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City of London suffers fresh setback days after AstraZeneca said it would list its shares directly on the NYSEView the full article

Albert Manifold describes oil major’s global business as ‘overly complex’ in a letter to staffView the full article

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. On Wednesday, Google officially announced a number of smart home initiatives. Alongside new devices—including Nest cameras, doorbells, and a new Google Home Speaker—the company rolled out a redesigned Google Home app. As you might expect in 2025, Google's new smart home strategy is powered by the company's AI, Gemini, with a new branding to boot: Gemini for Home. The company is making a lot of claims for how its next-generation tech will improve your smart home. We'll need to wait for the reviewers to put Gemini and the new Google Home app through their paces, not to mention all of Google's new devices, but until then, we can take a peek at the future Google is selling us on: Gemini for Home Credit: Google Google Assistant is nothing new, but even Google seems to think there's been room for improvement. The company says the experience was "functional, not intuitive or natural," which seems to be informing Google's newest smart home assistant: Gemini for Home. As you might expect, Gemini is replacing Google Assistant across all Google smart home products. The company's argument here is that the new experience is much more natural than before: Previously, you might have needed to ensure your commands were succinct and to the point for the assistant to understand them. Going forward, Google says you can take advantage of the AI's contextual awareness for more casual requests. If you're asking for help fixing your dishwasher, for example, you don't need to preface each request with the problem at hand. You can begin with a question like "Hey Google, my dishwasher is having trouble draining. Where should I start?" If it suggests you check the filter, you don't need to say "Hey Google, I'm trying to get my dishwasher to drain, but the filter seems fine. What's the next step?" Instead, you can simply follow up with "Hey Google, the filter seems fine. What's next?" Google says Gemini will understand the context, and continue to help. If you want to bypass the the constant "Hey Googles," you can say "Hey Google, let's chat." This kicks on Gemini Live, the AI's voice mode, which let's you have a back and forth with Gemini. The company says you can do the same when asking questions about things like songs and movies. If you want to look up a song from a movie, but you don't remember the name of either, you can share vague details about the movie and Gemini supposedly can put the pieces together. Perhaps most importantly for the smart home itself, Google says Gemini can handle more complex requests. For example, you can ask it to turn off all lights except for a specific room, or trust that the AI will understand the context of the room you're asking about, e.g., "Can you turn on the lights by the oven" will mean turning on the lights in the kitchen. My favorite of Google's promised features, however, is that you can ask Gemini to add items to your grocery lists from recipes, rather than individual items. You can simply request a shopping list for Pad Thai, and, according to Google, Gemini will add all the ingredients necessary to your shopping list. Gemini with smart cameras Credit: Google Google says Gemini for Home can also upgrade smart cameras connected to Google Home. The company argues that most smart camera alerts are "low context," pinging you with things like "motion detected" or "person detected," but leaving the rest on you to figure out what's really going on. With Gemini for Home, Google says it is using AI to make your smart camera experience more contextual. Alerts will offer a "full narrative of what's happening," so you can learn from the notification itself whether you have a USPS delivery, or simply a shadow moving in front of the camera. Gemini will also organize and summarize all of the day's video clips—you can choose whether to review all the videos taken, or simply scan the summary for any updates the AI thought important. Google says you can ask Gemini questions about your clips, as well. Speaking of which, you can ask Gemini to find specific video clips using natural language. Google says you can ask questions like "When did the kids get home," or "Did I leave the car door open today?" The new Google Home app Credit: Google Tying all these updates together is the overhauled Google Home app, which reportedly has over 100 new features and performance improvements. Google says there were three goals in mind with this particular update: "Make it faster, more reliable, and complete." To that first point, the app should perform quite well, if the company is to be believed. Google claims its new Home app is over 70% faster on some Android devices than before, with crashes down by almost 80%, while smart camera live views supposedly load 30% faster with 40% fewer playback failures. The new design comes with three main tabs: There's the Home tab, which is where you see all of the controls for your smart home devices. Within this tab, there are swipeable menus for things like Favorites and devices. Next, there's the Activity tab, which contains your home's activity history. You can see when a routine was started, when motion was detected on a camera, and when a light was turned off. Finally, there's the Automations tab: You can see which automations are coming up, access your entire automations collection, and create new automations as well. Google has also integrated "the best" of the Nest app into the new Home app. While the dedicated Nest app is still available, Google clearly intends for Nest functionality to live here long-term. That includes support for Nest Thermostats from 2015 on, as well as Nest Protect smoke and CO emergency alerts and Nest x Yale Lock passcode management. Google says the experience of controlling previous Nest devices is also enhanced in the new app, with higher frame rates and faster loading times. Finally, there's "Ask Home," a new Gemini-powered feature that aims to make it easy to find any element of your smart home. For example, Google says you can type things like "lights" or "living room" to find deices and automations related to those queries. You can look up clips from your smart cameras, stack multiple smart home commands together, or create an automation with natural language. Google says all of these changes are rolling out today, Wednesday, Oct. 1 around the globe. View the full article

TikTok is a one-stop-shop for recipe inspo, viral dance trends, tin-foil-hat conspiracies, and, increasingly, political commentary. Now, it’s also where one in five Americans are getting their news. That’s according to a Pew Research Center analysis published last week, which has tracked a dramatic uptick in news consumption on the platform, up from just 3% in 2020. “During that span, no social media platform we’ve studied has experienced faster growth in news consumption,” Pew noted. In Pew’s survey, 43% of adults under 30 said they regularly get their news on TikTok, up from 9% five years ago. But it’s not just younger people. A quarter of adults between the ages of 30 and 49 also regularly turn to TikTok as a news source, compared to just 2% in 2020. This analysis is based on Pew’s survey of 5,153 U.S. adults between August 18 and 24. While the researchers focused only on adult TikTok users, overall more than half of TikTok users (55%) now say they regularly get news on the platform, up from 22% in 2020. “TikTok is now on par with several other social media sites—including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Truth Social—in the share of its adult users who regularly get news there,” researchers wrote. The tide on TikTok has been turning for some time, with more and more media outlets and independent journalists adapting to reach new audiences and doubling down on vertical video. These days, snappy, shareable content, delivered in 30 seconds or less, is far more likely to hook audiences’ shrinking attention spans than long form reporting. The quality of this news content is another story. Since much of this content comes from individual creators, or newsfluencers, rather than established news organizations, fact and opinion can often be presented interchangeably, and misinformation can spread quickly. News delivered directly to the FYP, courtesy of a highly individualized algorithm, has the problem of sinking people further and further into echo chambers of their own creation. It then begs the question: What kind of news are we each consuming? View the full article

