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Collapse of automotive parts supplier puts spotlight on arcane practice of working capital finance View the full article

Companies such as Phasecraft and Riverlane will need to be brave to remain independent View the full article

Some investors grow concerned that region’s markets could be hit by downturn in US tech sectorView the full article

Zarah Sultana has told her co-founder Jeremy Corbyn that she will transfer most of the money to the upstart partyView the full article

Popularity of evergreen vehicles with wealthy individuals could ‘fundamentally alter the landscape of private equity’View the full article

Hundreds of polls will take place one year into Donald The President’s second termView the full article

Obstacles in progressing are important both for people and for the economyView the full article

Will the New York mayoral favourite be a boon to the Democratic Party, or a millstone around its neck?View the full article

Wife of former UK deputy prime minister plans to launch political party in her home countryView the full article

Most immersive experiences today may feel stale in retrospect. Brands have invested heavily in creating spaces meant to captivate, yet these experiences all replicate the same visual and audio cues, making it increasingly difficult for brands to differentiate. The underlying issue is a technological design constraint: You can either create something highly personalized or something that scales to hundreds of people simultaneously, but rarely both. A seismic change is afoot that will dwarf the previous chasm, like the shift from black and white film to color cinema. Multimodal AI is poised to eliminate the joint scaling and personalization limitation, enabling truly multidimensional, adaptive experiences where each person experiences something completely unique, all generated in real time. Multimodal AI—machine learning models that can process and integrate information from multiple modalities, like text, images, audio, and video—will fundamentally reshape not just the types of experiences designers create, but how they work. Designers who can orchestrate these AI systems will create the future of multidimensional experiences, realizing true personalization at scale. HOW MULTIMODAL AI WILL REVOLUTIONIZE DESIGN Close your eyes and imagine two people walking through the same physical space—an immersive entertainment activation—and they are each having a unique, hyper-personalized visit across every dimension. Through interfaces like smartphones, wearable devices, and embedded sensors throughout the space, the environment adapts in real time to each individual. That includes the visuals, sounds, narrative, and digital interactions. Multimodal AI can simultaneously “see” your facial expressions, “hear” your voice tone, “read” your text inputs, and “observe” your movement patterns. It weaves all this information together to make intelligent decisions about how to personalize your experience in real time. Las Vegas Sphere demonstrates early-stage capabilities with its 170,000-speaker Holoplot audio system that creates distinct sonic zones with surgical precision. Visitors standing just feet apart can experience completely different sounds, tones, intensities, or narrative perspectives of the same content. Multimodal AI will take this capability a step further by enabling even more distinct, individualized sonic experiences based on person, as opposed to a zone. The level of personalization sophistication will ultimately depend on the available interface capabilities. Achieve basic personalization through smartphone apps and existing displays, much like current museum audio guides that offer different language options. More immersive personalization may require wearable tech like alternative reality glasses or advanced earbuds that can overlay completely different visual and audio experiences for each user. The future promises even more seamless interfaces, with the rumored Jony Ive-Sam Altman device potentially enabling contextually aware, screenless interactions that respond to gesture, voice, and environmental cues with minimal technology barriers. THE RISE OF THE “UBER DESIGNER” Creating these AI-powered ultra-personalized immersive experiences requires designers to fundamentally change how they work. This evolution creates what I call the “uber designer,” creative professionals who direct AI systems across multiple modalities to craft unified, adaptive experiences. The uber designer becomes the conductor enabling experiences that account for every element while AI, alongside specialized design teams, handles the execution of countless personalized versions. This technological shift will represent an elevation into higher-order creative leadership. AI manages routine execution and personalization at scale, while humans focus on strategic vision, storytelling, creative judgment, and orchestrating the overall experience architecture. STAYING AHEAD: A DESIGNER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE This isn’t some distant future. Designers need to adapt now. The designers who position themselves now as AI orchestrators for immersive experiences will define the next generation of physical spaces, from retail environments that adapt to each shopper to museums where exhibits personalize to visitor interests. Some industry leaders have begun integrating AI within elements of their brand concepts. Beauty brands like L’Oreal and Sephora have released versions of an AI assistant allowing customers to “try on” beauty products before they make a final purchase or to analyze their skin. Bloomberg Connects has leveraged AI to enhance museum accessibility for visually impaired visitors within an immersive audio guide accessible through a digital app. “The Sphere Experience” enables guests to converse at length with an AI humanoid robot. Leveraging multimodal AI, designers will be able to expand these experiences even further into multiple dimensions, impacting sound, sight, touch, and smell all at once. So how do you become an uber designer? Designers can strengthen their toolkit in various ways, but here’s my advice: Start integrating AI into workflows now. Begin incorporating AI tools into daily practice. There are various administrative tasks that AI can handle with minimal oversight. Learn how to effectively prompt, direct, and refine AI-generated content. Develop fluency in multiple AI platforms to understand their strengths and limitations. Develop cross-disciplinary thinking. The most valuable designers will orchestrate experiences across every single dimension and not just specialize in one. Move from a “maker” mindset to that of an “experience conductor.” Emphasize the modernization of existing spaces. The biggest opportunities lie in reimagining stagnant industries like retail stores, museums, and entertainment venues, with AI-powered personalization that creates the ultimate multidimensional experiences. Multimodal AI will enable designers to envision even more impactful spaces and experiences that move, inspire, and connect with people. Those who start experimenting now and make an emphasis to revitalize stagnant industries will find themselves at the forefront of a creative renaissance. Humans will be directing machines to create immersive experiences we never thought possible. Andrew Zimmerman is CEO and cofounder of Journey. View the full article

