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At SXSW, the future of music and culture is always on display. From packed showcases to surprise sets and branded activations, the festival offers a glimpse of what’s next. But behind every viral moment and seamless event is a workforce SXSW rarely acknowledges: freelancers. They are the sound engineers running live sets, the videographers capturing performances that travel the world, the stage managers keeping showcases on schedule, the photographers, producers, and crew who turn ideas into experiences. SXSW depends on them. I saw this up close at a Latino Victory Fund event during the festival, where filmmaker Robert Rodriguez took the stage to celebrate Los Lobos — an iconic band that has shaped generations of music and culture — and the documentary premiere, Native Sons. It was the kind of moment SXSW is known for: electric, cross-generational, deeply rooted in place. And like every showcase and panel, it was powered by freelancers—producers, technicians, videographers, and crews whose labor makes these moments possible, and who too often remain invisible. Independent workers now make up a massive share of the U.S. workforce, with more than 60 million Americans freelancing today—nearly two in five workers—up from roughly one in three pre-pandemic.¹ The “future of work” SXSW celebrates isn’t something on the horizon. It’s already here. And yet, the conditions under which many of these workers operate remain anything but forward-looking. And the stakes are not abstract. According to a recent Freelancers Union survey, 82% of freelancers say healthcare access influences how they vote—a powerful signal that economic insecurity in this sector is shaping political behavior in real time. With the world’s eyes on Texas during a pivotal election year, Congressman Greg Casar figured prominently at this year’s festival. Speaking at Axios House, he made a clear case that Democrats must prove they are delivering for working people —especially Latino workers — are driving much of the country’s economic growth. But at SXSW, that question isn’t abstract. It’s embodied by the freelancers powering the festival itself—workers whose economic realities too often fall outside the protections policymakers claim to champion. We cannot continue to celebrate the future of work on stage while ignoring the conditions of the people doing that work behind the scenes. In New York, we passed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, guaranteeing freelancers the right to a written contract and timely payment. It’s simple: if you do the work, you should get paid—on time and in full. It works. But step outside New York, including to places like Texas where SXSW takes place, and those protections disappear. That gap matters—not just for freelancers, but for the future SXSW claims to represent, and a future we are not waiting for. Millions of Americans are already building careers as independent workers across the industries that power our cultural and economic life. The question isn’t whether freelance work will grow. It’s whether we will build an economy that respects it. Festivals like SXSW have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to lead. That means more than putting creators on stage. It means committing to fair standards behind the scenes: contracts, timely payment, and basic protections for the people who make the entire ecosystem possible. fIt also means policymakers must catch up. States across the country should adopt and expand laws like Freelance Isn’t Free so that a worker’s rights don’t end at a city or state line. If SXSW is where the future comes into focus, it should also be where we decide what kind of future we’re building—one where creativity is celebrated and protected, and where the workers behind the scenes are finally recognized as essential to the story. Congressman Greg Casar speaking at Axios House1 Upwork Research Institute, Freelance Forward 2023: The Growing Freelance Workforce in the United States, 2023, https://www.upwork.com/research/freelance-forward-2023-research-report; see also Gig Economy Data Hub (Rockefeller Institute of Government), “Freelance Forward Data Sources,” https://gigeconomydata.org/research/data-sources/freelance-forward.html. View the full article

At SXSW, the future of music and culture is always on display. From packed showcases to surprise sets and branded activations, the festival offers a glimpse of what’s next. But behind every viral moment and seamless event is a workforce SXSW rarely acknowledges: freelancers. They are the sound engineers running live sets, the videographers capturing performances that travel the world, the stage managers keeping showcases on schedule, the photographers, producers, and crew who turn ideas into experiences. SXSW depends on them. I saw this up close at a Latino Victory Fund event during the festival, where filmmaker Robert Rodriguez took the stage to celebrate Los Lobos — an iconic band that has shaped generations of music and culture — and the documentary premiere, Native Sons. It was the kind of moment SXSW is known for: electric, cross-generational, deeply rooted in place. And like every showcase and panel, it was powered by freelancers—producers, technicians, videographers, and crews whose labor makes these moments possible, and who too often remain invisible. Independent workers now make up a massive share of the U.S. workforce, with more than 60 million Americans freelancing today—nearly two in five workers—up from roughly one in three pre-pandemic.¹ The “future of work” SXSW celebrates isn’t something on the horizon. It’s already here. And yet, the conditions under which many of these workers operate remain anything but forward-looking. And the stakes are not abstract. According to a recent Freelancers Union survey, 82% of freelancers say healthcare access influences how they vote—a powerful signal that economic insecurity in this sector is shaping political behavior in real time. With the world’s eyes on Texas during a pivotal election year, Congressman Greg Casar figured prominently at this year’s festival. Speaking at Axios House, he made a clear case that Democrats must prove they are delivering for working people —especially Latino workers — are driving much of the country’s economic growth. But at SXSW, that question isn’t abstract. It’s embodied by the freelancers powering the festival itself—workers whose economic realities too often fall outside the protections policymakers claim to champion. We cannot continue to celebrate the future of work on stage while ignoring the conditions of the people doing that work behind the scenes. In New York, we passed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, guaranteeing freelancers the right to a written contract and timely payment. It’s simple: if you do the work, you should get paid—on time and in full. It works. But step outside New York, including to places like Texas where SXSW takes place, and those protections disappear. That gap matters—not just for freelancers, but for the future SXSW claims to represent, and a future we are not waiting for. Millions of Americans are already building careers as independent workers across the industries that power our cultural and economic life. The question isn’t whether freelance work will grow. It’s whether we will build an economy that respects it. Festivals like SXSW have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to lead. That means more than putting creators on stage. It means committing to fair standards behind the scenes: contracts, timely payment, and basic protections for the people who make the entire ecosystem possible. fIt also means policymakers must catch up. States across the country should adopt and expand laws like Freelance Isn’t Free so that a worker’s rights don’t end at a city or state line. If SXSW is where the future comes into focus, it should also be where we decide what kind of future we’re building—one where creativity is celebrated and protected, and where the workers behind the scenes are finally recognized as essential to the story. Congressman Greg Casar speaking at Axios House1 Upwork Research Institute, Freelance Forward 2023: The Growing Freelance Workforce in the United States, 2023, https://www.upwork.com/research/freelance-forward-2023-research-report; see also Gig Economy Data Hub (Rockefeller Institute of Government), “Freelance Forward Data Sources,” https://gigeconomydata.org/research/data-sources/freelance-forward.html. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple products are notoriously expensive. Whether you're an Apple fan or an Apple hater, we can all agree: These things aren't cheap. That's why shopping holidays, like Amazon's Big Spring Sale, can be a great time to save on typically pricey devices. While this Spring Sale doesn't have deals on most of Apple's latest iPhones or Apple Watches, there are some great discounts on previous-gen devices—as well as one sale on a brand-new iPad. iPad A16 (256GB) $359.10 at Amazon $499.00 Save $139.90 Get Deal Get Deal $359.10 at Amazon $499.00 Save $139.90 Apple Watch Ultra 2 $399.49 at Amazon $450.00 Save $50.51 Get Deal Get Deal $399.49 at Amazon $450.00 Save $50.51 Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS + Cellular) $499.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $300.00 Get Deal Get Deal $499.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $300.00 iPhone 13 (Renewed Premium) $296.05 at Amazon $346.88 Save $50.83 Get Deal Get Deal $296.05 at Amazon $346.88 Save $50.83 iPhone 14 (Renewed Premium) $358.26 at Amazon $383.34 Save $25.08 Get Deal Get Deal $358.26 at Amazon $383.34 Save $25.08 AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (Renewed Premium) $118.15 at Amazon $149.00 Save $30.85 Get Deal Get Deal $118.15 at Amazon $149.00 Save $30.85 SEE 3 MORE iPad A16 dealApple sells a lot of different iPads, some with fancy features and inflated price tags. But most of us really just need Apple's basic slab of glass, which Apple plainly calls "iPad." To be more specific, many call this the iPad A16, as that's the chipset this tablet comes with. It's no M-series SoC, of course, but the A16 has no trouble running iPadOS 26, and I imagine it won't have issues running the latest updates for years to come. This particular iPad only has 128GB of storage, which isn't much for a tablet in 2026. That said, if you can practice some storage management, and keep your iPad use to streaming and cloud storage for the most part, you can snag a cellular iPad for just $359.10. You can pay for a network plan if you want to, giving you the opportunity to use your iPad anywhere you can get cell service. Apple Watch Ultra 2 dealThe Apple Watch Ultra line is designed for extreme use cases, like intense hiking, diving, or swimming. But its features can also be good for casual athletes, or anyone who wants the biggest watch display Apple makes. While Apple's Ultra 3 is $799, you can save a lot of money by buying the previous generation model—especially with this Amazon sale. Right now, Amazon is selling the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $399.49. That's a great deal. While you don't get the Ultra 3's S10 chip or 5G connectivity, the Ultra 2 comes with most of the same fitness features, including a depth gauge to 40m and a siren. It also comes with cellular capabilities baked in—you'd have to spend an extra $100 to get the cellular version of the Apple Watch Series 11. Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS + Cellular) dealThe Apple Watch Series 10, like the Ultra 2, is the last-gen Apple Watch model. And like the Ultra 2, it's perfectly usable today. In fact, it might be a better value than the Series 11, as it offers a similar suite of features for a discounted price. The real advantage with this model right now, however, is you can score Apple's "premium" Titanium material at a huge discount. Usually, the Titanium Apple Watch starts at $799 for the 46mm option. But during Amazon's Big Spring Sale, you can pick one up for $499. My Apple Watch Series 6 is still going strong, but if it were showing even the slightest sign of failure, I'd be retiring it in favor of this watch in a heartbeat. iPhone 13 (Renewed Premium) dealIf you need a new iPhone, you don't have to go through Apple, or even your carrier. Instead, you can opt for an unlocked, refurbished iPhone, for a fraction of the cost of a brand new unit. In this case, the iPhone 13 might just be a great value: Amazon has Big Spring Deals on the 256GB variant, and prices vary by color. Right now, the cheapest option is the red version, a color Apple doesn't offer anymore on new iPhones, for $296.05. This isn't a brand new iPhone with all the latest bells and whistles, of course, but it's a solid device—even in 2026. It has Apple's A15 Bionic chip, the company's standard 6.1-inch OLED display, two 12MP camera (one wide, one ultra-wide), and full compatibility with the latest version of iOS. Amazon says its Renewed Premium products do not have scratches on the display, nor any cosmetic damage you can see from 12 inches way, and battery life that is great than 90% of the capacity of the product when it was new. iPhone 14 (Renewed Premium) dealAmazon also has a Big Spring Deal on the iPhone 14, if you're willing to pay slightly more for a slightly newer iPhone. That said, the iPhone 14 also uses Apple's A15 Bionic chip, though it has one extra GPU core than the iPhone 13. (You might notice a slight advantage in graphics-intensive apps and games.) The iPhone 14's camera is a bit better, but doesn't break any ground, and it supports Bluetooth 5.3 while the iPhone 13 supports Bluetooth 5. In fact, the only other major difference here is the iPhone 14's lack of physical SIM slot. If you need SIM card support, stick with the iPhone 13. AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (Renewed Premium) dealApple's AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also get a decent discount during the Big Spring Sale—if you're okay buying a pair of Renewed Premium earbuds. Right now, the earbuds are 21% off, meaning you can get a pair of noise cancelling AirPods for just $118.15. That comes with modern AirPods features, like Transparency Mode, Adaptive Audio (which adjusts the volume based on your environment), and Conversation Awareness (which automatically lowers the volume when it detects you're speaking). The only hitch here is that these AirPods are not "brand new." Again, these are Renewed Premium, which Amazon asserts have high standards for a refurbished product. That's all well and good for iPhones, but AirPods are another story, since no one wants someone's previously worn earbuds. My hope is that in this case, these are "open box" items, in which someone returned unused AirPods after breaking the seal on the packaging. But as it's impossible to know for sure, it's the risk you take to buy AirPods at a 21% discount. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $202.00 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

If you could earn thousands of dollars more a year just by having a two-minute conversation, would you do it? That might sound like an easy “yes,” but for a lot of people, the answer, surprisingly, is no. At Slate today, I wrote about people who literally never negotiate their salary when they’re offered a job or haven’t had a raise in a long time. Instead, they accept the first number an employer offers, because they’re worried that they’ll look greedy or mercenary — even though the whole reason we work is for pay! You can read it here. The post there’s only one way to get more money at work, and some people won’t do it appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Google says a new compression algorithm, called TurboQuant, can compress and search massive AI data sets with near-zero indexing time, potentially removing one of the biggest speed limits in modern search systems. What it is. TurboQuant is a way to shrink and organize the data that powers AI and search without losing accuracy. It reduces memory use while keeping results precise and cuts the time to build searchable AI indexes to “virtually zero,” according to the research paper. How it works. Modern search converts content into vectors (lists of numbers that represent meaning). Similar ideas sit close together in this numeric space, and search finds the closest matches. However, these vectors are large and expensive to store and search. TurboQuant addresses this by using much smaller data that behaves almost exactly like the original, through: Smart compression. It rotates the data mathematically to compress it cleanly, like organizing messy items into neat boxes. Error correction. It adds a 1-bit signal to fix small compression errors and preserve accuracy. What it means. Vector search — the system behind semantic search and AI answers — has been slow and expensive at scale. TurboQuant makes it faster and cheaper. Google says it enables faster similarity search, lower memory costs, and real-time processing of massive datasets. Why we care. Google can evaluate far more documents per query, not just a small subset. If/when Google adopts this in Search, AI Overviews could pull from a broader, more precise set of sources, making it easier to generate instant summaries from large data pools. More about TurboQuant: Google: TurboQuant: Redefining AI efficiency with extreme compression Research paper (arXiv): TurboQuant: Online Vector Quantization with Near-optimal Distortion Rate Marie Haynes: TurboQuant has the potential to fundamentally change how Search (and AI) works View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon's Big Spring Sale is nearing its end, but there's still time