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Mobile phones turned 40 in 2024, but there’s no need for a foldables or AR glasses fueled midlife crisis before they're 50Donald Trump set to be named Time's 'Person of the Year'
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images Performance Assessment I've had a bullish view on the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( NYSEARCA: SCHD ) vs. the S&P500 ( SPY ) ( SPX ) ( IVV ) ( VOO ). However, despite the Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of VOO, AMZN either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA and MAURICIO SAVARESE, Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections. Police said their findings were being delivered Thursday to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which must decide whether to refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who will either formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or toss the investigation. The former right-wing president has denied all claims he tried to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to his rival, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has faced a series of legal threats since then. Police said in a brief statement that the Supreme Court had agreed to reveal the names of all 37 people who were indicted “to avoid the dissemination of incorrect news.” The 700-page police document likely will take several days for the court to review, Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes said. Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides also were indicted, including Gen. Walter Braga Netto, who was his running mate in the 2022 campaign; former Army commander Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and his veteran former adviser, Gen. Augusto Heleno. The investigation started last year. On Tuesday, four military men and one federal police agent were arrested as part of the same probe . Other investigations focus on Bolosnaro’s potential roles in smuggling diamond jewelry into Brazil without properly declaring them, and in directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ COVID-19 vaccination statuses. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in either. Another probe found that he had abused his authority to cast doubt on the country’s voting system, and judges barred him from running again until 2030. The far-reaching investigations have weakened Bolsonaro’s status as a leader of Brazil’s right wing, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “Bolsonaro is already barred from running in the 2026 elections,” Melo told the The Associated Press. “And if he is convicted he could also be jailed by then. To avoid being behind bars, he will have to convince Supreme Court justices that he has nothing to do with a plot that involves dozens of his aids. That’s a very tall order,” Melo said. On Tuesday, the federal police arrested four military and a federal police officer accused of plotting to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections, including alleged plans to kill Lula and other top officials.Stock market today: Wall Street ends mixed after a bumpy weekMajor stock indexes on Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish Friday, capping a rare bumpy week for the market. The S&P 500 ended essentially flat, down less than 0.1%, after wavering between tiny gains and losses most of the day. The benchmark index posted a loss for the week, its first after three straight weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%, ending just below the record high it set on Wednesday. There were more than twice as many decliners than gainers on the New York Stock Exchange. Gains in technology stocks helped temper losses in communication services, financials and other sectors of the market. Broadcom surged 24.4% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after the semiconductor company beat Wall Street’s profit targets and gave a glowing forecast, highlighting its artificial intelligence products. The company also raised its dividend. The company's big gain helped cushion the market's broader fall. Pricey stock values for technology companies like Broadcom give the sector more weight in pushing the market higher or lower. Artificial intelligence technology has been a focal point for the technology sector and the overall stock market over the last year. Tech companies, and Wall Street, expect demand for AI to continue driving growth for semiconductor and other technology companies. Some tech stocks were a drag on the market. Nvidia fell 2.2%, Meta Platforms dropped 1.7% and Google parent Alphabet slid 1.1%. Among the market's other decliners were Airbnb, which fell 4.7% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500, and Charles Schwab, which closed 4% lower. Furniture and housewares company RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, surged 17% after raising its forecast for revenue growth for the year. All told, the S&P 500 lost 0.16 points to close at 6,051.09. The Dow dropped 86.06 points to 43,828.06. The Nasdaq rose 23.88 points to 19,926.72. Wall Street's rally stalled this week amid mixed economic reports and ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting of the year. The central bank will meet next week and is widely expected to cut interest rates for a third time since September. Expectations of a series of rate cuts has driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year . The Fed has been lowering its benchmark interest rate following an aggressive rate hiking policy that was meant to tame inflation. It raised rates from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023. Inflation eased under pressure from higher interest rates, nearly to the central bank's 2% target. The economy, including consumer spending and employment, held strong despite the squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. A slowing job market, though, has helped push a long-awaited reversal of the Fed's policy. Inflation rates have been warming up slightly over the last few months. A report on consumer prices this week showed an increase to 2.7% in November from 2.6% in October. The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, will be released next week. Wall Street expects it to show a 2.5% rise in November, up from 2.3% in October. The economy, though, remains solid heading into 2025 as consumers continue spending and employment remains healthy, said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY. “Still, the outlook is clouded by unusually high uncertainty surrounding regulatory, immigration, trade and tax policy,” he said. Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40% from 4.34% late Thursday. European markets slipped. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%. Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% month-on-month in October, following a 0.1% decline in September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Asian markets closed mostly lower.
