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The Financial Technology Association will now defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's open banking rule after the The President administration sided with banks that sued the agency. View the full article

A range of investment residential properties, including single-family homes, condominiums and multi-unit properties, will secure the debt. View the full article

Where you work affects your risk of dying by suicide. For example, loggers, musicians and workers in the oil and gas industries have much higher rates of suicide than the rest of the population. But on the flip side, some professions have very low rates of suicide. One of them is education. National and state data shows that educators in the U.S., including teachers, professors and librarians, are among the least likely to die by suicide. We’re a team of researchers at the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University. We manage Arizona’s Violent Death Reporting System, part of a surveillance system sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with counterparts in all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. We collect data on violent deaths, including suicide, thanks to agreements with local medical examiners and law enforcement. When public health researchers like us look at suicide data, we often focus on high-risk populations to learn where intervention and prevention are most needed. But we can learn from low-risk populations such as educators too. Why some professions have higher suicide rates Over the past 25 years, the suicide rate in the U.S. has increased significantly. The age-adjusted rate in 2022 was 14.2 suicides per 100,000 people, up from 10.9 a little over two decades earlier, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Epidemiologists often adjust data for age to allow for a fairer comparison of incidence rates across populations with different age distributions. But not all populations are affected equally. For example, military veterans die by suicide at higher rates than civilians, as do men, older adults and American Indian and Alaska Natives, to name a few demographics. In 2022 the suicide rate for men, for instance, was 23 suicides per 100,000, versus 5.9 for women. The rate of suicide among the working-age population is also growing. Over the past two decades it has increased by 33%, reaching a rate of 32 suicides per 100,000 for men and eight for women in 2021. And workers in certain occupations are at higher risk of dying by suicide than others. The reasons why are complex and diverse. Workers in construction, an industry with some of the highest suicide rates, may face greater stigma getting help for mental health issues, while people in other fields such as law enforcement may be more exposed to traumatic experiences, which can harm their mental health. In short, some explanations are directly tied to one’s work, such as having low job security, little autonomy or agency, and an imbalance of work efforts and rewards. Other factors are more indirect, such as an occupation’s demographic makeup or the type of personality that chooses a profession. Together, factors like these help explain the rate of suicide across occupations. Teachers, professors and librarians Educators, on the other hand, have relatively little suicide risk. By educators, we mean workers classified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as “educational instruction and library,” which includes teachers, tutors, professors, librarians and similar occupations. Nationally, about 11 in 100,000 male educators died by suicide in 2021, with the figure for women being about half that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By contrast, the rate for male workers in arts, design, entertainment, sports and media was 44.5 suicides per 100,000, and the rate for male workers in construction and extraction was 65.6. Data from our state of Arizona follows the same pattern. From 2016 through 2023, a total of 117 educators died by suicide, mostly primary and secondary school teachers. This works out to be an incidence rate of 7.3 suicides per 100,000 educators − one-third the rate for all Arizona workers and the lowest among all occupations in the state. Why educators have a low suicide rate So why are educators at such a low risk of suicide? After all, educational professions certainly present their own challenges. For example, many teachers experience high amounts of burnout, which can cause physical and mental health problems such as headaches, fatigue, anxiety and depression. A good place to begin is the profession’s demographic composition. A disproportionately high share of educators are women or are married − traits associated with lower suicide rates. Educators also tend to have high educational attainment, which may indirectly protect against suicide by increasing socioeconomic status and employability. Another factor is workplace environment. Workplaces that offer increased access to lethal means such as firearms and medications are associated with higher suicide rates. This helps explain why workers in law enforcement, medical professions and the military tend to show high rates. The comparatively low availability of lethal means in schools may help keep educators’ rates low. In addition, educators’ workplaces, typically schools and campuses, offer rich opportunities to form strong social relationships, which improve one’s overall health and help workers cope with job stress. The unique, meaningful bonds many educators form with their students, administrators and fellow educators may offer support that enhances their mental health. Finally, based on more contextual information in our Arizona database, we found that a lower proportion of educators who died by suicide had an alcohol or drug abuse problem. Alcohol or substance abuse problems can increase suicidal ideation and other work-related risk factors such as job insecurity and work-related injury. In short, educators may live a healthier lifestyle compared with some other workers. Improving worker health So, what can workers and employers in other professions learn from this, and how can we improve worker health? One lesson is to develop skills to cope with job stress. All professions are capable of producing stress, which can negatively affect a person’s mental and physical health. Identifying the root cause of job stress and applying coping skills, such as positive thinking, meditation and goal-setting, can have beneficial effects. Developing a social network at the workplace is also key. High-quality social relationships can improve health to a degree on par with quitting smoking. Social relationships provide tangible and intangible support and help establish one’s sense of purpose and identity. This applies outside the workplace, too. So promoting work-life balance is one way organizations can help their employees. Organizations can also strive to foster a positive workplace culture. One aspect of such a culture is establishing a sense of meaning or purpose in the work. For educators, this feature may help offset some of the profession’s challenges. Other aspects include appreciating employees for their hard work, identifying and magnifying employee strengths, and not creating a toxic workplace. It is worth noting that continued research on occupational health is important. In the context of educators, more research is needed to understand how risk differs between and within specific groups. Despite their overall low risk, no person or demographic is immune to suicide, and every suicide is preventable. If you or someone you know is experiencing signs of crisis, the free and confidential 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available to call, text or chat. Jordan Batchelor is a research analyst at the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University. Charles Max Katz is a director of the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University. Taylor Cox is a program coordinator at the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Love watching Netflix for hours on end? There’s a lot more you can do with it if you spend just a few quick minutes in the settings section. You can improve your binge-watching weekend by customizing subtitles, home screen previews, download settings, and more. Here are 18 of the best Netflix tips and tricks. Download your shows and movies offline Credit: Khamosh Pathak Like every other popular streaming service, Netflix lets you download movies and TV shows for offline viewing. Ad-free plans can download up to 100 items per device, while ad-supported plans can download 15 items. And as long as you go online once every 30 days, you can keep that media on your device. To adjust quality, open the Netflix app, go to your Profile, tap the Menu button at the top (the three horizontal lines), then go to App Settings > Downloads > Video Quality. Here, choose between Standard or Higher based on your storage space or network. Now, just tap the Download button next to an episode, season, or movie to download it. You’ll find downloaded media in the Downloads section in your Profile tab, where you can watch and delete shows. Sign out of one, or every other device Credit: Khamosh Pathak Netflix has an option that lets you log out of any device from the website. This includes every device that all members of your account are using. So if you want to knock off TV access for a friend, or someone who's not part of your shared plan, this is the place to go. Click the Profile icon and go to Account. Here, switch to the Devices tab and choose Access and devices. Then, find a device you want to log out from and click Sign Out. You can also click the Sign Out of All Devices button to log out all devices together. Stop Netflix from sharing your private data to third parties Credit: Khamosh Pathak Netflix has an obscure setting that's so weirdly worded that you'd never take it to be about data collection. Netflix, by default, shares your privacy-protected contact information with third parties to display ads on third-party services. That is something you should disable, and it's done on a per-profile basis. Click the Profile icon, go to Account, switch to the Profiles tab, choose your profile, and go to the Privacy and data settings option. Finally, disable the Allow matched identifier communications feature. Repeat this for all the profiles on your account. Transfer your profile to a new account Credit: Khamosh Pathak Netflix's password sharing crack down is in full swing. If you cannot get around it, it might be time to create your own account. But that doesn't mean you need to start fresh with the algorithm. Netflix has a feature called Transfer Profiles that can help you take all your data from an old account to a new one. Open the Netflix website and choose your profile. Then, click the Profile icon at the top and go to Transfer Profile. This will open up a wizard that'll walk you through the next steps. Click Start Profile Transfer and choose if you want to transfer to a brand-new account or to an existing one. Netflix will help you set up a new account with all your data. If you're transferring to an existing account, you'll need to know the email and the password for the account. Follow the instructions to transfer your profile to a new account. Get rid of unwanted content from your watch history and recommendations Credit: Khamosh Pathak Want to get rid of an embarrassing title from your watch list? Or perhaps a title that you’re never going to finish? The only way to clear your Watch List (and the subsequent recommendations) is by removing a title from your Viewing Activity. Go to Netflix’s Viewing Activity page (you can also get there from Account > Profiles > Your Profile > Viewing Activity). Click the little Hide button next to the title that you want to remove. Confirm in the next step, and the title will disappear from your watch list. Enable smart downloads for your mobile devices Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you watch Netflix on the way to work, or if you have a spotty internet connection, the Smart Downloads feature definitely helps. Once enabled, this will automatically delete completed episodes and replace them with subsequent episodes when you’re back on Wi-Fi. You can also turn on "Downloads for you," which automatically downloads content Netflix thinks you'll like. You can enable these features on the iOS and Android apps from Profile > Menu > App Settings > Smart Downloads. Stop Netflix from using too much of your mobile data plan Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you like watching Netflix when you’re out and about, it can eat into your mobile data plan pretty easily. Netflix’s data saver mode can help with that. In the Netflix app, go to Profile > Menu > App Settings > Cellular Data Usage. Here, disable the Automatic feature and switch to the Save Data option. This will adjust quality while off wifi to allow for about six hours of playback per GB of data. Make sure you’re watching in HD or 4K Credit: Khamosh Pathak It would be a shame to pay the 4K plan but only watch in 720p because you didn’t adjust your settings. Go to Netflix’s playback settings page, and from the Data Usage Per Screen option, switch to the High option. Now you’ll get the best quality for the device or screen that you’re on. Stop Netflix from automatically playing next episodes and previews Credit: Khamosh Pathak Netflix loves autoplay. Whether it’s playing the next episode or movie right after you’re done watching something, or playing previews on the home screen, it can get pretty annoying. You can disable both features on a profile-by-profile basis. After opening the Netflix website, go to the Profiles screen. Here, click the Manage Profiles button and choose the profile where you want to disable these features. Now, uncheck Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices and Autoplay previews while browsing on all devices. Click the Save button to save your preferences. Customize your subtitles to be way better Credit: Khamosh Pathak Finding the default subtitles too hard to read? You can change the subtitle font, color, and size. From the Netflix website, click the Profile icon and choose Account. Here, switch to the Profiles tab and select your profile. Now, choose the Subtitle Appearance option. From here, you can change the subtitle font, text size, shadow, background color, and window color. Once you’re done, tap the Save button to save your settings. Choose original dubs in your shows and movies Credit: Khamosh Pathak When you’re watching a foreign language film, Netflix has a habit of defaulting to English language dubbing. Sadly, there’s no setting to stop Netflix from doing that, but there’s always a way to switch to the original audio in the Netflix player. When you’re watching something, go to the Subtitles menu, and from the Audio section, switch to the Original audio. Lock your profile to keep it private from other users Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you share your Netflix account with your friends or family members, your profile isn’t exactly private. Others can see what you’re watching, and they can also use your profile and mess up your recommendations. If you want to protect your profile (especially if you share your account with your kids), click the Profiles icon and choose the Account option. Switch to the Profiles tab, choose your profile, and go to the Profile Lock section. Enter your account password, and from the next page, enable the Require a pin to access (user) account option. Then enter the four-digit pin and click the Save button. The next time you open Netflix, you’ll need to enter this pin to access your profile. Block adult content, if you want Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you’re sharing your Netflix account with your kids or teenagers, you might want to block adult content. To do this, go to the Profiles tab in your Account and choose your profile. Here, go to the Viewing Restrictions section and enter your account password. From the top, you can change the profile's maturity rating (7+ to 18+). If you want, you can also turn the current profile into a children’s profile, only showing content suitable for children. From the bottom, you can even choose to block a particular TV show or movie. Once you’re done, click the Save button. Switch to dialogue-only subtitles Credit: Netflix Netflix has finally added a dialogue-only subtitles option. They're starting out with Netflix original series like the latest season of You. But they'll be supported on every new Netflix Original going forward. This new subtitle option removes commentary and stage directions from the subtitles. So you won't see details about the background music or heavy breathing. You'll just see character dialogue. To switch to this option, start streaming a compatible show or movie on Netflix and head to the Subtitles section. Here, choose English (or any language of your choice) in the Audio section, and English in the Subtitles section as well. If you want to revert to the classic subtitles style, switch to the English (CC) option. Browse better using Netflix's secret codesNetflix's search feature is pretty great, but its organization kind of sucks. On the home screen, you might keep seeing the same popular content repeated in different sections. If you want to discover new content in a particular genre, style, or language, there is a better way. And that's to use Netflix's secret codes. Netflix has codes for every kind of movie category and subcategory that you can imagine. There are 20 broad categories to start with, but there are 267 categories in total, each with their own unique code. You can find a list of all the secret codes at Netflix-Codes.com. Then, just enter the code in the Netflix search bar. Alternatively, you can also use URL to go directly to the category page. An example: In the following URL, replace (xx) with the desired Netflix code: https://netflix.com/browse/genre/xx. So, to view "Asian action movies", you'd navigate to https://netflix.com/browse/genre/77232. A workaround for downloading movies and TV shows on WindowsNetflix's Windows app used to let you download movies and TV shows for offline use. But now, Netflix has deprecated the old dedicated Windows app, replacing it with a web wrapper that's nothing more than a glorified website in app form. A side effect of this change is that you can no longer download content like you can on mobile devices. But there is a workaround, which is to downgrade to the older version. Because this is Windows, where you can install apps from outside of the Windows Store, this is easy and safe to do. To download the old app directly from Microsoft, go to this Adguard store page and paste Netflix's app link. After the download is completed, open the Terminal app on your PC and paste in the following command: Add-AppxPackage .Downloads4DF9E0F8.Netflix_6.99.5.0_neutral_~_mcm4njqhnhss8.AppxBundle That should do the trick. For detailed instructions, check out our guide on the topic. Clean up your Continue Watching rowWe all have a tendency to start a movie or a TV show, only to get tired of it halfway through. Though, Netflix keeps reminding us of our lack of commitment with its Continue Watching feature. I usually end up ignoring this, while a show from three years ago keeps crowding my Continue Watching list. But if you're annoyed by this, there is a way out. If you don't plan to go back to a movie or TV show, simply hover over the thumbnail and click the "X" button to remove it from the list. Get notifications for upcoming contentIf you like watching the latest season of hit Netflix shows the day they come out, this feature is for you. Head over to the Coming Soon section in the Netflix app, find an upcoming movie or TV show that you want to watch, and click the "Remind Me" button. Netflix will now send you a handy reminder when the content launches. View the full article

