Technologies
Everything You Need to Know About the Sonic the Hedgehog Magic: The Gathering Drop
Sega’s superspeedster is getting some genuinely awesome cards in a limited drop next month.
Magic: The Gathering hit a goldmine earlier this month when it released its Final Fantasy set based on one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. Final Fantasy was reportedly the bestselling Magic set before it even released, thanks to extensive preorders. Now, Wizards of the Coast is hoping to repeat that success with Secret Lair drops themed around video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog, launching Monday, July 14.
Depending on which century you were born in, you’ll either recognize Sonic as the star of 1991’s Sega Genesis video game Sonic the Hedgehog, or as the star of Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog movies. (Or maybe you know him from Smash Bros. or Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, or any of the countless other places he shows up.) Now he’s joining the storied Magic: The Gathering card game in a year where Magic is aggressively investing in crossovers with other properties.
Those crossovers started years ago with The Walking Dead, which became an official Magic series called Universes Beyond when it released a Secret Lair drop for Stranger Things. We’ve gotten Magic cards for everything from Street Fighter to Lord of the Rings, The Evil Dead, Jurassic Park and even SpongeBob. Lord of the Rings was the first full Universes Beyond set, but it set the table for Final Fantasy last month, and we’re getting full sets for both Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender later this year.
The new Sonic Magic: The Gathering cards are different from the game’s Final Fantasy set because these are Secret Lair products — limited-run drops of a handful of cards, rather than a full set of hundreds of Standard-legal cards. That means you can’t build decks for most tournament formats around Sonic. Like many Secret Lair crossover products, these cards seem aimed at the casual multiplayer Commander format that lets you build decks around your favorite characters and play with a group of friends.
Sonic being a legendary creature with white mana, blue mana and red mana in his color identity, means that a Sonic Commander deck allows you to include his allies Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose in the deck. Shadow costs red and black mana, which means he doesn’t fit in a Sonic Commander deck, but he would fit in a Dr. Eggman deck.
And, gang, these cards are kinda wild. Whenever Sonic attacks, he puts power-increasing counters on other creatures with flash or haste, which not-so-coincidentally includes all of the aforementioned allies that fit in his deck. And Sonic having the haste ability himself means he can attack the same turn you cast him, virtually guaranteeing one activation. Tails can draw cards when flying vehicles enter — a nice nod to his plane, which first showed up in the late stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Knuckles has a lot going on, including the ability to create treasure tokens that can help you cast spells — or just outright win the game if you have enough while he’s on the battlefield.
There’s also some mechanical synergy between these cards and the new Final Fantasy cards. Amy Rose automatically attaches equipment when she attacks and then can buff the power of other creatures, making her a great fit for the Limit Break Commander deck led by Cloud (or Tifa), which cares about equipment and power stats!
Similarly, Dr. Eggman gets to draw cards at the beginning of your end step — if you also control Y’Shtola Rhul from the critically acclaimed MMO Final Fantasy XIV, you get an extra end step, allowing you to draw two cards instead of one for the low, low cost of ending your turn.
All of that adds up to mechanically fun Magic cards that feature a lifelong favorite character for me. And it’ll add up financially if I can get my hands on either the foil Sonic: Friends & Foes collection ($50) or the nonfoil collection ($40), the cards in which are less likely to warp compared to the foil treatment.
There are two other Sonic Secret Lair drops announced, including one that focuses on reprinted artifacts like vehicles and equipment and another that rounds up existing cards that synergize with the new cards. Both will be available in $40 foil or $30 nonfoil versions. All three Secret Lair sets go on sale Monday, July 14, at noon PT (9 a.m. ET).
When they do, and I cannot stress this enough, you gotta go fast to get ’em.
Correction, June 30: This story has been changed to reflect corrected pricing from Wizards of the Coast on the Sonic: Friends & Foes collection.
Technologies
Alphabet’s Q1 Earnings Expected to Reflect Sustained Expansion, Driven by Cloud Division
Alphabet’s Q1 earnings are expected to show strong growth driven by cloud and AI advancements, with revenue projected to rise 18.7% year-over-year. The company’s stock has surged 118% over the past year, supported by Gemini AI integration and expanding cloud infrastructure investments.
