If the writing had been on the wall for SEO for some time, Google Marketing Live 2026 provided the official confirmation. Traditional search is done. There’s now only one kind of search on Google, and it’s AI-based. As an agency with its foundations built upon the original SEO playbook, we’re the first to concede that the old ways of doing things will no longer work in 2026. We have the numbers to back this up. In March this year, we conducted an experiment to see how the top-ranked businesses on Google fared when measured by an AI-engine. We searched for 100 commercial keywords across five industries on Google and identified which brands ranked in the top five. Then we took longer-tail, variation-based questions that people would use on the LLMs (4308 prompts suggested by Ubersuggest and Answer the Public) related to those 500 commercial key terms to see whether those brands were mentioned. What we found was that the brands holding Google’s top spot were only showing up in AI responses 31% of the time. In other words, brands that “won” SEO, who fought for and held the top rank, are invisible to AI more than two-thirds of the time. The reason why this change is happening comes down to the shortened consumer purchase journey. According to Bain & Company’s “Goodbye clicks, hello AI” report, zero-click activity already accounts for 65% of consumer searches, with the majority of decisions shaped before a brand’s website ever enters the picture. We’re seeing this in our own client base, with the consumer journey collapsing from 20-plus touchpoints over a few weeks to a single AI conversation in five minutes. This is the modern reality, where consumers get everything they need without clicking a single link. So, it’s clear the old measurement framework, using rankings, traffic and CTR, is assessing the wrong thing entirely. Moving forward, companies really need to be shifting to an outcomes-first measurement approach, which means moving away from surface-level vanity metrics. SEO won the batter, AI changed the game While this switch in strategy matters everywhere, Southeast Asia is on the global front line. Our region has leapfrogged the West with AI-led discovery, just like we did with chat-native commerce. Platforms such as Lazada, Shopee, and Grab already trained consumers to expect instant, personalised answers. That conditioning is now accelerating AI search adoption faster here than in most other markets. This means that brands still thinking in keyword-ranking terms are already falling behind. Combine this with the broader environment, where the global economy and geopolitics are squeezing marketing budgets and business margins, and there is zero room for brands to be optimising the wrong thing. The good news is that 30 days is enough for a brand to improve its positioning. The first step is an honest audit of your AI visibility. Instead of Googling yourself, your best bet is to now search your brand and category on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and the other major AI platforms. Are you showing up? Are your competitors? Think of this as your new share-of-voice audit. Next, your measurement strategy should evolve. It’s best to stop reporting rankings and traffic as primary KPIs and instead focus on tracking brand mentions in AI outputs, citation frequency, and share of AI recommendations by category. For example, reviews are now much stronger than keyword density. AI agents surface brands based on review volume and quality, as well as third-party citations, not on-page copy optimisation. On the content side, when reviewing your website, it should be more encyclopaedic than promotional. AI overviews pull disproportionately from content with facts, comparisons, and statistics, so brands whose content resembles a sales pitch get overlooked more often by LLMs. Finally, it pays to ensure your messaging is consistent across every channel. AI agents cross-reference signals from Google, YouTube, Reddit, review platforms and social media. Inconsistent messaging on these touchpoints creates conflicting signals, and a confused AI won’t recommend you. Unfortunately, no digital environment punishes misallocated attention more brutally than the current one. So, if you’re still using the old ways of working, you’re potentially already behind the eight ball. The good news, however, is you can catch up fast, you just need to start taking the key steps today. This article was written by Dan Kalinski, APAC managing director, NP Digital. source

Fancy driving an off-roader guided by its own remote drone flying ahead to recce the terrain and relay images back to your dashboard screen? What about a customizable body and interior you can adapt for different adventures with switchable wings, fenders and even different dashboard screens? Okay, GM’s new concept Hummer X is unlikely to be rolling into a showroom near you any time soon – but as a showcase of ideas percolating behind the scenes, it’s one of the most interesting vehicles of the year. This electric off-roader concept is designed as either a pickup or SUV and when GM says it “reimagines what a vehicle can mean to the people who drive it” for once it’s not just over-the-top marketingspeak. It really seems to be a testbed for some radical new technologies. GMC HUMMER X Mid-Size SUV Concept | Official GM B-Roll GMC HUMMER X Mid-Size Pickup Concept | Official GM B-Roll Right from the fundamental level, the Hummer concept is different. GM’s design team envisages building it using a new fast, small-batch, on-demand production system. This would be similar to 3D printing, but for metal. That means each Hummer X could be completely configurable because it uses no