What's up: Software outage hits Alaska Airlines; Microsoft patches server software vulnerability; food-deliveries take flight.

Good morning. “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about," said Lord Henry Wotton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray," by Oscar Wilde, "and that is not being talked about.” 

Such a line, a bit edgy even for fin-de-siècle Europe, hardly raises an eyebrow in today's social-media-driven society. Being talked about is precisely the point. We are all Lord Henry's children now.

Consider last week's news involving a CEO, one of his employees and a jumbotron.

For those blissfully unaware, a kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert revealed the CEO of Astronomer canoodling with the chief people officer. Within days the CEO, who is married, resigned.

Amid the online chatter, Google searches spiked for “What is Astronomer.” Turns out that Astronomer is an IT company. Here's the WSJ's Isabelle Bousquette:

“On the plus side, we’ve all heard of Astronomer now, right?” Liz Leslie, a San Francisco-based digital marketing director wrote on LinkedIn.

Meanwhile Astronomer's board of directors, channeling a bit of that "Importance of Being Earnest" energy, said it had initiated a formal investigation into the matter. More people will be paying attention. Read the story.

Meta Platforms’ Chief Global Affairs Officer said the company wouldn’t sign the European Union’s code of practice for general-purpose artificial intelligence because it adds uncertainty and goes beyond the scope of AI legislation in the bloc.
 

Will we ever get to the point where ordering a burrito by drone will be as easy as calling an Uber? The WSJ's Heather Haddon surveys the scene and finds that food-delivery robots and drones, backed by billions in investments, are now navigating the world in ways they weren’t able to a few years ago.

Alaska Airlines resumed operations after grounding its entire fleet for several hours on Sunday evening due to a software outage, WSJ reports. The company issued a similar stop in April last year after issues with an upgrade to a system that calculates weight and balance data for its flights.

Microsoft said it released a patch for its Sharepoint server software over the weekend to address a vulnerability that left systems exposed to hackers, Bloomberg reports. 

The Information reports that Nvidia is telling customers that stocks of its H20 chips are in short supply and it has no immediate plans to produce more. The U.S. government in April restricted sales of the chip, costing Nvidia billions. Last week Nvidia said it has received assurances from the Trump administration that it could restart H20 sales in China.

The “Magnificent Seven” stocks are starting to grow apart, WSJ reports. This year shares of Nvidia, Meta and Microsoft have climbed about 20% or more, while Tesla, Apple and Alphabet are down 18%, 16% and 2% respectively. Amazon, whose shares are up 3% year to date, has been affected by tariffs and the uncertainty regarding them.

China’s exports of rare-earth magnets last month increased nearly threefold from the previous month after the country lifted some export controls on the critical industrial inputs following a deal with the U.S.

American businesses and consumers are regaining their swagger as fears of an economic downturn ease. (WSJ)

The EU’s member states are preparing for new countermeasures against the U.S. after being told President Trump wants more concessions for a trade agreement. (WSJ)

Japan’s ruling coalition suffered a significant loss in a parliamentary election Sunday, a setback that risks derailing delicate trade negotiations with the U.S. just weeks before punishing tariffs are set to take effect. (WSJ)

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.