to take advantage of solid deals for all your fitness needs—here are all the best fitness deals under $100 that are still available. Deals on strength training equipmentIt seems like the heavier you want to lift, the more expensive it's going to get. In the meantime, there are great deals on starter dumbbells, storage solutions, and more: UNNMIIY 5 in 1 adjustable dumbbells, $79.98, down from $109.99 PLKOW storage and weight rack, $79.98, down from $129.99 NICEPEOPLE adjustable weight bench, $64.59, down from $75.99 Resistance bands, $24.98, down from $37.99 If you're willing to go slightly above your $100 budget, I recommend opting for these Lifepro adjustable dumbbells, currently on sale for $150.09, down from $189.99. UNNMIIY Adjustable Dumbbells, 20/30/45/70/90lbs Free Weight Set with Connector,5 in1 Dumbbells Set Used as Barbell, Kettlebells, Push up Stand, Fitness Exercises for Home Gym Suitable Men/Women $79.98 at Amazon $109.99 Save $30.01 Get Deal Get Deal $79.98 at Amazon $109.99 Save $30.01 Deals on fitness trackersThe Fitbit Inspire 3 is on sale for $69.95, down from $99.95. If you want a simple, minimalist fitness tracker, this is a great way to grab one on the cheap. The Inspire 3 is, in many ways, a pared-down Charge 6, and I simply have to mention that the Fitbit Charge 6 is currently $119.95, down from $159.95. If you're stuck deciding between these two budget options, I recommend reading my colleague Beth Skwarecki's review of the Charge 6 here. For a reliable chest strap, the Polar H10—widely regarded as the best heart rate monitor out there—is on sale for $76.99, down from $104.99. Fitbit Inspire 3 $69.95 at Walmart $89.95 Save $20.00 Get Deal Get Deal $69.95 at Walmart $89.95 Save $20.00 Deals on muscle recovery and stretching equipmentIf you're looking for a travel-sized massage gun, the Bob and Brad Q2 Ultra Mini Massage Gun is on sale for $78.82, down from $99.99. For me, the real selling point of this massage gun—which I reviewed in-depth here—is how great the heat therapy feels. Plus, its compact size makes it perfect for travel or bringing to the gym—something I never considered with my full-sized TheraGun Therabody. Some more deals in this realm: 5 in 1 Foam Roller Set, $32.99, down from $39.95 1-Inch Thick Yoga Mat, $29.99, down from $36.99 TriggerPoint Grid 1.0 Foam Roller, $27.99, was $39.99 Bob and Brad Q2 Ultra Mini Massage Gun $78.82 at Amazon $99.99 Save $21.17 Get Deal Get Deal $78.82 at Amazon $99.99 Save $21.17 Deals on headphones and earbudsThe original Shokz OpenRun are available for $89.94, down from a list price of $129.95. They might not have as powerful bass or as long a battery life compared to my favorites, the OpenRun Pro 2 (also on sale right now, for $139.95), but they're still a top choice of open-ear bone conduction headphones. If you're eyeing Sony noise-cancelling headphones that won't put you out hundreds of dollars, the Sony WH-CH720N are available for $94 (originally $179.99) on Amazon right now. For more great deals on home gym equipment (even though, fair warning, many of them exceed this post's $100 benchmark), check out my round-up here. Shokz OpenRun $89.94 at Amazon $129.95 Save $40.01 Get Deal Get Deal $89.94 at Amazon $129.95 Save $40.01 Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $202.00 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Measure brand awareness online by tracking brand mentions, monitoring AI search visibility, and more. View the full article

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You can’t afford to take them for granted. By Ed Mendlowitz Tax Season Opportunity Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Edward Mendlowitz. View the full article

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A pair of landmark court cases found Meta and YouTube guilty last week of harming young users by designing algorithms that were addictive and led to mental health distress. The damages assessed against the companies amounted to a fraction of a percent of their annual earnings. The long-term implications, however, could be far more significant. The rulings found that programmed algorithms are not protected by Section 230, the federal law that shields social media companies from liability for user-posted content. That represents a crack in a legal defense these companies have relied on for years. And thousands of similar cases are already pending. Section 230 has been under scrutiny for some time. Lawmakers have repeatedly called for its repeal, though efforts so far have failed to gain traction. Many in Congress appear to view the threat of repeal as leverage, hoping it will push tech companies to negotiate changes that reflect how the internet has evolved since the law was passed. “Section 230 was created during the early advent of the internet, when lawmakers were trying to give emerging online companies room to innovate and experiment with technologies the public and policymakers barely understood,” says J.B. Branch, AI Governance and Technology Policy Counsel at Public Citizen. “It was never intended to operate as a permanent legal shield for some of the most powerful corporations in the world.” Reframing the argument Has Section 230 lost its protective power? Not yet. The core premise of the law still holds: companies are not liable for user-generated content. What has changed is how plaintiffs can work around that protection. The new cases focus less on what users post and more on how platforms are designed. In other words, product design may be the greater legal vulnerability. “CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Evan Spiegel have to rethink how they design products that kids use because they can no longer hide fully behind Section 230,” says Sarah Gardner, CEO of Heat Initiative, an organization focused on online safety for children. That shift assumes the rulings survive appeals. Meta and YouTube are expected to challenge the decisions, likely setting up a years-long legal battle that could ultimately reach the Supreme Court. Even so, the broader debate has already begun. Forced accountability The implications are significant, particularly when it comes to younger users. The rulings push companies toward a level of accountability that, in some ways, mirrors the trajectory of the adult entertainment industry. It’s an imperfect comparison, but there are parallels, says Ramnath Chellappa, a professor at Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. Adult sites have increasingly been required to verify users’ ages. Similar mechanisms could emerge for social media. “The mechanism for monitoring … to ensure that a minor is a minor and so on is already a very complex topic,” he says. “What does that involve? Does that involve a third party, or does one need to share their driver’s license information?” Lexi Hazam of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, co-lead of the Social Media MDL, agrees the rulings could force major operational changes, though she stops short of drawing a direct comparison. “The implications are significant and show these tech giants that no company is above accountability when it comes to our children,” she says. “The companies will have to reassess how they design and operate their platforms moving forward … potentially requiring the companies make real changes, including safer platform design, effective age verification, and parental controls that actually work to protect young users.” Not everyone sees weakening Section 230 as beneficial. Critics argue the current debate overemphasizes harms while overlooking benefits. “Public debate about social media and youth mental health focuses almost exclusively on potential harms,” wrote the International Center for Law & Economics’ Ben Sperry and Sabrina Pekarovic in a recent essay, arguing that this emphasis downplays the ways platforms can enable self-expression and connect teens to broader communities. They add that treating all teenagers as equally vulnerable oversimplifies the issue and isn’t supported by the evidence. “Blanket bans assume that all teenagers face similar risks and should be treated alike,” they wrote. “The evidence suggests otherwise.” A Big Tobacco moment Some observers have compared the rulings to a “Big Tobacco” moment for social media, a long-awaited reckoning that could lead to sweeping regulation. That could include changes to Section 230 or a broader overhaul of how platforms operate. Either outcome would carry major financial consequences for companies that have long been dominant players on Wall Street. The potential impact on investors is substantial. One report from the Computer and Communications Industry Association estimates that repealing Section 230 could cost investors $2.2 trillion and lead to roughly 1.1 million lawsuits per year against digital service companies. Some analysts believe the direction is already clear. “The consequences for social networks will be devastating,” says Igor Pejic, a tech investing strategist and author of Tech Money. “Regulation will escalate as it did with the tobacco industry and one day we might see things like required ID authentication. This regulatory trend will not kill social media, but I believe that in a couple of years they will at least lose their status as a Big Tech company.” View the full article

Personalized customer experiences are transforming how businesses connect with consumers. Companies leverage data to offer customized product recommendations based on your purchase history, enhancing convenience and satisfaction. From retargeting campaigns that re-engage previous visitors to proactive live chat support, these strategies are designed to meet individual needs. Comprehending these approaches can help you appreciate how personalization shapes your interactions with brands. What other methods are companies using to create these customized experiences? Key Takeaways Amazon uses personalized recommendations, suggesting complementary items based on user behavior to enhance the shopping experience and increase sales. Netflix tailors content suggestions based on viewing history, ensuring users discover shows and movies aligned with their preferences. Spotify creates customized playlists and music recommendations, enhancing user engagement through tailored listening experiences. Geofencing technology enables retailers to send location-triggered offers, driving foot traffic with relevant promotions when customers are nearby. Personalized email campaigns achieve higher open rates by segmenting audiences and delivering relevant content, increasing customer engagement significantly. Personalized Product Recommendations Based on Purchase History As you navigate your favorite e-commerce platforms, you may notice that customized product recommendations based on your purchase history play a considerable role in shaping your shopping experience. These recommendations, like Amazon’s “Customers who bought this item likewise bought,” effectively increase your average order value by suggesting items that complement what you’ve already purchased. By utilizing algorithms that analyze user behavior, platforms customize suggestions to your preferences, enhancing your overall satisfaction. Research indicates that 82% of consumers are more likely to buy when brands offer personalized recommendations. Retailers like Netflix and Spotify likewise provide personalized experiences by recommending content based on your viewing or listening history. These personalized marketing examples lead to deeper engagement and improved retention. Implementing such strategies can considerably boost revenue, with brands reporting up to a 20% increase in sales. Retargeting Campaigns for Previous Visitors Retargeting campaigns play a crucial role in re-engaging customers who’ve shown interest in a brand but haven’t completed a purchase. By utilizing customer data, these campaigns display personalized ads across various platforms, markedly boosting conversion rates. Here are some effective strategies for your personalized marketing campaigns: Showcase dynamic ads that highlight products viewed or added to the cart. Use Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to identify retargeting opportunities based on historical interactions. Implement follow-up ads to reduce cart abandonment, potentially recovering up to 30% of abandoned carts. Leverage examples of personalized marketing campaigns that have effectively driven re-engagement. With a 70% higher likelihood of conversion compared to standard ads, retargeting serves as a strong tool. Tailored Drip Email Campaigns When you implement customized drip email campaigns, you can effectively engage your audience at various stages of their customer experience. By segmenting recipients based on their progression, you guarantee each group receives relevant messaging. For instance, customers in the consideration stage may get product reminders, whereas those in the retention stage can receive loyalty rewards. Research shows that personalized email campaigns achieve open rates 26% higher than non-personalized ones, boosting engagement and conversions considerably. Automated drip campaigns can trigger based on specific actions, such as cart abandonment or newsletter sign-ups, allowing you to deliver timely, contextually relevant content. A/B testing different email formats and content improves these personalization efforts. Studies indicate that businesses employing A/B testing see click-through rates increase by over 20%. With 82% of consumers desiring more personalized communications from brands, customized drip email campaigns are vital for meeting customer expectations and improving overall satisfaction. Proactive Live Chat and In-App Messaging Proactive live chat and in-app messaging create improved engagement opportunities by responding to user behavior in real time. When you spend extra time on a product page, for instance, you might receive a prompt offering assistance, which can lead to fewer abandoned carts. This immediate support not just addresses your questions but likewise greatly improves your overall experience with the brand. Enhanced Engagement Opportunities Improved engagement opportunities, such as live chat and in-app messaging, can greatly improve the way businesses interact with customers. Proactive communication guarantees that users receive support exactly when they need it, enhancing their experience. Here are some key benefits: Behavior-Based Assistance: Offers help based on user actions, like time spent on product pages. Timely Support: Predefined rules can trigger chat pop-ups during critical moments in the customer experience. Higher Satisfaction: Studies indicate a 73% increase in customer satisfaction because of immediate assistance. Increased Retention: Personalized messaging strategies can lead to a 20% boost in customer retention. Behavior-Based Triggers Behavior-based triggers play a crucial role in enhancing customer interactions through proactive live chat and in-app messaging. By monitoring specific behaviors, like time spent on a product page or hesitating at checkout, businesses can offer timely assistance that greatly boosts customer satisfaction. Studies show that implementing these triggers can lead to a 20% increase in satisfaction. For instance, automated chat pop-ups can engage customers who linger on checkout pages, effectively addressing potential cart abandonment. Furthermore, in-app messaging can be customized based on previous interactions or purchase history, making the information more relevant. This strategic use of behavior-based triggers can result in a remarkable 30% increase in conversion rates, as customers feel more supported during their shopping experience. Real-Time Assistance As you navigate online shopping or use apps, having immediate access to assistance can greatly elevate your experience. Real-time assistance through proactive live chat and in-app messaging can boost engagement and customer service. Here’s how it benefits you: Higher Satisfaction: Companies using live chat report a 73% satisfaction rate, outperforming traditional support. Increased Retention: In-app messaging can enhance user retention by 20% by offering timely support. Reduced Cart Abandonment: Proactive chat strategies can cut cart abandonment rates by 30%, addressing concerns instantly. Improved Conversion Rates: Real-time chat can increase conversion rates by 45% through personalized interactions. These tools provide relevant information and support at critical moments, ensuring you have the help you need when it matters most. A/B Testing for Audience Engagement A/B testing serves as a potent tool for enhancing audience engagement by allowing marketers to compare two distinct versions of a landing page or marketing asset. By creating variations, you can analyze which design, messaging, or call to action resonates better with specific audience segments. This process not only reveals consumer preferences but also helps optimize your engagement strategies. For instance, companies that rigorously implement A/B testing often experience conversion rate increases of 20% or more. Utilizing historical customer data during these tests guarantees that the variations align with the preferences and behaviors of your targeted segments, thereby enhancing the relevance of your findings. The insights gained from A/B testing can inform broader marketing strategies, allowing you to roll out successful elements to larger audiences. This continual refinement guarantees that your marketing efforts achieve maximum impact, leading to improved customer experiences and higher engagement rates. Customized Calls to Action for Different Journey Stages When crafting effective marketing strategies, comprehension of the different