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The race is on

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Good morning! The election results are still far from official, Apple ditches Intel for its own silicon, and malls across the country are going bankrupt.

 

ELECTION

 

The presidential race that never ends

Pexels

 

A half-dozen states are still too close to call the U.S. presidential race, extending Election Day into Election Week. Despite all the speculation, the Midwest unsurprisingly will decide this contest. Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all swung Donald Trump’s way in 2016, and the incumbent president holds leads in two of those states.

 

While you were sleeping:

  • Wisconsin swung overnight in former Vice President Joe Biden’s favor, but just barely, and approximately 10% of the vote is left to count as of the deadline.

  • Arizona is likely going to flip for Biden, representing the first state to flip based on 2016 results. This is also the only state (besides Hawaii) that didn’t change its clocks last weekend for Daylight Saving Time. Coincidence?

  • Nevada favors Biden with most of the votes counted, but the margin is less than 1%, so expect some Vegas-style gambling in the courts to flip those results.

Biden has a 238-213 electoral college lead with 6 states left to count. Reports claim thousands of mail-in ballots could still flip Michigan and Pennsylvania to blue states. And the New York Times is still forecasting Georgia to fall in Biden’s favor despite a significant him being down still with most of the votes counted in the Peach State.


After all those years of petitioning to have the day after the Super Bowl turned into a national holiday, who is starting a new petition to make sure the day after presidential elections becomes a mandatory day off from work?



 

TECH

 

Apple all-in on new Mac chips

Pixabay

 

Details are emerging about the latest Mac laptop that could be unveiled during Apple’s special event on Nov. 10. This Mac will run on Apple-made processing chips, a first for the company that previously relied on Intel chips to power its computers.


A chip off the old block: 

  • We’ve known since the Worldwide Developers Conference in June that Apple had ambitions to build its own chip, but now we know Apple silicon will launch by year’s end, marking yet another market for Apple to take over!

  • MacOS is about to look and feel a lot like iOS on your iPhone and iPad, which already run on Apple-made processors. That means Apple can build custom features for Mac that were previously only possible on the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

  • The latest rumors predict a new 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and a redesigned iMac both in the works as part of the Apple silicon debut. The first MacBook Air on Apple silicon could arrive next year (for those of us who can’t afford the regular Mac computers). 

But will these new Apple chips match up to Intel’s processing speeds? Just in case, Business Insider reports that Apple is keeping Intel on standby to support its products, including some Macs that are yet to hit the market.

 

 

BUSINESS

 

You stopped going to the mall

Pexels

 

Indoor malls did not have a promising future before the pandemic (“Let’s go to the mall,” said no one this past decade), and COVID-19 might just break the industry responsible for your favorite teenage moments. 


Two major mall operators, CBL Properties and PREIT, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday. The company’s 130 malls will continue to operate while they figure out how to survive long enough to sell off their billions in combined assets.

 

Nostalgia no longer enough: 

  • The holiday bonanza that shopping malls normally count on will be subdued at best this year because of mandated closures and limited consumer interest in in-person shopping.

  • CBL, much larger than PREIT, has between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets and estimated liabilities. Most of its 107 malls are located in the midwest and southeastern U.S. 

  • PREIT, short for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, is injecting $150 million into the company to potentially bail out its 20 properties. 

CBL and PREIT aren’t getting any help from their tenants, who either can’t afford to pay rent or have filed bankruptcy themselves. Surely there is a domino analogy to use in this moment. 

 

 

 

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