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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
They only eat canned food, and all they have to entertain themselves is a deck of cards that they made themselves.
“I was probably going to pay a lot on the house,” Bailey replies. He’s sitting in his bed, where he’s made a canopy with a sheet to keep the light out, since the bright lights never turn off. Stacks of dollar bills lie atop his canopy, and he’s surrounded by 15 more briefcases filled with money, which he will only get if he can stick this out for another few months.
“I want to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie says. “That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
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33601
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
They only eat canned food, and all they have to entertain themselves is a deck of cards that they made themselves.
“I was probably going to pay a lot on the house,” Bailey replies. He’s sitting in his bed, where he’s made a canopy with a sheet to keep the light out, since the bright lights never turn off. Stacks of dollar bills lie atop his canopy, and he’s surrounded by 15 more briefcases filled with money, which he will only get if he can stick this out for another few months.
“I want to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie says. “That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts.
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33602
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“I was probably going to pay a lot on the house,” Bailey replies. He’s sitting in his bed, where he’s made a canopy with a sheet to keep the light out, since the bright lights never turn off. Stacks of dollar bills lie atop his canopy, and he’s surrounded by 15 more briefcases filled with money, which he will only get if he can stick this out for another few months.
“I want to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie says. “That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts. Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job.
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33603
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Stacks of dollar bills lie atop his canopy, and he’s surrounded by 15 more briefcases filled with money, which he will only get if he can stick this out for another few months.
“I want to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie says. “That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts. Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job. With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits.
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33604
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“I want to pay off my parents’ debt,” Suzie says. “That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts. Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job. With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
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33605
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“That would be like, my ideal world.”
Taylor and Stanfield successfully completed the challenge, winning $185,000 each. But what’s intriguing about their reality TV-like experience is that this trade-off has become a new normal on social media. If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts. Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job. With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained.
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33606
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
If you agree to suffer for content, you might just be able to pay off your parents’ debt.
The most successful YouTuber in the world, MrBeast, is known for his expensive stunts. Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job. With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers).
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33607
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Four years ago, this meant paying people $10,000 to eat a ghost pepper, giving someone $100,000 to spend in one hour, or offering a stranger $100,000 to quit their job. With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers). But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning.
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33608
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers). But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning. Americans are so saddled with debt — medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit card interest — that it seems like the only way out is to sign up for a massively unpleasant YouTube stunt.
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33609
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
With each video, MrBeast’s challenges have become a bit more diabolical, pushing contestants’ physical and mental fortitude to their limits. Now, starring in one of his videos means surviving in a locked room with a stranger for over three months, or living in a grocery store.
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers). But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning. Americans are so saddled with debt — medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit card interest — that it seems like the only way out is to sign up for a massively unpleasant YouTube stunt.
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
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33610
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers). But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning. Americans are so saddled with debt — medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit card interest — that it seems like the only way out is to sign up for a massively unpleasant YouTube stunt.
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she said tearfully.
|
33611
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
A 25-year-old named Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, must constantly up the ante in every video to keep his massive audience entertained. Oftentimes, MrBeast is the one putting himself in these nightmarish situations, like when he buried himself alive for seven days (and while he was 10 feet underground in a coffin, he celebrated hitting the milestone of 200 million YouTube subscribers). But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning. Americans are so saddled with debt — medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit card interest — that it seems like the only way out is to sign up for a massively unpleasant YouTube stunt.
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she said tearfully. “I’m going to take a lot of this to pay my bills.”
And Alex, the man who lived in a grocery store for 45 days, said he would set aside $60,000 of his winnings to pay off debt, $130,000 for his house and $60,000 for his two kids’ college fund.
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33612
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
But his contestants’ goals have remained the same since the beginning. Americans are so saddled with debt — medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit card interest — that it seems like the only way out is to sign up for a massively unpleasant YouTube stunt.
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she said tearfully. “I’m going to take a lot of this to pay my bills.”
And Alex, the man who lived in a grocery store for 45 days, said he would set aside $60,000 of his winnings to pay off debt, $130,000 for his house and $60,000 for his two kids’ college fund.
“Money is the thing we’d trade our life for,” said contestant Shawn Hendrix in one MrBeast video, in which he lived in a giant circle in the middle of nowhere for 100 days, away from his wife and four children.
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33613
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she said tearfully. “I’m going to take a lot of this to pay my bills.”
And Alex, the man who lived in a grocery store for 45 days, said he would set aside $60,000 of his winnings to pay off debt, $130,000 for his house and $60,000 for his two kids’ college fund.
“Money is the thing we’d trade our life for,” said contestant Shawn Hendrix in one MrBeast video, in which he lived in a giant circle in the middle of nowhere for 100 days, away from his wife and four children. “I’ve given up a third of a year of my life for half a million.
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33614
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
One of the 100 contestants in a video called “Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000” cried when she earned a consolation prize of a few thousand dollars.
“This is going to change my life,” she said tearfully. “I’m going to take a lot of this to pay my bills.”
And Alex, the man who lived in a grocery store for 45 days, said he would set aside $60,000 of his winnings to pay off debt, $130,000 for his house and $60,000 for his two kids’ college fund.
“Money is the thing we’d trade our life for,” said contestant Shawn Hendrix in one MrBeast video, in which he lived in a giant circle in the middle of nowhere for 100 days, away from his wife and four children. “I’ve given up a third of a year of my life for half a million. Make sure you’re trading your life for things that are worth it.”
The situation is oddly reminiscent of “Squid Game,” the Netflix series about 456 contestants who are so deeply in debt that they agree to fight to the death for the chance to win millions of dollars, all while the wealthy elite watch for sport.
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33615
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“Money is the thing we’d trade our life for,” said contestant Shawn Hendrix in one MrBeast video, in which he lived in a giant circle in the middle of nowhere for 100 days, away from his wife and four children. “I’ve given up a third of a year of my life for half a million. Make sure you’re trading your life for things that are worth it.”
The situation is oddly reminiscent of “Squid Game,” the Netflix series about 456 contestants who are so deeply in debt that they agree to fight to the death for the chance to win millions of dollars, all while the wealthy elite watch for sport. And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger.
