Affiliate Earns a Seat at the Table: Meytal Markman Talks Innovation, Brand Safety and Micro-Influencers
Meytal Markman, VP of Product Management at Rakuten Advertising, told DealMaker that brands are now blending creator‑driven content with affiliate programs to reach niche audiences at scale. She highlighted the surge of micro‑influencers and closed‑user groups, which deliver higher trust and locality‑based engagement. Markman also noted a rapid investment in brand‑safety technology, especially for regulated sectors, and a shift toward probabilistic and MMM attribution that eases last‑click pressure. These trends signal a more holistic role for affiliate marketing in the broader media mix.
Barclays, FIS Sign Multi-Year Extension of Their Core Banking Agreement
Barclays US Consumer Bank announced a multi‑year extension of its core‑banking partnership with FIS, deploying the cloud‑ready FIS Profile platform. The solution will manage deposits, accounts and balances while delivering real‑time, multi‑currency processing, supporting Barclays’ ambition to grow its retail...
Beyond the Hype: How to Find Real Operational ROI in AI
The article argues that fleet operators must move beyond generic large language models toward purpose‑built AI decision engines that can act, not just report. It defines the shift from "systems of record" to "systems of action," emphasizing deep API integration...
AI‑designed Sensors Promise Earlier Cancer Detection
As a medical school professor, I can tell you: we catch most cancers too late. MIT and Microsoft may have just changed that forever. They built an AI system called CleaveNet that designs molecular sensors detecting cancer enzymes called proteases --...
Amazon Reaches Definitive Merger Deal with Globalstar with Support for Apple Devices
Amazon announced a definitive agreement to acquire Globalstar at $90 per share, a roughly 23% premium over the stock’s recent close of $72.89. The deal will integrate Globalstar’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellite network with Amazon Leo, enabling direct‑to‑device (D2D) services. Amazon also secured...
Gas-Powered Data Centers Could More than Double Microsoft's Emissions
Stand.earth Research Group warns that three new methane‑gas projects slated for Microsoft’s AI data centers could boost the company’s data‑center emissions by roughly 160%, more than doubling its carbon footprint. The projects amount to about 5 GW of fossil‑fuel power to...
Amazon Leo to Enable Satellite Service on iPhone, Apple Watch
AMAZON X APPLE PARTNERSHIP Amazon $AMZN and Apple $AAPL just announced a new agreement for Amazon Leo to power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models
Neighbourhood Oncology Programme at The Christie Makes Move to Digitally-Enabled and Neighbourhood-Based System of Care
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust unveiled a neighbourhood oncology programme that shifts cancer treatment toward digitally‑enabled, home‑ and community‑based care. The initiative plans to expand systemic anti‑cancer therapy at home from the current 1,300 patients to over 5,000, using opt‑out...
Why CIOs Are Moving Away From Legacy Consulting in the AI Era
CIOs are abandoning traditional consulting firms as AI accelerates transformation and exposes gaps in strategy‑execution alignment. Legacy firms’ sequential approach and post‑hoc security fail to meet the speed, precision, and accountability CIOs now demand. New‑generation firms that embed security and...
Microsoft's Crazy Surface Price Hikes Are Pushing Me to Apple: I Can No Longer Recommend Surface over a MacBook or...
Microsoft announced a across‑the‑board price increase for its Surface lineup, pushing entry‑level models above $1,000 and flagship devices past $1,500. The new pricing makes Surface laptops and tablets more expensive than comparable Apple MacBooks, iPads, and many Windows OEM offerings....
Snap Pitches ‘Conversational Commerce’ as TikTok Alternative
At AD Week’s Social Media Week, Snap’s global VP of SMB and mid‑market Sidharth Malhotra argued that the traditional marketing funnel no longer reflects today’s fragmented consumer journey. He highlighted that 40% of U.S. Snapchat users are not on TikTok and 80%...
