News•Feb 18, 2026
Another Early AI Accounting Startup Just Bit the Dust
Botkeeper, an early AI accounting platform founded in 2015, announced its closure after eleven years despite achieving high‑accuracy transaction coding and a sophisticated AI suite. The company raised substantial venture capital and built an “Infinite” platform that could reconcile data and code 80% of transactions with 98% accuracy. However, rapid industry consolidation in late 2025 hit its largest clients, eroding revenue and preventing a sustainable path forward. Founder Enrico Palmerino cited a perfect storm of macro‑economic shifts and insufficient product‑market fit as the primary reasons for the wind‑down.
By Going Concern
News•Feb 18, 2026
How Indian Travel Tech Bought Its Way Into the West’s Backyard
Indian travel‑tech firms have spent nearly $1 billion on acquisitions across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East since late 2024, marking a rapid global expansion. Leading players such as Prism (formerly Oyo), RateGain, TBO Tek and Ixigo are buying B2B infrastructure, OTA...
By Skift – Technology
News•Feb 18, 2026
53-Year-Old Home Depot Rival Closing Down, No Bankruptcy
Home Depot, Lowe’s and Amazon together captured 56% of the U.S. home‑improvement market in 2025, leaving independent hardware retailers struggling. Independent stores such as C&H Hardware and the 53‑year‑old Blossom True Value in Mountain View have shut down or announced...
By Yahoo Finance – Finance News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Beyond Buzzwords: Using OPM’s Human Capital Standards for Federal HR Modernization
The article explains how OPM’s Human Capital Management (HCM) standards—namely the Human Capital Business Reference Model (HCBRM), the Human Capital Federal Integrated Business Framework (HC‑FIBF), and the Human Capital Information Model (HCIM)—provide a detailed, tiered framework for federal HR IT...
By Federal News Network
News•Feb 18, 2026
Opkey Launches Design Studio for ERP Implementation Planning
Opkey introduced Design Studio, an AI‑driven module within its application lifecycle automation platform that streamlines ERP and HCM implementation planning. The visual canvas embeds more than 20 domain‑specific AI agents to automate discovery, requirements capture, process mapping, and configuration design....
By ERP Today
News•Feb 18, 2026
Managing Legal Risk in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: What Key Stakeholders Need to Know Today
In 2026 enterprises are scaling AI from pilots to company‑wide deployments, prompting a surge in legal exposure across governance, compliance, privacy, contracting and IP. Boards face heightened fiduciary duties under the Caremark standard, yet only 36% have formal AI oversight...
By JD Supra (Labor & Employment)
News•Feb 18, 2026
SPT Labtech, BellBrook Labs Automate Screening for VPS4B ATPase Inhibitors for Cancer Drug Discovery
SPT Labtech and BellBrook Labs announced a joint effort to automate a high‑throughput, cell‑based assay for VPS4B ATPase inhibitors, pairing BellBrook’s Transcreener® ADP2 fluorescence‑polarization assay with SPT’s dragonfly® liquid‑handling system. The miniaturized platform operates in 384‑ and 1536‑well formats and...
By GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Confidential Information Cannot Be ‘Un-Learned’
The U.S. District Court for New Jersey affirmed a special master’s ruling that barred Nasdaq’s Vice President of Engineering from reviewing opposing confidential material in a patent dispute. The court emphasized that once sensitive information is learned it cannot be...
By JD Supra – Legal Tech
News•Feb 18, 2026
Every Trend Looks the Same in a Dashboard (Until You Zoom Out)
The article argues that standard post‑level dashboards flatten very different content behaviors—short‑term spikes, campaign arcs, and compounding formats—into identical metrics, leading marketers to chase fleeting reach. By grouping content by theme, intent, or format and evaluating it over weeks or...
By Later Blog
News•Feb 18, 2026
Ultrasound-Jiggled Nanobubbles Can Crack Cancer's Collagen 'Fortress'
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have shown that ultrasound‑activated nanobubbles can mechanically disrupt the dense collagen matrix surrounding solid tumors, creating a temporary “softening” effect that lasts several days. In a breast‑cancer model, the approach enabled deeper penetration of...
