Boardroom is a sports, media and entertainment brand co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman and focused on the intersection of sports and entertainment. Boardroom’s flagship media arm features premium video/audio, editorial, daily and weekly newsletters, showcasing how athletes, executives, musicians and creators are moving the business world forward. Boardroom’s ecosystem encompasses B2B events and experiences (such as its renowned NBA and WNBA All-Star events) as well as ticketed conferences such as Game Plan in partnership with CNBC. Our advisory arm serves to consult and connect athletes, brands and executives with our broader network and initiatives.
Recent film and TV projects also under the Boardroom umbrella include the Academy Award-winning Two Distant Strangers (Netflix), the critically acclaimed scripted series SWAGGER (Apple TV+) and Emmy-nominated documentary NYC Point Gods (Showtime).
Boardroom’s sister company, Boardroom Sports Holdings, features investments in emerging sports teams and leagues, including the Major League Pickleball team, the Brooklyn Aces, NWSL champions Gotham FC, and MLS’ Philadelphia Union.
Tech Talk is a weekly digest by Boardroom’s Michelai Graham that breaks down the latest news from the world’s biggest tech companies and the future of industry-shaping trends like AI.
Before jumping in today, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone subscribing to, sharing, and faithfully reading Tech Talk. It means the world to me and the team at Boardroom. Let’s get to it.
A peek into today’s edition:
Apple unveiled its iPhone 15 line with USB-C charging ports and new Apple Watch devices at its fall product demo earlier this week. The Big Tech giant also shared updates on its sustainability plans, featuring a rare skit with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer as Mother Nature. As expected, there will be an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max ranging in price from $799 to $1,199. The Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Ultra are also on the way with a notable new feature coined the double-tap gesture, which allows users to tap their index finger and thumb together twice to perform most of the common Apple Watch actions.
Preorders for Apple’s newest products kick off on Sept. 22. Here’s a full recap of everything you need to know from Apple’s fall event.
More updates from Apple:
A ransomware group using multiple code names is claiming responsibility for a cyberattack that forced MGM Resorts to shut down some of its internal and external systems sporadically throughout the week in Las Vegas. A Russia-based operation called ALPHV/BlackCat guided a native English-speaking group of hackers called Scattered Spide through the attack, which started with a 10-minute call to MGM’s help desk. While MGM said via tweets that its dining, lodging, entertainment, and gaming offerings were operational throughout the week, casino goers reported that slot machines, payment systems, including ATMs, sports books, and other tech-enabled offerings, were down.
It gets worse. Caesars Entertainment reported on Thursday that it was also hit with a cyberattack at the hands of the same cyber attackers. The ransomware group told Reuters via Telegram that it stole six terabytes of data from MGM and Caesars. Caesar claims that the attack did not hault its casino and online operations, and maybe that’s because the entertainment giant paid a $15 million ransom to the group, CNBC reported.
On Wednesday, the Senate held a three-hour closed meeting with Big Tech CEOs, including X’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and many others, to discuss artificial intelligence regulation efforts. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is calling the meetup the AI Insight Forum, with more sessions scheduled throughout the fall. The tech leaders discussed civilizational risks, transparency with AI systems, how AI can impact economic problems, and much more.
The inaugural forum comes as eight tech companies, including Adobe, IBM, and Nvidia, committed to following a standard of safety and security rules for their AI tools and systems. Meta, Google, OpenAI, Salesforce, and Stability AI have made similar commitments to the White House, which is also expected to release an AI-focused executive order before the year is over.
British software design company and computer chipmaker Arm made its public debut on the stock market with a boost to a $65 billion valuation. The chip design company hit the Nasdaq at a $54.5 billion valuation before its market cap jumped up $11 billion. Arm’s stock soared as much as 25% to $63.59 on opening day on Thursday. Now, the company’s shares are trading at around $60.75 at the time of this writing. Forbes marked Arm’s public debut as the largest IPO in 22 months. SoftBank maintains its 90% stake in the company.
I’ll be writing a breakdown soon of everything you need to know about Arm, a tech giant you want to know in the AI developmental race. As I prep to write this, I wonder if Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets backing out of a $40 billion deal to buy Arm in September 2020. The companies had to fight regulatory concerns, but now, Arm is primed to be a worthy competitor for Nvidia in the chip-making market.
With Hulu and Disney Plus price hikes on the way next month, I’m going to bet that a tech company like Roku, for example, will offer a bundle deal of all the major streaming platforms in the next year. It’s like we’re headed back to the cable era of television all over again.
