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Two federal officers fired shots during the encounter that killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti over the weekend in Minneapolis, a Customs and Border Protection official told Congress in a notice sent Tuesday, while Ecuador’s minister of foreign affairs filed an objection saying immigration agents tried to enter the country’s consulate in the city without permission. Officers tried to take Pretti into custody and he resisted, leading to a struggle, according to a notification to Congress obtained by The Associated Press. During the struggle, a Border Patrol agent yelled, “He’s got a gun!” multiple times, the official said. A Border Patrol officer and a CBP officer each fired Glock pistols, the notice said. Investigators from CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the analysis based on a review of body-worn camera footage and agency documentation, the notice said. The law requires the agency to inform relevant congressional committees about deaths in CBP custody within 72 hours. Separately, a man was arrested after he sprayed an unknown liquid at U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar while she was speaking at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis. The Democrat had just called for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign when she was sprayed. The President says ‘we’re going to de-escalate a little bit’ The developments came a day after President Donald The President ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota in the wake of Pretti’s death, which was the second fatal shooting this month of a person at the hands of immigration law enforcement. By sending Homan to Minnesota, “we’re going to de-escalate a little bit,” The President said during an interview on Fox News’ “Will Cain Show.” That’s significant since White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when questioned repeatedly Monday about Homan’s being dispatched to Minnesota, refused to say that doing so was an effort to calm the situation. The president added of Homan, “Tom, as tough as he is, gets along” with governors and mayors, even in Democratic areas. As he left the White House on Tuesday, the president was asked whether Pretti’s killing was justified. He responded by saying that a “big investigation” was underway. In the hours after Pretti’s death, some administration officials sought to blame the shooting on the 37-year-old intensive care nurse. Stephen Miller, The President’s deputy chief of staff who had initially called Pretti “an assassin,” issued a statement suggesting CBP officers in Minneapolis “may not have been following” protocol. He said the Homeland Security Department’s initial statements about what transpired on Saturday was “based on reports from CBP on the ground.” Ecuador files a protest with the US Embassy A video of the Ecuadorian consulate entry attempt posted on social media shows a staffer running to the door to turn the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents away, telling them, “This is the Ecuadorian consulate. You’re not allowed to enter.” One ICE officer can be heard responding by threatening to “grab” the staffer if he touched the agent before agreeing to leave. International law generally prohibits law enforcement authorities from entering foreign consulates or embassies without permission, though sometimes permission may be assumed granted for life-threatening emergencies, like fires. “Consulate officials immediately prevented the ICE officer from entering the consular building, thus ensuring the protection of the Ecuadorians who were present at the time and activating the emergency protocols issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility,” the ministry wrote on X. A “note of protest” was filed with the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador so that similar attempts aren’t made at other consulates, the ministry said. The State Department, Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The President says of sending Bovino to Minneapolis: ‘Maybe it wasn’t good here’ Immigration enforcement activity witnessed by journalists in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs on Tuesday appeared comparable with recent weeks. As before, most didn’t result in major confrontations with agents. Activists say they continue to monitor enforcement operations through social media and chats on messaging apps. The White House had tried to blame Democratic leaders for the protests of immigration raids. But after Pretti’s killing and videos suggesting he was not an active threat, the administration tapped Homan to take charge of the Minnesota operation from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. The President said Bovino, the go-to architect for the president’s large-scale city-by-city immigration crackdowns, was “very good” but added “he’s a pretty out-there kind of a guy” and “maybe it wasn’t good here.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, along with the city’s police chief, met with Homan on Tuesday and agreed to keep talking. Homan posted on social media that the discussions “were a productive starting point.” Courts weigh in on detained immigrants In Texas, a federal judge issued a temporary order prohibiting the removal of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father who were detained last week in Minnesota in an incident that further inflamed divisions on immigration. U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday that any removal or transfer of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is on hold while a court case proceeds. Also in Texas, federal immigration authorities released an Ecuadorian man whose detention led the chief federal judge in Minnesota to order the head of ICE to appear in his courtroom, the man’s attorney said. Attorney Graham Ojala-Barbour said the man was released in Texas. The lawyer said in an email to The Associated Press that he was notified in an email from the U.S. attorneys office in Minneapolis that his client had been freed. In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz expressed frustration with the The President administration’s handling of immigration cases. He took the extraordinary step of ordering Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, to personally appear in his courtroom Friday. Schiltz had said in his order that he would cancel Lyons’ appearance if the man was released from custody. “This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” he wrote. Schiltz’s order followed a federal court hearing Monday on a request by the state and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul for a judge to halt the immigration enforcement surge. The judge in that case said she would prioritize the ruling but did not give a timeline for a decision. Schiltz wrote that he recognizes ordering the head of a federal agency to appear personally is extraordinary. “But the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” he said. The Associated Press left messages Tuesday with ICE and a DHS spokesperson seeking a response. Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey and Karnowski from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report. —Seung Min Kim, Mike Catalini and Steve Karnowski, Associated Press View the full article

When you’re looking to obtain business licenses for multiple locations, it’s essential to understand the specific requirements for each area. Each jurisdiction has its own rules, and compliance is key to your success. You’ll need to gather documentation and complete separate applications for each location. Knowing the steps involved can make the process smoother. But how do you guarantee you’re not missing any important details along the way? Key Takeaways Research the specific business license requirements for each location, including general and industry-specific licenses, as regulations vary by jurisdiction. Gather and prepare all necessary documentation, such as identification, business formation documents, and proof of address for each location. Complete and submit separate applications for each location, ensuring all details are accurate and aligned with local standards to avoid processing delays. Keep track of application statuses and renewal dates using a centralized system or business management software to maintain compliance. Regularly review local regulations and stay informed about changes that may impact licensing through government websites and local business associations. Understanding Business Licenses When you start a business, comprehension of the various types of business licenses required for legal operation is crucial, as each jurisdiction has its own set of regulations. In Pennsylvania, for instance, a general business license is often necessary, but you might likewise need industry-specific licenses depending on your services. If you’re wondering, “Does a business have the same license for multiple locations?” the answer typically is no; each location may require its own license. To determine what type of business license you need, you’ll gather vital documents like tax identification numbers and business formation papers. Keeping these documents accurate and up-to-date guarantees a smoother application process and helps you avoid potential legal issues down the line. Researching Licensing Requirements by Location When you’re researching licensing requirements for your business locations, it’s crucial to understand both local regulations and state-specific differences. Each area may have unique rules governing general business licenses, zoning permits, and any industry-specific licenses you’ll need to operate legally. Make certain to gather this information carefully to guarantee compliance across all your locations. Local Regulations Overview Steering through the terrain of local regulations is crucial for successfully obtaining business licenses for multiple locations, as each jurisdiction may impose unique requirements. Start by researching specific licensing needs for every location. Check local government websites or offices for necessary permits, like zoning or health permits, especially if you’re asking, “Do I need a business license in Florida?” or looking into a Pennsylvania business permit. Furthermore, understand the renewal processes for licenses, as these can differ greatly. Location Required License Extra Permits Florida Business License Zoning Permit Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Business Permit Health Permit California Business License Sign Permit Stay updated through resources like the SBA. State-Specific Licensing Differences As you expand your business to multiple locations, it’s essential to recognize that licensing requirements can vary widely from state to state. Each state may require different licenses, such as a general business license or specific permits based on your operations, like health permits for food services or zoning permits for construction. You’ll need to research each state’s regulations thoroughly. To find out how do I find my business license number, consult the state’s government website or contact local regulatory offices. Verify your existing licenses are valid in new locations, as some states may have reciprocity agreements, whereas others require separate applications. Staying informed about these differences can prevent costly fines and verify compliance across all your locations. Identifying Necessary Documentation To successfully obtain business licenses for multiple locations, it’s crucial to gather specific documentation customized to each site. Start by compiling local business names and addresses, noting any unique regulations that apply in those areas. You’ll furthermore need identification documents, such as driver’s licenses and tax identification numbers, for each business entity to streamline the process. In addition, prepare business formation documents like articles of incorporation or LLC registrations to demonstrate compliance with local laws. Don’t forget to include proof of business address, such as lease agreements or utility bills, to verify operational legitimacy. Always verify that all documentation is current and accurately reflects operations at each location, as this can prevent delays or complications in the licensing process. Completing Application Forms for Each Location When you commence the process of completing application forms for each location, it’s vital to pay attention to the specific details required by local authorities. Each application must accurately reflect the address and operational details of the respective site to comply with local regulations. Be aware that different locations may have unique permits or licenses based on their jurisdiction, so thorough research is imperative. Remember to submit separate applications for each location, regardless of whether they share the same business name, to avoid delays. It’s also significant to track the status of each application independently, as processing times can vary. Maintain organized records for each location’s licensing documents, including application forms and fees paid, to facilitate ongoing compliance and future renewals. Submitting Applications and Fees When you’re ready to submit your business license applications, it’s essential to understand the specific process for each location, as requirements can differ. Each application typically comes with its own fee, which can vary greatly depending on the municipality and the type of license you’re seeking. To keep everything organized, maintain a record of your submitted applications and fees, so you can easily track their status and follow up as needed. Application Submission Process Submitting applications for business licenses across multiple locations requires careful attention to local regulations and requirements, as each jurisdiction may have its own specific criteria that must be met. Tailor each application to fit these local standards to avoid delays or rejections. Be prepared to pay separate application fees for each location, which can vary greatly, so budgeting is crucial. Keep a detailed record of all submitted applications and their payment receipts, as this documentation helps track the status of each license and facilitates future renewals. If available, utilize online submission portals to streamline the process. After submitting, follow up with the respective regulatory offices to confirm receipt and inquire about typical processing timelines, as they can differ by location. Fee Structure Overview Comprehending the fee structure for business licenses across multiple locations is vital for effective budgeting and planning. When you apply, each location typically requires a separate application and fee, which can vary based on jurisdiction and business type. Fees might range from as low as $50 to several hundred dollars. Some local governments offer discounts for bulk applications, so it’s wise to ask about these options. Furthermore, you need to budget for renewal fees that occur periodically, as these can likewise differ by location. Tracking Application Status How can you effectively track the status of your business license applications for multiple locations? After submitting your applications, regularly check the online portal or contact the relevant government office for updates. Keeping a detailed log of all submitted applications is essential; note submission dates, fees paid, and reference numbers to monitor progress. Set calendar reminders for follow-ups, typically two to four weeks after submission, depending on local processing times. Be ready to respond quickly to any requests for additional information from licensing authorities, as delays can arise. Finally, maintain copies of all applications and receipts, as this documentation might be necessary for future reference or audits related to your business licenses. Tracking Renewal Dates Tracking renewal dates for business licenses across multiple locations is crucial for maintaining compliance and avoiding costly fines. Start by creating a centralized tracking system, either digital or physical, to record renewal dates for all your licenses. Utilize calendar alerts or reminder apps to notify you of upcoming deadlines at least 30 days in advance, giving you ample time for paperwork. Regularly check local government websites for each location to stay informed about any changes in renewal processes or requirements. Maintain a dedicated file for each location, including copies of all licenses and their respective renewal dates. Finally, consider using business management software that offers licensing tracking features, which can automate reminders and organize relevant information in one place. Staying Informed About Local Regulations To effectively manage business licenses across multiple locations, you need to stay updated on local licensing requirements and regulatory changes. Regularly visiting government websites, subscribing to newsletters, and engaging with local business associations can provide valuable insights. Furthermore, attending community meetings and utilizing social media platforms can help you connect with other business owners, ensuring you’re informed about compliance issues that may arise in each jurisdiction. Local Licensing Requirements As you expand your business to multiple locations, staying informed about local licensing requirements becomes crucial, since these regulations can vary widely between jurisdictions. Here are three key steps to help you navigate the intricacies: Research Local Regulations: Investigate the specific licensing requirements for each jurisdiction where you plan to operate, as they can differ considerably. Utilize Online Resources: Many local governments provide detailed information online regarding licensing requirements, zoning regulations, and necessary permits customized to your business type. Engage with Local Authorities: Consult with local government offices to clarify unique regulations or additional licenses that may apply to your business activities. Regulatory Compliance Updates Keeping up with regulatory compliance updates is vital for businesses operating in multiple locations. Regularly check local government websites and subscribe to newsletters from regulatory agencies to stay informed about changes to business licensing requirements. Furthermore, leverage industry-specific associations, as they often provide alerts and resources about regulatory changes relevant to your sector. Creating a compliance calendar can help you track renewal dates and deadlines for licenses and permits. Consider attending local business forums or workshops that focus on regulatory compliance, where you can connect with other business owners facing similar challenges. Finally, engaging a compliance consultant or legal expert can provide customized advice and updates that are important for your operations across different locations. Community Engagement Strategies Engaging with your local community can greatly improve your comprehension of regulatory changes that impact your business. By actively participating, you can stay informed and connected. Here are three effective strategies: Join local business associations or chambers of commerce. These organizations provide timely updates on licensing requirements and regulatory changes affecting multiple locations. Attend community meetings and workshops. Local government agencies often host events where you can gain insights into upcoming regulations and network with fellow business owners facing similar challenges. Subscribe to newsletters from local government websites. This guarantees you receive essential information on laws, permits, and licensing requirements relevant to your business. Managing Multiple Licenses Effectively Managing multiple business licenses effectively requires a clear comprehension of the distinct licensing requirements that may apply to each location. Each site might’ve unique regulations, so thorough research is vital. Establish a centralized system to track expiration dates, renewal timelines, and compliance deadlines for all licenses, preventing lapses in legal operation. Consider utilizing software designed for multi-location businesses, which can streamline documentation and keep paperwork organized. Designate a compliance officer or team responsible for monitoring requirements and addressing changes in laws swiftly. Regular communication with local government offices is important to stay informed about updates that may impact your licenses. Common Challenges in Obtaining Licenses Maneuvering the process of obtaining business licenses for multiple locations can be challenging, especially since each site may face different state and local regulations. Here are some common challenges to take into account: Varying Requirements: Each location may need different licenses and permits based on local laws, which can lead to confusion and compliance issues. Time-Consuming Applications: The application process often requires unique documentation for each site, such as proof of business address and local zoning compliance, making it labor-intensive. Processing Delays: Local government backlogs or missing paperwork can delay applications, impacting your ability to operate smoothly across all locations. Being aware of these challenges helps you prepare and navigate the licensing environment more effectively. Tips for Streamlining the Licensing Process When you’re maneuvering through the intricacies of obtaining business licenses for multiple locations, implementing a few strategic tips can greatly streamline the process. First, create a thorough checklist of all licenses and permits needed for each location, as regulations vary across jurisdictions. Next, utilize a centralized system to track application statuses and renewals, which reduces administrative burdens. Consult local government websites for specific regional requirements, and consider hiring a licensing consultant to navigate complex regulations. Finally, set up a timeline for each location’s licensing process, including submission deadlines and renewal reminders. Tip Action Needed Benefit Create a Checklist List required licenses for each area Guarantees nothing is overlooked Centralized Tracking Use a tracking system Streamlines communication Set Up a Timeline Schedule submissions and reminders Maintains organization Legal Implications of Non-Compliance Grasping the legal implications of non-compliance with business licensing regulations is crucial for any entrepreneur. Ignoring these regulations can lead to severe consequences that jeopardize your business. Here are three key risks you should be aware of: Financial Penalties: Hefty fines and penalties can drain your resources, putting your financial stability at risk. Operational Disruptions: Operating without necessary licenses may result in suspension or closure, causing significant revenue loss during downtimes. Legal Liability: Some jurisdictions impose criminal charges for unlicensed operations, which could tarnish your personal and professional reputation. Resources for Business Licensing Support Understanding the legal implications of non-compliance with business licensing regulations highlights the importance of seeking reliable resources for obtaining the necessary licenses for your locations. Local government websites are excellent starting points, as they provide thorough guidelines customized to specific locations and business types. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) likewise offers valuable tools to help you understand licensing requirements and navigate the application process for multiple locations. Furthermore, business associations and local chambers of commerce can provide insights and networking opportunities. Consulting with legal professionals or licensing specialists guarantees accurate application completion and identification of all necessary permits. Finally, online platforms streamline the licensing process, offering checklists, application tracking, and expert advice to facilitate compliance. Future Considerations for Business Expansion As you consider broadening your business to multiple locations, comprehending the unique licensing requirements for each area is essential, since regulations can vary greatly between jurisdictions. To guarantee a smooth expansion, keep these future considerations in mind: Research Local Regulations: Investigate the specific licensing needs, zoning laws, and health and safety requirements for each new area. Centralized Documentation: Develop a system to organize necessary paperwork, helping you maintain compliance and reduce legal risks. Budget for Licenses: Include application fees and ongoing compliance costs in your expansion budget to avoid financial surprises. Frequently Asked Questions How to Structure a Business With Multiple Locations? To structure a business with multiple locations, you need to choose the right entity type, like an LLC or corporation, for liability protection and flexibility. Each location requires comprehension of local regulations and obtaining necessary licenses. Implement a centralized management system to guarantee consistency in operations and compliance. Consider appointing regional managers to oversee multiple sites. If growing swiftly, a franchise model might likewise work well, allowing for local adaptation in the process of maintaining operational standards. Do I Need Multiple Business Licenses for Multiple Locations? Yes, you typically need multiple business licenses for each location. Licensing requirements vary by city, county, or state, meaning each site may face different regulations and zoning laws. You’ll usually need a general business license and any specific permits relevant to your industry. Although some states might allow a single license for multiple locations, this is uncommon. Always confirm with local authorities to avoid fines or operational issues that could affect your business. How to Operate a Business in Multiple States? To operate a business in multiple states, you need to register your business in each state where you’ll operate. This often involves obtaining a foreign qualification or a state-specific business license. Each state has unique requirements, so it’s crucial to research the necessary permits and regulations. Keep track of licensing and renewal dates for compliance. Consulting a legal professional or utilizing resources like the SBA can simplify managing these multi-state requirements effectively. Can an LLC Have Multiple Business Licenses? Yes, an LLC can have multiple business licenses, as each license typically pertains to specific activities or locations. You’ll need to apply for separate licenses for each location, depending on local regulations. This often involves submitting specific documentation and paying associated fees. It’s essential to comply with the licensing requirements of each jurisdiction where you operate, so keep track of renewal dates to maintain uninterrupted business operations and avoid penalties. Conclusion In conclusion, obtaining business licenses for multiple locations requires careful planning and attention to detail. By researching local regulations, gathering required documentation, and submitting accurate applications, you can navigate the licensing process effectively. Staying organized and proactive will help you manage renewals and remain compliant with local laws. Engaging with local authorities and utilizing available resources can further simplify the path, ensuring your business is well-positioned for future expansion and success. Image via Google Gemini This article, "How to Obtain Business Licenses for Multiple Locations: A Step-by-Step Guide" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Social Channel Insights in GSC point to a broader shift where search validation increasingly follows social-driven discovery. The post Social Channel Insights In Search Console: What It Means For Social & Search appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Marie Haynes explains why Google’s AI ranking systems prioritize user satisfaction over vector optimization, based on insights from the DOJ vs. Google trial. The post What If User Satisfaction Is The Most Important Factor In SEO? appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

