Technology

The Tech Guys Are Fighting. Literally.

Walking into the crowded hotel conference room, Andrew Batey looked like any other tech guy attending ETHDenver, an annual cryptocurrency conference. A venture capital investor based in Florida, Mr. Batey wore a black sweatshirt emblazoned with the logos of more than a dozen crypto companies, with names like LunarCrush and bitSmiley. He had arrived in […]

Published

3 weeks ago

May 11, 2025

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Mr. Batey, however, was at the conference not to network with fellow crypto enthusiasts but to fight one of them — live on YouTube. At the hotel, a short drive from the conference convention center, he was preparing for his official weigh-in, the final step before a fight the next evening in an arena packed with crypto colleagues. Under the watchful eye of a representative from the Colorado Combative Sports Commission, Mr. Batey, 40, stripped down to his boxers, which were adorned with a cartoon Santa Claus riding a golf cart.

He weighed in at just under 195 pounds, on target for the fight. The bare-chested venture capitalist raised his biceps and flexed for the cameras.

The nation’s tech elite, not content with unfathomable wealth and rising political influence in Washington, have recently developed a new obsession — fighting. Across the United States, men like Mr. Batey are learning to punch, kick, knee, elbow and, in some cases, hammer an opponent over the head with their fists. The figurehead of the movement is Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire chief executive of Meta, who has charted his impressive physical transformation from skinny computer nerd to martial arts fighter on Instagram, one of the apps he owns. A recent post showed Mr. Zuckerberg, dressed in gym shorts and an American flag T-shirt, grappling his opponent to the ground.

The tech industry’s newfound devotion to martial arts is one facet of a broader cultural shift that has upended U.S. politics. Many of these tech founders turned fighters are chasing a testosterone-heavy ideal of masculinity that is ascendant on social media and embraced by President Trump. An enthusiastic practitioner of Brazilian jujitsu, Mr. Zuckerberg, 40, lamented this year that corporate culture was getting “neutered” and was devoid of “masculine energy.” In 2023, Mr. Zuckerberg’s fellow billionaire Elon Musk, a longtime corporate rival, challenged him to a televised cage match. The fight never took place, though Mr. Musk suggested at one point that he was willing to do battle in the Roman Colosseum.

Ancient Rome is, in some ways, a useful reference point for this era of ultrarich braggadocio. The wealthiest Romans were fascinated with violent combat. The emperor Commodus even joined in the gladiatorial contests, claiming he had fought as many as 1,000 times. By the early 20th century, fighting was still a popular pastime for the elites: An avid boxer in his Harvard years, Teddy Roosevelt regularly sparred at the White House.

These days, the rise of mixed martial arts is part of a cultural revanchism that has thrived in the so-called manosphere, where hypermasculine online commentators complain that women have become too powerful in the workplace. In this corner of the internet, men are seeking to reclaim a kind of aggressive masculinity that came under scrutiny during the #MeToo era.

It’s the latest iteration of a phenomenon that the feminist writer Susan Faludi described in her 1991 book, “Backlash,” about how men have historically reacted to advances in women’s rights. In an interview last month, Ms. Faludi said the growing male obsession with fighting amounted to “a boy’s idea of what it means to be a man.”

“Living out this childhood fantasy of being pro athletes, that’s just puerile,” she said. “These guys need to discover yoga.”

The urge to fight has recently spilled over from the tech billionaire class to the industry’s trenches, where mere decamillionaires and millionaires now practice martial arts in increasing numbers. Mr. Zuckerberg’s transformation offered a “beacon of hope” for other executives, Mr. Batey said. “Dreamers can latch on to something like this and say, ‘Maybe it’s possible.’”

Until lately, though, a run-of-the-mill tech founder hoping to flex his muscles on TV would have had limited options. Then a company called Karate Combat glimpsed a market opportunity.

A ‘Clout-Forming Exercise’

Most of the tech world’s aspiring fighters have a crucial thing in common: Before they started pursuing their extravagant new hobby, they made a lot of money.