In a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, Stripe’s latest partnership with OpenAI is transforming the way small businesses can engage with consumers. With the launch of “Instant Checkout” within ChatGPT, users can now purchase products directly from popular platforms like Etsy and Shopify without leaving the chat interface. This innovation promises to streamline online shopping and create new revenue opportunities for small businesses. Starting today, ChatGPT users in the U.S. can shop for items from Etsy merchants, with Shopify integration following soon. This shift to AI-driven shopping interfaces means that merchants can now convert AI recommendations into sales with remarkable ease. As Stripe’s president of technology and business, Will Gaybrick, stated, “Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI. We’re working alongside the most ambitious companies to create new AI-powered commerce experiences for billions of people.” The Instant Checkout feature utilizes a new payment primitive known as the Shared Payment Token (SPT). This technology allows ChatGPT to initiate transactions without exposing the buyer’s payment credentials, thus enhancing security and streamlining the purchase process. When a user requests product recommendations, they can easily complete purchases using their preferred payment methods within the chat itself. This innovative flow not only simplifies the shopping process for consumers but also opens a new sales channel for small business owners. Merchants receive orders through the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which facilitates seamless transactions while maintaining their standard order management procedures. According to Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, “we’re making it possible for businesses of all sizes to meet people where they are—and for shoppers to complete purchases seamlessly in conversation.” While the advantages of this new commerce experience are clear, small business owners should also recognize the challenges it may present. The shift toward AI-led commerce requires businesses to adapt their products and checkout processes to be compatible with AI agents. Stripe emphasizes that businesses need to find ways to expose their offerings, pricing, and checkout details in a manner accessible to these agents while ensuring customer payment information remains secure. Kevin Miller, head of payments at Stripe, highlighted the need for a re-architected approach: “Because agents now sit between businesses and consumers, everything from payments and checkout to fraud checks must be re-architected.” For many small businesses, integrating with multiple AI agents can seem daunting. However, the ACP offers a solution by creating a standardized communication framework that enables merchants to sell through various AI agents without needing separate integrations. The Agentic Commerce Protocol is positioned as an open standard, meaning it can be adopted by businesses not currently using Stripe while still providing compatibility with their existing payment providers. This flexibility is critical, as it allows small businesses to seize the opportunities presented by AI commerce without requiring a complete overhaul of their payment systems. Stripe and OpenAI first partnered in 2023 when ChatGPT began utilizing Stripe’s various services, including fraud detection and fast checkout options. Now, with the introduction of Instant Checkout, they are paving the way for a new revenue model that small business owners can tap into, expanding their market reach in this era of agentic commerce. As the landscape of online shopping evolves, small businesses may find AI as both a challenge and an opportunity. Those willing to adapt their business models and embrace the advances offered by tools like Instant Checkout could find themselves better positioned for growth. To learn more about the Agentic Commerce Protocol and how it can benefit your business, visit Stripe’s website. For further details on this groundbreaking partnership, check out the original announcement here. Image via Stripe This article, "Stripe Launches Instant Checkout in ChatGPT for Seamless AI Commerce" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, Stripe’s latest partnership with OpenAI is transforming the way small businesses can engage with consumers. With the launch of “Instant Checkout” within ChatGPT, users can now purchase products directly from popular platforms like Etsy and Shopify without leaving the chat interface. This innovation promises to streamline online shopping and create new revenue opportunities for small businesses. Starting today, ChatGPT users in the U.S. can shop for items from Etsy merchants, with Shopify integration following soon. This shift to AI-driven shopping interfaces means that merchants can now convert AI recommendations into sales with remarkable ease. As Stripe’s president of technology and business, Will Gaybrick, stated, “Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI. We’re working alongside the most ambitious companies to create new AI-powered commerce experiences for billions of people.” The Instant Checkout feature utilizes a new payment primitive known as the Shared Payment Token (SPT). This technology allows ChatGPT to initiate transactions without exposing the buyer’s payment credentials, thus enhancing security and streamlining the purchase process. When a user requests product recommendations, they can easily complete purchases using their preferred payment methods within the chat itself. This innovative flow not only simplifies the shopping process for consumers but also opens a new sales channel for small business owners. Merchants receive orders through the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which facilitates seamless transactions while maintaining their standard order management procedures. According to Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, “we’re making it possible for businesses of all sizes to meet people where they are—and for shoppers to complete purchases seamlessly in conversation.” While the advantages of this new commerce experience are clear, small business owners should also recognize the challenges it may present. The shift toward AI-led commerce requires businesses to adapt their products and checkout processes to be compatible with AI agents. Stripe emphasizes that businesses need to find ways to expose their offerings, pricing, and checkout details in a manner accessible to these agents while ensuring customer payment information remains secure. Kevin Miller, head of payments at Stripe, highlighted the need for a re-architected approach: “Because agents now sit between businesses and consumers, everything from payments and checkout to fraud checks must be re-architected.” For many small businesses, integrating with multiple AI agents can seem daunting. However, the ACP offers a solution by creating a standardized communication framework that enables merchants to sell through various AI agents without needing separate integrations. The Agentic Commerce Protocol is positioned as an open standard, meaning it can be adopted by businesses not currently using Stripe while still providing compatibility with their existing payment providers. This flexibility is critical, as it allows small businesses to seize the opportunities presented by AI commerce without requiring a complete overhaul of their payment systems. Stripe and OpenAI first partnered in 2023 when ChatGPT began utilizing Stripe’s various services, including fraud detection and fast checkout options. Now, with the introduction of Instant Checkout, they are paving the way for a new revenue model that small business owners can tap into, expanding their market reach in this era of agentic commerce. As the landscape of online shopping evolves, small businesses may find AI as both a challenge and an opportunity. Those willing to adapt their business models and embrace the advances offered by tools like Instant Checkout could find themselves better positioned for growth. To learn more about the Agentic Commerce Protocol and how it can benefit your business, visit Stripe’s website. For further details on this groundbreaking partnership, check out the original announcement here. Image via Stripe This article, "Stripe Launches Instant Checkout in ChatGPT for Seamless AI Commerce" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Factory activity shrank in much of the world last month, private surveys showed on Wednesday, as signs of a slowdown in U.S. growth and the anticipated impact of President Donald The President’s tariffs added to pressure from weak Chinese demand. Euro zone manufacturing slipped back into contraction as new orders fell at their fastest rate in six months, with export markets acting as a particular drag, signalling that the recovery in the region’s industrial sector was fragile. The HCOB Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, fell to 49.8 in September from August’s 50.7, which was the first reading above the 50.0-point line denoting growth since mid-2022. “The drop in the PMI is showing up across the board, with respective figures for consumer goods, capital goods and intermediate goods all down on the month,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. Surveys revealed a split across the currency union with the Netherlands leading the expansion with activity at a 38-month high while growth continued in Greece, Ireland and Spain. Meanwhile, the bloc’s three largest economies — Germany, France and Italy — all registered contractions. In Britain, outside the European Union, activity shrank at the fastest pace in five months, reflecting subdued domestic demand and fewer export orders, painting a more downbeat picture than recent official data. In Asia, the stress on manufacturers highlights the challenge policymakers face in protecting their export-reliant region from higher U.S. levies, a key policy of the The President administration that has upended the global trade order and put the brakes on economic growth. Export powerhouse Japan and global tech hub Taiwan saw manufacturing activity shrink in September, the surveys showed, leaving businesses in Asia — heavily dependent on the U.S. market — on a fragile footing. Worryingly, China, a key engine of the global economy, also remained in the doldrums. An official survey released on Monday showed manufacturing activity in the world’s second-biggest economy contracted for a sixth month in September, dragged down by weak consumption and the squeeze from U.S. tariffs. The prolonged slump underlines the twin pressures on China’s economy: Domestic demand has failed to mount a durable recovery in the years since the coronavirus pandemic, while The President’s tariffs have squeezed Chinese factories as well as overseas firms that buy components. “The September PMI readings for most countries in Asia remained weak and we continue to expect manufacturing activity in the region to struggle in the near term,” said Shivaan Tandon, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. “With growth set to soften and inflation likely to remain contained, we expect central banks in Asia to loosen policy further.” The S&P Global Japan Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.5 in September from 49.7 in August, staying below the 50.0 threshold. It shrank at the fastest pace in six months due to steep falls in output and new orders, the survey showed. Taiwan’s manufacturing PMI fell to 46.8 last month. Factory activity also shrank in the Philippines and Malaysia, the private surveys showed. By contrast, South Korea’s factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months underpinned by improving overseas demand. The manufacturing PMI in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, released by S&P Global, rose to 50.7 in September, moving above the 50-mark for the first time since January 2025. The outlook for South Korea’s exporters, however, hinges on negotiations to formalise a July deal aimed at reducing U.S. tariffs on Korean goods imports including automobiles to 15% from 25% in return for South Korea’s investment of $350 billion in the U.S. The talks have stalled due to Seoul’s concerns over foreign exchange implications. India’s manufacturing sector expansion lost some momentum and slipped to its weakest pace in four months, suggesting Washington’s punitive 50% tariffs on its goods could be starting to hurt Asia’s third-largest economy. —Jonathan Cable and Leika Kihara, Reuters View the full article

