Tag: mobile

MercadoLibre and Endeavor Say Latin America’s eCommerce Growth Outpaces Rest of World

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 01:43:38 +0000

Online shopping is growing 1.5 times faster in Latin America than it is in the rest of the world, Reuters reported Tuesday (Jan. 27), citing data from consulting firm Endeavor and eCommerce firm MercadoLibre.

The region’s eCommerce is expected to reach $215.31 billion this year, according to the report.

Nearly 85% of the growth in eCommerce in Latin America will be concentrated in three markets: Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, the report said.

Surveying the region’s consumers, Endeavor and MercadoLibre found that 85% of the online purchases made by these shoppers are made on smartphones; nearly half of consumers would stop buying from a platform if there is a delivery delay, an issue with a return or another sort of bad experience; and three-quarters of shoppers said clarity in prices and policies is very important, per the report.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “2025 Global Digital Shopping Index: Mexico Edition” found that in Mexico, mobile devices serve not just as tools for online purchases but also as integral components of in-store experiences.

The report found that 47% of Mexican shoppers used a mobile device for their most recent retail transaction, whether online or in-store. That figure was 17% higher than it was in 2022.

The figure placed Mexico slightly below the global average of 48%, but the country’s growth trajectory suggests it will soon align with global leaders, the report said.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “2025 Global Digital Shopping Index: Brazil Edition,” found that 61% of Brazilian consumers used a mobile phone for their latest retail purchase, whether online or in-store.

That figure marked a 10% increase since 2022 and placed Brazil among the top four countries surveyed globally, significantly outpacing the United States and the United Kingdom.

It was reported in November 2025 that as that year’s Black Friday sale approached, MercadoLibre invested more than ever before in coupons due to heightened competition in Latin America from other online retailers such as Amazon, Shein, Shopee and Temu.

MercadoLibre invested nearly $19 million in coupons during that period, as well as lowering the threshold for free shipping earlier in the year.

One of the company’s competitors, Amazon, was working to gain a greater share of the market with initiatives that included waiving fees for sellers that used its fulfillment services and forming a partnership with Nu Holdings to offer more credit and payment options to Brazilian consumers.

The post MercadoLibre and Endeavor Say Latin America’s eCommerce Growth Outpaces Rest of World appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

How Hackers Are Fighting Back Against ICE

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:38:45 +0000

ICE has been invading U.S. cities, targeting, surveilling, harassing, assaulting, detaining, and torturing people who are undocumented immigrants. They also have targeted people with work permits, asylum seekers, permanent residents (people holding “green cards”), naturalized citizens, and even citizens by birth. ICE has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on surveillance technology to spy on anyone—and potentially everyone—in the United States. It can be hard to imagine how to defend oneself against such an overwhelming force. But a few enterprising hackers have started projects to do counter surveillance against ICE, and hopefully protect their communities through clever use of technology.

Let’s start with Flock, the company behind a number of automated license plate reader (ALPR) and other camera technologies. You might be surprised at how many Flock cameras there are in your community. Many large and small municipalities around the country have signed deals with Flock for license plate readers to track the movement of all cars in their city. Even though these deals are signed by local police departments, oftentimes ICE also gains access.

Because of their ubiquity, people are interested in finding out where and how many Flock cameras are in their community. One project that can help with this is the OUI-SPY, a small piece of open source hardware. The OUI-SPY runs on a cheap Arduino compatible chip called an ESP-32. There are multiple programs available for loading on the chip, such as “Flock You,” which allows people to detect Flock cameras and “Sky-Spy” to detect overhead drones. There’s also “BLE Detect,” which detects various Bluetooth signals including ones from Axon, Meta’s Ray-Bans that secretly record you, and more. It also has a mode commonly known as “fox hunting” to track down a specific device. Activists and researchers can use this tool to map out different technologies and quantify the spread of surveillance.

There’s also the open source Wigle app which is primarily designed for mapping out Wi-Fi, but also has the ability to make an audio alert when a specific Wi-Fi or Bluetooth identifier is detected. This means you can set it up to get a notification when it detects products from Flock, Axon, or other nasties in their vicinity.

One enterprising YouTuber, Benn Jordan, figured out a way to fool Flock cameras into not recording his license plate simply by painting some minor visual noise on his license plate. This is innocuous enough that any human will still be able to read his license plate, but it completely prevented Flock devices from recognizing his license plate as a license plate at the time. Some states have outlawed drivers obscuring their license plates, so taking such action is not recommended.

Jordan later went on to discover hundreds of misconfigured Flock cameras that were exposing their administrator interface without a password on the public internet. This would allow anyone with an internet connection to view a live surveillance feed, download 30 days of video, view logs, and more. The cameras pointed at parks, public trails, busy intersections, and even a playground. This was a massive breach of public trust and a huge mistake for a company that claims to be working for public safety.

Other hackers have taken on the task of open-source intelligence and community reporting. One interesting example is deflock.me and alpr.watch, which are crowdsourced maps of ALPR cameras. Much like the OUI-SPY project, this allows activists to map out and expose Flock surveillance cameras in their community.

There have also been several ICE reporting apps released, including apps to report ICE sightings in your area such Stop ICE Alerts, ICEOUT.org, and ICE Block. ICEBlock was delisted by Apple at the request of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a fact we are suing over. There is also Eyes Up, an app to securely record and archive ICE raids, which was taken down by Apple earlier this year.

Another interesting project documenting ICE and creating a trove of open-source intelligence is ICE List Wiki which contains info on companies that have contracts with ICE, incidents and encounters with ICE, and vehicles ICE uses.

People without programming knowledge can also get involved. In Chicago, people used whistles to warn their neighbors that ICE was present or in the area. Many people 3D-printed whistles along with instructional booklets to hand out to their communities, allowing a wider distribution of whistles and consequently earlier warnings for their neighbors.

Many hackers have started hosting digital security trainings for their communities or building web sites with security advice, including how to remove your data from the watchful eyes of the surveillance industry. To reach a broader community, trainers have even started hosting trainings on how to defend their communities and what to do in an ICE raid in video games, such as Fortnight.