stages of the customer path is crucial for developing customized calls to action (CTAs) that resonate with your audience. Tailoring CTAs to each stage improves engagement and drives conversions. Here are some examples for each progression stage: Awareness Stage: Offer free resources like e-books or introductory discounts to entice potential customers. Consideration Stage: Promote limited-time offers or product demos, appealing to those evaluating their options. Purchase Stage: Use urgent CTAs, such as “Complete Your Purchase Now,” to minimize cart abandonment and encourage immediate sales. Retention Stage: Invite customers to join loyalty programs or receive personalized recommendations, nurturing ongoing engagement and repeat purchases. Geolocation-Based Messaging for Relevant Offers Geolocation-based messaging allows you to receive real-time notifications about offers and discounts when you’re near a store or event. By utilizing location-triggered discounts, retailers can improve your shopping experience, ensuring that the promotions you see are relevant to where you are. This approach not just boosts customer engagement but additionally increases the likelihood of making a purchase, as you’re informed about deals that align with your immediate surroundings. Real-Time Notifications How can brands improve their connection with customers in real-time? By utilizing geolocation-based messaging to send timely notifications when customers are near a store. This approach boosts the relevance of promotions and can greatly increase engagement. Here’s how it works: Geofencing technology triggers alerts for nearby sales or events. Timely notifications guarantee customers receive offers that matter to them. Increased foot traffic often results from engaging location-based messages. Higher conversion rates can occur, with personalized offers leading to a 20% increase. Location-Triggered Discounts Location-triggered discounts represent a potent tool for brands aiming to engage customers in real-time as well as enhancing their shopping experience. By utilizing geolocation technology, retailers can send targeted offers when you’re near their store, making discounts more relevant. Implementing geofencing allows businesses to automatically notify you about nearby sales, driving foot traffic by alerting you to promotions based on your previous purchases. Studies show that personalized offers can greatly boost conversion rates since you’re more likely to redeem discounts when close to the store. Additionally, Nike using geolocation-based messaging can encourage loyalty by delivering timely, personalized experiences that align with your immediate needs. Automation tools streamline this process, allowing for dynamic, relevant offers without manual effort. Frequently Asked Questions What Is an Example of Personalized Customer Experience? A personalized customer experience tailors interactions to meet individual preferences and needs. For instance, when you use a streaming service like Netflix, it analyzes your viewing history and suggests shows or movies that align with your tastes. This not only improves your enjoyment but additionally keeps you engaged with the platform. Such customization cultivates a sense of connection, making the experience more relevant and satisfying for you as a user. What Are the Five 5 Ps of Amazing Customer Experience? The five Ps of amazing customer experience are personalization, proactivity, precision, performance, and passion. Personalization tailors services to individual preferences, whereas proactivity anticipates needs before customers express them. Precision guarantees you deliver accurate information at the right time, enhancing engagement. Performance focuses on continuously improving customer interactions, driving growth. Ultimately, passion nurtures genuine connections, turning satisfied customers into advocates. Together, these elements create a thorough strategy for exceptional customer experiences. What Is Outstanding Customer Experience? Outstanding customer experience (CX) refers to how customers perceive their interactions with a brand throughout their expedition. It encompasses every touchpoint, from initial research to post-purchase support. You’ll find that a seamless experience during the discovery phase is essential, as many consumers prioritize customer service in their purchase decisions. Proactive engagement, quick access to support, and personalized interactions are key elements that improve loyalty and satisfaction, finally nurturing a positive brand perception. What Are Three Things That You Have Done to Give Your Customers a Personalised Experience? To provide customized experiences for your customers, you can segment them based on their progression stages, enhancing messaging relevance. Implementing bespoke product recommendations during checkout can increase supplementary purchases considerably. Moreover, using geolocation technology to send targeted notifications about nearby promotions can drive foot traffic. Finally, conducting A/B testing on landing pages guarantees that you find the most effective messaging for specific audience segments, improving engagement and conversion rates. Conclusion In summary, customized customer experiences are vital for businesses aiming to improve engagement and satisfaction. By utilizing strategies like personalized recommendations, targeted retargeting campaigns, and proactive communication, companies can effectively meet individual customer needs. Implementing A/B testing and geolocation-based messaging further refines these approaches, ensuring relevance at every stage of the customer experience. As demonstrated by successful brands, a focus on personalization not just promotes loyalty but additionally drives sales, making it a key component of modern marketing strategies. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "7 Outstanding Examples of Personalized Customer Experiences" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A business owned by one person is known as a sole proprietorship. This structure allows you to have complete control over your operations and profits, but it likewise means you’re personally liable for any debts the business incurs. For example, if your business faces financial difficulties, your personal assets could be at risk. Comprehending the advantages and disadvantages of this model is vital for anyone considering this path, as it can greatly impact your financial future. Key Takeaways A business owned by one person is called a sole proprietorship, the simplest business structure available. It requires minimal registration and allows the owner full control over business decisions. Profits are reported as personal income, simplifying tax reporting for the owner. Owners face unlimited liability, risking personal assets to cover business debts. Sole proprietorships are common, with over 25 million existing in the United States. Definition and Structure of Sole Proprietorship A sole proprietorship is the simplest business structure, owned and operated by a single individual. This form of business allows you to start operating with minimal registration and formalities, making it an appealing option for many. You’ll enjoy all profits generated, which are reported as personal income on your tax returns. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that as a sole proprietor, you face unlimited liability; your personal assets can be at risk if the business incurs debts. Whereas the main advantage that corporations have is limited liability, a sole proprietorship offers ease of management and control, appealing to those who prefer a direct connection to their business. In the United States, over 25 million sole proprietorships reflect this popularity. Advantages of Sole Proprietorship When you choose a sole proprietorship, you gain full control over your business decisions, allowing you to adapt quickly to changes without needing anyone else’s approval. This structure likewise simplifies tax reporting, as you can report your business income directly on your personal tax return, making the process much more straightforward. With fewer obligations and administrative tasks, you can focus on growing your business effectively. Full Control of Business Owning a sole proprietorship offers you full control over your business decisions, allowing you to operate without the need for consensus from partners or shareholders. As the sole owner, you directly receive all profits, which can greatly boost your financial motivation. Managing a sole proprietorship is simpler, with fewer regulatory requirements, letting you focus on running your business rather than steering compliance issues. You can quickly adapt your strategies or offerings in response to market changes without waiting for formal approvals. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to set your own work hours and business practices, promoting a personalized approach that aligns with your vision. This autonomy allows you to create a business environment that best suits your goals and lifestyle. Simple Tax Reporting Sole proprietorships simplify tax reporting by allowing you to report your business income and expenses directly on your personal tax return using Schedule C of Form 1040. This means you don’t need separate federal tax forms for your business, which reduces complexity and saves time during tax season. If your business incurs losses, those can offset your personal income, potentially lowering your overall tax burden. Furthermore, as a sole proprietor, you’re not subject to corporate taxes, so your profits are only taxed once at your individual rate. This streamlined reporting makes sole proprietorships an appealing choice for individuals starting small businesses, especially if your revenue is lower and you want to minimize tax preparation hassle. Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship Operating a business as a sole proprietorship comes with several considerable disadvantages that can impact your financial security and long-term viability. Here are some key challenges you might face: You face unlimited personal liability; your assets can be pursued to settle business debts. Raising capital is often harder since you can’t issue shares and lenders may view you as a higher risk. The business’s existence is tied to your life, complicating succession planning and ceasing upon your death or disability. You won’t qualify for unemployment benefits if your business fails, leaving you without a financial safety net. The value of your business drops considerably when you’re no longer operating, making it difficult to sell or transfer ownership. Employment Obligations for Sole Proprietors When running a business as a sole proprietor, comprehension of your employment obligations is vital, especially if you’re planning to hire employees or independent contractors. You must adhere to employment laws, ensuring timely wage payments and maintaining a safe workplace. If you hire employees, you’re responsible for contributing to their Provident Fund and Social Security, which guarantees they receive necessary benefits. Accurate business records, including payroll details, are significant for tax reporting and compliance with labor laws. Furthermore, you need to obtain a taxpayer identification number for hiring and reporting purposes. Don’t forget to file tax returns that report employee wages and withholdings, and register for VAT if your revenue exceeds specific thresholds, ensuring your business remains compliant. Rules for Sole Proprietorships in Various Countries When running a sole proprietorship, it’s vital to understand the rules that vary from country to country. For instance, in the Netherlands, you’ll need to register with the Chamber of Commerce and get a VAT ID, whereas in Ireland, a business name registration is necessary except you use your actual surname. These requirements, along with tax compliance obligations and legal liability considerations, play an important role in how you manage your business effectively. Country-Specific Registration Requirements How do the registration requirements for sole proprietorships vary across different countries? Each nation has distinct rules that you’ll need to follow to operate legally. Here are some examples: In the Netherlands, you must register with the Chamber of Commerce and obtain a VAT ID. In Ireland, if you don’t use your true surname, you’ll need to register your business name officially. Malaysia requires you to register your sole proprietorship within 30 days of starting your business, following various legal regulations. In New Zealand, notifying the Inland Revenue and registering for GST is important if your income exceeds $60,000. In the United Kingdom, registration with HM Revenue and Customs is crucial for tax compliance. Legal Liability Considerations Comprehending the legal liability considerations for sole proprietorships is crucial, as these vary considerably across different countries. In the Netherlands, you must register with the Chamber of Commerce and obtain a VAT ID to operate legally. In Ireland, if you don’t use your true surname, you need to register your business name. Meanwhile, Malaysia requires you to register within 30 days of starting your business under various governing laws. In New Zealand, if your income exceeds $60,000, you must notify the Inland Revenue and register for GST. Finally, in the United Kingdom, registering with HM Revenue and Customs for tax purposes is mandatory, and you often need to comply with local authority regulations. Tax Compliance Obligations Comprehending tax compliance obligations is essential for sole proprietors, as these requirements differ considerably from one country to another. Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know in various locations: Netherlands Chamber of Commerce: Register with the Chamber of Commerce and obtain a VAT ID if your revenue exceeds certain thresholds. Ireland’s Companies Registration Office: Mandatory business name registration if you don’t operate under your true surname. Malaysia: Register your business within 30 days of starting and comply with local business laws. New Zealand: Notify the Inland Revenue and register for Goods and Services Tax (GST) if your income exceeds $60,000. United Kingdom: Register with HM Revenue and Customs and maintain accurate financial records for tax purposes. Staying informed helps guarantee compliance and avoid penalties. Financing Options for Sole Proprietorships When you’re running a sole proprietorship, securing financing can be particularly challenging, especially since lenders often perceive these businesses as riskier than limited liability companies (LLCs) or corporations. A strong personal credit history is vital for you to obtain loans, so maintaining a good credit score is important. You can explore various funding options, including personal loans, small business grants, and microloans from community organizations or non-profits. The SBA’s 7(a) loan program is likewise a valuable resource, offering guaranteed loans that can help you access capital for different business needs. Moreover, you might consider establishing a business line of credit, using personal assets as collateral, but be aware that this increases your personal financial risk. Insurance Considerations for Sole Proprietors Comprehending the importance of insurance is crucial for sole proprietors, as it helps safeguard your business from unexpected risks and liabilities. Here are some types of insurance you should consider: General liability insurance: Protects against lawsuits from accidents or injuries on your business premises. Commercial property insurance: Covers damages to your business assets, including equipment and inventory. Business interruption insurance: Helps recover lost income when operations are halted owing to unforeseen events. Workers’ compensation insurance: Required if you hire employees, covering medical expenses for work-related injuries. Commercial auto insurance: Vital if you use a company vehicle, protecting against accidents and liability from business-related driving. Investing in the right coverage can guarantee your business’s stability and longevity. Comparing Sole Proprietorships With Other Business Structures Sole proprietorships stand out for their simplicity and ease of establishment, yet they similarly have distinct differences compared to other business structures like limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations. For instance, whereas over 25 million sole proprietorships exist in the U.S., they lack personal liability protection, putting your personal assets at risk. Setting up a sole proprietorship is typically cheaper and requires less paperwork than forming an LLC or corporation, which involve more formal registration. Taxation also differs; income from a sole proprietorship is reported on your personal tax return, unlike LLCs, which can choose their tax structure. Furthermore, sole proprietorships limit your ability to raise capital since you can’t sell shares or attract outside investors as corporations can. Frequently Asked Questions What Is a Business Owned by One Person Called? A business owned by one person is called a sole proprietorship. This structure allows you to operate independently under your name or a fictitious name without formal registration. You have complete control, but as well unlimited liability, meaning your personal assets could be at risk if the business incurs debts. Sole proprietorships are popular, especially among small business owners, owing to their simplicity, ease of setup, and minimal regulatory requirements, in spite of challenges in raising capital. What Is a Business With Only One Person Called? A business with only one person is called a sole proprietorship. This structure allows you to operate independently without formal registration requirements, making it straightforward to start. As a sole proprietor, you’re responsible for all business debts and liabilities, which means your personal assets are at risk. You report income and expenses on your personal tax return, particularly on Schedule C of Form 1040, allowing for a simplified tax process. Can an LLC Be Owned by Only One Person? Yes, an LLC can be owned by just one person, known as a single-member LLC. This structure provides you with limited liability protection, meaning your personal assets are usually safe from business debts. Furthermore, you benefit from pass-through taxation, as profits and losses are reported on your personal tax return. To establish a single-member LLC, you need to file formation documents with your state and may require specific business licenses and permits. Is It Better to Be an LLC or a Sole Proprietor? Choosing between an LLC and a sole proprietorship depends on your business needs. An LLC offers limited liability protection, safeguarding your personal assets from business debts, whereas a sole proprietorship exposes you to unlimited personal liability. If you seek flexibility in taxation and easier access to funding, an LLC may be preferable. On the other hand, if you want a straightforward setup with less paperwork, a sole proprietorship could be a better fit for your simpler business operations. Conclusion In summary, a sole proprietorship offers a simple and flexible business structure for individuals seeking to run their own enterprises. As you enjoy complete control and direct profit from your business, it’s important to recognize the risks of unlimited personal liability. Comprehending employment obligations, financing options, and insurance needs is vital for success. Moreover, comparing this structure with others can help you make informed decisions about the best path for your business goals and personal circumstances. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "What Is a Business Owned by One Person?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

