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In September 2025, the nation received its latest report card on 12th-grade math from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. These results should be a wake-up call for any American concerned about the future of education and workforce development in the United States. The findings showed that 78% of 12th graders were not proficient in mathematics, with more students than ever falling below the math proficiency benchmarks established by the National Center for Education Statistics. This widening skills gap signals serious trouble ahead for the American workforce. As the future of work becomes increasingly dependent on STEM skills, we are failing to equip millions of students with the tools needed to succeed. In today’s political landscape, there are few issues that consistently draw bipartisan agreement, and K–12 education is often at the center of intense debate. Still, I remain optimistic that common-sense education policies can unite leaders across party lines. One reason for optimism is the growing agreement among governors in blue, red, and purple states on a simple truth: When we invest in STEM education, we invest in America’s future. HOW STEM EDUCATION SETS STUDENTS UP FOR SUCCESS As the CEO of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a global youth robotics community, I have seen firsthand how experiential STEM learning can change students’ trajectories. Hands-on, team-based learning builds confidence, curiosity, and resilience in ways that traditional classroom instruction alone often cannot. The workforce implications of STEM learning experiences are significant, given that STEM roles are growing at roughly twice the rate of other jobs and typically pay more than double the national average wage. By 2030, the World Economic Forum projects that 170 million new jobs will be created globally, driven largely by advances in technology, data, and artificial intelligence. Preparing young people for this future is imperative. Programs like ours give students early exposure to real-world problem solving and technical skills that translate across industries, including careers that do not yet exist. A 10-year longitudinal study shows that participation in FIRST programs increases students’ confidence with STEM concepts, sustains long-term engagement, and inspires them to pursue STEM careers. FIRST participants consistently demonstrate improved math performance, school attendance, and overall engagement—and alumni are more than twice as likely as their peers to express increased interest in STEM and three times more likely to major in math-related disciplines in college. ON THE HORIZON I am pleased to see that governors and legislators across the political spectrum recognize the importance of STEM. In Ohio, state leaders partnered with FIRST and Experiential to bring robotics kits into classrooms and to establish 70 teams supporting grades K-12. Colorado launched the Opportunity Now Grant program to invest in educational opportunities and talent development in healthcare, aerospace engineering, and quantum technologies. Pennsylvania recently inaugurated the Keystone STEM Challenge, a free, statewide problem-solving challenge open to students in grades 5-12. Programs like this go beyond supporting STEM education: They build the future workforce and create the strong local talent pools companies need to grow. Perhaps one of the best showcases for the power of STEM education in action is the FIRST Championship, the culminating event of our youth robotics competition season and a chance for over 50,000 people from around the country and world to come together to celebrate the FIRST teams’ work and accomplishments throughout the year. The FIRST Championship event positions STEM and robotics as just as exciting, collaborative, and inspiring as any “traditional” team sport. When robotics is celebrated with the same energy we bring to athletics, students show up, persist, and thrive. That cultural shift matters as much as curriculum. Today,many policymakers are recognizing that STEM is essential to both students’ futures and a resilient K–12 education system. We believe robotics can integrate seamlessly with state curricula while directly supporting workforce readiness and economic competitiveness. Some issues are too important to be reduced to partisan debates, and preparing young people for the future is one of them. I am encouraged by the growing bipartisan momentum behind rigorous, hands-on STEM education. If we see that commitment through, we can help ensure the next generation of innovators is ready, not only to enter the workforce, but to shape it. Chris Moore is CEO of FIRST. View the full article

In today’s economy, identifying crucial services for franchise opportunities is important for potential investors. These businesses not only satisfy community needs but furthermore demonstrate resilience in fluctuating markets. Key sectors include shipping and receiving, security solutions, and home care services, each offering unique advantages. Comprehending these sectors can guide your investment decisions and improve your chances of success. Discover how these franchises can meet demand and offer stability in your entrepreneurial path. Key Takeaways Essential businesses like shipping services, such as Goin’ Postal, have grown due to increased e-commerce demand. Security solutions, exemplified by Surveillance Secure, are vital as crime prevention and safety become priorities for communities. Home care services, offered by Home Helpers, cater to the aging population and individuals needing assistance, ensuring consistent demand. Franchise opportunities in essential services often require thorough training and support from the franchisor for operational success. Evaluating startup costs and funding options is critical for anyone considering investing in an essential service franchise. The Importance of Essential Businesses in Today’s Economy As you navigate today’s economy, it’s essential to understand the role fundamental businesses play in maintaining community health and safety. Critical businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, are important, especially during crises. They not only provide necessary services but also create job opportunities, positively impacting local economies. The resilience of these businesses makes them stable investments, particularly in uncertain times. With increased demand during the pandemic, they’ve demonstrated their significance in daily life. Service franchise opportunities, including home services franchises, can offer consistent revenue, even during lockdowns. Goin’ Postal: A Franchise for Shipping and Receiving Needs Investing in a franchise like Goin’ Postal can be a strategic move in today’s evolving market. As one of the top service franchises, it offers crucial shipping and receiving services customized to both individuals and businesses. With the rise of e-commerce, Goin’ Postal has experienced increased demand, making it a smart addition to your investment portfolio. This franchise from home model allows you to operate with a proven business strategy and provides extensive training to address industry challenges. Goin’ Postal’s crucial services guarantee you remain operational during unforeseen events, contributing to community sustainability and franchisee profitability. Surveillance Secure: Meeting the Demand for Security Solutions As businesses increasingly prioritize security, you’re looking at a valuable opportunity with Surveillance Secure. Their innovative technology solutions, like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening, address the rising demand for safety in commercial environments. Rising Security Demand With the increasing emphasis on safety and compliance in various sectors, the demand for security solutions has risen sharply in recent years. Surveillance Secure has experienced an average annual revenue increase of 20.3% since 2016, reflecting this growing need for electronic security, especially in commercial settings. The pandemic heightened health and sanitation standards, creating a stronger demand for advanced services like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening. Major clients, including Pepsi and Marriott, showcase Surveillance Secure’s robust presence in the corporate security sector. As e-commerce continues to thrive, the need for improved security measures in businesses is expected to grow, presenting lucrative opportunities for aspiring franchisees in the sector of top home service franchises. Innovative Technology Solutions The surge in security demands has propelled companies like Surveillance Secure to innovate and improve their technology solutions, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of diverse industries. Since 2016, Surveillance Secure has seen an average annual revenue increase of 20.3%, reflecting strong market demand for electronic security solutions. With a focus on health and sanitation standards, there’s a rising need for products like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening. Major clients, including Pepsi and Marriott, trust Surveillance Secure, showcasing its credibility. As businesses adapt to new safety requirements, the franchise’s innovative technology solutions position it for continued growth in the security and surveillance industry. Investing in a Surveillance Secure franchise offers a promising opportunity in an increasingly security-focused market. Home Helpers: Supporting Seniors With Care Services Home Helpers stands out in the franchise environment by offering essential care services customized for seniors and individuals requiring assistance in their daily lives. This franchise provides both medical and non-medical support, ensuring a stable demand in the growing healthcare sector. With thorough training and marketing assistance, you’ll find it easier to navigate the intricacies of home care. Home Helpers likewise focuses on developing at-home testing solutions, highlighting its commitment to public health needs. Backed by strong leadership, the executive team offers ongoing support and resources, enhancing your operational success. As the aging population continues to grow, investing in Home Helpers presents a viable long-term opportunity in an important industry. Oxi Fresh: Revolutionizing Carpet Cleaning With Eco-Friendly Methods Oxi Fresh is transforming the carpet cleaning industry by prioritizing eco-friendly methods that align with modern environmental standards. Specializing in environmentally friendly technology, Oxi Fresh meets EPA standards against SARS-CoV-2, ensuring a safe cleaning process for homes and businesses. This franchise has shown consistent growth, even thriving during economic downturns, demonstrating its market resilience. Its unique cleaning techniques allow carpets to dry in about one hour, reducing customer downtime markedly compared to traditional services. Key Considerations for Franchisee Success Success as a franchisee hinges on several key factors that can greatly influence your business outcomes. Your level of engagement with the business directly correlates with better results, so investing time is fundamental. Adhering to the established franchise model helps maintain consistency and quality. Familiarity with the industry improves your ability to navigate challenges, allowing you to tailor services to meet customer needs. Continuous learning about market trends is critical for long-term profitability, as consumer preferences evolve. Building strong relationships with customers and the community nurtures loyalty and positively impacts your franchise’s reputation. If you can’t manage the business personally, having a trusted partner or manager guarantees consistent operations and informed decision-making, which are pivotal for success. Evaluating Startup Costs and Funding Options for Franchises When you’re considering a franchise, comprehension of the initial investment is essential, as startup costs can range from $50,000 to over $150,000. You’ll need to explore various funding strategies, including personal savings and bank loans, at the same time being aware of the importance of having some unborrowed funds available. Reviewing the franchise disclosure document (FDD) will likewise help you grasp all associated costs and obligations, ensuring you make an informed decision. Understanding Initial Investment Steering through the initial investment for a franchise can feel overwhelming, but comprehending the associated costs and funding options is crucial for success. Initial investments can range from under $50,000 to over $150,000, covering franchise fees, equipment, and operational expenses. The franchise fee is a one-time payment granting you the rights to operate under the brand, whereas ongoing royalties are a percentage of your monthly revenue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1As2zxy0es It’s important to understand that some funds need to be saved rather than borrowed to meet startup obligations. Common funding sources include personal savings, loans, or equity investments. The Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) will provide detailed financial information and obligations, helping you evaluate the full financial commitment involved in franchising. Funding Strategies Overview Comprehending the funding strategies available for franchise ownership is critical, especially since startup costs can vary widely based on several factors. Costs can range from under $50,000 to over $150,000, influenced by the brand, location, and necessary equipment. Initial franchise fees grant the rights to operate under a brand, whereas ongoing royalty fees depend on monthly revenue. It’s important to understand the requirement for unborrowed funds, as some cash must be saved to meet franchisor criteria. Your funding options include personal savings, loans, and equity investments, each with its own risks and rewards. The Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) provides fundamental information about investment costs and ongoing obligations, helping you assess the financial aspects of the franchise opportunity effectively. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the 4 P’s of Franchising? The 4 P’s of franchising are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Product focuses on the quality and uniqueness of the goods or services offered. Price involves setting competitive fees and pricing that balance franchisee affordability with franchisor profitability. Place addresses the distribution channels and locations for ideal market reach. Promotion encompasses marketing strategies like advertising and social media to raise brand awareness and attract customers, ensuring the franchise effectively engages its target audience. What Do You Need to Know About Franchising Generally? When you explore franchising, it’s vital to understand the relationship between franchisors and franchisees. You’ll operate under an established brand, following their business model and guidelines. Review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) carefully, as it outlines your rights, obligations, and financial details. You’ll receive training and ongoing support, helping reduce risks. The process involves researching opportunities, negotiating terms, and signing agreements before launching your franchise. Knowledge of these aspects is fundamental for success. What Services Are Offered by the Perfect Franchise? The perfect franchise offers a variety of crucial services customized to meet market demands. These can include retail shipping and receiving, electronic security solutions, healthcare services for seniors, environmentally friendly cleaning, and home maintenance. Each service addresses a specific need, ensuring consistent demand. By providing extensive training and support, these franchises enable you to operate effectively and maximize profitability, as well as adapting to changing consumer preferences and economic conditions. Why Is It Only $10,000 to Open a Chick-Fil-A? Opening a Chick-Fil-A franchise costs only $10,000 because of its unique business model. Chick-Fil-A retains ownership of the restaurant property and equipment, which minimizes financial risk for franchisees. Even though the initial fee is low, franchisees must be actively involved in daily management and operations. Furthermore, the profit-sharing arrangement allows you to earn a portion of the restaurant’s profits, as the company covers operational costs and expansion. This selective model guarantees franchisee alignment with brand values. Conclusion To conclude, investing in vital service franchises like Goin’ Postal, Surveillance Secure, Home Helpers, and Oxi Fresh can provide stability and profitability. These businesses address ongoing community needs, ensuring their relevance in today’s economy. As you consider franchise opportunities, evaluate startup costs and funding options carefully, as these factors are critical for long-term success. By choosing the right franchise, you can contribute positively to your community as you build a sustainable business. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "7 Essential Services for Franchise Opportunities You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In today’s economy, identifying crucial services for franchise opportunities is important for potential investors. These businesses not only satisfy community needs but furthermore demonstrate resilience in fluctuating markets. Key sectors include shipping and receiving, security solutions, and home care services, each offering unique advantages. Comprehending these sectors can guide your investment decisions and improve your chances of success. Discover how these franchises can meet demand and offer stability in your entrepreneurial path. Key Takeaways Essential businesses like shipping services, such as Goin’ Postal, have grown due to increased e-commerce demand. Security solutions, exemplified by Surveillance Secure, are vital as crime prevention and safety become priorities for communities. Home care services, offered by Home Helpers, cater to the aging population and individuals needing assistance, ensuring consistent demand. Franchise opportunities in essential services often require thorough training and support from the franchisor for operational success. Evaluating startup costs and funding options is critical for anyone considering investing in an essential service franchise. The Importance of Essential Businesses in Today’s Economy As you navigate today’s economy, it’s essential to understand the role fundamental businesses play in maintaining community health and safety. Critical businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, are important, especially during crises. They not only provide necessary services but also create job opportunities, positively impacting local economies. The resilience of these businesses makes them stable investments, particularly in uncertain times. With increased demand during the pandemic, they’ve demonstrated their significance in daily life. Service franchise opportunities, including home services franchises, can offer consistent revenue, even during lockdowns. Goin’ Postal: A Franchise for Shipping and Receiving Needs Investing in a franchise like Goin’ Postal can be a strategic move in today’s evolving market. As one of the top service franchises, it offers crucial shipping and receiving services customized to both individuals and businesses. With the rise of e-commerce, Goin’ Postal has experienced increased demand, making it a smart addition to your investment portfolio. This franchise from home model allows you to operate with a proven business strategy and provides extensive training to address industry challenges. Goin’ Postal’s crucial services guarantee you remain operational during unforeseen events, contributing to community sustainability and franchisee profitability. Surveillance Secure: Meeting the Demand for Security Solutions As businesses increasingly prioritize security, you’re looking at a valuable opportunity with Surveillance Secure. Their innovative technology solutions, like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening, address the rising demand for safety in commercial environments. Rising Security Demand With the increasing emphasis on safety and compliance in various sectors, the demand for security solutions has risen sharply in recent years. Surveillance Secure has experienced an average annual revenue increase of 20.3% since 2016, reflecting this growing need for electronic security, especially in commercial settings. The pandemic heightened health and sanitation standards, creating a stronger demand for advanced services like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening. Major clients, including Pepsi and Marriott, showcase Surveillance Secure’s robust presence in the corporate security sector. As e-commerce continues to thrive, the need for improved security measures in businesses is expected to grow, presenting lucrative opportunities for aspiring franchisees in the sector of top home service franchises. Innovative Technology Solutions The surge in security demands has propelled companies like Surveillance Secure to innovate and improve their technology solutions, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of diverse industries. Since 2016, Surveillance Secure has seen an average annual revenue increase of 20.3%, reflecting strong market demand for electronic security solutions. With a focus on health and sanitation standards, there’s a rising need for products like touchless access control and thermal body temperature screening. Major clients, including Pepsi and Marriott, trust Surveillance Secure, showcasing its credibility. As businesses adapt to new safety requirements, the franchise’s innovative technology solutions position it for continued growth in the security and surveillance industry. Investing in a Surveillance Secure franchise offers a promising opportunity in an increasingly security-focused market. Home Helpers: Supporting Seniors With Care Services Home Helpers stands out in the franchise environment by offering essential care services customized for seniors and individuals requiring assistance in their daily lives. This franchise provides both medical and non-medical support, ensuring a stable demand in the growing healthcare sector. With thorough training and marketing assistance, you’ll find it easier to navigate the intricacies of home care. Home Helpers likewise focuses on developing at-home testing solutions, highlighting its commitment to public health needs. Backed by strong leadership, the executive team offers ongoing support and resources, enhancing your operational success. As the aging population continues to grow, investing in Home Helpers presents a viable long-term opportunity in an important industry. Oxi Fresh: Revolutionizing Carpet Cleaning With Eco-Friendly Methods Oxi Fresh is transforming the carpet cleaning industry by prioritizing eco-friendly methods that align with modern environmental standards. Specializing in environmentally friendly technology, Oxi Fresh meets EPA standards against SARS-CoV-2, ensuring a safe cleaning process for homes and businesses. This franchise has shown consistent growth, even thriving during economic downturns, demonstrating its market resilience. Its unique cleaning techniques allow carpets to dry in about one hour, reducing customer downtime markedly compared to traditional services. Key Considerations for Franchisee Success Success as a franchisee hinges on several key factors that can greatly influence your business outcomes. Your level of engagement with the business directly correlates with better results, so investing time is fundamental. Adhering to the established franchise model helps maintain consistency and quality. Familiarity with the industry improves your ability to navigate challenges, allowing you to tailor services to meet customer needs. Continuous learning about market trends is critical for long-term profitability, as consumer preferences evolve. Building strong relationships with customers and the community nurtures loyalty and positively impacts your franchise’s reputation. If you can’t manage the business personally, having a trusted partner or manager guarantees consistent operations and informed decision-making, which are pivotal for success. Evaluating Startup Costs and Funding Options for Franchises When you’re considering a franchise, comprehension of the initial investment is essential, as startup costs can range from $50,000 to over $150,000. You’ll need to explore various funding strategies, including personal savings and bank loans, at the same time being aware of the importance of having some unborrowed funds available. Reviewing the franchise disclosure document (FDD) will likewise help you grasp all associated costs and obligations, ensuring you make an informed decision. Understanding Initial Investment Steering through the initial investment for a franchise can feel overwhelming, but comprehending the associated costs and funding options is crucial for success. Initial investments can range from under $50,000 to over $150,000, covering franchise fees, equipment, and operational expenses. The franchise fee is a one-time payment granting you the rights to operate under the brand, whereas ongoing royalties are a percentage of your monthly revenue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1As2zxy0es It’s important to understand that some funds need to be saved rather than borrowed to meet startup obligations. Common funding sources include personal savings, loans, or equity investments. The Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) will provide detailed financial information and obligations, helping you evaluate the full financial commitment involved in franchising. Funding Strategies Overview Comprehending the funding strategies available for franchise ownership is critical, especially since startup costs can vary widely based on several factors. Costs can range from under $50,000 to over $150,000, influenced by the brand, location, and necessary equipment. Initial franchise fees grant the rights to operate under a brand, whereas ongoing royalty fees depend on monthly revenue. It’s important to understand the requirement for unborrowed funds, as some cash must be saved to meet franchisor criteria. Your funding options include personal savings, loans, and equity investments, each with its own risks and rewards. The Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) provides fundamental information about investment costs and ongoing obligations, helping you assess the financial aspects of the franchise opportunity effectively. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the 4 P’s of Franchising? The 4 P’s of franchising are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Product focuses on the quality and uniqueness of the goods or services offered. Price involves setting competitive fees and pricing that balance franchisee affordability with franchisor profitability. Place addresses the distribution channels and locations for ideal market reach. Promotion encompasses marketing strategies like advertising and social media to raise brand awareness and attract customers, ensuring the franchise effectively engages its target audience. What Do You Need to Know About Franchising Generally? When you explore franchising, it’s vital to understand the relationship between franchisors and franchisees. You’ll operate under an established brand, following their business model and guidelines. Review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) carefully, as it outlines your rights, obligations, and financial details. You’ll receive training and ongoing support, helping reduce risks. The process involves researching opportunities, negotiating terms, and signing agreements before launching your franchise. Knowledge of these aspects is fundamental for success. What Services Are Offered by the Perfect Franchise? The perfect franchise offers a variety of crucial services customized to meet market demands. These can include retail shipping and receiving, electronic security solutions, healthcare services for seniors, environmentally friendly cleaning, and home maintenance. Each service addresses a specific need, ensuring consistent demand. By providing extensive training and support, these franchises enable you to operate effectively and maximize profitability, as well as adapting to changing consumer preferences and economic conditions. Why Is It Only $10,000 to Open a Chick-Fil-A? Opening a Chick-Fil-A franchise costs only $10,000 because of its unique business model. Chick-Fil-A retains ownership of the restaurant property and equipment, which minimizes financial risk for franchisees. Even though the initial fee is low, franchisees must be actively involved in daily management and operations. Furthermore, the profit-sharing arrangement allows you to earn a portion of the restaurant’s profits, as the company covers operational costs and expansion. This selective model guarantees franchisee alignment with brand values. Conclusion To conclude, investing in vital service franchises like Goin’ Postal, Surveillance Secure, Home Helpers, and Oxi Fresh can provide stability and profitability. These businesses address ongoing community needs, ensuring their relevance in today’s economy. As you consider franchise opportunities, evaluate startup costs and funding options carefully, as these factors are critical for long-term success. By choosing the right franchise, you can contribute positively to your community as you build a sustainable business. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "7 Essential Services for Franchise Opportunities You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

