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Southern states' government-sponsored enterprise share lags outside of a small number of metros, the Center for Mortgage Access' analysis of HMDA data shows. View the full article

The new version of Fitbit’s app (currently in “public preview” mode) has some improvements and some shortcomings. On the first day it was available, the built-in AI confused and frustrated me, but I figured I needed to give it a little time. Maybe it would learn more about me and give better responses. Maybe I would learn my way around its features. Maybe the team at Google would correct the worst of the problems. That last prediction came partly true. When I woke up the next morning, the AI finally admitted that the watch I was wearing, Google’s Pixel Watch 4, does actually exist. (The initial version of the app had claimed that the Pixel Watch 2, released in 2023, was the latest.) I also noticed a few small fixes that rolled in throughout the week. First screenshot is from Oct. 28; the other two are from Oct. 29. Credit: Beth Skwarecki I used the app for a week, wearing the Pixel Watch 4 to sleep and for most of my workouts, and I chatted with the AI coach almost daily. A few times I asked it to readjust my goals and give me new workouts, so I could see how it fared at different types of exercise programming. I happen to hold several coaching certifications myself, including as a personal trainer and a USAW weightlifting coach. I’ve self-coached myself through a variety of fitness goals over the years. And I’m familiar with the training programs that are available on the internet as well as in specific tech products and apps. So let’s see how well the Fitbit AI does its job as a coach. What improved over the weekThe Fitbit team seems to be hard at work. Besides receiving the good news that there is a Pixel Watch 4, I noticed several things that seem to be fixes or improvements. At first, when I was talking to the bot, I wasn’t able to edit the text I was typing, only backspace from the end of the message. But in the last few days, I’ve been able to navigate within my line of text more or less like usual. (I am using a Pixel 9 phone with the default keyboard.) The interface for strength workouts is either improved, or I found features that were there all along. Either way, it’s a lot more usable than what I first reported. When you tap on an exercise, you get a screen where you can adjust the reps and weight. The bot even took notice of the weights I entered, referring to them in conversation later on. Plenty of shortcomings remain, though. For example, the exercise library is enormous and contains obscure and strangely phrased exercises, yet is also missing some obvious and common ones. I would not be surprised if AI was used to compile the list. Some of the things that crashed the app earlier or led to blank screens have been fixed. For example, tapping the card about my sleep now leads me to graphs and data about my sleep, instead of opening a conversation with the bot. (That said, there is also a button that opens a conversation with the bot, and often it tells me it doesn’t have the data for a conversation.) Credit: Beth Skwarecki It’s now possible to follow running (but not strength) workouts from the watch, although not easily. You have to go to the app, tap the workout, tap “track live metrics” (not what that phrase usually means, but OK) and then the workout loads on your watch. I wanted to run with just the watch, not the phone, so I had to do this at home and leave the watch on that workout screen until I was ready to start. There’s no way to access the workout from the watch directly. Setting a goal for a faster 5KLast week, I had asked the bot for some simple, short workouts that balanced strength and running. At the beginning of this week I started a new chat about my goals, so that it could give me a full week of workouts. (It will only program up to a given Saturday.) I decided to ask it for a 5K improvement plan—an easy goal any training app should be able to do well. A 5K—meaning you want to run five kilometers, or 3.1 miles, as fast as possible— is a common goal for runners. There are plenty of 5K improvement plans on the internet that it would have been trained on, and forums are full of people discussing their 5K times and how to improve. This may even be a goal the bot is specifically programmed to handle. So let’s see. I started by asking the bot: If I can run a 28-minute 5K, how much of an improvement could I expect to see in a month? It declined to give a number, but offered some vague encouragement. So I asked it if I could take that number down to 24 minutes? I was hoping it might flag that as a bit unrealistic, but it didn’t. It offered to write me a 5K training program, though. To the bot’s credit, it recommended including strength workouts to support my running. But later, when I asked it for help with a strength goal, it didn’t include any cardio. Cardio and strength are both important, so that was another disappointing blind spot. I can’t say I’m impressed by the way the bot talks about goals. It wasn’t able to give me any advice about choosing an appropriate goal, which is one of the reasons people pay an experienced coach. It also didn’t discuss structures or process goals that would keep me on track, and as I’ve mentioned before, it isn’t capable of planning for the long term—all things that any human trainer would view as fundamental. Following workoutsThe running workouts did not make a particularly good training week for a 5K program. There was no extended tempo run, no long run—just a few different configurations of intervals scattered throughout the week. Those interval workouts didn’t even have a warmup until I told the bot to add one. There is a button on every workout that allows you to converse with the bot to adjust it, but it never really worked correctly. Even that simple attempt to add a warmup was a comedy of errors, especially when I asked it to keep the workouts to 30 minutes. It can’t do math, and kept adding up the segment times wrong. Even when I decided I’d accept a 25-minute workout, the workout was saved with a text description that included a note about it being a 30-minute workout. Later workouts kept that 30-minute number in the description even when they were nearly 40 minutes. This is not how math works. Credit: Beth Skwarecki The running workouts were nearly impossible to follow from my watch, although that may be more of a Pixel Watch issue than a Fitbit app issue. The description on the watch sometimes included a warmup and cooldown that never materialized during the run. Some segments had a heart rate target, but the watch didn’t tell me the target while I was running it—it just gave alerts that my heart rate was too high or too low. It didn’t even tell me which segments were supposed to be work and which were recovery. I was just told to “Run, 2 minutes” and “Run, 3 minutes.” I had to guess, and ended up quitting that workout early. I did not use the Fitbit app for any more running workouts that week—it wasn’t worth the frustration. The bot (almost) never forgetsThe bot has a memory problem. Sometimes it forgets, but sometimes it’s too good at remembering. When I told it I wanted to forget my 5K goal and just work on strength, it seemed to agree—at first. When I exited that conversation, I saw that my new plan was also geared toward improving my 5K time. I had at least four separate conversations with the bot clarifying that I do not care about my 5K time anymore, and it would say it understood, and then it would write me a running program and tell me that it understands my goal to be improving my 5K time. It did eventually get the message, but remember that every back-and-forth with the bot takes time (and water and electricity) as it thinks about the answer. From the timestamps on my screenshots I can see that I began our conversation at 6:59 as I was preparing for a 7 p.m. workout, and I didn’t have a strength-focused plan on the books until 7:42. These were from three different conversations in the same evening. Credit: Beth Skwarecki It’s not only this goal that stuck with the chatbot. A few offhand comments ended up taking on the gravity of a religious commandment in its tiny digital mind. Every time it makes a new program, it asks if you have any injuries or anything else it should know about. One time I said “nope, I’m healthy and ready for hard training!” Days later, workouts later, whole programs later, it would tell me that it designed things around my preference for “hard training.” Or take a brief note I gave it when I was adjusting my first-ever strength workout last week: I didn’t like the rep scheme it gave me (three sets of six) so I asked if we could work up to a heavy single and then do two sets of three with lighter weight as a backoff. As I wrote last week, I was pleasantly surprised that it understood what I meant. But now it thinks I want that for every workout! Many of the strength workouts follow a protocol of five reps, then three reps, then one rep (hmm, wonder where it got those numbers) and then, inexplicably, follow that up with two sets of three. When I ask it why it chose that rep scheme, it tells me that it knows I like doing heavy singles followed by 2x3 backoffs. Maybe it’s just trying to make me happy, but a fitness coach—AI or otherwise—should understand that not all stated preferences are equal. Some apply to a person, some to a workout, some to a training block, and some are just a fleeting whim. A real fitness professional would recognize that a program centered on heavy singles is something to be used occasionally or for specific purposes, not day-in and day-out. Worse than 2023? For all the talk about any given moment’s AI being “the worst it’ll ever be,” the Fitbit AI, powered by Gemini, vaunted by Google, set into the core of the new Fitbit app like some kind of crown jewel, seems to have the exact same flaws and limitations I encountered when I asked ChatGPT to write workouts for me back in 2023. If anything, it feels worse. It’s only the vibe that’s different now. Back in 2023, I could laugh about the bad advice the bot gave me and remind readers that of course this can’t replace a real coach. Now, two and a half years later, tech companies are trying to convince us that AI is our new coach. But as my colleague Meredith Dietz has pointed out, AI coaches may do more harm than good. A coach that can’t plan for the future, can’t reality-check the goals a client discusses, and can’t even correctly write down its own workouts isn’t much of a coach. View the full article

President Donald The President is heading to Miami on Wednesday — the anniversary of his reelection to a second term — to speak to a forum of business leaders and global athletes about what he sees as his economic achievements. The Republican president’s speech to the America Business Forum will be a broad look at his economic agenda and how investments he has secured abroad help U.S. communities, according to a senior White House official. It’s a significant effort from The President to put a positive spin on the economy at a time when Americans remain uneasy about the state of their finances and the cost of living — and when major campaigns in Tuesday’s election were centered on affordability and the economy. The AP Voter Poll survey, which included more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City, suggested the public was troubled by higher prices and fewer job opportunities despite The President’s promises to tame inflation and unleash growth. In his speech, The President will touch on deregulation, energy independence and oil prices, and affordability, said the White House official, who insisted on anonymity to preview the president’s address. The President spent five days in Asia last week with stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. He worked to ease trade tensions with Beijing in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In Tokyo, he promoted several major energy and tech projects for the U.S. that will be funded by Japan. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he thinks The President’s recent travels “have been transformational in his presidency” and said his speech will be a highlight of the forum, which organizers have described as a more accessible version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or the Milken Institute Global Conference, which gathers the world’s elite for discussions on the economy. “This conference not only is creating this incredible collection of people, but it’s also creating them in a particular moment in time,” said Suarez, a Republican. The President’s visit also highlights how the Miami area is playing a key role during his second term. The President is set to host leaders of the world’s leading rich and developing economies at next year’s Group of 20 summit at his golf club at the nearby city of Doral, despite what critics say is the appearance of impropriety. The President’s sons have taken over running the The President Organization while their father is in the White House, and the president has insisted that his family’s business will not make any money by holding the summit at the golf club. The city is where The President wants to locate his future presidential library, which is now facing a legal challenge over whether the plot of land in downtown Miami is being properly transferred. Miami is also one of the U.S. host cities for next year’s World Cup, which The President has eagerly promoted as the kickoff to several major global sporting events for which the U.S. is playing host. Ensuring the success of the World Cup has been a top priority for the The President administration. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, with whom The President has developed a close friendship, is scheduled to speak at the Miami forum later Wednesday. This story has been corrected to show the name of the event is the America Business Forum, not the American Business Forum. —Seung Min Kim, Associated Press View the full article