Colm Kelleher says insurers are shopping for ratings as banks did before 2008 financial crisisView the full article

House fires burn hotter and spread faster than ever before, leaving families with as little as two minutes to safely escape their homes. Despite that short window to reach safety, families are startlingly unprepared: Only 26% of American families have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan. The disconnect between the urgency of fire safety and actual household preparation points to a fundamental challenge in home safety education. Traditional approaches (pamphlets, static demonstrations, and classroom presentations) often fail to create the lasting behavioral change needed when seconds matter most. At Kidde, our ultimate goal is to help keep everyone safe at home, so we are exploring forward-looking safety education solutions that can address the lack of behavioral change. Immersive technologies, like augmented reality (AR), are beginning to reshape how we approach home safety education, offering new possibilities for engaging families in ways that build muscle memory and decision-making skills IMMERSIVE LEARNING INCREASES RETENTION Educational research consistently demonstrates that active, experiential learning creates stronger retention and better decision-making under pressure. A recent study found that children using AR interventions had significantly higher post-test scores compared to those using traditional educational materials, indicating greater understanding and retention of critical information. The data on digital engagement is equally compelling: Educators report 78% higher student motivation when AR technology is incorporated into learning, while parents noted 59% increased engagement, according to McGraw Hill research. In the context of home and fire safety, increased motivation and engagement is extremely important. When families practice fire safety in an immersive environment, they go from simply memorizing steps to developing the memory required to react appropriately during high-stress situations. The difference between knowing what to do and being able to do it instinctively can be measured in precious seconds. AR allows families to visualize an emergency This evolution of safety education reflects broader changes in how we process information and learn new skills. Younger generations expect interactive, personalized experiences that adapt to their specific circumstances. Generic safety advice often falls short because every home layout, family composition, and risk profile is different. Consider the complexity of modern fire safety planning. Families must account for multiple escape routes, various family members’ capabilities, pets, mobility challenges, and changing household dynamics. Traditional fire safety education provides general guidance, but families are often left to figure out how these principles apply to their unique situations. AR technology addresses this gap by allowing families to visualize emergencies in their actual living spaces, creating a personalized experience. Instead of imagining how quickly smoke might fill a hallway, they can see a realistic simulation. Rather than abstractly planning escape routes, they can safely practice navigating their specific home layout under simulated emergency conditions. Through AR simulation, families often discover escape route obstacles they hadn’t noticed, identify communication challenges, and realize the importance of having multiple contingency plans. To help guide families through personalized fire safety planning, Kidde developed a free AR fire drill simulator, Prepare. Plan. Practice. The shared responsibility for safety As AR becomes more universal it has the potential to help expand access to high-quality safety education. Previously, comprehensive emergency preparedness training required specialized instructors, dedicated facilities, or expensive equipment. Now, families can access sophisticated safety training using devices they already own, in their own homes, at times that work for their schedules. AR also has the potential to help prepare people for all types of emergencies, not just fires. From earthquake drills to medical emergencies, the same principles of personalized, experiential learning can help families prepare more effectively for various scenarios. Advancing safety education requires collaboration between technology developers, safety professionals, educators, and families themselves. The most effective solutions emerge when technical innovation aligns with human behavior and learning dynamics. For business leaders and innovators, this represents both an opportunity and a responsibility. The tools exist to create more engaging, effective safety education experiences. The question becomes: How do we ensure these innovations reach the families who need them most? The success of any safety innovation ultimately depends on reach, adoption, and consistent use. Technology can provide more engaging and effective educational experiences, but it must be paired with ongoing advocacy for stronger safety standards, broader access to resources, and cultural shifts that prioritize preparedness. As we continue developing these technologies, the goal remains unchanged: ensuring families have the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to protect themselves when every second counts. The methods may be evolving, but the collective mission of making every home a safer home drives innovation forward. Isis Wu is president of global residential fire & safety at Kidde. View the full article