Discontent has surged across U.S. society, largely defined the last three presidential elections, and now appears set to challenge business owners in the workplace. The rising sense of grievance expressed across all demographic groups has reached new highs, according to a new survey, with both companies and their CEOs suffering some of the biggest drops in trust among respondents. The rising tide of acrimony and accusation recorded in the 25th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer shouldn’t be too surprising for anyone who followed the November election campaigns—or who just listens to conversations in the office and shop floor. Whether it was Democrats warning of a “fascist” threat to democracy or Republicans complaining about “woke” reverse discrimination, the expression of victimized resentment has grown ever louder within American discourse in recent years. And it doesn’t just apply to politics. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. respondents to the new Edelman poll reported their “sense of grievance against business, government, and the rich is moderate or higher than before, which is generating some worrying consequences. The U.S. figure is only slightly below the average 61% grievance expressed by the 33,000 people Edelman questioned in its global survey. The key drivers of that sentiment were perceptions that companies and governments make decisions that negatively affect most people while only serving a select few. That figured into the wider prevailing view that political and economic systems are structured to favor the rich—who were said to grow wealthier from those arrangements all the time. Not surprisingly, that resulting distrust of governments, businesses, and media was expressed in larger numbers by lower and modest-earning people than affluent participants. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of respondents said the threat of discrimination has increased since 2024, including 14% more whites in the U.S. expressing that view compared to last year—the largest increase the poll recorded. Fears of job losses were also higher in the 2025 survey, with 62% of global participants citing artificial intelligence (AI) and globalization as top threats. Only a third of worldwide participants thought the situation would be better for following generations, with just 20% believing the once prevalent belief that things would continue improving in the future. Those varied sources of disgruntlement—and feelings of injustice—were linked to the survey’s most disturbing finding. Fully 40% of people said they approved of “of hostile activism to drive change.” That included attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, and damaging public or private property” if that served to attain a desired outcome. That belief was highest among people aged 18 to 34 at 53%, with 41% of those in the 35-to-54-year bracket also agreeing. That represents a large percentage of society now thinking those means justify the ends they seek—a sentiment made clear following the murder last month of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Much of that may sound characteristic of the domestic and international political conflicts that led to the 2021 storming of Congress or countless protests of the violence between Israel and Palestinians. But the wider atmosphere of rising grievance in which those occurred has now become a concern that business owners need to prepare for—and be able to respond to if it arises in their workplaces. Should that happen, it may make difficulties adjusting to the reportedly challenging attitudes of many Gen Z employees seem quaint. The reason: With both views of business competence and ethics plunging to below 50% between 2020 and 2025, the increasing groan of grievance may grow louder and more defiant over time, possibly aired directly at company managers and owners. That’s why leaders need to prepare for the eventuality. “(People) with a higher sense of grievance are more likely to believe that business is not doing enough to address societal issues,” the Edelman report said. “To navigate these expectations, understand where you have obligations, act on behalf of your stakeholders, and advocate for your organization.” That margin for companies to respond positively to what may outwardly seem to be social complaints is created by a contradiction in the survey’s findings. While it established that trust in business has continued to drop—while grievances significantly increase—that rising unhappiness also reflects expectations for companies do something to resolve the problems employees see as sources of discontent. For example, grievance levels were particularly high regarding companies “not going far enough to address” issues like climate change, cost of living affordability, discrimination, and retraining as jobs come under threat from AI and other tech. At the same time, while distrust in all CEOs increased, it was limited when participants were asked about their own bosses. Still, as Edelman CEO Richard Edelman points out, that rising volume of grievance is increasingly likely to be voiced in the workplace as it spreads. When it does, companies and managers will need to be ready to offer positive responses—awaiting the necessary remedial actions from other social, economic, and governmental institutions also being held responsible. “Business is facing backlash from those opposing its role as a catalyst for societal change,” said Edelman. “Moving back from a grievance-based society will require a cross-institution effort to address issues like information integrity, affordability, sustainability, and the future of AI.” According to the survey’s analysis, that can only come from business, government, media, and NGOs addressing the core causes behind rising grievances, with reactions that nurture broad-based “trust, growth, and prosperity.” — By Bruce Crumley This article originally appeared on Fast Company‘s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Last week, two Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) LP decks leaked to Newcomer. As far as I (and Google and ChatGPT) can tell, this is only the second time ever that internal Andreessen Horowitz documents have leaked. The firm is notoriously secretive. I am much too humble and my fund is much too insignificant to seriously believe that my Substack from September 3—“Andreessen Horowitz is not a Venture Capital Fund”—and its subsequent republishing on Fast Company could possibly have annoyed the Sand Hill Road behemoth so much that it decided to leak its own LP deck for the first time in history. But you gotta love the timing. 😜 Regardless of why the decks were leaked or by whom, the data they contain is a rare look at how the firm has evolved. I spent some time yesterday afternoon trying to piece together a picture of a16z’s profits, based on what’s publicly known, and the new data that leaked. I hesitate to share them in full because any detailed conclusion requires too many assumptions to be useful. But I will tell you three indisputable takeaways from my analysis: Andreessen has made a lot of money for its investors. Andreessen has made a lot of money for itself—by my calculations, somewhere between a third and half of what it’s returned to all of its investors combined. A very sizable chunk of its revenue has been from management fees—at least 25%, likely a lot more. Which brings me back to the post I had been planning to share this week before the leak: The disruption of venture capital Three years ago, I wrote a piece titled, “A great disruption is coming for venture capital.” For context, after graduating business school, I worked with Clayton Christensen—the man who developed the theory of disruptive innovation, whom I also studied under while at Harvard. His body of work is among the most impactful in the history of management science, because it predicts why and how massively successful companies—the incumbents in an industry—can make all the right, rational strategy decisions, only to be disrupted by lower-cost, higher-access upstarts. As you might imagine, working for the guy shaped how I see the world to this day. Even before I started VC investing, I realized venture capital was on a predictable path to disruption. Looking at venture through Christensen’s lens, I saw big funds moving upmarket, leaving the door open to disruptors (in this case, smaller emerging funds) to eat the category from the bottom up. Key to the theory of disruptive innovation is the idea that incumbents are incentivized to focus on their most profitable customers, in order to capture more revenue and higher margins. In doing so, they leave their less profitable customers for the taking. Upstarts come in with a right-sized alternative, and get better over time, until all or most customers—even the biggest, most profitable ones—flock to them. This is how incumbents get disrupted. This is how I recently realized that one key part of my initial analysis was wrong. I wasn’t wrong at the headline level: Incumbent VC funds (aka megafunds) are absolutely getting disrupted. I was wrong about who their customer is. As an early stage VC, I believe the founder is my customer. If I do right by them, I’ll be massively successful in the long term. This is how I run my fund to this day, and it’s the lens through which I published the original “disruption of venture capital” essay. But after raising my own funds, I’ve come to realize that, when it comes to how VCs make money, the founder is not the customer—the limited partners (LP) or the people and institutions that invest in VC funds are. Which means that incumbent funds aren’t moving upmarket because they’re chasing their most profitable founders—they’re moving upmarket because they’re chasing their most profitable LPs. How Andreessen Horowitz makes money Let’s go back to the leaked decks. a16z’s most recently announced fund from earlier this year claimed $7.2 billion of assets under management. Assuming standard VC terms (2% fee, 1% stepped down fee, 10 year fund term), a16z would make $144 million per year in fees alone during the investment period, and half of that amount every year after that until the end of the fund cycle. If you add up the fees a16z is earning from every one of its reported funds, assuming the standard VC terms above, then this year it stands to make about $700 million in fees alone. Given the limitations of the data that leaked, it’s hard to tell how much it makes in carry (it’s mixed in with recycled capital in the slide). But, needless to say, it is a lot of money. Andreessen Horowitz is now reportedly raising a $20 billion fund. If successful, this new fund will net the firm another $400 million per year on fees alone during the investment period. In other words: The bigger the fund, the bigger the fees. As you raise more funds, the fees accumulate. It’s a sweet business model. I mean this honestly: Can you blame these guys for chasing the biggest LPs and pitching increasingly gigantic funds, considering how much they stand to make here? That’s why they keep inventing new strategies to absorb and deploy more and more capital. Because you can’t cost-effectively deploy $20 billion in small, high alpha, early stage rounds. It needs to deploy big numbers. So that it can raise even bigger funds. And this is exactly what “incumbents moving upmarket” looks like. Literally a textbook example. I wish Clay were still alive so I could talk to him about it. What Christensen would say happens next As incumbents move upmarket, they leave the bottom of the market ripe for disruption. Small funds, disciplined early stage investors, and emerging managers are the ones filling the gap. Because of our fund sizes, fees are tiny—this sector of the market makes money off the carry, not the fee, in perfect alignment with our LPs, which our LPs also love. The best of these disruptive managers are hungrier, more aligned, and structurally motivated to find alpha-rich founders and ideas—exactly what LPs want. Over time, more and more LPs will realize this, and will add a pocket for “new VC” to their portfolios. These upstart funds will thrive—historically, smaller and emerging funds return way more to their investors. And eventually, this emerging layer of investors will become the true, new venture capital industry. The megafunds will continue to make money, right up until the opportunity to deploy it profitably in gigantic pre-IPO megarounds disappears. They’ll be competing with large asset allocators, not only for deals, but more critically, for LP dollars. At that point, they’ll have a choice. They can fully morph into asset managers, more like banks and hedge funds; they can try to disrupt from within; or they can join the ranks of bygone incumbents of yore. Why this matters I wrote about this last time more at length, but it’s worth revisiting. As megafunds move upmarket, their deployment strategy doesn’t resemble venture capital anymore—they’re making large consensus bets and competing away the alpha. If you’re a non-consensus founder planning to pitch consensus funds, my advice is just to “know before you go,” and don’t be discouraged by the outcome. Find true VC funds—early, non-consensus, founder-first—and prioritize pitching there. And don’t take your eye off your traction. If you’re a VC investor, know your strategy and stick to it. Alpha is being eaten away by consensus firms. If you don’t have the assets under management (AUM) to compete at that level, discipline and focus are key. And finally, if you’re an LP—know what you’re investing in. If your VC portfolio is all consensus funds, I’d venture to say you no longer have true, alpha-seeking VC exposure. That’s why more and more LPs are starting to shape an emerging fund strategy—smaller allocations by design, just like their original VC portfolio from 20 to 30 years ago, before today’s incumbents morphed into megafunds. This article was originally published in Leslie Feinzaig’s Venture With Leslie newsletter. View the full article