If you're going to go with Android rather than an iPhone for your smartphone, then Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy handsets are the two most high-profile options you've got. There are other Android phones worth considering—from the likes of OnePlus and Nothing, for example—but Google and Samsung are the most well-known. While the fundamental operating system on Pixel and Galaxy phones is the same, there are numerous differences between these two flavors of Android. They're not all obvious, though, unless you spend every day with these handsets, and that can make it tricky to decide whether you're better off going with Google or Samsung. As it happens, I use Pixel and Galaxy phones every day, more or less—not because tech journalists are particularly wealthy, but because we have to write a lot of reviews, news stories, and how-to guides for our jobs. Here's what I've learned along the way, and how you can choose between Pixel phones and Galaxy phones. Customization and clutterIn the old days we used to talk about "stock" Android on Google's Nexus or Pixel phones, but that doesn't really exist any more: Even Google puts its own twists and tweaks on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) that every Android manufacturer has access to. Samsung adds even more on top of the AOSP foundation, and markets its own take on Android as One UI. There's no doubt that One UI on Galaxy phones is busier and more complex than Android on Pixel phones—which can either be a positive or a negative, depending on how you like your mobile software. Samsung offers more settings, customizations, and configurations than Google, so One UI is going to appeal to power users. Samsung's One UI gives you a lot of customization options. Credit: Lifehacker Galaxy phones offer more in the way of theming options, for example, which completely transform the look of the software—though Pixels have caught up to some extent with features like icon theming in recent updates. You can do more on the lock screen with Samsung phones too, tweaking frames, widgets, and effects as needed. Google takes a simpler approach to the user interface—which you could praise as uncluttered or criticize as basic, depending on your perspective and taste. The Pixel version of Android has gotten a bit more polished over time, and has borrowed a few tricks from Samsung, but it's still not as customizable overall. Apps and ecosystem With Pixel phones, Google's apps are front and center. On a Galaxy phone, you get all of Google's key apps, and all of Samsung's equivalents, installed by default: So again, Galaxy phones are the more cluttered of the two. There's nothing wrong with Samsung's apps for photos, calendars, contacts, web browsing, and so on, but it's likely that most of the time you're going to prefer the Google option. That might change depending on what else you own: If you have a Galaxy Watch strapped to your wrist, then Samsung Health becomes far more useful and interesting. If you've gone for a Pixel Watch, then you're going to prefer the Google-owned Fitbit. As with most tech purchases these days, from TVs to smart speakers to laptops, you'll need to consider what else you own from Google or Samsung. Pixels offer easier access to Google's many and varied apps. Credit: Lifehacker Google does keep some features as exclusives for Pixel phones, though they often trickle out to the wider Android ecosystem over time. At the moment, they include Call Screen (for putting a barrier between you and spam calls), the real-time Scam Detection feature, Pixel Screenshots for analyzing your screengrabs, a Now Playing widget for the home screen, and photo features such as Night Sight. In some cases, Samsung has counterparts for those Pixel exclusives, and it has a few exclusives of its own that you don't get with Pixel phones. There's also the suite of Good Lock modules that take phone customization and tweaking to the next level: You can set different volume levels for different apps, design your own themes, and take more control over your home screen, for example. Hardware differences and updatesI don't want to talk too much about hardware differences, because these change regularly with each passing year (or even every six months), but there's no doubt that hardware design comes into play when you're choosing a smartphone—and broadly speaking, I think most people will agree that Samsung's phones are more sleek and stylish. Aesthetics are subjective, but the Samsung Galaxy series look closer to the polish and refinement of the iPhones, whereas Google takes a more simplified and industrial approach to its Pixels: Look at that chunky rear camera bar for example (which to be fair does help when a phone is laid flat). Handsets like the Galaxy S25 are easy on the eye. Credit: Samsung Performance is difficult to gauge, but it's fair to say that the Snapdragon (and even Exynos) chipsets that Samsung uses have a better reputation than the Tensor CPUs that Google puts in its Pixel phones. That said, there's an argument to be made that Google wins on camera lens quality, which is something the Galaxy series hasn't really moved the needle much on in recent years. What's indisputable is that Android updates roll out to Google phones several months before Samsung phones: Samsung needs time to adapt the AOSP code for its own One UI release, and so if you want to get the latest Android features before anyone else, the Pixel series is your best bet. My personal preferencesIf I'm buying a new Android phone for myself, I'll still usually go with a Google Pixel. The software interface is a little more rudimentary, but I don't mind that, and I use so many Google apps so regularly—Gmail, Google Chat, Google Maps, Google Keep—that I want the most friction-free and seamless access to them possible. I don't want or need a bunch of Samsung apps too. That's not to say Galaxy phones don't have their appeal, and I like tinkering around with some of the extra features and hacks you don't get with Pixels—like the secret wifi menu, for example, or the built-in easy mode. Ultimately, though, Pixels feel more intuitive and easier to use for me, and I absolutely want to be first in the queue for Android updates. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold showing off Google's distinctive design language. Credit: Google Admittedly, part of this is down to familiarity. I've been using Google phones more regularly for across a longer span of time than Samsung phones, and I'm used to them and the way they work—if you're a seasoned Galaxy phone owner, then the benefits of a Pixel probably won't have as much appeal, considering you're going to have to get used to a different set of options and menus. View the full article