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33616
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“I’ve given up a third of a year of my life for half a million. Make sure you’re trading your life for things that are worth it.”
The situation is oddly reminiscent of “Squid Game,” the Netflix series about 456 contestants who are so deeply in debt that they agree to fight to the death for the chance to win millions of dollars, all while the wealthy elite watch for sport. And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars.
|
33617
|
The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
“I’ve given up a third of a year of my life for half a million. Make sure you’re trading your life for things that are worth it.”
The situation is oddly reminiscent of “Squid Game,” the Netflix series about 456 contestants who are so deeply in debt that they agree to fight to the death for the chance to win millions of dollars, all while the wealthy elite watch for sport. And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars. And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
|
33618
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Make sure you’re trading your life for things that are worth it.”
The situation is oddly reminiscent of “Squid Game,” the Netflix series about 456 contestants who are so deeply in debt that they agree to fight to the death for the chance to win millions of dollars, all while the wealthy elite watch for sport. And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars. And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens?
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33619
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars. And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens? The American Dream is no longer the promise that anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough.
|
33620
|
The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
And, to be extremely on the nose, MrBeast created his very own Squid Game challenge, where 456 people competed for $456,000. Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars. And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens? The American Dream is no longer the promise that anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough. Now, it’s the hope that maybe one day MrBeast will film you living in terrible conditions for a few months, and then you’ll be able to pay off the debt you accumulated by simply just going to school or getting sick.
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33621
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Then, Netflix also created a reality competition show based on the dystopian thriller.
Of course, the contestants on Netflix or in MrBeast videos are participating voluntarily and are not in mortal danger. Still, we’re living in a country where the total amount of student debt has almost tripled in the last 15 years to over $1.77 trillion dollars. And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens? The American Dream is no longer the promise that anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough. Now, it’s the hope that maybe one day MrBeast will film you living in terrible conditions for a few months, and then you’ll be able to pay off the debt you accumulated by simply just going to school or getting sick.
One of the two contestants who just won $185,000 for living in a barren room with a stranger for 100 days, Suzie Taylor is using this exposure to jumpstart her career as a content creator.
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33622
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
And according to a study from Kaiser Health News and NPR, 41% of American adults have some form of medical debt.
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens? The American Dream is no longer the promise that anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough. Now, it’s the hope that maybe one day MrBeast will film you living in terrible conditions for a few months, and then you’ll be able to pay off the debt you accumulated by simply just going to school or getting sick.
One of the two contestants who just won $185,000 for living in a barren room with a stranger for 100 days, Suzie Taylor is using this exposure to jumpstart her career as a content creator. Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
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33623
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
If getting sick can render you bankrupt, why not live inside a grocery store for 45 days if it could eliminate your financial burdens? The American Dream is no longer the promise that anyone can get rich if they just work hard enough. Now, it’s the hope that maybe one day MrBeast will film you living in terrible conditions for a few months, and then you’ll be able to pay off the debt you accumulated by simply just going to school or getting sick.
One of the two contestants who just won $185,000 for living in a barren room with a stranger for 100 days, Suzie Taylor is using this exposure to jumpstart her career as a content creator. Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
In tandem with the release of MrBeast’s video about her, Taylor posted a video called “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast.” Her video pays homage to MrBeast’s old-school guerilla philanthropy videos, as she drives around Los Angeles doing good deeds for strangers.
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33624
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Now, it’s the hope that maybe one day MrBeast will film you living in terrible conditions for a few months, and then you’ll be able to pay off the debt you accumulated by simply just going to school or getting sick.
One of the two contestants who just won $185,000 for living in a barren room with a stranger for 100 days, Suzie Taylor is using this exposure to jumpstart her career as a content creator. Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
In tandem with the release of MrBeast’s video about her, Taylor posted a video called “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast.” Her video pays homage to MrBeast’s old-school guerilla philanthropy videos, as she drives around Los Angeles doing good deeds for strangers. She buys a child a hoverboard at Target, she gives money to homeless people, and she pays for everyone’s ice cream at a very crowded dessert shop.
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33625
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
One of the two contestants who just won $185,000 for living in a barren room with a stranger for 100 days, Suzie Taylor is using this exposure to jumpstart her career as a content creator. Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
In tandem with the release of MrBeast’s video about her, Taylor posted a video called “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast.” Her video pays homage to MrBeast’s old-school guerilla philanthropy videos, as she drives around Los Angeles doing good deeds for strangers. She buys a child a hoverboard at Target, she gives money to homeless people, and she pays for everyone’s ice cream at a very crowded dessert shop. She’s quite literally using the money she won from MrBeast to jumpstart her online career, wherein she’s emulating the same playbook that made MrBeast who he is.
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33626
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
In tandem with the release of MrBeast’s video about her, Taylor posted a video called “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast.” Her video pays homage to MrBeast’s old-school guerilla philanthropy videos, as she drives around Los Angeles doing good deeds for strangers. She buys a child a hoverboard at Target, she gives money to homeless people, and she pays for everyone’s ice cream at a very crowded dessert shop. She’s quite literally using the money she won from MrBeast to jumpstart her online career, wherein she’s emulating the same playbook that made MrBeast who he is.
Taylor’s strategy is low-key genius. According to the Wayback Machine, she had 300 subscribers in April.
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33627
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
Now that 78 million YouTube viewers (and counting) have watched her get pushed to her psychological limits for cash, she’s reinvesting her winnings into becoming a content creator herself.
In tandem with the release of MrBeast’s video about her, Taylor posted a video called “I Spent $185,000 From MrBeast.” Her video pays homage to MrBeast’s old-school guerilla philanthropy videos, as she drives around Los Angeles doing good deeds for strangers. She buys a child a hoverboard at Target, she gives money to homeless people, and she pays for everyone’s ice cream at a very crowded dessert shop. She’s quite literally using the money she won from MrBeast to jumpstart her online career, wherein she’s emulating the same playbook that made MrBeast who he is.
