Latest news with #Alby
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TrusTrace's New, AI-Powered Data Hub Gives Insights on Supply Chain Compliance
TrusTrace wants clients to put their trust in its data quality. The supply chain traceability provider announced Tuesday it had launched an upgraded platform which leverages artificial intelligence to conglomerate and analyze data, in turn offering up recommendations and monitoring supply chain risks to flag to the client. More from Sourcing Journal Tech Tactics: Bluecore Brings AI Shopping Assistant Alby to Shopify Retailers Deda Stealth CEO Explains Why Tariffs Made This Year the Right Time for U.S. Expansion Amazon's Latest AI Feature Allows Sellers to Upgrade Old Listings Shameek Ghosh, CEO of TrusTrace, said he believes the update will help clients take charge of their supply chains in a new way, particularly in a time of economic uncertainty. 'In today's high-stakes regulatory and business environment, access to accurate, real-time sustainability data shouldn't be a privilege—it should be a given,' Ghosh said in a statement. 'We've built a powerful, AI-assisted supply chain data hub that allows companies to quickly and easily collect and analyze data at any scale, empowering them to move from reactive crisis management to proactive impact-driven strategies. This is the future of responsible, resilient business.' The system can now gather supply chain data from multiple sources, including suppliers, compliance documents and internal records; flag risks for proactive management; find holes in information necessary for compliance processes; help clients make decisions with a more holistic view of supply chain and more. It does so by leveraging AI to parse through the data, which it contends betters the data sets and allows for data to be used for many purposes, rather than being siloed. TrusTrace noted that the technology is applicable to small-to-medium businesses and large enterprises alike. It said brands and manufacturers are already using the upgraded platform, but did not disclose who the earliest clients testing the new system included. The announcement comes on the heels of the Swedish company's partnership with Avery Dennison, aimed at providing stronger transparency into raw materials' origins and uses throughout the supply chain, so that clients can discern a clear chain of custody. The collaboration saw Avery Dennison integrating TrusTrace's technology into its end-to-end supply chain solution, Optica. Kenny Liu, vice president and general manager S. Asia, EMEA and Optica at Avery Dennison, said the business relationship enriched the company's ability to provide meaningful information and insights to its clients. 'Navigating today's complex global supply chains requires reliable, streamlined access to comprehensive data,' Liu said in a statement. 'By integrating TrusTrace into our Optica portfolio of supply chain solutions, we're equipping brands with the tools they need to map their supply chains, verify raw material origins, and confidently meet evolving regulatory demands. This level of transparency empowers smarter sourcing decisions and ultimately drives meaningful impact across the entire supply chain.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tech Tactics: Bluecore Brings AI Shopping Assistant Alby to Shopify Retailers
Tech Tactics is Sourcing Journal's series with brands and technology companies to discuss their latest innovations. Bluecore is making its artificial intelligence-powered shopping assistant more accessible to retailers. More from Sourcing Journal 85% of Retailers Say The Store Is Primary Target for Company Growth Deda Stealth CEO Explains Why Tariffs Made This Year the Right Time for U.S. Expansion Amazon's Latest AI Feature Allows Sellers to Upgrade Old Listings On Thursday, the New York-headquartered retail technology company announced the expansion of Alby—which it acquired in 2024— its generative AI agent designed to answer shopper questions both in real time and preemptively. Via a new integration, retailers can now access Alby directly through global e-commerce enabler Shopify. Bluecore noted that this will enable any retailer—from small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to global enterprises like Tapestry, Express and Lenovo—to 'seamlessly power conversational AI shopping experiences that are unique to their brand and customers.' This expansion comes as the global AI chatbot market experiences rapid growth, with projections estimating it will reach $46.64 billion by 2029, according to Research and Markets. As part of this trend, 76 percent of online retailers have either implemented chatbots or plan to do so as part of their customer experience strategies. 