Losing something you spent time working on, or photos that you can't replace, is devastating. You might think this is a problem of the past because of cloud storage services like Apple's own iCloud, but that's not completely true. For one thing, users sometimes get locked out of their cloud accounts, which makes it impossible to retrieve their files. For another, not everything on your Mac is stored in iCloud. Things like settings, applications, and customizations aren't easy to recover should something happen to your Mac. It's also a lot faster to retrieve files from a local backup than a cloud one, which is important if you're backing up things like videos or photo libraries. Finally, there's a certain peace of mind that comes from being in control of your backup, as opposed to it being in the hands of a company. For these reasons I recommend you make a full local backup of your Mac. There are many ways to do this, including using third-party software. For most people, though, I recommend something that might sound old-fashioned: an external hard drive and Apple's own Time Machine. Why Time Machine?Time Machine is the simplest way for Mac users to have a local backup. There are other solutions out there, granted, and every Mac power user has their favorite. For the average user, though, it's hard to beat Time Machine. It's simply bundled with the operating system. Just plug in an empty external hard drive—one larger than the drive inside your Mac—and head to System Settings > General > Time Machine. From here you can start backing up in a couple of clicks. This backup includes everything on your drive. That means your documents, photos, and videos, yes, but also everything else. The applications you installed, including large games. Your settings, both for macOS and for every application you have installed. If it's saved on your Mac it's backed up to Time Machine (unless you specifically tell the software not to include it). There are all kinds of ways to retrieve your files from a Time Machine backup. If you are setting up a new Mac there's an option to use your backup to restore your files and settings. Or, if you'd rather not, you can simply drag files from the backup drive to your new Mac. By default, Time Machine makes a new backup every hour. Only new files are copied, and versions of deleted files stay on the drive until the drive is full. Time Machine also makes it possible to browse past versions of the same file, if you want. You can customize the frequency of backups—hourly, daily, or weekly are all options. I, personally, find all of these to be overkill, and use a fourth option—manual—instead. And a free application I found makes it seamless. The tool that makes Time Machine work for me Credit: Justin Pot My Mac is a laptop—one that I use away from my desk quite a bit—so I can't leave an external drive plugged into it. I try to plug in my drive when I'm at my desk, but that means I end up accidentally unplugging my Time Machine drive without dismounting it. Do that enough times and you'll end up with a corrupted drive (believe me, I've had this happen multiple times). This is why I was happy to find Easy backup and eject, a free Mac application that runs in the background and does one thing: start a Time Machine backup when you plug in your drive and dismount the drive when the backup is done. With this software installed I can plug in my drive anytime I want to make a backup and stop thinking about it. Backups typically don't take more than a few minutes for me, so by the time I'm ready to leave my desk I can just unplug everything and go about my day. It's perfect. Try it out if you like the idea of Time Machine but can't leave a hard drive constantly plugged in. View the full article

Tuesday’s electoral sweep was a rebuke to Donald The President, but now the governing beginsView the full article

California voters approved new congressional district boundaries Tuesday, delivering a victory for Democrats in the state-by-state redistricting battle that will help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026 and, with it, the power to thwart or advance President Donald The President’s agenda. The approval of Proposition 50 gives Democrats a shot at winning as many as five additional seats, just enough to blunt Texas Republicans’ move to redraw their own maps to pick up five GOP seats at The President’s urging. Texas’ move and California’s response have kicked off a flurry of redistricting efforts around the country, with Republican states appearing to have an edge. Deeply blue California is Democrats’ best opportunity to make up seats. Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House, and The President is fighting to maintain his party’s slim House majority. Republicans hold 219 seats to Democrats’ 213. Tuesday’s results mark a political victory for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cast the measure as an essential tool to fight back against The President and protect American democracy. Speaking to reporters in Sacramento, Newsom cast the California vote as part of a broader national rejection of The President’s policies that saw Democratic governors elevated in New Jersey and Virginia. But he warned the more consequential battle would come next year. If Democrats win the House majority, they can “end Donald The President’s presidency as we know it,” Newsom said. “It is all on the line, a bright line, in 2026.” Measure supported by Newsom and Obama California’s Proposition 50 asked voters to suspend House maps drawn by an independent commission and replace them with rejiggered districts adopted by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Those new districts would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. The recast districts aim to dilute Republican voters’ power, in one case by uniting rural, conservative-leaning parts of far northern California with Marin County, a famously liberal coastal stronghold across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. The measure was spearheaded by Newsom, who threw the weight of his political operation behind it in a major test of his mettle ahead of a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Former President Barack Obama urged voters to pass it as well. “Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama said in one ad. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.” Critics said two wrongs don’t make a right. They urged Californians to reject the measure, even if they have misgivings about The President’s moves elsewhere. Among the most prominent critics was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and former Republican governor who pushed for the creation of the independent commission, which voters approved in 2008 and 2010. It makes no sense to fight The President by becoming him, Schwarzenegger said in September, arguing that the proposal would “take the power away from the people.” “I don’t want Newsom to have control,” said Rebecca Fleshman, a 63-year-old retired medical assistant from Southern California, who voted against the measure. “I don’t want the state to be blue. I want it to be red.” A lopsided campaign foreshadowed the vote After an early burst of TV advertising, opponents of the plan struggled to raise cash in a state with some of the nation’s most expensive media markets. The campaign followed an unusual trajectory. A handful of Republican congressmen who will see their districts dramatically reshaped – and their jobs endangered — mostly stayed away from the campaign spotlight. With opponents short on cash, Newsom and his supporters dominated TV screens in the critical closing weeks. Total spending on broadcast and cable ads topped $100 million, with more than two-thirds of it coming from supporters. Newsom told people to stop donating in the race’s final weeks. The GOP congressmen — Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug LaMalfa — will see right-leaning voters reduced and left-leaning voters boosted in their respective districts in a shift that would make it likely a Democratic candidate would prevail in each race. Issa issued a defiant statement, saying: “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll continue to represent the people of California regardless of their party or where they live.” Calvert said Newsom engineered a “power grab” while housing costs, gas prices and taxes continue to strain family budgets. “I am determined to keep fighting for the families I represent,” he said in an email. AP poll finds voters motivated by political reasons Proposition 50 won a swift and decisive victory, as the AP declared a winner when polls closed statewide. Early returns were strongly in favor of the measure, as were preliminary results from the AP Voter Poll, an expansive survey of more than 4,000 voters in California. Roughly 7 in 10 California voters said party control of Congress was “very important” to them, and those voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, according to the AP Voter Poll. About 8 in 10 California voters who supported the ballot measure said it was necessary to counter the changes made by Republicans in other states, while only about 2 in 10 said they supported it because it was the best way to draw maps, AP Voter Poll found. The President, who overwhelmingly lost California in his three presidential campaigns, largely stayed out of the fray. A week before the election, he urged voters in a social media post not to vote early or by mail — messaging that conflicted with that of top Republicans in the state who urged people to get their ballots in as soon as possible. In a post Tuesday on his social media platform, the president called the state’s voting process “RIGGED” and warned that it was “under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Secretary of State Shirley Weber called that “another baseless claim.” The national House map is in flux Congressional district boundaries are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts documented in the census. Mid-decade redistricting is unusual, absent a court order finding fault with the maps in place. Beyond Texas, Republicans expect to gain one seat each from new maps in Missouri and North Carolina, and potentially two more in Ohio. Five other GOP-led states are also considering new maps: Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska. On the Democratic side, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Virginia have proposals to redraw maps, but major hurdles remain. A court has ordered new boundaries be drawn in Utah, where all four House districts are represented by Republicans, but it remains to be seen if the state will approve a map that makes any of them winnable for Democrats. Siddhartha Deb, 52, has lived in the U.S. since he was 7 years old but he just became a citizen Tuesday. Immediately afterward he registered to vote at San Francisco City Hall and cast his ballot in favor of Newsom’s measure. “I don’t like the way the Republican Party is basically trying to rig elections by gerrymandering,” Deb said. “And this is the only way, to fight fire with fire.” Associated Press writers Amy Taxin and Terry Chea contributed. —Jonathan J. Cooper, Michael R. Blood and Trân Nguyễn, Associated Press View the full article