specialized stamping tools. Multiple designs would be possible from the same platform. GM calls this small production system ‘Flex Fab’ and there’s more than a hint of Southern California about the thinking involved. And that is no surprise, when you spot that the concept was revealed as part of the official opening of GM’s new advanced design studio in Pasadena. This brainstorming unit spans 148,000 square feet (1,300 sq m) across three buildings, and is equipped for full-size clay modeling, fabrication and immersive digital collaboration. It houses a 100 -strong team spanning design, sculpting and fabrication. The studio’s focus is on conceptual design studies intended to drive new ideas across the company. GM says its designers look beyond current production programs to envision “what could be.” The Hummer X Concept SUV has a ground clearance of 13.2 inches, a breakover angle of 30.9 deg, and measures 188.3 inches long with a 116-inch wheelbaseGeneral Motors For example, the Hummer X replaces adhesives with snap fits and mechanical fasteners so parts can be fully recycled and swapped in and out. There’s a list of parts made from recycled bits which is fairly meaningless when the exercise is all at the concept level but nevertheless shows where GM’s thinking is heading. It is taking recycling so seriously it describes the Hummer X as part of a circular economy and community of switchable, reusable parts. However it is put together and whatever it’s made from, the X Concept seems to have unlocked a new Hummer vibe: a clean, flat-topped silhouette with smooth radiused edges, laser-welded seams and visible precision bolts. To our eyes it looks embarrassingly better than the standard Hummer EV that’s actually on sale. Regular readers will recall we spent a week testing the latest production Hummer recently, where our own Aaron Turpen called it ‘a mobile playhouse for adults who love extremes.’ Interestingly the new X Concept has been designed significantly smaller yet fully crammed with ideas and rock-crawling capabilities. The SUV Concept X is slightly more monstrous than its pickup sibling, with massive 37-inch off-road tires that AutoExpress magazine has likened to something you’d drive on the Moon. There’s a towering ground clearance of 13.2 in (334 mm) and its approach and departure angles of 44 and 46 degrees completely out crawl a Land Rover Defender’s 40-degree maximum. The hardcore beadlock wheels mechanically clamp the edge of the tire to the rim. Unlike standard wheels, which rely solely on air pressure to push the tire against the rim, beadlocks use a bolted outer ring to physically sandwich the tire in place. Fancy driving a truck with this dash? The Hummer X Concept’s dash has the potential to expand to NASA control room levels of intelGeneral Motors But let’s get back to that extraordinary customizable dashboard, one of the most noticeable features. There are up to seven screen systems available. You can stack them all in there, side-by-side, or just pick the ones you want for your particular adventure. One of them, for example, links to a scout drone camera surveying the terrain ahead and feeding back route data to the driver. This is from a Southern Californian think tank remember, so all the boring technical details like range and performance weren’t included in the press materials. It clearly isn’t about creating a production concept but an ideas showcase. Nevertheless, if the X aims to out-perform the standard Hummer EV, it will need the largest battery fitted to any production car. The standard EV is currently powered by the biggest in any car in the world, a huge 212-kWh unit three times the size of a Chevy Bolt’s battery which is humongous enough to power several homes at once or more than 400 ebikes simultaneously. Source: GMC source

Brands may be winning the battle for visibility in AI-generated answers, but that visibility means little if audiences do not trust what they are reading. That’s according to a new report from Burson, which argues that the next phase of generative engine optimisation (GEO) will be defined not by whether brands appear in AI-generated responses, but by whether those responses are believable to the audiences that matter most. The report, titled “The credibility paradox”, analysed more than 55,000 AI-generated responses across seven major AI answer platforms, examining how 85 companies were represented across eight reputation dimensions: innovation, creativity, workplace, products, financial performance, governance, citizenship and leadership. The findings suggest that while many organisations have focused on securing visibility in AI-generated answers, communicators now face a new challenge: ensuring that the narratives AI systems construct are credible. Conducted in partnership with AI marketing platform Profound, the study evaluated AI-generated responses using Burson’s proprietary Decipher tool, developed with cognitive AI company Limbik. The tool assessed the believability of responses among three audience groups: the general population, opinion elites and business decision-makers. One of the report’s strongest findings was that AI rewards proof over positioning. Don’t miss: Does reputation have a price tag? Burson puts it at US$7.07 trillion globally AI rewards proof, not positioning According to the report, reputation attributes supported by observable and independently verifiable evidence consistently outperformed those built around more subjective or institutional claims. Innovation ranked as the most believable reputation lever overall, followed by creativity, workplace and products. Meanwhile, governance, citizenship and leadership occupied the bottom half of