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Castlery just spent 7 figures to open its first US store

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The brand expects the store to break even in two years

Singaporean furniture retailer Castlery will open a showroom in New York on May 15, making it one of the very few homegrown companies to establish a permanent retail presence there. This marks the next phase of growth for the company in the United States, following six years of operating online-only in the market.

Co-founder Declan Ee called the brick-and-mortar flagship outlet, a first in the US, as a “natural progression” from its digital retail model.

“The goal was always to create a best-in-class experience for our customers… and the final piece of this experience is completed when we have an offline store,” he said.

The 3,000-square-foot showroom in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood represents a seven-figure investment on a 10-year lease. Ee’s team scouted over 200 sites over two years before choosing this one.

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The showroom features 17 fully furnished room settings and a complimentary interior styling service that will advise customers on space planning, furniture selection and interior layout.

Ee told The Business Times that he expects the store to break even within 1.5 years to 2 years, or even within a year if sales are strong.

The opening of the store in the Big Apple marks Castlery’s fourth showroom worldwide, following the opening of its third in Brisbane last Aug. Its Sydney store was set up in 2024 and expanded in 2025, while its 24,000 sq ft flagship store in Liat Towers was established in 2022.

Castlery is in 5 markets, with most sales coming from the US

castlery singapore liat towers brisbane australia showroomcastlery singapore liat towers brisbane australia showroom
Castlery’s showrooms at Liat Towers in Singapore (left) and Brisbane, Australia (right)./ Image Credit: Castlery

Castlery was founded in 2013 by Ee and his co-founders, Fred Ji, Zhou Zhiwei and Travers Tan, as a digital retail furniture brand. It currently employs more than 500 staff worldwide, with 200 in its Singapore headquarters.

To date, the brand has sold more than 1 million pieces of furniture and introduced more than 7,000 products.

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The label prides itself on affordable, consistent pricing worldwide, ranging from S$399 for a swivel chair to S$2,499 for a leather recliner.

Its first overseas foray came in 2017, when it entered Australia, a market 10 times bigger than Singapore at the time, according to the founders.

The brand entered the US in 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic as an online brand, starting with two warehouses in New Jersey and Los Angeles, California. Today, Castlery reaches all 50 states from six US warehouses, with the addition of sites in Seattle and Georgia in 2023, and then Texas and Chicago in 2024.

Ee noted that this has reduced delivery times to its US customers, many of whom rent their homes and need furniture delivered with short lead times.

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“We were very aggressive in the first two to three years, when we were scaling the business online in the US,” he said.

The US currently makes up Castlery’s largest market by contributing to 65% of the company’s overall sales. Australia comes in second at 17%, followed by Singapore at 15%. The UK and Canada, where Castlery expanded online in 2025, make up the remaining 3%.

The New York store will serve as a testing ground amid evolving market conditions

castlery new york showroomcastlery new york showroom
Castlery’s New York showroom./ Image Credit: Castlery

With this offline expansion, Ee said Castlery will take a “measured” approach given evolving global developments and geopolitical tensions.

The New York showroom will be a testing ground for Castlery before it decides to commit to more showrooms in the country.

Well aware of New York’s competitive retail scene with players such as West Elm and Crate & Barrel that have multiple outlets, Ee acknowledged that this will give consumers plenty of options.

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“There’s a lot of room for us to grow in the US, but we’re taking things step by step because one’s perspective changes after opening the first store. You get data, you see how customers react and their basket size—all these things,” he explained.

As with other foreign companies in the US, Castlery was hit hard by US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” baseline tariffs in 2025. This was on top of duties on certain furniture imports, such as upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets.

As more than half the brand’s products were being manufactured in China and then shipped directly to US customers, Castlery saw its Chinese imports slapped with the highest tariff rates of close to 30%.

Castlery has since diversified its supply chain to reduce its exposure to tariffs. It has moved some of its manufacturing from China to places such as Vietnam, Thailand, and India, leaving only about 20% of its production in China today.

