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AI-generated ads outperform human designers in live campaign, advantage holds 18 months later

21 August 2026 at 18:00
The common belief throughout the marketing and advertising world is that generative AI can produce striking visuals, but it struggles to match the performance and brand discipline of skilled human designers. New research published in the journal Marketing Science challenges that assumption, finding that a carefully designed AI system can outperform visuals created by humans, and it can outperform designs created by another AI model that was optimized solely on the basis of aesthetics.

When the algorithm determines wages

21 August 2026 at 15:40
What happens when companies on digital labor platforms no longer decide for themselves how much to pay their workers, but leave this to learning algorithms? Researchers at TU Darmstadt, Bielefeld University and the UniversitΓ© CΓ΄te d'Azur have demonstrated in computer simulations that, where only a few firms compete with one another, such artificial intelligence (AI) systems can "learn" to set wages at a very low level without communicating with one another or having been programmed to collude.

Des chercheurs ont créé 8,3 milliards de faux humains… et les entreprises peuvent les tester !

Une Γ©quipe scientifique vient de dΓ©voiler MatrAIx, une infrastructure open source capable de simuler 8,3 milliards d’individualitΓ©s virtuelles. Cette modΓ©lisation est essentiellement tournΓ©e vers le business, car le jumeau numΓ©rique de la population mondiale promet de rΓ©volutionner le test de...

How environmental responsibility can improve financial performance

13 August 2026 at 22:00
Consumers are increasingly choosing products from companies that demonstrate genuine environmental responsibility. While many studies have linked environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance with stronger financial results, exactly how environmental responsibility translates into higher profits has remained unclear. A new study suggests that sustainability improves corporate financial performance indirectly by increasing sales.

Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful

11 August 2026 at 14:27

Earlier this summer, Amazon customers began noticing that emails related to their online orders looked sparse: Order confirmation emails didn't name specific items anymore, and instead listed only item categories.

"Your Beauty item is confirmed!" an email about my retainer cleaning tablets read. Shoppers have posted other iterations of the redacted emails as well: "Ordered: 1 Hardware item," "Your Drugstore, Shoes, and other items are here!" and "1 Nutrition & Wellness, 1 Wireless Accessories," for example. The emails have clip art-style illustrations of general product categories, and a shopper has to exit their email and go to Amazon to …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Joby flexes military muscle with $500 million defense acquisition

11 August 2026 at 13:00
Joby flight at JFK airport.
Joby flight at JFK airport. | Image: The Verge

Joby Aviation announced it was acquiring Dayton, Ohio-based defense firm Resonant Sciences in a $500 million deal, in a bid by the electric aircraft company to expand further into the military industrial complex.

Joby says it expects to finance the deal with $450 million in cash and $50 million in equity. After the deal closes, which is expected in early 2027, Resonant will continue its existing work as Joby's dedicated defense division, the company said. The commercial division will remain focused on air taxis, the first of which are expected to launch later this year.

The deal is the latest example of the fledgling electric aviation in …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t understand how to live

10 August 2026 at 23:00
Mark Zuckerberg wearing sunglasses

Recently, a man I was rock climbing with told me about how he'd used AI to make a motivational poster for himself, which he'd hung on his bedroom wall: a bear, walking a slackline over a canyon, holding a sign that said, "Do cool shit." I made what I hoped was a polite noise. What reaction was this man looking for? He probably hoped someone, maybe me, would say it was cool or inspiring. It seemed I was not the first person he'd told about this poster. "You know, it's funny," he said to me. "No one ever says anything about it."

I have been thinking about this now for several days. There's a sort of turducken of things that I find off-puttin …

Read the full story at The Verge.

As charitable food aid expands, new study raises questions for food security policy

10 August 2026 at 21:40
As food insecurity persists across high-income countries, charitable organizations and food banks are playing an increasingly important role in helping households access food. A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sheba Medical Center examines the scale and structure of one such system and raises questions about how philanthropic food aid should fit within national food security policy.

Carbon accounting rules can shape both hydrogen investment returns and emissions

10 August 2026 at 21:20
A new study by University of Mannheim researchers Gunther Glenk, Philip Holler and Stefan Reichelstein examines how the assessment of carbon emissions affects incentives for producing electrolytic hydrogen. They found that even stringent accounting rules generally provide sufficient investment incentives. However, they do not necessarily guarantee low-carbon hydrogen. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

The economic realities of fusion powerβ€”a framework for understanding what it would take to be profitable

10 August 2026 at 21:00
In the last decade, scientists have shown that fusion energy can work as a physical process. Next question: Can it work economically? A study co-authored by MIT professors Dennis Whyte and Andrew W. Lo proposes a framework for understanding what's needed to make fusion energy commercially viable in the marketplace. The method considers the physical inputs needed to sustain controlled fusion energy production, as well as the cost of building power plants that can compete in energy markets.

Hughesnet Bankruptcy

10 August 2026 at 20:43

Michael Kan:

US satellite internet provider Hughesnet has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after running low on cash and losing subscribers to Starlink.

Hughes Network Systems filed in a US bankruptcy court on Sunday, but the company notes it’ll continue serving its satellite internet customers during the restructuring period.

I used Hughesnet before DSL was available. The company was really annoying to deal with, and the dish was finicky, but the service was much better than using a dial-up modem.

Previously:

Seven practices can help open organizations balance transparency, inclusion and power

10 August 2026 at 19:00
John Meluso, assistant teaching professor in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering's Systems Engineering Program, is the lead author of a new perspective paper discussing the history of "openness" and offering guidance on how organizations and researchers can use and manage open practices effectively.

Octopus Energy urges millions of households to use less electricity during solar eclipse

Firm urges customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday

Great Britain’s biggest household energy supplier is calling on its customers to use less electricity this week during the deepest solar eclipse in almost 30 years.

Octopus Energy has urged customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm this Wednesday as the moon is expected to block up to 95% of the sun over parts of Britain.

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Β© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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