Gemini for Android Auto Is Rolling Out More Widely, but Not Everyone Is Happy About It
Google has accelerated the rollout of its Gemini AI voice assistant to Android Auto, making the feature suddenly available to a wave of drivers after a year‑long, slow deployment. Early adopters report mixed experiences, with some praising the new conversational capabilities while others encounter navigation errors, premature cut‑offs, and overly verbose responses. The transition replaces the aging Google Assistant, but the initial performance hiccups have sparked a polarized reaction among users. Gemini’s presence on the road marks a significant shift in in‑car AI interaction.
Florida Circuit Court Reinforces COP Rule by Sourcing Online Bill Pay Services to the Location of the Taxpayer’s Own Activities
The Florida Second Judicial Circuit granted summary judgment to Checkfree Services Corporation, holding that the state’s corporate income tax cost‑of‑performance (COP) rule requires receipts from its online bill‑pay platform to be sourced based on Checkfree’s own transactions, not the locations...
Father-Son Lender Duo Owes Ex-LOs $1M in Back Wages
Illinois‑based Smart Mortgage Centers and its father‑son executives were ordered to pay $1,108,482 in wage damages after a jury found federal Fair Labor Standards Act violations and willful misconduct. A federal judge upheld the verdict, rejected the Birks’ motion for...
What to Do If You Receive an IRS Notice
Receiving an IRS notice can be unsettling, but most are routine inquiries or corrections. The agency may flag mismatched income, math errors, missing forms, or a balance due, and typically provides a clear deadline for response. By carefully reading the...
Manhattan Housing Slump Deepens in Q1, Luxury Demand Stands Out
Manhattan’s residential market showed resilience in Q1 2026 despite harsh winter storms, weaker sentiment and a sharp contraction in new listings. Total sales slipped 3.2% year‑over‑year to 2,279 units, while signed contracts fell 6.7%. Inventory declined 5.4% and new listings...
Amazon Weighs a Deal to Boost Its Satellite Internet Ambitions. Why It's Worthy Pursuit
Amazon is in talks to acquire satellite operator Globalstar, a move that would expand its fledgling Leo internet‑from‑space service. Leo currently runs about 200 low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, far fewer than SpaceX’s Starlink network of over 10,000 satellites and 10 million users. The...
Staten Island Showdown: NLRB Orders Amazon to Bargain with Union
The National Labor Relations Board, now operating with a full three‑member quorum, ordered Amazon to recognize and bargain with the union at its JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island. The board affirmed the union’s certification as the exclusive bargaining representative, despite...
People News: NJDOT, Alstom, Miner
New Jersey Department of Transportation confirmed Priya Jain as its 21st commissioner, also chairing NJ Transit, the Turnpike Authority and South Jersey Transportation Authority. Alstom announced Martin Sion as its new CEO, succeeding Henri Poupart‑Lafarge after a decade that saw revenues...
How To Break Up With China
The article outlines a strategic playbook for U.S. firms seeking to reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturing and market exposure. It highlights three core steps: mapping critical supply‑chain nodes, building alternative sourcing hubs in Southeast Asia and Mexico, and renegotiating contracts...
Ex Sanguis Launches in Early Access on May 21
Ex Sanguis, a turn‑based strategy title from Lightbulb Crew and Firesquid, enters Early Access on PC via Steam on May 21. The initial release offers fully playable core mechanics and several hours of content, while promising a minimum six‑month EA window. Developers will...
Strait of Hormuz Closure Pushes Asia-US Ocean Rates up 29%
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered a sharp rise in ocean freight rates on major east‑west lanes. Spot rates from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast jumped 29% since the end of February, while routes...
Albania on Alert After US Warning of Potential Iran-Linked Threats
Albania has placed security forces on heightened alert after the U.S. Embassy in Tirana warned that Iran‑linked groups could target American citizens, U.S. interests and popular venues. The embassy urged U.S. travelers to stay vigilant, while Albanian officials said no...
This Chip Keeps Working at 700°C, Surviving Lava-Like Heat
USC researchers have built a memristor‑based memory chip that continues to function at 700 °C—hotter than molten lava—by stacking tungsten, hafnium oxide and a single‑atom graphene layer. The device stored data for over 50 hours without refresh, survived more than a billion...