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After diversifying its supply chains, Ee said production costs have risen, given higher minimum-order quantities.

This has caused profits to fall by 1% to 3%, which Ee noted is not a negligible amount for a growing furniture brand that typically enjoys margins of 4% to 8%. The tariffs also created consumer uncertainty, leading to a six-month dip in sales, though they have since recovered.

Besides the tariffs, geopolitical tensions have put additional pressure on Castlery’s bottom line. Rising fuel prices amid the ongoing Middle East conflict have squeezed its profit margins.

Taking all these factors into account, Ee expects Castlery’s revenue growth for the current FY2026 ending in Mar to be “flat or in the single-digit” range, down from FY2025’s 10% to 15% year-on-year growth.

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A step closer to Castlery’s global ambitions

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Declan Ee is Castlery’s co-founder and President./ Image Credit: Castlery

That said, Ee is still “cautiously optimistic” about Castlery’s growth prospects.

“We control what we can. You don’t know where the wind will blow, so you build the sail to catch it,” he said.

“In our case, it’s about being close to the customer and creating products that they would want to buy, even in difficult economic times.”

The opening of the New York store brings the brand a step closer to its global ambitions.

By 2029, Ee aims to have eight to 12 showrooms in key cities worldwide, including Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as in Melbourne and Perth in Australia.

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Ee is actively scouting for retail locations in London as well, seeing Castlery’s UK online sales double month-on-month until Nov 2025 following a pop-up it held at the London Design Festival in Sep that year.

Ee explained: “Unlike the US, there are not so many big furniture brands in the UK. So we think there’s space for us to enter the market, not to mention that the sales pick-up from customers has been very encouraging.”

Achieving its expansion plans would place Castlery “on track” to evolve from a digital-first furniture retailer into a “proper global retail brand.”

“If we’re nationwide (in a single market), it gives customers a sense of assurance that we’re not just an online challenger brand, but a serious operator.”

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  • Learn more about Castlery here.
  • Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: Castlery

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UK firefighters respond to a lithium-ion battery fire every five hours, new data reveals

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Electric bikes were responsible for nearly a third of all calls – 520, to be exact – in the UK last year. Unsurprisingly, retrofitted models were involved in more incidents compared to those that shipped with batteries from the factory. For comparison, there were only 149 calls for ebike fires in 2022.
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Santa Clara County sues Meta over scam ads on Facebook and Instagram

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The complaint, filed on behalf of California residents, alleges Meta earns up to $7bn a year from “high-risk” scam ads and tolerated the practice. The county wants restitution, civil damages, and an injunction.

Santa Clara County has sued Meta Platforms in California state court, alleging the company profits from scam advertising on Facebook and Instagram in violation of California’s false-advertising and unfair-business-practices laws.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court on behalf of all California residents, alleges that Meta earns as much as $7bn in annual revenue from advertisements that bear clear signs of fraud.

The complaint says Meta “largely tolerated” the misconduct and established internal guardrails to block scam-reduction efforts that cost the company too much money.

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The county also alleges that Meta allowed middlemen to sell ad accounts that were protected against enforcement and that the company targeted scam ads at users who had clicked on similar fraudulent listings before.

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The complaint draws on internal documents first reported by Reuters in November 2025, which indicated that Meta’s own projections expected more than 10% of its 2024 annual revenue, roughly $16bn, to come from advertising scams and banned goods.

Earlier private litigation from the Consumer Federation of America cited the same set of documents.

The lawsuit seeks restitution for affected California residents, civil damages and an order prohibiting Meta from continuing the alleged practices.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously said it removes scam content and has dedicated teams working to enforce its policies.

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In April it filed its own lawsuits against advertisers involved in celebrity-impersonation scams.

Santa Clara County’s complaint is the latest in a multi-front legal challenge over Meta’s advertising platform.

A class-action filed in Washington, DC, by the Consumer Federation of America covers similar ground. Japanese regulators, the UK’s Online Safety Act enforcement team and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have all opened parallel inquiries into scam-advertising practices across the company’s platforms in the past twelve months.

