ResidentialBusiness

Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery places CNN and its sister cable networks squarely back into what is likely to be an extended period of management limbo. There was some relief at CNN with last Friday’s announcement that Netflix was buying Warner’s studio and streaming businesses, since the cable network would not be a part of that deal. But that quickly changed on Monday with Paramount’s announced bid, which includes the cable assets that Netflix doesn’t want and, if successful, opens the possibility of a combined CNN and CBS News. The management uncertainty adds to what is already a challenging time at CNN, where there was no doubt who was in charge before swashbuckling founder Ted Turner sold his company in 1996. “That era might as well be the roaring ’20s for how long ago it feels,” said Ross Benes, senior analyst at emarketer.com. The dueling bids between Paramount and Netflix now “lead to more uncertainty and greater anxiety among the current CNN staff and among those of us who served for many years as leaders of CNN under Ted,” said Tom Johnson, former CNN president in the 1990s. Paramount’s bid, which must be approved by shareholders and regulators, could be seen favorably by President Donald The President, who is closely allied with Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison as well as his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. But The President has already expressed anger at the company on social media for Sunday’s 60 Minutes report on former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Prior to Friday’s announcement, Warner Bros. Discovery had said it planned to spin off its cable television networks, including CNN, Discovery, HGTV, the Food Network, and TLC, into a separate company. The growth of streaming has made cable networks an unattractive business. CNN’s television ratings have tumbled to the extent that it is firmly the third-rated cable news network behind Fox News Channel and MS NOW, formerly MSNBC. Its CEO, Mark Thompson, has aggressively moved into digital with a new subscription service and said that management of Discovery Global, the spin-off company, has already approved a 2026 budget investing in the plan. “I know this strategic review has been a period of inevitable uncertainty across CNN and indeed the whole of WBD,” Thompson told staff in a memo Friday. “Of course, I can’t promise you that the media attention and noise around the sale of our parent will die down overnight. But I do think the path to the successful transformation of this great news enterprise remains open.” Thompson had no additional comment on Monday, a spokeswoman said. Since Paramount’s takeover of CBS News this past summer, the network has taken steps to appeal to more conservative viewers with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Weiss is moderating a prime-time discussion this weekend with Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. During an appearance on CNBC Monday, Ellison answered, “yeah,” when asked if he would combine CNN’s news-gathering operation with CBS News. What exactly that means is unclear. “We want to build a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally, in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” Ellison said. The President has spoken highly of both Ellison and his billionaire father. But he was clearly angry about Lesley Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview with former MAGA supporter Greene, who broke with him and recently resigned from Congress. The President said on Truth Social that his real problem with the show is that the new corporate ownership allowed it to air. “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP,” The President said, adding he believed that 60 Minutes had gotten worse from his perspective since the changeover. CNN is not likely to find out soon who its new owners would be. Even before the Paramount bid, experts had predicted the Netflix deal would face more than a year of regulatory hurdles. “There is such a need for independent, unbiased news services,” Johnson said. “I so hope that the new CNN owners will see that as their fundamental mission.” If Netflix eventually wins, emarketer.com’s Benes predicted it would be likely that the spin-off company, Discovery Global, would be shopped around to other buyers. “CNN will be in limbo for a while, no matter which bidder purchases CNN,” he said. —By David Bauder, AP media writer View the full article

Serviceman was killed away from enemy lines during test of ‘new defensive capability’View the full article