CEO’s move comes with company’s holdings of cash and short-term Treasury bills at a record $373bnView the full article

Customer loyalty programs are crucial tools that businesses use to encourage repeat purchases and improve customer engagement. By offering rewards such as points, discounts, or exclusive access, these programs motivate customers to spend more and return frequently. Members typically spend considerably more than non-members, as their buying habits are tracked to maximize rewards. Comprehending how these programs operate can reveal their impact on business success and customer relationships, leading to intriguing insights about effective implementation. Key Takeaways Customer loyalty programs encourage repeat business by offering rewards like points, discounts, or exclusive access to products. Members typically spend up to 18% more than non-members, enhancing customer retention. Programs collect personal information to track purchases and enable reward accumulation based on spending. Different types include points-based, tiered, paid, coalition, and referral programs, each offering various incentives. Effective programs require clear objectives, appealing rewards, and ongoing communication to ensure member engagement and satisfaction. Definition of Customer Loyalty Programs Customer loyalty programs are a strategic approach that brands use to encourage repeat business and promote deeper engagement with their customers. These programs reward you for making repeat purchases, offering various incentives like points, discounts, or exclusive access to products. The best retail rewards programs not only improve customer retention but also provide brands with valuable insights into your purchasing behavior and preferences. About 79% of consumers are involved in at least one loyalty program, demonstrating their widespread appeal. Loyalty programs can be structured in different ways, including points-based, tiered, cashback, or paid systems, each catering to diverse customer motivations. Research shows that members of loyalty programs typically spend up to 18% more than those who aren’t members, reflecting the effectiveness of these programs in nurturing brand loyalty and increasing overall sales. How Customer Loyalty Programs Work Grasping how customer loyalty programs work can help you appreciate their value beyond just rewards. To start, you typically need to enroll in these programs by providing personal information, which allows businesses to track your purchases and earnings. As you shop, you earn points based on the dollar amount spent, encouraging you to return for more purchases. Many programs feature tiered rewards, meaning you access greater benefits as you reach higher spending levels or engagement milestones. Businesses automatically track your activity, simplifying the process of accumulating and redeeming rewards. This seamless experience improves your satisfaction and incentivizes continued loyalty. Moreover, data analytics from these programs provide brands with insights into your preferences and spending habits, enabling them to refine their offerings. By grasping how these programs function, you can make informed choices about where to shop and the potential benefits waiting for you. Benefits of Customer Loyalty Programs Even though many shoppers might see loyalty programs as mere tools for earning rewards, they actually offer significant advantages for both consumers and businesses alike. These programs not only improve customer experience but likewise increase profitability for brands. Here are some key benefits: Increased Spending: Members typically spend up to 18% more than non-members. Brand Preference: Customers are 59% more likely to choose a brand that offers a loyalty program over competitors. Higher Retention Rates: About 85% of shoppers continue purchasing from brands that have loyalty initiatives. Long-Term Value: The customer lifetime value (CLV) for loyalty program members can be 6.3 times higher than for non-members. Data Insights: Loyalty programs provide businesses with valuable insights into customer preferences, enabling targeted marketing strategies. These benefits ultimately contribute to stronger consumer relationships and improved business growth. Types of Customer Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs come in various forms, each designed to cater to different consumer preferences and behaviors. Here are some common types: Program Type Description Points-Based Earn points for each purchase, redeemable for rewards, popularized by brands like Starbucks. Tiered Loyalty Offers rewards based on spending levels, providing increasing benefits as customers advance. Paid Loyalty Requires a membership fee for exclusive perks and discounts, exemplified by Amazon Prime. Coalition Loyalty Involves partnerships between multiple brands, allowing rewards to be earned and redeemed across different businesses. Referral Programs Customers receive rewards for successfully referring new customers, promoting brand growth. Understanding these types can help you choose the programs that best suit your shopping habits and preferences. By selecting the right loyalty program, you can maximize your rewards and improve your overall shopping experience. Examples of Successful Customer Loyalty Programs Many companies have successfully implemented customer loyalty programs that not only improve customer satisfaction but also drive sales growth. Here are some notable examples: Starbucks Rewards: Earn stars for every purchase, redeemable for free drinks and food, creating a loyal customer base. Marriott Bonvoy: A points-based system for hotel stays, car rentals, and flights, offering exclusive benefits like room upgrades. Delta SkyMiles Medallion: Tiered rewards based on spending, providing perks such as priority boarding and free checked bags for frequent travelers. Amazon Prime: A paid loyalty program that offers free shipping, access to streaming services, and exclusive discounts, greatly boosting customer retention. Walgreens Balance Rewards: Customers receive 10 cents back for every dollar spent, redeemable on future purchases, encouraging repeat visits. These programs demonstrate effective strategies that improve customer loyalty as well as boosting sales and profitability for businesses. Tips for Creating an Effective Loyalty Program To create an effective loyalty program, start by defining clear objectives that align with your overall customer experience strategy. Next, choose a reward structure that resonates with your audience, whether it’s a simple points system or tiered rewards. Finally, promote your program effectively to guarantee customers understand its value and benefits, which can greatly improve their loyalty to your brand. Define Clear Objectives Establishing clear objectives for your loyalty program is essential if you want to guarantee it aligns with your overall business goals. Start by identifying what you aim to achieve, ensuring you understand your audience’s preferences. Here are some key points to take into account: Increase customer retention rates. Boost average order value. Improve customer engagement through relevant rewards. Set measurable goals, like a 20% rise in membership sign-ups. Incorporate feedback mechanisms to adapt to evolving customer needs. Regularly review performance metrics such as redemption rates and net promoter scores (NPS) to assess the effectiveness of your program. Choose Reward Structure Choosing the right reward structure for your loyalty program is crucial since it directly influences customer engagement and retention. Consider implementing a points-based system, where customers earn points for purchases that can be redeemed for discounts or freebies. Tiered rewards can motivate higher spending, encouraging customers to reach new levels for greater benefits, similar to Delta Air Lines frequent flyer programs. You might likewise explore a paid loyalty program, like Amazon Prime, which offers immediate perks upon payment and can boost spending. Incorporating a mix of rewards—monetary incentives, exclusive access, and personalized offers—can appeal to a broader audience. Regularly review and adjust your reward structure based on customer feedback and performance metrics to guarantee it remains effective and relevant. Promote Program Effectively A well-promoted loyalty program can greatly improve customer engagement and retention. To guarantee your program stands out, focus on these effective strategies: Clearly define your value proposition by highlighting unique benefits and rewards, boosting member acquisition by up to 20%. Simplify the sign-up process; streamlined registration can increase enrollments by 50%. Utilize targeted marketing strategies like personalized emails and social media campaigns to engage potential members, enhancing brand loyalty by 36%. Regularly communicate updates and rewards through various channels to keep members informed, potentially improving retention by 25%. Incorporate feedback mechanisms to gather insights on preferences, adapting the program can raise customer satisfaction scores by 30%. Implementing these strategies will optimize your loyalty program’s effectiveness. Frequently Asked Questions How Do Customer Loyalty Programs Work? Customer loyalty programs work by rewarding you for repeat purchases. When you enroll, you start earning points or discounts based on your spending. Many programs have tiered benefits, meaning the more you spend, the better the rewards. These programs often track your purchases through a membership card or app, allowing businesses to analyze your preferences and spending habits. This data helps them tailor offers, improving your overall shopping experience. What Are the 4 C’s of Customer Loyalty? The 4 C’s of customer loyalty are Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. To build loyalty, you need to understand your audience, personalizing interactions to strengthen relationships. Offer value through rewards that justify their investment, making customers feel appreciated. Guarantee a seamless experience for accessing rewards, reducing friction in engagement. Finally, maintain clear communication about program benefits and personalized offers, helping customers stay informed and connected to your brand, which improves their loyalty. What Are the 3 R’s of Customer Loyalty? The three R’s of customer loyalty are Reward, Recognition, and Relevance. Reward means giving you incentives, like points or discounts, to encourage repeat purchases. Recognition is about acknowledging your loyalty with personalized communications or special treatment, making you feel valued. Relevance focuses on tailoring experiences and offers based on your preferences and behaviors, ensuring interactions are meaningful. Together, these elements improve your experience and strengthen your relationship with brands, promoting long-term loyalty. Are Loyalty Programs Just a Marketing Ploy? Loyalty programs aren’t just marketing ploys; they’re strategic tools aimed at building real relationships with customers. By offering rewards for repeat purchases, they encourage ongoing engagement. Around 79% of consumers participate in these programs, showing their appeal. They can boost annual revenue by 12-18% and greatly influence brand preference. Moreover, these programs generate valuable data, allowing businesses to tailor their offerings and improve the overall customer experience, making them effective beyond mere marketing tactics. Conclusion In conclusion, customer loyalty programs are strategic tools that improve customer engagement and drive repeat business. By offering rewards like points, discounts, or exclusive access, these programs encourage members to spend more and cultivate long-term relationships. Comprehending the various types and successful examples of these programs can help businesses create effective strategies customized to their audience. Implementing a well-structured loyalty program not just boosts retention but provides valuable insights for targeted marketing efforts. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Are Customer Loyalty Programs and How Do They Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Customer loyalty programs are crucial tools that businesses use to encourage repeat purchases and improve customer engagement. By offering rewards such as points, discounts, or exclusive access, these programs motivate customers to spend more and return frequently. Members typically spend considerably more than non-members, as their buying habits are tracked to maximize rewards. Comprehending how these programs operate can reveal their impact on business success and customer relationships, leading to intriguing insights about effective implementation. Key Takeaways Customer loyalty programs encourage repeat business by offering rewards like points, discounts, or exclusive access to products. Members typically spend up to 18% more than non-members, enhancing customer retention. Programs collect personal information to track purchases and enable reward accumulation based on spending. Different types include points-based, tiered, paid, coalition, and referral programs, each offering various incentives. Effective programs require clear objectives, appealing rewards, and ongoing communication to ensure member engagement and satisfaction. Definition of Customer Loyalty Programs Customer loyalty programs are a strategic approach that brands use to encourage repeat business and promote deeper engagement with their customers. These programs reward you for making repeat purchases, offering various incentives like points, discounts, or exclusive access to products. The best retail rewards programs not only improve customer retention but also provide brands with valuable insights into your purchasing behavior and preferences. About 79% of consumers are involved in at least one loyalty program, demonstrating their widespread appeal. Loyalty programs can be structured in different ways, including points-based, tiered, cashback, or paid systems, each catering to diverse customer motivations. Research shows that members of loyalty programs typically spend up to 18% more than those who aren’t members, reflecting the effectiveness of these programs in nurturing brand loyalty and increasing overall sales. How Customer Loyalty Programs Work Grasping how customer loyalty programs work can help you appreciate their value beyond just rewards. To start, you typically need to enroll in these programs by providing personal information, which allows businesses to track your purchases and earnings. As you shop, you earn points based on the dollar amount spent, encouraging you to return for more purchases. Many programs feature tiered rewards, meaning you access greater benefits as you reach higher spending levels or engagement milestones. Businesses automatically track your activity, simplifying the process of accumulating and redeeming rewards. This seamless experience improves your satisfaction and incentivizes continued loyalty. Moreover, data analytics from these programs provide brands with insights into your preferences and spending habits, enabling them to refine their offerings. By grasping how these programs function, you can make informed choices about where to shop and the potential benefits waiting for you. Benefits of Customer Loyalty Programs Even though many shoppers might see loyalty programs as mere tools for earning rewards, they actually offer significant advantages for both consumers and businesses alike. These programs not only improve customer experience but likewise increase profitability for brands. Here are some key benefits: Increased Spending: Members typically spend up to 18% more than non-members. Brand Preference: Customers are 59% more likely to choose a brand that offers a loyalty program over competitors. Higher Retention Rates: About 85% of shoppers continue purchasing from brands that have loyalty initiatives. Long-Term Value: The customer lifetime value (CLV) for loyalty program members can be 6.3 times higher than for non-members. Data Insights: Loyalty programs provide businesses with valuable insights into customer preferences, enabling targeted marketing strategies. These benefits ultimately contribute to stronger consumer relationships and improved business growth. Types of Customer Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs come in various forms, each designed to cater to different consumer preferences and behaviors. Here are some common types: Program Type Description Points-Based Earn points for each purchase, redeemable for rewards, popularized by brands like Starbucks. Tiered Loyalty Offers rewards based on spending levels, providing increasing benefits as customers advance. Paid Loyalty Requires a membership fee for exclusive perks and discounts, exemplified by Amazon Prime. Coalition Loyalty Involves partnerships between multiple brands, allowing rewards to be earned and redeemed across different businesses. Referral Programs Customers receive rewards for successfully referring new customers, promoting brand growth. Understanding these types can help you choose the programs that best suit your shopping habits and preferences. By selecting the right loyalty program, you can maximize your rewards and improve your overall shopping experience. Examples of Successful Customer Loyalty Programs Many companies have successfully implemented customer loyalty programs that not only improve customer satisfaction but also drive sales growth. Here are some notable examples: Starbucks Rewards: Earn stars for every purchase, redeemable for free drinks and food, creating a loyal customer base. Marriott Bonvoy: A points-based system for hotel stays, car rentals, and flights, offering exclusive benefits like room upgrades. Delta SkyMiles Medallion: Tiered rewards based on spending, providing perks such as priority boarding and free checked bags for frequent travelers. Amazon Prime: A paid loyalty program that offers free shipping, access to streaming services, and exclusive discounts, greatly boosting customer retention. Walgreens Balance Rewards: Customers receive 10 cents back for every dollar spent, redeemable on future purchases, encouraging repeat visits. These programs demonstrate effective strategies that improve customer loyalty as well as boosting sales and profitability for businesses. Tips for Creating an Effective Loyalty Program To create an effective loyalty program, start by defining clear objectives that align with your overall customer experience strategy. Next, choose a reward structure that resonates with your audience, whether it’s a simple points system or tiered rewards. Finally, promote your program effectively to guarantee customers understand its value and benefits, which can greatly improve their loyalty to your brand. Define Clear Objectives Establishing clear objectives for your loyalty program is essential if you want to guarantee it aligns with your overall business goals. Start by identifying what you aim to achieve, ensuring you understand your audience’s preferences. Here are some key points to take into account: Increase customer retention rates. Boost average order value. Improve customer engagement through relevant rewards. Set measurable goals, like a 20% rise in membership sign-ups. Incorporate feedback mechanisms to adapt to evolving customer needs. Regularly review performance metrics such as redemption rates and net promoter scores (NPS) to assess the effectiveness of your program. Choose Reward Structure Choosing the right reward structure for your loyalty program is crucial since it directly influences customer engagement and retention. Consider implementing a points-based system, where customers earn points for purchases that can be redeemed for discounts or freebies. Tiered rewards can motivate higher spending, encouraging customers to reach new levels for greater benefits, similar to Delta Air Lines frequent flyer programs. You might likewise explore a paid loyalty program, like Amazon Prime, which offers immediate perks upon payment and can boost spending. Incorporating a mix of rewards—monetary incentives, exclusive access, and personalized offers—can appeal to a broader audience. Regularly review and adjust your reward structure based on customer feedback and performance metrics to guarantee it remains effective and relevant. Promote Program Effectively A well-promoted loyalty program can greatly improve customer engagement and retention. To guarantee your program stands out, focus on these effective strategies: Clearly define your value proposition by highlighting unique benefits and rewards, boosting member acquisition by up to 20%. Simplify the sign-up process; streamlined registration can increase enrollments by 50%. Utilize targeted marketing strategies like personalized emails and social media campaigns to engage potential members, enhancing brand loyalty by 36%. Regularly communicate updates and rewards through various channels to keep members informed, potentially improving retention by 25%. Incorporate feedback mechanisms to gather insights on preferences, adapting the program can raise customer satisfaction scores by 30%. Implementing these strategies will optimize your loyalty program’s effectiveness. Frequently Asked Questions How Do Customer Loyalty Programs Work? Customer loyalty programs work by rewarding you for repeat purchases. When you enroll, you start earning points or discounts based on your spending. Many programs have tiered benefits, meaning the more you spend, the better the rewards. These programs often track your purchases through a membership card or app, allowing businesses to analyze your preferences and spending habits. This data helps them tailor offers, improving your overall shopping experience. What Are the 4 C’s of Customer Loyalty? The 4 C’s of customer loyalty are Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. To build loyalty, you need to understand your audience, personalizing interactions to strengthen relationships. Offer value through rewards that justify their investment, making customers feel appreciated. Guarantee a seamless experience for accessing rewards, reducing friction in engagement. Finally, maintain clear communication about program benefits and personalized offers, helping customers stay informed and connected to your brand, which improves their loyalty. What Are the 3 R’s of Customer Loyalty? The three R’s of customer loyalty are Reward, Recognition, and Relevance. Reward means giving you incentives, like points or discounts, to encourage repeat purchases. Recognition is about acknowledging your loyalty with personalized communications or special treatment, making you feel valued. Relevance focuses on tailoring experiences and offers based on your preferences and behaviors, ensuring interactions are meaningful. Together, these elements improve your experience and strengthen your relationship with brands, promoting long-term loyalty. Are Loyalty Programs Just a Marketing Ploy? Loyalty programs aren’t just marketing ploys; they’re strategic tools aimed at building real relationships with customers. By offering rewards for repeat purchases, they encourage ongoing engagement. Around 79% of consumers participate in these programs, showing their appeal. They can boost annual revenue by 12-18% and greatly influence brand preference. Moreover, these programs generate valuable data, allowing businesses to tailor their offerings and improve the overall customer experience, making them effective beyond mere marketing tactics. Conclusion In conclusion, customer loyalty programs are strategic tools that improve customer engagement and drive repeat business. By offering rewards like points, discounts, or exclusive access, these programs encourage members to spend more and cultivate long-term relationships. Comprehending the various types and successful examples of these programs can help businesses create effective strategies customized to their audience. Implementing a well-structured loyalty program not just boosts retention but provides valuable insights for targeted marketing efforts. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Are Customer Loyalty Programs and How Do They Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