When Meta launched advertising nearly two decades ago, performance was driven by manual inputs – targeting rules, account structure, and incremental optimization. Success depended on carefully defined audiences, granular budget control, and frequent testing. That operating model eroded over time as privacy changes and signal loss made deterministic targeting less reliable. Over the last two years, Meta responded by fundamentally rebuilding its advertising platform around AI. That rebuild began with Andromeda, a personalized ads retrieval engine, and expanded into Meta’s Generative Ads Recommendation Model (GEM). Together, these systems now determine how ads are selected, ranked, and delivered across Meta’s ecosystem. Meta Ads is no longer an open, manual optimization environment. Performance now depends on understanding how the system evaluates inputs and learns over time. This article breaks down how Andromeda and GEM work, how they changed ad delivery, and what it takes to align strategy with Meta’s AI-first advertising system in 2026. Andromeda: Meta’s first major AI overhaul Andromeda is Meta’s AI-driven ads retrieval system that decides which ads are eligible to be shown to a user. Instead of starting with advertiser-defined audiences, it works in reverse, by first evaluating historical engagement, ad copy, creative, and format. This helps Andromeda predict which users are most likely to engage with the ad and contribute to your campaign optimization goals. This AI system began rolling out in late 2024. In 2025, Andromeda became a core component of Meta’s updated infrastructure. Advertisers saw changes firsthand as: Broad targeting began to outperform previous top-performing interest stacks. Simplified account structures started to win. Creative fatigue accelerated. These were blatant signals that ad retrieval had changed. What Andromeda changed With the rollout of Andromeda, Meta shifted away from audience-first advertising to creative-first matching. Targeting became less deterministic as interests and lookalikes no longer performed as strongly as they once did. Instead, creatives became the primary signal as the system evaluated creative elements like visuals, themes, hooks, and language to determine relevance. AI drives better performance when it has a larger opportunity pool to draw from. Broader campaigns with more creative inputs give the system more options to match ads to users to achieve campaign goals. Source: Engineering at Meta Enter GEM: Meta’s central AI brain GEM is Meta’s large-scale generative AI system that acts as the ad platform’s central intelligence. It identifies patterns across organic interactions and ad sequences, formats, and messaging, synthesizing engagement, behavioral, and conversion data. Most importantly, GEM feeds predictions into Andromeda. These insights help predict what works best, for whom, and when, at scale, while continuously learning. GEM began rolling out in mid-2025, with broad impact by Q4 2025. It’s now “4x more efficient at driving ad performance gains” compared to original ads recommendation ranking models, according to Meta. Why GEM is a bigger shift than Andromeda Andromeda decides what can be shown, while GEM determines what should be shown next. Think about it like this: Andromeda decides which ads make it onto the shelf, while GEM learns what shoppers buy and shapes what gets featured next. CAP Source: Engineering at Meta Advertisers who have become accustomed to fast testing cycles and frequent edits will require a bit of a mindset shift in 2026 as long-term patterns matter more than short-term performance fluctuations. Ads are increasingly evaluated within broader contextual journeys. Dig deeper: Rethinking Meta Ads AI: Best practices for better results Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. What Meta’s AI stack means for advertisers in 2026 Advertisers can position themselves for stronger performance this year by shifting efforts toward creative strategy and diversity, simplifying account structure, and embracing patience and stability. Consider creative strategy the core lever This year, lean into signaling by serving Meta a buffet of variables. Test creative angles tailored to various personas – not just micro-variations. Create clear video hooks with strong statements and questions that communicate value quickly. Implement a diverse selection of formats that include images, videos, carousels, user-generated content (UGC), and testimonials. Focus on creating more creative variations and setting up a scalable system. These tactics will give Meta’s AI more to work with and thus deliver more results. Dig deeper: How to test UGC and EGC ads in Meta campaigns Simplify structure for better performance The days of hyper-segmentation are gone. Instead, consolidate campaigns and ad sets. With this tactic, we’ve already seen tremendous improvement in client accounts. In some accounts, it’s now become typical to see only one or two campaigns. Having fewer campaigns, broader targeting, and consolidated budgets allows Andromeda and GEM to learn faster and identify winning patterns. It may be challenging to relinquish that control, especially if you’ve been working on the platform for years. But you’ll slow down learning if you avoid applying these best practices or if you prioritize the manual boundaries that are still available (for now). Embrace learning stability Refrain from adjusting ad elements too often, as frequent edits reset the learning phase and can interrupt pattern recognition. Patience is a competitive advantage given the current state of the system. Early volatility is common and doesn’t necessarily signal failure. Before launching new campaigns or assets, decide on a minimum no-touch window. This may be a week or 50-75 conversions (whichever comes first), where you commit to not making any changes unless something is truly broken. Looking at rolling performance windows, such as three- to seven-day trends, instead of daily spikes. This can help you understand how the system spends, performance, and evaluates success. Treat your budget as a signal As with most advertising platforms, more budget helps you learn faster, get more results, and optimize more quickly. You could get by with a lower budget in Meta Ads. But it may be more challenging, as low spend limits learning ability. Meta performs best when budgets allow campaigns to generate consistent conversion data, creating enough volume for the system to detect trends. Ensure that your daily budget is realistic and aligned with the ad set’s conversion event. High-intent events, such as purchases or qualified leads, require more ad spend per learning cycle than upper-funnel actions, such as engagements or clicks. Rethink your role as an advertiser With hand-picked targeting strategies now a thing of the past, we’re no longer manual optimizers. Instead, we should level up as strategists and creative architects. This way, we can help our brands and clients: Define clear brand positioning. Create strong creative inputs. Collaborate with design teams to build scalable creative development processes. Set guardrails for brand integrity. As humans, it’s our responsibility to provide judgment and develop novel ideas while Meta’s AI handles better targeting and optimization with the data it has. Dig deeper: 3 PPC myths you can’t afford to carry into 2026 How to win in Meta’s AI-first ecosystem From what we’ve seen transpire on the platform in the last few years, Meta has made its direction unmistakably clear: AI is now the foundation of Meta Ads. If you embrace it and complement it with human guidance, you can succeed and scale. Trusting the system now is more important than ever because Meta’s AI is a determining factor of success. Succeeding with Meta Ads in 2026 comes down to feeding the platform diverse, high-quality inputs and creating strategies and content that align with how Meta’s AI learns and optimizes. The tools have changed, but the opportunity to get creative and find success hasn’t. View the full article

After three years of Yahoo dropping hints at its return to search, Yahoo has announced Yahoo! Scout - its new AI search engine feature that is embedded within Yahoo Search, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and so on - as well as at scout.yahoo.com.View the full article

It’s been a brutal week when it comes to layoffs. On Monday, shoe giant Nike announced it would lay off 775 employees, and on Tuesday, Pinterest announced it would lay off around 15% of its workforce. The same day, UPS announced 30,000 job cuts. Now Amazon is also joining their ranks with the announcement today of mass layoffs. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Wednesday, Amazon announced that it was eliminating 16,000 positions across its workforce. The company has around 1.5 million workers worldwide. In an unfortunate event, on Tuesday, Amazon accidentally sent an email to employees referencing the layoffs before they had been communicated to staff. But now the company has made the layoff announcement official. In a blog post on its website, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, reposted the message sent to Amazon employees earlier in the day. In that message, Galetti said the layoffs “will impact approximately 16,000 roles” at the company. Galetti did not state which divisions would be most impacted by the layoffs. However, the senior VP did note that Amazon will be offering most U.S.-based employees who are affected by the layoffs a chance to look for a new position within the company for the next 90 days. Galetti also stated that Amazon will “continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future.” Why is Amazon laying off so many workers? Galetti didn’t go into detail as to the exact reasons why Amazon is laying off so many workers, other than stating that the company is looking to strengthen itself “by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.” However, she did reference the company’s earlier mass layoffs. In October 2025, Amazon announced an earlier round of job cuts, eliminating 14,000 corporate roles at the company. At the time, Galetti said those cuts were the result of CEO Andy Jassy’s September 2024 directive to strengthen Amazon’s culture and teams. “The reductions we’re sharing today,” Galetti wrote when announcing the 2025 layoffs, “are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.” At the time, Galetti also stated that Amazon needed to become a leaner company with “fewer layers”—an outlook apparently reached in part due to the rise of artificial intelligence. “The world is changing quickly,” Galetti wrote in October. “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones).” Galetti again echoed the theme of a rapidly changing world in her memo today. “Just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate,” she stated. “That’s never been more important than it is today in a world that’s changing faster than ever.” Amazon also closing stores But Amazon isn’t stopping with just layoffs this week. Yesterday, the company announced it was shutting down two of its physical retail store chains. On Tuesday, the company said it would close all of its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go grocery stores. “After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores,” the company said. As with the layoffs, the closure of its Go and Fresh stores signifies Amazon is being relentless in its pursuit of cost-cutting and reallocating portions of its business in order to cut operational costs and boost its bottom line. How has Amazon’s stock reacted? After announcing the closure of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores yesterday, Amazon.com, Inc. stock price (Nasdaq: AMZN) closed up about 2.6% for the day, with AMZN shares finishing at $244.68. As of this writing, AMZN shares seem relatively unaffected by the layoff announcement. Currently, Amazon’s stock is up about three-tenths of a percent in premarket trading. The company’s stock price has already had a small but healthy return in 2026 so far. As of yesterday’s close, AMZN shares were up 6% for the year. But over the past 12 months, Amazon’s stock has underperformed the broader Nasdaq Composite, which is up over 23% since this time last year, according to Yahoo Finance. By contrast, Amazon shares are up less than 4% over the same period. Investors will be eagerly awaiting the results of Amazon’s all-important holiday quarter when it reports its Q4 2025 earnings on February 5. View the full article

Prosecutors search lender’s Frankfurt headquarters and a site in Berlin View the full article

Google is testing the ability to add color to your search results page with a color palette picker. There is this palette icon at the top of the results that when clicked on says "Add a splash of color to the top of Search," and "Pick color." View the full article

US president urges Islamic Republic to reach agreement that would include ‘no nuclear weapons’ View the full article

Google made it official, now Google Search AI Overviews will let you do a follow up question after clicking on the "Show more" button and that follow up question will take you directly into AI Mode. This will no doubt lead to less clicks to your website and more traffic into Google AI Mode.View the full article

I've been using Firefox as my default browser for over two decades now, and during this time, I've learned a thing or two about making the most of its many features. There are some features that are turned on by default that I would recommend turning off, and some simple tweaks you can make that will greatly enhance your privacy and security. Here are all the Firefox hacks I use to make my browsing experience better, so you can try them yourself. Make the home screen truly yoursFirefox pushes the Firefox Home screen as the default whenever you open a new tab. There's nothing particularly wrong about that, but it does come with some unnecessary sponsored content, which you can get rid of. To do this, go to the Firefox settings, by clicking the three-lines icon in the top-right corner of an open Firefox window window and selecting Settings. Now, click the Home tab in the left pane and scroll to Firefox Home Content. Disable Support Firefox to remove sponsored content, and toss in remove Shortcuts if you prefer a cleaner look over quick links to commonly visited sites. My home screen just has Web Search enabled, which looks good with a nice wallpaper. Use the built-in task manager Credit: Pranay Parab If your Firefox is being slow or unresponsive, you can use the built-in task manager to identify which tabs or extensions are causing a slowdown. This feature is also great for periodically monitoring the browser's performance. You can access it by clicking the three-lines icon in the top-right and navigating to More tools > Task Manager. Alternatively, you can open Firefox and press Shift-Esc, or type about:processes in the address bar. Once the task manager is open, you can use it just as you'd use the task manager on your PC or Mac. It lets you quickly close unresponsive tabs, disable all extensions in one go, and monitor RAM and CPU usage, too. Firefox has a handy screenshot toolYou can open any webpage in Firefox and use the built-in screenshot tool to take a quick picture of the webpage you're on. This is the fastest way to take a full-page screenshot without throwing in the rest of your screen, or to capture just a small section of a webpage. Just right-click anywhere on a webpage and select Take Screenshot. You'll see both options (capture a selected part of the page, or the full page), and you can pick one to take a quick screenshot. Disable unwanted AI featuresLike every other app in the world, Firefox has added AI features I never asked for to the browser. One of these appears in the context menu, so you can easily remove it from there. Right-click any webpage, and in the Ask AI Chatbot section, select Remove AI Chatbot to get rid of this feature. You can also go to Firefox settings > General > Tabs and disable Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups. Stop Firefox's data collection (and generally protect your privacy) Credit: Pranay Parab Unfortunately, Firefox collects a lot of data about your browsing habits by default, and I highly recommend disabling this to enhance your privacy. Go to Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > Firefox Data Collection, and disable every option under this section. While you're at it, let's keep people who aren't Firefox from seeing your browsing data, too. Firefox can automatically switch to a more secure HTTPS page if you accidentally open an unencrypted HTTP link (these are mostly being phased out, but you might stumble upon them every once in a while). Under Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > HTTPS-Only Mode, just toggle on Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows. The browser will handle the rest. You can also encrypt your web traffic further by enabling DNS over HTTPS, which is below the option I just mentioned. On the same page, in the section titled Enable DNS over HTTPS using:, scroll down a bit and choose Increased Protection or Max Protection (Max Protection is a bit stricter, but can break some websites, so I only recommend it for power users). The default DNS provider is Cloudflare, but you can also use NextDNS or a custom DNS if you wish. This feature makes it harder for third-parties to see which sites you're visiting. For even more privacy, try out advanced about:config tweaks. Don't let sites use your locationWhenever I visit a website these days, it feels like I'm being bombarded with permissions pop-ups asking me if they can send me notifications, use my location, and who knows what else. Firefox lets you easily disable most of these. Go to Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions. Click Location and select Block new requests to access your location. While you're there, you can click through the available options and turn on other blocks, too. You can use these to block notification requests and autoplaying videos. Some sites may still use special tricks to bypass autoplay blocks, but it doesn't hurt to make them work for it. Install a few good extensions (but don't overdo it) Credit: Pranay Parab A Firefox installation just isn't complete without a few good browser extensions. I keep seeing fun new extensions I want to install, but having too many of these can slow your browser down. So, it's best to install a few good ones and remove any redundant extensions. To know where to start, check out my list of the best Firefox extensions. Use a good ad blockerThere are many pros and a few cons to using an adblocker, but it's a recommended tool these days, both to protect your privacy and to stay safe from scams. A good ad blocker will remove unwanted junk from webpages, block trackers, and speed up browsing. I've been using uBlock Origin for a decade now, and it's still the one I recommend most to everyone who asks. Once the extension is installed, you should tweak a few advanced uBlock Origin settings to make the most of it. Consider using vertical tabsThis is a bit of a controversial take, but it works for me, so here it goes: Vertical tabs are better than horizontal ones. I really like my browser window to occupy as much space as possible, and using horizontal tabs goes against that idea. Once I made the switch to vertical tabs, my browser's window just started looking a lot cleaner. On my Mac, I still use horizontal tabs, but that's because I keep the dock on the left side of the screen. On my Windows PC, however, vertical tabs just look so much nicer. If you want to try making the switch, go to Firefox settings > General > Browser Layout. Pick Vertical Tabs and enjoy. Try Firefox Labs to see what the future looks likeNo, this is not a time travel tip. Firefox Labs is where the browser releases experimental new features before making them public (or canning them). If you're fine with being a guinea pig, Firefox Labs is your chance to try these experimental features without downloading the browser's full beta release. You can enable these features by going to Firefox settings > Firefox Labs. View the full article

Google AI Overviews are now being powered by Gemini 3 globally, by default. Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search announced, "We're making Gemini 3 the new default model for AI Overviews globally, so you get a best-in-class AI response right on the search results page, for questions where it's helpful."View the full article

Bing is testing a new report within Bing Webmaster Tools named AI Performance. AI Performance shows you how many citations you are getting from Microsoft Copilot and partners. But while it shows you citations (i.e. impressions), it does not show you clicks from those Bing AI experiences.View the full article

The continent needs a sense of crisis in order to change, and Donald The President keeps it just short of thatView the full article

