Nvidia beat expectations on quarterly revenue and earnings Wednesday afternoon as investors watch closely for clues on how the company is weathering the emergence of a powerful new Chinese AI model.
Why it matters: Nvidia has become a proxy for the health of the AI economy.
President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday empowering DOGE to scrutinize how federal agencies spend money, the latest expansion of Elon Musk's cost cutting powers.
Why it matters: Trump, who hours earlier backed Musk's email to federal employees asking them to outline what they accomplished at work last week, is giving the billionaire SpaceX founder extra teeth to upend government through his work on DOGE.
Federal workers who didn't respond to Elon Musk's request to outline what they did at work "are on the bubble," President Trump said during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term.
Why it matters: Trump's comments came as he was flanked by every one of his confirmed agency heads, including some whose departments' explicitly told their federal employees not to respond to Musk's email last week.
Amazon on Wednesday showed off Alexa+, a generative AI version of its digital voice assistant that draws on a variety of models and works with many of the company's older Echo devices.
Why it matters: Amazon has been working for several years to modernize Alexa, though the effort has been bumpy as the company looks to maximize compatibility with the past.
President Trump shared what appeared to be an AI-generated video late Tuesday night depicting his vision of "the Riviera of the Middle East" if his plan to "take over the Gaza strip" comes to fruition.
Why it matters: The video recasts the enclave that's been devastated by the Israel-Hamas war as an oasis of Trump's fantasy, complete with bellydancers, a golden statue of himself and Elon Muskdancing under a shower of money.
Conflicts, confrontation and change in Eastern Europe, the greater Middle East and China's backyard make for a world that "is getting incredibly spicy," according to David Ulevitch, a general partner at venture capital juggernaut Andreessen Horowitz.
Why he matters: Ulevitch leads the firm's American Dynamism fund, involved in, among others, the aerospace, energy and national security sectors. He's also invested in the public safety space.
Why it matters: It's risky when any industry hangs so much of its hopes on one company's results, and Nvidia's enviable record of beating expectations means the slightest faltering could trigger a rout.
Fresh off a week of being yelled at back home, Republicans returned to Capitol Hill suddenly pressing Elon Musk to project a kinder, friendlier face of DOGE.
Why it matters: Republican and Democratic congressional districts alike have been rattled by Musk's tactics for slashing government funding and terminating chunks of the federal workforce.
Apple said Tuesday it's working to fix an iPhone bug after some users reported its automatic dictation feature briefly displays "Trump" when they say "racist" before the text-to-speech transcription software corrects itself.
The big picture: A viral TikTok video of the glitch that Apple says erroneously suggests the word "trump" when users dictate some words that also include an "r" consonant caused outrage among conservatives online who've accused Big Tech of political bias.
Nvidia investors will be watching for any clues on how the DeepSeek surprise is reshaping the AI chip giant's trajectory when it reports earnings Wednesday afternoon.
Why it matters: China-based DeepSeek's new AI model turned heads earlier this year with its stunning efficiency, raising questions about whether investment in the most advanced and costly chips is as necessary as once thought.
More than 1 million federal workers responded to an email asking them to document what they did last week, sent at Elon Musk's behest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
Why it matters: That's only about half the federal workforce — perhaps to be expected, as many agencies told employees to ignore the email.
More than 20 Department of Government Efficiency employees resigned on Tuesday, saying that DOGE's actions are incompatible with their mission as civil servants.
The big picture: The workers, who were folded into DOGE via executive order when President Trump took office, warned in their resignation letter about the risks that DOGE presents to Americans' data and public services.
State-backed hackers are increasingly sharing their most dangerous cyber weapons with hacktivists who disregard the norms of digital warfare, according to a new report from Dragos.
Why it matters: Critical infrastructure organizations — such as utility operators and food manufacturers — are among the least prepared for cyberattacks due to limited budgets and a shortage of cybersecurity personnel.
This growing collaboration between nation-state hackers and civilian hacking groups could escalate attacks aimed at shutting down essential services like water systems, rail transport and power grids.
Driving the news: Dragos, a cybersecurity firm specializing in critical infrastructure, released its annual report this morning, detailing new threat groups and emerging tactics.
North Korea's Lazarus Group is suspected of stealing $1.46 billion in cryptocurrency from Dubai-based exchange Bybit, according to new research from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
Why it matters: The heist sets a new record for crypto thefts, underscoring North Korea's growing sophistication in stealing digital assets to fund its regime.
By the numbers: The Bybit theft more than doubles the previous record of $611 million set by the August 2021 hack of Poly Network.
🇨🇳 The Republican National Committee quietly responded to a China-backed hack of its internal communications in the weeks leading up to this past summer's convention and leaders opted not to report the intrusion to the FBI. (Wall Street Journal)
🇷🇺 Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old coder who is now working at DOGE, is the grandson of a former KGB spy who worked undercover at the Soviet Embassy in the 1980s. (Jacob Silverman)
😵💫 The Social Security Administration was actively investigating whether a career employee had improperly shared information with Elon Musk's tech team when President Trump tapped that employee to be an acting commissioner. (Washington Post)
