News

Charlotte, N.C. – September 15, 2026 -- Approximately 205 participants attended Carolina Complete Health Community Baby Showers held Sept. 2 across six North Carolina communities, connecting expectant and new parents with maternal and infant health resources.

Six cities hosted events with 17 community partners

Families gathered at Carolina Complete Health Community Connections Centers in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Lumberton and Raleigh. The events included participation from 17 community partners, expanding access to local services for prenatal care, breastfeeding, newborn care, nutrition and food assistance.

San Jose, Calif. – September 15, 2026 -- Arasan Chip Systems will test its full I3C IP portfolio at the MIPI I3C Interoperability Session in Taipei on October 19-20, 2026, alongside other industry vendors validating compliance with the sensor-control standard.

Arasan brings three I3C IP variants and software stack to Taipei testing

The company will run interoperability tests on its I3C Host IP, I3C Dual Mode IP -- which supports both host and device functions -- and I3C Device IP. Arasan will also validate its licensable proprietary I3C software stack during the session, held alongside the MIPI Member Meeting.

Old Town, Maine – September 15, 2026 -- The Wild Blueberry Association of North America (WBANA) has released a free consumer-education toolkit designed to simplify scientific terminology around plant compounds for reporters, educators, parents and caregivers ahead of the back-to-school season.

WBANA responds to rising consumer confusion over bioactive compound terminology

Colleen Craig, who leads WBANA's Health Research Committee, said the trade group observed a surge in consumer publications using bioactive compound terms when discussing wild blueberries, generating increased customer questions about phytonutrients such as anthocyanins and antioxidants. The toolkit, titled 'The ABCs of Phytonutrients: A Back-to-School Guide to Wild Blueberry Plant Power,' is positioned as a first-step communications resource for the industry.

Shenzhen – September 15, 2026 -- XtraMaker has surpassed $500,000 in Kickstarter pledges for its M1 Series desktop DTF printer, with the campaign set to close on September 13 at 8:45 AM PDT.

Super Early Bird pricing offers up to 54% off before tiers sell out

Backers who order before the deadline lock in discounted rates and qualify for exclusive final-countdown giveaways tied to the closing hours of the campaign.

M1 Series positions itself as the industry's first desktop DTF printer

The system prints designs onto PET film and transfers them onto fabric via hot-melt adhesive and heat pressing, targeting T-shirts, shoes and canvas bags. It combines printing, powdering, curing and air purification into a single compact unit, and includes G7-certified color accuracy, automatic white-ink circulation and built-in power backup.

Birmingham, Ala. – September 15, 2026 -- Tom Beckbe, the Birmingham-based outdoor apparel maker, has secured a minority investment from Cox Outdoors, the newest division of Cox Enterprises.

Cox Enterprises Backs Family-Run Outdoor Brand

Cox Outdoors was created to partner with leading outdoor consumer brands, targeting conservation initiatives and long-term generational growth rather than short-term returns. Alex Taylor, chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises, said the partnership reflects shared family values and a conservation ethic between the two companies.

Founders Retain Control, Team and Operations

Tom Beckbe was founded in 2015 by Radcliff and Mary Menge and will continue to be independently run by its founders with the same team and values. Radcliff Menge, co-founder, said the Cox partnership will allow the company to deepen its focus on product quality, customer service and conservation support.

Colorado Springs – September 15, 2026 -- Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs will be renamed Children's Hospital Colorado, Golisano Children's Hospital, Colorado Springs, effective immediately, following a $40 million gift from entrepreneur and philanthropist Tom Golisano.

Gift marks largest philanthropic donation in Children's Colorado history

The $40 million contribution, dedicated exclusively to the Colorado Springs facility, accompanies the hospital's induction into the Golisano Children's Alliance, a national initiative launched in 2025 that coordinates strategic funding across member children's hospitals to expand pediatric services and strengthen collaboration.

Sheridan, Wyo. – September 15, 2026 -- The global AI in virtual medical assistant market is set to expand from $2.6 billion in 2026 to $12.3 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of 36.5%, according to a new study by Wissen Research.

EHR-integrated systems dominate the market with 42-48% share

EHR/EMR-integrated systems led the market by offering type in 2025, accounting for an estimated 42-48% of global revenue, as healthcare providers favor solutions embedded directly into existing clinical workflows over standalone applications.

Bellevue, Wash. – September 15, 2026 -- Summation Technologies opened general access to its AI analyst platform on September 10, offering self-serve pricing at $60 per user monthly for its Pro plan and $200 per user monthly for Max, after a year of enterprise deployments at Fanatics, Lineage, and Grid.

Self-serve access replaces year-long enterprise-only rollout

Any team can now sign up, connect data through more than 1,200 integrations, and deploy an AI analyst within minutes, according to the company. Enterprise customers retain access to dedicated deployment teams that identify high-value tasks to automate and handle custom integrations.

Global – September 15, 2026 -- G-P has been named a top technology leader in the inaugural 2026 HR Technology Advice EOR VendorFit Matrix, a report evaluating Employer of Record (EOR) vendors across global coverage, customer experience, technology integration and pricing transparency.

G-P operates 100+ wholly owned legal entities across 180+ countries

The company's infrastructure supports compliant hiring at scale, positioning it among the vendors with the broadest global operational footprint assessed in the report.

G-P pairs its Gia AI engine with in-country legal experts for real-time compliance monitoring

The proprietary system combines automated regulatory tracking with human legal and HR expertise to flag compliance risks before they affect employer operations.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- Abacus.AI has released a new family of open-weight large language models, Smaug, claiming 10-100x lower operating costs than frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI while improving long-running agentic loop performance by 15-20%.