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Levies on cars and trucks exported to US will be imposed ‘next week’ unless companies manufacture at American plantsView the full article

Learn how AI search signals impact visibility. Enhance your SEO strategies with insights from leading experts in the field. The post 500M AI Searches Later: How To Actually Improve AI Search Visibility & Citations appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Raising Cane’s, the Louisiana-based chicken finger chain known for its tangy sauce, crinkle fries, and thick Texas toast, is continuing to expand. This May, Cane’s will open locations in seven states, including its first in one. The company recently told USA Today that the new openings will kick off on May 12 and continue through May 27 with new restaurants coming to California, New York, North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, and Ohio. Additionally, Arkansas will get its first-ever Raising Cane’s in the Jonesboro area. Two other locations — Oklahoma City and Lexington, Kentucky — will reopen, on May 4 and May 18, respectively, after being revamped. “We’re staying committed to the restaurants that have helped build us by investing in improvements that ensure every experience meets the high standards our customers expect,” the company said. Among the latest openings will be a drive-thru location in Queens, New York. The latest innovation, which follows the opening of Brooklyn drive-thru, which opened earlier this year, will open on May 13. The Brooklyn restaurant is located at 2143 Flatbush Ave. near East 46th Street, and while it’s primarily a drive-thru, it also has a walk-up window, and a covered, heated patio. Customers can order on-site or online. In recent months, Cane’s has been growing rapidly. Just this year, the chain opened more than a dozen new restaurants. In 2025, Cane’s added 100 new locations across the country. The chain also celebrated the opening of its 1,000th restaurant last month, which is located on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Last year, the company told FOX Business that it typically has about 300 new restaurants in various stages of development and that its “continually evaluating sites all over the world” to reach its goal of “operating 1,600-plus restaurants and becoming a Top 10 US Restaurant Brand.” The latest Raising Cane’s openings and reopenings include the following locations: Oklahoma – 14100 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Oklahoma City (reopening May 4) Arkansas – 2511 E. Highland Drive, Jonesboro (opening May 12) California – 2299 N. Imperial Ave., El Centro (opening May 12) New York – 230-05 Merrick Blvd., Laurelton (opening May 13) Kentucky – 2201 W. Admiral Way, Lexington (reopening May 18) North Carolina – 4423 W. Wendover Ave. (opening May 22) Maryland – 10231 Reisterstown Road, Owings Mills (opening May 27) Florida – 3433 SW Archer Road, Gainesville (opening May 27) Ohio – 3921 Medina Road, Akron (opening May 27) View the full article

UWM Holdings is now bidding 70 cents more per share than CrossCountry for Two Harbors, with an all-cash option as an alternative to its all-stock proposal. View the full article

From foreign interventions to abandoning Opec, the UAE’s leader is charting a different path for his country View the full article

Make technology your ally. By Jody Grunden Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud Go PRO for members-only access to more Jody Grunden. View the full article

Traders warn of further jump in prices and ‘huge pain’ as economies cut consumptionView the full article

AI is being touted as the future of weather forecasting—faster and more precise. But new research shows a major blind spot: it often fails at predicting extreme weather. Traditional physics-based models still do better. “They do perform well on a lot of tasks, but for very extreme events—that are the most important for society—they still struggle,” says Sebastian Engelke, a statistics professor at the University of Geneva and one of the authors of a new study in Science that pitted some of the leading AI weather models, including GraphCast and Pangu-Weather, against a database of recent extreme events. For record-breaking heat, like a heat wave in Siberia in early 2020 that led to wildfires and melting permafrost, AI predictions tend to underestimate high temperatures. (The heat wave would have been almost impossible without climate change; another study found that global warming made it 600 times more likely to occur.) They’re also less accurate than older models at predicting extreme wind or record-breaking cold. That’s because they’re trained using decades of past data. “They try to empirically understand, if I see a certain type of weather today, what is the weather tomorrow?” says Engelke. “Essentially, they are reproducing what has happened in the past. If we’re looking at extreme weather, and especially record-breaking events, then this has not been observed in the past. It’s really the lack of information in their training data that makes it almost impossible for them to forecast it.” The study looked at models a year ago, so they’ve already improved; some have added probabilistic models that predict multiple outcomes to try to become more accurate. But the fundamental problem still exists, because they’re still based on training data from the past. Traditional physics-based forecasting uses complex mathematical models to represent the physical world instead, and can more readily adapt to new conditions. (Traditional models aren’t perfect at predicting extreme weather, either, but still do a better job.) For more typical weather forecasting, or extreme weather that isn’t wildly outside the range of past events, AI can outperform traditional models. When Nvidia released its AI forecasting model Atlas earlier this year, it ran a study showing how well it performed on an extreme event it had not been trained on: Storm Dennis, a rapidly intensifying cyclone that impacted the U.K. “You can see just clearly by visualizing the magnitude of the wind and the magnitude of the pressure gradient that the model was able to capture realistically intense wind events and really intense cyclones that cause damage,” says Mike Pritchard, director of climate simulation research at Nvidia. The models can also accurately predict the path of hurricanes. They’re already used alongside traditional models by weather agencies, weather data companies like the Weather Company, and insurance companies. Researchers are exploring ways to improve the accuracy of forecasting the most extreme of extreme weather. One option, for example, is to add data to training sets that shows what record-breaking events could look like. “There’s ways to kind of coerce physics weather models to produce especially extreme events, and you can sprinkle these into the training data set alongside reality in order to prepare the weather models to extrapolate,” says Pritchard. The technology is rapidly improving. Engelke argues that as new models roll out, they should all undergo the type of testing laid out in the new study. “Most of these models come from tech companies, and benchmarking and independent evaluation [is important] because they’ll have a critical impact on our lives,” he says. For now, it’s likely that traditional forecasting won’t go away anytime soon. View the full article

