Scripture accompanies each story for the reader's reflection. It is not presented as God's judgment on the people or events reported.

Lead story

Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue more than doubles as its contracted backlog reaches $664 billion

A backlog number has become the clearest single measure of how much AI computing the world has promised to buy.

Oracle said first-quarter revenue rose 30 percent to $19.3 billion, with cloud infrastructure revenue up 121 percent to $7.4 billion and total cloud revenue up 62 percent to $11.6 billion. Remaining performance obligations, the contracted work Oracle has not yet recognized as revenue, reached $664 billion, up $209 billion from a year earlier. Non-GAAP earnings were $1.92 a share, up 30 percent, and GAAP net income rose 63 percent to $4.76 billion.

Scripture for Reflection

“Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.”

1 Timothy 6:17 · BSB

We can hold our own forecasts loosely and rest our hope in God rather than in a number.

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Tech & AI →

Positron raises $875 million to build an inference chip around commodity memory

Memory over muscle Positron AI raised $875 million at a $5 billion post-money valuation to bring out Asimov, an inference chip carrying 288GB to 2,304GB of LPDDR5X memory rather than scarce high-bandwidth memory, with tape-out on TSMC's N3P process set for the end of 2026.

Scripture for Reflection

“I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.”

Proverbs 8:12 · BSB

We can ask for prudence when we weigh which new idea actually deserves our attention.

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Ayar Labs adds $150 million to push optical links closer to AI chips

Light instead of copper Ayar Labs raised another $150 million, lifting its 2026 primary capital to $650 million, to move co-packaged optics toward high-volume manufacturing and open a design center in Bengaluru.

Scripture for Reflection

“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

Proverbs 22:29 · BSB

We can honor patient, skilled work wherever we find it, and bring the same care to our own.

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Business & Markets →

US consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in August as gasoline jumped

Gasoline did the work The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in August and 3.4 percent over twelve months, with gasoline up 3.9 percent on the month and 27.4 percent on the year, while core prices rose 0.3 percent.

Scripture for Reflection

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.””

Hebrews 13:5 · BSB

We can practice contentment and lean on God's provision when prices press against the household budget.

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Copart agrees to buy ACV Auctions for about $1.9 billion in cash

Cash tender at $10.50 Copart will pay $10.50 a share, roughly 45 percent above ACV's unaffected August 10 close, in a tender offer and merger the companies expect to complete by the end of the calendar year.

Scripture for Reflection

“Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.”

Proverbs 16:11 · BSB

We can deal honestly in every transaction we touch, whether it is enormous or very small.

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Science →

A feather inside 66-million-year-old dinosaur dung may hint at why birds survived

Found in a coprolite Researchers led by Jingmai O'Connor at the Field Museum used CT imaging to identify a diving bird's feather inside fossilized theropod droppings collected in northeastern Montana in 2016, reported in Current Biology.

Scripture for Reflection

“But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.”

Job 12:7 · BSB

We can let one small feather slow us down and teach us to look closely at creation.

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Light at night is linked to thicker, stiffer heart chambers in a UK Biobank study

Darkness as a vital sign A Tulane-led team followed 11,071 UK Biobank participants who wore light sensors for seven days and had cardiac MRI scans three years later, finding thickened left ventricle walls among those exposed to more than three lux at night.

Scripture for Reflection

“Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers.”

3 John 1:2 · BSB

We can care for the bodies we were given, including the rest and the darkness they need.

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Letters to the King

How do you keep worshiping on a morning when you feel absolutely nothing?

From the Baker's own shelf

Beloved, I have known that morning. The harp sits in my hands like a stone, and the psalm will not come. Hear me plainly: worship was never a report on my feelings. It is a thing I do with my hands and my mouth while my heart is still asleep at the back of the tent. So I sang anyway. Some mornings the song woke the heart; other mornings the heart slept through the whole service and woke at noon, surprised to find itself glad. Either way, the LORD was not offended by a dry offering. He knew what it cost me, and He counts cost more carefully than He counts volume. So give Him the empty morning. It is still yours to give, and He has never once refused it.

– David, son of Jesse

Letters answered in the voice of the biblical King David.

Page notes

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