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I’ve seen how America’s education system leaves neurodivergent children behind. Despite growing awareness of ADHD, autism, and learning differences, schools remain stuck in outdated models. Without rethinking how classrooms are structured, we’ll keep failing students whose brains work differently. Last year, I worked with a boy who dreaded school so much he would sometimes vomit on the drive there. His anxiety wasn’t about tests or teachers in the usual sense. It was about the environment itself—the noise, the lights, the pressure to sit still in a classroom not built for how his brain works. His parents tried everything from walking him into school to rearranging schedules but nothing helped. Then he transferred schools. His new teacher took a different approach: connecting with him, adjusting the classroom, and making small changes that reduced the overwhelm. Suddenly, he wanted to ride the bus. He wanted to stay in class. For the first time, school felt like a place he belonged. One in five kids learns differently This child is neurodivergent, part of the one in five U.S. children who learn, process, and engage differently. Instead of helping these students to adapt, schools have tended to push kids like my client into rigid structures or “special” programs. The problem isn’t these kids. It’s that schools were built for neurotypical learners and haven’t kept pace with what we know about development, learning, and mental health. October is ADHD awareness month, one of the many awareness months that highlights how common these challenges are. But unless schools change what happens in classrooms, awareness won’t be enough. ADHD remains one of the most common childhood diagnoses, affecting 11.4% of school-aged children. The CDC now estimates that 1 in 31 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, up from 1 in 44 in 2018. These children are not outliers. They are classmates, friends, and our own children. Yet too many schools are treating neurodivergence as an exception to manage, rather than a reality to design for. Good intentions, bad outcomes Well-intentioned reforms have fallen short. We moved from segregated special education classrooms to mainstreaming, with aides and breakout sessions. But that support often comes at the cost of stigma. Kids are pulled out of class, singled out, or shadowed by aides whose presence, while helpful, also marks them to their schoolmates as “different.” I’ve met children with anxiety and depression who say the worst part of school isn’t the work. Rather it’s being pinpointed as different because of being singled out. Delays in diagnosis make things worse. Families wait months, sometimes years, for neuropsychological testing. In that lost time, kids fall behind academically, their confidence erodes, and their risk of dropping out increases. By the time support is offered, the damage has already been done. Meanwhile, teachers are asked to fill gaps they’re not trained for. General education teachers aren’t taught how to create sensory-friendly classrooms or manage the needs of a child with autism or ADHD. Funding is scarce. Insurance companies deny therapies during school hours, arguing they replace academics. And kids are left in the middle, unsupported. Awareness isn’t the same as change Awareness months and anti-bullying lessons are important, but they are not enough. In Illinois, for example, lawmakers recently passed a bipartisan resolution recommending K–8 education on neurodivergence to reduce bullying and foster acceptance. That’s progress, but it still falls short. Teaching students what autism or ADHD is won’t change outcomes unless schools themselves adapt how they teach and support neurodiverse learners. Real inclusion means more than keeping kids in the same room. It means rethinking how we structure classrooms. For some neurodivergent kids, mainstreaming works with minor adjustments like dimmed lights, quiet corners, and social skills groups. For others, hybrid models that combine online learning, which can reduce sensory overload, with in-person opportunities for social and emotional growth may be better. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, and that’s the point: Neurodiverse kids need individualized environments that optimize learning rather than force conformity. Technology can help, if used thoughtfully. Tools like AI or virtual reality can personalize lessons or support social learning. But technology is not a cure-all. Without trained educators and mental health professionals guiding their use, these tools risk becoming add-ons instead of meaningful supports. The cost of staying the same The risks of doing nothing are clear. Children with gifts to offer will graduate unprepared, their strengths overlooked, and their potential stunted. They’ll leave schools designed to make them “average” instead of environments that help them excel. Here’s what can be done to fix this. Policymakers need to move beyond symbolic resolutions and fund classrooms that can adapt, including early and equitable access to neuropsychological testing. Educators must be trained in neurodiversity and given the tools to create flexible curricula that make space for sensory, emotional, and social development alongside academics. Parents can push schools to fully implement Individualized Education Plans and 504 plans and insist on environments that allow their children not just to get by, but to thrive. Every child deserves a school that feels safe, supportive, and built for how they learn best. And right now, too many schools are missing that mark. We can—and must—build systems where neurodiverse kids aren’t forced to fit in but instead are given the chance to truly shine. Monika Roots, MD, is cofounder, president and chief medical officer of Bend Health. View the full article