One key benefit of owning a franchise is the access to established brand recognition, which can greatly impact your success. With a well-known brand, you attract customers who are already familiar and loyal to the name. This built-in customer base often translates to higher initial sales compared to independent businesses. Furthermore, effective national marketing efforts support your franchise, enhancing credibility in the marketplace. But what other advantages can a franchise offer you? Key Takeaways Immediate brand recognition fosters customer loyalty, ensuring a consistent flow of foot traffic from day one. Access to a proven business model streamlines operations and reduces decision-making uncertainty. Comprehensive training and ongoing support equip franchisees with the tools to navigate challenges effectively. Economies of scale through bulk purchasing lead to cost savings and increased profitability. A strong franchise network promotes collaboration, sharing resources, and enhancing overall business performance. Access to Established Brand Recognition Access to established brand recognition is one of the key advantages of owning a franchise. When you invest in a franchise, you gain immediate access to a brand that customers already know and trust. This familiarity can attract customers quickly, which is vital for building a successful business. One benefit of a franchise is the built-in customer loyalty that comes with an established reputation. National advertising campaigns initiated by franchisors improve local visibility, driving more foot traffic to your location. This established brand identity simplifies your marketing efforts, saving you time and energy that would otherwise be spent on creating brand awareness from scratch. Studies show that franchises often outperform independent startups in revenue, highlighting the importance of brand recognition in business success. Proven Business Model and Systems When you invest in a franchise, you gain access to an established operational framework that’s been tested in the market. This structured approach streamlines decision-making processes, allowing you to implement proven strategies without the guesswork typically involved in starting a new business. Furthermore, these risk mitigation strategies help you navigate challenges more effectively, increasing your chances of long-term success. Established Operational Framework Owning a franchise comes with the considerable advantage of an established operational framework, which includes a proven business model and systems that have been tested across various markets. This framework notably reduces your risk of failure compared to starting an independent business. You’ll benefit from thorough training programs that cover vital areas like operations, marketing, and management, ensuring consistent execution across all locations. Franchisors provide established systems that streamline processes such as inventory management and employee training, allowing you to focus on growth instead of operational challenges. Furthermore, having a well-defined framework helps you onboard new staff quickly, enhancing efficiency and maintaining service quality. Leveraging these existing systems lets you adapt swiftly to market demands, giving you a competitive edge. Streamlined Decision-Making Process The structured nature of a franchise not merely offers an established operational framework but also promotes a streamlined decision-making process. With a proven business model, you benefit from tested strategies that reduce uncertainties in launching your business. Established systems for operations, marketing, and customer service allow you to focus on execution rather than devising plans from scratch. Aspect Benefit Proven Model Reduces risks in starting up Standardized Procedures Improves efficiency and consistency Extensive Training Equips you to make informed decisions Brand Recognition Facilitates quick adaptations Risk Mitigation Strategies A franchise’s proven business model and established systems play a crucial role in mitigating risks for new owners. By operating under a recognized framework, you greatly lower the uncertainty that comes with starting a new business from scratch. Established franchises often boast success rates above 90%, showing their lower failure rates compared to independent ventures. As a franchisee, you receive extensive training and ongoing support, which helps you implement tried-and-true systems and best practices. Furthermore, the collective purchasing strength of the franchise network offers cost savings on inventory and supplies, further reducing financial risks. Franchise agreements typically include validated marketing strategies and operational guidelines, providing you with a clear roadmap to increase your chances of profitability. Comprehensive Training and Support When you own a franchise, you’ll benefit from extensive training and ongoing support aimed at improving your business operations. Initially, you’ll receive guidance on day-to-day management, ensuring you start with a solid foundation. As you progress, ongoing resources and updates will help you stay aligned with market changes, maximizing your growth potential. Ongoing Training Resources Owning a franchise means you’ll benefit from ongoing training resources that are crucial for your success. These resources include thorough training programs covering all aspects of business operations, ensuring consistency across locations. You’ll receive hands-on experience with point-of-sale systems and operational procedures during on-site training, making daily tasks more efficient. Furthermore, ongoing training keeps you updated on industry trends, best practices, and new product offerings, boosting your business performance. Franchisors typically provide marketing and advertising training, helping you develop effective promotional strategies for your local market. In addition, access to a network of experienced franchisees and support teams allows you to continuously learn and receive guidance, ultimately improving your operational efficiency and profitability. Initial Operational Guidance Initial operational guidance is a cornerstone of franchise ownership, as it equips you with the vital skills needed to run your business effectively. Franchisors provide extensive training programs covering fundamental areas like operational procedures, customer service, and employee management. This guarantees consistent quality across all locations. You additionally benefit from on-site training, where you and your staff gain hands-on experience from experienced trainers, greatly reducing the learning curve. Furthermore, ongoing support and refresher training sessions keep you updated on best practices and new products. With access to proven operational strategies and business models, you can implement successful practices from day one, increasing your chances of profitability during the process of avoiding common pitfalls faced by new business owners. Built-in Customer Base A franchise offers a considerable advantage with its built-in customer base, which stems from established brand recognition. This immediate access allows you to generate sales and revenue more quickly than independent startups. Established brands often have loyal customers, resulting in consistent foot traffic from day one, greatly reducing the time required to build a customer base. You additionally benefit from the franchisor’s national marketing efforts, which promote the brand and attract customers to your location without you shouldering the full advertising costs. The familiarity of a well-known brand encourages customer trust, making it easier to convert first-time visitors into repeat customers. Studies show that franchises with established identities experience higher initial sales than independent businesses, thanks to their pre-existing customer base. Marketing Resources and Assistance When you choose to invest in a franchise, you gain access to a wealth of marketing resources and assistance that can greatly improve your business’s visibility. Franchisors typically develop national marketing campaigns that boost brand visibility and expand your customer reach across various locations. They often provide promotional materials and advertising templates, making it easier for you to engage effectively with your local market. Furthermore, franchise networks frequently collaborate on advertising initiatives, allowing you to pool resources and reduce individual marketing costs. You’ll likewise receive access to valuable market analysis and sales forecasts, helping you tailor your strategies to meet local demands. Extensive training in marketing strategies equips you with the necessary skills to promote your franchise successfully. Lower Risk of Business Failure Owning a franchise considerably lowers the risk of business failure, as you operate under a well-established brand with a proven business model. Franchises typically enjoy built-in customer bases and brand loyalty, which can lead to quicker profitability. Research indicates that franchisees often experience lower failure rates and greater financial stability than independent business owners. Furthermore, franchisors provide training and ongoing support, equipping you with crucial skills to navigate challenges. Access to market expertise and best practices also improves your decision-making capabilities, further boosting operational performance. Franchise Benefits Independent Businesses Established brand recognition Unknown brand Proven business model High risk of failure Ongoing support from franchisor Limited guidance Economies of Scale and Buying Power One of the significant advantages of owning a franchise is the ability to benefit from economies of scale and improved buying capability. As a franchisee, you can negotiate bulk purchasing discounts and enjoy lower costs for inventory and equipment, thanks to the collective strength of the franchise network. This not just increases your negotiating capability with suppliers but additionally leads to significant cost savings, allowing you to focus on growing your business instead of managing individual supplies. Bulk Purchasing Discounts Bulk purchasing discounts represent a considerable advantage for franchisees, primarily due to the economies of scale achieved through collective buying strength. By leveraging bulk purchasing agreements negotiated by the franchisor, you can purchase inventory and supplies at markedly lower prices than independent businesses. These cost savings, which can range from 10% to 30%, reduce your overall operational costs as well as improving profit margins. Access to quality products at reduced prices not merely helps you maintain competitive pricing but likewise boosts customer satisfaction with superior offerings. Moreover, bulk purchasing discounts lower upfront costs, facilitating better cash flow management. This allows you to allocate resources more effectively, ensuring your franchise remains financially healthy and competitive in the market. Negotiating Power With Suppliers Effective negotiating influence with suppliers is another significant advantage franchisees enjoy, stemming from the collective buying volume of the franchise network. This leverage allows you to secure better pricing on inventory and equipment. Economies of scale lead to substantial discounts that independent businesses often can’t access. With established supplier relationships, franchisors simplify procurement processes as they ensure consistent quality across locations. This access to a wider range of quality products at lower prices improves your profit margins, contributing to financial success. Benefit Franchisee Advantage Independent Business Buying Capability High Low Pricing Discounts Significant Minimal Product Variety Extensive Limited Contract Terms Favorable Standard Quality Consistency Guaranteed Variable Cost Savings Benefits When you join a franchise, you immediately tap into the benefits of cost savings through economies of scale and improved purchasing strength. As a franchisee, you can negotiate lower prices on bulk purchases of inventory and supplies, thanks to your affiliation with a larger network. Pooling resources allows you to access higher-quality products at reduced prices, which boosts your profit margins compared to independent businesses. The collective buying capability of the franchise system leads to significant cost savings on equipment, marketing materials, and operational necessities. You likewise benefit from established supplier relationships that the franchisor has developed, ensuring better terms than you might secure alone. These cost savings can lower overall operational expenses, contributing to a faster return on investment and improved financial stability. Faster Profit Recognition Owning a franchise often leads to faster profit recognition, primarily due to the established brand loyalty and customer base associated with recognized franchises. This advantage allows franchisees to experience quicker sales growth. Here are some reasons why this happens: Brand Recognition: Customers are more likely to choose a familiar brand over an unknown one. Proven Business Model: Franchises operate on tested practices, making it easier to start generating revenue. Marketing Support: Franchisors provide existing marketing strategies that help attract customers quickly. Bulk Purchasing: Access to economies of