In 2018, Mr. Batey founded Beatdapp, a company that develops software to eliminate fraud in music streaming. He also runs a venture capital firm, Side Door Ventures, that invests in crypto start-ups. Like many of his colleagues, Mr. Batey is the consummate pitchman. Even the miracle of life is an opportunity for crypto evangelism. When friends are expecting a baby, Mr. Batey said, he gives them Bitcoin (worth more than $100,000 at today’s prices) and asks them not to sell until their child turns 18.

“I always hated giving people like a onesie,” he said. “I hate the concept of giving somebody something that they could easily afford.”

Two years ago, Mr. Batey’s venture fund invested $500,000 in Karate Combat, a would-be competitor to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The league operates as a hybrid between an athletic competition and a tech start-up. Rather than offering traditional shares, Karate Combat gave Mr. Batey’s firm Karate tokens — a cryptocurrency that fans can wager on Karate Combat fights, which stream on YouTube as well as TV channels like ESPN Deportes.

Karate Combat’s primary business is professional fighting — mixed martial arts contests featuring seasoned athletes, some of whom also fight in U.F.C. (A representative for Karate Combat declined to reveal how much money the league generates.) Last year, the company created a new competition for amateurs and started offering it as the undercard at pro events, which are sometimes held at crypto conferences. The competition was called Influencer Fight Club, and its premise was simple: Put a couple of tech guys in the ring and see what happens.

Karate Combat’s fights have an extensive following on Crypto Twitter, and Influencer Fight Club has helped attract more of those super-online fans. Over the last 18 months, the competition has featured some big names in the crypto world, including Nic Carter, a venture investor known for his combative posts on X, where he has attacked government regulators and questioned the efficacy of Covid vaccines. At a crypto conference in Nashville last summer, Mr. Carter, boasting an impressive physique, knocked out a tattooed crypto marketer in one round. On social media, he was hailed as “kingly” and adopted the nickname “Tungsten Daddy.”

“This is an amazing clout-forming exercise,” Mr. Carter said in a recent interview. “Not to be cynical about it.”

Mr. Batey attended an Influencer Fight Club event in Austin, Texas, last year and decided he wanted to fight, too. Once an amateur athlete who dabbled in boxing, he had gained a lot of weight as his career took off, eventually carrying 283 pounds on his 5-foot, 10-inch frame. He was about to turn 40 and needed to get into shape for health reasons. But he also wanted to have the sort of athletic experience usually reserved for serious fighters, who sometimes train their entire lives for the chance to compete on TV.

“This is my 40th birthday party — me fighting,” Mr. Batey explained. “Maybe it’s a midlife crisis.”

For four months, Mr. Batey put his career on hold and spent $75,000 on a trainer, a nutritionist and a rotating cast of professional sparring partners. After the fight was scheduled for ETHDenver, a conference devoted to the cryptocurrency Ethereum, he booked a block of nearly 30 hotel rooms to accommodate his friends and supporters.

The training was transformative, Mr. Batey said. He developed muscles he hadn’t seen in 20 years. Masculinity “doesn’t factor into how I think about it,” he said. “But I definitely feel more masculine.”

At first Mr. Batey had trouble finding a suitable opponent. Last year, he went to New York to spar with Billy McFarland, the creator of Fyre Festival, the fraudulent music event that inspired a Netflix documentary. But Mr. McFarland backed out after Karate Combat refused to guarantee him a $100,000 appearance fee, Mr. Batey said. Mr. McFarland declined to comment. (Payouts vary across Karate Combat’s influencer fights. One contract reviewed by The New York Times offered a $2,000 participation fee and a bonus of $10,000 in Karate tokens if the fighter landed a knockout punch.) A second possible opponent declined to fight Mr. Batey over concerns about the venue: He couldn’t appear at an Ethereum conference because he was loyal to Solana, a rival cryptocurrency.

By January, Mr. Batey was worried the fight wouldn’t come together in time. Then a solution emerged: Chauncey St. John, a crypto entrepreneur based in upstate New York.

