The Rise of Digital Payments in Latin America
Digital payments in Latin America have surged, with electronic transactions tripling between 2019 and 2023 across six economies. Surveys show that in 16 of 17 countries, a majority now prefers cashless methods, driven by convenience, safety and a booming fintech sector. The pandemic acted as a catalyst, accelerating an already‑underway shift that has cut cash usage in in‑person transactions from 38% in 2020 to 25% in 2024. The transition is reshaping household resilience, reducing crime, and unlocking growth opportunities for firms and governments alike.
Beast Ransomware’s Toolkit Revealed by Exposed Directory
Team Cymru uncovered an open directory linked to the Beast ransomware group that exposed the gang’s complete ransomware‑as‑a‑service toolkit. The leak reveals the use of common reconnaissance scanners, credential‑dumping utilities such as Mimikatz, lateral‑movement tools like PsExec and AnyDesk, and...
Building Fault-Tolerant Spring Boot Microservices With Kafka and AWS
The article outlines how to build fault‑tolerant Spring Boot microservices using Apache Kafka on AWS. It explains core patterns—retries, dead‑letter topics, idempotency, circuit breakers—and shows code snippets for Spring Kafka error handling. It also demonstrates integrating AWS Lambda as a...
Gossamer Nearly Halves Workforce in Savings Push After Late-Stage Hypertension Fail
Gossamer Bio announced a near‑half workforce reduction after its Phase 3 seralutinib trial failed to meet statistical significance in pulmonary arterial hypertension. The company will lay off 77 employees, about 48 % of staff, aiming to preserve cash while its future path...
AI Is Making Supply Chain Decisions, But It’s Flying Blind
AI is proliferating across supply‑chain functions, but many firms misuse it by treating algorithms as autonomous decision‑makers rather than advisory tools. Executives often deploy AI on legacy, checkpoint‑based data that is stale and incomplete, leading to confident yet inaccurate recommendations....
From AI Agents to Front Desk: How to Personalize the Guest Experience with Both
The Hotel Moment podcast with Revinate CMO Karen Stephens and Twilio CMO Chris Koehler highlights that the real hurdle to hospitality personalization is data acquisition, not merely data collection. They argue that clean, connected guest profiles are essential for turning raw...
The Rise of AI Fashion Models
Drapers reports a rapid increase in AI‑generated fashion models, highlighting how brands are swapping digital avatars for human talent. The technology promises faster turnaround, unlimited styling options, and lower production costs. However, the shift raises legal questions around copyright, image...
Partial Approval Backed for Västvind Project
The County Administrative Board has recommended granting a permit for the offshore wind farm Västvind’s portion in Sweden’s Exclusive Economic Zone, citing the need for more electricity in western Sweden. The Land and Environment Court is still reviewing the segment...
Why Fintechs Are Transitioning From Partners to Principals in Banking
Fintechs are moving from reliance on partner banks to seeking their own banking charters, highlighted by three high‑profile applications in Q1 2026—Affirm, Payoneer and Upstart. Direct supervision by regulators, though demanding, promises operational certainty compared with fragmented licensing. The new charter...
WeRide Launches AV Program in Slovakia
WeRide, the U.S.-based autonomous‑driving firm, announced its fourth European market launch in Slovakia, partnering with the Elevate Slovakia initiative. The program will introduce a suite of vehicles—including robotaxi, robobus, robovan and robosweeper—under the supervision of the Slovak Ministry of Transport....
Retail's Future Is Tied up in Agentic Commerce, Yes? Well, up to a Point, Says BestBuy, Wayfair, and Electrolux with...
A new Logicbroker survey shows 90% of enterprise retailers expect AI agents to influence at least 20% of online orders by 2027, with over a third anticipating agents handling more than half of transactions. Kingfisher is already rolling out Google...
Artemis II Rollout Set, Crew Begins Quarantine
NASA plans to begin the Artemis II rollout at 8 p.m. EDT on March 19, moving the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B via crawler‑transporter 2. The four‑mile journey may take up to 12 hours, after...