Taylor’s strategy is low-key genius. According to the Wayback Machine, she had 300 subscribers in April. On Sunday, December 17, the day after she and MrBeast posted their videos, Taylor had around 12,000 subscribers, and on Wednesday, December 20, she’s broken 100,000.
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33628
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The new American Dream is to get MrBeast to pay off your debt
She buys a child a hoverboard at Target, she gives money to homeless people, and she pays for everyone’s ice cream at a very crowded dessert shop. She’s quite literally using the money she won from MrBeast to jumpstart her online career, wherein she’s emulating the same playbook that made MrBeast who he is.
Taylor’s strategy is low-key genius. According to the Wayback Machine, she had 300 subscribers in April. On Sunday, December 17, the day after she and MrBeast posted their videos, Taylor had around 12,000 subscribers, and on Wednesday, December 20, she’s broken 100,000. So, if Taylor can keep her subscribers engaged beyond her 15 minutes of fame, she won’t just have won $185,000 from MrBeast. She’ll have made a down payment on a whole new career.
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33629
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Automakers and technology companies are building ever-more sophisticated digital platforms into the future generations of cars and other vehicles. Today, a startup that’s built a system to make it easy to connect that software and hardware to wireless networks has picked up a major round of funding.
Cubic Telecom, which provides a software-based networking solution for vehicles (and other devices) to link up with mobile networks in whichever country they happen to be, has picked up €473 million ($513 million at today’s rates) from SoftBank Corp. SoftBank is taking a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valuing it at just over $1 billion (€927 million).
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company.
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33630
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Automakers and technology companies are building ever-more sophisticated digital platforms into the future generations of cars and other vehicles. Today, a startup that’s built a system to make it easy to connect that software and hardware to wireless networks has picked up a major round of funding.
Cubic Telecom, which provides a software-based networking solution for vehicles (and other devices) to link up with mobile networks in whichever country they happen to be, has picked up €473 million ($513 million at today’s rates) from SoftBank Corp. SoftBank is taking a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valuing it at just over $1 billion (€927 million).
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
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33631
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom, which provides a software-based networking solution for vehicles (and other devices) to link up with mobile networks in whichever country they happen to be, has picked up €473 million ($513 million at today’s rates) from SoftBank Corp. SoftBank is taking a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valuing it at just over $1 billion (€927 million).
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business.
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33632
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom, which provides a software-based networking solution for vehicles (and other devices) to link up with mobile networks in whichever country they happen to be, has picked up €473 million ($513 million at today’s rates) from SoftBank Corp. SoftBank is taking a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valuing it at just over $1 billion (€927 million).
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
SoftBank is taking a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valuing it at just over $1 billion (€927 million).
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
This effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will stay on as CEO and will have a seat on the board of the company. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
But the size of this particular round is due to how fast the company is growing right now.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s SVP of global business, plus two other SoftBank-appointed people (still unnamed) will join the board, with the remaining three board seats occupied by existing Cubic Telecom investors, which include CARIAD (the Volkswagen Group) and Qualcomm.
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
But the size of this particular round is due to how fast the company is growing right now. Cubic Telecom is currently linking up 450,000 new vehicles — consumer cars, trucks and more — using its platform each month, and orders in the books are going to raise that rate “exponentially” over the next five years, the company said.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
The funding will be used to continue building out Cubic Telecom’s technology and business. Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
But the size of this particular round is due to how fast the company is growing right now. Cubic Telecom is currently linking up 450,000 new vehicles — consumer cars, trucks and more — using its platform each month, and orders in the books are going to raise that rate “exponentially” over the next five years, the company said. Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Today, it has partnerships with 90 national and multinational mobile network operators and provides connectivity to 17 million+ vehicles in 190 countries and regions.
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
But the size of this particular round is due to how fast the company is growing right now. Cubic Telecom is currently linking up 450,000 new vehicles — consumer cars, trucks and more — using its platform each month, and orders in the books are going to raise that rate “exponentially” over the next five years, the company said. Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030. Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
That’s only between 7% and 10% of the current market, Cubic Telecom COO Shane Sorohan said in an interview. (It might be actually slightly lower: Juniper Research estimates that the number of connected vehicles in the market today is around 192 million.)
But the size of this particular round is due to how fast the company is growing right now. Cubic Telecom is currently linking up 450,000 new vehicles — consumer cars, trucks and more — using its platform each month, and orders in the books are going to raise that rate “exponentially” over the next five years, the company said. Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030. Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
Growth in the industry is due to a few factors: networks continue to improve, in particular with 5G especially suited to IoT deployments; cloud-based data services and vehicles themselves are getting more advanced; and thanks to the evolution of other connected devices like smartphones, watches, televisions and so much more, consumers and business are expecting more functionality in their vehicles.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom is currently linking up 450,000 new vehicles — consumer cars, trucks and more — using its platform each month, and orders in the books are going to raise that rate “exponentially” over the next five years, the company said. Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030. Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
Growth in the industry is due to a few factors: networks continue to improve, in particular with 5G especially suited to IoT deployments; cloud-based data services and vehicles themselves are getting more advanced; and thanks to the evolution of other connected devices like smartphones, watches, televisions and so much more, consumers and business are expecting more functionality in their vehicles.
To be clear, Cubic Telecom’s investment is coming from SoftBank Corp., not SoftBank Group, nor the company’s storied Vision Fund, known — and occasionally notorious — for its outsized venture deals.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030. Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
Growth in the industry is due to a few factors: networks continue to improve, in particular with 5G especially suited to IoT deployments; cloud-based data services and vehicles themselves are getting more advanced; and thanks to the evolution of other connected devices like smartphones, watches, televisions and so much more, consumers and business are expecting more functionality in their vehicles.
To be clear, Cubic Telecom’s investment is coming from SoftBank Corp., not SoftBank Group, nor the company’s storied Vision Fund, known — and occasionally notorious — for its outsized venture deals.
In this case, the Japanese telecoms and IT division in Tokyo is putting in the money as a strategic investment.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom cites forecasts from McKinsey noting that some 95% of new vehicles will be sold with wireless connectivity built into them by 2030. Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
Growth in the industry is due to a few factors: networks continue to improve, in particular with 5G especially suited to IoT deployments; cloud-based data services and vehicles themselves are getting more advanced; and thanks to the evolution of other connected devices like smartphones, watches, televisions and so much more, consumers and business are expecting more functionality in their vehicles.