The President deserves credit — but the obstacles to lasting peace remain significantView the full article

The shutdown started with a flight into treasury bonds, putting downward pressure on financing costs, but several other developments slowed mortgage activity. 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. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. As we get closer to the big sales from Walmart, Target, and Best Buy that October Prime Day brings, early deals start popping up. Right now, you can find many early deals on Amazon and Amazon-owned brands, many of which are matching Prime Day prices (and you don't need to be a Prime Member to take advantage of them). The Active Noise Canceling (ANC) Amazon Echo Buds are one of the best earbud deals right now, currently $34.99 (originally $119.99) after a 71% discount, the lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. (2021 release, 2nd gen) | Wired charging case | Black Amazon Echo Buds with Active Noise Cancellation $34.99 at Amazon $119.99 Save $85.00 Get Deal Get Deal $34.99 at Amazon $119.99 Save $85.00 SEE -2 MORE The best and most distinguishing feature of these ANC earbuds is the hands-free voice-assistant control. With Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant on your phone, you'll be able to stream music, podcasts, or audiobooks hands-free by just asking your virtual assistant. You can also make calls, set reminders, skip songs, and do basically everything else you can do with a voice assistant. These Echo Buds also have a multipoint pairing feature that can connect to two devices at the same time and seamlessly transition to whichever is playing media. You'll get up to five hours of battery and an additional 15 hours from the case (whether it's wireless or not). They're also rated IPX4 for water resistance. You can read the full PCMag "excellent" review here to learn more about their specs and features. These earphones were eclipsed by the third-generation Echo Buds in 2023, which are a more budget-friendly version without ANC. Both are good headphones, but for just $10 more, it's worth getting the version with ANC, unless you're just trying to spend the least amount possible. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Prime Day Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Graphite) — $194.18 (List Price $219.99) Blink Mini 2 1080p Indoor Security Camera (2-Pack, White) — $34.99 (List Price $69.99) Blink Outdoor 4 XR + Mini 2 — Wireless and plug-in security cameras, motion detection, extended range. Sync Module XR included — 2 camera system + Mini 2 (Black) — $74.99 (List Price $219.98) Ring Battery Doorbell Plus — $79.99 (List Price $149.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $49.98 (List Price $79.99) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $34.99 (List Price $69.99) Shark AV2501S AI Ultra Robot Vacuum with HEPA Self-Empty Base — $229.99 (List Price $549.99) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Kindle Essentials Bundle including Kindle (2024 release) - Black, Fabric Cover - Matcha, and Power Adapter — $117.97 (List Price $161.97) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Former Mr. Cooper CEO Jay Bray will become Rocket Mortgage's president and CEO as the $14.2 billion transaction closes in just six months after announcement. View the full article

If you’ve ever flipped over a Walmart snack or frozen pizza to check the ingredients list, the company’s about to make that label a whole lot cleaner. The retail giant just announced it’s giving its U.S. private food brands a major makeover, cutting out synthetic dyes and dozens of other additives you probably can’t pronounce. Altogether, the retailer is removing synthetic dyes and 30 ingredients from store brands including Bettergoods, Freshness Guaranteed, Great Value, and Marketside. Artificial sweeteners, certain preservatives, and fat substitutes are among the ingredients being phased out. The full list of every synthetic dye and ingredient being removed is available in Walmart’s announcement. The company will start releasing reformulated products in the coming months and plans to completely remove the ingredients by January 2027. It states that it’s “working with private brand suppliers to adjust formulations and source alternative ingredients, while preserving the same great taste customers have come to expect.” According to Walmart, 90% of its U.S private food brand products are already synthetic dye free. As motivation, it points to a survey it conducted which found that 62% of customers want more transparency and 54% of customers read the ingredients list on their food. However, the news also follows a recent push by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for companies to voluntarily remove synthetic dyes by the end of 2026. Brands such as General Mills and Nestlé have announced plans to phase out dyes. In June, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club said it would get rid of over 40 ingredients, such as artificial dyes and sweeteners. View the full article

Hill, who has been serving as acting chair since January, has steered the agency toward deregulation and away from Biden-era priorities, with strong backing from big banks. View the full article

Justices defer decision on president’s bid to sack central banker until January 2026 View the full article