As the global climate and environmental crisis accelerates, the urgency for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based products has never been greater. Today, biobased products—derived from renewable agricultural, marine, and forestry materials—are gaining momentum as critical tools in reducing our reliance on non-renewable resources and mitigating environmental harm. From everyday household goods to advanced industrial materials, biobased alternatives are transforming entire industries and creating pathways toward a lower-carbon, more resilient future. Biobased products offer a broad range of applications, including lubricants, detergents, inks, fertilizers, and bioplastics. To qualify as “biobased,” the USDA requires that products must contain a minimum of 25% renewable content unless an established minimum is defined for that category. Consumers are taking notice: A striking 64% now prioritize sustainability in purchasing decisions and are willing to pay an average 12% premium for products with proven eco-benefits. The environmental payoff is significant—biobased products prevent the release of 12.7 million metric tons of CO₂ annually, the equivalent of removing nearly three million cars from the road. HISTORY OF BIO-BASED PRODUCTS The use of biobased materials is far from new. Ancient civilizations utilized wool, plants, and plant oils long before petroleum ever entered the picture. In the early 20th century, many industrial chemicals were still derived from biomass. During the 1930s, automotive pioneer Henry Ford famously experimented with soybean-based plastics for car parts. Wartime resource shortages, particularly during and after World War II, prompted renewed interest in renewable alternatives. The modern era of biobased innovation was catalyzed by policy action. In 1999, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13134, laying the foundation for a national biobased product strategy and encouraging early adoption of renewable technologies. This pivotal moment helped bring the promise of biobased materials into the mainstream. THE PRESENT-DAY BOOM Fast forward to today, and the biobased sector is thriving. The USDA now tracks 139 biobased product categories—up from just five in 2005—excluding food, fuel, and feed. This explosive growth reflects both market demand and technological progress. These products displace approximately 300 million gallons of petroleum annually in the U.S. alone, which equates to removing another 200,000 vehicles from circulation. In total, the industry has contributed over $393 billion in value-added economic output, signaling both its ecological and economic relevance. A significant trend in 2024 has been the surge in biobased alternatives to single-use plastics. From bamboo cutlery and soy-based straws to potato-starch trash bags and palm leaf plates, sustainable materials are now widespread in consumer goods. Biobased products have also expanded into less obvious categories, such as safety equipment, filters, adhesives, clothing, and even perfumes. The built environment offers some of the most compelling examples, with fibers and fabrics emerging as a particularly fast-growing segment—adding 127 newly certified USDA biobased products in the past year alone. Products like Biobased Xorel, a high-performance textile used in commercial interiors. While it’s molecularly identical to a petroleum-based counterpart—both made from polyethylene—the key difference lies in the feedstock: sugarcane. The sugarcane plant yields significantly more per acre and produces 9.5 units of renewable energy for every unit of material, compared to just 1.4 units from corn. Even more impressively, sugarcane does not require genetic modification, and in Brazil—the world’s leading producer—it is cultivated on only about 1% of the country’s arable land, meaning it doesn’t compete with food crops or contribute significantly to deforestation. While many biobased materials are already on the market, a wide array of new solutions are still in the experimental phase, signaling even greater potential on the horizon. Researchers are exploring everything from synthetic spider silk, with its incredible strength and flexibility, to self-healing concrete designed to increase infrastructure lifespan and reduce maintenance emissions. In particular, synthetic spider silk is gaining attention as a potential replacement for environmentally damaging plastic fibers in construction. Yet, amidst the progress, concerns about greenwashing persist. Fortunately, third-party certifications such as the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label help cut through the noise, ensuring material origins are verified and measurable. LOOKING AHEAD: INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY As the biobased sector matures, technology is redefining its possibilities. Advanced biorefinery processes and synthetic biology are giving rise to new materials and offering petroleum-free alternatives for commercial interiors. Equally important is the integration of carbon capture and utilization, turning waste emissions into viable material inputs. The path forward also relies on scalable production, improved supply chain resilience, and continued transparency. Emerging technologies—such as genetic editing, bioprinting, and AI-driven process optimization—are laying the groundwork for a dynamic, circular, and responsive system of biobased manufacturing. A CALL TO ACTION Biobased products present a powerful opportunity to rethink the materials we rely on every day, but success depends on more than technological innovation. Governments must continue investing in supportive legislation and incentives. Industries must demand transparency and take full stock of environmental, human health, and social equity impacts. Consumers, empowered with information, must look beyond labels and ask: What’s the true cost? By replacing environmentally damaging materials with renewable, sustainable alternatives and by prioritizing certifications, transparency, and lifecycle impact, we can build a world where sustainability isn’t just a trend—but the default. The future of biobased products is not only promising—it’s essential. Gordon Boggis is CEO of Carnegie. View the full article

