Microsoft said Wednesday that its profit for the October-December quarter grew 10% as it works to capitalize on the huge amounts of money it has spent to advance its artificial intelligence technology.But while its overall profits and revenue beat Wall Street expectations, it slightly missed projections for its closely watched cloud computing business, a centerpiece of its AI efforts.The company reported net income for the quarter of $24.1 billion, or $3.23 per share, beating Wall Street expectations of $3.11 per share. The Redmond, Washington-based software maker posted revenue of $69.6 billion in the quarter, up 12% from the previous year, also beating expectations.Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Microsoft to generate revenue of $68.87 billion in the last three months of the year.Sales from Microsofts cloud-focused business segment that includes its flagship Azure computing platform grew 19% from the same time last year to $25.5 billion, which was less than the $25.83 billion forecast by FactSet analysts.Microsofts productivity business segment, which includes its Office suite of email and other workplace products, grew 14% to $29.4 billion.Its personal computing business, led by its Windows division, remained steady at $14.7 billion, with a drop in consumer device sales offset by growth in advertising revenue tied to the Bing search engine.Microsoft shares dropped 5% in after-hours trading Wednesday but were still higher than Monday, when the tech giant was hit by a broader tech stock sale caused by a frenzy over the new ChatGPT competitor developed by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek.Microsoft is a close partner of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and also sells its own AI chatbot services, branded as Copilot. Part of what drove the Wall Street panic this week was concern over the startups claims that it was catching up to U.S. tech titans on a fraction of their budget.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella downplayed those concerns on an investor call Wednesday, saying DeepSeek had some real innovations and it is good to have efficiency gains and lower prices in AI development because it means people can consume more and therell be more apps written.Microsoft also added DeepSeeks latest AI model to those available on its Azure computing platform Wednesday.Building and operating AI systems is costly, and Microsoft has said it plans to spend $80 billion this year as it expands its global network of energy-hungry computing centers and supplies them with specialized chips to train and run AI models.We have more than doubled our overall data center capacity in the last three years and we have added more capacity last year than any other year in our history, Nadella said.Matt OBrien, AP Technology Writer

Meta Platforms Inc. posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts.CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects 2025 to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant.The Menlo Park, California-based company earned $20.83 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the October-December quarter. Thats up 49% from $14.02 billion, or $5.33 per share, in the same period a year earlier.Revenue grew 21% to $48.39 billion from $40.11 billion.Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $6.76 per share on revenue of $47 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.We continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media, Zuckerberg said in a statement.For the current quarter, Meta said expects revenue of $39.5 billion to $41.8 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue at the high end of that range$41.68 billion.The company also said it expects expenses in the range of $114 billion to $119 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation. Meta had 74,067 employees as of December 31, up 10% from a year earlier.Metas Q4 performance underscores the companys resilience in a still-uncertain digital ad market. By beating both earnings and revenue estimates, theyve demonstrated that cost discipline and efficiency gains are paying dividends, said Jesse Cohen, an analyst with Investing.com. However, the real headline is their commitment to aggressive capital expenditures. This signals Meta is doubling down on its AI infrastructure and metaverse ambitions, even as investors grapple with the costs.Separately, Meta has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Donald Trump brought against the company and Zuckerberg after Trumps accounts were suspended following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.This is also going to be a big year for redefining our relationship with governments, Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts. We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad. And Im optimistic about the progress and innovation this is going to unlock.Metas stock rose $13.53, or 2%, to $690.02 in after-hours trading.Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