The Santa Clara case is being handled by the county counsel’s office, and a scheduling order is expected within thirty days.

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How to Watch The Android Show: I/O Edition Tomorrow Before Google I/O

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Google I/O is a week away, but Android is getting its own stage first.

The company announced last weed that The Android Show: I/O Edition is returning on Tuesday, May 12, a virtual showcase it says will explain why this is “one of the biggest years for Android yet,” according to Google. The event arrives one week before Google I/O 2026, giving Android its own runway before Google’s broader developer conference turns to AI, Gemini, Chrome and the rest of the company’s sprawling software universe.

Google I/O 2026 runs May 19 to 20 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, and online. The company has already framed this year’s event around AI breakthroughs and updates across its major product lines, including Android and Gemini. 

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It hasn’t said what will be announced during this year’s Android Show. But last year’s I/O Edition wasn’t just a teaser reel. Google used it to introduce Android 16, Wear OS 6, a major Android design refresh, expanded Gemini features across devices and new safety tools meant to protect users from scams and other threats. 

That makes this year’s show worth watching even before the main I/O keynote begins. Android has become one of the clearest places where Google’s AI ambitions show up in everyday life: on phones, watches, tablets, cars, TVs and whatever new device category Google pulls into its ecosystem next.

Watch this: Google I/O 2026: New Gemini, Smart Glasses and a Whole New Laptop OS. Here’s What to Expect

How to watch Google’s Android Show

The Android Show: I/O Edition will stream virtually on May 12 through Google’s Android event page and YouTube. Google I/O begins one week later, with the keynote scheduled for May 19 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. BST).

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CNET will be following the event for any Android, Gemini and device-related announcements.

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Best AI Sprite Sheet Generator: Boost Your Gaming Performance

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In modern game development and animation, performance and smooth transitions are everything. How smoothly a game works says a lot about its performance. No one wants to play a game that lags. Therefore, an AI sprite sheet generator was introduced to solve this problem. Loading multiple small files for a single animated character sounds simple, but it requires lots of attention. Want to explore some of the best AI sprite sheet generator tools?

Start reading to find the best tool for an AI sprite sheet generator that fulfills your needs and requirements.

What is a Sprite Sheet?

A combination of several smaller images (sprites) to create a single image is called a sprite sheet. It is arranged in a grid-packed layout. It helps in speeding up the loading and closing times. It is mainly used to create game characters and UI icons. 

Instead of loading numerous individual image files, developers use a sprite sheet to make the game or application fast and more responsive. Sprite sheet works using separate data files like JSON, XML, or CSS, and maps the name of each sprite to its original coordinates, i.e., X, Y, or Width, Height.

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Each of these small graphics represents a character frame, an icon, or an item. Instead of loading several images, the program simply loads this sprite sheet and picks out the part that is needed while displaying or animating a program or game.

Benefits of Sprite Sheet

Sprite sheets are useful in many ways. It increases the performance by managing HTTPS requests and providing faster response times. It also provides storage with better compression and lower VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) usage. Let’s understand the benefits based on performance, memory, animation, and workflow development.

Benefits of Sprite Sheet

Performance

  • One file is downloaded instead of several smaller files, which leads to fewer HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) requests and consequently speeds up the loading time.
  • With a single sprite sheet, you will only need to bind one texture instead of switching between several sprites.

Storage and Memory

  • A PNG file with a single header, color palette, and compression is more useful than multiple separate files.
  • GPU works more efficiently with fewer sprites and more textures, leading to lower usage of VRAM. 
  • With similar pixels across sprites, compression becomes easier.

Animation

  • Reduces the loading delays as all frames are pre-loaded to eliminate any frame drop delays.
  • Minimizes the risk of individual frame loading at different leads, giving the same texture to different UV regions.
  • It works well with shaders and animation systems, reducing the risk of different frames loading at different speeds and times.

