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As wind-driven wildfires spread through the Los Angeles area in January 2025, fire-spotting technology and computer models were helping firefighters understand the rapidly changing environment they were facing. That technology has evolved over the years, yet some techniques are very similar to those used over 100 years ago. I have spent several decades studying combustion, including wildfire behavior and the technology used to track fires and predict where wildfires might turn. Here’s a quick tour of the key technologies used today. Spotting fires faster First, the fire must be discovered. Often wildfires are reported by people seeing smoke. That hasn’t…

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. investors have had a wild 2025 so far. Earlier this month, the beleaguered stock (Nasdaq: WBA) soared 25% after beating Q1 2025 expectations on revenue and earnings per share. Yet today, the company’s stock is crashing—WBA shares are currently down over 15% in early trading. But this stock price swing has nothing to do with sales. Instead, it likely has to do with Walgreens’ changes to its dividend payouts. Here’s what you need to know. Why is Walgreens stock crashing? As of the time of this writing, Walgreens shares are down over 15% in early market trading. The reason for the crashing stock price likely has to do with a change t…

Apple has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the iPhone maker sold early Apple Watch models that included batteries that could swell. The company has set aside $20 million to pay claims related to the suit. Here’s what to know about the lawsuit and whether you are eligible to receive a cut of the payout. What is the Apple Watch class action lawsuit about? The class action lawsuit alleged that Apple sold its early Apple Watch models with an internal battery that could swell. According to the lawsuit settlement website, the swollen batteries violated consumer protection laws and breached warranties. Which Apple Match models are included? The …

Apple on Thursday disclosed its iPhone sales dipped slightly during the holiday-season quarter, signaling a sluggish start to the trendsetting company’s effort to catch up to the rest of Big Tech in the race to bring artificial intelligence to the masses. The iPhone’s roughly 1% drop in revenue from the previous year’s October-December period wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the first software update enabling the device’s AI features didn’t arrive until just before Halloween, and the technology still isn’t available in many markets outside the U.S. The countries still awaiting Apple’s AI suite include China, a key market where the company continued to lose ground. Alth…

The Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek could not be accessed on Wednesday in Apple and Google app stores in Italy, the day after the country’s data protection authority requested information on its use of personal data. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it had also requested information from DeepSeek about data processing in relation to Irish users. DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, sparking panic among tech stock investors. “The news of the withdrawal of the …

The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) just got a new logo, and there’s more to it than meets the eye. The updated logo dropped just in time for the upcoming Super Bowl, when an influx of out-of-state fans will bustle through MSY on their way to the Caesars Superdome arena. MSY is taking advantage of the increased publicity, using it as an opportunity to scrap its old logo—a blobby, clunky take on the fleur-de-lis that’s more of an eyesore than an homage—for a sleeker, more intriguing graphic. From left: The new logo outshines its predecessor [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] Called the “Plane de Lis,” the new mark is …

Imagine, just for a second, that Post Malone and Shane Gillis are your neighbors—not in a now-you’re-rich-and-live-among-pop-stars-and-comedy-elite way, just your average suburban cul-de-sac situation. This is what Bud Light has been asking of us in its recent Super Bowl ad teasers. In one, we see Post and Gillis through a doorbell cam. In another, Gillis is outlining the rules of actually drinking in a beer ad (no bueno). These were mere sips of what was to come. Today, Bud Light decided to jam a proverbial screwdriver into the side of the can and let the world shotgun its full big game ad ahead of time. Now we know what the tucked golf shirts and jorts hyp…

Capital One has launched an AI agent designed to help consumers with one of the most frustrating, time-consuming processes in life: buying a car. The banking giant’s Chat Concierge provides information, makes decisions, and takes action using multiple AI agents. Mimicking human reasoning, the product aims to assist consumers in all aspects of the research process involved in making a car purchase, from comparing vehicles to scheduling test drives. “Buying a car is a stressful experience,” says Prem Natarajan, EVP, chief scientist, and head of enterprise AI at Capital One. “The possibility that we can make this really important purchase for people a frictionless …

Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries. It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medication’s modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain. Studies in more tha…

