Shopping

• Major Chinese tech giants Alibaba, JD.com, and ByteDance have integrated advanced AI tools into the 618 shopping festival to optimize the e-commerce experience. • The deployment includes AI-powered shopping assistants, digital hosts for live-streaming, and smart logistics systems to improve efficiency and customer engagement. • This shift matters as it signals a transition toward "AI-first" retail, leveraging automation to personalize consumer journeys and reduce operational costs.

Buyers are ripped off after assuming online stores were genuine because they are recommended by an AI toolYou want to buy a new bag and so you ask ChatGPT for help. You have always liked Russell & Bromley so you ask ChatGPT what is popular there at the moment.The artificial intelligence (AI) assistant gives you cross body, shoulder, casual and formal options with the prices listed beside them. You click through from the sources to what looks like the official Russell & Bromley site and buy your new bag, which is conveniently on sale. Continue reading...

• Google announced a new family of AI advances led by Gemini 3.5, which it said is rolling out first through Gemini 3.5 Flash to billions of users. • The company said Flash is its strongest agentic and coding model yet and that it is now the default model in the Gemini app and Google Search AI mode. • Google also introduced Gemini Omni for video generation from text, images, video, and audio, plus Gemini Spark, a cloud-based agent that can organize notes, emails, and chats.

Walkouts, marches and other gatherings planned for ‘May Day Strong’ demonstrations across the countryThousands are set to join an economic blackout for International Workers’ Day on Friday, as part of 3,500 “May Day Strong” events across the country. Organizers are calling for “no school, no work, no shopping” with walkouts, marches, block parties and other gatherings planned into the evening.May Day has long been an annual day of protest for the labor movement, and this year, many active movements are converging to fight for “a nation that puts workers over billionaires”. Demanding no ICE, no war, and taxing the rich, the May Day Strong coalition includes labor unions, immigrants rights groups, political organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America, and the organizers behind the No Kings protests. Friday’s economic disruption builds on a similar coordinated effort out of Minnesota in January, when tens of thousands of Twin Cities residents took off from school and work to flood the streets in protest of federal immigration agents storming the city. Continue reading...

Actions expected to exceed 3,000 as unions and groups expand protests inspired by Minnesota ICE crackdownLabor unions, democratic organizations and community groups are organizing an economic blackout this year to commemorate May Day, International Workers Day, inspired by the economic blackout in Minnesota during the massive ICE operation in the state.May Day Strong events are being planned across the US, with organizers calling for “no school, no work, no shopping”, in protest of government policies they say put billionaires’ needs above those of workers. Continue reading...

Transfer of medical services from hospital to former Wilko store is improving healthcare access and boosting footfallIt is a revolution that might just save the NHS – and the high street. Imagine being able to have your eyes tested, mole examined or get an appointment with a consultant without going to your local hospital – and maybe fit in some shopping or a cinema visit afterwards.That, increasingly, is what people in Barnsley are doing after an unprecedented relocation of medical services from the district general hospital into a purpose-built outpatients centre in the Alhambra shopping centre, which is getting a new lease of life thanks to the experiment. Continue reading...