Unbox and power up a brand new iPhone and you'll find there are plenty of apps already on there—which, broadly speaking, is good! You can start browsing the web, checking your email, streaming music, making notes and much more without visiting the App Store. However, you're not necessarily going to make a lot of use of all of these apps. Uninstalling the ones you don't actually need means they won't take up space on your phone and won't take up bandwidth with app updates. In recent years Apple has made more and more apps optional, and you can now get rid of more apps than you may have realized. If you find you do need them again, you can easily grab them from the App Store. To remove an app from your iPhone, tap and hold on its home screen icon, then choose Remove App > Delete App > Delete. You can also uninstall apps from the App Library: Tap and hold on an icon, then choose Delete App > Delete. Here are the preinstalled iOS apps you can get rid of (it's almost all of them, in fact): Books: Apple's depository of e-books can be uninstalled from your iPhone if you're not interested in any digital reading. It's been bundled with iOS since iOS 8 in 2014. Calculator: If you prefer an alternative calculator app or you're just great at math, you can say goodbye to the Calculator app. It's been around since the first iPhone in 2007. Calendar: The built-in Apple Calendar app may feel pretty essential to iOS, but it isn't, and you can get rid of it. It's been preinstalled on iPhones since the 2007 original. Clock: The Clock app has been around since day one on the iPhone, back in 2007, but iOS can run fine without it. You might need to find an alternative alarm app, however. Compass: One of the lesser-known apps, Compass can be safely removed if you're confident you won't need it. The app was introduced with iPhone OS 3 in 2009. Contacts: Surprisingly, you can delete Contacts, an app that debuted in 2008, from iOS. However, your contacts will still show up in the Phone app, which can't be removed. If you remove FaceTime, you can still make calls via the Phone app. Credit: Lifehacker FaceTime: FaceTime, on the iPhone since iOS 4 in 2010, can be safely removed from your iPhone—you'll still be able to make calls through the Phone or Contacts apps. Files: A files app may seem pretty fundamental to a phone, but you can remove the iPhone's built-in option. This app was introduced with the launch of iOS 11 in 2017. Find My: A core app you'd assume can't be uninstalled, but in fact it can be. Find My has come preinstalled since iOS 13 in 2019, combining Find My iPhone and Find My Friends. Freeform: The virtual brainstorming app developed by Apple first made its appearance on iOS late in 2022, and you can safely take it off your iPhone without breaking anything. Health: If you don't need the Health app, introduced in 2014, you can delete it. However, your existing health data will remain on your phone, under Health in iOS Settings. Home: Apple's smart home platform hasn't been its biggest success, and you can get rid of this app without any issue. The Home app was first added to iPhones back in 2016. The iTunes Store app is still going. Credit: Lifehacker iTunes Store: Did you forget about the iTunes Store? It predates the iPhone, and showed up in iOS in 2008. If you don't want to buy any digital goods, you can remove it. Journal: We've had Journal on our iPhones since 2023, letting you record memories day by day. If journaling isn't for you, or you've found a better option, this app can be deleted. Magnifier: You might have never noticed the Magnifier app on iOS, but it has been a standalone app preinstalled on iPhones since 2020—and you can remove it without issue. Mail: There are plenty of good email clients for iOS, and if you're not using the default one that has been preinstalled since 2007 on every iOS version, you can delete Mail. Maps: Apple Maps has been with us since 2012, and while it's improved a lot in that time, you might decide you prefer an alternative option—in which case, you can delete it. If you're not keen on Apple Maps, you can remove it. Credit: Lifehacker Measure: One of the minor utilities that comes free with every iPhone since 2018 and iOS 12. If you don't need to do any measuring on your iPhone, it can be removed. Music: This is an app category where there are lots of alternatives—and if you're using one, you can remove this. The app first appeared in 2011, replacing the earlier iPod app. News: If you're not getting your news fix through Apple's own News app, this can be uninstalled without a problem. It first made an appearance in 2015. Notes: For many of us, Notes is an essential app, but if that's not the case for you then you can remove it from iOS. It's been around since the first iPhone back in 2007. Playground: If you've enabled Apple Intelligence when setting up your iPhone, you'll have the Playground app for making AI images, launched in 2024—but you can uninstall it. No need for AI imagery? Remove the Playground app. Credit: Lifehacker Passwords: This is one of the newer Apple apps, launched in 2024. If you don't need this for managing your logins and other data on your iPhone, then it can be safely uninstalled. Podcasts: There are a host of great podcast players out there, so if Apple Podcasts isn't your app of choice for this, get rid of it. Podcasts launched as an app in 2012 with iOS 6. Reminders: If you're using a different app for this job (or you're just great at remembering everything), you can remove Reminders, which has been included with the iOS software since 2011. Shortcuts: Some people find Shortcuts indispensable, but if you're not one of them, this app can be safely uninstalled from your iPhone. It became a preinstalled app in 2019. Stocks: Stocks has been on iPhones since the very beginning, the first iPhone in 2007. If you don't need it to keep up with current stock prices, you may safely delete it. Tips: Ever since iOS 8 in 2014, Tips has been there, ready to serve up tips and tricks for using your iPhone. If you feel you don't need the app, there's no problem with deleting it. The Tips app gives you ... tips. Credit: Lifehacker Translate: Apple Translate has been around on iPhones since 2020, and it's definitely improved since then—but it's also possible to safely uninstall it. TV: The Apple TV app is where you get all your movies and shows from Apple, and it's been a standalone app since 2016. If you source your content from elsewhere, you can delete it. Voice Memos: There's no doubt this can be a useful app, but it's not for everyone, and can be uninstalled. Voice Memos made its debut on the iPhone all the way back in 2009. Wallet: You can uninstall the Wallet app from iOS, which is something of a surprise. The app for payments, cards, and tickets arrived on iOS under its current name in 2012. Watch: If you're not an Apple Watch user, feel free to uninstall the Watch app, available since 2015. If you have a connected Apple Watch, you'll be asked to unpair it first. Weather: Finally, the trusty Weather app, on iPhones since the very first one in 2007, can also be deleted from your iPhone, if you're sourcing your forecasts from elsewhere. View the full article

