Costco’s same-store sales rose 9.8% during its third quarter, well above Wall Street’s estimates, as gasoline sales provided a nice bump. Source link...

Apple’s foldable iPhone, which is rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra, is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in September. Several leaks have already offered a glimpse at the foldable’s design. Now, a case manufacturer has seemingly revealed the device’s design through newly surfaced renders. The leaked case renders showcase the iPhone Ultra from multiple angles....

The name of the film is Power Ballad; the name of its lead character is Rick Power. Is there anything else you really need to know about this picture? American singer/​songwriter Rick (Paul Rudd) is slumming it as the lead singer for an up-market Irish wedding band having married and settled down in Dublin. He’s content with his lot, but...

Cinema has the power to shape perceptions of entire groups of people. People with AIDS are Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (1993); trans women are Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) or Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (1991); both are Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (2013). Autistic people are Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988) – the archetypal ​“retard”,...

Luxury smartphone brand Vertu on Thursday unveiled a foldable phone powered by an AI agent that connects with enterprise software and coordinates workflows. The company is targeting executives who manage business operations and communications on the move. Called the Alphafold, the foldable smartphone starts at $6,880 for the calfskin version. Higher-end models feature bespoke finishes including alligator leather, 18K gold,...

WeRoad, the Milan-based group travel startup, has raised a $58 million Series C round led by Airbnb as it prepares for its first major expansion outside Europe. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to roughly $100 million and will finance WeRoad’s push into the U.S., beginning with Austin. The new investment reflects a bet that the next generation...

Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical on Monday. Titled Magnifica Humanitas, it addresses “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.” And while AI is the hook, the problems Leo focuses on are older and more pervasive: inequality, war, the erosion of democracy, and the concentration of power in the hands of those who don’t necessarily care...

The Brain, In Theory Romain Brette Princeton Univ. Press (2026)What is a brain? The question might seem obvious, but it is not trivial. Neuroscience has progressed in the past century, with the development of sophisticated techniques to measure and manipulate brain cells, neural circuits and even animal behaviours. Yet how the brain actually works still eludes us.In The Brain, In...

The strikes on Iranian missile launch sites and boats were taken in "self-defence", US Central Command says. Source link...

A flash flood warning has been issued for some Central Virginia localities on Monday. Source link...