All Activity

In a recent keynote at the Industrial Marketing Summit, Rand Fishkin argued that we’re marketing in a “zero-click world.” His observation captures an important surface-level trend: fewer users are clicking through to websites. The deeper shift, however, is structural. What has changed is the way information is evaluated, repeated, and trusted across the web — and that’s where many are drawing the wrong conclusion. As clicks decline, it can look like websites matter less. In reality, their role in shaping what gets seen and trusted may be increasing. Why ‘zero-click’ discussions often lead to the wrong conclusion From a traffic perspective, the trend is unmistakable. Clicks are declining in many contexts. Search engines now answer many questions directly on the results page. Social platforms function as discovery engines where people research ideas, products, and services without leaving the platform. AI assistants synthesize answers from across the web before a user ever sees a list of links. Part of the reason the zero-click discussion resonates so strongly is that it disrupts the way we’ve historically measured visibility. For more than two decades, traffic and click-through rates have served as the primary signals for forecasting performance and evaluating the impact of search. When answers appear directly in search results, AI summaries, or platform conversations, those interactions often occur outside the analytics frameworks we’re accustomed to using. The conclusion many draw from this trend — that websites matter less — is an incomplete assessment. The role of websites is changing, but their importance in the information ecosystem hasn’t disappeared. In some ways, it may be increasing. The reason has to do with how modern information systems determine what to trust. Large language models and AI-driven search interfaces don’t evaluate truth the way humans do. They rely on probabilistic signals drawn from the information available across the web. When the same message appears consistently across multiple independent sources, the statistical likelihood that the information is correct increases. Visibility in this environment is determined by where information appears. Dig deeper: Why surface-level SEO tactics won’t build lasting AI search visibility Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with Fishkin is right about the trend The fragmentation of discovery is real. Information consumption now happens across many environments: search results, social feeds, community forums, video platforms, and AI interfaces. Users frequently encounter answers without needing to click a link. A search result might contain an AI summary. A product recommendation might appear in a Reddit thread. A professional insight might circulate on LinkedIn. From a traditional web analytics perspective, these interactions can appear as lost traffic. However, focusing exclusively on clicks misses the more important question: where does the information itself originate? The environments where people consume information are expanding, but the underlying knowledge those systems rely on still has to come from somewhere. Zero-click doesn’t mean zero influence The critical distinction you need to understand is the difference between traffic and information influence. Traffic measures whether a user visited your website. Influence measures whether the information you produced shaped the answer someone received. AI systems don’t generate answers out of thin air. They construct them from patterns learned across the open web. When an LLM answers a question about a legal issue, a technical concept, or a marketing strategy, it draws on the analysis, explanations, and original thinking that publishers have already placed online. Even in a zero-click environment, those sources continue to exist. They continue to shape the answers. The difference is that influence increasingly occurs earlier in the information pipeline, before the user even reaches a website. Fewer clicks don’t mean fewer sources. In practice, it often increases the value of authoritative sources because AI systems depend on them to construct coherent responses. Without expert explanations, detailed analysis, and original insight, there’s nothing for the system to synthesize. Dig deeper: Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it’s both Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. The role of ‘rented land’ In discussions that follow the “zero-click world” framing, the recommendation is that brands should focus more heavily on platforms they don’t control — social networks, communities, and other forms of “rented land.” Brands can think of their visibility footprint as two categories of territory: Owned land, where they control the infrastructure and content. Rented land, where their message appears on platforms they do not control. Owned land includes assets such as a company website, product documentation, knowledge bases, and other first-party content environments. These are places where a brand controls the structure, the message, and the permanence of the information. Rented land includes platforms such as LinkedIn, Substack, industry publications, forums, podcasts, and social media environments where the brand participates but does not control the underlying platform. In an AI-mediated discovery environment, both types of territory matter. Owned land provides the canonical source of information. Rented land distributes that information across the broader ecosystem where AI systems encounter it. These platforms are powerful environments for discovery, amplification, and conversation. They are often where audiences encounter brands for the first time and where ideas circulate widely. However, they rarely serve as the place where authority itself is established. Authority tends to emerge from deeper forms of publishing: Long-form explanations. Original analysis. Research. Consistent demonstrations of expertise over time. These forms of content typically live on first-party websites, where ideas can be developed fully and preserved as reference points. Rented platforms still influence how AI systems interpret information, but their role differs from that of first-party publishing. When a brand, concept, or explanation appears consistently across multiple environments — first-party sites, industry publications, social platforms, and other third-party mentions — the association between that entity and the idea becomes stronger. Repeated exposure stabilizes the relationship between the brand and the concepts connected to it. As a result, the likelihood that the brand will be included in an AI-generated answer increases. Platforms amplify the signal. First-party publishing is where the signal originates. Dig deeper: How paid, earned, shared, and owned media shape generative search visibility Why AI often favors primary sources Another misconception in the zero-click discussion is the assumption that AI systems primarily rely on aggregated or repackaged information. In practice, the opposite often occurs. When AI systems generate answers, they frequently rely on sources that provide clear explanations, detailed reasoning, and subject-matter expertise. These characteristics are more common in original publishing than in aggregated content. Legal blogs, technical documentation, research publications, and expert commentary often perform well in AI citations because they provide usable knowledge. The material contains context, reasoning, and structured explanations that models can extract and synthesize. Aggregated summaries frequently lack that depth. Without detailed explanation or original analysis, the content provides limited value for AI systems attempting to construct coherent answers. The result is a quiet shift in visibility. Domains that consistently publish authoritative explanations may become more influential in AI-generated answers, even if traditional click-based metrics decline. See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with The real shift you should understand Websites still matter, but their role is changing. They’re no longer just traffic generators. In an AI-mediated information ecosystem, websites function as knowledge sources, training signals, and citation anchors — where expertise is documented, and ideas originate. Platforms distribute those ideas, conversations amplify them, and AI systems synthesize them into answers. The source of the underlying knowledge, however, still matters. The marketing implication is straightforward. Success can’t be measured solely by clicks. The objective is to ensure that credible expertise exists in durable forms that can be discovered, referenced, and synthesized wherever information surfaces — whether in search results, AI-generated responses, or discussions on other platforms. Content that is clear, authoritative, and genuinely useful will continue to shape the answers people receive. In a zero-click world, influence simply happens earlier in the information pipeline. Dig deeper: Content marketing in an AI era: From SEO volume to brand fame View the full article

