Talk Fuse

    Topic: Business

    Business covers the companies, markets and economic forces shaping everyday life. From technology and energy to retail, finance and employment, it follows the decisions that influence investment, prices and growth.

    The topic also examines the people behind major firms, the policies affecting trade and industry, and the changing relationship between business and society. It helps readers understand how commercial developments can affect consumers, workers and communities.

    • Everyone Watches Women’s Sports podcast launched by Togethxr and iHeartMedia

      Women’s sports media company Togethxr has partnered with iHeartMedia to launch a weekly audio and video podcast titled “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports”, debuting on 9 July via the iHeart Women’s Sports lineup. The launch matters because it turns Togethxr’s popular, trademarked slogan — which the firm says has already generated more than $10 million in…

    • Here comes J. Edgar musical by Harry Shearer to premiere in London

      Comedians Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold are preparing to premiere their long-gestating musical “Here Comes J. Edgar” at London’s 200-seat King’s Head Theatre on 10 July, some three decades after they first began writing it. The show, about former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, matters both as a rare stage outing for the pair and…

    • Megalodon Driver Kit takes iFixit beyond gadget repairs

      iFixit, the company best known for its gadget teardowns and electronics repair toolkits, has announced a new $34.95 kit aimed at general household repairs and DIY projects rather than fixing electronics. Called the Megalodon Driver Kit, it is designed for tasks such as repairing appliances and assembling flat-pack furniture, marking a move beyond the firm’s…

    • Blind woman forced from Hartlepool Wetherspoons over guide dog ID demand

      A blind woman, Joanne Hewitson, 31, felt forced to leave a Wetherspoons pub in Hartlepool after staff demanded documentary proof that her guide dog, Rosie, was genuine. Under UK law, assistance dog owners are not required to carry or produce identification, so the incident highlights how disabled customers can face unnecessary barriers to access despite…

    • Reeves faces tough choices as OBR flags unsustainable rise in UK debt

      The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government’s independent economic forecaster, has warned that UK public debt is on course to rise unsustainably in the coming decades unless policymakers act soon. Driven by an ageing population, rising health and pension costs, and higher defence spending, the OBR projects that without government action debt would embark…

    • Vans and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty condemns shoe collaboration as tone deaf

      Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty has publicly criticised a recent “Vans and Fugazi” trainer collaboration as “tone deaf”, after fans were misled into believing the anti-consumerist post-hardcore band had partnered with the footwear giant. In reality, the collaboration was between Vans and a Los Angeles-based luxury streetwear label that happens to share the Fugazi name, not…

    • Arkane staff face uncertain future as other Xbox studios gain independence

      Microsoft’s Xbox division has undertaken another major restructuring, spinning off five studios and cutting 1,600 jobs immediately with a further 1,600 layoffs expected over the coming financial year. While Double Fine and Compulsion are returning to independence with some Microsoft funding, and Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have been sold to undisclosed buyers, the fate…

    • Jude Law to lead getaway driver thriller from his Riff Raff company

      Actor Jude Law is to star in a new film about a getaway driver, produced by his own production company, Riff Raff Entertainment. The project was announced by Riff Raff’s co-founder Ben Jackson and head of film and TV Katie Sinclair at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and marks a notable shift for Law into…

    • Xbox aims to reach a billion daily users while cutting 3,200 jobs

      Microsoft has announced what Xbox CEO Asha Sharma called “the most significant restructure in Xbox history”, cutting 1,600 jobs this summer with a further 1,600 expected over the following year. Yet buried in the memo announcing the layoffs was an ambitious stated ambition: for Xbox to become one of the few companies that “entertains more…

    • Savi Security launches app to shield consumers from AI voice-cloning scams

      Savi Security, a startup founded by brothers Patrick and Ryan Coughlin, has launched an app designed to shield ordinary consumers from increasingly convincing AI-generated scams delivered via text, email and phone. The company has raised $7 million in seed funding, led by Acrew Capital, and its iPhone and Android app goes live on Tuesday. The…