If you’re looking to improve your campaign planning, consider using free marketing calendar templates. These templates, including options for social media, SEO strategies, and email marketing, help organize your efforts efficiently. They provide a structured way to track activities, ensuring your team collaborates effectively. By implementing these resources, you can streamline workflows and boost accountability. Explore how these templates can transform your marketing strategies and what specific benefits each one offers. Key Takeaways Utilize a Social Media Calendar Template to efficiently schedule and manage posts across various platforms for enhanced audience engagement. Implement an SEO Strategy Calendar Template to track keyword research and content optimization efforts, ensuring alignment with search engine trends. Use an Event Marketing Calendar Template to coordinate logistics, manage timelines, and enhance team collaboration for successful event execution. Leverage an Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template to outline key campaigns and milestones, maintaining organizational focus throughout the year. Adopt an Email Marketing Planner Template to streamline campaign tracking and improve accountability across email initiatives, boosting overall effectiveness. Social Media Calendar Template To effectively manage your social media presence, a social media calendar template is essential, as it helps you organize and schedule posts across multiple platforms. With a marketing calendar template in Excel or a free marketing calendar template, you can streamline content planning efficiently. These templates typically include fields for the date, platform, content type, concepts, publish time, and relevant hashtags, ensuring your posts align with marketing strategies. They likewise help identify peak audience engagement times, enhancing the effectiveness of your campaigns. Furthermore, you can manage influencer partnerships and track performance, allowing you to assess the impact of your efforts. SEO Strategy Calendar Template An SEO Strategy Calendar Template is crucial for efficiently tracking your SEO tasks, from keyword research to content optimization. It helps you coordinate these efforts by laying out task descriptions, deadlines, and project owners, ensuring everyone stays on the same page. Task Tracking Efficiency Even though managing SEO tasks can often feel overwhelming, using an SEO Strategy Calendar Template can greatly improve your task tracking efficiency. This template helps you track timelines for SEO tasks, guaranteeing that vital activities are organized and prioritized effectively. With fundamental elements like task descriptions, project owners, deadlines, and status updates, you gain clarity on project progress and accountability within your team. By coordinating on-page and technical SEO tasks, the template improves overall efficiency, which can lead to better search engine rankings and visibility. Regular updates and maintenance of the SEO Strategy Calendar are significant, as they confirm it reflects current priorities, keeping your team aligned with evolving SEO strategies and reducing confusion about responsibilities and timelines. Keyword Research Coordination Effective keyword research coordination is vital for optimizing your marketing campaigns and achieving better search engine visibility. Using an SEO Strategy Calendar Template helps manage timelines and tasks related to keyword research and optimization strategies, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. This template typically includes fields for task descriptions, project owners, deadlines, status updates, and relevant links. By tracking these SEO tasks, you can align your content ideation with keyword strategies, enhancing search visibility. A well-maintained calendar encourages collaboration by providing clarity on project progress and deadlines, which are critical for timely execution. Regular updates allow your team to adapt to changes in search engine algorithms or shifts in target audience behavior, maintaining the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. Event Marketing Calendar Template When planning a successful event, using an Event Marketing Calendar Template can streamline your efforts and keep your team organized. This template tracks all aspects of event planning to guarantee thorough execution. Here are three key benefits: Organized Coordination: It includes crucial fields like event name, date, and location, helping you coordinate marketing initiatives effectively. Enhanced Visibility: You can customize it with status updates, resource links, and notes, which improves accountability among team members. Efficient Logistics Management: Regular updates enable your team to manage logistics, booth setups, and attendee engagement activities, making sure everything is aligned. Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template An Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template serves as a vital tool for any marketing team, providing a structured layout of your marketing goals, key campaigns, and content themes for each month. This template typically includes elements like marketing focus, key milestones, and links to resources, making it easy to track progress and adjust strategies as needed. By outlining overarching marketing strategies, the calendar aids in brand awareness, lead generation, and customer retention efforts, serving as a roadmap for teams. Utilizing this template improves visibility and organization, allowing you to plan effectively for seasonal campaigns and major marketing initiatives. Regular updates to the calendar are important for maintaining relevance and ensuring all team members are aligned on objectives and deadlines. Email Marketing Planner Template To streamline your email marketing efforts, using an Email Marketing Planner Template can be a game-changer. This template allows you to track individual email campaigns effectively, making the planning process smoother. Here are three key benefits: Organized Campaign Tracking: You can keep a detailed record of campaign names, email types, audience segments, send dates, and subject lines. Goal Setting: Set specific goals and KPIs for each campaign, which improves the effectiveness of newsletters and promotional emails. Improved Coordination: Regularly updated templates increase visibility into email initiatives, helping your team coordinate campaigns across different channels and maintain accountability. Content Marketing Calendar Template A Content Marketing Calendar Template is crucial for streamlining your content scheduling, allowing you to plan various types of content like blog posts and social media updates effectively. By enhancing team collaboration, it guarantees everyone is aligned on publication dates, topics, and promotional channels. Furthermore, incorporating performance tracking metrics helps you assess the effectiveness of each piece, enabling you to refine your strategy over time. Streamlined Content Scheduling Streamlined content scheduling is vital for effective content marketing, and using a Content Marketing Calendar Template can greatly improve this process. This template helps you organize and schedule various content types, ensuring consistency in creation and publication. It includes fundamental elements such as: Publication dates and topics to keep track of what’s due. Authors and promotion channels for clear accountability. Key performance metrics to measure effectiveness. Enhanced Team Collaboration Though effective communication is crucial in any workplace, it becomes even more important in content marketing, where collaboration can greatly influence project outcomes. A Content Marketing Calendar Template serves as a centralized platform, permitting you to track content creation, publication timelines, and responsibilities among team members. By including key elements like topic, author, publish date, and promotion channels, the template aligns everyone on your content objectives and deadlines. It organizes various content types, such as blog posts, videos, and eBooks, nurturing clarity regarding roles in the marketing strategy. This calendar additionally improves communication, reducing miscommunication by providing a clear overview of ongoing projects and upcoming deliverables, while enhancing accountability by clearly assigning ownership and tracking progress. Performance Tracking Metrics Effective performance tracking is vital for evaluating the success of your content marketing efforts. To guarantee your campaigns are effective, focus on these key performance metrics: Website Traffic: Monitor the number of visitors to your content to assess reach and interest. Engagement Rates: Track social shares, comments, and likes to gauge how your audience interacts with your content. Conversion Rates: Measure how well your content drives actions, such as sign-ups or purchases. Importance and Organization of a Marketing Calendar A marketing calendar is essential for any organization aiming to streamline its marketing efforts and maintain clarity across teams. It serves as a central tool for tracking project timelines and objectives, improving overall organization and visibility. By listing key dates and events, you can manage multiple deliverables and keep everyone aware of significant deadlines. Regular updates are important, as accuracy allows your team to adapt to changing plans effectively. Additionally, assigning responsibilities within the calendar boosts accountability, ensuring tasks are clearly delineated. Key Benefits Impact on Teams Tracks timelines Reduces confusion Lists key events Improves collaboration Improves organization Boosts accountability Adapts to changes Keeps everyone aligned Frequently Asked Questions What Software Is Best for Editing Marketing Calendar Templates? In terms of editing marketing calendar templates, software like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are excellent choices because of their flexibility and ease of use. These programs allow you to customize templates with formulas, colors, and formatting. If you prefer a more visual approach, tools like Canva offer user-friendly design options. For collaboration, consider using project management software like Trello or Asana, which can help keep your team aligned on marketing timelines and tasks. Can I Customize These Templates for My Brand’S Needs? Yes, you can customize these templates to fit your brand’s specific needs. Most marketing calendar templates allow for modifications, like adjusting colors, fonts, and layouts. You can add your logo, change dates, and include relevant events or campaigns. This flexibility guarantees that the calendar aligns with your brand identity and marketing strategies. Just make certain to keep the design consistent with your overall branding for a cohesive look. Are There Templates for Specific Industries or Niches? Yes, there are templates designed for specific industries and niches. Many marketing resources provide templates customized to sectors like retail, healthcare, or technology. These templates often include relevant metrics, timelines, and promotional strategies unique to each industry. By using these specialized templates, you can streamline your planning process and guarantee that your marketing efforts align with your brand’s goals. Explore various sources to find options that best fit your needs and objectives. How Often Should I Update My Marketing Calendar? You should update your marketing calendar regularly to stay aligned with your goals. Aim for monthly reviews to assess progress and adjust strategies as needed. Furthermore, update it whenever there are significant changes, like new campaigns or shifts in your target audience. This proactive approach guarantees you stay relevant and efficient. By keeping your calendar current, you can better allocate resources, track deadlines, and improve overall campaign effectiveness. Do These Templates Support Team Collaboration Features? Yes, many marketing calendar templates support team collaboration features. These templates often include options for shared access, allowing team members to view and edit the calendar simultaneously. You can assign tasks, set deadlines, and leave comments, enhancing communication and coordination. Look for templates that integrate with tools like Google Workspace or project management software, as these integrations can streamline the collaboration process, making it easier for your team to stay aligned and organized. Conclusion Incorporating free marketing calendar templates into your campaign planning can greatly improve your organization and efficiency. By utilizing tools like social media, SEO strategy, and email marketing planners, you’ll be able to streamline your efforts and maintain focus on your objectives. These templates not only improve collaboration among team members but likewise help you adapt to changes effectively. By implementing these resources, you can optimize your marketing strategies and achieve better results in your campaigns. Image via Google Gemini This article, "7 Free Marketing Calendar Templates to Enhance Campaign Planning" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re looking to improve your campaign planning, consider using free marketing calendar templates. These templates, including options for social media, SEO strategies, and email marketing, help organize your efforts efficiently. They provide a structured way to track activities, ensuring your team collaborates effectively. By implementing these resources, you can streamline workflows and boost accountability. Explore how these templates can transform your marketing strategies and what specific benefits each one offers. Key Takeaways Utilize a Social Media Calendar Template to efficiently schedule and manage posts across various platforms for enhanced audience engagement. Implement an SEO Strategy Calendar Template to track keyword research and content optimization efforts, ensuring alignment with search engine trends. Use an Event Marketing Calendar Template to coordinate logistics, manage timelines, and enhance team collaboration for successful event execution. Leverage an Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template to outline key campaigns and milestones, maintaining organizational focus throughout the year. Adopt an Email Marketing Planner Template to streamline campaign tracking and improve accountability across email initiatives, boosting overall effectiveness. Social Media Calendar Template To effectively manage your social media presence, a social media calendar template is essential, as it helps you organize and schedule posts across multiple platforms. With a marketing calendar template in Excel or a free marketing calendar template, you can streamline content planning efficiently. These templates typically include fields for the date, platform, content type, concepts, publish time, and relevant hashtags, ensuring your posts align with marketing strategies. They likewise help identify peak audience engagement times, enhancing the effectiveness of your campaigns. Furthermore, you can manage influencer partnerships and track performance, allowing you to assess the impact of your efforts. SEO Strategy Calendar Template An SEO Strategy Calendar Template is crucial for efficiently tracking your SEO tasks, from keyword research to content optimization. It helps you coordinate these efforts by laying out task descriptions, deadlines, and project owners, ensuring everyone stays on the same page. Task Tracking Efficiency Even though managing SEO tasks can often feel overwhelming, using an SEO Strategy Calendar Template can greatly improve your task tracking efficiency. This template helps you track timelines for SEO tasks, guaranteeing that vital activities are organized and prioritized effectively. With fundamental elements like task descriptions, project owners, deadlines, and status updates, you gain clarity on project progress and accountability within your team. By coordinating on-page and technical SEO tasks, the template improves overall efficiency, which can lead to better search engine rankings and visibility. Regular updates and maintenance of the SEO Strategy Calendar are significant, as they confirm it reflects current priorities, keeping your team aligned with evolving SEO strategies and reducing confusion about responsibilities and timelines. Keyword Research Coordination Effective keyword research coordination is vital for optimizing your marketing campaigns and achieving better search engine visibility. Using an SEO Strategy Calendar Template helps manage timelines and tasks related to keyword research and optimization strategies, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. This template typically includes fields for task descriptions, project owners, deadlines, status updates, and relevant links. By tracking these SEO tasks, you can align your content ideation with keyword strategies, enhancing search visibility. A well-maintained calendar encourages collaboration by providing clarity on project progress and deadlines, which are critical for timely execution. Regular updates allow your team to adapt to changes in search engine algorithms or shifts in target audience behavior, maintaining the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. Event Marketing Calendar Template When planning a successful event, using an Event Marketing Calendar Template can streamline your efforts and keep your team organized. This template tracks all aspects of event planning to guarantee thorough execution. Here are three key benefits: Organized Coordination: It includes crucial fields like event name, date, and location, helping you coordinate marketing initiatives effectively. Enhanced Visibility: You can customize it with status updates, resource links, and notes, which improves accountability among team members. Efficient Logistics Management: Regular updates enable your team to manage logistics, booth setups, and attendee engagement activities, making sure everything is aligned. Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template An Annual Marketing Strategy Calendar Template serves as a vital tool for any marketing team, providing a structured layout of your marketing goals, key campaigns, and content themes for each month. This template typically includes elements like marketing focus, key milestones, and links to resources, making it easy to track progress and adjust strategies as needed. By outlining overarching marketing strategies, the calendar aids in brand awareness, lead generation, and customer retention efforts, serving as a roadmap for teams. Utilizing this template improves visibility and organization, allowing you to plan effectively for seasonal campaigns and major marketing initiatives. Regular updates to the calendar are important for maintaining relevance and ensuring all team members are aligned on objectives and deadlines. Email Marketing Planner Template To streamline your email marketing efforts, using an Email Marketing Planner Template can be a game-changer. This template allows you to track individual email campaigns effectively, making the planning process smoother. Here are three key benefits: Organized Campaign Tracking: You can keep a detailed record of campaign names, email types, audience segments, send dates, and subject lines. Goal Setting: Set specific goals and KPIs for each campaign, which improves the effectiveness of newsletters and promotional emails. Improved Coordination: Regularly updated templates increase visibility into email initiatives, helping your team coordinate campaigns across different channels and maintain accountability. Content Marketing Calendar Template A Content Marketing Calendar Template is crucial for streamlining your content scheduling, allowing you to plan various types of content like blog posts and social media updates effectively. By enhancing team collaboration, it guarantees everyone is aligned on publication dates, topics, and promotional channels. Furthermore, incorporating performance tracking metrics helps you assess the effectiveness of each piece, enabling you to refine your strategy over time. Streamlined Content Scheduling Streamlined content scheduling is vital for effective content marketing, and using a Content Marketing Calendar Template can greatly improve this process. This template helps you organize and schedule various content types, ensuring consistency in creation and publication. It includes fundamental elements such as: Publication dates and topics to keep track of what’s due. Authors and promotion channels for clear accountability. Key performance metrics to measure effectiveness. Enhanced Team Collaboration Though effective communication is crucial in any workplace, it becomes even more important in content marketing, where collaboration can greatly influence project outcomes. A Content Marketing Calendar Template serves as a centralized platform, permitting you to track content creation, publication timelines, and responsibilities among team members. By including key elements like topic, author, publish date, and promotion channels, the template aligns everyone on your content objectives and deadlines. It organizes various content types, such as blog posts, videos, and eBooks, nurturing clarity regarding roles in the marketing strategy. This calendar additionally improves communication, reducing miscommunication by providing a clear overview of ongoing projects and upcoming deliverables, while enhancing accountability by clearly assigning ownership and tracking progress. Performance Tracking Metrics Effective performance tracking is vital for evaluating the success of your content marketing efforts. To guarantee your campaigns are effective, focus on these key performance metrics: Website Traffic: Monitor the number of visitors to your content to assess reach and interest. Engagement Rates: Track social shares, comments, and likes to gauge how your audience interacts with your content. Conversion Rates: Measure how well your content drives actions, such as sign-ups or purchases. Importance and Organization of a Marketing Calendar A marketing calendar is essential for any organization aiming to streamline its marketing efforts and maintain clarity across teams. It serves as a central tool for tracking project timelines and objectives, improving overall organization and visibility. By listing key dates and events, you can manage multiple deliverables and keep everyone aware of significant deadlines. Regular updates are important, as accuracy allows your team to adapt to changing plans effectively. Additionally, assigning responsibilities within the calendar boosts accountability, ensuring tasks are clearly delineated. Key Benefits Impact on Teams Tracks timelines Reduces confusion Lists key events Improves collaboration Improves organization Boosts accountability Adapts to changes Keeps everyone aligned Frequently Asked Questions What Software Is Best for Editing Marketing Calendar Templates? In terms of editing marketing calendar templates, software like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are excellent choices because of their flexibility and ease of use. These programs allow you to customize templates with formulas, colors, and formatting. If you prefer a more visual approach, tools like Canva offer user-friendly design options. For collaboration, consider using project management software like Trello or Asana, which can help keep your team aligned on marketing timelines and tasks. Can I Customize These Templates for My Brand’S Needs? Yes, you can customize these templates to fit your brand’s specific needs. Most marketing calendar templates allow for modifications, like adjusting colors, fonts, and layouts. You can add your logo, change dates, and include relevant events or campaigns. This flexibility guarantees that the calendar aligns with your brand identity and marketing strategies. Just make certain to keep the design consistent with your overall branding for a cohesive look. Are There Templates for Specific Industries or Niches? Yes, there are templates designed for specific industries and niches. Many marketing resources provide templates customized to sectors like retail, healthcare, or technology. These templates often include relevant metrics, timelines, and promotional strategies unique to each industry. By using these specialized templates, you can streamline your planning process and guarantee that your marketing efforts align with your brand’s goals. Explore various sources to find options that best fit your needs and objectives. How Often Should I Update My Marketing Calendar? You should update your marketing calendar regularly to stay aligned with your goals. Aim for monthly reviews to assess progress and adjust strategies as needed. Furthermore, update it whenever there are significant changes, like new campaigns or shifts in your target audience. This proactive approach guarantees you stay relevant and efficient. By keeping your calendar current, you can better allocate resources, track deadlines, and improve overall campaign effectiveness. Do These Templates Support Team Collaboration Features? Yes, many marketing calendar templates support team collaboration features. These templates often include options for shared access, allowing team members to view and edit the calendar simultaneously. You can assign tasks, set deadlines, and leave comments, enhancing communication and coordination. Look for templates that integrate with tools like Google Workspace or project management software, as these integrations can streamline the collaboration process, making it easier for your team to stay aligned and organized. Conclusion Incorporating free marketing calendar templates into your campaign planning can greatly improve your organization and efficiency. By utilizing tools like social media, SEO strategy, and email marketing planners, you’ll be able to streamline your efforts and maintain focus on your objectives. These templates not only improve collaboration among team members but likewise help you adapt to changes effectively. By implementing these resources, you can optimize your marketing strategies and achieve better results in your campaigns. Image via Google Gemini This article, "7 Free Marketing Calendar Templates to Enhance Campaign Planning" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