There is also EFF’s own Rayhunter project for detecting cell-site simulators, about which we have written extensively. Rayhunter runs on a cheap mobile hotspot and doesn’t require deep technical knowledge to use.

It’s important to remember that we are not powerless. Even in the face of a domestic law enforcement presence with massive surveillance capabilities and military-esque technologies, there are still ways to engage in surveillance self-defense. We cannot give into nihilism and fear. We must continue to find small ways to protect ourselves and our communities, and when we can, fight back.

EFF is not affiliated with any of these projects (other than Rayhunter) and does not endorse them. We don’t make any statements about the legality of using any of these projects. Please consult with an attorney to determine what risks there may be.

Republished from the EFF’s Deeplinks blog.

A former Netflix game studio went indie to reach more players

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:30:00 +0000

When Netflix first acquired cozy game developer Spry Fox in 2022, it made a lot of sense. The studio had been around for over a decade and had several hits with mobile games like Triple Town and Alphabear. That approachable style of puzzle game seemed like a good fit for Netflix's mobile-first strategy, and, as Spry Fox cofounder David Edery tells me, the partnership also meant that the team could focus on making the experiences they wanted to build without having to worry about monetization. "We just never were that good at making money from our games," Edery explains.

Now, three years later, Spry Fox is once again independent after buying …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Synchrony Says BNPL Lifts Sales Without Hurting Cards

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:49:26 +0000

Synchrony Financial closed 2025 with fourth-quarter purchase volume of $49 billion, a company record and a 3% year-over-year increase, as spending patterns strengthened across most platforms and co-branded cards continued to gain share, as detailed in fourth-quarter results released on Tuesday (Jan. 27).

CEO Brian Doubles said consumer behavior remained steady, adding that the company is “not really seeing any signs of weakness,” with both transaction frequency and average ticket sizes moving higher.

Pay Later has become a central part of Synchrony’s multiproduct strategy. The offering is now available at more than 6,200 merchants, and management said on the conference call with analysts that when Pay Later and revolving credit are presented together, partners see at least a 10% average increase in sales. Doubles told analysts that Pay Later customers are incremental rather than substitutive, without cannibalization of private-label and co-brand cards.

He also said repeat behavior is beginning to surface, even though Pay Later tends to start with single purchases. Over time, Synchrony aims to migrate those customers toward revolving products, using Pay Later as an entry point into longer-term relationships.

Purchase Volumes Rise Across Core Categories

Beyond Pay Later, overall card activity showed broad improvement. Co-brand and dual cards accounted for roughly half of fourth-quarter purchase volume and grew 16% year over year, supported by product upgrades and higher spend per account.

“We also continue to see year-over-year improvement in the mix of discretionary spend,” the CEO said, with strength “coming from categories like electronics, entertainment, and travel. In addition, both average transaction values and average transaction frequency continue to grow across the portfolio.”

Digital platform purchase volume rose 6%, while health and wellness spending increased 4%, driven by pet care and audiology. Lifestyle purchases advanced 3%, and home and auto slipped 2%, reflecting selective home improvement spending despite stronger ticket sizes.

Shares were down 6% in early trading on Tuesday as revenues of about $3.8 billion were slightly below consensus.

Synchrony continued to press its digital strategy, reporting an 18% increase in total digital visits and a 17% rise in sales during 2025 following enhancements to its marketplace, website and mobile app. The company also more than doubled unique provisioned accounts in digital wallets.

Executives highlighted investments in artificial intelligence (AI) search, mobile wallet integration and platform connectivity as key drivers of engagement, positioning Synchrony to surface financing options earlier in the shopping journey, from product pages to digital carts.

Walmart is already reshaping Synchrony’s growth profile. Doubles described the retailer as the company’s fastest-growing program ever, following its September launch, and said it represents a meaningful contributor to Synchrony’s mid-single-digit receivables growth outlook for 2026.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Wenzel said these large programs, combined with improving core volumes, help underpin management’s expectation for accelerating loan growth in the back half of 2026.

Credit Card Caps Draw Pushback

Management was direct in opposing proposed 10% APR caps. Doubles said price controls would not make credit more affordable, arguing instead that they would reduce availability.

“A cap would require issuers to significantly reduce the amount of credit they’re able to provide. And that disproportionately impacts the consumers at the lower income level,” Doubles said.

He noted that Synchrony supports roughly 400,000 small and mid-sized businesses, in some cases accounting for more than 40% of their sales, and warned that caps would disrupt merchant economics alongside consumer access to credit.

Wenzel said Synchrony expects mid-single-digit receivables growth in 2026, with momentum building as new programs mature. Net charge-offs have returned to the company’s long-term target range of 5.5% to 6%, while delinquency rates improved.

The post Synchrony Says BNPL Lifts Sales Without Hurting Cards appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Pornhub will block new users in the UK next month

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:35:55 +0000

Pornhub will soon begin restricting UK users from accessing its website in response to the country's "failed" online safety regulations, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The site's owner, Aylo, says it will block users who haven't already verified their age on the platform starting February 2nd, 2026, as reported earlier by 404 Media.

As part of efforts to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, Pornhub began requiring users in the country to provide proof of their age by uploading a government ID, entering a credit card, through their mobile network, or using another method.

The UK's Online Safety Act became law in 2023 with the g …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Velera to Provide Card Processing Services to Ohio-Based Kemba Credit Union

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:04:59 +0000

Ohio-based Kemba Credit Union, which has 14 branches across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, has selected credit union service organization (CUSO) Velera to provide debit and credit card processing services and support.

Velera will begin providing the credit union with this support in August, the companies said in a Tuesday (Jan. 27) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

“We are confident Velera’s card processing services will help us deliver more flexibility, choice and control to our members, while also advancing our long-term organizational goals,” Kemba CEO Dan Sutton said in the release.

Tiffany Doty, senior vice president, sales at Velera, said in the release that the partnership will deliver “enhanced card services and an even stronger member experience for years to come.”

