Connected Economy

Connected Economy
Connected Cars Could Steer the Next Shopping Decision
September 30, 2026

A Waymo ride and a public transit fare are separate transactions. A new rewards program shows what can happen when the payment credential connects them. Waymo launched a transit rewards program Sept. 22 that lets San Francisco Bay Area riders link a Visa card to...

Connected Economy
Cloudflare Lets Websites Block AI Training Without Losing Search
September 15, 2026

Connectivity cloud company Cloudflare has launched a setting that enables website owners to remain visible in search results while blocking crawlers from using their content for artificial intelligence training, the company said in a Tuesday (Sept. 15) press release. Cloudflare’s new Disallow AI Training setting...

Connected Economy
Smart Checkout Gives Merchant Data New Bargaining Power
September 04, 2026

Payments platforms have plenty of transaction data. Smart checkout is raising the value of the merchant information they do not have. The technology can draw on payment history, customer identity, product information, rewards, previous purchases and transaction performance to determine what a shopper sees at...

Connected Economy
Paysafe Debuts Gaming Arena to Connect Players and Publishers
August 25, 2026

Paysafe has launched a gaming arena designed to connect gamers, developers and publishers. The payments platform announced the new arena Monday (Aug. 24), calling it “a destination focused on game discovery, rewards and community” where players can find new titles, access “exclusive” content and promotions,...

Connected Economy
SeatGeek Says Game-Day Playbook Built Around the Mobile Wallet
May 19, 2026

Live entertainment is being rebuilt around the same principles that transformed eCommerce, theme parks and travel. “The fan’s journey now extends so far beyond that ticket to get into the arena,” Brannon Desseyn, product manager at SeatGeek, told PYMNTS. And this new fan journey, at...

Connected Economy
The Connected Economy Is Making Companies Worth a Trillion Dollars 
May 07, 2026

Samsung‘s arrival in the trillion-dollar club this week expands a roster that increasingly defines who controls the architecture of the modern global economy. That 15-company list spans familiar technology titans alongside firms that, at first glance, appear to have little in common. Put executives from...

Connected Economy
Iran War Becomes Multimillion Dollar Business for Prediction Markets
March 04, 2026

The war in Iran has reportedly been good business for the prediction markets sector. As Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (March 4), companies such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which offer financial contracts on the outcome of everything from sporting events to elections, are now letting users...

Connected Economy
Nvidia Expands Telecom Push With AI-Native 6G Initiative
March 03, 2026

Nvidia and a coalition of global telecom operators and infrastructure vendors announced a strategic commitment at the Mobile World Congress to build the next generation of wireless networks, 6G, on platforms that are open, secure and AI-native, signaling a shift in how future connectivity will...

Connected Economy
Prediction Markets Chip Away at Sports Betting’s Territory
February 15, 2026

Sports-related bets on Kalshi are now generating estimated annualized revenues of roughly $1.3 billion. As the Financial Times (FT) reported Saturday (Feb. 14), that figure is nearly a quarter of the total sportsbook revenue for betting giant DraftKings and spotlights the increasing threat that prediction...