Auction house Sotheby’s Dubai has unveiled a diamond that’s literally from out of this world.
Sotheby’s calls the 555.55-carat black diamond — believed to have come from outer space — “The Enigma.” The rare gem was shown off on Monday to journalists as part of a tour in Dubai and Los Angeles before it is due to be auctioned off in February in London.
Sotheby’s expects the diamond to be sold for at least 5 million British pounds ($6.8 million). The auction house plans to accept cryptocurrency as a possible payment as well.
Sophie Stevens, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s Dubai, told The Associated Press that the number five bears an importance significance to the diamond, which has 55 facets as well.
“The shape of the diamond is based on the Middle-Eastern palm symbol of the Khamsa, which stands for strength and it stands for protection,” she said. Khamsa in Arabic means five.
“So there’s a nice theme of the number five running throughout the diamond," she added.
Stevens also said the black diamond is likely from outer space.
“With the carbonado diamonds, we believe that they were formed through extraterrestrial origins, with meteorites colliding with the Earth and either forming chemical vapor disposition or indeed coming from the meteorites themselves,” she said.
Black diamonds, also known as carbonado, are extremely rare, and are found naturally only in Brazil and Central Africa. The cosmic origin theory is based on their carbon isotopes and high hydrogen content.
The holiday season is here again ー and as consumers buy and spend, more personal information is being exposed online. The number and severity of cyberattacks are on the rise, and both consumers and businesses need protection. Shane Wall, chief technology officer at HP and global head of HP Labs sat down with Cheddar on Monday to discuss the state of cybersecurity heading into the new year.
The issue of food waste has the distinction of being a massive sustainability problem, the solution to a worldwide humanitarian crisis, and a dilemma that is eminently fixable. As part of Cheddar's The Future of Food special report, we spoke to two companies at the opposite end of the spectrum ー one a huge multinational conglomerate, the other a Philadelphia-based start-up ー trying to innovate their way out of a $1 trillion problem.
As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Cheddar's Class Clown Award Goes to Elon Musk.
The Impossible Burger earned its Halal certification on Monday from the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, marking a major milestone on the meat industry disruptor's path to feeding the world. Soon the Impossible Burger will be available in grocery stores, too, for home chefs who want to try their hand at cooking the meatless burger. David Lee, the COO and CFO of Impossible Foods, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's plan to "serve the world."
Mattel's newest game, "Silicon Valley Startups," is training the entrepreneurs of the future ー and there's real money on the line. The new game pits entrepreneurs against each other to pitch ideas to investors. In a related contest, one aspiring entrepreneur will walk away with $50,001, thanks to a partnership between Silicon Valley Startups and "Shark Tank" investor Daymond John. Together John and Mattel will award the entrepreneur with "the best of the worst" idea. "I love pitching, I love startups ー and believe it or not some of the worst ideas have become the best things," John told Cheddar on Monday.
Daymond John, an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank," told Cheddar on Monday he's all-in on ride-hailing. And with both Uber and Lyft planning to go public, he's gearing up to invest in Uber, but only once the market has stepped back a bit following the initial public offering. He said he likes the company because his own life would be disrupted if it disappeared. "If Uber or Lyft went away, my life would be disrupted ... I think it's been around for quite some time and I think they're just going to expand globally and I like it," he said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.
A.I. robot Sophia is getting a software upgrade, one that will inch her ー and perhaps A.I. ー even closer to humanity. According to her creator, not only will Sophia earn her citizenship, she will reach a level of advancement equal to human beings in roughly five to 10 years.
Birchbox wants a bigger piece of the cosmetics market, but courting obsessive shoppers is not part of its plan, according to CEO and co-founder Katia Beauchamp. "We are focused on that non-obsessed consumer, that casual consumer," she said in an interview with Cheddar Friday.
The markets plunged again on Friday, capping off a wild week on Wall Street. Fears of slowing global growth, exacerbated by U.S.-China tensions, and a weaker-than-anticipated jobs report contributed to the losses. The tech-heavy Cheddar 50 Index, which measures the performance of Cheddar's 50 top companies ー from Apple to GM ー fell 4 percent on Friday.
