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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. An ultra-wide curved gaming monitor with ridiculous specs is every gamer's dream, but they (usually) don't come cheap. The 57-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, one of the best ultra-wide gaming monitors on the market, is currently on sale for $1,499.99 (originally $2,499.99 at launch)—that's its best discount this year, according to price-checking tools. Samsung 57" Odyssey Neo G9 Series Dual 4K UHD 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor, 240Hz, 1ms with DisplayPort 2.1, Quantum Mini-LED. $1,499.99 at Amazon $2,299.99 Save $800.00 Get Deal Get Deal $1,499.99 at Amazon $2,299.99 Save $800.00 The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Series is not a regular ultra-wide gaming monitor. It has impressive specs, but you'll need a top-notch gaming computer with specific outputs to take full advantage of its 240Hz refresh rate potential. This monitor came out in 2023 with an "excellent" review from PCMag, mainly due to its impressive 7,680 by 2,160 4K native resolution, the ridiculous 57-inch screen size, its great color range and accuracy, the 240Hz refresh rate, and its design. The VA panel also means you get a bright 1,000-nit screen. To make full use of its powerful 240Hz refresh rate, you'll need to use a DisplayPort 2.1, or you'll be limited to 120Hz. You'll also need a powerful modern graphics card that is able to push the frames at a native resolution to max out the monitor's potential. Although it is pricey, this monitor is a great value for the right gamer. You'll need plenty of space to fit a 57-inch screen, as well as a powerful computer to justify using the monitor—if you're not a competitive gamer with a powerful computer, it's probably not worth the price tag. Instead, consider this Asus gaming monitor going for $337.99 (originally $499) right now. Our Best Editor-Vetted Presidents' Day Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $139.99 (List Price $179.00) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones — $229.00 (List Price $349.00) Dell 16 DC16255 (AMD Ryzen 7 250, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, 2K Display) — $649.99 (List Price $869.99) HP Omen 35L (Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, RTX 5080, 2TB SSD, 64GB RAM) — (List Price $3,099.99 With Code "PRESDAYPC100") HP OmniBook X Flip Ngai 16-Inch (AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, Radeon 860M, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, 2K Display) — (List Price $649.99 With Code "PRESDAYPC50") Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

For weeks, corporate leaders across the country largely stayed silent as immigration officers descended on the city of Minneapolis, eventually killing two civilians. In recent days, however, CEOs and prominent tech figures have slowly raised their voices in protest—though many of them have been careful not to mention President The President by name or directly criticize ICE agents. Over 60 CEOs from Minnesota-based companies—including the likes of Target and 3M—called for “an immediate deescalation of tensions” in a letter on January 25. In leaked comments, tech leaders like Sam Altman and Tim Cook claimed to have spoken to The President, while Altman noted that “what’s happening with ICE is going too far.” In a recent editorial in the San Francisco Standard, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman called on fellow tech executives to speak out against the The President administration rather than remaining neutral. “January’s tragic events in Minneapolis should end that posture,” he wrote. “We leaders in tech and business have power—economic, social, platform power—and sitting on that power right now is not good business.” Many of the statements from CEOs have faced criticism for not being forceful enough, and tech workers have urged their employers to use their influence to put pressure on the White House. Still, any kind of public comment from corporate leaders represents a shift from the defensive crouch many of them have taken since The President took office, due to fears that they would be targeted by the administration. Fast Company spoke to Ike Silver, a marketing professor at the USC Marshall School of Business, about what to make of business leaders wading into this issue—and why even a muted corporate response indicates the tides may be turning across corporate America. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Fast Company: How would you characterize the corporate activism we’ve seen from companies under the The President administration? Ike Silver: For a long time, the general status quo marketing strategy advice was: Avoid political issues. Over the course of the last 20 years or so, that landscape has shifted such that consumers demand to know more about where companies stand. People can question businesses, and that sort of thing can go viral. But there have been these shifting market-based incentives for companies to get involved—at least up until November 2024. At that point, there was a shift, and I would attribute that shift to two things: One is that the The President administration has been very vocal and active, both in signaling that it would not tolerate companies that took a political stance it did not agree with, but also actually going through with various executive actions to make life for businesses who speak out more difficult in various ways. We’ve seen things as simple as The President getting on Truth Social and just trashing a company and calling on his followers to boycott, all the way to threats to use the FCC in various ways to block corporate actions. So to my eye, what we’re seeing from business leaders is keeping their fiduciary commitments in mind and being more reticent to respond to consumer demands out of fear of being targeted by the current administration. That kind of targeting can have very real economic costs for companies. The other thing that’s worth mentioning is that The President’s election, I think, signaled a shift in the perceptions of the national mood—it wouldn’t surprise me at all if business leaders looked at The President’s election and thought, well, the tides are moving against some of these liberal causes that we’ve previously taken sides on. So it’s not just threats from the administration, but it’s also a perception that maybe there is less consumer appetite for companies to take sides. There is some research suggesting that, as a general rule, conservatives are a bit less enthusiastic about companies taking political sides, even their side. Liberals tend to demand that companies get involved to a greater extent. We’ve now seen a number of CEOs and business leaders speak out about what’s happening in Minnesota, though some of them have faced criticism for being too neutral. Is this a shift companies have made since The President took office? I think the devastating carnage that we’re seeing out of Minneapolis has spurred some CEOs to speak out. There are CEOs of AI companies coming out and saying, “I tend to be very moderate, but what I’m seeing is very disturbing to me.” And every little statement of that sort kind of adds up and creates a sense that companies are a bit more willing than they’ve been to speak out. Because there are more doing it—and they’re not immediately facing direct punishment from the government—that creates even more safety. Why do you think we’re seeing corporate leaders comment at all on this issue, given the political environment? Public opinion on this issue is much clearer. A big part of what companies do when they decide whether or not to get involved in these issues is thinking about: What percentage of my target market is going to align with what I’m saying, and what percentage of my target market is going to oppose what I’m saying? The combination of outcry on social media, days of activism across the country, the visibility of the protests, the unpopularity of ICE in the wake of some of the videos that we’ve seen coming out of Minneapolis—all of those factors combine to give business leaders the sense that the consumer market will be amenable to them getting involved in this kind of issue. This isn’t going to be Bud Light with Dylan Mulvaney, where half the people respond positively, but half the people respond super negatively. This is the kind of issue where there is a bit more national consensus, at least insofar as people are concerned about the specific tactics that ICE is using for enforcement. It is true that the executive branch is quite powerful, but they still have to admonish companies one by one for this kind of action. If thousands of CEOs are speaking out, the likelihood that any one will be punished is lower. If one actor pokes their head up and says something, then the government can kind of squash that. But it’s much harder to do that when it feels more like the whole business community is taking a stand. Do you think companies feel a moral imperative to speak out about ICE’s actions—that they’re treating this any differently than other political issues? A question that is really hard to answer from the outside is whether any given business leader is speaking out because of their own conscience or because of market forces. My personal perspective is that business leaders typically want to do both. When opinion polling clearly shows that people are against what ICE is doing, CEOs who might already have had reservations about the The President administration’s actions, but who might have felt it would be costly for them to speak out, now have cover to come forward and make a business case for the company taking a stand in some way. You can’t go to your stakeholders and shareholders and say, ‘The government is against us, and it’s not clear if consumers want us to, but my conscience says we have to speak out on this thing at any cost.’ But if you are the kind of CEO who wants to speak your mind, who wants to be able to behave in line with your moral compass, then the fact that the national environment seems to be amenable to that at the moment, can provide cover. That’s not to say that every business leader is doing this for conscience reasons, but given that there are still salient costs and that many CEOs tend to be risk averse at baseline, I think there’s probably a lot of speaking conscience going on right now. How much value is there in corporate leaders speaking out later, once they feel as though the environment is more amenable to it? As more companies come forward, consumers become aware that it’s reasonable to expect companies to come forward, and they start to penalize companies that don’t. The other aspect of this is that if you are late to the party, you’re typically seen as less authentic in your support. I happen to think that we want to have business environments in which companies are encouraged to come forward—that even if you’re late to the party, it’s better that you sort of come forward and stand up for your morals than not. But there’s a consumer skepticism that goes with that. I’m working on a paper that basically argues that for any social purpose activity to go well, the company needs to choose a cause that consumers are aligned with, and they need to communicate an authentic commitment to it. In 2020, there was a lot of public pressure on companies to speak out after George Floyd’s murder. Many of them made bold commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion and then quietly divested from that work, as we have seen more recently. Do you think this moment is different? I don’t think that it is reasonable to expect that companies will devote all of their resources to fighting every political battle consistently forever. I think what’s important is for consumers who care about issues to help create an environment in which companies are incentivized to get involved—so consistently rewarding companies who do things in line with our values, and trying to move away from spending our money with companies who do things that contravene our values. We’re obviously in an employer’s market right now. Do companies care as much right now about demands from their workforce to speak out on political issues? Companies are somewhat less concerned about this now, in an environment in which employees have fewer outside options. That also relates to the general health of the economy and the rise of AI. There are a number of companies who may legitimately be thinking, if some folks leave because of this, we won’t show up on the cover of The Wall Street Journal over layoffs. As a general rule, it’s harder for employees to leave than it is for customers to leave, so I tend to think that companies are a bit more responsive to the consumer landscape than to the employee landscape. That said, there are some companies who position themselves as being sort of explicitly moral, and those kinds of companies attract people who care about that a lot as employees. I’m thinking about Patagonia, or Ben and Jerry’s, or National Geographic. It also matters a lot what the political makeup of the employee base is. If you’re a large multinational company and you have employees on either side, maybe you’re thinking, our involvement will galvanize some but alienate others, so let’s just stay out of it—even if there are swaths of employees asking us to speak out. In this particular case, the public opinion data suggests that people are quite angry, so companies are in this position to be able to satisfy a lot of different stakeholders. This week, the The President administration pulled hundreds of ICE officers out of Minnesota. Do you think the statements from corporate leaders had any bearing on that decision? And do you expect to see more companies speak out now? Although the administration is quite powerful, they are not at all immune from the costs of contravening public sentiment. The midterms are coming. The President will not be in power forever. If you look at senators and Congress people from more moderate districts, they are speaking out. One thing that’s interesting is that in many cases, these companies are speaking out in the absence of any particular boycotts or consumer pressure on their own brand. There are definitely signals that there is broad consumer sentiment in favor of taking a stand against ICE. But it’s not as if many of these companies speaking out are themselves facing targeted, economically costly boycotts—which I think speaks in favor of the idea that business leaders do care about this issue. Business leaders are people, too. They also don’t like seeing Americans gunned down in the streets. The less you think that a company is in the public eye and expected to speak out about this thing, the more you should kind of assume that when they do speak out, they’re doing it for some moral reasons. Unfortunately, we can’t put a secret camera in these boardrooms that would tell us definitively why companies are doing this. But I generally think it’s a mix of these things. There are market forces, and then there’s also the moral compasses of these CEOs—which are sometimes faulty, but not non-existent. View the full article

