In Asia, brands are harnessing the soft power of virtual human livestreamers, while the West goes the other way around with creators pretending to be virtual humans. In 2023, the idea of virtual humans is nothing new. Lil Miquela, a virtual model created by a Los Angeles-based startup, has 3 million followers on Instagram and kissed Bella Hadid for a Calvin Klein campaign. Imma, the first virtu...

The only thing the MouseBase doesn’t do is fix that horrendous charging problem.For probably over a decade now, Apple’s one overarching design philosophy has been sleekness. Jony Ive famously made design decisions that enforced this, much to the end-consumer’s detriment. MacBooks in 2014-15 used glue instead of screws to hold components together because it made devices thinner. The disastrou...

The high-tech beer, wings, and driving range experience for millennials and Gen Z is working to bring even more people into the fun.Two years ago, Topgolf chief marketing officer Geoff Cottrill was at a golf tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, when he and a friend were walking the course and spotted two kids laughing hysterically as they rolled down a hill. Cottrill turned to his friend and sa...

Generative AI has been shown to boost customer service productivity. Now companies must decide how and where to deploy it to derive the greatest value.Companies should begin with off-the-shelf systems for high-value use cases, such as boosting the accuracy of chat channels. Then they should move on to use cases that can offer new products and services to high-value customers, helping them throu...

Apple invents a Dual-Speaker earphone system that could play music privately or in new 'Public Mode' via a new exhaust portThis week, the European Patent Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to a new kind of earphones that provides the user with a dual-speaker system. More specifically, the earphones provide the user the option to listen to their music in private or in...

Apple led global smartphone revenues and operating profit with record June-quarter shares of 45% and 85% respectively.Global smartphone revenues declined by 8% YoY and 15% QoQ to well under $90 billion in Q2 2023.In the same period, global smartphone operating profit fell to below $13 billion, declining by 3% YoY and 27% QoQ.Apple was the single-largest contributor to profitability, with an 85%...

A major win for the taxi operators, a significant setback for activists, city officials, and competitors.Robotaxis will be free to lumber about autonomously across the streets of San Francisco all day, every day. It's a major win for the taxi operators, but a significant setback for anti-car activists, city officials, and and competing rideshare companies.On Thursday, Waymo and Cruise were gran...

Tapestry, the parent company of Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman, is set to add Michael Kors, Versace, and Jimmy Choo to its bag after striking a deal to acquire Capri Holdings in a deal reportedly worth some $8.5 billion.The 6 brands netted a collective $12 billion in revenue last year and, according to Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat, will combine to create “a new powerful global luxur...

Portable and lightweight mouse for use on any surface.THE mouse for your Mac and PC like no other. Clip Mouse introduces a new design and functionality while retaining all the features of a regular mouse. It has been primarily designed as a replacement for the Magic Mouse, aiming to transfer all the functions and capabilities of the Apple Magic Mouse into a completely new, even lighter, more mi...