President Donald The President will road-test his claims that he’s tackling Americans’ affordability woes at a Tuesday rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania—shifting an argument made in Oval Office appearances and social media posts to a campaign-style event. The trip comes as polling consistently shows that public trust in The President’s economic leadership has faltered. Following dismal results for Republicans in last month’s off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with The President. The president has consistently blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for inflation even as his own aggressive implementation of policies has pushed up prices that had been settling down after spiking in 2022 to a four-decade high. Inflation began to accelerate after The President announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs in April. Companies warned that the import taxes could be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced hiring, yet The President continues to insist that inflation has faded. “We’re bringing prices way down,” The President said at the White House on Monday. “You can call it ‘affordability’ or anything you want—but the Democrats caused the affordability problem, and we’re the ones that are fixing it.” The president’s reception in the county hosting his Tuesday rally could give a signal of just how much voters trust his claims. Monroe County flipped to The President in the 2024 election after having backed Biden in 2020, helping the Republican to win the swing state of Pennsylvania and return to the White House after a four-year hiatus. As home to the Pocono Mountains, the county has largely relied on tourism for skiing, hiking, hunting, and other activities as a source of jobs. Its proximity to New York City—under two hours by car—has also attracted people seeking more affordable housing. It’s also an area that could help decide control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. The President is holding his rally in a congressional district held by freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who is a top target of Democrats and won his 2024 race by about 1.5 percentage points, among the nation’s closest. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Democrat, is running for the nomination to challenge him. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said on the online conservative talk show “The Mom View” that The President would be on the “campaign trail” next year to engage supporters who otherwise might sit out a congressional race. Wiles, who helped manage The President’s 2024 campaign, said most administrations try to localize midterm elections and keep the president out of the race, but she intends to do the opposite of that. “We’re actually going to turn that on its head,” Wiles said, “and put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are The President voters.” Wiles added, “So I haven’t quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again.” The President has said he’s giving consumers relief by relaxing fuel efficiency standards for autos and signing agreements to reduce list prices on prescription drugs. The President has also advocated for cuts to the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate—which influences the supply of money in the U.S. economy. He argues that would reduce the cost of mortgages and auto loans, although critics warn that cuts of the scale sought by The President could instead worsen inflation. The U.S. economy has shown signs of resilience with the stock market up this year and overall growth looking solid for the third quarter. But many Americans see the prices of housing, groceries, education, electricity, and other basic needs as swallowing up their incomes, a dynamic that the The President administration has said it expects to fade next year with more investments in artificial intelligence and manufacturing. Since the elections in November when Democrats won key races with a focus on kitchen table issues, The President has often dismissed the concerns about prices as a “hoax” and a “con job” to suggest that he bears no responsibility for inflation, even though he campaigned on his ability to quickly bring down prices. Just 33% of U.S. adults approve of The President’s handling of the economy, according to a November survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. —Josh Boak and Marc Levy, Associated Press View the full article