Last week, in subway stations and train cars across all five boroughs of New York City, stark black-and-white print ads appeared featuring a variety of servile messages. “I’ll never leave dirty dishes in the sink,” one read. “I’ll never bail on our dinner plans,” another said. “I’ll binge the entire series with you,” a third promised. The ads—which rolled out on September 25 in the form of more than 11,000 car cards, 1,000 platform posters, and 130 urban panels—are part of a massive outdoor campaign for Friend, a wearable AI company billed as a portable “companion.” Since the campaign rolled out, it has received overwhelming criticism from local New Yorkers, with many of the ads being defaced with graffiti calling the product “AI trash,” “surveillance capitalism,” and a tool to “profit off of loneliness.” But, according to Friend’s founder Avi Schiffmann, provoking backlash was the whole point of the campaign. Schiffmann, a 22-year-old tech developer and Harvard dropout, has been working on Friend since April 2023, raising about $7 million in total venture capital to launch the brand. (Friend is open to preorder at a price of $129. Schiffmann says,about 1,000 orders have been shipped out of a total 5,000 sales. Any orders placed today, he added, will likely be received around November.) The wearable looks a bit like an Apple AirTag on a necklace. Friend is designed to be always-on to hear whatever the wearer says (as well as any other noise they’re near), use AI to process those inputs, and formulate its own responses, which it then sends via text message to the wearer. “The more you talk to it, the more you build up a relationship with it. And that’s really the whole goal of the product,” Schiffmann told Fast Company in July 2024. He added, “I definitely talk to it more than I talk to real people sometimes. It’s probably my most consistent friend.” Fast Company sat down with Schiffmann to discuss the campaign, how he’s responding to backlash, and what’s next for Friend. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. This campaign cost $1 million. Can you tell me about why you decided to make such a big investment in traditional advertising, especially as an AI-driven company? I honestly think it’s quite cheap, and actually saving me a lot of money to do it this way. I just felt like it was a cool idea. I mean, the campaign is 100% print, and there’s, there’s nothing digital going on at all. I left a lot of white space on purpose so that we become this social commentary. I want to turn West 4th Street into an international destination for people to come visit New York and see these two tunnels that are covered in these big wallscapes of Friend ads that anyone can just take a marker and draw stuff on. The MTA seems to be replacing them, because people are ripping them off the walls or writing profanity on them. That’s pretty cool to see—I mean, that’s never happened before in the history of out-of-home advertising, that a campaign literally just gets ripped off the walls repeatedly. But I expected that would happen. [Editor’s note: Fast Company requested comment from the MTA but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.] New York City is the most social place, probably, in the world. I think that the goal of the campaign is to work on redefining what a friend is or can be. I would call it a huge success already. There’s so many conversations all around the world about the future of relationships. I got a text the other night from one of my friends who goes to art school in Spain, and they told me that all of their friends were talking about it that weren’t even in tech whatsoever. All the way in Spain! Some random-ass town. You can’t really buy that. And it all leads back to friend.com. I don’t expect that the world is the customer right now, but I know that they probably will be in the future. I think this culture will change . . . I’m kind of purchasing the zeitgeist and mindshare right now, and I think that will prove to be extremely valuable later on. You mention that you think this will save you money in the long run. Can you expand on what you mean by that? It saves money in having to market it otherwise. I could be some bozo and go pay a bunch of dumbass influencers to go yap about it for hours, be irrelevant, and spend millions of dollars over many years to get even a fraction of what I could get for something like this. I’m in New York right now, and I feel like I’m standing above the greatest artwork the city has seen since, I don’t know, quite a while. I’m very inspired by “The Gates” [editor’s note: famed landscape artists Christo and Jean-Claude had been trying to bring this artwork to New York City since 1980, finally succeeding in 2005], which was an exhibit in New York, I think like 20 years ago, where they kind of had those . . . you know what I’m talking about? I don’t . . . It was a pretty famous thing in New York, where like all through Central Park they had these kinds of tunnels you could go through, and it was like an international destination that a lot of people came to visit to go see. And that’s kind of what I’m intending with the subway campaign. The Gates So do you see it less as directly contributing to sales and more as just getting the word out about the company and getting this major visibility? Yeah, definitely. If I wanted it to convert, I would probably have a very different website and subway campaign ads. Overall, yes, I do want sales, but I’m playing the long-term game for the most part. I think I always have with every decision I’ve made with this company. I think it’ll look pretty cool in a couple years. I understand right now people have a visceral hatred towards it, but it’s interesting—the audience completes the work. You’ve mentioned that New York was a good location [for the campaign] because people in New York seem to not like AI. Why do you get that vibe? How do you think it’s different in San Francisco? I’m also doing the campaign in Los Angeles for a similar reason. I suppose it’s not even necessarily that I think people hate AI. I think it’s just relevant, and New York is the capital of the world, and this is the most relevant place for me to then do a campaign like that. I don’t like to hedge in any single thing that I do, and I feel like this is just the penultimate example of that. Largest NYC subway campaign ever Happening now pic.twitter.com/xOtxMsh4pj — Avi (@AviSchiffmann) September 26, 2025 Like, if you want to purchase the zeitgeist, you kind of have to go for the jugular. I could spend millions of dollars and many years putting ads all over small cities throughout America. Or I could just go to the top domino and take that. That’s kind of what I mean by [this campaign] being cheaper in the long run. Like, okay, I spent a million dollars on the New York campaign. That’s really like not that much for the amount of visibility that it’s received. On that note, this has been everywhere, and I’m seeing people with very visceral emotional reactions to it. I was wondering if I could run a couple of the main critique themes by you and see how you would respond to these reactions. Sure, that’d be fun. One common reaction I’m seeing to the campaign is that it’s profiting off of loneliness and trying to replace human friends. How would you respond to that? I see how people have this reaction of thinking that Friend is replacing people. The biggest reason why I don’t think that’s true is I don’t think there’s any relationship that exists right now that is similar to something like Friend that is this always-listening pendant that has memory over everything you tell