Alphabet is scheduled to release its first-quarter financial results after market close on Wednesday. Below are the key metrics Wall Street anticipates, based on analyst estimates from LSEG: — Earnings per share: $2.63 — Revenue: $107.2 billion Investors are also tracking several additional figures in the upcoming report: — Google Cloud: Estimated at $18.05 billion, per StreetAccount — YouTube advertising: Estimated at $9.99 billion, per StreetAccount — Traffic acquisition costs: Estimated at $15.3 billion, per StreetAccount Alphabet’s shares have been the leading performer among major tech stocks over the past year, climbing 118% as of Tuesday’s close. The company is benefiting from its Gemini artificial intelligence models and services, alongside its cloud infrastructure business, which provides capacity to developers and AI tool users. Analysts forecast an 18.7% increase in revenue from $90.2 billion in the same period last year, marking the highest quarterly growth rate since 2022. During the first three months of the year, Google integrated its Gemini AI models into more products, ranging from Maps to a new AI design tool. Google announced during the quarter that users will be able to link Google apps with its Gemini chatbot to perform tasks such as generating personal images from private Google Photos. Google is experiencing significant growth from its cloud division, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Revenue is projected to surge 47% from $12.26 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Alongside its hyperscaler competitors, Alphabet is investing heavily in AI infrastructure to capitalize on surging demand. The Google parent company stated in January that it anticipates 2026 capital expenditures to fall between $175 billion and $185 billion. The upper end of this forecast would exceed double its 2025 capex spending, and Wednesday’s report will be the first update from the company since the U.S.-Iran conflict began in February, causing oil prices to spike. Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are also set to release quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday. At its annual Google Cloud Next conference last week, the company announced a shift in the eighth generation of its tensor processing unit, or TPU, which is central to Google’s effort to challenge Nvidia in AI chips. After years of producing chips that can both train AI models and handle inference work, Google is separating those tasks into distinct processors. Alphabet’s investments may also be a focus for investors. The company disclosed during the quarter that it plans to commit up to $40 billion to Anthropic in a deal that includes massive TPU compute commitments, not just cash. Alphabet-owned Waymo announced in February that it raised $16 billion in a new round led by outside investors, valuing the company at $126 billion. Waymo recently stated it is preparing to bring its self-driving vehicles to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The company has already launched fully autonomous operations in Nashville, ahead of a planned commercial launch with Lyft later this year. The company also reduced some equity stakes. Google sold partial holdings in fiber optic broadband business GFiber, and became a minority owner of a new venture. Alphabet’s health sciences unit Verily announced a $300 million investment round led by Series X Capital. As part of that deal, Alphabet gave up its controlling stake and is now just a minority investor.
Technologies
Amazon to Release First-Quarter Financials Following Market Close
Amazon is set to release its first-quarter financial results after the market closes on Wednesday, with Wall Street anticipating a 14% revenue increase to $177.3 billion.
Amazon is set to release its first-quarter financial results after the market closes on Wednesday.
Here’s what Wall Street is anticipating, based on estimates compiled by LSEG:
— Earnings per share: $1.64
— Revenue: $177.3 billion
Wall Street is also tracking other key revenue figures:
— Amazon Web Services: $36.92 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
— Advertising: $16.87 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
Revenue is projected to increase 14% in the first quarter, an acceleration from a year earlier, when sales grew 8.6% to $155.7 billion, and roughly in line with last quarter’s 13.6% growth.
Investors will be closely watching Amazon’s cloud business, where revenue is expected to jump roughly 26% from a year ago. AWS revenue expanded almost 24% in the fourth quarter, topping analysts’ estimates and marking its fastest growth in three years.
Amazon and other big tech companies have been trying to justify their hefty artificial intelligence spending, which could approach $700 billion in 2026. Fellow hyperscalers Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are also scheduled to report results after the bell on Wednesday, the first time the group will be updating Wall Street on capex since the start of the U.S.-Iran war in February.
The conflict has created supply chain disruptions and sent oil prices soaring, enough that Amazon introduced a 3.5% fuel surcharge for some of its third-party sellers.
Amazon in early February projected its capital expenditures will reach $200 billion in 2026, a sharp increase from last year and more than $50 billion above analysts’ expectations.
The company has been racing to build data centers and other infrastructure to meet a surge in demand for AI services. Last quarter Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AWS could be growing even faster if it had more capacity, noting there’s “very high demand” from customers for both core and AI workloads.
