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Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago, when it helped sink then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Yet you wouldn’t know it from listening to President Donald The President or even some of the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. The President told the United Nations General Assembly late last month: “Grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated.” And at a high-profile speech in August, just before the Fed cut its key interest rate for the first time this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said: “Inflation, though still somewhat elevated, has …

We’ve spent the better part of the past few years glued to our screens—clicking, swiping, streaming. Endless tabs, endless scrolls. And yet, despite all the infinite access, we’re still craving the one thing the web cannot render: real presence. That collective craving has rewritten the rules of marketing. Five years after COVID, brands are finding the antidote to Zoom fatigue by showing up in person again. Canva, the Australian graphic design platform, is moving quickly to meet this demand with the launch of the Canva World Tour, a global initiative spanning 40 cities across 30 countries and five continents, with the goal of training one million people in jus…

Are you human? A new game wants you to prove it. I’m Not a Robot is a fun spin on the popular CAPTCHA game synonymous with using the internet. Except it’s not just one game, but 48 increasingly absurd puzzles designed to help you prove you have a soul—and the patience to parallel park a Waymo using your arrow keys. The game begins as you’d expect. Level 1 asks you to check a box to prove you’re not a robot. Level 3 prompts you to decipher text wiggling on the screen. But the more you progress, the whackier it all becomes. Level 11 asks you to find Waldo on a crowded beach. Level 17 wants you to use your mouse to draw a circle that is 94% accurate (it’s not as easy…

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt won the Nobel memorial prize in economics Monday for their research into the impact of innovation on economic growth and how new technologies replace older ones, a key economic concept known as “creative destruction.” The winners represent contrasting but complementary approaches to economics. Mokyr is an economic historian who delved into long-term trends using historical sources, while Howitt and Aghion relied on mathematics to explain how creative destruction works. Dutch-born Mokyr, 79, is from Northwestern University; Aghion, 69, from the Collège de France and the London School of Economics; and Canadian-born Howitt, 79…

Apple was hit with a lawsuit in California federal court by a pair of neuroscientists who say that the tech company misused thousands of copyrighted books to train its Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence model. Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, professors at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, told the court in a proposed class action on Thursday that Apple used illegal “shadow libraries” of pirated books to train Apple Intelligence. A separate group of authors sued Apple last month for allegedly misusing their work in AI training. TECH COMPANIES FACING LAWSUITS The lawsuit is one of many high-stakes cases brough…

Want a reason to be optimistic? The global food system is showing some green shoots that suggest more sustainable farming practices are on the way. But consumers play an integral role in making that a reality, and the choices they make every time they shop at the grocery store matter more than we may realize. That’s because farmers, companies, and consumers must all work together to create a more sustainable food system, according to Paul Rice, founder of Fair Trade USA, which certifies products to meet standards around fair pricing, safe working conditions, and sustainable farming practices. “We have the ability to vote with our dollars . . . to choose produ…

Immigrants selling food, flowers, and other merchandise along the sidewalks of California will have new privacy protections intended to keep their identities secret from federal immigration agents. The measure, signed into law this past week by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, comes on the heels of other recently enacted state laws meant to shield students in schools and patients at health care facilities from the reach of President Donald The President’s immigration enforcement actions. Democratic-led states are adding laws resisting The President even as he intensifies his deportation campaign by seeking to deploy National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities to r…

Barack Obama helped Marc Maron lock the gates on his podcast Monday, returning to the show for the final episode after 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes. The former president gave new status to “WTF With Marc Maron” and to podcasts in general when he visited Maron’s Los Angeles garage studio while still in office a decade ago. Obama brought the 62-year-old host, stand-up comic and actor to his Washington office for the last interview. Obama asked the initial questions. “How are you feeling about this whole thing?,” he said, “transition, moving on from this thing that has been one of the defining parts of your career and your life?” “I feel OK,” Maron answered. “I …

Most American cities have street networks that are engineered for us to comfortably drive much too fast for our surroundings. Even our old, pre-automobile cities have been “upgraded” to make dangerous driving habits easy. Transportation professionals are allowed to use good judgment when deciding how to design city streets, but they often need to be reminded, especially in cities where the state department of transportation has authority. It’s not enough for you as a good urbanist to tell an engineer to make better choices. After all, they’re not a malicious bunch trying to wreck society. They’re conforming to the long-established rules of the industry. The AA…