A statue of Christopher Columbus has been placed on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, the latest effort by President Donald The President’s administration to recognize the controversial explorer. The statue is a replica of one that was tossed into Baltimore’s harbor in 2020 during The President’s first term at a time of nationwide protests against institutional racism. The President endorses a traditional view of Columbus as a leader of the 1492 mission seen as the unofficial beginning of European colonization in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order. But in recent years, Columbus also has been recognized as a primary example of Western Europe’s conquest of the New World, its resources and its native people. “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President The President will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come,” the White House posted on X. “We are delighted the statue has found a place where it can peacefully shine and be protected,” said John Pica, a Maryland lobbyist and president of the Italian American Organizations United, which owns the statue and agreed to loan it to the federal government for placement at or near the White House. The statue, made mostly of marble, was created by Will Hemsley, a sculptor based in Centreville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The original statue was toppled by protesters on July 4, 2020, and thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor after anger boiled over following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. It was one of many statues of Columbus that were vandalized around the same time, with protesters saying the Italian explorer was responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas. In recent years, some people, institutions and government entities have displaced Columbus Day with recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day. President Joe Biden in 2021 became the first U.S. president to mark Indigenous Peoples Day with a proclamation. The President dismisses the shift on Columbus as “left-wing arsonists” bending history and twisting Americans’ collective memory. “I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.,” he declared last April. Echoing his 2024 campaign rhetoric, he complained that “Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.” —Brian Witte, Associated Press View the full article

