Artemis II, Nasa’s first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years, is a key step toward a long‑term return to the moon and future crewed missions to Mars Continue reading...
Artemis II, Nasa’s first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years, is a key step toward a long‑term return to the moon and future crewed missions to Mars Continue reading...
In this article MC-FR ASC-GB ITX-ES SHOP-CA ADBE NVDA AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Moment Makers Group | Istock | Getty Images It pinches here; drags there; the draping is wrong. These are some of the examples of the feedback a new crop of artificial intelligence apps might give a prospective customer trying on clothing ahead of a purchase, and in the process reduce the cha...
In this article MC-FR ASC-GB ITX-ES SHOP-CA ADBE NVDA AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Moment Makers Group | Istock | Getty Images It pinches here; drags there; the draping is wrong. These are some of the examples of the feedback a new crop of artificial intelligence apps might give a prospective customer trying on clothing ahead of a purchase, and in the process reduce the chances of a product being returned to a store. Fashion retailers are increasingly turning to AI to solve the issue of rising product returns, a persistent drag on profitability and something many in the industry refer to as the industry's "silent killer". A growing number of AI start-ups have emerged to provide virtual try-on technology, allowing potential customers to visualize fit and style before they buy. While tech companies have attempted to solve online fit issues since the 2010's, the rapid development of generative AI has finally made these applications good enough to meaningfully impact retailers' bottom lines. The U.S. National Retail Federation late last year estimated that 15.8% of annual retail sales were returned in 2025, totaling $849.9 billion. For online sales, that number jumped to 19.3%. Gen Z is driving this trend, with shoppers aged 18 to 30 averaging nearly eight online returns per person last year, the NRF found. Most returned items never make it back to the shelves and often cost the retailer more to process than the value of the refund itself. It's a multibillion-dollar problem for the industry that's eating directly into companies' margins. "Figuring out how to proactively use returns and then how to minimize them can be a meaningful driver of business and profitability," Guggenheim Senior Managing Director Simeon Siegel told CNBC. While fit technology will never be as good as trying something on in person, it's a great way to bridge the gap, Siegel said. "It's going to continue to get better, I think that's going to continue to reduce returns." Mir...
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk apologises to the supporters and says his side "gave up" during their 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Manchester City.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk apologises to the supporters and says his side "gave up" during their 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Manchester City.
Energy demand from AI is surging. Altimetry highlights MasTec, Regal Rexnord and EQT as top energy plays, while warning investors to avoid CoreWeave and Oklo.
Energy demand from AI is surging. Altimetry highlights MasTec, Regal Rexnord and EQT as top energy plays, while warning investors to avoid CoreWeave and Oklo.
Hongkongers are more willing to discuss death including their own funeral wishes in the wake of the Covid pandemic, mass emigration and the deadly Tai Po fire, amid a rapidly ageing population, a death education advocate says. Pasu Ng Kwai-lun, founder of Minimal Funeral and a practitioner of “life-and-death education”, said attitudes had changed and people had grown much more open to discussing d...
Hongkongers are more willing to discuss death including their own funeral wishes in the wake of the Covid pandemic, mass emigration and the deadly Tai Po fire, amid a rapidly ageing population, a death education advocate says. Pasu Ng Kwai-lun, founder of Minimal Funeral and a practitioner of “life-and-death education”, said attitudes had changed and people had grown much more open to discussing death over the past five to 10 years. “People may not go as far as fully planning their funerals, but...
The HK$2 (US$0.26) transport fare scheme for the elderly is one of Hong Kong’s most socially significant success stories. But some of the recent changes, and further ones contemplated, seem to be rowing in a different direction. We need to pause and take stock before we inadvertently undo some of our good work. In the process, we should also take the chance to ensure the long-term affordability of...
The HK$2 (US$0.26) transport fare scheme for the elderly is one of Hong Kong’s most socially significant success stories. But some of the recent changes, and further ones contemplated, seem to be rowing in a different direction. We need to pause and take stock before we inadvertently undo some of our good work. In the process, we should also take the chance to ensure the long-term affordability of the scheme. The subsidy scheme was introduced in 2012 after an announcement in the 2011 policy...
This week, Matthew Burgess and Iris Ouyang discuss how Chinese bond yields have rebounded from historical low levels and how that may be signaling the market is reaching an inflection point.
This week, Matthew Burgess and Iris Ouyang discuss how Chinese bond yields have rebounded from historical low levels and how that may be signaling the market is reaching an inflection point.
Last summer, Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) CEO Alex Karp outlined a clear growth road map: 10x revenue by the early 2030s, targeting somewhere between $40 billion and 45 billion in annual sales. Buying into this narrative requires more than just enthusiasm around the hype. Smart investors understand that investing in Palantir today represents a high-conviction bet that the company's Artific...