the rankings. In tandem, it found that AI-generated responses grounded in product launches, customer experiences, awards, workplace reviews and third-party coverage were generally more believable than narratives centered on corporate intent, executive judgement or organisational values. In fact, the data showed a strong directional separation between performance and foundational levers, arguing that in AI environments, proof is no longer simply support for a message but the infrastructure that makes the message credible. Interestingly, leadership emerged as the weakest reputation dimension across almost every industry and audience group studied. Executive visibility and CEO commentary rarely translated into believable AI-generated narratives unless they were reinforced by governance practices, business performance, employee experiences and third-party validation. In fact, leadership ranked among the bottom two reputation dimensions across every sector examined, making it one of the clearest vulnerabilities in AI-mediated reputation management. The findings may challenge traditional approaches to executive thought leadership, with Burson arguing that communicators should focus less on executive visibility itself and more on building what it described as “credible, extractable and externally validated leadership proof”. Meanwhile, workplace reputation emerged as an unexpectedly powerful credibility driver. Workplace ranked first among the general population and remained in the top half across all audience groups. According to the report, workplace narratives perform strongly because they are supported by highly visible and independently verifiable signals, including employee reviews, labour reporting, talent rankings, workplace policies, hiring activity and earned media coverage. Different audiences trust different signals  The study also found that credibility varied significantly depending on who was consuming the AI-generated response. Business decision-makers rated AI-generated answers 10% more believable on average than members of the general population. While business decision-makers and opinion elites ranked innovation as the most believable reputation attribute, the general population placed workplace and products at the top of the list. This means organisations need a more audience-specific approach to GEO. For example, an innovation-led narrative may resonate with business audiences who understand technical capabilities and industry context, but prove too abstract for broader audiences unless it is translated into tangible customer outcomes or visible product benefits. Beyond audience differences, the report also highlighted significant variations between industries. Technology emerged as the most credible sector in AI-generated answers, maintaining a top-two position across all reputation dimensions. Aerospace also performed strongly, ranking within the top three across every category measured, including governance, leadership and financial performance. At the other end of the spectrum, energy recorded the lowest credibility scores across every reputation dimension studied. Burson attributed these differences to what it calls “credibility burdens” and “translation burdens”. A credibility burden occurs when audiences understand a company’s claims but require stronger proof before accepting them, particularly around areas such as governance, sustainability, transparency and social impact. A translation burden, meanwhile, affects sectors such as industrials, infrastructure and complex B2B businesses, where the challenge lies not in trust but in helping audiences understand the value being created. In these cases, companies need clearer explanations, stronger category education and more visible proof points rather than simply producing more content. The report also warned against applying a uniform GEO strategy across global markets. While AI systems generally favour verifiable and performance-based proof, the information ecosystems they rely on differ significantly across regions. In markets such as China, Japan and South Korea, AI systems often draw more heavily from local platforms and closed digital ecosystems, reducing the influence of sources that may carry weight in Western markets. As a result, companies should spend less time optimising individual pieces of content for AI platforms and more time building locally relevant proof systems that AI can access and validate. The report arrives as marketers, communications professionals and reputation specialists increasingly explore GEO strategies to improve visibility across AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. However, Burson argues that success in AI-mediated environments will depend less on securing “share of answer” and more on building what it calls “evidence ecosystems” – a consistent mix of earned, owned and social content reinforced by independent validation. “As AI becomes an increasingly influential layer between companies and their stakeholders, it is shaping not only how brands are discovered, but also how they are understood and evaluated,” said Red Surtida, APAC head of intelligence and transformation at Burson. “The real opportunity for organisations is not simply to secure share of answer, but to ensure those answers are grounded in evidence, backed by credible sources, and believable to the audiences that

