Restaurant Platforms Make Embedded Finance Part of Daily Operations
Nearly 80% of middle-market companies expect to upgrade their embedded finance capabilities through restaurant platforms. Financing is increasingly delivered as a feature within the software platforms that businesses already use daily for operations.
Satya Nadella has issued a shocking warning to companies using AI
Microsoft's Satya Nadella warned companies that relying on proprietary AI models from major labs creates dependency risks. He cautioned that organizations should consider alternative approaches to avoid becoming trapped by single-vendor AI systems.
France unleashed: reinvention could earn Deschamps all-time great status | Nick Ames
France's head coach Deschamps has remodeled the team's attack and now stands on the verge of winning a second World Cup, which would make him only the second manager ever to achieve this feat. If France succeeds against Spain in the next six days, Deschamps will complete his renaissance after previously facing booing from fans following losses to Italy and Belgium.
Floating-electron catalyst withstands week in air while making ammonia under milder conditions
Researchers at Science Tokyo created BaSiN2:O, a catalyst material that maintains stability in air for a week while synthesizing ammonia under milder conditions than conventional methods. The material achieves this through oxygen-doped barium silicon nitride that forms a stable surface layer of freely floating electrons.
London Authority Sets Out Plan For Tokenizing Wholesale Financial Markets
The City of London Corporation released a report outlining plans to tokenize wholesale financial markets. The initiative aims to enhance the United Kingdom's competitiveness in wholesale markets that support economic growth and financing activity.
Your next budget problem may not be electricity—but your water bill
Water rates have risen three times faster than inflation and could become unaffordable for over one-third of U.S. households within a decade due to hotter, drier conditions straining aging infrastructure. Stanford researchers modeled Santa Cruz, California to demonstrate how climate change could worsen the water affordability crisis.
Kraken Debuts Debit Card to Let Customers Pay in Crypto
Kraken launched a debit card enabling customers in Britain and the European Economic Area to spend cryptocurrency and cash balances. The Kraken Card links customer account balances to both online and in-store purchases.
Tesla’s Cybercab drove across a car park, and the real news happened two days earlier
Tesla announced that Cybercab employee rides will begin soon at its Texas factory, featuring a vehicle with butterfly doors, no steering wheel, and no pedals. The company released a video showing the gold Cybercab autonomously driving across a parking lot.
Google’s big Waze AI update includes a button that makes the app shut up
Waze received multiple Gemini-powered features including motorcycle mode, personalized routing, conversational map editing, and destination search. A new "less chatty mode" button allows users to reduce the app's verbal output while navigating.
Intel is putting 5 billion euros into Ireland, and Europe just got one of the few EUV fabs on the continent
Intel is investing 5 billion euros in its Leixlip, Ireland campus to expand data-centre processor production for AI and high-performance computing. This expenditure represents approximately 30% of Intel's planned $17 billion capital spending for 2026.
Cutting back vines lets recovering forests grow faster, Borneo study shows
Cutting lianas from degraded forests in Borneo increased tree growth rates by 40 percent over three years. The study measured diameter growth in trees and found that removing these vining plants allowed recovering forests to sequester carbon more effectively.
Diego Forlán succeeds Marcelo Bielsa as Uruguay manager on temporary basis
Diego Forlán succeeded Marcelo Bielsa as Uruguay's manager on a temporary basis after Bielsa departed following Uruguay's group stage elimination from the World Cup. Forlán's appointment runs until March 2027.
Nadella says you pay for AI twice, and Microsoft helped build the trap
Companies using AI must pay twice: once in cash and once by surrendering secrets needed to make the systems useful, according to Microsoft's Satya Nadella, who calls this the Reverse Information Paradox. Microsoft itself helped create this trap by building AI systems that require proprietary data to function effectively.
AI is ending older workers’ careers early, and it is coming for the well-paid ones first
Workers aged 55 and over in AI-exposed occupations are exiting work at higher rates since ChatGPT's launch. Research from Boston College's Center indicates this trend affects older workers in roles vulnerable to artificial intelligence disruption.
The web is now mostly bots. Cloudflare is rebuilding its defences around that
Bot traffic now exceeds human traffic on the web for the first time. Cloudflare developed Precursor, a new tool that monitors visitor behavior after entry rather than verifying identity at initial access.