By Phys.org – Nanotechnology
News•Feb 18, 2026
Transfer Delays Tied to Worse Acute Stroke Intervention Results
A new Lancet Neurology study of 22,410 ischemic‑stroke patients shows that door‑in‑door‑out (DIDO) times exceeding the 90‑minute guideline are tied to poorer functional outcomes and lower rates of endovascular therapy. Patients with DIDO intervals of 91‑180 minutes, 181‑270 minutes, and...
By TCTMD
News•Feb 18, 2026
Airbnb Tests Loyalty Benefits. Chesky Says Program ‘Could Be a Massive Accelerant’
Airbnb has begun testing a suite of loyalty‑program benefits that avoid traditional points structures, signaling a strategic shift toward more personalized guest incentives. The company previously explored a “Superguest” program but never launched it, and now it is evaluating models...
By Skift – Technology
News•Feb 18, 2026
Football Commentator Permits EA to Use an AI Version of His Voice for EA Sports FC
EA Sports FC commentator Guy Mowbray has authorized Electronic Arts to clone his voice using artificial intelligence, allowing the game to generate pronunciations for more than 20,000 footballer names. Mowbray currently records each name several times to capture different emphases,...
By GamesIndustry.biz
News•Feb 18, 2026
Generative AI Reduces M&A Costs by 20%, McKinsey Says
McKinsey reports that generative AI has slashed M&A costs by roughly 20% and accelerated deal timelines by 10% to 30%. The technology enables faster target identification, due diligence, and integration, especially amid geopolitical and supply‑chain disruptions. Bain finds one in...
By CFO Dive
News•Feb 18, 2026
Simplifying Quantum Simulations—Symmetry Can Cut Computational Effort by Several Orders of Magnitude
Physicists Guido Burkard and Joris Kattemölle introduced a symmetry‑based method that slashes the computational effort of quantum simulations by over a thousandfold. By treating repeating lattice patterns as single tiles, the approach replaces thousands of point‑by‑point mappings with a few...
By Phys.org (Quantum Physics News)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Activist Jana Builds Stake in Payments Business Fiserv
Activist investor Jana Partners has taken an undisclosed stake in payments processor Fiserv, aiming to improve its underperforming stock. Fiserv, valued at about $32 billion, saw shares plunge nearly 70% in 2023 and are down more than 11% year‑to‑date. Jana is...
By The Strawhecker Group (TSG) Blog/News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Quantum-Level Effects in Biology: Weak Magnetic Fields and Isotopes Can Alter Cell Protein Structures
University of Waterloo researchers demonstrated that weak magnetic fields and isotopic substitution can alter the structure of cellular proteins, specifically tubulin polymerization, in a quantum‑consistent manner. Published in Science Advances, the study bridges structural biology, biophysics, and quantum biology, revealing...
By Phys.org – Biotechnology
News•Feb 18, 2026
OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity Near Approval to Host AI Directly for the U.S. Government (Exclusive)
OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are on the cusp of receiving FedRAMP 20x authorization, allowing them to host AI services on their own clouds for U.S. government use. The approval will be limited to low‑impact, pilot deployments but marks a shift toward...
By Fast Company AI
News•Feb 18, 2026
Loft Orbital, SmartSat CRC to Demonstrate Wildfire Detection Technology
Loft Orbital and Australia’s SmartSat Cooperative Research Center have begun a joint mission to test AI‑driven wildfire detection software on Loft’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellites. The system uses hyperspectral imaging to differentiate smoke from ordinary cloud cover and to flag nascent blazes,...
By Via Satellite
News•Feb 18, 2026
Arista Hints at In-the-Works Telemetry Tools to Manage AI Fabrics
Arista Networks announced extensions to its telemetry stack aimed at AI‑driven environments, adding host‑level data such as RDMA counters, NIC buffering, and flow‑control metrics to its CloudVision platform. The new capabilities will merge in‑network and host telemetry into a single,...