Oil-rich Gulf state gains plaudits for buying into ‘America first’ as White House announces $243bn in business dealsView the full article

Microsoft has released its latest monthly Patch Tuesday update, this time offering fixes for 72 security vulnerabilities across its systems. Five of the malicious bugs addressed are zero-days that have been actively exploited, and two have been publicly disclosed. As Bleeping Computer reports, the May update addresses 17 elevation of privilege flaws, two security feature bypass flaws, 28 remote code execution flaws, 15 information disclosure flaws, seven denial of service flaws, and two spoofing flaws. In addition to the zero-day exploits, six of the remote code execution vulnerabilities are labeled "critical" along with one information disclosure flaw. If you're a Windows or Microsoft user, you should ensure your systems are up to date. Patch Tuesday updates for May 2025While all of Microsoft's security updates are important to maintain the integrity of your devices and data, this Patch Tuesday is particularly heavy on zero-days—flaws that are actively exploited or publicly disclosed before the developer issues an official fix. Four of the five actively exploited zero-days fixed with this update are elevation of privilege flaws. CVE-2025-32701 and CVE-2025-32706 both affect Windows Common Log File System Driver, while CVE-2025-30400 affects Microsoft DWM Core Library, and CVE-2025-32709 Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock. All allow attackers SYSTEM privileges locally. The fifth active exploit is a remote code execution vulnerability (labeled CVE-2025-30397) in Microsoft Scripting Engine. The flaw can be exploited if an authenticated user clicks a fraudulent link in Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, allowing attackers to execute code over a network. CVE-2025-30397, CVE-2025-32701, and CVE-2025-30400 were discovered by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center. CVE-2025-32706 was disclosed by the Google Threat Intelligence Group and the CrowdStrike Advanced Research Team, while CVE-2025-32709 came from an "anonymous" researcher. Microsoft has not disclosed how these flaws were exploited. One of the publicly disclosed zero-days patched this month is a spoofing flaw in Microsoft Defender (CVE-2025-26685) that allows unauthenticated attackers with LAN access to spoof another account. This was discovered by Joshua Murrell with NetSPI. The final zero-day (CVE-2025-32702) is a remote code execution vulnerability in Visual Studio—Microsoft has not revealed any additional details. How to protect your PC You should always install security updates as soon as they become available to minimize the risk to your system. Windows and Microsoft patches are usually downloaded and installed automatically, but you can make sure your PC is good to go via Start > Settings > Windows Update and selecting Check for Windows updates. View the full article

Japanese technology and entertainment company Sony logged an 18% rise in profit for the fiscal year through March on healthy results at its music and video-game operations. Its chief executive, Hiroki Totoki, outlined the company’s strategy for growth Wednesday, stressing that collaboration among Sony Corp.’s various segments, like animation and music, were crucial to deliver the “kando,” or emotional engagement, that lies at the core of the company’s vision and strength. “Building on our momentum and results to date and working with a laser-like focus to realize our long-term Creative Entertainment Vision will be at the core of our corporate strategies moving forward,” he told reporters. Sony’s movies division has strong offerings in the pipeline, including Spider-Man films and biopics about The Beatles, while animation remains a driver of growth centered around the popular anime streaming service Crunchyroll, Totoki said. Tokyo-based Sony reported a record annual profit of 1.14 trillion yen ($7.8 billion), up from 970.6 billion yen in the previous fiscal year. Annual sales were virtually unchanged, inching down to 12.957 trillion yen ($88 billion) from 13.020 trillion yen. One area that lagged among Sony’s sprawling businesses was the financial segment, where revenue stalled. But its film division and its imaging and sensor solutions segment did well. Sony officials said they were studying how to respond to President Donald The President’s tariffs, although that was a challenge because of uncertainties and constant changes. But they said the negative impact from U.S. trade policy will be kept to 10% of Sony’s operating profit in the coming fiscal year by adjusting the allocation of shipments, among other measures. Totoki stressed that Sony plans to leverage its content creating technology, like virtual reality and image sensors, to feed into its entertainment products, including working on immersive experiences. Sony also has powerful collaborative relations with various entertainment companies like Kadokawa, which includes publishing as well as films and animation, and Bandai Namco, a video game maker, he added. Sony will emphasize the “diversity” of its workers, helping bring out people’s creative potential, Totoki said. Among the Sony movies that fared well at the box office for the fiscal year through March were “Venom: The Last Dance,” featuring the Marvel Comics superhero, and “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” an action comedy, where Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return in their popular cop roles in the fourth installment in the series. Sony, which makes the PlayStation console and game software played on that machine, also posted healthy results in the gaming business. Its music operations, which also held up, include recordings, streaming services and music for games. The top-selling recorded music projects for the latest fiscal year globally was SZA’s “SOS Deluxe: LANA,” followed by Beyonce, Future & Metro Boomin and Travis Scott. The top seller in its Japan music business was Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lost Corner” album, followed by offerings from Stray Kids and Six Tones. For the January-March quarter, Sony posted a 197.7 billion yen ($1.3 billion) profit, up 5% from 189 billion yen the same quarter in the previous fiscal year. Sales were 2.6 trillion yen ($17.7 billion), down 24% from 3.48 trillion yen. Sony is forecasting a nearly 13% drop in profit for the fiscal year through March 2026, to 930 billion yen ($6.3 billion), on 11.7 trillion yen ($80 billion) sales, down 2.9% on-year. Sony Group Corp. stocks, which fell in Tokyo morning trading, rebounded to finish 3.7% higher after its financial results were announced. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama —Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer View the full article