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates. Existing home sales sank 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years. Sales fell 4.4% compared with January last year. The latest sales figure fell short of the 4.105 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. “The decrease in sales is disappointing,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month’s numbers are an aberration.” Home sales slowed sharply across the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. But sales had their biggest annual and monthly drop in the West, which wasn’t as affected by last month’s winter storm as the other regions of the country. Plus, there’s usually a month or two lag between a contract signing and when the sale is finalized, so many of January’s sales reflect contracts signed late last year. Despite the sharp drop in sales, home prices continued to climb last month. The national median sales price increased 0.9% in January from a year earlier to $396,800. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 31 months in a row. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. The combination of higher mortgage rates, years of skyrocketing home prices and a chronic shortage of homes nationally following more than a decade of below-average home construction have left many aspiring homeowners priced out of the market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows. Sales have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace now going back to 2023. That’s well short of the 5.2-million annual pace that’s historically been the norm. Still, mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, which helped give home sales a boost in December and brightened the outlook for the upcoming spring home-buying season — at least for home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates. Many of the homes purchased last month likely went under contract in November and December, when mortgage rates eased to their lowest levels of the year. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly dropped last month to 6.06%, the lowest level since September 2022, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. It has since inched higher, remaining this week at just above 6%, but close to a percentage point lower than a year ago. Even so, affordability remains a challenge for many aspiring homeowners, especially first-time buyers who don’t have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase. They accounted for 31% of homes sales last month. Historically, they made up 40% of home sales. “Today we have minimal foreclosures, housing wealth continues to build out, it’s just that renters who want to become homeowners are finding difficulty,” Yun said. Uncertainty over the job market is also likely keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines. While the economy has been registering solid growth, the labor market has been sluggish for months. U.S. job openings fell in December to the lowest level in more than five years. And while hiring by U.S. employers was surprisingly strong in January, government revisions reduced the number of jobs created last year to the weakest total since 2020, when the pandemic began. The sales slowdown means more homes are staying on the market longer. There were 1.22 million unsold homes at the end of January, down 0.8% from December and up 3.4% from January last year, NAR said. That’s still well short of the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic. January’s month-end inventory translates to a 3.7-month supply at the current sales pace. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers. More homes traditionally go on the market ahead of the spring home-buying season, which could give prospective buyers a wider selection. “Buyers will find a more favorable market as we head into spring,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “More inventory, lower rates and slower price growth will give buyers more room for negotiation.” —Alex Veiga, AP business writer View the full article

In late 2025, Interpol coordinated a global operation across 134 nations, seizing roughly 30,000 live animals, confiscating illegal plant and timber products, and identifying about 1,100 suspected wildlife traffickers for national police to investigate. Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit industries worldwide. It nets between US$7 billion and $23 billion per year, according to the Global Environment Facility, a group of nearly 200 nations as well as businesses and nonprofits that fund environmental improvement and protection projects. People buy and sell a wide range of items, including live animals, plant powders and oils, ivory carvings, and musical instruments. Historically, enforcement has been largely reactive. There is so much global trade that fewer than 1 in 10 international cargo shipments of any kind are physically inspected. Traffickers also avoid detection by using false or generic names instead of proper species identification, employing coded language in online listings, rerouting shipments, and shifting to different messaging platforms when enforcement pressure increases. Emerging digital tools are helping authorities link online monitoring, legal reference tools, and on-the-ground investigations. As a researcher at the University of Florida working at the intersection of conservation science and applied technology, I observed these advancements firsthand at an international meeting of governments and partner organizations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, often known by its acronym, CITES. This treaty—the cornerstone for international regulation of trade in endangered plants and animals—is enforced by national customs and wildlife agencies. AI and digital tools for inspection A huge challenge for officials seeking to prevent wildlife trafficking is knowing where to look—and then figuring out what they’ve found. Cargo screening: Advanced X-ray screeners, similar to those used in airport security but designed for cargo, are being paired with software that helps spot unusual shapes or materials inside packages. Trials conducted at major ports and mail processing centers in Australia have detected animals concealed in various kinds of shipments. The software does not identify species but highlights anomalies, helping inspectors decide which packages deserve closer inspection. Assisted identification: A software program supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences uses artificial intelligence to help identify the species of animals or animal parts found in shipments. Inspectors can use chatbot-style interfaces to describe what they have found to a system trained on technical documents with detailed descriptions of a wide range of species. This type of work can help inspectors tell the difference between closely related species whose legal protections differ. For example, trade of African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is strictly regulated. There are different, often less stringent protections for similar-looking species, such as the Timneh parrot (Psittacus timneh) and the brown-necked parrot (Poicephalus fuscicollis). Portable DNA testing: Enforcement efforts don’t always happen in offices and labs. One company aims to provide small, handheld kits that can detect up to five species in about 20 or 30 minutes without needing traditional lab equipment. The kits show their results on a simple strip that changes color when the DNA of a particular species appears in a sample. Conceptually, it’s similar to a pregnancy test, which changes color when a hormone is detected. Timber identification: Handheld scanners use software to quickly identify timber species by examining the internal cellular structure of the wood. This can help to distinguish protected hardwoods from legal alternatives in regions where illegal logging is widespread, such as South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Background research and risk profiling Even before wildlife-related items appear at national borders, there can be signs of illegal trafficking that technology can help identify. Monitoring online trade: Large volumes of wildlife trafficking now occur through online transactions. To avoid detection, sellers often use vague descriptions or coded language, such as listings that omit species names entirely or use emojis instead of words. Others hide key details in images or brief text that say little about what is being sold, even just showing a photo with no description. Anti-trafficking organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund collaborate with tech companies to scan online listings using AI and content moderation tools. Between 2018 and 2023, the tech companies blocked or removed more than 23 million listings and accounts related to protected species, including live reptiles, birds, and primates, and elephant products. Early warnings from paperwork: Shipping documents often provide early warning signs of illegal trade. Wildlife enforcement officers, transport sector personnel, government tax officers, and others are using new software tools to analyze millions of manifests and permits, looking for species names that aren’t usually traded on particular routes; shipments that are unusually heavy or underpriced; and complex routing through multiple transit countries. Instead of inspecting shipments at random, these systems help enforcement agencies identify the consignments most likely to contain illegal materials. Navigating wildlife trade laws: Enforcement officers have to navigate vast legal complexity. New tools seek to compile laws from multiple countries, helping inspectors understand regulations across export, transit, and destination nations. Using trade data to identify other species to monitor: Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a method that uses wildlife trade records to identify thousands of highly vulnerable endangered species that could benefit from stricter international trade protections and stronger law enforcement to limit exploitation. Taken together, these devices and systems extend—but do not replace—human expertise. They help officers decide which shipments or sites to focus on, identify what they find, and share information internationally. No single technology will end wildlife trafficking, but these digital tools can enable a shift from reactive enforcement toward proactive, coordinated action, helping authorities keep pace with adaptive criminal networks. Eve Bohnett is an assistant research scholar at the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning at the University of Florida. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Estée Lauder has accused Walmart of selling counterfeit beauty goods on its website in a lawsuit filed in California federal court earlier this week that namechecks celebrities including Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. The New York-based beauty giant is taking the big-box retailer to court on grounds of trademark infringement after purchasing, inspecting, and testing products and determining they weren’t actually made by its eponymous brand, along with others that it owns: Le Labo, La Mer, Clinique, Aveda, and Tom Ford. The lawyers for Estée Lauder didn’t hold back, either, shaming Walmart for its business practices. “The conduct herein complained of was extreme, outrageous, fraudulent, and was inflicted on plaintiffs in reckless disregard of plaintiffs’ rights,” the lawsuit reads, in part. “Said conduct was despicable and harmful to plaintiffs and as such supports an award of exemplary and punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish and make an example of defendants and to deter them from similar such conduct in the future.” The lawsuit goes into detail about the specific products owned by brands under the Estée Lauder umbrella that it deemed counterfeit, including a fragrance from the Le Labo brand, La Mer moisturizer, Clinique eye cream, an Aveda hair brush, and several Tom Ford fragrances. Searches on Walmart.com still generate results for the products that the lawsuit claims are “identical, substantially indistinguishable, or confusingly similar” to the trademarks for the Estée Lauder-owned brands. A 1-ounce jar of Crème de la Mer moisturizer that retails on La Mer’s website for $200, for example, is still available for purchase on Walmart’s website for as little as $146.35 though reviewers for similar products have raised the possibility that they’re counterfeits. ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ After the lawsuit dropped, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer initially issued a longer statement to some media outliers, including CNBC, that mentioned it doesn’t tolerate “bad actors” on its platform. However, it later shortened the statement to the following, which it issued to Fast Company: “We are aware of the complaint and have zero tolerance for counterfeit products. We will respond appropriately with the court when we are served.” “We are aware of the complaint and have zero tolerance for counterfeit products,” the revised statement read. “We will respond appropriately with the court when we are served.” In September, CNBC published a lengthy investigation about how Walmart’s embrace of third-party sellers on its online marketplace resulted in its seller and product vetting becoming more lax with time, resulting in products later confirmed to be counterfeit. ESTÉE LAUDER ALSO UNDER FIRE Estée Lauder hasn’t exactly been immune to criticism lately. A grassroots effort emerged on social media last month urging people to boycott Estee Lauder products. That came after The Guardian reported in detail last month that President Donald The President was keen for the U.S. to acquire Greenland on the urging of a longtime associate, Ronald Lauder, heir to the founder of the beauty brand’s namesake. One such post on the r/MakeupAddiction subreddit urging people to boycott the company’s many brands has received 7,100 upvotes and more than 650 comments. Estée Lauder didn’t immediately respond to a request from Fast Company for a comment regarding the lawsuit nor the calls for a boycott of its brands. ROSE PRICK VS PICKY ROSE In the case of the Tom Ford fragrances the lawsuit identified “copycat versions” of five, private blend products that it said are “very likely to cause confusion for consumers” given the similar-looking bottles and names to originals. Instead of Tom Ford’s “Rose Prick” fragrance, for example, shoppers on Walmart can snag a bottle of “Picky Rose.” Other fragrances cited include “Intense Peach,” what’s alleged to be a knockoff of Tom Ford’s “Bitter Peach” fragrance. The knockoffs are still available for purchase on Walmart’s website—and for a fraction of the price. For example, Tom Ford sells a 50-millimeter bottle of its “Rose Prick” fragrance for $405. A larger, 80-milimeter bottle of “Picky Rose” is available on Walmart.com for $21.34. CELEBRITY FACTOR Blakely Law Group, which is representing Estée Lauder, specializes in intellectual property law and has previously represented a variety of plaintiffs, including Paris Hilton, who reached an undisclosed settlement with Hallmark in 2010 after the greeting card company used her “that’s hot” catchphrase. In the lawsuit against Walmart, the lawyers mentioned the celebrity factor for only one of its brands. The lawsuit cites Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, and Gracie Abrams as examples of a “myriad” of celebrities that wear La Labo fragrances, while noting that Beyoncé was shown burning two Le Labo candles in her 2016 visual album Lemonade. The lawsuit doesn’t appear to be a factor for investors at this point. Shares of Walmart have risen more than 1% since last Friday’s close as of mid-day Thursday, while shares of Estée Lauder have surged nearly 9% during that time. View the full article