Dezeen Showroom: textural rugs informed by ancient historic landmarks and distinctive landscapes are among the soft furnishings and textiles recently listed on Dezeen Showroom. Alongside rugs, the section has platformed the launch of a range of wallcoverings, materials and fabrics, including those that enhance the aesthetic, thermal and acoustic performance of interiors.Natural fibres such as wool andsilk continue to prove popular with designers, manufacturers and brands, as well as felt and yarn made using recycled plastic.Read on to view a selection of materials and soft furnishings that have been featured on Dezeen Showroom:Tellus Mater rugs by Sandra Benhamou for Edition 1.6.9Interior architect and designer Sandra Benhamou looked to the patchwork quality of landscapes to inform this series of rugs designed for French brand Edition 1.6.9.Tellus Mater rugs come in light and dark colourways that combine various weaving techniques to create an effect that references different types of terrain.Find out more about Tellus MaterWannabe textile by DesigntexUS-based brand Designtex has launched a felted fabric designed for cladding interior walls with features subtle embossed pinstriped detailing.The Wannabe textile comes in a selection of mottled colourways, which are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles.Find out more about WannabeVista rug collection by Roger Oates DesignCoastal environments, lakes and undulating landscapes inform this collection of 100 per cent wool rugs made by British brand Roger Oates Design.The Vista rug collection comes in four patterns Atlas, Dune, Terrain and Tide that are all characterised by using different pile heights to pick out and define their patterns.Find out more about VistaConscious collection by CarnegieAmerican brandCarnegie aimed to address environmental needs as well as human wellbeing through its Conscious collection of upholstery, wall coverings and drapery.The range includes a spectrum of different products that are available in a wide array of finishes and colourways.Find out more about ConsciousRaffles rug by David Mrugala for Azmas RugsA vivid, kaleidoscopic surface pattern characterises this complex rug created by designer David Mrugala for rug company Azmas Rugs.Handknotted using wool and silk, the Raffles rug is made up of 100 knots per square inch, making it the brand's most expensive pieces to date.Find out more about RafflesEncanto upholstery fabric by Skopos FabricsBeing made from soil- and stain-resistant polyester ensures that British brandSkopos' new range of upholstery fabrics can be used in high-traffic interiors.Encanto upholstery fabric comes in three woven designs and a range of earthy, neutral colourways to create textural touchpoints in workplace, healthcare, education, hospitality and cruise ship interiors.Find out more about EncantoLight and Shadow rug collection by TenBerke for Warp & WeftUS brandWarp & Weft worked with architecture studio TenBerke to develop a range of rugs that reflect dawn, midday and dusk.The Light and Shadow rug collection is characterised by its neutral colourways, which allow any of the pieces to integrate seamlessly into many styles of interiors.Find out more about Light and ShadowWool fabric by Burel FactoryRaw wool is trodden, thumped and boiled to process it before being turned into Portuguese brandBurel Factory's durable Wool fabric.The material has the ability to enhance the thermal and acoustic performance of interiors and is available in a selection of dynamic three-dimensional patterns.Find out more about WoolLa Geria Lanzarote rug by Jose A Ganda-Blasco Canales for GanDivots in a dark black-brown, soil-like background populated by small sprout-like green clusters create a topographical effect in this distinctive rug by Spanish textile brand Gan.The La Geria Lanzarote rug is named after a protected landscape in Lanzarote where grape vines are planted in volcanic soil. The rugs are made from pure wool.Find out more about La Geria LanzaroteIn Good Company textile collection by Limn & Loom for Pallas TextilesDesign studio Limn & Loom worked with American brand Pallas Textiles on a collection of fabrics made by weaving together yarn constructed from recycled plastic.The In Good Company textile collection contains materials with varying finishes and textures, all made from a combination of 10 per cent marine waste plastic and 90 per cent plastic from sources on land.Find out more about In Good CompanyStone rug by ArturelThe monolithic blocks of stone that comprise Stonehenge a Neolithic structure in Wiltshire, UK are distilled into two-dimensional planes that form the blocky pattern for this rug by Danish brandArturel.The woollen Stone rug is decorated with these off-white rectilinear shapes, however, users can choose from a range of background colours including neutral black and off-white, or primary blue or yellow.Find out more about StoneDezeen ShowroomDezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.The post 11 touchable rugs and textile ranges featured on Dezeen Showroom appeared first on Dezeen.