Velera serves more than 4,000 financial institutions across North America, according to the release. Along with payment processing, the CUSO offers fraud and risk management, data and analytics, digital banking, instant payments, strategic consulting, collections, ATM and POS networks, shared branching and member support via its contact centers.

Credit union innovation has become a defining factor in how these institutions compete, grow and serve members in a rapidly changing financial landscape, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Velera collaboration “Credit Union Innovation Readiness: How Credit Unions and FinTechs Are Innovating Together.”

The report also found that credit unions are using external partners to move faster, expand capabilities and manage rising complexity. More than half of the credit unions surveyed said that partners help bring innovations at a much faster pace or on a larger scale than they could achieve on their own.

Velera announced another credit union partnership on Jan. 20, saying Indiana-based Financial Center selected it to provide debit and credit card processing services.

Meanwhile, Gretchen Bartholomew, vice president of operations and payment strategy at Kemba, told PYMNTS in July 2025 that the credit union is winning modern customers, and especially Gen Z, by offering instant access to real-time data.

“They value transparency and control,” Bartholomew said while describing Kemba’s push surface balances, offers and card alerts “in the palm of their hand.”

Kemba tailors its mobile roadmap with Gen Z front of mind, embedding credit score education and budget simulators alongside transactional data, Bartholomew said.

The post Velera to Provide Card Processing Services to Ohio-Based Kemba Credit Union appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Visa Urges Banks to Rethink Loyalty Beyond Credit Card Rewards

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:03:56 +0000

The perceptions and realities of rewards programs are changing as consumers redefine what good loyalty looks like. Simple loyalty mechanics are no longer enough.

Rewards must be meaningful, contextual and delivered at the exact moment a consumer is ready to engage, said Avery Walter Miller, vice president of Loyalty Solutions at Visa.

Shift in Consumer Expectations

For decades, most bank loyalty programs have been anchored in one product: the credit card. As Miller explained during the “Beyond the Card” series interview, traditional financial institution loyalty systems have long been tied to the profit and loss statements of a credit card business.

Historically, credit cards generated a margin, so rewards and marketing were designed to increase card spend. Miller said that the structure is still common across the industry, with larger financial institutions investing significantly more in those programs than smaller ones. The result has been a market where loyalty appears fundamentally similar across issuers.

But margin pressures on interchange and fees mean banks can no longer rely solely on card economics. “It becomes essential to find new funding sources,” Miller told PYMNTS.

Loyalty is more dynamic and more competitive than ever, Miller pointed out. Consumers are enthusiastic about rewards and will often sign up for programs immediately. But they are overwhelmed. On average, individuals are enrolled in 18 or more loyalty programs.

“But they’re actually actively interacting with only about half of them,” Miller added, which speaks volumes about the gap between the initial excitement of becoming a member and the follow-through in terms of actually using those programs.

A rethinking of loyalty as a strategy requires banks to craft programs that are personalized, relevant, and holistic to the total customer relationship; in other words, a departure from the one-size-fits-all model built solely around credit card spend.

Rewards That Match Daily Behavior

Miller emphasized that consumers never object to being rewarded for loyalty. “Most would not balk at the idea of being rewarded for sticking with their favorite brand,” he said. And yet the experience frequently falls flat when it fails to fit into a consumer’s day or priorities.

Personalization can identify a preferred merchant, but relevance determines when and how that offer should appear.

Miller shared one example. “You don’t want to promote my favorite coffee shop as I’m rushing past it late for a meeting,” he illustrated. The real value arrives when the offer appears earlier, giving the consumer time to plan for it. That is the type of contextualization that keeps people engaged rather than irritated.

Data, Margin Pressure and New Funding Models

The engine behind that shift is data. Banks already hold high-quality behavioral data that can be used to understand preferences, timing, transaction patterns, and intent signals. Partnerships extend this capability further. Merchant-funded offers give banks a way to deliver real value without draining their own economics. Miller described these offers as a compelling addition for banks because they introduce a new funding source for rewards. Merchants benefit from larger baskets, better conversion and access to new customers, and consumers see richer offers in more places.

At a time when bank revenue centers are tightening, Visa is helping shift loyalty economics away from pure card P&Ls. Banks can reward behaviors like bill pay, deposits, wallet provisioning or digital sign-on, which yield lifetime value even though they don’t necessarily produce revenue in the moment, Miller said.

Turning Partnerships Into Personalization

The loyalty ecosystem is complicated, fragmented, and filled with specialized providers. “There is no silver bullet for loyalty technology,” Miller said. Visa solves the pain points by “stitching together that complexity,” into a single package of APIs, SDKs and white-label offerings so banks of all sizes can deliver seamless experiences across mobile, desktop, point of sale, browser extensions and ATMs.

Visa also applies its own global marketing and engagement insights to help banks surface the right offer for the right customer at the right time. This includes running “the next best campaign” and deciding which brand of merchants should be “elevated” so customers stay engaged, Miller said.

A modern loyalty program must span every channel where a customer can transact or browse. “It’s about an omnichannel experience all through one interaction,” Miller said, meaning a consistent reward experience whether a consumer is shopping online, scanning a browser extension or interacting with an ATM. The global merchant network further enhances the experience. When a customer travels, Visa can surface relevant merchant-funded offers wherever they go, Miller said.

AI Raises the Stakes for Each Transaction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating every trend in loyalty, he said. It will make it easier for consumers to find the best deals and easier for banks to optimize targeting, segmentation and relevancy. But it also creates a new competitive frontier, according to Miller.

“In the world of AI agents … we are actually going to see the fight happen for every single transaction,” Miller said. Instead of competing for top of wallet, issuers will compete repeatedly for top of mind.

The post Visa Urges Banks to Rethink Loyalty Beyond Credit Card Rewards appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Anthropic embeds Slack, Figma and Asana inside Claude, turning AI chat into a workplace command center

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Anthropic announced Monday that users can now open and interact with popular business applications directly inside Claude, the company's AI assistant—a significant expansion that transforms the chatbot from a conversational tool into an integrated workspace where employees can build project timelines, draft Slack messages, create presentations, and visualize data without switching browser tabs.