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Mark Crowley on being passionately curious: “Something insidious often happens when people become adults. We become almost anti-curious. One big reason for this is that our human egos prefer to feel knowledgeable and successful at all times. Not wanting to feel vulnerable to anything unknown or in flux, our minds silence otherwise solid reasons to seek new methods, approaches, or skills. ‘You’re already doing great,’ our egos assure us. ‘There’s no need to invest time and energy in anything new.’” Source: The Power of Employee Well-Being: Move Beyond Engagement to Build Flourishing Teams II. Todd Henry on knowing yourself: “The stories we believe about how the world works often play a critical role in helping us interpret the meaning of events. It’s important that we gain an understanding of not only what those deeply held beliefs are, but also how they might be affecting our daily activity. Doing so, and then mapping our activity around that self-knowledge, is one of the keys to sustained success.” Source: Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, issued a “do not drive” warning for certain late-model vehicles, telling drivers not to use their vehicles until defective air bags are replaced, according to a notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This stop-drive directive was issued for 225,000 U.S. vehicles from 2003 to 2016 that contain the “defective, deadly” Takata airbag inflators, and is part of a larger, ongoing recall. More than 67 million Takata air bags have been recalled in tens of millions of vehicles across U.S. “Over time, the chemical propellant inside certain Takata inflators can degrade, particularly in hot and humid conditions, increasing the risk of rupture during airbag deployment and the potential for metal fragments to enter the vehicle cabin,” Frank Matyok, a spokesperson for Stellantis, tells Fast Company. Such explosions have caused injuries and death, according to the NHTSA which confirmed 28 people in the U.S. have died as a result of the defective airbag exploding; and injured at least another 400 people. Older vehicles pose a higher risk, as they are more likely to explode. Meanwhile, a separate group of defective Takata air bags were recalled in late 2019 which involve non-azide driver inflators. Which vehicles are being recalled? Stellantis tells Fast Company the affected vehicles are the following: 2003–2016 Dodge Ram pickup trucks and Dodge Sprinter vans 2004–2009 Dodge Durango SUVs 2005–2012 Dodge Dakota pickup trucks 2005–2008 Dodge Magnum station wagons 2006–2015 Dodge Charger sedans 2007–2009 Chrysler Aspen SUVs 2007–2008 Chrysler Crossfire coupes 2008–2014 Dodge Challenger coupes 2005–2015 Chrysler 300 sedans 2007–2016 Jeep Wrangler SUVs What should I do if I own one of the recalled vehicles? A spokesperson for Stellantis tells Fast Company it will fix the vehicles free of charge, and began notifying affected customers earlier this week on February 9. Drivers can also find out if their vehicles are affected by this recall by contacting Stellantis’ customer service hotline toll-free at 833-585-0144, or by entering their 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN) at the NHTSA.gov website. View the full article

As global shipping dynamics shift, small business owners caught in the oil supply chain must pay attention to recent fluctuations in tanker rates that could impact their operational costs. According to a recent analysis, shipping rates for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Suezmax tankers reached multi-year highs at the end of 2025 before experiencing a decline in early 2026. Understanding these changes can provide crucial insights for small businesses involved in industries relying on crude oil and its derivatives. At the heart of the recent changes in shipping rates are increased demand for crude oil, especially from East Asian markets. These factors contributed to limited vessel availability, pushing rates up significantly before dipping again as demand seasonal factors kicked in. The spike in rates reflects a broader trend: in November 2025, VLCC rates for journeys departing from the Persian Gulf were the highest seen since summer 2020. The significance of these fluctuations cannot be overstated. “VLCCs can carry up to 2.2 million barrels of crude oil, typically for long-haul routes,” said Josh Eiermann, the principal contributor to the analysis. For small business owners involved in importing or transporting oil, these rate changes can affect everything from budgeting and forecasting to pricing strategies. The analysis found that in November 2025, VLCC rates to the U.S. Gulf Coast skyrocketed by 118% year-over-year, while routes to Asia rose by 139%. This increase was largely driven by countries like China and India ramping up their crude oil inventories in anticipation of winter needs, further compressing the market for available tankers. While the initial spike in shipping costs can be challenging, it also presents opportunities for small businesses positioned to adapt. For example, businesses engaged in fuel sales or distribution may need to reassess their pricing models. Higher shipping costs could necessitate adjustments in retail pricing or supply chain negotiations. Suezmax tankers, which carry about 1 million barrels, saw their rates increase as well, spurred by the rising VLCC rates. Notably, demand for oil from Europe, particularly due to decreased Russian imports following sanctions, has heightened the need for tanker voyages from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Rates from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Europe surged by 107% year-over-year. As the market shifts, small businesses should also consider the operational implications tied to these changes. For instance, companies relying on imported crude will need to account for varying shipping rates in their budgets, potentially leading them to seek alternative supply routes or sources. However, challenges remain. At the start of 2026, VLCC rates declined sharply—down 43% for routes from the Persian Gulf to Asia and 55% for those to the U.S. Gulf Coast. This decline, attributed to seasonal fluctuations, means that businesses will have to remain vigilant. What goes up can come down, and understanding the trends can be crucial for maintaining both competitiveness and profitability. Small business owners must evaluate their contracts and logistics strategies regularly, particularly in light of sanctions against Russia, which have shifted import patterns. India’s reduced reliance on Russian crude oil has increased its intake from the Persian Gulf, further tightening the shipping market. Businesses that adapt quickly to these changes could find themselves in a better position to navigate the next market upswing. The oil shipping landscape may remain volatile, but by staying informed about tanker rates and global demand, small business owners can strategically plan for the future. Regularly monitoring these trends can not only fortify their current operations but also set the stage for future growth. The complete analysis can be accessed here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Crude Oil Tanker Rates Soar and Then Decline as Market Shifts" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As global shipping dynamics shift, small business owners caught in the oil supply chain must pay attention to recent fluctuations in tanker rates that could impact their operational costs. According to a recent analysis, shipping rates for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Suezmax tankers reached multi-year highs at the end of 2025 before experiencing a decline in early 2026. Understanding these changes can provide crucial insights for small businesses involved in industries relying on crude oil and its derivatives. At the heart of the recent changes in shipping rates are increased demand for crude oil, especially from East Asian markets. These factors contributed to limited vessel availability, pushing rates up significantly before dipping again as demand seasonal factors kicked in. The spike in rates reflects a broader trend: in November 2025, VLCC rates for journeys departing from the Persian Gulf were the highest seen since summer 2020. The significance of these fluctuations cannot be overstated. “VLCCs can carry up to 2.2 million barrels of crude oil, typically for long-haul routes,” said Josh Eiermann, the principal contributor to the analysis. For small business owners involved in importing or transporting oil, these rate changes can affect everything from budgeting and forecasting to pricing strategies. The analysis found that in November 2025, VLCC rates to the U.S. Gulf Coast skyrocketed by 118% year-over-year, while routes to Asia rose by 139%. This increase was largely driven by countries like China and India ramping up their crude oil inventories in anticipation of winter needs, further compressing the market for available tankers. While the initial spike in shipping costs can be challenging, it also presents opportunities for small businesses positioned to adapt. For example, businesses engaged in fuel sales or distribution may need to reassess their pricing models. Higher shipping costs could necessitate adjustments in retail pricing or supply chain negotiations. Suezmax tankers, which carry about 1 million barrels, saw their rates increase as well, spurred by the rising VLCC rates. Notably, demand for oil from Europe, particularly due to decreased Russian imports following sanctions, has heightened the need for tanker voyages from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Rates from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Europe surged by 107% year-over-year. As the market shifts, small businesses should also consider the operational implications tied to these changes. For instance, companies relying on imported crude will need to account for varying shipping rates in their budgets, potentially leading them to seek alternative supply routes or sources. However, challenges remain. At the start of 2026, VLCC rates declined sharply—down 43% for routes from the Persian Gulf to Asia and 55% for those to the U.S. Gulf Coast. This decline, attributed to seasonal fluctuations, means that businesses will have to remain vigilant. What goes up can come down, and understanding the trends can be crucial for maintaining both competitiveness and profitability. Small business owners must evaluate their contracts and logistics strategies regularly, particularly in light of sanctions against Russia, which have shifted import patterns. India’s reduced reliance on Russian crude oil has increased its intake from the Persian Gulf, further tightening the shipping market. Businesses that adapt quickly to these changes could find themselves in a better position to navigate the next market upswing. The oil shipping landscape may remain volatile, but by staying informed about tanker rates and global demand, small business owners can strategically plan for the future. Regularly monitoring these trends can not only fortify their current operations but also set the stage for future growth. The complete analysis can be accessed here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Crude Oil Tanker Rates Soar and Then Decline as Market Shifts" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Latest haul comes as it prepares for an initial public offering as early as this yearView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you're a PC gamer who's been looking into getting a Steam Deck to help you play your games on the go, then I've got some bad news for you: On Valve's official Steam Deck store page—the only place to buy new Steam Decks in the United States—every single model is sold out right now. That includes the discontinued LCD model, both versions of the Steam Deck OLED, and even refurbished options. The shortage was first spotted last night by deals hunter Wario64, who at the time noted that the Steam Deck was sold out in the U.S., but still available in other countries. Unfortunately, since then, both Tom's Hardware and Windows Central have reported that the handheld isn't available in some Asian countries either. There does still seems to be some hope for gamers in Europe, as Windows Central's Adam Hales said he could still see available stock in his native U.K., including the discontinued Steam Deck LCD. Valve has yet to comment on the sudden disappearance of the Steam Deck from its site, although I've reached out and will update this post if I hear back. Why is the Steam Deck out of stock?While Valve hasn't provided an official reason for the Steam Deck shortage, an obvious culprit is the ongoing RAM crisis, which has seen the cost for consumer memory components double or even triple as AI data centers eat up the available supply. It's possible this shortage is finally affecting the Steam Deck, although that's just speculation until Valve officially confirms it. That said, the explanation would align with a post Valve made to its blog last week, in which the company said its upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame hardware are being impacted by "memory and storage shortages." While the company didn't outright announce a delay for these devices, saying it still plans to ship them "in the first half of the year," it also noted "we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing." It's possible the situation with "limited availability and growing prices of these critical components," as Valve put it it that post, is now affecting the Steam Deck too, though there are other possible explanations. The simplest, and most hopeful, is that this is simply a minor hiccup in availability, and it will be corrected by the end of the week. Alternatively, it's possible the shortage could be related to tariffs, as while whole smartphones and computers are exempt from increased tariffs, it's unclear whether that applies to gaming devices, or to any individual components Valve might purchase to construct new Steam Decks. At any rate, we can't know for sure until we hear back from the Half-Life company itself. Perhaps slim pickings or higher prices are in the Steam Deck's future, but there's no way to know right now. What to buy instead during the Steam Deck shortageWhile we don't yet know how long the Steam Deck will stay sold out, it might be worth looking into getting a different handheld gaming PC if the situation drags on. While you can buy Steam Decks from unofficial sellers, I wouldn't advise it, as these would all be from the secondhand market. Most come with heavily marked up prices, and it's impossible to know what kind of condition your device will be in when it arrives. A more trustworthy alternative could be GameStop, as the retailer does sell its own certified refurbished Steam Decks, which are cleaned up in a separate process from Valve's. Unfortunately, these are also out of stock at the moment. Instead, I would suggest looking at alternatives like the Lenovo Legion Go S, which starts at $600, is slightly more powerful than the Steam Deck, has a higher resolution screen, and in an official partnership with Valve, comes equipped with the same operating system as the Steam Deck. (I actually prefer the Legion Go S to the Steam Deck myself.) If you've got cash to burn, you could look at a premium upgrade. The obvious ones here are the Lenovo Legion Go 2, which ups the power and packs a gorgeous OLED screen; and the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, which may be more welcoming to console gamers. (That said, the Xbox handheld's software wasn't quite there yet, at least when I reviewed it). Whatever your choice, you have no shortage of options for PC gaming handhelds to keep you occupied while you wait for the Steam Deck to come back in stock. Gamers will always find a way to play. View the full article