I'm routinely surprised by just how much technology Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that underneath the layers, there's even more than what meets the eye. There's a better, faster way to use the keyboard, there's a faster way to select unread emails to archive, there are better ways to browse the web than just the usual Safari experience, and you can get way better photos out of the iPhone Pro cameras than what the stock Camera app shows you. The iPhone has become such a default product in all our lives that we just take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and coworkers, to capture moments, and to doomscroll the night away. But spend some more time, and there's a whole new iPhone experience just waiting for you that will truly transform how your iPhone looks and works. Automate the small, redundant tasks Credit: Khamosh Pathak Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automations that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun starts when you explore the very active Shortcuts community online and start to integrate Automations into the mix. Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically follow pre-defined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control aspects of your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation that automatically enables a VPN when you step out of your home, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Looking to get started? We have a list of seven automations that I feel every iPhone user should install. Add custom widgets to your Home Screen Credit: Khamosh Pathak I’m a huge fan of custom widgets. Whenever someone picks up my iPhone, the response is usually something like, "Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone." That’s down to custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and more. The world of custom iPhone widgets is huge, and if you just want to dip your toes in, I would suggest you start with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together, it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive in with the Widgy app, where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets. Access features quickly using the hidden Back Tap gesture Credit: Khamosh Pathak The iPhone has a hidden button, and it’s on the back of your iPhone. It’s an accessibility feature that you can access via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to either the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture. It’s a great way to trigger Shortcuts automations, or to simply bring up the selfie camera. I personally find that the double-tap gesture has a tendency to misfire sometimes, and the triple-tap gesture is a lot more reliable. Enhance Safari using extensions Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you don’t use Safari extensions, you’re sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on the Mac, the Safari browser on the iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do some really cool things, like blocking all ads and trackers (of course), but also to force every website to be in dark mode, all the time. You’ll also find extensions to improve the Reddit browsing experience and to take complete control of all the elements on the websites you use frequently. Upgrade to a third-party browser Credit: Khamosh Pathak Using a third-party browser, like Vivaldi, is a very power-user move. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari's WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features that Safari doesn't. Vivaldi, for example, offers desktop-class tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there’s Orion, which can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something that Safari can’t do). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try out Quiche, which is a completely customizable browser. Master your Focuses Credit: Khamosh Pathak Focuses have the potential to transform how your iPhone looks and works, based on your location, time, day, or the task at hand. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb and embrace everything that Apple's Focuses can do. It would be a good idea for you to set up Focuses for Work, Personal Time, and Sleep. In each Focus, you can decide which apps can send notifications, and which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which home screens to show in particular Focus, choosing to hide widgets and apps depending on the Focus (no work stuff at all in Personal Time Focus, for example). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can trigger a Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a particular location (like your workplace). Go to Settings > Focus to get started. Use the hidden swipe gestures everywhereYou’ll be familiar with all the usual iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home bar, or tapping the top edge of the iPhone to instantly scroll to the top. But the iPhone has a lot more hidden gestures that can really speed things up. If you see a long list, try to swipe down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works really well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added back gesture support that’s arguably better than Android. You can swipe in from anywhere on the left edge to quickly go back. You can also cut, copy, and paste with a three-finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do it twice. To paste something, do a three-finger spread gesture (opposite of the pinch). Get faster with the iPhone keyboard Credit: Khamosh Pathak The iPhone keyboard is more than what meets the eye. It has a built-in Slide to Type feature where you can glide your finger over the keys to type words. It works really well, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s a virtual trackpad built in, too. Just tap and hold the Space bar and move your finger to move the cursor around. If you find your keyboard too large to type on, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard from the Keyboard Settings button (tap and hold the Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to enable a multi-lingual keyboard and to try out Text Replacement, where you can create shortcuts for expanding your frequently used text snippets. For example, you can type “adrs” to expand to your full home address. Scan documents without a third-party app Credit: Khamosh Pathak You might not know this, but there’s a really neat document scanner built into the Notes app and the Files app. I prefer to use the Files app for this because I get to save a PDF directly in the folder that I want. Open the Files app, go to any folder, tap the three-dotted Menu icon, and choose the Scan Documents feature. There’s an Auto Shutter feature that’s enabled by default that will automatically scan each new page you put in front of your camera (if you find this annoying, you can disable it as well). Scan as many pages as you want, and tap the Done button. Then, give the document a name. And it’s now stored as a PDF in the folder. You can now send it to where it needs to go, or back it up using iCloud Drive. Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro Credit: Blackmagic The cameras on the iPhone Pro are truly stellar. But the Camera app is not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my taste, and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Plus, the Pro cameras can shoot in Log in ProRes, and to fully take control of the visuals from your iPhone, you’ll need to step out of the Camera app. For shooting video in the best light, Blackmagic is a great choice. Here, you get full manual control over both photos and videos, with film-grade presets (including the ability to create your own custom ones). If that feels a bit too Pro, try using a third-party app to capture much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted a couple of great options, with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree, as well). Halide gives you a lot more control over the look of your photos. There’s also a Process Zero feature that removes all of Apple’s computational processes from the photos. View the full article