The rollout, which goes live today, includes integrations with Amplitude, Asana, Box, Canva, Clay, Figma, Hex, Monday.com, and Slack. Salesforce integration is coming soon. The feature marks a new chapter in Anthropic's aggressive push to dominate enterprise AI, arriving just days after the company's CEO made headlines at Davos with bold predictions about AI replacing white-collar workers.

"MCP Apps are an extension to the core MCP protocol and are part of the open source MCP ecosystem," Sean Strong, Anthropic's product manager for MCP Apps, told VentureBeat in an exclusive interview. "Within Claude.ai, connectors require a paid Claude plan — Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise — but there is no additional charge associated with using connectors."

That pricing decision is notable. Rather than monetizing integrations separately or charging partners for distribution, Anthropic is bundling interactive tools into existing subscription tiers — a strategy designed to accelerate adoption and deepen Claude's foothold in corporate environments where the company reportedly already leads OpenAI.

Inside MCP Apps, the open-source technology that lets Claude control your favorite work tools

The technical foundation is what Anthropic calls "MCP Apps," a new extension to the Model Context Protocol, the open standard for connecting external tools to AI applications that Anthropic open-sourced last year. MCP Apps allow any MCP server to deliver an interactive user interface within any supporting AI product—meaning the technology isn't limited to Claude.

In practice, the integrations allow for surprisingly granular control. Users can build analytics charts in Amplitude and adjust parameters interactively to explore trends. They can turn conversations into Asana projects with tasks and timelines that sync automatically. They can prompt Claude to generate flowcharts or Gantt charts in Figma's collaborative whiteboard tool, FigJam. They can draft Slack messages, preview formatting, and review before posting.

The Hex integration may prove particularly valuable for data teams: users can ask data questions in natural language and receive answers complete with interactive charts, tables, and citations — effectively turning Claude into a business intelligence interface.

"We open sourced MCP to give the ecosystem a universal way to connect tools to AI," the company said in its announcement blog. "Now we're extending MCP further so developers can build interactive UI on top of it, wherever their users are."

What happens when AI can send messages and create projects on your behalf

With AI systems increasingly capable of taking real-world actions — sending messages, creating projects, publishing content — the question of guardrails becomes critical. Can an employee accidentally send an unreviewed Slack message or publish an incomplete Canva presentation?

Strong addressed this directly. "Most major MCP clients, including Claude, provide consent prompts that help users determine if they want to take an action via a MCP server," he said.

For enterprise deployments, IT administrators retain control. "Team and Enterprise admins have the ability to control which MCP servers users in their organizations have the ability to use," Strong explained.

The consent-prompt approach is a middle ground between full autonomy and cumbersome approval workflows. But it also places significant responsibility on individual users to review actions before confirming them — a design choice that may draw scrutiny as AI agents become capable of more consequential decisions.

The security concerns are not hypothetical. As Fortune reported last week, Anthropic's Claude Code product faces vulnerabilities including "prompt injections," where attackers hide malicious instructions in web content to manipulate AI behavior. The company has implemented multiple security layers, including running some features in virtual machines and adding deletion protection after users accidentally removed files. "Agent safety—that is, the task of securing Claude's real-world actions—is still an active area of development in the industry," Anthropic has acknowledged.

Claude Code's viral success set the stage for Anthropic's enterprise ambitions

The interactive tools announcement arrives at a moment of unusual momentum for Anthropic. Claude Code, the company's coding assistant released in February 2024, has become a viral hit that has captured attention far beyond its intended developer audience.

Originally built for software developers, Claude Code has captured attention far beyond its intended audience. Non-programmers have deployed it to book theater tickets, file taxes, and monitor tomato plants. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it "incredible." Even Microsoft, which sells the competing GitHub Copilot, has widely adopted Claude Code internally, with non-developers reportedly encouraged to use it.

Boris Cherny, Anthropic's head of Claude Code, told Fortune that his team built Cowork — a user-friendly version of the coding product for non-programmers — in approximately a week and a half, largely using Claude Code itself. "Engineers just feel unshackled, that they don't have to work on all the tedious stuff anymore," Cherny said.

Claude Code is now used by Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Salesforce, Accenture, and Snowflake, according to Anthropic. Claude's total web audience has more than doubled since December 2024, and daily unique visitors on desktop are up 12% globally year-to-date, according to data from Similarweb and Sensor Tower published by The Wall Street Journal.

The company is also reportedly planning a $10 billion fundraising round that would value Anthropic at $350 billion — a staggering figure that reflects investor confidence in the company's enterprise traction.

Anthropic's CEO stirred controversy at Davos with predictions about AI replacing workers

The interactive tools launch also arrives against a backdrop of intense debate about AI's impact on employment — a debate that Anthropic's own CEO helped intensify at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

Dario Amodei told a Davos audience that AI models would replace the work of all software developers within a year and would reach "Nobel-level" scientific research in multiple fields within two years. He predicted that 50% of white-collar jobs would disappear within five years.

"I have engineers within Anthropic who say 'I don't write any code anymore. I just let the model write the code, I edit it,'" Amodei said. "We might be six to 12 months away from when the model is doing most, maybe all of what software engineers do end-to-end."

Not everyone agrees with that timeline. Demis Hassabis, the Nobel Prize-winning CEO of Google DeepMind, said at the same conference that today's AI systems are "nowhere near" human-level artificial general intelligence. Yann LeCun, the Turing Award-winning AI pioneer who recently left Meta to found Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, went further, arguing that large language models "will never be able to achieve humanlike intelligence" and that a completely different approach is needed.

Why embedding AI into daily workflows could create powerful lock-in for enterprises

Anthropic's integration strategy reflects a broader shift in enterprise AI competition. The battleground is moving from model benchmarks and capability demonstrations toward workflow integration — the degree to which AI systems become embedded in how companies actually operate.

By making Claude the interface through which employees interact with Asana, Slack, Figma, and other daily tools, Anthropic is positioning itself not merely as an AI provider but as a workflow orchestration layer. The more actions that flow through Claude, the harder it becomes for enterprises to switch to a competitor.