A reader writes: I was offered a job last week, which was going to require a 2.5-hour move. I accepted as it’s a field I love and a company ownership I had worked for previously, just not at this location. Yesterday the job fell through because the expected job salary budget didn’t come through. At all. I had been waiting on paperwork to 100% make my hiring official. I even had a start date, which had been reiterated last week when they were waiting for the national leadership to send over the papers. I am lucky that I was able to reverse my resignation at my current job. I’m also lucky that I figure I’m only out about $100. I had applied for and been accepted for an apartment but hadn’t signed a lease or even set up a moving truck. Since I am not out much, I am naturally going to move on and merely grouse about the experience (they only let me know with a single text that the position was canceled!). But could I have had any recourse had I been out more money? Oh no. As a general rule, it’s best never to give notice at your existing job until the new job is 100% official, meaning that any paperwork has been signed and all contingencies are removed. Even then, something like this can still happen, but waiting lowers the risk of it. As for legal recourse if you had been out more money or if you had actually moved: in most states you wouldn’t have legal recourse unless you could show the employer had operated with deliberately fraudulent intent. There is a legal concept called “detrimental reliance,” where you would argue that you had relied on their offer to your detriment. Generally, though, courts mostly haven’t sided with those claims (largely because since employment is at-will, you also could have been fired on your first day without legal resource). That said, if you ever were in a situation where you were out a significant sum of money — or if you had already moved — it could be useful to talk with an employment lawyer to get their take. An additional option you’d have in that situation would be to tell the employer that you’d relied on their offer and start date in good faith and lost $X as a result, and ask them to make it right. Their offer might have used language that would protect them from any legal obligation to make you whole (especially if it was clear things were not yet finalized), but it would be reasonable to try. The post my job offer fell through after I’d already resigned (and when I was about to move) appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Conflict is an unavoidable part of any team dynamic, and managing it effectively is vital for maintaining productivity and morale. By implementing strategies like open communication and active listening, you can create a framework that encourages collaboration. Comprehending emotions and establishing clear behavior standards can further improve team interactions. Ready to explore practical tips that can transform how you handle conflicts? Let’s uncover the fundamental steps you can take to cultivate a more harmonious environment. Key Takeaways Practice active listening by fully concentrating on the speaker, validating their feelings, and paraphrasing to show understanding. Use “I” statements to express your feelings without placing blame, fostering open communication. Focus on shared goals to promote collaboration and align interests for a win-win outcome. Embrace forgiveness to let go of past grievances and create a supportive environment for open dialogue. Follow up after conflicts to reinforce commitment, address lingering issues, and maintain a positive team dynamic. Understand the Importance of Conflict Resolution Conflict resolution is a critical skill in any workplace, and comprehending its importance can greatly impact your organization’s success. Recognizing the classes of conflict—task, relationship, and value—helps you identify the three types of conflict that may arise among team members. Addressing these conflicts is fundamental, as unresolved issues can cost American businesses approximately $359 billion annually, leading to decreased productivity and high employee turnover. To face conflict effectively, you need to create a healthy environment where open dialogue is encouraged. Leaders play a crucial role by guiding teams through disputes, transforming conflicts into opportunities for growth and innovation. Prioritize Open Communication Creating an environment that encourages open communication is vital for effectively resolving conflicts in the workplace. When team members feel free to express their perspectives and feelings, misunderstandings can be minimized, reducing tensions. It’s important to recognize that 70% of conflicts stem from poor communication. To promote open communication, consider these strategies: Use “I” statements to express feelings without placing blame. Provide regular updates to guarantee transparency and build trust. Encourage team members to share their thoughts openly. Understanding what’re 2 types of conflict—interpersonal and intrapersonal—can help you address issues more effectively. Interpersonal conflicts arise between individuals, whereas intrapersonal conflicts occur within a person. By prioritizing open communication, you can create a more collaborative atmosphere, making it easier to resolve conflicts amicably and maintain a positive work culture. Practice Active Listening Even though misunderstandings can escalate tensions in a workplace, practicing active listening can greatly ease these situations. This technique involves fully concentrating on the speaker, validating their feelings, and demonstrating comprehension, which can considerably reduce conflicts. Studies show that effective active listening can lead to a 60% improvement in resolving workplace issues. Active Listening Techniques Benefits Paraphrasing Shows comprehension and validation Open-ended questions Encourages dialogue and trust Calm tone and body language Reduces emotional intensity Approach Conflicts With Empathy When you approach conflicts with empathy, you’re more likely to create a constructive atmosphere for resolution. Recognizing and validating the emotions of others can greatly reduce tension and encourage cooperation. Effective communication is essential; using “I” statements allows you to express feelings without blame, promoting comprehension and reducing defensiveness. By addressing underlying feelings, empathy helps de-escalate conflicts and build trust for future interactions. Here are some key aspects to reflect on: Listen actively: Pay attention to what the other person is saying, showing that their feelings matter. Acknowledge emotions: Validate the emotions of others to create a sense of comprehension and safety. Enhance emotional intelligence: Training in empathetic communication can improve your conflict navigation skills. Implementing these strategies can lead to improved morale and a healthier organizational culture, benefiting both personal relationships and overall performance. Establish a Framework for Acceptable Behavior To effectively manage conflicts, you need to establish a framework for acceptable behavior within your team. Start by defining clear standards for conduct, which should include guidelines for communication, collaboration, and respect. Encouraging open communication channels and setting up conflict resolution procedures will help everyone understand their responsibilities and the boundaries that contribute to a positive work environment. Define Acceptable Behavior Standards Establishing acceptable behavior standards is crucial for creating a respectful and productive workplace. Clear standards guide interactions and help prevent conflicts from arising, nurturing a harmonious environment. Involving employees in developing these standards promotes accountability and commitment. Here are key points to reflect on: Define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors: Clear examples clarify expectations for team members. Communicate regularly: Reinforce standards to mitigate misunderstandings and reduce conflict likelihood. Monitor adherence: Address violations swiftly to emphasize the importance of maintaining a respectful culture. Encourage Open Communication Channels Open communication channels are vital for nurturing a workplace environment where concerns and disagreements can be addressed without fear of escalation. Establishing clear communication protocols helps prevent misinterpretations, which are often the root cause of conflicts. By creating a framework for acceptable behavior, you encourage employees to express their concerns openly, promoting a culture of transparency and trust. Regular updates about changes and developments can further mitigate potential conflicts, ensuring everyone remains informed and aligned. Implementing a clear chain of command streamlines communication, enabling swift conflict resolution and minimizing escalation risks. Moreover, promoting a service-oriented mindset among team members improves collaboration and comprehension, allowing for more effective handling of disputes when they arise. Establish Conflict Resolution Procedures Creating a clear framework for acceptable behavior is essential in establishing effective conflict resolution procedures within your organization. By defining acceptable behaviors and outlining resolution steps, you can empower employees to address issues proactively, which lowers the potential for escalation. This transparency guarantees everyone feels heard and valued, enhancing morale and productivity. Cultivate a common comprehension among team members to reduce misunderstandings. Implement regular training on conflict resolution procedures to equip employees with necessary skills. Create structured processes that save your organization significant costs related to unresolved conflicts. Address Issues Promptly to Prevent Escalation When conflicts arise in the workplace, addressing them swiftly can greatly prevent escalation and the negative consequences that follow. Ignoring these issues can lead to a toxic environment, where 53% of employees may avoid confrontation, resulting in an average loss of $7,500 and over seven workdays per employee annually. By proactively tackling conflicts, you not just mitigate the staggering $359 billion annual loss businesses face because of unresolved disputes but additionally improve team cohesion. Effective conflict resolution encourages a culture of open dialogue, benefiting organizational morale. In addition, quick resolution helps maintain strong relationships among team members, contributing to a respectful atmosphere that promotes overall employee well-being. By addressing issues without delay, you create a more productive workplace, ensuring that unresolved conflicts don’t spiral out of control and hinder your team’s success. Prioritizing timely intervention is vital for cultivating a healthy work environment. Encourage Collaboration and Common Ground Addressing conflicts quickly not just prevents escalation but furthermore sets the stage for collaboration and finding common ground. By promoting a win-win approach, you can resolve disputes effectively, as seen in the Thomas-Kilmann model that highlights the importance of balancing goals and relationships. To encourage collaboration and establish common ground, consider these strategies: Identify Shared Interests: Look for common goals that unite parties rather than divide them. Engage in Open Discussions: Create an environment where all perspectives are valued, allowing for deeper exploration of issues. Build Trust Over Time: Collaborative efforts strengthen relationships, contributing to a more cohesive team dynamic. Focus on Shared Goals Focusing on shared goals during conflict resolution not just improves collaboration but also cultivates a win-win environment that can strengthen relationships among team members. When everyone emphasizes common objectives, it encourages open communication and makes finding mutually acceptable solutions easier. This approach reduces the likelihood of escalation, allowing for more effective problem-solving. Shared goals serve as a framework for negotiation, enabling individuals to align their interests and collaborate in the direction of a collective outcome rather than competing against each other. By highlighting these goals, you can greatly decrease the emotional charge of the conflict, shifting the focus from personal grievances to collaborative aspirations. This improves team cohesion and promotes an environment where employees feel they’re working towards a common purpose. Organizations that nurture a culture centered on shared goals often experience enhanced productivity and morale, as unresolved conflicts have less impact on the overall team dynamic. Be Willing to Forgive and Move Forward Being willing to forgive is essential for moving forward after a conflict, as it not only permits you to let go of past grievances, but furthermore builds trust among team members. When you embrace forgiveness, you create an environment that encourages open communication and collaboration, leading to innovative solutions and future opportunities. In the end, letting go of grudges can greatly improve both individual well-being and overall team dynamics. Importance of Letting Go Letting go of past grievances is essential for creating a harmonious and productive work environment. When you hold onto unresolved conflicts, you risk decreased morale and increased turnover, which costs American businesses $359 billion annually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg_Q34kGsKg By practicing forgiveness, you not only lighten your emotional load but also encourage collaboration among your team. This helps everyone focus on shared goals rather than lingering resentments. Embracing forgiveness can lead to: Improved interpersonal relationships, enhancing overall job satisfaction. Increased creativity and innovation as teams move past differences. Better emotional well-being, reducing stress and promoting mental health. Ultimately, moving forward from conflict paves the way for a healthier workplace culture, allowing for growth and productivity. Building Trust After Conflict After addressing past grievances, the next step involves rebuilding trust, which is often tested during conflicts. Building trust requires a commitment to forgiveness, allowing you to move forward. Engage in open dialogue about the conflict; this helps both parties express their feelings and encourages comprehension. Demonstrating accountability for your actions during the conflict is crucial, as it shows you’re willing to learn from mistakes. Follow up after resolving the conflict to reinforce the commitment to a stronger relationship, ensuring any lingering issues are swiftly addressed. Research indicates that teams effectively rebuilding trust experience increased productivity and morale, emphasizing the importance of a constructive approach to conflict resolution for a collaborative work environment. Embracing Future Opportunities When conflicts arise in the workplace, embracing the opportunity to forgive and move forward can greatly improve team dynamics and overall productivity. By promoting a culture of forgiveness, you not only boost personal well-being but additionally strengthen workplace relationships. This approach can lead to a more engaged workforce and reduce employee turnover, as many avoid toxic situations stemming from unresolved issues. Consider these benefits of embracing future opportunities: Encourages open communication: Team members feel safe sharing their perspectives. Promotes innovation: A collaborative environment leads to creative solutions. Reduces costs: Addressing conflicts can save businesses from significant financial losses. Maintain a Positive Team Dynamic Maintaining a positive team dynamic is vital for effective conflict resolution, especially since organizations face considerable financial losses from unresolved conflicts that stem from poor cohesion. To nurture this dynamic, encourage open dialogue within your team. This approach helps identify and address conflicts early, creating an environment where everyone feels safe to express differing opinions. Moreover, regular team-building activities and diversity training improve comprehension and respect among team members, reducing the likelihood of conflict. Acknowledging and validating team members’ feelings during disagreements promotes trust and collaboration, both fundamental for a healthy team environment. As a leader, model effective communication and conflict resolution strategies. Your behavior sets the tone for team interactions and greatly influences workplace culture. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the 5 C’s of Conflict? The 5 C’s of conflict management are Communication, Collaboration, Compromise, Creativity, and Control. You communicate by actively listening and using “I” statements to express your feelings, which reduces defensiveness. Collaboration involves working together to find solutions that satisfy everyone. Compromise means both parties give up something for mutual agreement. Creativity encourages innovative problem-solving. Finally, Control helps manage emotions and behaviors during conflict, ensuring a more productive resolution process. What Are the 5 Main Conflict Resolution Strategies? The five main conflict resolution strategies are avoiding, competing, accommodating, compromising, and collaborating. Avoiding works for low-stakes disagreements but often fails in important situations. Competing focuses on your goals, which can hurt relationships if overused. Accommodating prioritizes others’ needs, promoting harmony but potentially stifling creativity. Compromising finds a middle ground, whereas collaborating seeks win-win solutions, nurturing respect and engagement among all parties. Each strategy serves different contexts, so choose wisely. What Are the 5 A’s of Conflict Management? The five A’s of conflict management are: Acknowledge the conflict exists; Assess the situation by comprehending everyone’s perspective; Address the issue through open communication; Act on the agreed-upon solutions to show commitment; and Adjust your approach based on feedback and outcomes. What Are the 3 C’s of Conflict Resolution? The 3 C’s of conflict resolution are Communication, Collaboration, and Compromise. Effective Communication involves actively listening and using clear language to minimize misunderstandings. Collaboration encourages all parties to work together toward a solution that benefits everyone, cultivating trust. Compromise requires each party to concede something, allowing for a mutually acceptable agreement. Conclusion In conclusion, effectively facing conflict involves a structured approach that emphasizes communication, empathy, and collaboration. By establishing clear standards for behavior and focusing on shared goals, you can create a positive environment conducive to resolution. Active listening and expressing feelings through “I” statements further improve comprehension among team members. Remember, practicing forgiveness and maintaining trust are essential for a healthy team dynamic. Implementing these strategies can transform conflicts into opportunities for growth and improvement. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Essential Tips to Face Conflict Effectively" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Conflict is an unavoidable part of any team dynamic, and managing it effectively is vital for maintaining productivity and morale. By implementing strategies like open communication and active listening, you can create a framework that encourages collaboration. Comprehending emotions and establishing clear behavior standards can further improve team interactions. Ready to explore practical tips that can transform how you handle conflicts? Let’s uncover the fundamental steps you can take to cultivate a more harmonious environment. Key Takeaways Practice active listening by fully concentrating on the speaker, validating their feelings, and paraphrasing to show understanding. Use “I” statements to express your feelings without placing blame, fostering open communication. Focus on shared goals to promote collaboration and align interests for a win-win outcome. Embrace forgiveness to let go of past grievances and create a supportive environment for open dialogue. Follow up after conflicts to reinforce commitment, address lingering issues, and maintain a positive team dynamic. Understand the Importance of Conflict Resolution Conflict resolution is a critical skill in any workplace, and comprehending its importance can greatly impact your organization’s success. Recognizing the classes of conflict—task, relationship, and value—helps you identify the three types of conflict that may arise among team members. Addressing these conflicts is fundamental, as unresolved issues can cost American businesses approximately $359 billion annually, leading to decreased productivity and high employee turnover. To face conflict effectively, you need to create a healthy environment where open dialogue is encouraged. Leaders play a crucial role by guiding teams through disputes, transforming conflicts into opportunities for growth and innovation. Prioritize Open Communication Creating an environment that encourages open communication is vital for effectively resolving conflicts in the workplace. When team members feel free to express their perspectives and feelings, misunderstandings can be minimized, reducing tensions. It’s important to recognize that 70% of conflicts stem from poor communication. To promote open communication, consider these strategies: Use “I” statements to express feelings without placing blame. Provide regular updates to guarantee transparency and build trust. Encourage team members to share their thoughts openly. Understanding what’re 2 types of conflict—interpersonal and intrapersonal—can help you address issues more effectively. Interpersonal conflicts arise between individuals, whereas intrapersonal conflicts occur within a person. By prioritizing open communication, you can create a more collaborative atmosphere, making it easier to resolve conflicts amicably and maintain a positive work culture. Practice Active Listening Even though misunderstandings can escalate tensions in a workplace, practicing active listening can greatly ease these situations. This technique involves fully concentrating on the speaker, validating their feelings, and demonstrating comprehension, which can considerably reduce conflicts. Studies show that effective active listening can lead to a 60% improvement in resolving workplace issues. Active Listening Techniques Benefits Paraphrasing Shows comprehension and validation Open-ended questions Encourages dialogue and trust Calm tone and body language Reduces emotional intensity Approach Conflicts With Empathy When you approach conflicts with empathy, you’re more likely to create a constructive atmosphere for resolution. Recognizing and validating the emotions of others can greatly reduce tension and encourage cooperation. Effective communication is essential; using “I” statements allows you to express feelings without blame, promoting comprehension and reducing defensiveness. By addressing underlying feelings, empathy helps de-escalate conflicts and build trust for future interactions. Here are some key aspects to reflect on: Listen actively: Pay attention to what the other person is saying, showing that their feelings matter. Acknowledge emotions: Validate the emotions of others to create a sense of comprehension and safety. Enhance emotional intelligence: Training in empathetic communication can improve your conflict navigation skills. Implementing these strategies can lead to improved morale and a healthier organizational culture, benefiting both personal relationships and overall performance. Establish a Framework for Acceptable Behavior To effectively manage conflicts, you need to establish a framework for acceptable behavior within your team. Start by defining clear standards for conduct, which should include guidelines for communication, collaboration, and respect. Encouraging open communication channels and setting up conflict resolution procedures will help everyone understand their responsibilities and the boundaries that contribute to a positive work environment. Define Acceptable Behavior Standards Establishing acceptable behavior standards is crucial for creating a respectful and productive workplace. Clear standards guide interactions and help prevent conflicts from arising, nurturing a harmonious environment. Involving employees in developing these standards promotes accountability and commitment. Here are key points to reflect on: Define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors: Clear examples clarify expectations for team members. Communicate regularly: Reinforce standards to mitigate misunderstandings and reduce conflict likelihood. Monitor adherence: Address violations swiftly to emphasize the importance of maintaining a respectful culture. Encourage Open Communication Channels Open communication channels are vital for nurturing a workplace environment where concerns and disagreements can be addressed without fear of escalation. Establishing clear communication protocols helps prevent misinterpretations, which are often the root cause of conflicts. By creating a framework for acceptable behavior, you encourage employees to express their concerns openly, promoting a culture of transparency and trust. Regular updates about changes and developments can further mitigate potential conflicts, ensuring everyone remains informed and aligned. Implementing a clear chain of command streamlines communication, enabling swift conflict resolution and minimizing escalation risks. Moreover, promoting a service-oriented mindset among team members improves collaboration and comprehension, allowing for more effective handling of disputes when they arise. Establish Conflict Resolution Procedures Creating a clear framework for acceptable behavior is essential in establishing effective conflict resolution procedures within your organization. By defining acceptable behaviors and outlining resolution steps, you can empower employees to address issues proactively, which lowers the potential for escalation. This transparency guarantees everyone feels heard and valued, enhancing morale and productivity. Cultivate a common comprehension among team members to reduce misunderstandings. Implement regular training on conflict resolution procedures to equip employees with necessary skills. Create structured processes that save your organization significant costs related to unresolved conflicts. Address Issues Promptly to Prevent Escalation When conflicts arise in the workplace, addressing them swiftly can greatly prevent escalation and the negative consequences that follow. Ignoring these issues can lead to a toxic environment, where 53% of employees may avoid confrontation, resulting in an average loss of $7,500 and over seven workdays per employee annually. By proactively tackling conflicts, you not just mitigate the staggering $359 billion annual loss businesses face because of unresolved disputes but additionally improve team cohesion. Effective conflict resolution encourages a culture of open dialogue, benefiting organizational morale. In addition, quick resolution helps maintain strong relationships among team members, contributing to a respectful atmosphere that promotes overall employee well-being. By addressing issues without delay, you create a more productive workplace, ensuring that unresolved conflicts don’t spiral out of control and hinder your team’s success. Prioritizing timely intervention is vital for cultivating a healthy work environment. Encourage Collaboration and Common Ground Addressing conflicts quickly not just prevents escalation but furthermore sets the stage for collaboration and finding common ground. By promoting a win-win approach, you can resolve disputes effectively, as seen in the Thomas-Kilmann model that highlights the importance of balancing goals and relationships. To encourage collaboration and establish common ground, consider these strategies: Identify Shared Interests: Look for common goals that unite parties rather than divide them. Engage in Open Discussions: Create an environment where all perspectives are valued, allowing for deeper exploration of issues. Build Trust Over Time: Collaborative efforts strengthen relationships, contributing to a more cohesive team dynamic. Focus on Shared Goals Focusing on shared goals during conflict resolution not just improves collaboration but also cultivates a win-win environment that can strengthen relationships among team members. When everyone emphasizes common objectives, it encourages open communication and makes finding mutually acceptable solutions easier. This approach reduces the likelihood of escalation, allowing for more effective problem-solving. Shared goals serve as a framework for negotiation, enabling individuals to align their interests and collaborate in the direction of a collective outcome rather than competing against each other. By highlighting these goals, you can greatly decrease the emotional charge of the conflict, shifting the focus from personal grievances to collaborative aspirations. This improves team cohesion and promotes an environment where employees feel they’re working towards a common purpose. Organizations that nurture a culture centered on shared goals often experience enhanced productivity and morale, as unresolved conflicts have less impact on the overall team dynamic. Be Willing to Forgive and Move Forward Being willing to forgive is essential for moving forward after a conflict, as it not only permits you to let go of past grievances, but furthermore builds trust among team members. When you embrace forgiveness, you create an environment that encourages open communication and collaboration, leading to innovative solutions and future opportunities. In the end, letting go of grudges can greatly improve both individual well-being and overall team dynamics. Importance of Letting Go Letting go of past grievances is essential for creating a harmonious and productive work environment. When you hold onto unresolved conflicts, you risk decreased morale and increased turnover, which costs American businesses $359 billion