To be clear, Cubic Telecom’s investment is coming from SoftBank Corp., not SoftBank Group, nor the company’s storied Vision Fund, known — and occasionally notorious — for its outsized venture deals.
In this case, the Japanese telecoms and IT division in Tokyo is putting in the money as a strategic investment.
The pair have been working together in Japan, where Cubic Telecom has been integrating SoftBank’s wireless network to provide connectivity to connected cars.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Juniper puts the number of new cars on the road by then that will be “connected” at just under 400 million.
Growth in the industry is due to a few factors: networks continue to improve, in particular with 5G especially suited to IoT deployments; cloud-based data services and vehicles themselves are getting more advanced; and thanks to the evolution of other connected devices like smartphones, watches, televisions and so much more, consumers and business are expecting more functionality in their vehicles.
To be clear, Cubic Telecom’s investment is coming from SoftBank Corp., not SoftBank Group, nor the company’s storied Vision Fund, known — and occasionally notorious — for its outsized venture deals.
In this case, the Japanese telecoms and IT division in Tokyo is putting in the money as a strategic investment.
The pair have been working together in Japan, where Cubic Telecom has been integrating SoftBank’s wireless network to provide connectivity to connected cars. And now, SBC sees an opportunity to expand internationally not through costly builds of more network, or by acquiring other carriers, but by taking a stake in a partner that it sees is getting strong traction as an IT partner globally precisely in that area where telecoms meets technology — a holy grail-type goal for carriers, especially these days as their networks become further commoditized.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
To be clear, Cubic Telecom’s investment is coming from SoftBank Corp., not SoftBank Group, nor the company’s storied Vision Fund, known — and occasionally notorious — for its outsized venture deals.
In this case, the Japanese telecoms and IT division in Tokyo is putting in the money as a strategic investment.
The pair have been working together in Japan, where Cubic Telecom has been integrating SoftBank’s wireless network to provide connectivity to connected cars. And now, SBC sees an opportunity to expand internationally not through costly builds of more network, or by acquiring other carriers, but by taking a stake in a partner that it sees is getting strong traction as an IT partner globally precisely in that area where telecoms meets technology — a holy grail-type goal for carriers, especially these days as their networks become further commoditized.
Cubic plans to continue building more connectivity for vehicles, Sorohan said, but he added that the company’s infrastructure and partnerships can work in a number of other verticals, such as the agricultural industry, where national and multinational companies are now using a multitude of connected tooling and autonomous equipment in remote areas.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
In this case, the Japanese telecoms and IT division in Tokyo is putting in the money as a strategic investment.
The pair have been working together in Japan, where Cubic Telecom has been integrating SoftBank’s wireless network to provide connectivity to connected cars. And now, SBC sees an opportunity to expand internationally not through costly builds of more network, or by acquiring other carriers, but by taking a stake in a partner that it sees is getting strong traction as an IT partner globally precisely in that area where telecoms meets technology — a holy grail-type goal for carriers, especially these days as their networks become further commoditized.
Cubic plans to continue building more connectivity for vehicles, Sorohan said, but he added that the company’s infrastructure and partnerships can work in a number of other verticals, such as the agricultural industry, where national and multinational companies are now using a multitude of connected tooling and autonomous equipment in remote areas.
Cubic Telecom’s business goes back to before connected cars were a significant business — it actually appeared at TechCrunch’s first-ever Battlefield in 2007, when it was focused more on helping consumers connect mobile phones to international networks when roaming.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
And now, SBC sees an opportunity to expand internationally not through costly builds of more network, or by acquiring other carriers, but by taking a stake in a partner that it sees is getting strong traction as an IT partner globally precisely in that area where telecoms meets technology — a holy grail-type goal for carriers, especially these days as their networks become further commoditized.
Cubic plans to continue building more connectivity for vehicles, Sorohan said, but he added that the company’s infrastructure and partnerships can work in a number of other verticals, such as the agricultural industry, where national and multinational companies are now using a multitude of connected tooling and autonomous equipment in remote areas.
Cubic Telecom’s business goes back to before connected cars were a significant business — it actually appeared at TechCrunch’s first-ever Battlefield in 2007, when it was focused more on helping consumers connect mobile phones to international networks when roaming. But it was its current focus on vehicles that turbo-charged the business, attracting investment from the likes of Audi and Qualcomm.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic plans to continue building more connectivity for vehicles, Sorohan said, but he added that the company’s infrastructure and partnerships can work in a number of other verticals, such as the agricultural industry, where national and multinational companies are now using a multitude of connected tooling and autonomous equipment in remote areas.
Cubic Telecom’s business goes back to before connected cars were a significant business — it actually appeared at TechCrunch’s first-ever Battlefield in 2007, when it was focused more on helping consumers connect mobile phones to international networks when roaming. But it was its current focus on vehicles that turbo-charged the business, attracting investment from the likes of Audi and Qualcomm.
The bigger gap in the market that the company has been targeting and building to plug for the last several years has been that, while tech companies and automakers have been working on ways to build more functionality into vehicles — whether that be more clever ways to manage and respond to diagnostics on the vehicle, or give you an easier way to listen to Spotify, or to help drive a car altogether — the piece that has remained more tricky is the internet connectivity to make all of that work.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic Telecom’s business goes back to before connected cars were a significant business — it actually appeared at TechCrunch’s first-ever Battlefield in 2007, when it was focused more on helping consumers connect mobile phones to international networks when roaming. But it was its current focus on vehicles that turbo-charged the business, attracting investment from the likes of Audi and Qualcomm.
The bigger gap in the market that the company has been targeting and building to plug for the last several years has been that, while tech companies and automakers have been working on ways to build more functionality into vehicles — whether that be more clever ways to manage and respond to diagnostics on the vehicle, or give you an easier way to listen to Spotify, or to help drive a car altogether — the piece that has remained more tricky is the internet connectivity to make all of that work.
