eMarketer estimate that the global retail market will reach $25.038 trillion in 2019, an increase of 4.5% and slight acceleration in growth vs. the prior year. At the same time, it represents a marked decline from the five years preceding that, when global retail sales grew between 5.7% and 7.5% each year.This consumer spending slowdown over the past two years reflects growing economic uncertai...

Tesla's Megapack batteries can hook up directly to solar via a DC connection for wall-to-wall renewable plants.Two short years ago, Tesla pieced together the world's largest battery for the state of South Australia, and with great effect. The company is continuing its moves in this space with a massive new battery dubbed the Megapack, of which it says enough units can be linked together to take...

Stigma and stereotypes have faded for store brands and name brands, respectively. The premium assortment of products in the retailer-branded portfolio continues to expand. And though discount retailers have historically focused on store brands (or, private labels as we often refer to them), many have a renewed interest in name brands amid demand for premiumization. It’s an exciting time for al...

A London bar has become the first in the world to use artificial intelligence to help bar staff know which customers should be served first. New facial recognition software could be the solution to long queues and angry kick-offs in pubs and bars across the UK. Facial recognition technology is helping to stop long waits, underage drinking and queue jumping in packed pubs. FACIAL recognition is...

Amid stagnant growth and declining profits, Apple is pouring money into research and development as its services revenue continues to make up a bigger chunk of the pie.Apple's Q3 earnings came with good news and bad news. The tech giant's services segment continues to grow steadily and helped buoy Apple's overall revenue growth, but profits dipped more than 12 percent amid declining iPhone sale...

Pininfarina Bus Shelter concept for the City of Miami Beach just won Red Dot Design Concept Award 2019. Isn’t it exciting how a bus shelter that we usually ignore would get a make over from world-class Italian car manufacturer? Well, in a bid to make a fitting impression, Miami Beach city officials have chosen Pininfarina, a company that’s been known for some of most beautiful cars ever made,...

Harvard is in an Ivy League of its own, with more than 13,650 estimated ultra-high-net-worth alumni worth $4.769 trillion.Going to an Ivy League school seems to seriously pay off.Six of the eight Ivies made the Wealth-X top 20 list of universities with ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) alumni, which ranks the schools with the wealthiest grads in the U.S. and abroad, as well as how their wealth was ma...

The MTV Video Music Awards just introduced a K-Pop category, but sales and streaming data show BTS has already gone mainstream.Last week, MTV announced it would introduce a new K-Pop category at its annual Video Music Awards, sparking controversy among fans for sidelining the entire genre and, they charged, excluding K-Pop bands from the top awards. The fans of one band, in particular, lashed o...

Starbucks to license technology to Brightloom – formerly eatsa – taking equity stake and seat on the tech company’s board of directors.Integration to enable best-in-class digital solutions to be available for restaurants through Brightloom, revolutionizing the digital experience for customers. Brightloom will make available cloud-based software solutions to Starbucks global license partnersS...