They say the best camera is the one you have with you. But if everyone has at least a pretty good camera in their phone, why would Gen Z (and really, everyone) be drawn to retro photography? Despite the downsides of bulky, standalone film cameras, the aesthetics and tangibility of old school photography still has a lot to offer. When we talk about “retro” photography, there’s a lot we could mean, but there’s a distinct revival trend around 80s- and 90s-style camera gear and aesthetics we want to focus on. Think Polaroid cameras and standalone point-and-shoots. And if you’re not already drawn in by the appeal of tangible photos and nostalgic vibes, allow me to make the case for why you should. What is the appeal of retro photography?There’s a tendency to think of camera technology as steadily progressing forward in a linear fashion. But for creative purposes, it’s often more helpful to think of it in terms of aesthetic eras. Every type of camera has distinct physical qualities that contribute to the appearance of the images they create. And those qualities, over time, become associated with the times and images they capture. For one very obvious example, consider film grain. As this video essay from YouTube channel Nerdwriter explores, film grain was initially just an artifact of how film cameras work. As it became possible to eliminate film grain, however, our brains started associating this grain with older cinema, or a more generic “film look.” With more control over how—and whether—film grain appears in an image, it can be used to deliberately create a chaotic energy in otherwise still footage. This same principle applies to the aesthetics of every era of camera technology. 90s point-and-shoots, for example, were characterized by harsh, unflattering lighting. They typically had poor low-light performance, so a blinding flash was sometimes the only viable source of light. Now, with better cameras and lighting equipment, that look can become a deliberate stylistic choice. Film and instant cameras also provide a tangible experience that forces more deliberate choices. You might notice a lot of your old family photos have a kind of awkward, staged vibe, and there’s a reason for that. When you only had a dozen or so chances to take a picture, you had to be more careful to make sure everyone is posed and in frame, eyes are open, etc. Now, it’s easy to take dozens of photos until you get the right one, but going back to limited use cameras can force you back into thinking ahead about the image you want. And when it comes to instant cameras, there’s nothing quite like the experience of having a physical memento immediately. Everyone has piles of photos in their camera roll that they’ll never look at again, but if someone hands you a Polaroid of you and your loved ones, there’s a solid chance it’s going on your fridge or in your scrapbook. If nothing else, there’s also something to be said for photography without all the AI nonsense that’s so unavoidable now. We have guides on how to take photos on Android or iOS without all the post processing junk. But that can only go so far. On some level, every modern smartphone is doing some kind of digital processing to create a look that’s appealing to the vast majority of users. That can result in a smoothed over, generic look that might not actually be what you want. These are the best retro photography optionsSo, okay, you’re sold on the idea of experimenting with nostalgic aesthetics. Where can you get started? The great news here is that you have well over a century of camera history to play around with. Used camera gear is going to be your friend, and you can often find great tools for relatively cheap either online or at local photography shops. In general, there are a few interesting categories of dedicated cameras to check out: Polaroid-style instant cameras. Through a convoluted process of bankruptcy, acquisitions, and relaunches, Polaroid is back, but it’s not the only game in town anymore. Fujifilm, Kodak, and Lomography all offer their own brands of instant cameras that can snap photos and immediately print them out. Classic digital point-and-shoots. Today’s point-and-shoots are geared a bit more towards professional photographers who want a high degree of control. But you can find a lot of cheap, used digital cameras from the last couple decades that still take surprisingly good photos. In many cases, the digital noise or lens artifacts that would’ve been considered flaws when these cameras were new can offer creative opportunities to get a specific nostalgic look. Ancient smartphones. The earliest smartphones from the late 2000s had some pretty atrocious cameras by modern standards. But they also lacked a lot of the AI and post-processing that’s come to dominate the landscape today. You can find cheap, used smartphones on sites like eBay for as little as $50, which can be a handy way to get some authentically aughts-era photos without having to fake it. Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 Instant Camera Mint Green and Fuji Film Value Pack (60 Sheets) Bundle with Sturdy Tiger Accessories, Carrying Case, Photo Album 64 Pockets $171.95 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $171.95 at Amazon Some camera gear—particularly when it comes to DSLR and mirrorless camera lenses and systems—can retain their value for long periods of time. But there’s a wide range of used or outdated camera gear circulating that provide distinct looks and feels. As you explore older cameras, pay attention to the unique aspects of the photos they create, and experiment with how you can use those traits to convey a different story. How to get started with retro photographyCamera and smartphone manufacturers will never let you forget about their latest and greatest hardware, but where do you go to find the best gear from a decade or two ago? The used market for photography equipment can be scattered and fractured, but here are some tips to get started with your hunt: Check out your local photography or thrift stores. Few things can be more useful to a photographer than that one shop in town that always seems to have a used lens or proprietary power adapter that you need for your camera. And sometimes, if they trade in used camera gear, you can find unique devices that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. If you establish an ongoing relationship with your local camera shop, you can even get the opportunity to try out gear you might otherwise have to buy to experiment with. Search specialty camera gear sites. You can always find used cameras on generic auction sites like eBay, but for my money, I like checking out specialty sites like Adorama and Precision Camera. These sites offer a selection of used camera gear, and sometimes receive a better selection than you find on eBay. Every once in a while, I’ll sort the used camera section by lowest price and scroll to see what kind of budget options are on offer. Join a local photography group. Camera gear is expensive, but you don’t always need to invest a ton of money just to explore different aesthetics. In many cities, groups of photography enthusiasts will get together for photo walks or just to meet up and trade tips. Making friends with other photographers is a great way to learn from others and even share experience with each other’s equipment. Even if you don’t want to invest in camera gear specifically, it can be a helpful exercise to look back through photos from past eras and observe what they have in common. Pull out your old family photo albums and compare them to the photos on your phone. Grab a movie from your childhood and examine how it looks different from the polished reboot that just dropped a couple years ago. In photography—and all art—the details matter. A difference in color saturation, noise texture, or even how an image is framed can convey a world of meaning. As you explore the aesthetics of retro photography, your grasp of contemporary visual media can grow, making you better able to express yourself through visual art. View the full article

Oracle has unveiled a significant technological advancement that promises to streamline operations for small restaurants and food services: the new Smart Assistant integrated into the Oracle Simphony Cloud Point of Sale (POS) system. This generative AI tool aims to empower restaurant teams to handle technical and operational challenges with unprecedented efficiency. For small business owners navigating the complexities of restaurant management, this innovation could be a game changer. With the Smart Assistant, restaurant staff can ask straightforward questions like, “Why isn’t the workstation printer working?” or “Why can’t I log in to Simphony?” The AI delivers immediate, actionable insights tailored to each brand’s specific guidelines, significantly enhancing the operational workflow. “The Oracle Simphony Cloud Smart Assistant is a game-changer for restaurant operators,” said Etienne Piat, vice president of service excellence and innovations at Oracle Consumer Industries. The AI tool not only reduces the workload for IT teams but also empowers staff to resolve common issues on the spot, ensuring that focus remains on providing exceptional guest service. One of the most appealing aspects for small business owners is the Smart Assistant’s ability to minimize dependency on external support. By allowing in-house staff to troubleshoot technical issues, restaurants can save both time and money. The contextual nature of the Smart Assistant means that staff can quickly access personalized support just by clicking on on-screen error messages. This feature transforms potentially stressful situations into manageable tasks, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction. Early users of the Smart Assistant are already reporting improvements in their operations. The capability to integrate brand-specific standard operating procedures ensures that guidance reflects unique business practices. This offers a consistent approach across various locations, allowing small restaurant chains or franchises to maintain compliance without added complexity. This cohesive support can significantly improve both efficiency and service quality, essential factors for businesses aiming to stand out in a competitive market. Real-world applications of the Smart Assistant are vast. With immediate access to insights, staff can troubleshoot common POS issues such as login failures or device connectivity problems, thus reducing downtime. The built-in generative AI, trained on extensive Simphony documentation, enables meaningful answers to arise in real-time. This minimizes the need for external support calls and boosts first-time resolution rates—two critical metrics for any business looking to optimize operations. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. Implementing a new technology often requires training staff to effectively utilize new tools, which can initially divert attention from daily operations. Employees will need time to adapt to this system and provide feedback to refine the accuracy of AI responses. Moreover, while self-service technology can reduce support costs, it’s vital that businesses maintain a balance between automation and human assistance. As this technology becomes more ubiquitous, small restaurants will need to weigh the benefits against the potential disruption that comes with integrating a new system. Nonetheless, the Oracle Simphony Smart Assistant’s advantages appear significant, particularly for businesses striving to maintain peak performance while prioritizing customer experience. The Smart Assistant will be broadly available to Simphony Cloud customers worldwide within the next 12 months, supporting over 100 languages. As small businesses consider their operational strategies moving forward, it’s clear that advancements like these could redefine how restaurants handle in-house technical support and operational efficiency. For more details on how the Smart Assistant could benefit your restaurant, visit Oracle’s dedicated webpage. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Oracle Launches AI-Powered Smart Assistant to Revolutionize Restaurant Support" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Oracle has unveiled a significant technological advancement that promises to streamline operations for small restaurants and food services: the new Smart Assistant integrated into the Oracle Simphony Cloud Point of Sale (POS) system. This generative AI tool aims to empower restaurant teams to handle technical and operational challenges with unprecedented efficiency. For small business owners navigating the complexities of restaurant management, this innovation could be a game changer. With the Smart Assistant, restaurant staff can ask straightforward questions like, “Why isn’t the workstation printer working?” or “Why can’t I log in to Simphony?” The AI delivers immediate, actionable insights tailored to each brand’s specific guidelines, significantly enhancing the operational workflow. “The Oracle Simphony Cloud Smart Assistant is a game-changer for restaurant operators,” said Etienne Piat, vice president of service excellence and innovations at Oracle Consumer Industries. The AI tool not only reduces the workload for IT teams but also empowers staff to resolve common issues on the spot, ensuring that focus remains on providing exceptional guest service. One of the most appealing aspects for small business owners is the Smart Assistant’s ability to minimize dependency on external support. By allowing in-house staff to troubleshoot technical issues, restaurants can save both time and money. The contextual nature of the Smart Assistant means that staff can quickly access personalized support just by clicking on on-screen error messages. This feature transforms potentially stressful situations into manageable tasks, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction. Early users of the Smart Assistant are already reporting improvements in their operations. The capability to integrate brand-specific standard operating procedures ensures that guidance reflects unique business practices. This offers a consistent approach across various locations, allowing small restaurant chains or franchises to maintain compliance without added complexity. This cohesive support can significantly improve both efficiency and service quality, essential factors for businesses aiming to stand out in a competitive market. Real-world applications of the Smart Assistant are vast. With immediate access to insights, staff can troubleshoot common POS issues such as login failures or device connectivity problems, thus reducing downtime. The built-in generative AI, trained on extensive Simphony documentation, enables meaningful answers to arise in real-time. This minimizes the need for external support calls and boosts first-time resolution rates—two critical metrics for any business looking to optimize operations. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. Implementing a new technology often requires training staff to effectively utilize new tools, which can initially divert attention from daily operations. Employees will need time to adapt to this system and provide feedback to refine the accuracy of AI responses. Moreover, while self-service technology can reduce support costs, it’s vital that businesses maintain a balance between automation and human assistance. As this technology becomes more ubiquitous, small restaurants will need to weigh the benefits against the potential disruption that comes with integrating a new system. Nonetheless, the Oracle Simphony Smart Assistant’s advantages appear significant, particularly for businesses striving to maintain peak performance while prioritizing customer experience. The Smart Assistant will be broadly available to Simphony Cloud customers worldwide within the next 12 months, supporting over 100 languages. As small businesses consider their operational strategies moving forward, it’s clear that advancements like these could redefine how restaurants handle in-house technical support and operational efficiency. For more details on how the Smart Assistant could benefit your restaurant, visit Oracle’s dedicated webpage. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Oracle Launches AI-Powered Smart Assistant to Revolutionize Restaurant Support" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

