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Palos Verdes Estates oceanfront compound sells for record $24.3M. Completed in 2016, the gated compound spans more than an acre and features two homes totaling 12,472 square feet. PUBLISHED: September 30, 2026 at 1:34 PM PDT UPDATED: September 30, 2026 at 4:03 PM PDT A Santa Barbara Spanish-style estate on an oceanfront Palos Verdes Estates bluff recently changed hands for $24.26 million. The Aug. 14 sale surpassed the previous record of $22.4 million, set by a Rolling Hills estate in October 2018, to become the Palos Verdes Peninsula's most expensive residential transaction on record. Completed in 2016, the gated compound spans more than an acre on the westernmost point of the bluff, with 180-degree views. Its two homes total 12,472 square feet of living space with seven bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. Public records identify the buyer as Landslide Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company managed by Steven D. Burns and his wife, Jo. Burns is an equine veterinarian and champion breeder of American quarter horses. According to the American Quarter Horse Association, runners bred by Burns at Burns Ranch in Menifee have earned more than $43 million. Records also show Burns Ranch serves as the LLC's principal address. A central terrace with a pool and spa connects the 7,022-square-foot main house to the separate 5,450-square-foot guest pavilion. Inside the main house, reclaimed wood-beamed ceilings, French white oak, limestone floors, walls finished in Roman clay plaster, vintage Italian chandeliers and antique fireplace mantels from France set the tone. A fireplace anchors the living room, while a butler's pantry links the formal dining room to the eat-in gourmet kitchen and breakfast room. The culinary space has French limestone countertops, a Wolf six-burner stove, a copper sink and Waterworks fixtures. In the family room, fully retractable glass walls open to lawns, limestone patios and pergolas. Other features of the main house include a home office, screening room and primary suite with direct access to an outdoor spa. The primary bedroom has a fireplace, while the bathroom has a separate tub and shower. A walk-in closet offers custom built-in storage and an island. The two-bedroom guest pavilion has a secured wine cellar, gym and home office. A custom indoor grill, oversized dining area and multiple seating areas open to the pool terrace. Garage parking for seven cars, Savant home automation and a security system round out the highlights. The seller is Timothy D. Armour, retired chair and chief executive officer at Capital Group, acting as trustee of the Del Mar Trust. Through the trust, he purchased two separate properties to build the compound, paying $4.9 million for the first in July 2007 and $4.5 million for the neighboring lot in March 2011. Interior designer Tim Clarke handled the interiors, while landscape architect Art Luna oversaw the grounds. When the property first hit the market for $35 million in September 2023, Britt Austin of Vista Sotheby's International Realty told SCNG she expected the local market to strengthen, citing its large lots and scenic setting. "I don't know why prices are (undervalued), but I think that will change," she said at the time. After dropping the asking price to $29.75 million, the sellers eventually withdrew the property from the open market, Redfin shows. But Austin and her mother, Cari Corbalis - also of Vista Sotheby's International Realty - remained attached to the property. Representing both the buyer and the seller, they finalized the record deal at 18.5% below that final public asking price. The Home Stretch: Our weekly newsletter breaks down the news on affordability, renting, buying, selling & more.

CIOs on the move: September 2026. September's CIO appointments reflected the breadth of responsibilities now assigned to senior technology executives. Organizations recruited leaders with backgrounds in cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, healthcare informatics, manufacturing systems, AI, and business transformation. Here are 10 technology executives who accepted new CIO or CTO positions during September 2026. Mayo Clinic announces Arun Kumar Bhaskara-Baba as CIO. Mayo Clinic named Arun Kumar Bhaskara-Baba Chief Information Officer. He joined Mayo Clinic from Honeywell Aerospace and Defense, where he directed digital strategy and helped expand the organization's AI capabilities. His earlier experience includes technology leadership assignments at Johnson & Johnson. Balaji Rangaswamy appointed CIO of GXO Logistics. GXO Logistics appointed Balaji Rangaswamy to the newly created Chief Information Officer position. Rangaswamy leads the enterprise systems, architecture, information strategy, cybersecurity, data governance, digital resilience, and service management functions supporting GXO's global logistics operations. Capital Group announces Guillermo Veiga as CIO. Capital Group announced Guillermo Veiga as its incoming Chief Information Officer in September. Veiga, who was serving as group chief information and operations officer at Standard Chartered Bank, is scheduled to join Capital Group in November. His previous employers include AWS, Cisco, and Banco Santander. Natalie Pageler Joins Seattle Children's as SVP and CIO. Seattle Children's appointed Natalie Pageler Chief Information Officer. Pageler joined the pediatric health system from Stanford Children's Health and Stanford University School of Medicine, where her positions included division chief of clinical informatics and associate dean of maternal child health. Nathaniel Arnold appointed CIO of entegris. Entegris