This approach mirrors strategies that proved successful for earlier generations of enterprise software. Salesforce built its dominance partly by becoming the system of record for customer data. Slack grew by centralizing workplace communication. Anthropic appears to be betting that AI assistants can occupy a similar position — the default starting point for work itself.

The open-source foundation of MCP may accelerate this strategy. By making the protocol available to any developer, Anthropic encourages a broad ecosystem of integrations that all funnel through MCP-compatible clients — of which Claude is the most prominent. The company benefits from network effects even as it maintains the standard is open.

The race to become the operating system for AI-powered work is just getting started

The launch notably excludes some major enterprise platforms. Salesforce integration is listed as "coming soon," and there's no mention of Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or other productivity suites that dominate corporate environments. Those gaps may limit initial adoption in organizations heavily invested in those ecosystems.

The feature is available on web and desktop for paid Claude plans, with support for Claude Cowork — the file management agent launched last week — coming later. Mobile support was not mentioned in the announcement.

For enterprises evaluating Claude against OpenAI's offerings and other competitors, the interactive integrations represent a tangible differentiator. The ability to take action within business tools — rather than simply generating text that users must copy elsewhere — addresses a persistent friction point in AI adoption.

Whether that advantage proves durable depends on how quickly competitors respond. OpenAI has its own enterprise ambitions and partnerships. Google is integrating Gemini across its productivity suite. Microsoft continues to deepen Copilot's presence in Office applications.

But the larger significance may be what today's announcement signals about where enterprise software is headed. For decades, the default unit of work has been the application — the spreadsheet, the project tracker, the messaging platform. Anthropic is wagering that the future belongs to the AI layer that sits above them all.

If the company is right, the question for every enterprise software vendor becomes uncomfortably simple: Do you want to be the tool, or the thing that controls the tools?

‘Trump Phone’ Still Doesn’t Exist, Pre-Order Totals Appear Completely Made Up

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:32:58 +0000

Last year the fraud-prone Trump organization announced a half-assed wireless phone company. As we noted at the time, calling this a “phone company” is generous; it was just a lazy marketing rebrand of another, half-assed, MAGA-focused, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) named Patriot Mobile, which itself just resells T-Mobile service. So basically just another lazy grift targeting MAGA rubes.

The centerpiece of this effort was supposed to be a “bold” new $500 Trump T1 smartphone that the Trump org claimed would be “proudly designed and built in the United States” and released sometime last August. Not only was the device never going to be made in the States (all mention of that was quickly stripped from press materials), the August launch date came and went with no Trump phone.

We’re well into 2026 and not only is there still no phone (despite folks plunking down $100 pre-orders), pre-order numbers making the rounds appear to be made up.

The Verge has been doing an amusing job relentlessly tracking this story, and found that claims that the Trump Org had sold 600,000 of the nonexistent devices were completely made up, belched around the internet in a game of lazy telephone that even included California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office:

“There’s just one problem: I can’t find a shred of evidence that this figure is true. In fact, it seems to trace back to a single viral, anonymous X post and is a microcosm of how the modern media landscape and AI chatbots can combine to give falsities the sheen of respectability.”

Very Trumpian.

The phone, had it actually become available, appears to just be a sloppy reskin of a much cheaper sub-$200 phone produced in China; ironic coming from the MAGA folks who’ve spent the last decade whining about the national security threats posed by Chinese companies like Huawei, DJI, and TikTok.

The delays are also quite likely caused by either rank incompetence or the pointless tariffs, which they obviously can’t admit. So the Trump Org has instead been lying and claiming the delays are due to the government shutdown, despite the phone having absolutely nothing to do with the U.S. government (outside of the president’s lazy attempt to continually make money off of it).

Meanwhile Democrats are pointlessly urging the Trump FTC to investigate the fake phone company over its fake phones, which Democrats already know can’t happen because Trump illegally fired all Democratic FTC Commissioners and the remaining officials are hopelessly captured by our mad idiot king (something the NBC News coverage of this didn’t think was worth mentioning).

Anyway, great stuff, no notes, very serious country.

Rainbow Weather raises $5.5M to refine real-time weather forecasting

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:41:52 +0000

Warsaw, Poland 26 January 2026 – Rainbow Weather has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to push weather forecasting further into the short-term, high-precision territory it believes the industry still underserves. The Warsaw-based climate tech startup focuses on hyperlocal, minute-by-minute forecasts, zeroing in on what happens in the next few hours rather than days out. The round was backed by a syndicate of investors, including Yuri Gurski, founder of Flo Health, one of Europe’s best-known consumer tech unicorns. Rainbow Weather’s core product is a mobile app that delivers four-hour precipitation forecasts calculated from the exact moment a user checks the…

This story continues at The Next Web

I thought my ChatGPT chats were gone — here’s how I found them instantly

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Lost a ChatGPT conversation? Here’s how to quickly find old chats, search your history and recover important threads in seconds on desktop and mobile.

Trusting your phone to Abxylute’s mobile controller requires a big leap of faith

admin — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Turning your phone into a handheld with the M4 could be risky.

As a retro gaming fan, I was thrilled when Apple opened its App Store to emulators in 2024, but I've yet to find a controller that makes me want to fully embrace retro gaming on my phone.

Clamp-on controllers like the Backbone Pro are a bit too bulky, and I don't want to prop my phone up somewhere to use a standalone gamepad. The Abxylute M4 seemed exactly what I was looking for when it debuted a few months ago. It's a compact wireless gamepad that uses a magnetic mount to attach to my iPhone. It's a clever design, but one that's let down by stiff thumbsticks and a magnetic mount that doesn't always feel like it's securely supporting my ph …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Top Altcoins to Watch This Week: Solana Mobile Seeker, Pump.fun, and Official Trump Set to Form Bullish Patterns

admin — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 11:03:03 +0000

The post Top Altcoins to Watch This Week: Solana Mobile Seeker, Pump.fun, and Official Trump Set to Form Bullish Patterns appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Bitcoin price went on a bearish trend last week, dropping from the peak of $96,000 toward a monthly low of $88K. Analysts believe that Bitcoin’s recent bearish pullback might be a trigger for an altcoin rally in the coming week. As traders rotate their money into newer altcoins, Solana Mobile Seeker (SKR), Pump.fun, and Official Trump are expected to show bullish momentum this week.