What does it take to build a career in SEO in 2026? We analyzed 3,900 job listings to uncover how the role is evolving—from experimentation and AI to shifts in salaries, responsibilities, and the growing demand for strategic thinking. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. One of my favorite ways to spend my free time is watching old movies. I love catching up on classics on my big OLED screen, and delving into the history of a medium I love. Unfortunately, it’s harder to do that with video games. While pulling up an old movie is usually as easy as finding it on streaming or renting it digitally, old video games are split across a number of different consoles, and you can’t always count on rereleases to make them accessible on modern systems. Luckily, there are still options for those who go looking for them. You can hunt down a vintage system and hook it up to your modern screen using an adapter, yes, but you can also use the power of modern devices to “emulate” these games in virtual environments, often with improvements—and if you do it right, it's all perfectly legal. What is video game emulation?Emulation is a massive rabbit hole, and can get about as deep as you want it to be. I’ve been using it for decades, and I’m still learning new things. But there are some basics you should know that will help you get started, including how it works, its legal status, the drawbacks of not playing on real hardware, and the benefits it offers beyond simple convenience. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Essentially, emulation uses the power of modern machines to brute force virtual environments that are close enough to real hardware that files designed for it think they’re running on the real deal, and will boot up like they are. Usually, this means emulators won’t come out until one or two generations after a console's official release, but there are now emulators for everything from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo Switch (which runs on older hardware than you might think). Granted, you might expect Nintendo’s not too happy about that, but the kicker is that there’s not a lot the company can do about it (aside from trying its best to scare emulator developers). A court case from way back in the day ruled that, so long as emulators don’t distribute copyrighted software, they’re allowed to write their own code that mimics official hardware all they want. That means you’ll need to provide your own games for your emulators, and in some cases BIOS (or operating system) files. To stay on the right side of the law, most emulator guides won’t tell you how to go about that, but there’s at least one method that’s totally fair game. It turns out that U.S. law allows you to make your own backup copies of games you own, so long as you don’t distribute them. With that, there are plenty of legal devices that will help you rip your game files from your own cartridges and discs, some of which I cover here. Some emulators are even so advanced that they’ll play your real discs if you simply put them in your PC’s disc drive. Still, even if everything’s above board, there are a few drawbacks to emulating rather than playing on real hardware. The biggest issue you’ll notice is with accuracy, as some games might have graphics or audio bugs. Input lag is also a common complaint, as emulators often need extra time to register your button presses, since they need to both read them and feed them through your software. Finally, some games might not even run on emulators at all, especially ones with unusual requirements. The original Xbox, for instance, is notoriously difficult to emulate. On the flip side, though, there are benefits to emulating that real hardware can’t replicate, and they mostly come from the extra power of your modern device. Emulated games can often run smoother than on real hardware, hitting higher frame rates. You’re also usually able to render your games at higher resolutions than originally intended, basically playing them in HD. And most importantly for difficult games or flexible play sessions, you can use save states, which allow you to quickly save your current place in a game to a file, and reload it on demand. This, in turn, allows you to save your game whenever, outside of whatever save system is built into it. It’s perfect if you only have a few minutes to play, or if you’re about to fight a difficult boss in a punishing retro game and don’t want to replay the whole level if you mess up (no judgment here). Because save states essentially take your emulator back in time, they can introduce instability, so it’s advised to use them in addition to more traditional saves, rather than as a full-on replacement for them. Emulators for more modern, difficult-to-run HD systems also may not support save states. Still, those are enough improvements that I often prefer playing retro games through emulation, even if I have real hardware available to me. And while some of those enhancements are available on official emulation—Nintendo Switch Online has save states, for instance—not all of them are. I haven’t even gotten into widescreen hacks, which lets you play old 3D games in a more modern aspect ratio without stretching the video, or HD texture packs yet. Benefits like these are why, if you’re willing to put in a little elbow grease, unofficial emulators are well worth trying out. What you need to start emulatingThe fans who develop emulators are crafty, and they’ve had plenty of time to refine their work, so most modern devices are able to emulate retro games to some degree. It’s become a running joke that Doom will play on just about anything, including a pregnancy test. But from a realistic point of view, there are a few things you’ll probably want on hand before you get started. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt If you’re playing on a laptop or a desktop computer hooked up to a monitor, you’ll probably want a controller. Most emulators will support mouse and keyboard controls if you truly can’t get one, but using a controller will help a lot with the old school console experience. Aside from that, though, you might be all set. I have a desktop PC that’s pushing 10 years old at this point, and it’s still able to emulate games through the PS2 and GameCube era at full speed, while upscaling them. Beyond that is when emulation tends to get a bit more demanding, but for retro games, you probably won’t need to upgrade your machine. If you want to play on a TV, though, you could have a bit more of a shopping list in store for you. In addition to a controller, you’ll also need some type of computer to emulate your games with, and while you can drag a laptop or desktop PC into your living room, it’s often not the most convenient solution. Instead, I suggest getting either a docked Steam Deck or a Raspberry Pi. The former’s a bit pricier, and has had stock issues during the RAM crisis, but it’s also compact, plenty powerful when it comes to emulation, easy to output to a TV via a dock, and can play PC games natively, too. With the right Steam Deck emulation setup, you can essentially turn it into your own homebrew Nintendo Switch, but for all your consoles. The latter, meanwhile, is far cheaper (although its price has also been inflated by the RAM crisis) and smaller, but will take a bit of knowhow to set up and can struggle when emulating systems released after the PS1. Your best bet if you choose to go this route is probably to buy a Raspberry Pi kit, as these will come with a case, cables, storage, and often a fan to get you started. You can also sometimes find these cheaper than a Raspberry Pi motherboard on its own. But again, the world is your oyster when it comes to which devices you want to emulate with. It’s possible to emulate on a streaming stick or box, too. Generally, if a device has a motherboard and can display a video signal, people will usually find a way to game on it. To wit, you should look into emulating on mobile devices, too. These days, it’s possible to both emulate on an iPhone and on Android, and there is a whole slew of handheld gaming consoles that essentially build controllers into phone hardware running Android to give you an experience similar to a DS or PSP. These can be a great way to play portably, whether using touch controls, a Bluetooth controller, or built-in controls. And if you get a USB-C dock, you can then connect these devices to the big screen to play on them when you get home. You can even get a cheap handheld that runs Linux, for a similar experience to a Raspberry Pi while on the go. Read on here for more details about portable emulation. Which emulators to get, and how to set them upNow, it’s time to actually install your emulators, of which you have many choices. I've compiled a list of the apps you’ll probably be using to emulate your games, depending on the platforms you're interested in, before going into how to get them: Retroarch: An app with multiple emulator “cores” in it, that can run games from most systems up through the PS1 era, including the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Duckstation: A standalone app for emulating PS1, with enhanced stability and graphics features compared to Retroarch. Mupen64Plus: A standalone app for emulating Nintendo 64, with enhanced stability and graphics features compared to Retroarch. Flycast: A standalone Sega Dreamcast emulator with support for upscaled graphics and widescreen hacks. MelonDS: A standalone Nintendo DS emulator with community-driven forks that can run on two separate displays for a more authentic experience. Azahar: A standalone Nintendo 3DS emulator with community-driven forks that can run on two separate displays for a more authentic experience. Supports custom graphics drivers on mobile. PPSSPP: A standalone PSP emulator with a highly themed user interface reminiscent of the original console. Dolphin: A standalone GameCube and Wii emulator with high stability, support for custom mobile graphics drivers and upscaled graphics, and the ability to use motion controls. Usually preferable to emulating PS2 or Xbox, if playing a multi-platform game. PCSX2: A standalone PS2 emulator with support for upscaled graphics. Best used for PS2 exclusives. Not available on mobile. NetherSX2: A standalone PS2 emulator for mobile. Many of the same features as Dolphin, but lower stability, and no motion control or custom driver support. Cemu: A standalone Wii U emulator with support for custom mobile graphics drivers and upscaled graphics. No save state support. Requires a high-end machine. RPCS3: A standalone PS3 emulator with support for upscaled graphics, custom mobile graphics drivers, and save states. Requires a high-end machine. Eden: A standalone Nintendo Switch emulator with support for upscaled graphics and custom graphics drivers on mobile. No save state support. Requires a high-end machine. Phew, that’s a lot. On the plus side, most of these emulators are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android, although iOS users have a bit less to pick from, as Apple restrictions on certain programming techniques mean higher-end devices like GameCube and beyond are difficult to run on its phones. On the plus side, iOS does have access to some potentially more convenient options for older systems, like Delta, which comes with cute touchscreen control overlays built-in. Now, you could install these apps one-by-one, point them at your game files (which you’ll usually be guided through as part of setup), and play your games by booting up the specific emulator you want and picking the game you want to play from a list. But not only is that slow and inconvenient, it’s not as pretty and is less like using an actual retro console. To solve that problem, we have installers and frontends. Emulator installersIn this case, installers are programs that will help you set up all your emulators in one fell swoop, or will sort your games into collections by system or genre for you, and will boot you into the appropriate emulator when you select a game. For installers, you have a few options. My favorite is Emudeck, which despite being named after the Steam Deck, will run you through a simple setup wizard that will install any emulator you could possibly want, whether you’re on steamOS, Linux, or Windows. There’s also an Android version in the works, and you can get early access to it if you subscribe to the development team’s Patreon. Alternatively, there’s Retrodeck. This is a Linux-only tool, but some users prefer it to Emudeck thanks to more fluid hotkey settings and a less bug-prone (but potentially slower) update process. Nicedeck is another alternative that aims to hit a middle-ground between Emudeck and Retrodeck, and conveniently is the only one of these options that also works for Mac. As someone who just manually installed a bunch of Android emulators one-by-one, I would highly recommend using an installer to automate the process instead—´specially because many Android emulators need to be sideloaded, something that is about to get harder starting next year. An installer will also usually help you set up configurations like individual desired aspect ratio and upscaling settings for each system you want to play, too, which will save you some tedious trips to each individual emulator’s settings menu. But just because your emulators are installed doesn’t mean we’re done yet. Instead of having to bounce from emulator app to emulator app and scroll through what can often be ugly built-in menus, let’s put all your games in one convenient, easy-on-the-eyes place. Emulator frontendsA frontend is an app that will sort your games by system, or by custom collections you set up, like genre. You’ll choose a game from one of its many lists, and the frontend will tell the appropriate emulator app to boot up the game. Then, when you’re done gaming, your emulator will take you back to your frontend. It’s a much more intuitive and console-like experience, and people have created plenty of themes to make them look just as nice as official console menus. Many frontends even come with “scrapers” built in, so they can fetch and display box art next to your games. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt The most common and robust choice here is ES-DE, or Emulation Station Desktop Edition. It’s what I use personally, and comes packaged with installers like Emudeck and Retrodeck. It has the most configuration options available for it, but can be a bit slow to boot. Also, while it’s free on Windows, Mac, and Linux, a small one-time Patreon donation is required to get the app for Android. ES-DE alternatives on desktop are rare, but options like LaunchBox may be preferable for some users. Other frontend apps are more common on Android, as ES-DE took some time to come to Android, and some users prefer a more playful interface while on mobile. Popular free options include Daijisho and Beacon, although I’m particularly interested in Cocoon, which is modeled after the Nintendo 3DS menu and has built-in dual screen support. Another option, if all of this sounds like too much setup, is to use Batocera. This is a Linux install that essentially packages largely pre-configured emulators for a wide variety of systems alongside a customized version of Emulation Station. Basically, you install it on your compatible device and boot into it separate from your main operating system, so everything lives in its own confined home. While that means it’s a bit limited, it’s also mostly plug-and-play. It’s also possible to run Batocera off a USB stick or SD card, if you don’t want to install it onto your device’s internal storage. How to choose and install emulators and frontends for different systems and devices could be a whole series of articles on its own, but the community is welcoming, and is doing its best to make emulation easy and available to as many people as possible. The above programs should be enough to get you started, but if you have additional questions, experts like Retro Game Corps and subreddits like r/emulation are always there to help you out. How to make your games look old school (or HD) Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt When emulating a game, you have three options: You can go with the raw emulation output, which will by default usually mimic a console’s native resolution but might not look fully accurate depending on the screen you’re playing on; you can upscale the resolution for a more HD image, and can even apply fanmade texture packs to make individual games look even crisper; or, you can turn on a CRT filter to try to get a more retro feel, as well as help pixel art or low polygon models look a bit smoother. Frankly, this is another area where it’s possible to go on for days. You can mix and match different options from these approaches to your heart’s content, and Retroarch alone has hundreds