Amazon Ads recently hosted its annual flagship event, Amazon Ads unBoxed 2026, in Shenzhen, bringing together advertisers, agencies, and technology partners to explore the next phase of AI-powered marketing innovation. This year's event focused on how AI is reshaping the advertising ecosystem through advancements in audience targeting, creative production, campaign management, and measurement capa...
Amazon Ads recently hosted its annual flagship event, Amazon Ads unBoxed 2026, in Shenzhen, bringing together advertisers, agencies, and technology partners to explore the next phase of AI-powered marketing innovation. This year's event focused on how AI is reshaping the advertising ecosystem through advancements in audience targeting, creative production, campaign management, and measurement capabilities.
We used to have the back and forth of actual conversation. Now we have phones filled with our friends’ rambling soliloquies The message I most dread receiving on WhatsApp isn’t “Call me” or “I can’t believe what you did last night”. It’s “I’m just going to vn you, it’ll be easier”. I roll my eyes as I fish my grubby headphones out of my bag to listen to yet another voice note. Voice notes were fun...
We used to have the back and forth of actual conversation. Now we have phones filled with our friends’ rambling soliloquies The message I most dread receiving on WhatsApp isn’t “Call me” or “I can’t believe what you did last night”. It’s “I’m just going to vn you, it’ll be easier”. I roll my eyes as I fish my grubby headphones out of my bag to listen to yet another voice note. Voice notes were fun when WhatsApp introduced them in 2013, but what was once a novelty has become too many people’s go-to method of communication. We are now faced with what feels to me like a voice note epidemic. Side effects may include the cheapening of conversation and a startling increase in narcissism. Annabel Martin is a lifestyle and culture writer Continue reading...
Wealthy players asking for more money may feel wrong but the big four tournaments are not sharing the revenue fairly At some point in the quiet buildup to her opening match at the Italian Open, Aryna Sabalenka decided to attack one of the most contentious subjects in her sport with the same force as her forehand. In her press conference, the subject of the top players’ attempts to attain a greater...
Wealthy players asking for more money may feel wrong but the big four tournaments are not sharing the revenue fairly At some point in the quiet buildup to her opening match at the Italian Open, Aryna Sabalenka decided to attack one of the most contentious subjects in her sport with the same force as her forehand. In her press conference, the subject of the top players’ attempts to attain a greater revenue share from the grand slam tournaments prompted the world No 1 to make a drastic prediction : “I think at some point we will boycott it, yeah,” she said. “I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.” It marked an escalation in a pay dispute that, until this point, had played out in a series of polite letters and public statements. Over a year ago, in March 2025, the players sent their first letter to the grand slam tournaments. Their requests focused on the grand slams offering a greater percentage of their revenues to the players, contributions to player welfare initiatives, such as pension funds, and closer consultation through a grand slam player council. To the frustration of the player group, the grand slams have still not issued substantial responses to the first two requests. Continue reading...
Home T20 World Cup and a historic Lord’s Test loom for Charlotte Edwards but with selection questions mounting Historic occasions are like buses: you spend ages twiddling your thumbs and then two come along at once. England have waited nine years for another home World Cup, wallowing all the while in memories of their win in 2017 , and almost a century for a maiden women’s Test at Lord’s. Now both...
Home T20 World Cup and a historic Lord’s Test loom for Charlotte Edwards but with selection questions mounting Historic occasions are like buses: you spend ages twiddling your thumbs and then two come along at once. England have waited nine years for another home World Cup, wallowing all the while in memories of their win in 2017 , and almost a century for a maiden women’s Test at Lord’s. Now both are being thrust upon them over the space of a single month, from 12 June to 13 July, in a true summer bonanza for women’s cricket. First, though, a T20 World Cup dress rehearsal: three one-day internationals against New Zealand, followed by three Twenty20s against the same opposition, and another three against India. The 50-over series, which begins on Sunday in Durham, feels a little as if it has been plonked thoughtlessly into the calendar. The wicketkeeper Kira Chathli and all-rounder Jodi Grewcock could make their England debuts – after all, the head coach, Charlotte Edwards, promised us she would “look to the future” after England’s drubbing in last year’s 50-over World Cup semi-final . But right now, no one in the England management has much bandwidth to plan for anything other than the possibility of reaching a home final at Lord’s on 5 July. Continue reading...