How Industrial Brakes and Clutches Control in Your Machine
Industrial brakes and clutches are essential components that start, stop, and position machinery with millisecond precision. The article outlines four main families—electromagnetic, power‑off, magnetic‑particle, and pneumatic—detailing torque ranges, response speeds, and typical applications from packaging lines to CNC tools. It...
How Toroidal Transformers Eliminate the Hidden Inefficiency in Your Power System
Toroidal transformers use a solid, gap‑free ring core that keeps magnetic flux confined, delivering roughly 40% lower energy loss and up to 80% less magnetic leakage than traditional E‑I designs. The tighter flux path also reduces heat, extending service life...
China Calls for Promoting Middle East Ceasefire in Talks with EU, Germany
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi urged the EU and Germany to push for an immediate cease‑fire in the Israel‑Hamas war and to secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. He framed a cease‑fire as essential for maritime safety and...
IMTS 2026 Showcases Foundational Technologies, Enabling Manufacturers To Achieve More, Capitalize on Opportunities
The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) returns Sept. 14‑19, 2026 in Chicago, featuring over 1,800 exhibitors across 1.2 million square feet. Attendees representing the $2.95 trillion U.S. manufacturing sector will see new multitasking, hybrid, and 5‑axis machining centers from leaders like Okuma, Index,...
GENFIT Reports Full-Year 2025 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update
GENFIT reported 2025 results with cash €101.1 million (~$109 million) and revenue €65.4 million (~$70.6 million), the bulk coming from Ipsen milestones and royalties. Iqirvo® generated $208 million in full‑year sales, triggering a $20 million commercial milestone and activating an additional €30 million (~$32 million) royalty‑financing tranche. The...
Estimated Price Range of €339,000 to €839,000 for Social-Housing Units in Meath Development
Glenveagh has priced 159 social‑housing units for Meath County Council at €79.16 million (approximately $86 million). The homes range from €339,258 ($369,000) for a studio to €839,281 ($915,000) for a four‑bedroom end‑terrace. The 92‑acre Moygaddy site, part of a €376 million ($410 million) master...
Saga’s Gainesville-Ocala Duo Get A New GM
Saga Communications announced the appointment of a new general manager for its Gainesville‑Ocala radio cluster, replacing the outgoing executive after a three‑year tenure. The new GM, Lisa Varner, brings 15 years of market‑specific programming and sales experience, previously leading revenue...
Hisense’s Art-Inspired CanvasTV Has Hit a New Low Price
Hisense has slashed the price of its 55‑inch CanvasTV to $599.99, a $400 discount from the original $999.99 list price. The art‑inspired 4K QLED TV mimics a framed painting when idle, offering a cheaper alternative to Samsung’s premium Frame series....
Editorial. Up in the Air
India’s regional connectivity initiative received a fresh $3.5 billion boost as the cabinet approved a ten‑year outlay for the Udan scheme. Since its 2016 launch, Udan has helped 16.3 million passengers fly on subsidised routes and doubled the country’s operational airports to...
Railroad & Tariff War Boost Soy in Brazil’s Cerrado, Endangering Indigenous Lands
A tariff dispute between the United States and China has redirected Chinese soy demand to Brazil, pushing 2025 exports to a record 85.4 million metric tons, about 80 % of the country’s shipments. In Mato Grosso, soy acreage expanded by 3.4 million hectares since...
NVIDIA Invests $2 Billion in Marvell to Expand NVLink AI Ecosystem
NVIDIA announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell Technology to broaden its NVLink ecosystem and support custom AI infrastructure. The partnership will deliver NVLink Fusion, a high‑speed interconnect that lets customers build rack‑level heterogeneous AI systems using NVIDIA GPUs, CPUs, DPUs...
CFTC Secures Summary Judgment Against Infinity Q Founder
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission secured a summary judgment against James R. Velissaris, founder of Infinity Q Capital Management, imposing a $2.2 million civil monetary penalty. The court permanently enjoined him from any participation in CFTC‑regulated markets and from registering with the...