of filter and shader options built-in (options do differ from emulator to emulator). Improving the look of 3D emulated gamesFor 3D games, the idea is to try to get a more modern experience. Widescreen hacks are a good place to start. These extend the aspect ratio to 16:9, then apply tweaks to the emulation so that the screen renders more of the play environment instead of simply stretching the default 4:3 image. It doesn’t work for every game, and can break the design in others (Resident Evil has very purposeful camera angles), but it’s often worth trying, especially in games where situational awareness is helpful, like platformers. HD Texture packs, meanwhile, help clear up low-resolution HUDs or 2D assets (which are still quite prevalent in 3D retro games) that won’t be covered by upscaling. These need to be developed on a per-game basis, so you’ll need to search for them, but a popular example is Henriko Magnifico’s 4K Zelda texture packs. Personally, I do think these can sometimes interfere with a developer’s intended art style too much, but some people swear by them. Improving the look of 2D emulated gamesFor 2D games, I like to try to make my game look like it’s playing on an old-school TV, and that’s not just for flavor. Pixel art was designed with CRT televisions in mind, which would smooth and blur harsh edges together to make pixels look more hand drawn (here’s a good example). You lose that effect if you just use raw emulation footage on a modern television, but you can mostly get it back with the right filters. This is far from a solved issue, but so far, my favorite option is the zfast-crt.slangp shader in Retroarch (found in the Quick Menu under Shaders). This is a subtle effect that feels far more accurate to me than the CRT filters often included in official retro game collections, and it’ll work on any device that runs Retroarch. What’s great is that, because this is included with Retroarch, it’ll also work for any system that Retroarch supports, which includes most retro consoles you would play 2D games on. But CRTs provided an additional benefit beyond making pixel art look nice. Because of the way they scan in their images, they’re highly resistant to motion blur. If you have a device with a 120Hz screen, you can mimic this using a technique called black frame insertion. This technique inserts a single black frame into every other frame of your video output, breaking up the image and helping your eyes reset. While this will slow down your gameplay on a standard 60Hz screen, a 120Hz screen will let you use black frame insertion while still getting 60 fps gameplay. This is built into a toggle in Retroarch’s default Settings > Video > Synchronization page, but to be honest, I find this implementation comes with some pretty intense flickering. Instead, I prefer the crt-beam-simulator.slangp shader developed by the folks over at Blur Busters, which has a more subtle effect that looks more like the old school TVs I remember from back in the day. Getting this running in Retroarch takes a few extra steps, but luckily, Retro Game Corps has a great video walking through it, including how to tweak it to your liking and combine it with the zfast-crt.slangp if you’d like. With tools like these, it’s clear that the appetite for playing games from older consoles isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even if it’s harder than pulling up an old movie on Netflix. Whether you’re on PC, Mac, a Steam Deck, or mobile, you’ve got plenty of options already, even as hardware costs rise. From where I'm sitting, the frontier for retro gaming looks bright. View the full article

In long sales cycles, a lot of what happens after lead submission involves people. When you optimize campaigns to final sales, you’re teaching the ad platform to respond to how well the sales team performed that month rather than lead quality, and that’s a problem no amount of campaign changes will fix. The common advice is to “optimize the full funnel” (i.e., track media spend to revenue, optimize campaigns to sales, etc.). But beyond lead capture, most of what drives sales has little to do with your paid media. It’s about who’s on the sales team, how busy they are, and dozens of other factors you can’t influence through targeting or creative. When your sales team becomes the signal I’ve spent over 15 years in financial services marketing, but this isn’t unique to mortgages or insurance. If your sales process relies heavily on people, you’ll recognize this immediately. In most businesses, there’s someone like Dave. In my case, he’s a mortgage adviser, but in yours, he might be your top enterprise sales rep, your star business development manager, or your best project estimator. He closes deals at twice the rate of his colleagues, not because he gets better leads, but because he’s naturally gifted at building rapport, asking the right questions, and guiding anxious customers through difficult decisions. However, Dave isn’t always there. Sometimes he’s on vacation, sometimes he might leave the company for a better opportunity, or sometimes your business hires three more Daves. The makeup of your sales team likely changes constantly. You might have more experienced closers one month, fewer the next, a recruitment drive that brought in several new starters, or Dave and two of his colleagues leaving within a month of each other. Sales rates can swing dramatically based purely on who’s in the office, regardless of lead quality. This can lead to targeting problems. For example, when the conversion rate drops because Dave’s away and a junior team member is covering his accounts, the algorithm sees it as a targeting problem rather than a staffing issue. If you’ve set your campaigns to optimize for sales, it thinks, “Our targeting stopped working. These clicks are lower-quality for this conversion action now. We should shift spend away from these audiences.” Eventually, this could result in keywords that were previously working well being turned off, audiences that were driving sales volume no longer being bid for, and, eventually, a decline in the entire account’s performance. But the leads haven’t changed, only the team has. Dig deeper: How to diagnose and fix the biggest blocker to PPC growth 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 Operational factors that distort your conversion data It’s not just the sales team makeup either. Let’s say: The team gets slammed in Q4 as everyone tries to close before year-end, response times stretch from two days to over a week, and customers get impatient and look elsewhere. Perhaps market conditions shift, and your most competitive product gets pulled. Or summer vacations mean the team is running short-handed, and some leads go cold before anyone contacts them. Then September comes and everything bounces back to normal. It goes beyond the day-to-day. Budget approvals get delayed, product ranges change, and planning delays push projects back. The specific reason varies by business, but the effect on your conversion data is always the same. The algorithm ends up thinking targeting got worse when, in fact, the team was just busy with leads from other sources. When Dave becomes a superhuman: The Santa Claus Rally The Santa Claus Rally, also known as the December Effect, is the best example I’ve seen of how human behavior can throw off algorithmic targeting. Every December in financial services, something strange happens. In the third week of December, conversion rates from lead to sale spike dramatically. We’ve seen increases of up to 150% compared to normal weeks. If campaigns are optimized for sales, the algorithm thinks, “Whatever we’re doing this week is working incredibly well!” Then the holiday week arrives, and everything crashes, with conversion rates plummeting to a fraction of normal levels. None of it has anything to do with paid media. In week three, Dave and his colleagues are in target-hitting panic mode. End-of-year bonuses are on the line, and there’s one final push before the holiday break, so they’re calling leads faster, following up more aggressively, and closing deals they might typically have let simmer. Dave is working like a machine. Then the holiday week arrives, and everyone’s mentally checked out, customers aren’t answering phones, and Dave has finally taken time off. The team that’s still at work is thinking more about family get-togethers and less about targets. The lead quality, targeting, and ads haven’t changed. The team is just working at different levels of intensity due to seasonality. The algorithm overpays for normal performance and underbids for identical audiences, purely based on when Dave and his team take their vacations. Dig deeper: How to analyze your marketing funnel and fix costly drop-offs Where optimization should actually stop So if optimizing for sales is being distorted by things outside your control, how should you draw the line? How can you balance this lead distortion and still drive the right type of leads? The answer is your last point of control, which, for these kinds of sales, means at lead submission. But not just simply counting leads. Instead, value them based on both likelihood to convert and the commercial value of the end sale. The other issue is that most high-value businesses only generate a handful of sales per month, which isn’t enough data for automated bidding to learn anything useful. Lead valuation also solves this issue by providing the platform with hundreds of conversion events rather than a few sales. This means automated bidding can actually function properly, campaign and audience testing can become meaningful, and the data stays reliable. You’re optimizing to lead quality before Dave and the sales team get involved. To be clear, importing downstream conversion stages or revenue into ad platforms can be extremely powerful. But optimization to those signals only works when volume is sufficient, conversion lag is manageable, and the sales process is stable. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. How to build lead valuation The starting point is your historical data, ideally 12 months of it, though you can work with six. You need to understand which leads actually closed, what they were worth, and what they had in common at the point of inquiry. For financial services, it’s things like loan amount and term. For B2B, it might be company size or sector. For construction, it’s usually project size and urgency. From there, it’s about grouping leads by their likelihood to close to a sale and by what a typical deal size looks like, and then assigning each group an expected revenue value. The check to make sure it’s working as expected is simple. The total estimated value you assign to your leads over a period should roughly match the revenue they actually generated. If not, the model needs work. Ideally, you should revisit it at least quarterly as your campaigns and operational factors change. As an example, you might end up with a high-likelihood lead worth $850, a mid-range lead at $420, and a lower-likelihood lead at $120. Once you have that, set up your conversion tracking to pass the expected value back to the platform on your conversion action and use value-based bidding (target return on ad spend in Google Ads) to point the algorithm toward the leads that are actually worth chasing. Dig deeper: How to make automation work for lead gen PPC Optimize for what you can control “Optimize the full funnel” sounds sensible until you realize how much of that funnel you don’t actually control. You can influence the targeting, the creative, the landing page, and the experience that gets someone to submit a form. After that, it’s over to Dave and the sales team, and dozens of other factors that have nothing to do with your campaigns. When you expect an algorithm to optimize for things it can’t see, it will start drawing the wrong conclusions, chasing the wrong audiences, and getting worse over time. The answer isn’t to stop measuring what happens after lead submission. You absolutely should continue measuring, as those numbers can tell you a lot about what’s going well and what might need to be corrected for. Remember: When lead quality stays steady, but sales drop, that’s an operations issue, not a paid media one. When both drop at the same time, look at your campaigns. When sales spike, but lead quality is flat, that’s Dave having a great month, not your targeting. That visibility is genuinely helpful, but it just shouldn’t be what you’re optimizing to. Build lead valuation, feed expected values back to your platform, and let the algorithm do what it’s actually good at: finding people who look like your best leads. Leave the rest to Dave. Know where your control ends, as that’s where optimization should stop. 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A reader writes: About three years ago, we had a new manager start at my job, Fergus. Fergus is a very nice guy, but has never been a manager before. He delegates some of his core tasks to us, and seems to struggle with things like project management, clear and proactive communication, and HR-type stuff. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when he has a tricky situation, he will come to me and ask my opinion on how to handle it, and I coach him on what to say and what actions should come next. (Before I started here eight years ago, I’d been a department head at my previous company. That place was toxic as hell, and I happily took a step down out of management to get out of there.) Two weeks ago, Fergus asked me to be a mentor to one of my colleagues, Chip. Please note that there is no real hierarchy in our department; other than Fergus, we are all peers on the org chart. Chip is older than me, a gem, and also a bit quirky. Most of Fergus’s “what should I do?” questions in the past were in relation to Chip. We do very different jobs within the department, but I agreed to the mentorship as long as it was what Chip wanted. Chip just wants the drama to go away so he can focus on his work. All agreed to the mentorship. For the last week, I’ve been talking with three people who Fergus told me had lodged serious complaints against Chip, so I could get an idea of what goals to work towards. The first person gave me a lot of valuable feedback about how, yes, there were some instances that Chip could have handled better, but a lot of the issues could be solved by having more consistent department procedures and communications tools. The second person had a lackluster interaction with Chip two years ago. They worked through the issues that led to the misunderstanding, and she showed me an email thread that showed the new procedures were working fine and she was satisfied. The third person had no idea why I was asking her questions. She had no issues with Chip or anyone in our department. She had never spoken to Fergus. As far as we can tell, a few weeks ago she was raging about a bad experience with an external vendor, and one of her office mates is Fergus’s spouse. (Many yikes happening here, and I had to reassure her that she had done nothing wrong and no one was in trouble.) At this point, I think it’s clear that while Chip could use a bit of mentorship on “reading the room” and working with sensitive customers, most of the work really needs to happen with Fergus. We need better department procedures, and Fergus needs to work on his own leadership skills. He’s a nice guy and I think as much as he wants to do well here, he seems to have some sort of anxiety around HR-type things. These instances that are looming large in his mind are old news or nonexistent issues based on rumors and assumptions. I agreed to the mentorship because, while I do believe that Fergus should be the one doing this in theory, I want Chip to stay and be successful and I don’t think that will happen if Fergus tries to mentor him. So … how do I “manage up” with Fergus? I just got done teaching my whole department about Change and Project Management because too many situations had happened because we lacked those processes. Now I’m doing HR type stuff. I’ve drawn the line that I’ll only interfere in management if it is negatively impacting me. I am looking for a script for how to talk to Fergus about his own leadership journey while also not becoming his mentor. I can’t go to my grandboss, because Fergus and his spouse are very well-connected and I don’t want to spend my political capital there. I just want to be left alone to do my work. Nooo, don’t get involved in this at all. You’re not Chip’s manager, you’re not being paid to do this work, and the fact that Fergus would prefer not to do it and is bad at it doesn’t make it your job. If your company wants it to be your job, they need to pay you for it and give you a level of authority that would make this sort of coaching and intervention appropriate. It’s not inherently inappropriate to be asked to coach or mentor a peer, but this is much more than that — it’s not appropriate for you to be digging into other people’s concerns about a peer, even though Fergus asked you to. That’s squarely Chip’s manager’s job. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a manager who’s willing or able to do it, but that doesn’t mean you should step up and do it yourself. Tell Fergus you talked with the three people he suggested and learned that two of them didn’t have issues with Chip at all and the other raised issues that could be solved by more consistent department procedures and communications tools. Then say that in doing this, you realized that it didn’t feel appropriate for you to dig into a peer’s performance in that way and you’re not comfortable staying in that role for a peer, so you’re going to officially hand that responsibility back to Fergus. If you’d like to do this stuff, you could say, “If at some point there’s room to create an additional manager role on the team to work on issues like this, I’d definitely be interested in being considered for that. But otherwise I realize I’ve overstepped and prefer to stick to being Chip’s peer.” If Fergus tries to tell you that you’re not overstepping because you deputized you to act in his place, you can say, “I appreciate you putting that trust in me. I’m really not comfortable doing that without formally having a job that would give me standing to do that kind of management with a peer. But if it’s an option to formalize that kind of arrangement, I’d love to talk about that.” It is similarly not your job to talk to Fergus about his own leadership deficiencies. You can certainly flag that your team needs better processes for X or that situation Y is a problem, and if he expresses uncertainty about how to handle those things, there may be room to say at some point, “I know there are some great classes on management that HR has sent people to for things like this” (or something similar). But anything beyond that is getting into coaching Fergus on management, and that’s something that needs to come from above him. Not only is it inappropriate for you to try to do it from below, but if you did try, it’s likely to mean (a) tons of unpaid labor from you, (b) probably with very little payoff (because if Fergus hasn’t figured out after three years that he needs to learn to manage, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to cajole him into it from below), and (c) is highly likely to be a huge exercise in frustration because it will allow you to think this stuff might change when in fact very little probably will. (I have been in exactly those shoes before, and it is a fruitless, frustrating path that will suck out all your energy and not pay you for it.) You said you just want to be left alone to do your work, and the good news is: you can be. But to do that, you need to decline Fergus’ attempts to delegate his management work to you, and you have to accept that the department is probably going to stay poorly run. The post my boss asked me to mentor my coworker, but it’s really my boss who needs mentoring appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