State Lawmakers Seek to Regulate Employer Use of AI for Wage Decisions
State legislators across California, Colorado, Illinois and Texas are moving to curb algorithmic wage setting by imposing AI transparency and anti‑discrimination rules. The Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act, Illinois amendments to the Human Rights Act, Texas Responsible AI Governance Act and...
State Lawmakers Seek to Regulate Employer Use of AI for Wage Decisions
State legislators across the United States are moving to curb the use of artificial intelligence and automated decision tools in setting employee wages. Lawmakers argue that opaque AI models can embed bias, leading to discriminatory pay outcomes. Proposed bills would...
"Working with Industry Leaders Enables Us to Accelerate the Path From Research to the Field"
Biotalys announced its first research milestone in a partnership with Syngenta to develop a novel bio‑insecticide. Laboratory tests using Biotalys’ Agrobody protein platform delivered promising in‑vitro activity against key insect molecular targets. The collaboration now moves to in‑vivo testing on...
3 Quantum Realities to Confront This World Quantum Day
World Quantum Day highlighted the accelerating timeline toward a post‑quantum future, with industry leaders warning that waiting for certainty will delay critical migration. Experts emphasized that the operational risk lies in how long it takes to identify dependencies, prioritize remediation,...
Government Support Can Unlock Life Sciences Job Growth
Having worked in the Science Park sector for 20 years Life Sciences is a sector where some government support will make a massive difference to job and wealth creation
Corporate Memory Loss: How the Global Memory Shortage Is Reshaping Device Planning
The surge in AI workloads is driving unprecedented demand for high‑bandwidth memory (HBM), tightening global DRAM and NAND supplies. Manufacturers are prioritizing HBM over standard DDR5, leaving fewer chips for laptops, desktops, and enterprise devices. This scarcity inflates prices, extends...
China-Linked Cloud Credential Heist Runs on Typos and SMTP
Chinese‑aligned APT41 has deployed a Linux ELF backdoor that steals cloud credentials across AWS, GCP, Azure and Alibaba Cloud. The malware uses port 25 SMTP as a covert C2 channel, sending harvested IAM role and service‑account tokens to three typosquatted...
AI-Driven Media Quality Signals Move Into Campaign Activation
Basis and Protected by Mediaocean have launched a direct integration that embeds AI‑driven verification, attention, and quality signals into the Basis campaign activation platform. The partnership replaces static, post‑campaign checks with real‑time, pre‑bid intelligence that continuously adapts to performance data....
Anthropic Hackathon Winner's Claude Code Config Revealed
The "Everything Claude Code" GitHub repository, created by developer Affaan, amassed 154,000 stars after winning Anthropic’s Hacker Marathon Grand Prize. The repo houses 47 sub‑agents, 181 skills, and 79 commands, representing a full‑stack configuration for Claude, Anthropic’s conversational AI. Affaan...
How Rest, FLC Marketing Re-Framed Sleep in a Heat-Driven Market
Rest introduced its Evercool by Rest bedding line in the UAE, positioning cooling as a core sleep requirement rather than a luxury feature. The campaign, orchestrated by FLC Marketing, used a three‑phase "Cool Sleep System" to move consumers from awareness...
Royal Australian Navy Names Autonomous Systems Unit
The Royal Australian Navy has officially stood up the Maritime Autonomous Systems Unit (MASU) under Project SEA 1200 to field uncrewed platforms such as the Ghost Shark XL‑AUV, Bluebottle USV and Speartooth LUUV. The first Ghost Shark was delivered in January 2026, marking the start...
Why Developers Are Adding the Open-Source Superpowers Plugin to Claude Code
The open‑source Superpowers plugin, built by Jesse Vincent for Claude Code, introduces a five‑phase workflow that automates brainstorming, design, planning, coding, and verification. Controlled tests show a 14% drop in token usage and roughly a 9% reduction in overall costs...
Flags in the Ground: SGO26 and the Danger of Competitive Urgency
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s 2024 meeting in San Juan showcased a wave of early‑stage data on ovarian and endometrial cancers. While press releases painted an optimistic picture, a deeper dive reveals modest response rates and limited patient cohorts. The...