Typically, car makers will have to cut deals with individual carriers region-by-region, which is time-consuming, costly and does nothing for creating a seamless experience at the front end for users, either.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
But it was its current focus on vehicles that turbo-charged the business, attracting investment from the likes of Audi and Qualcomm.
The bigger gap in the market that the company has been targeting and building to plug for the last several years has been that, while tech companies and automakers have been working on ways to build more functionality into vehicles — whether that be more clever ways to manage and respond to diagnostics on the vehicle, or give you an easier way to listen to Spotify, or to help drive a car altogether — the piece that has remained more tricky is the internet connectivity to make all of that work.
Typically, car makers will have to cut deals with individual carriers region-by-region, which is time-consuming, costly and does nothing for creating a seamless experience at the front end for users, either. Cubic’s platform acts as a wholesale aggregator, and it essentially helps to manage all of that automatically and at a lower cost, so that cars come delivered into a market ready to use, and if those cars are then driven into another region, they will continue to work there, too.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
The bigger gap in the market that the company has been targeting and building to plug for the last several years has been that, while tech companies and automakers have been working on ways to build more functionality into vehicles — whether that be more clever ways to manage and respond to diagnostics on the vehicle, or give you an easier way to listen to Spotify, or to help drive a car altogether — the piece that has remained more tricky is the internet connectivity to make all of that work.
Typically, car makers will have to cut deals with individual carriers region-by-region, which is time-consuming, costly and does nothing for creating a seamless experience at the front end for users, either. Cubic’s platform acts as a wholesale aggregator, and it essentially helps to manage all of that automatically and at a lower cost, so that cars come delivered into a market ready to use, and if those cars are then driven into another region, they will continue to work there, too.
As vehicles continue to get more sophisticated, it’s a fair bet that technology companies and automakers themselves will come up with more seamless ways themselves to manage that connectivity.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Typically, car makers will have to cut deals with individual carriers region-by-region, which is time-consuming, costly and does nothing for creating a seamless experience at the front end for users, either. Cubic’s platform acts as a wholesale aggregator, and it essentially helps to manage all of that automatically and at a lower cost, so that cars come delivered into a market ready to use, and if those cars are then driven into another region, they will continue to work there, too.
As vehicles continue to get more sophisticated, it’s a fair bet that technology companies and automakers themselves will come up with more seamless ways themselves to manage that connectivity. Looking at what Apple and others are building with eSIMs is a sign of how there will be easier ways to provision services as easy as it is today for most people and businesses to install, or uninstall, software.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Typically, car makers will have to cut deals with individual carriers region-by-region, which is time-consuming, costly and does nothing for creating a seamless experience at the front end for users, either. Cubic’s platform acts as a wholesale aggregator, and it essentially helps to manage all of that automatically and at a lower cost, so that cars come delivered into a market ready to use, and if those cars are then driven into another region, they will continue to work there, too.
As vehicles continue to get more sophisticated, it’s a fair bet that technology companies and automakers themselves will come up with more seamless ways themselves to manage that connectivity. Looking at what Apple and others are building with eSIMs is a sign of how there will be easier ways to provision services as easy as it is today for most people and businesses to install, or uninstall, software. But for now, the Cubic approach is one that is helping to bring down the cost of building and managing it, and that gives it a key role for some years to come.
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SoftBank Corp takes 51% of Cubic Telecom for $513M to drive into the connected car world
Cubic’s platform acts as a wholesale aggregator, and it essentially helps to manage all of that automatically and at a lower cost, so that cars come delivered into a market ready to use, and if those cars are then driven into another region, they will continue to work there, too.
As vehicles continue to get more sophisticated, it’s a fair bet that technology companies and automakers themselves will come up with more seamless ways themselves to manage that connectivity. Looking at what Apple and others are building with eSIMs is a sign of how there will be easier ways to provision services as easy as it is today for most people and businesses to install, or uninstall, software. But for now, the Cubic approach is one that is helping to bring down the cost of building and managing it, and that gives it a key role for some years to come.
“In line with our ‘Beyond Japan’ strategic growth initiative, we are extremely pleased to be teaming up with Cubic Telecom to make a full-fledged entry into the fast-growing market for high-value IoT asset connectivity,” said Junichi Miyakawa, president & CEO of SoftBank Corp., in a statement.
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A tale of two research institutes
If you’re lucky, once a year you get to put together a panel built on pure kismet. Pairing Gill Pratt with Marc Raibert was exactly that for me. The two go back several decades, to the salad days of MIT’s Leg Lab.
[A version of this story originally appeared in TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter, Actuator. Subscribe for free here.]
Raibert founded the lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1980, before moving operations to MIT. The team was focused on robot locomotion research that would pave the way for Boston Dynamics’ work.
“When we first got started, all robots that had legs were very slow moving, crab-like things that would hug the ground and then tentatively take a step and hope that things didn’t topple over and then move like a slow-moving spider,” says Raibert.
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A tale of two research institutes
If you’re lucky, once a year you get to put together a panel built on pure kismet. Pairing Gill Pratt with Marc Raibert was exactly that for me. The two go back several decades, to the salad days of MIT’s Leg Lab.
[A version of this story originally appeared in TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter, Actuator. Subscribe for free here.]
Raibert founded the lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1980, before moving operations to MIT. The team was focused on robot locomotion research that would pave the way for Boston Dynamics’ work.
“When we first got started, all robots that had legs were very slow moving, crab-like things that would hug the ground and then tentatively take a step and hope that things didn’t topple over and then move like a slow-moving spider,” says Raibert. “I was interested in how animals work, and I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this is about as far from right as you can get.’ I went the other way to see if we can do something where the dynamics and the energy in the machine [were] part of the story, and springs and bouncing were part of the story.
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A tale of two research institutes
[A version of this story originally appeared in TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter, Actuator. Subscribe for free here.]
Raibert founded the lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1980, before moving operations to MIT. The team was focused on robot locomotion research that would pave the way for Boston Dynamics’ work.
“When we first got started, all robots that had legs were very slow moving, crab-like things that would hug the ground and then tentatively take a step and hope that things didn’t topple over and then move like a slow-moving spider,” says Raibert. “I was interested in how animals work, and I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this is about as far from right as you can get.’ I went the other way to see if we can do something where the dynamics and the energy in the machine [were] part of the story, and springs and bouncing were part of the story. My lab worked on that.