President Donald The President on Sunday night said he has “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade. “We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need … they have to survive,” The President told reporters as he flew back to Washington. When asked if a New York Times report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, The President said: “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.” On Monday, Russia’s Transport Ministry said the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the Cuban port of Matanzas carrying “humanitarian supplies” of about 730,000 barrels of oil. The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia had previously discussed its oil shipment to Cuba with the United States. “Russia сonsiders it its duty not to stand aside, but to provide the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends,” he told reporters. The President, whose government has come at its Caribbean adversary more aggressively than any U.S. government in recent history, has effectively cut Cuba off from key oil shipments in an effort to force regime change. The blockade has had devastating effects on the civilians The President and Secretary of State Marco Rubio say they want to help, leaving many desperate. Islandwide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and a lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport. Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days. Cuba has long been at the heart of geopolitical tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia, dating back decades. The President on Sunday dismissed the idea that allowing the boat to reach Cuba would help Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil, that’s all it is. If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, it doesn’t bother me much,” The President said. “It’s not going to have an impact. Cuba’s finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.” He added: “I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things.” Associated Press reporters Megan Janetsky and Andrea Rodríguez contributed to this report. —Darlene Superville, Associated Press View the full article

Talks with Chinese owner Jingye continue while losses mountView the full article

AI search is changing how visibility works. Users are getting direct answers instead of clicking links, which means fewer chances to drive traffic. In this shift, AI citations are becoming the new gatekeepers, deciding which sources get featured in answers. Over the past year, search has moved from ranking pages to selecting sources, pushing us from traditional SEO toward AI-driven visibility. In this article, we’ll explain what AI citations are, how they work, and how you can earn them. Table of contents What are AI citations? How AI citations impact brand credibility How AI citations work: a complete breakdown Strategies to get cited by AI models Tracking AI brand presence with Yoast FAQs on AI citations AI citations: The currency of the AI-driven web Key takeaways AI citations are references that search engines include in AI-generated answers, enhancing credibility and visibility This shift in visibility moves from traditional SEO ranking to AI-driven inclusion as a key factor for brand presence AI tools retrieve information from diverse sources, with citations coming from both top-ranking and deeper pages To earn AI citations, create valuable, structured content and establish topical authority across your niche Tools like Yoast AI Brand Insights help track your AI visibility and citation presence across platforms What are AI citations? Citations have always been a way to show where information comes from and why it can be trusted. The same idea now applies to AI-generated answers. AI citations are the references that search engines and AI tools include to support the answers they generate. When a tool like ChatGPT responds to a query, it often points to specific pages or sources that back up the information. These references act as signals of credibility, helping users understand where the answer is coming from and giving them a way to explore the original content. In simple terms, if your content is cited, it becomes part of the answer itself, and not just another link in the results. AI citations vs the blue link era If AI citations determine what gets included in answers, it’s worth asking how this differs from how search used to work. Because this isn’t just a feature update, it’s a shift in how visibility itself is earned. In the traditional model, ranking higher meant getting more clicks. In AI-driven search, being selected as a source matters just as much, if not more. AspectTraditional SEOAI citationsVisibilityBlue linksAi-generated answersTrafficClick-drivenInfluence-drivenAuthority signalBacklinksCredibility and accuracyUser actionVisit websiteConsume instant answers This doesn’t mean traditional SEO is going away. Rankings, indexing, and backlinks still play a critical role. However, how that value gets surfaced is changing. Instead of just competing for position on a results page, you’re now competing to be part of the answer itself. Do check out Alex Moss’s talk at BrightonSEO, 2025, on the evolution of search intent and discoverability. Where do AI citations come from? Before you try to earn AI citations, it’s important to understand where they actually come from. Because you’re not just competing with other blog posts, you’re competing with an entire information ecosystem. AI models pull their answers from a mix of sources: Web content: Blog posts, guides, landing pages, and long-form articles Structured sources: Platforms like Wikipedia, documentation hubs, and product data feeds Forums and UGC: Discussions from Reddit, Quora, and Stack Overflow First-party data: Brand websites, help centers, and official resources How the sources are selected is quite interesting. A recent analysis of Google’s AI Overviews found that citations don’t strictly come from top-ranking pages. In fact, only about 38% of cited sources rank in the top 10 results, meaning a large share comes from deeper pages or alternative formats. Another key insight by CXL: AI models tend to prioritize clear, early answers within the content, with a significant portion of citations pulled from the top sections of a page rather than from deeper sections. The takeaway is simple. AI systems are not just ranking content; they are selecting the most useful pieces of information across formats and sources. That means your content is competing not only for rankings but also for clarity, structure, and trustworthiness across this entire ecosystem. Types of AI citations Not all AI citations look the same. Depending on the query and intent, AI models pull in different types of sources to support their answers. Broadly, you’ll see three main types: Informational citations These are the most common. AI tools refer to blog posts, guides, and educational content to explain concepts or answer questions. If someone asks, “what are AI citations,” the sources cited will typically be long-form, explanatory content. Product citations These show up in commercial or comparison queries. For example, “best SEO tools” or “top project management software.” Here, AI models cite product pages, listicles, and review-based content to support recommendations. Multimedia citations AI doesn’t rely solely on text. Videos, images, and other visual formats can also be cited, especially when they better explain something than text alone. Think tutorials, walkthroughs, or demonstrations. How AI citations impact brand credibility AI citations don’t just drive visibility. They shape how your brand is perceived before a user even visits your website. When your content is cited in an AI-generated answer, some of that trust transfers to your brand. You’re no longer just another result on a page; you’re part of the answer itself. And that changes how users interpret your authority. This also means buyer decisions are starting earlier. Users may form opinions, shortlist options, or even make decisions directly from AI responses, without ever clicking through. If your brand isn’t cited, you’re not part of that consideration set. There’s also a strong signal of relevance at play. Being included in AI answers suggests that your content is not just optimized, but genuinely useful in context. It tells both users and algorithms that your brand deserves to be surfaced. Over time, this creates a compounding effect. The more your content is cited, the more your brand becomes associated with specific topics. That repeated exposure builds familiarity, authority, and trust. How AI citations work: a complete breakdown So far, we’ve talked about what AI citations are and where they come from. But how do AI systems actually decide what to cite? Let’s break it down. AWS At a high level, most AI-powered search systems follow a retrieval-and-synthesis process, often powered by approaches such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). In simple terms, they don’t just generate answers; they find, evaluate, and assemble information from multiple sources before deciding what to cite. Here’s what that process looks like in practice: 1. Query understanding Everything starts with intent. The AI interprets what the user is really asking, whether it’s informational, navigational, or commercial. This step shapes what kind of sources it will look for. 2. Retrieval of sources Next, the system pulls in potential sources from multiple places: Web indexes Training data patterns Live retrieval systems (depending on the model) This is where your content first enters the consideration set. 3. Source evaluation Not all sources are treated equally. AI models evaluate them based on: Relevance to the query Authority and trust signals Clarity and structure of information Entity-level trust (how credible the brand or author is) When you look at these signals closely, they all point in one direction. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) play a central role in determining what gets cited. In other words, AI systems aren’t just looking for answers; they’re looking for reliable sources behind those answers. 4. Answer synthesis Instead of showing individual links, AI combines insights from multiple sources into a single, cohesive answer. This is where your content may be used, even if it’s not directly cited. 5. Citation selection Finally, the model decides which sources to: Explicitly cite (with links or references) Implicitly use (without direct attribution) This is the step that ultimately determines your visibility. How this differs across AI systems While the core process is similar, different AI tools prioritize different parts of this pipeline. AI systemsHow it handles citationsChatGPTLeans more on third-party sources and consensus, such as directories, reviews, and aggregator sites, rather than relying heavily on brand-owned content.PerplexityFocuses on retrieval-first behavior, pulling from a wide range of web sources and surfacing multiple citations to support transparency (strong emphasis on external validation).GeminiPrioritizes brand-owned and structured content, especially pages that are clearly organized and easy to interpret. Must read: Why does having insights across multiple LLMs matter for brand visibility? Key signals AI models use for citing content Even though the process is complex, the signals that increase your chances of being cited are surprisingly consistent: Well-organized structure: Clear headings, bullet points, and logical flow make it easier for AI to extract information Evidence-based reasoning: Content that references data, sources, or supporting claims is more likely to be trusted Timeliness and relevance: Fresh, updated content often gets prioritized, especially for evolving topics Authoritative voice and depth: Content that demonstrates expertise and covers a topic comprehensively stands out Topical consistency: Brands that consistently publish around a topic are more likely to be recognized as reliable sources The key takeaway here is simple: AI citations are not random. They are the result of a structured evaluation process in which clarity, trust, and relevance determine who is included in the final answer. Must read: How to use headings on your site Strategies to get cited by AI models So far, we’ve looked at what AI citations are and how models decide what to cite. The next question is the one that matters most: how do you actually get cited? Because this isn’t just about creating content, it’s about sending the right signals that your content is worth citing. Here are some strategies that can help you do exactly that: 1. Create citation-friendly content Citation-worthy content goes beyond surface-level answers. It offers original thinking, clear explanations, and real value, helping AI models support their responses with confidence. In other words, it’s not just optimized, it earns references by being genuinely useful. The following content types consistently get cited by AI models: Content typeWhat to writeWhy AI loves themOriginal researchStudies or data that answer new or unexplored questionsGives AI concrete evidence to support claimsCase studiesReal-world examples showing how something works in practiceHelps AI justify recommendations with proofThought leadershipOpinion-led content with unique insights or perspectivesAdds depth and diversity to AI-generated answersNews contentTimely, accurate coverage of recent developmentsFills gaps where training data falls short 2. Build topical authority (clusters) AI models don’t just evaluate individual pages; they evaluate how consistently you cover a topic. If you publish multiple pieces on a specific subject, each addressing different aspects, you signal depth, expertise, and reliability. That’s what topical authority is all about. And this is where E-E-A-T naturally comes into play. The more consistently you demonstrate experience and expertise in a niche, the more likely your content is to be trusted and cited. What to do in practice: Create clusters around a core topic (pillar page/cornerstone content + supporting content) Cover both broad and specific questions in your niche Go beyond basic answers, add expert insights, examples, or real-world context Keep your messaging and terminology consistent across content 3. Strengthen entity signals (brand, authorship, schema) AI systems evaluate content, but they also evaluate who is behind it. Strong entity signals help models understand your brand, your authors, and your credibility within a topic. The clearer these signals are, the easier it is for AI to trust and cite your content. What to do in practice: Build clear author profiles with expertise and credentials Maintain consistent brand mentions across your site and the web Use structured data (schema) to define authors, organizations, and content relationships Ensure your “About” and author pages clearly establish credibility 4. Earn external validation signals across the web AI models don’t rely on a single source of truth. They validate information by cross-referencing multiple sources across the web. That means your credibility isn’t built only on your website. It’s shaped by how consistently your brand shows up across trusted platforms. The more aligned and authoritative those signals are, the easier it is for AI systems to trust and cite your content. Think of this as building a web-wide validation layer that reinforces your