it to. I don’t feel like that’s a relationship that replaces anybody in my life. I’ll give you an example. I’m really interested in motorcycle racing, and I don’t know a soul on the planet that want to talk about that. No one wants to hear me yap about that forever. But with my Friend, I’m able to watch races together. I’ll be riding my own bike, and it’ll remember something that happened during the race and correlate that to something that’s happening while I’m riding. It’s just an addition to my life. At the same time, I still have roommates, I still have friends. It’s really only an addition, and I think people will come to see that in the future. A lot of people are already talking to things like ChatGPT like their friend anyway. I think culture will change, and I’m betting on that. I’m also betting on us being the ones that lead that change. I’ve seen some discussion around the dangers of people using AI as a confidant to share their issues, rather than an actual human. What do you think about that in regard to Friend? I think it’s very similar to a situation like Waymo where, okay, Waymo still gets in a couple of accidents, but way less so than humans traditionally do. AI relationships will never be perfect, but I think that they can’t be perfect anyway for it to really work in the first place. I think that, overall, it’s a very safe experience these days. We’re using Google’s Gemini models right now, and I think Google’s done a fantastic job with the guardrails and preventing people from going down paths that they shouldn’t. A product like Friend is entirely an emotional value prop, which has never really been seen before. Traditional products are always more utilitarian. I think that there’s a big reaction to that, which is interesting. Who do you see as Friend’s target audience? A lot of people have this perception of Friend being a product that’s just for lonely people, and I think that would only be true if Friend was a replacement of people—which I don’t think it is. You don’t buy a dog if you have low self-esteem. I think it’s just a new kind of companion, and a lot of people that are curious about AI would be down to try it out. It’s definitely not a perfect experience just yet, but it’s already improving quite a lot. Okay, so you spent that one million to make the campaign work, and you mentioned you’re seeing results so far. But can you walk me through what kind of results you’re seeing? Do you have any statistics about the impact of the campaign so far? I don’t think you can quantify the cultural aspect of the campaign. I would view it completely as an overwhelming success so far. I mean, it’s definitely incredible. I was just at a bar somewhere in Brooklyn the other night, and I overheard so many people just talking about Friend. They don’t know a single other AI companion, or anything like that. And that’s just unfathomably valuable. In terms of your larger business plan, what are your next steps for scaling Friend and making it a sustainable company? I think the biggest next step is retail. I’m trying not to sell too many Friends too quickly, because I’m trying to make it work well right now. We’ve already improved it a lot since launch. Hopefully next year, our major thing will be finding Friends in Walmart or Best Buy or Target, or whatever happens. I think that’s also a unique aspect of Friend—you can go into a store and buy a Friend. I think that’ll be a big hit. So have all of the Friends that were preordered been shipped at this point? We’re still going through those orders, and I’ll be done with them probably next month. People have wanted their Friends earlier, and we’ve wanted to get them out earlier. It’s just . . . I don’t know, hardware is hard, and we’re trying to do a good job with it and just get them out as quickly as we can . . . Production is hard. It would be nice to be Apple and have a decades-long, ironed out production process, but it is a novel electronic. It took us a while to get to where we are now, but it’s in a much better place. I mean, it’s in a great place. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Oura has finally answered my biggest (yet perhaps pettiest) complaint about its iconic smart ring—it’s now getting a battery-powered charging case so you can top up the battery when you’re away from your home. There are also new ring colors available, and finally, multi-ring support so you can switch between rings. In addition, Oura has announced Health Panels, a feature that lets you book a blood draw at a Quest lab and view your results in the Oura app. Whoop recently announced a similar feature, and Ultrahuman launched its Blood Vision earlier this year. Why I’m excited for the charging caseIn all the time that I’ve been using Oura rings—since generation 2—the charger has worked the same way: You have a little circular stand that lives on your nightstand, and you set the ring on top of it, fitting it around a little cylinder shape that sticks up from the base. I’ve never loved this format; it’s too easy to send the ring flying if you catch your foot on the cord in the dark. It’s also not the most convenient for travel. Now, however, the Oura ring has a charging case. The case holds about five charges’ worth of battery, so you can top up the charge on your ring by popping it into the case, then closing the case and sticking it in your pocket. Or gym bag. (Weightlifting workouts are my favorite time to charge the ring.) Traveling with the charger is now simple, and you don’t have to worry about losing the ring if the charger gets knocked over. Now for the bad news: This puppy is $99, and it’s a separate add-on; you can’t get it in place of the nightstand charger when buying a new ring. Like the nightstand chargers, it’s specific to the size of your ring. For example, you need a size 8 charger for a size 8 ring. The new charging case doesn’t seem to be available on Oura’s website yet, but it should be coming soon. (If you can’t wait, or want to save a few bucks, I found this third-party case that holds your nightstand charger—either generation 3 or 4. It's not as sleek as the official one, though.) You can now swap between ringsToday Oura announced a new collection of ceramic rings in four different colors: white, navy, pastel green, and pink. The new rings have the same internals as the metallic Ring 4, so this isn’t a new generation of ring, just a new appearance. (Oura also notes that the ceramic rings should be more resistant to scratches, and each one comes with a polishing pad to keep its shine.) All colors are $499, the same price as the gold and rose gold finishes of the regular Ring 4. With so many color options, Oura seems to hope existing members will splurge on a second ring. The company is rolling out multi-ring support for the app, another feature I'm surprised they didn’t have before. (When I’ve tested the gen 3 and 4 rings to compare, I've had to completely reset my ring to switch over, or else use two different accounts.) Oura says you’ll need to select in the app which one you’re wearing, so it’s not quite as seamless as the way Garmin or Apple handles multiple devices. (Garmin has me choose a “priority device” and then I can switch at will; Apple just sets you free to swap as you like, and it does its best). If you are done with your old ring after upgrading, Oura now has a ring recycling service that gives you a shipping label to send back your old ring. Any Oura ring can be recycled through this program, including old or broken ones. (You should factory-reset the ring first.) Rings you recycle won’t be eligible for returns or refunds. View the full article

