NYTimes: “U.S. data center demand, driven largely by A.I., could triple by 2030, according to McKinsey, which would require data centers to make nearly $7 trillion in investment to keep up.”
WSJ: “In the director’s seat is Starbucks Chief Executive Brian Niccol. Now a year into his tenure, he is betting the company’s future lies in making its cafes warm and inviting, and he is leaving nothing to chance. The company has rewritten its training materials. It’s standardizing uniforms, cafe decor and worker mannerisms. It is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its service and ambience. It’s trying to make its interiors warmer and adding hundreds of thousands of chairs, many of which were stripped out during the pandemic. Mobile-order pickup queues are being better sectioned off, an effort to tamp down on crowding and confusion. The stakes are high. Starbucks has recorded six consecutive quarterly same-store sales drops.”
FT: “Discounty is part of a popular sub-category of retail sims that cross over with “cosy games” in the wake of farming sensation Stardew Valley. New release Tiny Bookshop asks players to move to the seaside town of Bookstonbury and open a store stocked with real-world novels. In Dave the Diver, you play a deep-sea fisherman who moonlights as a sushi chef, balancing each big catch with a fast-paced restaurant simulation. This week saw the release of Strange Antiquities, in which you run a shop specialising in occult objects. While the familiar rhythms of building a business provide a framework for upgrades and progression in such games, the town settings are often beautifully realised, offering charming surroundings populated by intriguing locals…When you strip away these narrative trappings, you’re left with another popular sub-genre: factory sims.”
Mint: “Amazon India’s advertising and allied services revenue grew 25% in FY25, against a 21% growth in its mainstay marketplace business, making it one of the fastest-growing segments, data from business intelligence platform Tofler showed. However, the marketplace remains Amazon India’s backbone; it contributed ₹17,328 crore, or 58% of operating revenue, while advertisements and logistics brought in another ₹8,342 crore.”
