Sunday, April 5, 2026

'Wouldn't be shocked' if bull market continues: Wall Street aims to look past Iran conflict

Despite recent volatility due to the Iran conflict, Wall Street strategists are optimistic that the bull market may continue. The S&P 500 has seen a slight decline of about 4% since the onset of the conflict, yet analysts believe that posit...

• The S&P 500 is projected to see 13.2% year-over-year earnings growth in Q1.
• Analysts at Yardeni Research plan to lower recession probability from 35% to 20% with clarity on the Iran situation.

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Can orbital data centers help justify a massive valuation for SpaceX?

SpaceX is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering aiming to raise $75 billion, with a projected valuation of $1.75 trillion. CEO Elon Musk envisions orbital data centers as a key component of the company's future, potentially ci...

• SpaceX aims for a $1.75 trillion valuation in its IPO.
• A startup called Starcloud recently raised $170 million, achieving unicorn status.

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Zohran Mamdani and the business exodus? New York's office real estate market is up under new mayor

Despite concerns over a potential business exodus due to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tax policies, Manhattan's office real estate market is showing strength, with increased leasing activity and rising rents. In the first quarter of 2026, office...

• Manhattan office leasing activity reached 8.5 million square feet in Q1 2026.
• Vacancy rates in Manhattan dropped by 2.2 percentage points to 13.5%.

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I let Gemini in Google Maps plan my day and it went surprisingly well

Allison Johnson tested Gemini, the AI feature in Google Maps, to plan a day in Seattle, resulting in a surprisingly successful itinerary that included new dining and shopping experiences. While Gemini provided useful recommendations, it did...

• Gemini successfully planned a day-long itinerary, including stops at Tacos Chukis and Kobo.
• The AI tool provided accurate suggestions, though it made one significant navigational error.

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How the Amazon Echo learned to talk — and listen

Jeff Bezos's vision for a voice computer drove Amazon's development of the Echo speaker and Alexa voice assistant, despite numerous challenges faced by the team. Their eventual success in launching the Echo without any fanfare led to a tran...

• Jeff Bezos was a strong proponent of voice technology from Amazon's early days.
• The Echo speaker and Alexa assistant were developed to simplify technology interaction.

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AI benchmarks systematically ignore how humans disagree, Google study finds

A study by Google Research and the Rochester Institute of Technology reveals that traditional AI benchmarks, which typically rely on three to five human evaluators per test example, fail to capture the full diversity of human opinion. The r...

• Current benchmarks often use only three to five raters per test example.
• Reliable results typically require more than ten raters per example.

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Alibaba's Qwen team makes AI models think deeper with new algorithm

Alibaba's Qwen team has introduced a groundbreaking training algorithm called Future-KL Influenced Policy Optimization (FIPO), which enhances AI reasoning by assigning variable weights to tokens based on their influence on subsequent reason...

• The new algorithm, Future-KL Influenced Policy Optimization (FIPO), doubles reasoning chain lengths from 4,000 to over 1...
• FIPO improves accuracy on the AIME 2024 benchmark from 50% to 58%.

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Samsung Messages will be discontinued in July as part of Google Messages upgrade

Samsung has confirmed that its Messages app will be discontinued in July 2026, with Google Messages set to take its place. This transition will primarily affect users on Android 12 and newer, who will receive guidance on how to switch to Go...

• Samsung Messages will be unavailable for download after July 2026.
• Users on Android 12 and newer will receive in-app guidance to switch to Google Messages.

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How Much Would You Have if You Had Invested $2,000 In Apple When It Went Public?

Apple, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, has transformed from a garage startup to a $3.8 trillion giant. Investors who bought in at its IPO in December 1980 for $22 per share would have seen their $2,000 investment grow to over $5.18 mi...

• $2,000 invested in Apple at its IPO would be worth over $5.18 million today.
• Apple's stock has split five times since its IPO, lowering its effective price to $0.10.

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Jim Cramer Thinks New Apple (AAPL) CFO Is Settling Well In His Role

Jim Cramer has expressed confidence in Apple Inc.'s new CFO, Kevan Parekh, suggesting he is effectively settling into his role. Cramer noted that while Apple’s stock has seen a significant rise of over 25% in the past year, it has faced a 5...

• Apple's stock is up over 25% in the past year despite a 5.6% year-to-date decline.
• Evercore ISI maintains an Outperform rating for Apple with a $330 price target.

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Anthropic says Claude Code subscribers will need to pay extra for OpenClaw usage

Anthropic has announced that starting April 4, Claude Code subscribers will incur additional fees for using the coding assistant with OpenClaw and other third-party tools, moving away from the previous subscription model. This change, commu...

• Starting April 4, Claude Code subscribers must pay separately for OpenClaw usage.
• Anthropic's policy will extend to all third-party tools in the near future.

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