Artist Edel Rodriguez published his new print, Minneapolis, just hours after a federal agent shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti on January 24. The print features a pop art image of President Donald The President, mouth agape and gun in hand, kneeling on the neck of Lady Liberty, who’s slowly bleeding out on the street from multiple gunshot wounds. The killing occurred during the weeks-long, federally ordered presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies in the Twin Cities, where those agents have raided residential neighborhoods, detained employees from local businesses, and taken multiple schoolchildren into custody in broad daylight. Pretti’s death came just weeks after Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot and killed in her car during an encounter with an ICE agent. Members of the The President administration—including the president himself—have spent the days following these two tragedies suggesting that both Pretti and Good posed a threat to federal agents, despite available video evidence that appears to refute those claims. As Minnesotans continue to witness ICE agents disrupting their local communities and targeting their neighbors, protest art has served a critical role in their collective movement against the surge of federal forces. Across Minneapolis, graffiti, yard signs, stickers, and even sleds with anti-ICE messages have exploded in popularity. Local screen-printing studios like Burlesque of North America and Art Price Studio have produced their own designs while also offering free printing services to protesters. Now, in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, artists across the nation are using protest art to offer their support to the city—and to express their outrage at the federal government’s actions. “These events are complex and can be easily manipulated,” Rodriguez says. “An image or a poster can cut through all of that and get to the heart of the matter. Many people feel they are alone in how they are feeling. Art helps people understand that they are not alone, that they are not imagining things.” Minneapolis Minneapolis Rodriguez’s concept for Minneapolis traces back to 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed resident George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. At the time, Rodriguez created an initial sketch of the scene, followed by another version several weeks later, he says, of The President “doing the same to Lady Liberty.” After witnessing the killings of Good and Pretti, Rodriguez created a new version of the illustration in which The President is holding a gun over Lady Liberty’s prone form. “All of these murders happened in the same city, and share one thing in common—disturbing violence and a disregard for human life by those in a position of authority,” Rodriguez says. “We talk about ICE or Border Patrol violating Americans’ civil rights, but the person responsible for the killings is Donald The President. That’s where the idea for this image came from.” Since 2016, Rodriguez has used his signature pop-art style to chronicle The President’s time in office, drawing inspiration from political artists like John Heartfield, George Grosz, Otto Dix, and Max Beckmann to use satirical work as a means of “documenting history for future generations.” Rodriguez, who grew up under Fidel Castro’s authoritarian regime in Cuba, says many of the The President administration’s recent actions feel strikingly familiar. “We are in a very dangerous time in this country,” he says. “Americans seem to have accepted the idea that being asked for their papers by masked men is acceptable. I grew up in a dictatorship in Cuba where this was commonplace, where people had no rights against search and seizure and no free speech. All Americans should be outraged that people are being targeted based on the color of their skin or their accent.” What Kind of American Are You What Kind of American Are You Undoubtedly the most widely circulated and impactful imagery from the killings of Good and Pretti are the videos and stills of the events themselves—which citizens captured from several angles on the scene in both cases. These videos have served as crucial touchpoints to fight back against the administration’s claims that Good and Pretti acted violently toward federal agents—when, indeed, all visual evidence points to the contrary. They also inspired James Herriot, an artist from Montana, to create his first pieces of protest art, which have since picked up considerable traction on Reddit. “When I got up and saw the news of Alex Pretti’s killing I was shaking,” Herriot says. “I felt like I had just watched a malicious, completely avoidable, and yet entirely predictable train wreck. Watching that federal agent unload round after round into a civilian on the ground was absolutely sickening.” As someone living in a deep red area of the U.S., he adds, there are only a few people in his circle that he can speak openly with, “so drawing sometimes feels like the only way I can process it.” Herriot’s illustration, titled What Kind of American Are You, merges imagery from Pretti’s killing with a scene from the 2024 film Civil War. In the film, which imagines a fractured future America, an armed antagonist played by Jesse Plemons questions a group of journalists on their race and country of origin, executing any who don’t answer to his liking. The subtext of the scene is that Plemons’s character views whiteness as a proxy for Americaness. “In this moment in the movie [Plemons’s character] is asking ‘What kind of American are you?’ to a group of strangers he intends to harm,” Herriot says. “I think that question hits on so many levels. . . . Are you one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them’ . . . Are you the right color . . . Were you born in the right place? Or even deeper, are you the kind of American who will stand for the values upon which our nation was supposedly founded, or one who will succumb to tribalism, hate, and party politics?” In What Kind of American Are You, Plemons’s character is pictured with his recognizable red sunglasses and assault rifle hovering over Pretti’s prone form, while federal agents point a gun and a can of pepper spray at Pretti’s head. Since posting the work, Herriot says he’s received some reactions labeling the art as “propaganda” (which he believes “sort of proves the point of it”), though the overwhelming response has been supportive. “I think protest art plays the same role that physical protests do,” Herriot says. “While it may not functionally, directly change anything, it shows people that they’re not alone. It shows others that not everyone in the world thinks the same way they do. It shows those in power that their actions or policies are not accepted by everyone.” TopsyDon’t worry, I’ve got you Don’t worry, I’ve got you Topsy is a graffiti artist in Seattle, who asked to remain anonymous for this story due to possible retaliation. Topsy has been creating public protest art since The President’s second inauguration, including designs in support of the No Kings protests, that depict ICE agents as pigs, and that satirize The President’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. News of Pretti’s death “bore a hole through my heart,” the artist says. Topsy’s initial draft highlighted violent acts perpetrated by ICE. Ultimately, though, the artist decided to shift focus. “From all accounts of his loved ones, Alex was the embodiment of someone who cared deeply about justice—lending himself to help others,” Topsy says. “This shows in all parts of his life, from his work as an ICU nurse at the VA, up to his last moments, protecting a woman before ICE executed him in retaliation. I realized that the strength of Alex’s light was far more powerful than the darkness of ICE. I wanted to make something beautiful that his parents could look at and be proud of him for that.” The final work is titled Don’t worry, I’ve got you. It shows Pretti, who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital, wearing blue scrubs and a stethoscope. He’s leaning over to assist Lady Justice, who’s crumpled on the ground, wearing her symbolic blindfold. The image mirrors a moment seconds before Pretti’s death, when he attempted to help a fellow protester who had been pushed down by a federal agent. Topsy selected a wall in First Hill, a Seattle neighborhood known for its high concentration of medical centers, as the site for the work. It’s now been viewed thousands of times in real life and across social media. “In a time of many injustices, where even our own Department of Justice refuses to investigate the murders of citizens by ICE,” Topsy says, “I wanted to highlight that regular citizens like Alex are the true people who will pull Justice up from the trenches and make sure she sees another day.” View the full article

