11 Sept 2026
Apple Unfolds the Duo and its best Pro camera yet, Inflation Surges, and oil is over a barrel.
Join Georgia Alfredas, Dave Mathews, and Greg Krause from OptionsPlayers.com on "What's Next Wall Street" as they dive into the week's top headlines and their impact on your finances. From the dust and AI art of Burning Man to inflation woes and the latest tech announcements, this episode is packed with insights.
Dave kicks things off with his Burning Man experience, including an AI honorarium art piece built with an Apple Studio and local LLMs, featuring a 16-foot archway with 16 4K 55-inch TVs. He even reconnected with Brandon, the old Net Talk Live webmaster. George challenges Dave's "stick it to the man" philosophy given his Porsche 911 ownership. The discussion quickly pivots to rising wholesale prices, up 5.4% over the past year, and producer prices increasing 0.4% in August. Brent Crude oil recently pushed above $100 a barrel, driving up gas prices (averaging $4.28/gallon nationally, $5-6 in Nevada/California) and impacting everything from shipping to manufacturing. The US Treasury attempts to calm the bond market by tripling its long-term government debt buyback to $6 billion, but 30-year Treasury yields climbed above 5.3% and 10-year yields reached new highs, increasing borrowing costs across the board.
Next, the focus shifts to Oracle and its AI opportunities/problems. While Oracle shows massive growth in cloud infrastructure with a "hundreds of billions of dollars" AI-related backlog, data centers face power supply issues. Greg explains that modern server racks require 10,000 watts, ten times more than older models, leading to reliance on diesel generators and four-year waits for fan blades. SpaceX's Colossus One is highlighted as an example of rapid data center deployment (122 days from scratch), generating $8 billion/quarter, employing 900 people per shift. Greg debunks common myths about data centers, clarifying that water usage for cooling is typically a closed-loop system, not depleting local water supplies, and they create many jobs post-construction, averaging over $100K in Memphis. He also discusses noise and subsonic pollution as real concerns.
The conversation moves to retail with American Eagle, which reported record quarterly revenue but a hit to its stock due to margin outlook. The Gen Z market, driven by the success of the Aerie brand, demands constant adaptation. George shares her own positive online shopping experience with American Eagle. Dave explains the shift from traditional malls to open-concept shopping centers like Dallas's Highland Park Village.
AI in education is next, covering a new agreement between Microsoft and the American Federation of Teachers. Key guardrails include not using student/teacher data to train AI models, no student tracking, and human oversight for high-stakes decisions. The hosts reflect on the Y2K scare and the dot-com bust, recalling their own QCAT gadget that raised $105 million but failed. OpenAI's call for mandatory safety rules is discussed, alongside an Anthropic researcher's 10% chance of AI wiping out humanity in a decade. Dave, an Eagle Scout, jokes about his Burning Man survival skills.
The tech report covers Apple's latest announcements. The new standard iPhone Pro boasts 30-hour battery life (equivalent to last year's Pro Max) and 50% charging in 15 minutes. It features a new camera lens with a four-stop changing aperture. The iPhone 18, starting at just under $1,200 with 256GB storage, can be pre-ordered October 16th for an October 23rd release. The much-anticipated iPhone Duo, Apple's first folding screen phone, has an outer 5.4-inch display and unfolds to a 7.6-inch, seam-free display (iPad mini size) with a hidden selfie camera. Made of titanium, it's thin, IP68 rated, and can video conference on both displays. Priced at $1,999 with 256GB storage, Dave weighs its pros and cons against his two-device setup.
This episode was sponsored by OptionsPlayers.com and Krystalize.AI where you can have your own private LLM on Apple Mac M Series hardware!
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