Scammers never miss an opportunity to prey on people's fear and confusion—and now they're capitalizing on the ongoing federal government shutdown to steal money and information from vulnerable targets. As Axios notes, reports of imposter scams—in which fraudsters impersonate government officials or agency representatives—rose in October as Americans experienced the loss of federal services and benefits. The Better Business Bureau's (BBB) Scam Tracker received 211 such complaints last month. Scammers are also taking advantage of shutdown stress to pull people into investment schemes and other malicious (and AI-driven) activity. Common government shutdown scams One common variety of shutdown scam is government impersonation. Bad actors may call, text, or email you pretending to represent a federal agency—like the IRS or Social Security Administration—that has programs or benefits you use. They'll ask you to verify personal information or pay a fee to avoid losing your benefits or interrupting your service. In some cases, they may even threaten you with fines or legal action if you don't comply. This is a common scam tactic that relies on people acting quickly out of fear. Other scammers may pose as service providers trying to help you access certain government programs (like passport renewal) or offering grants or financial assistance. Axios highlights one such instance in which the individual received a call about a $5,000 "relief check." There are multiple reports of scammers targeting SNAP recipients with offers of emergency food or grocery relief. People in areas with federal offices or military bases may be targeted specifically. In these cases, bad actors may try to collect sensitive information, which they can use to steal your identity. Scam emails and texts to "redeem" or "claim" offers are also vectors for phishing links, which may lead to spoofed government websites designed to harvest your login credentials or other data. AI is facilitating many of these schemes: Nevada's deputy secretary of state for securities issued a warning this week about scammers using AI to impersonate government officials, law enforcement, and financial professionals as well as to create deepfakes of trusted individuals known to potential victims—making it more likely that targets will send money or provide access to their information. Protect yourself from shutdown scamsYou should always be on guard against common scam tactics, such as any unsolicited communication that either sounds too good to be true or sparks a strong emotion (like fear). Know that scammers will often ramp up activity when people are vulnerable in hopes that you will act before thinking. If you get a call, text, or email from someone who pressures you, it's probably a scam. Never click on links in from unverified sources, and always confirm that the person on the other end is who they claim to be by contacting the organization through their official website or social media channels. You should also verify urgent communication from family or friends—no matter how personal it sounds—especially if you're being asked to send money. Government employees will not call and demand that you hand over money or personal information—and right now, many are furloughed as most federal agencies are closed. (Unfortunately, that includes the Federal Trade Commission, so consumers currently cannot log fraud reports or opt into the Do Not Call registry.) View the full article

UK authorities say man was mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison on October 29View the full article

Productivity is an essential skill for getting things done in your life and career, but it’s also important because it can gives you a sense of accomplishment and it enhances your sense of wellbeing. When you don’t get all your tasks done, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and disappointed in yourself, which doesn’t help you push through to finish those tasks, let alone feel like you’re thriving. You should be happy. You need to be productive. Reaching a state of zen can help you accomplish both—or so goes the theory behind the “Zen to Done” method, which aims to help you get more good and feel good about it. Unlike some other productivity approaches, this one has less to do with strict deadlines and weedy details than it does with pushing through and feeling good about a job well done. This makes it well suited to those who don't exactly blossom under pressure. What is Zen to Done?Zen to Done is a productivity system conceptualized by Zen Habits’ Leo Babauta. It’s structured around building simple habits that enable you to get your work done and feel good at the same time. Other methods, like the once ubiquitous “Getting Things Done” system, get a bad rap for expecting you to build all your new habits at once, jumping immediately into a whole new lifestyle. That sort of all-or-nothing change can work for some people, but it might not be for you. But ZTD is focused on building them incrementally and more peacefully. There's room to adjust and grow, which can be soothing—especially if you have a lot of habits to change or you're particularly stuck in your ways. The habit changes come in a series, but one at a time, allowing you to focus on the actual work you need to get done. In the original version of ZTD, there are 10 habits, but you should only try to incorporate two to three of them at one time before moving on to others. Collect by always taking notes about what you need to do, ideas you have, or changes to a task or project. Process by making quick decisions on tasks that are in front of you right now, like emails that could soon pile up. Plan by setting goals for your week every Monday, and tackling larger tasks earlier in the week. Do by selecting a task and focusing on it without thinking about or doing anything else. Create a simple trusted system that works for you, like doing certain tasks at the same time every day or tapping into an email system like the 4Ds with consistenc. Organize by giving everything a place—and putting it there every time. This goes for emails, tools on your desk, and anything else that’s cluttering your mind or space. Review your weekly goals at the end of the week, but also keep tabs on your longer-term quarterly or annual goals to keep them fresh in your mind and see how your daily work plays into them. Simplify by using your review time to slash your goals and tasks into only what’s most essential at any given time. Make a routine that works for you, whether it’s a calmer morning routine, or more structured evenings—and absolutely stick to it. Find your passion and make sure it’s guiding your work. This is where ZTD differs from other productivity methods: You should always strive to keep the things you care about at the center of what you’re doing, as a reminder of why you’re working so hard or a check on whether a project is really worth it all. Over the past year, I've adopted a few of these changes: collect (and, by extension, plan), plus process and organize. I've been dedicated to growing financially and becoming more organized, but I knew neither of those things would happen overnight, so I started writing down "to-dos" whenever they popped into my head. I stick them in a note in my phone, reorganize the note every Monday, and check it every morning to see what I can do—then jump straight into the things that are attainable in that moment. The other day, I noticed my fan was dirty but I didn't have time to clean it write then, so I wrote a note—clean the fan—in my phone, and was able to follow up on it the next day without stressing. Making changes and getting things done bit by bit in this way has resulted in major financial wins and a significantly cleaner, more organized home. It's a far cry from how things went in the past, when I put too much pressure on myself to change instantly. Get started with “Minimalist ZTD”All of that sounds like a lot—and it is, even though you’re only supposed to start rolling in the habits one at a time. So pull back a bit: Babauta considers the first four (collect, process, plan, and do) the core of a “Minimalist ZTD” program, and advises picking one of them and focusing on it for 30 days. After a month, you’ll be in the habit of using that approach to your work and can move on to one of the other three. And once the four big are securely ingrained in your habits, you can move on to the full list. View the full article

The government shutdown has entered its 36th day, breaking the record as the longest ever and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans with federal program cuts, flight delays and federal workers nationwide left without paychecks. President Donald The President has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after the administration restricted SNAP food aid, despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger. The President, whose first term at the White House set the previous government shutdown record, is set to meet early Wednesday for breakfast with GOP senators. But no talks have been scheduled with the Democrats. “Why is this happening? We’re in a shutdown because our colleagues are unwilling to come to the table to talk about one simple thing: health care premiums,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in a late evening speech. “Stop this mess, come to the table, negotiate it,” she said. With The President largely on the sidelines, talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the stalemate. Expectations are high that the logjam would break once election results were fully tallied in Tuesday’s off-year races that were widely watched as a gauge of voter sentiment over The President’s second term in the White House. Democrats swept key contests for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and New York City mayor, certain to shake up the political assessments. But earlier in the afternoon, Senate Democrats left an hours-long private meeting stone-faced, with no certain path forward. “We’re exploring all the options,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said afterward. The President sets another shutdown record The President’s approach to this shutdown stands in marked contrast to his first term, when the government was partially closed for 35 days over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall. At that time, he met publicly and negotiated with congressional leaders, but unable to secure the funds, he relented in 2019. This time, it’s not just The President declining to engage in talks. The congressional leaders are at a standoff and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent lawmakers home in September after they approved their own funding bill, refusing further negotiations. In the meantime, food aid, child care funds and countless other government services are being seriously interrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or expected to come to work without pay. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted there could be chaos in the skies next week if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck. Labor unions put pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said this has been not only the longest shutdown but also “the most severe shutdown on record.” The Republican leader has urged the Democrats to accept his overtures to vote on the health care issue and keep negotiating a solution once the government reopens, arguing that no one wins politically from the standoff. “Shutdowns are stupid,” Thune said. Senators search for potential deal Central to any endgame will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate, but also the House, and the White House, which is not at all certain in Washington. First of all, senators from both parties, particularly the powerful members of the Appropriations Committee, are pushing to ensure the normal government funding process in Congress can be put back on track. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., along with several Democrats, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Chris Coons of Delaware, are among those working behind the scenes. “The pace of talks have increased,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who has been involved in conversations. Among the goals is guaranteeing upcoming votes on a smaller package of bills where there is already widespread bipartisan agreement to fund various aspects of government, like agricultural programs and military construction projects at bases. “I certainly think that three-bill package is primed to do a lot of good things for the American people,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who has also been in talks. Health care costs skyrocket for millions More difficult, a substantial number of senators also want some resolution to the standoff over the funding for the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end. With insurance premium notices being sent, millions of Americans are experiencing sticker shock on skyrocketing prices. The loss of enhanced federal subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and come in the form of tax credits, are expected to leave many people unable to buy health insurance. Republicans are reluctant to fund the health care program, also known as Obamacare, without reforms, but negotiating a compromise with Democrats is expected to take time, if a deal can be reached at all. Thune has promised Democrats at least a vote on their preferred health care proposal, on a date certain, as part of any deal to reopen government. But that’s not enough for some senators, who see the health care deadlock as part of their broader concerns with The President’s direction for the country. The White House says its position remains unchanged and that Democrats must vote to fund the government before talks over health care can begin. White House officials are in close contact with GOP senators who have been quietly speaking with key Senate Democrats, according to a senior White House official. The official was granted anonymity to discuss administration strategy. The President’s demands to end the filibuster fall flat The president has been pushing the senators to nuke the filibuster — the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation — as a way to reopen the government. The GOP senators have panned The President’s demands to end the filibuster, in a rare public break with the president. Thune and others argue the Senate rule, while infuriating at times, ensures the minority party can be a check on the administration, which is important when power shifts in Washington. But in the current Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority, 53-47, Democrats have been able to block the House-passed bill that would fund the government, having voted more than a dozen times against. The President has said that doing away with the filibuster would be one way the Republicans could bypass the Democrats and end the shutdown on their own. Republican senators are trying to avoid that outcome. Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Seung Min Kim and Matt Brown contributed to this report. —Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press View the full article