By Network World (sitewide)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Albertsons Outlines Top 4 AI Priorities
Albertsons announced four AI priorities for fiscal 2026—digital customer experience, merchandising, labor, and supply chain—backed by a full cloud migration and unified data platform. Chief technology officer Anuj Dhanda emphasized these are long‑term investments already delivering measurable impact, such as...
By CIO Dive
News•Feb 18, 2026
Pediatric Myopia Drug Is Latest In String Of Unexpected FDA Rejections
The FDA has rejected a pediatric myopia drug, citing a lack of substantial evidence for its efficacy. Pediatric ophthalmologists argue the drug, already used in compounded form, effectively slows myopia progression in children. The decision follows a series of recent,...
By Inside Health Policy
News•Feb 18, 2026
FirstEnergy Subsidiaries Select Site for New 1.2 GW Natural Gas Plant in West Virginia
FirstEnergy subsidiaries have identified a West Virginia site for a 1.2 GW natural‑gas power plant, adding to a wave of large‑scale energy projects highlighted this week. Parallel announcements include a 9.2 GW Ohio gas mega‑plant tied to a U.S.–Japan $550 B investment pledge,...
By Power Engineering
News•Feb 18, 2026
Forest Lawn Builds an Integrated Procure-to-Pay Backbone by Connecting Vroozi, NetSuite, and Shopify
Forest Lawn Memorial Parks & Mortuaries has built a fully integrated procure-to-pay backbone by linking Vroozi’s procurement platform with NetSuite ERP and Shopify e‑commerce. The integration automates inventory replenishment, accounts payable, and even service procurement, allowing real‑time updates across systems....
By ERP News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Cutting-Edge Technologies Are Poised to Transform Orthopedics
Orthopedic surgery is rapidly adopting AI, robotic assistance, VR/AR and wearable digital tools, shifting from experimental concepts to routine practice. AI now supports imaging interpretation, predictive risk modeling, personalized surgical planning, training simulations and remote postoperative monitoring. Robotic platforms improve...
By Healio – All News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Why Leaders Are Putting a Renewed Focus on PTO Policies
A new WTW survey shows 73% of U.S. employers will enhance paid‑leave programs within two years. Leaders cite employee experience, talent attraction, and retention as primary drivers. Caregiver leave is projected to jump from 22% to 39%, while parental and...
By Employee Benefit News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Yu-Lan Chan: An Operational Gun Who Keeps ACT Government Wheels Turning
Yu‑Lan Chan, a senior public servant in the Australian Capital Territory, is portrayed as an "operational gun" who ensures the government’s daily functions run smoothly. She attributes her ascent to curiosity and a willingness to join high‑performing teams rather than...
By The Mandarin (Australia)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Intel Turns To Microsoft’s Copilot Studio For Partner Support After Dialing Back Phone Use
Intel is launching "Ask Intel," an AI‑driven virtual assistant built on Microsoft’s Copilot Studio, to handle customer and partner support after scaling back phone and social‑media channels. The assistant can open cases, verify warranties and route complex issues to human...
By CRN (US)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Potbelly Partners with Flybuy to Elevate Off-Prem Operations
Potbelly is integrating Flybuy’s AI‑powered location platform into its digital ordering system to streamline off‑premise service across more than 450 sandwich shops. The technology provides real‑time order‑time estimates, status updates, and location‑based in‑app messaging, reducing customer wait times by over...
By Food On Demand
News•Feb 18, 2026
Remote Learning Still a Work in Progress at Buffalo Schools
Buffalo Schools are increasingly relying on remote‑learning days to meet New York’s 180‑day requirement amid severe winter weather and a compressed academic calendar. District officials cite safety, but teachers, parents, and students uniformly express frustration with the ad‑hoc approach. Device...
By GovTech — Education (K-12)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Niqo Robotics Showcases 3-in-1 Precision AI Robot at Southwest Ag Summit 2026
Niqo Robotics unveiled its 3‑in‑1 AI robot at the Southwest Ag Summit, demonstrating a single‑pass solution for precision weeding, crop thinning, and targeted spraying. The showcase followed a successful pilot that generated the company’s first commercial order in the region....