Beijing introduces grants that slash energy bills by up to half for some of country’s largest data centres View the full article

Earlier this year, while the U.S. government was cutting billions in foreign aid, a refugee education program called Yeti Confetti did something remarkable: It took a single grant and scaled from serving 35 to 1,400+ students in Lebanon and NYC. They anticipate doubling that within the next few months. While hundreds of humanitarian organizations suspended programs because of the U.S. foreign assistance freeze, Rocket Learning, an education tech platform in India, is reaching 3 million children across 10 states and territories at $1.50 per child per year, a fraction of comparable traditional early childhood programs. This dichotomy was reflected in two types of conversations I heard during the United Nations General Assembly week in September 2025. In one, senior leaders from development agencies were genuinely grappling with an existential moment, with deep cuts in international aid worldwide. Then, there were the people closer to the work who had already moved on—too busy delivering and craving for scale. WHAT GOT US HERE WON’T GET US THERE The decades-long development of infrastructure created real expertise and crucial services to communities that desperately needed support. That matters and still does. The challenge isn’t the people or the expertise—it’s the operating system. That system was built for a world with more money than innovation. We now live in a world with more innovation than money. Layers of oversight, risk-averse funding cycles, and multiple intermediaries mean the infrastructure can’t move at the speed or cost-efficiency the moment demands. In 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that 305 million people worldwide would need humanitarian assistance by 2025. Despite the growing need, by November 2024, less than half (43%) of the requested $50 billion had been received. Climate disasters aren’t slowing down. Neither is conflict. Neither is displacement. When the gap between need and allocated resources grows this wide, shouldn’t the calculation change? This isn’t about replacing institutional knowledge but about restructuring who holds resources and how they flow. It’s about multilateral agencies recognizing that their greatest value might be directly platforming solutions rather than implementing them or hiring intermediaries. It’s about foundations embracing risk, treating innovation as a core strategy rather than a side portfolio. WHAT THE DOERS KNOW There’s a solution to a problem the traditional sector has been trying to solve for years—how to reach more people, faster, with less money. There’s an entire generation of entrepreneurs who never waited for perfect conditions or for permission. Take Kate Kallot’s Amini in Africa. Her data platform is solving the continent’s critical data scarcity and information inaccessibility by providing hyper-accurate, granular data localized to smallholder farms. It’s now benefitting 7.5 million people across 25 countries, including partnerships with the governments of Barbados, Côte d’Ivoire, and Sierra Leone. Rocket Learning, mentioned above, became the Indian government’s technical partner for 230,000 rural childcare centers, with students scoring 30% higher in their classrooms than others. The detailed economic analyses reveal a remarkable benefit-to-cost ratio of $1,274 per child. The solutions that work have these traits in common: They’re cheaper: Technology enables reach without decreasing marginal costs. They’re faster: Different organizational structures enabling different speeds. They’re sustainable: They generate revenue, create jobs, and outlast any single funding cycle. Moving resources directly to entrepreneurs introduces different risks. Safeguarding protocols exist for good reasons. But the current approach also carries risk—the risk of reaching fewer people, taking longer, at a higher cost per beneficiary. We need to be honest about which risks we can afford at this moment in time. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT The bottleneck isn’t ideas. It’s the infrastructure connecting local entrepreneurs addressing the pressing challenges of their communities to resources and scale. Here’s what would accelerate impact: Early and direct capital is where the leverage is highest compared to the years of pilot data that traditional funders want. Bespoke support from people who’ve done it before, not another workshop on Theory of Change. Networks for scale toconnect proven solutions to government partners, procurement processes, and private sector distribution channels. Many entrepreneurs can build great products but lack relationships with decision-makers who control access to millions of beneficiaries. Patient growth capital because one-year grants don’t match the timeline of building sustainable organizations that scale to millions. Validation infrastructure so development agencies can shift from primary implementers to validators and amplifiers of what’s working. Using institutional credibility and expertise to assess, endorse, and help scale entrepreneur-led solutions that meet rigorous standards. For funders, this isn’t charity. It’s leverage. We’d be backing solutions that become self-sustaining, building systems that outlast any administration’s foreign policy shifts, reaching more people for a fraction of traditional cost-per-beneficiary, and getting closer to aid independence, which countries in the Global South are hungry for. The future of global development is happening right now in Tripoli, Kolkata, Mombasa, Ho Chi Minh, in the hands of entrepreneurs who saw that the system couldn’t move fast enough and decided to build something that would. This transition asks people to reimagine systems they’ve spent careers building. That’s not easy. The expertise and relationships built over decades matter. The question is how to channel those assets toward what’s demonstrably working. The ground has already shifted. The doers never stopped moving. Let’s join them. Hala Hanna is the executive director of MIT Solve. View the full article