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A tale of two research institutes
Subscribe for free here.]
Raibert founded the lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1980, before moving operations to MIT. The team was focused on robot locomotion research that would pave the way for Boston Dynamics’ work.
“When we first got started, all robots that had legs were very slow moving, crab-like things that would hug the ground and then tentatively take a step and hope that things didn’t topple over and then move like a slow-moving spider,” says Raibert. “I was interested in how animals work, and I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this is about as far from right as you can get.’ I went the other way to see if we can do something where the dynamics and the energy in the machine [were] part of the story, and springs and bouncing were part of the story. My lab worked on that. We built pogo stick robots.”
Raibert ran the lab for 15 years.
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A tale of two research institutes
Raibert founded the lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1980, before moving operations to MIT. The team was focused on robot locomotion research that would pave the way for Boston Dynamics’ work.
“When we first got started, all robots that had legs were very slow moving, crab-like things that would hug the ground and then tentatively take a step and hope that things didn’t topple over and then move like a slow-moving spider,” says Raibert. “I was interested in how animals work, and I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this is about as far from right as you can get.’ I went the other way to see if we can do something where the dynamics and the energy in the machine [were] part of the story, and springs and bouncing were part of the story. My lab worked on that. We built pogo stick robots.”
Raibert ran the lab for 15 years. A number of future robotics luminaries would make their way through the program over the course of its existence, including AI ethics professor Joanna Bryson, research scientist Jerry Pratt, Wobbleworks co-founder Peter Dilworth, artist Daniel Paluska, CSAIL professor/Toyota Research Institute (TRI) VP Russ Tedrake, UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, Boston Dynamics CEO Rob Playter and Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, who was a visiting student from CMU one summer.
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A tale of two research institutes
“I was interested in how animals work, and I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this is about as far from right as you can get.’ I went the other way to see if we can do something where the dynamics and the energy in the machine [were] part of the story, and springs and bouncing were part of the story. My lab worked on that. We built pogo stick robots.”
Raibert ran the lab for 15 years. A number of future robotics luminaries would make their way through the program over the course of its existence, including AI ethics professor Joanna Bryson, research scientist Jerry Pratt, Wobbleworks co-founder Peter Dilworth, artist Daniel Paluska, CSAIL professor/Toyota Research Institute (TRI) VP Russ Tedrake, UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, Boston Dynamics CEO Rob Playter and Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, who was a visiting student from CMU one summer.
Raibert and Pratt first crossed paths when the latter was a student at MIT.
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A tale of two research institutes
My lab worked on that. We built pogo stick robots.”
Raibert ran the lab for 15 years. A number of future robotics luminaries would make their way through the program over the course of its existence, including AI ethics professor Joanna Bryson, research scientist Jerry Pratt, Wobbleworks co-founder Peter Dilworth, artist Daniel Paluska, CSAIL professor/Toyota Research Institute (TRI) VP Russ Tedrake, UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, Boston Dynamics CEO Rob Playter and Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, who was a visiting student from CMU one summer.
Raibert and Pratt first crossed paths when the latter was a student at MIT. Raibert would found Boston Dynamics in 1992, handing the Leg Lab keys over to Pratt three years later.
“Marc was an incredibly generous professor,” Pratt says of their early days. “One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me.
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A tale of two research institutes
A number of future robotics luminaries would make their way through the program over the course of its existence, including AI ethics professor Joanna Bryson, research scientist Jerry Pratt, Wobbleworks co-founder Peter Dilworth, artist Daniel Paluska, CSAIL professor/Toyota Research Institute (TRI) VP Russ Tedrake, UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, Boston Dynamics CEO Rob Playter and Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst, who was a visiting student from CMU one summer.
Raibert and Pratt first crossed paths when the latter was a student at MIT. Raibert would found Boston Dynamics in 1992, handing the Leg Lab keys over to Pratt three years later.
“Marc was an incredibly generous professor,” Pratt says of their early days. “One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me. For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run.
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A tale of two research institutes
Raibert and Pratt first crossed paths when the latter was a student at MIT. Raibert would found Boston Dynamics in 1992, handing the Leg Lab keys over to Pratt three years later.
“Marc was an incredibly generous professor,” Pratt says of their early days. “One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me. For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run. I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA.
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A tale of two research institutes
Raibert would found Boston Dynamics in 1992, handing the Leg Lab keys over to Pratt three years later.
“Marc was an incredibly generous professor,” Pratt says of their early days. “One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me. For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run. I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA.
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A tale of two research institutes
“Marc was an incredibly generous professor,” Pratt says of their early days. “One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me. For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run. I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
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33665
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A tale of two research institutes
“One of the wonderful things about MIT at the time and Marc in particular is that I was this young kid, and both as a graduate student and then a young professor, he welcomed me. For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run. I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO.
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33666
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A tale of two research institutes
For a while, both of us were working in the Leg Lab at the same time, and Marc had done this extraordinary work on robots that run. I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits.
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33667
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A tale of two research institutes
I decided that maybe I would work on robots that walk. That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI.
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33668
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A tale of two research institutes
That’s how we intersected then, and then when he went off to form Boston Dynamics, he was very kind and basically gave me the lab and all the stuff that was there.”
Pratt remained in academia for the next two decades, transferring from MIT to Olin in 2001. Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
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33669
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A tale of two research institutes
Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
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33670
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A tale of two research institutes
Nine years later, he became a program manager at DARPA. It was there the two crossed paths yet again. Boston Dynamics designed Atlas for DARPA. The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice.
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33671
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A tale of two research institutes
The humanoid robot made its debut in 2013 and has since become a mainstay in robotics challenges.
Three years later, Pratt was named TRI’s CEO. Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D.
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33672
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A tale of two research institutes
Raibert continued as Boston Dynamics’ CEO until 2019, handing the reins over to longtime employee Rob Playter, who managed the company’s shift to more commercial pursuits. Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now.
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33673
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A tale of two research institutes
Last year, Raibert (who still serves as BD’s chairman) founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute. The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry.
