ResidentialBusiness

US president claims UK public broadcaster’s portrayal in a 2024 documentary was ‘disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious’ View the full article

Japanese carmaker has invested £450mn in the third-generation model, breathing new life into the UK’s largest car plantView the full article

Washington pushes for concessions from London on the broader trade relationshipView the full article

Just three days after Apple released iOS 26.2 to iPhones everywhere, the company is back at it with a new update. iOS 26.3 is official, though only for beta testers. Those brave enough to install Apple's unfinished software on their devices won't find an update packed to the brim with new features and changes, but they will stumble upon two key new features. The thing is, we already knew both of them were on the way. This isn't the end all be all for the update, however: Since iOS 26.3 is so new, it's possible testers will discover additional features hidden within the update. In addition, Apple may add new changes in subsequent beta versions. I'll continue to update this article to reflect any new features that reveal themselves, but, until then, here are the two new features we know about. Notification forwardingBack in September, we learned that Apple was quietly working on some type of notification forwarding feature, but other than that basic functionality, the details were left to speculation. At the time, the common assumption was that Apple intended the feature to be used to forward notifications to third-party devices, specifically smartwatches, in an attempt to open up the platform to wearables other than the Apple Watch. This wouldn't be Apple's choice, of course—left to its own devices, the company would keep as many features locked to Apple devices as possible. Instead, the motivation would come from the EU, which has compelled Apple to make its platforms more cooperative with third-party devices. After three months, we are now getting our first official look at this feature. In this first iOS 26.3 beta, there is now a "Notification Forwarding" option in Notification settings. While the option isn't live at this time, Apple does have a description for how the feature works, saying that notifications can be forwarded to one device at a time. Importantly, the description says that when notifications are forwarded to another device, they will not appear on your Apple Watch. Is that limitation really necessary, Apple? This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Transfer to AndroidKnowledge of iOS 26.3's second feature is not quite so old. In fact, we only learned about it last week. As it happens, Apple is working directly with Google on an official way to make transferring between an iPhone and an Android device more seamless. As of last week, Google had already rolled out its first test of the feature to Android Canary, but it was nowhere to be found in Apple's betas. Now, we know what to expect: In iOS' "Transfer or Reset iPhone" settings, there is now a new "Transfer to Android" option. Here, iOS instructs you to place your iPhone near your Android device, where you can choose to pass along data like photos, messages, notes, and apps. However, it seems not all data will transfer: Health data, devices paired with Bluetooth, and "protected items" like locked notes will not come along with this transfer feature. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Beware of running betas on your iPhoneThis isn't the flashiest beta Apple has ever shipped, but it is possible to install right now. Both the developer and public betas are now available, which means anyone interested can enroll their device in Apple's beta program to give 26.3 a try. However, know the risks before you do. Unfinished software could come with bugs and glitches that could impact your experience using your iPhone. If the software is particularly glitchy, you could lose data when downgrading back to iOS 26.2. If you do decide to install the beta, make a complete backup of your iPhone to a Mac or PC before you do. View the full article

At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we bring together accomplished women who mentor, support, and challenge one another to grow as leaders, women, and as human beings. Each month we highlight one of these extraordinary voices and the insights that define her approach to leadership and life. This month I spoke with Mindy Mackenzie, former interim CEO of Beautycounter, longtime advisor to portfolio companies at The Carlyle Group, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Courage Solution: The Power of Truth Telling with Your Boss, Peers, and Team. Mindy’s leadership philosophy challenges the belief that progress requires constant motion. She believes the most important work begins in stillness, in the willingness to pause, listen, and lead from purpose and authenticity rather than pressure. Q: You say sitting still can feel like agony, and you highly recommend it. Why? Mindy Mackenzie: Most of us are addicted to motion. We fill every moment because slowing down forces us to face what is really happening inside. Sitting still, truly being with yourself, can feel unbearable at first. It is uncomfortable, but it is also where truth lives. If you can sit quietly, even for a few minutes, you will start to hear what is real instead of what you are performing. That is the beginning of clarity. Q: Why is this so hard for successful women leaders? Mackenzie: Because we have been conditioned to equate busyness with value. High-performing women often measure their worth by what they accomplish. The problem is that when you stop, you have to confront the question underneath it all: Who am I when I am not producing? I think a key concept is understanding who you are outside of your role. Many leaders do not know that answer, and that lack of separation between identity and achievement is what makes stillness so uncomfortable. Q: How can leaders start practicing stillness in a real way? Mackenzie: You do not need to go to a monastery or sit in 17 yoga retreats. It does not take five hours a day. Sit in your closet for five minutes. Set a timer. Just get in touch with yourself and allow whatever comes up. When I work with executives, I remind them that they are human choosers. Every day you have the choice to lead from pressure or from presence. I ask one question: What do you choose right now? It sounds simple, but it changes everything. Q: You draw a connection between leadership and parenting. How do the two overlap? Mackenzie: Parenting teaches humility, patience, and listening before responding. Those skills are exactly what leadership requires. At home, I often ask my family, on a scale of one to 10, how are you feeling about this? I use the same approach in business. The answers usually surprise me. You think you know where someone stands, but you do not until you ask. That question opens real dialogue. It moves a conversation from assumption to understanding. In leadership, that shift builds trust, and trust is the foundation of every strong culture. Q: How do you define authentic impact? Mackenzie: Real impact comes from genuine care. I even use the word love in business, which makes people squirm, but I genuinely love the people who work for me and they know it. I’ve paid attention to the bosses who have sucked the energy out of the room versus the bosses who have given energy. True, amazing impact that lasts on people’s lives comes from leaders who bring that conscious intention to how they show up. That’s the measure of leadership—the energy you give, not the energy you take. Q: What do you want leaders to take away from this approach? Mackenzie: Telling yourself the truth about how you really feel is tremendously hard, and it is a radical act of courage. All of these concepts are so easy to say, and they are a lifetime’s work. We need to be reminded because we forget, we get caught up. What can you do? Just try to pause and go, what is happening here? What am I choosing right now? And then not judge it or beat yourself up with self-flagellation. The old way is saying I’m not good enough, I’m bad, I’m wrong. The new way is just acknowledging how you feel and letting it be okay. Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO of The Exceptional Women Alliance. 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. While it’s not the best choice for iPhone users or most other Android phones, for those in the Samsung ecosystem with a Galaxy device, the Samsung SmartTag2 Bluetooth tracker is an effective way to find often-misplaced items. Right now, a Samsung SmartTag2 four-pack is half off at $44.99 (originally $99.99) on Woot, making it a great gift to yourself this holiday season or a stocking stuffer for family or friends. Samsung SmartTag2 Four-Pack $44.99 at Woot $99.99 Save $55.00 Get Deal Get Deal $44.99 at Woot $99.99 Save $55.00 This tracker has UWB + AR precision finding, location history, and “Compass View” direction guidance, as well as a Bluetooth range of around 120 meters. While it’s not as universally compatible with devices as trackers like the Tile Pro, the network is more widespread because of a higher app user-base. The device has a replaceable battery and lasts up to 500 days in Normal Mode, and up to 700 days in Power-Saving Mode, according to PCMag. An IP67 rating protects it from dust and water, making it splash- and rainproof, while a built-in loop makes it easy to attach to pet collars, bags, keys, and other items. The SmartTag2 also has a “Lost Mode” that lets people who find the device view your info via an NFC scan. The main drawback of this tracker is its limited compatibility—it only works with Samsung Galaxy devices and requires both the SmartThings app and a Samsung account. Still, if you’re in the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem, this Samsung SmartTag2 four-pack makes an excellent, easy-to-use pick with dependable tracking, a durable build, and long battery life—especially with the current discount, which brings it down to just over $11 per tag. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $362.53 (List Price $362.53) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Graphite) — $149.99 (List Price $219.99) 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) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $74.99 (List Price $189.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99) Meta Quest 3 512GB Mixed Reality VR Headset with Controllers — (List Price $407.10 With Code "QUEST30") Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Anuradha Mittal told she is no longer eligible to serve on the ice cream maker’s boardView the full article