Adding text to video can greatly improve your content by providing context, emphasizing key points, or improving accessibility. To get started, you’ll need to choose a video editing tool and familiarize yourself with its features, particularly the text options. This process involves selecting fonts, positioning text, and customizing its appearance. Comprehending these elements is essential for creating professional-looking videos. Next, you’ll want to explore how to effectively time your text for maximum impact. Key Takeaways Open your video editing tool, create a new project, and upload your video clips. Locate the text or annotation tab and choose your preferred text style and options. Customize the text by selecting font styles, sizes, and colors that match your video theme. Adjust the timing and placement of the text to emphasize key moments without blocking visuals. Preview the video regularly to ensure the text’s timing, visibility, and alignment enhance the overall content. Benefits of Adding Text to Video When you add text to your videos, you can greatly amplify viewer engagement and retention. Studies show that videos with captions can increase viewer retention by up to 80%. Text overlays also improve accessibility, providing essential information for hard-of-hearing audiences and broadening your content’s reach. Furthermore, incorporating text clarifies visuals, making it easier for viewers to understand your message, especially in silent environments. Using strategic text placement reinforces brand identity, as consistent fonts and colors can boost brand recall by 23%. In addition, adding multilingual captions allows non-native speakers to access your videos, potentially increasing views and shares across diverse demographics. To explore how to add text to video, consider using various apps to add words to videos or learning how to insert text in YouTube videos. Getting Started With the Video Editing Tool To kick off your video editing project, start by opening the video editing tool and creating a new project. Once you’ve set up your project, upload your video clip by clicking the upload button or dragging the file directly into the workspace. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the user interface, which includes the timeline, toolbar, and media library; this will guarantee a smooth editing experience. Next, locate the text or annotation tab on the toolbar, as it provides various text styles and options for your video. Finally, remember to save your project regularly to prevent any loss of progress during the editing process. This foundational setup will pave the way for adding text effectively in your video. How to Add Text to Specific Parts of Your Video When you want to add text to specific parts of your video, it’s essential to contemplate timing, placement, and style. Start by choosing when the text should appear to emphasize key moments. Then think about where it’ll be positioned so it doesn’t block important visuals. Finally, customize the text’s style to guarantee it fits your video’s overall aesthetic as you maintain legibility for viewers. Choosing Text Timing Adding text to specific parts of your video requires careful consideration of timing, as the placement can greatly impact viewer engagement. To control when text appears, toggle on “Show layer timing” in your video editor. This feature allows you to make precise adjustments. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to set how long the text displays, ensuring it aligns with the pacing of your content. Drag the timing bar to position the text exactly where you want it in the sequence. It’s vital that the text timing complements key visual elements without distracting from important content. Regularly preview your video to check the timing and visibility, making necessary adjustments for ideal viewer engagement. Text Placement Strategies Effective text placement can greatly improve viewer engagement, drawing attention to key messages and information throughout your video. To boost this engagement, place text at strategic moments, like during transitions or when introducing new topics. Use a free video editor tool to add text overlays at specific timestamps, highlighting important details or providing necessary context. Be mindful of not obstructing vital visual elements; position your text in areas with minimal activity or consider using lower thirds for clarity. Adjust the timing of text appearance and disappearance to guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative flow. Finally, experiment with different placements across various platforms, as best positioning can differ between formats like YouTube and Instagram Reels. Customizing Text Styles Customizing text styles in your video isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s crucial for ensuring that your message resonates with viewers. To add text to specific parts, utilize the timeline feature in your video editor to pinpoint the start and end times for the text display. Make sure the text is readable by adjusting its placement, size, and color to create a strong contrast with the background. In the properties panel, customize font styles, sizes, and colors to match your video’s theme. To improve visibility and engagement, consider adding animations or effects to the text. Regularly preview your video after adding text to verify that the timing and placement complement the visual content without causing distractions. Customizing Text Properties for Visual Appeal When you want your text overlays to improve the overall aesthetics of your video, it’s essential to explore the various properties available for customization. Start by using the properties panel to select from different font styles, sizes, and colors that align with your video’s theme. Experiment with fill, outline, and shadow effects to boost visibility, creating a more dynamic presentation. Furthermore, apply text animations, like fade-ins or slides, to draw attention and add visual interest. Adjust the layout and positioning to complement the overall design, ensuring your text doesn’t obstruct key visual elements. Finally, utilize contrasting colors for your text against the background to enhance readability and make it stand out for your viewers. Timing Your Text for Effective Communication How can you guarantee your text overlays improve the communication of your video’s message? Start by toggling on the “Show layer timing” feature, which helps you visualize when your text appears on the screen. This guarantees alignment with key moments in your video. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to adjust the duration of each text box; aim for a display time of 2-3 seconds to give viewers enough time to absorb the information. Position your text carefully to avoid obscuring important visuals, boosting clarity and keeping the audience engaged. Regularly preview your edits to confirm that your text timing complements the overall pacing, guaranteeing it boosts communication without disrupting the flow of your content. Design Techniques for Text Overlays Effective design techniques for text overlays can greatly augment your video’s communication. To create impactful overlays, consider these strategies: Select appropriate fonts: Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality. Use playful styles for casual content and clean sans-serif fonts for professional themes. Limit font families: Stick to two font families to maintain visual consistency and avoid clutter, which can distract viewers. Incorporate animations: Utilize simple animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to improve the text without overshadowing the main content. Additionally, guarantee text readability by using contrasting colors and clear backgrounds. Finally, always test your overlays across different devices and platforms to optimize visibility and accessibility for all viewers. This will enhance overall viewer engagement and comprehension. Best Practices for Text Readability To guarantee your text overlays are easily readable, it’s crucial to prioritize font size, color contrast, and text quantity. Use a minimum font size of 24px to confirm visibility across various devices. High-contrast colors, like white text on a dark background or black text on a light background, greatly improve legibility. Limit your text to 6-8 words per screen; concise messaging allows viewers to comprehend quickly and stay engaged. Proper text alignment is likewise important; center-aligned text is usually easiest to read, though left or right alignment can work well depending on your video’s design. Furthermore, create a clear hierarchy by using bold or larger fonts for headlines and subtitles, guiding viewers’ attention effectively. Engaging Your Audience With Animated Text Using dynamic text effects can greatly improve your video’s engagement, especially when viewers often watch with sound off. By strategically timing animations like fade-ins or slide-outs, you can draw attention to key messages without distracting from the overall content. Customizing these effects guarantees they align with your video’s tone, making the information both memorable and appealing to your audience. Dynamic Text Effects Dynamic text effects can greatly improve viewer engagement in video content, especially when they highlight key messages and add visual interest. Using animations like fade-ins, slide-outs, and typewriter effects can make your information more memorable. Here are some effective dynamic text ideas: Fade-ins and slide-outs: These effects can draw attention to important points without being overwhelming. Bouncing text: This playful movement can maintain viewer interest, making your content feel lively. Simplicity is key: Avoid excessive effects that distract from your message, as straightforward animations often yield better results. Animation Timing Strategies Effective animation timing is vital when adding text to video, as it can greatly influence viewer engagement and perception. Utilize the “Show layer timing” feature in your video editing software to manage when your animated text appears and disappears, guaranteeing it matches the video’s pacing. Adjust the duration of text animations based on key moments; longer display times during critical points improve comprehension, whereas quicker shifts keep the flow during less important sections. Implement a staggered text appearance strategy, allowing text elements to enter one at a time, which emphasizes key messages effectively. Furthermore, simple animation effects like fade-ins or slide-ins improve viewer engagement without distracting from the main content. Regularly preview your animations to ensure they align seamlessly with visuals and audio. Downloading and Sharing Your Edited Video Once you’ve completed your text edits, downloading your final edited video is a straightforward process that allows you to save it in various formats suitable for different platforms. You can likewise share your video directly to social media without downloading, which saves time. Here are a few things to reflect on when downloading and sharing: Check for platform-specific dimensions; tools often offer presets for Instagram Reels or TikTok. Some platforms, like Canva Pro, offer one-click options to optimize and share videos. Always verify permissions and copyright issues before making your video public. Optimizing Text for Different Social Media Platforms When optimizing text for different social media platforms, you need to contemplate specific guidelines that improve visibility and readability. For example, Instagram Reels benefit from bold, large fonts, whereas YouTube requires text to remain on screen long enough for viewers to read. Platform-Specific Text Guidelines To effectively optimize text for different social media platforms, you need to comprehend the unique guidelines that each platform imposes. Here are some key points to contemplate: Instagram Reels: Use bold, sans-serif fonts, keeping text centered for legibility on smaller screens. YouTube: Allow text to display for 3-5 seconds per line to guarantee viewers can read during engagement with visuals. TikTok: Use quick, impactful overlays that align with trending audio, placing text at the beginning for immediate attention. For Facebook, prioritize larger font sizes and high-contrast colors, as many users scroll without sound. On LinkedIn, adopt a professional tone with minimalist designs, limiting font families to two for brand consistency. Grasping these guidelines will improve your video’s effectiveness across platforms. Text Size and Visibility Comprehending text size and visibility is key to creating engaging videos across various social media platforms. For ideal readability, aim for a minimum text size of 24px, using larger sizes for headlines and key messages. High contrast between text and background colors improves visibility, with a recommended contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Keep in mind that different platforms have unique requirements; for instance, Instagram posts work well with center-aligned text, whereas YouTube videos benefit from lower-third placements. Always test your text visibility on multiple devices, as fonts that look clear on desktops may be harder to read on smartphones. Finally, consider each platform’s aspect ratio to make certain your text remains fully visible and doesn’t get cut off. How to Edit Text Duration on the Timeline Editing the duration of text on the timeline is a crucial step in ensuring your video communicates effectively with viewers. To get started, follow these steps: Click on the text asset to highlight it before making adjustments. Use the handle bars on either side to drag left and shorten the duration or drag right to extend it. Preview the changes after adjusting to confirm that the text fits seamlessly within the video flow. Make sure that the timing of the text display aligns with your video content for ideal viewer engagement and comprehension. You can repeat the duration adjustment process as needed to achieve the best timing for readability and interaction. This careful attention to timing improves your video’s overall effectiveness. Removing and Replacing Text in Your Video Removing or replacing text in your video can greatly improve its clarity and effectiveness. To remove text, simply right-click on the text asset in the timeline and select the delete option in the floating toolbar, or press the delete key on your keyboard. If you want to replace existing text, drag and drop a new text option from the text tab onto the old text asset to overwrite it. After replacing the text, customize its content, font, size, and color using the property panel for a consistent theme. To adjust the duration of the text asset, highlight it and drag the handle bars to shorten or extend its display time. Always preview your changes to guarantee they fit seamlessly within your video. Enhancing Accessibility With Subtitles Subtitles play a crucial role in enhancing accessibility for viewers, as they provide a textual representation of spoken dialogue, which is especially beneficial for hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. By including subtitles, you can additionally: Increase viewer retention by up to 80%, catering to both auditory and visual learning preferences. Expand your audience reach, making it easier for non-native speakers to understand your content, promoting inclusivity. Improve your video’s SEO, as search engines index subtitle text, boosting discoverability. Platforms like YouTube have reported that videos with subtitles generate 7.32% more views, underscoring their impact on audience engagement. In a digital environment focused on inclusivity, adding subtitles is a straightforward way to make your content accessible to a wider audience. Additional Resources for Video Text Editing In terms of enhancing your video text editing skills, a variety of resources are available to help you. You can find video editing tutorials that guide you through the process of adding text, along with text design tips to guarantee your choices resonate with your audience. Furthermore, software comparison guides can assist you in selecting the right tools for your specific needs, making the editing process more efficient and effective. Video Editing Tutorials To effectively improve your videos with text, exploring various online video editing platforms is a great starting point. Here are some resources to take into account for enhancing your skills: Video editing tutorials on YouTube: These provide visual guidance on text placement, font selection, and timing adjustments. Community forums and support groups: Engage with other users who share tips and tricks for improving text overlays and overall video quality. Free or paid courses: Look for courses that focus on video editing skills, often including modules on text integration, perfect for both beginners and advanced users. Text Design Tips Effective text design is crucial for enhancing the overall impact of your videos, as it not just conveys information but also reinforces your brand identity. Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality; playful styles work well for casual content, whereas clean sans-serif fonts suit professional videos. Limit your design to two font families to maintain a cohesive look and avoid visual clutter. Use contrasting colors for text against the background to improve readability, especially in fast-scrolling environments. Incorporate subtle animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to engage viewers without overwhelming them. Finally, test your text overlays across various platforms to guarantee ideal visibility, adjusting styles and placements for different screen sizes and formats. Software Comparison Guides Choosing the right software for adding text to your videos can greatly simplify the editing process and improve your final product. Each option offers unique features, catering to different needs and skill levels. Here are three popular choices: Adobe Express: User-friendly with customizable font styles, colors, and animations, suitable for both beginners and pros. Camtasia: Offers a library of lower thirds and annotations for quick, professional-looking text overlays. Canva Pro: Provides extensive resizing options, making it easy to adapt your text for platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Evaluate these tools based on your specific requirements, such as ease of use, customization options, and intended audience engagement. Selecting the right software will improve your video quality considerably. Frequently Asked Questions How Do I Add a Text Caption to a Video? To add a text caption to your video, start by accessing the text or annotations tab in your editing software. Choose a caption style that suits your content, then drag it onto the timeline where you want it to appear. Customize the text’s appearance, adjusting the font, size, color, and background for visibility. Finally, modify the duration by dragging the handles on the timeline, ensuring it syncs well with your video’s audio and visuals. Is There an App to Add Text to a Video? Yes, there are several apps you can use to add text to your videos. Popular choices include Adobe Express, InShot, and iMovie, which offer user-friendly interfaces and various customization options. You can choose from different fonts, colors, and styles to match your video’s theme. Some apps likewise provide text animations and effects, enhancing viewer engagement. These applications are available on both mobile and desktop platforms, giving you flexibility in editing your content. How Do I Add Floating Text in a Video? To add floating text in your video, first, open a video editing tool that allows text overlays. Select the “Text” option, then customize your text‘s font, size, and color for visibility. Incorporate animations like fade-in or slide-in to improve engagement. Adjust the timing by dragging the handles on the timeline to control when the text appears and disappears. Finally, preview your video to guarantee the text complements the visuals effectively. How Do I Add Auto Text in a Video? To add auto text in a video, use video editing software that provides automatic captioning features. You can upload your video to platforms like Riverside or Adobe Express, which generate subtitles based on the audio. After the text is created, review it for accuracy, as automatic systems may make errors. Customize the font size and color for better visibility, then export the video with the embedded text or as a separate subtitle file for accessibility. Conclusion Adding text to your videos improves communication and engagement, making your content more accessible and informative. By following the steps outlined, you can effectively integrate text, customize it for visual appeal, and guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative. Remember to adjust timing and duration for peak impact, and consider incorporating subtitles for greater accessibility. With these techniques, you’ll raise your video production skills and create professional-looking content that resonates with your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Step-by-Step Guide to Add Text to Video" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adding text to video can greatly improve your content by providing context, emphasizing key points, or improving accessibility. To get started, you’ll need to choose a video editing tool and familiarize yourself with its features, particularly the text options. This process involves selecting fonts, positioning text, and customizing its appearance. Comprehending these elements is essential for creating professional-looking videos. Next, you’ll want to explore how to effectively time your text for maximum impact. Key Takeaways Open your video editing tool, create a new project, and upload your video clips. Locate the text or annotation tab and choose your preferred text style and options. Customize the text by selecting font styles, sizes, and colors that match your video theme. Adjust the timing and placement of the text to emphasize key moments without blocking visuals. Preview the video regularly to ensure the text’s timing, visibility, and alignment enhance the overall content. Benefits of Adding Text to Video When you add text to your videos, you can greatly amplify viewer engagement and retention. Studies show that videos with captions can increase viewer retention by up to 80%. Text overlays also improve accessibility, providing essential information for hard-of-hearing audiences and broadening your content’s reach. Furthermore, incorporating text clarifies visuals, making it easier for viewers to understand your message, especially in silent environments. Using strategic text placement reinforces brand identity, as consistent fonts and colors can boost brand recall by 23%. In addition, adding multilingual captions allows non-native speakers to access your videos, potentially increasing views and shares across diverse demographics. To explore how to add text to video, consider using various apps to add words to videos or learning how to insert text in YouTube videos. Getting Started With the Video Editing Tool To kick off your video editing project, start by opening the video editing tool and creating a new project. Once you’ve set up your project, upload your video clip by clicking the upload button or dragging the file directly into the workspace. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the user interface, which includes the timeline, toolbar, and media library; this will guarantee a smooth editing experience. Next, locate the text or annotation tab on the toolbar, as it provides various text styles and options for your video. Finally, remember to save your project regularly to prevent any loss of progress during the editing process. This foundational setup will pave the way for adding text effectively in your video. How to Add Text to Specific Parts of Your Video When you want to add text to specific parts of your video, it’s essential to contemplate timing, placement, and style. Start by choosing when the text should appear to emphasize key moments. Then think about where it’ll be positioned so it doesn’t block important visuals. Finally, customize the text’s style to guarantee it fits your video’s overall aesthetic as you maintain legibility for viewers. Choosing Text Timing Adding text to specific parts of your video requires careful consideration of timing, as the placement can greatly impact viewer engagement. To control when text appears, toggle on “Show layer timing” in your video editor. This feature allows you to make precise adjustments. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to set how long the text displays, ensuring it aligns with the pacing of your content. Drag the timing bar to position the text exactly where you want it in the sequence. It’s vital that the text timing complements key visual elements without distracting from important content. Regularly preview your video to check the timing and visibility, making necessary adjustments for ideal viewer engagement. Text Placement Strategies Effective text placement can greatly improve viewer engagement, drawing attention to key messages and information throughout your video. To boost this engagement, place text at strategic moments, like during transitions or when introducing new topics. Use a free video editor tool to add text overlays at specific timestamps, highlighting important details or providing necessary context. Be mindful of not obstructing vital visual elements; position your text in areas with minimal activity or consider using lower thirds for clarity. Adjust the timing of text appearance and disappearance to guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative flow. Finally, experiment with different placements across various platforms, as best positioning can differ between formats like YouTube and Instagram Reels. Customizing Text Styles Customizing text styles in your video isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s crucial for ensuring that your message resonates with viewers. To add text to specific parts, utilize the timeline feature in your video editor to pinpoint the start and end times for the text display. Make sure the text is readable by adjusting its placement, size, and color to create a strong contrast with the background. In the properties panel, customize font styles, sizes, and colors to match your video’s theme. To improve visibility and engagement, consider adding animations or effects to the text. Regularly preview your video after adding text to verify that the timing and placement complement the visual content without causing distractions. Customizing Text Properties for Visual Appeal When you want your text overlays to improve the overall aesthetics of your video, it’s essential to explore the various properties available for customization. Start by using the properties panel to select from different font styles, sizes, and colors that align with your video’s theme. Experiment with fill, outline, and shadow effects to boost visibility, creating a more dynamic presentation. Furthermore, apply text animations, like fade-ins or slides, to draw attention and add visual interest. Adjust the layout and positioning to complement the overall design, ensuring your text doesn’t obstruct key visual elements. Finally, utilize contrasting colors for your text against the background to enhance readability and make it stand out for your viewers. Timing Your Text for Effective Communication How can you guarantee your text overlays improve the communication of your video’s message? Start by toggling on the “Show layer timing” feature, which helps you visualize when your text appears on the screen. This guarantees alignment with key moments in your video. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to adjust the duration of each text box; aim for a display time of 2-3 seconds to give viewers enough time to absorb the information. Position your text carefully to avoid obscuring important visuals, boosting clarity and keeping the audience engaged. Regularly preview your edits to confirm that your text timing complements the overall pacing, guaranteeing it boosts communication without disrupting the flow of your content. Design Techniques for Text Overlays Effective design techniques for text overlays can greatly augment your video’s communication. To create impactful overlays, consider these strategies: Select appropriate fonts: Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality. Use playful styles for casual content and clean sans-serif fonts for professional themes. Limit font families: Stick to two font families to maintain visual consistency and avoid clutter, which can distract viewers. Incorporate animations: Utilize simple animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to improve the text without overshadowing the main content. Additionally, guarantee text readability by using contrasting colors and clear backgrounds. Finally, always test your overlays across different devices and platforms to optimize visibility and accessibility for all viewers. This will enhance overall viewer engagement and comprehension. Best Practices for Text Readability To guarantee your text overlays are easily readable, it’s crucial to prioritize font size, color contrast, and text quantity. Use a minimum font size of 24px to confirm visibility across various devices. High-contrast colors, like white text on a dark background or black text on a light background, greatly improve legibility. Limit your text to 6-8 words per screen; concise messaging allows viewers to comprehend quickly and stay engaged. Proper text alignment is likewise important; center-aligned text is usually easiest to read, though left or right alignment can work well depending on your video’s design. Furthermore, create a clear hierarchy by using bold or larger fonts for headlines and subtitles, guiding viewers’ attention effectively. Engaging Your Audience With Animated Text Using dynamic text effects can greatly improve your video’s engagement, especially when viewers often watch with sound off. By strategically timing animations like fade-ins or slide-outs, you can draw attention to key messages without distracting from the overall content. Customizing these effects guarantees they align with your video’s tone, making the information both memorable and appealing to your audience. Dynamic Text Effects Dynamic text effects can greatly improve viewer engagement in video content, especially when they highlight key messages and add visual interest. Using animations like fade-ins, slide-outs, and typewriter effects can make your information more memorable. Here are some effective dynamic text ideas: Fade-ins and slide-outs: These effects can draw attention to important points without being overwhelming. Bouncing text: This playful movement can maintain viewer interest, making your content feel lively. Simplicity is key: Avoid excessive effects that distract from your message, as straightforward animations often yield better results. Animation Timing Strategies Effective animation timing is vital when adding text to video, as it can greatly influence viewer engagement and perception. Utilize the “Show layer timing” feature in your video editing software to manage when your animated text appears and disappears, guaranteeing it matches the video’s pacing. Adjust the duration of text animations based on key moments; longer display times during critical points improve comprehension, whereas quicker shifts keep the flow during less important sections. Implement a staggered text appearance strategy, allowing text elements to enter one at a time, which emphasizes key messages effectively. Furthermore, simple animation effects like fade-ins or slide-ins improve viewer engagement without distracting from the main content. Regularly preview your animations to ensure they align seamlessly with visuals and audio. Downloading and Sharing Your Edited Video Once you’ve completed your text edits, downloading your final edited video is a straightforward process that allows you to save it in various formats suitable for different platforms. You can likewise share your video directly to social media without downloading, which saves time. Here are a few things to reflect on when downloading and sharing: Check for platform-specific dimensions; tools often offer presets for Instagram Reels or TikTok. Some platforms, like Canva Pro, offer one-click options to optimize and share videos. Always verify permissions and copyright issues before making your video public. Optimizing Text for Different Social Media Platforms When optimizing text for different social media platforms, you need to contemplate specific guidelines that improve visibility and readability. For example, Instagram Reels benefit from bold, large fonts, whereas YouTube requires text to remain on screen long enough for viewers to read. Platform-Specific Text Guidelines To effectively optimize text for different social media platforms, you need to comprehend the unique guidelines that each platform imposes. Here are some key points to contemplate: Instagram Reels: Use bold, sans-serif fonts, keeping text centered for legibility on smaller screens. YouTube: Allow text to display for 3-5 seconds per line to guarantee viewers can read during engagement with visuals. TikTok: Use quick, impactful overlays that align with trending audio, placing text at the beginning for immediate attention. For Facebook, prioritize larger font sizes and high-contrast colors, as many users scroll without sound. On LinkedIn, adopt a professional tone with minimalist designs, limiting font families to two for brand consistency. Grasping these guidelines will improve your video’s effectiveness across platforms. Text Size and Visibility Comprehending text size and visibility is key to creating engaging videos across various social media platforms. For ideal readability, aim for a minimum text size of 24px, using larger sizes for headlines and key messages. High contrast between text and background colors improves visibility, with a recommended contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Keep in mind that different platforms have unique requirements; for instance, Instagram posts work well with center-aligned text, whereas YouTube videos benefit from lower-third placements. Always test your text visibility on multiple devices, as fonts that look clear on desktops may be harder to read on smartphones. Finally, consider each platform’s aspect ratio to make certain your text remains fully visible and doesn’t get cut off. How to Edit Text Duration on the Timeline Editing the duration of text on the timeline is a crucial step in ensuring your video communicates effectively with viewers. To get started, follow these steps: Click on the text asset to highlight it before making adjustments. Use the handle bars on either side to drag left and shorten the duration or drag right to extend it. Preview the changes after adjusting to confirm that the text fits seamlessly within the video flow. Make sure that the timing of the text display aligns with your video content for ideal viewer engagement and comprehension. You can repeat the duration adjustment process as needed to achieve the best timing for readability and interaction. This careful attention to timing improves your video’s overall effectiveness. Removing and Replacing Text in Your Video Removing or replacing text in your video can greatly improve its clarity and effectiveness. To remove text, simply right-click on the text asset in the timeline and select the delete option in the floating toolbar, or press the delete key on your keyboard. If you want to replace existing text, drag and drop a new text option from the text tab onto the old text asset to overwrite it. After replacing the text, customize its content, font, size, and color using the property panel for a consistent theme. To adjust the duration of the text asset, highlight it and drag the handle bars to shorten or extend its display time. Always preview your changes to guarantee they fit seamlessly within your video. Enhancing Accessibility With Subtitles Subtitles play a crucial role in enhancing accessibility for viewers, as they provide a textual representation of spoken dialogue, which is especially beneficial for hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. By including subtitles, you can additionally: Increase viewer retention by up to 80%, catering to both auditory and visual learning preferences. Expand your audience reach, making it easier for non-native speakers to understand your content, promoting inclusivity. Improve your video’s SEO, as search engines index subtitle text, boosting discoverability. Platforms like YouTube have reported that videos with subtitles generate 7.32% more views, underscoring their impact on audience engagement. In a digital environment focused on inclusivity, adding subtitles is a straightforward way to make your content accessible to a wider audience. Additional Resources for Video Text Editing In terms of enhancing your video text editing skills, a variety of resources are available to help you. You can find video editing tutorials that guide you through the process of adding text, along with text design tips to guarantee your choices resonate with your audience. Furthermore, software comparison guides can assist you in selecting the right tools for your specific needs, making the editing process more efficient and effective. Video Editing Tutorials To effectively improve your videos with text, exploring various online video editing platforms is a great starting point. Here are some resources to take into account for enhancing your skills: Video editing tutorials on YouTube: These provide visual guidance on text placement, font selection, and timing adjustments. Community forums and support groups: Engage with other users who share tips and tricks for improving text overlays and overall video quality. Free or paid courses: Look for courses that focus on video editing skills, often including modules on text integration, perfect for both beginners and advanced users. Text Design Tips Effective text design is crucial for enhancing the overall impact of your videos, as it not just conveys information but also reinforces your brand identity. Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality; playful styles work well for casual content, whereas clean sans-serif fonts suit professional videos. Limit your design to two font families to maintain a cohesive look and avoid visual clutter. Use contrasting colors for text against the background to improve readability, especially in fast-scrolling environments. Incorporate subtle animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to engage viewers without overwhelming them. Finally, test your text overlays across various platforms to guarantee ideal visibility, adjusting styles and placements for different screen sizes and formats. Software Comparison Guides Choosing the right software for adding text to your videos can greatly simplify the editing process and improve your final product. Each option offers unique features, catering to different needs and skill levels. Here are three popular choices: Adobe Express: User-friendly with customizable font styles, colors, and animations, suitable for both beginners and pros. Camtasia: Offers a library of lower thirds and annotations for quick, professional-looking text overlays. Canva Pro: Provides extensive resizing options, making it easy to adapt your text for platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Evaluate these tools based on your specific requirements, such as ease of use, customization options, and intended audience engagement. Selecting the right software will improve your video quality considerably. Frequently Asked Questions How Do I Add a Text Caption to a Video? To add a text caption to your video, start by accessing the text or annotations tab in your editing software. Choose a caption style that suits your content, then drag it onto the timeline where you want it to appear. Customize the text’s appearance, adjusting the font, size, color, and background for visibility. Finally, modify the duration by dragging the handles on the timeline, ensuring it syncs well with your video’s audio and visuals. Is There an App to Add Text to a Video? Yes, there are several apps you can use to add text to your videos. Popular choices include Adobe Express, InShot, and iMovie, which offer user-friendly interfaces and various customization options. You can choose from different fonts, colors, and styles to match your video’s theme. Some apps likewise provide text animations and effects, enhancing viewer engagement. These applications are available on both mobile and desktop platforms, giving you flexibility in editing your content. How Do I Add Floating Text in a Video? To add floating text in your video, first, open a video editing tool that allows text overlays. Select the “Text” option, then customize your text‘s font, size, and color for visibility. Incorporate animations like fade-in or slide-in to improve engagement. Adjust the timing by dragging the handles on the timeline to control when the text appears and disappears. Finally, preview your video to guarantee the text complements the visuals effectively. How Do I Add Auto Text in a Video? To add auto text in a video, use video editing software that provides automatic captioning features. You can upload your video to platforms like Riverside or Adobe Express, which generate subtitles based on the audio. After the text is created, review it for accuracy, as automatic systems may make errors. Customize the font size and color for better visibility, then export the video with the embedded text or as a separate subtitle file for accessibility. Conclusion Adding text to your videos improves communication and engagement, making your content more accessible and informative. By following the steps outlined, you can effectively integrate text, customize it for visual appeal, and guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative. Remember to adjust timing and duration for peak impact, and consider incorporating subtitles for greater accessibility. With these techniques, you’ll raise your video production skills and create professional-looking content that resonates with your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Step-by-Step Guide to Add Text to Video" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Google is exploring ways to give site owners a way to prevent Google from using its content for Search AI generative features including AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google said this is based on the new requirements from UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and any measures must avoid breaking how Google Search works. What Google said. Google wrote: “We’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features.” Google added that these options cannot break Google Search, Google said: “Any new controls need to avoid breaking Search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people.” When is this coming. It is unclear when these new controls are coming but more controls are welcomed. Many publishers, content creators, site owners – want to be able to control if Google uses their content for Search AI features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode. These new controls, whatever they might be, will give us more control in how Google uses our content for their features. Full text. Here is what Google posted on its blog this morning: Shifts in user behavior are rapidly changing how people search for information, and features like AI Overviews are helping people discover new content and ask more questions. Today, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a consultation on potential new requirements for Google Search, including on the controls we provide to websites to manage their content in Search AI features. This is a complex topic because it can affect how people find information and how websites get found in Search. For years, we have provided web publishers with a range of controls, based on open standards like robots.txt, to manage how their content appears in Search. As technology has evolved, so have our tools. We added controls for things like Featured Snippets and image previews (which also apply to AI Overviews). And more recently, we introduced Google-Extended, a new control that lets websites manage how their content is used to train our Gemini models. Building on this framework, and working with the web ecosystem, we’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features. Our goal is to protect the helpfulness of Search for people who want information quickly, while also giving websites the right tools to manage their content. We look forward to engaging in the CMA’s process and will continue discussions with website owners and other stakeholders on this topic. Any new controls need to avoid breaking Search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people. As AI increasingly becomes a core part of how people find information, any new controls also need to be simple and scalable for website owners. We’re optimistic we can find a path forward that provides even more choice to website owners and publishers, while ensuring people continue to get the most helpful and innovative Search experience possible. Why we care. More controls are no doubt better than fewer controls from Google. And SEOs, site owners, publishers, etc have been asking Google to give us controls over how our content is used for AI Overviews and AI Mode. These controls may be coming soon – so stay tuned. View the full article

