A vendor packages seafood for a customer at a stall in Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province on October 16, 2018. AFP | Getty Images China’s July food prices jumped 9.1% from a year ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday, as the country battles soaring pork prices amid the spread of
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In this photo illustration, an ‘Impossible Whopper’ sits on a table at a Burger King restaurant on April 1, 2019 in Richmond Heights, Missouri. Michael Thomas | Getty Images Vegans and vegetarians have cheered as more and more restaurants, from Subway to White Castle, add plant-based protein options from Beyond Meat and its rival Impossible
Robert Chang, a Stanford ophthalmologist, normally stays busy prescribing drops and performing eye surgery. But a few years ago, he decided to jump on a hot new trend in his field: artificial intelligence. Doctors like Chang often rely on eye imaging to track the development of conditions like glaucoma. With enough scans, he reasoned, he
Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the new Apple Watch at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, September 12, 2018. Stephen Lam | Reuters Apple has been adding health features to its iPhone and smartwatch, and is now working with Eli Lilly to see if data from the devices can help spot early signs of
Despite decades of work by government agencies and nonprofits, the digital divide remains wide. About 26 percent of Americans in rural areas have no access to home broadband internet, according to a report released by the Federal Communications Commission last May. But broadband is probably even scarcer in rural areas than the reports suggests. The
The China-US trade conflict is taking a more severe turn. President Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports; the Chinese government responded by allowing its currency, the yuan, to fall to more than 7 to the dollar—the lowest in a decade. The US government then formally labeled China
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday that the U.S.-China trade war will not lead the American economy into a significant decline in economic activity. The “Mad Money” host, who has generally been in favor of a tough trade policy with the economic powerhouse, says he is “more sanguine” about the ongoing tensions in efforts to force
The accuracy of facial-recognition algorithms has improved significantly in the past few years. That allows you to unlock an iPhone with your face. But the rapid adoption of the technology by government for uses such as airport security and policing has triggered a debate about the algorithms’ trustworthiness and how they are being used. Civil
President Donald Trump speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 15, 2019. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters President Donald Trump on Monday called for reforms to the nation’s mental health laws after back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend killed at least 31 people. “We must
Les Wexner (left) with Ed Razek (right) at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards. Astrid Stawiarz | Stringer | Getty Images Victoria’s Secret owner L Brands is about to lose its chief marketing officer Edward Razek, who’s pushed the retailer’s sexy image as long as he’s been there since the early 1980s. L Brands CEO Les
Amid ongoing tension with the US government, Huawei put a good face on its half-year earnings report last week. The Chinese telecom giant touted a 23 percent increase in year-over-year revenue for the first six months of 2019, a contrast from recent woes including the arrest of CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada last December and
Brands increasingly seek to provide “frictionless” experiences—a sense of ease and efficiency that enables users to engage with them on their terms. However, in a small but growing number of cases, frictionless means eliminating cash as an accepted payment method. This is a seemingly minor but significant shift in the retail landscape. As a society,
A still image from a CVS Carepass video ad Source: CVS CVS has a plan to win over millennials and it looks a lot like Amazon Prime: free home delivery of products from shampoo to cold medicine, all for an annual membership fee of $48. CVS announced on Monday its CarePass program will expand nationwide.
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2019 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 03, 2019 in San Jose, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Apple spent $4.2 billion on research and development in the quarter ending in June, the highest quarterly amount it has ever spent on research and development,
MINI Drivers celebrate the end of MINI Takes the States in Keystone Colorado. H/O: MINI USA The caravan of cute cars descending on Keystone, Colorado for last year’s “MINI Takes the States” nearly doubled the small town’s population overnight. Over 1,000 Mini Coopers from opposite coasts of the country drove a combined 5,030 miles to
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. But even today, many users of those apps don’t realize they are part of Mark Zuckerberg’s empire. Facebook went to great lengths to allow them to operate as independent brands. There are many “I hate Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. I’m going to Instagram” posts on social
In this photo illustration, a container of Johnson’s baby powder made by Johnson and Johnson sits on a table in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images A jury in Kentucky rejected claims that Johnson & Johnson‘s talc-based baby powder contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma, the company said in a statement, a win for
Creative abstract solar power generation technology, alternative energy and environment protection ecology business concept: 3D render illustration of the group of solar battery panel modules against scenic sunset with blue sky with sun light scanrail | iStock | Getty Images Tech giant Amazon is to invest in two new renewable energy projects in the U.S.
Daisy Ridley reprises her role as Rey in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Disney Despite a slow start, the 2019 box office is showing signs of strength and could top 2018’s ticket sale record by year-end. A weak slate of movies in the beginning of the year put 2019 at a deficit. 2018 had
In May 2019, WIRED joined the One Free Press Coalition, a united group of preeminent editors and publishers using their global reach and social platforms to spotlight journalists under attack worldwide. Today, the coalition is issuing its sixth monthly “10 Most Urgent” list of journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or whose cases demand
Workers sewing in a clothing factory in Bozhou, east China’s Anhui province. STR | AFP | Getty Images China’s manufacturing activity contracted in July, according to results of a private survey released on Thursday. The Caixin/Markit factory Purchasing Managers’ Index for was 49.9 — slightly better than expected. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the indicator
Google has a solution for the creaking inefficiencies of modern healthcare: push notifications. No, not those annoying reminders to practice your Arabic lesson on Duolingo or subscribe to a new Lyft deal. Google is betting its alerts can save your life. The company is building an artificial-intelligence-driven system that promises to give doctors an early
Every year, people as young as 17 accrue tens of thousands of dollars in debt in order to get an education. Students assume massive risk, with no guarantee of success. At $1.6 trillion, student debt is the second-highest consumer debt category, behind only mortgage debt; the national total for student loan debt is higher than that of both
As open source software grows more popular, and important, developers face an existential question: How to make money from something you give away for free? The Open Source Initiative standards body says an open source license must allow users to view the underlying source code, modify it, and share it as they see fit. Independent
An employee of General Electric works on a gas turbine at the GE plant in Belfort, France. Sebastien Bozon | AFP | Getty Images General Electric reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that were slightly better than Wall Street expected. GE shares rose 1.6% in premarket trading from its previous close of $10.52 a share. Expectations vs. results:
Last year, Maine utility regulators made it easier for municipal-owned high-speed internet providers to string cables along utility poles. That might not sound like a big deal, but utility pole access is a surprisingly contentious issue. Broadband providers have long complained that it can take months or years to gain access to utility poles controlled
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 18, 2014 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines midday: Procter & Gamble — Shares of Procter & Gamble jumped 4.4% to a record high on better-than-expected quarterly numbers
The call came on January 2. It was early enough in the morning that Natalie Levy probably shouldn’t have been awake—she had recently left a high-stress job at a private-equity firm in San Francisco, and was determined to relax a bit—but her dog had woken her up. It was her sister on the line. “When’s
Starbucks was able to engineer a top- and bottom-line beat in its latest quarter report thanks to the moves that tech veteran and CEO Kevin Johnson made to line up customers up for coffee, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Monday. The ubiquitous coffee chain saw it stock price surge to surge to near $100 after raising its
U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower Monday morning, as market participants braced for a likely cut in interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. At around 03:15 a.m. ET, Dow futures dipped 28 points, indicating a negative open of more than 43 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were