For 20-year-old Mayank Yadav, riding a crowded bus in the summer months in this western Indian city can be like sitting in an oven. That makes it a treat when he steps off and into a bus stop outfitted with sprinklers that bathe overheated commuters in a cooling mist. “Everyone is suffering from the heat,” Yadav said. “I hope they do more of this across the city.” Rising heat is a problem for millions of people in India. In Ahmedabad, temperatures this year have already reached 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit), a level usually not seen for several more weeks, prompting city officials to advise people to stay indoors and stay hydrated. And yet, coping with that heat is a familiar challenge in Ahmedabad. After a 2010 heat wave killed more than 1,300 people, city and health officials rushed to develop South Asia’s first heat action plan. The plan, rolled out in 2013 and now replicated across India and South Asia, includes strategies for hospitals, government officials and citizens to react immediately when temperatures rise beyond human tolerance. Public health officials said it’s helped save hundreds of lives every summer. City officials, with help from climate and health researchers, have implemented two simple yet effective solutions to help those affected most by heat: the poor and those who work outdoors. By painting tin-roofed households with reflective paint, they’ve reduced indoor temperatures, which otherwise might be up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than outside. More recently, the city hung curtains woven of straw and water sprinklers at one bus stop so commuters can get relief from the sun and heat. Officials said they plan to expand the idea to other bus stops in the city. Residents said both measures have been a relief even as they brace for at least three more months of sweltering summer. A simple coat of paint makes all the difference Throughout the city’s low-income neighborhoods, hundreds of tin-roofed homes have been painted with reflective paint that helps keep the indoors cooler. Residents said their houses were so hot before the roofs were painted that they would spend most of their time outdoors under any shade they could find. “Earlier, it was really difficult to sleep inside the house,” said Akashbhai Thakor, who works as a delivery van driver and lives with his wife and three-month-old child in Ahmedabad. Thakor’s roof was painted as part of a research project that is trying to measure the impact of the so-called cool roofs. Early results have been promising. “After the roof was painted, the house is much cooler, especially at night,” said Thakor. People like Thakor are much more vulnerable to extreme heat because their houses aren’t insulated and, since most of them depend on a daily wage, they must work regardless of the weather, said Priya Bhavsar of the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, who is working on the project. Bhavsar said low-cost solutions could be the only respite for thousands of people in the city who can’t afford to buy an air conditioner. Veer Vanzara, who lives in the same area as Thakor and works in a nearby garment factory, said the heat makes his job much worse, especially since his factory has no ventilation. So his family is grateful for the cool roofs. “The evenings and night are much cooler than before inside our house,” he said. A bus stop that’s become an oasis from the heat In Ahmedabad’s city center, a 25-meter stretch of a bus stop has been draped with mats made of straw which, when sprinkled with water, immediately cool the hot wind. Sprinklers installed on the bus stop roof lightly spray cool water on the commuters below, providing instant relief from the blazing heat just a step away. “When nothing like this was here, it was really hot. What they’ve done is really good. Senior citizens like me can get some cooling from the heat,” said 77-year-old Ratilal Bhoire, who was waiting under the sprinklers with his daughter. Bhoire said when he was younger, Ahmedabad was hot, but it was still possible to walk many kilometers without feeling dizzy, even at the height of summer. “Nowadays you can’t do that,” he said. Heat is the city’s biggest problem and heat waves—continuous days of extreme heat—are increasing, said Dr. Tejas Shah of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, who oversees the city’s heat action plan. “We are in the period of climate change, and it has already shown its effect,” said Shah. Shah and other city officials said the onset of summer has become a testing time and efforts such as cool roofs and cool bus stops are reducing heat-related illness and deaths. As climate projections predict only hotter and longer summers for his city, Shah said being prepared is the only thing to do. “It (the heat) needs to be addressed in the proper way,” he said. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Sibi Arasu, Associated Press View the full article

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose slightly to 6.86% last week, as economic volatility calmed following the Federal Reserve's recent inaction. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Whoop’s new 5.0 hardware launched this week, along with a premium version of the device that they’re calling the MG. Along with the launch came a new upgrade policy, requiring users to pay for what many thought would be a free upgrade. The company has walked back some of the new policy, but most users will still need to pay to get the new device. Here’s what you should know. WHOOP Peak – 12-Month Membership – 5.0 Health and Fitness Wearable – 24/7 Activity and Sleep Tracker with Heart Rate, HRV, Stress Monitor, Personalized Coaching, Healthspan – 14+ Days Battery Life $239.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Get Deal Get Deal $239.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Whoop’s official, current upgrade policyHardware comes bundled with Whoop’s subscriptions, which are typically sold in 12-month or 24-month memberships. Whoop said upon launching the 5.0 and MG that you can get the new hardware in two ways: You can pay to add 12 months to your subscription (a “membership extension”) and receive the new device. You can pay a $49 fee and receive the new device without changing the term of your membership. (There was also a mention of a $79 fee for upgrading to the MG hardware, but that hardware requires a more expensive subscription, so people who plan to upgrade to MG would be expected to pay more for their subscription anyway.) After some backlash, Whoop published an article “clarifying and updating our upgrade policy” in which they announced a policy to send upgraded hardware to some customers without any further payment: Members who already have more than 12 months left on their membership (for example, someone who bought a 24-month membership and still has 13 months left) can get the new hardware for free. Members who purchased a 12-month (or more) membership or renewal in the 30 days before the 5.0 was announced on May 8 can also get the new hardware for free. Why people are madThis new upgrade policy is different from how Whoop handled upgrades in 2021, when the previous device—the 4.0—came out. And until the launch of the 5.0 earlier this month, at least two pages on Whoop's website appeared to say that members would get to upgrade to the next generation of hardware for free. Whoop has addressed one of these as a mistake—a blog post referencing a six-month commitment—but hasn't commented directly on the other, a FAQ that seems to say everyone gets free upgrades. I'll start with the FAQ. Until recently, that FAQ stated “WHOOP is a membership, which means you get the latest and greatest technology as soon as it's available as long as you are an active member. No need to buy a new device each time it is released; you can upgrade for free.” Here is an archive of that page that I made on May 2, 2025, still showing that language less than a week before the 5.0 launched. The date on the page says that it was published in April of 2020. The page still exists on Whoop’s website here, but now says something very different: “WHOOP is committed to a membership model where hardware is always included. When new devices launch, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade by extending your membership and you'll receive the new device at no additional cost. If you're not ready to extend at that time, you can receive the latest hardware by paying a one-time upgrade fee.” There is no indication on that page that it has been changed, and it still bears the April 2020 date. (Here is an archive of how it looks today, for future reference.) I wrote to Whoop asking if they had any comment on that change, along with a few other questions. In response, they sent me the new upgrade policy (also found here), addressed a different blog post that had changed—more about that below—and later sent along this statement: "We've always tried to make it as easy and accessible as possible for our members to get on WHOOP. Since 2021, we've required members have a certain number of months remaining on their membership to receive a free upgrade. That remains true today. You can receive a free upgrade to WHOOP 5.0 with 12 months remaining on your membership. Alternatively, you can also pay a one-time upgrade fee if you'd prefer not to extend. You can also choose to renew your subscription when it is up, and you’ll be eligible to upgrade to WHOOP 5.0 at that time for free. With this launch, we introduced two new devices -- 5.0 and MG -- both of which offer 14+ day battery life, a 7% smaller size, and the Wireless PowerPack. Given MG is our most premium offering with different medical-grade capabilities, it does come with more premium cost. We ensured members could still receive a free upgrade to WHOOP 5.0, but have a different option if they were looking for different features and functionality." Whoop has also been criticized for a blog post, found here by Whoop users on Reddit, that shows another discrepancy in stated policies. That blog post, which bears a date of September 30, 2024, said that the policy was to give upgraded hardware to anyone who had been a member for at least six months. The blog post was still live as of March 28 of this year, as shown on this Wayback Machine archive. Whoop says that “was never our policy and should never have been posted,” saying instead that they had offered free upgrades to anyone with six months or more remaining on their subscription at the time of the 4.0 launch. This appears to be correct—emails sent in 2021 mentioned that Whoop users with “6+ months left on their membership” were eligible to upgrade for free. Whoop showed me screenshots from such emails, and I dug into my own inbox (never delete anything, folks) and found the same. The screenshot below is from an email I received in 2021. From an email dated Sep 17, 2021. Credit: Whoop So that historical fact about six-month memberships checks out, but I see why many Whoop users say they feel misled. Meanwhile, the FAQ's statement about free upgrades for all active members certainly influenced my long-term review of the 4.0, published just last month, in which I reported (based on that FAQ on Whoop’s own website) that “you don’t have to pay for new hardware to get new hardware.” Angry Whoop users are discussing on Reddit and other forums the question of whether the company’s actions may run afoul of truth-in-advertising laws in Australia, the UK, the EU, and/or the U.S. Some are suggesting that U.S.-based customers consider submitting a complaint to the FTC (here is the form) or to your state's attorney general. Is it even worth upgrading from the 4.0 to the 5.0? After all that, it’s not even clear whether the move from 4.0 to 5.0 is worth paying anything. If you’re happy with your current membership (now known as Peak), all you’d gain with 5.0 is a longer battery life. But you’d lose the ability to use any straps or accessories you bought for your 4.0. The new device is 7% smaller, Whoop says, which smacks of “we wanted you to buy all new accessories.” It sure seems like they could have easily stuffed those seven-percent-smaller internals in the same size housing as the 4.0 and had everything still be compatible. Heck, fill the extra space with an even bigger battery! I would only pay to upgrade if you feel the longer battery life is more important than back-compatibility with your old straps and accessories. (And if you have a lot of Whoop Body clothing, you may want to wait for more 5.0 users to weigh in before you toss it all—I saw at least one Reddit comment saying that the old boxers fit the new device just fine.) Should you "upcycle" your old 4.0? There’s another strange thing going on with Whoop’s upgrade plans. If you upgrade from the 4.0 to the 5.0, they’ll send you a gift box with a sanitizing wipe and a brand-new strap, so that you can pass your old 4.0 on to a friend. They call it “upcycling,” and the full details are here. But why would your friend want your old 4.0? They would still have to sign up for a Whoop membership, and any new membership comes with a free 5.0 (or MG). Whoop attempts to sweeten the deal by giving you (the gifter) a $50 credit that can be used for accessories for yourself—but not put toward membership. You only get this once your giftee signs up for a paid membership. As for the person you gift your old device to, there are a few ways for them to get a discount on membership with the used 4.0: You (the gifter) can prepay for a 12-month Peak membership for them, for $190 rather than the usual $239. They can join for $199 for a 12-month Peak membership They can use the 4.0 for a two-month free trial, which automatically rolls over into a full-price $239 12-month Peak membership. As soon as you pay for a membership, and have 12 months remaining, you can upgrade to the 5.0 or MG—so that gifted 4.0 may have a short lifespan indeed. This doesn’t feel like upcycling at all to me, just a way to pretend you’re doing something useful with a device that will shortly get thrown away. For devices you actually buy, like a Garmin or an Apple Watch, going with an older model can often save you some cash. With the Whoop’s cost being baked into any new subscription, it seems strange to recommend that some users forgo the brand-new hardware that would otherwise be included. If you have a friend getting rid of an old 4.0, you might as well use the upcycling program to get a small discount on the membership with 5.0 that you were planning to buy anyway (using one of the two options above). Or if you already have a 4.0, you might as well ask your friend to get the re-gifting kit just for the free spare band—those things still cost 49 dollars. View the full article