By RoboticsTomorrow
News•Feb 18, 2026
Active Learning Classrooms Foster Collaboration Among Students
Universities nationwide are replacing traditional lectures with active‑learning classrooms that emphasize student interaction and technology‑enhanced collaboration. Cornell University’s Center for Teaching Innovation, which began in 2012, now reaches more than 10,000 students each year, while roughly eight in ten higher‑education...
By EdTech Magazine (Higher Ed)
News•Feb 18, 2026
INL Enlists NVIDIA on ‘PROMETHEUS’ AI Effort to Halve Nuclear Deployment Timelines Under DOE Genesis Mission
Idaho National Laboratory has teamed with NVIDIA to launch PROMETHEUS, an AI‑driven autonomous reactor demonstration under the DOE Genesis Mission. The partnership targets a 50% reduction in nuclear deployment timelines and multi‑billion‑dollar cost savings by embedding AI across design, licensing,...
By POWER Magazine
News•Feb 18, 2026
FDA Backtracks On Moderna mRNA Flu Vaccine Refusal, Sets Aug. 5 Review Deadline
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reversed its earlier decision to decline a review of Moderna's mRNA influenza vaccine candidate. Following a Type A meeting with the company, the agency set an August 5, 2026 deadline for completing its evaluation. The...
By Inside Health Policy
News•Feb 18, 2026
NYC Parents Want Career Aptitude Assessments for All High Schoolers
NYC parents, through the Citywide Council on High Schools, have passed a resolution urging the Education Department to implement career aptitude assessments for all ninth‑ and eleventh‑grade students. The proposal argues that standardized, research‑based tools can help students—especially those from...
By The 74
News•Feb 18, 2026
Single‐Particle Kinetics Unravel Aperture‐Size Dominance in Hot‐Carrier Transfer and Product Desorption for Photocatalytic Reactions in Plasmonic Nanocavities
Researchers tuned gold nanocup cavity apertures from 35 to 67 nm to study plasmonic photocatalysis. The medium‑size aperture (~58 nm) delivered the highest turnover rate of 0.59 s⁻¹, outperforming smaller and larger apertures by 2.8‑8.4×. Single‑particle kinetic imaging showed that this optimum arises...
By Small (Wiley)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Recycled Thermocol Nanofibers Based Smart Triboelectric Nanogenerators for AI‐Assisted Switching
Researchers transformed waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) into electrospun nanofibers and used them as the tribonegative layer in a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The nanofibrous architecture delivers an open‑circuit voltage of about 159 V, a short‑circuit current of 22 µA, and a peak power...
By Small (Wiley)
News•Feb 18, 2026
NextGen Supply Chain Conference 2026 Opens Speaker Submission Process
The NextGen Supply Chain Conference 2026 has opened its speaker submission window, inviting senior supply‑chain leaders to present case studies at the event scheduled for Oct. 21‑23, 2026, in Nashville’s W Hotel. The conference’s theme, “Innovate. Upskill. Transform.”, signals a shift...
By Supply Chain Management Review (SCMR)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Light‐Controlled Exposure/Blockage of Permanent Cavities in Metal‐Organic Cages‐Based Type II Porous Liquids
Researchers have created the first type II porous liquid whose permanent cavities can be exposed or blocked with light. By attaching azobenzene ligands to a charged metal‑organic cage (MSA) and dissolving it in the bulky ionic liquid P6,6,6,14Cl, they achieved a...
By Small (Wiley)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Google Teams Up with CTC Global for Grid Intelligence
Google Cloud and Alphabet’s moonshot project Tapestry have deepened their partnership with CTC Global to launch GridVista, an observability platform that embeds optical‑fiber sensors in transmission conductors. The system delivers real‑time strain, temperature and vibration data, feeding it into Google...
