Why it matters: Whether a startup's product can be a standalone business — or just a feature of a big company's product — is as much of a key question for entrepreneurs and VCs in AI as it's been for prior tech waves.
The opening of the Sphere in Las Vegas coincides with the closing of "Sleep No More" in New York. Both are expensive and innovative ticketed experiences aimed largely at tourists and designed to elicit a "wow" factor. (See also: Abba Voyage in London.)
Why it matters: These attractions tend to lean heavily on novelty, and their shelf life can be very short — the 2021 flurry of immersive Van Gogh shows already seems to have petered out.
America's relationship with China involves massive tensions between economics, which act to bring the two countries ever closer together, and geopolitics, which is driving them ever further apart. Unusually, there are signs that the economic imperatives are holding their own.
Driving the news: Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping are likely to meet in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Less than two thirds of Americans used any kind of digital wallet in July, and only 13% used one in the 24 hours before they were polled by Morning Consult.
Why it matters: That's well behind most of the rest of the world, even societies like Japan and Germany that have historically been much more cash-based.