annually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg_Q34kGsKg By practicing forgiveness, you not only lighten your emotional load but also encourage collaboration among your team. This helps everyone focus on shared goals rather than lingering resentments. Embracing forgiveness can lead to: Improved interpersonal relationships, enhancing overall job satisfaction. Increased creativity and innovation as teams move past differences. Better emotional well-being, reducing stress and promoting mental health. Ultimately, moving forward from conflict paves the way for a healthier workplace culture, allowing for growth and productivity. Building Trust After Conflict After addressing past grievances, the next step involves rebuilding trust, which is often tested during conflicts. Building trust requires a commitment to forgiveness, allowing you to move forward. Engage in open dialogue about the conflict; this helps both parties express their feelings and encourages comprehension. Demonstrating accountability for your actions during the conflict is crucial, as it shows you’re willing to learn from mistakes. Follow up after resolving the conflict to reinforce the commitment to a stronger relationship, ensuring any lingering issues are swiftly addressed. Research indicates that teams effectively rebuilding trust experience increased productivity and morale, emphasizing the importance of a constructive approach to conflict resolution for a collaborative work environment. Embracing Future Opportunities When conflicts arise in the workplace, embracing the opportunity to forgive and move forward can greatly improve team dynamics and overall productivity. By promoting a culture of forgiveness, you not only boost personal well-being but additionally strengthen workplace relationships. This approach can lead to a more engaged workforce and reduce employee turnover, as many avoid toxic situations stemming from unresolved issues. Consider these benefits of embracing future opportunities: Encourages open communication: Team members feel safe sharing their perspectives. Promotes innovation: A collaborative environment leads to creative solutions. Reduces costs: Addressing conflicts can save businesses from significant financial losses. Maintain a Positive Team Dynamic Maintaining a positive team dynamic is vital for effective conflict resolution, especially since organizations face considerable financial losses from unresolved conflicts that stem from poor cohesion. To nurture this dynamic, encourage open dialogue within your team. This approach helps identify and address conflicts early, creating an environment where everyone feels safe to express differing opinions. Moreover, regular team-building activities and diversity training improve comprehension and respect among team members, reducing the likelihood of conflict. Acknowledging and validating team members’ feelings during disagreements promotes trust and collaboration, both fundamental for a healthy team environment. As a leader, model effective communication and conflict resolution strategies. Your behavior sets the tone for team interactions and greatly influences workplace culture. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the 5 C’s of Conflict? The 5 C’s of conflict management are Communication, Collaboration, Compromise, Creativity, and Control. You communicate by actively listening and using “I” statements to express your feelings, which reduces defensiveness. Collaboration involves working together to find solutions that satisfy everyone. Compromise means both parties give up something for mutual agreement. Creativity encourages innovative problem-solving. Finally, Control helps manage emotions and behaviors during conflict, ensuring a more productive resolution process. What Are the 5 Main Conflict Resolution Strategies? The five main conflict resolution strategies are avoiding, competing, accommodating, compromising, and collaborating. Avoiding works for low-stakes disagreements but often fails in important situations. Competing focuses on your goals, which can hurt relationships if overused. Accommodating prioritizes others’ needs, promoting harmony but potentially stifling creativity. Compromising finds a middle ground, whereas collaborating seeks win-win solutions, nurturing respect and engagement among all parties. Each strategy serves different contexts, so choose wisely. What Are the 5 A’s of Conflict Management? The five A’s of conflict management are: Acknowledge the conflict exists; Assess the situation by comprehending everyone’s perspective; Address the issue through open communication; Act on the agreed-upon solutions to show commitment; and Adjust your approach based on feedback and outcomes. What Are the 3 C’s of Conflict Resolution? The 3 C’s of conflict resolution are Communication, Collaboration, and Compromise. Effective Communication involves actively listening and using clear language to minimize misunderstandings. Collaboration encourages all parties to work together toward a solution that benefits everyone, cultivating trust. Compromise requires each party to concede something, allowing for a mutually acceptable agreement. Conclusion In conclusion, effectively facing conflict involves a structured approach that emphasizes communication, empathy, and collaboration. By establishing clear standards for behavior and focusing on shared goals, you can create a positive environment conducive to resolution. Active listening and expressing feelings through “I” statements further improve comprehension among team members. Remember, practicing forgiveness and maintaining trust are essential for a healthy team dynamic. Implementing these strategies can transform conflicts into opportunities for growth and improvement. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Essential Tips to Face Conflict Effectively" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As the SaaS market reels from a sell-off sparked by autonomous AI agents like Claude Cowork, new data shows a 53% drop in AI-driven discovery sessions. Wall Street dubbed it the “SaaSpocalypse.” Whether AI agents will replace SaaS products is a bigger question than this dataset can answer. But the panic is already distorting interpretation, and this data cuts through the noise to show what SEO teams should actually watch. Copilot went from 0.3% to 9.6% of SaaS AI traffic in 14 months From November 2024 to December 2025, SaaS sites logged 774,331 LLM sessions. ChatGPT drove 82.3% of that traffic, but Copilot’s growth tells a different story: SaaS AI Traffic by Source (Nov 2024 – Dec 2025) SourceSessionsShareChatGPT637,55182.3%Copilot74,6259.6%Claude40,3635.2%Gemini15,7592.0%Perplexity6,0330.8% Starting with just 148 sessions in late 2024, Copilot grew more than 20x by May 2025. From May through December, it averaged 3,822 sessions per month, making it the second-largest AI referrer to SaaS sites by year-end 2025. Investors erased $300 billion from SaaS market caps over fears that AI agents will replace enterprise software. But this data points to a less dramatic force: proximity. Copilot thrives because it captures intent inside the workflow. Standalone tools saw a 53% traffic drop while workplace-embedded AI grew 20x. Software evaluation is work, and Copilot sits where that work happens. When someone asks, “What CRM should we use for a 20-person sales team?” while building a business case in Excel, that moment is captured—one ChatGPT never sees. The May surge reflects that activation: Microsoft 365 users realizing they could research software without opening a new tab. 41.4% of SaaS AI traffic lands on internal search pages SaaS AI discovery sends users to internal search results first, not product pages. Top SaaS Landing Pages by LLM Volume Page TypeLLM Sessions% of AI TrafficPenetration vs Site AvgSearch320,61541.4%8.7xBlog127,29116.4%8.1xPricing40,5035.2%3.2xProduct39,8645.1%2.0xSupport34,5994.5%2.1x Despite capturing 320,615 sessions — more than blog, pricing, and product pages combined — this dominance likely reflects LLM limitations, not superior content. LLMs route users to search when they lack a specific answer. For SaaS companies watching their stock crater, that’s useful news: there’s a concrete technical fix. The 41.4% isn’t an existential threat. It’s a crawlability problem. When an LLM can’t find a direct answer, it defaults to the site’s internal search. The AI treats your search bar as a trusted backup, assuming the search schema will generate a relevant page even if a specific product page isn’t indexed. At 1.22%, search page penetration is 8.7x the site average. The cause is a “safety net” effect, not optimization. When more specific pages — like Product or Pricing — lack the data an LLM needs, it falls back to broader search results. LLMs recognize the search URL structure and trust it will return something relevant, even if they can’t predict what. Blog pages follow with 127,291 sessions and 1.13% penetration. These are structured comparison posts — “best CRM for small teams” or “Salesforce alternatives” — that LLMs cite when they have specific recommendations. Pricing pages show 0.45% penetration; product pages, 0.28%. When users ask about software selection, LLMs route to comparison surfaces — search and blog — first. Direct product or pricing pages get cited only when the query is already vendor-specific. The July peak and Q4 decline reflect corporate work cycles SaaS AI traffic peaked in July at 146,512 sessions, then declined steadily through Q4: MonthSessionsChangeJuly 2025146,512PeakAugust 2025120,802-17.5%September 2025134,162+11.1%October 2025135,397+0.9%November 2025107,257-20.8%December 202568,896-35.8% Every platform declined. ChatGPT’s volume was cut in half, dropping from 127,510 sessions in July to 56,786 by year-end. Copilot fell from 4,737 to 2,351. Perplexity dropped from 7,475 to 3,752. Two factors drove the slide: People weren’t working. August is vacation season, November includes Thanksgiving, and December is the holidays. Software research happens during work hours; when offices close, discovery drops. Q4 ends the fiscal “buying window.” Most teams have spent their annual budgets or are deferring contracts until Q1 funding opens. Even teams still working aren’t evaluating tools because there’s no budget left until the new fiscal year. The July peak reflects midyear momentum: people are working, and Q3 budgets are still available. The Q4 decline reflects both fewer researchers and fewer active buying cycles. This is where the sell-off narrative breaks down. Investors treat a 53% traffic drop as proof that AI discovery is stalling. But the data aligns with standard B2B fiscal cycles. AI isn’t failing as a discovery channel. It’s settling into the same seasonal rhythms as every other B2B buying behavior. What this data means for SEO teams Raw traffic numbers don’t show where to invest. Penetration rates and landing page distribution reveal what matters. Track penetration by page type, not site-wide averages SaaS shows 0.41% sitewide AI penetration, but that average hides concentration. Search pages reach 1.22%—8.7x higher. Blog pages hit 1.13%. Pricing pages are at 0.45%. Product pages lag at 0.28%. If you’re only tracking total AI sessions, you’re measuring the wrong metric. AI traffic could grow 50% while penetration on high-value pages declines. Volume hides what matters: where AI users concentrate when they arrive with intent. Action: Segment AI traffic by page type in GA4 or your analytics platform. Track penetration (AI sessions ÷ total sessions) by page category monthly. Identify pages with elevated concentration, then optimize those surfaces first. Search results pages are now a primary discovery surface Internal search captures 41.4% of SaaS AI traffic. If those results aren’t crawlable, indexable, or structured for comparison, you’re invisible to the largest segment of AI-driven buyers. Most SaaS sites treat internal search as navigation, not content. Results return paginated lists with minimal product detail, no filter signals in URLs, and JavaScript-rendered content LLMs can’t parse. Action: With 41.4% of traffic hitting internal search, treat your search bar as an API for AI agents. Make search pages crawlable (check robots.txt and indexability). Add structured data using SoftwareApplication or Product schema. Surface comparison data — pricing, key features, user count — directly in results, not just product names. Make your data legible to LLMs — pricing and content both The sell-off is pricing in obsolescence, but for most SaaS companies the real risk is invisibility. Pricing pages show 0.45% AI penetration—below the 0.46% cross-industry average. Blog pages captured 127,291 sessions at 1.13% penetration, but only when content directly answered selection queries. The pattern is clear: LLMs cite what they can read and parse. They skip what they can’t. Many SaaS sites still gate pricing behind contact forms. If pricing requires a sales conversation, AI won’t recommend you for “tools under $100/month” queries. The same applies to blog content. When someone asks, “What CRM should I use?” the LLM looks for posts that compare options, define criteria, and explain tradeoffs. Generic thought leadership on CRM trends doesn’t get cited. Action: Publish pricing on a dedicated, crawlable page. Include representative examples, seat minimums, contract terms, and exclusions. Keep pricing transparent. Transparent pages get cited; gated pages don’t. Replace generic blog posts with structured comparison pages. Use tables and clear data points. Remove fluff. Provide grounding data that lets AI verify compliance and integration capabilities in seconds, not minutes. Workplace-embedded AI is growing 10x faster than standalone LLMs Copilot grew 15.89x year over year. Claude grew 7.79x. ChatGPT grew 1.42x. The fastest growth is in tools embedded in existing workflows. Workplace AI shifts discovery context. In ChatGPT, users are explicitly researching. In Copilot, they’re asking questions mid-task—drafting a proposal, building a comparison spreadsheet, or reviewing vendor options with their team. Action: Track Copilot and Claude referrals separately from ChatGPT. Monitor which pages these sources favor. Recognize intent: these users aren’t browsing — they’re mid-task, deeper in evaluation, and closer to a purchase decision. Show up in workplace AI discovery to support real-time purchase justification. Survival favors the findable The 53% drop from July to December reflects AI usage settling into the software buying process. Buyers are learning which decisions benefit from AI synthesis and which don’t. The remaining traffic is more deliberate, concentrated on complex evaluations where comparison matters. For SaaS companies, the window for early positioning is closing. The $300 billion sell-off is hitting the sector broadly, but the companies that survive the repricing will be those buyers can find when they ask an AI agent, “Should we renew this contract?” Teams investing now in transparent pricing, crawlable data, and comparison-focused content are building that findability while competitors debate whether AI discovery matters. View the full article

