Sleep Used to Be Free. Now There’s an Industry Selling It Back to Us Sleep has never been entirely free of commerce. People have been buying mattresses, sleeping pills and blackout curtains for generations. What is new is not the…
The growing dumb phone revival reflects a simple question: has smartphone convenience come at the cost of attention, privacy and time? A modern smartphone can navigate you across a continent, pay your rent, unlock your front door, translate a menu…
In January 2024, a finance worker at the multinational engineering firm Arup in Hong Kong received an email from the company’s UK-based chief financial officer requesting a secret transaction. Suspicious, the worker joined a video conference call to clarify. On…
Standfirst Artificial intelligence can generate almost anything instantly. It still cannot generate history. As digital technology makes content abundant, trust has become the one asset AI cannot manufacture. Article Before the first ball is struck at Wimbledon, another contest has…
Standfirst A farmer who cannot repair his own tractor. A driver asked to pay every month for heated seats already installed in the car. Customers discovering that television shows they purchased have disappeared from their digital libraries. These incidents seem…
Standfirst For three decades, the internet rewarded those who created more information. Generative AI is overturning that bargain. As content becomes abundant and inexpensive to produce, economic power is shifting toward the companies that decide what billions of people see,…
Technology companies have spent decades monetizing information, entertainment and attention. Artificial intelligence is opening a new commercial frontier: emotional connection. When Google agreed to pay roughly $2.7 billion in 2024 to license technology from Character.AI and rehire its founders, Noam…
LONDON, 23 June 2026. The world is entering a cooling race. Extreme heat is no longer only a weather problem. It is increasingly becoming an economic one, measured in lost productivity, strained power grids, rising infrastructure costs and growing pressure…
New research suggests GLP-1 weight-loss medications are reducing spending on snacks, fast food and groceries, forcing food companies and retailers to rethink consumer demand. LONDON/NEW YORK, June 2026 — U.S. households using GLP-1 weight-loss medications reduced grocery spending by an…
Polling, economic data and behavioral trends suggest growing skepticism toward long-established pathways to upward mobility. LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, June 21 — For decades, the formula for economic success appeared relatively straightforward: earn a degree, secure stable employment, buy a home and…