The cost of flying is becoming increasingly out of reach for the average American in 2025. The President of the United States, however, is gearing up to accept a $400 million super jet, complete with nine bathrooms and a master bedroom, as a gift from the Qatari government. News of the proposed gift broke this week, when ABC News reported that the royal family of Qatar plans to present President The President with a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet next week during his trip to the region. ABC News also reported that The President is preparing to accept the gift and retrofit it to use as Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office. At that point, ownership of the plane will be turned over to the The President presidential library foundation. Overhauling the jet would be at taxpayer expense. This follows a stalled deal with Boeing to update two 747-8 jets for use as Air Force One planes in 2018. The President’s potential acceptance of the opulent gift comes as, for the average American, the price of a standard airline ticket has shot up by 25% in the past year. The news also comes mere weeks after The President chastised critics for concerns over how his global trade war might impact prices of everyday goods, encouraging Americans to embrace a more frugal lifestyle by cutting down on purchases like dolls for their children. Aside from the dystopian optics of the situation, experts have warned that The President accepting the colloquially named “palace in the sky,” which is believed to be worth $400 million, could present very real security consequences—and sparks concerns around foreign bribery. Here’s what we know about the design of the super luxury plane so far. What kind of plane is it? The plane in question is a Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental jumbo jet. According to a design overview published by Boeing, the 747-8 Intercontinental (747-8I) has a wingspan of about 225 feet, which is double that of Boeing’s fastest-selling commercial plane, the Next-Generation 737. Boeing also claims that the 747-8 is the world’s fastest commercial jet, capable of traveling at 0.86 Mach or roughly 660 miles per hour. The double-decker plane is designed with luxury in mind, including a “flowing grand staircase” to connect the first and second floors, sculpted ceilings, and dynamic LED lighting throughout the cabin. What amenities does it have? Details about the specific plane that The President is set to receive have not been officially revealed. However, based on images of the aircraft published by MSNBC, it appears likely that the $400 million jet’s interiors have been customized beyond Boeing’s specifications to suit the needs of a wealthy client. Amac AerospaceInternet Archive An aircraft specification summary of the Boeing 747-8I model published by the Swiss aviation company Amac Aerospace provides more insight into the amenities available on board this type of aircraft. According to the summary, the jumbo jet, which is the same model as the Qatari plane, is more like an airborne mansion. It comes with five galley kitchens, nine bathrooms (including several showers), and a master bedroom suite. Amac AerospaceInternet Archive A few business class seating sections are sprinkled throughout the plane, but, for the most part, it’s divided into a series of swanky lounges and one private office. For entertainment, the plane is equipped with live TV and radio, 13 Blu-ray players, speakers, and subwoofers. When the aircraft specification summary was published back in 2020, the plane was decked out in a color scheme of red, tan, and gold. What are the security concerns? To meet security standards for carrying the President, the current Air Force One planes are equipped with radiation shielding, anti-missile technology, and multiple communication systems that allow the President to communicate with the military from anywhere in the world. According to information provided to The Wall Street Journal, the defense contractor L3 Harris has already been contacted to retrofit the Qatari plane to serve as a presidential aircraft. L3 Harris declined to comment for this story. Further, a The President administration official told the AP that “it would be possible to quickly add some countermeasures and communications systems to the Qatari plane,” but that it would be less capable that the existing Air Force One aircraft or the Boeing replacements. Now, many experts are raising the alarm that this “gift” could present major security risks and ethical concerns. One anonymous former government official told The Washington Post that Air Force One is “a flying nuclear-hardened command post,” and that the Qatari plane would need to be literally ripped open to bring it up to an acceptable security standard. Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall added that bugs on the plane would be a top concern, concluding that the only way The President will be flying on the plane while he’s in office is if he waives “a lot” of the security requirements needed to deem it safe. Meanwhile, several politicians have condemned the idea of accepting the plane. Even The President allies have cast doubt on the idea, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham telling reporters Monday that he wanted to make sure the gift was “kosher,” while the far-right conservative activist Lara Loomer said the plane would be a “stain” on The President’s legacy. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the concept in no uncertain terms in a string of tweets posted to his X account, calling the Qatari plane “shameless self-enrichment” and a “national security betrayal.” “Nothing says ‘America First’ like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar,” Schumer wrote. “It’s not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.” View the full article

Uber is on Wednesday launching its own version of a bus system along busy routes, calling it its most affordable ride option yet. The rideshare company has introduced Route Share, a new service offering pickups every 20 minutes along busy corridors during weekday commute hours. Available from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time, the service will launch in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, and Baltimore Riders can select the Route Share option to see nearby routes and book a seat anywhere from seven days to 10 minutes before their intended pickup. They’ll then be prompted to walk to the set pickup area where the driver will wait for a maximum of two minutes. Customers will share those rides with up to two other passengers. Rides will be “up to 50% less than an UberX,” the company said. The new service was announced as part of Uber’s annual GO-GET product event, where the company spotlighted more affordable options for cost-conscious consumers navigating today’s economic pressures. Here’s what else Uber unveiled at GO-GET 2025: RIDE PASSES Similar to how airlines have monetized the ability to lock-in prices while airfare is low, Uber is introducing a feature that allows riders to secure a fixed price for a one-hour window each day on select routes. For instance, someone commuting daily to the gym can lock in a fare to avoid price surges from weather or traffic. The pass costs $2.99 and will last for 30 days or until they hit $50 of savings, whichever comes first, the company said. Uber is also launching an option for users to prepay for 5, 10, 15, or 20 rides on regular routes in exchange for discounted fares. SHARED AUTONOMOUS RIDES In a major step toward autonomous mobility, Uber and Volkswagen announced in April a partnership to deploy thousands of all-electric, fully autonomous vehicles across the U.S. over the next decade. Uber said Wednesday that a shared autonomous ride option is expected to launch in Los Angeles early next year. OPENTABLE PARTNERSHIP Additionally, Uber is rolling out a new “Dine Out” feature, which lets users access in-person dining deals directly through the Uber Eats app. It’s also partnering with OpenTable in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia to enable restaurant reservations within the app. UBER ONE MEMBER DAYS Uber is introducing a promotional savings event akin to Amazon’s Prime Week. The Uber One Member Days will run from May 16 to May 23, featuring “tens of thousands of deals across the platform and its partners” for subscribers paying the $10 monthly fee. “Think 50% off shared rides, 20% off Uber Black, and 40% off Comfort Electric, with new deals each day of the week,” Uber said in a press release. View the full article

