You’d be forgiven for thinking the hedge fund industry might be starting to rebound. Industry assets are at a record $3.2 trillion this year, and a brand-new firm just brought in an unprecedented $8 billion.But the reality isn’t so rosy. Inflows into funds, on the whole, are non-existent and the number of startups has slowed to levels not seen for nearly two decades.Looking AheadAs for the fu...

Not one to be outdone by Motorola’s obsession with modularity, Mercedes-Benz showcased their vision for modularity in automobiles. The Urbanetic shows the company’s explorations in modular vehicles, where the car’s undercarriage is a separate entity that allows various vehicular bodies to plug on top of it, allowing it to transform from a self-driving minivan to a self-driving truck.Its hype...

New developments in mobility technology will promote a dramatic shift in where automotive industry players should look for profits. A recent BCG study finds that, in the most likely scenario, the share of industry profits generated by new mobility technology will grow from just 1% in 2017 to 40% in 2035. (See the sidebar, “About Our Research.”)ABOUT OUR RESEARCHAs profit pools shift, incumben...

The Simba Hybrid puts its space-age materials inside an old-school housing.Forget Ambien: The Simba Hybrid may put you fast asleep even faster. The surface shell features Outlast, a proprietary coating material originally developed for NASA to protect astronauts from temperature variations. Instead of flipping it to the cool side, this £95 ($123) pillow will prevent you from sweating in the fi...

Adobe found that as of August 2018, 32% of consumers now own a smart speaker, up from 28% in January. That’s a 14% increase in just a matter of months – and those months didn’t include the busy holiday sales season, where 79% of smart speaker sales occur.In addition, the firm is predicting that after the 2018 holidays, nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers will own a smart speaker.Over the hol...

More than $2 million in total prizes will be awarded to top teams in the AlphaPilot challenge. The AlphaPilot challenge asks participants to design AI technology that allows autonomous drones to beat human-piloted drones in a race.Lockheed Martin, the Drone Racing League and NVIDIA launched a challenge Wednesday called AlphaPilot, which asks participants to create artificial intelligence techno...

Excitement is building ahead of Apple's annual iPhone launch which is scheduled for Wednesday evening. The company is rumoured to be unveiling a new version of the iPhone X with a 5.8 inch screen, which will possibly be called the "iPhone XS". It is also expected to launch a new iteration of its smartwatch while an updated version of the iPad Pro is possible but considered unlikely. While Apple...

Danish beermaker Carlsberg's six-packs will now be glued together as the Snap Pack.The Ocean Cleanup barge is currently on its way to tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but it never hurts to find ways to reduce plastic before it gets into the sea. In that vein, Danish beermaker Carlsberg has announced the Snap Pack, a simple alternative to plastic six-pack rings.The Snap Pack concept sound...

To the commodity traders that support it, blockchain technology is a panacea. Blockchain-based platforms promise to improve the way the commodity-trading industry operates by addressing its struggles: with inefficiencies and issues of trust and with the complexity of transactions, which typically involve multiple counterparties. It’s no surprise, then, that senior executives are lining up to i...