More flights resume across Middle East despite some refuelling disruptions in OmanView the full article

Picture two scenes. In the first, a Swiss train pulls away at exactly 10:02 a.m. If you’re not on the platform, it’s already too late. Precision is respect. It always comes first. In the second, a family minibus idles with the engine running. Somebody’s cousin is late. “We can’t leave without him.” The whole group waits because relationships matter more than the clock. These two images capture what anthropologist Edward T. Hall described in the 1950s as monochronic and polychronic relationships to time. In monochronic cultures, time is linear and segmented. You do one thing at a time. You respect deadlines. You don’t interrupt. In polychronic cultures, by contrast, time is fluid. Multiple activities can overlap. Interruptions are normal. Human connection often takes precedence over punctuality. There’s room for improvisation. Hall’s framework is usually applied to national cultures—Northern Europe and the United States are often described as more monochronic whereas parts of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, or Southern Europe are said to be more polychronic. But in today’s workplace, this distinction is no longer just about geography. It’s about how we work. It’s about how we reward work. And even more importantly, it’s also about gender. A productivity bias toward monochronic time Modern corporate life is built on monochronic assumptions. Calendar invites carve the day into neat blocks. Deep work is idealized. Focus is fetishized. The most admired professionals are often those who can shut the door, silence notifications, and deliver—on time, every time. Monochronic work has undeniable advantages. It enables depth. It supports complex problem-solving. It rewards persistence. In research, engineering, writing, and strategy, sustained concentration can be transformative. But it can also become rigid. Monochronic workers may stick to a plan long after conditions have changed. They may resist interruptions that, in hindsight, could have opened new opportunities. The system prizes predictability, which is often hard to generate. Polychronic workers, by contrast, tend to thrive in flux. They switch contexts more easily. They welcome the unexpected conversation, the new angle, the emerging opportunity. Their days are less linear, more improvisational. In that sense, polychronism may be particularly well suited to innovation and entrepreneurship — especially in moments that call for a strategic pivot mid-course. This flexibility can produce increased relational intelligence. But it comes at a cost: dispersion, unfinished tasks and cognitive overload. And that cost is not distributed equally. The gendered burden of polychronic time Too often, the monochronic/polychronic distinction is framed as a personality difference. Some people are “naturally” or “culturally” focused; others are scattered. Some are disciplined; others are relational. But that is way too simplistic a framing. Many people—especially women—do not choose polychronic time. They are assigned to it. It’s hardly a revelation: women continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care work. Beyond the visible tasks lies the mental load: the constant anticipation of needs, the quiet monitoring, the emotional labor that keeps family life coherent. Even in dual-income households, research consistently finds that this invisible infrastructure of daily life rests largely on women’s shoulders. And this work is inherently polychronic. It requires constant switching between domains: professional deadlines, school emails, elderly parents’ prescriptions, a last-minute call from daycare. It demands anticipatory thinking across multiple timelines. It rewards attentiveness to interruption. In other words, many women operate in a state of enforced polychronicity. But then they enter workplaces designed for monochronic performance, which produces a double bind. In professional settings, monochronic behavior— uninterrupted focus, linear execution—is often interpreted as leadership potential and intellectual superiority. Meanwhile, polychronic behavior—context switching, responsiveness, relational attentiveness—can be misread as lack of focus or insufficient discipline. Yet for many women, the fragmentation of attention is not a personality flaw. It is the structural consequence of unequal responsibility. That’s why our relationship to time is not simply a matter of national culture or individual temperament. It is shaped by life constraints, social expectations, and economic realities. A mother who answers a school call during a meeting is not demonstrating a cultural preference for fluid time. She is navigating a system that assumes someone else will absorb the interruption—and almost always, that someone else is her. In theory, polychronic time can generate serendipity, creativity and strong social bonds. But often it produces cognitive strain. The inability to complete tasks without interruption erodes satisfaction. The sense of never being fully present—at work or at home—feeds guilt and self-doubt. Many women internalize this strain as personal inadequacy. They compare themselves to monochronic partners or colleagues. They conclude they lack discipline. Rethinking time as a workplace equity issue If we take Hall’s framework seriously, we should stop treating time orientation as a moral hierarchy. Monochronic is not superior. Polychronic is not inferior. They are adaptive responses to different environments. The most important aspect of the question is whether or not we get any choice in the matter. Organizations that value inclusion should examine how their structures reward one temporal style over another. Do performance metrics assume uninterrupted availability? Do leadership norms privilege those who can guard their time fiercely? Are flexibility policies distributed equally? Do they come with less pay? It’s true that hybrid work and digital tools have blurred boundaries for everyone. But the burden of managing that interruptibility still falls unevenly. Instead of asking individuals to “be more focused,” perhaps we should ask how teams can better distribute cognitive labor, including the cognitive labor associated with teamwork. How can an organization protect deep work time for caregivers? How can workplaces recognize relational labor as real contributions? Of course we need both models at work: monochronic time is invaluable when precision, safety, or deep thinking are required; polychronic time is essential when navigating uncertainty or human crises. Some people can alternate between the two by design. But for caregivers—including those who absorb the invisible coordination work at the office—polychronic time is simply an obligation. View the full article

TikTok is entertaining, addictive, and full of hidden features that can make the experience way more enjoyable—not to mention safer. Because for all its charms, TikTok is something of a privacy nightmare. The app's ownership recently shifted from Chinese company ByteDance to the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, a new entity backed by Oracle's Larry Ellison, private equity firm Silver Lake, and UAE-based investment firm MGX, a change that raised plenty of eyebrows when it was announced in January 2026, and may have you thinking twice about how it's using your data. When it comes to hacking your TikTok feed, you probably already know the surface-level tricks: adding automatic captions, holding down to play at 2x speed, or tapping "Not interested" to nudge the algorithm. Let's go deeper, with 10 TikTok hacks you might not know about. There's a way to view your TikTok watch historyFinding a TikTok via the search bar is famously painful. If you didn't like or save the video, you can consider it gone forever...unless you use this little-known trick to actually see your own watch history. Go to the search bar on your For You feed, type a single period (.) and hit search. You'll see an option to “view your watch history.” From here, you can even filter by date, if you remember roughly when you watched the video you're looking for. This is huge. Credit: Meredith Dietz Long-press the share button to quickly send a TikTok to your top friendsInstead of going through the full share menu, you can simply press and hold the share (arrow) button while watching a video. Your top four contacts will appear instantly, letting you send with one tap. Note: TikTok's idea of who makes it into your "top four" may surprise you, and it's not entirely transparent about how it determines who counts as one of your closest connections. Enable clear mode in TikTok for a cleaner watch experienceTo strip away the like buttons, comment icons, and other UI clutter from a video, long-press on the screen while watching and select Clear Display. Alternatively, pinch the screen with two fingers and move slightly outward to toggle the same mode. Press X or swipe to the next video to exit clear mode. This trick is particularly great for screenshots, or when you want to get a better view of the video without the interface in the way. Drop an emoji react in TikTok without opening commentsPress and hold the comment box to send a quick emoji reaction without pulling up the full comments section. It's faster, though if you ask me, the comments section is crucial to the full TikTok experience. Some of the best content on the internet lives in the replies. Reset your TikTok For You feed's algorithm Stuck in a content rut? TikTok has a way to wipe your feed and start fresh: Tap Profile at the bottom right Tap the three-line menu (top right) Go to Settings and privacy Select Content preferences Tap Refresh your For You feed Tap Continue to confirm Your feed will repopulate with a clean slate of broader, less personalized content. Save a TikTok as a Live Photo for your iPhone Lock CcreenLove a video so much you want to see it every time you lock your phone? Or do you want to prank a friend who left their phone in your hands? On iPhone, open any video in TikTok, tap the Share (arrow) icon, and select Live Photo from the bottom row. The video will save to your Photos app. To then use it as a lock screen wallpaper: Open the Live Photo in the iPhone Photos app Tap Share → Use as Wallpaper Or go to Settings → Wallpaper → Choose a New Wallpaper and select it from your library Force-press your lock screen and your TikTok video will play as a live photo. This is useful if you really, really like someone's fan edits of your favorite character. Opt out of TikTok's data collectionTikTok collects a lot. If you’re going to use the app, there isn’t really a way to get around the privacy nightmare completely. Still, in the settings, you can limit what it does with your data: Turn off targeted ads outside of TikTok Disable using off-TikTok activity for ad targeting Turn off location tracking within the app Stop contact syncing You can also go to your phone's system Settings → TikTok and revoke location permissions at the OS level. This is usually a more reliable route than trusting in-app controls. Stop TikTok from suggesting your account to othersTwo layers here, and you need both: In TikTok settings, you should turn off syncing for contacts and Facebook friends. But the real hack is to also go into your phone's settings and revoke TikTok's contacts permission entirely. Otherwise TikTok may still be able to match your account to people who have your number saved, even with in-app syncing off. Use hidden hashtags to reach the right audienceReady to post something yourself? Hashtags tell TikTok's algorithm what your video is about, but a wall of hashtags in your caption looks messy and may actually confuse the algorithm. But you can hack it with two cleaner approaches: Use SEO-based terms, shrink them small, and flick them off-screen in the caption editor. Post your video, then immediately add hashtags as your very first comment. Whichever method you choose, stick to 3–5 hashtags that directly relate to your content, mixing specific, broad, and trending tags. More isn't better here, since it can dilute your content. Boost your own engagementThe secret to engaging an audience of your own is to actually be engaging, and to engage back with others. For instance, replying to comments with video responses boosts reach more than typing a reply does. But to make sure you’re posting something that gets a comment in the first place, use the three-hook rule to keep viewers watching past the first second: Text hook. Put descriptive text on-screen that tells viewers exactly what this video is about. Verbal hook. In your voiceover or talking-head intro, explain why they should stick around. Visual hook. Do something visually compelling immediately. Always open with your most exciting footage, even if you circle back chronologically. Finally, capitalizing on trends does help, but I promise you don't have to dance to trending sounds—just add a popular song to the background of whatever you're already filming to ride its algorithm boost. View the full article

The job market is tough right now: AI résumé filters, the rise of ghost jobs, and waves of industry-wide layoffs. Many workers cling tightly to their jobs in this environment, a phenomenon known as “job hugging.” But a surprising number of mid-career millennials aren’t scrambling to avoid redundancy. Instead, they admit they’d prefer an external push out the door because the alternative—voluntarily navigating a chaotic job market—feels far too risky. And experts say it’s a trend that should leave the cohort right below millennials worried. A recent survey of 2,000 Gen Z and millennial workers in the US by online education platform ELVTR found that 37% of millennials are dissatisfied with their current roles, and 55% feel unsettled in their careers. Nearly six in 10 said they hoped for an external excuse to leave a job they felt stuck in, such as being laid off. Roman Peskin, ELVTR’s CEO, calls it “career dysmorphia”: Jobs no longer deliver the stability or upward mobility that they used to. On top of that, many young people have high levels of student debt gathering interest in a world where the cost of living is still rising, making traditional milestones, like homeownership, increasingly out of reach. “We sold them a career vision which they probably aren’t going to get,” Peskin continues. “They’re more willing to afford the thought of, ‘I’m going to find something else, but I can’t really afford to pull the trigger myself’.” Having millennials secretly wishing their jobs would disappear is a warning sign to Gen Zers. They’re entering a workforce where almost every industry is being reshaped by AI and instability, and where getting hired and building a meaningful career may be far more difficult than they thought. Feeling stuck in a collapsing career pyramid Many millennials essentially feel stuck, unable to quit, but unconvinced that staying will provide the future they were promised. On social media, this malaise is being dubbed the “Great Millennial Career Crisis.” Jessi Jean, a content creator who talks about her career pivot at age 35, described it in a TikTok at the end of last year. She said millennials in particular were sold a version of success that “doesn’t exist anymore.” “We’re told, go to school, pick a responsible career, work hard . . . if you climb the ladder, you’ll definitely be rewarded,” she said. “Buy a house, get married, have the kids, and then you’re going to feel fulfilled.” But many who followed that path encountered recessions, skyrocketing student loan debt, high housing costs, and now, rapid AI advancement. “Now technology is taking out entire job markets,” Jean said. “So I think so many of us are realizing that our parents’ dream isn’t ours.” This tension suggests the career ladder itself isn’t working—with millennials watching it collapse from the inside. The end of trial and error For decades, corporate structures operated like pyramids. They found their best people through the trial and error of hiring broadly at the bottom, training and testing them, and promoting the strongest performers. That way, if you hired ten graduates, you only needed one to emerge as a future leader. But that structure is rapidly changing, with young talent facing a “jobpocalypse” once they graduate. AI is reshaping the bottom rungs of the career ladder, with companies including PwC and IBM warning that automation is shrinking entry-level corporate roles. HR software company Avature’s recent AI impact report, which surveyed 180 HR, talent acquisition, and talent technology professionals across industries worldwide, found that 76% of respondents believe AI will significantly reduce hiring, creating what it called an “entry-level squeeze.” Avature’s CEO and founder, Dimitri Boylan, tells Fast Company that many of the company’s customers, which range from Apple to Xerox, believe this pyramid “is not going to be in existence in the future.” Companies can no longer afford experimentation, so they need to be far more precise in selecting junior hires from the start, meaning more intense recruitment processes for junior roles. Even those who do get hired may find there’s less tolerance for mistakes. The old system allowed young workers to learn on the job and grow into management, but an AI-augmented workforce may offer far less patience and room to improve. “It’s a compounding problem,” Boylan says. “The generation that’s coming into the workforce right now, the 18- to 25-year-olds—this is going to have a very big impact on them.” ‘Midlife crises now arrive at 25’ Ella Robertson McKay, managing director of the NGO for young leaders One Young World, agrees that young people are facing multiple stressors in their lives and careers. But she also points to their adaptability and digital fluency as strengths. “I have no concerns about the leadership caliber amongst Gen Z,” she says. It’s just about teasing those out, and that may mean restructuring a new pipeline altogether. Boylan says it’s up to HR to understand how the architecture within their organizations is changing and move people in the right directions—though it will take some time for the best route to become clear. “They have a lot of figuring out to do,” Boylan says. “But they don’t have enough data yet to do it.” There will always be ambitious workers willing to push through uncertain times, Peskin says. Top firms will always be willing to pay for top talent. But that divide is widening, and there’s no guarantee of job security in any industry. “It’s becoming more of a law of the jungle,” Peskin says. “Midlife crises now arrive at 25, because disillusionment comes much sooner.” Millennial workers fantasizing about being laid off could be written off as burnout, but it signals more than that. It’s a bright red flag for those looking to break into their chosen industry. While millennials are secretly hoping to be pushed from a crumbling career ladder, Gen Z may discover it’s not waiting for them at all. View the full article

