Ray Blanco:

SpaceX Declares Starship Ready for Orbit, Sets Launch Date Next Week

Pending regulatory approval, SpaceX said today it intends to launch its 14th Starship mission as early as September 22. This flight is notable, as it will be the first time that SpaceX attempts to launch the experimental vehicle into orbit.

The company set a target liftoff time of 7:15 am local in Texas, with a 75-minute launch window.

The super heavy lift rocket will be carrying 26 of the larger V3 Starlink satellites into an orbit 275 km above the Earth. In an update on its website, SpaceX said the Starship upper stage will seek to complete six orbits around the Earth before completing its mission after about 10 hours.

Reaching orbit would mark a significant milestone in the company's Starship development campaign, which conducted its first test flight on April 20, 2023, and has since made progress in fits and starts. With the upcoming mission, SpaceX continues to make modifications to the Starship vehicle as it seeks to improve the third iteration of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. After recent successes, the company appears to be closer to developing a fully reusable, super heavy lift rocket.

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James Altucher:

The Friendliest Store in the Mall | Ron Johnson Built the Apple Store

I love the Apple Store. I can walk into one without needing anything and still want to stay. I like looking at the products. I like touching everything. I like the feeling… and that feeling was designed.

My guest in today's episode of The James Altucher Show, Ron Johnson, is the creator of the Apple Store. Before Apple, Ron was at Target, where he helped prove that design could matter even in mass-market retail. He worked with Michael Graves and helped establish this idea that something affordable could also be beautiful.

Ron's new book is Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple's Genius. It shows you how Ron can walk into a store and notice the floor, the lighting, the width of the aisle, the employees, the products, where people park, how customers move, what they see first, and whether the place has what he calls a heartbeat. He sees retail almost like an artist sees a canvas.

And the lessons are much bigger than stores. They're about design. Leadership. Kindness. Steve Jobs. Knowing what your customer values. Knowing what parts of your identity are sacred. And maybe most importantly, knowing when not to rush.

Click the link below to listen to our full discussion.

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Greg Guenthner:

Bernstein Expects 'Aggressive' Rulemaking From SEC, CFTC, Following CLARITY Act Failure

Bernstein analysts expect "aggressive and swift" rulemaking from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act failed to pass a Senate cloture vote on Tuesday.

Bernstein analysts said the regulatory agencies will publish new regulations to "make up for the time lost negotiating the CLARITY Act," in a Wednesday note.

The analysts said they expect agency regulations including token taxonomy for raising capital, developer protection measures concerning decentralized finance and self-custodial protocols, innovation exemptions for equity tokenization, faster approval times for real-world asset perpetual futures, and amendments to rules around federal sports event contracts and their classification as swaps.

Bernstein said that these federal agencies will bring more regulatory clarity for the industry, to compensate for the failure of the CLARITY Act, which would have "fool-proofed the industry against political regime shifts."

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