Shoppers Are Ready to Hand AI Agents $102 in Autonomous Holiday Spending—Even If Retailers Aren’t Ready Yet.Accenture’s 20th Annual Holiday Shopping Survey reveals that half of active generative AI users now trust an algorithm more than themselves to select gifts, signaling an imminent shift from AI-assisted search to autonomous commerce.For the past two years, generative artificial intelligence in retail has largely functioned as an upgraded search bar—a digital sounding board for brainstorming gift ideas or hunting down promo codes. Th...

Local opposition to data center construction in the United States has grown throughout 2026. According to Data Center Watch, at least 120 projects worth around $198 billion were blocked or delayed in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, the number of local opposition groups rose to 843 across 49 states.Data centers are the physical foundation on which AI is run, and as a result, the ability to build and operate this infrastructure has become an important global benchmark. The U.S. leads the global data center market with 5,044 facilities a...

Personalisation is everywhere, from Tod’s loafer charms to Alex Mill’s hand-painted tote bags. For brands, it represents a massive opportunity to create an emotional connection with a customer — if they can get the complicated logistics right.For decades, the global fashion industry built empires around unmistakable corporate emblems, interlocking monograms, and conspicuous status symbols. Today, however, shoppers fatigued by mass-market ubiquity and overt displays of wealth are turning away from traditional brand logos in favor of a far...

Led by Inovia Capital, the $10 million seed round supports Physicl’s pivot from e-commerce 3D product rendering to high-fidelity physical AI and robotics simulation.After his previous 3D e-commerce visualization startup was disrupted by the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, founder and CEO Alex de Vigan is repurposing that underlying rendering technology for robotics. His new venture, Physicl, has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Inovia Capital to help world-model developers and robotics engineers train physical AI...

A robotic builder engineered by Caltech and funded by DARPA has achieved the first autonomous assembly of a structural truss from individual components in Earth’s orbit.Launching massive, fully assembled structures into Earth’s orbit presents immense payload and engineering hurdles, while relying on astronauts to assemble components manually exposes crews to the hazards of radiation and vacuum conditions. Offering a scalable robotic alternative, engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), backed by the Defense Advanced R...

Grocery prices could increase again as surging energy costs, supply-chain delays lift costs for producers.U.S. grocery prices rose 0.4% in October from the previous month, driven by snarled supply chains, unpredictable weather and high fuel prices.Retail diesel prices have increased by over 66% since the start of the war in Iran, reaching a record high of $6.53 in September.Kraft Heinz Chief Executive Steve Cahillane warned that price increases across the company’s portfolio are coming in 2027 due to cost pressures.The latest pickup in food...

Pringles is taking brand loyalty to the grave this Halloween, offering one fan a can-shaped cremation urn and what it calls an “afterlifetime” supply of crisps.The ‘Once You Drop’ campaign invites US fans to sign a “will and taste-ament” pledging to have their ashes buried in a Pringles can. The winner receives a personally engraved metal urn, plus $28,080: the cash equivalent of one can a week for 200 years.The inspiration is stranger than the promotion. Fredric Baur, who designed the Pringles can, had some of his ashes buried in one...

Soldering one of the graphene-based, ambient-radiation-powered temperature sensors Russell Cothren.Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is famous for conjuring electricity from thin air. It turns out you don't necessarily need a magical hammer to do this, as scientists have created a device that harvests electricity from radiation in its environment.Researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Michigan have developed a graphene-based energy harvester that generates electricity by harnessing ambient radiation from nearby electri...

1. (Patent) Nvidia, 단 한 장의 사진으로 실시간 3D 아바타를 생성하는 기술 특허 출원2D 이미지의 형태적 왜곡을 극복한 아바타 생성: 기존 단일 이미지 기반의 2D 워핑 기술이 지닌 측면 왜곡이나 안경, 모자 등의 소실 문제를 극복하고 단 한 장의 정면 사진으로 전방위 조작 가능한 3D 아바타를 실시간 렌더링하는 특허 출원.정체성과 질감 및 표정을 분리한 삼중 Tri-Plane 구조: 사용자의 얼굴을 정면 좌표계로 변환한 뒤 지오메트리, 표면 질감, 감정 표현을 각각 별도의 3차원 신경망 모델 Tri-Plane으로 인코딩 및 디코딩하여 원본 인물의 정체성을 훼손 없이 보존.사용자별 재...