I can be pretty tough on AI, especially when it's used to make misinformation slop. But as cynical as I may seem, I do acknowledge that there are plenty of useful and beneficial features that AI powers. Take live translation, for instance: Not long ago, the concept of a device that could translate someone else's words directly in your ear as they spoke would seem like some far future technology. But not only is it not a futuristic technology, both Google and Apple have their own takes on the feature that users can take advantage of. That said, not all iPhone and Android users alike have been able to use live translate. Both companies have limited the feature to work with their respective earbuds: For Apple, that's the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3; for Google, that's the Pixel Buds. Without your platform's flagship earbuds, you haven't been able to use live translation, and instead need to stick with the rest of your translation app's experience, whether that be Apple Translate or Google Translate. Lucky for Android users, that's no longer the case for the latter. On Friday, Google announced new Gemini translation capabilities for its proprietary translation app. The company says these new updates introduce "state-of-the-art text translation quality," with more nuanced, natural, and accurate translations. Importantly, however, as part of those upgrades, the company is launching a beta where all Google Translate users can access live translation through any headphones—not just Pixel Buds. This initial rollout is only available on the Android version of Google Translate in the U.S., Mexico, and India, though Google says the company will bring the feature to iOS and more regions in the next year. This is kind of huge: Companies typically like to keep features like this locked behind their own platform as a marketing tactic. You're more likely to buy Pixel Buds over other earbuds or headphones if you really want to try live translation. However, you don't even need to buy a new pair of headphones to use this feature at all: As long as you have some type of headphones or earbuds connected to your Android device, you can translate conversations on the fly. Trying Google's live translate with Apple headphonesI gave this a shot on my Pixel 8 Pro with my AirPods Max, by playing a video of people speaking Portuguese. Set up wasn't the simplest: First, it took forever for the Pixel to recognize my AirPods, despite the headphones being in pairing mode for some time, but that's beside the point. The key issue was getting Google Translate to present the new beta for live translation. When I first opened it, it was using the older live translate feature, which didn't work with my AirPods. I had the latest version running, so I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. When it launched, I didn't have live translate at all. Finally, after force quitting and reopening the app, I got a pop-up for the new live translation beta experience. The next part was user error: I had my language set to the target language (Portuguese), and vice versa. As such, Google assumed I would be the one speaking Portuguese, and didn't vocalize the English translation. Once I flipped the languages, and confirmed that English would be spoken through my headphones, the feature started working—and well, for that matter. The video I choose was taken from a news broadcast, with two anchors, and various speakers during news segments. Once the video started, I could see Google Translation translating the words on my screen, and, after about four seconds, I heard the audio translated in my hear. Google Translate even tries to match the speaker's voice, and though it certainly isn't a deepfake, it does well enough to distinguish different speakers from one another. It even tried to take on more a serious tone to match the anchor's, versus the more casual tone of one of the people interviewed in a news segment. I tried a couple of other videos in different languages, but this time, using the "Detect language" feature rather than a preset target language. The app was able to recognize this video was spoken in Thai, and this one was spoken in Urdu, and translated both accordingly. And while I can't verify the quality of the translation (I am sadly not fluent in any other language), the experience was overall easy enough to follow. The speed of speech can get a bit slow at times, perhaps because the AI has a lot to process at once, but as long as you turn up the volume on your headphones, it's easy enough to follow. All that to say, I'm very interested to give this a try in a real world scenario. Even though my daily driver is an iPhone, I might need to start carrying around my Pixel 8 Pro just in case. View the full article

Announcement spares British exporters from threat of tariff increases View the full article

If I’ve learned anything about online fitness content in the years I've spent consuming and creating it, it’s this: Stack a bunch of numbers together, and you have a potentially viral workout, from 12-3-30 to 4-2-1. The latest is the 2-2-2 workout, which is supposed to reveal the big secret of effectively building muscle after you hit age 40. Unfortunately, after trying it out, I’m not so sure about that. What the Internet says about the 2-2-2 workoutI’ve been seeing the 2-2-2 workout pop up across the Internet, but all the sources point back to a video from Alain Gonzalez that claims the “2-workout-2-set” method is “getting men over 40 jacked FAST.” That’s pretty much the whole pitch: The number 2 comes up twice (I felt like I was going mad trying to find out what the last 2 is for), and it’s aimed at middle-aged men. I’m not a man, but as a middle-aged woman with personal training and weightlifting coaching certifications, I’m in a pretty good positions to evaluate those claims. So let’s take a look at what’s actually in the workouts. What 2-2-2 stands forI looked at the PDF Gonzalez offers that describes the program, and in it he does actually say what the many articles about his method did not: what the third “2” stands for. So, the 2-2-2 method is: Two full-body workouts per week Two working sets per exercise Two reps in reserve on each set It’s a fine setup, I think, and probably a lot of people of any gender or age would get stronger using a workout like this. But it also relies on two often misunderstood concepts. What are “working sets”? A working set is a set of an exercise that you think of as your “real” work for the day. This means that it does not include warmup sets, or anything else you do to prepare for those working sets. This means you might end up doing more than two sets, depending on the exercise. For example, I may not need any warmup sets to do my cable lateral raises (one of the exercises Gonzalez recommends), so that’s just two actual sets. But if I’m supposed to do two hard sets of leg press, I’m not going to leg press a couple hundred pounds cold. I’d start with sets of lighter weights and work my way up—so maybe that will be five sets total for the day, but only the working sets count for the 2-2-2 program. It’s also worth noting that the PDF calls for seven exercises each day. That’s a minimum of 14 sets you’ll do per workout, with most exercises likely requiring at least one or two warmup sets, and some even more. You’ll also rest two to five minutes between sets. Emphasizing “just two sets” makes the workout sound quick and simple, but in practice, it looks like you’ll probably be in the gym a good while. What are “reps in reserve”?Reps in reserve, or RIR, is a great way to explain to experienced lifters how hard they’ll be working in a given set. If you’ve never used RIR before, though, there is a definite learning curve. The idea is that you stop an exercise with two reps “in reserve”—that is, reps that you could have done but didn’t. If you’ve done 10 lat pulldowns and you feel like the eleventh would be really hard and the twelfth would be the last one you could possibly do in this set, then you stop at 10. You’ve left those last two reps “in reserve.” This is a common, useful way of talking about exercise intensity—see this explainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. But you have to have enough experience with that exercise, and with exercising in general, to recognize the signs your body gives you that you have exactly two reps left. Often, beginners will stop too early, and never get the benefits of going closer to failure before stopping. If you’re used to using RIR (or RPE, which is a similar concept), this is a fine way of planning your workouts. If you tend to overestimate your abilities, you’ll probably hit RIR 0 (that is, failure) often enough to teach yourself what those last few reps feel like. But if you’re a person who tends to shy away from those harder reps, or if you’ve never really gone all the way to failure on an exercise, RIR is probably not a good tool for you. What’s good about the 2-2-2 workoutAs a lifter and a trainer, I like the idea of 2-2-2...for a specific kind of person. And yes, probably a lot of the “men over 40” in the target audience qualify as that person. Specifically, this is a good workout for people who are already experienced in the gym, but can’t reliably make time for more than two workouts per week. You can get a lot done in two workouts, if each workout covers all your major muscle groups, which it does in this plan. The routine does have a plan for progression, which is nice—a lot of trendy workout routines do not. You’ll be doing “double progression,” which means you increase reps of an exercise until you feel ready to increase the weight. At that point you’ll be doing fewer reps, so you start adding reps again. That’s a solid approach that doesn’t take much thinking ahead. (It’s also a missed opportunity to add another “2” to the name.) What’s overhyped (or misunderstood) about the 2-2-2 workoutMy biggest gripe about this workout is just that there’s nothing special about it. It’s basic to the point of being almost common sense: Hey you, do two full-body workouts a week! Make sure each exercise has a few hard sets! Really, no need to overthink it. There’s actually nothing special here for “men over 40,” except perhaps that men over 40 are more likely to have kids and other responsibilities taking up their time, and thus will find a twice-a-week schedule convenient. I also find the workout selection biased toward people who stick to machines. On the bright side, you could probably do this whole thing at a Planet Fitness, and that's going to be convenient for a lot of folks. But I find machines boring. (Maybe that's a "me" problem.) In terms of Gonzalez’s actual workout materials, there are a few things that bug me. One is that he talks about the two-workouts-per-week schedule as if it were strongly supported by science as the best option. In reality, two workouts are fine, but people tend to do better with more. No champion bodybuilder or weightlifter hits every muscle twice a week and chills on the couch the rest of the time. Even most recreational athletes with some kind of goal will do better with three or four workouts. Two is enough for most people’s goals, but it’s not necessarily better. Promising more results for less work is a staple of the fitness industry, so I’m able to see through it—and of course everybody says their signature workout is the best option. But if you going in thinking the 2-2-2 really is the secret to getting jacked over 40, I beg you to consider that there is never one correct answer to fitness. You can pick any schedule that works each major muscle twice per week, and it will accomplish the same trick. View the full article

