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Spreadsheet apps like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are used worldwide to organize and analyze data, but getting the right information into them isnt always straightforward. Businesses often need engineers to write code that pulls information from cloud systems and databases, then clean and process it before its ready for Excel. AI spreadsheet company Sourcetable is trying to simplify that process with what it calls Superagents: AI tools that connect to different systems across the internet, fetch relevant data, and make it ready for analysis. Technically, Superagents manage a collection of AI agents that link to databases and cloud services like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Stripe. Once connected, Sourcetables agents can answer questions directly, such as analyzing customer spending data from Stripe or website traffic from Google Analytics. They can insert raw or processed data into a Sourcetable spreadsheet, which users can work with just like Excel. To do this, the system can run Python number-crunching libraries on a virtual machine, avoiding the math errors that generative AI often produces. “There’s a full Python ecosystem under the hood,” says Sourcetable cofounder and CEO Eoin McMillan. “Basically every data science library you could possibly want or ask for is just embedded in the product, just rolled in for free.” McMillan says the idea came from his experience at startups, where accessing and analyzing data was always a heavy lift. “The conclusion that I came to was that everybody was trying to patch a broken ecosystem for data, and the reason for this was because Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets were not built correctly for the modern information environment,” he says. Despite its advanced features, Sourcetable still looks like a traditional spreadsheet and supports hundreds of familiar formula functions. It can import and export Excel files, too. Earlier this year, the company launched an autopilot mode that lets users ask the AI to answer questions, generate graphs, or build visualizations. McMillan says this helps spreadsheet users who’ve struggled with more complex features, like those pesky pivot table operations and VLOOKUP, or vertical lookup, functions. “Most people in the world use spreadsheets, but they don’t know how to use VLOOKUP or pivots, and having a spreadsheet that can combine data, and summarize data, and analyze data for them is a huge unlock in terms of this new capability they have,” he says. For power users, the built-in Python libraries can replace hours of manual spreadsheet work or external coding, producing results in seconds. While the product is most popular with operations and analysis teams, McMillan says its also used for everything from scientific research to fantasy football, where Sourcetable even built specialized tools. In a demo for Fast Company, McMillan showed how Sourcetable could pull data from the web, downloading and processing a sitemap file listing each of the Sourcetable website’s individual pages, then visiting each page and cataloging page titles and descriptions in a spreadsheet. While the platform includes prebuilt connectors for popular cloud services and databases, the AI can also fetch data from other systems using standard API documentation. Generally, connections to outside services cost $100 each per month, though one per organization is included with Sourcetable’s $20-per-user-per-month “Pro” plan and five per organization with a $200-per-user-per-month “Max” plan. A promotion celebrating the launch of Superagents makes connectors added the week of September 8 free forever. Currently, users can edit the SQL code Sourcetable generates but can only viewnot rewritethe Python scripts. McMillan says that will likely change in the future. For now, if Python doesnt produce the desired results, users must re-prompt the AI. The AI also asks permission before overwriting spreadsheet contents. It can, in some cases, push data back to cloud systems, but McMillan stresses thats still a beta feature. In the future, Sourcetable will likely allow outside systemsincluding other AI agentsto connect proactively as well. Sourcetable, which has raised $5.5 million in funding, isn’t the only company trying to use AI to modernize the spreadsheet (Excel and Google Sheets each offer their own AI features). But McMillan says Sourcetable has an advantage in being created with AI and integration with online data in mind, rather than having such features added on well into the product’s life. However, he says, the AI chat interface alone is unlikely to replace the tabular spreadsheet format that people have been using for thousands of years. “The reason why Sourcetable is powerful, McMillan says, is because you have this Excel-like spreadsheet interface, which is the data tool that everyone knows how to use.