I love the idea of the mythical Instagram hack. When a social ‘expert’ pops up on my feed, emphatically telling me to do the Fate of Ophelia choreography during the full moon after every post to go viral — there’s a good chance I’ll give it a bash. (If you saw me practicing that dance in my last vlog, no, you didn’t.) The fact is, though, those hacks, in the truest sense, really don’t exist. The quality of your content is the be-all and end-all of Instagram post performance. But there are a handful of things you can do to give your content a helpful little boost. Posting at a good time for the platform can help, as can keeping up a consistent posting cadence. We have data to back those points up — and now I have one more to add to that list of helpful boosters. Replying to comments on your Instagram posts boosts engagement. By 21%, no less. What I find most encouraging about this data is that it validates something that shouldn't be revolutionary but somehow feels that way: being genuinely social on social media works. Most great social media managers and creators will do this instinctively. And now we have some hard data to back up the fact that this really does impact post performance. Replying to comments on your Instagram posts can boost engagement by around 21%, according to Buffer data scientist Julian Winternheimer's analysis of over 700,000 Instagram posts from nearly 68,000 accounts. Julian found that when creators engage back in their comments, their posts perform better relative to their own baseline. This finding is part of a larger study Julian conducted across six major platforms — and Instagram showed one of the strongest effects. (Threads came in at 42%, LinkedIn at 30%, and Instagram at 21%.) Let's dig into how Julian analyzed the Instagram data, what it means for your strategy, and how to make comment engagement sustainable. ✨ Need help staying on top of all your Instagram comments? Buffer's new Community feature pulls all your comments across platforms into a single dashboard. Get it free → Jump to a section: The analysis How replying to comments impacts Instagram engagement Why this matters for Instagram specifically How to actually stay on top of your comments on Instagram Putting the ‘social’ back in social media More Instagram resources The analysisTo assess the impact of replying to comments on Instagram, Julian performed a couple of different analyses. Most importantly, rather than comparing big accounts to small ones (which wouldn't tell us much), he compared each account to its own performance over time. Think of it this way: we're not asking, "Do accounts that reply get more engagement than accounts that don't?" We're asking, "Does Account 1 perform better when it replies versus when it doesn't?” This method — called a fixed-effects regression model, if you want to get technical — accounts for all the unique factors that make each account different. Audience size, niche, location, posting frequency... all of that is baked into the baseline. (If you’re interested — and want more cool graphs — check Julian’s full analyses on his blog here.) Julian also ran a second analysis using Z-scores to double-check the results. (Basically, measuring how far above or below "normal" each post performed for that specific account.) Both methods pointed to the same conclusion, which gives us a lot more confidence in the finding. Now, a few important things to keep in mind: This is correlation, not causation. We can't say with 100% certainty that replying causes higher engagement — it's possible that posts which naturally perform well simply get more replies from the creator because there's more activity to respond to.That said, the pattern shows up across all six platforms Julian analyzed, with engagement lifts ranging from 5% to 42%. That consistency is hard to chalk up to coincidence.Julian's dataset for Instagram included over 700K posts from nearly 68K accounts, so we're working with a pretty robust sample size here.How replying to comments impacts Instagram engagementPosts where creators replied to comments saw about 21% higher engagement on average — even after controlling for whether the post had comments at all. Julian's fixed-effects model compared more than 700,000 Instagram posts across nearly 68,000 profiles and found a clear pattern: "When creators engage back in their comments, their posts perform better relative to their own baseline." The Z-score analysis backed this up. Posts with replied-to comments tended to score above an account's usual engagement level, while those without replies sat slightly below. Around 63% of profiles showed positive effects overall. That's nearly two-thirds of accounts seeing a boost. Source: Instagram: Engagement and Replies — Julian Winternheimer, Data Blog, October 2025 Why this matters for Instagram specificallyInstagram uses several different algorithms across the app — one for the feed, one for stories, one for reels, and one for explore. They all work a little differently, because users want different things from each part of the app. “People tend to look for their closest friends in stories, use explore to discover new content and creators, and be entertained in reels,” Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has previously said. But they all have something in common: they prioritize genuine engagement. When you reply to comments, you're doing a few things that these algorithms care about: Extending the conversation: More comments signal to Instagram that your post is sparking discussion. The algorithm looks at "time spent" as a key metric, and active comment threads keep people on your post longer. It’s likely that your own replies count toward this, too. Building relationships: Instagram tracks interaction history between accounts. When you consistently reply to someone's comments, the algorithm sees that connection and is more likely to show your future posts to them. Consistent interactions between accounts — like commenting on each other's posts — tell Instagram who might want to see more of your content. Encouraging more engagement: When people see you actively responding, they're more likely to join the conversation themselves. It signals that you're actually present and care about what your audience has to say. How to actually stay on top of your comments on InstagramIf you’re an active Instagrammer and create content on other platforms (🙋‍♀️), keeping on top of comments is easier said than done. Here are a few strategies that have helped me: Batch your replies like you batch your content: If you already set aside time to create posts, try doing the same for engagement. I find that carving out two 10-minute windows — maybe mid-morning and before bed — keeps me on top of comments without constantly context-switching throughout the day. Focus on starting conversations, not closing them: You don't need to write paragraphs in response to every comment. Sometimes "Yes! Have you tried..." or "Great question — here's what worked for me..." is enough to keep the thread going. Reply while the post is still fresh: Instagram's algorithm looks at how quickly engagement happens on a post. If you can reply to comments within the first few hours after posting, you're more likely to spark additional engagement while the post is still being shown to more people. (This is where posting at times when you're actually available to engage becomes really strategic.) Use tools that meet you where you are: Buffer's Community feature pulls all your Instagram comments (plus comments from other platforms) into a single dashboard. You can reply directly from there without opening Instagram and falling down the scroll hole. It's free for up to 3 social accounts, and honestly, it's saved me from losing entire afternoons to my explore page. There's also a Comment Score feature that tracks your reply consistency over time. Think of it like a Duolingo streak, but for engagement — it helps turn replying into a habit rather than something you remember to do only when you're already scrolling. The feature also includes a Comment Score, which tracks your consistency and speed over time. It's basically a habit-building tool to help you make engagement a ritual rather than an afterthought. Putting the ‘social’ back in social mediaJulian's cross-platform analysis covered nearly 2 million posts, and Instagram's 21% engagement lift sits right in the middle of the pack. It's not as dramatic as Threads' 42% or LinkedIn's 30%, but it's still a meaningful boost — especially when you consider Instagram's scale and reach. I find this data so encouraging because it really underpins the original purpose of social media: fostering genuine human connection between folks from all over the world. You're not trying to crack some secret code or find a loophole in the algorithm. You're just showing up for the people who showed up for you. And Instagram's various algorithms — across feed, stories, reels, and explore — all reward that kind of authentic engagement. Here's what that looks like in practice: Post your content. Reply to the people who comment. Keep the conversation going. Do it consistently. That's it. The 21% lift isn't a guarantee for every account (remember, around 63% of profiles in Julian's study saw positive effects), but the odds are in your favor if you're willing to put in the time to engage back. ✨Get access to Community, along with all of Buffer's planning and scheduling features, for free for up to 3 social platforms. Get started in under 1 min →More Instagram resourcesHow the Instagram Algorithm Works: Your 2026 Guide14 Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram8 Best Free Hashtag Generators in 2026How to Recognize and Block Fake Instagram AccountsView the full article