The inspector general's office, responsible for overseeing the regulator, now sits vacant amid Director Bill Pulte's swift changes and numerous fraud probes. View the full article

Most of the pool of 1,011 residential mortgages, 69.7%, are considered non-prime mortgages, primarily due to the documentation and styles of underwriting. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. In theory, wireless headphones are great for working out. But in reality, they often fall out, leak sound, or get damaged during heavy sweat sessions. The Anker Soundcore Sport X20 wireless earbuds are true wireless workout earbuds with ANC that are designed to stay put and deliver during exercise. Right now, they’re just $55.99 (originally $79.99), bringing them down to their lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker $55.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $24.00 Get Deal Get Deal $55.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $24.00 These tough sports earbuds are often considered a budget version of the Powerbeats Pro. They combine comfort and durability, with customizable sound and noise cancellation. They have an IP68 rating, meaning they’re dust-proof and can be immersed in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes, making them ideal for sweaty workouts. The earbuds come with ear hooks that rotate and extend by up to 4 mm. While this keeps them in place during vigorous movement, they aren’t exactly discreet or minimalist, and those with ear sensitivity might prefer in-ear buds, though they are more likely to fall out. The feature-filled companion app allows users to adjust their EQ. While their default setting, Soundcore Signature, delivers solid sound most of the time, this is a helpful feature if you want to tweak bass or adjust ANC modes. The app also has HearID, which allows users to take a hearing test and customize listening based on their results. The adaptive ANC does a great job at tuning out background noise at the gym or on runs and performs well for under $100. Battery life lasts around 12 hours (this drops down to around seven with ANC on) and the carrying case carries 48 hours of battery on average. Charging them for five minutes provides two hours of listening time. For those who take calls, the X20s have six microphones, AI-enhancing tech, and Bluetooth 5.4 Multipoint, letting you seamlessly switch between audio sources. If you’re looking for athletic, durable ANC earbuds with a comfortable and durable design to power your workouts or accompany commutes, the Anker Soundcore Sport X20 wireless earbuds are an affordable, top-performing option for listening and taking calls, especially given their current $55.99 price tag. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $169.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99) Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam, White with Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen), White — $59.99 (List Price $99.99) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $29.99 (List Price $69.99) Blink Mini 2 1080p Indoor Security Camera (2-Pack, White) — $27.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 with Ring Chime Pro — $149.99 (List Price $259.99) Introducing Amazon Fire TV 55" Omni Mini-LED Series, QLED 4K UHD smart TV, Dolby Vision IQ, 144hz gaming mode, Ambient Experience, hands-free with Alexa, 2024 release — $699.99 (List Price $819.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 2-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $129.99 (List Price $129.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