GoWit & Numatec Forge Retail Media Partnership in Spain and Italy
GoWit announced a strategic partnership with Numatec to roll out its AI‑driven retail‑media platform across Spain and Italy, leveraging Numatec’s local martech network. The deal targets the fast‑growing European retail‑media market, projected to reach €31 bn (≈$33 bn) by 2028, with Spain...
Titan OS Positions Smart TV Homepage as Key Growth Driver
Titan OS announced that the smart TV homepage is becoming a primary growth engine for content discovery and user acquisition. At Stream TV Europe, the company highlighted its high‑impact video banners and discovery tools that drive app installs directly from...
What Makes AI Customer Support Work at Scale
Enterprises are turning to generative AI to automate high‑volume customer service, but scaling success hinges on three pillars: robust data pipelines, seamless integration with legacy systems, and a clear human‑in‑the‑loop escalation strategy. Companies that combine large‑language models with domain‑specific fine‑tuning...
Meet the Swiss Distro Company Banking on Agentic AI to Power the ‘Next Generation’ of Indie Labels.
Swiss tech firm iGroove, founded by former rapper Dennis Hausammann, has rebuilt its platform from the ground up to embed agentic AI in a product called Label OS. The AI‑driven system automates core label functions—distribution, royalty accounting, payments, contracts and recoupments—while...
JT/DL: Leaving the Bardo
Jason Warner announced he will leave the JT/DL "bardo" to become the National Center for State Courts’ director for technology, data, and knowledge management starting in May. The new role places him at the helm of modernizing state court infrastructure,...
AI‑powered Threats Boost CrowdStrike’s Growth Prospects
Why I’m Bullish on CrowdStrike $CRWD The increasing use of AI in cyberattacks, along with the rapid advancement of more powerful AI models, is driving both the volume and complexity of cyber threats — making cybersecurity more critical than ever. CrowdStrike Falcon...
Your House Could Loan Power to AI Data Centers with New Span Product
Span unveiled XFRA, a distributed data‑center solution that places AI‑grade compute nodes in homes and small‑commercial spaces. The system leverages Span's smart electrical panel to tap underused residential grid capacity and ships with NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. Initial...
Why Even Bulletproof Go-to-Market Plans Collapse Without Ruthless Execution
Start‑up founders often spend months perfecting go‑to‑market decks, only to see pipelines stall months later. Research shows roughly 70% of GTM strategies fail, largely because execution gaps—misaligned teams, premature scaling, slow feedback loops, and weak accountability—undermine even the best plans....
The IT Leader’s AI PC Planning Guide: Key Considerations and HP Device Recommendations
MCPC’s new guide outlines a structured approach for rolling out AI‑enabled PCs, emphasizing that successful adoption hinges on clear business objectives, infrastructure readiness, and stakeholder alignment. It recommends matching device performance to employee roles, citing HP’s ZBook line for technical...
Google Tests Agent Tab, Prepares Desktop App to Challenge Cowork
They need to compete with Cowork -> Google develops its own desktop Agent to compete with Cowork "Google is testing a new Agent tab in Gemini Enterprise, hinting at an upcoming agentic workflow with task management features ahead of Google...
Earbuds Soon Recognize Objects and Translate Using Tiny Visual Data
Your earbuds may soon read signs, identify objects, and translate on demand; the key is how little visual data the AI actually needs. https://spectrum.ieee.org/smart-earbuds-smart-glasses-privacy?share_id=9372713
Raidon Technology Introduces SR4‑B32A 4‑Bay Hardware RAID Desktop Storage System for USB‑A Systems
Raidon Technology unveiled the SR4‑B32A, a 4‑bay hardware RAID enclosure that connects via standard USB‑A ports and delivers up to 10 Gb/s on USB 3.2 Gen 2 hosts. The unit supports RAID‑5, RAID‑0, BIG and JBOD, offering single‑drive fault tolerance and flexible performance or...