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33674
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A tale of two research institutes
The organization has a lot in common with TRI. Both are dedicated to pure research, with the backing of two major automakers (Toyota and Hyundai).
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc.
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33675
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A tale of two research institutes
I recognize that “pure research” is a bit of a loaded term. The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars.
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33676
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A tale of two research institutes
The concept is certainly a hopeful one: finding a method that can sustain research outside of the pressures of academia and corporate R&D.
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars?
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33677
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A tale of two research institutes
Asked whether there is pressure from Toyota to productize, Pratt says, “There actually is not, and I’m not saying that just to be nice. I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next.
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33678
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A tale of two research institutes
I think one of the great things about companies that have existed for long times is that this isn’t the first time that they’ve done R&D. Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations.
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33679
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A tale of two research institutes
Certainly most of the R&D budget inside of Toyota is spent figuring out how to make the next car or maybe the car five years from now. But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations. The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week.
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A tale of two research institutes
But there’s this notion — and I’m sure Hyundai shares this — that we’re at the once-in-a-century time for transformation in the car industry. Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations. The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots.
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33681
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A tale of two research institutes
Battery electric vehicles are much simpler to make than cars have been in the past — no engine, no transmission, etc. So, we’re going to have to compete in a much fiercer way in cars. But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations. The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots. If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke.
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33682
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A tale of two research institutes
But also, can we use the skills, the dreams and the hopes of the company to go beyond cars? TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations. The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots. If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French.
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33683
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A tale of two research institutes
TRI’s job is to actually think about [what’s] next. What’s next after cars, as well as some fancy stuff on cars.”
For TRI, much of the “what’s next” focuses on supporting aging populations. The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots. If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French. That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work.
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33684
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A tale of two research institutes
The organization invests a good portion of its resources to building out technology designed to help older people live more independently. That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots. If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French. That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work. They’re really useful, but they don’t solve that part of the problem. We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
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A tale of two research institutes
That’s at the root of the research we shared from the institute last week. Noted senior research scientist Benjamin Burchfiel:
We’ve seen some big progress with the advent of [large language models], using them to impart this high level of cognitive intelligence into robots. If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French. That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work. They’re really useful, but they don’t solve that part of the problem. We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet.
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33686
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A tale of two research institutes
If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French. That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work. They’re really useful, but they don’t solve that part of the problem. We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet. It is, however, doing a lot of hiring.
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33687
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A tale of two research institutes
If you have a robot that picks up a thing, now instead of having to specify an object, you can tell it to pick up the can of Coke. Or you can tell it to pick up the shiny object, or you can do the same thing and do it in French. That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work. They’re really useful, but they don’t solve that part of the problem. We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet. It is, however, doing a lot of hiring. This week it announced that MIT’s Kate Darling will lead research around “ethics and societal impact of robotics and AI.” From the institute:
Darling’s team will explore immediate as well as long term questions on the implementation and use of robotics, impact on the workplace, infrastructure and other topics.
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A tale of two research institutes
That’s really great, but if you want a robot to plug in a USB device or pick up a tissue, those models just don’t work. They’re really useful, but they don’t solve that part of the problem. We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet. It is, however, doing a lot of hiring. This week it announced that MIT’s Kate Darling will lead research around “ethics and societal impact of robotics and AI.” From the institute:
Darling’s team will explore immediate as well as long term questions on the implementation and use of robotics, impact on the workplace, infrastructure and other topics. The team will perform studies and experiments designed to generate data needed for others to make informed ethics and policy decisions, and will also develop a series of talks and workshops at the intersection of ethics, law, economics and robotics that will offer a platform for broad discussion.
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33689
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A tale of two research institutes
We’re focused on filling in that missing piece, and the thing we’re really excited about now is that we actually have a system and that the fundamentals are correct.
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet. It is, however, doing a lot of hiring. This week it announced that MIT’s Kate Darling will lead research around “ethics and societal impact of robotics and AI.” From the institute:
Darling’s team will explore immediate as well as long term questions on the implementation and use of robotics, impact on the workplace, infrastructure and other topics. The team will perform studies and experiments designed to generate data needed for others to make informed ethics and policy decisions, and will also develop a series of talks and workshops at the intersection of ethics, law, economics and robotics that will offer a platform for broad discussion.
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says.
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33690
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A tale of two research institutes
The Boston Dynamics AI Institute is still in its infancy, and therefore doesn’t have much in the way of public facing research to show just yet. It is, however, doing a lot of hiring. This week it announced that MIT’s Kate Darling will lead research around “ethics and societal impact of robotics and AI.” From the institute:
Darling’s team will explore immediate as well as long term questions on the implementation and use of robotics, impact on the workplace, infrastructure and other topics. The team will perform studies and experiments designed to generate data needed for others to make informed ethics and policy decisions, and will also develop a series of talks and workshops at the intersection of ethics, law, economics and robotics that will offer a platform for broad discussion.
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says. “That’s a little on the primitive side. Now we have software, robotics, AI and all that stuff, and the car companies need to embrace that.
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33691
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A tale of two research institutes
It is, however, doing a lot of hiring. This week it announced that MIT’s Kate Darling will lead research around “ethics and societal impact of robotics and AI.” From the institute:
Darling’s team will explore immediate as well as long term questions on the implementation and use of robotics, impact on the workplace, infrastructure and other topics. The team will perform studies and experiments designed to generate data needed for others to make informed ethics and policy decisions, and will also develop a series of talks and workshops at the intersection of ethics, law, economics and robotics that will offer a platform for broad discussion.
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says. “That’s a little on the primitive side. Now we have software, robotics, AI and all that stuff, and the car companies need to embrace that. I think the leadership at Hyundai — the chairman visited me last week, and we’re in close touch with him and the people who work with him — think that getting into the 22nd century is an important thing to do and we’re getting started on it now.”
Pratt adds, “There’s actually this alignment that’s happening between cars and robotics, as well.
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33692
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A tale of two research institutes
The team will perform studies and experiments designed to generate data needed for others to make informed ethics and policy decisions, and will also develop a series of talks and workshops at the intersection of ethics, law, economics and robotics that will offer a platform for broad discussion.