Last week, I published a deep exploration into Palantir and its founder factory and how the company’s power and success can be explained by its ability to attract elite talent and how it empowers them to develop their skills and learn new ones in the projects they pursue. That talent then goes on to found their own startups, invariably seeking to address hard, intractable problems much as they did in their work at Palantir. (In the few days since I published my first story, I’ve found another 21 former Palantir employees turned founders, bringing what was already the largest public dataset of these people to 335. If you haven’t already, check it out here.) There are a number of high-profile companies founded by Palantir alums that many people have heard of. These include: Anduril, the defense contractor ($30.5 billion valuation), cofounded by Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm, and Trae Stephens; Kalshi, the predictions market ($11 billion valuation), cofounded by Tarek Mansour; Eleven Labs, the voice AI platform ($6.6 billion valuation), cofounded by Mati Staniszewski; Handshake, the marketplace for early-career workers, colleges, and employers which has recently focused more on matching specialized talent with AI training opportunities ($3.3 billion valuation), cofounded by Garrett Lord; and Partiful, the planning tool for IRL experiences ($400 million valuation), cofounded by Shreya Murthy and Joy Tao. But there are so many fascinating stories among the cadre of startups founded and led by Palantir alums. The nine companies showcased below, which span healthcare, government services, cybersecurity, law, clean energy, hardware development, and not-for-profits, exemplify the power of being acculturated to finding a big, hard problem—and having the skills to tackle it. Angle Health Palantir alum founders: Ty Wang (CEO), Anirban Gangopadhyay Other founders: None What Angle does: AI-native healthcare benefits platform, particularly serving employees of small and medium-size businesses Employees: Approximately 100 Funding: $197 million raised to date, including a $134 million Series B in December 2025 led by Portage, with funding also from Blumberg Capital, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: Creating a full-stack solution. To work toward achieving the company’s goal of changing how “people approach and access healthcare,” as Wang says, and “democratize access to the kinds of modern healthcare services . . . that are still not available to a lot of the people that really need them,” Angle had to rebuild “the technology infrastructure that powers the way that the vast majority of Americans access healthcare today, which is through their health plan.” Angle has centralized data assets and focused on enabling AI-driven, human-in-the-loop workflows across its products and operations. That allows it to offer such things as digital behavioral health programs or digital pharmacies, for example—newer services that have become more routine for large employers to include in their health plans—and that can reduce the overall cost of care for the thousands of small businesses that Angle serves. One key learning from Palantir: Gangopadhyay explains that Angle’s culture encourages “a lot of slow thinking and having discourse” on a monthly basis to develop a clear plan, and then “we’re very intentionally head-in-the-ground and hands-to-keyboards executing.” Although Palantir itself is not structured this way in terms of a “monthly sync,” he adds that “we’re very light on meetings. We leave the individuals to execute in their own way.” That is spiritually aligned with how Palantir operates. Avandar Labs Palantir alum founders: Pablo Sarmiento (CEO and CTO) Other founders: None What Avandar does: Software for social enterprises and nonprofits to manage their data Employees: One Funding: Bootstrapped. In fact, Sarmiento says he will not raise equity-based funding, choosing instead to pursue non-dilutive capital sources, including revenue-based financing to align better with the goals of socially focused companies. Secret sauce: “Think about it,” says Sarmiento, “we shouldn’t be building the software we need to fight a crisis during the crisis,” referring to COVID as well as the work he did after he left Palantir, at Zenysis Technologies, helping create software so that the National Health Institute in Mozambique could successfully fight a cholera epidemic. “It should exist.” Avandar Labs lets not-for-profits and social enterprises build a unified data platform to integrate and analyze an organization’s program data. (It’s currently in beta but when complete, Sarmiento says it’ll be “customizable to any mission.”) The platform’s core technological difference is that it was built from the start for social sector use cases, such as “ensuring it can support epidemic response, humanitarian emergencies, and cross-sector coordination.” He promises it’ll be far cheaper than any alternatives, too. One key learning from Palantir: “Bias towards action.” Chapter Palantir alum founders: Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz Other founders: Corey Metzman, former Presidential candidate (and current Ohio gubernatorial candidate), Vivek Ramaswamy What Chapter does: AI to help American seniors find the optimal Medicare plan at the lowest cost Employees: Approximately 200 Funding: $186 million raised to date, most recently at a valuation of approximately $1.5 billion. Investors include Stripes, XYZ, and Susa Ventures, among others. Secret sauce: Using AI to help seniors navigate Medicare. Chapter’s recommendation engine identifies which of the 24,000 Medicare options that exist is right for an individual customer, taking into account their doctors, prescriptions regimen, usual pharmacies, the benefits that are most important to them, their ability and willingness to pay, and more. “Each one of those inputs is a huge data problem in and of its own,” Blumenfeld-Gantz notes. It has an app that can determine from a picture of a user’s Medicare card which plan they’re on and then “curate every single item that’s eligible for your plan” and check them out without a litany of phone calls, he adds. Speaking of calls, Chapter ingests every phone communication its brokers have to assess if they’re making high-quality, compliant recommendations and offer real-time feedback. One key learning from Palantir: Being relentless. Working in a regulated space, where you have to get federal and state licenses and get licensed by insurance carriers in every state you operate, “it’s just not accepting no,” says Blumenfeld-Gantz. “[You have to be] really annoying to state departments of insurance until they take your call and move your paperwork forward. The way I think about it is that you have to make it less work for them to do what you want them to do. Status quo, the easier thing is for them to do nothing. So you have to change the status quo so it’s easier for them to do something than nothing.” Draftwise Palantir alum founders: James Ding (CEO), Emre Ozen Other founders: Ozan Yalti (former senior associate at the global law firm Clifford Chance) What Draftwise does: AI software for law firms and in-house legal teams to automate contract drafting, review, and negotiation Employees: Approximately 60 Funding: $28 million raised to date, from Index Ventures, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: “Every other well-funded legal tech company in the space is building an application layer tool trying to put LLMs inside of bespoke interfaces to try to increase productivity for lawyers,” says Ding. “Draftwise is a data platform. We started by recognizing that the pain point we wanted to solve was one where the challenge is that big-ticket deals require data, and if you can’t have the data, you can’t make good decisions. We started from that foundation, integrating data across a variety of silos, bringing it together, and shaping it into an ontology. Then we also happen to have interfaces to serve that data to people inside their workflow.” For example, Ding cites an add-in for Microsoft Word that Draftwise made. “You’re drafting a contract, you’re negotiating financial covenants, Draftwise can pull together into a single view all the data you need to actually make the decision of what covenants to give.” One key learning from Palantir: “The thing I wanted to bring was immense agency, immense accountability, a sense of high integrity,” says Ding, “but also high effort where we’re just getting things done, we’re doing it right, and we’re doing the best we can.” Fourth Age Palantir alum founders: Zach Romanow, plus founding partners Jesse Rickard, Pete Mills, and Samuel Tarng Other founders: None What Fourth Age does: Specialized forward-deployed engineering for Palantir customers to build complex applications on top of Palantir’s platforms Employees: More than 50 Funding: Bootstrapped Secret sauce: “My first customer is really the engineers,” says Romanow, “the best and brightest FDEs, or the people that could become the best and brightest FDEs if they’re in the right place and have the right teams around them. . . . hire the best possible people that at scale provide differentiated outcomes for customers, and the customers will pay you accordingly.” One key learning from Palantir: “If you have a very, very high bar for the people . . . then A players want to join the A team,” Romanow says. “Let’s really stay true to our principles of what we know great looks like.” Manifest Palantir alum founders: Daniel Bardenstein (CEO); Marc Frankel (former CEO) Other founders: N/A What Manifest does: Software and AI “bill of materials” to protect everything from healthcare systems to military aircraft Employees: Approximately 30 Funding: $21 million raised to date from such investors as AE Industrial Partners (Boeing’s venture arm), Palumni VC, XYZ, and others Secret sauce: Provides both vendors and buyers with visibility into the provenance of the elements in the software and AI they depend on to eliminate the risk of introducing a potentially calamitous vulnerability. “Software is the only thing that we buy that you don’t get to know what’s in it,” says Frankel. “Everything else in our lives comes with an ingredients list.” One key learning from Palantir: “Low ego, high ops tempo.” Nira Energy Palantir alum founders: Andy Chen (CTO) Other founders: Chris Ariante (CEO, ex-Exxon Mobil), Andrew Martin What Nira does: Software for clean energy developers, data centers, and utilities that helps them understand where there’s available capacity on the electric grid for new projects Employees: Approximately 30 Funding: $65.5 million from Energize Capital, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: Focusing on “one of the most painful roadblocks to building” renewables, the hidden pain point impeding the goal to “accelerate America’s power grid to be fossil free as quickly as possible,” as Chen says. That is what’s known in the energy business as “interconnection”—adding renewable projects to the grid. Nira’s built mapping tools to help developers identify sites with capacity and another one to estimate costs while a project is in queue to come online. One key learning from Palantir: “Learning about transmission planning is a critical part to being successful at Nira,” Chen says. “If you’re not interested, you’re not going to be able to learn it. One thing that’s similar culturally between Palantir and the people we have here is this fundamental curiosity and willingness to learn about totally random stuff that will never help you in a future job, but you want to do it because you’re fundamentally interested in it.” Chen adds that he’s now hiring for a forward deployed engineering role. Nominal Palantir alum founders: Jason Hoch Other founders: Cameron McCord (CEO, former Naval submarine officer, ex-Anduril), Bryce Strauss (ex-Lockheed Martin) What Nominal does: Software to help hardware engineering teams, people who build such things as nuclear fusion reactors and satellites, test and deliver complex systems faster Employees: Approximately 100 Funding: $102.5 million raised to date, from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and others Secret sauce: Speed and solving the data challenges that hardware manufacturers face. When mechanical and electrical engineers work on hard hardware problems, “they [also] have software problems, they have data infrastructure problems,” Hoch says. “We’re speeding up the workflows. We’re increasing the maximum complexity of what the hardware engineers and our customers can accomplish. When they finish a task or a simulation, they don’t need to crack open Claude Code to start understanding their data. It’s just right there in front of them. They’re able to ask the hard physics and engineering questions of the data.” That’s the speed. For that data issue, “when you’re building complex software systems,” Hoch explains, “you have this incredible toolkit of SaaS companies that have been building ways to make your job better for 30 years.” Hardware engineers, by contrast, “You’ll have 10,000 data points a second, a million data points a second coming off of a sensor,” meaning that the nature of helping them process that data is not a solved problem. One key learning from Palantir: “Remaining customer obsessed, remaining technically obsessed. Our customers are wildly technical. The things that I would have to teach people 12 years ago when I was onsite with a customer, these people already know it. It’s keeping us honest to making sure we’re really staying at the cutting edge.” Sage Palantir alum founders: Raj Mehra (CEO), Matt Lynch (CTO) Other founders: Ellen Johnston (chief product officer) What Sage does: A hardware and software platform to deliver better eldercare, particularly in assisted living facilities Employees: More than 100 Funding: $59 million raised to date, from IVP, Friends & Family Capital, Maveron, and others Secret sauce: Building hardware to collect the critical data to support its software. “How do we give caregivers better tools to care for residents? How do we give residents of these communities tools to call for help and get help when they need it?” asks Mehra. Realizing that existing systems weren’t measuring relevant data, Sage has built Core, which tracks nurse calls and helps caregivers manage tasks, which operators can then “use to improve quality of care and caregiver performance,” Lynch notes. It also built Detect, which is AI-powered fall detection that enables care providers to respond proactively to those kind of emergency events. “We can measure and pull in all of the telemetry from the physical devices that we’re deploying,” Mehra adds. “Based on all of that, you can then synthesize it and provide value to folks up the value chain.” One key learning from Palantir: “One of us is responsible for every single person we bring in,” says Mehra. One of Palantir’s founders interviewed every hire for a long time. “We haven’t departed from that,” he continues, “and I don’t think we ever should because it’s how we keep the culture intact.” Adds Lynch: “Then, if we make a mistake, we own it . . . when bets don’t pay off, we can’t sacrifice the culture for that.” View the full article