Workflow and Development

  • Increase the workflow by automating frame generation using an AI sprite sheet generator.
  • Save time on alignment and spacing using a faster process for animation pipelines.

Top 3 Best AI Sprite Sheet Generators

With the growing popularity of AI over the years, many free and paid best AI sprite sheet generators have entered the market. Explore the top 3 AI tools for generating a sprite sheet.

Ludo AI

Ludo AI

It is a paid sprite sheet generator that comes with several features, including a sprite generator, where you can create characters, objects, and VFX. Apart from that, it also has features for designing games, audio generation, playables, images, videos, and 3D assets. According to its official site, Ludo AI helps in increasing your productivity by 10x using a single platform. These are some of the key features:

  • Sprite Generator
  • 3D Assets Generator
  • Game Ideator
  • Video Generator
  • Market Scorer

It provides three pricing plans:

Aspect Indie Pro Studio
Pricing $15/monthly, paid annually $35/monthly, paid annually $300/monthly, paid annually
Yearly credits 3,000 credits 12,000 credits 120,000
Projects 5 active projects Unlimited active projects Realtime collaboration

For more pricing details, visit the Logo AI official pricing site.

Layer AI

Layer AI

It provides a suite of tools for animation designers. Many popular gaming brands are its clients. Gaming platforms like LBC, Games United, Cosmic Lounge, Ace Games, and more are some of the most recognizable brands of Layer AI. Some of its top features include:

  • Sprite Sheet Generator
  • Placing Characters Into a Scene
  • Animate a Character
  • Outfit Change
  • Style transfer to Scene and Items
  • Image To Sprite
  • Sketch to Art Style

It is basically an AI animation tool that helps in editing and generating animated characters. It provides 3 flexible subscription plans based on team size

Aspect Small Studio Mid-Sized Studio Enterprise
Price $60/month $300.00/month $10,920.00/month
Team Size 1-10 10-25 More than 25
Images 200 Images 3,450 images 50,000 images
Videos 100 Seconds 220 seconds 10,400 seconds
3D Models 10 Models 25 models 830 models
Audio 300 hours 1325 hours 249,450 hours

Each plan comes with customizable features; you can choose the best fit based on your business needs and requirements. For more details related to its price, visit the official pricing page. 

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Easy Peasy AI

Easy Peasy AI

The tool provides several features needed for creating a sprite sheet. It is an all-in-one tool that helps in creating images, videos, and audio. Some of the key features of Easy Peasy AI are:

  • Text to Character Generator
  • Art Prompt Generator
  • Logo Maker
  • Sprite Sheet Builder
  • AI Music Generator

You can try it before purchasing, as it comes with free trials with no credit card required. It has 4 pricing options, including one for a free plan.

Aspect Free Starter Unlimited 50 Unlimited
Price $0/month $8/month $12/month $16.5/month
Bots 1 2 3 4
Text-to-Speech 1,000 characters  25,000 characters 50,000 characters 75,000 characters 
Credits 1 image credit 200 image/video credits 300 image/video credits 400 image/video credits

It provides several features, including 35+ languages available. For more details related to the price, visit the official pricing page of Easy Peasy AI.

Related: Elden Ring: Rare Interaction with Melina After Spending 730 Hours in Gameplay

Free AI Sprite Sheet Generators

Before purchasing an expensive plan, you can try some of the free AI Sprite Sheet Generators tools available. Explore the best free AI sprite generator tools below.

OpenArt

OpenArt

With the help of this tool, you can create characters and visuals, and can also lip sync those characters. You get a one-time 40 credits, which you should use within 7 days from the start date. You need to pay for more credits. Let’s take a look at the pricing overview of OpenArt.

Pricing Plans Free Essential Advanced Infinite
Credit 40 for 7 days 4000 credits/month 12,000 credits/month 24,000 credits/month
Parallel generations 4 8 16 32
Images None 4000  12,000 24,000
Videos None  50 150 300

For more feature-related details, check out its official page.