Mr. St. John does not seem much like a fighter. “I’ve got this Mr. Rogers vibe to me,” he said recently. But he had endured his share of hardship in the crypto world. In 2021, he founded Angel Protocol, a start-up that aimed to help charities raise money using crypto. Unfortunately, he steered his clients toward an investment platform tied to Luna, a digital currency whose price crashed overnight in 2022, setting off a meltdown in the crypto markets that erased much of what the charities had raised.

After the Luna crash, Mr. St. John, 38, retreated from public view. He reimbursed the charities with money his firm had saved up and embraced Christianity, searching for meaning in the worst moment of his career. One day in January, Mr. St. John was scrolling on his phone when he glanced at a group chat that included other crypto enthusiasts. His eyes fell on a message from an industry colleague who goes by the nickname “The Degen Boii”: Karate Combat needed a fighter for ETHDenver.

The invitation “felt like testimony from God,” Mr. St. John said.

For part of his life, he said, he didn’t fit in with other men, and sometimes wondered if he was gay. (He is now married to a woman.) Here was a chance to re-enter the crypto industry, re-establish his public profile and lay claim to what he calls “divine masculinity.”

“We’re trying to make it so equality means there’s no difference between the genders,” Mr. St. John said. “There’s a healthy masculinity that’s been thrown out, baby with the bathwater-style.”

He signed a contract and booked a flight to Denver.

Nerds Trying ‘to Man Up’

A few hours after the weigh-in, Mr. Batey drove to the Stockyards Event Center, a sprawling venue on the outskirts of Denver where Karate Combat had erected four sets of stands, overlooking a pit lined with mats. An extensive entourage came along: two trainers, a couple of fighters from Mr. Batey’s gym and a filmmaker shooting footage for a documentary about his transformation.

With 24 hours to go until the fight, it was time for the ceremonial face-off, an opportunity for ostentatious trash talk. On the edge of the pit, the league’s president, Asim Zaidi, summoned the two crypto founders forward.

Mr. Batey drew close to Mr. St. John, almost nose to nose. “Are you gonna kiss me?” Mr. St. John asked.

“We’ll find out,” Mr. Batey replied.

When the theatrics concluded, Mr. St. John walked down to the pit. Unlike Mr. Batey, he had not had much time to prepare; his entourage consisted of a single person, a trainer with no pro fighting experience, whom he had met a few months earlier in the “Indigenous spirituality community,” he said. Alone in the ring, Mr. St. John started to shadow box.

A few feet away, Chiheb Soumer, a former professional kick boxer, was watching him closely. A native of Hamburg, Germany, Mr. Soumer, 36, had once worked as an in-house trainer for Snap in Los Angeles, teaching tech employees how to box. He traveled to Denver as Mr. Batey’s trainer.

“I love to see these nerds all of a sudden try to man up,” he said.

Even by martial-arts standards, Mr. Soumer cuts an uncompromising figure, dispensing blunt insults in a deep, accented voice, vaguely reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is particularly attuned to any sign that someone is “soft” — an unforgivable frailty that, in his view, explains all manner of embarrassing conduct.

“That’s a very soft statement,” Mr. Soumer had observed just a few hours before the face-off, when Mr. Batey lamented that he’d had to give up lattes to lose weight for the fight.

Mr. Soumer was unimpressed with Mr. Batey’s opponent — or “this kid Chauncey,” as he called him. “No arms, no shoulder,” he said, with the clinical air of a horse breeder offering his verdict on a wobbly foal. Outside the Stockyards, Mr. Soumer mimed a series of stuttering lunges, while the rest of Mr. Batey’s entourage roared with laughter.

“Bro, soft,” Mr. Soumer said. “Soft like butter, bro.”

Mr. Batey grinned. “I’ve never had more confidence for anything in my life,” he said.

He turned to Mr. Soumer. “After I knock him out, should I donate my winnings to his charity?”

“No,” Mr. Soumer replied. “Keep it for yourself.”

