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Affirm Holdings announced it has filed applications with Nevada regulators and the FDIC to launch a Nevada‑chartered industrial loan company, dubbed Affirm Bank. The move aims to give the buy‑now‑pay‑later firm a banking platform to introduce new financial products beyond its current BNPL and loan offerings. Affirm currently relies on partner banks such as Cross River and Celtic Bank, while rivals like Klarna and PayPal are also seeking bank charters. The initiative faces scrutiny from critics who argue ILC charters bypass traditional banking oversight.
Affirm Holdings has filed applications with Nevada’s Financial Institutions Division and the FDIC to obtain a state charter for an industrial loan company, dubbed "Affirm Bank." The move aims to expand its buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) offerings and diversify beyond merchant‑only financing....
Corr-Serve has expanded its seven‑year partnership with global cyber‑security firm Seceon, becoming the exclusive distributor for Seceon's AI‑driven Open Threat Management platform across the Southern African Development Community. The deal positions South Africa as the operational hub, delivering real‑time threat...
NASA will host a Hyperwall storytelling series at the 106th American Meteorological Society meeting Jan. 26‑29, 2026, showcasing Earth‑science missions, space‑weather research, and new data‑access tools. Sessions feature experts discussing satellite‑derived precipitation, solar observations, aerosol monitoring, and the One Health...
Verifone is tackling the biggest friction in omnichannel commerce—consumer identity—by unifying identification, loyalty and payment into a single transaction flow. The company highlights that while digital shoppers can be recognized with cookies and device fingerprints, in‑store shoppers remain anonymous until...
The browser has evolved from a simple web gateway into the primary enterprise endpoint, handling over 70% of global traffic. Generative AI agents that can act autonomously inside browsers are turning them into intelligent workspaces, prompting incumbents and startups to...
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is slated to travel to India in mid‑February for a series of closed‑door meetings that will run alongside the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi. The summit, scheduled for February 16‑20, will host top AI executives...
Iceland Foods has partnered with Stratacache to roll out Walkbase sensor technology across its 766‑store retail media network, making it the first European retailer to use camera‑free, privacy‑safe audience measurement. The sensor solution will provide real‑time, closed‑loop attribution for in‑store...
Space agencies are racing to establish permanent lunar bases and Mars outposts, but battery technology remains a critical weak point. Extreme temperature swings, intense radiation, and vacuum conditions cause conventional lithium‑ion cells to fracture, overheat, or degrade rapidly. Researchers are...
Recent interdisciplinary research reveals that 11th‑century monk Eilmer of Malmesbury recorded two appearances of the comet now known as 1P/Halley—in 989 and again in 1066—centuries before Edmond Halley identified its 76‑year cycle. The observations, cited in William of Malmesbury’s chronicles,...
An international team analyzed optical, near‑infrared, and mid‑infrared variability of four quasars to map dust structures around their central black holes. By measuring inter‑band time delays, they derived a graphite‑to‑silicate particle size ratio of about 0.4, indicating graphite dominates near‑infrared...
Ransomware attacks now cost $156 million daily, prompting firms to rush system restoration. However, without forensic recovery, organizations lack the evidence needed to confirm breach eradication and understand attacker tactics. Modern forensic solutions capture and analyze digital artifacts in real time,...
Frank Kosarek, co‑founder of BizPort, explains that ecommerce valuations now hinge on seller discretionary earnings (SDE) rather than top‑line revenue, with multiples typically 2×–2.5× and up to 5× for subscription‑heavy brands. He notes that buyers prefer companies generating recurring sales,...
On Jan. 4, 2026 the Houston Texans hosted a Space City Day celebration at NRG Stadium, featuring NASA‑dressed Johnson Space Center staff in bright orange Orion Crew Survival System suits. The event highlighted Artemis 2, NASA’s upcoming 10‑day crewed lunar flyby slated for...
Asset servicing, once a back‑office function, is now a strategic priority for banks as AI, blockchain and a generational wealth shift reshape the industry. BNY Mellon highlights the rise of a hybrid workforce, deploying over 100 digital employees to automate...
Intruder used an AI model to draft a honeypot prototype, but the generated code mistakenly trusted client‑supplied IP headers, allowing attackers to inject payloads via spoofed headers. The flaw went unnoticed by static analysis tools like Semgrep and Gosec, highlighting...
