As of May 2025, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that Alexa+ had so far reached over 100,000 users, representing only a tiny fraction of the 600 million Alexa devices that had been sold. That number has grown significantly in the weeks since. Alexa+ represents a serious attempt by Amazon to create a generative AI experience for consumers that it can eventually monetize. Alexa+ aims to bring the digital assistant new capabilities. The service allows users to chat with the digital assistant using more natural language, where you can phrase requests your own way. You’ll also more easily be able to create routines, search across your Ring camera footage, interrupt or pivot the conversation with the assistant, and more. The experience is more personalized, too, as it saves your preferences and remembers what you like. With its generative AI component, Alexa can do things like summarize long emails you share with the service, create unique bedtime stories, generate quizzes from study guides, make travel itineraries, provide summaries of your smart home activity, and answer other questions, similar to how an AI chatbot might respond. Plus, the assistant will be able to help you take certain actions — like buying concert tickets, booking a dinner reservation, and notifying you when something you’ve been watching goes on sale, among other things.
Cordial’s AI marketing platform analyzes customer’s historical behavior such as opens, clicks, browses and purchases to predict their purchase intent at different price points, enabling brands to focus efforts on high-opportunity segments
AI marketing platform Cordial is releasing the newest addition to its AI suite: Price Sensitivity. With U.S. profit margins declining 1.6% in 2025 and consumer sentiment at a two-and-a-half-year low, this advancement comes at a critical moment as brands grapple with mounting pressure to preserve margins amid rising costs and global tariff uncertainties. Cordial’s new Price Sensitivity is designed to solve this problem. It analyzes each customer’s historical behavior — such as opens, clicks, browses and purchases — to predict their intent to buy at different price points. This dynamic attribute enables marketers to personalize offers and adjust messaging, deploying discounts only where they drive meaningful impact while preserving margins to each individual shopper. By identifying which customers are truly influenced by price, brands can eliminate unnecessary promotional noise and tune in and focus efforts on high-opportunity segments. For example, marketers might target a high-sensitivity shopper with a personalized coupon or flash sale, while showing a low-sensitivity buyer premium or exclusive items at full price. This level of intent-based personalization not only protects margin but also improves customer experience and retention by listening to behavioral signals and anticipating their needs. The Price Sensitivity feature complements a suite of new Cordial Edge AI dynamic attributes launched this spring, designed to help marketers better understand their customers and increase customer value. These include: Lifetime Value (LTV): Predicts a customer’s future revenue contribution; Average Order Value (AOV): Predicts average spend per transaction; RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary): Classifies buyer loyalty and spending behavior; Engagement Momentum: Measures the trajectory of engagement to prioritize timing; and Frequency Optimization: Applies per-contact email message caps to maximize engagement and reduce fatigue.
Walmart and Target to counter the first ever four day Amazon Prime Day with coinciding Walmart Deals and Target Circle Week
Amazon has announced that its Prime Day 2025 promotion will take place from Tuesday, July 8 – Friday, July 11. This marks the first time Prime Day, which has been a two-day event since 2017, will last four days. Walmart’s Sam’s Club warehouse club subsidiary was the first major retailer to reveal a summer promotion that countered Prime Day. Now Walmart is offering its Walmart Deals event, launched as a digital-only sale in July 2024, for six days spanning Tuesday, July 8 – Sunday, July 13. New in 2025, Walmart Deals will be available both in stores and online. Members of the Walmart+ subscription loyalty program will have exclusive early access to Walmart Deals offers beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, July 7. Target Corp. is also bringing back a summer sales blockbuster it launched in 2024 – Target Circle Week. Running Sunday, July 6 – Saturday, July 12 in stores and online, the event is exclusively available for members of the free Target Circle and enhanced paid Target Circle 360 loyalty programs. Target Circle 360 members will receive early access to Circle Week deals starting Saturday, July 5. The promotion also features a number of special perks for students and teachers, including a one-time 20% off storewide discount for verified college students with Target Circle starting Sunday, June 29; a one-time 20% off storewide discount with Target Circle for teachers from Sunday, July 20 – Saturday, Aug. 30, as well as access to curated classroom sets and wish list tools; and a 50% discount on Target Circle 360 membership through Saturday, Sep. 13. The retailer is also offering students and teachers a number of other special discounts this summer.
