*By Carlo Versano*
PC hardware and accessory maker Logitech has been around since the early 1980s but is hitting a new stride as the provider of high-end gaming equipment. Sales from its gaming division grew 75 percent in the latest quarter [from a year ago](https://www.nasdaq.com/article/why-is-logitech-logi-up-128-since-last-earnings-report-cm1015021).
And that's only the beginning, according to president and CEO Bracken Darrell. He said Friday in an interview on Cheddar that esports could become "the biggest sport in the world."
"Esports is a big story for everybody, especially everybody under the age of 25," he said.
That's where Logitech is placing its bets. The company recently released the $150 G PRO Wireless Mouse after a two-year development process that involved more than 50 pro-gamers.
The mouse has earned rave reviews and gained serious industry cred after it was used by the winning team at the [Overwatch League Championship] (https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/28/17626004/overwatch-league-finals-winner-season-one-london-spitfire) in July.
Darrell said that Logitech's suite of gaming products ー keyboards, mice, headsets, and now microphones ー are intended to fully service both pro and amateur gamers.
The company acquired Blue, a maker of studio-quality mics, as part of that strategy. That followed its earlier purchase of Astro, which makes gaming headsets.
As eSports lead a revolution in PC gaming, Logitech also sees a branding and product design opportunity.
"Thanks to Apple, brands really matter in hardware" Darrell said.
The company's sleek black products and glowing blue logos are a far cry from its early days as a maker of peripherals for boxy PCs.
While Logitech is a hardware company by nature, Darrell said he wouldn't rule out a shift to software or platforms. But it's tricky, he warned. "We want to enable \[both title developers \] and the people who play their games to be successful."
Darrell said he thinks the current kings of eSports ー whether "Fortnite," "Overwatch," or "League of Legends" ー have staying power in a notoriously fickle industry. So much so that he's said it's ["inevitable"](https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/08/07/logitech-ceo-esports-olympics.html) that eSports will eventually become an Olympic category.
If and when that day comes, Logitech hopes to be the brand pros turn to, just as they would Nike.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/logitech-gaming-hardware-becomes-most-profitable-division-for-company).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