'We have been addressing the unique needs of enterprise retailers for over 10 years with our technology—and we're now expanding our expertise to the thousands of SMB retailers on Shopify,' said Fayez Mohamood, CEO and co-founder of Bluecore. 'As all retailers navigate this new AI-powered landscape, we're offering them the tools to not only understand how AI is evolving consumer behavior but take action on it with Alby. We want every retailer to be able to openly experiment with AI and start to unlock a vast trove of new data that leads to higher engagement and conversion.' Shoppers can interact with Alby directly on a brand's website to ask questions about any product. Once activated, the AI agent will learn, make decisions and act on a brand's behalf—pulling from product data, brand assets and the company's tone of voice to ensure accurate responses. Instead of relying on lengthy natural language queries, the technology anticipates the kinds of questions consumers are likely to ask. For apparel, that might include inquiries like, 'What is this sweater made of?' or 'What's the warranty on this jacket?' 'People don't shop the way they use ChatGPT. When you go to ChatGPT, you have a long-form query in your head that you're trying to get help on, some complex task you're trying to accomplish,' Max Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Alby—also co-founded Bluecore—previously told Sourcing Journal. 'That's not how people shop. People shop in between things. People shop on the go. People shop when they're on the train, scrolling. The needs for the human being engaging in that activity are very different.' Alby also supports global, multilingual customer service and provides around-the-clock assistance, ensuring shoppers receive 'timely answers no matter where or when they're browsing.' One retailer already seeing success with Alby's new expansion is mattress company PlushBeds. 'Adding an AI shopping agent to our website to help guide shoppers from discovery to purchase was a priority for us, but it wasn't until Alby that it was actually possible,' said Michael Hughes, CEO of PlushBeds. 'We integrated Alby on Shopify to guide our shoppers to their perfect mattress based on their sleeping preferences. Now, Alby answers 6,000 product questions a month, engages 15 percent of website traffic and achieves a five-time higher conversion rate.'
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SNL Isn't Really Hot for Your Mom
You know that moment when a man who wants something thinks he sees an opportunity to charm an easy mark? A common version is specific to mothers, and it goes like this: A mom and her kid are out somewhere together, and they meet a guy. It doesn't really matter who. He may be a service worker looking for tips, an acquaintance of the child looking to get in good with the mom, or a garden-variety slimeball. What matters is that he's meeting this woman for the first time. And when she is introduced as the child's mother, that's his cue. He licks his lips. This is what he's been rehearsing for. He delivers his line with relish: 'This is your mother? I thought she was your sister!' The mom is supposed to titter and blush, thoroughly disarmed by being thought young and worthy of anyone's flirtation. Maybe this has happened to you, or to your mom. Certainly you've seen it on TV. It's wildly patronizing, which is not to say it never works. Last night's episode of Saturday Night Live offered up a sketch that doubled down on that interaction, then tripled down, then quadrupled down. Sarah Sherman and Heidi Gardner played two moms being taken out for a Mother's Day brunch by their sons (Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes). The scene began wholesomely, with talk of a post-brunch trip to the botanical gardens, then got fully derailed when their server, Alby—played by the host, Walton Goggins—arrived at their table and started hard-core flirting with the moms. He began with a variation on the classic line, of course: 'I'd say 'Happy Mother's Day,' but all I see are two young men out with their much-younger sisters.' Sherman and Gardner reacted with an aw-shucks vibe, embarrassed but pleased. 'You're getting a big tip, mister,' Sherman said. To which Alby replied: 'No need, I already have one.' They had entered uncharted waters. But still, Sherman's character tried to play it off. 'You do not want to flirt with a couple of old moms,' she said. This is when the sketch turned. 