Altcoins Rally As Bitcoin Dropped 7% Last Week

Bitcoin has been facing significant bearish volatility over the last seven days. BTC price dropped from the peak of $96K toward $88K, flashing a 7% drop last week. Coinglass data reveals that Bitcoin continues to face increased liquidation as it triggered over $25 million in total liquidations in 24 hours. Of this, buyers closed nearly $24.5 million worth of positions.

Also read: Bitcoin Price Prediction: What Needs to Happen for BTC to Push Toward $100K

Analysts say that while Bitcoin’s drop may not have a major impact on an altcoin rally, it could give a small lift to newer altcoins this week. As a result, the SKR token, PUMP, and TRUMP coins are expected to show a bullish pattern.

Solana Mobile Seeker (SKR) Price Analysis

SKR token fell below its moving averages after recording over 200% gain last week. Though the price achieved a peak above $0.05 following listings on multiple tier-1 exchanges, it faced sharp selloff later. As of writing, Solana Mobile Seeker trades at $0.028, declining over 15% in the last 24 hours.

SKR/USDT Chart

The slowdown in the surge of moving averages and the RSI hovering near 50 show no clear edge for either buyers or sellers. However, SKR’s drop below EMA20 trend line hints at a bearish control currently. If the price holds below EMA20, sellers could take control, potentially pushing the SKR/USDT pair down to the $0.02 low.

For buyers to regain strength, the price needs to break above $0.035. If that happens, the pair could rise toward $0.05.

Pump.fun (PUMP) Price Analysis

Pump.fun is finding support near the $0.0024 level, showing that buyers are stepping in at lower prices. As of writing, PUMP price trades at $0.0026, surging over 5.2% in the last 24 hours.

PUMP/USDT Chart

Any recovery is likely to meet selling pressure around the descending resistance line. If the price drops sharply from that level, it could increase the chances of falling below the $0.00235 support, with the PUMP/USDT pair possibly sliding toward $0.0017.

On the other hand, a move above the resistance line would signal a potential comeback by buyers. In that case, Pump.fun price could rise toward $0.0033, where strong resistance is expected.

Official Trump (TRUMP) Price Analysis

TRUMP faced significant drop last week as it touched a low below EMA20 trend line. However, this unlocked strong accumulation around the dip, preparing Official Trump coin for a potential breakout this week. As of writing, TRUMP price trades at $4.88, declining over 0.7% in the last 24 hours.

TRUMP/USDT Chart

The price of TRUMP dropped sharply on Monday and closed below the 20-day EMA, suggesting the TRUMP/USDT pair may have reached a short-term peak. If weakness continues, the pair could retrace fully and fall to around $4.4-$4.1.

Buyers face a tough challenge. Any short-term rebound is likely to run into selling pressure near the 20-day EMA. However, buyers are currently accumulating, preparing the TRUMP price to break its consolidation above $5. A close above $5 would be a sign that buyers are regaining control, pushing the price toward $5.7.

How to Set Up a Crypto Exchange in 2026

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:37:40 +0000

DeFi Smart Contract Development — Cost, Security & Best Practices for Businesses

There are six main steps to building a smart contract. Contract Design, Contract Format, Configuration, Testnet Deployment, Optimization, Launch

DeFi Smart Contract Development

Smart contracts are at the heart of the cryptocurrency system, and Decentralized Finance (DEFi) does not operate without them. DeFi is meant to be permissionless, trustless, and automated. There are no financial settings behind the scenes to manage transactions. Thus, all aspects of the financial transactions are carried out through smart contracts — a set of rules written by programmers.

As both the FinTech industry and crypto industry continue to evolve together. Businesses must acquire the tech infrastructure required to support this booming growth. That’s where DeFi smart contract development becomes critical, and enterprises & large-scale businesses are adopting this trend to gain the competitive edge in the market.

This blog covers what a founder needs to know about DeFi smart contracts, their real-world applications, steps to develop DeFi smart contracts, the cost to build this, and crucial security practices to consider in the process of DeFi smart contract development.

Let’s move ahead…

How DeFi Smart Contracts Power Modern Financial Applications

DeFi utilizes smart contracts to automate the transaction process on decentralized environment tied to blockchain. This setting circumvents traditional banking, brokerage houses, and the need for a trusted party to facilitate trades.

DeFi Smart contracts handle various DeFi applications, some of which are,

Storing assets via non-custodial wallets
Automating swaps and liquidity management
Lending, borrowing, and interest calculation
Distributing rewards, yield farming, and staking
Minting, transferring, and enforcing NFT royalties

Through executing a set of rules defined by each contract, smart contracts eliminate the potential for human error, decrease operational costs, and enable businesses to offer 24/7 accessibility to the global market.

Real World Use Cases of DeFi Smart Contracts

Using smart contracts has never been more popular than it is now. And there have never been more uses than now.

Crypto Wallets
Crypto Exchanges
DeFi Protocols
Peer-to-Peer Exchanges
Decentralized Apps
NFT Marketplaces
Crypto Payment Gateways

Crypto Wallets

DeFi wallets are one of the most used tools by crypto holders. DeFi wallet service extensively makes use of smart contracts. Wallets come in-built with smart contracts for different crypto networks.

Crypto Exchanges

Both CeFi and DeFi exchanges make use of smart contracts. Users can trade, deposit, withdraw, transfer, and swap crypto, and smart contracts run in the background. Exchanges have customized pre-written smart-contracts for every scenario.

DeFi Protocols

Smart contracts make DeFi protocols functional. Every feature in a DeFi ecosystem has pre-tested smart-contracts to ease it. From staking, swapping, and lending, every function uses smart contracts.