While it’s not exactly a household name, Boox tablets have steadily made their way into the e-reader market that’s long been dominated by Amazon’s Kindle. But the Boox Go 10.3 Lumi makes a strong argument for reading tablet of choice, because it’s much more than just a device to read a book on. The Go 10.3 (Gen II) Lumi sits somewhere between a digital notebook, an e-reader and a minimalist Android tablet, designed for anyone who spends a lot of time reading, annotating, sketching or writing – and would prefer to do these things without the distraction, eye strain or battery drain that you get with a conventional tablet like an iPad. The tablet uses E Ink technology, which needs little introduction for New Atlas readers. These revolutionary digital screens can now be found beyond consumer tech, seen on shelves in grocery stores and at bus stops, allowing for real-time updates of prices and schedules, respectively. Technically, E Ink displays use millions of microscopic capsules usually filled with black and white, but sometimes color, charged pigment particles suspended in fluid. These particles are pushed to the surface of the screen by an electric field, which then form images and more often text that the reader sees. This movement “sticks” the particles to the surface without needing extra power to stay in place – which is why the battery life of E Ink devices are one of their biggest selling points. It also means the screens can be incredibly thin. The Go 10.3 (Gen II) is super-thin and sleekNew Atlas The size of the Go 10.3 (Gen II) Lumi follows suit, at just 4.8-mm (0.19-in) thick and weighing just 364 g (12.8 oz). Even inside its Boox magnetic case – which also allows you to prop it up for hands-free use – it’s an ultra-slim package that slips easily into a tight space. It’s been a constant companion in my recent travels, and I had no trouble sliding it into a rather crowded backpack’s laptop pouch, unlike my laptop. As for the stats, it comes with a dual-tone front light for night and day reading, drawing and note-taking, remaining easy on the eyes in bright sunlight or in dim settings – like on overnight flights where the cabin is dimmed for sleeping passengers (unfortunately, I am rarely one of those lucky people). The high-quality 300-PPI screen produces sharp text and fine details, and its advanced Octa-core processor essentially means eight units are working simultaneously from the single chip. In the simplest terms, it means the system is set up for multitasking without excessive battery drain or lag. A slim magnetic cover keeps the tablet safe and works as a stand to prop it up New Atlas A 3,700-mAh battery provides excellent endurance, considering E Ink screens only use power when the screen refreshes. I have been using the tablet daily for work notes and planning, as well as reading an old Charles Darwin text on climbing plants, and I can’t remember the last time I charged it. And it’s currently at 44% capacity. If you’ve had an e-reader like a Kindle, you’ll be familiar with this kind of longevity, so it’s not unique to Boox – but nonetheless is impressive given the other features this tablet offers. The Go 10.3 is an Android device, running on Android 15 and has the Google Play Store built into its system. If you’re an Android cellphone user, you’ll have added connectivity for getting book purchases and other downloads onto your tablet. However, you can use the reader independently, too, but will need to be on Wi-Fi to download apps, new content and update firmware. With 64 GB of storage and more than 20 digital formats supported, you can read anything from PDFs to EPUB texts on the built-in NeoReader app – and keep them in the library. Of course, you can also load your existing catalog from other e-readers onto this tablet, as well as purchase new ones through your usual outlets. This is really handy when it comes to swapping from, for example, Kindle to Boox without losing your library. Just make sure you have your passwords handy, because you’ll need to log into your accounts to link everything up. You can access your books from other digital stores like Kindle – you’re welcome to judge my collection, from before I lost my old e-readerNew Atlas The real appeal of the Go 10.3, however, is the writing experience. The metal-cased, USB-chargeable InkSense Plus stylus – which comes with the tablet – supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition, giving handwriting and sketching a surprisingly natural, pencil-on-paper feel than feels uncannily like writing on a notepad. So it’s perfect for jotting down notes, drafting story ideas, annotating or sketching. It’s pleasingly tactile thanks to the textured screen surface and stylus tip, but you can also adjust sound if you don’t enjoy that scratchy “pencil on paper” sound. My most-used feature so far is the notes section, which has a variety of stored templates and an option to download moreNew Atlas The built-in Notes app is also surprisingly packed with features that allow for the type of customization you’d expect from text and image editing software – you can make use of layers, handwriting conversion, lasso tools, tags, outlines and much more. It’s particularly handy for students and researchers needing to make notes in academic papers, as it does the most laborious work for you (keeping track of all you’ll need for your own citations). I’ve mostly enjoyed just mindlessly doodling on a blank page and playing around with the stylus’ range of line thickness and shading capabilities. I also really enjoy the preloaded templates, from sheet music to weekly planners. As someone who prefers handwritten planning, doing this digitally allows for erasing and rearranging lists without the mess that comes with doing this when you put pen to paper. tAn example of the weekly diary template. As well as the screen