California’s top insurance regulator said Tuesday that State Farm can soon start raising premiums by 17% for all of its home insurance customers in the state to help the insurer rebuild its capital following the Los Angeles wildfires. State Farm has argued the emergency rate hikes are necessary to help the company avoid a “dire” financial crisis that could force them to drop more California policies. The state’s largest home insurer said it was already struggling financially before this year but the LA fires, which destroyed more than 16,000 buildings in January, have made things worse. The increase will apply to all of the roughly one million homeowners State Farm insures in the state. The decision comes as California is undergoing a yearslong effort to entice insurers to continue doing business in the state as wildfires increasingly destroy entire neighborhoods. In 2023, several major companies, including State Farm, stopped issuing residential policies because of high fire risk. Last year, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara unveiled a slate of regulations aimed at giving insurers more latitude to raise premiums in exchange for more policies in high-risk areas. Those rules kick in this year. State Farm initially asked for a 22% rate increase for homeowners but revised it to 17% during a recent hearing before an administrative judge. The request also includes a 38% hike for rental owners and 15% for tenants. The new rates will take effect in June. In exchange, State Farm will get a $400 million cash infusion from its parent company and agree to halt some nonrenewals through the end of this year. On Tuesday, administrative Judge Karl Frederic Seligman ordered a ruling supporting State Farm’s request, calling it “a rescue mission to stabilize State Farm’s financial condition while safeguarding policyholders.” Lara adopted the recommendation the same day. The new rates are temporary until the state has a chance to consider State Farm’s request from last year for a 30% rate increase for homeowners. The hearings for that request are set for October. “I expect State Farm provide the highest level of service to its California customers and to fulfill its promises. State Farm must now justify its financial condition and detail its recovery plan in a full rate hearing before a neutral judge and my Department’s experts,” Lara said in a statement. State Farm said in a statement that the approval “is a critical first step for State Farm General’s (SFG) ability to continue serving our California customers.” The company received a financial rating downgrade last year and has seen a decline of $5 billion in its surplus account over the last decade. The company said it has paid more than $3.51 billion and is handling more than 12,600 claims as of this week. “Today’s decision that would make consumers pay now but allow State Farm to wait months before having to show its math is a great disappointment for consumers,” Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, said of the ruling. The group opposes State Farm’s request for higher premiums. State Farm said it plans to refund the emergency rates if California later approves lower rates. The insurer last received state approval for a 20% rate increase in December 2023. —Trân Nguyễn, Associated Press View the full article

Apple just announced new accessibility features coming to its operating systems. There’s a redesigned braille input experience, and a new reader that allows you to customize your text so it’s more legible. But there’s one that will be great for anyone attending any lecture or presentation: Magnifier for Mac. The iPhone and iPad got their Magnifier apps back in 2016. It worked pretty much like the iOS camera: You point your device anywhere you want and zoom in to the desired level. It also allows you to apply real-time filters to enhance readability depending on your vision’s condition, like turning a book’s black text over white page into white text over blue, as well as changing the image’s contrast and brightness. It also can detect objects around you. The new Mac version takes all that up to an 11 with its new features. To get the view of the world the new Magnifier needs, you will need to use a USB camera or an iPhone. The latter automatically connects to your computer using MacOS’s Continuity Camera feature, allowing you to use your phone as the eyes for your Apple desktop or laptop. Zoom in to focus on something far away, apply the same filters, and adjust the image, just like in iOS and iPadOS. A matter of perspectiveWhat makes the update brilliant is the new perspective adjustment. Since you can’t move your Mac around like with Apple’s handheld devices, you need a way to frame the text you want to read correctly. Like Apple’s introductory video shows, you can point your Mac with the attached camera to a whiteboard. Since you are probably not going to be looking at it from a fully perpendicular perspective, the app allows you to draw a polygon by clicking on each corner of the whiteboard in your screen. Then, applying some image deformation magical maths, Magnifier will automatically correct the perspective, turning the skewed whiteboard with deformed text into a perfect flat image that gives you the best view in the class, auditorium, or conference room. From there, you can do whatever you want with that text, including transforming handwriting into a typeface for easier reading. Magnifier uses Apple’s new Accessibility Reader, too, which allows you to customize how a page looks with the colors, fonts, and sizes you prefer—as well as copying and pasting from the whatever text the camera is looking at, regardless of it being handwritten or not. It’s similar to what you can do now with other Apple apps, like Preview, but in one continuous, seamless experience. Bonus points: Magnifier also supports reading any paper-based media using Desk View, the feature that uses your iPhone’s wide-angle lens to capture what’s flat on the table in front of your screen. Just put that novel on the table and transform its small type into something you can read easily (or have your Mac’s text-to-speech abilities to read it for you). It’s easy to imagine every single student, office person, and TED Talk drone using the new Magnifier to get a better experience possible at a presentation—sleeping pills notwithstanding—once it comes out “later this year” (according to Apple). This new little jewel will make your Macbook the best seat in the house no matter where you are sitting. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re getting excited for spring and summer home improvement projects, or if you plan to expand your yard care equipment collection, the expense of new tools can be an important consideration. Getting deals on new cordless tools is a game-changer for DIYers everywhere, and the following deals can get you up to 67% off right now. Ryobi cordless tools are a go-to for many DIY enthusiasts because of the variety of tools they make that fit their batteries, their affordability, and their quality, so saving some money on this brand will allow you to add to your quality cordless tool kit as you go. DriversPower drivers have come a long way from back when you only had a drill with one or two speeds and a few attachments. These days, you can use power drivers on much larger hardware and on a wider range of parts, including nuts and bolts. The 18-volt Ryobi ⅜ inch impact wrench is on sale for $99, 67% off its regular price. The driver kit comes with 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery and a charger. This is a good deal if you need batteries or if you are planning on building a larger kit—it comes with everything you need to operate the tool as well as batteries you can use with all other 18-volt Ryobi tools. The Ryobi 18-volt powered ratchet is on sale for $99, 65% off its usual price. This set comes with two 4-amp-hour batteries and a charger, and it’s good for driving nuts in tight spaces where a larger tool wouldn’t fit. 18-volt Ryobi ⅜ inch impact wrench $99.00 at Home Depot $302.94 Save $203.94 Get Deal Get Deal $99.00 at Home Depot $302.94 Save $203.94 Cutting and trimmingHaving the right type of cutting tool for your job and material is crucial for DIY success. Here are some deals of cutting tools that will get you through almost any DIY job. The Ryobi 18-volt jig saw is on sale for $99, 60% off its usual price. This saw comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery and a charger. A jig saw is good for making cuts that aren’t in a straight line and can be handy for trimming pieces that need custom shapes, like flooring cut to fit around a doorway. The Ryobi 18-volt, 18-inch hedge trimmer is on sale for $99, 65% off its usual price. This trimmer comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery. The Ryobi 18-volt oscillating tool is on sale for $99, 65% off its typical price. This tool comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery and a charger. The oscillating tool is more than just a cutting tool that can be used for plunge cutting and trimming, it can also be used for sanding and buffing, making it one of the more versatile tools in your cordless kit. The Ryobi 18-volt angle grinder is on sale for $199, 41% off its usual price. This kit comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and two 4-amp-hour batteries. An angle grinder can be used for cutting metal or nipping off screw tips that poke out. The Ryobi 18-volt reciprocating saw is on sale for $199, 59% off its regular price. This kit comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and two 4-amp-hour batteries. A sawzall can take a variety of blades for cutting many materials and can be used to trim material in tight spots where a circular saw might not fit. Sanding and finishingGetting a polished look on your DIY projects can feel satisfying after all your hard work, and smoothing everything out can also help to avoid splinters. Here are some deals on sanding and finishing cordless tools. The 18-volt Ryobi hand planer is on sale for $99, 69% off its regular price. This kit comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery, and a charger. A hand planer can be used to smooth and shape rough boards The 18-volt Ryobi orbital sander is on sale for $99, 62% off its usual price. This kit comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery, and a charger. A random orbital sander can help smooth rough surfaces and prep for paint. 18-volt Ryobi hand planer $99.00 at Home Depot $223.94 Save $124.94 Get Deal Get Deal $99.00 at Home Depot $223.94 Save $124.94 Batteries, chargers, and accessoriesWhile it might be an afterthought when investing in cordless tools, batteries and accessories can really make a difference in the amount of time and effort it takes to complete a project. Having extra fresh batteries means you can use multiple tools at a time without stopping to swap batteries, allowing you to work faster. The Ryobi 18-volt battery starter kit is on sale for $99, 67% off its regular price. It comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and two 4-amp-hour batteries. This is a good kit if you're starting out or if you’re expanding your kit to allow you to use multiple tools simultaneously. The Ryobi gutter cleaner attachment for your Expand-It yard maintenance tool allows you to use the base edger/string trimmer handle to clear leaves and debris from your gutter. It’s on sale for $79, 39% off its usual price. The Ryobi 18-volt 7 and ½ inch fan is on sale for $99, 62% off its typical price. The fan comes with one 2-amp-hour battery and one 4-amp-hour battery, and a charger. Having a fan can do more than just cool you down while you’re working. You can use it to help dry paint faster or blow dust away from where you’re working to keep your paint dust-free. View the full article