Lendwise filed a complaint against Priority Financial Network, claiming it falsely reported to partners that Lendwise organized an "Amended Returns Scheme." View the full article

Stock trading platform Robinhood has announced its newest offering: the Robinhood Platinum Card. The upgraded option comes two years after the company unveiled its first credit card, the Gold Card. “We built the Gold Card to be the best card for everyday spending, and customer demand showed us there was room to push the boundaries even further,” Deepak Rao, the vice president and general manager of Robinhood Money, said in the announcement. “The Platinum Card offers higher limits, elite rewards and luxury benefits, and raises the bar for what customers should expect from a premium credit card.” Although you can request access, the new Platinum Card is invite only. Even if you do get access, be aware that Robinhood’s Platinum Card will cost you $695 annually. Coastal Community Bank is the card’s issuing bank. The high fee isn’t shocking given that premium card issuers have been raising their annual fees. Take the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, which went up to $795 from $550 last year. The Amex Platinum Card, meanwhile, is $895 annually. What benefits does Robinhood’s Platinum Card have? So, for such a steep price, what does the new Robinhood card give you? Here are just some of the benefits Robinhood is offering with its Platinum Card: 5% cash back on dining 10% cash back on hotels and cars Unlimited access to over 1,800 Priority Pass lounges worldwide $500 annual hotel credit $300 annual travel credit $250 in autonomous rides credit $200 wearables credit Amazon One Medical membership Add family members for free Of course, each of those points comes with caveats written in fine print that are worth exploring. People have strong opinions on the new Platinum Card Unsurprisingly, people have a lot of thoughts about the new card. A sea of comments on Reddit threads discussing the card run the gamut. One user wrote, “The devil is in the details. On the surface, it looks good, then it turns into a coupon book that’s even worse.” “I think people are being way too hard on this card,” said another user, while comparing and contrasting some of its benefits with those offered by Amex. “Nobody is talking about the things this card has which are amazing,” the user added. “I just think it’s a different target audience.” View the full article

Picture this: It’s lunchtime in the 1960s, and you’re out with co-workers enjoying not one, not two, but three cocktails with your meal. While the three-martini lunch seems improbable today, workplaces still can be boozy places. After-work happy hours, corporate parties and client meetings at fancy bars are still expected in many areas of American corporate culture. Talking about sobriety with managers and colleagues therefore can be daunting for people in recovery from alcohol addiction. Professionals in some industries fear being judged for needing help or missing out on career advancement opportunities if social drinking is encouraged as part of a job. Treatment professionals and individuals who have navigated careers while abstaining from alcohol say such anxieties are natural but must not get in the way of uncomfortable conversations or other actions that promote a successful recovery. “If you’re sober and in recovery, nothing’s worth risking putting your sobriety at risk,” said Lisa Smith, a former lawyer who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction as she worked at a prestigious law firm in New York. Co-workers care less about what’s in your cup than you think Learning not to overexplain yourself and setting boundaries at work is key, according to Smith. “We say in recovery a lot that ‘No’ is a complete sentence,” Smith said. Times have changed since Smith joined the workforce. Younger generations with access to mocktails and non-alcoholic beer have helped normalize not drinking and enter workplaces versed in the topics of mental health and substance use disorders, she said. When she started refusing alcoholic beverages, Smith realized that most of her co-workers were not as concerned as she had imagined they would be. She also realized that there were more people around her that didn’t drink than she had previously noticed, whether for religious or other reasons. The people who did badger her to drink were often heavy drinkers themselves and “were looking for a comrade to drink with, to sort of make them feel better about their own drinking,” she said. In the early years of her recovery, she skipped events that she knew would be uncomfortable or left early, but she made sure to follow up with people she wanted to connect with over coffee the next day. Smith now has her own advisory firm where she shares her experiences with organizations and law firms, and helps them foster more recovery friendly workplaces. “We hear from younger lawyers who understand that it is not healthy and don’t like the way they feel on alcohol, just don’t choose to drink for any reason,” she said. Drinking is also widespread and often glorified in the entertainment industry, according to Ermanno DiFebo, a production designer in Los Angeles who said he struggled with alcohol addiction for many years before getting sober. The way alcohol was marketed was that “if you are good, you can handle it. If you cannot handle it, you are weak,” DiFebo said. “The treatment facilities are for people that are weak.” When he first quit, he came up with excuses for why he wasn’t drinking, like having a medical appointment the next day or having to wake up early. If he felt the environment was friendly, he would simply say, “I partied too much and now I’m not partying anymore.” Now, he encourages people to think about alcohol addiction like a food allergy – if you were allergic to gluten, you wouldn’t keep eating it. “Alcohol makes you sick and manifests itself in compulsion to continue beyond reasoning,” he said. Employers benefit from more recovery-friendly workplaces It’s also beneficial to employers to promote work cultures that are welcoming to those in recovery, said Heidi Wallace, vice president of recovery services at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. “Individuals in that recovery process that are working a program, they’re actually the most productive workforce,” Wallace said. “They’ve done so much work to get to this place, and their program actually has been sitting in a space of gratitude and a place of being of service.” There’s research that shows people actively in recovery programs are not calling out sick and are more likely to step up if management needs volunteers for a task, Wallace said. One way to facilitate that is for companies to create spaces where employees can participate in virtual recovery meetings during the workday or even host or attend a meeting on-site, Wallace said. DiFebo recalled attending on-set recovery meetings at Warner Brothers and Universal Studios while working on movies. “I realized that there were a lot of people in recovery around all the drinkers. I just didn’t see them before,” he said. Smith said she strives to show employers that it’s possible to host fun, team-building events that don’t center alcohol. “There was always this assumption people made that when planning events that alcohol equals fun, right?” Smith said. But hiking and wellness events have grown in popularity, and so have non-alcoholic beverage options. Even events like wine tastings can still happen with non-alcoholic wine options, Smith said. When throwing a party, it can be as simple as making sure that mocktail options are easily available to grab from a server bringing trays of drinks around, instead of making people have to take the extra step of ordering them separately from the bar. “It shouldn’t be incumbent upon the person who chooses not to drink on any given night to make themselves feel comfortable in that setting,” Smith said. —Jaimie Ding, Associated Press View the full article

Intelligence committee member Mark Warner suggests administration has failed to outline next steps in briefingsView the full article

NotebookLM is Google's more sophisticated, research-focused AI tool, built on the same underlying models as Gemini but with an interface that's less chatty and friendly. Like Gemini, it regularly gets upgrades and new features, and the latest update adds "cinematic" video summaries. One of the tasks NotebookLM is perfect for is collecting a bunch of information together in a notebook—PDFs, web links, YouTube videos—and then having it explained and summarized (it's a great study tool in that respect). You may remember that a couple of years ago it added the ability to generate realistic-sounding podcasts called Audio Overviews from your notebooks. The new Cinematic option in Video Overviews. Credit: Lifehacker Last year we got Video Overviews, but these were more like slideshows than mini movies—they basically put the contents of a notebook into something that might have been made in PowerPoint. With this new cinematic upgrade, however, you'll get video summaries that are much more animated and three-dimensional. There are some rather hefty caveats: You need to be on the top-tier, $250-per-month Google AI Ultra plan to access this new Video Overviews category; additionally, they're only available to users aged 18 and above, and only in English. The feature may trickle down to everyone eventually, but for now you need to be a relatively well-off AI enthusiast to be able to access this. It's a lot of money to spend on AI each month, but there's plenty more to Google AI Ultra, including a subscription to YouTube Premium and 30TB of Google Drive space to store all those AI-generated images and videos you'll be making. In Gemini and NotebookLM, you get higher usage rates on just about everything. To put the new cinematic overviews to the test, I created a new notebook in NotebookLM based on a single source: A paper published by Apple researchers on the "illusion of thinking" exhibited by Large Reasoning Models (LRMs), such as those that NotebookLM taps into. It's a dense, 39-page study, exactly the sort of lengthy document you might need summarizing by AI. The cinematic differenceWhile there are mobile apps available for NotebookLM, the interface is easier to manage on the web. If you're new to the tool, you can click Create new notebook to get started, then point NotebookLM towards your sources—whether it's plain text you want to paste in, or an Apple AI study you want to upload. The app can even search the web for other relevant sources. Once you've actually got some information together, the Video Overview option is in the Studio panel on the right. You can pick between a Brief overview or a more detailed Explainer style, and choose a template for your overview too. There's also space to give some pointers as to how the video should be structured. If you're a paid-up Google AI Ultra member, you also get a Cinematic option. First I requested an Explainer-style Video Overview for the Apple AI paper. It took around 15 minutes to generate, and came in at a little over six minutes long. As you can see above, it does a decent job of explaining the contents of the paper, and giving some of the reasons why LRMs get stuck on complex tasks. It's a very static slideshow, but it's well laid out, and the illustrations generally make sense, with one or two aberrations: That first Claude Sonnet graph has two extra lines that shouldn't be there. It gives you a decent understanding of the paper, but I wouldn't want to 100 percent rely on it (AI "can be inaccurate" is the disclaimer that Google puts all across Gemini and NotebookLM). The Cinematic–style Video Overview took more than 50 minutes to generate and is more than seven minutes long, and you can see it below. On the plus side, it goes into more detail, and I felt I knew more about the topic after watching it. All the charts were copied over from the paper correctly, and some of the animations were genuinely useful. However, NotebookLM clearly struggled with certain animations: When it was trying to show someone drawing on a page for example, or placing blocks on top of one another in a Tower of Hanoi puzzle. These are notable problems evident in other AI-generated videos, because these models don't really understand the real world or physics—the vast amounts of video footage they've been trained on give them a good idea about where to place pixels, but not really how objects should interact with each other. I did prefer the Cinematic Video Overview overall, though clearly the results are going to vary depending on the sources that you feed NotebookLM—outside of research papers it might get a bit more creative and interesting. The visual errors are kind of distracting, though, and ultimately the standard Video Overviews that everyone has access to work well enough without any enhancements. View the full article