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has created a new $1 billion grant program to make U.S. airports more family- and health-friendly. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched the “Make Travel Family Friendly Again” campaign alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, December 8, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “I am talking about ushering in the golden age of transportation,” Duffy said, adding they are hiring more air traffic controllers, and asking retiring air traffic controllers to stay on the job. However, the Transportation Secretary said the funding is dedicated to “making the experience better in airports and its pretty wide open on what airports want to ask for” but could include additional nursing pods for breastfeeding mothers, workout areas, and family lanes for security checkpoints. Duffy said he has also reached out to the CEOs at a “majority of airlines” to see what they can do. Making the airport experience better, by making the experience healthier “I fly typically, over the past 30 years, on average 250 days a year, and I can tell you, this is where healthy diets go to die,” Kennedy said. Kennedy added that one of the things Secretary Duffy is encouraging airports to do on the health front, is open up new options like Farmer’s Fridge, a healthy food vending machine—whose CEO joined Kennedy at the podium. He also encouraged airports to apply for grants to create playground for kids, to decrease screen time. View the full article

Investors agree to swap controversial ‘GDP warrants’ for new bondsView the full article

The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell‘s ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut. The Fed’s 19-member rate-setting committee is sharply divided over whether to lower borrowing costs again. The divisions have been exacerbated by the convoluted nature of the economy: Inflation remains elevated, which would typically lead the Fed to keep its key rate unchanged, while hiring is weak and the unemployment rate has risen, which often leads to rate cuts. Some economists expect three Fed officials could vote against the quarter-point cut that Powell is likely to support at the Dec. 9-10 meeting, which would be the most dissenting votes in six years. Just 12 of the 19 members vote on rate decisions. Several of the non-voting officials have also said they oppose another rate cut. “It’s just a really tricky time. Perfectly sensible people can reach different answers,” said William English, an economist at the Yale School of Management and a former top Fed staff member. “And the committee kind of likes to work by consensus, but this is a situation where that consensus is hard to reach.” The debate, which has also been fueled by a lack of official federal data on employment and inflation during the government shutdown, could be a preview of where the Fed is headed after Powell’s term as chair ends in May. His successor will be appointed by President Donald The President and is widely expected to be Kevin Hassett, the top White House economic adviser. Hassett may push for faster cuts than other officials would be willing to support. English said the potential for greater disagreement could be seen as a sign of healthy debate between different views. The Fed’s tradition of reaching unanimous or nearly-unanimous decisions has often been criticized as evidence of “groupthink.” Yet some Fed officials warn that there are downsides to sharp splits. If the committee votes end up as 8-4 or even 7-5, then financial markets could lose confidence in where the central bank is headed next. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, for example, has said that in the case of a 7-5 vote, if just one official changed their view, it could bring about a significant shift in Fed policy. For now, however, most economists expect what’s called a “hawkish cut” — the Fed will reduce rates, while also signaling that it may stand pat for some time to assess the economy’s health. (“Hawks” refer to officials who generally support higher rates to combat inflation, while “doves” more often support lower rates to boost hiring). The president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Jeffrey Schmid, is expected to dissent for a second straight meeting in favor of keeping rates unchanged. He may be joined by St. Louis Fed president Alberto Musalem. Fed governor Stephen Miran, who was hurriedly appointed to the Fed’s board by The President in September, will likely dissent for a third straight meeting in favor of a larger, half-point reduction in the Fed’s key rate. After the Fed’s last meeting Oct. 28-29, several policymakers said they would prefer to keep rates unchanged at the December meeting, leading Wall Street investors to briefly downgrade the odds of a third rate cut to less than 30%. But then John Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that this year’s uptick in inflation appears to be a temporary blip driven by The President’s tariffs that would likely fade by the middle of 2026. As a result, “I still see room for a further adjustment” in the Fed’s short-term rate, Williams said. As president of the New York Fed and vice chair of the rate-setting committee, Williams gets to vote on every interest rate decision and is close to Powell. Analysts said it was unlikely Williams would have made such a statement without Powell’s support. Investors rapidly lifted the odds of a cut, which now are at 89%, according to CME Fedwatch. “You’re seeing the power of the chair,” said Nathan Sheets, chief global economist at Citi and also a former top Fed staffer. “Members of the committee, my instinct is, are wanting to underscore their support for Powell.” Powell has come under relentless attack from The President, who just last month said he would “love to fire his ass” and called Powell “this clown.” The Fed is required by Congress to seek low inflation and maximum employment, two goals that are potentially in conflict. For now, Powell and many other Fed officials are more concerned about hiring and unemployment rather than inflation. While the official government jobs reports have been delayed, in September the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, the third straight increase and the highest in four years. Payroll provider ADP, meanwhile, reported that in November, its data showed companies shed 32,000 jobs. And many large firms have announced sweeping layoffs. Worries that the job market could get worse are a key reason a rate cut in December is likely—but not necessarily beyond that. Fed officials will have up to three months of backlogged jobs and inflation data to consider when they meet in late January. Those figures could show inflation remains stubbornly high or that hiring has rebounded, which would suggest further cuts aren’t needed. “What they may end up agreeing to do is cut rates now, but give some guidance … that signals that they’re on pause for a while after that,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said. —Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer View the full article

