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A series of social media posts, from the US president over the weekend and then from the FHFA director and real estate scion Pulte on Wednesday, are helping put an S&P gauge of builders on track for a four-day losing streak. View the full article

Welcome to the first episode of The Exit Strategy, where founders open up about what really happens when you sell your business- the tough calls, the lucky breaks, and the lessons you only learn by living them. To kick things off, I sat down with Keith Schacht, co-founder of Mystery Science, an education startup that sold to Discovery Education for $140 million. Keith’s story isn’t just about a big payday—it’s about timing, focus, and the courage to start over. Knowing When to Sell Keith didn’t sell because he was burned out. He sold because the timing was perfect. As he watched the edtech world heat up, especially during the pandemic, he realized something important: Mystery Science was more valuable to buyers than to him at that moment. Rather than waiting for growth to plateau, he and co-founder Doug decided to sell while the market was hot. “We saw the consolidation wave coming,” Keith said. “You don’t want to sell when you have to but you want to sell when you can.” Takeaway: Keep a pulse on your industry. If your business is thriving and the market is peaking, it might be the ideal time to exit,a and not the time to double down. Structuring the Deal on Your Terms Keith and Doug were clear about one thing: they didn’t want to sell everything. They carved off the school-focused part of the business for Discovery Education and kept the consumer side for themselves. They also negotiated not to stay on after the sale, freeing them to explore new ventures immediately. “We wanted to retain the creative parts that mattered most to us,” Keith explained. “That made the deal work for both sides.” Takeaway: Think carefully about what you sell and what you keep. The best deals give you both liquidity and freedom for what’s next. How Mystery Science Went Viral One of Mystery Science’s biggest secrets? They barely had a sales team. Instead, they built their growth around referrals- 95% of new teachers came from other teachers. Keith borrowed strategies from consumer tech and applied them to education. “We engineered virality,” he said. “If teachers loved it, we made it easy for them to share.” Takeaway: Find the natural sharing loop in your customer base. Build tools and incentives around it, and your users will do the marketing for you. Surviving Due Diligence Selling a business isn’t just about finding a buyer, it’s about surviving due diligence without losing your sanity. Keith and Doug kept the process tight, involving only a few trusted team members and hiring top-tier legal help. They documented everything in advance, so there were no surprises. “The diligence process is like an audit and a therapy session combined,” Keith laughed. “You need pros in your corner.” Takeaway: Get organized early, hire great advisors, and protect your time. The best founders keep their business running smoothly even while the sale is underway. Helping the Team Transition Acquisitions can rattle even the strongest teams. Keith’s approach? Prepare them well before the sale. He built a leadership team that could operate independently, which made the transition to Discovery Education smoother. Many employees even found new opportunities there. Takeaway: Take care of your people. A smooth handoff builds goodwill and your reputation follows you into your next venture. Life After the Sale Post-exit life wasn’t all smooth sailing. Because of IP restrictions, Keith couldn’t use the Mystery Science brand or content in future products. The new consumer venture he started eventually shut down after three years. “You think you’ll just build the next thing faster but sometimes, you have to start from scratch,” he said. Takeaway: When negotiating a sale, pay close attention to brand and IP rights. If you can’t keep them, be ready for a clean reboot. Luck, Timing, and Passion Keith is the first to admit that luck played a role. The pandemic boom in digital education helped, but so did years of passion for teaching science creatively. “You can’t control timing,” he said. “But you can control whether you’re doing something you care about enough to keep at it until the timing hits.” Takeaway: Passion fuels perseverance and perseverance meets luck. Lessons for Small Business Owners Watch the market: Sell when the conditions are great, not when you’re tired. • Keep what matters: Structure deals that preserve your future opportunities. • Build virality: A great product plus word-of-mouth can beat any sales team. • Be ready for diligence: Preparation and good advisors save headaches later. • Support your team: They’ll remember how you handled the transition. • Plan your next act: Be realistic about what you can (and can’t) use post-sale. • Stay humble: Entrepreneurship is equal parts skill, timing, and luck. Final Thoughts Keith Schacht’s story is more than a case study, it’s a reminder that selling your company isn’t the end of the story. It’s just a new chapter. For founders, his journey offers a roadmap: stay curious, act before you’re forced to, and never forget why you started in the first place. Because in the end, as Keith says, entrepreneurship is a combination lock, you just have to keep turning the tumblers until it clicks. This article, "Behind the Scenes of a $140 Million Sale: Keith Schacht’s Journey with Mystery Science" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Welcome to the first episode of The Exit Strategy, where founders open up about what really happens when you sell your business- the tough calls, the lucky breaks, and the lessons you only learn by living them. To kick things off, I sat down with Keith Schacht, co-founder of Mystery Science, an education startup that sold to Discovery Education for $140 million. Keith’s story isn’t just about a big payday—it’s about timing, focus, and the courage to start over. Knowing When to Sell Keith didn’t sell because he was burned out. He sold because the timing was perfect. As he watched the edtech world heat up, especially during the pandemic, he realized something important: Mystery Science was more valuable to buyers than to him at that moment. Rather than waiting for growth to plateau, he and co-founder Doug decided to sell while the market was hot. “We saw the consolidation wave coming,” Keith said. “You don’t want to sell when you have to but you want to sell when you can.” Takeaway: Keep a pulse on your industry. If your business is thriving and the market is peaking, it might be the ideal time to exit,a and not the time to double down. Structuring the Deal on Your Terms Keith and Doug were clear about one thing: they didn’t want to sell everything. They carved off the school-focused part of the business for Discovery Education and kept the consumer side for themselves. They also negotiated not to stay on after the sale, freeing them to explore new ventures immediately. “We wanted to retain the creative parts that mattered most to us,” Keith explained. “That made the deal work for both sides.” Takeaway: Think carefully about what you sell and what you keep. The best deals give you both liquidity and freedom for what’s next. How Mystery Science Went Viral One of Mystery Science’s biggest secrets? They barely had a sales team. Instead, they built their growth around referrals- 95% of new teachers came from other teachers. Keith borrowed strategies from consumer tech and applied them to education. “We engineered virality,” he said. “If teachers loved it, we made it easy for them to share.” Takeaway: Find the natural sharing loop in your customer base. Build tools and incentives around it, and your users will do the marketing for you. Surviving Due Diligence Selling a business isn’t just about finding a buyer, it’s about surviving due diligence without losing your sanity. Keith and Doug kept the process tight, involving only a few trusted team members and hiring top-tier legal help. They documented everything in advance, so there were no surprises. “The diligence process is like an audit and a therapy session combined,” Keith laughed. “You need pros in your corner.” Takeaway: Get organized early, hire great advisors, and protect your time. The best founders keep their business running smoothly even while the sale is underway. Helping the Team Transition Acquisitions can rattle even the strongest teams. Keith’s approach? Prepare them well before the sale. He built a leadership team that could operate independently, which made the transition to Discovery Education smoother. Many employees even found new opportunities there. Takeaway: Take care of your people. A smooth handoff builds goodwill and your reputation follows you into your next venture. Life After the Sale Post-exit life wasn’t all smooth sailing. Because of IP restrictions, Keith couldn’t use the Mystery Science brand or content in future products. The new consumer venture he started eventually shut down after three years. “You think you’ll just build the next thing faster but sometimes, you have to start from scratch,” he said. Takeaway: When negotiating a sale, pay close attention to brand and IP rights. If you can’t keep them, be ready for a clean reboot. Luck, Timing, and Passion Keith is the first to admit that luck played a role. The pandemic boom in digital education helped, but so did years of passion for teaching science creatively. “You can’t control timing,” he said. “But you can control whether you’re doing something you care about enough to keep at it until the timing hits.” Takeaway: Passion fuels perseverance and perseverance meets luck. Lessons for Small Business Owners Watch the market: Sell when the conditions are great, not when you’re tired. • Keep what matters: Structure deals that preserve your future opportunities. • Build virality: A great product plus word-of-mouth can beat any sales team. • Be ready for diligence: Preparation and good advisors save headaches later. • Support your team: They’ll remember how you handled the transition. • Plan your next act: Be realistic about what you can (and can’t) use post-sale. • Stay humble: Entrepreneurship is equal parts skill, timing, and luck. Final Thoughts Keith Schacht’s story is more than a case study, it’s a reminder that selling your company isn’t the end of the story. It’s just a new chapter. For founders, his journey offers a roadmap: stay curious, act before you’re forced to, and never forget why you started in the first place. Because in the end, as Keith says, entrepreneurship is a combination lock, you just have to keep turning the tumblers until it clicks. This article, "Behind the Scenes of a $140 Million Sale: Keith Schacht’s Journey with Mystery Science" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