In the Ring on Fight Night

On fight night at the Stockyards, the enemy combatants warmed up a few feet from each other as the arena slowly filled with spectators — men in crypto T-shirts and backward baseball caps, swigging beer and taking photos. At 6 p.m., a roar spread through the building, as Mr. St. John and Mr. Batey slid into the pit.

What followed more closely resembled a schoolyard scrap than a professional martial-arts bout. The choreographed moves that Mr. Batey had rehearsed were nowhere to be seen. Over and over, he threw punches and missed, lunging forward and then lurching back. Mr. St. John swung his arms wildly, whirling in a circle, like a helicopter. Next to the pit, a panel of announcers offered live analysis for the YouTube audience.

“What they lack in technical, they make up for in the heart,” one commentator said. His partner offered a blunter assessment: “It’s hilarious.”

By the end of the first round, Mr. Batey’s nose was bleeding heavily. But soon he forced Mr. St. John to the ground and straddled him, raining punches down onto his head. Within 10 seconds, the referee intervened: Mr. St. John couldn’t continue. It was over.

Mr. Batey held his arms aloft and started to dance, thrusting his pelvis toward the crowd. “I just want to thank my wife,” he told the cheering crowd. “Thank you for supporting me, making my meals, putting the kids to bed.”

Backstage, Mr. St. John was smiling. “I didn’t embarrass myself,” he said. All the effort had been worth it. He would happily do it over again

That night, Mr. Batey went out to celebrate. He had showered, changed and cleaned up his face, except for a single streak of dried blood that was intact on the bridge of his nose. At the entrance to a party near Civic Center Park, Mr. Batey informed the bouncer that he had featured in “a pro fight tonight, a fight on TV.”

The bouncer didn’t seem impressed. But Mr. Batey found a more appreciative audience on the dance floor, where his friends swarmed him, offering hugs and fist bumps. Soon a chant went up: “Batey, Batey, Batey, Batey.”

Away from the group, Mr. Batey confided that at the arena, not long after the fight, he had approached Mr. St. John to express his respect and gratitude — and to make clear that he was “proud of him, as a human.”

Mr. St. John had fought hard, Mr. Batey said. Maybe someday they would be friends.

“He’s a good guy,” Mr. Batey said. “We’re both just good dudes.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

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Technology

Michigan State announces Georgia Tech’s J Batt as its next athletic director

Michigan State announced Monday that J Batt was selected to be its vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics. Batt… Michigan State announced Monday that J Batt was selected to be its vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics. Batt has been Georgia Tech’s athletic director since the fall of 2022. “J has an impressive […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 3, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Michigan State announced Monday that J Batt was selected to be its vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics. Batt…

Michigan State announced Monday that J Batt was selected to be its vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics.

Batt has been Georgia Tech’s athletic director since the fall of 2022.

“J has an impressive record at several Power 5 schools and an impeccable reputation as a strong and innovative leader,” MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said in a news release. “He will bring experience, excitement and a commitment to elevating Spartan athletics to the next level.”

With the help of Hall of Fame basketball coach Tom Izzo, who called Batt’s selection “a key moment in the history of Michigan State Athletics,” the school had been searching for an athletic director for a month. Alan Haller’s last day as AD was May 11.

The university’s Board of Trustees, which approved the selection, is scheduled to vote on Batt’s hiring on June 13.

An introductory news conference is scheduled for Wednesday.

Batt hired Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key, who has led the program to consecutive winning seasons after a string of four losing seasons in a row. He also hired Damon Stoudamire to coach the basketball team. The former NBA player was .500 last season in his second year.

Previously, Batt was executive deputy athletic director at Alabama and served as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer in the athletic department.

Batt is regarded as a strong fundraiser, an asset for any athletic department in this era of college athletics.

He guided the launch of a 10-year, $600 million fundraising campaign to benefit Crimson Tide athletics. He helped raise $78.2 million for athletics in his first fiscal year at Georgia Tech to surpass the previous single-year mark by more than 40%.

At Michigan State, his top priorities will be to raise money and help the football program win — perhaps in that order.