Cloud Storage Security Announces the Official Launch of DataDefender, a Novel DSPM Platform Focused on Data Stored in the Cloud
Cloud Storage Security launched DataDefender, an AI‑driven Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform that classifies and monitors cloud‑stored data in real time. The solution spotlights sensitive information across AWS environments, flagging misconfigurations, insider threats, and external attacks while supporting compliance...
AI Learns Language From Skewed Sources. That Could Change How We Humans Speak – and Think | Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier and Ada Palmer warn that large language models are trained primarily on written sources—textbooks, social media, movies—while ignoring the vast majority of unscripted spoken conversation. This skewed training leads AI to produce smoother but narrower language, which users...
Curation Is Changing Programmatic — But Not Always For The Better
Programmatic curation is rapidly gaining traction among mid‑market agencies seeking greater control over inventory, pricing, and performance. While self‑service platforms promise real‑time supply‑path optimization and reduced manual effort, many still operate as opaque black boxes that shift rather than eliminate...
Psychedelic Therapy and Traditional Antidepressants Show Similar Results Under Open-Label Conditions
A meta‑analysis of 24 trials found that psychedelic therapy and open‑label antidepressants produce statistically indistinguishable reductions in depressive symptoms. The study compared 8 psychedelic trials (249 patients) with 16 antidepressant trials (7,921 patients) under equal unblinding conditions, revealing only a...
Parliament Energy Signs 1.2-GW Tracker Supply Agreement with Ideematec
Parliament Energy, an independent power producer, has signed supply agreements with tracker maker Ideamatec for its Horizon L:TEC 1P trackers across three Texas solar projects totaling 1.2 GW AC. The projects, ranging from 285 MW to 505 MW, expand the company’s 2.1‑GW portfolio and follow...
How I Built an Agent Army That Saves 239 Hours a Week
A solo entrepreneur built a suite of AI agents that now automate routine tasks and save 239 hours each week—roughly the output of six full‑time employees. The agents handle email drafting, meeting follow‑ups, content research, CRM updates, daily briefings, and...
Regulators Flag AI as Emerging Financial Stability Threat
Regulators are starting to take AI risks seriously. U.S. officials have warned banks about the cybersecurity threats posed by increasingly powerful AI systems, signaling concern at the highest levels. This is a shift. AI is no longer just a tech issue, it...
AI Is Simplifying Online Crime, Danger Escalates
AI is already making online crimes easier. It could get much worse. | MIT Technology Review https://t.co/OOi3OhIPMa
Helical Closes $10M Seed to Turn Bio Foundation Models Into Systems
Helical, a London‑based pharma‑AI startup, closed a $10 million seed round led by redalpine, with AI leaders from Cohere and HuggingFace among angel investors. The funding will expand its dual‑surface platform—Virtual Lab for biologists and Model Factory for data scientists—across more...
Systems, Not Prompts, Save Time and Scale
Prompts don’t save hours. Systems do. Most “power prompts” = summarize, transform, decide, explain, recall Stop collecting prompts. Start building workflows. https://t.co/rgykYi0y1n
SGO Numbers: Some Winners, Many Disappointments Await
Lots of gaudy headline numbers coming out of SGO this year; do they stack up under scrutiny? My take – some winners likely and many tears before bedtime for others. Which ones fall in the latter category? ...
AI Satellite Constellation Startup Orbital Gets Funded by A16z to Verify Space-Based Data Center Concept
Orbital Inc., an AI satellite‑constellation startup, closed an undisclosed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z Speedrun. The capital will finance its first test mission, Orbital‑1, slated for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in April 2027. The company aims to prove...
Walmart Begins Accepting CareCredit Cards for Health and Wellness Purchases
Walmart and Synchrony announced that CareCredit cards will now be accepted for a broader range of health and wellness products both online and in all U.S. Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. The expanded list includes medical supplies, fitness equipment, sleep...
What Founders Still Get Wrong About AI
Founders are rushing to adopt AI after boardroom mentions and competitor launches, but many pour billions into tools without clear ROI. A McKinsey study shows AI use rising to 88 % of firms, yet startups often see no revenue lift or...