iPhone users have a new tool to combat the scourge of nuisance phone calls: a virtual gatekeeper that can screen incoming calls from unknown numbers. It’s among the bevy of new features that Apple rolled out with last month’s release of iOS 26. The screening feature has been getting attention because of the ever-increasing amount of robocalls and spam calls that leave many phone users feeling harassed. Here’s a run-through of the new function: How to activate call screening First, you’ll need to update your iPhone’s operating system to iOS 26, which is available to the iPhone 11 and newer models. To switch call screening on, go into Settings—Apps—Phone. Scroll down and you’ll find a new option: Screen Unknown Callers. You’ll be presented with three choices. The Never option lets any unknown call ring through, while Silence sends all unidentified numbers directly to voicemail. What you want to tap is the middle option: Ask Reason for Calling. If the option isn’t there, try restarting your phone. I still couldn’t find it after updating to iOS 26, but, after some online sleuthing, I checked my region and language settings because I saw some online commenters reporting they had to match. It turns out my region was still set to Hong Kong, where I lived years ago. I switched it to the United Kingdom, which seemed to do the trick and gave me the updated menu. How it works Call screening introduces a layer between you and new callers. When someone who’s not in your contacts list dials your number, a Siri-style voice will ask them to give their name and the purpose of their call. At the same time, you’ll get a notification that the call is being screened. When the caller responds, the answers will be transcribed and the conversation will pop up in speech bubbles. You can then answer the call. Don’t want to answer? Send a reply by tapping one of the pre-written messages, such as “I’ll call you later” or “Send more information,” which the AI voice will read out to the caller. Or you can type out your own message for the computer-generated voice to read out. If you don’t respond right away, the phone will continue to ring while you decide what to do. Teething troubles In theory, call screening is a handy third way between the nuclear option of silencing all unknown callers — including legitimate ones — or letting them all through. But it doesn’t always work perfectly, according to Associated Press colleagues and anecdotal reports from social media users. One AP colleague said she was impressed with how seamlessly it worked. Another said it’s handy for screening out cold callers who found his number from marketing databases. “However, it’s not great when delivery drivers try to call me and then just hang up,” he added. Some internet users have similar complaints, complaining that important calls that they were expecting from their auto mechanic or plumber didn’t make it through. Perhaps the callers assumed it was an answering machine and didn’t seem to realize they had to stay on the line and interact with it. I encountered a different issue the first time it kicked in for me, when an unknown caller — whether mistakenly or not — threw me off by giving my name instead of theirs. So I answered because I assumed it was someone I knew, forgetting that I could tap out a reply asking them again for their name. The caller turned out to be someone who had obtained my name and number and was trying to get me to do a survey. I had to make my excuses and hang up. If you don’t like call screening, you can turn it off at any time. As for Android Apple is catching up with Google, which introduced a similar automatic call screening feature years ago for Pixel users in the United States. Last month, the company announced the feature is rolling out to users in three more countries: Australia, Canada and Ireland. If it’s not already on, go to your Phone app’s Settings and look for Call Screen. Google’s version is even more automated. When someone you don’t know calls, the phone will ask who it is and why they’re calling. It will hang up if it determines that it’s a junk call, but let calls it deems to be legit ring through. Google warns that not all spam calls and robocalls can be detected, nor will it always fully understand and transcribe what a caller says. Samsung, too, lets users of its Galaxy Android phones screen calls by using its AI assistant Bixby’s text call function, which works in a similar way. Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip. —Kelvin Chan, AP Business Writer View the full article

America’s advertising market has transformed so dramatically over the last decade that almost two-thirds of it is now in the hands of just five tech companies. This week, MoffettNathanson released a report called “U.S. Advertising: Are We Near the AI Tipping Point?” which highlights, among other things, how generative AI is disrupting TV advertising as interest in traditional media continues to shift away. The report suggests that the effects of AI have been prominent among some of the largest Big Tech companies, which have taken up incremental market share through improved targeting, engagement, and performant creative. For instance, the findings point to how five major online companies—Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, and ByteDance-owned TikTok—have grown their share of the total U.S. ad market over the past 10 years. According to the research, the five companies cumulatively made up 22% of the market nearly a decade ago. However, MoffettNathanson predicts that those companies will make up 65% of the market this year—up 400 basis points—or $260 billion dollars. The rest of the market is projected to decline by $7 billion to $143 billion. MoffettNathanson expects the total U.S. ad growth forecast for 2025 to be slightly above previous estimates at 6.3%, with growth continuing to be fueled by digital channels instead of traditional media. The data also predicts that cable TV advertising will decline by 8%, while broadcast advertising revenue will decline by 9%, and total TV advertising revenue will drop by 9%. Because of this, linear TV is expected to lose $4 billion of ad spending this year, with advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) taking back about $2 billion. Meanwhile, spending—which includes retail—will continue to flourish, adding nearly $32 billion to the U.S. ad market. Kill your television, keep your phone? Overall, the report and its findings speak to a growing trend that many in the industry have suspected for years now: linear TV is slowly dying, while avenues such as online video platforms like YouTube, and more affordable options like ad-supported streaming, are continuing to grow and expand especially among young consumers. During the 2025-26 TV upfront season, the time when TV networks and streaming services preview their content and programming to advertisers to secure revenue, there was a major push for popular influencers and creators like MrBeast to lure advertising dollars away from traditional TV. Other social- and mobile-friendly programming, like microdramas, have been gaining traction. Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision’s streaming platform ViX debuted microdramas during its TV upfront presentation, which resulted in successful streaming commitments for the company, and the format has also been gaining traction with competitors. Telemundo launched its own microdramas earlier this month. View the full article