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Rosebud AI

Rosebud AI

With this tool, you can create free sprite sheets for games. It has provided a solution to 2D, which is a time-consuming process of game development. You can create an all-new game using this free AI sprite sheet generator tool. It doesn’t have many features, but it is one of the best free AI sprite sheet generator tools.

It is completely free and doesn’t require any money transactions.

Use Case of Sprite Sheet

Sprite sheets are mainly used by web developers, game developers, graphic designers, UI/UX designers, and pixel art designers. 

For game animation: It is useful for making a game character walk, run, and jump within a single sheet. Game developers, pixel artists, and Unity programmers mostly use it for animation.

2D game and tiles: different titles, i.e., ground, wall, and trees, are packed in a single sheet to build maps quickly. Game designers, level designers, and environment artists use sprite sheets to generate 2D games and tiles.

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Website buttons and icons: Icons like home, search, settings, and social media icons are shown using a single image with CSS positioning. UI/UX, engineers, and web developers use it for updating and creating websites and apps for a simpler and clearer interface.

Web animation: Web developers, motion designers, and frontend engineers use a sprite sheet to add animated logos or loading spinners. It is done by moving the sprite sheet using CSS for the final result.

How to Create a Sprite Sheet?

Creating a Sprite Sheet is not difficult, especially when using an AI sprite sheet generator. Let’s understand how sprite sheets work, so that you can create your own characters.

  • Step 1: Prepare images for your desired animation character. Add the type, animation, frame count, and direction. Use frames, e.g., 4,8,12, or 16 for more image placements. At last, mention the side view, isometric view, or top down.
  • Step 2: Use individual frames: Add multiple images representing the animated steps of the characters. For this process, you can use tools like Aseprite, Adobe Photoshop, or Piskel. (Maintain a uniform style and remember to keep the same canvas size, i.e., 64×64 pixels).
  • Step 3: Align the frames: Remember! All the frames must have the same height and width. Align all the characters from the same baseline and remove the background to avoid misalignment.
  • Step 4: Arrange frames into a grid: Place all the frames into one single sprite sheet. Some of the common layouts are horizontal, vertical, and diagonal strips.
  • Step 5: Use an AI sprite sheet generator to avoid misalignment and save time. Use AI tools like Layer AI or Ludo AI for automatic alignment.
  • Step 6: Check the final file for exportation: Use a PNG image for better transparency. Grid and packed are the best layouts for gaming characters.
  • Step 7: Optimize the sprite sheet for performance: Look for empty spaces and remove them. Compress the texture if it is a large file, and convert sprites into one sheet.

Tips to Make an Effective Sprite Sheet 

  • Use similar-sized frames for each animated image.
  • Add padding and borders to avoid texture bleeding (color leaking from one image to another).
  • Keep one animation per sheet, for example, walk, run, or still.
  • Select the right format of image for transparency. (Use PNG)
  • Add frames tightly to save space and memory in the sprite sheet.
  • Check every aspect after arranging the images in a named folder.
  • Export data in a JSON file.
  • Always test the frame rate and download size.

Related: How to Reduce Fortnite Lagging: 5+ Effective Tips 

FAQs

Which is the best AI sprite sheet generator?

Ludo AI and Layer AI are the best paid AI sprite sheet generators.

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Can AI create sprite sheets?

Yes, there are several AI sprite sheet generators available.

How do I generate sprite sheets automatically?

Use AI tools for an automatic sprite sheet generator.

Are there free AI sprite generators?

Yes, Rosebud AI and Opencut AI are some of the best free AI sprite sheet generators.

What is a Sprite Sheet in game development?

It is a group of small images that all together make a single sheet, which speeds up the loading time.

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End-to-end encryption rolls out for RCS in iOS 26.5

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After months of buildup, end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging has finally made it to iOS, allowing Android and iPhone users to enjoy enhanced security between platforms when texting.

Apple continues to make progress on its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging, following a few months of testing on iOS 26.4 developer betas. Now, it appears that the feature is ready for larger public testing.