President-elect Donald Trump announced the death of attorney David B. Rivkin Jr. on Truth Social. Trump described Rivkin as a "superstar," stating, "He was a great lawyer, scholar, and defender of mine." Trump extended condolences to Rivkin’s wife, Diana, and family, calling him a loss that will be "greatly missed." Who Was David B. Rivkin?David B. Rivkin Jr. was a notable lawyer and legal academic. He served as a partner at BakerHostetler LLP, co-leading the firm's appellate and major motions group. Rivkin focused on constitutional, administrative, and international law, managing prominent cases during his career. Rivkin received national fame as the head lawyer representing 26 states contesting the legality of the Affordable Care Act. This case arrived at the Supreme Court in 2012 and signified a crucial point in his career. He also represented Croatia at the International Criminal Tribunal and the International Court of Justice. His research concentrated on international humanitarian law and wartime regulations, covering numerous years and intricate topics. Rivkin's knowledge encompassed national security matters. He represented former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in legal cases and oversaw matters related to Bivens actions. Furthermore, he handled legal cases concerning the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, compliance with sanctions, and environmental laws. Between 2004 and 2007, Rivkin acted as an expert member of the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights. He provided guidance on international law and aided global human rights efforts. While President George H.W. Bush was in office, Rivkin was instrumental in regulatory reform. In his role as Special Assistant for Domestic Policy, he managed initiatives aimed at reducing regulations related to energy and the environment. He played a key role in formulating Order 636, which revamped regulations for natural gas pipelines. Rivkin also occupied important roles in the Department of Energy, concentrating on energy and environmental law. His duties encompassed formulating climate change policies, executing clean energy initiatives, and tackling international regulatory issues. In addition to litigation, Rivkin worked as Legal Advisor to the Counsel for Vice President George H.W. Bush. His professional journey included positions in the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice, where he contributed to the development of energy and environmental policy. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News, World and around the world.
In 2024, mobile phones turned 40, and while every year since their introduction has felt like it has been brimming with innovation and that felt particularly true this year as every company seemed to be trying to reinvent the wheel with their interpretation of the next phone revolution – a revolution which could define what smartphones look like when they turn 50. Whether it's AI-powered smarts from the likes of or bringing improved efficiency and enhanced creativity tools to our fingertips, foldables allowing us to carry tablets in our pockets with unique form factors that facilitate features flat phones can’t deliver, dumbphones which serve up some much-needed simplicity in our increasingly notification-filled lives, or which could kill off the smartphone as we currently know it. It’s a battle for the ages, folks, but before we dive into the competitive year, we’ve just had, let’s take things all the way back to the very beginning to see how we got here. A brief history of smartphones Here’s a brief outline of a few key events from the past four decades since mobile phones were unleashed to the world – including one pivotal moment that took place over ten years earlier. The best smartphone trend of 2024 Before we get too bogged down in the past of smartphones it’s time we chat with the Ghost of Smartphone Present. 2024 was the year of artificial intelligence, and that was no more true than in the sphere of smartphones with the likes of Gemini, Intelligence, and the continued rise of AI tools assisting us with photo editing, writing, and pretty much everything we can do on our phones. As I mentioned in my brief history, this year was exciting for more than AI, however. We saw the first tri-fold courtesy of the which felt like a bonafide tablet-phone hybrid, while the $700 Motorola Razr finally gave us a foldable that felt truly affordable. At the same time, we were introduced to the likes of the prototype and and Google software, which gave us a glimpse of the technology that some believe – such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (via ) – could replace smartphones altogether one day. But as I highlight in the video above, I feel the best trend of the year was dumbphones – swooping in as the hero we really need. As an ever-growing deluge of apps and notifications are vying for every iota of our attention, and social media algorithms seem to have reached a stage of existing simply to infuriate every fiber of our being, there’s a wonderful simplicity to the dumbphone and its function to help us switch off from the distractions of smartphones for a while. The served as peak dumbphone with its 4G connectivity, a 2-megapixel camera, and 64 megabytes of RAM (though it does still offer USB-C charging); meanwhile, the delivered a solid smartphone-dumbphone hybrid which can morph between these two modes and seems ideal for folks who aren’t ready to commit wholeheartedly to the smartphone-less lifestyle. What is the future of smartphones? Yet, I write that as I wield a – a foldable which I absolutely adore thanks to its impressively large phone size yet portable design, which is packed with excellent camera software and a suite of AI features I begrudgingly think are pretty neat. My notifications bar is bursting with 14 separate alerts (all appearing since I last cleared it 15 minutes ago). I’m painfully self-aware that I’m the technology equivalent of a five-year-old who might know he should eat his veggies but simply doesn’t want to. If I – someone willing to go on a 10-minute-long video rant about the excellence of dumbphones – haven’t wholeheartedly accepted them, it seems unlikely many others will, relegating this trend to a niche status it deserves more than. Instead, it