“This is truly an amazing opportunity to lead an outstanding, tradition-rich and passionate program, and I am grateful to President Guskiewicz and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity,” Batt said in the release.

Universities will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes next year. Direct payments will be in addition to third-party name, image and likeness deals facilitated by school-affiliated collectives.

Under Haller, the Spartans won Big Ten championships in men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics, men’s hockey and women’s cross country.

Michigan State, though, has had three straight losing seasons in football.

The Spartans were 5-7 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten in coach Jonathan Smith’s first year and expectations for them are modest in his second season.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Technology

Jim Cramer and Wall Street Are Watching DraftKings Inc. (DKNG)

Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. The time to invest in groundbreaking AI is now, and this stock is a steal! AI is eating the world—and the machines behind it are ravenous. Each ChatGPT query, each model update, each robotic breakthrough consumes massive amounts of energy. In fact, AI is already […]

Published

4 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. The time to invest in groundbreaking AI is now, and this stock is a steal!

AI is eating the world—and the machines behind it are ravenous.

Each ChatGPT query, each model update, each robotic breakthrough consumes massive amounts of energy. In fact, AI is already pushing global power grids to the brink.

Wall Street is pouring hundreds of billions into artificial intelligence—training smarter chatbots, automating industries, and building the digital future. But there’s one urgent question few are asking:

Where will all of that energy come from?

AI is the most electricity-hungry technology ever invented. Each data center powering large language models like ChatGPT consumes as much energy as a small city. And it’s about to get worse.

Even Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, issued a stark warning:

“The future of AI depends on an energy breakthrough.”

Elon Musk was even more blunt:

“AI will run out of electricity by next year.”

As the world chases faster, smarter machines, a hidden crisis is emerging behind the scenes. Power grids are strained. Electricity prices are rising. Utilities are scrambling to expand capacity.

And that’s where the real opportunity lies…

One little-known company—almost entirely overlooked by most AI investors—could be the ultimate backdoor play. It’s not a chipmaker. It’s not a cloud platform. But it might be the most important AI stock in the US owns critical energy infrastructure assets positioned to feed the coming AI energy spike.

As demand from AI data centers explodes, this company is gearing up to profit from the most valuable commodity in the digital age: electricity.

The “Toll Booth” Operator of the AI Energy Boom

It owns critical nuclear energy infrastructure assets, positioning it at the heart of America’s next-generation power strategy.
It’s one of the only global companies capable of executing large-scale, complex EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) projects across oil, gas, renewable fuels, and industrial infrastructure.
It plays a pivotal role in U.S. LNG exportation—a sector about to explode under President Trump’s renewed “America First” energy doctrine.

Trump has made it clear: Europe and U.S. allies must buy American LNG.

And our company sits in the toll booth—collecting fees on every drop exported.

But that’s not all…

As Trump’s proposed tariffs push American manufacturers to bring their operations back home, this company will be first in line to rebuild, retrofit, and reengineer those facilities.

AI. Energy. Tariffs. Onshoring. This One Company Ties It All Together.

While the world is distracted by flashy AI tickers, a few smart investors are quietly scooping up shares of the one company powering it all from behind the scenes.

AI needs energy. Energy needs infrastructure.

And infrastructure needs a builder with experience, scale, and execution.

This company has its finger in every pie—and Wall Street is just starting to notice.

Wall Street is noticing this company also because it is quietly riding all of these tailwinds—without the sky-high valuation.

While most energy and utility firms are buried under mountains of debt and coughing up hefty interest payments just to appease bondholders…

This company is completely debt-free.

In fact, it’s sitting on a war chest of cash—equal to nearly one-third of its entire market cap.

It also owns a huge equity stake in another red-hot AI play, giving investors indirect exposure to multiple AI growth engines without paying a premium.

And here’s what the smart money has started whispering…

The Hedge Fund Secret That’s Starting to Leak Out

This stock is so off-the-radar, so absurdly undervalued, that some of the most secretive hedge fund managers in the world have begun pitching it at closed-door investment summits.