For the first time in nearly half a century, the city of Detroit has a major new addition to its skyline. Hudson’s is a $1.4 billion ground-up downtown development of two buildings covering more than 1.5 million square feet, including residential, office, hotel, retail and event space. It’s a large-scale argument that for all of the city’s troubles—from its precipitous population decline to its high poverty levels to its rock bottom 2013 municipal bankruptcy—the city has brighter days ahead. This assertion comes from Bedrock, the real estate arm of billionaire Dan Gilbert, who has almost single handedly breathed life into the city’s downtown core through a decade and a half of strategic building renovations, adaptations, and historic restorations that have brought both jobs and residents back. Today there are nearly 6,000 residents in the core of downtown Detroit, up from about 4,400 in early 2019. The Hudson’s project is by far the most sizable of these efforts. The project’s 49-story hotel and condo tower, now the second tallest building in the city, features a stepped form and bright lighting along its five glassy rectangular sections. At its base is a pedestrianized mid-block alley that Bedrock is turning into a public civic space. And next door is a stout 12-story mixed use building with ground floor retail, an events and exhibitions center, a top floor restaurant, and seven floors of office space. As a sign of the project’s early success and impact downtown, local auto giant General Motors signed on to turn four of the office floors into its new global headquarters. The project was designed by the architecture firm SHoP Architects. It’s been in the works since October 2013, just months after Detroit declared the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, but it is built on the site of another deep scar on the city. A hole in the heart of the city The project is named after J.L. Hudson’s, the famed hometown department store that grew to become a touchstone space for generations of Detroiters. Once the second largest department store in the world, Hudson’s filled an entire city block along Woodward Avenue, the city’s central spine, and rose 25 stories tall. It was known as much for hosting the city’s Thanksgiving parade as for selling school clothes and wedding dresses. “As a kid growing up here, Hudson’s was magic,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan tells Fast Company. “You went down there at Christmas. You went and saw Santa Claus on the 11th floor. Everybody in southeastern Michigan has such powerful memories of it.” But after more than 100 years in business, the store’s fates followed those of the city’s and it closed in 1983. It was imploded in 1998 on live television. Newscasters covering the event from several blocks away were, like the rest of the city’s downtown, coated with the dust of Hudson’s former glory. “It left a literal and figurative hole in the heart of the city,” says Jared Fleisher, president of Bedrock. “For Dan, the Hudson’s Detroit was both a symbolic and a substantive exercise. Symbolic in the sense of honoring that history and recreating something that would have the same kind of significance in the cultural and historical fabric of the city, but then substantive to actually drive economic progress in the city.” Four years of design Designing a project to meet those goals took time. Bill Sharples, one of the founding principals of SHoP Architects, says his firm spent about three months developing an initial design concept and getting a model in front of Gilbert, back in early 2014. “About a month later we heard, well, the model got broken,” Sharples says. “He wasn’t excited about it. And from there, that’s where it got interesting.” The project shape-shifted. Several times. There was a swooping and metallic version of the podium that got leaked to the press in 2015, then a more carved up approach, and gradually more rectilinear takes. There were four different versions of the tower part of the project, with each poking out from a big, bulky base building spreading across the entire site. Sharples says his design team began to think about the project not as one big behemoth, but as a project trying to appease two wildly different scales. “We started to think about how does this building impact the skyline and how does this impact the urban fabric of Woodward,” he says. “That’s when we split it into two separate buildings.” The design gelled in the spring of 2017, and the project broke ground later that year. After nearly eight years of construction—and one global pandemic—the two buildings are now substantially complete. The 12-story offices-and-more block building will have its first office tenants move in later this year and its retail and events spaces are already operating. The tower’s exterior is complete, and the interior is now being built out to house an Edition hotel on the lower part of the tower and Edition-branded condos on the top. Both are expected to open in 2027. The public alley space between the buildings will officially open in October. A love letter to Detroit architecture Walking along the front side of the Hudson’s office building earlier this month, Bedrock vice president of architecture and design James Witherspoon points to some of the facade treatments on the block building that, Bedrock hopes, will make it blend into its surroundings while also reminding people of the original Hudson’s building. “It was important that it was a building that felt of Detroit, and not something that just landed here,” Witherspoon says. The building includes visual references to the department store’s terra cotta facade, but also to other significant buildings in the area, including the interiors of the Guardian Building, a national historic landmark, and the modernist office tower One Woodward, designed by Minoru Yamasaki. Walking into the block building, where workers are still putting finishing touches on the main lobby and the offices, some of these references can be seen obliquely through the windows and others pop out throughout the interior. Inside the event space, past a small reception area and coat check, are three escalators framed by a black and gold tunnel meant to evoke the historic main stairs into the Hudson’s department store. They lead to what’s been dubbed the Department, two floors of flexible meeting and exhibition venue with room for up to 2,000 people. The main floor covers 33,000 square feet that can host conventions or be subdivided down for smaller events like weddings. One corner features a covered outdoor patio that overlooks the new civic space running between this building and the tower part of the project, and nearly the entire frontage overlooking Woodward Avenue has a narrow terrace offering views up and down the corridor (and, not accidentally, front row seats for the Thanksgiving parade that still takes place on the street every year). The floor above has another 19,000 square feet of meeting and event space, broken down into nine rooms sized for groups of up to 150 people. Each has a cleverly connected access point to a service space where an event’s drinks or food service can be brought directly from the back-of-house kitchen area. The rest of the 12-story building is office space. Filling nearly the entire block, it is a deep building, which the architects addressed by creating a large central atrium inside topped by a massive oval skylight. On the fifth floor, this pours light into a large amenity space, with communal seating, a cafe, planters with mature trees. It’s also where tenants access the building’s other amenities, including a gym, a lounge, and an indoor pickleball court. This space also doubles as an event area, hosting all-hands meetings, for example. Oval-ish walkways wrap around the atrium on each floor leading to the top of the building, which will soon house a restaurant. Moving past stacks of building materials and workers installing seats and planters on the amenity floor of the office section of the block building, Witherspoon notes that the project was already well underway when the pandemic changed the calculus around how much office space makes sense in a city. Because it has a relatively modest amount of office space—seven floors, not 70—Bedrock didn’t make any significant changes to the overall program. But the company did refocus on the amenity spaces that would serve office tenants, and lure big companies. “We imagined it to be a headquarters,” Witherspoon says. GM’s new HQ Others did, too. In April 2024, General Motors announced it would be moving its global headquarters into the Hudson’s office building, taking the top four office floors. There are already plans for GM to use part of the lower section of the building to create displays of its newest vehicles. Maybe not coincidentally, an oversized car elevator was designed into the project from its earliest days. “There was always the idea that if you’re building an events space in Detroit, you’d better be able to accommodate cars,” says Witherspoon, smiling. GM’s move is a resounding endorsement for Bedrock’s vision for this project, but it’s also a death knell for GM’s current headquarters, the beleaguered Renaissance Center office and hotel complex. Located a few not very easily accessible blocks away, the Renaissance Center was originally built in the 1970s by the Ford Motor Company and is now owned by General Motors, which has seen tenancy in its six towers evaporate in the years since the onset of the pandemic. By abandoning its own building and joining what commercial real estate experts call a “flight to quality,” GM has essentially numbered the days for the Renaissance Center. It’s now working with Bedrock on a plan to partially demolish the complex. Sharples says the Hudson’s project was designed to offer a new model, and a new center of gravity for the city. “[The Renaissance Center] was built as a fortress. You come in, do your business, and leave Detroit,” he says. “Here we were working with something that was completely the opposite. It was about reinvigorating the city center.” That goal may not translate to an easy return on Bedrock’s $1.4 billion investment, nor on the $60 million tax abatement the city approved for the project in 2022. Whether it’s a slow success or an expensive loss leader for Bedrock’s development aims remains to be seen. Witherspoon says that one of Gilbert’s guiding principles for the company is to be “for more than profit,” and the Hudson’s project fits that mold. “For Dan, a lot of the work Bedrock has done for the last 15 years is acting as a catalyst for economic activity in this part of town that had stalled out,” he says. “He’s been the biggest cheerleader, the biggest optimist for the opportunity here, and this building is representative of that.” Duggan, who was first elected the city’s mayor in November 2013 when the project was just getting started, sees more of a spiritual impact for a city that’s had more than its share of heartbreak. “To see Dan bring it back the way he’s done it, to bring General Motors headquarters there, to see the second tallest building in Michigan going up on that site . . . it means a lot to me,” he says. “It means a lot to every longtime Detroiter.” View the full article

UK prime minister discusses Ukraine and fossil fuels in meeting with Indian counterpart Narendra ModiView the full article

Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it would buy U.S.-based Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion to add its promising experimental liver disease drug, in the first major deal by the Danish drugmaker’s new CEO to boost growth. The deal underscores new Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar’s efforts to revive sales growth and fend off intense competition from U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Doustdar, who took over the reins in July, last month also announced the company would cut 9,000 jobs. Akero is testing its drug, efruxifermin, in a late-stage trial of patients with severe liver scarring, or cirrhosis, due to a type of fatty liver disease known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Efruxifermin could be a potential breakthrough in treatment of fatty liver disease and become a “cornerstone” treatment either on its own or in combination with Wegovy, Doustdar said in a statement on Thursday. Under the deal, Novo would pay Akero shareholders $54 per share upfront in cash, which represents a premium of about 16.2% to Akero’s last close of $46.49 on Wednesday. The Danish drugmaker will also pay an additional $6 per share to Akero’s shareholders if efruxifermin secures a full U.S. approval for the condition by June 30, 2031, the companies said. Shares of Akero jumped more than 19% in premarket trading, while Novo’s Denmark-listed shares were down nearly 2%. Some Novo investors have recently told Reuters that they want to see the company invest heavily in research and development to build out its future drug pipeline and revive investor confidence with a growth story. Some have also said they would prefer the company diversify beyond weight loss and diabetes. Doustdar has said the company will focus on developing the next generation of highly effective obesity and diabetes drugs that can also treat related cardiometabolic conditions such as MASH, rather than expand into other disease areas. —Anna Ringstrom, Mariam Sunny and Maggie Fick, Reuters View the full article

