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13 hours agoThe Stack: Big Tech Moves
Meta will use chatbot conversations to personalise ads while OpenAI expands commerce inside ChatGPT and major industry consolidation and regulatory oversight reshape ad tech.
Shein has announced plans to open its first physical locations in France this November, even as the country works on legislation to regulate the fast-fashion industry, as reported by Euronews and . The online retailer, which manufactures most of its ultra-cheap clothing in China, will open locations inside department stores across Dijon, Grenoble, Reims, Limoges, and Angers through a partnership with real estate company Société des Grands Magasins (SGM).
Do you remember the first time you heard of açaí berries? What about goji berries? Or coconut oil? All of these have been marketed at various times as superfoods - promising amazing health benefits that could cure your ills and make you better, stronger, and healthier. But the truth is that's just one of the many superfood myths you can stop believing. There's no real scientific reasoning, regulating body, or even a formal definition behind the designation of any one superfood.
Currys, the UK's largest electricals retailer, has scrapped its board-level ESG committee, effectively ending formal oversight of environmental, social and governance issues at the highest level of the company. The decision comes as regulation and investor expectations on sustainability tighten across the UK and Europe, raising questions about the message it sends on corporate governance priorities. Although Currys has stressed that it remains committed to its ESG objectives, critics argue the move is poorly timed.
Toronto's fire chief is asking the federal government to increase regulation around lithium-ion batteries, calling battery fires related to e-bikes and e-scooters "the largest growing fire safety risk in the city." The batteries are commonly found in electric cars, laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices, but Chief Jim Jessop says their use in e-bikes and e-scooters is Toronto Fire's main concern.
It has four wheels and a tall trailer, which make it look like a truck. But it also looks like a bike because the driver pedals it, usually in the bike lane. It's an ingenious contraption, built for last-mile deliveries in crowded city streets, but it's arguably too big for existing bike lanes and too slow for the street, so everyone in the city seems to get mad about its presence wherever it is.
A coalition of civil society groups is warning of the dangers of cutting safety regulations as the government pushes to rip up the rules to accelerate the construction of new nuclear power stations. The 25 groups from communities neighbouring nuclear sites have submitted a joint response to a consultation by the nuclear regulatory taskforce, saying its proposals lack both credibility and rigour. They argue that the plans to relax regulations only serve to undermine confidence in regulators and the UK's nuclear regulatory regime.
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Tuesday that calls on federal health agencies to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose more side effects in their ads and enforce existing rules about misleading ads. The administration is pitching the moves as a way to increase transparency for patients. The U.S. is the only place, besides New Zealand, where pharma companies can directly advertise to consumers.
The anti-vaccine policies of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy have rightfully caused great distress among many parents, public health professionals and primary care physicians, given the efficacy of vaccines in preventing measles, mumps, polio, influenza, and COVID-19, among many debilitating infectious diseases. In contrast to these policies, Kennedy's apparent aim of reducing exposure to toxic pesticides, herbicides and food additives has been treated, even by some public health advocates, as a positive turn toward regulation.
The companies announced Tuesday they are teaming up to launch a sports prediction market in 16 states. Fans will be able to buy and sell outcomes of sporting events, similar to how prediction markets are used to "bet" on elections, Bitcoin prices, or pop culture events. Odds shift with market movements rather than a bookmaker's call.
The intense rivalry among the three tech giants has showered Chinese consumers with dirt-cheap indulgences - bubble tea and lattes for as little as 1 Chinese yuan, or $0.14, and meals dropped at their door in under 30 minutes. It's not just food. As growth in China's traditional e-commerce slows, companies are racing into the new fast-delivery segment. "It can be flowers, it can be medications, it can be toiletries," Jason Yu, the managing director for Greater China at consumer insights company Kantar Worldpanel, told Business Insider.
Mirror lifeforms contain DNA structures that are the mirror image to all known organisms. In all life on Earth, the DNA double helix is right-handed, meaning its strands, a sugar-phosphate backbone, twist to the right. (If you make a thumbs-up with your right hand, the vertical axis would be aligned with your thumb, while your fingers represent the curl of the spiral.) The opposite is the case for proteins, the building blocks of cells, which are left-handed.
"A study of how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots respond to queries about suicide found that they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. The study in the medical journal Psychiatric Services, published Tuesday by the American Psychiatric Association, found a need for "further refinement" in OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people."
Speaking from his macabre curiosities shop in Essex in a recent YouTube interview, Scragg wears a shabby bowler hat, has tribal-style face tattoos and a ginger beard that descends into three pendulous dreadlocks. The shop, Curiosities from the 5th Corner, provides a backdrop that could be plucked straight from a Victorian penny dreadful: a foetus of conjoined twins floats in a large medical jar at Scragg's elbow, shelves of human skulls and a hybrid animal skeleton loom behind.
New York has always had a magnetic pull - from Broadway to bodegas, it's a place where innovation and culture collide. Now, with the legalization of adult-use cannabis, the state is poised to become a global weed tourism destination. But this transformation isn't happening overnight. It's complex, exciting, and full of contradictions. As travelers grow more curious about cannabis experiences beyond California and Colorado, New York's blend of urban energy, cultural depth, and diverse consumer base gives it a unique edge.
New York's legal weed market in 2025 is no longer just about access-it's about choice, intention, and identity. What began as a slow rollout marred by regulatory confusion and legacy gray-market inertia is now a fully-fledged economic engine reshaping how consumers think about, purchase, and consume weed. With over 100 licensed dispensaries now open across the state, data shows a clear shift: buyers are no longer simply looking for high THC or the best price-