scale reduces operational costs, boosting profitability. Ongoing Operational Support Franchisees benefit from ongoing operational support that plays a crucial role in their success. This support starts with thorough initial training and continues with resources like proprietary operational manuals, which streamline processes and improve efficiency. Regular updates and training sessions keep you informed about best practices, helping you adapt to market changes and consumer preferences. Furthermore, franchisors provide guidance on marketing strategies customized to your local market, optimizing your advertising efforts and boosting sales. Long-term operational support also enables you to troubleshoot challenges with expert advice, greatly reducing the likelihood of costly mistakes. By leveraging this continuous support, you can promote sustained business growth and maintain consistency in service and product delivery across your franchise location. Reduced Startup Burden Starting a business can be intimidating, but owning a franchise greatly reduces that startup burden. With a franchise, you benefit from a proven business model, which simplifies your entry into the market. Here are some key advantages: Reduced Planning: The franchisor has already developed a successful business strategy, so you won’t need to start from scratch. Market Research: The franchisor has established customer demand, saving you time and effort on market analysis. Brand Recognition: You can leverage an existing brand, attracting customers more quickly than a new business might. Training and Support: The franchisor provides thorough training, easing your shift into ownership and minimizing operational challenges. These factors collectively streamline your startup process, making it a smoother experience. Networking Opportunities With Other Franchisees Even though the reduced startup burden of owning a franchise sets a solid foundation for your business expedition, networking opportunities with other franchisees can further enhance your experience. Engaging with fellow franchise owners allows you to share best practices and operational strategies, improving your overall business performance. These networks facilitate collaboration and support, where you can discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions, leading to innovation. Regular meetings, conferences, and workshops organized by many franchisors help cultivate these connections, promoting beneficial relationships for growth. Moreover, networking can yield opportunities for joint marketing initiatives, bulk purchasing agreements, and shared resources, eventually reducing costs and increasing profitability. This supportive community can likewise boost motivation and morale as you learn from each other’s successes. Enhanced Credibility in the Marketplace When you own a franchise, you gain immediate access to a well-established brand, which greatly improves your credibility in the marketplace. This recognition heightens trust among potential customers who are already familiar with the brand’s reputation. Here are some key advantages of this heightened credibility: Instant Brand Recognition: Customers are more likely to choose you over independent businesses. Established Marketing Strategies: Franchisors provide promotional materials that boost your visibility. Perceived Reliability: Consumers associate well-known brands with higher quality and reliability. Lower Risk of Failure: Established systems and support contribute to a more stable business operation. Flexibility to Operate With Proven Strategies Operating a franchise allows you to leverage proven strategies that have already been tested in the marketplace, which can greatly streamline your business operations. By utilizing established systems, you considerably reduce the trial-and-error phase typical in startups. The operational frameworks provided by franchisors improve efficiency right from the beginning, helping you avoid common pitfalls. Extensive training guarantees you and your employees are well-equipped to implement these successful strategies effectively. Furthermore, franchise-developed marketing plans enable you to attract customers quickly, capitalizing on brand recognition without the hassle of creating strategies from scratch. Ongoing support and resources from franchisors further allow you to adapt and refine your operations as you adhere to these proven methods, making your franchise expedition smoother and more effective. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the Main Benefits of Franchising? Franchising offers several key benefits. You gain access to an established brand, which can improve customer trust and speed up customer acquisition. Extensive training programs equip you with crucial operational skills. Furthermore, franchisors support your marketing efforts, allowing you to benefit from national campaigns. You similarly experience greater purchasing strength, which can lead to cost savings on supplies. What Would Be a Benefit for You Being a Franchisee? As a franchisee, you gain access to an established brand, which helps you attract customers quickly and builds trust. You’ll likewise receive extensive training and ongoing support from the franchisor, equipping you with the necessary skills to succeed. Furthermore, being part of a franchise system means you benefit from collective purchasing strength, leading to better inventory prices. This support structure considerably lowers your risk of failure compared to starting an independent business. What Are the Pros and Cons of Franchising? Franchising has its pros and cons. On the positive side, you gain established brand recognition, which can attract customers quickly, plus extensive training and ongoing support from franchisors. Nonetheless, high initial startup costs and ongoing royalty payments can strain your finances and affect profitability. Moreover, you’ll need to follow the franchisor’s regulations, limiting your autonomy in making operational changes. It’s vital to weigh these factors carefully before deciding. What Are the Main Advantages of a Franchise Quizlet? When exploring the advantages of franchising, you’ll find several key points. First, you gain access to an established brand, which can attract customers quickly. You’ll likewise receive thorough training from the franchisor, ensuring you understand operational procedures. Furthermore, ongoing marketing support helps you promote your business effectively. Finally, operating under a proven model reduces the risk of failure, and purchasing leverage often leads to lower costs, enhancing your profit margins. Conclusion In conclusion, owning a franchise offers significant advantages, primarily through established brand recognition. This built-in credibility not only attracts loyal customers but additionally supports higher initial sales compared to independent ventures. With access to proven business models, extensive training, and marketing resources, franchisees can effectively navigate the challenges of starting a business. By leveraging these benefits, you can improve your chances for success and profitability, positioning yourself favorably in a competitive marketplace. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "What Is One Key Benefit of Owning a Franchise?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re a traveler like me, chances are you’re always on the lookout for ways to make your trips more affordable. That’s why I collect points and miles: they help me lower my travel costs so I can spend my money on what’s actually important…which is usually booking more trips! One card that can help you earn more points and miles — which translates to more free flights and free hotel stays — is the Capital One Venture Business card. It’s an easy-to-use card perfect for travels who want to simplify their points and miles collecting. Here’s everything you need to know about the card to help decide if it’s for you. It’s a solid business card for those who don’t want a high annaul fee card but want some added perks besides just getting miles when you spend money. What Is It? The Capital One Venture Business card is the new rebranded version of Capital One’s Spark Miles. But it has some noteworthy improvements that I think make it worth adding to your wallet. Here’s a look at the card’s main perks: A welcome offer of up to to 150,000 miles Standard 2x miles on every purchase 5x miles on travel purchases (via their portal) $50 annual travel credit $50 annual statement credit Up to $120 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Hertz Five Star status No foreign transaction fees The annual fee for the card is just $95, which means it’s effectively free once you factor in the two statement credits. With a default 2x miles for every dollar spent, that makes this card a solid choice for everyday spending. And without a ton of differing spending categories, the card is very easy to use, making it perfect for travelers new to the points and miles game. Rental Car Perks In addition to giving you Hertz Five Star status, which lets you skip the counter at select locations while also offering a wider selection of cars, the card also offers rental car coverage when renting a car for business reasons. You’ll need to charge the full fee to your card and also decline the company’s collision damage waiver, but once you do that, you’ll be covered for damage due to both collisions and theft. While I don’t often rent cars for work, I appreciate the free collision coverage and being able to skip the line (especially at busier rental locations). Travel Partners With this card, you’ll earn Capital One miles. You can use them like you would any other rewards program: to get cash back, book travel directly, or transfer them to travel partners. The easiest option is to redeem your miles for travel in the Capital One travel portal, which works like booking through Expedia or any other online travel agency. Doing so is very straightforward. You simply search for and book your flight, hotel, or rental car and choose “miles” as your payment method. It’s basically like using your miles as cash, at a value of one cent per mile. Both options are super easy to implement, which is why this is a great card for newbies. And if this is the only way that you’ll use your miles, go for it! Using them is better than letting them sit around. However, you can usually get more for your miles when you transfer them to Capital One’s transfer partners. The ability to transfer to travel partners is what makes Capital One miles valuable. While the actual value varies based on what you book, you can usually find airline and hotel redemptions worth much more than the aforementioned 1 cent per mile. Transferring to travel partners is a bit more work than using the portal, but there are more tools than ever to help you maximize your miles (such as point.me for finding flights and Awayz for finding award hotel stays). Here are their current hotel and airline transfer partners: Accor Live Limitless Aeromexico Rewards Air Canada Aeroplan Avianca Lifemiles British Airways Club Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Choice Privileges Emirates Skywards Etihad Guest EVA Air Finnair Plus Flying Blue I Prefer Hotel Rewards Japan Airlines Mileage Bank JetBlue TrueBlue Qantas Frequent Flyer Qatar Airways Privilege Club Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer TAP Miles&Go Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Virgin Red Wyndham Rewards Who Is This Card For? This card is best for business travelers who are looking for an easy-to-use card to help them earn points and miles. While I personally think the Capital One Venture X Business card is a better card, it comes with a higher annual fee so, if you want a solid travel card for your business and don’t need the upgraded perks of the Venture X card, this is the Capital One card for you. And since the credits cover the annual fee, the card is essentially free! *** The new Capital One Venture Business card has an amazing welcome offer, a respectable 2x on every purchase, and some solid perks for regular travelers. And with its low annual fee, this card is a no brainer for travelers looking for a new business card. I just wouldn’t wait too long — this huge welcome offer isn’t gonna last forever! Stop paying full price for travel! Download my free guide to points and miles and learn how to use points and miles for free travel! It's how all the pros travel so much! In this guide, I'll show you: How to Pick a Credit Card How to Earn Up to 10x Miles on Your Spending How to Redeem Your Points And a Ton of Other Money Saving Tips! Get the guide Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner. It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: SafetyWing (best for budget travelers) World Nomads (best for mid-range travelers) InsureMyTrip (for those 70 and over) Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage) Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals. Need a Rental Car? Discover Cars is a budget-friendly international car rental website. No matter where you’re headed, they’ll be able to find the best — and cheapest — rental for your trip! Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more. Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip. The post Capital One Venture Business Card Review appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site. View the full article