IBM has just unveiled Granite 4.0, a breakthrough in enterprise-level language models designed to make advanced AI more accessible for small businesses. Boasting enhancements that increase efficiency while slashing memory requirements, this new generation of models promises affordable AI solutions for everyday tasks, from customer support to process automation. Granite 4.0 introduces a range of models tailored for varying operational needs: Granite-4.0-H-Small, Granite-4.0-H-Tiny, and Granite-4.0-H-Micro. Each is engineered to operate within diverse hardware constraints which is particularly advantageous for small businesses often operating on tighter budgets. The Granite-4.0-H-Small model, for instance, supports robust enterprise workflows, ideal for tasks that require coordination across various tools, such as customer service automation. Meanwhile, the Tiny and Micro models cater to edge applications, allowing small enterprises to execute essential tasks swiftly and efficiently. “Granite 4.0’s remarkable increase in inference efficiency translates into cost savings and faster task execution, allowing small businesses to remain agile in a competitive marketplace,” said an IBM spokesperson, emphasizing how the new models can be integrated into existing operations with ease. Small business owners stand to gain substantially from these new models. First, their decreased memory requirements mean reduced hardware costs. Businesses can expect to save on both operational expenses and initial investments in technology. This is especially relevant for start-ups and smaller firms that need to stretch their budgets while incorporating advanced technologies. Benchmarks show a noteworthy improvement in performance; even the smallest models in the Granite 4.0 collection outperform their predecessors despite being less than half their size. This efficiency becomes even more pronounced when handling complex tasks that require extensive memory, such as analyzing large data sets or running multiple customer inquiries simultaneously. Enhanced speed in processing means quicker responses, translating to better customer experiences. The models are built with versatility in mind. They not only operate effectively as stand-alone solutions but can also function as integral components within larger systems. This flexibility means that businesses can gradually incorporate AI capabilities into their operations without overwhelming their existing infrastructure. That said, small business owners might face challenges during the integration and deployment of these new models. While the models are designed for low latency and edge applications, ensuring compatibility with existing software and systems may require additional effort. There’s also the steep learning curve that often accompanies new technologies, meaning businesses may need to invest time in training staff to utilize these solutions effectively. Moreover, although the models are cost-efficient, initial setup costs can still be a hurdle for some smaller businesses. They may need to conduct thorough assessments to determine the best fit for their unique workflows before making a decision on which model to deploy. Granite 4.0 represents a significant step forward in IBM’s commitment to providing affordable, high-performance AI solutions for enterprises of all sizes. The advancements not only lower barriers to entry but also empower small business owners with tools that enhance efficiency and customer engagement. As AI continues to permeate various industries, small businesses that adopt these models early on may find themselves ahead of the curve, benefiting from improved operational capabilities and overall productivity. For those interested in learning more about the Granite 4.0 models and exploring how they could fit within their business, visit the original IBM announcement here. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, often those who adapt based on the available resources can outperform their competition. It appears that Granite 4.0 may just be the tool many small businesses need to thrive. Image via IBM This article, "IBM Unveils Granite 4.0: Efficient Language Models Set to Transform Workflows" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

IBM has just unveiled Granite 4.0, a breakthrough in enterprise-level language models designed to make advanced AI more accessible for small businesses. Boasting enhancements that increase efficiency while slashing memory requirements, this new generation of models promises affordable AI solutions for everyday tasks, from customer support to process automation. Granite 4.0 introduces a range of models tailored for varying operational needs: Granite-4.0-H-Small, Granite-4.0-H-Tiny, and Granite-4.0-H-Micro. Each is engineered to operate within diverse hardware constraints which is particularly advantageous for small businesses often operating on tighter budgets. The Granite-4.0-H-Small model, for instance, supports robust enterprise workflows, ideal for tasks that require coordination across various tools, such as customer service automation. Meanwhile, the Tiny and Micro models cater to edge applications, allowing small enterprises to execute essential tasks swiftly and efficiently. “Granite 4.0’s remarkable increase in inference efficiency translates into cost savings and faster task execution, allowing small businesses to remain agile in a competitive marketplace,” said an IBM spokesperson, emphasizing how the new models can be integrated into existing operations with ease. Small business owners stand to gain substantially from these new models. First, their decreased memory requirements mean reduced hardware costs. Businesses can expect to save on both operational expenses and initial investments in technology. This is especially relevant for start-ups and smaller firms that need to stretch their budgets while incorporating advanced technologies. Benchmarks show a noteworthy improvement in performance; even the smallest models in the Granite 4.0 collection outperform their predecessors despite being less than half their size. This efficiency becomes even more pronounced when handling complex tasks that require extensive memory, such as analyzing large data sets or running multiple customer inquiries simultaneously. Enhanced speed in processing means quicker responses, translating to better customer experiences. The models are built with versatility in mind. They not only operate effectively as stand-alone solutions but can also function as integral components within larger systems. This flexibility means that businesses can gradually incorporate AI capabilities into their operations without overwhelming their existing infrastructure. That said, small business owners might face challenges during the integration and deployment of these new models. While the models are designed for low latency and edge applications, ensuring compatibility with existing software and systems may require additional effort. There’s also the steep learning curve that often accompanies new technologies, meaning businesses may need to invest time in training staff to utilize these solutions effectively. Moreover, although the models are cost-efficient, initial setup costs can still be a hurdle for some smaller businesses. They may need to conduct thorough assessments to determine the best fit for their unique workflows before making a decision on which model to deploy. Granite 4.0 represents a significant step forward in IBM’s commitment to providing affordable, high-performance AI solutions for enterprises of all sizes. The advancements not only lower barriers to entry but also empower small business owners with tools that enhance efficiency and customer engagement. As AI continues to permeate various industries, small businesses that adopt these models early on may find themselves ahead of the curve, benefiting from improved operational capabilities and overall productivity. For those interested in learning more about the Granite 4.0 models and exploring how they could fit within their business, visit the original IBM announcement here. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, often those who adapt based on the available resources can outperform their competition. It appears that Granite 4.0 may just be the tool many small businesses need to thrive. Image via IBM This article, "IBM Unveils Granite 4.0: Efficient Language Models Set to Transform Workflows" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

You know that moment. You’re standing in front of an audience, your mind races ahead, and suddenly every second word seems to be “um” or “er”. It’s normal. But when it happens too often, it can distract your audience and quietly chip away at your confidence. In our recent skills booster, How to Stop Umming and Erring When Presenting, Presenting Expert and Productivity Ninja Dom Kracmar explored why it happens, what it reveals about how our minds work, and how to use silence as one of the most powerful tools in communication. Why we do it Those little “umms” and “errs” aren’t mistakes. They’re a sign that your brain is working hard to find the right words. The challenge isn’t getting rid of them, it’s learning to manage them. When we feel under pressure, silence feels risky. But in reality, silence builds authority. The pause tells your audience, I’m thinking. I’m in control. How to pause with purpose Rather than trying to sound flawless, focus on creating space. A clear pause between thoughts helps you slow down, breathe, and give your listeners time to process what you’ve said. Try this in your next meeting or presentation: Start speaking after a short pause instead of rushing in. When you finish a key point, pause again before moving on. If you lose your train of thought, take a breath rather than filling the gap. It feels uncomfortable at first, but soon those pauses become your superpower. The balance that sounds natural A few fillers are fine; they make you sound human. The goal is balance: enough warmth to sound natural, but enough calm to sound confident. Dom summed it up perfectly during the session: “Clarity doesn’t come from speaking faster. It comes from giving your words room to land.” Want to take it further? If this idea resonated with you, you’ll love our full-day workshop Love Your Inner Presenter. It’s designed to help you find your authentic voice, manage nerves, and bring more calm and confidence to every presentation. The post How to Stop Umming and Erring When Presenting appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, according to minutes from last month’s meeting released Wednesday. A majority of Fed officials felt that the risk unemployment would rise had worsened since their previous meeting in July, while the risk of rising inflation “had either diminished or not increased,” the minutes said. As a result, the central bank decided at its Sept. 16-17 meeting to reduce its key rate by a quarter-point to about 4.1%, its first cut this year. Rate cuts by the Fed can gradually lower borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans, and business loans, encouraging more spending and hiring. Still, the minutes underscored the deep division on the 19-person committee between those who feel that the Fed’s short-term rate is too high and weighing on the economy, and those who point to persistent inflation that remains above the central bank’s 2% target as evidence that the Fed needs to be cautious about reducing rates. Only one official formally dissented from the quarter-point cut: Stephen Miran, who was appointed by President Donald The President and was approved by the Senate just hours before the meeting began. He supported a larger, half-point cut instead. But the minutes noted that “a few” policymakers said they could have supported keeping rates unchanged, or said that “there was merit” in such a step. The differences help explain Chair Jerome Powell’s statements during the news conference that followed the meeting: “There are no risk-free paths now. It’s not incredibly obvious what to do.” Miran said in remarks Tuesday that he thinks inflation will steadily decline back toward the Fed’s 2% target, despite The President’s tariffs, and as a result he doesn’t think the Fed’s rate needs to be nearly as high as it is. Rental costs are steadily declining and will bring down inflation, he said, while tariff revenue will reduce the government’s budget deficit and reduce longer-term interest rates, which gives the Fed more room to cut. Yet many other Fed officials remain concerned about stubbornly high inflation, the minutes showed. Jeffrey Schmid, president of the Federal Reserve’s Kansas City branch, said in a speech Monday that “inflation is too high” and argued that the Fed should keep rates high enough to cool demand and prevent inflation from worsening. And Austan Goolsbee, president of the Fed’s Chicago branch, said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that he supported a cautious approach toward more cuts, and wanted to see evidence that inflation would cool further. “I am a little uneasy with front loading rate cuts, presuming that those upticks in inflation will just go away,” he said. The minutes provide insight into how the Fed’s policymakers were thinking last month about inflation, interest rates, and hiring. Since then, however, the federal government shutdown has cut off the flow of economic data that the Fed relies on to inform its decisions. The September jobs report wasn’t issued as scheduled last Friday, and if the shutdown continues, it could also delay the release of the inflation report set for next Wednesday. —Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer View the full article