Facebook has just introduced a significant update for group admins, providing small business owners an avenue to expand their networks and reach new audiences through community engagement. This change allows private group admins to convert their groups to public ones while safeguarding member privacy and past content. Facebook Groups have long served as an essential tool for connection, whether users are seeking advice, sharing experiences, or networking with others from similar backgrounds or interests. For small businesses, these groups present unique opportunities to cultivate brand loyalty, attract new customers, and foster community support. With this update, small business owners now have the flexibility to transform their private groups into public platforms. The process is straightforward, accessible via the group’s settings page on Facebook. Once the conversion is made, all content posted post-conversion will be available to anyone, which can significantly increase group visibility and engagement. “Group admins want more tools to grow and manage their communities, and we’re listening to your feedback,” Facebook noted in its press release. This direct acknowledgment of admin needs indicates that Facebook is committed to helping small business owners maximize their group potential. Small business owners can take several practical steps to enhance their community engagement: Convert with Caution: Before changing the privacy setting from private to public, it’s crucial for group admins to consider the implications for their current members. Feedback from fellow admins and members can help inform this decision. Notify Group Members: Once the conversion is made, keeping members informed about changes boosts transparency. Sharing a post detailing the shift can help mitigate misunderstandings and foster ongoing communication. Emphasize Privacy Protections: Facebook assures that past group content will remain accessible only to previous members as well as admins and moderators. Member lists will be protected, and new members will see reminders when engaging in public discussions. Public Engagement: For those who are comfortable, new posts will be public, allowing members to interact beyond the group’s established audience. This can pave the way for wider brand recognition and community-building opportunities. Adapt to Member Preferences: The update also introduces features for anonymous participation, offering members the choice to engage using their real names, anonymously, or with nicknames. This flexibility empowers users to participate comfortably, a trait that can boost group activity. Despite the benefits, converting a group to a public setting does entail some challenges: Potential Loss of Exclusivity: While public status can draw in new members, it might deter individuals seeking a more intimate or private community environment. Increased Scrutiny: Public groups open the door for non-members to view content, which could attract negative attention or unwanted discussions. Ongoing Communication: Regularly updating the community about rules and expectations will be necessary to adapt to the public group dynamic. Risk of Miscommunication: Any misunderstanding regarding the new privacy settings can lead to confusion or dissatisfaction among existing members. As small business owners navigate these changes, they should weigh the opportunities against the challenges. The potential for growth and enhanced community interaction is substantial, yet they must prioritize member comfort and consent in their decision-making processes. “Today’s update helps admins to grow their groups, foster deeper connections, and spark more conversations across shared interests,” said Facebook, echoing the sentiment that business growth is intrinsically tied to genuine community engagement. Overall, these new options enable small business owners to expand their footprint on Facebook, engage with consumers authentically, and curate a thriving community that can lead to increased brand loyalty and potential revenue streams. For more details about converting groups, visit Facebook’s help center here and learn more about public versus private groups here. To read the original announcement, visit the Facebook News release here. Image via Envanto This article, "Facebook Empowers Group Admins to Convert Private Groups to Public" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Facebook has just introduced a significant update for group admins, providing small business owners an avenue to expand their networks and reach new audiences through community engagement. This change allows private group admins to convert their groups to public ones while safeguarding member privacy and past content. Facebook Groups have long served as an essential tool for connection, whether users are seeking advice, sharing experiences, or networking with others from similar backgrounds or interests. For small businesses, these groups present unique opportunities to cultivate brand loyalty, attract new customers, and foster community support. With this update, small business owners now have the flexibility to transform their private groups into public platforms. The process is straightforward, accessible via the group’s settings page on Facebook. Once the conversion is made, all content posted post-conversion will be available to anyone, which can significantly increase group visibility and engagement. “Group admins want more tools to grow and manage their communities, and we’re listening to your feedback,” Facebook noted in its press release. This direct acknowledgment of admin needs indicates that Facebook is committed to helping small business owners maximize their group potential. Small business owners can take several practical steps to enhance their community engagement: Convert with Caution: Before changing the privacy setting from private to public, it’s crucial for group admins to consider the implications for their current members. Feedback from fellow admins and members can help inform this decision. Notify Group Members: Once the conversion is made, keeping members informed about changes boosts transparency. Sharing a post detailing the shift can help mitigate misunderstandings and foster ongoing communication. Emphasize Privacy Protections: Facebook assures that past group content will remain accessible only to previous members as well as admins and moderators. Member lists will be protected, and new members will see reminders when engaging in public discussions. Public Engagement: For those who are comfortable, new posts will be public, allowing members to interact beyond the group’s established audience. This can pave the way for wider brand recognition and community-building opportunities. Adapt to Member Preferences: The update also introduces features for anonymous participation, offering members the choice to engage using their real names, anonymously, or with nicknames. This flexibility empowers users to participate comfortably, a trait that can boost group activity. Despite the benefits, converting a group to a public setting does entail some challenges: Potential Loss of Exclusivity: While public status can draw in new members, it might deter individuals seeking a more intimate or private community environment. Increased Scrutiny: Public groups open the door for non-members to view content, which could attract negative attention or unwanted discussions. Ongoing Communication: Regularly updating the community about rules and expectations will be necessary to adapt to the public group dynamic. Risk of Miscommunication: Any misunderstanding regarding the new privacy settings can lead to confusion or dissatisfaction among existing members. As small business owners navigate these changes, they should weigh the opportunities against the challenges. The potential for growth and enhanced community interaction is substantial, yet they must prioritize member comfort and consent in their decision-making processes. “Today’s update helps admins to grow their groups, foster deeper connections, and spark more conversations across shared interests,” said Facebook, echoing the sentiment that business growth is intrinsically tied to genuine community engagement. Overall, these new options enable small business owners to expand their footprint on Facebook, engage with consumers authentically, and curate a thriving community that can lead to increased brand loyalty and potential revenue streams. For more details about converting groups, visit Facebook’s help center here and learn more about public versus private groups here. To read the original announcement, visit the Facebook News release here. Image via Envanto This article, "Facebook Empowers Group Admins to Convert Private Groups to Public" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The kind of productivity method you need depends largely on the kind of person you are. Some methods are adaptable, open to interpretation, and fluid, which is nice if you just need a little guidance. Others, though, are detailed and rule-driven, which is great if you need to be told exactly what to do and when to do it. Agile Results, a system devised by J. D. Meier, is in the second category; it's stricter than others, but for some of us, that's what's needed to get things done. With Agile Results, you schedule and plan around all your goals, from the short- to long-term, so everything gets taken care of—even the biggest big-picture tasks. Here’s how it works. What is the Agile Results method?Meier describes Agile Results as “a results-driven system that helps you get meaning, momentum, and mastery in all areas of your life.” That’s an optimistic, lofty tagline, but in essence, it just boils down to getting more serious with your goal-setting and planning. You’ll focus on “three wins” at every level, from daily up to yearly. (“Wins” are really another words for your goals, but when you say "wins," it implies you already expect to meet them, which sets a certain tone.) First, set three “wins” as goals for your entire year. This can be on the first of a new year or any time as long as you’re looking ahead a full 365 days and your goals are designed to be met within that time period. These are obviously your biggest, most overarching goals—the ones that will take a lot of steps and effort between today and this time next year to turn into true "wins." Next, set quarterly goals. These are the big goals that are going to lead into the annual ones and can be set on the first day of the quarter, if you’re starting on January 1, or every three months if you’re starting at another time. If you're having a hard time determining what should be a quarterly goal, try mind-mapping to help you visualize your larger projects and all the elements that go into them. From there, set monthly goals related to those. In general, it’s best to start this method on the first of a month, just to give it a structure that will be easy to follow, but again, you can do this whenever you want—as long as the goals you list here are the kind that are doable within about four weeks and add up toward the completion of the quarterly and annual wins. After that, set weekly goals every Monday and daily goals every morning, minimizing the size of the goals with each until you’ve created a system of daily building blocks that lead up to weekly wins, weekly tasks that lead up to monthly wins, monthly goals that lead up to quarterly wins, etc. This is where it gets hard to follow, so initially, set a reminder in your phone for each morning (and two for Mondays) that will spur you to create the smaller goals. You can add this into to-do apps you already use. My favorite is Finch, where I can set goals that recur on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, and am rewarded with cute in-app animations when I mark them off, but if you need something else, try some of these. No matter how you go about it, schedule 10 minutes every morning to set your daily goals, allowing 15 to 20 minutes on days that will see you structuring weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goals. Keep in mind that these are supposed to be structured and organized, so you should rely on a planner or easily accessible document to get it done. I recommend using Google Sheets and setting aside a designated sheet for each set of goals within a single workbook. Using a cloud-based software instead of Excel or similar will make it easy to pull up the goals wherever you are. Take this part seriously. The conscious process of setting the goals isn't something to rush through. Use time blocking and time boxing to designate specific times to do it—and stick to those times. Finally, make sure the wins—from daily to annual—are concrete. I recommend using SMART goals to write detailed, thoughtful assertions about what your goals are, as they help you stick to a schedule and stay realistic. Reviewing is key to Agile ResultsSetting aside time every morning to write down your goals is essential, but so, too, is setting aside time every afternoon to review your progress. Every day, reflect on how you did with your daily goals. Every Friday, expand your reflection time to include your weekly goals and, at the end of each month, make sure you’re reviewing your monthly goals, too. Keep this going all the way to the end of the year, when you should be able to look back and see how far you came in reaching your annual “wins.” Meier suggests that on Fridays, you take time to write down three things that are going well and three things that need improvement. Here's where you can borrow the idea of the after-action review from the Army; you need to identify what went wrong and what went right so you can stay on the right track. This reflection is key in helping you craft the next set of daily and weekly “wins.” Giving yourself time to focus on the successes instead of just identifying problem areas will also keep you motivated, so be sure to write down your reflections somewhere in your planner or document. View the full article