STMicroelectronics’s Human Presence Detection tech brings to laptop security- adaptive screen dimming, walk-away lock & wake-on-attention, and multi-person detection, reducing power consumption by more than 20%
STMicroelectronics has introduced a new Human Presence Detection (HPD) technology for laptops, PCs, monitors, and accessories. The proprietary solution combines FlightSense™ Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors with unique AI algorithms to deliver hands-free fast Windows Hello authentication, longer battery lifetime, and user-privacy or wellness notifications. The 5th generation turnkey ST solution is a readily deployable system based on FlightSense 8×8 multizones Time-of-Flight sensor (VL53L8CP) complemented by proprietary AI-based algorithms enabling functionalities such as human presence detection, multi-person detection, and head orientation tracking. This integration creates a unique ready-to-use solution for OEMs that requires no additional development for them. The HPD solution enables enhanced features such as adaptive screen dimming, walk-away lock & wake-on-attention, and multi-person detection, reducing power consumption by more than 20%. The Tailored AI algorithm STMicroelectronics implemented a comprehensive AI-based development process that involved data collection, labeling, cleaning, AI training, and integration in a mass-market product. One significant achievement is the transformation of a Proof-Of-Concept (PoC) into a mature solution capable of detecting a laptop user’s head orientation using only 8×8 pixels of distance data. The ToF sensor ensures complete user privacy without capturing images or relying on the camera, unlike previous versions of webcam-based solutions. The company is looking forward to seeing its new HPD solution contributing to making devices more energy-efficient, secure, and user-friendly.
Adobe’s app for iPhones solves the zooming issue in photos through “multi-frame super-resolution,” that quickly captures multiple images of the scene at different resolutions and zoom levels in order to reduce noise
A new paper from Adobe Fellow Marc Levoy and Senior Scientist Florian Kainz discusses their latest project, which is embodied in a new Project Indigo app available for iPhones. In addition to what the inventors hope is a more “natural” look, the project aims for the highest image quality possible on a mobile device.In the new research paper explaining the project, the pair detail their approach to achieving more authentic photo images. The app under-exposes more strongly than most camera apps, but also captures, aligns, and combines “more frames when producing each photo — up to 32 frames” in a single exposure.” This means that our photos have fewer blown-out highlights and less noise in the shadows,” Levoy and Kainz write — but also note that taking a photo with the app “may require slightly more patience after pressing the shutter button than you’re used to … but after a few seconds, you’ll be rewarded with a better picture.”This approach results in less “smoothing” than in most smartphone camera apps, which better preserves natural textures. It also avoids what might be called “global tone mapping,” where typically the brightest point in a smartphone photo is used to set the exposure for the entire photo. A further issue is the problem of zooming. The Indigo camera app overcomes this issue by using a technique called “multi-frame super-resolution,” quickly capturing multiple images of the scene at different resolutions and zoom levels in order to reduce noise. The Indigo app also offers smartphone photographers a wealth of controls, designed specifically for smartphone photography. One additional future feature of the app offers an exciting new possibility for smartphone users.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives backs Conquest Planning’s AI platform that allows advisors to accurately understand the impact of different scenarios on clients’ goals and recommend the next best decision by performing thousands of complex calculations around every piece of information in a financial plan
Conquest Planning, a technology platform modernizing financial planning with customized and convenient advice, today announced it has raised $80 million USD ($110 million CAD) in Series B funding led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The round attracted additional new investors, including Canapi Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage software and fintech companies, as well as BDC Capital, Citi Ventures, TIAA Ventures and USAA. Existing investors BNY and Portage also participated in the round, which brings Conquest’s total funding to over $100 million USD. Conquest will leverage this fresh capital to accelerate its U.S. expansion, while also funding the continued evolution of its AI-based Strategic Advice Manager (SAM). SAM’s revolutionary AI planning engine performs thousands of complex calculations around every piece of information in an individual’s financial plan, which allows advisors and their clients to quickly and accurately understand the impact of different scenarios on clients’ goals and recommend the next best financial decision. Conquest will continue to invest in its technology to support more robust plan analysis, enable more efficient onboarding and plan creation and create tools and modules that lead to dynamic content creation. Conquest’s new offering, dubbed SAM Bytes, enables advisors to remain engaged with self-directed investors during these planning moments to foster a sustained relationship built on trust.
Salt Security’s API security solution for AWS is 100% agentless and read-only, automatically discovers all APIs instantly and automates posture governance
Salt Security has launched Salt Cloud Connect for AWS, the first API security solution to provide full API visibility and posture governance without traffic data or agents. This read-only integration allows AWS customers to see every API in their environment in under two minutes, making it the fastest and least intrusive deployment in the market. Built for speed and designed for simplicity, Salt Cloud Connect for AWS helps security and DevOps teams: Get Complete Visibility in Minutes: Automatically discover all APIs across your AWS infrastructure instantly. Skip the Agents and Sensors: 100% agentless and read-only. Just connect and go. See Posture, Not Just Traffic: Identify risk exposures and misconfigurations right away—before attackers do. Automate Posture Governance: Continuously monitor and manage API posture across services and accounts. Integrate Seamlessly: Native support for AWS gateways and services ensures smooth setup and fast time-to-value. Minimize Permissions, Maximize Security: Built-in guardrails and least-privilege access ensure strong protection and compliance alignment.