For its first brand refresh in 13 years, Domino’s updated its color palette, packaging, and font to look more engaging. When it came to making new tagline, though, the Michigan-based pizza chain is trying something unique: they just added more Ms to their wordmark. Mmm. Domino’s announced a rebrand Wednesday that includes brighter reds and blues and a new font called Domino’s Sans that was designed to “be thicker and doughier” and proves that using sans serifs doesn’t have to be bland. Team members will get new branded gear to wear in the kitchen and out delivering orders, and there’s a reimagined suite of new pizza boxes, including one black-and-metallic-gold box designed for premium menu items, like Domino’s Handmade Pans, to better upsell pricier pizzas. It’s a brand refresh optimized for craveability, like recent rebrands for Burger King and Papa Johns that used squishy type and color palettes chosen to convey freshness and ingredients. This is graphic design meant to look delicious and make you hungry. For its new tagline—which Domino’s is calling it its “cravemark”—they tapped Shaboozey, who draws out the “m” sound when saying “dominos” in campaign ads (like “dommmino’s,” get it?). On screen, the musician’s jingle is visually reinforced with an animation that adds the extra Ms to the Domino’s wordmark before the letters snap into the Domino’s domino logo. “Rather than launching a more traditional tagline, we’re baking craveability right into our name and every aspect of our brand as a reminder of this relentless focus,” Domino’s executive vice president Kate Trumbull said in a statement. “You literally can’t say ‘Domino’s’ without saying ‘mmm.'” The cravemark is a wordmark, tagline, and jingle all rolled up into one, and judging by who the company got to sing it, Domino’s has big ambitions for its new brand asset. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” tied the record for the longest-running No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 chart history last November, and he was the only artist to be featured on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter twice. In a statement, he called pizza “that one food that brings everyone together” across generations and cultures. Domino’s is aiming for an asset with wide appeal and recognition. Domino’s is the leading U.S. pizza chain by revenue, bringing in $4.78 billion annually, ahead of Papa John’s, Yum! Brands-owned Pizza Hut, and Little Caesars. Same as its competitors, though, Domino’s has also seen its year-over-year same-store sales plummet since the pandemic as fewer people seek out delivery options. Like Peloton or Zoom, delivery pizza brands are pandemic darlings that are readjusting to new norms. Pizza has been hit especially hard by inflation, with median restaurant meal prices rising 12% for pizza, more than any other food category, according to data from Datassential. Other pizza chains have responded to shifting quick-service restaurant trends with redesigns of their own, like Papa Johns, which introduced a food-inspired brand refresh last year, and Pizza Hut, which is experimenting with its own new store concepts and premium menu items at home and a new, fun, retro logo abroad. Trumbull, the Domino’s executive, denies that their brand refresh is due to the company struggling, but it does have something to do with repositioning the brand. “Over the past decade, we became known as a technology company that happens to sell pizza,” she said. The pizza chain remembered for its pizza tracker and website would like to start being remembered for “making and delivering the most delicious products and experience,” as Trumbull put it. Though the brand refresh will show up in digital advertising and on Domino’s app and website, the impetus behind it is human. View the full article

With no end in sight to the political impasse in Washington that has shut down the government, the U.S. IPO market is expected to experience a significant slowdown just as it was beginning to show signs of life again. Some companies are nevertheless forging ahead with their listings. Phoenix Education Partners, parent company of the for-profit University of Phoenix, which announced its IPO plans one day before the shutdown began, said on Wednesday that it has priced its shares at $32. That’s the midpoint of its earlier targeted range of between $31 and $33 a share. The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the “PXED” ticker symbol. Selling shareholders will offer roughly 4.3 million shares of its common stock, with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BMO Capital Markets, and Jefferies serving as lead book runners. At its offering price, Phoenix Education has a valuation of roughly $1.14 billion, Bloomberg reported. “An attractive and growing sub-segment” University of Phoenix is almost 50 years old and has been accredited since 1978, according to a company prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The school is geared toward online adult education, with most of its students already in the workforce and seeking to advance their careers in some way. “Adult learners represent an attractive and growing sub-segment of the higher education market,” Phoenix Education writes in its prospectus. “However, they face unique challenges that are not addressed by traditional programs designed for 18- to 22-year-olds, including the time constraints and responsibilities of work, community and caring for dependents.” The school says it had an average total enrollment of 82,700 degree-seeking students as of the first nine months of this fiscal year. Roughly 70% of its students are seeking bachelor’s degrees, with business and IT being its most popular areas of study, followed by healthcare and behavioral and social sciences. Is University of Phoenix profitable? Unlike some of the high-profile tech startups that have gone public this year, University of Phoenix is already profitable. Last year, it generated net income of $115 million on revenue of $950 million, according to its SEC filings, up from net income of $52 million on revenue of $801 million in 2022. What else is there to know? Phoenix Education is backed by Apollo Global Management and investment firm Vistria Group, with the former being a majority shareholder. The company is expected to list its shares today (October 9, 2025) at some point after the opening bell. View the full article

Claims of a breakthrough at the chips company’s new Arizona facility will be tested by sceptical Big Tech customersView the full article