Jurors in a bellwether trial about the impacts of social media on children watched a deposition of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday that explored what the architects of Facebook and Instagram knew from internal research about the negative experiences of young users and how the company responded. New Mexico’s attorney general alleges that Meta violated state consumer protection laws in failing to disclose what it knew about the dangers of addiction to social media as well as child sexual exploitation on the company’s platforms. Attorneys for Meta say the company discloses risks and makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences — acknowledging that some bad material still gets through its safety net. In the pretrial deposition recorded last year, prosecutors confronted Zuckerberg with internal company communications and emails from platform users spanning back to the infancy of Facebook in 2008 that discuss “problematic” and addictive use of social media. “Over the past 15 years, users of your products have repeatedly told your company and you personally that they find the products to be addictive, that’s true isn’t it?” Previn Warren, a member of the prosecution team, asked Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg took issue with the word “addictive.” “I think people sometimes use that word colloquially,” he said “That’s not what we’re trying to do with the products, and it’s not how I think they work.” At the same time, Zuckerberg said he wants to “make sure that we can understand so we can improve the products and make them better for people in ways that they want.” Zuckerberg went on to concede that he initially set goals for employees to increase the amount of time teenagers spent on its platform amid efforts to expand business revenue and the number of platform users. “Yes, I think we focused on time spent as one of the major engagement goals,” Zuckerberg said. “Sometime during 2017 and beyond — for, at this point, most of the last 10 years — we’ve focused on other metrics.” The deposition also delved into Zuckerberg’s decision to lift a temporary Instagram ban on the use of cosmetic filters that changed people’s appearance in a way that seemed to promote plastic surgery. “I care a lot about not cracking down on the ways that people can express themselves and there’s, like, always been a lot of pressure to do that and censor our services,” Zuckerberg said. “I didn’t find any of the anecdotal examples that people used to be convincing that it was actually clear evidence that this was going to be harmful.” The deposition was shown during the fourth week of the civil trial. Meta, which also owns WhatsApp, prohibits children under 13 from using its platforms, but some manage to sign up anyway. On Tuesday, the New Mexico jury watched a video in which prosecutors peppered Instagram head Adam Mosseri with questions about Meta’s approach to safety, corporate profits and social media features. They also asked him about policies for young users that might contribute to unwanted communications with adults. The New Mexico case and a separate trial against Meta in Los Angeles could set the course for thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies. Zuckerberg testified last month in Los Angeles about young people’s use of Instagram and has answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta’s platforms. During his 2024 congressional testimony, he apologized to families whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were caused by social media. But while he told parents he was “sorry for everything you have all been through,” he stopped short of taking direct responsibility for it. —Morgan Lee, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The most-streamed TV shows in February prove that the monoculture is officially dead. Instead of one-show-fits-all, we have a lineup of series diverse enough to give you genre-whiplash. The high-stress espionage of The Night Manager, the super-hero meta-commentary of Wonder Man, the light fantasy of A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, and the gritty realism of The Pitt have little in common beyond all being excellent television shows. Here's the full list of the top 10 most-streamed shows of February 2026 across all major streaming services, as compiled by JustWatch. The Pitt The Pitt continues to dominate the streaming charts. HBO's gritty, hyper-realistic medical drama has earned acclaim from critics and audiences for its relentless pace, as it follows a single 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Starring Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael Robinavitch, The Pitt ditches the "disease of the week" format of many medical shows in favor of a study of the toll the modern medical system places on everyone involved. Season one earned five Emmy awards, and judging from the first few episodes, season two might win more. Stream The Pitt on Max. The Pitt at Max Learn More Learn More at Max A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes fans back to Westeros, 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, the series is less about world-spanning politics and more about smaller, character driven moments in the lives of humble, towering knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his diminutive, mysterious squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). It's shorter, lighter, and funnier than its forebears (but not too light—this is still Westeros, after all). Stream A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on Max. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms at Max Learn More Learn More at Max The Night Manager If you're into high-stake international espionage, you have to check out The Night Manager. It's based on John le Carre's best-selling novel and stars Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, an MI-6 agent whose mission is to infiltrate the inner circle of dangerous arms trader Richard "Dickie" Onslow Roper, played by Hugh Laurie. It's been 10 long years since the show first premiered, but both seasons of this BBC-made series are available in full as of Feb. 1, so binge it up, man. Stream The Night Manager on Prime Video. The Night Manager at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Fallout Post-apocalyptic action-comedy Fallout is like nothing that’s been on TV before. Staying true to the gritty, gruesome, and irreverent spirit of the video games upon which it is based, it follows naive former vault dweller Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) as she leaves her protected bunker to track down her father in the irradiated Wasteland. The show’s standout characters include Lucy’s duplicitous pop (Kyle MacLachlan), conflicted mech-warrior Maximus (Aaron Moten), and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), the noseless, undead remains of a pre-apocalypse Hollywood cowboy. Season one earned a staggering 17 Emmy nominations in 2024, and the just-finished season two earned even greater critical acclaim for its expansion into the iconic ruins of New Vegas. Stream Fallout on Prime Video. Fallout at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Shrinking January saw the premiere of the third season of Apple TV+'s Shrinking, a comedy/drama created by Jason Segel, Bill Lawrence, and Brett Goldstein, the team behind Ted Lasso and Scrubs. This comedy/drama series follows Jimmy Laird (Segel), a grief-stricken therapist who breaks all professional and ethical boundaries by telling his patients exactly what he thinks, while Harrison Ford, Laird's mentor, does damage control. Shrinking has been nominated for nine Primetime Emmies, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, but has yet to take a statue home. Unfair! Stream Shrinking on Apple TV+. Shrinking at Apple TV+ Learn More Learn More at Apple TV+ Wonder Man In the Marvel universe, people with superpowers are legally prohibited from appearing in Hollywood movies, but struggling actor Simon Williams really needs a job, and he doesn't understand how his powers work anyway, so he takes a job on a superhero movie called Wonder Man. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, it turns out. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as the reluctantly super-heroic main character, and Sir Ben Kingsley plays Simon's mentor, Trevor Slattery. Stream Wonder Man on Disney+. Wonder Man Learn More Learn More The Lincoln Lawyer There's something comforting about this old-school legal procedural. Based on the best-selling novels by Michael Connelly, the series follows Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), an idealistic LA attorney who runs a law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. Slick, fast-paced, and anchored by a charismatic lead actor, The Lincoln Lawyer makes even the most dense legal jargon feel like a thrill ride. Stream The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. The Lincoln Lawyer at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix Schitt's Creek Despite having been off the air for more than six years, beloved series Schitt's Creek is on the top 10 charts, proving that quality pays. Created by the father-son team Eugene and Dan Levy, Schitt's Creek is a riches-to-rags comedy that follows the Rose family, who lost a massive fortune and must live together in a rundown motel in a town the family once bought as a joke. Stream Schitt's Creek on Hulu and Max. Schitt's Creek at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Paradise The "Paradise" of the show's title is a high-end, experimental community inside an underground Colorado bunker. The surface may be an irradiated hellscape, but in Paradise, everything seems perfect, until an outsider enters. Sterling K. Brown plays a Xavier Collins, a secret service agent investigating the murder of the U.S. President in Paradise. Stream Paradise on Hulu. Paradise at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu How to Get to Heaven From Belfast Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee is behind this biting comedic thriller about a trio of lifelong friends who reunite after a tragic death. A somber wake in a Northern Ireland hometown soon spirals into a high-stakes thriller as these three unlikely heroes uncover a global mystery that might prove deadly. How to Get to Heaven From Belfast is an ode to Irish culture, female friendship, and Hitchcock-style suspense. Stream How to Get to Heaven From Belfast on Netflix. How to Get to Heaven From Belfast at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix View the full article

Late last month, frozen food manufacturer Ajinomoto Foods North America announced a recall of roughly 3 million pounds of not-ready-to-eat products after customers reported finding glass in rice. In the U.S., many of the recalled products were sold at Trader Joe’s locations. Now that the recall has been dramatically expanded, with new products being pulled from the shelves. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On March 3, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) posted a recall notice announcing that Ajinomoto Foods North America was expanding its earlier recall to include an additional 33 million pounds of various ready-to-eat and not-ready-to-eat products. The FSIS says those products include “chicken and pork fried rice, ramen, and shu mai dumpling” items. According to the FSIS, the issue was discovered after the company received numerous consumer complaints about finding glass inside the products. After an investigation, it was found that the carrots used in the products were the likely source of the glass fragments. Where were the latest recalled products sold? The FSIS’s recall notice does not explicitly state which stores sold the numerous recalled products. However, both Trader Joe’s and Kroger have listed the recall on their recall pages. Kroger’s recall notice says the recalled products were sold in numerous states at Kroger locations, and also at the company’s Dillons, Baker’s, Gerbes, King Soopers, City Market, Fry’s, Ralphs, Food4Less, FoodsCo, and Smith’s stores. It is unknown if additional retail outlets sold the recalled products. Given that, it’s prudent to thoroughly examine the full list of recall products to determine if you have any of them, regardless of where you shop. Some Ajinomoto items were also exported to Mexico and Canada. What products are included in the expanded recall? Given that an additional 33 million pounds of products are included in the latest recall round, it’s little surprise that the list of impacted products is a long one, with variations in Lot numbers, USDA Establishment codes, and production and expiration dates. According to the FSIS notice, the recalled ready-to-eat (RTE) and not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) chicken and pork fried rice, ramen, and shu mai dumpling products were sold under the brand names Ajinomoto, Kroger, Ling Ling, Tai Pei, and Trader Joe’s. In total, 16 products produced between October 21, 2024, and February 26, 2026 are included in this recall expansion. At Trader Joe’s, that includes the following of the company’s products: Chicken Fried Rice – Best By Dates 03/04/2026 through 02/10/2027 Vegetable Fried Rice – Best By Dates 02/28/2026 through 11/19/2026 Japanese Style Fried Rice – Best By Dates 02/28/2026 through 11/14/2026 Chicken Shu Mai – Best By Dates 03/13/2026 through 10/23/2026 At Kroger, that includes: Kroger Chicken Fried Rice, UPC 11110-04161, All Codes Purchased between 3/10/2025 and 3/4/2026, Size 22 oz. Kroger Vegetable Fried Rice, UPC 11110-04162, All Codes Purchased between 3/10/2025 and 3/4/2026, 22 oz. However, consumers are advised to check out the full list of recalled products provided by the FSIS in this recall round. The FSIS has also published photos of product labels for items included in the recall. Has anyone been injured by the recalled products? As of the time of FSIS’s posting, the agency said there have been no reports of injuries from consumption of the recalled products. What should I do if I have the recalled products? Check your fridge and freezer to see if you have the recalled products. If you do, the FSIS warns not to consume them. Instead, you should throw them away or return them to their place of purchase. Consumers are advised to read the FSIS recall notice in full here. View the full article