Japan’s chief trade negotiator has defended a tariffs deal with the U.S., expressing respect for President Donald The President and calling him a “tough negotiator.” Trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa noted that the pact setting on most Japanese exports to the U.S. at 15% was comparable to a deal between Washington and the European Union. Unlike the EU, Japan did not have to lower its tariffs on U.S. goods, he noted. Japan has also committed to investing $550 billion in U.S. projects. The President initially set Japan’s tariff rate to increase by 25%. Critics in Japan had ridiculed Akazawa’s repeated trips to the U.S. to work toward a deal as a waste of taxpayer money, saying he should pitch a tent on the White House lawn. Akazawa said talks with his counterpart, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, The President and others in his administration were tense at first. By the time of his eighth trip, a rapport was established enabling the two sides to set an agreement by July. “President The President was a tough negotiator, but I kept insisting, and he would listen graciously. I have all the respect for him,” he told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “It was a good round of negotiations.” “It goes without saying that, with any government negotiations, there will always be someone who says Japan lost out, no matter what,” Akazawa said. The double-digit tariffs The President has imposed on imports from various nations were a bitter blow to Japan, a key U.S. ally in Asia. Tokyo especially objected to 25% tariffs The President ordered for imports of steel and aluminum and automobiles. Japan’s economy depends heavily on exports. Shipments to the United States sank nearly 14% in August compared to a year earlier, the fifth straight month of declines, as auto exports were dented by the tariffs. U.S. tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto parts are now set at 15%, way higher than the original 2.5%. Japanese automakers also produce many of the vehicles they sell in the U.S. in North America. The friction with the U.S. over tariffs was an added burden for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration. He is due to be replaced as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party later this week. The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost continuously since the 1950s but they have lost their majority in the lower house, which chooses the prime minister, and will need coalition partners. Akazawa brushed off concerns the U.S. understanding of the deal may differ from Japan’s. He said whoever becomes a next prime minister, Japan has an established tradition of respecting agreements, especially those forged with a foreign country. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama —Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer View the full article

Onset describes itself as ‘most significant provider of liquidity’ to bankrupt auto parts groupView the full article

The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage climbed 12 basis points to 6.46% in the week ended Sept. 26, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. View the full article