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.09% Thursday, down two basis points from last week, while the 15-year rate fell to 5.44%, according to Freddie Mac. View the full article

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Guidance on Global Counsel is latest fallout from ties between former minister and sex offender Jeffrey EpsteinView the full article

Money feels manageable when you can actually see where it’s going. Instead of guessing at the end of the month, a personal budget template gives you structure, clarity and a simple way to stay in control. Whether you’re planning weekly spending or mapping out long-term savings, the right tool turns scattered numbers into a clear financial picture. What Is a Personal Budget Template? A personal budget template is a structured spreadsheet designed to help someone record income, track expenses and compare the two over a specific period of time. It organizes financial information into categories such as housing, groceries, utilities and discretionary spending, allowing you to see how money flows in and out on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. By laying everything out in one place, it becomes easier to identify spending patterns, adjust habits and maintain financial balance. Why Use a Personal Budget Template for Excel Using a personal budget template for Excel makes the budgeting process faster and more accurate because much of the calculation work happens automatically. Built-in formulas total income, sum expense categories and instantly show the difference between what you earn and what you spend. The following personal budgeting templates are fully customizable, you can adjust categories, timeframes and formatting to match your financial situation, turning a basic spreadsheet into a practical, personalized budgeting system. 5 Personal Budget Templates Some people want a simple split they can follow every month, while others need a personal budgeting template with a tighter breakdown that shows exactly what’s left after spending. These five personal budget templates make that process easier by turning your income into clear spending limits and then tracking how your real expenses stack up. 1. 50/30/20 Budget Template To use this personal budget template for Excel, start by filling in the small table at the top with your name and monthly income, then let the spreadsheet do the heavy lifting. As soon as that income number is entered, the template automatically divides it into three preset buckets: 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings. With those targets set, you enter your actual expenses under each category. /wp-content/uploads/2025/03/50-30-20-template.png Once the expense lines are filled out, the template automatically totals spending for needs, wants and savings, then calculates the difference between the amount allocated to each bucket and what you actually spent, revealing your remaining balance for each category. 2. 70/20/10 Budget Template This personal budgeting template for Excel follows the exact same workflow as the 50/30/20 version, but it uses a different split to reflect a more expense-heavy or goal-driven budget. You begin by entering your name and monthly income in the top table, and the spreadsheet automatically allocates that income into three categories: 70% for living expenses, 20% for financial goals and 10% for fun and lifestyle spending. /wp-content/uploads/2026/01/70-20-10-Template-featured-image.png After that, you input your expenses under each bucket. The template then adds up the expenses per category and calculates the difference between each category’s income allocation and its total expenses, so you can immediately see the balance remaining for living expenses, financial goals and fun. 3. Weekly Budget Template Everything begins at the top of the sheet, where you enter your name and monthly income. As soon as that monthly figure is added, this personal budget template for Excel automatically divides it by four to calculate your available weekly budget. Just below, you define the four specific weeks you’re planning for by entering date ranges, such as “Week 1 (1/4/2026 – 1/10/2026),” so each period is clearly framed. /wp-content/uploads/2026/02/weekly-budget-template-scaled.png From there, the weekly amount is automatically divided by seven to determine your daily available budget. That daily limit is structured using a 50/30/20 split for needs, wants and savings. Once you begin entering daily expenses, the spreadsheet compares them against the calculated daily and weekly targets, making it immediately clear whether you’re staying within limits or gradually exceeding them. 4. Zero-Based Budget Template Every month starts from zero with this zero-based budget template, which helps you assign your entire income to specific expense categories before spending begins. Simply enter your monthly income and planned expenses, and built-in formulas automatically total your spending and calculate the balance. Adjust allocations until income minus expenses equals zero, ensuring every dollar has a clear purpose. /wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Zero-based-budget-template-600x509.png How to Make a Project Budget with ProjectManager A personal budget template for Excel is a useful tool for personal finance management, but if you’re interested in making a budget for your personal or professional projects, use ProjectManager instead. ProjectManager is designed to create detailed project budgets. Simply make a list of project tasks using the list, sheet or Gantt chart view, allocate resources such as people, materials or equipment and estimate their costs. Then, establish a budget amount. Once the project starts, enter actual project costs and ProjectManager will automatically calculate the difference between estimated costs and actual costs and will display this information in real-time dashboards and reports so you can check whether the project costs are exceeding the budget at a glance. Watch the video to learn more! Related Personal Budgeting Content How to Make a Budget Plan for Personal Finance Management How to Prioritize Tasks With Personal Kanban Boards 4 Steps to Personal Time Management 18 Budget Templates for Business & Project Budgeting Project Budget Tracking: A Step-by-Step Guide What Is a Budget Report? Purpose, Components & Benefits Manage a Project Budget with Project Budgeting Software What Is a Business Budget? Business Budgeting Basics The post 5 Personal Budget Templates for Excel (Free Download) appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