Footballer has 664 million followers but his boring presence is a reminder of how reel-life destroys what it touches Buy the backpack airlines hate. Fawn strangely at a child athlete. This TV presenter drank olive oil for a month and absolutely nothing happened. The streets (no actual streets involved) won’t forget (robots can’t forget) Paul Pogba (or equivalent coding). Nineties dance hits. Ruben...
Footballer has 664 million followers but his boring presence is a reminder of how reel-life destroys what it touches Buy the backpack airlines hate. Fawn strangely at a child athlete. This TV presenter drank olive oil for a month and absolutely nothing happened. The streets (no actual streets involved) won’t forget (robots can’t forget) Paul Pogba (or equivalent coding). Nineties dance hits. Ruben Amorim loyalists. Argue with fake fans over a fake photo of fake empty seats. Buy a backpack that hates you because you once thought about buying a backpack, and like a Hungarian grandmother it will never, ever forget and you will be punished. Continue reading...
Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s largest electronics marketplace in southern China’s tech hub Shenzhen, is reinventing itself as the world’s artificial intelligence showroom, drawing back foreign traders and tourists hunting for the latest gadgets. For first-time visitors like Abigail Slagveer from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the sheer scale of Huaqiangbei’s electronics market is overwhelming. “I ...
Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s largest electronics marketplace in southern China’s tech hub Shenzhen, is reinventing itself as the world’s artificial intelligence showroom, drawing back foreign traders and tourists hunting for the latest gadgets. For first-time visitors like Abigail Slagveer from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the sheer scale of Huaqiangbei’s electronics market is overwhelming. “I came here one and a half hours ago through that front door,” she said, pointing to an entrance just...
rawintanpin/iStock via Getty Images Risk assets advance on strong earnings It was a positive week for global equity markets, supported by continued strength in the U.S. earnings season . Earnings growth has exceeded expectations by a wide margin, running close to double initial forecasts. Strength has been broad-based, with small cap and mid cap companies also delivering better-than-expected resul...
rawintanpin/iStock via Getty Images Risk assets advance on strong earnings It was a positive week for global equity markets, supported by continued strength in the U.S. earnings season . Earnings growth has exceeded expectations by a wide margin, running close to double initial forecasts. Strength has been broad-based, with small cap and mid cap companies also delivering better-than-expected results alongside large caps. A key driver remains the ongoing investment in artificial intelligence. This earnings season has seen a notable increase in capital expenditure intentions for 2026, reinforcing the durability of the AI theme. This dynamic has also supported markets outside the U.S. For example, South Korea has continued its strong performance, driven by demand for memory and semiconductor-related industries. Easing geopolitical tensions support sentiment Geopolitical developments in the Middle East also contributed to improved market sentiment. Recent progress toward a potential memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran has helped ease tensions, at least in the near term. While the situation remains fragile, the reduction in immediate risks has supported equity markets and contributed to a more constructive backdrop for risk assets. From a broader perspective, the economic cycle in the U.S. continues to transition from resilience toward a potential phase of acceleration. Other regions face some headwinds from higher energy prices but remain broadly resilient. Investor sentiment has also improved. After appearing slightly oversold at the end of March, sentiment indicators have moved back toward modestly overbought levels. However, these levels are not yet extreme and do not suggest that risk has built excessively. Rates and valuation opportunities In fixed income markets, there has been some relief in yields over the past week, partly reflecting the easing in geopolitical tensions. In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates for the ...