By Data Center Knowledge
News•Feb 18, 2026
Recurring Revenue Strategies for the AI Business Era
The article examines how AI’s high variable costs are reshaping recurring‑revenue models, moving firms away from flat‑rate SaaS subscriptions toward hybrid, usage‑based, and outcome‑based pricing. It cites McKinsey data showing 50% of firms plan AI adoption and highlights that 72%...
By SmartData Collective
News•Feb 18, 2026
Study on the Plasma‐Induced Synthesis of P‐Ru‐Co(OH)2@PCC for the Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrate
A plasma‑assisted micro‑modulation technique restructures Ru‑doped Co(OH)₂ nanosheets, creating oxygen vacancies and lowering metal oxidation states. These changes boost hydrogen adsorption and nitrate binding, dramatically improving nitrate‑to‑ammonia electrocatalysis under neutral pH. The resulting P‑Ru‑Co(OH)₂@PCC catalyst achieves a record ammonia yield...
By Small (Wiley)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Sumo Logic Moves Into Sovereign Cloud Regions in Europe
Sumo Logic announced the extension of its cloud‑native analytics platform into the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and an AWS data center in Switzerland. The move lets customers keep logs, telemetry, and security data within national borders, satisfying GDPR and other...
By ChannelE2E
News•Feb 18, 2026
An Oral Mucosa‐Inspired Wet‐Adhesion Janus Hydrogel With Asymmetric Bifunctionalities of Antifouling/Antioxidant for Treating Oral Ulcer in Diabetes
Researchers have engineered a wet‑adhesion Janus hydrogel (WAJH) that mimics oral mucosa to treat diabetic oral ulcers. The hydrogel features an antifouling agar/polyacrylamide layer and a tannic‑acid‑rich adhesive layer, delivering adhesion energies of 15 J m⁻² and 316 J m⁻² respectively. Its antioxidant tannic...
By Small (Wiley)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Spirent Luma Brings Agentic AI to Network Testing, Slashes Triage Time
Spirent Communications, now part of Keysight, launched Luma, an agentic AI platform that automates network test case generation, root‑cause analysis, and knowledge retrieval. Built on a domain‑specific knowledge graph, deterministic rule engine and a suite of 10‑12 specialized AI agents,...
By Network World (sitewide)
News•Feb 18, 2026
AllPIXA Neo 6k Line-Scan Camera Delivers Unmatched Speed and Precision for Automated Sorting Systems
Allied Vision introduced the allPIXA neo 6k 10GigE line‑scan camera, engineered for high‑speed automated sorting. It features a 6144 × 4 pixel CMOS multispectral sensor, 5 µm pixel size, and can capture up to 105 kHz in color or 300 kHz in monochrome. The camera delivers...
By Manufacturing Tomorrow
News•Feb 18, 2026
Reddit Shares Insight Into Rising World Cup Discussion
Reddit reports that World Cup chatter has already generated over 77 million U.S. views of the term “FIFA World Cup,” with conversation tripling compared to last year. The platform ranks as the fifth‑most‑googled term in the United States and the top‑cited...
By Social Media Today
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Agents and How to Govern Them: Tailscale, Sayvint Offer Solutions
AI agents are moving from occasional chat tools to always‑on assistants, prompting enterprises to confront identity‑governance gaps. Tailscale introduced Aperture, an open‑alpha governance layer that ties AI usage to user or workload identities, offering policy controls, audit‑ready session logs, and...
By Biometric Update
News•Feb 18, 2026
Surcharges and Discounts Can’t Overcome Payment Inertia
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s new report shows that merchants’ attempts to shift consumer payment behavior with cash discounts or credit‑card surcharges have little impact because shoppers stick to their preferred method out of habit. Discounts only influence cash‑oriented...
By PaymentsJournal
News•Feb 18, 2026
Outcome-Based Business Models Gain Traction In The Channel As A Way To Navigate AI Economics
Solution providers are abandoning hourly billing in favor of outcome‑based models as AI automation turns software development into a commodity. Eduardo Ramos founded Viewnear to align pricing with measurable client results, leveraging Snowflake’s data platform and AI tools. RiskSpan and...
By CRN (US)