The ‘urban doom loop’ threatening cities like New York and San Francisco

Major American cities such as New York and San Francisco face serious problems — mass migration, empty offices and declining tax revenues. “Because cities have to balance their budget, they now need to cut spending,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, professor of real estate at Columbia Business School, who studies the long-term effects of COVID-19 policies….

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A big AI and robotics idea that has attracted Walmart and Softbank

Symbotic technology in use at a Walmart facility. Courtesy: Walmart Venture-capital giant Softbank notched a $15 billion-plus gain on its 2016 deal to buy Arm Holdings when the artificial intelligence-enabling semiconductor firm went public last month. But not as many investors know about Softbank’s “other” big AI investment, Wilmington, Mass.-based software and robotics maker Symbotic,…

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