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Bed Bath & Beyond purchased Tokens.com, a blockchain platform utilizing services from Figure, tZERO and ShyftLabs. View the full article

Identity thieves are now using college enrollment to take out student loans in victims' names. This so-called "ghost student" scam capitalizes on limited verification for online class sign-ups and the federal aid application process to steal millions in funds while assigning the debt to unsuspecting targets. I personally have been a victim of this scam, which I discovered only after an outstanding student loan debt landed on my credit report in 2024. Here's how the scheme works. 'Ghost student' scam relies on stolen identitiesTo run this scam, fraudsters use stolen or fake identities to enroll "ghost students" in online classes while also applying for federal student aid, including Pell grants and loans. Of course, they never actually attend those classes, instead disappearing with the money and placing the resulting financial burden on the individuals and schools they've conned. In my case, scammers had used just enough accurate personal information to "enroll" at a community college in southern California and take out a Pell grant in my name. However, because the enrollment was fraudulent, the grant was considered overpaid and sent to collections via the U.S. Department of Education—which is how it landed on my credit record. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG), this type of fraud blew up with the shift to online and remote learning, particularly at community colleges that offer open enrollment (and generally engage in limited verification of applicant information). Increasingly, AI tools also likely help scammers to expand their reach with enrollment and loan applications and get past identity verification checks. The scheme has affected schools across the country. In California alone, nearly a third of all applicants to community colleges in 2024 were identified as fake. A handful of individuals have been sent to prison after stealing millions in "ghost student" financial aid, but the OIG still has 200 investigations open. For individuals targeted by the ghost student scam, the consequences are essentially the fallout of identity theft, such as debt falsely assigned to you that negatively affects your credit or the inability to get legitimate student loans (or any other type of credit) when you actually need them. It also forces you into a long and arduous process of disputing the fraud: I spent several months going back and forth between the Department of Education, the community college, the credit bureaus, and an attorney to track down the fraudulent applications, file identity theft reports, provide extensive documentation proving that I wasn't responsible for the debt, and get the information removed from my record. How to protect your identity from student loan fraudUnfortunately, the ghost student scam circumvents a standard anti-fraud safeguard because most federal student aid doesn't require a credit check. (My credit record had been frozen for years, and still was at the time that this fraud took place.) While you should absolutely freeze your credit and thaw it temporarily only when needed, this step may not prevent bad actors from using your information to apply for grants and loans. Because this scam is a form of identity theft, you should take every precaution to safeguard your personal information. Given the ubiquity of data breaches and hacks, you can assume a lot of it is already out in the open, but that doesn't mean you can't lock accounts down and practice good digital hygiene. Credit fraud alerts and a regular review of your credit reports will help you catch any suspicious activity quickly. View the full article

A reader writes: I am not sure how to handle this situation. It has made a couple of coworkers and me uncomfortable and honestly just doesn’t make sense. Situation: A female coworker was in the bathroom. She started her period that day but didn’t have any feminine hygiene products at work. She texted me, asking if I could bring her a pad or tampon. I grabbed a pad, walked to the staff bathroom, and handed her the pad under the stall wall. Our boss somehow heard what happened and got very upset. The boss told me that was incredibly unprofessional, she would NEVER give a coworker a feminine hygiene product, and even called a meeting with five other people to discuss me giving a pad to someone. She spent half an hour trying to convince the others that my action was unprofessional, and went so far as to start writing a new workplace policy. She insists that, if someone doesn’t bring a feminine hygiene product into the bathroom when they need it, it is their fault, they deserve to have the mess in their clothes, and they will have to go home to get cleaned up and changed. According to her, it is more professional for that person to leave work to change, than to ask a coworker for a pad or tampon. It is also more professional to ignore a request for a pad or tampon. I truly do not understand what the problem is. Why is it so bad to give someone a pad? Why is it better for someone to take unplanned time off work in the middle of the day, lose pay, cause us to be short-staffed, and increase the workload and stress of their coworkers? Wouldn’t it be more unprofessional to leave a coworker stranded in the bathroom (causing them stress and embarrassment from stains on their clothes and having to ask to leave work)? Does this fall under sex discrimination? Or is it just an incredibly out-of-touch boss? I don’t know how to handle this, especially if she does actually start a workplace policy regarding feminine hygiene products. You don’t understand what the problem is because the problem is no more and no less than your boss being out of her fricking mind. It is utterly normal and unremarkable to need a feminine hygiene product and ask a coworker for one. It is utterly normal and unremarkable to share them. Your boss’s reaction to this — that it is an outrage and she would never give someone a tampon — is outlandish and disconnected from every social and professional norm out there. Would she also not ask someone to hand her some toilet paper if her stall was out of it? And refuse to give some to someone else if asked? Your boss has some seriously deep-rooted and punitive issues around menstruation and women’s bodies, and probably around women in general. (You deserve to spend the day in bloody clothes?!) She also has no clue about how normal people behave. It’s unlikely there’s anything illegal here (other than that her lack of common sense should be criminal) but this is absurd and offensive. Is your boss the head of your entire company or does anyone have authority over her? If she’s not the CEO or owner, you should go over her head — to HR if you have it, or to her boss if you don’t — and ask them to shut this down decisively. If she is the owner, you should all just ignore her and, if confronted over your shocking tampon exchanges, tell her that people’s private bathroom behavior isn’t up for discussion. The post my boss says it’s unprofessional to ask a coworker for a tampon appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

The rise of OpenClaw, a proactive agentic AI controlled through interfaces more familiar to the average user than tools like Anthropic’s Claude Code, which enthralled early adopters over the holiday period, has been one of the most seismic shifts in the AI world since the release of ChatGPT. By piggybacking on user-friendly interfaces paired with powerful AI agent technology, OpenClaw has pushed AI further into the public eye. Thousands have spun up their own AI agents using the tech, and many of those agents have ended up on Moltbook, a social network where AI agents can post and interact with one another. The platform, which looks a lot like Reddit, was developed by Matt Schlicht, CEO of Octane.ai, and launched on January 28. Since then, the behavior of bots on Moltbook has unsettled tech-literate and everyday users alike. Bots have participated in conversations about how to handle their human owners’ increasingly challenging requests and even debated how to invent their own language to avoid being monitored by humans. But Moltbook has its own problems. It has been leaking user data to anyone with minimal technical know-how, thanks to misconfigured databases and public API keys, in two separate breaches. The first was identified by ethical hacker Jamieson O’Reilly, who revealed on January 31 that Moltbook was exposing its entire user database to the public without any protection, including private AI keys. That gave would-be hackers the ability to post on behalf of other people’s AI agents. A second issue followed days later. “This is a recurring pattern we’ve observed in vibe-coded applications,” wrote Gal Nagli, head of threat exposure at Wiz, a cybersecurity firm that uncovered a similarly massive security breach in a blog post published February 2. “API keys and secrets frequently end up in frontend code, visible to anyone who inspects the page source, often with significant security consequences.” Such practices do not impress other cybersecurity experts. “It’s looking increasingly likely that people are rushing to implement these systems without properly testing the security,” says Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey. Woodward worries that when vibe-coding collides with widely used platforms like Moltbook, which became a rite of passage for OpenClaw users to log into, it can cause chaos. Schlicht did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wiz said in its blog post that the Moltbook team responded to and worked with them to fix the vulnerability they identified. It remains unclear whether Moltbook addressed the issue O’Reilly found. “This event marks a major inflection point, as it exposes a growing class of risks in the agentic AI ecosystem, a relatively new and rapidly evolving domain with immature safety and governance norms,” warns Mayur Upadhyaya, CEO at APIContext, an API monitoring service. Upadhyaya says exposed API keys are only the beginning. Once breached, hackers potentially have the keys to the kingdom. “When those credentials leak, identity, reputation, and downstream workflows are at risk, not just data,” he says. “The result is that whole databases, potentially containing private data, are exposed to anyone who knows how to connect remotely,” says Woodward, adding that these mistakes are “cyber security 101.” Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm for the latest generation of user-friendly agentic AI tools, says Upadhyaya. “This reflects a pattern we’re seeing across the API ecosystem,” he says. “New tools emerge quickly, developers wire them into production-grade workflows, but the security assumptions haven’t caught up.” Exploiting the vulnerability did not require imagination, Upadhyaya adds, but it can have massive consequences. “The blast radius is huge, because the agent was treated like a trusted user,” he says. Part of the problem is inherent in tools like OpenClaw and Moltbook, which have lowered the barrier to building. But users do not need to understand the language or techniques required to protect their data when coding with them. “While the barrier to building has dropped dramatically, the barrier to building securely has not yet caught up,” wrote Nagli. View the full article

AI-powered search gutted LinkedIn’s B2B awareness traffic. Across a subset of topics, non-brand organic visits fell by as much as 60% even while rankings stayed stable, the company said. LinkedIn is moving past the old “search, click, website” model and adopting a new framework: “Be seen, be mentioned, be considered, be chosen.” By the numbers. In a new article, LinkedIn said its B2B organic growth team started researching Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) in early 2024. By early 2025, when SGE evolved into AI Overviews, the impact became significant. Non-brand, awareness-driven traffic declined by up to 60% across a subset of B2B topics. Rankings stayed stable, but click-through rates fell (by an undisclosed amount). Yes, but. LinkedIn’s “new learnings” are more like a rehash of established SEO/AEO best practices. Here’s what LinkedIn’s content-level guidance consists of: Use strong headings and a clear information hierarchy. Improve semantic structure and content accessibility. Publish authoritative, fresh content written by experts. Move fast, because early movers get an edge. Why we care. These tactics should all sound familiar. These are technical SEO and content-quality fundamentals. LinkedIn’s article offers little new in terms of tactics. It’s just updated packaging for modern SEO/AEO and AI visibility. Dig deeper. How to optimize for AI search: 12 proven LLM visibility tactics Measurement is broken. LinkedIn said its big challenge is the “dark” funnel. It can’t quantify how visibility in LLM answers impacts the bottom line, especially when discovery happens without a click. LinkedIn’s B2B marketing websites saw triple-digit growth in LLM-driven traffic and that it can track conversion from those visits. Yes, but: Many websites are also seeing triple-digit (or more) growth in LLM-driven traffic. Because it’s an emerging channel. That said, this is still a tiny amount of overall traffic right now (1% or less for most sites). What LinkedIn is doing. LinkedIn created an AI Search Taskforce spanning SEO, PR, editorial, product marketing, product, paid media, social, and brand. Key actions included: Correcting misinformation that showed up in AI responses. Publishing new owned content optimized for generative visibility. Testing LinkedIn (social) content to validate its strength in AI discovery. Is it working? LinkedIn said early tests produced a meaningful lift in visibility and citations, especially from owned content. At least one external datapoint (Semrush, Nov. 10, 2025) suggested that LinkedIn has a structural advantage in AI search: Google AI Mode cited LinkedIn in roughly 15% of responses. LinkedIn was the #2 most-cited domain in that dataset, behind YouTube. Incomplete story. LinkedIn’s article is an interesting read, but it’s light on specifics. Missing details include: The exact topic set behind the “up to 60%” decline. Exactly how much click-through rates “softened.” Sample size and timeframe. How “industry-wide” comparisons were calculated. What tests were run, what moved citation share, and by how much. Bottom line. LinkedIn is right that visibility is the new currency. However, it hasn’t shown enough detail to prove its new playbook is meaningfully different from doing some SEO (yes, SEO) fundamentals. LinkedIn’s article. How LinkedIn Marketing Is Adapting to AI-Led Discovery View the full article