Despite garnering unflattering nicknames like “the snow shovel,” “the boat paddle,” and “the plank” for its simplicity and no-fuss design when it was introduced to the public in 1951, the Fender Telecaster has proved to be an incredibly versatile instrument that morphs depending on who is playing it. Across various genres, from rock to country to blues to funk to indie and beyond, the Tele has been at the center of popular music for decades. On its 75th birthday, let’s look at the guitar-slingers who took the Tele to new places and made it their own. Albert Collins Known as The Master Of The Telecaster, Albert Collins was both blues legend and wild-eyed showman, picking out licks on his 1966 Custom Tele, usually in an open tuning, with a capo on the neck. Check out this live clip from 1990 – few guitarists could look and sound this cool with their guitar slung so high, and with a dodgy-looking strap casually hooked over their right shoulder. Albert Collins – If trouble was money Muddy Waters They call him the father of modern Chicago blues, a guitarist who traveled north from his home in the south, bringing his electrified version of the Delta blues with him and creating a whole new genre in the process. And Muddy Waters did it all on his distinctive red 1957 Telecaster that he nicknamed The Hoss. Here he is doing Honeybee, from 1970. Muddy Waters – Honey Bee (1970) James Burton He’s a guitarist who has played a big part in the music careers of not one, but two guys named Elvis – Presley and Costello. James Burton also played on what is often regarded as the first Telecaster-fueled Top 40 hit, Suzie Q by Dale Hawkins. The guitar that is most associated with him is his paisley-patterned Tele, and you can see him almost setting it alight with his lightning-fast picking in this live clip with Presley in Las Vegas in 1970. ELVIS PRESLEY – Mystery Train / Tiger Man (Las Vegas 1970) New Edit 4K Steve Cropper Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding; In The Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett; Soul Man by Sam And Dave; Green Onions by Booker T. & The M.G.s. The list of ’60s soul hits fueled by guitarist Steve Cropper goes on and on. And after being immortalized as part of the band in The Blues Brothers movie in 1980, his star kept shining for decades, his trusty Tele as constant companion. Watch him make it strut and sing in this performance of Green Onions, playing to what looks like the squarest audience of 1967. (1967) GREEN ONIONS – Live – Booker T. and MG’s Keith Richards Some reports estimate that Keith Richards owns around 3,000 guitars. He once quipped, “Give me five minutes and I can make them all sound the same.” One of his most prized is the butterscotch Telecaster Eric Clapton gave him on his 27th birthday that he named Micawber, after a Charles Dickens character in David Copperfield. You can hear the man they name The Human Riff give it a workout on songs like Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar. The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar (Havana Moon) Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin’s legendary guitarist may be strongly associated with the Les Paul, but on the band’s debut album, and later on one of the most famous guitar solos of all time – in Stairway To Heaven – Jimmy Page used his beloved 1958 Telecaster. The guitar was gifted to him by Jeff Beck, his former bandmate in The Yardbirds, and he famously painted a dragon on the body. It just about breathes fire in this performance of Dazed And Confused from 1969. Led Zeppelin – Dazed and Confused (Supershow 1969) [Official Video] Bruce Springsteen Has any other guitar absorbed as much sweat as Bruce Springsteen’s Telecaster? Well, let’s backpedal a little. This guitar is called The Mutt for good reason. It has a Telecaster body and the neck of an Esquire, the precursor to the Tele. When he appeared on the cover of Born To Run, leaning on Clarence Clemons with that guitar prominently displayed, Fender couldn’t have got better advertising if the brand had paid for it. Here’s The Boss taking The Mutt for a walk in 1978. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Born To Run (Phoenix, 78) (from Thrill Hill Vault 1976-1978) Prince We all know Prince was a genius. If anyone ever doubts his guitar playing skills, just direct them to the solo he plays on his Tele on While My Guitar Gently Weeps for George Harrison’s posthumous induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2004. You can see the looks of disbelief on the faces of Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George’s son Dhani. At the end he simply throws the guitar in the air and nonchalantly walks off stage like it was no sweat. Where it lands? Nobody knows. 2021 Remaster “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Prince, Tom Petty & More | Rock Hall 2004 Induction Joe Strummer There may be cooler images from the ’70s than Joe Strummer in the video for London Calling, slashing at his 1966 Telecaster like it has just insulted his mother, on a cold night along the banks of the Thames while steam issues from his mouth and he snarls about a post-apocalyptic London – but none immediately come to mind. The Clash – London Calling (Official Video) Wilko Johnson He had one of the most unorthodox playing styles, first with Dr. Feelgood and later as a member of Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads, using the back of his fingernails to scrape the strings of his battered black Tele in a frantic blur. But damn, it sure was effective. This 1975 live clip of Dr. Feelgood is living proof, with Wilko in full flight while intensely marching backwards and forwards like a man possessed. Chrissie Hynde Whether she was making it