On Monday, Apple announced that E2EE RCS messaging will roll out for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 with a supported carrier, and Android users on the latest version of Google Messages. This means that, provided the aforementioned criteria are met, RCS messages can’t be read while being sent between devices.

Users will see a new lock icon in RCS chats when a message is encrypted. Apple has included a list of participating carriers on a support page.

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Apple notes that this is still technically a beta test of the feature, and will likely roll out in phases. Encrypted will be automatically enabled over time for both new and existing RCS conversations.

Apple began testing E2EE RCS messaging in the first iOS 26.4 developer beta in mid-February. Testing was very limited, as it was exclusively for iPhone users with iMessage disabled.

Fortunately, about one week later Apple rolled out the second iOS 26.4 developer beta, allowing Android and iPhones to trade fully encrypted RCS messages for the first time.

Apple initially announced that it would be offering end-to-end encryption to RCS messaging on iOS in March 2025.

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Let there be light: Redfin powers up ‘Sunscore,’ an interactive map to track property sunlight

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An interactive “Sunscore” visualization on Redfin shows the path of sunlight on GeekWire’s offices in Seattle. (Image via Redfin)

What’s it take to be a neighbor with a sunny disposition? Perhaps more sunlight, for starters.

Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin launched “Sunscore” on Monday, a new interactive feature that lets home searchers see how much natural light a property receives throughout the day.

The 3D map offers a property-level sun-path visualization, tracking sunlight and the shadows cast by surrounding terrain, buildings and trees. Different times of day and times of the year are analyzed to provide a full picture of potential shadows. Properties are scored 0-100 — the more sunlight, the higher the score.

“We know from customer feedback that sunlight is a priority for house hunters,” said Ariel Dos Santos, Redfin’s chief product and design officer, in a news release. “When you tour a home, you want to see brightly lit spaces with natural light pouring through windows. Sunscore gives home searchers that information upfront in a simple-to-understand way.”

A recent Redfin survey found that nearly 70% of people say the amount of sunlight in their home affects their satisfaction with their living situation, and 11% say it’s non-negotiable when searching for a home.

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And the amount of light a home receives isn’t just a mood-booster or an aesthetic factor; the score on property-level sunlight can be also help homeowners measure the potential for solar energy and long-term cost savings.

Sunscore is developed by Austria-based Shadowmap, and the partnership with Redfin-owned Rocket is a U.S. exclusive. The feature is now available on all for-sale homes listed on Redfin.com and will be available on Redfin’s iPhone and Android apps later this year.

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What is the release date for Half Man episode 4 on HBO Max and BBC iPlayer?

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Who else is feeling physically sick every time they tune into Half Man? That’s testament to Richard Gadd’s incredible character creation, but my word is Ruben absolutely vile.

As we’re finding out, the show follows brothers Niall (Jamie Bell) and Ruben (Gadd) through 30 years of their lives, exploring the highs and lows of their turbulent relationship. Frankly, “lows” is putting things politely.

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Daniel Ek-backed defense tech Helsing to raise $1.2B at $18B valuation

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Five-year-old European military drone startup Helsing is reportedly close to raising a new $1.2 billion round at about an $18 billion valuation. The round is expected to be led by Dragoneer and co-led by existing Helsing investor Lightspeed, the Financial Times reported.

Helsing last raised just under a year ago, in June 2025, in a deal that was led by billionaire Spotify founder Daniel Ek. That was a €600 million investment at an estimated €12 billion valuation ($14 billion USD). So this new round is a step-up.

While Helsing isn’t the only European unicorn defense tech, it is by far the one that investors deem the most valuable. For instance, German drone maker Quantum Systems raised €180 million in November, which valued it at more than €3 billion. And a year ago, Lisbon-headquartered Tekever raised £400 million at a valuation above £1 billion. Amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, the proving ground for new technologies, autonomous defense startups have become a hot area for VCs.

