with rapid revenue growth to $500 million annualized by mid-2024.