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major indexes ended Monday higher after President Donald Trump spoke out on Iran. Oil prices popped while Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) boosted a housing stock. Also, Nvidia (NVDA) was among winning stocks while Anthropic made an IPO move and IBM (IBM) tested an entry on the stock market today. The Dow industrials fought back… Copyright ©2026 Investor’s Business Daily, LLC. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 source

McDonald’s is bringing the FIFA World Cup 26 fever to fans worldwide with a slate of limited-time meals, collectible merchandise and fan experiences designed to celebrate the world’s biggest football tournament. As part of the global campaign, the fast-food giant is rolling out FIFA World Cup 26 meals and Happy Meals featuring exclusive collectibles inspired by football icons including David Beckham, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Thierry Henry, Son Heung-min and Lamine Yamal, alongside fan-favourite character Grimace. The campaign also includes FIFA World Cup-themed Squishmallows plush toys, digital experiences and community activations across participating markets. Don’t miss: Are McSpicy lovers really the most loyal? In Singapore, McDonald’s is kicking off the celebrations from 11 June with a local line-up of menu offerings, collectibles and fan experiences inspired by the tournament. Leading the launch is the return of the honey soy chicken McCrispy, alongside the debut of spicy jalapeño chicken McNuggets and the first-ever standalone Big Mac sauce dip. Fans who purchase a FIFA World Cup 26 meal will also receive one of six limited-edition collectible cups featuring football legends David Beckham, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Thierry Henry, Heung-Min Son and Lamine Yamal, as well as Grimace. The local campaign also introduces new pistachio-flavoured desserts, including the pistachio soft serve, pistachio sundae and pistachio OREO McFlurry. Meanwhile, from 4 June, every Happy Meal will come with one of 12 limited-edition FIFA World Cup 26 Squishmallows plush toys, with new characters released weekly throughout the campaign period. McDonald’s is also extending the campaign beyond its food offerings with exclusive merchandise and fan experiences. From 29 June, members can redeem a McDonald’s football kit comprising a statement T-shirt and collectible pin set through the McDonald’s app. The merchandise will be available for redemption at selected stores, while stocks last. The brand is also bringing fans together for a FIFA World Cup 26 finals watch party at McDonald’s Marine Cove on 20 July. Running from 2am to 6am, the event will allow football fans to watch the tournament finale alongside fellow supporters. Tickets can be redeemed via the McDonald’s app from 30 June, with each redemption valid for up to five people. Attendees will also have access to an unlimited chicken McNuggets and french fries buffet throughout the event. For fans following the tournament’s early kick-offs and late-night matches, McDonald’s is also bringing back the breakfast burger chicken ham, along with the new breakfast burger sausage. “At McDonald’s, magic happens when families, friends, and fans come together and celebrate with the people they love. Partnering with the FIFA World Cup 26 allows us to take that shared joy and bring it to life at a global scale through our food, our experiences, and the ways fans connect with the game,” said Drina Chee, senior director, marketing and digital customer experience at McDonald’s Singapore. She added, “As football icons take the field to unite fans across continents, McDonald’s will be there from the first whistle to the final minute, bringing your McDonald’s favourites to the heart of every game, alongside limited-time meals and keepsakes so fans of all ages can be part of the excitement all tournament long and beyond.” MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for more information.  As brands ramp up their FIFA World Cup 2026 marketing efforts, many are also tapping football’s biggest stars to drive fan engagement. Earlier this year, the LEGO Group enlisted Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Vini Jr. for a global campaign promoting its new LEGO Editions platform. The initiative featured football-themed building sets and fan activations, with the four players fronting content centred around the LEGO Editions FIFA World Cup official trophy set. Similarly, adidas tapped a mix of sporting and entertainment stars for its FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, “Backyard legends”. Fronted by Timothée Chalamet, the film featured football icons including Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham and Trinity Rodman, celebrating the grassroots origins of football greatness. Related articles: Hyundai’s World Cup play stars Son Heung-min and an unexpected teammate   Lenovo taps David Beckham to power its AI play ahead of World Cup   adidas kicks off FIFA World Cup 2026 festivities with star-studded short film source