Authorities Deploy AI Surveillance Towers Near San Diego
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has installed 203 AI‑powered surveillance towers along the U.S.–Mexico border, including roughly two dozen in the San Diego sector. The towers, ranging from 120 to 180 feet tall, combine cameras, radar, 5G and Starlink links to autonomously...
UK and US Lock in Pharmaceutical Deal
The United Kingdom and the United States have finalized the legal text of a landmark pharmaceutical partnership that eliminates import tariffs on U.S. medicines and certain medical technologies for at least three years. The agreement arrives amid heightened diplomatic tension,...
Akira Ransomware Group Can Achieve Initial Access to Data Encryption in Less than an Hour
The Akira ransomware group can move from initial access to full data encryption in under an hour, often within four hours. Active since 2023, it has extorted roughly $245 million in ransom payments through September 2025. Akira leverages zero‑day exploits, vulnerable VPNs,...
FikaGO Debuts in SoHo, Blending Pet Stroller with Modern Lifestyle Design
FikaGO, the Taiwan‑born pet mobility brand, opened its first New York pop‑up inside Flying Solo in SoHo on April 2, 2026. The store showcases the auto‑folding Free To Go 2 stroller and other eco‑friendly products, marking the brand’s transition from an...
Judicate West Adds Judge Barbara Kronlund as Neutral
Judicate West, a leading California ADR provider, announced the addition of retired San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Kronlund to its roster of neutrals. Kronlund, the state’s first female South Asian American judge, brings three decades of bench...
Oracle Launches Defense Isolated Cloud to Enable Secure Collaboration at Scale
Oracle announced its Defense Industrial Base Isolated Cloud Environment (DICE), an air‑gapped OCI offering that meets U.S. Secret and future Top Secret classification requirements. The service, unveiled at the Oracle Federal Forum, is undergoing security assessments and aims for provisional...
Sam Altman Felt ‘Terrible’ Telling Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro About OpenAI’s Decision to Kill Off Sora, Says Companies Still Looking...
OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora video‑generation platform, a move that caught Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro off‑guard and halted Disney’s plan to let fans create AI‑generated versions of over 200 characters. The cancellation puts a $1 billion Disney investment on...
Trump Tariffs Cast Shadow as US-China Trade Shrinks Ahead of Xi Meeting
U.S. trade data released Thursday shows direct commerce with China continuing to shrink, reaching one of the lowest bilateral goods deficits in two decades. The decline follows last year’s tariff escalations, which have deepened economic tensions between the two powers....
Black Hills Corp. And NorthWestern Energy Shareholders Approve Merger Proposals
Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) and NorthWestern Energy (NASDAQ: NWE) received shareholder approval for their all‑stock merger, creating Bright Horizon Energy Corp. The combined utility will serve roughly 2.2 million electric and gas customers across eight states. Closing is expected in...
DoorDash, Family Dollar Expand SNAP Payments for Online Grocery Orders
DoorDash and Family Dollar announced that SNAP recipients can now use EBT cards to pay for eligible groceries and household items through the DoorDash app at participating Family Dollar stores. The service is live in 48 states and Washington, D.C.,...
21 Air Eyes Larger Boeing 777s to Access Long-Haul Cargo Market
21 Air, the mid‑size cargo carrier that serves DHL Express and Amazon, is preparing to add Boeing 777 freighters to its fleet to tap the long‑haul international market. Owner Jim Crane has installed former Crane Worldwide Logistics chief Keith Winters...
Kioxia Killing Off Old NAND Chippery
Kioxia has issued an end‑of‑life notice for its third‑generation 3D NAND products, including 64‑layer planar and sub‑96‑layer chips such as SLC, MLC and TLC. Sales will cease in September 2026 with final shipments ending by the close of 2028, giving customers...
Earth Month Giveback: BLUETTI and Leave No Trace First Bio-Based Power Station Initiative
Clean‑energy company BLUETTI has renewed its partnership with the nonprofit Leave No Trace, launching the Bio‑Based Elite 100 V2 Giveback initiative. The program pledges a $1 donation for every Bio‑Based Elite 100 V2 power station sold through September 30, 2026, supporting...