In terms of loyalty programs, some stand out for their ability to maximize rewards effectively. Adidas’ AdiClub, for example, offers 10 points for every dollar spent, attracting millions of members. Similarly, Starbucks Rewards has nearly 34.3 million active users who greatly contribute to sales. Each program provides unique benefits and experiences customized to their audiences. Comprehending these programs can help you choose the best options for maximizing your rewards. What if you could leverage these insights for greater gains? Key Takeaways Adidas AdiClub offers 10 points for every dollar spent, leading to increased purchasing frequency and notable revenue growth for active members. Rapha Cycling Club provides exclusive access to events, early gear access, and organized rides, enhancing member engagement for cycling enthusiasts. Starbucks Rewards features a points system where members earn stars for purchases, with personalized offers and exclusive games to boost engagement. The North Face XPLR Pass emphasizes experiential rewards, offering early access to collections and free shipping while promoting environmental sustainability. Lululemon Membership combines fitness and shopping, granting early access to product drops and exclusive studio classes, appealing to fitness-focused customers. Adidas: AdiClub Adidas has developed the AdiClub, a free loyalty program designed to reward customers for their purchases. By joining, you earn 10 points for every dollar spent, allowing you to accumulate good rewards over time. The program features four membership levels, each offering escalating benefits such as free shipping at Level 1 and premium access to events at Level 4. With over 240 million members, AdiClub participants purchase 50% more frequently than non-members and demonstrate double the lifetime value. This good rewards loyalty program greatly improves Adidas’ direct-to-consumer strategy, leading to an impressive annual revenue increase of 15-25% from active members. Furthermore, you have opportunities to win signed products and exclusive experiences, nurturing greater engagement within the Adidas community. Rapha: Rapha Cycling Club If you’re passionate about cycling and looking for a community that shares your interests, the Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) might be the perfect fit for you. This subscription-based loyalty program boasts over 23,000 members who participate in organized rides from various Clubhouse locations. By joining the RCC, you gain exclusive access to events and riding trips, cultivating connections with fellow cycling enthusiasts both locally and globally. Members enjoy perks such as early access to special edition gear, discounted club kits, and reduced prices on coffee and bike hire. The RCC additionally utilizes the Queue-it system, which guarantees priority access during high-demand product launches. With over 1,000 group rides organized monthly, the RCC emphasizes social interaction through its app, enhancing member engagement and experience. Overall, the RCC offers an all-encompassing approach to enjoying cycling as it builds a strong community. Starbucks: Starbucks Rewards Starbucks Rewards offers a straightforward way for coffee lovers to earn benefits during their enjoyment of their favorite beverages. With this points-based loyalty program, you earn stars for every dollar spent. Accumulate 150 stars, and you can redeem them for a free drink or food item. As of early 2024, the program has nearly 34.3 million active users, accounting for 41% of U.S. sales at Starbucks locations. Besides earning stars, members can engage in promotional activities, revealing personalized offers and exclusive games. The tiered structure rewards higher-tier members with additional benefits, encouraging increased spending. Here’s a quick look at the program’s features: Benefit Stars Required Description Free Drink/Food 150 Redeem for any drink or food item Personalized Offers Varies Reveal offers customized just for you Exclusive Games N/A Participate in member-only activities Tier Benefits Varies Enjoy additional perks at higher tiers The North Face: XPLR Pass The North Face‘s XPLR Pass is designed for outdoor enthusiasts who value both rewards and experiences. This free-to-join loyalty program allows you to earn 1 point for every dollar spent, with 100 points translating into a $10 voucher. As a member, you enjoy perks like early access to limited-edition collections, free shipping, and invitations to exclusive events, such as group hikes. The program emphasizes experiential rewards and environmental sustainability, aligning closely with The North Face’s brand values. This focus has driven a significant increase in interest, as indicated by a 54% rise in traffic to the XPLR Pass landing page year-over-year. Furthermore, in 2021, the mobile app for XPLR Pass averaged 10,000 downloads each month, reflecting the growing digital presence and user base of the program. Lululemon: Lululemon Membership What makes Lululemon Membership a compelling choice for both fitness enthusiasts and casual shoppers? This program offers unique benefits that cater to diverse interests while promoting a strong community connection. Here are four key features of Lululemon Membership: Tiered Rewards: Enjoy loyalty rewards customized for both general customers and fitness professionals, focusing on experiential benefits. Early Access: Gain exclusive early access to product drops, ensuring you’re among the first to snag new items. Fitness Engagement: Participate in select lululemon Studio Classes, blending shopping with fitness activities. Exclusive Services: Benefit from membership events and free hemming services, enhancing your shopping experience and reinforcing luxury. Since its launch, the program has attracted 9 million sign-ups in just five months, with over 30% of members using at least one benefit. This showcases its effectiveness in building a loyal community. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Most Successful Rewards Program? The most successful rewards program depends on various factors, including user engagement and sales impact. For instance, Starbucks Rewards has over 34 million active members, driving significant sales through its points system. Adidas’ AdiClub boasts 240 million members who shop more frequently, enhancing revenue. Similarly, The North Face’s XPLR Pass and Lululemon’s program demonstrate strong engagement through exclusive experiences and community connections, highlighting differing strategies that can lead to success in loyalty programs. What Is the World’s Most Generous Rewards Program? The world’s most generous rewards program is often considered to be the Starbucks Rewards program. You earn 2 stars for every dollar spent, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks. With nearly 30 million members, this program accounts for 53% of store sales, highlighting its popularity. Moreover, the American Express Membership Rewards program and others like Hilton Honors likewise provide significant benefits, but Starbucks remains a standout regarding immediate rewards. What Are the 3 R’s of Loyalty? The three R’s of loyalty are Reward, Recognition, and Relationship. Reward involves providing incentives like points or discounts, enhancing customer value. Recognition acknowledges loyalty through tiered benefits, encouraging customers to engage more deeply. Relationship focuses on building connections through personalized experiences and community engagement, nurturing emotional ties. Together, these elements drive customer retention and satisfaction, ultimately resulting in increased sales and brand loyalty for businesses that effectively implement them. What Store Has the Best Rewards Program? When considering which store has the best rewards program, it’s crucial to evaluate several options. Adidas AdiClub offers 10 points per dollar spent, greatly increasing purchase frequency. Starbucks Rewards allows members to earn stars for free drinks, whereas The North Face’s XPLR Pass provides exclusive access to collections and events. Lululemon focuses on experiential benefits, and Foot Locker’s revamped FLX Rewards emphasizes transparency and cash conversion. Each program has unique attributes that cater to different consumer preferences. Conclusion In conclusion, these five loyalty programs—AdiClub, Rapha Cycling Club, Starbucks Rewards, XPLR Pass, and Lululemon Membership—demonstrate effective strategies for maximizing rewards. Each program offers unique benefits customized to their target audiences, enhancing customer engagement and retention. By comprehending the features and advantages of these programs, you can make informed decisions on which ones to join, eventually maximizing your rewards and enhancing your overall experience with these brands. Consider exploring these options to benefit from their offerings. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "5 Good Loyalty Programs for Maximum Rewards" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In terms of loyalty programs, some stand out for their ability to maximize rewards effectively. Adidas’ AdiClub, for example, offers 10 points for every dollar spent, attracting millions of members. Similarly, Starbucks Rewards has nearly 34.3 million active users who greatly contribute to sales. Each program provides unique benefits and experiences customized to their audiences. Comprehending these programs can help you choose the best options for maximizing your rewards. What if you could leverage these insights for greater gains? Key Takeaways Adidas AdiClub offers 10 points for every dollar spent, leading to increased purchasing frequency and notable revenue growth for active members. Rapha Cycling Club provides exclusive access to events, early gear access, and organized rides, enhancing member engagement for cycling enthusiasts. Starbucks Rewards features a points system where members earn stars for purchases, with personalized offers and exclusive games to boost engagement. The North Face XPLR Pass emphasizes experiential rewards, offering early access to collections and free shipping while promoting environmental sustainability. Lululemon Membership combines fitness and shopping, granting early access to product drops and exclusive studio classes, appealing to fitness-focused customers. Adidas: AdiClub Adidas has developed the AdiClub, a free loyalty program designed to reward customers for their purchases. By joining, you earn 10 points for every dollar spent, allowing you to accumulate good rewards over time. The program features four membership levels, each offering escalating benefits such as free shipping at Level 1 and premium access to events at Level 4. With over 240 million members, AdiClub participants purchase 50% more frequently than non-members and demonstrate double the lifetime value. This good rewards loyalty program greatly improves Adidas’ direct-to-consumer strategy, leading to an impressive annual revenue increase of 15-25% from active members. Furthermore, you have opportunities to win signed products and exclusive experiences, nurturing greater engagement within the Adidas community. Rapha: Rapha Cycling Club If you’re passionate about cycling and looking for a community that shares your interests, the Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) might be the perfect fit for you. This subscription-based loyalty program boasts over 23,000 members who participate in organized rides from various Clubhouse locations. By joining the RCC, you gain exclusive access to events and riding trips, cultivating connections with fellow cycling enthusiasts both locally and globally. Members enjoy perks such as early access to special edition gear, discounted club kits, and reduced prices on coffee and bike hire. The RCC additionally utilizes the Queue-it system, which guarantees priority access during high-demand product launches. With over 1,000 group rides organized monthly, the RCC emphasizes social interaction through its app, enhancing member engagement and experience. Overall, the RCC offers an all-encompassing approach to enjoying cycling as it builds a strong community. Starbucks: Starbucks Rewards Starbucks Rewards offers a straightforward way for coffee lovers to earn benefits during their enjoyment of their favorite beverages. With this points-based loyalty program, you earn stars for every dollar spent. Accumulate 150 stars, and you can redeem them for a free drink or food item. As of early 2024, the program has nearly 34.3 million active users, accounting for 41% of U.S. sales at Starbucks locations. Besides earning stars, members can engage in promotional activities, revealing personalized offers and exclusive games. The tiered structure rewards higher-tier members with additional benefits, encouraging increased spending. Here’s a quick look at the program’s features: Benefit Stars Required Description Free Drink/Food 150 Redeem for any drink or food item Personalized Offers Varies Reveal offers customized just for you Exclusive Games N/A Participate in member-only activities Tier Benefits Varies Enjoy additional perks at higher tiers The North Face: XPLR Pass The North Face‘s XPLR Pass is designed for outdoor enthusiasts who value both rewards and experiences. This free-to-join loyalty program allows you to earn 1 point for every dollar spent, with 100 points translating into a $10 voucher. As a member, you enjoy perks like early access to limited-edition collections, free shipping, and invitations to exclusive events, such as group hikes. The program emphasizes experiential rewards and environmental sustainability, aligning closely with The North Face’s brand values. This focus has driven a significant increase in interest, as indicated by a 54% rise in traffic to the XPLR Pass landing page year-over-year. Furthermore, in 2021, the mobile app for XPLR Pass averaged 10,000 downloads each month, reflecting the growing digital presence and user base of the program. Lululemon: Lululemon Membership What makes Lululemon Membership a compelling choice for both fitness enthusiasts and casual shoppers? This program offers unique benefits that cater to diverse interests while promoting a strong community connection. Here are four key features of Lululemon Membership: Tiered Rewards: Enjoy loyalty rewards customized for both general customers and fitness professionals, focusing on experiential benefits. Early Access: Gain exclusive early access to product drops, ensuring you’re among the first to snag new items. Fitness Engagement: Participate in select lululemon Studio Classes, blending shopping with fitness activities. Exclusive Services: Benefit from membership events and free hemming services, enhancing your shopping experience and reinforcing luxury. Since its launch, the program has attracted 9 million sign-ups in just five months, with over 30% of members using at least one benefit. This showcases its effectiveness in building a loyal community. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Most Successful Rewards Program? The most successful rewards program depends on various factors, including user engagement and sales impact. For instance, Starbucks Rewards has over 34 million active members, driving significant sales through its points system. Adidas’ AdiClub boasts 240 million members who shop more frequently, enhancing revenue. Similarly, The North Face’s XPLR Pass and Lululemon’s program demonstrate strong engagement through exclusive experiences and community connections, highlighting differing strategies that can lead to success in loyalty programs. What Is the World’s Most Generous Rewards Program? The world’s most generous rewards program is often considered to be the Starbucks Rewards program. You earn 2 stars for every dollar spent, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks. With nearly 30 million members, this program accounts for 53% of store sales, highlighting its popularity. Moreover, the American Express Membership Rewards program and others like Hilton Honors likewise provide significant benefits, but Starbucks remains a standout regarding immediate rewards. What Are the 3 R’s of Loyalty? The three R’s of loyalty are Reward, Recognition, and Relationship. Reward involves providing incentives like points or discounts, enhancing customer value. Recognition acknowledges loyalty through tiered benefits, encouraging customers to engage more deeply. Relationship focuses on building connections through personalized experiences and community engagement, nurturing emotional ties. Together, these elements drive customer retention and satisfaction, ultimately resulting in increased sales and brand loyalty for businesses that effectively implement them. What Store Has the Best Rewards Program? When considering which store has the best rewards program, it’s crucial to evaluate several options. Adidas AdiClub offers 10 points per dollar spent, greatly increasing purchase frequency. Starbucks Rewards allows members to earn stars for free drinks, whereas The North Face’s XPLR Pass provides exclusive access to collections and events. Lululemon focuses on experiential benefits, and Foot Locker’s revamped FLX Rewards emphasizes transparency and cash conversion. Each program has unique attributes that cater to different consumer preferences. Conclusion In conclusion, these five loyalty programs—AdiClub, Rapha Cycling Club, Starbucks Rewards, XPLR Pass, and Lululemon Membership—demonstrate effective strategies for maximizing rewards. Each program offers unique benefits customized to their target audiences, enhancing customer engagement and retention. By comprehending the features and advantages of these programs, you can make informed decisions on which ones to join, eventually maximizing your rewards and enhancing your overall experience with these brands. Consider exploring these options to benefit from their offerings. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "5 Good Loyalty Programs for Maximum Rewards" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A basic TV can only do so much with its built-in speakers. Thin cabinets leave little room for proper drivers, so dialogue sounds flat, and action scenes lose their impact. A soundbar is the usual fix, and this Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus with subwoofer and surround speaker bundle tries to solve that problem without creeping into the price range of premium home-theater gear. Right now, the open-box bundle is $219.95 on Woot, while the same configuration is listed for $414.99 on Amazon, making the discount significant. The deal also includes free standard shipping for Prime members, while others pay $6. That said, shipping is not available to Alaska, Hawaii, APO addresses, or PO Boxes, which is typical for many Woot listings. Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus Bundle Amazon Fire TV 5.1-Channel Soundbar Plus with Subwoofer and Surround Sound Speakers $219.95 at Woot $489.99 Save $270.04 Get Deal Get Deal $219.95 at Woot $489.99 Save $270.04 This package is the larger configuration of Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar Plus line, adding a wireless subwoofer and rear satellite speakers to create a 5.1-channel setup. The soundbar sits under the TV and handles the front channels, while the wireless subwoofer takes over the low end, and the two satellites provide surround effects behind the viewer. The system supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and lossless Dolby TrueHD, which means it can handle most modern streaming audio formats. On the downside, there are no dedicated upward-firing drivers for Atmos, so height effects rely on virtualization instead of physical speakers bouncing sound off the ceiling. Still, it creates a wider, fuller sound than a typical budget bar would. The trade-offs are mostly about simplicity: The build uses lightweight plastics, and the system does not come with a companion app or advanced tuning tools. There is also no room-correction feature, so the sound will depend on how your room is arranged. Latency stays manageable for movies and streaming shows because most TVs include audio-video sync adjustments, but some setups may show a slight delay when gaming. Integration is much smoother if you already use a Fire TV device, since HDMI control and settings work more cleanly together. For someone looking for a plug-and-play surround setup that covers the basics, this bundle delivers a lot of channels for the price. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $119.00 (List Price $179.00) Samsung Galaxy S26, Unlocked Android Smartphone + $100 Gift Card, 512GB, Powerful Processor, Galaxy AI, Immersive Viewing, Durable Battery, 2026, Black — $899.99 (List Price $1,199.99) Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 AI Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds + $20 Amazon Gift Card — $179.99 (List Price $199.99) Google Pixel 10a 128GB 6.3" Unlocked Smartphone + $100 Gift Card — $499.00 (List Price $599.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $329.00 (List Price $349.00) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Amazon Fire TV Soundbar — $99.99 (List Price $119.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