The Directions Group Launches Linara, an Integrated Intelligence Platform Transforming Research Into Always-On Decision Support
The Directions Group unveiled Linara, an AI‑driven intelligence platform that converts static research into continuous, conversational decision support. Its debut feature, Linara Personas, lets teams query proprietary customer personas in real time, enabling scenario testing and instant insight. Built on...
OPINION: Five Forces Reshaping the Checkout in Germany
German retailers are accelerating POS modernization as labour costs rise, regulations tighten, and consumer payment habits shift. Cash still accounts for about 35% of sales, but card usage is projected to climb to 42% within five years, while contactless and...
Shipsy Launches AgentFleet, an AI Workforce for Logistics Operations
Shipsy has unveiled AgentFleet, an AI‑driven workforce that assigns virtual agents to core logistics roles such as customer experience, driver support, finance and dispute resolution. The agents monitor signals, make rule‑based decisions and execute tasks across TMS, ERP and third‑party...
Fake Windsurf IDE Extension Uses Solana Blockchain to Steal Developer Data
Bitdefender uncovered a counterfeit Windsurf IDE extension that pretends to be the legitimate REditorSupport tool for the R language. The malicious plug‑in drops native node files and uses a PowerShell task named UpdateApp to maintain persistence. Uniquely, it communicates via...
Palantir and Moder Partner to Transform Mortgage Industry
Palantir Technologies and Moder announced a strategic partnership to co‑develop an AI‑powered mortgage operations platform, with Freedom Mortgage as the first pilot customer. The solution uses Palantir’s Ontology to translate regulatory guidelines into configurable, testable, auditable rules that integrate with...
Why AI Has Not yet Upset India’s IT Industry
India’s IT sector posted a record $315 bn revenue forecast, a 6 percent rise, yet its Nifty IT index fell about 20 percent after a viral blog warned AI coding tools could eliminate jobs. Nasscom highlighted the growth, but investors reacted nervously to...
Caution Creeps In, But Automation Spending Holds Strong
The 2026 Peerless Research Group Industry Outlook shows companies adopting a more cautious stance on capital spending, yet automation investments remain robust. About 24% of respondents are postponing projects and 42% are adopting a wait‑and‑see approach, but interest in autonomous...
AI Monthly: AI’s Green Thumb Raises Bigger Questions for Agriculture
An autonomous AI system cultivated a tomato plant named Sol from seed to fruit, harvesting eight ripe tomatoes in a 100‑day controlled experiment. The project proves AI can manage plant physiology through sensor‑driven adjustments, yet it relied on a perfectly...
Keeper Security Introduces KeeperDB, Integrating Zero-Trust Database Access Into KeeperPAM
Keeper Security announced KeeperDB, a vault‑embedded, zero‑trust database access layer that will debut at RSA Conference 2026. The solution lets developers, DBAs and security teams launch MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server sessions directly from the Keeper Vault via...
OpenText ALM (AQM) vs Tricentis qTest: Features, Integrations, and Best-Fit Use Cases
OpenText Application Quality Management (AQM) builds on the legacy Mercury Quality Center platform and targets governance‑heavy, regulated environments where end‑to‑end traceability and auditability are mandatory. Tricentis qTest, delivered primarily as a SaaS solution, is engineered for agile and DevOps teams...
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Pushes for New Features After Quick Update Turnaround
Xbox announced a system update that lets Insiders disable Quick Resume and customize the console UI. New CEO Asha Sharma highlighted the rollout as an early win, noting the features were developed in just two weeks. She urged fans to...
EU Sanctions and CISA Warnings: Iran's Cyber Attacks Are Evolving
Iran’s cyber‑espionage groups are shifting toward modular, file‑less malware and supply‑chain compromises, making detection harder. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued new alerts describing increased targeting of critical infrastructure and cloud services. Meanwhile, the European Union’s recent...
Quintessence Debuts First ‘Living’ Artificial Cell for CGT Bio-Separation
Quintessence Biotech introduced DACS, the first "living" artificial cell designed to streamline bio‑separation in cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing. The lipid‑particle platform mimics cell size, deformability and antigen presentation, enabling a gravity‑based flotation method that replaces magnetic‑bead workflows. DACS...