Ford Motor said on Monday it will take a $19.5 billion writedown and is killing several electric-vehicle models, in the most dramatic example yet of the auto industry’s retreat from battery-powered models in response to the The President administration’s policies and weakening EV demand. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company said it will stop making the F-150 Lightning in its electric vehicle form, but will pivot to producing an extended-range electric model, a version of a hybrid vehicle called an EREV, which uses a gas-powered generator to recharge the battery. The company is also scrapping a next-generation electric truck, codenamed the T3, as well as planned electric commercial vans. Instead, Ford said it will pivot hard into gas and hybrid models, and eventually hire thousands of workers, even though there will be some layoffs at a jointly owned Kentucky battery plant in the near term. The company expects its global mix of hybrids, extended-range EVs and pure EVs to reach 50% by 2030, from 17% today. Ford will spread out the writedown, taken primarily in the fourth quarter and continuing through next year and into 2027, the company said. About $8.5 billion is related to cancelling planned EV models. Around $6 billion is tied to the dissolution of a battery joint venture with South Korea’s SK On, and $5 billion on what Ford called “program-related expenses.” The automaker also raised its 2025 guidance for adjusted earnings before taxes and interest, to about $7 billion, up from a previous range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion. Ford’s shift reflects the auto industry’s response to waning demand for battery-powered models, after car companies plowed hundreds of billions of dollars into EV investments early this decade. The outlook for electrics dimmed significantly this year as U.S. President Donald The President’s policies yanked federal support for EVs and eased tailpipe-emissions rules, which could encourage carmakers to sell more gas-powered cars. U.S. sales of electric vehicles fell about 40% in November, following the September 30 expiration of a $7,500 consumer tax credit, which had been in place for more than 15 years to stoke demand. The The President administration also included in the massive tax and spending bill that passed in July a freeze on fines that automakers pay for violating fuel-economy regulations. “Rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher-returning areas,” said Andrew Frick, head of Ford’s gas and electric-vehicle operations. The F-150 Lightning rolled off assembly lines starting in 2022 with much fanfare – comedian Jimmy Fallon wrote a song about the truck. Ford increased production of the model to meet an influx of 200,000 orders, but sales haven’t kept pace. The company sold 25,583 Lightnings through November of this year, a 10% decrease from the prior-year period. The successor to the F-150 Lightning, the T3 truck, was supposed to be built ground-up for production at a new complex in Tennessee, and be a core part of Ford’s second-generation EV lineup. Ford is now replacing production of the EV pickup with new gas-powered trucks starting in 2029 at the Tennessee factory. Ford effectively killed the entirety of its announced second-generation of EV models with Monday’s announcement. For its future EV lineup, the company is shifting focus to more affordable EV models, conceived by a so-called skunkworks team in California. The first model from that team is slated to be priced at about $30,000 and go on sale in 2027. This midsize EV truck is being built at Ford’s Louisville plant. (Corrects the location of the battery plant to Kentucky, not Tennessee, in paragraph 3) —Nora Eckert View the full article

Hedge fund manager plans to build $8bn gambling complex next to Mets baseball stadium in Queens View the full article

I am not a morning person, and I never have been—well, unless I have to make money. For years, my start time at my old job was 5 a.m. and, against all odds, I made it in every day. Now, I teach a 6 a.m. spin class twice a week after being moved off the more-tolerable late morning shift. Until a few months ago, though, I was sleeping through every alarm on all the other days, even though I knew I should be getting up and going to the gym early as a solid way to start my day. It took me a long time, but I have managed to force myself into being the kind of person who is up before the sun and done with my daily exercise routine before my friends are even out of bed. Here's exactly what I did. I concocted financial stakesSince starting to teach the 6 a.m. spin classes, I've noticed two undeniable things: I can drag myself out of bed for the promise of money with no problem and my day is measurably better when I start it with a workout. I am just more alert, productive, and all-around pleasant when the morning begins with exercise than I am when it begins with sleeping in. It was obvious I needed to start every day that way, whether or not I was getting paid to do it, but tricking myself into exercising "for free" was my first challenge. The solution was one you might not like: I had to tie a financial stake to what I wanted to do. Instead of getting money, like I do when I teach, I had to pay money so I would be motivated not to let my investment go to waste. This was a problem because one of the perks of my part-time teaching gig is a free membership at a luxury gym here in New York City. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but having free and unlimited access to a fancy gym didn't exactly motivate me; it would be there whenever I wanted to go and if I didn't happen to want to go at all, it wasn't like I was losing money on it. So, I started signing up for introductory offers at every studio in my area. Usually, these lasted one to two weeks and cost less than a regular membership at the studio in question would if I weren't on a trial offer. I had paid, but hadn't paid a relative bunch, and that was good enough to start. Up I got each morning, slowly but surely building a habit. The intro offers expired, though, and I'd find myself scrambling to find a new place to go, which upended my routine and wasn't conducive to consistency. Next, I downloaded ClassPass and set up an autopay for every month, but since my unused credits roll over to the next month, that wasn't as motivating. I took note of how much more consistent I am in a use-it-or-lose it scenario, kept ClassPass because it still comes in handy, but looked for more options. Ultimately, through ClassPass, I found a studio in my area that offers a Pilates-inspired strength training class. I became obsessed with it—but an unlimited monthly membership was a few hundred dollars. I put off getting that because it seemed exorbitant, but in the end, I realized that might be the only way to get myself to stick to the routine that was slowly forming. Eventually, I pulled the trigger. I traded away a small fortune for access to a studio full of something known as "megaformers." I have been in that studio every single weekday morning at 6:30 (except on teaching days, when I run over at 7:30) for a month now. Sometimes, I go at 5:30 just because I can. Who the hell is she? I am not only prepared, but excited, to buy it again going into this next month. Do you need to spend hundreds on this? Absolutely not. But for me, tying financial stakes to my mission was crucial and, also just from my perspective, they had to be intense. A low-cost, big-box gym membership has never motivated me. What's $25 slipping out of my checking account every month along with all the other subscriptions I've forgotten about? When I've paid a little more to go to gyms that offer free classes, even signing up for morning ones didn't always do it, since there was no fee associated with skipping them. (As a teacher now, I realize exactly how nasty that mindset is, but I'm just being honest.) My subconscious is stubborn, it deeply desires staying in bed, and I had to take an extreme measure to beat it. For you, a lower-cost gym membership might work just fine, but I'll caution that what has to go along with the financial investment is a time-based commitment. It's not that I struggle to work out in general; I do it every day, but I wanted to start doing it in the morning, not cramming it in at night or whenever I thought of it throughout the day. That's why paid classes have been so crucial: They're strictly scheduled. I can't just go whenever I want, nor can I decide I don't feel like going when the time rolls around. The combination of paying a noticeable amount and having to be there at a set time is elemental to what I'm doing. I reconfigured my scheduleThat leads me to the next big thing I did. Buying classes, packages, a gym or app membership, or whatever else, isn't enough on its own if you don't make space in your life for using them. I had to take a hard look at my schedule. I fell back on a lot of scheduling tips I've written about here, like time blocking and time boxing, plus I started using prioritization techniques to figure out what could be rearranged. The MIT—or most important thing—method was helpful because it allowed me to calculate the impact my daily to-dos have on my larger goals, leaving space for me to acknowledge the positive impact morning workouts have on other parts of my day. With other kinds of prioritization approaches, working out didn't rank as high because it is something a little more optional than the work I have to do to keep a roof over my head, you know? But my goal here was to make more space for it and create a lifestyle that specifically positioned it as a morning activity, so the MIT method helped me center it. Like the financial investment, this meant something undesirable: I initially tried to get more serious about going to bed early. That is not aligned with who I am in the deepest parts of my soul, and it never has been. To be completely transparent, more often than not, I simply didn't do it. Asleep at 1 a.m. and awake at 5, I have just been tired a lot. I give myself grace with things like this because if I'm too hard on myself about it, I'll demoralize myself and that won't help me with my overall goal. Eventually, if being tired starts to annoy me too much, I'll course-correct and be asleep at 10 p.m. like a smarter person. As it is now, I've been making space in my schedule for some naps (which isn't something I've ever done much of before). Breaks are an important part of overall productivity, as is leaving yourself space to be who you are without trying to make too many drastic changes at once, so the temporary nap-allowance system is just fine. I'm also trying to avoid strenuous activity at night. I can't force myself to go to sleep early, but I can at least stop starting new projects at 11 p.m., which will just make me sleepier the next day than if I am relaxed pre-bedtime. I've noticed myself making small, subconscious changes even though I haven't become an early-bedtime gal yet. I'm calling it a night a lot sooner than I normally would when I'm out with friends, even though I'm not necessarily going home to sleep so much as I'm just going home not to be out. I also was struck by the inspiration to paint a piece of furniture last night at 11 p.m.. Normally, adherent to the 10-minute and one-more rules that I am, I would have jumped up and done this the moment I thought of it. Last night, I didn't do it, knowing I shouldn't get too involved in something tricky when I needed to be winding down ahead of this morning's Pilates class. These are baby steps, yes, but they're a lot more helpful to developing long-term, sustainable habits than complete personality overhauls are. Those rarely last, but little, incremental changes add up to longer-term success. I sought out incentivesThis part is fun, so there's the reprieve. For me, any meaningful life change has to come with little rewards, and I'm not talking about the mental health benefits of exercise, looking better, or feeling more productive after a workout. I'm talking about little treats. First of all, commitment to my new schedule opened up the opportunity to crush my goals with the various apps I use to track my workouts. I am serious about using my Peloton app to track all my workouts, even the ones I don't take through the app or using my Bike, largely because I think it gives me a better data breakdown than when I use the native workout-tracking function on my Apple Watch, but also because it contributes to my daily streak (as of today: 274 days). Getting a workout inputted into the app first thing in the morning secures my streak, which is literally just a number on a screen, but it motivates me. I have also started using something similar to a SMART goal to track and reward progress. SMART goals are ones that are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. So, I tell myself things like, "If I go to class at 5:30 tomorrow morning, I will stop at Dunkin' for a donut on the way home," or, "If I work out every morning this week, I will get myself one new activewear outfit on Sunday." Wearing silly little matchy outfits is also integral to my personal process, as it puts me in a good mood before I even leave the house and makes me feel more put-together and capable at the gym, but that might not be true for you. In fact, none of these things specifically need to be for you, but they can be a guideline. The general through line here is that I took the time to consider what I wanted (to wake up early and work out); and what I know about myself (I'm motivated by money, my schedule wasn't conducive to this activity, and I need constant mini-rewards to keep going); then combine those facts into a new, incremental strategy that worked for me. No matter what you want or what motivates you, you can do the same by relying on a few productivity tricks and your own self-awareness. View the full article