In January, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, announced that it would use its chatbot to develop an AI tutoring system for more than a million students in El Salvador. The announcement came on the heels of similar ones from OpenAI, which is connecting students in Kazakhstan with its ChatGPT Edu services, and from Microsoft, which is similarly equipping students and teachers in the United Arab Emirates with AI-based tools and training. While other countries are executing on national infrastructure projects for the AI era and treating it as an economic imperative, here in the United States, we can’t seem to move past a narrative of how AI makes it easier for students to cheat. Where is the enthusiasm for how AI and other emerging technologies can support our education system? Where are the creative partnerships, the research and development teams, the initiatives to get educators up to speed? Risks are inherent with any major shift in how we learn, work, and live, but it seems that in the K-12 setting that we’re focused on the wrong ones. SHANGHAI’S APPROACH I recently spent time in Shanghai, with an international learning community of high-ranking school system and city officials who collaborate to identify common, high-priority problems, research best practices, and then develop effective, practical solutions that can be adapted to varying cultural and political contexts. On this particular trip, our goal was to learn about AI policy, practice, and pedagogy in China and bring it back to the U.S. What I quickly realized is that what we’re calling “AI in education” bears almost no resemblance to how it’s being implemented in Shanghai. There, it’s not merely the adoption of technology in classrooms; it’s a philosophical and systemic adoption. While we treat AI education as another curriculum topic or tool adoption challenge, they view it as critical national infrastructure, akin to their high-speed rail system. We aren’t facing a simple gap in implementation; this is a chasm in strategic thinking. What makes Shanghai’s approach so powerful isn’t the technology itself, but how it’s woven into the educational fabric. They’ve moved beyond “AI literacy” to “AI infusion,” where artificial intelligence becomes the underlying operating system for the entire educational experience. AN AI ASSISTANT FOR THE TEACHER Every teacher has an AI assistant—not as a nice-to-have, but as a standard issue. These assistants handle lesson planning, grading, analytics, and professional development. The goal isn’t replacement but amplification, freeing teachers to focus on mentorship, creativity, and human connection. Moreover, every student has a digital portrait—a comprehensive profile based on continuous, multi-dimensional data collection that adapts in real time. This isn’t surveillance for control, it’s diagnostics for growth and personalizing their learning journey. Educators receive tailored and specific feedback on teaching patterns, courses are reengineered to emphasize relationships between concepts to help students build system understanding rather than memorizing facts, and every school is part of a virtual ecosystem that extends beyond classroom walls. As we traveled north at 340 km per hour on the fast train out of Shanghai, I pondered not just our failed rail infrastructure, where anemic Acela trains are the best-in-class offering, but also our lackluster vision and leadership in AI for education. Too many of us still can’t imagine what AI can do to elevate pedagogy by fostering greater wonder and creativity, or enrich curriculum. Or even finally help us implement personalized learning that’s aligned to learner variability. AI can help us move productive struggle to a higher level, but not if we’re fixated on how students can use it to cheat their way through a term paper. Perhaps most instructive of all was our visit to the East China Normal University, where education psychologists and computer scientists at the Shanghai Institute of AI in Education have established an end-to-end development pipeline—from engineering to model testing to model evaluation—showcasing the power of a true R&D higher education institution. This isn’t simply an academic think tank; it’s one of the many R&D divisions driving the entire system and engineering tangible products at scale. They solve specific, high-value problems: AI math tutors that diagnose handwritten work and identify exact logic failures; essay systems providing nuanced feedback on ancient Chinese poetry; psychological counseling bots using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. INDUSTRY AI USE VERSUS EDUCATION USE From breakthroughs in clean energy to space exploration to cutting-edge biomedical innovation, researchers and developers in the U.S. are leveraging AI to radically push the limits in other industries. Yet there is a vacuum that needs to be filled when it comes to AI in the K-12 setting. A telling moment came when a student explained why she saw AI as “more like a student than a teacher,” because she and her classmates had to teach it how to understand their assignments better. This spoke to something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately—how we aren’t necessarily in the era of artificial intelligence, but the era of human intelligence. Our students are ready for this partnership. Our systems are the bottleneck. If we want to bring what feels like a haphazard approach to AI in education into a coherent whole, we must build coordinated leadership across all levels—activating governors and state leaders while creating nested state district implementation pairs that ensure alignment between policy and practice. Only a multi-level approach, connecting governors, state agencies, districts, and national partners, will create the alignment needed to build our educational infrastructure rather than continuing with disconnected pilot projects. We have the innovation capacity. We have the technical expertise. The question isn’t whether we can catch up technologically, but whether we can develop the political will and strategic coherence to build an American version of this future—one that reflects our values of local control, individual liberty, and democratic participation. Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise. View the full article

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the company that powers the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and other capital markets, has struck a strategic partnership with crypto platform OKX. The partnership will allow ICE to license OKX spot crypto prices and launch U.S.-regulated crypto futures contracts, and also allow OKX to begin distribution of those futures, in addition to tokenized equities. In all, it means that crypto-native users on the OKX platform will have access to the U.S.-based financial markets through tokenized equities. Additionally, ICE is also making an undisclosed minority investment in OKX, reflecting a valuation of $25 billion, OKX said on Thursday. “American stocks should be accessible” Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX, says the partnership will serve as a way for international investors to access U.S. equity markets. “People around the world are trying to access the U.S. market, but they’re often unable to—there’s a lot of hoops to jump through,” he says. “The most exciting thing is that this partnership allows us and ICE to bring twenty-four-seven, tokenized securities—all the equities on the New York Stock Exchange—onto the OKX app. American stocks should be accessible to people around the globe.” Not only that, but since OKX is a crypto platform with no set trading hours, Rafique says that means investors can make changes to their portfolios on the fly, any time, day or night. And it’s all happening under the eyes of U.S. regulators. “This is a clear signal,” Rafique says. “OKX is showing the world where it’s placing its bet. We’re going to the toughest markets in the world, from a regulation standpoint.” ICE’s investment and partnership are the latest example of financial services companies embracing tokenized assets. Last year, stock trading platform Robinhood began allowing European investors to access tokenized versions of shares in privately held companies such as OpenAI and SpaceX. (OpenAI later cautioned that it had not publicly endorsed the move.) For pro-crypto investors, it’s also potentially a much-needed positive sign, as major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have declined in value this year after the boost they received in the wake of President The President’s early second term. Crypto saw a boost over the past weekend with the launch of attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel, and on Wednesday, crypto assets rose further after The President sounded off about crypto regulation—a bullish signal for the markets. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Runners often swear by the 80/20 rule for organizing their training—but there's no relation to the Pareto principle of the same name. Let’s talk about where the 80/20 idea comes from, how to implement it, and when it is and isn’t a good idea to train this way. What is the 80/20 rule for running? Briefly, it’s the idea that 80% of your running should be low intensity, and only 20% at medium or high intensity. Recreational runners (like you and me) often run closer to a 50/50 split. The 80/20 rule suggests that we should take some of those faster runs and slow them the heck down to reach a better training balance. The 80/20 rule was popularized in a 2014 book, 80/20 Running, by Matt Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, in turn, based his recommendations off research by Stephen Seiler, who found that elite athletes in a variety of endurance sports, including running, cycling, and cross-country skiing, did about 80% of their training sessions at intensities much lower than they would ever use in racing. In other words: To train your body to go fast, you have to log a lot of miles going slow. This is similar to the idea of “polarized training,” which means that you stick to the extremes—either working very easy, or very hard, rather than spending much time in the in-between. 80/20 Running Run Stronger and Race Faster by Training Slower Illustrated 2015 Paperback 26 Nov $19.00 at Amazon $27.85 Save $8.85 Get Deal Get Deal $19.00 at Amazon $27.85 Save $8.85 Note that 80/20 here only refers to how you split up your training: 80% easy versus 20% hard. This is not the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your…whatever. (80% of sales coming from 20% of customers, 80% of your needs met by 20% of the stuff you own, etc.) In running, there is only really one result—your race time—so the question is just how to split up your training time. 80% easy and 20% hard is the balance that, Fitzgerald and Seidler would argue, will get you the best race times. What counts as low-intensity running?If you’ve been paying attention to the “zone 2” trend, you’re probably thinking you should be in zone 2 (arguably 60-70% of your max heart rate) for 80% of your training. And you know what? That will get you close enough. Go with it. But the definitions more often used in the scientific research aren’t based on heart rate alone. Some of them use metrics we can’t easily measure on our own—go ahead, try to keep your blood lactate below 2 millimoles per liter. What’s more useful—and still borne out by research—is to use VT1, the “first ventilatory threshold.” That’s a fancy word for what old heads will know as the “talk test.” If you can carry on a conversation without taking extra breaths mid-sentence, you’re below VT1. That’s what 80% of your training should feel like. I know that’s not enough information for the more data-minded among you, so I’ll note that Fitzgerald reported in his book that this level is often found around 77% to 79% of elites’ max heart rate. The exact number might vary from person to person, and heart rate numbers are never totally objective, since they can be affected by heat and stress among other things. But as a gut check, 77% of my own known, tested max puts me around 153, which matches shockingly well to what I consider my easy pace—I try to stay in the low 150s for my easy runs. Taking this information together, it turns out we can go a bit higher than “zone 2” and still be at the right intensity for the 80% part of our 80/20 running—as long as it truly feels easy. If you’d like, you could customize your zones on your running watch so that you have a zone that tops out at 77% or so. (It might even make more sense for that to be zone 3 rather than zone 2.) Or if you want to round this number to get an easy-to-remember rule of thumb, you can keep 80% of your running below 80% of your (true) max heart rate and you'll be right on track. How to train with the 80/20 ruleBefore we can divvy up our training, we need to decide how we’re measuring our training. Are we aiming for easy runs to be 80% of our training sessions? 80% of our miles? 80% of our total training time? Fitzgerald, in his book, counted up minutes in easy, moderate, and hard intensity levels. But if you’re doing an interval run, he counted the intervals and the recovery between them as part of your harder intensity work. (A cooldown after those intervals would count as low intensity, though.) So you can do the same. It would also get you in the right ballpark to think in terms of miles or sessions. If you do one hard run for every four easy runs, you’re still doing 80/20 (as long as those runs are roughly similar in mileage). How important is it to stick to the 80/20 rule? Even though it’s called a “rule,” this isn’t a thing you have to follow. It’s just one way of training that matches what a lot of elite athletes do. There has also been research showing that recreational runners can benefit—but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to train. Seidler, the researcher, even told Fitzgerald, the author, that if he could only train twice a week, he’d do a mix of harder and easier work in both sessions. Research on competitive recreational runners found that a 77/23 split and a 46/54 split both resulted in small improvements to 10K time, and the difference between groups was not statistically significant. That said, these folks had 10K times (that’s a 6.2-mile race) under 40 minutes to start, so they were pretty fast to start with, compared to a lot of beginner runners. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of other research showing that casual runners can improve with almost any type of training, and that increasing your total mileage (measured in miles per week) is helpful for improving your fitness and your race times. The bottom lineIf you’re a runner with lots of room for improvement—which covers many of us beginner, intermediate, and casual runners—you don’t necessarily have to slow down 80% of your runs to a crawl. You can use any conversational pace that works for you, even if your watch says that’s zone 3. And since increasing mileage is usually part of improving as a runner, it may make more sense to think about adding easy miles, rather than turning your hard miles into easy ones. View the full article

The Social Security Administration is rolling out some big changes to how it handles disability payments while also upgrading its customer service. The changes come in the aftermath of a major overhaul by DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, in 2025, which resulted in the layoffs of more than 7,000 workers. First, let’s take a look at disability payments. The new process aims to cut the time it takes to determine eligibility for Social Security, speed up the time it takes beneficiaries to receive their checks, and, according to the Washington Examiner, reduce the agency’s current backlog. The SSA had a backlog of claims that was on track to exceed 2 million beneficiaries as of a year ago, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. That organization estimates that as of February 2025, applicants for SSDI and SSI disability benefits were waiting, on average, seven months just for an eligibility determination—and that the The President administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce would “assuredly make it harder to receive approval, meaning even longer wait times to receive their benefits.” According to the SSA, its early implementation of the new upgrades has already reduced its backlog by roughly 30% since June 2024. The SSA is also changing how it handles customer service by centralizing its operations. Until now, the agency operated its 1,250 field offices independently, so its workforce could address specific state and local issues for those applying for benefits. “Recipients should expect more nationalized, tech-driven access but also a bumpy transition,” finance expert Michael Ryan told Newsweek. “Faster phone pickup and online scheduling, paired with a real risk of slower, more confusing resolution for complicated cases that used to be handled by people who knew their state’s system cold.” Those changes go into effect on March 7. View the full article