Last summer, Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) CEO Alex Karp outlined a clear growth road map: 10x revenue by the early 2030s, targeting somewhere between $40 billion and 45 billion in annual sales. Buying into this narrative requires more than just enthusiasm around the hype. Smart investors understand that investing in Palantir today represents a high-conviction bet that the company's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) becomes a core operating system powering the world's most data-intensive enterprises. Palantir's combination of ironclad government contracts , exploding commercial demand, and improving operational efficiency positions the company to sustain premium valuation multiples that only the clearest AI winners deserve. Continue reading
hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Pharmaceutical companies have only begun to tap the potential demand for obesity treatments, and expanding access should be a top priority, said Mike Doustdar, the head of Novo Nordisk ( NVO ), the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic. Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, Doustdar said the current reach of these drugs is still limited relative to the...
hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Pharmaceutical companies have only begun to tap the potential demand for obesity treatments, and expanding access should be a top priority, said Mike Doustdar, the head of Novo Nordisk ( NVO ), the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic. Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, Doustdar said the current reach of these drugs is still limited relative to the scale of need. He said companies in the sector must prioritize broadening availability, noting that tens of millions of people in the United States alone are living with obesity. Despite strong demand, he suggested that only a small fraction of eligible patients are currently being treated, leaving a large untapped population. He added that even when factoring in competition from Eli Lilly ( LLY ) and copycat products from compounding pharmacies, the industry is reaching only a modest share of potential users. Much of the conversation, he suggested, has focused on current patients rather than those still outside the system. Doustdar took over as CEO last year following a challenging stretch for Novo ( NVO ), during which it ceded market leadership to Eli Lilly ( LLY ) and faced setbacks in clinical trials. The company is now aiming to regain momentum, including through the rollout of an oral version of Wegovy. However, Eli Lilly ( LLY ) has also advanced in the same direction, recently securing U.S. approval for its own weight-loss pill, Foundayo. Improving affordability is central to Novo’s ( NVO ) strategy. Doustdar said expanding access helped drive the company’s agreement to lower prices for medications distributed through TrumpRx, an initiative backed by the U.S. administration. Other pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, have struck similar arrangements. Novo ( NVO ) is also preparing to reduce U.S. list prices significantly. Wholesale prices for Wegovy are expected to drop by about half, while Ozempic will see a reduction of roughly a third starting next ye...
A photo of a black speaker, the Amazon Echo, on a gray background. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Jeff Bezos badly wanted a voice computer. He had been saying so publicly since the very early days of Amazon, telling anyone who would listen about why voice might make it easier and more natural to interact with technology. (And to buy stuff from Jeff Bezos.) But when a team at Amazon se...
A photo of a black speaker, the Amazon Echo, on a gray background. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Jeff Bezos badly wanted a voice computer. He had been saying so publicly since the very early days of Amazon, telling anyone who would listen about why voice might make it easier and more natural to interact with technology. (And to buy stuff from Jeff Bezos.) But when a team at Amazon set out to actually make the voice computer a reality, they encountered a seemingly endless series of hard problems. Eventually, though, they created two products, the Echo speaker and the Alexa voice assistant, that would help bring a new kind of computer to millions of people. On this episode of Version History , we tell the story of the Echo's development i … Read the full story at The Verge.
Liliya Filakhtova/iStock via Getty Images Over the past several years, a major theme in commercial real estate has been to sit it out and wait. Following the pandemic, trouble in the commercial mortgage sector gave birth to the phrase extend and pretend. The idea was that troubles at the asset level that were caused by rising interest rates could be solved by simply ignoring fundamentals and refin...
Liliya Filakhtova/iStock via Getty Images Over the past several years, a major theme in commercial real estate has been to sit it out and wait. Following the pandemic, trouble in the commercial mortgage sector gave birth to the phrase extend and pretend. The idea was that troubles at the asset level that were caused by rising interest rates could be solved by simply ignoring fundamentals and refinancing loans. Much of the trouble that banks faced with commercial real estate was navigated by this strategy. Looking more broadly, the strategy of waiting out a troubled market has become a core theme in real estate. If we are to look at the office sector, it continues to lead the way as a struggling asset class. If we are to look at more niche assets, such as life science, we see that an even more dreadful pattern has emerged. Today, we will revisit Alexandria Real Estate ( ARE ) and discuss why the “wait it out” strategy is falling apart. Review of Prior Coverage ARE is one of the most storied businesses in real estate. The company virtually built the life science real estate business and for decades was one of the highest performers in real estate. For the ten years following the Great Recession, ARE did well, but post-pandemic, the company ran circles around commercial real estate more broadly. Data by YCharts The company had all of the pieces necessary for a successful business. The company had a cost of capital advantage, the life science industry was booming, and skeptics were beginning to turn their opinion on whether life science was a viable business. The pandemic supercharged their business, and ARE reached for the skies. That is until everything came crashing down. Data by YCharts Several years after the pandemic, a combination of a supply-demand shift in life science and rising interest rates led to one of the most catastrophic periods in the history of life science real estate. This led to what many have been calling the five-year bear market in biotech. I b...