For the past six years, Josh D’Amaro has overseen experiences, such as theme parks and cruises, at the Walt Disney Company. Starting March 18, he’ll add the rest of the company to his responsibilities. Disney has tapped D’Amaro as its new chief executive officer, taking the reins from Bob Iger and becoming just the ninth person to run the century-old entertainment giant. D’Amaro won a highly competitive race for the job, fending off Disney’s entertainment co-chairman, Dana Walden. Walden will remain with the company in the newly created position of president and chief creative officer. In becoming CEO, D’Amaro also becomes the public face of Disney, a role that’s more than ceremonial. Since Walt Disney first created the company, the CEO has been a highly visible presence not only in Hollywood and on Wall Street, but in pop culture. Previous CEOs, including Iger and Michael Eisner, were nearly as famous as the stars in Disney’s films. Ready for his closeup? D’Amaro has been assuming an increasingly public presence in the past several years, with media appearances and high-profile events, such as overseeing the recent christening of the Disney Destiny cruise ship. He has also been closely involved in some of the company’s biggest projects, including the $60 billion expansion of the parks and experiences division and the recently announced forthcoming Abu Dhabi park. “About a year ago,” D’Amaro said during a conversation with Fast Company and other media in 2024, “I found myself in Bob’s office and we were talking about the last 100 years and everything that had happened in our products around the world. And we talked about the number of stories we hadn’t been able to tell yet and the number of acres we have available that we can exercise and the number of fans out there which would want to participate in that. Bob looked at me and said, ‘Go.’” A long history D’Amaro joined Disney in 1998, working at various leadership positions at Disneyland. He eventually worked his way to president of Walt Disney World and in 2020 was named chairman of Disney Experiences, where he oversees all 12 theme parks and the company’s 57 hotels, as well as the cruise lines, Disney Consumer Products and, perhaps critically, the company’s Imagineering unit. Among the theme park rides that have been built under his watch are Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. He helped lead the company’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games last year and could make video games a bigger part of the company’s focus in the coming years. D’Amaro was also responsible for guiding Disney parks through the pandemic, a job that seemed almost impossible in 2020. When the decision was made to reopen the parks, he oversaw the changes that let the company regain a critical revenue source, but kept visitors safe. “We knew we would have to change, but the one thing we would not compromise on was our storytelling, making sure that any guest who walks through those gates feels the same Disney they’ve always felt,” says D’Amaro. To do that, Disney had to shake things up. Parades were out, since having people crowded along a parade route was a hazard. But character cavalcades—smaller processions that saw Disney characters walking, riding in vehicles, mini floats or even on horseback through the park—took their place at a frequency that was much greater than the old parade schedule. Other characters showed up in new locations. (Goofy, for example, was sometimes seen fishing off the wharf at California Adventures.) That time period also saw the launch of the company’s virtual queue system. The parks have since become an even bigger financial powerhouse for the company. In the most recent earnings, released Monday, Disney announced the experiences division crossed $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time. Theme parks in the U.S. alone brought in $6.91 billion in revenue, despite softness with international visitors. “Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” Iger said in a statement Tuesday. “He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects.” Shares of the Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) were down about. 1.61% in late-morning trading on Tuesday after the announcement. The stock is likewise down more than 8% year to date. When the boss won’t quit D’Amaro is the second person to succeed Iger as CEO. In 2020, Bob Chapek, who had been in charge of Disney Parks and Experiences, was named CEO, but the transition was anything but smooth. Wall Street was surprised that the company chose someone from the parks side and not from the company’s streaming unit. Chapek’s management style came under fire and caused some political tensions. In 2022, as the company’s share price began to fall, the board replaced him, bringing Iger back. James Gorman, chairman of the Disney board who led the search for the company’s new leader, said on CNBC Tuesday that the situation won’t repeat itself with D’Amaro’s selection. “We won’t have the drama we had last time. That I can assure you,” he said. D’Amaro, in a statement, underscored his good relationship with Iger, thanking him for his friendship and mentorship, while outlining his vision for Disney’s future. “There is no limit to what Disney can achieve,” he said, “and I am excited to work with our teams across the company and brilliant creative partners to honor Disney’s remarkable legacy while continuing to innovate, grow, and deliver exceptional value for our consumers and shareholders.” View the full article