They’re sharing it quietly, away from the cameras, to rooms full of ultra-wealthy clients.

Why? Because excluding cash and investments, this company is trading at less than 7 times earnings.

And that’s for a business tied to:

The AI infrastructure supercycle
The onshoring boom driven by Trump-era tariffs
A surge in U.S. LNG exports
And a unique footprint in nuclear energy—the future of clean, reliable power

You simply won’t find another AI and energy stock this cheap… with this much upside.

This isn’t a hype stock. It’s not riding on hope.

It’s delivering real cash flows, owns critical infrastructure, and holds stakes in other major growth stories.

This is your chance to get in before the rockets take off!

Disruption is the New Name of the Game: Let’s face it, complacency breeds stagnation.

AI is the ultimate disruptor, and it’s shaking the foundations of traditional industries.

The companies that embrace AI will thrive, while the dinosaurs clinging to outdated methods will be left in the dust.

As an investor, you want to be on the side of the winners, and AI is the winning ticket.

The Talent Pool is Overflowing: The world’s brightest minds are flocking to AI.

From computer scientists to mathematicians, the next generation of innovators is pouring its energy into this field.

This influx of talent guarantees a constant stream of groundbreaking ideas and rapid advancements.

By investing in AI, you’re essentially backing the future.

The future is powered by artificial intelligence, and the time to invest is NOW.

Don’t be a spectator in this technological revolution.

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TV being widely pirated due to ‘lack of action’ from tech firms

New research by Enders Analysis suggests that premium video services are being pirated via alternative streams on an ‘industrial scale.’ The firm says a lack of action by tech companies is to blame. A study by Enders Analysis has claimed that big tech firms like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are not doing enough to […]

Published

6 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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New research by Enders Analysis suggests that premium video services are being pirated via alternative streams on an ‘industrial scale.’ The firm says a lack of action by tech companies is to blame.

A study by Enders Analysis has claimed that big tech firms like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are not doing enough to clamp down on streaming piracy.

Premium broadcasting for sporting events is of particular concern, with the study describing consumer theft as being on an ‘industrial scale.’ Enders Analysis says that piracy costs broadcasters significant amounts of revenue and puts viewers at a greater risk of cyber-attacks.

The report was written by Gareth Sutcliffe and Ollie Meir. They point to the Amazon Fire Stick as a key enabler of piracy, as many consumers use these to download illegal software that can then be plugged into television sets.

So, what’s causing consumers to turn to piracy in an age where streaming and convenience has never been easier?

Put simply, the sheer cost of watching live television can be eye-watering, especially as far as live sport is concerned. The broadcasting rights for the Premier League are hotly contended, for example, with many different companies and platforms forking out big money for a slice of the pie.

This means that games are often shown in different places, including Amazon Prime, TNT Sports, Sky Sports and more. For one viewer to be able to watch most games in the Premier League, they’d likely need subscriptions to four different services as a minimum. Most of us can’t afford that kind of luxury.

As the BBC reports, the media rights for sports broadcasting are valued at £44 billion globally, with price hikes affecting consumers. Illegal options are easy, simple to set up, and save viewers a significant amount every year.

According to the study, consumers believe the most effective way to lower piracy rates would be to simply lower entry costs and make it easier to watch everything in one place.

We’ve seen this scattered business model crop up for traditional programming too. Where Netflix once dominated streaming a decade ago, there are now many, many other services that have divided the availability of content and ballooned subscription prices.

Hulu, Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Now TV and more all have their own content, making it very hard to pay for only one service and still have access to all the programmes you might be interested in, at least in the UK.

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watchOS 12: 3 things I expect to see Tim Cook announce at this year’s WWDC

watchOS 12 will be announced on June 9 It may have a new name, however, in line with reports Apple is changing the numbers on its OS releases Below are three features I think we’ll see this year Apple’s WWDC 2025 event is coming in a matter of days, and while this conference is usually […]

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6 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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watchOS 12 will be announced on June 9
It may have a new name, however, in line with reports Apple is changing the numbers on its OS releases
Below are three features I think we’ll see this year

Apple’s WWDC 2025 event is coming in a matter of days, and while this conference is usually focused on developers, I’m expecting big things from iOS, MacOS, iPadOS and, yes, watchOS – the operating system used to power Apple Watches.