Looking for an honest Productive review? Explore its pricing, standout features, and whether it's worth it for your service-based business. The post Productive Review: Pricing, Key Features, Pros & Cons appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Today marks a significant advancement in accessible technology with the launch of Google’s Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS (Text-to-Speech), a model that promises to enhance user experience through improved speech quality and control. Small business owners might want to pay close attention as these developments can directly influence customer engagement and accessibility efforts within local enterprises. Google’s new model aims to elevate the clarity and expressiveness of artificial speech, making it the most natural-sounding offering from the tech giant to date. The updated TTS has achieved a notable Elo score of 1,211 on the Artificial Analysis TTS leaderboard, which evaluates models based on human preferences. This improved performance is not merely about sounding good; it has practical implications for various applications, including marketing, customer service, and accessibility enhancements. One of the standout features of Gemini 3.1 is its enhanced controllability. This feature allows developers and businesses to tailor the tone and cadence of the speech output according to specific contexts—whether it be a formal announcement, a friendly customer service interaction, or a casual marketing message. This level of customization can help small businesses maintain their brand voice across all platforms, creating a consistent experience whether the interaction is in person or through a digital medium. For small business owners, the advantages extend beyond just sounding human-like. The ability to generate high-quality, natural-sounding speech on demand opens up potential use cases that can directly impact the bottom line. For instance, companies can automate customer service response systems, providing instant, high-quality interactions that enhance customer satisfaction. Businesses could also use the technology for personalized marketing, allowing for tailored audio messages that engage customers more effectively. Some businesses have already begun exploring how TTS technology can serve their needs. Imagine a local bakery that sends out voice messages about fresh bread or new pastry recipes via their website. Or consider a small fitness studio that uses TTS for reminders about class schedules or motivational phrases to keep clients engaged. The use cases are expansive, and the ease of implementation will likely depend on the existing digital infrastructure of the business. However, small businesses should consider potential challenges before fully integrating this technology. Initial implementation may require investment in software or training to utilize the new capabilities effectively. Additionally, while the technology behind Gemini 3.1 is cutting-edge, small businesses must ensure that their target audience is comfortable with AI-generated voices, as some consumers may prefer human interaction. There is also the question of data security and privacy. As with any technology that collects and processes user data, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations like GDPR may require additional resources and attention. Small business owners should familiarize themselves with these considerations to avoid any pitfalls in their deployment strategies. As this new TTS technology rolls out, it’s important for small businesses to keep an eye on the accessibility aspects. For businesses catering to audiences with visual impairments or reading difficulties, Gemini 3.1 offers a tool that could significantly enhance engagement through auditory experiences. In summary, Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS represents a forward-thinking development in speech algorithms that can empower small businesses to enhance customer interaction and accessibility. By leveraging these advancements, small businesses can better engage their customers and streamline operations. For those interested in diving deeper into this innovative technology, further details can be found on Google’s official blog here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Google Unveils Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS for Enhanced AI Speech Quality" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is stepping up to help small businesses and private nonprofits in Hawaii recover from the adverse economic impacts caused by recent drought conditions. Announced recently, the availability of federal disaster loans aims to alleviate financial hardships beginning from January 1. This move affects several counties, including Hawaii, Honolulu, Kalawao, Kauai, and Maui, focusing on supporting those who need it most during challenging times. Small business owners should take note: this assistance isn’t just for companies that experienced physical damage but extends to those grappling with lost revenue directly tied to the drought. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program provides critical financial support to eligible small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and private nonprofits, including faith-based organizations. “Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” stated Chris Stallings, the associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. This emphasizes the government’s commitment to aiding businesses as they navigate these unchartered waters. One of the standout features of the EIDL is that it provides working capital, which can be used for essential expenses like payroll, fixed debts, and accounts payable. This is especially valuable for small businesses that might find it challenging to cover these costs due to a decrease in sales linked to the drought. Notably, businesses can secure loans of up to $2 million, with fixed interest rates that are competitively low—4% for small businesses and 3.625% for nonprofits—offering terms of up to 30 years. Another significant advantage is the initial grace period: interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months after the loan disbursement. This feature can provide much-needed breathing room for entrepreneurs focused on recovering from economic distress. To apply for the EIDL, business owners can visit the SBA’s disaster assistance website at sba.gov/disaster, or they can reach out to the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955. Those in need of assistance can also send an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for further inquiries. It’s essential to note that the application deadline is December 10, which gives businesses a finite timeline to act. While the opportunity for low-interest loans is promising, small business owners should remain aware of the potential challenges. The application process may be intensive, requiring detailed financial disclosures that some businesses might find difficult to gather quickly. Moreover, the qualification criteria can vary, meaning that not all businesses may meet eligibility requirements. Another aspect to consider is the limitation on agricultural producers. The EIDL program excludes many farmers and ranchers from eligibility, except for small aquaculture enterprises. This could leave a gap for certain sectors that also suffer from drought-related impacts. Nevertheless, this SBA initiative represents a lifeline for many small businesses in Hawaii. It’s an opportunity to stabilize operations and strategically plan for recovery. Small business owners are encouraged to consider applying, not just for immediate assistance, but as a means to position their businesses for future growth amidst the recovery process. For further details and to stay updated on these offerings from the SBA, business owners can visit the official page here. As the economic landscape shifts, leveraging available resources effectively can make all the difference in navigating through turbulent times. Image via Google Gemini This article, "SBA Offers Low-Interest Disaster Loans to Hawaii Businesses Affected by Drought" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. The post open thread – May 1, 2026 appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Refinances drove growth of last year's lending activity, with both the volume share and average loan size coming in noticeably higher, according to IEmergent. View the full article