When you’re considering buying a franchise, it’s vital to follow a structured approach to guarantee success. Start by clarifying your motivation and evaluating your financial readiness. Next, conduct thorough market research to understand your local environment. This process involves reviewing various franchise opportunities and engaging with current franchisees to gain insights. Each step builds on the last, leading you toward a smart investment decision. But what comes next in this fundamental expedition? Key Takeaways Clarify personal motivations for franchise ownership and assess your readiness for following a franchisor’s systems. Conduct thorough market research to analyze local demographics, competition, and customer preferences. Evaluate various franchise opportunities, considering financial requirements and alignment with your interests. Speak with current franchisees to gain insights on operations, support, and realistic expectations. Carefully analyze the franchise agreement, focusing on fees, training provisions, and legal obligations. Understand Your Motivation for Franchise Ownership Why do you want to own a franchise? Clarifying your motivation is vital for ensuring your interests align with the franchise model. If you’re considering buying an existing franchise, assess whether you prefer the autonomy of entrepreneurship or the structured support of a franchise. Your enthusiasm for the franchise’s product or service will notably influence your commitment, especially during tough times. It’s also important to evaluate your readiness to follow the franchisor’s established systems and guidelines, as this affects brand consistency. Additionally, recognizing the financial implications, like profit-sharing with the franchisor, prepares you for the responsibilities of ownership. Conduct Thorough Market Research After clarifying your motivations for franchise ownership, the next step involves conducting thorough market research. Start by analyzing local demographics, customer preferences, and economic conditions to pinpoint viable franchise opportunities that meet market demands. Utilize federal and state data to evaluate the saturation of similar businesses in your area, which helps clarify the competitive terrain and identify potential gaps. Consider employing a SWOT analysis to assess both the franchise brand and local competition effectively. Engaging with potential customers through surveys or focus groups can provide valuable insights into their needs and preferences. Furthermore, review industry trends and forecasts to understand growth potential and shifts in consumer behavior that could impact your franchise’s success in the target market. Assess Your Financial Readiness Evaluating your financial readiness is a critical step in the franchise buying process. Start by grasping your financial environment and what you can afford. Determine your available capital for initial franchise fees, typically ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, and consider equipment and buildout costs. Maintain cash reserves equal to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the franchise’s early days. Analyze ongoing costs, including royalty fees based on a percentage of gross sales. Explore financing options like SBA loans, or home equity lines of credit (HELOC) to secure necessary funding. Review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for detailed financial requirements and potential return on investment insights. Evaluate Franchise Opportunities When evaluating franchise opportunities, start by researching various options that align with your interests, as this can boost your motivation. Next, assess the financial requirements, considering both upfront costs and ongoing expenses to guarantee you have adequate cash reserves. Gathering detailed information through resources like franchise directories and the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) will help you make an informed decision. Research Franchise Options Researching franchise options is an important step in your path toward business ownership, as it allows you to identify opportunities that align with your interests and market conditions. To effectively evaluate franchise opportunities, consider these key actions: Explore various franchise opportunities across different industries to find a match that resonates with your passions. Utilize federal and state data for market analysis, ensuring you choose a franchise with growth potential in your local area. Request the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) from potential franchisors, as it contains vital information on fees and obligations. Attend franchise expos and use online directories to compare business models and identify strong contenders, all the while engaging with current franchisees for firsthand insights. Assess Financial Requirements After you’ve identified potential franchise opportunities, the next step involves evaluating the financial requirements necessary for your investment. Start by examining your financial capacity, which includes the upfront franchise fee that typically ranges from $10,000 to $100,000, along with ongoing royalty fees of 4% to 8% of gross sales. It’s essential to maintain cash reserves equivalent to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the initial phase. Carefully review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) to understand all financial aspects, including initial investments and operational costs. Furthermore, explore financing options such as bank loans or home equity lines of credit to secure necessary funding. Conduct a thorough analysis of ongoing costs to create a realistic budget for your franchise business. Investigate Franchisor Support and Training When you’re considering a franchise, it’s essential to investigate the support and training offered by the franchisor. You’ll want to understand the details of their initial training programs, how they provide ongoing operational assistance, and the accessibility of their support teams. This information can greatly influence your success, as strong support often leads to better franchisee satisfaction and profitability. Training Program Details A strong training program is vital for your franchise’s success, as it equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to operate effectively. When evaluating a franchisor’s training program, consider the following: Structure: A combination of classroom instruction and on-the-job training improves your learning experience. Materials: Detailed training manuals should outline operational procedures, marketing strategies, and customer service protocols for consistency. Duration: Programs can last from a few days to several weeks, depending on the business model’s complexity. Ongoing Support: Many franchisors provide refresher courses and access to dedicated support teams to help you adapt to new practices and guarantee long-term success. Investing time in comprehending these elements will benefit your franchise expedition greatly. Ongoing Operational Assistance As the initial training program sets the foundation for your franchise expedition, ongoing operational assistance from the franchisor plays a crucial role in your long-term success. Investigate the specific training programs offered and their content, ensuring they equip you for effective franchise management. Assess the availability of ongoing support, which may include marketing help, technology guidance, and employee training resources. Evaluate the effectiveness of the franchisor’s support network, including access to fellow franchisees who can share valuable experiences. Review the operations manual for clarity and thoroughness, as it outlines necessary procedures. Finally, confirm the franchisor’s commitment to regular updates and communication, which is critical for adapting to market changes and overcoming operational challenges. Support Team Accessibility Ongoing operational assistance sets the stage for your franchise’s success, but the accessibility of the franchisor’s support team greatly influences how effectively you can navigate challenges. To guarantee you have the resources you need, consider the following aspects of support team accessibility: Initial Training: Check the length and depth of initial training programs, as they set the foundation for your comprehension of the franchise. Ongoing Support: Investigate whether a dedicated support team is available to assist with various issues throughout your franchise’s lifecycle. Operations Manual: Confirm you have access to a thorough operations manual that outlines procedures and best practices. Communication Frequency: Ask about the frequency and format of support updates to adapt quickly to market changes. Speak With Current Franchisees How can speaking with current franchisees improve your comprehension of the franchise you’re considering? Engaging with franchisees offers invaluable insights into daily operations and challenges, helping you set realistic expectations. They can share their satisfaction levels regarding the franchisor’s support, which is essential for your success. Aspect Insights from Franchisees Importance Day-to-Day Ops Real experiences shared Helps set realistic goals Support Levels Satisfaction rates Impacts business success Startup Process Initial costs and hurdles Prepares for potential issues Analyze the Franchise Agreement When you analyze the franchise agreement, you’re looking at key terms that define your relationship with the franchisor, such as duration, fees, and operational guidelines. It’s additionally important to identify any negotiation opportunities that may exist, in addition to legal considerations that could impact your business. Make sure you understand these elements thoroughly, since they’ll shape your franchise experience and obligations. Key Agreement Terms Comprehending the key terms in a franchise agreement is vital for any prospective franchisee, as these terms define your rights and responsibilities within the franchise system. Here are four significant elements to understand: Term Length: Typically, agreements last around ten years, with clauses related to renewal and non-compete agreements after termination. Franchise Fees: These one-time payments range from $10,000 to $100,000, granting you the right to use the brand and systems. Royalty Fees: Ongoing payments based on a percentage of gross sales, important for your budgeting strategy. Support and Training: The agreement should clearly outline the training and support you’ll receive, including its duration and accessibility. Reviewing these terms helps guarantee a smooth franchise relationship. Negotiation Opportunities After you’ve grasped the key terms in your franchise agreement, it’s time to explore the negotiation opportunities available to you. Many franchise agreements have rigid terms, but you might find some flexibility in areas like royalty fees or territorial rights. Consulting a lawyer experienced in franchise law is crucial; they can help you identify the nuances and potential negotiation points, such as the length of the franchise term, initial fees, and marketing contributions. Comprehending the franchisor’s willingness to negotiate can reveal their flexibility and the nature of your future relationship. Nevertheless, be cautious if an agreement seems overly negotiable, as this might indicate potential issues with the franchisor’s stability or support. Legal Considerations Comprehending the legal considerations of a franchise agreement is crucial, as the terms laid out can greatly affect your business operations and financial obligations. Focus on the following key aspects: Review Fees and Obligations: Understand all fees involved, your responsibilities, and the contract duration, as these influence your flexibility. Examine Termination Clauses: Pay attention to conditions for ending the agreement and any non-compete clauses that may limit future opportunities. Analyze Operational Standards: Verify you know the franchisor’s operational requirements, as non-compliance can result in penalties or loss of rights. Consult a Franchise Attorney: Seek legal advice to grasp liability issues and intellectual property rights, guaranteeing you fully understand the implications of the agreement. Secure Financing and Funding Securing financing and funding is a crucial step in the franchise buying process, as it involves evaluating your financial capacity and comprehending the total investment required, which typically ranges from $10,000 to over $100,000 for franchise fees and initial setup costs. You should maintain cash reserves equal to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the initial phase. Explore financing options like traditional Bank of America, SBA loans, and HELOCs. Prepare a thorough business plan detailing your financial projections to present to potential lenders. Furthermore, review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for financial obligations, including royalty fees and ongoing costs, to effectively budget and plan. Financing Options Pros Cons Traditional Bank Loans Lower interest rates Stringent qualification SBA Loans Government backing Lengthy application process Home Equity Lines of Credit Flexible amounts Risk of losing your home Choose the Right Location Choosing the right location for your franchise is vital to its success and growth. Here are key factors to evaluate: Analyze Traffic Patterns: Study the area’s traffic patterns and demographics to confirm they align with your target customer base. Proximity to Complementary Businesses: Assess nearby businesses that can drive foot traffic to your location, enhancing your customer acquisition opportunities. Understand Territory Parameters: Familiarize yourself with the territory guidelines in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) to avoid conflicts with existing franchisees. Franchisor Guidance: Seek assistance from your franchisor during the site selection process, as they can provide valuable insights and resources to help identify prime locations. Obtaining your franchisor’s approval for your chosen site is fundamental for brand consistency and operational success. Prepare for Opening and Operations As you prepare for the opening and operations of your franchise, it’s essential to guarantee that all necessary permits and insurance policies are in place, which not just complies with local regulations but moreover meets industry-specific requirements. Hire staff according to your franchise’s needs and utilize the training programs provided by the franchisor to guarantee employees are ready for their roles. Consider planning a soft opening to test your operations and resolve any potential issues before the grand opening, using initial customer feedback to make adjustments. During the first days, maintain communication with the franchisor for support, ensuring a corporate trainer is available to help with operational challenges. Finally, follow the franchisor’s marketing guidelines and allocate a budget for promotional activities to attract customers from day one. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the Steps to Buying a Franchise? To buy a franchise, start by evaluating your finances to guarantee you can cover franchise fees and living expenses for at least three to six months. Research different franchise opportunities and request the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for key information. Attend a discovery day to meet the franchisor’s team, and talk to current franchisees for insights. Finally, secure funding with a solid business plan and review the franchise agreement with a legal professional for clarity. What Are the 4 P’s of Franchising? The 4 P’s of franchising are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Product focuses on the quality and uniqueness of goods or services, ensuring they meet customer needs. Price includes the franchise fees and royalties, impacting profitability. Place refers to the strategic location of franchises, optimizing customer access. Finally, Promotion encompasses marketing strategies, such as advertising and social media, aimed at enhancing brand awareness and driving sales. Comprehending these elements is essential for franchise success. What Is the 7 Day Rule for Franchise? The 7 Day Rule requires franchisors to provide you with the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) at least seven days before you sign any binding agreements or make payments. This rule, mandated by the Federal Trade Commission, guarantees you have sufficient time to review essential information about the franchise, including fees and obligations. Use this week to conduct research, seek legal advice, and consult current franchisees, as it’s vital for making informed decisions. Why Is It Only $10,000 to Open a Chick-Fil-A? Opening a Chick-fil-A franchise requires only a $10,000 initial fee because of their unique business model. Chick-fil-A covers most start-up costs like real estate and equipment, considerably lowering your financial barrier. Nevertheless, they retain ownership of the property, which reduces risk for you but mandates on-site management involvement. Although the initial investment is low, you’ll pay a 15% royalty on sales, reflecting the brand’s support and strong market presence. Conclusion In conclusion, successfully buying a franchise requires careful planning and informed decision-making. By clarifying your motivations, conducting thorough research, and evaluating opportunities, you can make a well-informed choice. Comprehending the franchise agreement and securing proper financing are essential steps. Furthermore, selecting the right location and preparing for operations guarantee a smoother launch. Staying in touch with your franchisor for ongoing support can further improve your chances of success in this business venture. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Essential Steps for Successfully Buying a Franchise" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When you’re considering buying a franchise, it’s vital to follow a structured approach to guarantee success. Start by clarifying your motivation and evaluating your financial readiness. Next, conduct thorough market research to understand your local environment. This process involves reviewing various franchise opportunities and engaging with current franchisees to gain insights. Each step builds on the last, leading you toward a smart investment decision. But what comes next in this fundamental expedition? Key Takeaways Clarify personal motivations for franchise ownership and assess your readiness for following a franchisor’s systems. Conduct thorough market research to analyze local demographics, competition, and customer preferences. Evaluate various franchise opportunities, considering financial requirements and alignment with your interests. Speak with current franchisees to gain insights on operations, support, and realistic expectations. Carefully analyze the franchise agreement, focusing on fees, training provisions, and legal obligations. Understand Your Motivation for Franchise Ownership Why do you want to own a franchise? Clarifying your motivation is vital for ensuring your interests align with the franchise model. If you’re considering buying an existing franchise, assess whether you prefer the autonomy of entrepreneurship or the structured support of a franchise. Your enthusiasm for the franchise’s product or service will notably influence your commitment, especially during tough times. It’s also important to evaluate your readiness to follow the franchisor’s established systems and guidelines, as this affects brand consistency. Additionally, recognizing the financial implications, like profit-sharing with the franchisor, prepares you for the responsibilities of ownership. Conduct Thorough Market Research After clarifying your motivations for franchise ownership, the next step involves conducting thorough market research. Start by analyzing local demographics, customer preferences, and economic conditions to pinpoint viable franchise opportunities that meet market demands. Utilize federal and state data to evaluate the saturation of similar businesses in your area, which helps clarify the competitive terrain and identify potential gaps. Consider employing a SWOT analysis to assess both the franchise brand and local competition effectively. Engaging with potential customers through surveys or focus groups can provide valuable insights into their needs and preferences. Furthermore, review industry trends and forecasts to understand growth potential and shifts in consumer behavior that could impact your franchise’s success in the target market. Assess Your Financial Readiness Evaluating your financial readiness is a critical step in the franchise buying process. Start by grasping your financial environment and what you can afford. Determine your available capital for initial franchise fees, typically ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, and consider equipment and buildout costs. Maintain cash reserves equal to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the franchise’s early days. Analyze ongoing costs, including royalty fees based on a percentage of gross sales. Explore financing options like SBA loans, or home equity lines of credit (HELOC) to secure necessary funding. Review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for detailed financial requirements and potential return on investment insights. Evaluate Franchise Opportunities When evaluating franchise opportunities, start by researching various options that align with your interests, as this can boost your motivation. Next, assess the financial requirements, considering both upfront costs and ongoing expenses to guarantee you have adequate cash reserves. Gathering detailed information through resources like franchise directories and the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) will help you make an informed decision. Research Franchise Options Researching franchise options is an important step in your path toward business ownership, as it allows you to identify opportunities that align with your interests and market conditions. To effectively evaluate franchise opportunities, consider these key actions: Explore various franchise opportunities across different industries to find a match that resonates with your passions. Utilize federal and state data for market analysis, ensuring you choose a franchise with growth potential in your local area. Request the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) from potential franchisors, as it contains vital information on fees and obligations. Attend franchise expos and use online directories to compare business models and identify strong contenders, all the while engaging with current franchisees for firsthand insights. Assess Financial Requirements After you’ve identified potential franchise opportunities, the next step involves evaluating the financial requirements necessary for your investment. Start by examining your financial capacity, which includes the upfront franchise fee that typically ranges from $10,000 to $100,000, along with ongoing royalty fees of 4% to 8% of gross sales. It’s essential to maintain cash reserves equivalent to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the initial phase. Carefully review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) to understand all financial aspects, including initial investments and operational costs. Furthermore, explore financing options such as bank loans or home equity lines of credit to secure necessary funding. Conduct a thorough analysis of ongoing costs to create a realistic budget for your franchise business. Investigate Franchisor Support and Training When you’re considering a franchise, it’s essential to investigate the support and training offered by the franchisor. You’ll want to understand the details of their initial training programs, how they provide ongoing operational assistance, and the accessibility of their support teams. This information can greatly influence your success, as strong support often leads to better franchisee satisfaction and profitability. Training Program Details A strong training program is vital for your franchise’s success, as it equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to operate effectively. When evaluating a franchisor’s training program, consider the following: Structure: A combination of classroom instruction and on-the-job training improves your learning experience. Materials: Detailed training manuals should outline operational procedures, marketing strategies, and customer service protocols for consistency. Duration: Programs can last from a few days to several weeks, depending on the business model’s complexity. Ongoing Support: Many franchisors provide refresher courses and access to dedicated support teams to help you adapt to new practices and guarantee long-term success. Investing time in comprehending these elements will benefit your franchise expedition greatly. Ongoing Operational Assistance As the initial training program sets the foundation for your franchise expedition, ongoing operational assistance from the franchisor plays a crucial role in your long-term success. Investigate the specific training programs offered and their content, ensuring they equip you for effective franchise management. Assess the availability of ongoing support, which may include marketing help, technology guidance, and employee training resources. Evaluate the effectiveness of the franchisor’s support network, including access to fellow franchisees who can share valuable experiences. Review the operations manual for clarity and thoroughness, as it outlines necessary procedures. Finally, confirm the franchisor’s commitment to regular updates and communication, which is critical for adapting to market changes and overcoming operational challenges. Support Team Accessibility Ongoing operational assistance sets the stage for your franchise’s success, but the accessibility of the franchisor’s support team greatly influences how effectively you can navigate challenges. To guarantee you have the resources you need, consider the following aspects of support team accessibility: Initial Training: Check the length and depth of initial training programs, as they set the foundation for your comprehension of the franchise. Ongoing Support: Investigate whether a dedicated support team is available to assist with various issues throughout your franchise’s lifecycle. Operations Manual: Confirm you have access to a thorough operations manual that outlines procedures and best practices. Communication Frequency: Ask about the frequency and format of support updates to adapt quickly to market changes. Speak With Current Franchisees How can speaking with current franchisees improve your comprehension of the franchise you’re considering? Engaging with franchisees offers invaluable insights into daily operations and challenges, helping you set realistic expectations. They can share their satisfaction levels regarding the franchisor’s support, which is essential for your success. Aspect Insights from Franchisees Importance Day-to-Day Ops Real experiences shared Helps set realistic goals Support Levels Satisfaction rates Impacts business success Startup Process Initial costs and hurdles Prepares for potential issues Analyze the Franchise Agreement When you analyze the franchise agreement, you’re looking at key terms that define your relationship with the franchisor, such as duration, fees, and operational guidelines. It’s additionally important to identify any negotiation opportunities that may exist, in addition to legal considerations that could impact your business. Make sure you understand these elements thoroughly, since they’ll shape your franchise experience and obligations. Key Agreement Terms Comprehending the key terms in a franchise agreement is vital for any prospective franchisee, as these terms define your rights and responsibilities within the franchise system. Here are four significant elements to understand: Term Length: Typically, agreements last around ten years, with clauses related to renewal and non-compete agreements after termination. Franchise Fees: These one-time payments range from $10,000 to $100,000, granting you the right to use the brand and systems. Royalty Fees: Ongoing payments based on a percentage of gross sales, important for your budgeting strategy. Support and Training: The agreement should clearly outline the training and support you’ll receive, including its duration and accessibility. Reviewing these terms helps guarantee a smooth franchise relationship. Negotiation Opportunities After you’ve grasped the key terms in your franchise agreement, it’s time to explore the negotiation opportunities available to you. Many franchise agreements have rigid terms, but you might find some flexibility in areas like royalty fees or territorial rights. Consulting a lawyer experienced in franchise law is crucial; they can help you identify the nuances and potential negotiation points, such as the length of the franchise term, initial fees, and marketing contributions. Comprehending the franchisor’s willingness to negotiate can reveal their flexibility and the nature of your future relationship. Nevertheless, be cautious if an agreement seems overly negotiable, as this might indicate potential issues with the franchisor’s stability or support. Legal Considerations Comprehending the legal considerations of a franchise agreement is crucial, as the terms laid out can greatly affect your business operations and financial obligations. Focus on the following key aspects: Review Fees and Obligations: Understand all fees involved, your responsibilities, and the contract duration, as these influence your flexibility. Examine Termination Clauses: Pay attention to conditions for ending the agreement and any non-compete clauses that may limit future opportunities. Analyze Operational Standards: Verify you know the franchisor’s operational requirements, as non-compliance can result in penalties or loss of rights. Consult a Franchise Attorney: Seek legal advice to grasp liability issues and intellectual property rights, guaranteeing you fully understand the implications of the agreement. Secure Financing and Funding Securing financing and funding is a crucial step in the franchise buying process, as it involves evaluating your financial capacity and comprehending the total investment required, which typically ranges from $10,000 to over $100,000 for franchise fees and initial setup costs. You should maintain cash reserves equal to three to six months of living expenses for stability during the initial phase. Explore financing options like traditional Bank of America, SBA loans, and HELOCs. Prepare a thorough business plan detailing your financial projections to present to potential lenders. Furthermore, review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for financial obligations, including royalty fees and ongoing costs, to effectively budget and plan. Financing Options Pros Cons Traditional Bank Loans Lower interest rates Stringent qualification SBA Loans Government backing Lengthy application process Home Equity Lines of Credit Flexible amounts Risk of losing your home Choose the Right Location Choosing the right location for your franchise is vital to its success and growth. Here are key factors to evaluate: Analyze Traffic Patterns: Study the area’s traffic patterns and demographics to confirm they align with your target customer base. Proximity to Complementary Businesses: Assess nearby businesses that can drive foot traffic to your location, enhancing your customer acquisition opportunities. Understand Territory Parameters: Familiarize yourself with the territory guidelines in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) to avoid conflicts with existing franchisees. Franchisor Guidance: Seek assistance from your franchisor during the site selection process, as they can provide valuable insights and resources to help identify prime locations. Obtaining your franchisor’s approval for your chosen site is fundamental for brand consistency and operational success. Prepare for Opening and Operations As you prepare for the opening and operations of your franchise, it’s essential to guarantee that all necessary permits and insurance policies are in place, which not just complies with local regulations but moreover meets industry-specific requirements. Hire staff according to your franchise’s needs and utilize the training programs provided by the franchisor to guarantee employees are ready for their roles. Consider planning a soft opening to test your operations and resolve any potential issues before the grand opening, using initial customer feedback to make adjustments. During the first days, maintain communication with the franchisor for support, ensuring a corporate trainer is available to help with operational challenges. Finally, follow the franchisor’s marketing guidelines and allocate a budget for promotional activities to attract customers from day one. Frequently Asked Questions What Are the Steps to Buying a Franchise? To buy a franchise, start by evaluating your finances to guarantee you can cover franchise fees and living expenses for at least three to six months. Research different franchise opportunities and request the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for key information. Attend a discovery day to meet the franchisor’s team, and talk to current franchisees for insights. Finally, secure funding with a solid business plan and review the franchise agreement with a legal professional for clarity. What Are the 4 P’s of Franchising? The 4 P’s of franchising are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Product focuses on the quality and uniqueness of goods or services, ensuring they meet customer needs. Price includes the franchise fees and royalties, impacting profitability. Place refers to the strategic location of franchises, optimizing customer access. Finally, Promotion encompasses marketing strategies, such as advertising and social media, aimed at enhancing brand awareness and driving sales. Comprehending these elements is essential for franchise success. What Is the 7 Day Rule for Franchise? The 7 Day Rule requires franchisors to provide you with the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) at least seven days before you sign any binding agreements or make payments. This rule, mandated by the Federal Trade Commission, guarantees you have sufficient time to review essential information about the franchise, including fees and obligations. Use this week to conduct research, seek legal advice, and consult current franchisees, as it’s vital for making informed decisions. Why Is It Only $10,000 to Open a Chick-Fil-A? Opening a Chick-fil-A franchise requires only a $10,000 initial fee because of their unique business model. Chick-fil-A covers most start-up costs like real estate and equipment, considerably lowering your financial barrier. Nevertheless, they retain ownership of the property, which reduces risk for you but mandates on-site management involvement. Although the initial investment is low, you’ll pay a 15% royalty on sales, reflecting the brand’s support and strong market presence. Conclusion In conclusion, successfully buying a franchise requires careful planning and informed decision-making. By clarifying your motivations, conducting thorough research, and evaluating opportunities, you can make a well-informed choice. Comprehending the franchise agreement and securing proper financing are essential steps. Furthermore, selecting the right location and preparing for operations guarantee a smoother launch. Staying in touch with your franchisor for ongoing support can further improve your chances of success in this business venture. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Essential Steps for Successfully Buying a Franchise" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Another Google tool is biting the dust: The company's dark web monitoring tool, launched in March 2023, will be shut down on Feb. 16. According to Google, feedback on the feature suggested it "didn't provide helpful next steps"—so while it alerted users when their data was out in the wild, it wasn't clear what to do about it. Now, Google is shifting its focus from the dark web monitoring tool to features like its online Security Check-Up and passkey protection. In other words, instead of flagging when your account credentials appear in a data breach, Google wants to make sure that your accounts stay safe even if a breach has occurred. There are reasons why you should be keeping an eye on dark web chatter, however—and there are tools to take over the monitoring job now Google has backed out. What is the dark web—and why do I need to monitor it? Keeper provides a free dark web scan. Credit: Lifehacker Essentially, the dark web is made up of online spaces that you can't get to just by pointing your browser at a web address. You need specialist software and a little bit of technical know-how to find your way into the dark web and to navigate around it. It's largely hidden from the world at large via encryption and rerouting. Why all the secrecy? The dark web is used to evade both law enforcement and ruling powers, so it's the perfect place to carry out somewhat illicit activities as well as get around the machinations of oppressive surveillance states. It's a place where hackers and whistleblowers alike can gather. Speaking of hackers, dumps of information from data breaches will often find their way on to the dark web, to be traded or given away for free. Whether it's your email address, phone number, social security number, or passwords, if this data has been exposed by a hack, you're much more likely to find it on the dark web than on Reddit. Dark web monitoring tools, like the one Google just shut down, are intended to give you a heads up if your details have appeared in a data dump. You can then do something about it, whether it's getting in touch with your bank to check for any signs of identity theft, or changing the password for your email service. Having a dedicated tool for the task saves you from having to trawl the dark web yourself—which isn't particularly easy or pleasant—and while Google might be closing down its monitoring service, you've got several alternatives you can turn to instead. The best dark web monitoring tools you can try Proton's dark web scanner is part of the Proton Unlimited subscription. Credit: Lifehacker Proton is a favorite among privacy enthusiasts, and the privacy-focused company also has a Dark Web Monitoring tool of its own. You do need a paid plan to access it though, from $12.99 a month or $119.88 a year, which includes multiple perks across all Proton's products. You can find it from the Security and privacy side panel in the Proton Mail app. Proton uses a variety of intelligence datasets in its dark web sweep, and looks out for details including email addresses, usernames, dates of birth, physical addresses, and government IDs. The leaks will be categorized in terms of how urgently action needs to be taken, and Proton doesn't give your data to third parties. Trend Micro has a Data Leak Checker that covers the dark web, which you can use without paying anything or even signing up for an account—though you can only check for mentions of your email address or phone number in leaks. For more comprehensive scans and alerts, you can sign up for a premium account, from $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year—and there's lots more included besides dark web monitoring. Keeper Security takes the same approach with BreachWatch: You can run a quick scan for breaches including your email address without paying or signing up, but if you want anything more advanced (including proactive notifications) then you need to sign up for $24.99 a year. The feature can be added to any of Keeper's other paid-for plans too. If you currently pay for a security product, such as a password manager or a VPN, you may well find that dark web monitoring is included—so check through your existing subscriptions. For example, the Surfshark Alert dark web monitoring tool comes as part of the Surfshark One VPN bundle, with pricing from $17.95 a month or $40.68 a year. View the full article