More than two decades after the retirement of the Concorde, American aircraft company Boom Supersonic has achieved supersonic flight with its XB-1 prototype in a test flight above the Mojave Desert.Tuesday's test saw the aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound, accelerating to Mach 1.122 (860 miles per hour) in three high-speed runs over the course of 35 minutes.It marks the first time a human-piloted passenger jet has broken the sound barrier since Concorde's retirement in 2003, which Boom Supersonic says is "paving the way for the return of commercial supersonic flight".Boom Supersonic's XB-1 prototype has achieved supersonic flightXB-1 is a prototype for Boom Supersonic's Overture aircraft, which will be about three times the size and aims to be "the world's fastest airliner".The proposed jet will carry between 64 and 80 passengers at Mach 1.7 speeds. That's twice the speed of today's subsonic airliners and, much like the Concorde, could fly from London to New York in 3.5 hours, the company has claimed.Boom Supersonic said it has already received 130 pre-orders for Overture from companies including American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines.The test flight took place at the Mojave Air & Space Port in CaliforniaThe jets will be produced in Overture Superfactory in Greensboro, North Carolina, which completed last year and will be scaled up to produce 66 Overture aircraft per year at a cost of around 200 million each.XB-1 successful test flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in California marks the first time that an aircraft developed by a private aviation company rather than a government or military has successfully broken the sound barrier."A small band of talented and dedicated engineers has accomplished what previously took governments and billions of dollars," said Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl. "Our ultimate goal is to bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone."Read: NASA and Lockheed Martin unveil "quiet supersonic" jetThe Concorde, jointly developed by the United Kingdom and France, was retired after only 27 years in operation due to noise complaints and high operation costs.Boom Supersonic hopes to mitigate these issues largely through the design of the aircraft and its engine, which functions without the noisy afterburners used by the Concorde.Instead, the American company is developing a novel turbofan engine, which it claims will have lower operating costs while complying with international aircraft noise limits.XB-1 is a one-third scale prototypeThe aircraft itself is made almost entirely from strong, lightweight carbon fibre composites and features an aerodynamic design optimised using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.This involved exploring "thousands of designs" before settling on the most efficient, according to Boom Supersonic.An augmented reality vision system allowspilots to land safely despite the aircraft's long nose, eliminating "the weight and complexity of a moveable nose like Concorde's".Scholl first announced Boom Supersonic's plans to create the "fastest passenger plane ever" in 2016. At the time, he said tickets would be priced at around $5,000 (3,504).Last year, NASA and Lockheed Martin unveiled a separate prototype for a "quiet supersonic" jet, which they hope could be used to inform future passenger planes.Other companies in the running to make a new and improved supersonic jet includeNASA and Lockheed Martin,who have created a prototype for a quiet supersonic jet, whileBoeing is working on a hypersonic aircraftthat move five times faster than the speed of sound.The post XB-1 jet breaks sound barrier in bid for "return of commercial supersonic flight" appeared first on Dezeen.

Edward Goodwin, of London-based industrial design firm Goodwin Hartshorn, was hit with an idea for a new urinal design while visiting a museum. "When he got back to the studio, we sketched out the concept and contacted Ideal Standard with our idea," writes partner Richard Hartshorn. "They were intrigued, but needed us to prove it would work." "We built lots of test rigs and used water jets to demonstrate the function of the anti-splash fin." "We then handmade scale models to explore the sculptural form before refining the details with 1:1 blue foam models." "These urinals have been designed to eliminate splash-back with the inclusion of a central vertical 'fin'. The 'fin' allows the urine to strike at a near-tangential angle which significantly reduces any splash." These are now in production as the Contour Hygeniq Urinal Bowl.

CNC milling has been around for a while, typically with shop-based machines; we haven't seen a portable one since ShopBot discontinued their Handibot model. But Utah inventor Henry Ashworth built a portable CNC unit that takes a common Makita router, can be set up outdoors, and can engrave in concrete and stone. The engraving can then be filled with resin or painted. Ashworth launched a business around the machine called Red Art Technologies. He now sells the CNC Pro, as he named it, along with specialty engraving bits. The applications are numerous: Being portable, the machine can easily be moved and indexed, and has an infinite cutting area. It can even do walls. It breaks down to fit in this robust portable case. See the CNC Pro in action below.