Wind Turbine Giant to Invest over $10bn in Green Fuels Projects
Chinese wind turbine maker Mingyang announced plans to pour more than $10 bn into renewable energy, green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Ethiopia. The pledge was disclosed by the Ethiopian Investment Commission following a business forum that secured over $13 bn in...
Aspect Biosystems – Announces $280 Million Partnership with Government of Canada to Advance Development of Bioengineered Cellular Medicines
Aspect Biosystems secured a CAD $79 million (≈ $58 million USD) investment from the Government of Canada, funding a CAD $280 million (≈ $204 million USD) multi‑year project to accelerate its bioengineered cellular medicines pipeline. The funding builds on a prior CAD $200 million (≈ $146 million USD) co‑investment announced in 2024 and will expand...
Wheat Foods Council Ready to Seek New Executive
The Wheat Foods Council has been without an organizational leader for the past 10 months.
Echoes of Aincrad - Story Trailer Shows the Sword Art Online MMORPG From Your Own Perspective
Bandai Namco released a new story trailer for Echoes of Aincrad, showing players experiencing Sword Art Online from their own avatar perspective. The trailer indicates the game begins during the closed‑beta phase, before the death‑game twist, allowing early interaction with characters like...
Fabletics to Open Its Biggest Retail Space in Europe
Fabletics will launch its largest European retail footprint—a 160 sqm shop‑in‑shop—inside Berlin’s iconic KaDeWe department store this spring. The space, located on KaDeWe’s newly redesigned fourth floor, will showcase the brand’s full range of women’s and men’s activewear, from high‑performance pieces...
Strategic Decarbonization Can Aid Green Goals While Improving Maintenance
Tenants are increasingly demanding sustainable building features and are willing to pay higher rents for them, prompting owners and facilities managers to align decarbonization with broader asset strategies. A new CBRE‑RMI‑ULI report argues that treating decarbonization as a separate initiative...
Reinsurance Rates Continued Softening During April Renewals, Despite Iran War
Reinsurance rates kept softening in the April 1 renewals across Japan, Korea, India and some U.S. cedents, despite the Iran‑Israel conflict. Brokers attribute the trend to low natural‑catastrophe losses, robust reinsurer balance sheets and abundant capacity. Global reinsurance capital rose to...
What Are Firms Getting Wrong with Perpetual KYC?
Perpetual KYC (pKYC) promises continuous, automated risk monitoring, contrasting with static, periodic checks. While the market is expanding—valued at $1.2 bn in 2024 and projected to reach $6.5 bn by 2033—many firms misinterpret pKYC as merely increasing review frequency or adding data...
Biglaw Firm Doubles Down On Pro Bono, And Lets The Billable Chips Fall Where They May
Munger, Tolles & Olson reported a 1.8 % dip in revenue while boosting pro bono hours by roughly 50 % in 2025. Co‑managing partners Martin Estrada and Daniel Levin framed the increase as a deliberate choice to uphold the rule of law...
Sartori Rolls Out New Hatch Chile BellaVitano Cheese
Sartori has launched a Hatch Chile BellaVitano, adding a spicy twist to its flagship cheese line. The new variety blends the creamy texture of BellaVitano with Parmesan‑like notes and a subtle smokiness from Hatch chiles. Company executives describe it as...
GE Vernova Vs. First Solar: Oil Above $100 Just Changed Everything for This Trade
Oil prices breaking $100 per barrel in March 2026 have shifted energy markets toward reliability and security. GE Vernova, with a $200 billion equipment backlog and an $85 billion services backlog, is positioned to benefit from this trend. In contrast, First Solar’s...
Feds Invest $79 Million in Aspect Biosystems to Develop 3D-Printed Tissue Treatment
Vancouver‑based Aspect Biosystems secured $79 million CAD (≈$58 million USD) from Canada’s Strategic Response Fund for a $280 million CAD (≈$204 million USD) project to scale its 3D‑printed tissue platform. The company will fund the remaining $201 million CAD (≈$147 million USD) and aims to enhance...