We develop a novel two-layer approach for optimising mortgage relief products through a simulated multi-agent mortgage environment. While the approach is generic, here the environment is calibrated to the US mortgage market based on publicly available census data and regulatory guidelines. Through the simulation layer, we assess the resilience of households to exogenous income shocks, while the optimisation layer explores strategies to improve the robustness of households to these shocks by making novel mortgage assistance products available to households. Households in the simulation are adaptive, learning to make mortgage-related decisions (such as product enrolment or strategic foreclosures) that maximize their utility, balancing their available liquidity and equity. We show how this novel two-layer simulation approach can successfully design novel mortgage assistance products to improve household resilience to exogenous shocks, and balance the costs of providing such products through post-hoc analysis. Previously, such analysis could only be conducted through expensive pilot studies involving real participants, demonstrating the benefit of the approach for designing and evaluating financial products.

Robosen announced a new auto-converting Transformer today. After launching its self-transforming Optimus Prime in 2021, the company set its sights on Grimlock, the Autobot-allied leader of the Dinobots who changes from a robot into a mechanical T-Rex. However, its $1,699 sticker price (a mere $1,499 for pre-orders) also allows it to transform your finances for the worse. The Grimlock collectible stands 15 inches tall in robot mode and 15.4 inches in dinosaur mode. Robosen describes its auto-transforming as "the epitome of auto-conversion" while calling the product "the world's first dual-form, bipedal walking robot."

There has been an audible buzz about Jack Draper in tennis circles for a while. But in 2023 expect the 21-year-old from Sutton in south-west London, who also has a contract with IMG Models, to crash into the mainstream. He certainly has enough of the right stuff, including the whiplash serve and punishing groundstrokes on the court, and the looks and personality off it. Draper first advertised his talents by taking a set off Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2021, but it was in 2022 that he really made his mark – shooting from No 265 in the world rankings at the start of the year to a career-high 42nd by the end. Along the way, he has taken several high-profile scalps, including the 2020 US Open winner Dominic Thiem and world No 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. He still needs to improve his fitness and ability to see out big games, but when he does, anything is possible. His fellow Brit Cameron Norrie says he is "sure" Draper "can easily get into the top 10". Expect Draper to make bounding strides towards that goal in the coming months. It may feel as if footballer Beth Mead has already made her mark.

Amazon's Echo voice-activated speaker has more "skills" than you may be using. Amazon's Echo has become a sleeper hit thanks to tasks its digital assistant Alexa can carry out. There's probably more you could do with it. In case you haven't played around with an Echo or similar Alexa-driven voice speakers, the 179 cylindrical-shaped, cloud-connected speaker sits in a room and you use your voice to ask a question or give a command. Using the wake word "Alexa," a sensitive microphone picks up the request and dishes up the info you want in a human-like voice.

I just got out of a meeting at SRI International, where representatives from both SRI and international banking group BBVA showed off something they've been working on for the past couple of years. Currently, SRI is best known as the research institute where Siri was developed before spinning out into a separate company and eventually being acquired by Apple, where it powers the Siri feature on the iPhone. SRI and BBVA have been collaborating on a new project, Lola, which they're pitching as a successor of sorts to Siri. Bill Mark, SRI's VP of Information and Computer Sciences, calls it "the next generation personal assistant". In this case, that personal assistant technology is being applied to a specific industry -- banking.