The term 'Mac power user' is a bit vague and almost sounds exclusionary, but I'm here to tell you that if you regularly use your Mac, you absolutely are a power user. You don't need to exclusively be using command line tools or keyboard shortcuts to be a power user. Even though I use my Mac all day, every single day, I keep discovering new shortcuts, awesome apps I'd never heard of, or just general tips that I hadn't come across until now. So, if that sounds like you, you absolutely are a Mac power user, and I'm here to share some tips that have helped me optimize my workflow over the past few years. From setting up automation routines to save time, to a faster way to launch apps, there's something in this guide for everyone who uses a Mac. Spotlight Search is your best friendSpotlight Search is one of the most underrated tools on the Mac. Even though I've had a fair share of complaints with its occasional sluggishness, it's still my go-to for so many things. You can fire it up by pressing Command-Space on the keyboard, and use it for everything from launching apps to converting currencies. Just open Spotlight and type 100GBP (or any other currency), and you'll see it convert that to your local currency automatically. You can also use it to convert imperial units to metric, create calendar events, search for files, or create shortcut actions. And if it still doesn't suit your workflow, you can always replace Spotlight with a better alternative such as Alfred or Raycast. Try advanced Spotlight features Credit: Pranay Parab If you've upgraded to macOS 26 Tahoe, you'll notice that Spotlight is slightly better than before. It now allows you to do two things it didn't before—check your clipboard history, and create shortcuts to execute common actions. You can enable clipboard history by going to System Settings > Spotlight > Results from Clipboard, and access it by using the keyboard shortcut Command-Space-4. As for automation, Spotlight has a new feature that lets you add quick keys to speed up common actions. You can press Command-Space-3 to open the Actions tab in Spotlight, and you'll see a list of supported actions. Next to some, you'll see a button called Add quick keys. Press this button and you can set up a keyboard shortcut to execute it. As an example, I've set up "sm" as the keyboard shortcut to send a message. The moment I type it and select the action via Spotlight, it allows me to type a message and send it to anyone from my contacts without opening the Messages app. Feel free to set up as many quick keys as you want and use Spotlight as your gateway to different actions within apps. Use an app to control per-app volumeOne of the most common annoyances with the Mac is that it doesn't easily let you set a different volume level for each app. If you find that app notifications are too loud and getting in the way of your video viewing experience, the easiest workaround is to use an app to set a custom volume level for different apps. The free Background Music app does a decent job with this, and if you're willing to pay for a much more polished experience, you should get SoundSource ($45). Optimize your window tiling setupsmacOS didn't have any useful window management features for very long, but now it has some good basic options. You can try pressing fn-ctrl-left arrow or right arrow to move windows around, or just drag an app's window to the left or right edge of the screen to see tiling options. You also have the option of hovering your mouse pointer over the green button to the top-left of any app's window, where you'll see lots of options to arrange windows. There are some window tiling settings available under System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Windows, too, so be sure to check them out. While macOS' built-in window tiling features work just fine, the implementation isn't as polished as that on third-party apps, which also offer lots of advanced features that Apple does not. Free window management apps such as Loop and Rectangle offer many more window positioning and layout options. If you're willing to pay, apps such as Moom ($15) and Rectangle Pro ($10) are even better, as they have support for precise custom layouts, and handling multi-display setups, too. Make the most of your Mac's display notch Credit: Pranay Parab Newer MacBooks have a notch in the display, which is a design choice Apple made to give you a larger screen without increasing the size of the MacBook. The notch looks like dead space on your MacBook, but some apps add a ton of useful features to this space. You can have things like music controls, calendars, battery status indicators, AirPods connectivity indicators, and more sitting right in your Mac's display notch. Alcove ($15) is my favorite app for this, as it brings the iPhone's Dynamic Island to your Mac. It shows you when your Mac enters a Focus mode, highlights volume and brightness changes, and when AirPods are connected. It also has gesture-based music playback controls, and much more. But if you just want music controls, you can get Tuneful ($5), which does that job quite well and costs a lot less. The Option key hides a treasure trove of featuresThe humble Option key on your Mac's keyboard holds the secret to many hidden features. Hold the Option key and click the clock icon in your Mac's menu bar. You'll notice that this toggles Do Not Disturb mode on your Mac. It also reveals advanced wifi network information, shows more export formats in Preview, and has several more tricks that only appear when you press the Option key while opening menus from the menu bar. You can customize the dockYour Mac's dock is a great place to keep the apps that you use the most, so that you can launch them quickly. However, there are lots of fun ways to customize the Mac's dock to make it even more useful. Once you've cleaned up the dock by removing apps you don't use and replacing them with ones you do, you can also add spacers to organize the dock and use folders to group multiple apps in one icon. All these options are built into macOS, but third-party apps let you access even more options. The free TinkerTool app makes it easier to add spacers and has extra dock customization options, while uBar ($30) gives you the freedom to completely change the look and feel of the dock. If you're really missing Windows, uBar lets you replace the dock with something that looks like the Windows 11 taskbar, too. The screenshot tools are great Credit: Pranay Parab Your Mac has some amazing built-in screenshot tools, and you should absolutely make the most of these. Press Command-Shift-5 to see the breadth of the screenshot and screen recording tools you get for free. These tools are great, and have been designed with a lot of thought and care, but for some people, they aren't going to be enough. If you want some neat features like taking scrolling screenshots of entire webpages, repeatedly capturing a specific part of the screen, or showing the keyboard buttons you're pressing during a screen recording, then you should consider replacing your Mac's screenshot tool with something better. My favorite app is CleanShot X ($29) and I've used it for over six years now. It has every screenshot feature you could ask for, and its screen recording tools are quite good, too. There are easy ways to free up your Mac's storageIf your Mac's storage is full, it'll slow down a lot, and eventually you may experience a system crash. That's why it's important to keep some free space at all times. Your Mac has an easy built-in way to free up storage space now. Go to System Settings > General > Storage to get started. If you just pay attention to the recommendations on this page, you'll find it easy to clear out lots of storage space in just a few clicks. Beyond that, don't hesitate to enable automatically deleting files in Trash on your Mac. These tools are all really good, but I highly recommend DaisyDisk ($10) for those who want to free up even more space. This app is faster than macOS' built-in methods, has a prettier interface, and lets you see exactly which apps or folders are taking up too much space. Cleaning up also takes just a couple of clicks. Back up your photos to local storageEveryone knows about iCloud and uses it to back up photos to the cloud. My only issue with this approach is that iCloud is a sync service and not a true backup option. If you delete iCloud photos from your iPhone, they'll be deleted from all other Apple devices, too. To safeguard against accidental photo deletion or losing your precious memories, I recommend backing up your photos to a second location. Parachute Backup ($5) is an excellent Mac app that backs up your iCloud photos to an external drive . I recently used Parachute Backup to back up over 12,000 photos to a hard drive on my home network, and it did the job flawlessly in around 2 hours. View the full article

Democratic senators are calling for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to compel the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to testify. View the full article

An influx of adjustable-rate and cash-out refinance mortgage programs during the month pushed the Mortgage Credit Availability Index 0.7% higher in November. View the full article

Ukrainian president pressed by US envoys for a swift response with an aim to agree ceasefire with Russia ‘by Christmas’View the full article

Deputy governor stresses ‘upside risks’ to inflation and argues for cautious approach to further interest rate cutsView the full article

Home Depot Inc. is offering cautious preliminary guidance for next year, a sign that the home-improvement retailer doesn't anticipate the housing market to rebound in the short term. View the full article

President Donald The President just announced that he plans to issue an executive order this week to set federal rules around artificial intelligence—and prevent states from setting their own. “I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something,” The President wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.” The executive order is just the latest dramatic act of deregulation from The President, who, since taking office, has slashed rules from banking regulations to environmental protections. Under The President’s plan, the federal government’s framework on AI would override any rules that individual states might put in place to shape the technology’s use or development. The President’s AI executive order isn’t out yet, but a draft version that circulated last month proposed an aggressive framework that would go as far as creating a federal legal task force designed to punish states with AI regulations. Under the order, which would likely attract its own legal challenges, states with AI laws could be denied federal funds. The White House’s interest in preempting AI regulations is a huge windfall for AI companies and investors who have lobbied against state protections. In a hearing on Capitol Hill in May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stressed that any rules slowing AI down in the U.S. would allow China to speed ahead. The proposed executive order is the The President administration’s latest effort to end-run state AI laws, but it isn’t the first. This summer, Congress rejected a moratorium on state AI laws slipped into The President’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Similar language that appeared in the year-end defense budget also looks unlikely to make it through, Politico reports, because Republicans don’t agree on the issue. States step in on AI Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed the idea of limiting states’ ability to regulate AI as “federal overreach” in a post on X last month, a position he shares with many other red state governors. “Stripping states of jurisdiction to regulate AI is a subsidy to Big Tech and will prevent states from protecting against online censorship of political speech, predatory applications that target children, violations of intellectual property rights, and data center intrusions on power/water resources,” DeSantis wrote. AI technology has exploded over the last few years with little to stand in its way. The technology is the latest example of how the tech world’s breakneck speed easily outstrips the U.S. government’s ability to craft meaningful regulations. Congress in particular is slow, often gridlocked and ineffective at regulating new industries, which leaves states to work quickly to put their own protections in place. A scenario in which states actually place the most stringent limits on AI wouldn’t be unprecedented. In the absence of federal protections, an Illinois law known as the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) shields state residents from companies that would use their facial recognition data without permission. While BIPA only applies to Illinois residents, the law has proven strong enough to trip up Meta, which paid out $650 million to settle a related lawsuit before backing away from the technology altogether. For AI companies like OpenAI, navigating a vast patchwork of varying state laws is anathema to the pace of progress—and to their skyrocketing valuations. But states are increasingly wary of the technology: In 2025, all 50 states introduced legislation on AI, and 38 states put new rules in place. In Oregon, a new state law prevents AI agents from using medical titles when dispensing advice. In Arkansas, an amendment to an existing law now restricts how AI can imitate someone’s voice or appearance. In November, dozens of state attorneys general sent a letter to lawmakers urging Congress to reject any limits on states’ abilities to regulate AI. “New applications for AI are regularly being found for healthcare, hiring, housing markets, customer service, law enforcement and public safety, transportation, banking, education, and social media,” they wrote. “Federal inaction paired with a rushed, broad federal preemption of state regulations risks disastrous consequences for our communities.” View the full article

