plunged

Image via Warner Bros. As much as their impact on blockbuster cinema can’t be overstated after they completely changed the game at the turn of the millennium, The Matrix Resurrections could well be the last time either of the Wachowski siblings is given a blockbuster-sized budget to work with. After all, you could make the argument that the pair haven’t delivered anything even remotely successful since Reloaded landed in theaters 20 years ago; with Revolutions, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending all…

The PC market has been reeling for months, but it just got worse. Both Canalys and IDC estimate that worldwide computer shipments dropped between 29 to 33 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2023. That's a steeper drop than during the holidays, and this time none of the major brands escaped the worst of the downturn. Second-place HP escaped relatively lightly with a 24 percent drop in shipments, while fourth-place Apple felt the most pain with a drop of more than 40 percent. ASUS, Dell and Lenovo all took a…

via Paramount Unless something drastic changes in the near future – which looks unlikely given all that’s happened in the last few years – Justin Line’s Star Trek Beyond is poised to carve out a reputation as the movie that potentially buries the franchise’s big screen prospects. That’s not what it deserves, at least if we take things at face value. Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86 percent score, the third installment in the Kelvin timeline also boasts a stellar 80 percent audience approval rating,…

Samsung has revealed a sharp decline in profit for 2022, mainly due to the weak demand for its chips and smartphones, which are the company's main moneymakers. The Korean tech giant has posted KRW 302.23 trillion (US$245.4 billion) in annual revenue, which is a new record high for the company, in its latest earnings report. But it has also reported an operating profit of KRW 43.38 trillion (US$35 billion) for all of 2022, down KRW 8.5 trillion (US$6.9 billion) from the year before.  "The business environment deteriorated…

China's smartphone sales endured a record fall in 2022, tumbling 13 percent to their lowest level in a decade as COVID controls and a slowing economy sapped consumer appetite, data from third-party research firms showed.The total number of devices shipped was 286 million, down from 329 million in 2021. It was the lowest sales volume since 2013 and the first time since then that annual sales have dropped below 300 million, IDC said in a report.Strict COVID-19 controls weighed heavily on the Chinese economy last year but…

A man who was found dead after reportedly jumping from a parking garage at Disneyland on Saturday has been identified as the principal at a Huntington Beach elementary school.The man, Christopher Christensen, 51, of Westminster, was the principal at Newland Elementary School and a local musician who performed across Southern California. Christensen was facing misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and battery at the time of his death, Orange County Superior Court records show.A man identified as Chris Christensen of…

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Oct. 17, 2019.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty ImagesFacebook hasn't been this cheap since the beginning of the pandemic.After plunging 14% for the week to close at $146.29, shares of Facebook parent Meta are at their lowest point since March 2020, and for a period on Friday, they had sunk even lower. Meta has lost 61% of its value over the past 12 months, by far the biggest slide among Big Tech stocks and more than double the drop…

Global exports of semiconductors to Russia have plummeted by 90 percent since the United States and allies slapped export controls on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday.Raimondo, speaking at an annual Commerce Department conference, also said that controls placed on Russia's aerospace sector were hammering its ability to generate revenue and support military aviation."Russia may be forced to ground between half and two-thirds of its commercial aircraft in the next…

The Global Light Vehicle (LV) selling rate plunged to 67 million units/year in April 2022. Most major markets remain supply-constrained, with lockdowns in China as well as the war in Ukraine only exacerbating these issues and thus applying downward pressure to global sales activity.In year-on-year (YoY) terms, sales were down a staggering 25%, with all major markets experiencing a contraction. China felt the impact of its zero COVID-19 policy,…

Although Shanghai began in mid-April to prioritize several hundred companies for resuming work, foreign business organizations have said that doesn't mean the factories can operate at full capacity.Tian Yuhao | China News Service | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Auto production plunged in April as Covid lockdowns halted nearly all non-essential business in the metropolis of Shanghai, according to a report from the China Passenger Car Association.Five major car companies in Shanghai saw production plunge by 75% in April compared to…