If you enjoy snacking on chocolate-covered pretzels, you’ll want to make sure you don’t have a specific variety of the tasty snacks from Fresh Direct in your possession. That’s because the chocolate-covered pretzels in question contain an undeclared milk allergen that could cause life-threatening health consequences in some people, up to and including death. Here’s what you need to know about the recall. What’s happened? Food distributor United Natural Trading LLC of Edison, New Jersey, has announced a recall of one of its Fresh Direct Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzels products after it was found to contain an undeclared milk allergen. As a result, the company de…

Recently, the IRS realized that it owes $2.4 billion total in COVID stimulus payments to about one million taxpayers, with a maximum payment of $1,400. If you’re eligible for a stimulus check, you don’t have to do anything to receive it: The IRS is sending out honest-to-goodness windfalls to a million Americans. Unlike your tax refund—which is a portion of your salary being returned to you—no one is likely to wag a finger at you for getting a stimulus check. But that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to figure out what to spend your stimulus money on. If you’re looking for good uses for your stimulus money, here are several strategies that can help you make the mos…

Over 15 years of working with leaders, I’ve noticed a clear pattern: Burnout often stems from what I call the Superman leadership style. Many cultures hold tightly to this image of a leader as strong, confident, and capable of fixing anything. This ideal isn’t just a societal expectation—it’s one that leaders impose on themselves. But striving to be a “Superman” leader is a recipe for burnout, because it’s both unrealistic and unattainable. Burnout, as highlighted by the World Health Organization, is an occupational phenomenon. It’s marked by exhaustion, reduced professional effectiveness, and a sense of detachment from one’s work. And leaders that fit the Superma…

We live in a world that is saturated with leadership wisdom—from countless books to endless streams of think pieces—yet the gap between what leaders know and what they do is as wide as ever. The thing is, leadership transformation is hard. It takes courage to step outside the status quo. And it’s deeply human to cling to comfort and choose habit over risk. In our years of working with leaders, we’ve noticed those who succeed at continuously evolving their leadership mettle strike a balance between three impulses. To make the concept easier to grasp, we visualize each impulse as a persona: the Kid, the Scientist, and the Gardener. These personas act as a framewor…

Now this is a Lego set suitable for framing. Soon Lego will release an artful 2,615-piece set based on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which has the original work in its permanent collection. There’s no oil paint required for this rendition, though: The Lego set has enough blocks to make 16 sunflowers with adjustable petals, plus a tile with Van Gogh’s signature and a removable frame. The set is currently available for preorder for $199.99 and will ship starting March 1. Lego’s Amsterdam store and the Van Gogh Museum will permanently display sets of their own beginning March 1 as well. [Photo: Lego…

When I recently needed to find a last-minute place to stay for a week in Palo Alto, I picked one of the cheapest options on Airbnb: a 13-by-13 foot tiny house. Inside, the main living area was smaller than a parking space. Still, it had room for everything you might find in a typical studio apartment. Along the back, a tiny loveseat disguised a Murphy bed that could be pulled down from the wall; the coffee table was exactly the right size to move to the opposite side of the room when it was time to use the bed. On the other side of the house, there was a minuscule kitchen with a tiny fridge, a two-burner stove, and a sink, next to a semi-normal-sized bathroom with a s…

“I didn’t know what to say, so I avoided him.” That’s what a leader confessed to me during a coaching session, his voice low with shame. One of his team members had just lost a child, and instead of reaching out, he kept his distance. “What could I possibly say to make it better?” he asked me. “I was terrified I’d make things worse.” It’s a moment many leaders face but few talk about. When employees are dealing with loss, crisis, or personal hardship, the instinct to avoid, to stay in the safe zone of tasks and deadlines, can be overwhelming. But leadership during hard times isn’t about having the perfect words—it’s about having the courage to show up. The Emo…

Digital transformation is the most important investment that organizations can make to drive enterprise value. That’s according to 68% of 1,600 business leaders surveyed by Deloitte. And while I largely agree with their thinking, I would take things one very important step further. In my six years as CEO of Argyle, a technology company whose existence hinges on other organizations’ willingness to digitally transform their income verification process, I have learned this: A transformation that prioritizes the needs, skills, and experiences of the humans operating the technology being adopted is the key to long-term success. Consider the users Some call it takin…