2026-06-30

BP's deputy CEO is retiring, and the company won't fill the role

Carol Howle, a 26-year BP veteran, will step down in the third quarter as new CEO Meg O'Neill restructures the leadership team [...]

2026-06-30

U.S. consumer confidence edged up in June as falling oil prices soothed inflation fears

The Conference Board's index rose 0.6 points to 91.2, though it fell short of economist forecasts and labor market concerns deepened [...]

2026-06-30

U.S. job openings held steady in May, beating forecasts and defying uncertainty

The U.S. had 7.6 million open positions last month, well above economist expectations of around 7.3 million [...]

2026-06-30

Google's Gemini Omni Flash hits the API, turning enterprise video production into a conversation

For most enterprises, a 90-second training video or a product explainer has never been an easy ask. It means a well planned brief, an internal film crew or an outside vendor, a shoot, an edit, and a round of revisions. Change one line of on-screen text due to a legal review and the whole chain runs again. The cost and the long time lines are why so much internal video never gets made.That equation [...]

2026-06-30

Google unveils Nano Banana 2 Lite aka Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite for low cost, 4-second fast enterprise image generations

Google is upgrading its AI image generation capabilities today with the debut of Nano Banana 2 (NB2) Lite, an optimized model built for rapid execution and tight infrastructure budgets. Technically designated as Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Image on Google's application programming interface (API), NB2 Lite is positioned as the fastest and most cost-effective option within Google's creative mod [...]

2026-06-30

Chamath’s AI coding startup 8090 raises $135M, and he’s CEO

Salesforce led the Series A, which 8090 announced this week. The pitch behind it is blunt. AI can already write code. The hard part is stopping enterprise software from falling apart as dozens of agents and engineers change it every week. TechCrunch first reported the round, and the company confirmed the details. The investor list […]<br /> This story continues at The Next Web [...]

2026-06-30

Tesla starts testing its production Cybercab without steering wheel or pedals in Austin

Tesla has begun testing a production version of its Cybercab on public roads in Austin, Texas, with no steering wheel and no pedals. The two-seat vehicle, which Tesla first revealed in October 2024, is being driven entirely by its autonomous software while a safety monitor rides in the right passenger seat. Tesla posted video of […]<br /> This story continues at The Next Web [...]

2026-06-30

AI shopping just beat search at its own game on Prime Day

Amazon built Prime Day to keep shoppers inside its own marketplace. This year, AI shopping sent its best customers in from outside: a chatbot made the recommendation. US shoppers spent a record $26.4bn across retail sites during the four-day Prime Day event, according to Adobe Analytics. The more interesting number is not the total. It […]<br /> This story continues at The Next Web [...]

2026-06-30

Nvidia rival Etched raises $800M with backing from Jane Street and a TSMC-linked fund

AI chip startup Etched has raised $800 million and revealed that its backers include trading firm Jane Street and VentureTech Alliance, a venture firm with a strategic partnership with TSMC. The company, which designs chips specifically for running AI models rather than training them, says it has signed one billion dollars in sales contracts and […]<br /> This story continues at The Next W [...]