'Oh yes, I do,' Alby said. He'd 'always been attracted to mothers,' he announced, perhaps because he so admired his own, or perhaps because 'once I came of age, I slept with every single one of her friends.' This was the sketch's big joke: Although other servers might facetiously flirt with mothers for tips, Alby meant it. He genuinely wanted to have sex with these moms. As the sketch went on, Alby delivered menus and mimosas alongside increasingly lewd double entendres and come-ons, all Southern charm and jutting hips. Goggins played him with an infectious, naughty glee. [Read: The White Lotus Doesn't Stick the Landing] But Alby supplied all the sexual energy in this sketch. The moms were at turns delighted and shocked by his antics but mostly did not return flirty fire. Only briefly did one of them display any libido at all: After Alby announced he'd soon have a 'hat rack' under his apron, Sherman's character took off her reading glasses and said, in a sultry tone, 'Prove it.' But don't worry: Before the audience could be subjected to too much lustful-mom energy, her son immediately scolded her, and she snapped back into sexless-mom mode. The show had an opportunity to push back against the stereotype that middle-aged women, and mothers in particular, are both undesirable and empty of desire themselves. That seems perhaps to have been the writers' intention. A couple of minutes into the sketch, Alby scolded one of the sons for being skeeved out by the proceedings: 'Just 'cause your mama baked you doesn't mean other men don't want to see the oven.' Crass this might have been, but it was also a good point. Women's sex lives don't end after giving birth, however much our culture might like to pretend otherwise. Unfortunately, most of the sketch undermined this idea—because the joke was not only that Alby would take things so far. The sketch went for laughs by implying how ridiculous it was that a guy like him could truly be hot for these silly, frumpy old moms, these 'mature goddesses dripping in Talbot's,' as he called them. One couldn't escape the sense that the women were the real butt of the joke. Goggins, it's worth noting, is 53, and—as he mentioned in his monologue—a newly anointed sex symbol. But older men have often been allowed a sexuality denied to older women. What could have been a refreshingly expansive view of motherhood instead ended up feeling retrograde. In a segment of 'Weekend Update,' SNL reinforced the view that motherhood is antithetical to sexuality. Gardner appeared again as a different but still-frumpy mother: 'Dianne, the mom who's only read about New York on Facebook.' She spewed a bunch of urban legends that she'd seen on social media. One was about a mom who visited New York City and bought a pair of sunglasses from a street vendor. 'She puts 'em on, what does she see?' Dianne asked. 'Porn! Everywhere!' The sunglasses somehow 'erased all of her memories, and now all she remembers is porn!' Her children? Forgotten. 'Sorry, kids—mommy just knows porn now. She can't come to your recital 'cause she's on the bang bus.' These sketches might have seemed to take aim at overly flirty waiters and Facebook conspiracy theories. But the undeniable undercurrent was: Watch out for moms who think about sex—and be sure to shut them down. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
SNL Isn't Really Hot for Your Mom
You know that moment when a man who wants something thinks he sees an opportunity to charm an easy mark? A common version is specific to mothers, and it goes like this: A mom and her kid are out somewhere together, and they meet a guy. It doesn't really matter who. He may be a service worker looking for tips, an acquaintance of the child looking to get in good with the mom, or a garden-variety slimeball. What matters is that he's meeting this woman for the first time. And when she is introduced as the child's mother, that's his cue. He licks his lips. This is what he's been rehearsing for. He delivers his line with relish: 'This is your mother? I thought she was your sister!' The mom is supposed to titter and blush, thoroughly disarmed by being thought young and worthy of anyone's flirtation. Maybe this has happened to you, or to your mom. Certainly you've seen it on TV. It's wildly patronizing, which is not to say it never works. Last night's episode of Saturday Night Live offered up a sketch that doubled down on that interaction, then tripled down, then quadrupled down. Sarah Sherman and Heidi Gardner played two moms being taken out for a Mother's Day brunch by their sons (Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes). The scene began wholesomely, with talk of a post-brunch trip to the botanical gardens, then got fully derailed when their server, Alby—played by the host, Walton Goggins—arrived at their table and started hard-core flirting with the moms. He began with a variation on the classic line, of course: 'I'd say 'Happy Mother's Day,' but all I see are two young men out with their much-younger sisters.' Sherman and Gardner reacted with an aw-shucks vibe, embarrassed but pleased. 