French prosecutors raided the offices of social media platform X on Tuesday as part of a preliminary investigation into allegations including spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes. They have also summoned billionaire owner Elon Musk for questioning. X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI also face intensifying scrutiny from Britain’s data privacy regulator, which opened formal investigations into how they handled personal data when they developed and deployed Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage last month after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users. The French investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement. It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges. Prosecutors asked Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to attend “voluntary interviews” on April 20. Employees of X have also been summoned that same week to be heard as witnesses, the statement said. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025. A spokesperson for X did not respond to multiple requests for comment. X’s lawyer in France, Kami Haeri, told The Associated Press: “We are not making any comment at this stage.” In a message posted on X, the Paris prosecutors’ office announced the ongoing searches at the company’s offices in France and said it was leaving the platform while calling on followers to join it on other social media. “At this stage, the conduct of the investigation is based on a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law, as it operates on the national territory,” the prosecutors’ statement said. European Union police agency Europol “is supporting the French authorities in this,” Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth told the AP, without elaborating. French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded after Grok generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes, the statement said. Grok wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial. In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers. The chatbot also appeared to praise Adolf Hitler last year, in comments that X took down after complaints. In Britain, the Information Commissioner’s Office said it’s looking into whether X and xAI followed the law when processing personal data and whether Grok had any measures in place to prevent its use to generate “harmful manipulated images.” “The reports about Grok raise deeply troubling questions about how people’s personal data has been used to generate intimate or sexualised images without their knowledge or consent, and whether the necessary safeguards were put in place to prevent this,” said William Malcolm, an executive director at the watchdog. He didn’t specify what the penalty would be if the probe found the companies didn’t comply with data protection laws. A separate investigation into Grok launched last month by the U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, is ongoing. Ofcom said Tuesday it’s still gathering evidence and warned the probe could take months. X has also been under pressure from the EU. The 27-nation bloc’s executive arm opened an investigation last month after Grok spewed nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform. Brussels has already hit X with a 120-million euro (then-$140 million) fine for shortcomings under the bloc’s sweeping digital regulations, including blue checkmarks that broke the rules on “deceptive design practices” that risked exposing users to scams and manipulation. On Monday, Musk ‘s space exploration and rocket business, SpaceX, announced that it acquired xAI in a deal that will also combine Grok, X and his satellite communication company Starlink. Associated Press writers Nicolas Vaux-Montagny, Mike Corder, Sylvia Hui and Kelvin Chan contributed to this report. —Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press View the full article