Workday’s CTO Peter Bailis highlighted the company’s single data and process model as a strategic moat, enabling AI to leverage embedded business context across its 11,000 customers. The firm also touts a robust security framework that extends organizational permissions to...
Digital game economies have evolved from niche curiosities into high‑margin revenue engines, attracting billions in institutional capital. Developers now embed sophisticated scarcity and trade systems that mirror physical markets, while blockchain technology adds true ownership and cross‑game liquidity. Adult gamers,...
HiStone unveiled a refreshed flagship POS portfolio at NRF 2026, featuring five models powered by Intel’s 12th‑ and 13th‑Gen Core processors. The new devices—HK568A, HK578A, HK600A, HS330A and HK968A—offer clock speeds up to 4.6 GHz, expanded Smart Cache, DDR4 memory and PCIe Gen 4...
The study by Jennings, Helm and Jackson investigates why late‑career dermatologists leave private practice for academia, focusing on financial, professional, and practical drivers. It shows that compensation often declines, but benefits such as research funding, job security and structured schedules...
LAZ‑FXAI, the new initiative of independent advisory firm LAZ‑FXAI, blends decades of financial expertise with advanced AI to improve decision‑making. Guided by CEO Peter Orszag and academic economist Professor Ronald Temple, the program injects macroeconomic research into its models. AI...
EbankIT has appointed Jerry Reese as Senior Solutions Engineer for North America, bolstering its technical leadership as the firm expands across the United States and Canada. Reese will partner with banks and credit unions to design API‑first, omnichannel digital banking...
Vimeo has dismissed a large portion of its global workforce just months after Bending Spoons completed a $1.38 billion acquisition. The latest cuts, described by insiders as affecting "almost everyone," include the entire video engineering team and follow a 10 percent layoff...
The UK National Health Service has issued an open letter to suppliers, demanding proactive cybersecurity collaboration across the health and social care system. The initiative builds on last year’s voluntary supply‑chain charter and aligns with the Cyber Security and Resilience...
Astrophysicists at the Max Planck Institute and the Centro de Astrobiología have identified 2,5‑cyclohexadiene‑1‑thione (C₆H₆S), the largest sulfur‑bearing molecule ever detected in space, within the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027 near the Milky Way’s centre. The molecule, a thirteen‑atom cyclic compound, was...
Researchers have unveiled a novel synthetic route to Strychnos alkaloids that leverages thiophene cycloaddition chemistry. The method constructs the core indole‑pyridine framework in fewer steps and with higher overall yield than classical approaches. By employing readily available thiophene precursors, the...
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) entered safe mode on Jan. 15, 2026 after its solar arrays failed to track the Sun during a slewing maneuver, causing a slow battery discharge. The spacecraft automatically protected itself and resumed normal science operations...
The episode highlights how small businesses now view invoicing as a core part of their payments experience and why banks are uniquely positioned to capture this market. Ian Benton explains that effective invoicing tools—ranging from simple payment requests linked to...
Generative AI’s rise has exposed costly hallucinations caused by vague prompts. The article proposes rubric‑based prompting as a systematic guardrail that defines decision rules, uncertainty handling, and failure behavior. By embedding concise rubrics alongside prompts, models prioritize accuracy over fluency...
Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, became the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter and later crossed Saturn, Uranus and Neptune before entering interstellar space. After enduring severe radiation damage that darkened its optics and fried transistors, it continued its mission and...
StuffThatWorks announced Julie A. Ross, former CEO of Advanced Clinical, as its new CEO and President. Ross will steer the company’s growth of its patient‑derived AI platform that leverages a self‑perpetuating engine of over 3 million patients and 1.3 billion structured data...
A new multi‑center study used three‑dimensional magnetic resonance imaging to map pulmonary artery dimensions in adolescents aged 12‑18. The research produced high‑resolution, non‑invasive measurements and established age‑ and sex‑specific reference ranges for artery diameter, cross‑sectional area, and curvature. Findings suggest...
Canada's retail sales grew 1.3% in November, reaching $70.4 billion, with core sales up 1.6% after two months of decline. Food and beverage stores led the rebound, posting a 3.0% increase, driven by a 14.3% surge in beer, wine and liquor...
