Cowboys owner scores big on natural gas bet, Amazon’s Alexa soon able to mimic any voice

In this article:

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’s natural gas bet, the first bloodhound ever winning the Kennel Club Dog Show, and Amazon’s Alexa soon being able to mimic any human voice.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- Welcome back, everyone. It is time for Cut For Time, three stories, one minute each. Let's put it on the clock. Let's get it started.

Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones placed a big bet on natural gas producer Comstock Resources. And now, his stake is worth more than twice what he paid. His stake, worth about $2.6 billion after investing roughly $1.1 billion. Nice to have that type of money to throw around in investment. But also, a time where energy plays have been getting a ton of eyeballs, a ton of investment, especially for those who are looking at the sector, and have seen it run up over these past several months and year.

- I mean, natural gas is really tricky. It's had a lot of crashes, as well. And a lot of people whose fortunes have been wiped out.

Jones has been luckier, or smarter than most, 'cause this is not the first time he's made this kind of investment, and actually done well with it. So it's interesting that he's now repeating it with Comstock. And I guess he's in good company when it comes to these energy investments right now.

As you said a lot of people have been investing. Warren Buffett increasing his stake in Occidental, which is not natural gas. But nonetheless, a lot of interest, as you say, in the natural energy's natural energy.

- All right, cash drop at the stadium now for those Cowboys fans out there.

- Let's talk about a Bloodhound named Trumpet. He won the-- is it he? Won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The first time the breed has ever won the most coveted Best In Show prize. I actually don't know if Trumpet is a boy or a girl, it occurs to me.

The dog did well. How about that? The dog, crushing it.

- The dog. Trumpet the dog.

- Trumpet the dog. I mean, this is a dog show that has had a history of Wire Fox Terriers winning and running away with it. You did have a surprise.

I believe it was last year as well, with what? It was the German Shepherd I believe that won last year. And so I think for Trumpet making history here, that's another positive step for their breed, but--

- Sure. I'm a mutt girl all the way.

- Yeah?

- Yeah. No, I'm not interested in the pure breed. I'm happy to watch the show.

- Really? Yeah.

- Sure, but--

- The agility challenges are kind of fun to watch. They zip around very well. And I wonder how Trumpet did. I need to go back and watch, honestly, what Trumpet did in that category.

- I'm sure there was a lot of ear action.

- Ear flopping. Yeah.

- Yes, with the Bloodhound.

- Definitely.

- OK, we're buzzing ourselves. Go ahead.

- Bingo. All right. Amazon's Alexa is getting a little creepy, perhaps? Depending upon who you are out there.

The newest feature will be able to mimic any human voice, dead or alive. Now, the company is saying that their hope is that the voices can bring back memories of relatives who have passed away. I don't know if there are too many voices that I would like to hear from the past. Maybe time to time, but not as like the default voice perhaps, all the time, substituting for Alexa.

- Yeah, I mean, first of all, this is not a feature that you're going to be able to get on your Alexa tomorrow, right? This is something that's just in development for now. So that's the first thing we should mention.

The example that they brought up when they were talking about this feature, is like having the dead grandmother read a story to a grandchild, for example. I just am trying to figure out what the value of this would be. In other words, I personally would rather listen to an old voicemail, or watch an old video of my loved one, than hear an AI created simulacrum of that voice say something to me.

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