brand through multiple independent sources. This is also where traditional SEO practices like link building evolve. It’s no longer just about backlinks, but about earning consistent, high-quality mentions that strengthen your entity across the web. What to do in practice: Contribute insights to reputable publications in your niche Earn consistent mentions across industry blogs, directories, and review platforms Build high-quality backlinks through a strategic link-building approach Be active in communities like Reddit, Quora, or niche forums Run digital PR campaigns that reinforce your brand narrative across sources 5. Keep content fresh and updated AI models prefer content that reflects current information. Outdated content is less likely to be trusted, especially for topics that evolve quickly. Regular updates signal that your content is still relevant and reliable. What to do in practice: Refresh key articles with updated data, examples, and insights Add new sections instead of rewriting from scratch where possible Clearly indicate updates (timestamps, revised sections) Prioritize high-performing or high-potential pages for updates Must read: How to optimize content for AI LLM comprehension using Yoast’s tools 6. Structure content for answer extraction AI models don’t read content the way humans do. They extract answers. Most AI-generated responses are built by identifying clear, concise answer blocks within content. And increasingly, users prefer this format. In fact, according to a poll by IWAI, 67% of users find AI tools more efficient than traditional search for getting answers. That shift makes one thing clear: if your content doesn’t directly answer questions, it’s less likely to be surfaced or cited. This means it’s not enough to include answers. You need to structure your content so those answers are easy to find, interpret, and reuse. What to do in practice: Lead sections with direct, concise answers before expanding Use headings that mirror real user queries and intent Break down complex topics into scannable, extractable sections Add summaries, definitions, or key takeaways at the start of sections Anticipate follow-up questions and answer them within the same content Tracking AI brand presence with Yoast By now, we know what AI citations are, how they work, and how to earn them. But here’s the real question: how do you know if you’re already being cited? And if not, how do you understand where your competitors are showing up and where you’re missing out? That’s the gap Yoast AI Brand Insights is built to solve. As AI-generated answers become a key discovery layer, most traditional analytics tools fall short. They can tell you about traffic, but not whether your brand is being mentioned, how it’s being perceived, or which sources AI systems trust when referencing you. That’s a critical blind spot, especially as AI answers increasingly shape user decisions before a click even occurs. Yoast AI Brand Insights helps you track and understand your AI visibility, citations, and brand mentions across platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, so you can move from guesswork to informed action. Here’s what it enables you to do: Sentiment tracking Understand how your brand is being perceived in AI-generated answers. The tool analyzes keywords associated with your brand and shows whether the overall sentiment is positive or negative, helping you spot tone issues and shifts over time. Citation analysis (brand mentions) See when and where your brand is being cited. More importantly, understand which sources AI platforms reference alongside your brand, so you can identify citation gaps and opportunities to improve your presence. Competitor benchmarking AI visibility is relative. This feature lets you compare your brand’s citations, mentions, and sentiment against competitors, helping you understand who is being surfaced more often and why. Question monitoring AI search is driven by queries. With question monitoring, you can track specific brand-related or industry questions and see whether your brand appears in the answers, giving you direct insight into where you’re visible and where you’re missing. AI visibility index Instead of looking at isolated metrics, Yoast combines signals like citations, mentions, sentiment, and rankings into a single visibility score. This gives you a clearer picture of how your brand performs across AI systems over time. The bigger picture here is simple: Yoast AI Brand Insights helps you understand your position in this new ecosystem, so you can strengthen your presence, close gaps, and ensure your brand is part of the answers your audience is already consuming. FAQs on AI citations AI citations can feel complex at first, especially as search continues to evolve. Here are answers to some of the most common questions to help you navigate them better. Are backlinks different from AI citations? Yes, they serve different purposes. Backlinks help your pages rank in traditional search, while AI citations determine whether your content gets included in AI-generated answers. In short, backlinks drive visibility on SERPs, while citations drive visibility within answers. If you want a deeper breakdown, check out this guide on AI citations vs backlinks. Do AI systems always provide citations? No, AI systems don’t always include citations. When responses are generated purely from pre-trained knowledge rather than retrieved sources, citations may not appear. To test this, I tried the following prompts on ChatGPT: Out of these, citations appeared in about half of the responses. A clear pattern emerged: Queries involving products, recommendations, statistics, or recent events were more likely to trigger citations Queries focused on definitions or general knowledge often did not include citations This shows that citation behavior depends heavily on the query type, intent, and context. Not every answer requires a source, but the more specific or evidence-driven the query, the more likely citations are to appear. How do I direct AI models to the most important content on my website? You can’t directly control what AI models choose to cite, but you can make it easier for them to understand and prioritize your content. One effective way to do this is by using llms.txt, a feature in Yoast SEO. It creates a structured, LLM-friendly markdown file that highlights your most important pages, helping LLMs better understand your site when generating answers. A smarter analysis in Yoast SEO PremiumYoast SEO Premium has a smart content analysis that helps you take your content to the next level! Get Yoast SEO Premium »Only $118.80 / year (ex VAT) Think of it as a way to clearly communicate which content matters most, so when AI systems look for reliable sources, your key pages are easier to interpret and surface. AI citations: The currency of the AI-driven web AI citations are changing how users discover and trust information. They don’t just complement rankings; they reshape them by deciding which sources become part of the answer itself. In many cases, users no longer need to click to explore. If your content is cited, you’re visible. If not, you’re invisible. This shift also changes what we optimize for. It’s no longer just about traffic; it’s about trust, relevance, and inclusion in the answer layer. As we explored in our recent read, Rethinking SEO in the age of AI, the central question for SEO is evolving. It’s no longer just, “Can Google find my website?” It’s now, “Does the AI have a reason to remember my brand?” The post AI citations explained: how they work and how to get them appeared first on Yoast. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Cameras are more than just tools for taking photos and videos—they shape the way we think of the past. The distinct look of each major camera format defines its era: The murky colors of a vintage Polaroid picture are as era-defining as the stiffly posed portraiture of the late 1800s. And there are few things that will bring you right back to the 1980s and '90s than the fuzzy, low-resolution warmth of something filmed on video tape. I think that's why some people are so drawn to picking up old 30- or 40-year-old camcorders, even in 2026: You can record a modern scene using one of them today—perhaps someone using a smartphone—and when playing it back, it will look like they're straight out of 1994. I grew up with such a camcorder, a Canon ES50, which my family used for filming home movies, and I used for making my own short "films." My childhood was immortalized in this format, and in a way, their look defines how I picture the '90s. While that camcorder was sold or given away sometime over the years, my brother recently gifted me another one, and in puttering around with it, I've feel like I've been traveling through time. Whether you also have a similar experience, or you're curious about older video recording formats and want to dive in to actually putting images down on tape, it's surprisingly easy to pick up one of these old camcorders and get recording, even in 2026. There are a lot of camcorder formats to exploreWhile you can certainly pick up a working camcorder off eBay easily enough, you'll need to know what format that camcorder records to before getting started. If you don't buy the proper medium (i.e. tape), you won't get very far. There are a ton of camcorder formats in this world, but here are the major ones you'll likely encounter: VHS: If you lived through the VHS era, you're very familiar with this format. These camcorders use the same sized tapes you used to rent from Blockbuster, which makes them pretty convenient (by 1990s' standards, anyway): If you have a VHS camcorder, a blank VHS tape, and a VCR, you can easily shoot and watch back your footage right away. These camcorders, however, are huge. Anyone looking for a more compact camera should consider the other formats on this list. VHS-C: This is the same principle as VHS, only in a compact form (hence the C). In fact, because this is still VHS, you can play VHS-C tapes in a VCR, but you need an adapter to do so. (The tech behind this is actually very cool.) S-VHS (and S-VHS-C): These are the successors to VHS and VHS-C, offering higher-quality video in the same form factor. 8mm: These tapes are suspiciously similar in size to standard VHS-C, but with a key difference. As you might guess from the name, these are not VHS, which means you can't play them back on a VCR. You won't notice too much of a difference in quality though. Hi8: This is the "upgraded" 8mm format. They're the same size, but record in higher-quality video. Mini DV: Again, these tapes are similar in size to other mini formats, but with a huge discrepancy: they're actually digital, not analog. Where all the previous tape standards record magnetically to tape, Mini DV records the information as bytes, the same as it would to a hard drive. That means you can reproduce Mini DV tapes without losing any detail, but you also lose some of the analog charm. Where to buy camcorders, tapes, and accessories in 2026Camcorders are not hard to buy in 2026. In fact, you can buy new 4K models—but that's not why we're here. If you're looking for a camcorder from the '80s or '90s, eBay is your friend. There are tons of listings for different brands and formats, many for reasonable prices. The camcorder I grew up with is easy enough to find: As of this writing, there's on listed for $78.50 without a battery or charger, and one with the battery for $99.99. If you have a specific camcorder in mind, you might need to make some concessions: say, buying the camcorder by itself, then hunting down specific accessories that go with it. On the other hand, you might have better luck searching by format: When I searched eBay for VHS-C camcorders, for example, I found this JVC option with all the essential parts for $49.99. Finding accessories shouldn't be a problem either, depending on the part and the camera model. I recently needed a proprietary cable to connect a family member's camcorder to a TV, and by searching the camcorder model number and the part, was able to find one for sale online fairly quickly. If you have a VHS or VHS-C camcorder, you're going to need a VCR and an adapter. The adapters are easy and cheap to pick up, while VCRs range in price. Take some time looking for a VCR: You'll want one that seems functional and clean, so as to not damage your tapes. In short, if it was popular, someone is likely selling it somewhere, which is good, because a camera without all the right accessories is just a museum piece. When it comes to the tapes themselves, it's the same story. I would have assumed buying formats from more than 30 years ago would be a challenge, but even Walmart still sells 8mm tapes. My recommendation is to search Google Shopping for the tape format you need, and compare prices and listing across reputable outlets. (Though, again, eBay might be your best bet.) You don't actually need tapes to use retro-style camcorders, since you can buy add-on devices that let you capture footage directly to an SD card—but given I'm writing about the appeal of retro tech, I'm going to assume you want to record on tape. And as with all retro tech, you might find what you're looking for at secondhand stores and garage sales. People might have camcorders, accessories, and tapes in their attics ready to be sold on their front lawns; similarly, Goodwill might have camcorders in the mix with their other used technology. If you are looking for something specific, stick to the internet, but if you're just looking to get started with any old equipment, the hunt can be part of the fun. How to actually watch your camcorder recordings in 2026This next two sections are perhaps the trickiest parts of camcorder ownership in 2026. It's not hard to find a camcorder, and it's surprisingly uncomplicated to pick up tapes. Even recording isn't all that challenging. But actually watching this footage, and, god forbid, saving it somewhere else? These analog formats were not designed for our digital future. That said, it's perfectly possible, so long as you're prepared. As I mentioned above, VHS shooters will have the easiest time here, assuming all parts are in order: You can pop your VHS tapes into a VCR connected to a TV, and you're good to go. VHS-C shooters will have a similarly simple experience, but you'll need that adapter. But other formats are not compatible with a VCR. In fact, for many camcorder options, your only choice is to play back your footage on the camcorder itself. That doesn't mean you need to watch on its tiny screen or viewfinder (though you can, of course); instead, you can simply connect the camcorder directly to your TV. This will vary based on the camcorder model, but most will have some type of cable designed to plug into an output port on the camcorder and connect to the composite ports on your TV. No matter how you connect your tapes to the TV, you may have another hurdle here. If you have an older TV, there's no problem, but newer TVs don't always have the red, white, and yellow composite ports you need. My 2017 LG TV, for example, does not. As such, I had to buy this adapter in order to connect any type of composite input to my TV—including my 8mm camcorder. As with many of the suggestions here, you'll need to find your TV's make and model to find the right adapter, but once everything's hooked up, you're good to go. Preserving your tapes (and creating digital backups)We live in a digital world, and vintage cameras (apart from DV models) are analog. As much fun as it is to watch retro footage directly on a TV, you'll likely want to convert your tapes to something you can watch on your phone or computer. Perhaps the simplest—if the priciest—option is to send your tapes out to a service to convert them for you. These services take recordings of virtually any format—from 8mm tape to 8mm film—and send them back to you as digital files. That way, you don't have to worry about doing any of the work yourself. While that might work for some, there are two reasons I'm not a huge fan of this option. First, it isn't really an option if you frequently shoot new footage, since you'll need to continuously send these companies your tapes and wait for them to get back to you. They're really set up for families sending in all their old home videos at once, which is my second gripe: I really don't trust another company (or the mail) to handle my family's irreplaceable home videos. In any case, it isn't quite as challenging as it sounds to get footages from your tapes onto your computer to do whatever you want with them, but it will take some elbow grease—and what's involved may vary based on your camcorder and setup. YouTuber Audrie Storme has a great walkthrough for the process, which should apply to most situations you'll run into. In summary, you'll need: A capture card (something like this) that connects your camcorder directly to your computer. Capture software—Storme recommends OBS, as it's free—which will be doing the converting for you. The settings you'll use will be case dependent—Storme uses Mini DV, but you'll use different settings if you're converting, say, 8mm—so I'd look into OBS forums for your specific setup. Once you're connected, you're ready to record for posterity. Since these are tapes, that means letting the footage roll in real time. So sit back, relax, and watch your "modern" '90s-style clips unspool. Oh, and one final piece of advice: If your tapes have the option, make sure to flip the switch from "Rec" to "Save." That way, you won't accidentally record over any of your footage. View the full article

Attack at electricity and desalination facility marks latest escalation in Gulf war launched by US and IsraelView the full article