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has spent its first 100 days slashing government programs and firing employees. Yet Musk views DOGE not just as a downsizing force, but also as a team of technologically elite shock troops tasked with rapidly modernizing outdated government systems. One of DOGE’s primary targets on that front is the Office of Personnel Management’s antiquated retirement application system, which still relies on paper forms and manual processing. The system handles retirement applications and manages benefits for former federal employees and their families, coordinating closely with agency HR teams and payroll centers. DOGE and its allies inside the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) say they’ve now built and tested a fully digital, AI-enhanced replacement system, which they plan to launch across federal agencies on June 2. But the plans rely heavily on a product built during the Biden administration called the Online Retirement Application (ORA) system, say two former OPM employees who recently left the agency. A leaked planning document shared with Fast Company shows the ORA pilot launched in 2023 with a handful of agency HR and payroll offices, serving “a few hundred” retirees. The plan under Biden was to roll out the ORA system government-wide in 2025. The first source, who worked on retirement systems at OPM and spoke to Fast Company on the condition of anonymity, says that ORA is still just a prototype, and not built to support tens of thousands of real retirees. Yet one of the first actions OPM took when The President came into office was to interrupt the development of ORA. “They reduced support contracts and added a team of DOGE developers,” adds the second source, who until recently worked at OPM and also spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There is now a ‘war room’ to accelerate the work.” DOGE has kept its version of the ORA system largely under wraps. It remains unclear whether the team changed the original system’s architecture or user experience, or how the system’s AI components were developed, trained, or integrated. A White House official told Fox News that the AI met Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements for securing and monitoring cloud-based services used by government agencies. (Neither DOGE nor OPM responded to Fast Company’s requests for comment.) The first ex-OPM source fears that DOGE, without fully understanding the federal retirement workflow, will simply roll out the ORA system as is. “I think instead of testing it with some Department of Interior retirees, they’re just slapping the system into being a requirement,” the source says. This would put the onus entirely on all retiring federal employees to correctly input their data and documents into the system without help from their agency HR department, according to the source. Few dispute the need for modernization. The current system processes around 100,000 retirement applications annually—in a literal underground mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania. The paper-based workflow is infamously slow and prone to error, often causing months-long delays that can be devastating for retirees who depend on timely benefits. While DOGE cites a The President executive order from February 11 as the mandate behind its work, the OPM’s original ORA and digital records systems were responses to a 2021 Biden executive order aimed at modernizing federal technology. To spearhead the retirement-focused effort, Musk reportedly tapped Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, a close friend and fellow The President supporter. Gebbia joined DOGE in late February, vowing to apply his “designer brain and startup spirit” to build a paperless solution. Since then, a team of DOGE agents has been working out of a command center at OPM, collaborating with Retirement Services personnel and select staff. OPM acting director Charles Ezell said in a May 7 memo that the new system had already processed 25 retirement claims without generating paper—a claim that Gebbia then echoed on X. Notably, Ezell referred to the system in the memo as the ORA, the system built under Biden. Some experts suspect DOGE’s version is little more than a minimum viable product (MVP)—a rough prototype meant to demonstrate potential. Former U.S. Digital Service engineer Kate Green notes that MVPs often depend on manual work-arounds and aren’t ready for large-scale use. “These MVPs often have manual steps or work-arounds for difficult parts of the app, and future development eliminates these steps to create something fully automated,” she tells Fast Company. The second ex-OPM source says DOGE may be emphasizing flashy features—like ditching paper—while ignoring the real pain points, such as retirement applications with missing documents, missing signatures, or errors. “Personally,” the source says, “I think they are focusing just on paper because it seems like an easy win.” View the full article

Maxime Picat, one of two internal candidates for next group CEO, ‘shocked’ at foreign groups’ loss of market shareView the full article

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said in a speech Wednesday that elevated tariffs will likely lead to inflation, but time will tell how impactful that spike in prices might be. View the full article

A cautionary tale about good intentions messing up the tax systemView the full article

Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald The President’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises. House committees have been laboring for months to draft the legislation, which Republicans have labeled “THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” a nod to The President himself. Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to approve the package and send it to the Senate by Memorial Day. Democrats say they will fight what House party leader Hakeem Jeffries calls “this extreme and toxic bill.” Here’s a look at what’s in and out of the legislative package so far: Tax cuts for individuals and businesses The tax portion of the GOP legislation contains more than $5 trillion in tax cuts, according to an estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation—costs that are partially offset by spending cuts elsewhere and other changes in the tax code. Republicans look to make permanent the individual income tax cuts passed in President Donald The President’s first term, plus enact some of the promises he made on the campaign trail to not tax tips, overtime and interest on auto loans. Republicans partially offset the tax breaks by rolling back the clean energy tax credits passed during Joe Biden’s presidency, such as a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles, bringing the overall cost of the tax cuts down to about $3.7 trillion. The bill is expected to undergo further changes in the coming weeks. Lawmakers from New York are leading an effort to boost the state and local tax deduction, which the bill would already increase from $10,000 to $30,000 for families making less than $400,000 per year. The legislation provides a deduction for those workers in service industry and other jobs that have traditionally relied on tips. The package provides tax relief for automobile shoppers with a temporary deduction of up to $10,000 on car loan interest, applying the benefit only for those vehicles where the final assembly occurred in the United States. The tax break would expire at the end of The President’s term. For seniors, there would be a bolstered $4,000 deduction on Social Security wages for those with adjusted incomes no higher than $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. States to pick up more of the tab for food assistance House Republicans are looking to shift some of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, known as SNAP, to the states. States would shoulder 5% of benefit costs under the bill beginning in fiscal year 2028. The share could also go higher for those states with high rates of overpayments and underpayments. The bill would also require states to pick up 75% of the administrative costs. Currently, states shoulder none of the benefit costs and half of the administration costs. Republicans argue that states have minimal incentive to control costs as a result of the current cost-sharing arrangement. But the changes would give them the incentive to enhance efficiencies and improve outcomes for recipients. Republicans also are expanding work requirements for food aid recipients, which under current law applies to individuals without dependents aged 18-54. The bill expands the work requirement through age 64 and exempts only those caring for a dependent child under the age of 7. At the same time, the legislation would invest $60 billion in new money for agriculture programs, sending aid to farmers. New work requirements for Medicaid A centerpiece of the package is more than $900 billion in reduced spending, most of that coming through the Medicaid program. Republicans insist they are simply rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse” to generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements. But Democrats warn that millions of Americans will lose coverage. In the 15 years since Obamacare became law, Medicaid has only expanded as most states have tapped into federal funds. An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by at least 7.6 million from the Medicaid changes, and possibly more with other changes to the Affordable Care Act. To be eligible for Medicaid, there would be new “community engagement requirements” of at least 80 hours per month of work, education or service for able-bodied adults without dependents. The new requirement would not kick in until Jan. 1, 2029. People would also have to verify their eligibility to be in the program twice a year, rather than just once. Applicants could not qualify for Medicaid if they have a home that is valued at more than $1 million. Funding for 1 million migrant deportations, 20,000 new officers and the border wall The legislation would provide $46.5 billion to revive construction of The President’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and more money for the deportation agenda. There’s $4 billion to hire an additional 3,000 new Border Patrol agents as well as 5,000 new customs officers, and $2.1 billion for signing and retention bonuses, for a total of $69 billion in new spending. It includes major changes to immigration policy, imposing a $1,000 fee on migrants seeking asylum—something the nation has never done, putting it on par with few others, including Australia and Iran. Overall, the plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers. It calls for 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators. More money for the Pentagon and The President’s ‘Golden Dome’ The House Armed Services Committee was tasked with drafting legislation with $100 billion in new spending. But they did that and more, passing a bill with $150 billion for the Defense Department and national security. Among the highlights, it would provide $25 billion for The President’s “Golden Dome for America,” a long-envisioned missile defense shield, $21 billion to restock the nation’s ammunition arsenal, $34 billion to expand the naval fleet with more shipbuilding and some $5 billion for border security. It also includes $9 billion for servicemember quality of life-related issues, including housing, health care and special pay. Tax on university endowments and overhaul of student loans A wholesale revamping of the student loan program is key to the legislation, providing $330 billion in budget cuts and savings. The proposal would replace all existing student loan repayment plans with just two: a standard option with monthly payments spread out over 10 to 25 years and a “repayment assistance” plan that is generally less generous than those it would replace. Among other changes, the bill would repeal Biden-era regulations that made it easier for borrowers to get loans canceled if their colleges defrauded them or closed suddenly. There would be a tax increase, up to 21%, on some university endowments. Federal employee pension cuts The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform targeted federal workers’ pensions for a projected $50.9 billion in deficit savings over 10 years. Most of the savings would come from requiring federal workers hired before 2014 to pay more into the retirement system. They would have to match the 4.4% salary rate paid by federal workers hired since 2014. More drilling, mining on public lands One section of the bill would allow increased leasing of public lands for drilling, mining and logging while clearing the path for more development by speeding up government approvals. Royalty rates paid by companies to extract oil, gas and coal would be cut, reversing former President Joe Biden’s attempts to curb fossil fuels to help address climate change. Oil and gas royalty rates would drop from 16.7% on public lands and 18.75% offshore to a uniform 12.5%. Royalties for coal would drop from 12.5% to 7%. The measure calls for four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the next decade. It also seeks to boost the ailing coal industry with a mandate to make available for leasing 6,250 square miles of public lands—an area greater in size than Connecticut. Republican supporters say the lost revenue would be offset by increased development. It’s uncertain if companies would have an appetite for leases given the industry’s precipitous decline in recent years as utilities switched to cleaner burning fuels and renewable energy. In a last-minute add, Republicans also included a provision authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from Democrats and environmentalists. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report. —Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press View the full article

Government’s migration crackdown set to double default period for those seeking path to citizenshipView the full article