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E-Commerce
Wall Street inched higher early Tuesday ahead of a government data revision that economists expect will reveal that the U.S. labor market was sputtering well before President Donald Trump rolled out tariffs on the nation’s trading partners this spring.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq each ticked up 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the S&P 500 were unchanged.Later Tuesday, the U.S. government will release preliminary revisions for job growth numbers reported for the 12 months through March of this year. Analysts are forecasting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will revise job gains for that period down by as much as 900,000. If the figures are revised sharply lower, it could halve the job growth that had been thought to have occurred.“That would mean that private-sector employment actually shrank, on average, in the past three months and that job creation earlier in the year was weaker than currently reported,” said Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, two weeks ago at the Economic Club of Miami.Waller, a candidate to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said then that he expected a downward revision of 60,000 per month.There has been mounting evidence that uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs has kept business from hiring as actively as they had been when the U.S. rapidly rebounded from the COVID-19 recession. The U.S. economy is creating fewer than 75,000 jobs a month so far this year, less than half the 2024 average of 168,000 and not even a quarter of the 400,000 jobs added monthly in the hiring boom of 2021-2023.When the Labor Department put out a disappointing July jobs report that also included downward revisions for previous months, an enraged Trump responded by firing the BLS economist in charge of compiling the numbers and nominating a loyalist to replace her.While inflation still remains above the Fed’s 2% target, most economists think the central bank will cut its benchmark lending rate at its meeting next week to help support the flagging U.S. labor market.Reports on inflation will follow on Wednesday and Thursday.Also Tuesday, Apple will unveil the next line-up of iPhones amid a global trade war that’s added a potential price increase to the company’s marquee product. Apple shares were unchanged before the opening bell Tuesday.Shares of Fox Corp. tumbled 4.7% in premarket after Rupert Murdoch’s family said they’ve reached a deal on control of the 94-year-old mogul’s media empire after his death. The agreement ensures that there will be no change in direction at Fox News, the most popular network for President Donald Trump and conservatives.The deal creates a trust establishing control of the Fox Corp. for Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s chosen heir who has been running Fox in recent years, along with his younger sisters, Grace and Chloe.Elsewhere, in Europe at midday France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%, the German DAX fell 0.5% and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%.In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 erased earlier gains to finish 0.4% lower at 43,459.29, as political uncertainty continued after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said over the weekend that he planned to step down. Who will replace him is still uncertain and may take weeks to decide. The benchmark had momentarily surpassed the 44,000 mark.Anticipation over one of the likely candidates, Sanae Takaichi, a hawkish legislator, sent defense issues higher in Tokyo trading. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rose 0.3%, IHI added 1.0% and Kawasaki Heavy 0.4%. Veteran ruling party legislator Toshimitsu Motegi has indicated he wants to run, and other expected contenders include Farm Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. All are members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which will need coalition partners to stay in power.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.6% to 8,793.60. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.3% to 3,260.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.2% to 25,938.13, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% to 3,807.29. The mixed trading followed a stronger opening in Asia.“Asian markets opened Tuesday with momentum, riding Wall Street’s conviction that Fed cuts are no longer a question of if but how many. Nearly three reductions are now being priced before year-end. That expectation is washing through global markets like a spring tide,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott, AP Business Writers
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E-Commerce
Cheese lovers are being urged to check their fridges after multiple cheese products were recalled due to fears of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause potentially deadly infections. Heres what you need to know about the cheese recall affecting multiple states. Whats happened? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a recall notice on its website warning of potential Listeria monocytogenes in several cheese products. The FDAs warning was published on September 8, three days after the Ohio-based company behind the cheese announced the recall. That company is Middlefield Original Cheese Co-op, which produces multiple cheese products. Middlefield initiated the recall after detecting Listeria monocytogenes in some of its finished products as well as on cutting equipment surfaces. Cheese products covered under this recall were sold under two brand names: Middlefield Original Cheese Co-op Sunrise Creamery The recalled products were produced on two dates: May 30, and August 13 and sold in multiple states between July 7 and August 14. However, some of the recalled products have sell-by dates that extend into 2026, so they may still be sitting in customers refrigerators. What cheese products are being recalled? According to the notice published on the FDA website, the following cheese products are being recalled: Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Organic Gouda,8 ounce packages, Sell by date of February 13, 2026 Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Mozzarella/Provolone Cheese5 pound bags (shredded cheese), Sell by date of September 3, 2025 Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Colored (Yellow) Cheddar Cheese,5 pound loaves (labeled as Smoked Cheddar and All Natural Mild Cheddar),Sell by date of February 13, 20265 pound bags (shredded cheese) (labeled as Shredded Cheddar Cheese),Sell by date of September 3, 2025 Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Swiss Cheese5 pound loaves, Sell by date of February 13, 2026 Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Pepper Jack Cheese5 pound loaves (labeled as All Natural Pepper Jack), Sell by date of February 13, 20265 pound bags (shredded cheese), Sell by date of September 3, 2025 Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op Monterey Jack Cheese,5 pound loaves, Sell by date of February 13, 20265 pound bags (shredded cheese), Sell by date of September 3, 2025 Sunrise Creamery Dilly Pickle Monterey Jack with Pickles Cheese6 ounce package (labeled as Dilly Pickle) with lot code 253054,Sell by date of January 7, 2026, January 11, 2026, or February 16, 20261.25 pound package (labeled as Dilly Pickle Jack) with lot code 253054,Sell by date of December 30, 2025 Where were the recalled cheese products sold? The recalled products above were reportedly sold in four states, including: Minnesota Ohio Texas Wisconsin The recall notice does not list the exact establishments where the recalled cheese was sold, but says the cheese was sold through distributors, dining halls, and retail stores between July 7 and August 14. What is Listeria Monocytogenes? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause severe illness and even death in those who consume it. Listeria monocytogenes can make anyone sick; however, some groups are more susceptible to worse outcomesincluding deaththan others. The CDC says individuals particularly at risk from a Listeria monocytogenes infection include: Pregnant women and their unborn baby Newborn babies Adults over the age of 65 Individuals with weakened immune systems In pregnant people, Listeria monocytogenes infections can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths. Thankfully, as of the time of this writing, there have been no reports of illnesses related to the recalled products. What should I do if I have the recalled cheese products? If you have any of the recalled products, the recall notice says you should not consume them. Instead, dispose of them or return them to their place of purchase for a refund. You can read the full recall notice on the FDA’s website.
Category:
E-Commerce
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