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When shopping stops being a place


For years, online shopping followed a fixed path. Search bar, product grid, filters, checkout. The interface barely changed, even as everything else on the internet did. That path is now breaking. Monday 12 January, 2026, JD Sports Fashion plc (JD Group) became one of the first large retailers to let US customers search and buy sneakers directly inside AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini. No website visit. No app. Just a conversation that ends with a payment. Basically, a customer can chat with an AI bot, say “add these shoes to my cart,” and complete a purchase in…

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Who decides the best AI?


The AI industry has become adept at measuring itself. Benchmarks improve, model scores rise, and every new release arrives with a list of metrics meant to signal progress. And yet, somewhere between the lab and real life, something keeps slipping. Which model actually feels better to use? Which answers would a human trust? Which system would you put in front of customers, employees, or citizens and feel comfortable standing behind it? That gap is where LMArena has quietly built its business, and why investors just put $150 million behind it at a $1.7 billion valuation, in a Series A round.…

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Big stages, smaller impact.


For years, the tech industry equated success with scale. Bigger stages, larger crowds, more logos, more panels, more noise. Five thousand people became ten thousand. Ten thousand became the goal. Somewhere along the way, that stopped making sense. Founders and executives didn’t announce a boycott. They simply stopped showing up. What we see today is not a rejection of events, but a correction in how people who actually run companies choose to spend their time. The shift is subtle, but consistent. Fewer large conferences. More small, curated gatherings. More closed rooms. More dinners. More tables of twelve. Big tech events…

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A New Era for TNW.


My name is Alexandru Stan, and this article continues the dialogue I began following the acquisition of TNW. Following the recent transaction, TNW Spaces remains with the Financial Times, while we continue the mission of the website, the events, and the global community. We already have a dedicated team at tekpon operating the platform, events, and community initiatives. Our objective is to expand and strengthen the team as TNW accelerates its next chapter. TNW is already a global media platform with millions of readers. We’re not starting over. We are building forward. Why TNW matters today Technology is entering a…

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Letter from the Editor-in-Chief


Not long ago, like many of you, I read what I feared might be The Next Web’s final article. In late September, TNW’s co-founder announced that the tech conference and news site would be winding down, no more events, no new stories. It felt like the end of an era; the news hit hard. Yet, just a few weeks ago, a twist arrived: the tech platform Tekpon acquired 100% of TNW’s media and events brand from the Financial Times, ensuring that this nearly two-decade legacy will continue to thrive. While, myself, trying to read people’s opinions on this topic, I…

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