AI is quickly moving beyond rote tasks and into the realm of bigger-picture decisions that once relied only on human judgment. As companies treat AI as a thinking partner, the technology also introduces new risks. But the efficiency gains are hard to ignore, and companies are going head first into adoption. “It’s very much like a chief of staff or a senior adviser,” says Stacy Spikes, CEO of cinema subscription service MoviePass. To Spikes, AI platforms are a second or third set of eyes, helping him approach vendors or handle tricky people-to-people situations. He says he treats AI as a sounding board, not a decider. “I’m not letting it make the decision for me, or letting it predetermine what I’m going to go in and do, but I’m having it give me a better understanding,” he says. Spikes’s experience shows the tension companies face as they roll out early use cases. AI can help employees act quickly and with greater precision, but organizations are still weighing what works and what doesn’t, where the guardrails should be, and how to prevent judgment from slipping into autopilot. Across industries, leaders are now testing the interplay between AI and human judgment—and developing the processes that let the two work together. AI as a strategic partner Spikes embeds AI into his executive workflow. He likens it to how large firms use management consultants to map scenarios and risks, as well as act as a sounding board. He uses AI to help with complex decisions across people dynamics, situational gray areas, and selecting external partners or service teams: ​​It could, for example, offer advice on handling disagreements between colleagues or partners, or offer alternate perspectives that challenge someone’s initial point of view. “I’m constantly having conversations” with different AI tools, says Spikes. “I’ll give them information and have stand-up conversations with them—almost like a full research team, the way you would use McKinsey or PwC” consultants. He says he’ll come to “a fork in the road of decisions” and uses AI “to decide this pathway or that pathway.” He’ll run scenarios related to ambiguous judgment calls through multiple models to compare perspectives, before stepping in himself. He says no sensitive data is shared with LLMs; when he’s working with his team or vendors, he often asks for ideas on handling “challenging milestone situations,” including when the company has set goals or KPIs and misses them. The AI doesn’t replace his decision-making; rather, it simply gives him more insight with which to make a decision. He points to a recent case with a contractor he let go. The work ended in the first week of the month, but the contractor insisted on being paid for the full month. Spikes ran the scenario through two different AI models. One gave a firm, black-and-white answer—prorate the work and move on. Another tool framed the issue more gently, emphasizing the person’s past contributions. While Spikes ultimately held to his earlier decision—prorating the payment—he says the AI conversations influenced the tone, leading him to approach the discussion with more empathy. He thanked the vendor for their earlier work but explained that prorating was necessary to maintain fairness across the team, especially since “people talk,” he pointed out. But had he not consulted AI, he may not have been nudged toward that balance. Asked whether AI changed the underlying decision, Spikes says no, but it influenced his tone. “It made me a little bit kinder than I would have been.” Supporting day-to-day decisions Elsewhere, companies are weaving AI into operational decisions to give employees clearer visibility and speed up decision making. Dave Glick, Walmart’s senior vice president of enterprise business services, says corporate teams use an internal AI tool called the “associate super agent.” It works like a single front door: employees ask a question, and the system quietly hands it off to small, task-specific tools in the background. One use case is when employees want to understand what went wrong with a shipment or delivery. A shipment might arrive without a corresponding purchase order or end up at the wrong building; the AI system gathers data from multiple sources to piece together what likely happened. “Many of these tasks are sort of detective work,” Glick says. “This purchase order showed up at the wrong building, or this shipment showed up and we don’t have a purchase order for it.” So, the AI pulls everything together and shows them what likely happened. Glick emphasized that the human remains in control and can override any conclusion the AI suggests. What used to require digging through multiple databases is now compressed into a much faster preliminary review, with the AI assembling the data before the employee makes the call. Ultimately, the value of AI comes down to its ability to find and assemble the right data; if the data isn’t clean, AI can’t meaningfully support a decision. Marne Martin, CEO of expense-management software firm Emburse, noted that AI works best when the decision is repeatable and the data feeding it is clean. “If you have more than 3.5% of inaccurate or highly biased data in your model, you will not get to the accuracy that you can just trust AI,” she says. Similarly, Infosys CTO Rafee Tarafdar says the IT services firm ties AI reliance to risk: the higher the stakes and the shakier their confidence in the model for a given use case, the more a human needs to step in. Is it risky to over-rely on AI? The efficiency gains from using AI are early wins, but researchers caution that exposure to AI can change how people act, prompting them to defer to either AI’s judgment too much or default to more control-oriented responses. In an interview, University of Massachusetts Lowell associate professor of management José-Mauricio Galli Geleilate says his research shows that consulting AI “turns your framing of the problem and how you see the problem, nudging leaders “more towards control,” like punitive or surveillance-oriented solutions. His co-author Beth Humberd, also an associate professor of management at UMass Lowell, describes the effect as a kind of psychological distancing: when managers turn to a machine instead of a colleague, “you don’t have the human cues that you would have in asking another person for their thoughts, she says, which “make you pause and consider the person on the other side.” Léonard Boussioux, an assistant professor of information systems at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, says his research shows people can quickly fall in line with AI because the models are “really good at crafting sound arguments,” and humans tend to trust anything that feels logical and well-articulated. To curb these effects, researchers say organizations need to build in friction—by forcing people to slow down, questioning the output, and bringing in human context that AI can’t capture. Companies say they’re using AI to augment but not replace human judgment. And as adoption grows, many are still figuring out where the handoff will be. For many, the hurdle may be more cultural than technical: forcing employees to question AI’s output, while getting comfortable with its integration into daily workflows. AI is “a level up from where we normally are,” says Spikes. “A CEO now has another counselor that is limitless in its ability to pull in data and information.” “it’s informing me, and it’s giving me a wider point of view.” View the full article