Not a Robot Judge: What AI Is Really Doing to Civil Justice
The Cambridge Handbook of AI in Civil Dispute Resolution shows that artificial intelligence is already reshaping civil justice, not by replacing judges but by altering how disputes are managed across courts, online platforms, mediation and arbitration. It highlights AI’s potential...
Samsung Launches Galaxy Forever in India: New Ownership Model Brings Smartphones at 50% Upfront Cost
Samsung has launched Galaxy Forever in India, a new ownership programme that lets customers acquire flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra and S26 Plus phones by paying only 50 percent of the price upfront and the rest through twelve interest‑free EMIs. The plan...
Getting a New iPhone Soon? Turn Off This Setting on Your Old Device First
Apple recommends disabling the Find My feature on an iPhone before transferring it to a new owner. Turning off Find My removes the Activation Lock, which otherwise prevents the device from being set up by anyone else. If Stolen Device...
AI Has yet to Hurt SME Jobs Despite Massive Adoption
AI adoption among UK small‑and‑medium enterprises surged to 54% this year, up from 35% a year earlier. Despite the rapid uptake, 95% of AI‑using SMEs report no change in workforce size over the past twelve months. Larger professional‑services firms have...
How AI Agents Will Reshape Digital Workplace IT Operations
AI agents are set to transform digital workplace IT operations by moving beyond rule‑based automation to autonomous decision‑making in complex environments. Gartner predicts that by 2030, nearly one‑third of organizations will achieve autonomous operations for 80% of digital workplace services,...
Digital Natives Wins KP Snacks Social Media Account
Digital Natives has been awarded the social media account for KP Snacks, a leading UK snack manufacturer. The agency will oversee digital strategy, content creation, and community management for brands such as Tyrrells, KP, and Butterkist. Creativebrief managed the agency...
Tonic.ai Announces General Availability of Tonic Textual for Microsoft Fabric
Tonic.ai announced the general availability of Tonic Textual within Microsoft Fabric, bringing AI‑powered entity detection, redaction, and high‑fidelity synthetic text generation to the platform. The integration lets data teams process contracts, transcripts, clinical notes and other unstructured text directly in...
SparrowDesk Launches Startup Program with Up to 90% Off on Enterprise Plan
SparrowDesk unveiled a Startup Program that grants early‑stage companies access to its full Enterprise support platform at up to 90% off for the first year. The offering bundles an AI‑driven ticketing system, omnichannel inbox, knowledge base, and automation tools, all...
STAT+: Eli Lilly’s ‘Triple-G’ Drug Leads to Significant Blood Sugar, Weight Reductions in Diabetes Trial
Eli Lilly’s investigational injectable retatrutide achieved a 1.9‑point HbA1c reduction versus 0.8 points for placebo after 40 weeks, while participants on the highest dose shed 15.3% of body weight compared with 2.6% on placebo. The weight loss was still progressing at...
Building the Energy Resilience ASEAN+3 Needs
Energy systems across ASEAN+3 are facing mounting pressure from climate‑related shocks, surging electricity demand driven by AI and digital infrastructure, and heightened geopolitical volatility. The region’s leaders view resilience not merely as an energy‑policy goal but as a macro‑economic necessity....
Innovate Finance Warns Bank of England Proposals Could Kill the GBP Stablecoin and Risk ‘Dollarisation’
In a submission to the House of Lords, Innovate Finance warned that the Bank of England’s draft rules would effectively prevent the launch of a GBP‑denominated stablecoin. The proposal includes strict user‑holding limits, a requirement that 40 % of backing assets...
AL-S Pharma Reports the P-II (AP-101-02) Trial Data on AP-101 for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
AL‑S Pharma released Phase II (AP‑101‑02) data evaluating intravenous AP‑101 every three weeks in 73 ALS patients, including 52 with sporadic disease and 21 with SOD1 mutations. The trial met its primary safety and tolerability endpoint and demonstrated disease modification,...
Android Auto’s Secret Superpower Is a Customizable Shortcut Button
Android Auto now lets users add custom Assistant shortcut buttons to the home screen, enabling one‑tap actions such as navigation, music playback, and smart‑home control. The feature is accessed via Settings → Connected devices → Android Auto → Customize Launcher, where users type any Google Assistant...