Blue Origin’s space ambitions have suffered a major setback as its New Glenn rocket exploded in a fireball on the launch pad at about 7:00 pm EDT at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida during an engine test. According to Blue Origin and news reports, the explosion occurred while the fully stacked vehicle was undergoing a routine hot-fire test that involved fueling the rocket and a brief ignition of the first-stage liquid methane/oxygen engines ahead of the scheduled NG-4 orbital mission. Details of the incident are still emerging, but Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has confirmed that there were no casualties. “All personnel are accounted for and safe,” said Bezos in a post on X. “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” Despite this, there have been reports of major infrastructure damage. The rocket appears to have been completely destroyed and one lightning arrestor tower has vanished. It is feared that the pad, hangars, and adjacent test facilities have also been impacted. However, there was no payload atop the rocket at the time of the incident. New Glenn is a heavy-lift, partially reusable two-stage launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin to support commercial satellite constellations, national security launches, and civil spaceflight programs, including NASA’s Artemis lunar initiative. With the apparent loss of the rocket and possible damage to Blue Origin’s only operational New Glenn launch complex, future flight schedules are likely to be significantly affected while repairs and investigations are carried out. Source: Blue Origin source

The LEGO Group has named actor Jason Momoa as its latest LEGO “Playmaker”, as part of a global push to tackle what it calls a “play deficit” affecting families worldwide. The initiative sits under the brand’s “Never stop playing” campaign, which aims to encourage families to rediscover the benefits of shared play amid increasingly time-poor, screen-heavy lifestyles. Momoa fronts the campaign through a public service announcement-style film, in which he introduces his “masterplan” to restore family playtime. At the centre is a “brick click” moment, the simple act of clicking two LEGO bricks together, positioned as a gateway into creativity and imagination. Don’t miss: Nike and LEGO team up for wild, creative youth football collection The near three-minute film opens with a group of LEGO characters discussing the upcoming World Play Day, noting that the “numbers are not good” following earlier suggestions. Momoa then appears, introducing himself as the new Playmaker and revealing that the global “play deficit” has been keeping him up at night. He shares that he has a plan to get the world playing again before launching into an instructional-style video showcasing the many ways people can engage with LEGO. Momoa then snaps back to reality, where the group agrees on the rallying line “Never stop playing”. The film closes with Momoa himself building with LEGO sets, before the characters call on him for further help. According to the LEGO Group’s latest research, nearly nine in 10 parents (89%) wish they could play more with their children, while one in 10 (9%) say they do not play together at all. This equates to over 60 million families globally. However, the findings suggest even small interventions could make a difference. Just five hours of family play a week was found to significantly improve happiness and wellbeing, less than the time many families already spend watching TV or scrolling on devices. Yet almost half (44%) of families are still not reaching this threshold. The study surveyed 30,000 parents and 15,000 children aged five to 12 globally. The research also highlights mounting pressures on families. Work demands, screen time and household chores were cited as the biggest barriers to play, alongside cost (17%) and lack of safe spaces (23%)One in five families said they do not have enough time to play, while 61% of parents said their children play less than they did at the same age. More than 70% expressed concern that reduced play could negatively impact their child’s future success and wellbeing. Children are also feeling the gap, with 28% saying they are unhappy with how much they play, while 21% say they do not play at all. Despite this, the benefits of play remain clear. More than 90% of parents said family play strengthens bonds (93%), helps children make sense of the world (92%) and builds key skills such as resilience, creativity and confidence (93%). The LEGO Group has long positioned itself as a champion of play, supporting the UN’s International Day of Play in 2024 and marking World Play Day annually on 11 June. For the eleventh consecutive year, more than 33,000 LEGO employees will also pause work on World Play Day to participate in play activities, alongside volunteering efforts aimed at bringing play to more than 17,000 children globally.  “We believe that play is one of the most powerful forces there is, it connects generations, fuels imaginations and reminds us what really matters,” said Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer at the LEGO Group. She added, “Our ‘Never stop playing’ campaign is an invitation for families to rediscover the magic of playing together, and a reminder that with LEGO play, endless worlds creative possibilities are only ever a few brick clicks away.” The campaign follows last year’s “Never stop playing” short film featuring Spider-Man actor Tom Holland as the latest LEGO “Playmaker”. Backed by AC/DC’s High voltage, the film blends humour, imagination and high-energy storytelling as Holland takes on a series of playful personas, from a footballer and entrepreneur to an undercover LEGO minifigure and even a stern boss rediscovering joy. The film opens with Holland commanding a troop of soldiers to “stop playing,” before breaking character to reveal a production set. He then clicks two LEGO bricks together, triggering a transformation into a footballer at a press conference. Each time Holland stacks more bricks, he shifts personas – an entrepreneur championing play, a gardener wielding LEGO-built tools, an older businessman reminded he “used to be fun”, and an artist sculpting a dragon-like creature from LEGO bricks. The video ends with Holland back in uniform, rallying his soldiers to “never stop playing”. Related articles: LEGO turns Jewel Changi Airport into SEA’s largest Botanicals mall activation   How LEGO Malaysia is turning fandom into footfall this May the Fourth   LEGO builds its own World Cup lineup of football heavyweights source