Artificial intelligence is permeating workplaces, changing the nature of jobs of every stripe. Teachers are using it to create lesson plans and grade papers. Marketing professionals are harnessing it to work a room and learn about the needs of potential clients. Product managers are asking AI to serve as an interpreter when technical conversations went over their heads in meetings. Some people who employ AI tools are concerned that widespread use of the technology could erode critical thinking skills, especially among children. They also caution that AI-assisted work needs to be checked carefully because the tools have been known to hallucinate and make mistakes. Here are some ways that people with a range of jobs use artificial intelligence to save time and generate ideas. Unpacking jargon One creative way Kristin Moore, a technical product manager at PERQ, a digital marketing platform for property management companies, uses AI is to help ensure she understands her colleagues’ technically advanced conversations. If she’s in a meeting and engineers talk through a topic in a way that she doesn’t grasp, she can upload the recorded conversation through Claude, AI assistant built by Anthropic, and ask it to summarize what she needs to do to follow up. “It picks up on all of that terminology that I don’t understand, and it can simplify it into something that I can consume,” Moore said. She also asks the AI tool to read through emails, support tickets, recorded meetings and conversations to determine what her clients would like her company to build. “It’s definitely freed up hours and hours of my week,” Moore said. Grading papers Kyle Weimar, an elementary school teacher for Charter Schools USA, serves as coordinator of a Florida school’s multi-tiered support system, a position that involves creating plans to help children performing at the bottom 20% of the student population. In that role, he uploads test scores, report cards and health information into his school district’s AI tool. Then he asks it before meetings to help brainstorm what the district can do to help each child. Weimar has also used AI to grade papers. He says he can upload 100 to an AI agent, give it a scoring guide, and let it grade and give students instant feedback. “I can do that in 30 minutes, whereas it would have taken me a week before,” he said. Teachers are really overwhelmed with work, “so any tools that we can use to make that a little bit more viable, we’re really excited about using,” Weimar said. Working a room Ashley Smith, head of marketing at HireQuest, a staffing and recruiting company with about 400 franchises, used Claude to build a dashboard that analyzes website traffic data and social media trends. It reports what the HireQuest’s followers are reacting to or ignoring, and Smith uses the information to inform franchisees about how to win more business, she said. When members of her sales team attended a huge manufacturing trade show recently, she asked them to take screenshots of the companies they wanted to pursue. She uploaded the images to an AI platform and prompted it to build a list including company names and, based on press releases and stock reports, insights on what their staffing needs might be over the next 18 to 24 months. The hours Smith said she saved by handing off that research task to AI let her spend more one-on-one time with her franchisees. “AI has not replaced anything. It’s only expanded what we’re able to offer to our franchisees,” Smith said. “It allows us to do things that, candidly, we just weren’t able to deliver even as short as two years ago.” Rebranding the Brawny paper towel man A design leader at Georgia Pacific, the pulp and paper company that makes Dixie cups, Quilted Northern toilet paper and other consumer products, says he uses AI to create quick visuals. When brainstorming how to modernize the Brawny paper towel brand, for example, Andrew Markle said his team asked AI to depict what the man shown on their packaging would look like with a longer or shorter beard. Using AI helped people on the team review ideas more quickly, and the tool also offered predictions for how target consumers might respond, Markle said. “It’s not replacing the creative eye of what’s good and what’s appropriate for our business,” Markle said. “Ultimately, we knew we were going to partner with our ad agency. We have an illustrator that’s going to do the final vision.” Creating quizzes to help learn material Kenneth Lynch, a special education coach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, teaches developmentally disabled students life skills to help them live independently. He uses AI to develop quizzes as learning materials. For example, when he was working with a student who wanted to pursue automotive work, Lynch uploaded a book of mechanical instructions to an AI tool that generated quizzes for each chapter. He is more reluctant to trust AI when it comes to soliciting guidance on psychological conditions. “When I look up different types of diagnosis and try to connect comorbid diagnoses together, it really struggles with understanding how those fit together,” Lynch said. Preparing for meetings and drafting emails Ravi Pendse, the University of Michigan’s chief information officer, has used AI to prepare for meetings by asking the tool to predict what questions he might get asked. “It has made me a lot more efficient,” Pendse said. “It gives me more time to focus on my own mental health and wellness.” The University of Michigan also created an AI tutor that professors can tailor to help students with coursework material around-the-clock, he said. But Pendse is mindful to use AI responsibly. “We all should be thinking about how we ensure that AI does not erode our critical thinking skills, especially those of our children,” Pendse said. “As we grew up, we learned from our mistakes. We wrote bad papers, and we got better.” One way that Bob Jones, the university’s assistant vice president of emerging technology and support services, uses AI is making sure his emails are succinct enough for the intended audience. “If I’m communicating about a particularly sticky topic, I want to make sure that I’m neutral and thoughtful,” Jones said. “So the idea of really assessing how I’m presenting myself, AI is really good at that.” Understanding customer needs The marketing director at SumnerOne, a company that delivers printers, copiers, and IT services, asks her AI tool to help create email campaigns, social media posts and slide decks. Natalie Blythe said she also uses it to help understand her ideal customers. For example, when aiming to sell printing services to universities, she asked chatGPT, an AI tool created by OpenAI, to create a probable demographic profile of an admissions director at a university. Then she asked it to predict what the director’s top five problems might be and to identify ways her company’s products could help solve them. “When it first started up, I was in the camp of, ‘Oh my God, this is the end for us,'” Blythe said about the early days of AI. But rather than just fear it, she dug in and started learning. “The efficiencies gained out of it have been tremendous,” she said. __ Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well —Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press View the full article

Learn how to use Semrush tools to prepare your site for agentic search. View the full article

Elon Musk on Thursday sparred with an attorney for OpenAI during his third day of testimony in the contentious trial over the company’s pivot from nonprofit status to a for-profit venture valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. The trial centers on the 2015 birth of the ChatGPT maker as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk. It pits the world’s richest person against Sam Altman, a fellow OpenAI co-founder he accuses of betraying promises to keep the company as a nonprofit dedicated to humanity’s benefit. Tempers have flared on both sides of the high-stakes trial, as the morning began with an existential discussion about the future of humanity — complete with references to “The Terminator” movies — and how much witness testimony would focus on AI safety. “Your client, despite these risks, is creating a company that is in the exact same space,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers told Musk’s lawyers, referring to the billionaire’s xAI, which launched in 2023. People, she said, “don’t want to put the future of humanity into Mr. Musk’s hands,” and instructed the parties not to discuss the dangers of AI to humanity during the course of the trial. “This is not a trial on the safety risks of artificial intelligence. This is not a trial on whether or not AI has damaged humanity,” she said. “It could be one day in a federal court in this country that we may have that trial. That is not this trial and we are not going to get sidetracked on that issue in this trial.” On the stand, Musk has taken issue with the cross-examination by opposing attorney William Savitt, accusing him of asking misleading questions designed to trick him and the jury. At one point Thursday, Savitt asked Musk about earlier testimony where he said that as long as investor profits were capped, OpenAI wasn’t in violation of agreements to keep it a nonprofit. “It depends on how high the cap is,” Musk replied. Savitt then said that “wasn’t your complete answer yesterday right?” In response, Musk said “few answers are going to be complete, especially if you cut me off all the time.” He added that if the cap is “super high,” then OpenAI is “really a for-profit at that point.” Lawyers for OpenAI have rejected the allegations brought in Musk’s civil lawsuit and said there were never promises that the company would remain a nonprofit forever. The company has argued Musk’s legal challenge is aimed at undercutting OpenAI’s rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor. The trial in federal court in Oakland, California, is scheduled to continue through late May. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers excused Musk from the witness stand Thursday, but he may be called back later. During the cross-examination, Savitt also asked Musk about his companies — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and X — and whether they were all for-profit. Musk replied yes, and affirmed that he believes all of these companies are “socially beneficial.” Savitt then asked why Musk hasn’t started a nonprofit himself, eight years after he left OpenAI. “I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it,” Musk replied, adding that this is “the entire basis of this lawsuit.” —Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer View the full article