Explore 10 digital asset management templates from Notion, Airtable, Smartsheet and more, for quicker, smarter file tracking and organization. The post 10 Digital Asset Management Templates for Smarter File Tracking in 2026 appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

European parliament set to vote this week on whether to ratify Turnberry agreement signed last yearView the full article

Stop chasing rankings and start building visibility that matters with three practical strategies for SEO in 2026. The post 3 Strategies That Can Survive AI Search In 2026: What I Shared At SEJ Live appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Most SEO discussions today center on AI — from AI Overviews to ChatGPT and other LLMs — and the concern that they’re taking traffic from business websites, forcing a shift toward GEO or AEO. For the most part, that concern is valid. AI is reducing traffic for many sites, especially those that rely on top-of-funnel, informational content. But the data suggests AI may not be the biggest shift. User behavior has been fragmenting across platforms for years, and I see this play out in agency work every day. Here’s what the data shows about how search behavior is changing across platforms, and why a “search everywhere” strategy matters more than focusing on LLMs alone. Third-party platforms are encroaching on traditional search People search TikTok for restaurants, YouTube for tutorials, Reddit for authentic reviews, and Amazon to buy products. In many cases, these platforms are replacing traditional search engines like Google and Bing as the starting point. This shift isn’t just about behavior — it shows up in traffic, too. Amazon and YouTube still drive far more desktop traffic than ChatGPT, a trend Rand Fishkin recently highlighted. Recently, I helped run a comprehensive share of voice analysis for a client. The goal was threefold: See which competitors are winning in traditional search across multiple service lines. Find keyword and content gaps. Create a content roadmap based on priority to fill these gaps. The analysis revealed a lot of helpful data, but one of the most interesting takeaways was that our core competitors weren’t actually our biggest competitors in traditional search. YouTube and Reddit were. These platforms rank well in traditional search, take up valuable SERP real estate, and move users away from Google and Bing to funnel them back to their own platforms. The analysis highlighted a key point: if you don’t focus any effort on these places, you’re not only missing out on visibility in traditional search, but you’re also missing valuable attention when users navigate off Google and start watching videos or reading threads. And this website isn’t the only one seeing this type of trend. Do this type of analysis yourself, and see who your actual competitors are within traditional search. The answers may surprise you. Dig deeper: Why social search visibility is the next evolution of discoverability Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with Third-party platforms can have higher search volumes As seen above, platforms like YouTube and Reddit are increasingly occupying traditional SERP real estate. But what about searches within the platforms themselves? Depending on the query, there may be far more search volume on these platforms than on Google or Bing. For example, YouTube dominates in tutorials and “how-to” content. A term like “how to fix a leaky sink faucet” has 15x the search volume on YouTube than it does on traditional search globally. Source: Semrush Source: vidIQ Search volumes are estimates. But if you want to get in front of the right people where they’re searching, any content strategy around a term like this, or a similar topic, must include creating a YouTube video. Better yet, to be search-everywhere-friendly, create a blog post and embed that video in it. Dig deeper: YouTube is no longer optional for SEO in the age of AI Overviews Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Third-party platforms are cited more in LLMs Aside from traditional search and in-platform search, we also know that “search everywhere” influences AI-generated results. To provide answers, LLMs need content to synthesize. More often than not, that content isn’t coming from business websites, but from third-party sources and social platforms. AI visibility tools can quickly show businesses the power of search everywhere in relation to citations. Take a look at these examples: Brand A Brand B These are two completely different brands, yet the trends are the same: a very small percentage of citations come from your own website or even direct competitors. In both examples, almost 90% of citations come from third-party news and online publications, or social and forum platforms like Reddit or Quora. The takeaway here is that focusing on your own website, in the context of LLM citations, can only go so far. If you want to improve brand sentiment or ensure that information is accurately reflected by AI, it needs to happen in places outside of your direct control. Dig deeper: SEO’s new battleground: Winning the consensus layer Start investing in search everywhere today The competitive landscape is shifting, and many marketers have tunnel vision when it comes to AI. Discovery now happens across a wide range of platforms. YouTube, Reddit, Quora, and others dominate significant portions of traditional search results and may have far more search activity within their own platforms. When AI systems generate answers, they often pull information from these platforms rather than brand websites. To win in modern search, you need to understand where your audience is actually searching. That doesn’t stop at Google. It means showing up everywhere that shapes decisions. View the full article