Okta’s Cross App Access solution enables ISVs to deliver secure, enterprise-grade integrations for AI agents by removing repetitive authorization consent screens and offering interoperability between apps and AI systems
Okta, working with industry leading ISVs, is launching Cross App Access to help ISVs deliver secure, enterprise-ready integrations in an AI-powered world. Anticipated to be available for select Okta Platform customers as a feature in Q3 of this year, it will enable ISVs’ enterprise customers to better connect their AI tools to other apps and data, deliver more seamless experiences for the end user by removing repetitive authorization consent screens, and manage agent access for better security and compliance. As an extension of OAuth, it brings visibility and control to both agent-driven and app-to-app interactions, allowing IT teams to decide what apps are connecting and what information AI agents can access. Cross App Access enables ISVs to deliver secure, enterprise-grade integrations for AI agents and other autonomous systems, such as workflow automation tools. By shifting access control to the identity provider, like Okta, ISVs can reduce security risks, simplify integration complexity, and better support their customers’ compliance and governance needs. With Cross App Access, enterprises can enhance security and usability, empowering IT to manage agent access while enabling seamless, low-friction experiences for users. It supports secure interoperability between apps and AI systems, making it easier to adopt innovative ISV solutions without compromising oversight or performance.
iPadOS 26 turns iPad into a productivity powerhouse- lets iPad users to export or download large files in the background while they do other stuff, open several windows at once and freely resize them, and access downloads and documents right from the Dock, making it more Mac-like
iPadOS 26 is going to boost iPad users’ productivity not only with the new design, but with several new features that make the iPad with a Magic Keyboard the ultimate laptop replacement. Here are five ways iPadOS 26 is going to improve productivity for iPad users: Folders in the Dock: For the first time, users will be able to access downloads, documents, and other folders right from the Dock, making it more Mac-like. Supercharged Files app: The Files app is a key part of the iPad experience. With iPadOS 26, Apple takes this application to the next level, from an updated list view with resizable columns to collapsible folders. Users can add colors and other customization options to make it easier to find important documents. They can also set default apps for opening specific file types. Preview app: It’s easier than ever to open, edit, and mark up PDFs and images. Apple says the new Preview app was designed for a proper Apple Pencil experience, which means signing documents and taking notes should be faster and more reliable than ever. Background Tasks: Believe it or not, iPadOS 26 finally unlocks true background tasks. Users can now export or download large files in the background while they do other stuff. This might be one of the best iPadOS 26 productivity features. Better windowing system: Apple revamped the iPadOS 18 windowing system. Forget about Stage Manager, Split View, and Slide Over. With the upcoming iPadOS 26 update, users will be able to open several windows at once and freely resize and arrange them. There are also new ways to control windows with a familiar menu bar and Mac-like controls.
Fiserv to launch digital asset platform that includes a new interoperable stablecoin FIUSD and integrate it with its banking and payments infrastructure; support partners are Circle, Paxos, Solana and Mastercard; PayPal aims for FIUSD and PYUSD interoperability
Payments and financial services technology provider Fiserv is entering the stablecoin business. The company plans to launch a digital asset platform that includes a new stablecoin (FIUSD) that will be added to Fiserv’s banking and payments infrastructure by the year’s end. The platform will help the firm’s regional and community bank clients embrace stablecoins’ entry into the traditional finance space. FIUSD presents Fiserv customers with access to a new, more efficient and interoperable digital asset service for their banking and payment flows. Offering the coin across Fiserv’s network, which includes relationships with roughly 10,000 financial institutions and 6 million merchant locations worldwide, will “provide instant scale for FIUSD while creating a digital asset network that clients can use to build new products and services.” Fiserv intends to use stablecoin infrastructure from Paxos and Circle with the goal of making it interoperable with several stablecoins, and it will be available to Fiserv clients through the Solana blockchain. In addition, the company is exploring the use of deposit tokens to maintain the benefits of stablecoins in a more capital-friendly structure for banks. Fiserv Chief Operating Officer Takis Georgakopoulos said that the new effort will help “democratize access” in the stablecoin market. By offering FIUSD across Mastercard’s global payments network, people and businesses can use the new programmable blockchain-based token across more than 150 million merchants. Fiserv and Paypal are partnering to build future interoperability between FIUSD and PayPal USD (PYUSD), to allow consumers and businesses to move funds domestically and internationally. These moves, would add drastic scale, opening stablecoins to thousands of financial institutions and PayPal’s base of more than 430 million consumers and 36 million merchants. It also joins a fast-growing market of stablecoin issuers that includes a consortium of large banks, major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart and early mover banks such as Societe Generale and Vantage Bank.