P2P Exchange

Smart contract development first began with peer-to-peer transactions in mind. To enable crypto transfer from user to user without oversight.

dApps

Decentralized apps have a connection to blockchain networks. For every feature, the app uses the smart contract from the blockchain. And every transaction is data stored on the blockchain.

NFT Marketplaces

NFTs are artistic visions of people. Artworks have always been difficult to value. NFTs are artistic creations converted for the crypto space. Smart contracts monetize artwork by placing a value on it with cryptocurrency. That is why NFT marketplaces use smart contracts for everything.

Crypto Payment Gateways

A crypto payment gateway is a portal that allows users to convert fiat to crypto. The portal lets users on-ramp their fiat currency by providing many payment options.

In the crypto space, smart contracts are often in use. If crypto moves hands from one place to another, chances are that smart contracts run in the background. As such, the importance of smart-contract technology is growing.

DeFi smart contract development across blockchains

Beyond a single blockchain, a DeFi smart contract can be built on multiple blockchains. Different blockchains provide unique benefits in terms of scalability, transaction costs, and ecosystem maturity. Choosing the ideal blockchain is crucial as it affects performance, user base, and security of your business.

The blockchains that are popularly used to build DeFi smart contracts are addressed below,

Ethereum

The Ethereum blockchain is the safest option for protocols that are built with high-security to have mass adoption. It is the established network using Solidity and ERC standards (ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC1155).

BNB Chain

Has lower transaction costs and faster confirmation times than Ethereum. Developing a DeFi Smart contract is cost-effective in BNB chain, which is most preferable and ideal for startups.

Solana

High-performance blockchain that executes smart contracts written in Rust. If you are planning to create a high-throughput DeFi platform based on performance metrics, the Solana blockchain is the best choice.

Cardano

Cardano creates Smart Contracts with Haskell and Plutus, with an emphasis on academic rigor and formal verification.

Polygon

Polygon is often preferred for scalability and enterprise DeFi solutions. Modern DeFi platforms are increasingly embracing the notion of developing on a multi-chain. This allows businesses to create greater liquidity options and rely less on any single network. The next section covers exactly what you need to know as a founder and a business owner — simple steps to develop a smart contract.

Step-by-Step process to develop a DeFi Smart Contract

There are six main steps to building a DeFi smart contract.

Contract Design
Contract Format
Configuration
Testnet Deployment
Optimization
Launch

Contract Design

Here, you should determine what the contract should do. After all, you cannot use a smart contract designed to swap crypto for an IFO or an IDO. The usage of the smart contract will determine its type.

Contract Format

The parameters set for a smart contract depend on its use. Smart contracts built for a crypto swap can have an auto slippage tolerance feature, but not for a liquidity pool. Smart contracts designed for liquidity pools can have a pool migration feature, but not for a blockchain bridge. Each smart contract varies by its features and hence has different formats.

Configuration

Configuring smart contracts is vital before both testing and deployment. The formatting is dependent on the environment. It is necessary to deploy the correct testing data. Otherwise, interacting with the smart contract becomes a problem.

Testnet Deployment

Testnets and simulators are valuable tools for smart-contract development. Like any program, bugs and errors are part of the process. But it presents a unique problem with blockchain technology. Blockchains are inherently immutable, and this complicates certain things. Once you launch a smart contract on a blockchain, they become unchangeable.

If the smart contract has bugs or errors, rectifying them becomes a problem. And that is why it is necessary to test the smart contract on a testnet. Stress-testing smart contracts can reveal their bugs and vulnerabilities. And the next iteration of the contract is optimized.

Optimization

When the smart contract gets uploaded on a testnet, make it a habit to test it. Take a considerable amount of time to optimize it. There are many smart-contract testing frameworks. Truffle framework is a well-known Ethereum-based testing system. Then we have Mocha for JavaScript, Hardhat for Solidity, Populus for Python, etc.

Launch

Never be in a hurry to deploy the smart contract. Deploying a smart contract on a blockchain is a permanent step. Even if you update it, the older version of it will always be in the blockchain. Make sure to follow the community guidelines and the blockchain integration steps properly.

Innovation is a constant process. Always keep innovating or updating your smart contract. The better we develop, the more decentralized and safe our crypto financial system will become. The future of DeFi is in the development of smart contracts.

DeFi Smart Contract Security Best Practices

Every successful DeFi Smart Contract is built on robust security. Once it has been deployed, it is immutable, meaning the occurrence of any errors leads to irreversible losses. For both startups and enterprises, implementing strong smart contract security practices is essential for the effective functioning of the platform.

An insecure DeFi smart contract ecosystem leads to direct loss of user funds, reputation damage, legal & compliance risks, and loss of liquidity & users’ trust.

To build secure and reliable DeFi applications, a security-first development strategy must be implemented. Here are some best practices for secure DeFi smart contract development.

Follow secure coding standards whenever possible, and do not develop custom logic if there is an audited library that can be used.
Use modular and upgrade-friendly architecture to separate risk.
Conduct rigorous unit testing and integration testing on every function of each contract
Use role-based access control and multi-sig approval
Conduct an internal security review of a smart contract before requesting a therid parity to audit.

Additionally, using tried and tested security practices lets businesses minimise the risk of exploitation, safeguard investor funds, and build long-term confidence in their DeFi applications.

Benefits of Creating a DeFi Smart Contract for Businesses

There is a reason why DeFi smart-contract technology is growing unchecked. The benefits far outweigh the risks. That’s why.

Security
Speed
Transparency
Efficient
Developer Toolkit

Security

Smart contracts work in tandem with the blockchain network. The safety of blockchain technology extends to smart contracts. For example, once a smart contract gets stored on a blockchain, it’s immutable. For hackers to tamper with it, they must compromise all the blocks in the blockchain. And this is on-chain security.

Speed

Smart contracts are virtual and automated, so there is no paperwork to complete. And this also eliminates the time needed to fix mistakes or changes when documents are drafted manually. Furthermore, the lack of third-party mediators removes the time delays and fees that usually come with it.