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Memory is incredibly complex, which is probably why it’s been studied and researched so much—and why researchers who make big discoveries about how it functions get phenomena named after them. A great example of this: the Von Restorff effect, which refers to our brains’ acuity for remembering distinctive pieces of information over more uniform ones, a fact discovered by a German psychiatrist named Hedwig von Restorff. It’s an interesting fact of biology, but it can also be very useful to know when you’re studying a difficult concept. Here’s why, and how to put the Von Restorff effect to good use. What is the Von Restorff effect?In previous articles, I’ve discussed various memory effects you can capitalize on when you study, like the primacy effect, the Proust effect, and the production effect. All of these begin with a nice, a round-looking “P" and the consonant blend of "Pr-." If I add the Von Restorff effect to that list, it will stand out solely because of the variety in its name—the rigid angle of that “V" and the hard sound of the Restorff. Because of this, you’re more likely to remember the Von Restorff effect when asked to name the four memory phenomena we just went over—and that’s the Von Restorff effect in action. In the simplest terms, it is an “isolation effect” that ensures your brain will remember an item in a list if it has a distinctive feature that sets it apart from other entries on the list. When studying, you can achieve this effect by changing the meaningfulness of an item or a piece of information in some way, whether by color, size, font choice, or another approach. How to use the Von Restorff effect to remember what you studyThe good news is that, unlike when you try to harness the power of other memory-based study techniques, this one is pretty straightforward. It's almost too simple, which is why you might not be familiar with it or ever have considered finding ways to use it. Once you realize the simplicity of this concept, it’s easy to find ways to work it into your study habits. In your notes, use a highlighter specifically to highlight words or concepts you need to remember for a test. Color-coding your notes is a supremely helpful studying technique on its own because even taking the time to choose the colors and their meanings helps you focus. When using flashcards, write concepts and words you’re having a hard time grasping in a different color. If you're using the Leitner method (which you should be), you can rewrite or recreate cards every time you drill them. With that technique, you move your cards into piles every time you get them right or wrong, then study the piles at different frequencies, focusing on ones you know less often than ones that are giving you trouble. Every few times you move a card up or down into a pile, try rewriting or recreating it with a different text color. If a card is red but your color for easy ones is blue, you'll be instantly reminded that this is one you recently struggled with, which can help you lock in and pull the information from your memory using active recall. When studying with others and talking through the material (or reading aloud from your notes), try associating a unique motion—like a specific hand gesture—with the concepts you’re discussing. Use a shape, like a circle or box, to outline key parts of your notes or textbook materials. Do this when you're mind-mapping, especially, so all your mind maps are uniform. Dates can be in squares, vocab words in circles, and so on. To make quick and efficient mind maps, I recommend an app like Xmind. Also when mind-mapping, move the circle containing the most important concepts (or the one you’re struggling to grasp) to a more removed part of your page, differentiating it from the rest of the clusters visually. I do a version of this with my to-do list, which is written on a whiteboard on the fridge. Unusual things, like a doctor's visit or something I need to buy but don't usually get on my weekly trip to the grocery store, get written off to the side. They're more notable that way, drawing my attention away from the larger block of text and reminding me, over and over, that I have to do them. By the time doctor's appointment day rolls around or I'm in the store trying to remember my list, those are seared into my brain. If you're revising your notes, use different text styles. This is something I did all the time in college, even when taking notes in class. I would bold anything a professor led into by announcing, "This will be on the test." I would turn vocab words purple. Even if you're hand-writing (which you should be!), you can draw squiggly underlines under certain ideas, circle others ... you get the point. Get zany with it, but keep it uniform. If you draw a big box around one date, do it to all of them. If you draw arrows pointing to a state law and a circle around a federal one, do it to all of them. The goal is to differentiate the things you need or struggle to remember using color, motion, shape, or even orientation. Setting certain ideas or words apart will make them stick in your brain better, no matter how you do it. View the full article

Moscow’s intensified bombing campaign seeks to ‘break our spirit’, says head of state energy groupView the full article

The IRS will furlough nearly half of its workforce on Wednesday as part of the ongoing government shutdown, according to an updated contingency plan posted to its website. Most IRS operations are closed, the agency said in a separate letter to its workers. The news comes after President Donald The President and Congress failed to strike an agreement to fund federal operations, and the government shutdown has entered its second week, with no discernible endgame in sight. The agency’s initial Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan, which provided for the first five business days of operations, stated that the department would remain open using Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act funds. Now, only 39,870 employees, or 53.6%, will remain working as the shutdown continues. It is unclear which workers will remain on the job. Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement that taxpayers should expect increased wait times, backlogs and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues. “Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week,” she said. “Every day these employees are locked out of work is another day of frustration for taxpayers and a growing backlog of work that sits and waits for the shutdown to end.” She urged the The President administration and Congress to “reach an agreement that reopens government and restores the services that Americans need and deserve.” The notice to workers states that furloughed workers and those who remain on the job will receive back pay once the shutdown ends. This is notable since the Republican administration on Tuesday warned of no guaranteed back pay for federal workers affected by a government shutdown. Last week, The President said roughly 750,000 federal workers nationwide were expected to be furloughed across agencies, with some potentially fired by his administration. Representatives from the IRS, the Treasury and the White House did not comment on the furlough plans. Earlier this year the IRS embarked on mass layoffs, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency, affecting tens of thousands of workers. At the end of 2024, the agency employed roughly 100,000 workers — and currently that hovers around 75,000. —Fatima Hussein, Associated Press View the full article

President The President wants the two government-sponsored loan buyers to help speed lower-cost home creation and their oversight agency's director is following up. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. When you’re assigned a text, you’re supposed to take away the big-picture ideas. The problem is that sometimes, you can miss the forest for the trees, skimming passages just to get it all over with. To get to that broad understanding you need, you should use a method that is all about being detail-oriented. It’s called “close reading,” and it will help you grasp whatever you read so you understand not only your assigned passage or chapter, but the concept you're studying overall. What is close reading?Close reading is a method that requires you to focus on every detail in a text and operate on the assumption that no detail is in there by accident or for no reason. That's not an assumption so much as it's a fact. Think about the process required for that content to be in front of you. A subject matter expert had to research it all, write it all down, pass it through perhaps an agent and definitely an editor, if not multiple editors. If it's for school, that material had to be reviewed by some kind of board and approved for use. Everything that made it to the final version had multiple sets of eyes on it. All of it is important and deserves to be there; anything irrelevant would likely have been cut. In Teaching Literature, literary critic Elaine Showalter says that “close reading” is “slow reading, a deliberate attempt to detach ourselves from the magical power of storytelling and pay attention to language, imagery, allusion, intertextuality, syntax, and form.” The idea is to break the habit of reading casually or taking everything in at once and instead form a new habit wherein you examine every tiny element of what you’re reading and question why the author included it. The method is even included in the United States’ Common Core standards for K-12 education. There, it’s defined as “the methodical investigation of a complex text through answering text dependent questions geared to unpack the text’s meaning.” Essentially, you’re not just looking at what the text says, but how it says it—and that’s beneficial: Per Literacy in Focus, that means you’ll eventually be able to truly grasp what the text means. Educators have researched the use of the method and found it increases reading comprehension, for instance. Using close reading helps learners understand what a text says, but also why it’s important. How to use the close reading methodClose reading involves reading everything twice (or more than twice). The first time is to get what it says, but the following times are to understand why it says it and why it says it that way. The goal is to be able to apply that deeper thinking and understanding to what you learned the first time through. Read for understandingOn your first pass through the material, just get the gist. Figure out the main argument or story, who is speaking, and to whom. Don't worry about details. Just take it all in and make a mental note of what stands out, confuses or, or seems relevant. Read for detailsOn your second time through the content, you'll actually do the "close reading" part. Highlight key terms, circle new words, and look all of those those up. Pay special attention to formatting, like subtitles, section breaks, and visuals like charts or photos. Remember: None of it is in there by accident. Think, too, about how the information is ordered. Does the author start broad, describing an issue before zeroing in on examples? Or do they start with a specific example and then explain broader context? Ask questionsRead it again, but this time, ask questions. Write them down on a separate paper or even in the margins. It's likely you'll be reading something digital, so just open up a blank word processing doc if you have to. Some questions to ask, though these will vary depending on your content, grade level, author, and more: Why is this section titled the way it is? Why did the author use that [evocative/obscure/flippant/etc.] word? Why introduce this idea before that one? Why did the author start the chapter with a character-driven story before explaining the broader context? Who is the intended audience? Students? Educators? The general public? Plumbers? Politicians? Crucially, ask questions even—or especially—if you're unsure of the answer. Maybe you don't know why the author used a particular phrase or for whom the content was written. That doesn't matter. By asking, you become more curious and think more deeply. It keeps you engaged. Read for meaningOnce you've read it enough times that you've identified the main idea and found some questions to ask, you've made it to your final read-through. Here, zoom out. Stop thinking of individual words, unusual punctuation, or why the author included a particular graph. Think instead of the bigger picture again, like you did on that first read-through. What's the author's purpose? How do the things you noticed the second time through or the questions you asked the third time through contribute to that message? Maybe a recurring reference in a short story hints at a theme. Maybe the structure of an essay is meant to mirror the thoughts of its subject. That's what this exercise is about. You're moving beyond what the text says and understanding how it's delivering its message. Obviously, this is a useful practice when studying literature, but it works for a variety of subjects. If you're reading history, you might wonder why an author frames a particular battle or policy in a negative or positive way and wonder, too, how the people on the other side of that battle or policy felt—and why their view isn't represented. Even asking those questions gets you thinking deeper and relating more to the material, which makes it not only easier to understand, but easier to remember. View the full article