Valarian raised $50m to help governments use US cloud without losing control of it
Valarian raised $50 million in Series A funding to help governments use American cloud and AI services while maintaining data sovereignty and preventing US access. The startup, co-founded by a former Palantir executive, was led by venture fund NEA and addresses government concerns about data control.
15-yo Creates App for Reporting Potholes to the Government, and Uses AI to Help with Follow-up
A 15-year-old in New Delhi created an AI-powered app that lets citizens report potholes and grade their severity to authorities. The app's AI automatically drafts emails and letters to relevant government officials to follow up on reported issues.
The EU has stopped sanctioning Russian hackers and started sanctioning the machine that makes them
The EU and UK sanctioned Russia's cyber apparatus for the first time, with the EU targeting nine individuals and four entities while the UK sanctioned 24 subjects. The sanctions targeted an ecosystem spanning intelligence services rather than individual hacking groups.
Helsing raises $1.8bn at an $18bn valuation, and its cap table tells a story
Helsing closed a $1.8 billion Series E funding round at an $18 billion valuation, establishing itself as Europe's largest defense startup. The round centers on sovereign AI development with primary investment from American sources.
What Anthropic’s latest AI discovery does—and doesn’t—show
Anthropic published research exploring whether AI models can experience pain. The company, valued at nearly one trillion dollars, is known for publishing unconventional research on AI capabilities and consciousness-related topics.
How self-improving harnesses are rewriting the agent engineering playbook
AI agents can now write and optimize their own execution logic through new self-improving harness frameworks. These tools are becoming a primary focus in agent engineering, enabling systems to refine their performance automatically.
China’s ‘Green Great Wall’ tames desert growth, but scientists warn the fight is not over
Workers in northern China have used straw checkerboards for fifty years to stabilize sand dunes and enable plant growth as part of the Green Great Wall desertification reversal program. Scientists caution that despite progress since 2000, the fight against desert expansion remains incomplete.
Hyundai completes USDT treasury settlement pilot between US and Mexico
Hyundai completed a cross-border treasury settlement using USDT stablecoin between its US and Mexican subsidiaries. The proof-of-concept demonstrates enterprise adoption of stablecoin payments for international transfers.
Conor McGregor plans to fight again in UFC despite return lasting just 69 seconds
McGregor's UFC return ended after 69 seconds when he sustained a leg injury requiring surgery during Saturday's Las Vegas bout. He posted on Instagram that he plans to undergo surgery and prehab before fighting again to complete his contract.
ACRouter picks the smartest AI model per task, beating Opus-only setups by 2.6x on cost
ACRouter dynamically routes prompts to different AI models based on task requirements, achieving 2.6 times lower costs than setups using only Opus. The framework uses a Context-Action-Feedback loop to track model performance and optimize routing decisions without requiring training of large models.
Firm Breaks Ground on First Next-Gen Nuclear Reactor in America to Power Data Centers for Less
A next-generation nuclear reactor plant broke ground in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and will begin operation in 2030 to power Google's data centers in the Tennessee and Alabama region. The advanced reactor uses well-researched technology to address growing energy costs from large data center operations.
The AI Arms Race in Technical Interviews Is Escalating
Applicants are using AI assistants to suggest responses during remote technical interviews, while employers deploy AI-powered tools to detect signs of AI use. This escalating dynamic creates a competitive cycle between job seekers and hiring companies with no clear resolution.
India outplay England - but is women's Test cricket struggling for relevance?
India defeated England in a women's Test match at Lord's while the announcement of Brendon McCullum's dismissal coincided with the game's scheduling. The match highlighted questions about women's Test cricket's relevance amid competing scheduling demands and media attention.
Losing just 80 minutes of sleep a night could make you gain weight
Participants who slept 80 minutes less nightly for six weeks gained weight and increased sedentary time. Researchers concluded that sustained mild sleep loss over months or years could elevate risks for diabetes and heart disease.
A 200-year-old physics experiment could help build future computers
Researchers used the Poisson spot, a 200-year-old optical effect, to create optical skyrmions by shining a laser at a tiny circular disc. This method produces stable swirling light patterns without requiring expensive engineered materials, potentially enabling advances in data storage and computing technologies.