appointed Nathaniel Arnold Chief Information and Digital Officer. Arnold previously served as CIO for engineering and future of flight at GE Aerospace and held earlier CIO assignments involving commercial engines, services, and supply chain technology. Production Resource Group names Joe Simon as CIO and CTO. Production Resource Group appointed Joe Simon Chief Technology and Information Officer. Simon previously advised media and entertainment businesses on technology modernization and AI strategy and formerly served as CITO at Entain and COO of Encompass Digital Media. Shamyo Chatterjee appointed CIO of moore. Moore appointed Shamyo Chatterjee Chief Information Officer. Chatterjee most recently served as CIO at Corsair and previously held technology leadership positions at Linksys, Satellite Healthcare, and Ellie Mae. Bridget Collins takes EVP and CIO role at progress Software. Progress Software announced Bridget Collins as Chief Information Officer. Collins previously served as chief information and business transformation officer at Rapid7 and held earlier leadership positions at Cerence and Nuance Communications. Rex Young joins spinnaker Support as CIO and CISO. Spinnaker Support named Rex Young Chief Information Officer. Young previously served as CIO and CISO at SambaSafety, where he directed enterprise IT, security, AI enablement, transformation, and modernization initiatives. He earlier served as CIO at LogRhythm. Patterson Companies selects Wasi Ahmed as CIO. Patterson Companies named Wasi Ahmed Chief Information Officer. Ahmed previously served as CTIO at Foundation Building Materials, where his work included SAP modernization, cloud transformation, cybersecurity, AI-enabled automation, and e-commerce. He also previously served as CIO of Yokohama Tire Corporation of North America.

ASUS supercomputer lets local AI agents trade real money without the cloud. Artificial intelligence is already writing code, answering emails, and generating images. Now AI agents are being trusted with something considerably more dangerous: real money. ASUS and Poesis have completed a week-long experiment in which autonomous AI agents traded in live financial markets using actual capital. The agents conducted investment research, managed risk, and executed trades while operating within predefined rules. Perhaps the most interesting part is where all of this happened. The entire AI operation ran locally on a single ASUS ExpertCenter Pro ET900N G3 rather than depending on cloud-based AI infrastructure. The machine is built on NVIDIA's DGX Station platform and powered by the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip. ASUS says it offers up to 20 petaflops of AI performance and 748GB of coherent memory. Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Discover more Journalism & News Industry Open Source Networking That was apparently enough horsepower for Poesis to run its collection of models, agents, and workflows on one deskside system. In other words, the AI could analyze the market, perform research, consider risk, and ultimately execute trades without shipping the underlying AI workload off to a remote data center. "While this was an early-stage experiment, it showed that agents can operate continuously in live markets while remaining within clearly defined constraints," said Alex Popa, founder and CEO of Poesis. Poesis describes itself as an AI-native asset manager developing agentic systems for financial markets. Popa previously worked as a partner and portfolio manager at Capital Group, while co-founder Charles Elkan previously served as Global Head of Machine Learning at Goldman Sachs. There is an important detail missing from the announcement, however. ASUS and Poesis don't reveal whether the AI agents actually made any money. There are no returns, benchmarks, drawdown figures, transaction costs, or even a detailed breakdown of the trades. The experiment therefore tells NERDS considerably more about whether autonomous trading agents can operate locally than whether anyone should trust them to manage an investment portfolio. Autonomous and algorithmic trading itself isn't new, either. The more interesting development here is how much of an investment workflow can apparently be handed to modern AI agents and squeezed onto a single machine sitting in an office. Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence That could eventually matter beyond finance. Companies interested in agentic AI may not necessarily want sensitive data, proprietary research, or decision-making processes traveling through third-party cloud services. Powerful local AI systems provide another option, assuming organizations are willing to pay for the hardware and operate it themselves. For financial firms, the implications are particularly interesting. An autonomous system capable of researching investments, enforcing risk rules, and executing trades locally could potentially reduce dependence on external AI infrastructure while giving firms tighter control over their data. But successfully placing trades and successfully investing are two very different things. ASUS and Poesis have demonstrated the former. Until NERDS see what happened to the money, NERDS know very little about the latter. Support independent tech journalism. NERDS.xyz is independently owned and operated. If you enjoy my coverage of Linux, AI, hardware, cybersecurity, and tech culture, consider supporting the site on Ko-fi. Technology journalist and founder of NERDS.xyz Brian Fagioli is a technology journalist and founder of NERDS.xyz. A former BetaNews writer, he has spent over a decade covering Linux, hardware, software, cybersecurity, and AI with a no nonsense approach for real nerds.