Small business owners looking for an edge in today’s competitive landscape might find that the key to unlocking productivity and innovation lies not just in customer-facing strategies, but in prioritizing employee experience. Recent findings from HP’s research highlight that while budgetary constraints are always a concern, the real hurdles to adopting Digital Employee Experience (DEX) systems stem from strategic and cultural barriers. The study—entitled “Fulfillment at Work: IT View”—surveyed 1,825 IT decision-makers across a range of countries, including the US, UK, and Japan. A striking 35% of respondents identified lack of prioritization as the main reason for not implementing DEX, and 32% viewed these systems as merely “nice to have.” Yet, for small businesses, leveraging tools that enhance employee satisfaction could be the foundation of business growth and a distinct competitive advantage. “Every organization talks about digital transformation, but most focus on customer-facing technology,” noted HP’s representatives. “Companies that will dominate moving forward will also prioritize employee technology, which will allow them to attract the best talent, increase productivity, and adapt faster to change.” This realization is crucial for small business owners who may still be caught in the cycle of viewing employee experience as secondary to customer needs. Investing in DEX solutions has tangible benefits. By creating a work environment that eliminates barriers and enhances connectivity, employees are better positioned to deliver their best work, regardless of location. This is particularly vital in a time when flexible work arrangements are becoming the norm. Small businesses adopting these systems can expect not only to boost morale but also to see improved operational efficacy. Moreover, the positive impact on IT teams themselves is noteworthy. When technology simplifies processes rather than complicating them, IT leaders find fulfillment in solving meaningful problems rather than merely addressing crises. The study emphasizes that when IT focuses on enhancing employee experience, the entire organization benefits from increased visibility and a stronger sense of purpose. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges when implementing DEX solutions. A lack of strategic prioritization can lead to pushback or indifference among stakeholders. Ensuring the buy-in of leadership is vital, as their support will facilitate smoother integration and acceptance of new technologies. Furthermore, small businesses must align DEX strategies with their overall mission and values, so that any digital tools adopted feel seamless and relevant to their workforce. Additionally, while investing in technology can lead to improvements, it is equally important to foster a company culture that values employee input. Ensuring that employees feel heard and included in decision-making processes can reinforce the effectiveness of DEX systems. Organizations that overlook this aspect may find themselves with high-tech solutions that don’t resonate with staff, negating the benefits of any investment. In a nutshell, embracing DEX is not merely about acquiring the latest technology; it’s about recognizing that employee satisfaction directly influences productivity and engagement. For small businesses aiming to thrive in a volatile market, prioritizing employee experience can unlock human potential and enhance performance. As HP’s research underscores, there’s a competitive advantage waiting to be tapped. Small business owners must evaluate where they stand on the DEX spectrum. Will they step up to prioritize employee satisfaction, or will they miss the opportunity to elevate their organizations into a new era of productivity? For more insights, you can read the full report on HP’s website here. Image via Envato This article, "IT Leaders Urged to Prioritize Employee Experience for Competitive Edge" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Small business owners looking for an edge in today’s competitive landscape might find that the key to unlocking productivity and innovation lies not just in customer-facing strategies, but in prioritizing employee experience. Recent findings from HP’s research highlight that while budgetary constraints are always a concern, the real hurdles to adopting Digital Employee Experience (DEX) systems stem from strategic and cultural barriers. The study—entitled “Fulfillment at Work: IT View”—surveyed 1,825 IT decision-makers across a range of countries, including the US, UK, and Japan. A striking 35% of respondents identified lack of prioritization as the main reason for not implementing DEX, and 32% viewed these systems as merely “nice to have.” Yet, for small businesses, leveraging tools that enhance employee satisfaction could be the foundation of business growth and a distinct competitive advantage. “Every organization talks about digital transformation, but most focus on customer-facing technology,” noted HP’s representatives. “Companies that will dominate moving forward will also prioritize employee technology, which will allow them to attract the best talent, increase productivity, and adapt faster to change.” This realization is crucial for small business owners who may still be caught in the cycle of viewing employee experience as secondary to customer needs. Investing in DEX solutions has tangible benefits. By creating a work environment that eliminates barriers and enhances connectivity, employees are better positioned to deliver their best work, regardless of location. This is particularly vital in a time when flexible work arrangements are becoming the norm. Small businesses adopting these systems can expect not only to boost morale but also to see improved operational efficacy. Moreover, the positive impact on IT teams themselves is noteworthy. When technology simplifies processes rather than complicating them, IT leaders find fulfillment in solving meaningful problems rather than merely addressing crises. The study emphasizes that when IT focuses on enhancing employee experience, the entire organization benefits from increased visibility and a stronger sense of purpose. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges when implementing DEX solutions. A lack of strategic prioritization can lead to pushback or indifference among stakeholders. Ensuring the buy-in of leadership is vital, as their support will facilitate smoother integration and acceptance of new technologies. Furthermore, small businesses must align DEX strategies with their overall mission and values, so that any digital tools adopted feel seamless and relevant to their workforce. Additionally, while investing in technology can lead to improvements, it is equally important to foster a company culture that values employee input. Ensuring that employees feel heard and included in decision-making processes can reinforce the effectiveness of DEX systems. Organizations that overlook this aspect may find themselves with high-tech solutions that don’t resonate with staff, negating the benefits of any investment. In a nutshell, embracing DEX is not merely about acquiring the latest technology; it’s about recognizing that employee satisfaction directly influences productivity and engagement. For small businesses aiming to thrive in a volatile market, prioritizing employee experience can unlock human potential and enhance performance. As HP’s research underscores, there’s a competitive advantage waiting to be tapped. Small business owners must evaluate where they stand on the DEX spectrum. Will they step up to prioritize employee satisfaction, or will they miss the opportunity to elevate their organizations into a new era of productivity? For more insights, you can read the full report on HP’s website here. Image via Envato This article, "IT Leaders Urged to Prioritize Employee Experience for Competitive Edge" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Creativity has always been governed by time—not just how long it takes to bring an idea to life, but how long a creator can stay “in flow.” Every designer knows the frustration of an idea hanging in digital limbo. But those pauses, once accepted as inevitable, are now starting to vanish. Figma, the cloud-based interface design tool, and Google Cloud, the computing and storage platform, have announced the integration of Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash directly into Figma’s design platform. The collaboration aims to let designers generate visuals and make edits almost instantly, eliminating the lag between an idea and its execution. For users, that means faster collaboration, smoother iteration, and a more natural creative flow. “The economic significance of latency in AI is far greater than just speed—it’s about changing the commercial viability and product experience for every application built on a generative model,” says Matt Renner, president of global revenue at Google Cloud. Lower latency, in turn, decreases computational and financial expenses, allowing the AI tools to become more scalable and efficient for high-volume tasks, he added. Gemini 2.5 Flash (also known as “Nano Banana”) rose to prominence for its ability to merge multiple images, keep characters consistent across edits, and generate a wide range of styles, from lifelike portraits to classic art, in mere seconds. Google claims that in early integrations of Gemini 2.5 Flash, Figma users saw a 50% reduction in latency for the platform’s “Make Image” feature, unlocking faster image generation capabilities for its users. “In Figma, every second AI can return to the user, whether it’s time saved renaming layers, editing images or even generating multiple images at the same time, frees them up to focus on the kind of higher-level problem solving and deep iteration that’s at the root of all great design,” says Abhishek Mathur, vice president of platform engineering at Figma. The partnership signals a deeper strategic shift for Google Cloud. Rather than competing for user attention, the company aims to embed its AI models, including Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.0, and Imagen 4, directly into third-party creative ecosystems like Figma to make Gemini an unseen accelerant that enhances existing tools instead of forcing users to switch platforms. “Our focus is on helping users go from idea to production, and we see AI as core to how this workflow will evolve moving forward,” Mathur adds. Google’s ecosystem strategy to scale Gemini Over the past year, Google has woven Gemini into a broad range of partner products, from workspace tools to data analytics suites, positioning the speed and security of its AI models and ease of integration as its defining edge. Salesforce has integrated Gemini into its Agentforce platform to power AI agents across Google Cloud and Salesforce environments. Oracle now supports Gemini models on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build multimodal AI agents that can process text, images, motion, and audio data. Google’s underlying bet is simple: If AI feels secure and frictionless, widespread adoption will feel inevitable. Released in June, Gemini 2.5 Flash is known for generating high-quality visuals quickly and affordably (one-third the price of Gemini Pro). The model can deliver its first reply in under half a second, making it ideal for fast-moving creative apps, chatbots, or customer support systems. Moreover, the latest Gemini 2.5 Flash updates have improved its accuracy in following instructions, made responses more concise, and boosted speed by up to 40%, making it one of the fastest, most efficient AI models available. Experts caution, however, that faster performance alone may not be enough for Figma to win over creative professionals. “Drops in latency will certainly encourage tool usage and support the kind of cross-discipline collaboration Figma has been building toward for years,” says AJ Joplin, senior analyst at Forrester, who focuses on experience design, design organizations, and design leadership. “But taste still matters. The efficiencies gained from generative tools can quickly disappear if teams don’t pair that time saved with the ability to critically assess what the AI produces.” The AI design race is heating up The Google-Figma partnership comes amid an escalating AI-design race. Adobe has integrated AI models from Google Cloud, OpenAI, and others like fal.ai, Ideogram, Luma, Pika, and Runway to power its Firefly platform and Sensei AI features, including generative fill, AI video editing, 3D design, and smart stock tools. And Canva has become an AI-first platform. Announced at OpenAI’s Developer Day on Oct. 6, Canva is now a pilot partner for ChatGPT app integration, allowing users to create and edit designs directly within ChatGPT. The move aims to bring visual design tools to the chatbot’s 800 million weekly users. If Gemini 2.5 Flash delivers on its promise, the future of design won’t just be more intelligent; it will feel instantaneous. And in the new economy of creativity, that sense of speed may prove to be the ultimate edge. View the full article