As small business owners juggle multiple responsibilities daily, staying efficient is paramount. A promising development from Google Chrome could make a significant impact by simplifying online tasks—an upgrade that could offer major time savings and enhance productivity. Recently, Google announced the integration of “Personal Intelligence” and “auto browse” features into Chrome, creating a browsing experience that’s not only smart but proactively tailored to users’ needs. Small business owners often face the burden of repetitive tasks, from scheduling appointments to managing logistics. The launch of Personal Intelligence aims to transform how they navigate the web by providing context-aware assistance. With this feature, Chrome will remember user interactions and preferences, making it easier to obtain useful, tailored answers without starting from scratch each time. Google emphasizes the control users have over this feature. “With Personal Intelligence, you’re always in control. You can opt-in and choose whether to connect your apps and disconnect them at any time,” a Google representative stated. This adaptability could be a game changer for businesses looking for efficiency without sacrificing privacy. Small business owners can select relevant apps that align with their workflows while maintaining the option to disconnect when needed. Auto browse takes this enhancement a step further, shifting from simple autofill functions to a more agent-like service that handles multi-step tasks. For example, small business owners can automate complex processes like vacation planning or even professional workflows. Rather than spending hours sorting through options for a business trip or event, the auto browse feature can pull together information on hotel and flight costs across multiple dates. This capability allows users to focus on strategy rather than logistics. This innovative service is available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S., prompting small business owners to consider their subscription options. Initial testers have documented a wide variety of use cases—from filling out tedious tax documents and managing subscriptions to checking bill payments and credential management. One user noted, “Auto browse has saved me countless hours on routine tasks, allowing me to focus more on my business.” Moreover, the advanced multimodal capabilities of Gemini 3 enable even more intricate tasks. A small business owner planning a themed event could leverage auto browse to identify unique decor items through images, adding necessary items directly to their online shopping cart—all while applying discount codes for savings. This could streamline event planning exponentially, freeing up hours that can be redirected toward other priorities. While these features present a wealth of opportunities, small business owners should also be aware of potential challenges. As with any new technology, the initial learning curve can be steep, particularly for those less tech-savvy. There may also be concerns related to data security and privacy, even with promises of user control. Ensuring that any feature, particularly one that automates tasks, complies with business operating standards is essential. As Chrome continues to evolve, the implications of Personal Intelligence and auto browse could inspire small business owners to rethink how they manage their operations. By streamlining everyday processes and minimizing the time spent on repetitive tasks, businesses can focus their energy on growth and customer engagement. With these updates, Google aims to bring a transformative experience to the web-browsing landscape. For further details on these new features, check out the official announcement here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Chrome’s New Personal Intelligence Feature Offers Tailored Browsing Help" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As small business owners juggle multiple responsibilities daily, staying efficient is paramount. A promising development from Google Chrome could make a significant impact by simplifying online tasks—an upgrade that could offer major time savings and enhance productivity. Recently, Google announced the integration of “Personal Intelligence” and “auto browse” features into Chrome, creating a browsing experience that’s not only smart but proactively tailored to users’ needs. Small business owners often face the burden of repetitive tasks, from scheduling appointments to managing logistics. The launch of Personal Intelligence aims to transform how they navigate the web by providing context-aware assistance. With this feature, Chrome will remember user interactions and preferences, making it easier to obtain useful, tailored answers without starting from scratch each time. Google emphasizes the control users have over this feature. “With Personal Intelligence, you’re always in control. You can opt-in and choose whether to connect your apps and disconnect them at any time,” a Google representative stated. This adaptability could be a game changer for businesses looking for efficiency without sacrificing privacy. Small business owners can select relevant apps that align with their workflows while maintaining the option to disconnect when needed. Auto browse takes this enhancement a step further, shifting from simple autofill functions to a more agent-like service that handles multi-step tasks. For example, small business owners can automate complex processes like vacation planning or even professional workflows. Rather than spending hours sorting through options for a business trip or event, the auto browse feature can pull together information on hotel and flight costs across multiple dates. This capability allows users to focus on strategy rather than logistics. This innovative service is available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S., prompting small business owners to consider their subscription options. Initial testers have documented a wide variety of use cases—from filling out tedious tax documents and managing subscriptions to checking bill payments and credential management. One user noted, “Auto browse has saved me countless hours on routine tasks, allowing me to focus more on my business.” Moreover, the advanced multimodal capabilities of Gemini 3 enable even more intricate tasks. A small business owner planning a themed event could leverage auto browse to identify unique decor items through images, adding necessary items directly to their online shopping cart—all while applying discount codes for savings. This could streamline event planning exponentially, freeing up hours that can be redirected toward other priorities. While these features present a wealth of opportunities, small business owners should also be aware of potential challenges. As with any new technology, the initial learning curve can be steep, particularly for those less tech-savvy. There may also be concerns related to data security and privacy, even with promises of user control. Ensuring that any feature, particularly one that automates tasks, complies with business operating standards is essential. As Chrome continues to evolve, the implications of Personal Intelligence and auto browse could inspire small business owners to rethink how they manage their operations. By streamlining everyday processes and minimizing the time spent on repetitive tasks, businesses can focus their energy on growth and customer engagement. With these updates, Google aims to bring a transformative experience to the web-browsing landscape. For further details on these new features, check out the official announcement here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Chrome’s New Personal Intelligence Feature Offers Tailored Browsing Help" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The 65-inch TCL QM7K is currently selling for $797.99, down from $999.99, and price-trackers show this is the lowest it has dropped so far. The QM7K isn’t a stripped-down budget model—it’s a mini-LED TV with full-array local dimming, wide HDR format support, and brightness levels that push past 2,000 nits. In practice, that means HDR highlights pop, contrast stays controlled, and the screen remains usable even in rooms with a lot of daylight. It doesn’t reach the extreme peak brightness of TCL’s higher-end QM8, but for most living rooms, the difference is negligible. And if you’re also shopping for a solid gaming and streaming setup without dropping over a grand, the QM7K fits the bill. TCL 65-Inch QM7K (65QM7K) $797.97 at Amazon $999.99 Save $202.02 Get Deal Get Deal $797.97 at Amazon $999.99 Save $202.02 TCL has packed this one with gamer-friendly specs: a native 144Hz refresh rate, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and input lag under 5ms for 1080p at high frame rates. Even at 4K60, input lag stays under 14 milliseconds, keeping it comfortably below the one-frame delay PCMag uses as a benchmark for solid gaming performance in a TV. Connectivity is solid, too, with four HDMI ports in total, including two that support 144Hz signals and one with eARC for audio passthrough, plus USB, Ethernet, and optical audio. Google TV handles the smarts, with support for Apple AirPlay, Chromecast, hands-free Google Assistant, and all the big-name streaming apps. The included remote is backlit, easy to use, and comes with shortcut buttons for popular apps. And the interface is easy to navigate. That said, there are some trade-offs. Color tuning leans warm out of the box and may need adjustment, and the panel doesn’t support ATSC 3.0, so you’re missing out on the newer over-the-air broadcast standard. Also, like most LED TVs, you’ll lose some color saturation and contrast when watching from sharp side angles. But those compromises are minor for most people using it as a living room centerpiece or gaming display. PCMag gave the QM7K “excellent” rating, and our own writer, Daniel Oropeza named the 65-inch model one of the best budget QLED TVs to buy. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $229.99 (List Price $249.00) 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) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — (List Price $24.99 With Code "FTV4K25") Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Silver) — $159.99 (List Price $219.99) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.99 (List Price $349.00) Blink Mini 2 1080p Security Camera (White) — $23.99 (List Price $39.99) Ring Outdoor Cam Pro Plug-In With Outdoor Cam Plus Battery (White) — $189.99 (List Price $259.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google says search algorithms, spam detection...View the full article