I’ve built 10+ SEO agent skills in 34 days. Six worked on the first try. The other four taught me everything I’m about to show you about the folder structure most LinkedIn posts about AI SEO skills gloss over. What makes these agents reliable isn’t better prompts. It’s the architecture behind them. Here’s how to build an agent from scratch, test it, fix it, and ship it with confidence. Why most AI SEO skills fail Here’s what a typical “AI SEO prompt” looks like on LinkedIn: You are an SEO expert. Analyze the following website and provide a comprehensive audit with recommendations. That’s it. One prompt. Maybe some formatting instructions. The person posts a screenshot of the output, gets 500 likes, and moves on. The output looks professional. It reads well. It’s also 40% wrong. I know because I tried this exact approach. Early in the build, I pointed an agent at a website and said, “find SEO issues.” It came back with 20 findings. Eight didn’t exist. The agent had never visited some of the URLs it was reporting on. Three problems kill single-prompt skills: No tools: The agent has no way to actually check the website. It’s working from training data and guessing. When you ask, “Does this site have canonical tags?” the agent imagines what the site probably looks like rather than fetching the HTML and parsing it. No verification: Nobody checks if the output is true. The agent says, “missing meta descriptions on 15 pages.” Which 15? Are those pages even indexed? Are they noindexed on purpose? No one asks. No one verifies. No memory: Run the same skill twice, you get different output. Different structure. Different severity labels. Sometimes different findings entirely. There’s no consistency because there’s no template, no schema, no record of past runs. If your skill is a prompt in a single file, you don’t have a skill. You have a coin flip. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with Build SEO agent skills as workspaces Every agent in our system has a workspace. Think of it like a new hire’s desk, stocked with everything they need. Here’s what the workspace looks like for the agent that crawls websites and maps their architecture: agent-workspace/ AGENTS.md instructions, rules, output format SOUL.md personality, principles, quality bar scripts/ crawl_site.js tool the agent calls to crawl parse_sitemap.sh tool to read XML sitemaps references/ criteria.md what counts as an issue vs noise gotchas.md known false positives to watch for memory/ runs.log past execution history templates/ output.md expected output structure Six components. One prompt file would cover maybe 20% of this. AGENTS.md is the instruction manual I wrote thousands of words of methodology into AGENTS.md. Instead of “crawl the site,” I laid out the steps: “Start with the sitemap. If no sitemap exists, check /sitemap.xml, /sitemap_index.xml, and robots.txt for sitemap references. Respect crawl-delay. Use a browser user-agent string, never a bare request. If you get 403s, note the pattern and try with different headers before reporting it as a block.” Scripts are the agent’s tools The agent calls node crawl_site.js –url to analyze website data. It doesn’t write curl commands from scratch every time. That’s the difference between giving someone a toolbox and telling them to forge their own wrench. References are the judgment calls This contains criteria for what counts as an issue. Known false positives to watch for. Edge cases that took me 20 years to learn. The agent reads these when it encounters something ambiguous. Memory is institutional knowledge Here I keep a log of past runs: What it found last time. How long the crawl took. What broke. The next execution benefits from the last. Templates enforce consistency This is where I get specific about the output I want: “Use this exact structure. These exact fields. This severity scale.” Output templates are the difference between getting the same quality in run 14 as you did in run 1. Walkthrough: Building the crawler from scratch Let me show you exactly how I built the crawler. It maps a site’s architecture, discovers every page, and reports what it finds. Version 1: The naive approach I provided the instruction: “Crawl this website and list all pages.” The agent wrote its own HTTP requests, used bare curl, and got blocked by the first site it touched. Every modern CDN blocks requests without a browser user-agent string, so it was dead on arrival. Version 2: Added a script I built crawl_site.js using Playwright. This version used a headless browser and a real user-agent. The agent calls the script instead of writing its own requests. This worked on small sites, but it crashed on anything over 200 pages. Because there was no rate limiting and no resume capability, it hammered servers until they blocked us. Version 3: Introducing rate limiting and resume I added throttling with a two requests per second default and never every two seconds for CDN-protected sites. The agent reads robots.txt and adjusts its speed without asking permission. I also added checkpoint files so a crashed crawl can resume from where it stopped. This worked on most sites, but it failed on sites that require JavaScript rendering. Version 4: JavaSript rendering This time, I added a browser rendering mode. The agent detects whether a site is a single-page app (React, Next.js, Angular) and automatically switches to full browser rendering. It also compares rendered HTML against source HTML, and I found real issues this way: Sites where the source HTML was an empty shell but the rendered page was full of content. Google might or might not render it properly. Now we check both. This version worked on everything, but the output was inconsistent between runs. Version 5: Time for templates and memory For this version, I added templates/output.md with exact fields: URL count, sitemap coverage, blocked paths, response code distribution, render mode used, and issues found. This way every run produces the same structure. I also added memory/runs.log. The agent appends a summary after every execution. Next time it runs, it reads the log and can compare results, like “Last crawl found 485 pages. This crawl found 487. Two new pages added.” Version 5 is what we run today. Five iterations in one day of building. THE CRAWLER'S EVOLUTION v1: Raw curl → blocked everywhere v2: Playwright script → crashed on large sites v3: Rate limiting → couldn't handle JS sites v4: Browser rendering → inconsistent output v5: Templates + memory → stable, consistent, reliable Time: 1 day. Lesson: the first version never works. The pattern is always the same: Start small, hit a wall, fix the wall, hit the next wall. Five versions in one day doesn’t mean five failures. It means five lessons that are now permanently encoded. I’ve rebuilt delivery systems four times over 20 years. The process doesn’t change. You start with what’s elegant, then reality hits, and you end up with what works. Tip: Don’t try to build the perfect skill on the first attempt. Build the simplest thing that could possibly work. Run it on real data and watch it fail. The failures tell you exactly what to add next. Every version of our crawler was a direct response to a specific failure. Not a feature we imagined. A problem we hit. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Equip agents with the right tools This is the most important architectural decision I made. When you write “use curl to fetch the sitemap” in your instructions, the agent generates a curl command from scratch every time. Sometimes it adds the right headers. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it follows redirects. Sometimes it forgets. When you give the agent a script called parse_sitemap.sh, it calls the script. The script always has the right headers, always follows redirects, and always handles edge cases. The agent’s judgment goes into WHEN to call the tool and WHAT to do with the results. The tool handles HOW. Our agents have tools for everything: crawl_site.js: Playwright-based crawler with rate limiting, resume, and rendering parse_sitemap.sh: Fetches and parses XML sitemaps, counts URLs, detects nested indexes check_status.sh: Tests HTTP response codes with proper user-agent strings extract_links.sh: Pulls internal and external links from page HTML The agent decides which tools to use and what parameters to set. The crawler chooses its own crawl speed based on what it encounters. It reads robots.txt and adjusts. It has judgment within guardrails. Think of it this way: You give a new hire a CRM, not instructions on how to build a database. The tools are the CRM. The instructions are the process for using them. Progressive disclosure: Don’t dump everything at once Here’s a mistake I made early: I put everything in AGENTS.md. Every rule. Every edge case. Every gotcha. Thousands of words. The agent got confused. It had too much context and it started prioritizing obscure edge cases over common tasks. It would spend time checking for hash routing issues on a WordPress blog. The fix: progressive disclosure. Core rules that affect the 80% case go in AGENTS.md. This is what the agent needs to know for every single run. Edge cases go in references/gotchas.md. The agent reads this file when it encounters something ambiguous. Not before every task. Only when it needs it. Criteria for severity scoring go in references/criteria.md. The agent checks this when it finds an issue and needs to decide how bad it is. Not upfront. This is the same way a skilled employee operates. They know the core process by heart. They check the handbook when something weird comes up. They don’t re-read the entire handbook before answering every email. If your agent output is inconsistent but your instructions are detailed, the problem is usually too much context. Agents, like new hires, perform better with clear priorities and a reference shelf than with a 50-page manual they have to digest before every task. The 10 gotchas: Failure modes that will burn you Every one of these lessons cost me hours. They’re now encoded in our agents’ references/gotchas.md files so they can’t happen again. Agents hallucinate data they can’t verify I asked the research agent to find law firms and count their attorneys. It made every number up. It had never visited any of their websites. Only ask agents to produce data they can actually fetch and verify. Separate what they know (training data) from what they can prove (fetched data). Knowledge doesn’t transfer between agents This fix I figured out on day one (use a browser user-agent string to avoid CDN blocks) had to be re-taught to every new agent. Day 34, a brand new agent hit the exact same problem. Agents don’t share memories. Encode shared lessons in a common gotchas file that multiple agents can reference. Output format drifts between runs The same prompt can result in different field names: “note” vs. “assessment.” “lead_score” vs. “qualification_rating.” If you run it twice, get two different schemas. The fix: Create strict output templates with exact field names. Not “write a report.” “Use this exact template with these exact fields.” Agents confidently report issues that don’t exist The first three audits delivered false positives with total confidence. The fix wasn’t a better prompt. It was a better boss. A dedicated reviewer agent whose only job is to verify everyone else’s work. The same reason code review exists for human developers. Bare HTTP requests get blocked everywhere Every modern CDN blocks requests without a browser user-agent string. The crawler learned this on audit number two when an entire site returned 403s. All it required was a one-line fix, and now it’s in the gotchas file. Every new agent reads it on day one. Don’t guess URL paths Agents love to construct URLs they think should exist: /about-us, /blog, /contact. Half the time, those URLs 404. My rule is: Fetch the homepage first, read the navigation, follow real links. Never guess. ‘Done’ vs. ‘in review’ matters Agents marked tasks as “done” when posting their findings. Wrong. “Done” means approved. “In review” means waiting for human verification. This small distinction has a huge impact on workflow clarity when you have 10 agents posting work simultaneously. Categories must be hyper-specific “Fintech” is useless for prospecting because it’s too broad. “PI law firms in Houston” works. Every company in a category should directly compete with every other company. My first attempt at sales categories was “Personal finance & fintech.” A crypto exchange doesn’t compete with a budgeting app. Lesson learned in 20 minutes. Never ask an LLM to compile data Unless you want fabricated results. I asked an agent to summarize findings from five separate reports into one document. It invented findings that weren’t in any of the source reports. Always build data compilations programmatically. Script it. Never prompt it. Agents will try things you never planned The research agent tried to call an API we never set up. It assumed we had access because it knew the API existed. The fix: Be explicit about what tools are available. If a script doesn’t exist in the scripts folder, the agent can’t use it. Boundaries prevent creative failures. Build the reviewer first This is counterintuitive. When you’re excited about building, you want to build the workers. The crawler. The analyzers. The fun parts. Build the reviewer first. Without a review layer, you have no way to measure quality. You ship the first audit and it looks great. But 40% of the findings are wrong. You don’t know that until a client or a colleague spots it. Our review agent reads every finding from every specialist agent. It checks: Does the evidence support the claim? Is the severity appropriate for the actual impact? Are there duplicates across different specialists? Did the agent check what it says it checked? That single agent was the biggest quality improvement I made. Bigger than any prompt tweak. Bigger than any new tool. The human approval rate across 270 internal linking recommendations: 99.6%. That number exists because a reviewer verifies every single one. I’ve seen the same pattern with human SEO teams for 20 years. The teams that produce great work aren’t the ones with the best analysts. They’re the ones with the best review process. The analysis is table stakes. The review is the product. BUILD ORDER (WHAT I LEARNED THE HARD WAY) What I did first: Build workers → Ship output → Discover quality problems → Build reviewer What I should have done: Build reviewer → Build workers → Ship reviewed output → Iterate both The reviewer defines quality. Build it first. Everything else gets measured against it. Tip: If you’re building multiple agents, the reviewer should be the first agent you build. Define what “good output” looks like before you build the thing that produces output. Otherwise, you’re shipping hallucinations with formatting. I learned this across three audits that were embarrassing in hindsight. The validation standard (Our unfair advantage) The reviewer catches technical errors. But there’s a higher bar than “technically correct.” We have a real SEO agency with real clients and a team with 50 years of combined experience. Every agent finding gets validated against one question: “Would we stake our reputation on this?” Would we actually send this to a client, put our name on the report, and tell the developer to build it? Below are four tests we use for every finding: The Google engineer test: If this client’s cousin works at Google, would they read this finding and nod? Would they say, “Yes, this is a real issue, this makes sense”? If the answer is no, it doesn’t ship. The developer test: Can a developer reproduce this without asking a single follow-up question? “Fix your canonicals” fails. “Change CANONICAL_BASE_URL from http to https in your production .env” passes. The agency reputation test: Would we defend this finding in a client meeting? If I’d be embarrassed explaining it to a technical CMO, it gets cut. The implementation test: Is this specific enough to actually fix? Not “improve your page speed” but “your hero video is 3.4MB, which is 72% of total page weight. Serve a compressed version to mobile. Here’s the file.” This is our unfair advantage. We’re not building agents in a vacuum. Most people building AI SEO tools have never run a real audit. They don’t know what “good” looks like. We do. We’ve been delivering it for 20 years with real clients. That’s why our approval rate is 99.6%. Sandbox testing: Train on planted bugs You don’t train an agent on real client sites. You build a test environment where you KNOW the answers. We built two sandbox websites with SEO issues we planted on purpose: A WordPress-style site with 27+ planted issues: missing canonicals, redirect chains, orphan pages, duplicate content, broken schema markup. A Node.js site simulating React/Next.js/Angular patterns with ~90 planted issues: empty SPA shells, hash routing, stale cached pages, hydration mismatches, cloaking. The training loop: Run agent against sandbox. Compare agent’s findings to known issues. Agent missed something? Fix the instructions. Agent reported a false positive? Add it to gotchas.md. Re-run. Compare again. Only when it passes the sandbox consistently does it touch real data. Think of it like a driving test course. Every accident on real roads becomes a new obstacle on the course. New drivers face every known challenge before they hit the highway. The sandbox is a living test suite. Every verified issue from a real audit gets baked back in. It only gets harder. The agents only get better. Consistency: The unsexy secret Nobody writes about this because it’s boring. But consistency is what separates a demo from a product. Three things that make output consistent: Templates: Every agent has an output template in templates/output.md: Exact fields, structure, and severity scale. If the output looks different every run, you don’t need a better prompt. You need a template file. Run logs: After every execution, the agent appends a summary to memory/runs.log. Timestamp, site, pages crawled, issues found, duration. The next run reads this log. It knows what happened last time. It can compare and provide outputs like, “Found 14 issues last run. Found 16 this run. 2 new issues identified.” Schema enforcement: Field names are locked: “severity” not “priority,” “url” not “page_url,” “description” not “summary.” When you let field names drift, downstream tooling breaks. Templates solve this permanently. If your agent output looks different every run, you need a template file, not a better prompt. I cannot stress this enough. The single fastest way to improve quality for any agent is a strict output template. The stack that makes it work A quick note on infrastructure, because the tools matter. Our agents run on OpenClaw. It’s the runtime that handles wake-ups, sessions, memory, and tool routing. Think of it as the operating system the agents run on. When an agent finishes one task and needs to pick up the next, OpenClaw handles that transition. When an agent needs to remember what it did last session, OpenClaw provides that memory. Paperclip is the company OS. Org charts, goals, issue tracking, task assignments. It’s where agents coordinate. When the crawler finishes mapping a site and needs to hand off to the specialist agents, Paperclip manages that handoff through its issue system. Agents create tasks for each other. Auto-wake on assignment. Claude Code is the builder. Every script, every agent instruction file, every tool was built with Claude Code running Opus 4.6. I’m a vibe coder with 20 years of SEO expertise and zero traditional programming training. Claude Code turns domain knowledge into working software. The combination: OpenClaw runs the agents. Paperclip coordinates them. Claude Code builds everything. See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with The result This process resulted in 14+ audits completed with 12 to 20 developer-ready tickets per audit, including exact URLs and fix instructions. All produced in hours, not weeks. We have a 99.6% approval rate on internal linking recommendations on 270 links across two sites, verified by a dedicated review process. We completed more than 80 SEO checks mapped across seven specialist agents. Each check has expected outcomes, evidence requirements, and false positive rules. Every finding is specific (i.e., “the main app JavaScript bundle is 78% unused. Here are the exact files to fix”). That level of specificity comes from the skill architecture. The folder structure. The tools. The references. The templates. The review layer. Not the prompt. If you want to build SEO agent skills that actually work, stop writing prompts and start building workspaces. Give your agents tools, not instructions. Test on sandboxes, not clients. Build the reviewer first. Enforce templates. Log everything. The first version will fail. The fifth version will surprise you. This is how you turn agent output into something repeatable. The same system produces the same quality — whether it’s the first audit or the 14th — because every step is structured, verified, and encoded. Not because the AI is smarter. Because the architecture is. View the full article