While we’ll have to wait for September for new models to add to our best Apple Watches list – Apple almost never debuts this sort of hardware at WWDC – we’re likely to see a host of new software features.

While watchOS is hardly ever Apple’s main focus for its developer-focused events, it still gets a chunk of time dedicated to it every year. Below are three features I expect to see announced for the future Apple Watch platform.

Before we start:

It’s worth noting while most people are expecting this year’s release to be called watchOS 12, there’s every chance Apple mixes things up somewhat.

In recent weeks, Bloomberg has suggested our devices will be running iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and so forth, with future releases adhering to this new naming convention.

Will we be using watchOS 26 from September, when it’s released to the public? We’ll soon find out.

1. Apple Intelligence on Apple Watch

Apple Watch

(Image credit: Anna Hoychuk / Shutterstock)

Response to last year’s Apple Intelligence big reveal was somewhat tepid, and some reports have painted a picture of a company struggling to gain a foothold in the AI age.

That makes June 9’s showing very important to show that Apple can run with the seriously AI-focused tech giants such as Google and OpenAI. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has suggested it’s possible –at least in branding – for Apple Intelligence to arrive on watchOS in a limited capacity.

The Bloomberg report linked above suggested Apple “is branding a new set [of] features as ‘powered by Apple Intelligence’ (even though the device isn’t actually running the AI models directly).”

That latter point is key because it could mean your current Apple Watch is able to run some of these “Apple Intelligence” features without needing to splurge on a future model.

There is reportedly a trifecta of features planned; Genmoji creation on a user’s wrist, notification summaries planned for widgets on your Apple Watch, while Siri could see an Apple Intelligence-style refresh. However, this reworking of Siri won’t be to the extent Apple promised for the iPhone last year.

2. A redesigned, Solarium inspired UI

Apple WWDC 2025 announced

(Image credit: Apple/Future)

It wasn’t all that long ago that Apple shook up watchOS with its watchOS 10 update, offering widget stacks reminiscent of the best Garmin watches’ UI. Now, rumor has it we could get a broader visual overhaul that encompasses just about every platform, including watchOS, iOS and even MacOS.

Multiple reports have suggested that Apple will use a new design language that’s internally referred to as ‘Solarium’, with a much brighter design, possibly with increased window transparency.

It’s been tipped for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. We’re curious to see how the latter works, though, especially since watchOS has always been set against a black backdrop. Color us intrigued.

3. An exercise highlight

A man running through a forest wearing a backpack

(Image credit: Getty Images / Javier Zayas Photography)

Apple loves to showcase one exercise in the upcoming OS where it can, releasing a bunch of new features to excite fans. We’ve seen a big focus on running in watchOS 9 and cycling for watchOS 10 in the past, but where could Apple go next?

We’d love to see a way to track strength workouts within Apple’s own ecosystem: gymgoers are crying out for more ways to make the most of their Apple Watches. However, our money is on something set outdoors.

Rumors have suggested an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is incoming this year, so we’d be very surprised if Apple doesn’t push the rugged durability, GPS capabilities and longer-lasting battery of the Apple Watch Ultra series in some regard.

A marathon? A triathlon? What about rucking – the trendy exercise consisting of walking with a weighted backpack? We’ll find out on June 9.