In a new interpretive letter, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will allow banks to serve as middlemen for "riskless" crypto trades, extending existing brokerage authority for securities to digital assets. View the full article

Price of metal has more than doubled this year amid booming demand from investors and industrial usersView the full article

Dollar-based digital currencies offer benefits for the US, but Britain and the EU are better off resisting themView the full article

More and more people are turning to GoFundMe for help covering the cost of housing, food, and other basic needs. The for-profit crowdfunding platform’s annual “Year in Help” report, released Tuesday, underscored ongoing concerns around affordability. The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company’s 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. “Monthly bills” were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits. The number of “essentials” fundraisers has increased over the last three years in all of the company’s major English-speaking markets, according to GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. That includes the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, the self-published report comes at the end of a year that has seen weakened wage growth for lower-income workers, sluggish hiring, a rise in the unemployment rate and low consumer confidence in the economy. Cadogan said GoFundMe can see that people are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. “Someone may be behind on rent or needs a little bit of extra help to get through the next month,” Cadogan said. “That’s a function of what’s going on in these economies. And what is interesting is that people do step up and support folks in those situations.” Among campaigns aimed at addressing broader community needs, food banks were the most common recipient on GoFundMe this year. The platform experienced a nearly sixfold spike in food-related fundraisers between the end of October and first weeks of November, according to Cadogan, as many Americans’ monthly SNAP benefits got suddenly cut off during the government shutdown. These uses suggest that online crowdfunding has come a long way from its roots as a way for entrepreneurs to raise money for their artistic or business endeavors, according to University of Toronto postdoctoral researcher Martin Lukk. Lukk, who studies economic inequality and co-authored a book about the “unfulfilled promise of digital crowdfunding,” said the findings act somewhat as a “barometer of where things are at in terms of desperation.” “When there’s no other net to catch people, I think GoFundMe is where they often end up,” Lukk said. Lukk cautioned that GoFundMe data doesn’t show the “full extent of the desperation” because not everyone in need participates and many users don’t end up reaching their goals. Organizers must have internet access and technological know-how, he said, and a successful campaign often requires savvy storytelling and strong social networks. Iesha Shepard, 34, was initially embarrassed to ask for help. The New Orleans native said she’s dealt with chronic heart failure ever since she was shot multiple times four years ago. A single mother of two daughters, she said she fell sick last month and hasn’t been able to work her part-time hotel job for the past three weeks. Then came the eviction notice. As someone who “barely can make a living,” Shepard said she has struggled to keep up with the rising cost of rent and groceries. When her social security application got denied for the second time, she said she felt especially discouraged. She turned to crowdfunding because, as she said, “I don’t want to be homeless with my children around the holiday time.” “That was my last option,” Shepard said. “I prayed and I did a GoFundMe.” She never expected the response she’s gotten. Her fundraiser has collected more than $1,000 of her $1,800 goal. Setting up the campaign was easy, she said, and the donations really ramped up after she uploaded TikTok videos about her situation. A Nov. 29 post has been viewed more than 10,000 times. Cadogan said his team always hopes that countries have strong government programs around health, housing or seniors’ well-being, for example. But GoFundMe recognizes that no country’s systems address everything, he added. At the end of a year that began with the Los Angeles wildfires that struck Cadogan’s community of Altadena, the GoFundMe CEO said he is “blown away” by the power of help. While asking for help can be a “difficult step,” he said, it is a “courageous act” that is worth taking. “Taking that action opens the door to what can be incredible goodness,” Cadogan said. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. —James Pollard, Associated Press 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 new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 lineup was just released this summer, with the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic offering two different design options. Surprisingly, Amazon is already offering a discount on both watches. The Galaxy Watch 8 is $249.99 (originally $349.99) for the Bluetooth version and $299.99 (originally $399.99) for the LTE version. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is $399.99 (originally $499.99) for the Bluetooth version and $449.99 (originally $549.99) for the LTE version. Bluetooth version Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) $249.99 at Amazon $349.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $249.99 at Amazon $349.99 Save $100.00 LTE version Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) $299.99 at Amazon $399.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $299.99 at Amazon $399.99 Save $100.00 Bluetooth version Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic $449.99 at Amazon $549.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $449.99 at Amazon $549.99 Save $100.00 LTE version Galaxy Watch 8 Classic $449.99 at Amazon $549.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $449.99 at Amazon $549.99 Save $100.00 SEE 1 MORE If you're coming from the Galaxy Watch 7, there are a few improvements to warrant the $50 list price increase for the base model. You get a brighter display, a bigger battery, a thinner design, a redesigned exterior, new health sensors, an AI-powered running coach, more sleep insights, dual-band GPS, one-handed gesture controls, and Google's Gemini voice assistant directly on the watch. Not bad—but if that doesn't inspire you, the Galaxy Watch 7 now starts at a crisp $129.99 (originally $249.99), and it too is getting the Gemini and sleep updates. If you're not sure whether to get the regular Galaxy 8 or the Classic, the biggest difference is that the Classic comes with a rotating bezel that helps you navigate the menus. (You can read Lifehacker Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki's first impressions here.) Also of note, the Classic only comes in the bigger 46mm screen size, while the regular Galaxy 8 comes in 40 and 44mm sizes. For either, you can expect about 30 hours of use from a single charge. If you're planning on keeping your phone with you when using the watch, get the Bluetooth version. But if you want to go on runs and leave your phone behind while still listening to music or taking calls, $50 extra for the LTE is worth it. (Read more about the Galaxy 8 Watch in CNET's review.) View the full article

Tory leader’s comments come amid debate on whether Britain should rejoin EU customs unionView the full article

