Retail sales climbed 0.6 percent in August, but the increase was smaller than in previous months, prompting concerns of a recovery that is running out of steam.Despite an end to the federal stimulus measures that have propped up consumer spending, retail sales climbed for the fourth straight month in August, extending a bounceback that has lasted longer than many economists had expected.The gai...

Environmentalists say straws are harmful, and the argument makes a lot of sense. But as an iconic beverage accessory, many people don’t know how to live without straws.Thanks to Phade, they don’t have to. This biodegradable plastic straw looks and fees like a standard disposable straw. There’s just one twist: Phade is way better for the environment.If you’ve ever tried paper straws, you may...

A new report reveals CD sales plummeted across the first half of 2020, while vinyl experienced modest growth. Vinyl sales surpass CDs for the first time since 1986.A mid-year revenue report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has revealed vinyl sales in 2020 have surpassed compact disc (CD) sales for the first time since the mid-1980s. The report also reveals the COVID-19...

Priestmangoode has revealed an electric, autonomous vehicle designed for high capacity urban transport. autonomous network transit (ANT) company dromos technologies selected the london-based design studio to develop the project following an international competition. The brief called for a safe, reliable, and affordable vehicle, that took into account the principles of innovation, modularity, s...

Researchers at the City University of Hong Kong have developed a face mask containing laser-induced graphene that can kill bacteria and has demonstrated potential in deactivating coronaviruses. The graphene layer has antibacterial properties and can generate heat when exposed to sunlight, which may underlie its ability to deactivate coronaviruses. The researchers hope that such masks could help...

It’s here. These are BASES’ Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations Europe for 2020.[neilsen]

Observe.ai, a startup developing AI call center software, today closed a $54 million funding round. A spokesperson told VentureBeat the funds will be used to accelerate growth and R&D as Observe expands its go-to-market efforts.With customer representatives in India, the U.S., and elsewhere ordered to work from home during the pandemic, companies are turning to AI to bridge the resulting ga...

A team of researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has built a bionic device that they say can restore vision to the blind through a brain implant.The team is now preparing for what they claim will be the world’s first human clinical trials of a bionic eye — and are asking for additional funding to eventually manufacture it on a global scale.It’s essentially the guts of a sm...

Idriverplus, a Beijing-based supplier of driverless vehicle and robotics systems, this week raised over 100 million yuan (~$14.6 million). The company says the money will be put toward R&D, deploying robotaxi fleets, and ramping up production of cleaning robots and other specialized robotics products.The pandemic has accelerated the demand for robots and self-driving cars, as they’re inher...