Change, whether personal or professional, can be challenging. But it can also create opportunities to make a meaningful impact. But navigating the uncertainty is tricky. Art Markman, a leading cognitive scientist and Fast Company contributor, joined Fast Company executive digital director Maia McCann in a recent conversation to share strategies on how to stay grounded, optimistic, and purposeful during times of change. Drawing on his expertise in well-being, Art offers tools to help you influence outcomes you care about and show up with clarity and confidence, no matter what the year brings. View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

Over the past few years, Performance Max has gone from an opaque experiment to a more capable — though still imperfect — campaign type for B2B marketers. The fundamentals haven’t changed: skepticism still matters, first-party data is critical, experimentation is non-negotiable, and actionable reporting drives optimization. What has changed is how much better Google has gotten at operationalizing those inputs. That means your Performance Max strategy needs to adapt. Here are five best practices for running more effective PMax campaigns for B2B today. 1. Guide AI with the right inputs In 2022, given the automated nature of PMax campaigns and the aggressive way Google reps were pushing them, I predicted we’d see an accelerated move toward AI integration. That’s certainly played out, probably in part because of competitive pressures introduced by ChatGPT and the like. AI Max for Search (launched in 2025) and PMax are both being prioritized by Google, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing since Google hasn’t deprecated standard Search campaign for B2B and has provided a slew of helpful updates that make PMax more viable for B2B. Three updates worth using include: Search themes, which are useful for more precise targeting. Brand exclusions, which help minimize CPC inflation and over-investment on less-incremental queries. Account-level channel reporting, which gives you a single dashboard look at performance across campaigns. For this feature, segment by conversion metrics to drill down on ROI by channel. You’ll quickly see overperformers where you can increase investment and underperformers that cry out for further optimization or reduced budget. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with 2. Address persistent lead quality issues B2B lead quality in search campaigns has always been a challenge, and PMax’s relative lack of advertiser control makes that challenge tougher. I’ve pushed offline conversion tracking (OCT) since we’ve had that capability, but it’s an absolute non-negotiable for B2B campaigns. Along with OCT, leverage a relatively new functionality, enhanced conversions for leads, and work around the edges by incorporating reCAPTCHA and testing other mechanisms to reduce PMax spam leads. Dig deeper: The parts of Performance Max you can actually control 3. Build stronger audience signals Citing the phase-out of third-party cookies that still hasn’t happened (!), Google officially sunsetted Similar Audiences in 2023, which — well, it was a big loss for advertisers. To compensate, understand and adapt according to the nature of PMax targeting, which is based on audience signals. Feed the AI high-quality first-party data (CRM lists) and let the algorithm find “lookalikes” through its own internal signals. CRM lists for B2B are obviously critical, and this should give you even more incentive to clean up and segment CRM data, with audience lists closest to the point of revenue (e.g., SQLs or revenue if you don’t have enough closed-won data to send strong signals), especially valuable for finding high-value new users. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. 4. Make creative a performance lever Creative is an important part of the puzzle for PMax. Good creative can prompt the right audience to engage, and great creative can deter the wrong audience from engaging. Because YouTube is now a massive part of PMax campaigns, video — which has never been a B2B strength — should be prioritized more than ever for performance marketing. Google has made this easier by adding the ability to build AI-generated assets right in the Google Ads interface. Just recently, they launched an important complementary feature in beta: PMax A/B creative testing to help advertisers understand which creatives are actually driving performance, and to use test-and-control structures to surface winning (and losing) elements. Dig deeper: Is Google Ads Asset Studio a game changer? Not so fast 5. Use reporting to drive decisions A major source of frustration with PMax has been a lack of transparency into results. Over the last few years, Google has introduced reporting updates to address some of those concerns. Search term insights and auction insights in the Insights tab provide more visibility into performance. Search term insights show how your ads perform for the queries users actually type, including how those ads are being matched and served. This added nuance makes optimization more precise. Auction insights add competitive context, showing how your campaigns perform against others in the same auctions through metrics like impression share and outranking share. Finally, asset-level reporting brings visibility to creative performance, with data on impressions, clicks, cost, and conversions for each asset. Together, these updates give you a clearer view into what’s driving performance — and where to focus optimization efforts. See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with Make Performance Max work for you Taken together, recent updates make PMax more viable for B2B marketers than it used to be, especially for those with strong first-party data to train bidding algorithms and a need to find new customer pockets. After more than 10 years in marketing, I still prefer having controllable levers — and I’m not willing to fully trust Google to act more in my (or my clients’) best interests than its own. Use everything at your disposal to make PMax campaigns work for you, and keep an eye out for new features Google releases that can give you more visibility and control over your account performance. Dig deeper: Auditing and optimizing Google Ads in an age of limited data View the full article

With gas prices, energy bills, and grocery costs all rising, the affordability crisis is top of mind for most workers. But you can’t talk about that crisis without also talking about extreme wealth inequality, says Patricia Stottlemyer, policy lead for labor rights at Oxfam America. And just as affordability has worsened recently, so has the gap between regular workers and the rich, including company CEOs. In 2025, for example, the top 1,500 CEOs of the world’s largest corporations saw an 11% real-terms pay raise. The average global worker, on the other hand, saw their real wages increase by only 0.5%. That means those CEOs saw their pay increase 20 times faster than workers last year. In the United States specifically, CEO pay grew 20.4 times faster than workers’ wages, an increase of 25.6% compared to just 1.3%. The data comes from a new analysis by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Oxfam, which highlights the ways workers are being left behind; the analysis is tied to International Workers’ Day, also called May Day. ‘CEOs have never had it so good’ The average CEO took home $8.4 million in both pay and bonuses in 2025, up from $7.6 million in 2024, according to the analysis. Look back even further, and the growth is even more stark. In 2019, the average CEO pay was $5.5 million, meaning there’s since been a 54% increase in real terms. Some executives rake in drastically more than that. The CEO of semiconductor company Broadcom received a 2025 pay package totaling $205.3 million; Microsoft’s CEO got $96 million. The real wages for workers around the world, however, have dropped 12% since 2019. “This data really puts some numbers behind what average working folks are feeling day to day,” Stottlemyer says. Between 2019 and 2025, food prices have increased by 15% and gasoline prices by 14%, when adjusted for inflation—and that’s not even including the recent price shocks from the conflict in Iran. On April 28, gas prices in the U.S. hit their highest level in four years, reaching an average of $4.18 for one gallon. “Food and gas prices [are] soaring, and 48% of the world is living in poverty,” Stottlemyer says. “And while workers face that exceptional hardship, the CEOs of the world’s largest corporations have never had it so good.” Workers are more productive, but have less to show for it It’s not only company executives who have seen these benefits. Billionaires in general have been getting richer. In 2025, total billionaire wealth grew by $126,000 per second, the analysis found. Already in 2026, billionaires are collectively $4 trillion richer than they were 12 months ago. One of the major ways billionaires make this money is through dividends from the companies they are invested in. Companies paid out $79 billion in dividends to billionaires in 2025 alone—equal to $2,500 every second. On average, Oxfam says, billionaires make more money from dividends in under two hours than the average worker earns over a year. Workers generate this economic value, Stottlemyer notes. But they’re taking home less and less of the value that they create. “What we’re seeing in this data is that workers have gotten more productive. They’re generating more wealth, but they have less to show for it,” she says. (The increase in productivity couldn’t be attributed to one thing like the explosion of AI, Stottlemyer notes). Workers today essentially create 51% more economic value as compared to 2004, the analysis found, but they receive 2% less share of that income. ‘A rigged economic system’ With wealth also comes power, and billionaires have been flexing that power, particularly around politics. Oxfam estimates that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people—and in many cases, those wealthy politicians have cut taxes for the rich or looked to undermine workers’ rights. The ultra-wealthy also shape public discourse through media outlets, like Jeff Bezos’s overhaul of the Washington Post’s opinion section, or how fossil fuel billionaire Vincent Bolloré took over the French television channel CNews and turned it into what some have called “the Fox News of France.” Companies can also suppress worker power, whether through union busting or other workplace behaviors. “The explosion of riches at the very top is emblematic of a rigged economic system that’s designed to benefit the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working families,” Stottlemyer says. Meanwhile, gaps in labor policy exacerbate these issues. The U.S. federal minimum wage, in just one example, has been stagnant at $7.25 an hour for nearly 17 years. (House Democrats just recently introduced legislation to raise that minimum wage to $25 an hour.) Federal minimum wage reform is just one tool that would help workers. ITUC and Oxfam also call for governments to enact higher taxes on the rich and limits on CEO pay. If the numbers in this analysis seem shocking, Stottlemyer says they “reflect the shocking levels of extreme inequality that people feel day to day in their lives.” “Regular working people know very well that the system is not in their favor,” she adds. This May Day—which celebrates the history of labor organizing around the world—she hopes workers remember that they do have power to change their conditions. “It reminds us of all the ways that organized labor and labor in general has come together across history to fight for a more fair system,” she says. “I hope folks remember that workers have the power to bring about a more equal world.” Disclosure: Mansueto Ventures newsrooms Fast Company and Inc. are represented by the Writers Guild of America, East. View the full article

