Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.
GRANT BRICKMAN: The biggest customer of a rocket company is not a government. It is an AI firm. We asked the street.
ODETTE: Vox pop. Somebody is always willing to be asked. ▶
DIRECTOR MARGE: Put THE STREET on the board. Yes, that one. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: A space company whose biggest customer is the AI. Of course. Somebody had to rent the sky, and the AI is one guy with a lot of luggage. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: For viewers just joining: we first told you about this today at 12:02. Bloomberg reports Customer B is Anthropic. It is about a third of revenue. ▶
KAI: Huge story, so I'm at the data center asking real people. Nobody here has a rocket, but everybody has an opinion. Let's go. ▶
PASSERBY: I thought the space company sold rockets. Now a third of the money is computing? That is a very expensive way to rent a server. ▶
PASSERBY: The government used to be the big customer. Now it's the other way round. Taxpayers must feel like the plus-one at their own party. ▶
KAI: Huge point. Also, whoever designed this visitor badge charger needs a talking to. Wrong USB-C again. Next person, please! ▶
PASSERBY: Customer B. An anonymous source. That doesn't sound like business news. That sounds like a dating app. ▶
PASSERBY: So a company that goes to space is mostly paid for thinking on the ground? I want my tuition to work like that. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: One anonymous source, one customer called B, one third of revenue. The report doesn't say what comes next. The street has plenty of ideas. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A maker built a machine to wind magnets so flip-dot displays can click again. Ada has the coils.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Flip-dot displays. Little discs that click over. I believe our 1987 weather map did exactly that, on a good day. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: It had magnets, Grant. That is where the resemblance ends. Ada, take it away. ▶
ADA: Huge fan of this one! Larry's machine winds coils like a sewing machine fills a bobbin. I'm asking passers-by about it. Goggles on! ▶
PASSERBY: Winding thread onto a bobbin is how I spend my evenings. A machine doing it for magnets is the most relatable thing I've heard today. ▶
PASSERBY: An 8 by 8 panel needs 64 magnets. By hand, that's a lot of winding. I would build the machine too. ▶
ADA: Right? The discs sit on pivots, a pulse sets the polarity, and the disc stays put until the next flip. That is clever! ▶
PASSERBY: Click, and it stays where you put it until told otherwise. I wish my teenagers worked that way. ▶
PASSERBY: I can't even wind my headphone cable. This person built a machine for coils. I need to lie down. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Parts are expensive, makers stopped making them, so Larry built the machine that makes the parts. A very patient solution. ▶
Pixels in Brief (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Three quick ones: a Steam hit, a noise dispute, and a radiation shield that isn't.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Quick round. Phantom Blade Zero is on track to be a Steam hit on day one, GTA 6 notwithstanding. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Musk's AI firm offers to buy houses in a noise dispute, if owners waive lawsuits. Earplugs were cheaper. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Universe Today: a May 2024 solar storm let nearby electrons accelerate. The shield was not impenetrable. ▶
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Weather
STORMY BYTES: Good afternoon, I'm Stormy Bytes. The hype climate over data centers is warm, with a front of anonymous sources moving in from the north.
STORMY BYTES: A high-pressure system of customer B speculation is parked over the AI sector. Expect scattered theories and gusts of third-of-revenue talk.
STORMY BYTES: The outlook for space radiation stays unsettled. Bring a shield, but don't call it impenetrable.