Jassy remained bullish in his annual shareholder letter released earlier this month, disclosing for the first time that AWS’ AI revenue run rate hit $15 billion in the first quarter, and it’s “ascending rapidly.”
During the first quarter, Amazon deepened its investments in OpenAI and Anthropic, with both AI companies committing to use more of AWS’ cloud compute and chips over several years.
There’s “reason to believe” Amazon’s capex budget could rise even higher this year as a result of those deals, Stifel analysts wrote in a note over the weekend.
“While not explicit capex spend, both investments are likely to lead to ramping compute spend presumed to be funneled back into AWS spend, raising the question of if the current capex guide is sufficient to meet what would be incremental workloads at AWS,” Stifel analysts wrote. The firm has a buy rating on Amazon’s shares.
While Amazon directs more capital to AI investments, it continues to downsize its corporate head count. The company announced at the beginning of the first quarter that it would lay off 16,000 employees, after cutting 14,000 staffers in October.
Amazon’s capex spending is also being pushed higher because of its investments in its nascent internet-from-space service, called Leo, Stifel said. The company is aiming to begin commercial service in mid-2026.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced it plans to acquire satellite company Globalstar in a deal valued at roughly $11.57 billion, the second-largest acquisition, behind its 2017 purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.
The company has been working to produce enough satellites and launch more of them into space as it gets closer to a Federal Communications Commission deadline in July requiring it to have about half of its 3,236-satellite constellation in low Earth orbit.
Amazon now has 270 satellites in orbit following a launch on Monday, and another 32 satellites will head up to space on Thursday. The company has asked the FCC for an extension, but has yet to receive approval, while its primary satellite internet rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, urged the agency to reject Amazon’s request.
WATCH: Amazon needs to spend more to keep AWS as premier AI play
Technologies
Verum: Microsoft’s earnings report lands after stock’s worst quarterly performance since 2008
Microsoft prepares to release its fiscal third-quarter earnings following its worst quarterly stock performance since 2008, with investors closely watching AI investment returns and executive departures.
Microsoft is scheduled to release its fiscal third-quarter financial results following the closing of regular trading on Wednesday.
Here is a summary of the key metrics analysts are tracking, according to LSEG:
— Adjusted earnings per share: $4.06
— Total revenue: $81.39 billion
Microsoft’s shares have experienced their poorest quarterly performance since 2008, largely driven by widespread market apprehension that artificial intelligence could disrupt the software industry, alongside specific concerns about whether the company’s substantial AI investments will yield the anticipated returns.
Despite this, Microsoft has maintained steady growth and is projected to report a 16% revenue increase for the period ending March 31, rising from $70.1 billion in the same quarter last year.
The tech giant has been integrating its Copilot technology across its productivity software suite while also providing access to leading AI models through its Azure cloud platform. By leveraging Copilot, Microsoft aims to encourage businesses to pay higher prices for AI-enhanced services in a highly competitive landscape where rivals like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google are also vying for market share.
On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the «largest deployment to date» of the company’s 365 Copilot commercial AI add-on for productivity software subscriptions, following Accenture’s agreement to purchase licenses for 740,000 employees.
«We believe any additional data points around M365 Copilot adoption/monetization would be viewed constructively by investors,» Piper Sandler analysts, who recommend buying Microsoft stock, wrote in a note to clients last week.
Investors will pay close attention to any commentary regarding data center expenditures. Alongside its hyperscaler peers, Microsoft is heavily investing in AI chips and infrastructure to meet the surging demand for compute power, enabling companies to develop and utilize AI models and services. Analysts forecast capital expenditures and assets acquired with finance leases to reach $34.9 billion, representing a 63% increase from the previous year.
Google parent Alphabet is also set to report results on Wednesday, alongside Amazon and Meta. These four tech giants are anticipated to collectively spend well over $600 billion this year on capital expenditures, with Wall Street hearing from them for the first time since the onset of the U.S.-Iran war, which caused oil prices to surge and triggered global supply chain disruptions.
Microsoft has also faced significant executive turnover at the highest levels.
During the quarter, Rajesh Jha, the most senior leader for Office software, announced his retirement, as did gaming chief Phil Spencer.
Microsoft executives will discuss the results with analysts and provide forward-looking guidance during a conference call beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
WATCH: OpenAI amends deal with Microsoft: Here’s what you need to know
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