A loneliness epidemic and Gen Z’s obsession with fitness could help western countries bolster civilian defence View the full article

Small business software implementations aren’t, by default, successful. Sure, a company might tout its flashy new software package, but there are far too many stories that involve abandoning that same software when the going gets tough. Before signing a vendor agreement, it’s important for small businesses to consider what successful software implementation actually looks like. This can prove to be difficult in an industry that pushes the latest fads in technology and is prone to upsell customers on powerful software they might not even dream of using. Plus, the landscape, particularly regarding generative AI, is becoming congested and difficult to navigate. Small businesses must look beyond a software’s features to determine what makes it a success, and instead focus on the processes it enhances. This must also be done dynamically; once a company stops moving forward, it’s dead in the water, and the same can be said for its software deployment. Here are a few things to keep in mind when buying software: “What problems are we trying to solve?” Ultimately, the success of a software implementation isn’t something that can be determined right away. It requires time for users to kick the tires, so to speak, testing its limits, adaptability, and overall purpose. Even the most fully functional piece of software serves no purpose if it’s attempting to solve a problem that a company doesn’t have, or if the problems facing the company are too foundational for software to touch. Before considering software as a solution, every small business must undergo an important thought exercise that focuses on process. I covered this extensively in my last article, but in summation, small business owners should aspire to work on the business rather than in the business. Basically, this means extracting owners and managers from the day-to-day grind of running operations so they can focus on big-picture concepts like sustainable growth, CX strategies, and industry trends; it’s simply impossible to take a bird’s eye view of a business while wading through the trenches. Process-oriented thinking involves formalizing how a company does business by focusing on each step, one at a time. Small business owners can formalize the goals of each step, who owns which phase of the work, when important hand-offs occur, and which resources are required to complete the steps efficiently. From there, it will become clear what a company is doing well and where it can improve—important information to guide software-buying decisions. Key to this work is an understanding of which processes are likely to remain after business growth and which will require adaptation. This helps in targeting the right piece of software that can address current needs while offering enough flexibility to face upcoming, often unpredictable challenges—either because new information has emerged, a company has tweaked the way it operates, or, most importantly, employees have provided feedback. It’s essential that adaptable software include an analytics component to aid these efforts, affording users visibility into how things are going. Still, small businesses have to remember that even the most adaptable pieces of software shouldn’t be changed just for the sake of change. Each tweak requires resources, which are in short supply for small businesses, so wasted efforts hit at least twice as hard. With an analytics backbone supporting the software, small businesses can begin making informed decisions about refining their work, with an eye towards maximum efficiency. The above points come with a caveat: Small businesses shouldn’t feel pressure to change things that are working! The flashiest, most whiz-bang AI can’t compete with an established workflow with buy-in across an organization. Employees at small businesses are more likely to use AI-powered software if the AI technology is embedded smartly, enhancing aspects of the software that don’t require a steep learning curve. This is particularly important because often small businesses have developed an idiosyncratic way of working, or perhaps they have yet to develop a workflow at all. These companies require AI that works with them rather than creating tension, or requiring decisions a small business isn’t ready to make. “How will we get people to use it?” Before small businesses can iterate on software changes, they must achieve a critical mass of employees actually using the software itself. Otherwise, the implementation, regardless of how robust it may be, will fail outright, wasting finances and, most importantly of all, time. The process of building organizational buy-in starts with a conversation. Employees should learn the goals behind the software revamp and receive a chance to weigh in. The earlier a company involves its employees, and the more it demonstrates it’s open to hearing what they have to say, the more likely employees will give new software the benefit of the doubt—especially knowing there will be changes along the way. For best results, small businesses should begin with a small deployment. They can pick one or two pieces of software to implement and ask employees to become involved in the trial period. It should become very apparent within a short amount of time if this software is going to become an essential tool or will fall by the wayside—if it gets employees to engage, a company is on the right path. By bringing employees into the fold from the start, they will feel like they have a say in which tools they will eventually use, increasing the chances they’ll be willing to give them a shot. Adoptable small business software also allows individual users to directly customize how they work. It contains dashboards that display important information and highlight mission-critical tasks as they come up. It simplifies communications by featuring integration between apps so no message gets lost—and messages can be turned into action items effortlessly. Finally, small businesses have to consider how their employees are working these days. While some businesses are mandating a return to office five days a week, many continue to operate on a hybrid model or allow employees to work fully remote, which means successful software also needs to offer the same functionality on mobile as it does on desktop. That way, employees can connect remotely, no matter where they happen to be, and still expect to get work done just as efficiently. “How do we know the software is working?” Small business software should make everyone’s lives easier, not harder. It sounds obvious, but it’s very tempting to get into the weeds of a software implementation that promises the moon, the stars, and everything in-between, and forget that good software should deliver quick initial value, with more arriving as time goes on. Sure, it may require a little set-up at the beginning, but software chock-full of bells and whistles won’t matter if the company can’t ring the bells or blow the whistles. It’s helpful for small businesses to begin by defining the problems they hope new software will solve. What are the KPIs? Based on the problems that were identified when thinking about process, what are the specific indicators that indicate those issues have been improved or addressed? For example, how much time was someone spending on data entry before the solutions, versus now? It can be helpful to have hard data in a report to understand this, but even an anecdotal report from an employee can be useful to assess the impact of the solution. Clarity on success metrics is essential to understanding what the software is doing well, particularly if work is being done behind-the-scenes. Take AI, for example: the technology can handle rudimentary tasks and calculations that might have required a fair amount of time and focus beforehand, then can effortlessly slot the results into places where they can be most useful. When AI is enmeshed seamlessly into operations, users may not even realize AI is involved at all—but those who have defined success will be paying closer attention. Not only will AI offload time-consuming tasks from employees, but the corollary is also true: AI can enable employees to take on more important responsibilities that may have been pushed off due to the sheer volume of work they had to accomplish previously. This enables employees to upskill themselves and become more impactful contributors, all while reducing the headaches associated with the sort of rote tedium better handled by AI, anyways. Conclusion Ultimately, the success of a software implementation boils down to the success of a small business’s partnership with its technology vendor. One-size-fits-all solutions simply won’t catch on at most small businesses, which often defy categorization because they need to maintain flexibility. Strict contract terms won’t serve small business software success, either—newer companies can’t possibly predict every single use case that might crop up. And, if changes have to be made that are beyond the scope of a small business, the right vendor will listen to this feedback and offer workarounds or add these features to its roadmap. Small businesses who prioritize finding the right software partner will benefit from technology that’s better tailored towards their needs and grows alongside the business—and vice versa. Even within the digital space, success requires a human touch. Image v This article, "Successful Small Business Software Implementation Requires Forward-Thinking and Flexibility" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article