If you're unable or unwilling to upgrade to Windows 11 and you're running Microsoft Office (now known as Microsoft 365, of course), there's some good news: Support for Word, Excel, and the other Office apps is being extended for an extra three years beyond the end-of-life date for Windows 10 itself. The end-of-life date support for Windows 10—after which no further software updates or technical support will be offered by Microsoft—has been set for Tuesday, October 14, 2025. Support for Microsoft 365 apps will now go all the way up to Tuesday, October 10, 2028. That's as per an updated support document published by Microsoft and spotted by The Verge. Before now, there had been some confusion about whether Microsoft would cut off support on the same date for both Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 programs running on it, so we now have some clarity. The shift is to "help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11," Microsoft says, so it obviously still wants you to start using Windows 11 as soon as possible. The extension applies to both the version of Office that can be purchased for a one-off fee, and the Microsoft 365 subscription version based on monthly or yearly payments. There are also some important caveats here: Even if the Office apps are being kept up to date until 2028, you really don't want to be running them on an unsupported operating system. If you're sticking with Windows 10 past October this year, you'll want to pay for Extended Security Updates ($30 a year for home users) to make sure you're protected against hackers and viruses. Even though you won't be getting any new features with the Extended Security Updates, your PC will at least be patched up against whatever nasty security threats emerge, so you can carry on using Microsoft 365 without worry. The extended support for Word, Excel, and the other apps won't cost you any extra on top of what you've already paid for them. Ideally, Microsoft wants to get everyone running Windows 11, and the advice if your system doesn't meet the required specs is to go out and buy a new PC with Windows on it. That's more of a challenge for businesses who've got dozens or hundreds of workstations to upgrade, of course. Microsoft has put splash screens in Windows 10 encouraging users to upgrade to the latest operating system, as well as telling anyone who'll listen about the benefits of the Windows 11 experience. Windows 11 was launched back in October 2021, but it's thought that more than 60% of PCs are still using Windows 10. There's another caveat when it comes to the support you can expect from Microsoft beyond October: If you ask for technical help from Microsoft with Office apps on Windows 10, and the issue doesn't occur on Windows 11, you'll be advised to upgrade the operating system. "If the customer is unable to move to Windows 11, support will provide troubleshooting assistance only; technical workarounds might be limited or unavailable," Microsoft says. View the full article

Ever wonder why the sound of rain makes you instantly drowsy, but a ticking clock drives you up the wall? That’s because not all noise soothes the brain in the same way. Sleep sounds might seem like just background buzz, but they’re carefully engineered to allow your brain to let go. Behind every babbling brook or rainforest storm track is an intricate design meant to quiet the mind, block out distractions, and nudge you toward sleep. As more people rely on sleep sounds to wind down, the industry behind them has surged, which is evidence of just how common this nightly ritual has become. Mediation and mindfulness app Headspace, says 51% of listeners use its sleep content (the app has been downloaded more than 70 million times). Ozlo, a company that created bluetooth earbuds that mask noise with sleep sounds, launched its flagship product in October 2024 after a successful Kickstarter. Since then, the company has sold nearly 100,000 units worldwide. Meanwhile, platforms like YouTube and Spotify are packed with “deep sleep” playlists, sound baths, and endless loops of ambient noise. Color noise—white, brown, or pink, which emit sound energy at different frequencies—can be surprisingly effective at helping you fall and stay asleep. But we often oversimplify how they work, says Ethan Cohen, a music and sound composer at Ozlo Sleepbuds, and these sounds alone aren’t a cure-all. “There’s often this tendency to say, this sound does X, Y, or Z. But you don’t just press a button and conk out,” he says. “They’re facilitating the conditions for healthy sleep or relaxation. They’re giving you your best chance at sleeping well.” A lot of what makes a sound effective is personal. “People tend to like certain frequency ranges based on nature,” says Scott Sorenson, audio engineer for Headspace. “White noise is what rain sounds like—it’s really high pitched. Brown noise is a much lower frequency range—it sounds like you’re underwater or even in the womb. We all have that maternal connection.” Memory plays a huge role, too. If you grew up next to a highway, the rumble of trucks might feel oddly soothing. If your childhood nights were filled with crickets and light wind, even the low hum of traffic might keep you awake. “There’s a lot of preference involved based on what is happening in the person’s life and in their environment,” Cohen says. That’s why both Ozlo and Headspace have built full libraries of sleep sounds—to meet people where they are. Sound composers like Cohen and Sorenson go way beyond simple static. They build immersive sound environments: layers of familiar, soothing textures help create a feeling of safety and ease, quietly occupying the mind just enough to help you drift off. Inside the craft of sleep sound design Building the perfect sleep sound is part science, part art. And most sounds are designed to serve two main purposes: mask disturbances (like traffic or snoring), and calm the mind. Ozlo’s most popular request is for sleep masks—sounds built specifically to block out noisy environments. To design one, Cohen studies how these external sleep disturbances sound at a frequency level. “I look at what the noise sounds like on its own. Then what it sounds like once our headphones are sitting in your ears,” he says. From there, he builds layers to cover the gaps, often at a similar frequency as the offending sound. “The goal is that any time an external sound is also heard, it just blends into that bed of sound,” he says. “We’re gently raising the threshold of what sounds a person is hearing so that if something does bubble up in their external environment, nothing pokes through the quiet and causes a disturbance.” Calming tracks that quiet racing thoughts take a slightly different approach. Instead of just covering up noise, they aim to transport you somewhere else—somewhere your brain instinctively feels safe. “It should evoke positive or calming memories,” says Cohen. [carousel_block id=”carousel-1747168293067″] Sorenson describes this process as constructing an “audio diorama”: layering field recordings, ambient noise, and subtle musical motifs to build a miniature world for a listener’s mind to explore. “I want to create things that are hidden inside of the sound. That if you listen, you can peel back the layers and go deeper and deeper,” he says. “That kind of mindset allows the mind to drift into that other space when we sleep.” Right now, Cohen is working on re-creating the experience of being on a train. He started with a field recording he made on a recent ride—that becomes the foundation. Then, he gets deeper to fill in the gaps that the audio didn’t pick up: “What materials is the train made out of? Does it feel like a safe, well-running train? Does it feel crowded?” he asks. Every detail matters, even if listeners don’t consciously recognize it. Once he sets the scene, Cohen begins layering in other sounds: rain tapping against the window (either digitally created or carefully edited from a sample), the soft chatter of other passengers, intermittent gusts of wind, the distant call of a train horn. “Those will all be separate elements that I’m mixing together to create a sense of realism,” he says. Keeping the brain engaged—but not awake Even though personal preference shapes what we find soothing, good sleep sounds share a few key traits. First: predictability. “A well-studied aspect of what makes something relaxing is that there’s formal predictability,” says Cohen. “There won’t be anything that is surprising or shocking or jolting in the experience.” Think about how a sudden car alarm or barking dog snaps you wide awake. But too much predictability backfires. “If it’s too simple, too monotonous, it becomes annoying,” says Sorenson. Think of the maddening tick of a clock or rhythmic drip of a faucet. The best sounds strike a balance: steady enough to be calming, but varied enough to keep your brain gently engaged. Rain is a classic example. “If you listen to the rain, there’s an immense amount of randomness and variation within a larger predictable phenomenon,” says Cohen. Another detail most listeners won’t consciously notice: the key of the music itself. Sorenson has found that sleep sounds built around major keys—rather than minor ones—tend to feel lighter and more relaxing. The best sleep sounds don’t just drown out the world—they create a new one that’s easy to get lost in. And right now, they’re one of the gentlest tools we have to improve sleep. In a world obsessed with quick fixes, Sorensen says, there’s something powerful about finding rest through creativity, memory, and sound. “Art is important. Sound and music have a healing effect on people,” says Sorenson. “Potentially at some point, there could be a pill for everything. But right now, this is what we have.” View the full article

Digital banking fintech firm Chime disclosed a rise in 2024 revenue in its IPO filing on Tuesday for a long-awaited U.S. stock market launch. Financial technology companies have increasingly entered the U.S. lending space, aiming to wrest market share from major players such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup. Chime’s revenue rose to $1.67 billion in the fiscal year ended 2024, up from $1.28 billion, a year earlier. The IPO window has reopened as markets recover sharply amid progress in trade talks, offering companies an opportunity to list their shares after months of turbulence driven by tariffs. A strong debut by Chime could pave the way for other IPO candidates, particularly in the technology sector, to move forward with their listings. “We led the 2017 Series B when few Silicon Valley investors believed, driven by our conviction that Chime could become a category-defining company,” said Simon Wu from Cathay Innovation. “Today’s IPO filing marks an exciting new chapter—not just for Chime, but for the future of inclusive, technology-driven consumer finance.” San Francisco-based Chime, cofounded by Chris Britt and Ryan King in 2012, provides financial services via a mobile app. The company has raised $2.65 billion from private investors since its inception, according to data from PitchBook. Its last fundraise round attracted high-profile investors including SoftBank Investment Advisers, General Atlantic and Tiger Global Management. In August 2021, Chime achieved a valuation of $25 billion during a fundraise. However, the company did not disclose the number of shares it intends to sell or the estimated price band for its listing. The startup will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CHYM”. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and J.P.Morgan are heading a syndicate of Wall Street investment banks chosen to underwrite the offering. —Jaiveer Shekhawat and Manya Saini, Reuters View the full article