Revival Cycles, an Austin, Texas-based custom motorcycle builder shop is known for its elegant and timeless builds. Theyve gone a bit out-of-the-box for their latest creation, and we already love the idea. Theyve built the Ducati Odioso, a sidecar cross bike with flamboyant looks to impress.Its uncommon to see a sidecar hooked onto a Ducati as the preferred bikes of choice are mostly Honda, Harley, BMW, or at best a Triumph. This build is different as the Donar two-wheeler is the Ducati ST4, a sports touring bike powered by a 916cc desmodromic engine made between 1999 and 2005. The sports touring motorcycle now gets a trellis frame and an outlandish exterior thats draped in peppy hues of green, pink, and blue.Designer: Revival CyclesThe tuner shop took a ST4 and modded it into a sidecar cross bike that is good enough for your expansive collection. Odioso in the naming convention means obnoxious in Italian, and this ride is true to that character with a sidecar-cross (famous motocross racing series in Europe and Australia) inspired design. This heavily modded version looks quite different from the original Ducati ST4, but we are not complaining one bit.It has a beefy 996cc L-Twin motor four-stroke engine that generates 120 horsepower, pretty powerful for a sidecar has to be said. The machine churns out 105 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and 61 lb-ft (83 Nm) of torque at 6,500 rpm. Odiosos drivetrain is mated to a six-speed gearbox having a dry clutch transferring the power to the rear wheels. It has an impressive top speed of 152 mph and the capability to go from 0 to 60 mph in under 3.2 seconds.The major modifications in this build include KTM forks, hlins suspension, and Ducati Monster swingarm. The weight of the sidecar is kept to a minimum so that it can traverse any kind of terrain. The shocks have been graduated with a fully adjustable hlins shock absorber, and the 17-inch rims are fitted with Metzeler Karoo 3 tires to make the bike off-road capable. Someone with respectable skills riding powerful bikes would want to take this for a spin on the dirt race tracks that have ramps for crazy jumps.Coming onto the main highlight, the sidecar is crafted from lightweight chrome-molybdenum steel and has multiple grab handles for the passenger (known as the Monkey in Sidecar Cross)to have a better grip during sharp directional changes. For better weight distribution the radiator, oil cooler, and lithium-ion battery have all been positioned on the sidecar.The ride has a good persona courtesy of the motocross fenders salvaged from a Honda SL350 and a very sharp fuel tank.According to Revival Cycles, after completely rewiring the entire bike and upgrading the fuel, braking, and suspension systems, the final bike weighed in at just over 380 pounds without the sidecar. Shaving over 140 pounds off the Donar bike comes in handy when youre landing hard on a 3-meter jump. Odioso also has impressive stopping power since it has a two-piston caliper on the two ends connected to 320 mm brake discs and four-piston calipers on the front.The bike is up for sale on the Revival Cycles website for $15,000, so you can grab one right away.The post Ducati ST4 turned into a vibrant sidecar with beefy performance and off-roading capabilities first appeared on Yanko Design.

As someone who lives in the concrete jungle most of my life, the idea of being surrounded by nature and taking time to sit quietly and meditate is a luxury that I rarely have. Its my dream actually to live somewhere that whenever I want to take a pause from looking at buildings and vehicles, I can go to a nearby spot and just have a time out from my daily life and marvel at nature. For those who have that privilege of living in a place like that, an observation point in the middle of all that is a welcome break. Designer: TephraAlong the Eau Morte riverbed in Faverges, France, there is one such observation point. Refuge of Stones is an installation and a shelter where you can observe the mineral landscape of the area. While its primarily a threshold between the path and the river, it is also a place where you can sit down and observe the different geological cycles that have shaped that area. The shelter has gabion walls that are made from seven tons of stones that actually come the dry riverbed itself and is a result of both mountain erosion and direct collection. Previously, they were hidden underneath the flowing water but now theyre part of the structure. The gabions also have wood and steel elements combining to give a porous texture that gives you different visual patterns with the light and shadows cast on the structure all throughout the day. There is a wooden bench inside the structure where you can rest and observe your surroundings as it is eye level with the dry riverbed when youre seated on it. The combination of the play of light and shadow and the dry riverbed, as well as the surrounding trees and plants give you time to meditate not just on nature but also the constantly shifting terrain of the Eau Morte riverbed. This structure is simple and minimalist but comes from the material integrity design approach. Each stone actually has its own story looking from the geological perspective but because they are now assembled and structured in another context, you get a new narrative, focusing on the passage of time and both the presence and absence of the water in the river. The post Refuge of Stones is a threshold to make you meditate on cyclical nature of the river first appeared on Yanko Design.

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