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Amazon expands same-day shipping to over 4,000 rural towns in massive delivery push

The e-comm giant plans to triple its delivery network by 2026 and is zeroing in on everyday essentials.

6/24/25 11:50AM

Amazon is making a big move into small cities. In a press release Tuesday, the company said it plans to roll out same-day and next-day delivery to over 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural communities by the end of this year.

The expansion is part of a broader $4 billion effort to triple the size of its delivery network by 2026 and pull ahead in its race with legacy rivals like UPS and FedEx. The company added that the number of items delivered using same- or next-day in the US are already up over 30% compared to last year.

Amazon is especially focused on delivering everyday essentials (think: toilet paper, pet food, household goods), using AI to forecast demand and pre-stock top-selling items closer to customers.

The strategy is paying off: in Q1, Amazon said its everyday essentials category grew more than twice as fast as the rest of its business and accounted for a third of every unit sold in the US.

Amazon shares were up more than 2% Tuesday afternoon.

CFO Mandy Fields sees e.l.f. Beauty in growth mode, as company beats on sales and earnings

The new owner of rhode beat estimates for its fiscal third quarter and boosted its guidance for the full year, even as headwinds in the UK and Germany continued.

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Roblox answers Google’s Project Genie, launching the open beta for its “4D” AI creation tool

Roblox on Wednesday launched the open beta of its “4D” AI creation model, less than a week after the launch of Google’s Project Genie, an AI-powered interactive world generator.

The tool allows users to generate interactive objects that can be used in gameplay, such as a drivable car or a flyable plane, as opposed to static 3D objects.

Roblox’s “4D” system relies on rule sets called schemas that create objects out of multiple parts, allowing cars to have a body and movable wheels, for example.

“We expect to soon include schemas that cover the range of thousands of objects in the real world,” the company said.

The move to bring the tool out of early access and into open beta appears to be a response to Google’s Project Genie, which allows users to generate “playable” worlds out of a text or image prompt. Gaming stocks like Roblox, Take-Two, and Unity Software have dropped in the days since Project Genie’s release, though Wall Street analysts largely believe the market reaction to be unjustified, as interactivity through Google’s tool is limited.

Roblox's 4D creation feature is now available in open beta | TechCrunch

Roblox’s “4D” system relies on rule sets called schemas that create objects out of multiple parts, allowing cars to have a body and movable wheels, for example.

“We expect to soon include schemas that cover the range of thousands of objects in the real world,” the company said.

Hims adds cancer detection test to Labs product

Its lab analysis product will be a central part of the company’s upcoming Super Bowl ad.

J. Edward Moreno2/4/26

Walmart joins the trillion-dollar club, becoming only the third non-tech American firm to do so

Shares have surged on rapid e-commerce growth, digital advertising, and new AI partnerships. Maybe Walmart isn’t that “offline” after all.

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Tom Jones

chips are down

2/4/26

PepsiCo is cutting snack prices across the US, with consumers “feeling the strain”

Snacks accounted for 85% of Pepsi’s North American profits last year. Does PepsiCo need a name change?