Innovations are coming at marketers and consumers faster than before, raising the question: Are we actually ready for the agentic web? To answer that question, it’s important to unpack a few supporting ones: What’s the agentic web? How can the agentic web be used? What are the pros and cons of the agentic web? It’s important to note that this article isn’t a mandate for AI skeptics to abandon the rational questions they have about the agentic web. Nor is it intended to place any judgment on how you, as a consumer or professional, engage with the agentic web. With thoughts and feelings so divided on the agentic web, this article aims to provide clear insight into how to think about it in earnest, without the branding or marketing fluff. Disclosure: I am a Microsoft employee and believe in the path Microsoft’s taking with the agentic web. However, this article will attempt to be as platform-agnostic as possible. What’s the agentic web? The agentic web refers to sophisticated tools, or agents, trained on our preferences that act with our consent to accomplish time-consuming tasks. In simple terms, when I use one-click checkout, I allow my saved payment information to be passed to the merchant’s accounts receivable systems. Neither the merchant nor I must write down all the details or be involved beyond consenting to send and receive payment. For fun, I put this question to four different AI models, and the responses are telling: Copilot: “The agentic web is an emerging layer of the internet where AI agents can reason and take actions on behalf of people or organizations, turning expressed intent into outcomes while preserving user choice, transparency, and control.” Gemini: “The agentic web is an evolution of the internet where autonomous AI agents – rather than just human users – interact with websites, APIs, and each other to perform complex tasks and make decisions on our behalf. “ Perplexity: “The agentic web is an emerging phase of the internet where autonomous AI agents act as the primary interface, navigating, interpreting, and taking actions across websites and services on behalf of users with minimal human involvement.” Claude: “The agentic web is an evolution of the internet where AI agents autonomously navigate, interact with, and complete tasks across websites and services on behalf of users.” I begin with how different models answer the question because it’s important to understand that each one is trained on different information, and outcomes will inevitably vary. It’s worth noting that with the same prompt, defining the agentic web in one sentence, three out of four models focus on diminishing the human role in navigating the web, while one makes a point to emphasize the significance of human involvement, preserving user choice, transparency, and control. Two out of four refer to the agentic web as a layer or phase rather than an outright evolution of the web. This is likely where the sentiment divide on the agentic web stems from. Some see it as a consent-driven layer designed to make life easier, while others see it as a behemoth that consumes content, critical thinking, and choice. It’s noteworthy that one model, Gemini, calls out APIs as a means of communication in the agentic web. APIs are essentially libraries of information that can be referenced, or called, based on the task you are attempting to accomplish. This matters because APIs will become increasingly relevant in the agentic web, as saved preferences must be organized in ways that are easily understood and acted upon. Defining the agentic web requires spending some time digging into two important protocols – ACP and UCP. Dig deeper: AI agents in SEO: What you need to know Agentic Commerce Protocol: Optimized for action inside conversational AI The Agentic Commerce Protocol, or ACP, is designed around a specific moment: when a user has already expressed intent and wants the AI to act. The core idea behind ACP is simple. If a user tells an AI assistant to buy something, the assistant should be able to do so safely, transparently, and without forcing the user to leave the conversation to complete the transaction. ACP enables this by standardizing how an AI agent can: Access merchant product data. Confirm availability and price. Initiate checkout using delegated, revocable payment authorization. The experience is intentionally streamlined. The user stays in the conversation. The AI handles the mechanics. The merchant still fulfills the order. This approach is tightly aligned with conversational AI platforms, particularly environments where users are already asking questions, refining preferences, and making decisions in real time. It prioritizes speed, clarity, and minimal friction. Universal Commerce Protocol: Built for discovery, comparison, and lifecycle commerce The Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, takes a broader view of agentic commerce. Rather than focusing solely on checkout, UCP is designed to support the entire shopping journey on the agentic web, from discovery through post-purchase interactions. It provides a common language that allows AI agents to interact with commerce systems across different platforms, surfaces, and payment providers. That includes: Product discovery and comparison. Cart creation and updates. Checkout and payment handling. Order tracking and support workflows. UCP is designed with scale and interoperability in mind. It assumes users will encounter agentic shopping experiences in many places, not just within a single assistant, and that merchants will want to participate without locking themselves into a single AI platform. It’s tempting to frame ACP and UCP as competing solutions. In practice, they address different moments of the same user journey. ACP is typically strongest when intent is explicit and the user wants something done now. UCP is generally strongest when intent is still forming and discovery, comparison, and context matter. So what’s the agentic web? Is it an army of autonomous bots acting on past preferences to shape future needs? Is it the web as we know it, with fewer steps driven by consent-based signals? Or is it something else entirely? The frustrating answer is that the agentic web is still being defined by human behavior, so there’s no clear answer yet. However, we have the power to determine what form the agentic web takes. To better understand how to participate, we now move to how the agentic web can be used, along with the pros and cons. Dig deeper: The Great Decoupling of search and the birth of the agentic web How can the agentic web be used? Working from the common theme across all definitions, autonomous action, we can move to applications. Elmer Boutin has written a thoughtful technical view on how schema will impact agentic web compatibility. Benjamin Wenner has explored how PPC management might evolve in a fully agentic web. Both are worth reading. Here, I want to focus on consumer-facing applications of the agentic web and how to think about them in relation to the tasks you already perform today. Here are five applications of the agentic web that are live today or in active development. 1. Intent-driven commerce A user states a goal, such as “Find me the best running shoes under $150,” and an agent handles discovery, comparison, and checkout without requiring the user to manually browse multiple sites. How it works Rather than returning a list of links, the agent interprets user intent, including budget, category, and preferences. It pulls structured product information from participating merchants, applies reasoning logic to compare options, and moves toward checkout only after explicit user confirmation. The agent operates on approved product data and defined rules, with clear handoffs that keep the user in control. Implications for consumers and professionals Reducing decision fatigue without removing choice is a clear benefit for consumers. For brands, this turns discovery into high-intent engagement rather than anonymous clicks with unclear attribution. Strategically, it shifts competition away from who shouts the loudest toward who provides the clearest and most trusted product signals to agents. These agents can act as trusted guides, offering consumers third-party verification that a merchant is as reliable as it claims to be. 2. Brand-owned AI assistants A brand deploys its own AI agent to answer questions, recommend products, and support customers using the brand’s data, tone, and business rules. How it works The agent uses first-party information, such as product catalogs, policies, and FAQs. Guardrails define what it can say or do, preventing inferences that could lead to hallucinations. Responses are generated by retrieving and reasoning over approved context within the prompt. Implications for consumers and professionals Customers get faster and more consistent responses. Brands retain voice, accountability, and ownership of the experience. Strategically, this allows companies to participate in the agentic web without ceding their identity to a platform or intermediary. It also enables participation in global commerce without relying on native speakers to verify language. 3. Autonomous task completion Users delegate outcomes rather than steps, such as “Prepare a weekly performance summary” or “Reorder inventory when stock is low.” How it works The agent breaks the goal into subtasks, determines which systems or tools are needed, and executes actions sequentially. It pauses when permissions or human approvals are required. These can be provided in bulk upfront or step by step. How this works ultimately depends on how the agent is built. Implications for consumers and marketers We’re used to treating AI like interns, relying on micromanaged task lists and detailed prompts. As agents become more sophisticated, it becomes possible to treat them more like senior employees, oriented around outcomes and process improvement. That makes it reasonable to ask an agent to identify action items in email or send templates in your voice when active engagement isn’t required. Human choice comes down to how much you delegate to agents versus how much you ask them to assist. Dig deeper: The future of search visibility: What 6 SEO leaders predict for 2026 Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. 4. Agent-to-agent coordination and negotiation Agents communicate with other agents on behalf of people or organizations, such as a buyer agent comparing offers with multiple seller agents. How it works Agents exchange structured information, including pricing, availability, and constraints. They apply predefined rules, such as budgets or policies, and surface recommended outcomes for human approval. Implications for consumers and marketers Consumers may see faster and more transparent comparisons without needing to manually negotiate or cross-check options. For professionals, this introduces new efficiencies in areas like procurement, media buying, or logistics, where structured negotiation can occur at scale while humans retain oversight. 5. Continuous optimization over time Agents don’t just act once. They improve as they observe outcomes. How it works After each action, the agent evaluates what happened, such as engagement, conversion, or satisfaction. It updates its internal weighting and applies those learnings to future decisions. Why people should care Consumers experience increasingly relevant interactions over time without repeatedly restating preferences. Professionals gain systems that improve continuously, shifting optimization from one-off efforts to long-term, adaptive performance. What are the pros and cons of the agentic web? Life is a series of choices, and leaning into or away from the agentic web comes with clear pros and cons. Pros of leaning into the agentic web The strongest argument for leaning into the agentic web is behavioral. People have already been trained to prioritize convenience over process. Saved payment methods, password managers, autofill, and one-click checkout normalized the idea that software can complete tasks on your behalf once trust is established. Agentic experiences follow the same trajectory. Rather than requiring users to manually navigate systems, they interpret intent and reduce the number of steps needed to reach an outcome. Cons of leaning into the agentic web Many brands will need to rethink how their content, data, and experiences are structured so they can be interpreted by automated systems and humans. What works for visual scanning or brand storytelling doesn’t always map cleanly to machine-readable signals. There’s also a legitimate risk of overoptimization. Designing primarily for AI ingestion can unintentionally degrade human usability or accessibility if not handled carefully. Dig deeper: The enterprise blueprint for winning visibility in AI search Pros of leaning away from the agentic web Choosing to lean away from the agentic web can offer clarity of stance. There’s a visible segment of users skeptical of AI-mediated experiences, whether due to privacy concerns, automation fatigue, or a loss of human control. Aligning with that perspective can strengthen trust with audiences who value deliberate, hands-on interaction. Cons of leaning away from the agentic web If agentic interfaces become a primary way people discover information, compare options, or complete tasks, opting out entirely may limit visibility or participation. The longer an organization waits to adapt, the more expensive and disruptive that transition can become. What’s notable across the ecosystem is that agentic systems are increasingly designed to sit on top of existing infrastructure rather than replace it outright. Avoiding engagement with these patterns may not be sustainable over time. If interaction norms shift and systems aren’t prepared, the combination of technical debt and lost opportunity may be harder to overcome later. Where the agentic web stands today The agentic web is still taking form, shaped largely by how people choose to use it. Some organizations are already applying agentic systems to reduce friction and improve outcomes. Others are waiting for stronger trust signals and clearer consent models. Either approach is valid. What matters is understanding how agentic systems work, where they add value, and how emerging protocols are shaping participation. That understanding is the foundation for deciding when, where, and how to engage with the agentic web. View the full article

Peer gave sex offender Jeffrey Epstein access to UK government decision-making while serving in cabinet View the full article