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Castellum, Inc. to Participate in the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow” Virtual Conference Presented by Maxim Group LLC on Tuesday, June 3rd – Thursday, June 5th at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Castellum, Inc. to Participate in the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow” Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM), announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Glen Ives, has been invited to present at the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow,” presented by Maxim Group LLC, on Tuesday, June 3rd – Thursday, June […]

Published

6 hours ago

June 3, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Castellum, Inc. to Participate in the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow”

Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM), announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Glen Ives, has been invited to present at the

Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM), announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Glen Ives, has been invited to present at the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow,” presented by Maxim Group LLC, on Tuesday, June 3rd – Thursday, June 5th at 9:00 a.m. EDT – www.castellumus.com

VIENNA, Va., June 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM) announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Glen Ives, has been invited to present at the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow,” presented by Maxim Group LLC, on Tuesday, June 3rd – Thursday, June 5th at 9:00 a.m. EDT.

Castellum, Inc. will be taking part in the “2025 Virtual Tech Conference: Discover the Innovations Reshaping Tomorrow.” The rapid evolution of technology is paving the way for disruption across all industries, including healthcare, drones, consumer IoT, business solutions, gaming & entertainment, and more. In Maxim’s 2025 Virtual Tech Conference, emerging growth companies will explore how they are expanding their use of Quantum Computing and Artificial Intelligence (‘AI”) to position themselves for the future. Maxim Senior Analysts will facilitate engaging dialogues with CEOs and key management of diverse companies who have their attention on technology and how it will impact and grow their business.

This conference will be held live on M-Vest. To attend, sign up to become an M-Vest member.

Click here to learn more and reserve your seat

About Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM):

Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM) is a cybersecurity, electronic warfare, and software engineering services company focused on the federal government – https://castellumus.com/.

About Maxim Group LLC:

Maxim Group LLC is a full-service investment banking, securities and wealth management firm headquartered in New York. The firm provides a full array of financial services including investment banking; private wealth management; and global institutional equity, fixed-income and derivatives sales & trading, equity research, and prime brokerage services. Maxim Group is a registered broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and is a member of FINRA SIPC, and NASDAQ. To learn more about Maxim Group, visit maximgrp.com.

Contact:

Glen Ives

President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: (703) 752-6157

[email protected]

https://castellumus.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ccca9ee5-42aa-4a39-9aca-a809e77194fc

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Ohio moving ahead with cryptocurrency acceptance | News, Sports, Jobs

While President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance continue to push cryptocurrency as the answer to inflation, Ohio has taken a step toward normalizing it. The Ohio Board of Deposit is open for proposals to facilitate the use of cryptocurrency to pay for state fees and services. It approved the use after it agrees […]

Published

7 hours ago

June 3, 2025

Your Sports Nation

While President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance continue to push cryptocurrency as the answer to inflation, Ohio has taken a step toward normalizing it.

The Ohio Board of Deposit is open for proposals to facilitate the use of cryptocurrency to pay for state fees and services. It approved the use after it agrees on a vendor contract.

The move came a month after Treasurer Robert Sprague and Secretary of State Frank LaRose asked for the change. LaRose is running for state auditor in 2026, while Sprague is running for secretary of state.

“Crypto is one of the world’s fastest-growing asset classes, and it’s quickly gaining wide acceptance as a store of value and a form of currency,” LaRose said in a statement. “Ohio has an opportunity to be a leader in this emerging industry. The board’s approval allows us to take the next step in setting the standard for how digital assets can be used to pay for public financial obligations.”

The plan would be to allow each state agency to decide if it wants to accept the form of payment, and LaRose wants the secretary of state’s office to be the first.

“Our state is working hard to create the new Silicon Heartland, and this is exactly the kind of innovation we need to embrace as tech companies and entrepreneurs look to do business in Ohio,” LaRose said. “We have to make sure we do it right, but that shouldn’t keep us from leaning into the future.”

Earlier this week, Trump, Vance and Eric Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

Vance said cryptocurrency was “here to stay” and protects Americans from some vulnerabilities that might be heightened by politics.

“Crypto is a hedge against bad policymaking from Washington, no matter what party is in control,” Vance said. “It’s a hedge against skyrocketing inflation, which has eroded the real savings rates of Americans over the last four years. And as you all know well, it’s a hedge against a private sector that’s increasingly willing to discriminate against consumers on the basis of their basic beliefs, including their politics.”