Last week, Disney briefed the press on how it’s bringing the entire Hulu catalog into its Disney+ app, with a dedicated tab for accessing Hulu’s more adult-oriented fare. But despite all the headlines you might’ve seen about the Hulu app shutting down, Disney says it’s not happening anytime soon, if at all. According to Disney, the company has no timeline for getting rid of the dedicated Hulu app, and will continue to sell stand-alone Hulu subscriptions. The company still sees Hulu as an important part of its streaming strategy, serving as a catchall for content that doesn’t fall under tentpole Disney brands such as Star Wars and Marvel. Outside of the United States, …

“Tron: Ares” powered up the box office grid in the top spot this weekend, but Disney’s third entry in the sci-fi franchise fell short of expectations. Despite some favorable reviews — including a three-out-of-four-star one from The Associated Press — the new “Tron” film starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges earned $33.5 million, according to Comscore estimates on Sunday. The big-budget project, reported to cost around $150 million, arrived 15 years after “Tron: Legacy” opened to $44 million before grossing more than $400 million globally. The latest chapter follows a battle between two powerful technology firms, Emcom and Dillinger, who face off against the s…

And back up goes Wall Street. U.S. stocks are rallying Monday after President Donald The President said “ it will all be fine,” just days after he sent the market reeling by threatening much higher tariffs on China. The S&P 500 jumped 1.3% to recover nearly half its drop from Friday, which was its worst since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 483 points, or 1.1%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% higher. “Don’t worry about China,” The President said on his social media platform Sunday. He also said that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, “doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help Ch…

Uncertainty over the economy and tariffs is forcing retailers to pull back or delay plans to hire seasonal workers who pack orders at distribution centers, serve shoppers at stores and build holiday displays during the most important selling season of the year. American Christmas LLC, which creates elaborate holiday installations for commercial properties such as New York’s Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, plans to hire 220 temporary workers and is ramping up recruitment nearly two months later than usual, CEO Dan Casterella said. Last year, the company took on 300 people during its busy period. The main reason? The company wants to offset its tariff …

There’s an ear-piercing war brewing at the mall. Claire’s, the biggest player in the market, has hit hard times, leaving room for upstarts to impinge on its territory. For 60 years, Claire’s has billed itself as a place for kids and teens to get their first piercings. The company says it has pierced more than 100 million ears since 1978. But after declaring bankruptcy in August (its second bankruptcy in seven years), Claire’s was acquired by the holding company Ames Watson for $140 million. These new owners have plans to turn the business around, including drastically shrinking its retail footprint which had ballooned to more than 1,000 stores. It recently annou…

JPMorgan Chase will directly invest up to $10 billion in U.S. companies with crucial ties to national security. The investment plan revealed Monday will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing in critical minerals, pharmaceutical precursors, and robotics; defense and aerospace; energy independence, with investments in battery storage and grid resilience; and strategic technologies, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. The investment is part of the bank’s Security and Resiliency Initiative, a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance, and invest in industries critical to national security. “It ha…

KPop Demon Hunters took over Netflix when it debuted in August. Next, it’s coming for Halloween. That’s according to Google’s annual Frightgeist report, which uses Google Trends search data to predict the year’s top Halloween costumes across a number of categories. This year’s report, published on October 9, shows that characters from the hit animated movie musical KPop Demon Hunters have snagged all five of the list’s top spots. KPop Demon Hunters centers on Huntr/x, a K-pop superstar trio who double as demon hunters. The members—Rumi, Mira, and Zoey—must protect their fans while facing down a rival boy band made up of demons in disguise, led by the singer J…

Crypto is here to stay—and you can take that to the bank. Citibank, perhaps. On Monday morning, CNBC reported that Citi is looking to launch crypto custody services next year. Biswarup Chatterjee, the global head of partnerships and innovation in the services business at Citi, told CNBC that the company is “hoping that in the next few quarters, we can come to market with a credible custody solution that we can offer to our asset managers and other clients.” While banks have, traditionally, kept cryptocurrency at arm’s length, primarily concerned about regulatory changes, the The President administration’s embrace of crypto—exemplified by the passage of new laws li…