'You're getting a big tip, mister,' Sherman said. To which Alby replied: 'No need, I already have one.' They had entered uncharted waters. But still, Sherman's character tried to play it off. 'You do not want to flirt with a couple of old moms,' she said. This is when the sketch turned. 'Oh yes, I do,' Alby said. He'd 'always been attracted to mothers,' he announced, perhaps because he so admired his own, or perhaps because 'once I came of age, I slept with every single one of her friends.' This was the sketch's big joke: Although other servers might facetiously flirt with mothers for tips, Alby meant it. He genuinely wanted to have sex with these moms. As the sketch went on, Alby delivered menus and mimosas alongside increasingly lewd double entendres and come-ons, all Southern charm and jutting hips. Goggins played him with an infectious, naughty glee. But Alby supplied all the sexual energy in this sketch. The moms were at turns delighted and shocked by his antics but mostly did not return flirty fire. Only briefly did one of them display any libido at all: After Alby announced he'd soon have a 'hat rack' under his apron, Sherman's character took off her reading glasses and said, in a sultry tone, 'Prove it.' But don't worry: Before the audience could be subjected to too much lustful-mom energy, her son immediately scolded her, and she snapped back into sexless-mom mode. The show had an opportunity to push back against the stereotype that middle-aged women, and mothers in particular, are both undesirable and empty of desire themselves. That seems perhaps to have been the writers' intention. A couple of minutes into the sketch, Alby scolded one of the sons for being skeeved out by the proceedings: 'Just 'cause your mama baked you doesn't mean other men don't want to see the oven.' Crass this might have been, but it was also a good point. Women's sex lives don't end after giving birth, however much our culture might like to pretend otherwise. Unfortunately, most of the sketch undermined this idea—because the joke was not only that Alby would take things so far. The sketch went for laughs by implying how ridiculous it was that a guy like him could truly be hot for these silly, frumpy old moms, these 'mature goddesses dripping in Talbot's,' as he called them. One couldn't escape the sense that the women were the real butt of the joke. Goggins, it's worth noting, is 53, and—as he mentioned in his monologue —a newly anointed sex symbol. But older men have often been allowed a sexuality denied to older women. What could have been a refreshingly expansive view of motherhood instead ended up feeling retrograde. In a segment of 'Weekend Update,' SNL reinforced the view that motherhood is antithetical to sexuality. Gardner appeared again as a different but still-frumpy mother: 'Dianne, the mom who's only read about New York on Facebook.' She spewed a bunch of urban legends that she'd seen on social media. One was about a mom who visited New York City and bought a pair of sunglasses from a street vendor. 'She puts 'em on, what does she see?' Dianne asked. 'Porn! Everywhere!' The sunglasses somehow 'erased all of her memories, and now all she remembers is porn!' Her children? Forgotten. 'Sorry, kids—mommy just knows porn now. She can't come to your recital 'cause she's on the bang bus.' These sketches might have seemed to take aim at overly flirty waiters and Facebook conspiracy theories. But the undeniable undercurrent was: Watch out for moms who think about sex—and be sure to shut them down.
BBC News
10-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
University of Worcester begins CPR-a-thon for charity event
Staff and students at a university have started a 24-hour CPR-a-thon to highlight the life-saving skill and raise money for at the University of Worcester have been transformed to host the event, which started on Monday and will see dozens of people performing CPR on a Amy Shadbolt said she hoped it would show people how simple it was to administer CPR."A lot of people think it's just for paramedics, but actually early intervention from members of the public is key in ensuring good survival rates in out hospital cardiac arrests," she said. "The aim of today is to fundraise for the charities, but also to teach people life-saving skills like CPR and how to use a defib."I'm always surprised at how many people don't know how to do it and how simple it is." Fellow student paramedic Alby said support from the local community had been brilliant."We have gotten a donated defibrillator for the event, we've also had multiple local organizations donate raffle prizes," she event will end on Tuesday at 09:00 GMT and money raised will be donated to Heart Stop Malvern and the Midlands Air Ambulance. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