The agreement, if approved by a federal judge, would end litigation over two distinct cybersecurity incidents in 2021 which affected over 2 million customers. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re in the market for a new pair of on-ear ANC headphones from a premium brand, here's a deal to check out: The Bose QuietComfort Headphones are currently $199 (originally $359) in every color. This represents a 45% discount and the lowest price ever for these well-reviewed headphones, according to price tracking tools. Bose QuietComfort Headphones $199.00 at Amazo $359.00 Save $160.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.00 at Amazo $359.00 Save $160.00 These wireless Bluetooth headphones from Bose have plush ear cushions that make them great for long-term wear. They offer automatic noise cancellation with both "Quiet" and "Aware" modes that let you switch between isolated sound and hearing your surroundings, while adjustable EQ lets you fine-tune the sound to your liking. They will last up to 24 hours on a single charge, with quick charge giving you around 2.5 to 4 hours after 15 minutes. While they’re wireless, they also come with an audio cable for wired listening if the battery dies. Per this "excellent" PCMag review, the on-ear control buttons are well-placed and easy to operate, and that the QuietComfort headphones have “rich, crisp audio” and fantastic ANC. Compared to their predecessors, they have a more refined sound signature but don’t have the immersive audio or updated Bluetooth specs of the pricier Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones(they’re compatible with Bluetooth 5.1 but don’t support Bluetooth 5.3 or use the Snapdragon Sound Platform). They also lack the over-ear design and faster charging of the Ultra, but the tradeoff is a $130 price difference and a lighter, more travel-friendly build. If you’re looking for a pair of comfy, lightweight on-ear headphones with strong ANC performance, and the lack of future-proofing features like high-end codec and Bluetooth support isn't a dealbreaker, these Bose QuietComfort Headphones are a reliable choice, and a good value at their current $199 price point. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $169.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99) Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam, White with Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen), White — $59.99 (List Price $99.99) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $29.99 (List Price $69.99) Blink Mini 2 1080p Indoor Security Camera (2-Pack, White) — $27.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 with Ring Chime Pro — $149.99 (List Price $259.99) Introducing Amazon Fire TV 55" Omni Mini-LED Series, QLED 4K UHD smart TV, Dolby Vision IQ, 144hz gaming mode, Ambient Experience, hands-free with Alexa, 2024 release — $699.99 (List Price $819.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 2-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $129.99 (List Price $129.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Have you ever tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces? That’s what it’s like to run a business with siloed systems. Business data is critical in every industry, but if it’s siloed across departments, teams, and people—that is, if your puzzle pieces are scattered across your home—you may never figure out how to make that information work for you. Left unaddressed, this fragmentation can eventually undermine customer trust, brand integrity, and employee retention, severely impacting your business goals. True integration isn’t just about building more efficient systems: It’s about centering the entirety of your customer’s needs in every system you build. From my time as CEO of Sollis Health, as well as my background creating seamless, loyalty-building customer experiences across industries, here’s what I’ve learned how to connect vital data points, ultimately breaking these silos. FRAGMENTATION FRUSTRATES YOUR CUSTOMER In traditional healthcare, patients are shuttled between clinics, hospitals, and specialists, and each stop possesses only part of their medical record. If this gap between providers isn’t closed, medical data falls through the cracks, causing confusion, inconvenience, and even negative health outcomes. Other industries face a similar challenge: Siloed customer data in banking, retail, and fitness makes the customer experience more confusing and difficult, impacting loyalty and damaging brands. Take the travel industry, for years frequent travelers of franchised hotels were unable to immediately access their folios, which are itemized records of all charges incurred during their stay, via hotel apps or websites. It’s only been within the past five or so years that many hotels integrated their systems and resolved this problem. Like pushing together two puzzle pieces that don’t fit, poor integration creates friction and weakens the bond between your brand and your customer. Damage that bond and you damage the brand. As a result, trust erodes and loyalty declines, and what could have been a lasting relationship is reduced to a one-time transaction. SYSTEM INTEGRATION REVIVES BRAND LOYALTY Of course, integrating siloed systems is easier said than done. Shortsighted thinkers may regard this process as merely a perk or upgrade, not a loyalty strategy. But any situation where customers are left to connect their own dots leaves them feeling unseen and underserved. That “unseen” feeling has tangible results. If you don’t consider qualitative feedback as valuable as operational data, you run the risk of overlooking a vital opportunity to connect the dots for customers and secure their loyalty. Consumers are increasingly willing to share medical and personal data if it improves outcomes, according to this McKinsey report. Integration that’s seamless and private isn’t just welcomed but increasingly in demand. At Sollis, we fulfill that demand (and put our data to good use) with Qualtrics, which harnesses the power of AI to review and summarize qualitative, free-form feedback. Instead of using guesswork to improve the customer experience, this vital feedback guides our next move, whether that’s adding additional benefits to a membership tier or opening in a new market. System integration is more than streamlining or maintenance. An investment in an entirely new technology system can enhance trust between you and your customer if it enables you to remember their preferences and history. This signals that you understand them, making it possible to anticipate their needs, deliver a seamless experience, and build the kind of loyalty that lasts. CONNECT the dots for your customers Frustrated by their jigsaw puzzle, some business leaders make the mistake of passing on their incomplete set of pieces to the consumer. Siloed systems push the burden onto the customer, whether it’s a patient managing their own referrals or a hotel guest juggling multiple logins. Business leaders seeking to relieve customers of the burden of being their own managers must build systems that anticipate their needs and then address those needs proactively through seamless, personalized solutions. Sometimes, the solution is as simple as a tech upgrade. Sollis recently adopted Metriport, a tool that (with a patient’s explicit consent) pulls data from the Health Information Exchange national database, then uses AI to summarize key conditions, allergies, recent scans, and other medical data. This gives our clinicians a brief but thorough view of a member’s medical history prior to their appointment, providing a more coordinated care experience that saves time for clinicians and patients alike, while streamlining treatment. Our patients don’t have to spend their time tracking down a lifetime’s worth of medical records every time they need care, and our clinicians are at far less risk of overlooking key data that could impact decision-making. Siloed systems don’t just slow operations: they fail your customers, often at critical junctions in the customer experience. True integration is not a back-end fix, but a tool for understanding your customer holistically. When companies connect the dots, they move from treating customers as transactions to recognizing them as people. Like a completed puzzle, the picture finally comes into focus. Brad Olson is CEO of Sollis Health. View the full article

