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Streaming Services Face Proposed New Tax in Philippines
Philippine lawmakers reportedly approved a bill that would tax foreign digital services, including streaming services like Netflix, HBO and Disney+. Having passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the bill will become law if signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Bloomberg reported Friday (June 28). The bill would...
AI Error Reduction Takes Center Stage as Tech Giants Unveil New Tools
In Silicon Valley, a new kind of proofreader is hard at work. It doesn’t wield a red pen or squint at comma splices. Instead, this digital detective, born from the same artificial intelligence it’s tasked to police, scans lines of code with inhuman speed, hunting for bugs that even the sharpest human eyes might miss.
Toys R Us AI Commercial Signals Shift in Retail Marketing
Toys R Us has unveiled what it claims is the first-ever brand film using OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool, Sora. However, creatives are criticizing the move, saying it could be a sign that artificial intelligence (AI) is encroaching on their territory. The short film, “The Origin of Toys R Us,”...
Target to Lower Threshold for Apprehending, Prosecuting Shoplifters
Target will reportedly lower the threshold at which store staff can attempt to stop nonviolent theft. In a new guideline expected to be implemented this summer, the retailer has dropped that threshold to $50 from the previous $100, Bloomberg reported Friday (June 28), citing unnamed sources. Asked about the change...
Young People Favor In-Person Singles Events Over Dating Apps
Dating events have reportedly become increasingly popular among young people as they seek alternative ways to meet people in a world once dominated by dating apps. Attendance at dating and singles events targeted at millennials and Gen Z has increased by 49% this year compared to last year, Bloomberg reported Friday (June 28), citing data from Eventbrite.
Online Auto Industry Shakes up as Consumers Shun Pure-Play eCommerce
With consumers unwilling to trust eCommerce channels to complete their car-buying journeys, the online auto sales industry is seeing shifts. For instance, Bloomberg reported this week that private equity firm Thoma Bravo is looking into selling Canadian digital automotive marketplace Trader, which it acquired in 2016. The company’s valuation could be $2.9 billion or more including debt.
Making Sense of the FASB’s Proposed Business Software Accounting Changes
Tax rules for businesses around their software costs haven’t changed in nearly half a century. But over the past few decades, nearly everything we know about software — as well as the ways businesses use it to unlock new growth and efficiencies — has changed. That’s why, last week (June 21), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) announced it was moving ahead with plans to update the accounting rules for software costs to provide clearer guidelines and potentially alter how companies report these expenses on their financial statements.
PCE Index Shows Cautious Consumers; Low Inflation Gives Hope for Rate Cut
The consumer showed up with caution in May, but a low inflation rate added some fuel to the arguments for an interest rate cut. Those were the mixed messages sent from the Bureau of Economic Analysis report released Friday (June 28) on personal income and outlays. According to the report,...
Apple’s Aggressive Discounts Drive iPhone Sales Rebound in China
Apple’s iPhone sales in China reportedly rebounded after falling earlier this year. Shipments of foreign-branded phones in the country reached 5.028 million in May, up from 3.603 million a year earlier, Reuters reported Friday (June 28), citing data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. Because Apple...
Price Wars: Amazon and Walmart Escalate Race to the Bottom
This week in the ongoing battle between retail giants Amazon and Walmart, the two companies are upping their discounting efforts in an effort to secure the loyalty of cost-conscious consumers. Amazon, for its part, is reportedly taking a tip from such eCommerce giants as Temu and Shein, gearing up to...
Why More Banks Say Yes to Insurance as a Consumer Product
As consumers increasingly look to their financial institutions for insurance products, banks have an opportunity to meet this growing demand. A recent report from PYMNTS Intelligence and Franklin Madison shows that 44% of all consumers would turn to their financial institutions (FIs) for insurance needs, a trend that has been growing over the past few years. Based on insights from Mike Mahoney, regional vice president at Franklin Madison, a company that provides insurance products to more than 3,500 FIs, here are five key takeaways for banks considering entering the insurance market:
New Data: GenAI Emerges as Effective Weapon in Banks’ War to Reduce False Positives
Traditional rules-based systems for detecting payments fraud are increasingly inadequate due to the complex schemes devised by fraudsters. This leads to high false positives and limited adaptability. Predictive artificial intelligence (AI) improves on this by reducing false positives and adapting to new schemes using machine learning. However, generative AI, employing unsupervised or semi-supervised learning techniques, excels at detecting subtle and novel fraud patterns in unstructured data. This significantly enhances fraud detection capabilities.
Kleinfeld Owner Says the On-Demand Economy Catches Up to Weddings
With consumers increasingly expecting to be able to get anything they want, when they want it, bridal retail is picking up the pace, according to Kleinfeld Bridal, the wedding retailer from TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.”. In an interview with PYMNTS, Co-owner Ronnie Rothstein and Consulting Chief...
Acquisitions Dominate FinTech IPO Headlines as Index Climbs 2.2% for the Week
The FinTech IPO Index climbed 2.2% this week as a spate of acquisitions dominated the headlines headed into the end of the second quarter. One of those acquisitions came from InsurTech provider Huize, which saw its stock top the $1 mark after a rocky Q2 in which its share price slipped below $0.57.
New Episode: GenAI Helps Small Business Play Big on a Global Stage
What’s the most precious resource for a small business? Arguably, there are three: capital, customers and time. Artificial intelligence is emerging as a technology that can act as a triple threat, addressing all three of these resources and making a small business look bigger in the process. Andre Machicao,...
Nike Reports Continued Channel Shift From D2C to Wholesale
Nike continued its shift from direct-to-consumer (D2C) to wholesale channels over the past three months. During the quarter ended May 31, the footwear, apparel and equipment company’s Nike Direct revenues were down 8% on a reported basis, to $5.1 billion, while its wholesale revenues were up 5%, reaching $7.1 billion, according to Thursday (June 27) earnings release.
OpenAI, Microsoft Face Copyright Lawsuit by Mother Jones Publisher CIR
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the nonprofit news organization that produces Mother Jones and Reveal, has sued OpenAI and that firm’s largest shareholder, Microsoft. CIR’s lawsuit alleges that the companies committed copyright violations, the nonprofit said in a Thursday (June 27) press release. “OpenAI and Microsoft started...
KarmaCheck Raises $45 Million for Background Check, Credentialing Platform
KarmaCheck has raised $45 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate the development of its technology-based solution for background checks, credentialing and compliance. The company will also scale its service levels and expand into new industry verticals, KarmaCheck said in a Thursday (June 27) press release. By streamlining...
Stripe and Coinbase Integrate Crypto Services
Stripe and Coinbase have partnered to expand the global adoption of cryptocurrency and provide faster, cheaper financial infrastructure. This collaboration aims to serve businesses and people around the world, Coinbase said in a Thursday (June 27) blog post. With this partnership, Stripe will add USDC on Base to its crypto...
Accounting Industry Ripe for GenAI Integration, Andreessen Horowitz Says
Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to change the accounting industry, according to a new report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. As large language models (LLMs) continue to advance, AI is becoming a crucial component in various sectors, with accounting firms particularly eager to harness its potential to enhance efficiency and manage increasing workloads.
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