Group scraps plans for some electric trucks as it contends with The President regulatory changes and tepid demandView the full article

LinkedIn is often seen as the purview of recruiters and thought leaders. But the professional networking platform is quietly attracting a rather unexpected audience. According to recent data, 18- to 24-year-olds now make up 20.5% of its user base. That tracks, as college students and recent grads enter a cutthroat job market, eager to build a personal brand and online résumé that might help them stand out from the competition. What’s more surprising is that high schoolers are also getting in on the game younger than ever, treating the platform as a means to get ahead. High school students are discussing how having a professional online presence before even beginning a career is simply showing initiative. Sharing volunteer work, internships, and professional goals where future employers can see them (and keeping brainrot slang content on TikTok) shows ambition, some argue. The pressure to hit 500 connections is real. LinkedIn opened its doors to users 13 and up back in 2013, long before today’s teens were even online. But Gen Z and Gen Alpha are coming of age in a world where career anxiety starts early, as social media feeds them an endless scroll of entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and monetizable “passions” complete with six-figure salaries, however unrealistic it may be. As a result, early signs have shown that Gen Z and Gen Alpha may have stronger entrepreneurial aspirations than previous generations. A new survey of 2,002 Gen Z and Gen Alpha users (ages 12 to 28) by social commerce platform Whop found that more than half are already using the internet to earn money through digital side hustles like selling vintage clothing, streaming video games, and posting on social media. And it’s paying off. Gen Alpha members report making an average of $13.92 per hour from digital pursuits, well above the federal minimum wage. When teens are bringing in the equivalent of a $28,000 salary before they can drive, it’s no wonder they want a professional profile to match. For some teens, the platform acts as a great equalizer. LinkedIn can connect students, especially those who don’t come from wealthy or well-networked backgrounds, to mentors, internships, and career paths they might not otherwise be aware of. Tools like LinkedIn Learning offer free courses in leadership, coding, design, and more. Yet, comparison culture is rampant across social media. And LinkedIn is no exception. The pressure of worrying about future careers is taking grip younger and younger. As the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs and Skills report estimated back in 2016, 65% of children entering primary school that year will likely work in roles that didn’t even exist yet. The same will most likely be true another decade from now. If you don’t even know what job you’ll be applying for when you graduate, there’s really no use worrying too much about it. After all, you only are 15 once. 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. The Amazon Echo Spot is one of four Alexa smart speakers you can get right now. It's between the older 5th-generation Echo Dot and the new Echo Dot Max. It's currently $44.99 (originally $79.99) after a 44% discount, the lowest price it has reached according to price tracking tools. Amazon Echo Spot (2024) $44.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $35.00 Get Deal Get Deal $44.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $35.00 The Echo Spot is a mix between a screenless Echo smart speaker and the Echo Show; it has a screen but lacks a full smart display. According to PCMag's review, it's more of a smart speaker with a very basic screen that the time, temperature, weather, day of the week, the date, and the album art when it's playing music. It's compact but delivers impressive sound for its size, making it a great smart speaker to keep on a nightstand to use as an alarm clock. It's not as powerful a speaker as the 5th-generation Echo Dot, but it's newer, and it has the touchscreen display, which you can use to manage basic settings like audio playback and trigger your compatible smart home devices. Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Graphite) — $149.99 (List Price $219.99) 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) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $74.99 (List Price $189.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99) Meta Quest 3 512GB Mixed Reality VR Headset with Controllers — (List Price $407.10 With Code "QUEST30") Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

It's 2025, so every piece of technology now needs to have an AI component. It doesn't matter if these AI features are useful (though some are), they just need to be there, however ham-fisted or useless they may seem—though the line between those extremes often comes down to user preference. To that end, if you've ever been reading a book on the Kindle app and wished that you could ask your device a question about the text, Amazon has an AI bot for you. Last week, Amazon announced "Ask this Book," a new AI feature for the Kindle app. Now available on the iOS version of the app, it lets you ask Amazon's AI questions about whatever it is you're reading, whether you bought or borrowed the title. You can highlight a selection from the text to include in you're queries, and ask questions relating the story's plot, characters, relationships, and theme. According to Amazon, all answers will be contextual, presumably meaning they'll all be related to the text at hand, and importantly, all answers will be spoiler-free. That should help avoid the classic mistake of googling a question you have about a book you're reading and spoiling a coming plot twist or character death. Amazon says Ask this Book is currently active for "thousands" of books written in English. As noted, as of this writing the feature is only live in the iOS version of the app, but Amazon is working on bringing it to the Android app, as well as Kindle devices, next year. Ask this Book, whether you like it or notIf this sounds like the type of feature you'd be interested in, great! If you don't care for this feature, either as a reader who doesn't want AI getting in the way of their books, a publisher who doesn't want Amazon training its AI on their IP, or a teacher who might see this as a potential cheating opportunity, there's bad news: Once Amazon makes Ask this Book available for any given title, it's permanently available, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. That comes directly from an Amazon spokesperson, who told Publishers Lunch, “[t]o ensure a consistent reading experience, the feature is always on, and there is no option for authors or publishers to opt titles out.” That response bothers me for two reasons. One, it's always frustrating when a company introduces a new feature lwithout giving users the option to turn it off. I don't use Apple Intelligence, but I appreciate that Apple lets me turn it off. Meta, on the other hand, forces me to contend with Meta AI, even though I never use it. Amazon seems to be attending the Meta school of user design. But what's more, it seems wild to me that authors and publishers don't get a say as to whether this AI bot gets to be active on their books—especially retroactively. It'd even be one thing if authors had to opt-in in order to put their books on the Kindle platform going forward. But to enable it on "thousands" of titles made available before Ask this Book was ever a thing is, to me, disrespectful to authors and publishers, to say the least. Interestingly, Amazon dodged questions from Publishers Lunch concerning licensing rights around Ask this Book, as well as protections for users, which is troubling given generative AI has a habit of hallucinating—or, in other words, making things up completely. Sure, when it's working as intended, the AI can help readers understand things they're confused about, but there's a real chance that the AI will misinterpret questions, misrepresent the text, or straight up lie, which could negatively impact a reader's experience of the work, with potential fallout for both the author and the publisher. How Kindle's Ask this Book worksWhile you won't see this feature yet on your Kindle, you will encounter it in the Kindle app. You can either access it from the menu in any book where the feature is available, or by highlighting text in said book. Once you do, Ask this Book will present a list of questions it thinks you might be interested in asking. If none of them do it for you, you can formulate your own questions, and ask followups after the bot answers. View the full article

Stretch fabrics are notoriously hard to process. When your old leggings wear out, they will probably end up in a landfill—even if you try to drop them off for recycling. But a Manhattan startup has developed a new material that could finally make this corner of the apparel industry circular. “There’s a reason why billions of pounds of textiles ends up in landfills,” says Gangadhar Jogikalmath, cofounder and chief technology officer of the startup, called Return to Vendor. “When we dial it down to the microscopic scale, it’s because everything that we wear has blends of yarn put together to create this apparel— nylon blended with spandex, wool with nylon, cotton, polyester.” Any fabric blend is hard to disassemble, and stretch fabric is especially challenging. “You can’t shred it,” says Jogikalmath. “The spandex melts at a lower temperature, gums up the recycling machinery, and your recycling system really suffers from having even a small amount of spandex in it.” To tackle the challenge, the startup has spent the last four years designing fabric that uses a single material—nylon—and transforms it so that a material with fibers that normally wouldn’t stretch suddenly can. Then, at the end of its life, since it’s a “mono material,” it can easily be recycled and turned into new fabric for new clothing. Making stretch fabric from a single material Jogikalmath, who started his career as a protein chemist, took inspiration from the way that proteins are structured. Normally, nylon has tight hydrogen bonds that make the material stiff and resistant to stretching. Using a protein-inspired approach, the startup re-formulated the structure so that the molecules can slide past each other under stress and then spring back when the stress is released. After making a proof of concept and raising a seed round of funding from Khosla Ventures, the team went through years of R&D. This year, it worked with a mill that specializes in stretch fabric to make samples of the final material. “They were equally as excited with the results,” says CEO and cofounder William Calvert. “And now we’re putting it through the paces where it can be commercialized.” With the use of the startup’s chemistry, the material can be made in any mill that makes nylon yarn, not just those that specialize in stretch. After the yarn is made, it can be made into fabric without adding any new machinery or process changes, meaning that it could easily scale up, unlike some other novel materials. The material is made from recycled nylon—turning old fishing nets or carpet into new fiber—and is already at cost parity with virgin nylon. But the cost will keep going down the more it’s recycled; as brands collect their old clothing for recycling, the next generation feedstock will cost even less. There’s strong demand across multiple categories, says Calvert, from athleisure to intimate apparel and outdoor wear. Brands are now beginning to test it in pilots. “When I put it on LinkedIn, the brands started calling,” says Jogikalmath. A bigger vision for circularity To ensure that final garments are fully recyclable, the company has also redesigned smaller components like zippers and buttons so they’re also made from 100% nylon. (One designer, Willy Chavarria, has already worked with the startup to use some of these materials to make baseball hats, swim trunks, and eyewear.) The startup’s basic approach for stretch fabric—tweaking nylon so that the material has new characteristics—can also be used in applications outside apparel. The company is currently working with a large motorcycle brand to make new injection molded parts, for example. The company will work with brands to get back the clothing that’s made with its material at the end of life. Brands can include a label so customers know that the garment or other product is fully recyclable. “We want to be the ‘Intel Inside’ of circularity,” says Jogikalmath. In the fashion world, where brands are continually looking for new ways to cut their carbon footprints, the stretch fabric has the potentially to quickly scale. “When you have a huge carbon savings, when it’s recycled, it’s recyclable, and it comes in at cost and performance parity, why wouldn’t they adopt it?” says cofounder and chief recycling officer Adam Baruchowitz. “It’s a complete win for them, and for everyone: for the brand, for the customer, for the planet.” View the full article