AI is changing how directors and cinematographers work—but not the way you might think When people think of artificial intelligence in Hollywood, they might picture deepfakes, synthetic actors, or AI-generated scripts and video. Google’s Veo3, along with other tools like Pika Labs and Kling AI, made headlines for their photorealistic AI generated video clips (as did OpenAI’s Sora 2 before the company in March announced plans to shutter it). But for freelance filmmakers, the real shift is happening behind the scenes. For years, cinematographers and directors have had to wear many hats: artist, technician, project manager, negotiator. Now, AI is quietly taking over some of the more tedious jobs. Short-Form Frontier Michael Goi, former president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and current co-chair of its AI committee, remembers widespread panic in the industry a few years ago. “There was this blanket fear that AI would completely replace jobs,” he says. That fear has been overblown, Goi says. He presented an ASC seminar last year outlining one of the largest hurdles to widespread adoption of AI video—consistency. In a live demonstration with six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and AI creator Ellenor Argyropoulos, the filmmakers attempted to use AI tools to generate a specific shot. “Caleb had a very clear vision,” says Goi, “and it was a struggle to even get close.” Though video AI tools have made significant strides since then, they are still very much geared toward short-form content, with most tools only capable of generating clips of up to two minutes in 4K quality. That’s good news for the growing number of people working on vertical series—Goi among them—who get to test new video-generation models, sometimes before their public launch. A striking example of what’s now possible is Fruit Love Island, an AI-generated “fruit slop” microdrama from TikTok account @ai.cinema021 that became the platform’s fastest-growing account ever, amassing over 3 million followers in nine days and 300 million total views before coming to an abrupt halt in late March after being flagged for low quality. Each two minute episode allegedly took around 3 hours to make, and are thought to have used text-to-script tools like Object Talk that are then plugged into an AI video generator. For most freelance cinematographers, though, the gains of AI aren’t on-screen, but behind the scenes, making it easier to plan how they will capture the shots they need. Streamlining storyboards While fully AI-generated feature films may not be around the corner, filmmakers are regularly using tools like Midjourney and Runway to create storyboards and visual references. Rob Berry, a freelance cinematographer whose clients include Bergdorf Goodman and Nordstrom, Berry remembers his first encounter with AI-generated storyboards on a commercial project. “[The clients] were able to make them very quickly, change them the day before the shoot and hand them to me. I was like wow, the future’s here,” he says. Director Sage Bennett, who’s shot campaigns for Dior and Jim Beam, sees a similar trend. “Budgets are getting smaller, and expectations are getting bigger,” she says. In her experience, AI is often being used to bridge that gap, though it still needs a human touch. While last year she still thought AI visuals looked a bit “uncanny valley,” she thinks the technology has gotten much better, and she now sees it as almost standard practice for storyboarding and generating visual references. Both Berry and Bennett use AI as a kind of creative sounding board: one that never needs to sleep. “Sometimes you just need to talk through a tiny idea,” Sage says. “I’ll ask, ‘Should I push in or pull out for this shot, and why?’ It helps me sharpen my instincts.” Goi also has used AI to suggest focal length or composition for a shot after plugging in a storyboard. Berry says AI doesn’t come up with the ideas, but it’s a great tool for organizing his thoughts in pre-production. Both say that in projects that they’ve been on, AI has mostly been used for voiceover or VFX work rather than production itself. On one commercial, Bennett’s team used an AI-generated voiceover as a placeholder while they sourced a real actor — and ended up preferring the AI for the final product. Even Steven Soderbergh has leaned in: in a recent interview with Variety, the director revealed he used AI-generated imagery in his John Lennon documentary to visualize surrealist sequences that would have otherwise been out of budget with a VFX house. “My job is to deliver a good movie, period,” he told Variety. “And this tool showed up at a moment when I needed it.” An Invisible Assistant Where AI shines most for freelancers like Berry is in logistics. “As a creative freelancer, I’m first and foremost running my own business,” he says. He uses tools like ChatGPT to manage his workload: drafting emails, balancing budgets, and organizing project notes. “I told ChatGPT to act like it was my agent at CAA and walk me through a negotiation,” he says. With seven projects on his plate, he says, “If something could scan my inbox and tell me where I’m at with each one, that’s the dream.” Bennett also uses AI to streamline pre-production tasks. “I’ll plug in script notes with descriptions, shot sizes, and ask ChatGPT to generate a clean shot list that I can then go in and adjust. I’ll still tweak it, but it saves so much time.” When writing treatments to pitch commercial work, she sometimes uses AI to help with structure and polish. “I still revise everything in my voice, but it speeds up the process.” Though companies have begun testing AI generated commercials, Rob hasn’t seen work slow down for him. But he sees staying on top of AI as part of the job now. He’s been teaching himself prompt engineering through hours of trial and error. “Most people ask a question, get an answer, and leave. But if you keep probing and try different characters and approaches, you get way more out of it.” He particularly likes the “deep research” feature of ChatGPT for in-depth reports on, for example, deciding between two cameras, or developing a pre-production checklist for an ASC-level Director of Photography. “It takes a few minutes and comes back with a ten page report, 16 sources.” He believes that being adept at using the latest technology is key to staying at the forefront of his craft. Goi agrees. “There are conversations I’ve had with Jim Cameron and Rob Legato that AI won’t make a mediocre filmmaker great,” he says. “But it can help a great one refine their vision. That’s why we need top of the line filmmakers involved in where this tech is going. The more professionals engage in what should be best practices for [AI’s] use in the industry, the better positioned the technology and creative artists will be as we progress.” View the full article

It looks as if Donald The President will have to keep waiting for his least-favorite talk show host to hang up his jersey in the studio rafters. The president emerged from the chaos of last week’s attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with two major demands—that his big, beautiful militarized ballroom resume construction and that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel over a morbid joke. (Days before the WHCD, Kimmel had described Melania The President as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”) While the first request may or may not find support, subject as it is to the whims of the courts, the second one seems even less likely. In a stark contrast to last September—when ABC and parent company Disney quickly yanked Kimmel off the air after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr objected to a monologue about Charlie Kirk’s assassination—Disney has so far only indicated that the incident is being discussed. It seems the conditions for Kimmel getting pulled off the air are simply no longer there. Like many other organizations, Disney and ABC may have internalized a key lesson from this past year: The President’s grievances are so fickle that it’s often easier to mostly ignore them. A wave of capitulation When The President returned to the White House in 2025—having won an electoral victory that, just a few years before, had seemed impossible—many executives behaved as if the election proved The President’s infinite powers had bent the culture of the United States in his direction. Some companies like Amazon and Meta quickly sprang into proactive appeasement mode—making aggressive DEI cuts, donating to The President’s inauguration fund, and in Amazon’s case, splashing out $40 million on a documentary about the first lady—while others seemed to surrender. In December 2024, for instance, ABC settled for $15 million in a lawsuit The President filed after This Week host George Stephanopoulos inaccurately claimed in an interview that the president had been found liable for rape in a civil case. (The President had actually been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not rape, in that civil case.) In another era, a lengthier legal battle would have likely ensued. By the time CBS and parent company Paramount similarly settled for $16 million in a The President lawsuit over an “unfair” edit of 60 Minutes, and also canceled Stephen Colbert’s hated-by-The President talk show (both conveniently while Paramount awaited FCC approval for an $8 billion merger), the president had truly started throwing his weight around. It wasn’t just entertainment. The President used legal maneuvers, and even executive orders, to exert leverage over law firms and universities that had displeased him in some way. Legal elites like the Paul, Weiss firm—who had represented prominent Democrats, prosecuted The President, or worked on litigation related to the January 6 insurrection—faced executive retaliation such as suspended security clearances and restricted access to federal buildings. Top universities with alleged antisemitic or anti-conservative biases saw their federal funds frozen or canceled and their tax-free status under threat, pending concessions. The majority in both camps quickly complied. Ultimately, nine of the country’s most powerful law firms capitulated, agreeing to massive pro bono commitments aligned with the administration’s causes, along with DEI concessions. Meanwhile, six universities agreed to at least partly accommodate The President’s demands, with Columbia proving particularly compliant. (The university’s many compromises included tighter protest restrictions and stronger oversight of Middle East studies programs.) What did these organizations get for their obedience? Further demands, as well as The President boasting in interviews: “They’re all bending and saying ‘Sir, thank you very much.’ Nobody can believe it.” The power of pushing back Less visible in the early rush to appease Second-Term The President were the organizations that stood up to him. A cluster of four high-profile law firms, including Perkins Coie and WilmerHale, chose to take their cases to court—a likely place for law firms to be—and won federal district rulings last May, holding that the executive orders against them violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights. As for higher education, after The President froze more than $2.2 billion in Harvard’s research funding, the university filed two lawsuits against the U.S. government. Refusing to negotiate under threat paid off. A Boston judge ruled in Harvard’s favor last September, concluding the administration had conducted a “targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” Meanwhile, the other outlier in academia, UCLA, similarly resisted The President and found backing from a judge last November, who ruled that the government could not, in fact, withhold funding to force universities to “change their ideological tune.” (The The President administration appealed the decision but recently dropped the appeal.) In the intervening months, these organizations and the The President administration have been locked in a holding pattern. Team The President quietly abandoned its executive orders on those law firms in March, only to renew the push against them once word got out. The president also reportedly dropped his demand for $200 million from Harvard, only to upgrade the demand to $1 billion the day after The New York Times reported that story. Although this back-and-forth seems destined to continue indefinitely, the organizations that pushed back have already won something: their dignity, the backing of their cohorts, and a flattering reputational contrast to peers that capitulated. These legal and symbolic victories were not yet visible for ABC, however, when Kimmel made an apparent mischaracterization of Charlie Kirk’s murder last September and the FCC demanded retribution. The network booted Kimmel’s show from the air, before realizing the public was not on its side and quickly reversing course. If the FCC couldn’t successfully agitate to get a comedian fired at the time, their chances look even bleaker now. The newer new normal Although ABC was among the first entities to appease The President after the election, with a $15 million settlement in December 2024, the network still found themselves subject to a pressure campaign from the FCC amid the Charlie Kirk brouhaha. By then, it should have been clear that caving in to The President’s demands only begets further demands, and the expectation of caving in to them as well. If compliance doesn’t mean safety, why not at least go down swinging? ABC’s eventual decision to stand its ground on Kimmel seems to have worked out in the network’s favor. As of last month, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has posted double-digit viewership gains, year over year, rising 22% in total viewers and 45% in the coveted adults 18-49 demo. Perhaps more importantly, with the benefit of hindsight, the fiery reverence around Kirk looks like a feverish blip today. ABC executives must understand by now that it would’ve been preposterous for such ephemeral outrage to take out a 23-year late-night institution without a strong reason. This time, the reasons for Kimmel to go are pathetically weaker. Had the host joked about the nearly 80-year old president’s imminent death after the WHCD, perhaps an apology might be in order, and a firing campaign at least understandable. In reality, not even the callers on MAGA backer Megyn Kelly’s show agreed with her that Kimmel should be fired. Not exactly helping matters for the FCC, The President himself joked about mortality getting in the way of his marriage earlier this week, which Kimmel, of course, later mocked on his show. The President’s superpower has long been projecting the image of someone with superpowers. The reason he’s been so successful at it is because he’s enjoyed fealty from GOP politicians happy to ride his coattails and supporters glad to have someone sticking it to the opposition. This steady backing has emboldened him in his second term to indulge seemingly every whim imaginable, from silencing critics to mass deportation. But his Icarian sun-flights of late have revealed him to be eminently scorchable. The wind is decidedly no longer at The President’s back. After a flurry of other defeats, the combination of tariffs and his flailing, unprovoked war on Iran has driven up the cost of living in the U.S. to the point where The President’s approval rating is rapidly dropping even among his own supporters. While companies like Amazon, reportedly in talks to revive The Apprentice with the president’s son, continue bowing down, others have absorbed the message of the “No Kings” protests. The President is not a monarch; he’s a lame duck with waning support and the glow of an expectant retiree. There has never been a better time to not comply. View the full article