Web inventor warns reliance on AI agents threatens multibillion-dollar revenues for Google and MetaView the full article

A UPS wide-body cargo plane crashed on Tuesday and erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff from the international airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing seven, including all three aboard, and injuring 11 on the ground, officials said. Flames from the crash, shortly before sundown, ignited a string of fires in an industrial corridor adjacent to the airport, forcing authorities to halt flight operations through the night, the officials said. The Louisville airport, which is home to UPS Worldport — a global hub for the shipping company’s air cargo operations and its largest package-handling facility worldwide — was expected to reopen on Wednesday morning. Two runways were strewn with debris from the crash. In a Tuesday night service alert, UPS said delivery schedules for airborne and international packages “may be affected” by the disruption. “Contingency plans are in place to help ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as conditions permit,” it added. The triple-engine plane was fueled for an 8-1/2 hour flight to Honolulu. It had a crew of three, UPS said. None survived, officials said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters at a late-night news briefing that four deaths were confirmed on the ground, with 11 injured people taken to hospitals. Separately, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll was at least seven and expected to rise. Some survivors had suffered “very significant” injuries, he said. It was the first UPS cargo plane to crash since August 2013, when an Airbus aircraft went down on a landing approach to the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew. Television channel WLKY, a CBS affiliate, showed video of Tuesday’s crash, with flames visible as the plane took off, and the fireball erupting as it hit the ground. Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick, black smoke seen rising into the evening sky. Beshear said stricken facilities on the ground included a petroleum recycling center and an auto parts business. “UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. One key question for investigators is why one engine appeared to have separated from the plane before the crash, a person briefed on the matter said, pointing to video images of airfield debris. The cause and origin of the fire before the aircraft went down were also unknown. U.S. air safety expert and pilot John Cox said investigators will need to look at why the plane with three engines failed to fly after one apparently caught fire. “It’s too big a fire for a normal, typical-engine fire,” Cox said. “It’s much too big.” “That airplane should have flown on two engines. So now we’ve got to look at what caused it not to fly,” he added. Fires on the ground burned for hours afterwards, with authorities warning the public within a 5-mile (8-km) radius of the scene to stay indoors to guard against air-quality hazards. The shelter-in-place zone was later reduced to a mile across. CRASH INVOLVED 34-YEAR-OLD PLANE FAA records show the crashed plane, an MD-11 freighter, was 34 years old. Boeing, which shut down the MD-11 program after acquiring it in a merger with McDonnell Douglas, said it was concerned for the safety and well-being of those affected, and it would provide technical support to the investigation. Flightradar24 said the plane, which began operations with UPS in 2006, had flown from Louisville to Baltimore earlier on Tuesday before returning to Louisville. It climbed to an altitude of 175 feet and reached a speed of 184 knots before making a sharp descent, Flightradar24 data showed. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the accident investigation and was sending a team to the site, a spokesperson said. The NTSB typically takes 12 to 24 months to complete an investigation, make a finding of probable cause and issue recommendations to help avoid similar incidents. UPS is the largest employer in Louisville, providing 26,000 jobs, the publication Louisville Business First said. “We are terribly saddened by the accident tonight in Louisville,” the company said in a statement. Louisville’s Worldport is at the center of the hub-and-spoke system for its air cargo network, serving the high-tech, healthcare and retail industries, handling more than 300 flights and processing about 2 million packages a day. More than 150 UPS customers, such as Merck & Co and other major pharmaceutical companies, have inventory there. “My heart goes out to everybody at UPS, because this is a UPS town,” Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe, whose district includes the airport, said at the press conference. “We all know somebody who works at UPS, and they’re all texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everyone is safe. Sadly, some of those texts are probably going to go unanswered.” Additional writing and reporting by Dan Catchpole, Steve Gorman, Juby Babu, Allison Lampert, Gnaneshwar Rajan and Shivani Tanna —David Shepardson, Chris Thomas and Lisa Baertlein, Reuters View the full article

AI companies vowed not to support their use for voting choice so why are they recommending parties? View the full article

Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York on Tuesday, capping a stunning ascent for the 34-year-old, far-left state lawmaker, who promised to transform city government to restore power to the working class and fight back against a hostile The President administration. In a victory for the Democratic party’s progressive wing, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on ambitious — skeptics say unrealistic — campaign promises. With his commanding win, the democratic socialist will etch his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on Jan. 1. “The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” Mamdani declared to a roaring crowd at his victory party. He cast his win as a boon for blue-collar workers struggling to get by. “New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change,” he said, vowing to “wake up each morning with a singular purpose: To make this city better for you than it was the day before.” More than 2 million New Yorkers cast ballots in the contest, the largest turnout in a mayoral race in more than 50 years, according to the city’s Board of Elections. With roughly 90% of the votes counted, Mamdani held an approximately 9 percentage point lead over Cuomo. Mamdani’s unlikely rise gives credence to Democrats who have urged the party to embrace more progressive candidates instead of rallying behind centrists in hopes of winning back swing voters who have abandoned the party. He has already faced scrutiny from national Republicans, including President Donald The President, who have eagerly cast him as a threat and the face of a more radical Democratic Party that is out of step with mainstream America. The President has repeatedly threatened to cut federal funding to the city — and even take it over — if Mamdani won. A commanding win At his victory party in Brooklyn, Mamdani supporters cheered and embraced, some tearfully, after The Associated Press called the race. Campaign posters flew through the air, as one person hoisted the official flag of New York City and Bad Bunny played from the speakers. The mood was far more muted at Cuomo’s party at a midtown Manhattan theater. In his concession speech, a defiant Cuomo called his campaign “a caution flag that we are headed down a dangerous, dangerous road” and noted that “almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises that we know cannot be met.” Still, he corrected his supporters when they began to boo at the mention of Mamdani’s name. “No, that is not right,” he said, offering to help the incoming mayor in any way. “Tonight was their night.” Mamdani’s grassroots campaign centered on affordability, and his charisma spoiled Cuomo’s attempted political comeback. The former governor, who resigned four years ago following allegations of sexual harassment that he continues to deny, was dogged by his past throughout the race and was criticized for running a negative campaign. Mamdani will also have to deal with The President, who not only threatened retribution against the city but also suggested he might try to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won. Mamdani was born in Uganda, where he spent his early childhood, but was raised in New York City and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. In his speech, Mamdani addressed The President head on. “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said, adding that, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald The President how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” The President appeared to acknowledge Mamdani’s challenges, posting “…AND SO IT BEGINS!” on his Truth Social site. New mayor will pursue an ambitious agenda Mamdani, who was criticized throughout the campaign for his thin resume, will now have to begin staffing his incoming administration and planning how to accomplish the ambitious but polarizing agenda that drove him to victory. Among the campaign’s promises are free child care, free city bus service, city-run grocery stores and a new Department of Community Safety that would send mental health care workers to handle certain emergency calls rather than police officers. It is unclear how Mamdani will pay for such initiatives, given Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s steadfast opposition to his calls to raise taxes on wealthy people. His decisions around the leadership of the New York Police Department will also be closely watched. Mamdani was a fierce critic of the department in 2020, calling for “this rogue agency” to be defunded and slamming it as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.” He has since apologized for those comments and has said he will ask the current NYPD commissioner to stay on the job. Mamdani’s campaign was driven by his optimistic view of the city and his promises to improve the quality of life for its middle and lower classes. Cuomo, Sliwa and other critics assailed him over his vehement criticism of Israel ‘s military actions in Gaza. Mamdani, a longtime advocate of Palestinian rights, has accused Israel of committing genocide and said he would honor an arrest warrant the International Criminal Court issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mamdani won over the city while Cuomo faltered Mamdani began his campaign as a relatively obscure state lawmaker, little known even within New York City. Going into the Democratic primary, Cuomo was the presumed favorite, with near-universal name recognition and deep political connections. Cuomo’s chances were buoyed further when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams bowed out of the primary while dealing with the fallout of his now-dismissed federal corruption case. But as the race progressed, Mamdani’s natural charm, catchy social media videos and populist economic platform energized voters in the notoriously expensive city. He also began drawing outside attention as his name recognition grew. Mamdani trounced Cuomo in the primary by about 13 points. The former governor relaunched his campaign as an independent candidate for the general election, vowing to hit the streets with a more energetic approach. However, much of his campaign continued to focus on attacking opponents. In the race’s final stretch, he claimed Mamdani’s election would make Jews feel unsafe. Meanwhile, supporters packed Mamdani’s rallies, and he held whimsical events, including a scavenger hunt and a community soccer tournament. Cuomo also juxtaposed his deep experience in government with Mamdani’s less than five years in the state Legislature. But the former governor also faced his own political baggage, as his opponents dredged up the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, as well as his decisions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sliwa, the creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, also had his moments — mostly in the form of funny quips on the debate stage — but had difficulty gaining traction as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. He conceded the race about a half hour after the polls closed, wishing Mamdani “good luck because if he does well, we do well.” But he also issued a warning: “If you try to implement socialism, if you try to render our police weak and impotent, if you forsake the people’s public safety, we will become the mayor-elect and his supporters’ worst enemies.” Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcelo and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report. —Anthony Izaguirre and Jill Colvin, Associated Press View the full article