MPs said four-hour email outage started as Ukrainian president entered the BundestagView the full article

If you open a picture in the Photos app on your iPhone, and it inexplicably starts turning red, I wouldn't blame you for being a bit concerned. After all, that's not supposed to happen, and out of all the colors your photos could randomly fade into, red is among the creepiest. While you contemplate what angry and vengeful god you might have crossed recently, understand that this isn't necessarily a problem affecting all, or even most, iPhone users and their photos. In fact, it doesn't appear to be affecting photos taken on iPhones at all. Rather, the users reporting this issue see it when zooming in on photos taken on Android devices. It seems a new hue has been added to the iPhone/Android divide: green bubbles, red pictures. If this isn't happening on your own iPhone, you can see the issue play out in this Reddit post. User djenki0119 posted a screen recording of themself browsing photos on their iPhone that they had originally taken on a Samsung Galaxy S24. At first, the pictures appears totally normal. But once djenki0119 zooms in on each, it quickly turns a deep shade of red—almost as if you were looking at film developing in a dark room. This user has the same issue, only they took their photo on a Motorola Razr. At this time, it's unclear what is actually causing the issue to occur. It usually doesn't matter what type of device took any particular image: Once it's in the Photos app, it should display normally. But there must be something about Android files that the iOS Photos app isn't reading correctly, at least when users zoom in on the image. As 9to5Mac highlights, it appears that something is adding a red filter to these images in the Photos app. Since this issue is only popping up recently, my guess is there's a bug within iOS 26, though there could be an issue with Android instead. For what it's worth, I wasn't able to replicate the problem with photos I sent from my Pixel 8 Pro over to my iPhone. But perhaps there is some strange combination of hardware and software that results in this tinting: Maybe a photo taken on a certain type of Android device running a specific version of Android turns red on a certain iPhone model running a specific version of iOS. How to undo a photo that turned red on iPhoneLuckily, you don't have to wait for Apple, Google, Samsung, or Motorola to issue a fix, depending on where the actual issue is coming from. To return your image to its proper color scheme, open it in the Photos app, tap "Edit," then choose "Revert." This restores the image to its original state, and removes the red filter that was unnecessarily overlayed on top of it. View the full article

Tom Freston could easily fill a book with stories from the formative days of MTV and his celebrity encounters — Bono would merit a few chapters on his own. Ultimately, though, Freston feels that his life has a more valuable lesson to offer. His memoir, “Unplugged,” shows by example that trying to follow a straight line to success is not the only path. Freston, 80, was at MTV from the start and became its leader, along with sister networks Comedy Central, VH1, and Nickelodeon, at their greatest periods of success. He rose to become CEO of parent corporation Viacom before chairman Sumner Redstone’s impatience led to his ouster in 2006. Since then, Freston has largely freelanced, advising the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Vice, before its implosion. He made a memorable return to business in Afghanistan, and has been chairman of the ONE Campaign, the anti-poverty organization devoted to Africa that Bono spearheaded, for nearly two decades. “I was improvising,” he said. “It was like a bebop lifestyle, hitting notes instead of having a long, set classical structure.” His wanderlust unsettled Freston’s suburban Connecticut parents when he took a gap year after earning an MBA at New York University. They had reason to believe he had gotten it out of his system when he took a job at a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the early 1970s. Saying no to a life convincing people to squeeze the Charmin He soon faced a crossroads when he couldn’t muster enthusiasm for a role on his agency’s important Charmin account. An old girlfriend said to him: “All those years of school, that fancy MBA degree, and you are selling toilet paper? You’re better than that.” She had a point. It was January 1972, and the woman invited him to hitchhike through France and Spain, then eventually into the Sahara Desert. He left the agency behind. Thus began several years of travel, where he particularly fell in love with Afghanistan and India. Freston started a business importing clothing from Asia. The company, Hindu Kush, was successful for a time before restrictions on imports during the Carter administration killed it. Freston landed back in New York. He read an interview where an executive in the nascent cable television industry talked about starting a music network built on videos and reached out for an interview for a marketing job. He met with a 26-year-old Bob Pittman, who wondered about the appearance of “Afghanistan” on his resume. Pittman suspected Freston was a hashish smuggler, but that “seemed to make him like me more,” he wrote. Hey, it was rock ‘n’ roll. Freston got the job. To encourage cable systems to carry the new network, Freston directed film crews that ambushed Pete Townshend on a London Street and David Bowie on a Swiss ski slope to record ads saying “I want my MTV.” Its rapid rise has been well documented, and by 1987, Freston was running MTV Networks. Music always played in Freston’s office, giving the young, creative employees the sense that it wasn’t a suit in charge. Former employees say he wasn’t afraid to take risks and empower people. It was almost a requirement — particularly Once, MTV decided it needed to reinvent itself every few years to appeal to young people, rather than follow its original audience as it aged. His international experience helped him create MTVs for different countries all around the world. “It was irreverent and edgy and nonhierarchical, a lot of creative people,” he said. “If you tried to run it in a classic MBA style, it would have been rejected.” Looking in on a ghost network Several factors led to MTV’s demise, among them the rise of streaming that turned many once-popular cable destinations into ghost networks. Record companies wouldn’t grant MTV streaming rights to play music videos online, undermining chances for a digital transformation, he said. Now, when Freston lands on MTV, “it’s like seeing your old high school burning down,” he said. From his book, Freston is clearly still stung by his sudden ouster from Viacom. He makes it a point to tell of attempts to get him back. But in retrospect, the timing couldn’t have been better. “It was a good thing, because I’m a loyal guy and I probably would have stayed longer,” he said. “In a way I got fired at the apex of the TV revolution. The digital guys were just starting to have an impact in a big way. So I really didn’t have to deal with those unpleasant facts and challenges.” He was suddenly a free agent, but in demand. Most rewarding was a return to Afghanistan, and working with an entrepreneur, Saad Mohseni, on a television network for the people there. The Taliban put an end to that when they returned to power in 2021 but recently have let Mohseni produce educational programming for girls. Freston hasn’t been back since the takeover. “I had a death sentence put on me by the Taliban,” he said. “They say we’re all friends now, but I don’t want to take the chance.” I still haven’t found what I’m looking for It’s hard to resist one Bono anecdote. The singer’s seduction of Freston to join the ONE Campaign’s board was sealed on a late night of partying in the Riviera. It was 5 a.m., closing time at a disco and Bono, a Dublin buddy, and Freston were the only ones left besides a few busboys and a waitress. On the way out, Bono spied a microphone connected to a karaoke machine. “Pick a U2 song,” Bono told the server. “Any one!” She chose “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and the famous frontman channeled Frank Sinatra as he sang his classic. The waitress was the only one left to clap. Who wouldn’t want to have this CEO’s life? Readers of Freston’s memoir probably won’t greet the dawn with rock stars. He hopes they appreciate the musical notes of his life and apply it to their own. “Ideally, younger people would find some inspiration in the fact that you don’t have to graduate from college and start the next day at Goldman Sachs, and if you don’t you have a panic attack,” he said. “If you’re young, you should take some chances,” he said. “Take a risk. Go see the world. The world is the best classroom. Look at the United States from another person’s perspective. You’ll make yourself more interesting as a candidate for a job when you come back.” —David Bauder, AP media writer View the full article