In an era where digital transformation shapes consumer expectations, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Visa have made a significant leap forward. Their recent collaboration aims to establish what they call “agentic commerce,” which could redefine payment experiences and streamline workflows for small businesses across various sectors. This partnership enables small business owners to leverage the Visa Intelligent Commerce platform, now available in the AWS Marketplace. This platform is designed to simplify and enhance payment processes, offering developers and companies access to critical tools necessary for building sophisticated agentic commerce capabilities. Key features include authentication, data personalization, agentic tokenization, and user intent capture—all essential for creating seamless, secure payment solutions. Rubail Birwadker, SVP of Global Head of Growth at Visa, emphasized the importance of trust in commerce, stating, “Agentic commerce needs trust to move from intent to action; Visa Intelligent Commerce is designed to be the trust layer for the agent economy.” This focus on establishing a secure environment can potentially bolster customer confidence, a critical aspect for small businesses that thrive on building relationships with their customer base. For small businesses looking to innovate, the publication of blueprints by Visa and AWS could be a game changer. These blueprints, available in the Amazon Bedrock AgentCore public repository, offer step-by-step guidelines for creating “work-agnostic” agentic commerce workflows. This means business owners, developers, and financial technology builders can more easily design systems that integrate various operations—from booking travel to managing payments—through intelligent, automated agents. The implications are clear: a small business in retail could efficiently set up an end-to-end shopping experience encompassing product discovery, price comparison, and ultimately, streamlined checkout processes. Similarly, a travel agency could utilize these tools to provide clients with a more integrated booking experience, simplifying everything from planning trips to making secure payments. However, along with these benefits, small business owners should be aware of potential challenges. Implementing such advanced systems may require a foundational understanding of technology and development processes that not all businesses currently possess. The learning curve associated with adopting new platforms can initially strain resources, which is a crucial consideration for small operations with limited budgets. Moreover, while the promise of automation through AI agents is enticing, small businesses need to be cautious about over-reliance on technology. Balancing the benefits of automation with the human touch that many customers still crave will be essential. For instance, using AI to monitor price drops on ticket sales is revolutionary, but having the ability to provide personal customer service checks will enhance overall consumer satisfaction. Quotes from industry leaders further shed light on the potential this partnership holds. David Richardson, VP of AgentCore at AWS, noted that “Visa Intelligent Commerce and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore simplify this by allowing agents to communicate securely and autonomously.” This means a business could efficiently manage customer transactions and data without extensive manual intervention. Karen Bolda, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Expedia Group, adds, “Through Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Visa Intelligent Commerce, we can deliver next-generation travel experiences.” This reaffirms that small businesses within the travel sector could greatly benefit from these innovations, enhancing their service offerings significantly. The technology could also support strong financial automation for small businesses. As Saurav Sharma, Vice President of Product Management at Intuit, explained, “We’re at the beginning of a powerful new collaboration that will allow us to build done-for-you experiences.” This could translate to better, data-driven decisions regarding budgeting and planning—vital for small enterprises trying to navigate market fluctuations. As small business owners consider integrating AWS and Visa’s agentic commerce solutions into their operations, understanding both the transformative benefits and inherent challenges will be paramount. Embracing these advancements could empower businesses to not only adapt but also flourish in an increasingly interconnected digital landscape. For further details on this innovative collaboration, you can visit the full press release here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Visa and AWS Team Up to Revolutionize Agentic Commerce for Developers" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In an era where digital transformation shapes consumer expectations, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Visa have made a significant leap forward. Their recent collaboration aims to establish what they call “agentic commerce,” which could redefine payment experiences and streamline workflows for small businesses across various sectors. This partnership enables small business owners to leverage the Visa Intelligent Commerce platform, now available in the AWS Marketplace. This platform is designed to simplify and enhance payment processes, offering developers and companies access to critical tools necessary for building sophisticated agentic commerce capabilities. Key features include authentication, data personalization, agentic tokenization, and user intent capture—all essential for creating seamless, secure payment solutions. Rubail Birwadker, SVP of Global Head of Growth at Visa, emphasized the importance of trust in commerce, stating, “Agentic commerce needs trust to move from intent to action; Visa Intelligent Commerce is designed to be the trust layer for the agent economy.” This focus on establishing a secure environment can potentially bolster customer confidence, a critical aspect for small businesses that thrive on building relationships with their customer base. For small businesses looking to innovate, the publication of blueprints by Visa and AWS could be a game changer. These blueprints, available in the Amazon Bedrock AgentCore public repository, offer step-by-step guidelines for creating “work-agnostic” agentic commerce workflows. This means business owners, developers, and financial technology builders can more easily design systems that integrate various operations—from booking travel to managing payments—through intelligent, automated agents. The implications are clear: a small business in retail could efficiently set up an end-to-end shopping experience encompassing product discovery, price comparison, and ultimately, streamlined checkout processes. Similarly, a travel agency could utilize these tools to provide clients with a more integrated booking experience, simplifying everything from planning trips to making secure payments. However, along with these benefits, small business owners should be aware of potential challenges. Implementing such advanced systems may require a foundational understanding of technology and development processes that not all businesses currently possess. The learning curve associated with adopting new platforms can initially strain resources, which is a crucial consideration for small operations with limited budgets. Moreover, while the promise of automation through AI agents is enticing, small businesses need to be cautious about over-reliance on technology. Balancing the benefits of automation with the human touch that many customers still crave will be essential. For instance, using AI to monitor price drops on ticket sales is revolutionary, but having the ability to provide personal customer service checks will enhance overall consumer satisfaction. Quotes from industry leaders further shed light on the potential this partnership holds. David Richardson, VP of AgentCore at AWS, noted that “Visa Intelligent Commerce and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore simplify this by allowing agents to communicate securely and autonomously.” This means a business could efficiently manage customer transactions and data without extensive manual intervention. Karen Bolda, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Expedia Group, adds, “Through Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Visa Intelligent Commerce, we can deliver next-generation travel experiences.” This reaffirms that small businesses within the travel sector could greatly benefit from these innovations, enhancing their service offerings significantly. The technology could also support strong financial automation for small businesses. As Saurav Sharma, Vice President of Product Management at Intuit, explained, “We’re at the beginning of a powerful new collaboration that will allow us to build done-for-you experiences.” This could translate to better, data-driven decisions regarding budgeting and planning—vital for small enterprises trying to navigate market fluctuations. As small business owners consider integrating AWS and Visa’s agentic commerce solutions into their operations, understanding both the transformative benefits and inherent challenges will be paramount. Embracing these advancements could empower businesses to not only adapt but also flourish in an increasingly interconnected digital landscape. For further details on this innovative collaboration, you can visit the full press release here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Visa and AWS Team Up to Revolutionize Agentic Commerce for Developers" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Smartphone display issues are nothing new. Most of us have dropped our phones the wrong way one time or another, and had to deal with the pain (and cost) of getting them fixed. But when your smartphone's screen starts acting up for no particular reason, it's pretty frustrating—especially if the manufacturer still holds you accountable for the repair fees. If that sounds like your experience with your Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or Pixel 9 Pro Fold, there's good news: Google is now launching an Extended Repair Program for the Pixel 9 Pro line. According to Google's announcement on Monday, the company has identified a "limited number" of Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL units that might exhibit display issues that impact the user's experience with the device. Should your Pixel 9 Pro's display show these symptoms, Google will fix the display at no cost to you. What it takes for your Pixel 9 Pro to qualifyThat doesn't mean any and all display issues on your Pixel 9 Pro device qualify here. Google has identified two specific problems that this Extended Repair Program actually covers. The first is a vertical line present on the display. The line has to run from the bottom of the screen to the top, so partial lines won't quality. The second is display flicker. If you notice your Pixel 9 Pro's display quickly getting brighter and darker, as if someone was flicking a switch back and forth, you qualify for the repair program. The Pixel 9 Fold is another story altogether. Like the 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL, Google is offering a free repair program for the 9 Pro Fold. However, unlike the other devices, there are no specific issues identified here. The problems may be display-related, but since the company won't specify, you could bring your 9 Pro Fold in for just about anything that's going wrong with it—as long as you didn't cause the issue yourself. In addition, Google won't actually fix your foldable, but will instead replace it entirely. The company is also being strict regarding the quality of the display outside of these issues across all Pixel 9 Pro devices. If your Pixel's display or cover-glass is cracked, that may disqualify you from the free repair. If Google finds liquid damage in your device, same story. In any of these cases, the company will still fix the display issues mentioned above, but they might charge you for it. How to get your Pixel 9 Pro fixedAffected Pixel 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold units qualify for repair as of Dec. 8, and coverage will last for three years after the original purchase date of the device. You will need to have your device inspected at a Google walk-in center, Google-authorized center, or an online repair store before the company can confirm eligibility. You can get started on your claim from Google's official repair site. This is good news for any Pixel 9 Pro users who have these specific issues—or any issues at all for Pixel 9 Pro Fold users. It joins a host of other Extended Repair Programs for Pixel devices, including the Pixel 4a battery program, the Pixel 6a battery program, the Pixel 7a repair program, and the Pixel 8 repair program, View the full article