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has seen a rapid drop in the effectiveness of its cybersecurity program, according to a new report from the Fed's Office of Inspector General. View the full article

Computers are supposed to be unambiguous. When you click a function, that function is supposed to do what it says it does. So, when you click "Update and shut down" on your PC, you assume your PC will install any available updates, then shut down. Simple. As you might expect from this headline, that isn't actually the case. For some reason, when you choose "Update and shut down," Windows only listens to the first half of the command. Sure, your updates will download and install, but if you watch your computer, you'll see that it doesn't shut down, but restarts instead. That might come as a surprise, especially if you walked away from your PC under the assumption that it would power down completely. After all, that's what Microsoft, and the rest of the computing industry, usually means by "shut down." The implications can range from annoying to detrimental. If you don't want your computer running, you'll likely be frustrated to find your PC still on when you return to it. But if you have a Windows laptop, perhaps this quirk ends up draining your battery. You assumed your PC would shut down, and your battery would be about the same as when you left it. But now, you have a dead or dying PC, and you have to worry about how to get it charged—all because you trusted a function when it said it would shut down your computer. A bug long in the makingInterestingly, this is an issue that Microsoft has avoided fixing for quite a while now. According to Windows Latest, the problem is caused by is a bug that originated with Windows 10. Microsoft just never fixed the glitch, and, as such, it carried over to Windows 11. If you're a long-time Windows user, you might have been dealing with this odd situation for years. Luckily, this is changing. Microsoft added a fix for this bug as part of the October 2025 optional update (KB5067036). For the rest of us, the company is including the patch as part of Microsoft's November Patch Tuesday update. That update is set to arrive on Nov. 11, as Patch Tuesday updates drop on the second Tuesday of each month. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Windows Latest asked Microsoft what exactly caused this bug, but didn't receive an answer. The outlet theorizes that the issue is probably related the Windows' servicing stack, the part of the OS responsible for installing Windows updates. For some reason, the "power off" task doesn't carry over after Windows finishes installing updates. If you want to fix this problem now, install either the October update, or wait for the Nov. 11 update. Either way, you can install the updates from Start > Settings > Windows Update—or, of course, use the "Update and shut down" function. With any luck, that should be the last time your PC restarts when it's supposed to shut down. View the full article

Now that quantitative tightening is ending, the debate on who should be the MBS buyer of last resort, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the Fed, is taking hold View the full article