Remote work helped fuel migration and erased the loss of rural residents that occurred in the decade prior to the arrival of Covid, Harvard researchers found. View the full article

“Christmas at Pemberley Manor” and “Romance at Reindeer Lodge” may never make it to Oscar night, but legions of fans still love these sweet-yet-predictable holiday movies—and this season, many are making pilgrimages to where their favorite scenes were filmed. That’s because Connecticut—the location for at least 22 holiday films by Hallmark, Lifetime, and others—is promoting tours of the quaint Christmas-card cities and towns featured in this booming movie market; places where a busy corporate lawyer can return home for the holidays and cross paths with a plaid shirt-clad former high school flame who now runs a Christmas tree farm. (Spoiler alert: they live happily ever after.) “It’s exciting — just to know that something was in a movie and we actually get to see it visually,” said Abby Rumfelt of Morganton, North Carolina, after stepping off a coach bus in Wethersfield, Connecticut, at one of the stops on the holiday movie tour. Rumfelt was among 53 people, mostly women, on a recent weeklong “Hallmark Movie Christmas Tour,” organized by Mayfield Tours from Spartanburg, South Carolina. On the bus, fans watched the matching movies as they rode from stop to stop. To plan the tour, co-owner Debbie Mayfield used the “Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail” map, which was launched by the wintry New England state last year to cash in on the growing Christmas-movie craze. Mayfield, who co-owns the company with her husband, Ken, said this was their first Christmas tour to holiday movie locations in Connecticut and other Northeastern states. It included hotel accommodations, some meals, tickets, and even a stop to see the Rockettes in New York City. It sold out in two weeks. With snow flurries in the air and Christmas songs piped from a speaker, the group stopped for lunch at Heirloom Market at Comstock Ferre, where parts of the Hallmark films “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane” and “Rediscovering Christmas” were filmed. Once home to America’s oldest seed company, the store is located in a historic district known for its stately 1700s and 1800s buildings. It’s an ideal setting for a holiday movie. Even the local country store has sold T-shirts featuring Hallmark’s crown logo and the phrase “I Live in a Christmas Movie. Wethersfield, CT 06109.” “People just know about us now,” said Julia Koulouris, who co-owns the market with her husband, Spiro, crediting the movie trail in part. “And you see these things on Instagram and stuff where people are tagging it and posting it.” Christmas movies are big business—and a big deal to fans The concept of holiday movies dates back to 1940s, when Hollywood produced classics like “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Christmas in Connecticut,” which was actually shot at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California. In 2006, five years after the launch of the Hallmark Channel on TV, Hallmark “struck gold” with the romance movie “The Christmas card,” said Joanna Wilson, author of the book “Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas-Themed Episodes, Specials and Made-for-TV Movies.” “Hallmark saw those high ratings and then started creating that format and that formula with the tropes and it now has become their dominant formula that they create for their Christmas TV romances,” she said. The holiday movie industry, estimated to generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year, has expanded beyond Hallmark and Lifetime. Today, a mix of cable and broadcast networks, streaming platforms, and direct-to-video producers release roughly 100 new films annually, Wilson said. The genre has also diversified, with characters from a wider range of racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as LGBTQ+ storylines. The formula, however, remains the same. And fans still have an appetite for a G-rated love story. “They want to see people coming together. They want to see these romances. It’s a part of the hope of the season,” she said. “Who doesn’t love love? And it always has a predictable, happy ending.” Hazel Duncan, 83, of Forest City, North Carolina, said she and her husband of 65 years, Owen, like to watch the movies together year-round because they’re sweet and family-friendly. They also take her back to their early years as a young couple, when life felt simpler. “We hold hands sometimes,” she said. “It’s kind of sweet. We’ve got two recliners back in a bedroom that’s real small and we’ve got the TV there. And we close the doors off and it’s just our time together in the evening.” Falling in love again… with a state Connecticut’s chief marketing officer, Anthony M. Anthony, said the Christmas Movie Trail is part of a multipronged rebranding effort launched in 2023 that promotes the state not just as a tourist destination, but also as a place to work and live. “So what better way to highlight our communities as a place to call home than them being sets of movies?” he said. However, there continues to be debate at the state Capitol over whether to eliminate or cap film industry tax credits — which could threaten how many more of these movies will be made locally. Christina Nieves and her husband of 30 years, Raul, already live in Connecticut and have been tackling the trail “little by little.” It’s been a chance, she said, to explore new places in the state, like the Bushnell Park Carousel in Hartford, where a scene from “Ghost of Christmas Always” was filmed. It also inspired Nieves to convince her husband — not quite the movie fan she is — to join her at a tree-lighting and Christmas parade in their hometown of Windsor Locks. “I said, listen, let me just milk this Hallmark thing as long as I can, OK?” she said. ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the film title is “Christmas at Pemberley Manor,” not “Christmas at Pemberly Manor,” and the co-owner of Heirloom Market at Comstock Ferre is named Spiro Koulouris, not Spiros Koulouris. —Susan Haigh, Associated Press View the full article