It's once again time to update your Apple devices. The company just released a whole host of security patches, including a fix for an actively exploited zero-day affecting iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. These updates arrived alongside the official release of iOS 26.3, which includes features like more seamless data transfer between iPhone and Android. Other security patches address bugs in Photos, VoiceOver, and Screenshots, to name a few. iOS 26.3 patches a zero-day affecting dyldAccording to Apple's latest security bulletin, the zero-day—tracked as CVE-2026-20700—is a memory corruption issue in dyld, Apple's "Dynamic Link Editor." The flaw could allow attackers with memory write capability to execute arbitrary code—or, in other words, run their own code on your device. Apple says that the vulnerability may have been exploited in an "extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals" in earlier versions of iOS alongside CVE-2025-14174 and CVE-2025-43529. Those at greatest risk with this bug are likely high-profile users with access to sensitive data—users who might be inclined to use Apple's Lockdown Mode—but everyone should install the update to patch the issue. The patch for this flaw is available for the following iOS and iPadOS devices, in addition to all Macs that run macOS Tahoe: iPhone 11 and later iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation and later iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later iPad Air 3rd generation and later iPad 8th generation and later iPad mini 5th generation and later How to install the latest security update for iPhoneYou should have automatic updates enabled to ensure you receive critical security patches ASAP, but you can confirm that you're on the latest OS version under Settings > General > Software Update. As a reminder, Apple won't message you urging you to click links, download attachments, or install apps related to security updates. Always go through your device settings to receive official fixes. View the full article

A House subcommittee hearing discussing the future of the government-sponsored enterprises, noted both are still severely undercapitalized. View the full article

The company formerly known as Ocwen confirmed that a deferred tax asset valuation helped boost net income to common shareholders despite servicing challenges. View the full article

If you're an Apple fan who closely follows tech news, you might have been looking forward to Siri's big AI overhaul for some time now—specifically, since the company initially announced it at WWDC 2024. But despite delay after delay, rumors have strongly suggested that the next generation of Siri is set to launch with iOS 26.4. And seeing as Apple just released iOS 26.3 this week, AI Siri is closer than ever, right? Wrong. As reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has once again kicked Siri's big updates down the road. According to Gurman, the company really did intend to release AI Siri with iOS 26.4, which is reportedly planned to release sometime in March. However, due to testing "snags," the company is instead planning to break up Siri's major updates and distribute them across several iOS updates. Gurman notes that likely means iOS 26.5, which could launch in May, and iOS 27, which will likely release in September, if it follows Apple's usual release dates. But looking at Apple's track record here, don't hold your breath. AI Siri's upcoming features are a struggleAccording to Gurman's sources, Apple is struggling to get Siri to "properly process queries," or to actually respond fast enough, both of which would defeat the purpose of using a smart assistant. Apple is reportedly pushing engineers to use iOS 26.5 to test these features, particularly the ability for Siri to use your personal data to answer questions. Users may be able to flip a switch in Settings to "preview" these features, and may treat the rollout as a beta. Engineers are also struggling to get Siri's app intents to work, or the feature that lets Siri take actions on your behalf. You could ask Siri to open an image, edit it, then share it with a friend, but only if the feature itself actually works. This, too, may roll out with iOS 26.5, but it's unclear due to reliability issues. Siri is also cutting off user prompts too soon, and sometimes taps into ChatGPT instead of using Apple's underlying tech—which would look pretty bad for the company. Apple is also testing new AI features for iOS 26.5 that we haven't heard of yet. One is a new web search tool that functions like other AI search features from companies like Perplexity and Google. You ask a question to search on the web, and it returns a report with summaries and links. The other new feature is a custom image generation tool, that builds on Image Playground, but that too is hitting development hurdles. Looking even further ahead, Apple is planning more Siri advancements—namely, giving the assistant chatbot features, à la ChatGPT. (That said, it will reportedly use Gemini to power these features.) This version of Siri may even have its own app. What's going on with AI Siri?It seems Siri really is Apple's albatross. Despite arguably popularizing smart assistants for the general population, Siri quickly fell behind compared to the likes of Alexa and Gemini (née Google Assistant). Now, the latter have fully embraced modern generative AI, offering features like contextual awareness and natural language commands. While Amazon and Google users can ask their assistants increasingly complicated questions, Siri still feels designed mostly to handle setting alarms and checking the weather. That was going to change with iOS 18, alongside Apple Intelligence as a whole. Apple's initial pitch for AI Siri was an assistant that could see what's on your phone to better understand questions you ask, and take actions on your behalf—i.e., app intents. You could ask Siri to edit an image you have pulled up on your Photos app, and because the assistant is contextually aware, it would know what image you mean, and apply the edits you ask for. Or, you could ask when your friend was set to arrive, and the assistant would be able to scan messages and emails to know that, one, your friend is visiting town this weekend, and two, that they sent you their flight itinerary that gets them into the airport at 3:55 p.m. This Siri has never launched, however. While the company has rolled out iterative updates to Siri with some AI-powered features, its overhaul with these ambitious features have been a trial for Apple's AI team. It all stems from Apple's issues with AI in general: The company was caught off guard by the generative AI wave kicked off in late 2022 by OpenAI's ChatGPT, and following some resistance from corporate leadership, have been scrambling to keep up ever since. Apple Intelligence launched half-baked with issues of its own, but rather than launch a half-baked AI Siri, the company has been struggling to build up the assistant internally. Part of the problem is privacy-related: Unlike other tech companies, who have no problem hoovering up user data to train their models with, Apple still wants to preserve privacy while rolling out AI features. As such, that complicates their situation, as they need to ensure both the hardware and software involved meet those standards. You can't have Siri pull user data into the cloud without strict security measures if you want to ensure your users' data remains private. The company is also focused on building its own hardware for cloud-based AI processing, rather than focus on simply buying up GPUs as many other companies have. Apple is the second most valuable tech company in the world, but a host of factors—including with software, hardware, and leadership—have made it so even Apple can't magically produce an AI assistant. Though, I'm not sold that an AI Siri will move units for Apple in the first place. I can't imagine Gemini moves people to Android, and you can download ChatGPT on any device you own. It's even now built into your iPhone. View the full article

Think about how many emails you receive each day. Then how many of those include the phrase “please find attached” in the body. One X user has made a plea to retire the phrase, a relic leftover from a time when business communication relied on typewritten letters posted in envelopes, which actually included attached documents to be found. The post quickly went viral, gaining nearly 15 million views since it was posted earlier this week. While the user doesn’t elaborate why exactly they personally take issue with the phrase, or what to say instead, the post had the desired effect, with many weighing in with their own takes on modern email etiquette. Some agreed that the phrase is stuffy and outdated. “‘Please find attached’ adds zero information, sounds robotic, and does not respect the reader’s time,” one wrote. “‘Here’s the file’ does the job better than a sentence that adds zero information,” another added. It’s true, these days email attachments are instantly accessible, clearly marked, and don’t require a physical search. While young workers have no qualms including memes, emojis, slang, and abbreviations in their emails, and despite nearly one in four employees now using AI to help write emails, “please find attached” has somehow slipped through the net. Others staunchly defended the use of the tried-and-tested phrase. “But if I don’t type those magic words, how will Outlook know to warn me when I inevitably forget to actually attach the file?” one wrote. “Baby, no,” another added. “The people are stupid.” Many of us are trapped in a terminal cycle of “reaching out” and “circling back”, with dozens of corporate buzzwords and phrases that some argue make smart people sound less intelligent. But if you’re in the market for some more creative ways to signal there’s a PDF attached that needs attention, the replies to the X post is a goldmine. “Behold, the attachment,” one X user suggested as an alternative. For a sinister edge, “‘There are attachments in this email with us right now’,” another put forth, or “‘Watch out for the attachment below’.” Feeling pumped about the PDF attached? “Get a load of this MF attachment,” is another option. Or alternatively, feeling deflated? “Find attached, if you even care” works here. And if you’d rather the receiver doesn’t open the attachment, you could simply put: “‘Please don’t find attached’,” one wrote. “‘It’ll only be more work for us both’.” View the full article

Over the years, we’ve had many letters about animals at work. Here are some of them. my employee doesn’t think we’re doing enough about bears at work (and the update) people only ask me about the ducks I work with (with a video in the update!) the pumpkin-eating cat my office got us turtles to take care of and bring home on weekends my office is infested with wasps our building is full of bats, sewer smells, moths, and more an unexpected office bird how much can I pet my cat on video calls? (and the update) my colleague is allergic to me because of my cats actual llamas head of HR is waging a pressure campaign to make me adopt a puppy my VP of HR says my service dog is too small (and the update) I bring my dog to work — but an anonymous note asked me not to my company wants to sponsor me for a service dog, but I’m not sure I should accept (and the update) my boss’s dog rampages through our work gatherings the secret goat, the geese vs the CEO, and other stories of animals at work here are animals taking over home offices here are your animal coworkers (and part 2) the cats of AAM And we’ve had so many letters involving dogs at work (not all included above) that I created a whole new tag just for them. The post animals at work appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article