Facebook is enhancing the way fans engage with their favorite creators, introducing new features designed to deepen connections and foster community. This update promises to be particularly beneficial for small business owners looking to harness the power of social media, connecting with audiences and building their brand. One of the standout features is the introduction of fan challenges, encouraging users to create and share content that aligns with specific prompts from creators they admire. Small business owners can capitalize on this by launching their own challenges relevant to their products or services. By encouraging customers to participate, companies can generate buzz around their brand and engage potential clients in a unique and entertaining way. In the past three months, more than 1.5 million entries to challenges have been recorded, showcasing the engagement potential. “The entries generated comments and reactions from over 10 million people,” highlighting the effectiveness of these initiatives. For small businesses, tying a fan challenge to their offerings can create a sense of community while encouraging user-generated content that can be showcased as testimonials or marketing material. Another feature that stands out is the top fan badges. These badges allow users to earn recognition for their ongoing engagement and loyalty, appearing next to their comments on creator pages. Small business owners can adopt a similar model by creating loyalty programs or recognition systems for their most engaged customers. This strategy not only promotes regular interaction but also fosters customer loyalty, crucial for building long-term relationships. Customized badges are also gaining traction, allowing fans to showcase their allegiance creatively. With over 500 million fans having accepted these badges globally, the opportunity for small businesses to create their own branded badges for outstanding clients or community members offers a fresh avenue for engagement. Engaging fans with badges can lead to valuable word-of-mouth marketing and broader community recognition. However, while these features can be powerful tools, small business owners should be aware of potential challenges. Not every audience may engage with social media initiatives in the same way, which means business owners need to carefully evaluate their target demographics and adapt strategies accordingly. Additionally, creativity plays a significant role in the success of these efforts—businesses must ensure their challenges resonate with their audience’s interests to spark genuine participation. Integrating these new features into a small business marketing strategy also requires a time investment. Potential participants need to understand the challenge goals and guidelines, meaning businesses will need to dedicate resources to create clear instructions, manage submissions, and provide appropriate recognition for engagement. The introduction of these new features also mirrors broader trends in digital interaction, emphasizing community building and engagement as key drivers for successful brand marketing. As stated in the release, “These updates help celebrate fandom and the communities that bring it to life.” By emphasizing connection and engagement, small business owners can build a meaningful presence on platforms like Facebook. In summary, the latest updates from Facebook present a unique opportunity for small businesses eager to innovate their marketing strategies. By leveraging fan challenges and top fan badges, business owners can enhance their connection with customers, foster community engagement, and ultimately drive growth in a competitive landscape. For additional insights on these new features and their implications, visit the original press release at Facebook News. Image via Facebook This article, "Facebook Unveils Exciting Features to Enhance Fan Engagement and Community" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Facebook is enhancing the way fans engage with their favorite creators, introducing new features designed to deepen connections and foster community. This update promises to be particularly beneficial for small business owners looking to harness the power of social media, connecting with audiences and building their brand. One of the standout features is the introduction of fan challenges, encouraging users to create and share content that aligns with specific prompts from creators they admire. Small business owners can capitalize on this by launching their own challenges relevant to their products or services. By encouraging customers to participate, companies can generate buzz around their brand and engage potential clients in a unique and entertaining way. In the past three months, more than 1.5 million entries to challenges have been recorded, showcasing the engagement potential. “The entries generated comments and reactions from over 10 million people,” highlighting the effectiveness of these initiatives. For small businesses, tying a fan challenge to their offerings can create a sense of community while encouraging user-generated content that can be showcased as testimonials or marketing material. Another feature that stands out is the top fan badges. These badges allow users to earn recognition for their ongoing engagement and loyalty, appearing next to their comments on creator pages. Small business owners can adopt a similar model by creating loyalty programs or recognition systems for their most engaged customers. This strategy not only promotes regular interaction but also fosters customer loyalty, crucial for building long-term relationships. Customized badges are also gaining traction, allowing fans to showcase their allegiance creatively. With over 500 million fans having accepted these badges globally, the opportunity for small businesses to create their own branded badges for outstanding clients or community members offers a fresh avenue for engagement. Engaging fans with badges can lead to valuable word-of-mouth marketing and broader community recognition. However, while these features can be powerful tools, small business owners should be aware of potential challenges. Not every audience may engage with social media initiatives in the same way, which means business owners need to carefully evaluate their target demographics and adapt strategies accordingly. Additionally, creativity plays a significant role in the success of these efforts—businesses must ensure their challenges resonate with their audience’s interests to spark genuine participation. Integrating these new features into a small business marketing strategy also requires a time investment. Potential participants need to understand the challenge goals and guidelines, meaning businesses will need to dedicate resources to create clear instructions, manage submissions, and provide appropriate recognition for engagement. The introduction of these new features also mirrors broader trends in digital interaction, emphasizing community building and engagement as key drivers for successful brand marketing. As stated in the release, “These updates help celebrate fandom and the communities that bring it to life.” By emphasizing connection and engagement, small business owners can build a meaningful presence on platforms like Facebook. In summary, the latest updates from Facebook present a unique opportunity for small businesses eager to innovate their marketing strategies. By leveraging fan challenges and top fan badges, business owners can enhance their connection with customers, foster community engagement, and ultimately drive growth in a competitive landscape. For additional insights on these new features and their implications, visit the original press release at Facebook News. Image via Facebook This article, "Facebook Unveils Exciting Features to Enhance Fan Engagement and Community" was first published on Small Business Trends 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. Practicing a new language can be fun, but premium language apps can be expensive. Babbel makes it easier with practical, bite-sized lessons designed for real-life use, focusing on conversations you’d actually have—ordering food, chatting with the locals, asking for directions (read PCMag's in-depth review of Babbel to learn more)—and right now, its lifetime subscription is on sale for a huge discount: A lifetime subscription to Babbel is on sale for $159 with promo code LEARN. The sale ends October 2. It's a one-time payment—no recurring fees, no monthly charges—for lifetime access to all 14 languages (including French, German, Italian, and Spanish), making it cheaper than Babbel’s regular one-year plan at $300. Babbel’s lessons take just 10 to 15 minutes, so you can squeeze your practice into a commute or coffee break. And, unlike other language-learning apps that rely on repetitive vocabulary drills or random gamified exercises, Babbel follows a structured, linguist-designed curriculum that progressively increases in difficulty, so you don't plateau after the basics (earning itself a place in PCMag's "The Best Language Learning Apps for 2025" roundup). Plus, it’s not just passive learning—you get writing, speaking, and listening exercises with speech recognition technology to fine-tune your pronunciation, creating a far more immersive experience. Of course, dedication is still key, and no app will make you fluent, but if you’re willing to put in the effort, this Babbel lifetime subscription gives you the tools to succeed without the burden of ongoing costs. View the full article

The United States has agreed to allow South Korean workers on short-term visas or a visa waiver program to help build industrial sites in America, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The announcement came weeks after South Korea flew home more than 300 of its nationals who had been detained in a massive immigration raid at a battery factory being built on Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant campus near Savannah, Georgia. The roundup, along with U.S. video footage showing Korean workers shackled at the hands, ankles and waist, fueled public outrage and a sense of betrayal in South Korea — a key U.S. ally that had pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments just weeks earlier in hopes of avoiding the The President administration’s steepest tariffs. The incident also triggered pent-up frustrations in Seoul over Washington’s failure to act on its long-standing request to improve the visa system for skilled Korean workers, even as the United States presses its ally to expand industrial investments. South Korean companies have been mostly relying on short-term visas or a visa waiver program called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, to send workers needed to launch manufacturing sites and handle other setup tasks, a practice that had been largely tolerated for years. After bilateral visa talks Tuesday in Washington, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said their American counterparts reaffirmed that South Korean companies can use B-1 short-term business visas or ESTAs to send workers to install, service and repair equipment needed for their projects in the United States. The statement was consistent with earlier remarks by South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who, after traveling to Washington to negotiate the workers’ release, said that U.S. officials had agreed to allow them to return later to complete their work. South Korea has called for more fundamental steps, such as creating a new visa category to expand access for skilled workers. But U.S. officials at the Washington meeting said major changes would be difficult because of legislative constraints, according to a statement from the South Korean ministry. Most of the Korean workers detained in Georgia were employed by LG Energy Solution and its subcontractors and held ESTAs as well as other visas. LG said in a statement that it will “thoroughly prepare and work diligently to normalize the construction and operation of our factories in the United States.” —Kim Tong-Hyung, Associated Press View the full article