A background check subscription is an ongoing service that gives you, as an employer, easy access to crucial screening tools like criminal record checks and employment verifications. Typically offered for a flat fee, these subscriptions allow you to manage requests through user-friendly online platforms. With features like automated workflows and compliance tools, they help guarantee you make informed hiring decisions. But how do you choose the right service for your needs? Key Takeaways A background check subscription provides ongoing access to various screening services, such as criminal record checks and employment verifications. Users pay a flat monthly or annual fee for unlimited checks, making it cost-effective for regular screenings. The process involves registering on an online platform to request and manage background checks easily. Subscriptions often include compliance tools and automated workflows to streamline hiring processes and ensure legal adherence. Regular monitoring features notify employers of any significant changes in employee status, enhancing workplace safety. Understanding Background Check Subscriptions A background check subscription can be a valuable tool for employers and individuals who need to conduct multiple screenings over time, as it often provides a more cost-effective solution than ordering single checks. With a background check subscription, you gain access to various types of screenings, including criminal record checks and employment verifications, offering thorough candidate assessments. Many providers make the process convenient through user-friendly online platforms where you can request checks, view results, and manage your subscription effortlessly. Furthermore, subscriptions often include automated workflows and compliance tools, ensuring you meet legal regulations like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Some services offer options for an absolutely free background check or a totally free background report, allowing you to evaluate the service before committing. Regular updates may also be part of certain subscriptions, helping you monitor ongoing criminal activity or changes in a candidate’s status after hiring. Benefits of a Background Check Subscription for Employers When considering the benefits of a background check subscription for employers, it’s clear that ongoing screenings play a crucial role in maintaining a safe and compliant workplace. Here are some key advantages: Continuous Compliance: Regular screenings guarantee you remain compliant with safety and regulatory standards. Cost-Effective: Subscriptions often offer bulk pricing or unlimited checks, greatly lowering your cost per check compared to single purchases. Instant Access: Many services, including sites like BeenVerified, provide updated background data instantly, allowing for timely hiring decisions. Customization: You can tailor your subscription plan to include various checks, such as criminal history, employment verification, and credit checks, based on your specific hiring needs. With user-friendly platforms and automated workflows, background check subscriptions improve the hiring experience, making it easier for you to manage workforce risks effectively. Key Features of Background Check Subscriptions When you consider a background check subscription, you’ll find several key features that improve the hiring process. These services provide cost-effective screening solutions, enabling regular monitoring capabilities and customizable search options customized to your specific needs. Cost-Effective Screening Solution Background check subscriptions provide a streamlined and cost-effective screening solution for employers who need to conduct multiple background checks on potential hires. With these subscriptions, you gain access to unlimited screening services without the worry of extra costs for each report. Here are some key features that improve the value of these subscriptions: In-depth searches, including criminal records, employment verification, and education validation. Automated workflows and integrated compliance features that simplify the process. Customizable plans designed to fit your specific hiring needs and industry requirements. Access to customer support and resources for managing legal compliance. These features collectively reduce administrative overhead and improve the efficiency of your hiring process, making background check subscriptions a smart investment. Regular Monitoring Capabilities Regular monitoring capabilities are essential features of background check subscriptions that help employers stay informed about their employees’ ongoing suitability for their positions. These subscriptions typically include ongoing monitoring of criminal records, alerting you to any new offenses committed after initial hire. Real-time alerts guarantee you receive immediate notifications about significant changes, like new criminal charges or driving violations. Monitoring can similarly extend to driving records, professional licenses, and credit reports, depending on your selected plan. Most providers offer user-friendly dashboards for managing preferences and viewing employee statuses efficiently. Feature Description Benefit Ongoing Criminal Checks Alerts for new offenses Maintains safety standards Real-Time Alerts Immediate notifications of changes Quick response to issues Driving Record Checks Monitoring employee driving history Reduces liability risks User-Friendly Dashboard Streamlined management of background statuses Improves efficiency in monitoring Customizable Search Options Employers can improve their hiring processes considerably through customizable search options in background check subscriptions. These features allow you to modify searches designed for your needs, ensuring you gather the most relevant information. Here’s how you can benefit: Select Specific Checks: Choose from criminal history, employment verification, or education checks based on the role. Adjust Search Depth: Focus on local, state, national, or international records depending on your organizational requirements. Create Custom Packages: Combine various checks, such as integrating credit checks with criminal and employment verifications for roles involving financial responsibilities. Customize Frequency: Opt for one-time, annual, or ongoing checks adapted to different job positions within your company. These options improve your hiring strategy and help mitigate risks. Types of Background Checks Available Through Subscriptions When searching for the right background check subscription, you’ll find a variety of options designed to meet different needs across industries. Most subscriptions include vital checks like criminal record searches, employment verification, and education verification, offering extensive insights into candidates. Many services provide national criminal database searches that span all 50 states, ensuring a broader reach than county-specific checks. Furthermore, ongoing monitoring services alert employers to any new criminal activity or changes in a candidate’s background after hiring. For specific roles, some providers include specialized checks such as credit reports and drug screenings, particularly for positions with financial responsibilities or safety-sensitive duties. Customizable options allow you to select the types of background checks that best fit your industry’s requirements, ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations as you effectively evaluate potential hires. How to Choose the Right Background Check Subscription Service When you’re selecting a background check subscription service, it’s vital to evaluate the service offerings to guarantee they meet your specific hiring needs. You should likewise assess compliance features to verify that the service adheres to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, protecting both you and your candidates. Finally, consider the pricing structure, including any hidden fees, to make certain it fits within your budget during providing the necessary features for effective screenings. Evaluate Service Offerings Choosing the right background check subscription service requires careful consideration of several factors to confirm you meet your hiring needs effectively. Here are four key points to evaluate: Types of Checks: Verify the service offers criminal records, employment verification, and education validation customized to your hiring criteria. Turnaround Time: Assess the speed of the service, as results can range from a few days to several weeks, depending on the checks performed. Customizable Options: Look for services that allow you to adjust the screening process for different roles, aligning scrutiny with job responsibilities. Customer Support: Evaluate the availability and responsiveness of customer support, which can be crucial for managing the intricacies of background screening. Assess Compliance Features Selecting a background check subscription service also means evaluating its compliance features to protect your organization from legal issues. Prioritize providers that comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and other relevant laws to avoid potential repercussions. Look for services with built-in compliance features, such as automated adverse action workflows and detailed reporting, which streamline your hiring process during adherence to legal standards. Assess the provider’s experience and industry expertise to guarantee they understand your specific compliance requirements. Consider subscription options that allow customization of background check packages designed to meet your organization’s needs. Finally, verify that the provider offers ongoing support and resources to keep you updated on changes in laws and regulations related to background checks and hiring practices. Consider Pricing Structure Comprehending the pricing structure of a background check subscription is crucial for making an informed decision that aligns with your organization’s budget and needs. Here are some key factors to evaluate: Type of Checks: Costs for checks like criminal records, employment verification, and education checks typically range from $15 to $75 each. Subscription Models: Look for tiered pricing based on check volume, as discounts often apply for bulk orders or annual commitments. Additional Features: Evaluate if the subscription includes compliance support, ongoing monitoring alerts, and ATS integration for added value. Hidden Fees: Be aware of any extra charges for specific searches, such as international checks, which can affect the overall subscription cost. Assessing these elements will help you choose wisely. The Process of Using a Background Check Subscription When you decide to utilize a background check subscription, the process starts with registering for an account on the service’s online platform. After creating your account, you’ll gain access to a range of screening services, including criminal record checks, employment verification, and education validation, all for a flat monthly or annual fee. This setup allows you to run multiple background checks without incurring additional costs, which is ideal for companies with high turnover or frequent hiring needs. Most services offer automated workflows that streamline the process, enabling you to request and receive reports easily. Once you’ve submitted a request, you’ll typically get real-time alerts for any new criminal activity or changes in a candidate’s status. This feature helps you manage risks effectively, ensuring you stay informed even after hiring. Legal Compliance Considerations for Background Check Subscriptions Utilizing a background check subscription isn’t just about accessing information; it also involves maneuvering a complicated terrain of legal requirements. To guarantee compliance, here are key considerations you should keep in mind: Written Consent: Always obtain written consent from candidates before performing background checks, as mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Adverse Action Notice: If you make adverse decisions based on findings, provide applicants with a pre-adverse action notice, allowing them to dispute inaccuracies. Local Laws: Stay informed about federal, state, and local laws to avoid potential fines and lawsuits for non-compliance. Built-in Compliance Features: Choose subscription services that offer compliance features, helping navigate legal intricacies and reducing discriminatory practices. Regular training for your HR team on these legal standards is vital to maintain fair hiring practices and protect candidate rights. Frequently Asked Questions About Background Check Subscriptions Have you ever wondered what a background check subscription can do for your hiring process? These subscriptions provide employers with continuous access to crucial background screening services for a fixed fee. They typically include features like criminal record checks, employment verifications, and educational credential assessments customized to your industry. Many providers offer flexible plans that can grow with your hiring needs, guaranteeing you remain compliant with legal standards, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). With a background check subscription, you’ll receive alerts for any new criminal activity related to your employees, which helps maintain workplace safety. Moreover, these subscriptions streamline your hiring process by giving you quick access to updated screening reports, greatly reducing the time spent on individual checks. Frequently Asked Questions What Is a Background Check and How Does It Work? A background check verifies a person’s identity and past through public records and databases. It typically includes criminal records, employment history, and education verification. Employers must get your written consent before conducting these checks, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The process starts with identity verification, followed by the chosen checks. The results can greatly influence hiring decisions, and you have the right to review and dispute any inaccuracies in your report. What Is the Hardest Background Check to Pass? The hardest background check to pass often involves criminal record searches, especially for jobs dealing with vulnerable populations. Felony convictions can disqualify you outright. Employment verification checks become tricky if you have gaps in your history or misrepresented your previous roles. Furthermore, poor credit histories can hinder opportunities in financially responsible positions. Finally, drug tests in zero-tolerance environments can lead to failures if illegal substances are detected, complicating your chances considerably. What Do Most Employers Use for Background Checks? Most employers utilize a variety of checks to assess candidates. You’ll often find criminal record checks, employment history verification, and education verification as standard practices. If a job involves driving, expect driving record checks too. For positions with financial responsibilities, credit checks are common. Many companies collaborate with third-party providers to guarantee compliance with regulations like the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Furthermore, some industries may require drug testing for safety reasons. What Is a Red Flag in a Background Check? A red flag in a background check signals potential concerns about a candidate’s suitability. These can include felony convictions, especially for trust-sensitive roles, which may influence hiring decisions. Employment verification revealing terminations or questionable departures raises doubts about reliability. Furthermore, significant financial issues from credit checks may indicate risks in financial management. Patterns like frequent job changes or unexplained employment gaps likewise prompt further investigation into a candidate’s stability and commitment. Conclusion In conclusion, a background check subscription offers employers a streamlined and efficient way to conduct ongoing screenings for potential hires. With a variety of checks available, such as criminal records and employment verifications, these services help maintain a safe workplace. By comprehending the features, benefits, and legal considerations involved, you can make informed decisions about which subscription best meets your company’s needs. In the end, a reliable background check subscription supports effective hiring practices and improves overall workplace safety. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Background Check Subscription and How Does It Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article