Helsing, Dragoneer, and Lightspeed could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Filing shows Starbucks’ recent job cuts will impact 61 tech jobs at Seattle HQ

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Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

A new filing with Washington state shows that Starbucks’ recent job cuts will impact 61 tech jobs at its Seattle headquarters. The Seattle Times first reported on this round of layoffs in April, citing an internal message that did not include the number of roles, their location or specific job titles.

The layoffs are the result of “a reorganization of the technology department at the Starbucks Support Center,” the letter states. The cuts take effect between June 20 and Aug. 28.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter states that the affected roles include cybersecurity analyst, technical product manager, systems analyst, systems administrator, scrum master and architect. Employees at the director and manager levels are among those being let go.

The restructuring comes as Starbucks pushes ahead with a broader turnaround under CEO Brian Niccol, who joined in 2024 and has pushed a series of technology initiatives — from an AI-powered drink-ordering assistant to an algorithm that manages mobile order timing.

The tech department shake-up also follows the hiring of Anand Varadarajan as chief technology officer in January. He joined the coffee company after 19 years at Amazon, where he most recently led technology and supply chain for its global grocery business.

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In a September filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Starbucks warned that it needed to keep improving its marketing, data analytics and AI tools or risk losing consumer interest and market share.

The tech sector has seen a wave of layoffs in recent months, including cuts in the Pacific Northwest impacting Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Expedia Group, T-Mobile, Oracle, Zillow and others. Companies generally frame the cuts as a mix of post-pandemic restructuring, tighter cost discipline, and a shift of resources toward AI and other strategic priorities.

RELATED: Starbucks cuts tech jobs as new CTO reshapes organization

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Few visible Mac changes as Maps ads and subscriptions arrive

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Apple’s macOS 26.5 has been released, delivering a quiet update focused on stability, subscription changes, and system-level improvements rather than new user-facing features.

The release arrives without major additions across the interface or built-in apps. macOS Tahoe 26.4, which shipped on March 24, 2026, introduced visible updates across apps and system features, while version 26.5 shifts attention to compatibility and platform work.

Mac users shouldn’t expect a major shift after installing it. Apple uses the release to support new App Store billing options and refine system behavior without changing how macOS works day to day.

macOS 26.5 is build number 25F71.

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Maps ads expand to macOS in a broader services push

Apple has expanded ads in Maps to macOS as part of the same rollout across its platforms. Ads now appear at the top of some search results and sit alongside standard listings, which changes how locations are surfaced without altering navigation tools.

Suggested Places also appears in Maps and highlights nearby locations based on trends, recent searches, and local activity. Results no longer rely only on relevance and proximity, as paid placements can influence what appears first.

Apple uses the change to extend its advertising model into local search on the Mac. Ads are clearly labeled and rely on signals like search terms and location instead of user profiles.

App Store subscription changes carry over to macOS

Apple’s new subscription model reaches macOS with the 26.5 release. Developers can offer monthly payments tied to a 12-month commitment in most regions, excluding the United States and Singapore.

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Users get pricing that usually matches discounted annual plans without paying for a full year upfront. The model still commits subscribers to 12 monthly payments once a subscription starts, even though the price appears as a monthly plan.

Subscribers can cancel at any time, but service continues until all committed payments are completed. Account settings show completed payments, remaining payments, and renewal timing, which makes the commitment clear over time.

Developers gain a more predictable revenue stream while presenting pricing as a lower monthly cost. Monthly billing doesn’t provide monthly flexibility under this model.

macOS 26.5 focuses on under-the-hood improvements rather than visible changes across the interface or built-in apps. Apple directs the release toward stability, compatibility, and updates that support how apps run and interact with the system.

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Safari and core system components receive updates that improve reliability and behavior in everyday use. These changes help reduce bugs and inconsistencies without introducing new features that users can see directly.

macOS 26.5 follows macOS 26.4 as a quieter release with a narrower purpose. Most users will see an incremental update that keeps the Mac current rather than changing how it looks or behaves day to day.

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