FTSE 100 group’s ice cream business calls Anuradha Mittal’s position into question ahead of €15bn spin-offView the full article

Duolingo has been through a lot of changes over the past few years. What was once solely a language-learning app has grown into a social media marketing machine, a destination for math and music lessons, and now an online chess tutor. In June, Duolingo launched a Duolingo Chess course to teach beginners the basic rules and moves by allowing them to play against an AI tutor named Oscar. This month, the company is taking the course further, launching a multiplayer version of the game where users can compete against one another. Duolingo, which is on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue this year, has 48 million daily active users and 11 million paying subscribers. Though the company doesn’t reveal user numbers for the free chess course, at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in September, cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn said that it had already notched “millions and millions of users” within three months. Even more remarkable: Von Ahn greenlit the development of the chess course only nine months before it launched. The story of how Duolingo created its hit chess course is the clearest illustration of how AI is transforming the company. Fast Company spoke with two of the principals behind the chess course. As they make clear, AI is not replacing engineers, but it is giving them a head start. Vibe coding has become a phenomenon, but we don’t have any high-profile examples of a hit product that relied on it. Until now. Chess as education Von Ahn admits to being skeptical about offering chess lessons when the idea was first pitched to him a couple of years ago. He didn’t want Duolingo to turn into an app for games. But a conversation with Guatemala’s minister of education changed his mind. (Von Ahn was born and raised in Guatemala.) The minister was so frustrated with the education system in her country that she said she was thinking about sending every student a chess board so that at least they’d learn how to play. That helped von Ahn see the game through an educational lens. He greenlit the idea and handed it to the pair of employees who initially pitched it: “Neither of them knew how to play chess, and neither of them were engineers,” von Ahn says. But they didn’t need those skills to get started. They simply vibe coded a prototype. AI has been an important part of Duolingo’s workflow strategy. Earlier this spring, von Ahn sent a memo to his staff outlining plans to make Duolingo an AI-first company to remove bottlenecks and inspire employees to focus on creative work and real problems rather than repetitive tasks. The memo sparked a backlash. On social media, people accused von Ahn of using AI to eliminate jobs. At Fast Company’s Innovation Festival, von Ahn cleared the air, saying that the goal isn’t to save money. “We have never done a layoff. We have not laid off a single full-time employee,” he said. “The goal is not to replace human employees. The goal is to do a lot more and get closer to our mission.” How to vibe code the game of chess The development of Duolingo’s chess course kicked off in September 2024 with Edwin Bodge, senior staff product manager, and Tyler Murphy, Duolingo’s chief product designer. Bodge and Murphy, who had worked together to launch the math and music products for Duolingo, had grown interested in chess when they were brainstorming ideas for a strong third subject. They saw the correlation between learning chess and language learning. To begin the prototyping, they tried a combination of products, including the popular AI-generated coding platform Cursor. Using Cursor, they created an initial version of the chess experience. Bodge says the first steps in prototyping were relatively easy. They began by describing a chess board on the Cursor platform, then added other elements, such as a character (which eventually became the AI tutor, Oscar), a progress bar, and the actual lessons and puzzles. But as Bodge and Murphy layered on more curriculum, things became much more complicated. They started to have a difficult time visualizing the course, so Bodge created multiple chess boards on Cursor to play through each version of the prototype. Soon, they had something fully formed enough to show to colleagues. “It was a pretty janky prototype,” Bodge admits. “But we were able to put it into people’s hands and say, ‘Well, here’s the curriculum we’ve been writing. Here’s all this stuff that we’ve been teaching and how we think it’s going to work.’ And from that moment, it just became so much more natural.” Bodge notes that there are still some aspects of the prototype that are incorporated into the final product, including the curriculum and some of the AI-generated code that he and Murphy developed. “That core of the vibe code and prototype is very much in the production app,” he says. Building the final product Within a few months, Bodge and Murphy began handing off the project to Duolingo engineers to create the code that would bring the course to life. Sammi Siegel, staff software engineer, was instrumental in building the final product. Thanks to the prototypes that Bodge and Murphy had developed, “there was a pretty strong vision for what [the course] should look like,” Siegel says. “The first few months were implementation, heads down, and coding everything all at once.” Siegel says the chess game was the first time the team had launched a new subject within the existing Duolingo app. (The math and music classes were built to be stand-alone apps, and then eventually merged into Duolingo.) “We were building [a course] within the current system, so we were able to prove how much faster that [process] was,” Siegel explains. Siegel’s team was also helped by the amount of open-source work that exists around chess. She and her team were able to take advantage of publicly available chess engines, which analyze chess positions and the best moves. And then there’s the visual simplicity of chess. “Chess is pretty simple,” Siegel says. “It’s just a board and a guy telling you what he wants you to do on the board, so that made the implementation phase shorter. We were able to get a lot further with a very simple interface.” (To build the chessboard, Siegel says the team used a software called Rive, which is cross-platform compatible and can be built in one go for iOS and Android.) Duolingo released the course in beta in April and launched it to the public in June. Now it’s ready for the next step: introducing player-versus-player mode, which entails a complex coding process. Siegel says creating real-life, player-versus-player functionality is tougher than building matches against a predictable bot, like Oscar. “You’re coordinating two humans who think, pause, and play at their own pace,” she explains. “With Oscar, we can guarantee that you’ll get matched with a bot that’s pretty close to your skill level.” Siegel adds that keeping both devices in sync is “a challenging engineering problem,” noting, “We’ve had to invest in anti-cheating systems and thoughtful handling of disconnections to ensure every match feels fair and stable.” A new generation of online chess players By incorporating chess into Duolingo, the company is introducing the game to people who may have never considered learning it before. “We talk internally about chess as a very male-dominated game, so it’s interesting to see how we can widen the scope of folks who have access to that kind of education,” Siegel says. Bodge says when they first started developing the product, they had a hypothesis that it would appeal to a lot of people. But they wanted to make sure that it felt accessible and engaging, rather than elite and academic. That’s why, in classic Duolingo style, they use an animated character—Oscar—to play the role of the easygoing tutor. “There are a lot of people who we’ve basically activated as chess players,” Bodge says. “We’re ushering in a new generation of players.” View the full article

The metropolis and the heartland provoke each other into extremes, as the New York mayoral race showsView the full article

Black Friday isn’t what it once was. Less than 15 years ago, it was fairly common for people to wake up at ridiculously early hours to drive to a store, where they would stand in line, waiting for the doors to open in order to grab the best deals. Those people still exist, but not in the numbers they used to, thanks to the convenience of online shopping (and the early start to holiday deals). But as artificial intelligence becomes more entrenched in people’s habits, it could have an increasingly large role in Black Friday (and Cyber Monday). And 2025 could be something of a test case for the technology. The average consumer is expected to spend $1,595 on holiday gifts this year, according to Deloitte. That’s 10% less than 2024, a figure that highlights the importance shoppers will be placing on bargains this year. And a growing number of consumers will be relying on AI to help them find those deals. Some 33% of the people Deloitte spoke with in its 2025 Holiday Retail Survey said they plan to use AI as part of their holiday shopping—double the number who did last year. Many say the tech could assist them with inspiration and product discovery. That could benefit retailers who have already embraced AI in their recommendation engines, as well as those planning to roll it out. “Consumer adoption of gen AI shows that expectations are shifting toward personalization and efficiency,” Deloitte wrote. “Shoppers now expect instant recommendations tailored to their preferences, budgets, and recipients, raising the bar for retailers’ digital experiences. To meet holiday shoppers’ expectations, retailers could consider embedding AI-powered gift finders, style assistants, or deal copilots directly into their sites or apps.” A separate study from marketing automation platform Klaviyo found that 56% of consumers say they’ll use AI tools during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. AI can do a lot more than help people think of creative gifts, of course. Gen AI models like ChatGPT can research prices and recommend the best deal, in some cases even making the purchase for you. And a growing number of people are taking advantage of that. Traffic from AI platforms to retail sites during Prime Days and other sales in July was up by 4,700%, according to Adobe Analytics. And the company is predicting an increase in AI usage of between 515% and 550% this holiday season, compared to 2024. Thinking of enlisting a GenAI to help you find deals? Here’s how you’ll want to go about it. Make your list. Check it twice Chatbots aren’t a lot of good without specifics. You’ll need to know exactly what you’re looking to buy if you’re planning to use AI for price comparisons. Using the broadest example, telling ChatGPT you’re looking for the best price on, say, a Barbie or a blender is akin to calling a Best Buy or GameStop and saying you want to know their best price for a game console. The $60 no-name brand that has a Tetris clone might technically be the correct answer, but that does you no good if you really wanted a PlayStation 5. Set the AI loose Ask your chatbot to find the best deals for your specific product. Again, details matter, so be sure to offer as much granularity as you can about the product. (To go back to the PS5 example, do you want the PS5 with a disc drive? What amount of internal storage do you want? Do you want a PS5 Slim or Pro or some other model?) It’s also worth asking the chatbot to suggest additional ways to save, such as applicable cash-back apps (like Rakuten), promo codes, or coupons. Fact check the results Prices change all the time during the holiday season, so just because ChatGPT says Store X is the best deal, you’ll still want to check that site’s website to verify the amount your AI assistant quoted is still valid. At the very least, using AI to help you shop will quickly eliminate some options and, ideally, free up some of your time, letting you spend less of November and December hunting for deals and more enjoying the season. View the full article