Transparency

Blockchains are online virtual ledgers. Anyone can access these blockchains. Furthermore, all data on the blockchain is open at all times. Due to the openness of on-chain data, smart-contract transparency is innate.

Efficiency

The main reason smart-contract used is due to their efficiency. The contract executes itself if the underlying conditions are satisfied. And this contributes to the time it saves.

Developer Toolkit

DeFi smart contracts run the DeFi protocols. As they function on blockchains, it is ideal for developers to build dApps. For example, Rotki and DeBank are dApps built around the Uniswap protocol.

We have seen enough of the smart-contract benefits; let us see how much investment is required to develop them.

How much does it cost to develop a DeFi Smart Contract?

When it comes to DeFi Smart Contract development, the cost is dependent on time. Unlike CeFi, DeFi is a rapidly growing space. The lack of regulations makes innovation a factor in its uniqueness. As you may know, we already have standards and smart contracts for nearly everything. And since all data is open-source, finding smart-contract code is easy. GitHub is the go-to destination for reference.

But this is where it also becomes a problem. Translating new ideas into computer code takes work. And it takes a lot of time. The more complex the concept, the longer it will take to write and develop it.

If a single person is working on development, it can take months. The solution is to have a team of developers with diverse skill sets. The average salary of a blockchain developer is around $75K. Let’s say a crew of four, so that’s $300K per year before expenditure. And that’s $25K a month till you develop it.

For a business, I understand this can be a commitment to make. You can outsource the process to a reputed DeFi Smart Contract development company in the blockchain space; it will significantly cut your cost. But the choice is up to you.

Upshots

DeFi is a niche in the crypto space. And niche markets are always the best place to get a business started because that is where ideas flourish. DeFi, NFTs, Web3, Metaverse, etc. I believe that, now, you know completely about DeFi smart contract development. If you are interested in knowing more or wish to build a DeFi smart contract. This DeFi smart contract development company can help you with your development journey.

They have innovated more in the crypto space than FinTech has in fifty years. And that’s no coincidence. The decentralization, immutability, and openness have transformed the world. Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and the businesses built around them have the opportunity to create an empire.

Five percent of all crypto transactions happen in DeFi. And it has a TVL of $40 Billion. Competing with centralized entities backed by institutional money is not easy. And that is why DeFi is where ideas can thrive.

DeFi Smart Contract Development: A Critical Guide For Business Owners in DeFi was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

HOT Wallet — The Best Stellar (XLM) Wallet You’ll Ever Use

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:30:00 +0000

HOT Wallet — The Best Stellar (XLM) Wallet You’ll Ever Use

Ever tried sending USDC or EURC on Stellar, only to get stuck because your wallet didn’t activate the account? Or paid unnecessary fees just to start?
Frustrating, right? In 2026, Stellar is still one of the fastest and cheapest networks for cross-border payments — but you need the right wallet to unlock its full power. That’s where HOT Wallet shines.

What Makes HOT Wallet Special for Stellar?

HOT Wallet, built by HOT Labs, delivers the most intuitive and powerful experience on Stellar. Available as a mobile app, browser extension, and Telegram Mini App — swap tokens, bridge assets, stake or earn on XLM, USDC, and EURC directly in the network. It’s designed for real users who want speed, simplicity, and zero hassle.

Quick Recap: What Is Stellar?

Stellar is a decentralized protocol built for fast, low-cost international transfers. Its native token XLM covers tiny transaction fees and activates accounts/assets. It connects banks, stablecoins, and everyday users through one of the most efficient blockchains out there.

How to Activate Your Stellar Account (For Free!)

Before you can receive USDC, EURC, or other Stellar assets from an exchange, you need to cover the minimum reserve — 0.1 XLM. Without it, most exchanges block the withdrawal.
HOT Wallet fixes this for you: just tap
Deposit → Stellar → Activate Account or Token — and it’s done for free.

Swapping on Stellar — Fast & Cheaphttps://medium.com/media/b5fed4c1066300bf745ad8ac5ab56580/href

HOT Wallet lets you swap XLM, USDC, EURC, and more at the best rates:
- Go to the Swaps section
- Select the Stellar network
- Pick your token pair
- Adjust settings on the Review screen and confirm

Swap settings quick guide:
- Provider — Routes through Aquarius (AMM DEX on Stellar) and Soroswap, the top DEX aggregator for Stellar
- Slippage — Bump it up for volatile tokens or meme coins/illiquid assets
Always get the best price without surprises.

Bridging to Stellar in 4 Easy Stepshttps://medium.com/media/46db740d6e7102f42a31b66c6e80fa68/href

HOT Wallet is the only wallet with a native bridge to Stellar — powered by HOT Bridge:
- Open the Bridge section
- Choose your source network and token
- Set Stellar as the destination
- Enter the amount and complete the transaction
Fast, cheap, and secure from the most popular chains.

Why HOT Wallet Is #1 for Stellar & XLM in 2026

Here’s what sets us apart:
- MPC Wallet — Military-grade security with 2FA and rotatable seed phrases
- Best-rate swaps — Aggregated Stellar liquidity, minimal slippage
- Built-in bridge — Native support for bridging to/from Stellar
- Free activation — No upfront cost for accounts & tokens
- Multi-platform — Android, iOS, browser extension, Telegram Mini App
- XLM staking & lending — The only wallet offering staking/lending of XLM, USDC, EURC on Stellar
- Web3 browser — Access Stellar dApps directly
- Multi-chain hub — EVM + non-EVM assets in one place
- Ledger support
- Claimable Balances support
- 24/7 live support — Real humans, not bots
Most wallets treat Stellar like an afterthought. HOT Wallet is built around it.

Ready to Experience Stellar the Right Way?
If you’re using Stellar or planning to — there’s no reason to settle for less. HOT Wallet gives you full support for Stellar assets, free activations, built-in swaps, and the only reliable native bridge on the market.

Get started in 30 seconds — download HOT Wallet now!

Join our community:
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HOT Wallet — The Best Stellar (XLM) Wallet You’ll Ever Use was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.