If you are one of the millions of Americans who filed for an extension on your federal tax return back in April, you might be wondering if you still need to pay your taxes by October 15 because the government is currently shut down. The simple answer is yes—for most filers. (Two exceptions, though, are if you were affected by a federally declared disaster, or if you were living out of the country on the due date.) This year, many people are wondering if the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deadline still stands, given the The President administration has furloughed 34,400 of some 74,300 employees, according to agency. That’s over half the current workforce. “Due…

The Big Apple is taking on the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, accusing them of “public nuisance” and spurring a youth mental health crisis in the city. In a 327-page lawsuit filed last week in the Southern District of New York, the city of New York—along with its school districts and health department—alleges that “gross negligence” on the part of Meta, Alphabet, Snap, and ByteDance has hooked kids on social media through “algorithms that wield user data as a weapon against children and fuel the addiction machine.” Over one-third of 13- to 17-year-olds report using one of these social media platforms “almost constantly” and …

OpenAI and Broadcom have formed a multibillion-dollar partnership to develop OpenAI-designed chips. Under the deal, OpenAI will design the chips to its own specifications and Broadcom will manage the development and fabrication of the chips, as well as help with their deployment. The companies plan to deploy enough chips to require 10 gigawatts of electrical power beginning in mid-2026, and running through 2029. Broadcom stock jumped almost 10% on the announcement Monday. The deal marks the second major move by OpenAI to reduce its dependence on Nvidia, which now dominates the AI chip market—the company announced a partnership with chipmaker AMD last week. …

Thirteen months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Metro Mattress Corp. is set to become the latest brick-and-mortar chain to wind down operations in 2025. The New York-based bedding retailer has disclosed in a court filing that it plans to shutter its remaining stores after some 21 attempts to find a buyer or strategic partner that would have allowed it to continue. Headquartered in Syracuse, Metro Mattress had 70 locations across New York and four New England states when it sought Chapter 11 protection in September 2024. At the time, it said it planned to close roughly two dozen of those stores and refocus its efforts specifically on its New York…

Amazon will once again beef up its workforce in the fourth quarter to handle the expected shopping surge that comes with the holidays. This year, though, it could be responsible for nearly half of all seasonal hiring in the retail sector. The retail giant says it plans to create 250,000 jobs in the U.S. That’s on par with the number of people it hired last year—and in 2023. That not only underscores Amazon’s standing among shoppers, but it also puts a spotlight on expected slower sales at some competitors. Seasonal hiring is nothing new. Every year as temperatures get brisker, retailers put the call out for workers looking to make some extra cash and help handle t…

While most employers offer mental health care coverage as part of their health insurance packages, major gaps in care exist. According to new research, many employers aren’t sure how mental health care services are being used by employees. The 2025 Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) Employer Survey, released Friday, polled professionals at 400 companies with 500 or more employees who made benefits decisions. Mental health coverage was a given almost across the board (97% of respondents said their company offered it), and several companies covered nontraditional programs, like financial therapists (62%) and mindfulness apps (74%). However, there were also s…

OpenAI never wanted to build a chatbot. As an early beta tester for OpenAI’s GPT-3 model, I can vouch for the fact that the company was caught totally off guard by ChatGPT’s runaway success. An email that OpenAI sent me on November 28, 2022—just two days before ChatGPT came to market and kicked off a trillion-dollar, multiyear, economy-distending AI scramble—didn’t even mention the new interface. Rather, it bragged about the company’s then-revolutionary “DaVinci” model and how it could “deliver clearer, more engaging, and more compelling content” and allow developers to “take on tasks that would have previously been too difficult to achieve.” From th…

’Tis the season for carved pumpkins, god-awful candy corn, and an inevitable workplace costume that lands someone a well-earned talking-to from HR. Halloween is near, which means it’s the perfect time to reflect on a tale from the cubicle that’s even spookier than Tales From the Crypt. It starts with three words that would strike fear in the heart of anyone who’s ever worked in corporate America. Performance. Improvement. Plan. Taken at face value, the phrase sounds gentle, maybe even helpful, like the start of a company-sponsored self-care journey. In reality, a PIP is usually the workplace equivalent of a death sentence, a corporate guillotine that gives “being …