From my earliest days as a journalist, I’ve always prized my dictaphone. It sounds quaint now, but I actually remember excitedly keeping up with advancements in the field. Sony’s ICD-TX50 was a particular revelation for me in 2012, with its tiny OLED display and world’s-thinnest 6.4mm frame. There was no sleeker way to show up to Tokyo press conferences. In recent years, though, my dictaphone collection has taken on a new, less physical form. Google’s Pixel phones have been a revelation for journalists, offering real-time, on-device transcription through the Recorder app. I’ve often found myself bringing a Pixel along to a press event even if I wasn’t actively using it as a phone at the time—the ability to get an automatic transcript once your recording is done has been an incredible timesaver. But now a new wave of hardware, buoyed by the AI revolution, has been changing my habits once again. While the jury is out on a lot of hyped AI devices, some startups have locked in on voice recording as one of the few serious use cases. These aren’t like the Humane AI Pin or the much-mocked Friend pendant—they’re gadgets with a focused, real-world use case. The devices I’ve been using a couple of recorders from Plaud for several months—the Plaud Note and the Plaud NotePin—and testing them against a product from a newer Japanese startup called Notta. At least for now, I’ve found that both companies’ devices offer a significant upgrade over the Pixel for working journalists. The Plaud Note is an incredibly thin audio recorder that can magnetically attach to an iPhone or a newer Pixel through an included leather case. There’s a simple record button, as well as a switch for a mode that lets you record phone calls through audio vibrations. (Obviously, you should make sure of the legality in your jurisdiction before using this feature.) The NotePin, meanwhile, is a small pill-shaped device that attaches to various magnetic accessories like a clip or a wristband. It’s designed for hands-free use, as opposed to holding the Plaud Note out toward a subject or resting it on a desk. Both devices feel very well-built, with solid metal cases. Power and recording status is indicated on each through a tiny LED in the A of the “Plaud” logo. The Note is a little easier to use than the NotePin thanks to its tactile round power button; the NotePin relies on an invisible capacitive surface that you have to hold down until you hear a vibration, which isn’t quite as convenient in situations where you’re scrambling to start a recording. The NotePin does have a usability advantage of its own through its magnetic USB-C charging adapter, however. The Note is so thin that it requires a proprietary pogo-pin cable, which I’m not sure I trust myself not to lose at some point. Overall Plaud has designed some attractive hardware, but given that every phone has a microphone built in, the app is what sets the product apart. Once your phone is paired to one of the devices, transferring audio files is simple and quick over Wi-Fi, and then you have to upload them to Plaud’s cloud servers for processing. This can take several minutes depending on the length of the file, though it’s still much faster than manually transcribing. What I’ve really appreciated in the chaotic aftermath of press conferences is how Plaud automatically generates a summary of the recording and identifies speakers, so you can dial right into the most important parts and verify the quotes for yourself. The auto setting works well, but you can also choose from specific templates and AI models like GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and so on. Plaud’s free plan offers 300 transcription minutes a month. You can top up with 600 extra minutes for $12.99, or there’s a $100 annual “Pro” plan with 1,200 minutes a month. The unlimited plan will set you back $240 a year. Meanwhile, the Plaud Note and NotePin each cost $159 themselves. I think this is reasonable pricing for anyone using this as a professional service. I did find Plaud’s app to be a little fussy in use, however, requiring a fair amount of interaction on the part of the user when it comes to uploading files and selecting how they ought to be processed. Despite its access to several AI services, I also thought the lack of in-app translation was an obvious miss. The Notta option That’s what got me interested in a Japanese startup called Notta, which is making a very similar product to the Plaud Note called the Notta Memo. I suspect each company may have related supply chain contacts in China, because the resemblance really is uncanny—even the magnetic leather cases and charging cables are near-identical. The Notta Memo does add a tiny monochrome OLED screen that shows useful information like recording status, and more importantly reminds me of my Sony dictaphone. (Plaud has since released a “Note Pro” model with a similar display, though I haven’t yet tested it.) Personally I think the Notta Memo looks sleeker, with a black finish and a geometric, quilted diamond texture. While Notta’s app is similar to Plaud’s, I also preferred its design. Files begin transcribing automatically after transfer, and you can also translate them right within the app itself, which saves an extra step when you’re on the move. I used the Notta Memo while reporting at some recent sports events in Tokyo and the process of recording directly on the device, uploading the file and getting a translated, annotated transcript that I could check myself was seamless. Notta slightly undercuts Plaud with subscription pricing, charging $98 a year for 1,800 minutes a month or $200 for the unlimited plan, and the Notta Memo device itself is $149. Notta’s free plan only offers 120 minutes a month, though, and doesn’t support longer recordings or transcript translation, which complicates the comparison for anyone unsure of how much they’ll use it. Worth the cost Overall, any one of these devices is going to be a serious investment. But for working journalists or other professionals—maybe lawyers or consultants—where voice recordings are a daily need, I actually think they’re all quite compelling. If you have a Pixel phone, sure, you might get by with the built-in transcripts most of the time. But the advantages of having dedicated hardware are real. You can press the record button at any time regardless of what you’re doing on your phone. The NotePin is a unique form factor that expands the situations in which you can rely on being able to record. Call recordings, meanwhile, straight-up aren’t supported in phone operating systems. The hype around AI has led to a lot of hardware startups that haven’t been able to live up to it. But one thing AI is indisputably very good at is understanding language, and these voice recorders are perfect for the task. If there’s a use case for AI-first hardware right now, it’s this. View the full article