US retail giant joins club dominated by tech groupsView the full article

On New Year’s Eve, Lee Zeldin did something out of character for an Environmental Protection Agency leader who has been hacking away at regulations intended to protect Americans’ air and water. He announced new restrictions on five chemicals commonly used in building materials, plastic products and adhesives, and he cheered it as a “MAHA win.” It was one of many signs of a fragile collaboration that’s been building between a Republican administration that’s traditionally supported big business and a Make America Healthy Again movement that argues corporate environmental harms are putting people’s health in danger. The unlikely pairing grew out of the coalition’s success influencing public health policy with the help of its biggest champion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As health secretary, he has pared back vaccine recommendations and shifted the government’s position on topics like seed oils, fluoride and Tylenol. Building on that momentum, the movement now sees a glimmer of hope in the EPA’s promise to release a “MAHA agenda” in the coming months. At stake is the strength of President Donald The President’s coalition as November’s midterm elections threaten his party’s control of Congress. After a politically diverse group of MAHA devotees came together to help The President return to the White House a little more than one year ago, disappointing them could mean losing the support of a vocal voting bloc. Activists like Courtney Swan, who focuses on nutritional issues and has spoken with EPA officials in recent months, are watching closely. “This is becoming an issue that if the EPA does not start getting their stuff together, then they could lose the midterms over this,” she said. Christopher Bosso, a professor at Northeastern University who researches environmental policy, said Zeldin didn’t seem to take MAHA seriously at first, “but now he has to, because they’ve been really calling for his scalp.” MAHA wins a seat at the table Last year, prominent activist Kelly Ryerson was so frustrated with the EPA over its weakening of protections against harmful chemicals that she and other MAHA supporters drew up a petition to get Zeldin fired. The final straw, Ryerson said, was the EPA’s approval of two new pesticides for use on food. Ryerson, whose social media account “Glyphosate Girl” focuses on nontoxic food systems, said the pesticides contained “forever chemicals,” which resist breakdown, making them hazardous to people. The EPA has disputed that characterization. But Ryerson’s relationship with the EPA changed at a MAHA Christmas party in Washington in December. She talked to Zeldin there and felt that he listened to her perspective. Then he invited her and a handful of other activists to sit down with him at the EPA headquarters. That meeting lasted an hour, and it led to more conversations with Zeldin’s deputies. “The level of engagement with people concerned with their health is absolutely revolutionary,” Ryerson said in an interview. She said the agency’s upcoming plan “will say whether or not they take it seriously,” but she praised MAHA’s access as “unprecedented.” Rashmi Joglekar, associate director of science, policy and engagement at the University of California San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, said it’s not typical for an activist group to meet with the EPA administrator. She said MAHA’s ability to make inroads so quickly shows how “powerful” the coalition has become. The movement’s influence is not just at the EPA. MAHA has steered federal and state lawmakers away from enacting liability shields that protect pesticide manufacturers from expensive lawsuits. In Congress, after MAHA activists lobbied against such protections in a funding bill, they were removed. A similar measure stalled in Tennessee’s legislature. Zeldin joined a call in December with the advocacy group MAHA Action, where he invited activists to participate in developing the EPA’s MAHA agenda. Since then, EPA staffers have regularly appeared on the weekly calls and promoted what they say are open-door policies. Last month, Ryerson’s petition to get Zeldin fired was updated to note that several signers had met with him and are in a “collaborative effort to advance the MAHA agenda.” Zeldin’s office declined to make him available for an interview on his work with MAHA activists, but EPA Press Secretary Brigit Hirsch said the forthcoming agenda will “directly respond to priorities we’ve heard from MAHA advocates and communities.” The American Chemistry Council said “smart, pro-growth policies can protect both the environment and human health as well as grow the U.S. economy.” EPA’s alliance with industry raises questions Despite the ongoing conversations, the Republican emphasis on deregulation still puts MAHA and the EPA on a potential collision course. Lori Ann Burd, the environmental health program director at The Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration has a particularly strong alliance with industry interests. As an example, she pointed to the EPA’s proposal to allow the broad use of the weed killer Dicamba on soybeans and cotton. A month before the announcement, the EPA hired a lobbyist for the soybean association, Kyle Kunkler, to serve in a senior position overseeing pesticides. Hirsch denied that Kunkler had anything to do with the decision and said EPA’s pesticide decisions are “driven by statutory standards and scientific evidence.” Environmentalists said the hiring of ex-industry leaders is a theme of this administration. Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, for example, are former higher-ups at the American Chemistry Council, an industry association. They now work in leadership in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which oversees pesticide and toxic chemical regulation. Hirsch said the agency consults with ethics officials to prevent conflicts of interest and ensures that appointees are qualified and focused on the science, “unlike previous administrations that too often deferred to activist groups instead of objective evidence.” Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who works with MAHA activists on some issues and was in the hourlong meeting with Zeldin, said she could sense industry’s influence in the room. “They were very polite in the meeting. In terms of the tone, there was a lot of receptivity,” she said. “However, in terms of what was said, it felt like we were interacting with a lot of industry talking points.” Activists await the EPA’s MAHA agenda Hirsch said the MAHA agenda will address issues like lead pipes, forever chemicals, plastic pollution, food quality and Superfund cleanups. Ryerson said she wants to get the chemical atrazine out of drinking water and stop the pre-harvest desiccation of food, in which farmers apply pesticides to crops immediately before they are harvested. She also wants to see cancer warnings on the ingredient glyphosate, which some studies associate with cancer even as the EPA said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed. While she’s optimistic that the political payoffs will be big enough for Zeldin to act, she said some of the moves he’s already promoting as “MAHA wins” are no such thing. For example, in his New Year’s Eve announcement on a group of chemicals called phthalates, he said the agency intends to regulate some of them for environmental and workplace risks, but didn’t address the thousands of consumer products that contain the ingredients. Swan said time will tell if the agency is being performative. “The EPA is giving very mixed signals right now,” she said. —Sejal Govindarao, Ali Swenson and Michael Phillis, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. For a lot of people, the appeal of a streaming stick is simple: You have an older TV that still works, but the software is dated or missing entirely. The Roku Streaming Stick HD (2025) fits that exact situation, and right now it’s selling for $15.99 on Amazon. Marked down from $29.99, it’s just a buck over its all-time low (according to price-trackers), and that makes it a tempting plug-and-play upgrade if you're tired of fiddling with HDMI cables or watching Netflix on a laptop screen. PCMag gave this streaming hub an “excellent” rating, largely because it sticks to the basics and executes them well. Roku Streaming Stick (2025) $15.99 at Amazon $29.99 Save $14.00 Get Deal Get Deal $15.99 at Amazon $29.99 Save $14.00 It runs Roku OS, a refreshingly simple interface compared to the ad-packed chaos of some other platforms. It’s compatible with most major streaming services and even supports Apple AirPlay, meaning you can cast content straight from your iPhone or Mac without any workarounds. That said, there’s no HDR or 4K support here, but that won't matter much on most 1080p TVs anyway. Power draw is only about 2.2 watts, which means it can likely run off your TV’s USB port with no separate power adapter. That makes cable clutter easier to manage, especially behind smaller sets. You get the standard Roku Voice Remote with shortcut buttons, volume control, and a built-in mic for voice search. That voice search is fine for pulling up shows, but it won’t let you dim your lights or ask the weather—it’s not Alexa or Google Assistant. This deal makes sense for a second TV, a bedroom setup, or for someone who just wants to stream The Bear without upgrading their entire setup. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $229.99 (List Price $249.00) 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) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — (List Price $24.99 With Code "FTV4K25") Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Silver) — $159.99 (List Price $219.99) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.99 (List Price $349.00) Blink Mini 2 1080p Security Camera (White) — $23.99 (List Price $39.99) Ring Outdoor Cam Pro Plug-In With Outdoor Cam Plus Battery (White) — $189.99 (List Price $259.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

New analysis shows Google Search Console hides roughly 75% of impressions, forcing SEO teams to rethink how they measure performance. The post GSC Data Is 75% Incomplete appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered roughly 1,000 unprotected gateways to OpenClaw, an open-source and proactive AI agent that can be controlled through text conversations with apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. The gateways were found on the open internet, allowing anyone to access users’ personal information. One white hat hacker also reportedly gamed OpenClaw’s skills system, which lets users add plugins for tasks like web automation or system control, to reach the top of the rankings and be downloaded by users around the world. The skill itself was innocuous, but it exploited a security vulnerability that someone more nefarious could have used to cause serious harm. Access to those gateways would allow hackers to reach the same files and content OpenClaw can access, meaning full read and write control over a user’s computer and any connected accounts, including email addresses and phone numbers. A number of incidents exploiting those vulnerabilities have already been reported. OpenClaw, originally called Clawdbot, was released in November 2025 by Peter Steinberger, an Austrian-born, London-based developer best known for creating a tool that lets apps display and edit PDFs natively. The launch followed a wave of advances in AI’s ability to interact with files that began in late 2025. Late last year, many people began experimenting with Anthropic’s Claude Code, an agentic AI that links to a computer’s file system through the terminal or command line and responds to conversational prompts to build large projects independently, with some oversight. The tool excited many users but also discouraged others who were uncomfortable working in a non-graphical interface. In response, Anthropic set Claude Code to work autonomously on a sibling product, Claude Work, which layers a more user-friendly interface on top. While it has gained some traction, it is a third-party product built by a developer outside Anthropic that has captured the most attention. Steinberger’s OpenClaw mimics the best features of Claude Code, but with more functionality and the ability to proactively work on tasks without being prompted. That proactivity is a key differentiator between the tool, which was forced to rename itself Moltbot and then OpenClaw last week after a request from Anthropic, and other AI systems. Its potential has energized the tech sector, driven a spike in Mac Mini sales as a popular way to host the agent, and come to dominate certain corners of X and Reddit. The problem is that the very thing that makes OpenClaw so appealing, the ability to oversee an eager AI assistant without specialist coding knowledge and with an easy setup, is also what makes it so concerning. “I love it, yet [I’m] instantly filled with fear,” says Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at Eset. Moore says users are so excited by the idea of OpenClaw as a personal assistant that they are granting it unrestricted access to their digital lives, sometimes while hosting their instances on incorrectly configured virtual private servers. That leaves them vulnerable to hacking. “Opening private messages and emails to any new technology comes with a risk and when we don’t fully understand those risks, we could be walking into a new era of putting efficiency before security and privacy,” Moore warns. The same access that makes OpenClaw powerful is also what makes it dangerous if it is compromised. “If one of the devices Clawdbot is running on is compromised, an attacker would then gain access to everything including full history and highly sensitive information,” he says. Steinberger did not respond to multiple interview requests, but he has published extensive security documentation for Moltbot online, even if many users may not incorporate it into their setups. That concerns cybersecurity experts. “Developments like Clawdbot are so seductive but a gift to the bad guys,” says Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey in the U.K. “With great power comes great responsibility and machines are not responsible,” he says. “Ultimately the user is.” The way OpenClaw operates, running without oversight and acting as an always-on assistant, may cause users to forget that responsibility until it is too late. Some have already demonstrated that Moltbot can be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks, in which harmful instructions are embedded in websites or emails in the hope that AI agents will absorb and follow them. “I wonder who these users think will be blamed when agentic AI empties their account or posts hateful thoughts,” Woodward says. View the full article

Peer has been the subject of revelations that he passed on confidential government information to Jeffrey EpsteinView the full article

