TREND REPORTS
(PDF) BCG - Scaling Next-Gen Materials in Fashion : An Executive Guide
[Business]
2025/02/21 09:10
Materials lie at the heart of the fashion industry. They account for 92% of the industry’s total emissions through their extraction, processing, and production, and around 30% of cost of goods sold (COGS). Next-generation materials present the opportunity to transform the industry’s environmental impact. However, many brands lack guidance and are unprepared for a material transition and how t...
(Video) Helix : A Vision-Language-Action Model for Generalist Humanoid Control
[Tech]
2025/02/21 09:09
Robot Startup Figure Reveals an AI Breakthrough Called Helix The company also released a video showing two humanoid robots putting away groceries. It’s worth watching. Figure, a Silicon Valley-based startup that builds humanoid robots, has announced Helix, a proprietary AI model that the company says enables robots to more easily pick up objects, collaborate on tasks with other robots, and smo...
OpenAI Tops 400 Million Users Despite DeepSeek’s Emergence
[Business]
2025/02/21 09:08
The artificial intelligence company saw 400 million weekly active users, up 33% in less than three months, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, told CNBC. The growth came amid more competition from open source models like DeepSeek. There’s an overall effect of people really wanting these tools, and seeing that these tools are really valuable,” Lightcap said.OpenAI appears to be g...
Mercor, An AI Recruiting Startup Founded by 21-Year-Olds, Raises $100M at $2B Valuation
[Investing]
2025/02/21 09:07
AI Startup Led by 21-Year-Old Thiel Fellow Lands $2 Billion Valuation. Mercor uses AI to help with hiring for employers and workers. Felicis, General Catalyst and Menlo backed $100 million deal.Artificial intelligence-powered hiring startup Mercor has notched a valuation of $2 billion in a new funding round — a massive markup for the small San Francisco-based team and the latest sign of contin...
Japan’s Toilet Jokes Are on You. Innovation Is Flourishing.
[Business]
2025/02/21 09:06
Toto, a firm better known for its high-tech commodes, is these days making money off semiconductor materials. It’s just one example of how Japanese brands are less visible, but more vital.Is Japanese manufacturing in the toilet? Absolutely not — though it might be the first place to look to understand how the country’s firms are changing.One of the most surprising stories in corporate Japan...
Amazon Will Take Full Creative Control of The James Bond franchise
[Business]
2025/02/21 09:05
The next 007 may receive intel via Echo Buds and a Kindle Fire.Time (and perhaps a large check or two) heals all wounds. Amazon and the longtime producers and custodians of the James Bond movies have finally agreed on a way forward for the series. Amazon MGM Studios will form a joint venture with Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli that will hold the intellectual property rights and ensure t...
The World's First Air Touch Watch - The CenWatch
[Product]
2025/02/21 09:04
If you're tired of using a boring ol' remote for controlling your devices, you might like the CenWatch. It's a smartwatch that scans the underside of your hand, allowing you to make multiple commands via simple midair hand gestures.Manufactured by a Hong Kong startup of the same name, the CenWatch is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. And yes, the device does have a 368 x 448 AMOL...
Appetite for International Travel Continues to Grow
[Consumer]
2025/02/21 09:03
International travel is on the rise according to the 2025 Global Travel Outlook from Skift. The annual report and survey asked travelers about their travel intentions for 2025 and found that 72% expected to be traveling abroad within the year. This noticable increase on last year is mirrored by most of the countries surveyed. The only exceptions were the UK and Mexico, both of which only saw a...
(PDF) Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025
[Consumer]
2025/02/20 09:10
Homeownership hurdles: why Gen Z & Millennials feel locked out.From London to Istanbul to Sydney, rents are skyrocketing while homeownership drifts further out of reach. For most Gen Z and Millennials, buying a first home remains a distant dream. A recent Zillow report confirms the struggle: single-family home rents in the US are up 41% since pre-pandemic times, while multifamily rents have...
AI-Coding Startup Codeium in Talks to Raise at an Almost $3B Valuation
[Investing]
2025/02/20 09:09
Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup, is raising a new round of funding at a $2.85 billion valuation, including fresh capital, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal. The round is being led by returning investor Kleiner Perkins, the people said.The new round comes just six months after Silicon Valley-based Codeium announced that it had closed a $150 million Series C at a $1.25 bil...
(PDF) Mckinsey - What Do US Consumers Want from e-Commerce Deliveries ?
[Consumer]
2025/02/20 09:08
As US e-commerce growth slows, retailers and logistics providers face rising delivery costs. A survey of consumer preferences for package shipments—speed or reliability?—could help inform priorities.Consumers still love to shop online, but growth in e-commerce is no longer likely to be as frenzied as it was in recent years. E-commerce sales in the United States soared to 18 percent annual gro...
Walmart to Deploy AI Price Forecasting Tool
[Business]
2025/02/20 09:07
The retailer will use tech provided by Helios to predict the price and availability of agricultural commodities.Walmart will soon begin using software that calculates climate risk and provides price forecasting for categories like produce, according to a Tuesday announcement.Walmart aims to improve its evaluation of medium- and long-term climate risks for the global agricultural supply chain wi...