feels like two of the half-baked trends I failed to crown winners of this year – AR glasses and foldables – will be battling it out over the next 10 years for the crown. AI will certainly be there too, but I expect it’ll be a central part of whichever smartphone trend comes out on top rather than in the form of its own distinct device – you simply need to look at the failed Humane AI and Rabbit R1 next to the success of AI on smartphones as evidence of that. To help me find an answer I turned to our own Editor-at-large . He’s been writing about tech for close to 40 years and is well-versed in the latest and greatest innovations. Having reviewed prototype AR glasses and various foldables and tested every notable AI under the sun, who better is there to ask about where smartphones could and should head? Surprisingly, Lance doesn’t think there will be a single winner as we’ve seen previously when innovation has relegated older style handsets to a niche – instead, all the different types will flourish in their own ways. Rather definitively, Lance explained, “No, AR glasses won’t replace smartphones at least not in the next 10-to-20 years,” with him suggesting they’ll likely be a smartwatch-like accessory that will allow you to do more while keeping your phone in your pocket, and occasionally leave home without your phone. He concedes that they could eventually take over wholeheartedly, but the main drawback will always be finding a way to cram the power and battery life of a smartphone into a wearable that needs to be as light and comfortable as standard glasses. As for foldables, while Lance admits the increased screen size is what convinced him to swap from an iPhone Pro to a Pro Max – which is why he carries around an as his current go-to smartphone – he isn’t fully convinced by foldables either. He appreciates their utility as pocket-sized tablets – adding that’s how he sees them, as tablets rather than typical phones – but as impressive as the Google, Samsung, and other devices are, there’s not yet been enough innovation to justify a price tag to regular folks that is nearly double what a standard smartphone costs. Adding, “I think if more people experienced a foldable like the , they might feel differently about them,” which anecdotally I can attest to; I’ve gone from , though even I feel they’re too pricey for what they offer right now. So in five to ten years' time, Lance said he expects he’ll be carrying around foldable and AR glasses, but as accessories for the regular phone, he’ll have in his pocket too. And it seems Lance isn’t alone in his dedication to standard smartphones. We asked our community: “If each device had equally good cameras, battery life and general functionality, would you rather have a regular smartphone, a folding smartphone or a pair of AR smart glasses?” and over 1,200 people responded with “Smartphone.” Meanwhile, 389 people said “Foldable,” followed by 286 choosing “AR Glasses,” and finally, 54 people simply wanted to “Show results” without voting either way. These results seemingly speak to Lance’s comment about people not having enough experience with foldables or AR glasses to feel positive about them. Still, I think this highlights an awareness of factors I’ve yet to properly address: the downsides of foldables and AR glasses. No one phone to rule them all While I adore the larger screen size foldables boast, not everyone longs for bigger displays, preferring lighter and less chunky handsets. They’re also prone to dust damage; no foldable is yet to be given an IP68 dust and waterproofness score – the highest standard tech can achieve, and the bar most modern smartphones clear – and the non-standard display and shape add to durability concerns. The folding display of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is certified for 200,000 folding cycles (which is at least five years of opening and closing it 100 times a day, every day), which is a lot. Still, psychologically, it’s impossible to see a usage limit and not be put off when you compare it to a standard smartphone with no such well-publicized expiration date. Couple that with the difficulty of finding screen protectors and cases – alongside the cost of repairs should your foldable break – and there are plenty of reasons for folks without cash to burn to be put off by foldables. As for AR glasses, even non-AR specs like the are noticeably more chunky and a little less comfy than standard frames. The added weight and bulk of bigger batteries, better chipsets, and displays will only make the next generation of smart glasses – such as the Meta Orion AR glasses – less easy to wear all day. Trim downs will happen, but as we’ve seen throughout tech’s history, that takes time. While slim AR glasses will eventually catch up with the performance of today’s smartphones, by that time, there will be new chips that elevate phones to new heights that are too big for specs – mirroring the relationship between smartphones and laptops (or tablets) which peacefully coexist rather than one replacing the others wholeheartedly). So what is the future of smartphones if its supposed successors are still so flawed? Choice. The idea of an all-in-one every-gadget which has been promised to us by sci-fi isn’t practical in the real world, but as new technology options emerge, we’ll have the freedom of choice to construct our own arsenal of gadgets that meet our exacting needs and wants. This isn’t simply true in the smartphone space; look at all of tech. Beyond choosing between smartphones, foldables, glasses, dumbphones, or some combination, people are seeing more choice than ever in the wearables space (fitness bands, , and ), in the computing space (tablets, laptops, all-in-ones, desktops, and portable pucks) and the home entertainment space ( , QLED, mini-LED and projectors). What matters isn’t what’s best in general but what’s best for you. If that is a simple dumbphone that’s just as excellent a pick as someone else, finding their best solution is a package of foldable, add-on AR glasses, a smart ring, and a laptop. The future of smartphones, and what I hope we’ll see for technology as a whole in the coming decade, is all of us having the choice to construct our ideal setup, whatever that may be.
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