How do I control my emotions? I get asked that question a lot. As an emotional intelligence coach, I’ve received thousands of emails from readers over the years who get caught up in a cycle of emotional thinking, which leads them to say or do things they later regret. Often, this results in harm to their closest relationships, professional and personal. Here’s the thing: Emotions aren’t bad. They’re what make us human, and that’s a good thing. The key isn’t taking emotions out of the equation. Rather, you want to balance emotions and rational thinking, so you can look back and be proud of what you’ve said or done. To help with this, I recommend using simple self-talk expressions. These can help shake you from that vicious cycle of overly emotional thinking and restore balance. Here are five short phrases that will help you develop your emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. (Sign up here for my free email emotional intelligence course.) What advice would you give? When you face an emotionally charged situation, it’s easy for emotions to cloud your judgment and cause you to say or do something you later regret. But when you ask yourself, “What advice would I give someone else in this situation?” you take yourself out of the hot seat. You think more clearly, with more balance. To help you use this framework effectively, try to imagine yourself a few years down the road. Whether you faced the challenge successfully or not doesn’t matter; it’s past you. Now, imagine how you handled it and what consequences it led to. This will help you stimulate your thinking and answer the question more effectively. Mistakes are part of the process Everyone makes mistakes. But when you view mistakes not as failures but as part of the process of learning, you manage expectations and help others to benefit from them. When you train others, this framework can help you prepare for mistakes. For example, you might allocate more time or resources, because you know mistakes are coming. It’ll also help you be more patient with those you are training, which helps build trust and psychological safety. Additionally, reminding yourself that mistakes are part of the process helps you and the people you train to see the bigger picture. You both see mistakes as learning opportunities, and leverage them as such. Be the change This expression is usually attributed to Mohandas Gandhi, but the first official record of it is found in a book chapter written by a high school teacher in Brooklyn: Be the change you want to see. The basic lesson goes like this: You can’t force someone else to change. But you can provide a model for them to learn from. This is effective because researchers have shown that people learn not so much through reinforcement (rewards and punishments), but much more through observing others. When you remind yourself to be the change, not only do you set a positive example, you focus on what you can control (your own behavior) instead of getting frustrated by what you have no control over (the actions of others). At the same time, though, you increase the chances that those around you will change over time, too. Experiences over things As a business owner with four kids, I’ve found that by prioritizing experiences over things you can learn more, remember more, and get more out of life. To be clear, “things” aren’t bad in themselves. The problem is the more stuff you have, the more stuff you want. (I like to call this “more disease.”) This sends you down a cycle of always wanting more, and that’s a recipe for unhappiness because you’re never satisfied. In contrast, experiences become a part of you. You create memories that change what you think about, how you act, the decisions you make. When an experience is over, its effects continue—they mold who you are as a person. You can use that three-word motto to reframe your view of work. It’s not just to provide things; it’s to provide time for more experiences. But you also have to use that time, because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. So, don’t buy more stuff. Do more stuff. Attack the problem. Not the person I hate to admit it, but I tend to be passive-aggressive. Maybe you struggle with the same habit, or you know someone who does. You know, someone who says they’re okay when they clearly aren’t. Or, they pout or give the silent treatment when they don’t get their way. Or, they simply agree to a decision but then don’t do their part to make that decision a success. There’s a reason people like me start heading down that passive-aggressive path. Usually, I’m trying to cope with negative feelings like frustration or disappointment. This phrase reminds me that my behavior isn’t helping the situation; worse yet, it’s harming my relationship. Here’s where this short phrase can be extremely helpful: Attack the problem. Not the person. This phrase helps me focus on being more active—attacking the problem—by telling the person why I feel the way I do. What’s more, I can now work with them to find a solution to the problem. Or, at least I feel better at supporting the decision we’ve agreed upon because I’ve had the chance to fully express my feelings. So, the next time you find yourself becoming a victim of your own emotions, remember the following phrases: What advice would you give? Mistakes are part of the process. Be the change. Experiences over things. Attack the problem. Not the person. Do so, and you’ll bring your emotions back to balance. You’ll make better decisions. And you’ll reduce regrets as you make emotions work for you, instead of against you. —Justin Bariso This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Some companies see leadership and managerial training as an investment. Others, however, provide very few resources for the transition from individual contributor to leaders. For most of the latter companies, managerial training is a one-off event. Take a seminar or two, and off you go. Sometimes you get a company that offers executive coaching or mentorship to their C-suites. But for many first-time (and even some middle) managers, they’re often left to fend for themselves. This is the problem that leadership coaching startups are trying to solve. The answer, they believe? AI. While founders of these startups acknowledge the limitations, many are adamant that AI can help break the barriers, democratizing a perk that companies often reserve for the very few at the top. In this paid Premium story, you’ll: Learn how AI and human coaching differ in function, and how they can complement each other. Understand how AI can help solve the gaps that are common in today’s leadership development. Identify AI’s limitations as a coach and trainer. Most organizations don’t provide managerial training Ian Gover is a trained industrial psychologist with over 25 years of experience in human resources. Initially, he was resistant to the idea of AI having any part in coaching and mentoring. That is, until he started to dig deeper into the data—and realized he was part of a group that he calls “the fortunate few.” “I got amazing training from the companies I worked for,” he tells Fast Company, starting from a “30-day, high-immersive sort of leadership programming” to having access to coaches and mentors when the company promoted him. He soon learned, however, that those experiences were rare and far between. He quotes a Gartner study that found 85% of new managers receive no formal training. That’s when a switch flipped in Gover’s brain. He realized that he was asking the wrong question: It’s not whether AI can replace humans for this type of learning. It’s about how AI can potentially help the majority of managers, who receive very little initial and ongoing support from organizations. Eventually, that led to Gover cofounding Rypple, a platform that aims to help managers by providing them with an AI-driven “leadership team.” This includes a range of AI assistants that can help managers with tasks like meeting preparation and follow-ups, and point managers to relevant resources that tackle a topic they might be struggling with. There is also a role-play component, where managers can rehearse difficult conversations with an AI assistant and receive feedback on what went well and what they could have done better. All of these interactions build a context-specific and personalized leadership profile, and can analyze patterns and suggest opportunities for growth. Viewing human and AI coaching as two different tools Like Gover, Leon Wever experienced first-hand benefit of one-on-one coaching during his stint as a corporate lawyer. Wever was eager to bring coaching into more working environments, which led him to cofound Coachello. Unlike most AI-coaching startups, Coachello actually provides a hybrid model that incorporates human and AI coaching. Their customers can access coaches that are credentialed through the International Coaching Federation and have access to AI tools. These tools help with role-plays, training sessions, and dashboards that track behavior change progress, competencies, and skill gaps. Wever believes that human and AI coaching are two distinct tool that provide different benefits. “Technically, AI cannot resonate from experience, and it cannot care for another human being,” he says. What AI can do, he explains, is provide an assessment or a reflection tool, and enrich the human coaching experience. For example, AI can live record your human coaching session. The next time you do something to apply your learning from the coaching session, it can record and suggest feedback. Say you’re working on having a difficult conversation with a direct report for the first time. After your human coaching session, you might role-play a potential scenario with an avatar. AI can analyze your performance based on the takeaways and feedback that you receive from your human coach. Your human coach will then have access to that information the next time you meet. In this instance, Wever explains, AI can actually enrich human coaching by making it more accurate. The opportunity to provide on-demand, 24/7 support For James Cross, cofounder of Tenor, going into the AI-leadership space was about solving the lack of time and scalability problem that many companies face when it came to leadership development coaching. When it comes to interpersonal skills that managers need to possess, the former Workday VP explains: “We know that humans need to practice and retain those skills . . . That’s what AI is really good at.” However, there’s only a limited number of qualified coaches in the world, and many are unable to provide 24/7 support. Cross believes that COVID expanded the meaning of what it means to be a manager. “They’re being expected to do more with less headcount,” he says, and middle managers and frontline managers are bearing the brunt of it. But with AI, he explains, a manager can tap into an on-demand support, “almost like a really good HR business partner and executive coach who knows the business, [and] knows you and your team.” He believes this to be especially beneficial for frontline managers in industries like manufacturing and distribution. “I think tech company managers are fairly well supported,” he observes. In most instances, “you’re only ever a Slack message away from your HR team. But if you’re a manager at a large grocery store chain, you’re having to deal with these dynamic situations in the moment. You don’t have direct HR support.” Cross says many of these managers are working in a fast-paced environment while dealing with issues like lateness, hygiene, and personal problems. They can turn to AI coaches for suggestions on what they might want to do at that specific moment. For example, say an employee has been late several times in a row, managers can ask AI for suggestions on how they might want to approach this conversation in a sensitive way. The more they do that, the more AI picks up on patterns and insights that the managers might not be aware of. Cross finds that once they get over the hurdle of the idea of talking to an AI, “managers are often more receptive to AI feedback” than they would be to feedback from a human manager. That’s because “there’s no emotion attached to it,” he explains, and they see it as something that’s logical and contextual to them. Acknowledging AI’s limitations All three cofounders acknowledge that while AI has its strengths, it also has its limitations. Tenor, for example, has specific guardrails in place. The moment a manager starts to ask AI for advice on certain topics, it directs them to speak to an actual human. What AI determines as off-limits will be different for every customer—Cross believes that managers should discuss termination, health concerns, or specific personal problems with another human in the company. Dr. Marais Bester, a Netherlands-based occupational psychologist for software firm SHL, said that it would be a risk for a company to rely on AI as a “one-stop-shop for all learning and leadership growth.” After all, “human beings are weird, unique, wonderful and unpredictable,” he says. In his opinion, a hybrid model is ideal. This might look like a human coach building a development plan, and using AI to supplement where necessary. For example, say the human coach doesn’t have the time to analyze every single person’s psychometric testing results. The person that is being coached might use AI to do that, inputting only the information that they’re comfortable with. Kseniia Aksenova, a customer service manager at The Pokémon Company International, observed one downsides of using AI coaching. She found that it didn’t provide any surprising or unique insights. “It just gave me something that I was thinking of already,” she says. “It didn’t give me much of a new perspective that I was trying to get.” At the time Aksenova was using an AI coach, she was going through some personal and professional issues that she wanted to work through. The solutions that she received from the AI coach were ones she already thought of. It was up to her to do a lot of the critical thinking herself. Only then was she able to work with the AI coach and obtain the new insights that she was looking for. AI as a tool to democratize learning Gover is hopeful that in the future, AI can be a tool to democratize learning and coaching. For his team at Rypple, “the thing that excites us every single morning is really that idea of what happens if we are able to level that field.” It’s not about making every manager “the world’s best expert in every single leadership topic, he explains. “But what if we are able to actually improve the capability and capacity of a material part of that community of managers that are struggling out there right now? What does it mean if we can provide leadership and management opportunities to those who have historically been left out of those discussions and conversations?” Gover ponders. The main message, he insists, shouldn’t be about AI replacing human coaches. “It’s about increasing access to all of these leadership trade secrets that only the few and fortunate have had the privilege to access,” he explains. “Now’s the time to open it up and make it available.” View the full article

I spent several years of my career in the uncomfortable role of middle manager. On one side, I had executives asking me why my team couldn’t “do more,” and on the other side, my employees told me they were stretched too thin. It was an endless tug-of-war. I was both the enforcer of company expectations and the advocate for my team’s needs. At times, my role felt at complete odds with itself. Executives push for efficiency and growth, while employees look for empathy and stability. Middle management, understandably, feels like a pressure cooker. The shifting role of middle management My role as a middle manager was many years ago. Today’s middle managers have the added pressure of potentially becoming obsolete. Big companies like Amazon, Google, and Citigroup have opted to make their management teams leaner. Not to mention the looming threat of AI. With flattening org charts and AI-driven efficiencies, the role of middle management has changed. They’re no longer the roles that “keep things moving.” Instead, they’re responsible for people: managing culture and communication across departments and locations. Yet even though the expectations and job descriptions have changed, many of the underlying limitations of middle management haven’t. Middle managers often have limited authority to implement changes. Yet, somehow, they have unlimited accountability for outcomes. Unlimited accountability that often leads to burnout, especially when managing people. I spoke to one former middle manager who said that she felt like she had to compensate for her employer’s unsustainable growth practices. “I had to choose between screwing people over or shielding my team,” she said. “It was emotionally draining.” Eventually, she quit and took a new job as a non-manager. The reimagined role of middle management To survive in the new world of middle management, you have to acknowledge that you’ll mostly be a people-manager rather than a task-manager. To succeed in this type of role, you’ll need to do all of the following: Set the right expectations with upper management, making your team’s bandwidth and capabilities clear. Push back strategically and learn to frame conversations around outcomes (“If we do X, here is the impact on Y”). Protect your team’s trust by being transparent, admitting the limitations of your authority, and advocating for fair workloads. Protect your own boundaries by caring for your team without carrying the burden of everyone’s problems. For many companies, middle management is the only way to get ahead (and earn more money). Yet it’s an increasingly risky role for companies that see the job only as task-based, not people-based. Those employers are most likely to lay off managers during rough economic times or when AI can replace tasks. Take on a middle manager role with your eyes fully open. If the company doesn’t value a people-based role, you might want to find a new job elsewhere. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself underappreciated, constantly pulled in different directions, and at risk for losing your job. View the full article