As researchers approach the front doors of Oxford’s new Life and Mind Building (LaMB), they’re greeted with a towering concrete facade, rendered with a rippling surface effect. What first appears to be a mere stylistic choice actually encodes something more special: Each of the concrete’s waves and dips is derived from the brain scan of an Oxford researcher. Designed by the architecture firm NBBJ, the LaMB is a massive, 269,000-square-foot space that brings together two departments: experimental psychology, which studies the human brain and how it operates; and biology, which encompasses both zoology (animal studies) and plant sciences. When it opened last October after four years of construction, it became the largest facility on the historic university’s campus. The LaMB’s facade is visually striking, but it also embodies a few clever ways that NBBJ is reimagining what a university lab building can be. The structure is built to account for the natural path of the sun, capture energy using solar panels, and use advanced cladding technology to lessen its environmental impact. In short, it’s a vision of a lab that’s better for both its staffers and the planet. A brain wave hidden in plain sight When visitors look up at the LaMB, they’re literally observing someone’s positive thought—even if they don’t know it. Darius Umrigar, a principal architect at NBBJ and the lead project designer of LaMB, says one of his team’s main priorities was to design with longevity in mind, given that Oxford itself is nearly 1,000 years old. That meant choosing durable materials (concrete, stone, and metal) to make up the facade. At the same time, they wanted to ensure that the building would have aesthetic interest and fit within the existing campus. The solution would need to be a design that works with the building’s thick concrete exterior and can withstand the environment for decades. “During that process, we talked to the head of experimental psychology,” Umrigar says. “They do a lot of brain scanning, both voluntarily and in terms of their approach to research and treatment. When we were considering the design, we were looking at how it would weather well and maintain its beauty without needing to be maintained.” They wanted a texture for the building’s cladding that wasn’t just “flat concrete,” he adds. Through this discussion, one student volunteered her own brain scan to serve as the basis of a potential decorative feature. That student was Sage Boettcher, who’s now a career development research fellow in the department of experimental psychology. A scan of her brain was taken while she actively envisioned the future of the LaMB lab. From there, the NBBJ team isolated a two-second blip of the recording, resulting in a distinct sinusoidal wave pattern of dips and curves. Those rippling gestures were then carved into various stone slabs, which appear at intervals across the building’s exterior. “What we try to do with NBBJ is to not leave a legacy that dates the building, but look at using materials in the truest form and balance that with the budget we’ve got to work with,” Umrigar says. “I think the harmony of simple, quality materials that will weather well and stand the test of time is certainly the key to success.” Labs are a major energy suck—the LaMB uses clever design to combat that The LaMB’s facade is designed to be beautiful, but it also serves a greater purpose for the environment. Traditionally, labs are a major energy suck. According to a 2019 study, the combined emissions of hospitals and labs account for 4.4% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. (For context, the study found that labs at Harvard accounted for nearly 44% of the university’s energy use, yet only 20% of its total space.) According to the engineering consultancy Hoare Lea, which worked with NBBJ on the LaMB, labs are typically expected to consume three to five times as much energy as a traditional office. Some estimates put that figure even higher, at around a factor of 10. The main reason labs drain so much energy is their intense climate control demands. Maintaining the integrity of the many experiments that take place every day means labs need 24/7 systems keeping their air filtered, moving at the correct volume, and tuned to specific humidity and temperature settings. All of these demands equal major energy inputs—and, ultimately, high operational costs. One of the biggest ways that lab buildings can conserve energy, Umrigar says, is by simply preventing air from leaking out. For the NBBJ team, that meant creating an airtight cladding system. The final design includes an outer layer of precast concrete panels, a thick internal layer of thermal insulation, triple-glazed windows, and precision detailing to ensure that every nook and cranny is sealed against the outside world. The LaMB is also carefully situated to maximize natural sunlight. A central atrium cutout allows in soft daylight without overheating the building, while harsher light is captured via a series of roof-mounted solar panels. Inside, air source heat pumps and adaptive ventilation (which uses special sensors to determine how and when to circulate air) cut down even further on wasted energy. In all, these clever design tactics mean that the LaMB emits about 40% less carbon than it would at baseline. “It’s a great achievement for a very large lab building, and certainly probably pushing the boundaries of what the university has been able to do for science buildings of this type in the past,” Umrigar says. “It sets a new benchmark, I would say, not only for Oxford, but for many other universities looking to develop a research facility.” View the full article

Kim (not her real name) is a scientist and tenured faculty member at a high-profile university. For years, she steadily moved up the hierarchy, yet no one could point to what she accomplished. She kept transferring from role to role, not because she succeeded. In fact, it was the opposite. Kim wasn’t delivering measurable results, and no one liked working with her. She occupied an uncomfortable middle ground: not unsuccessful enough for the university to dismiss her, but no longer effective enough to stay. They transferred her to a newly created role. It came with bigger, but opaque responsibilities. The result looked like a promotion, but functioned as avoidance. I study and speak about high achievers in the workplace, including in my recent book, The Success Factor, and have observed this problem resurface, leading to the departure of top performers. What happened to Kim is what I call promotion by failure. It’s the practice of moving an underperforming or difficult employee into a higher status role, often with increased influence and reduced accountability, to avoid directly addressing the poor performance. Ultimately, this isn’t just a performance issue—it’s a leadership and systems failure. Achieving promotion by failure When companies reassign, elevate, or create new positions for under-performing employees, this misaligned intervention sends an alarming signal with reverberating negative ripple effects on teams and the entire organization. The displacement strategy removes the bad employee from immediate friction but ignores the root cause. Sadly, the underperforming employee will eventually repeat their behavior in a new role. But promotion by failure doesn’t help anyone. It’s not a developmental rotation, and it doesn’t provide a stretch assignment to the troubled employee. What it does do is reward poor behavior without consequence and leaves a trail of damage and mistrust in its wake. Reasons for this lack of accountability can be structural, psychological, or legal in nature. We typically see this to be more prevalent in large bureaucratic systems, organizations with weak performance management, and cultures that avoid conflict. Letting someone go may open a company up to litigation, especially if there’s a lack of clear performance metrics. As a result, they end up shuffling the employee around so they can make sure that they don’t do too much damage. Organizations then repeat the cycle until the employee leaves on their own, or the issues escalate to the point where companies cannot ignore the issue. Weak leaders share blame in fueling promotion by failure. They are often conflict-avoidant and worry that any potential grievances will damage their reputation. They’ve also convinced themselves that the role wasn’t the right fit for the individual or have overestimated the power of a new role for the individual, instead of addressing their capability gaps. Why high performers leave when this happens Ultimately, while they might have avoided conflict by promoting a weak performer, there are unintended negative consequences. Top performers, in particular, can become disillusioned, which leads to employee disengagement, lack of innovation, and retention issues. High performers value competence, clarity, and fairness. Promotion by failure violates all three. It signals that results don’t matter, negative behavior has no consequence, and excellence is optional. This causes your top performers to be disenfranchised, cynical, and disengaged. And when they feel all those things, eventually they leave the organization. As a result, organizations don’t only end up losing their best talent, but also their trust. And when these people leave, who remains? Those who operate by smoke and mirrors rather than achieve results. The organizational cost that leaders underestimate It’s not just poor leadership. There’s a tangible organizational cost and messaging when you reward poor performance. Erosion of performance culture: High performers have the image that optics The President output, and that they don’t reward consistent results as much as visibility or tenure. It also sends a signal that performance standards vary depending on who the company is evaluating. Loss of institutional credibility: When communication about merit conflicts with reality, employees no longer trust promotion or role assignment decisions. Employees respond to leaders’ explanations with silence, rather than buy-in. Increased attrition among top talent: High performers leave due to neglect. The strongest contributors leave quietly, without waiting for counteroffers. The exit interviews raise red flags of poor leadership rather than workload or salary. Normalization of mediocrity: Instead of rewarding high performance and productivity, average becomes the acceptable norm, which stunts innovation. Feedback and brainstorming sessions shift from improvement to reassurance, while the company treats excellence as optional rather than expected. Succession pipelines filled with the wrong people: If you ever wondered why certain people are in leadership roles, it’s because in some institutions, promotion is about loyalty rather than capability. Companies fill those roles with people who create the least resistance. What senior leaders need to do If you’re a leader who is committed to excellence, it’s time to address this overlooked (yet undeniable) reality. Address performance early and directly: Make feedback specific and behavior-based, not tied to outcomes or personality. Give ideas on how to improve performance and communication. Separate compassion from avoidance: There is no way around it. Difficult conversations need to happen despite discomfort, not when your top performers leave en masse. It’s necessary for leaders to pair, not substitute, their support with accountability. Create consequences that don’t rely on relocation: You should not reward poor performance. If someone is unfit for the role, think about reducing or redesigning their leadership role. Their compensation, scope, or authority changes should reflect performance realities, not wish lists. Invest in real development or make hard exit decisions: Measure progress based on pre-agreed milestones. If improvement doesn’t happen, act decisively rather than extending the process indefinitely. Audit roles that exist without outcomes: Do an inventory of the leadership roles and flag those positions without clear deliverables. If necessary, redesign or eliminate them, and align titles and influence with measurable contributions. The mistake you accept becomes the new standard. Promotion by failure is rarely about one person. It mirrors what leaders tolerate, reward, and avoid. Ending promotion by failure is not about being harsher. It’s about being honest, accountable, and fair. It’s time to stop using title inflation as conflict management. View the full article

As the Federal Open Market Committee announces its near-term interest rate plans Wednesday, market watchers expect the central bank to hold interest rates steady as policymakers seek greater clarity on the health of the economy. View the full article