When I reviewed the Luba 2 AWD 3000HX in September, I was seriously impressed. It’s quiet, very capable, kind of fun, and made me feel like a neighborhood hero while sending it from house to house mowing everyone’s yards. Since then, Mammotion sent me the US$2,799 Luba 3 AWD 3000HX for a review. Clearly, Mammotion wasn’t content with simply being “awesome.” Though the Luba 3 very much looks and feels like the Luba 2, it acts significantly smarter. The short version? I don’t see how you could go wrong with the Luba 3. The longer version: First of all, setup was an absolute breeze. Mammotion has done away with the need for an RTK entirely on the Luba 3, as long as there’s cell coverage in your area. While it really wasn’t that big of a deal to set up the RTK with the previous-gen Luba, it’s still a million times better not needing one more lawn ornament that you have to rely on for mower positioning. You simply plug in the base station to power, fire up the mower, and within a few minutes (after the updates, of course), you’re off to the races via NetRTK using Wi-Fi or 4G service. Should you not have cell or Wi-Fi coverage in your area, it can still use an old-fashioned RTK for that same centimeter-level mowing precision. My first real-world test was a fifth of an acre (9,257-sq-ft / 860-sq-m). The robomower knocked out 51% of the lawn in 2 hours and 21 minutes before returning to charge with 8% battery left. After it topped up, it headed back out and finished the entire job in 4 hours and 4 minutes with just that single recharge along the way. The results were literally perfect to the point of being boring. You can see the area the middle-weight Luba has completed in the background. It leaves little tufts of mulched grass in its wake, but it’s so fine that a slight breeze blows them away. JS @ New Atlas Very much like the previous-gen Luba, this thing just gets the job done and with virtually zero protest. In fact, after creating two large zones and marking off three no-go zones to protect the garden, the little robomower performed flawlessly. Not a single issue whatsoever – which honestly makes me feel like reviewing it based on that alone would seem inauthentic – so I asked the neighbor across the street if I could test it in his yard, because he has legit danger zones in his yard with irrigation swales, vertical drops, the whole nine yards. I was determined to put the Luba 3 in a position to fail by not marking out any of the hazardous areas and letting it just figure it out. It did eventually fail, but not in a spectacular fashion like I’d hoped. Instead, it was a very slight mistake that would have led to the mower turtling to its back, had I not caught it. It might look like a cool drop-in drift, but really, it fell into the ditch and slid sideways. To my surprise, it found its own way out with zero intervention!JS @ New Atlas When it would near potential danger – in this case, a vertical drop into a ditch deeper than the mower is tall – it would slow and move more cautiously before doing the best it could to mow along the obstacle that it recognized as a danger-zone. In turning around, a single front wheel slipped off the edge. Rather than simply reversing to save itself, it continued its zero-turn rotation, causing the rear tire to slide off the ledge as well, before I caught it and saved it from doom. A reasonable person would have marked that as a no-go zone. It also ended up in that same drainage ditch (albeit from a less dangerous, less flippy angle) when it did the same drop-a-wheel-during-a-zero-turn. It cruised around in the bottom for exactly 78 seconds, apparently contemplating its life choices, before it found an escape route and kept on truckin’. Impressive. Mammotion Luba 3 3000 AWD in a ditch, raw video It’s really difficult to figure out anything else that I don’t like about it, or that it doesn’t do well … well, except two things: the base station does not come with a roof. Should you want that, you’re going to have to shell out another $200, which is silly at this price point. And when manually mowing tall stuff, the bumper can be too sensitive for my bull-in-a-China-shop tastes. If it gets bumped too hard, it’ll cut power to the mow deck, forcing a ~5-second delay before I can start cutting again. That’s kind of annoying. I’ve also read a few others on Reddit mentioning connectivity issues, but I’ve yet to experience anything like that. The thing just works. Otherwise, having tested out several brands and models of robomowers, I have to say that Mammotion sets the bar very high in all aspects of its products. The app is the best of all brands I’ve tested thus far – it’s very intuitive, friendly, easy to understand, and with a wide range of options to fine-tune every lawn parameter. Or if you’re not into that, it’s also as simple as a “just go mow my yard” option. The app has it all. The app also does a great job of communicating with you; it will let you know when the mower goes to charge, when it resumes the task, when it pauses for whatever reason, the mower’s current location and progress … many things I realize I take for granted when testing other brands that don’t have those same features. This is what the app looks like. It’s quite polished compared to other mower apps that I’ve used. Definitely my favorite of all.JS @ New Atlas For example, when you’re creating a zone, and you make a mistake by driving off course, reversing the robomower will effectively undo