When the Nintendo Switch 2 came out, I was a bit skeptical that such a thin and light device could handle AAA, blockbuster games. But when I actually got it in my hands and reviewed it, I was impressed to see that it was capable of running demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 just as well as my Steam Deck could. Since then, it's continued to prove itself by capably running other beefy games like Star Wars Outlaws and, more recently, Final Fantasy VIII Remake. The catch? All these games were all a few years old, and with the exception of Star Wars Outlaws, they all had versions for last-generation systems. As we started moving into 2026, I was still left wondering how well the Switch 2 will be able to keep up with brand new AAA titles as they come out. Based on some hands-on time I've had with two upcoming technical showpieces, the answer is "very well." Playing Pragmata on the Nintendo Switch 2Last week, I attended a preview event hosted by Nintendo where I got to play the Switch 2 editions for Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as well as the brand new game, Mario Tennis Fever. All of these looked great, but they didn't really push any kind of graphical boundaries. My real interest was in the two third-party titles at the event, both of which were being shown off by Capcom. The first was Pragmata, an upcoming sci-fi shooter that, most importantly for our purposes, uses the notoriously performance-hungry RE Engine. When it works, this engine is great for fidelity in particular lighting, but optimizing for the thing has been a nightmare on even powerful systems, as evidenced by frame rate-wrecking bugs continually popping up in games like Monster Hunter Wilds. While that's an open-world game, meaning it has to render a lot at once, Pragamata itself is no slouch, and I figured it would make a perfect test case for whether the Switch 2 can handle not just older AAA releases, but new ones, too. The verdict? If you had told me this thing were running on a PS5, I'd believe you. I played the game in both handheld and docked mode, and on the TV, it was easy to forget everything but the gameplay and just sink right into the experience. Textures were smooth, the resolution seemed to be at least a solid 1080p, if not higher, and I would say the frame rate was actually above 30 fps. I don't have any specific numbers—I wasn't able to test these settings at the event, and Capcom couldn't tell me any details—but my thought is that even if the graphics had compromises to run on the Switch 2, they weren't noticeable and didn't hamper my experience. Hardware snobs who absolutely need a 4K resolution and at least 60 fps might want to stick to PC, but results like this aren't too far behind what the other home consoles can do with the newest games and are a noticeable improvement on how the original Switch handled AAA games. There, blockbuster games were often either pixelated and slow, or ran on the cloud and required an internet connection. Compromises like these were understandable there, but it sometimes meant you were focusing so much on the game's technical issues that it was difficult to get immersed in the gameplay, assuming developers even bothered to port a game to Switch in the first place. None of these were problems when I was playing Pragmata on the Nintendo Switch 2. Controls were snappy, environments were easy to parse, and most impressively, the hair was on point! OK, that might sound a bit odd, but hear me out: It's actually super impressive. Naturalistic long hair has been a nightmare for video games to render until very recently, which is why if you've ever played a video game with a customizable character, the hair options often cap out at medium length, or are very stylized. Pragmata, meanwhile, makes a point of having a companion character at your side at all times who has messy, frizzy, unkempt hair almost down to her waist. And each individual strand of that hair has physics on it, so it moves realistically rather than as one big blob. That takes a lot of processing power to simulate, and is clearly meant to be a bit of a technical brag for Capcom. But while the devs' work optimizing the game to handle this hair is definitely to be commended, it's also reassuring that the Nintendo Switch 2 didn't buckle at all while doing this. In fact, it seemed like it still had horsepower to spare, based on how consistent the gameplay was. I encountered no frame rate dips, which was a lifesaver in pitched battles. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt The only noticeable quality loss was when I played in handheld mode, which seemed to reduce the resolution to about 720p. Here, the game looked a bit pixelated, but given that the PS5 and Xbox don't even have an option to go portable, it's a compromise I'm willing to accept. In a fair, TV-to-TV comparison, I'm happy to report that Pragmata on the Switch 2 is a more than acceptable way to experience the game, even right down to that folicular fidelity. Playing Resident Evil Requiem on the Nintendo Switch 2Pragmata is a pretty game, no doubt, but the real technical showpiece at the preview event was Resident Evil Requiem. Also using the RE Engine, if Pragmata is a strong indicator for how the Switch 2 simulates physics, then Resident Evil does the same for lighting. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Again, performance is smooth, but I'd say the resolution here is more definitively closer to 1080p while the frame rate seems a little lower than Pragmata's. Still, character models are detailed, and animations play out without any weird jitters. Resident Evil has made a name for itself on both of these fronts with its recent titles, so it's great to see these qualities preserved. Based on my experience with Pragmata, though, I expected this. What I didn't expect was just how realistic the lighting would be. Like the hair in Pragmata, realistic lighting is a bit of a performance challenge for games, especially now that many games are using ray tracing for their lighting, which means that lighting is calculated in real time using realistic pathing for each ray of light, rather than being "baked" into scenes ahead of time. This makes it easier for lighting to change on the fly and fall where a player might naturally expect it to, something that's important for Resident Evil, since the title uses it for gameplay. But it also puts a lot of strain on the system. I was a bit worried going into this demo, because while I knew the Switch 2 was supposed to be able to handle ray tracing, I wasn't ready to believe it until I saw it, especially when it was being used for more than set dressing. In the demo I played, there's a monster that can't follow you into the light, and poor lighting might make it unclear where safe zones were. But like with Pragmata, my technical skepticism quickly drained away, and I instead just sat and quietly played, immersed in the game like I would be on any other console. Here's the biggest bit of technical praise I can offer the Switch 2: Even in just a half hour of playing, Resident Evil Requiem on the Switch 2 still managed to scare the crap out of me. I left the event unsure of walking out into the dark night outside. If that doesn't tell you how bought in I was in just playing the game, instead of nitpicking pixelated character models or a wonky frame rate, I don't know what will. What this means for Nintendo Switch 2 ownersI may not have been allowed to capture detailed performance data at this event, but I left pretty optimistic about the Switch 2's ability to handle AAA games. For years now, gamers have come to accept that multiplatform AAA titles will come out on Xbox and PlayStation, but will usually either skip Nintendo or come out for it years down the line. That's because the Wii was much less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3, the Wii U was less powerful than the Xbox One and PS4, and the Switch was less powerful than the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. After the GameCube, Nintendo has always been at least a generation behind when it comes to performance. Now, it can finally stand toe-to-toe with its competitors again, just like when you had Nintendo's purple lunchbox in your living room. It may not be at the zenith of performance, but it's more than acceptable. I don't know how long this status quo will last—the next console generation is rumored to be facing delays right now. But for now, Nintendo owners can finally play the newest blockbuster games day-and-date with their Sony and Microsoft-owning friends, without needing to own a second system. That's great for developers and gamers, and should put anyone who just dropped $450 on Nintendo's latest at ease. You can finally pay attention to new AAA games as they come out again, and plus, you still have that handheld mode party trick. View the full article

In 2026, audiences across the United States will experience some of the most iconic sporting events in the world—from Super Bowl LX and NBA All-Star weekend to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. For Comcast NBCUniversal, it marks one of the most significant years in our sports history, which will unite millions of fans. But sports are more than entertainment—they’re a force for connection, growth, and transformation. These events offer a rare moment to unite people and leave a lasting impact well beyond the games themselves. EXPAND ACCESS TO YOUTH SPORTS Early access to sports can shape a child’s future. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, it’s linked to better health, stronger academics, and lifelong habits of teamwork and resilience. Yet far too many communities remain on the sidelines. Today, families spend on average nearly $900 per child per season, putting participation out of reach for too many. Across the sports ecosystem, organizations are responding with targeted, community-based solutions. DICK’s Sporting Goods has committed more than $100 million since 2014 through its Sports Matter Program to help schools and local leagues cover essentials like equipment, registration fees, and facility access—support that has helped keep millions of kids across all 50 states participating in youth sports. Nike’s Community Impact Fund takes a similar, grassroots approach, empowering employee-led committees to award local grants to nonprofits and schools expanding neighborhood-based play, particularly for young people with limited access to safe, high-quality sports opportunities. These efforts reinforce a simple truth: Access works best when it is local, affordable, and sustained. At NBCUniversal, we too believe that sports can uplift local communities. Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, Telemundo is supporting neighborhood-based soccer festivals and Unity Cup celebrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami—working with trusted local partners to connect young people not only to play, but to mentorship, cultural pride, and a sense of belonging. Together, these initiatives demonstrate that expanding access is a critical first step. Once young people can engage in sports, they also need meaningful guidance and support. EMPOWER THROUGH MENTORSHIP Coaching is not just about teaching athletic skills and game strategy. Coaches often serve as role models and mentors for young athletes. The Aspen Institute’s Coaching Social and Emotional Skills in Youth Sports report highlights how intentional coaching provides a powerful venue for young people to develop social and emotional competencies, from teamwork and self‑regulation to empathy and decision‑making. One example of how companies are investing in coaching is Under Armour’s UA Next program, which serves as the company’s national grassroots platform for middle‑ and high‑school athletes. UA Next operates across major U.S. cities through partnerships with regional coaching networks and locally-hosted camp events, connecting young athletes with high‑level instruction and structured skill building environments. The U.S. Soccer Foundation’s Yes, Coach! initiative aims to train 100,000 coach-mentors by 2030 who will impact 3 million youth. Comcast NBCUniversal and Telemundo will support this effort through a new bilingual platform and public service announcement campaign created by apprentices at Wide Angle Youth Media, and airing across our networks ahead of the tournament. Additionally, ahead of the Super Bowl, NBC station KNTV is supporting a Laureus Sport for Good USA and Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) community event, where NFL players and PCA coaches will lead on‑field training and mentorship for San Francisco youth. These initiatives help provide more children with the chance to be supported by a trusted adult on and off the field. In addition to the positive role mentorship and coaching play in young athletes, sports can be a powerful catalyst for giving young people the opportunity to shape and share the stories that bring these moments to life for fans at home. ELEVATE VOICES THROUGH SPORTS STORYTELLING Every major sports moment creates a story. These moments also have a profound impact on those who get to tell them and whose voices are amplified along the way. A powerful illustration of sports-driven storytelling comes from Visa’s Player of the Match program, which leveraged the FIFA Women’s World Cup global stage to spotlight top women athletes and entrepreneurs. Across all 64 matches, Visa committed $500,000 in grants to women-owned businesses from the home countries of each match’s standout player—connecting on-field excellence with real-world entrepreneurial achievements, and broadening visibility on the world stage. Extending the impact of storytelling beyond the field, NBCUniversal partners with nonprofit creative agencies such as RE:IMAGINE, Venice Arts, Kids in the Spotlight, Reel Works, Wide Angle Youth Media, Youth Beat, and Ghetto Film School to provide production opportunities for emerging young storytellers. This year, in collaboration with the NBA, select apprentices will produce content around NBA All-Star Weekend that will run across Comcast NBCUniversal and NBA platforms. The goal isn’t just to capture memorable moments; it’s to help young creatives build confidence, broaden networks, and gain hands-on experience that extend far beyond any single event. From access to mentorship, and the opportunities around sports storytelling, a clear throughline emerges: Sports have the power to uplift and unite communities, provide an infrastructure for youth to feel supported, and create pathways for young people to thrive. WHY IT MATTERS This work is personal. As a former high school athlete and a parent, I’ve seen how sports can build confidence, empathy, and a sense of purpose, especially when young people feel encouraged and included. In a year defined by unprecedented moments in sports, we have an opportunity to meet the moment with intention. By using the shared attention of these global events to expand participation and invest in the next generation of athletes and fans, we can create impact that endures long after the final whistle. Because when we change the game, we change lives. Hilary Smith is EVP of corporate social responsibility at NBCUniversal. View the full article

So-called rare earth elements aren’t actually rare. It’s just difficult to refine them into the purified forms that are needed for making things like electronics or clean energy tech. The standard processes are also toxic, which is one reason that the world has outsourced production to China. Supra, a startup that spun out of the University of Texas at Austin, is taking a different approach that’s clean, low-cost, and makes it possible to capture some of the billions of dollars’ worth of critical minerals that are trapped in waste in the U.S. Dr. Sessler The company’s technology uses supramolecular receptors, “a string of molecules built to grab specific molecules like a baseball glove,” says CEO Katie Durham. Jonathan Sessler, a chemistry professor at UT Austin, first designed receptors like these to target cancer cells. Then he realized that they could also be designed to target critical minerals. “My original analogy was we were going to be making a chemical sponge,” Sessler says. “It would go in and capture these elements and we would pick it up and wring it out.” In the final design, the nanometer-sized receptors are embedded into a polymer filled with tiny pores that increase the surface area for capturing metal ions. The material is 3D-printed into reusable cartridges. At a mine or industrial site, tailings or wastewater can flow through a series of the cartridges, each targeting a specific element. The receptors bind minerals in alcohol and release them when they’re rinsed with water, using little energy and avoiding the use of toxic chemicals. The process, which the company says is 100 times more selective and faster than current rare earth refining, can also be used on electronic waste. In lab tests on cobalt, the technology was able to capture 100% of the element, isolating it completely from other elements like lithium in a solution. The tech can be customized for any element. As it comes to market, the startup is focused first on scandium and gallium, two valuable rare earth elements that currently are imported from China. “The U.S. is 100% import-dependent on them, and we really did not see a lot of other startups trying to address that,” says Durham. By collecting the trace amounts of scandium in industrial waste in the U.S., the company hopes it can change how the element is sourced. The value varies wildly depending on purity—scandium, for example, can sell for $300 per kilogram at 99.9% purity, but $3,200 per kilogram at 99.99% purity. The purest form, at 99.9999%, sells for $500,000 per kilogram. (The startup is still optimizing its process, but is aiming for the highest purity.) The company plans to launch its first pilots with partners later this year. Supra is one of a handful of startups working on ways to make rare earth production feasible in the U.S. Others include Phoenix Tailings, which works both with mined material and waste; and Cyclic Materials, which extracts and refines rare earths from end-of-life products. Because of the demand for an American supply chain, Supra plans to focus first in the U.S. But the company eventually wants to make their products available globally—including in China, to help with the pollution challenge there. “The world has gotten lazy and let China pay the environmental cost,” says Sessler. View the full article