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says. “That’s a little on the primitive side. Now we have software, robotics, AI and all that stuff, and the car companies need to embrace that. I think the leadership at Hyundai — the chairman visited me last week, and we’re in close touch with him and the people who work with him — think that getting into the 22nd century is an important thing to do and we’re getting started on it now.”
Pratt adds, “There’s actually this alignment that’s happening between cars and robotics, as well. Rod Brooks was the one who a few years ago said that modern cars are eldercare robots.
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33693
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A tale of two research institutes
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says. “That’s a little on the primitive side. Now we have software, robotics, AI and all that stuff, and the car companies need to embrace that. I think the leadership at Hyundai — the chairman visited me last week, and we’re in close touch with him and the people who work with him — think that getting into the 22nd century is an important thing to do and we’re getting started on it now.”
Pratt adds, “There’s actually this alignment that’s happening between cars and robotics, as well. Rod Brooks was the one who a few years ago said that modern cars are eldercare robots. I think that’s really true. You think about the amount of computers in them, the amount of software that’s in them.
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33694
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A tale of two research institutes
“I’ve heard Gill say that making a car is taking small bits of metal and banging them up, welding them together and attaching them,” Raibert says. “That’s a little on the primitive side. Now we have software, robotics, AI and all that stuff, and the car companies need to embrace that. I think the leadership at Hyundai — the chairman visited me last week, and we’re in close touch with him and the people who work with him — think that getting into the 22nd century is an important thing to do and we’re getting started on it now.”
Pratt adds, “There’s actually this alignment that’s happening between cars and robotics, as well. Rod Brooks was the one who a few years ago said that modern cars are eldercare robots. I think that’s really true. You think about the amount of computers in them, the amount of software that’s in them. TRI has different divisions inside of it, one of which works on very advanced things in cars that is completely overlapping with some of the software and some of the concepts that we’re using in the robotics space.”
For its part, the Boston Dynamics AI Institute lists three key pillars of its research: intelligence, dexterity and mobility.
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33695
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A tale of two research institutes
I think the leadership at Hyundai — the chairman visited me last week, and we’re in close touch with him and the people who work with him — think that getting into the 22nd century is an important thing to do and we’re getting started on it now.”
Pratt adds, “There’s actually this alignment that’s happening between cars and robotics, as well. Rod Brooks was the one who a few years ago said that modern cars are eldercare robots. I think that’s really true. You think about the amount of computers in them, the amount of software that’s in them. TRI has different divisions inside of it, one of which works on very advanced things in cars that is completely overlapping with some of the software and some of the concepts that we’re using in the robotics space.”
For its part, the Boston Dynamics AI Institute lists three key pillars of its research: intelligence, dexterity and mobility. That’s effectively making robots that are smarter, better at mobile manipulation and move more dynamically.
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A tale of two research institutes
Rod Brooks was the one who a few years ago said that modern cars are eldercare robots. I think that’s really true. You think about the amount of computers in them, the amount of software that’s in them. TRI has different divisions inside of it, one of which works on very advanced things in cars that is completely overlapping with some of the software and some of the concepts that we’re using in the robotics space.”
For its part, the Boston Dynamics AI Institute lists three key pillars of its research: intelligence, dexterity and mobility. That’s effectively making robots that are smarter, better at mobile manipulation and move more dynamically. Raibert admits that “Boston Dynamics AI Institute” might not be the most instructive name, both with regard to confusion between itself and Boston Dynamics the company, as well as a seeming focus on AI over robotics. A name change is apparently coming, but nothing has been decided just yet.
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World Series Game 2: Arizona Diamondbacks v Texas Rangers – live
29 Oct 2023 03.21 GMT Final thoughts Okay, we officially have a series! Assuming one has no rooting interest in either of the remaining teams, there’s no greater start to a World Series than a split in the first two games. A 1-1 split is an ideal situation for the casual fan as it usually portends a longer series. It is, of course, a less than ideal situation for the Rangers. Today, their weaknesses were exposed and they know their two-game home stand could have gone worse: they needed plenty of late-inning drama just to pull off a come-from-behind win in Game 1. What happens next is anybody’s guess. The World Series heads to Arizona for Monday’s Game 3 where Rangers’ Max Scherzer and the Diamondbacks’ Brandon Pfaadt are currently penciled in as the probable starters.
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33698
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World Series Game 2: Arizona Diamondbacks v Texas Rangers – live
29 Oct 2023 03.21 GMT Final thoughts Okay, we officially have a series! Assuming one has no rooting interest in either of the remaining teams, there’s no greater start to a World Series than a split in the first two games. A 1-1 split is an ideal situation for the casual fan as it usually portends a longer series. It is, of course, a less than ideal situation for the Rangers. Today, their weaknesses were exposed and they know their two-game home stand could have gone worse: they needed plenty of late-inning drama just to pull off a come-from-behind win in Game 1. What happens next is anybody’s guess. The World Series heads to Arizona for Monday’s Game 3 where Rangers’ Max Scherzer and the Diamondbacks’ Brandon Pfaadt are currently penciled in as the probable starters. Stay tuned to the Guardian for further coverage of the 2023 World Series as it develops but this will wrap up today’s Game 2 liveblog.
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33699
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World Series Game 2: Arizona Diamondbacks v Texas Rangers – live
Assuming one has no rooting interest in either of the remaining teams, there’s no greater start to a World Series than a split in the first two games. A 1-1 split is an ideal situation for the casual fan as it usually portends a longer series. It is, of course, a less than ideal situation for the Rangers. Today, their weaknesses were exposed and they know their two-game home stand could have gone worse: they needed plenty of late-inning drama just to pull off a come-from-behind win in Game 1. What happens next is anybody’s guess. The World Series heads to Arizona for Monday’s Game 3 where Rangers’ Max Scherzer and the Diamondbacks’ Brandon Pfaadt are currently penciled in as the probable starters. Stay tuned to the Guardian for further coverage of the 2023 World Series as it develops but this will wrap up today’s Game 2 liveblog. Thanks to everybody who followed along with us tonight. Ciao!
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