Conversation intelligence, powered by AI and natural language processing, analyzes customer interactions across voice, text, and chat channels to surface sentiment, intent, and behavioral patterns. Marketers leverage these real‑time insights to personalize messaging, fine‑tune campaigns, and align sales and marketing...
CyberAlloy, an independent network launched this week, brings together corporations, governments, academia, venture capital and security experts across Europe to create a trusted cyber‑resilience ecosystem. The platform enables real‑time threat‑intelligence sharing, collective decision‑making and standardized governance, aiming to lighten the...
SecurityWeek’s weekly roundup highlights a record €1.2 billion in GDPR fines in 2025, with Ireland accounting for the bulk of penalties, and a 22 % jump in breach notifications. Mandiant released Net‑NTLMv1 rainbow tables that can crack legacy hashes in under 12 hours,...
Claire interviews Razanne Abu‑Aisheh, a senior researcher at the University of Bristol, about how people perceive and interact with robot swarms. Abu‑Aisheh explains that collective robot behaviours heavily influence human attitudes, and she advocates for community‑centred, inclusive design to shape...
New salary data from CareersInRobotics.com shows industrial manufacturers pay a median $102,000 for robotics engineers, roughly half what transportation, autonomous‑vehicle and AI software firms offer—about $200,000. The analysis of 907 positions reveals the gap is consistent across roles, from controls...
A new correctional‑facility study evaluated sublingual tablets versus extended‑release injectable buprenorphine for treating opioid use disorder among incarcerated individuals. Researchers tracked medication adherence, post‑release overdose rates, and program costs over a 12‑month period. The injectable formulation showed higher retention and...
ExaGrid has launched an all‑flash, SSD‑based tiered backup storage solution that ships with software version 8 and a unique front‑end Landing Zone paired with a non‑network‑facing repository tier. The new appliances—EX90‑SSD through EX540‑SSD—scale to over 17 PB in a single scale‑out...
The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, which would re‑authorize the rare pediatric disease priority‑review voucher (PRV) program, is stuck in a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill, jeopardizing its passage despite bipartisan support. The PRV program, created in 2012, grants vouchers...
QMill announced a 48‑qubit NISQ algorithm that reaches verifiable quantum advantage at 99.94% gate fidelity, far below the 200‑qubit, 99.99% benchmark traditionally required. Numerical simulations show the implementation outpaces the El Capitan exascale supercomputer, delivering a six‑fold error‑tolerance improvement. The algorithm’s...
Catchpoint, now part of LogicMonitor, released the eighth‑edition SRE Report 2026, revealing that reliability is being redefined in the AI era. The study of 418 global SRE, DevOps and IT professionals shows speed, user experience and business impact have overtaken...
Microsoft complied with an FBI search warrant, providing BitLocker recovery keys stored on its cloud for three Guam laptops tied to a Covid unemployment fraud investigation. The devices were protected by BitLocker, Microsoft’s default full‑disk encryption, whose recovery keys can...
The FDA has issued a draft of M4Q(R2), a globally harmonized framework that structures quality information for pharmaceutical registration applications. The guidance splits data into Module 2.3 (quality overview) and Module 3 (body of data) and introduces the DMCS model to standardize...
Marketing teams often buy attribution and other martech tools as quick transactions, ignoring the operational fit and integration needs. A mid‑size B2B firm spent $180,000 on a platform that delivered no reliable data because integration and data‑quality responsibilities were never...
HubSpot’s December 2025 release adds operational upgrades that tighten data control and boost AI efficiency. Managers gain reCAPTCHA protection for live chat, a new Segment Analytics view, and AI‑driven Claude actions that can update CRM records on the fly. Administrators...
TrustAsia revoked 143 SSL/TLS certificates after uncovering a critical vulnerability in its LiteSSL ACME service. The flaw allowed domain‑validation data to be reused across different ACME accounts, enabling unauthorized issuance of wildcard certificates. The issue stemmed from a logic error...
Amaze Holdings announced an expanded strategic partnership with Contend, elevating the studio from advisor to fully integrated partner. The collaboration will combine Contend’s storytelling expertise with Amaze’s global commerce platform to deliver end‑to‑end creator‑led product launches. Throughout 2026 the duo...
Tinaba, backed by Banca Profilo, has extended its partnership with Alipay+ to enable Chinese‑mainland digital payments directly from the Tinaba app. Italian users can now pay in euros at more than 80 million merchants by scanning a QR code, without installing...