FCA Updates Cyber Incident and Third-Party Reporting Rules
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has unveiled new cyber‑incident reporting rules that clarify what events firms must disclose and streamline the submission process via a single portal shared with the PRA and Bank of England. The guidance narrows reporting thresholds,...
Create the Ultimate Cool Compact Audio System Courtesy of Cambridge, Leak and Pro-Ject
Cambridge Audio has launched its L/R S active speakers, a 50 W, Bluetooth aptX HD‑enabled system available in walnut and five other colours. British hi‑fi maker Leak introduced the TruStream network player, supporting every major high‑resolution format and offering USB, wired and wireless...
How a Vancouver Legal-Tech Pioneer Is Fending Off the AI Giants and Pressure to Move to the U.S.
Clio, the Vancouver‑based legal‑tech platform, has become a $5 billion AI‑first company after a $1 billion acquisition of Spain’s vLex and a series of other deals. The firm now serves 400,000 lawyers in 130 countries, generates over $400 million in revenue and is...
Vertiv Supports NVIDIA DSX AI Factory Infrastructure Design
Vertiv announced its role in designing converged physical infrastructure for NVIDIA's Vera Rubin DSX AI factory reference design and the Omniverse DSX Blueprint. The OneCore Rubin DSX model is simulation‑ready, providing digital power, cooling assets, validated interfaces and repeatable building...
Carroll University Goes Live with Ellucian Student, HCM and Finance, Unifying Core Technology Systems on a SaaS-Native, AI-Powered Platform
Carroll University has gone live with Ellucian’s Student, Human Capital Management and Finance solutions, unifying its SIS and ERP on a SaaS‑native, AI‑powered platform. The deployment was completed in less than 12 months, replacing legacy systems and delivering role‑based self‑service...
How Better Data Is Improving Restaurant Lead Conversion for Technology Solution Providers and Other Restaurant Vendors
Timing is the decisive factor in restaurant‑technology sales, with most vendor decisions made months before a restaurant opens. Preopening Restaurants Resource offers an intelligence platform that uncovers restaurants in development, under construction, or early planning stages, allowing vendors to engage...
Unily Announces Availability of Unily Glass, Reinventing Enterprise Productivity for the AI Era
Unily announced that its AI‑native conversational execution layer, Unily Glass, will be generally available on March 31, 2026, after early demos at UNLEASH America and Gartner Digital Workplace Summit. The new feature transforms the Unily employee experience platform from an...
Google: 404 Crawling Means Google Is Open To More Of Your Content via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google’s John Mueller clarified that repeated crawling of pages returning a 404 status is not a problem and can even be a positive signal. Googlebot continues to revisit 404 URLs for an extended period to verify whether the content has...
Mave Health Nets $2.1 Mn To Launch Its Mental Health-Focused Wearables
Mave Health, a 2023 health‑tech startup, secured $2.1 million in seed funding led by Blume Ventures to commercialize its mental‑health wearable headset. The device uses low‑intensity transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve focus, mood and stress regulation, and is now...
Audio-Technica Debuts On-Camera Shotgun Microphones
Audio‑Technica has launched two on‑camera shotgun microphones, the AVT‑SG1 and the smaller AVT‑SG1LE, targeting professional videographers and content creators. The AVT‑SG1 features a dual‑channel matrix switch, a 100 mm acoustic tube and a 14 mm diaphragm, allowing duplicate, safety, or lavalier‑mix recording...
This New Documentary Turns AI Anxiety Into Something More Personal
The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is a new documentary co‑directed by Charlie Tyrell and Oscar‑winner Daniel Roher that follows Roher, an expectant father, as he investigates artificial intelligence’s promises and perils. The film interviews a spectrum of voices—from...
Spinal Elements' 3D Printed Ventana A ALIF Devices Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance
Spinal Elements has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its 3D printed Ventana A anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) system, a device engineered with a hinged architecture to maximize bone graft volume and containment. The system employs a specialized additive‑manufacturing process...