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Shopify has just unveiled over 100 new updates to its commerce platform, with artificial intelligence emerging as a key theme. The company introduced new AI-powered capabilities aimed at helping merchants work smarter, sell more, and create better customer experiences. The headline feature is Shopify Magic, which applies different AI models to assist merchants in various ways.

Cyberthieves target huge stores of data, often one company at a time. It’s the 20th-Century equivalent of looting a bank vault. In our time, these heists are happening on a regular basis. Since data can be converted into dollars on the dark web, it just keeps happening.

If you’re a plant parent, we probably don’t have to tell you about the benefits you reap from keeping your horticultural brood around. Plants are pleasing, soothing and great company—in fact, one 2022 public-health study on the effects of indoor plants found that people who spent time around indoor greenery experienced optimal relaxation and cognitive function.

Product management is becoming increasingly popular as a profession. Not only is this a career path at Big Tech companies, it is also an important part of traditional businesses that choose to embrace technology. If a business has an app or a website, then there is probably somebody doing the product manager’s job.

Business development companies offer great dividends, plus bonuses to income hungry investors. Tempting, but look closely before you leap.With interest rates at heights not seen in nearly two decades and traditional len-ders still shell-shocked from this past spring’s bank runs, private credit, or nonbank direct lending, is booming on Wall Street. Yield-chasing institutions have poured into the sector, which now amounts to $1.5 trillion globally.

Grocery store shoppers are noticing something amiss. Air-filled bags of chips. Shrunken soup cans. Diminished detergent packages. Companies are downsizing products without downsizing prices, and consumer posts from Reddit to TikTok to the New York Times comments section drip with indignation at the trend, widely known as “shrinkflation.”

Venture capital isn’t the only choice when it comes to financing. When used wisely, debt can be a powerful tool for growth. In his new book, All Money Is Not Created Equal: How Entrepreneurs Can Crack the Code to Getting the Right Funding for Their Startup, (Wiley, July 20, 2023), Runway Growth Capital founder David Spreng provides practical advice and shares examples of how debt can be a powerful tool for growth. The following is an edited excerpt.

The idea of mesh networking has been around for several years. However, we didn’t start seeing the term pop up on wifi routers and devices until around the mid 2010s. That’s when companies like Eero, Google, and Netgear started rolling out “mesh networking kits,” which allowed you to blanket your home in a stronger wifi signal.

That text message about your package could be a scamOne of the biggest scams you need to watch out for is coming from your phone. In “smishing” ― a term that combines “SMS” and “phishing” ― bad actors try to get your personal and banking information through unsolicited text messages on mobile devices. They do it by pretending to be government agencies, companies that you might have done business with, or a package delivery service.

This week I'm recommending a list of more surprising titles, courtesy of Inc. and entrepreneur Rohit Bhargava. The first Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards aims to offer founders and business leaders perspectives that they may not normally hear or read. "We are all surrounded by plenty of obvious ideas," says Bhargava, whose Non-Obvious Company has produced its own list of best nonfiction books since 2014. "Our mission since we started was to uncover those ideas that can take you in a fresh and new direction."

While hype around the metaverse hasn't gone anywhere, there's something brewing that's actually being practically applied in companies: AR instead of VR. Although Apple's Vision Pro is at this point ludicrously expensive, there are far cheaper options that are already providing practical benefits.