As return-to-office mandates tighten, many workers are reckoning what life in a cubicle looks like. If it’s up to the Swiss furniture and design firm Vitra, your next cubicle might not look much like a cubicle at all. Vitra partnered with German industrial designer Konstantin Grcic to create Scout, a family of minimalist office furniture built to adapt to the flexible ways people work today. Launched on March 19, Scout is comprised of five pieces that range in sizes, offering stationary and mobile workspaces with customizable options for workplaces and schools. Konstantin Grcic The tables feature trapezoidal desks that have metal tubular frames. Attachments that hang from the tubes can turn the desks into a cubicle-like set-up or connect multiple desks to create a shared workspace. “The aim is not to replace what already exists,” Grcic told Vitra Magazine. “Rather, the system is an extension or complementary offering that responds to different levels and styles of work.” The collection offers various desk options. Scout Work allows for manually adjustable heights and tilts that don’t require electricity. A frame encases the desk and can be used for privacy screens or to hang accessories. Scout Work Mobile offers the same features but on wheels, allowing for mobility around spaces. Another product on wheels is Scout Sprint, a small table made in both a seating or standing height, with nesting bases and foldable tabletops. The collection also offers products for meeting configurations. Take Scout Summit, a trapezoidal table which can be nested together for easy storage, and Scout Meet, a long rectangular table offered in two heights which seats up to eight people. “As with tableware or cutlery, where a fork and knife belong to the same family yet serve different purposes,” Grcic said. “Each piece is defined by its own form and proportion, depending on its intended use.” The collection is the latest in Grcic and Vitra’s examination of what workspaces can look like. In 2016, they collaborated on Scout’s predecessor, Hack, which turned utilitarian wooden boards into adjustable workspaces. Scout is more mobile and more industrial than Grcic’s previous design for Vitra, but both are a playful alternative to what can otherwise be a pretty staid office furniture landscape. “All the pieces are straightforward and highly adaptable,” he said. “People will inevitably invent their own way of using them.” View the full article

The U.S. economy was supposed to start the year with a bang, fueled by an unusually large jump in tax refunds from President Donald The President’s tax cut legislation. Yet spiking gas prices are on track to eat up those refunds, leaving most Americans with little extra to spend. “Next spring is projected to be the largest tax refund season of all time,” The President said in a prime-time speech in December that was intended to address voters’ concerns about the economy and stubbornly high prices. But that was before the Iran war, which began Feb. 28. Oil and gas prices have soared since then, with the nationwide average price of gas reaching $3.94 Sunday, up more than a dollar from just a month earlier. Gas prices are likely to remain elevated for some time, even if the war ends soon, because shipping and production have been disrupted and will take time to recover. Economists now expect slower growth this spring and for the year as a whole, as dollars that are spent on gas are less likely to be used for restaurant meals, new clothes, or entertainment. Lower and middle-income households are likely to be hit particularly hard, because they receive lower refunds, while spending a greater proportion of their earnings on gas. “The energy shock is to going to hit those who have the least cushion,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy at the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative and a former economist in the Biden White House. “And it doesn’t look like those tax refunds are going to be here to save them.” Neale Mahoney, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, calculates that gas prices could peak in May at $4.36 a gallon, based on oil price forecasts by Goldman Sachs, followed by slow declines for the rest of the year. The notion that gas prices decline much more slowly than they rise is so ingrained among economists that they refer to it as the “rocket and feathers” phenomenon. In that scenario, the average household would pay $740 more in gas this year, nearly equal to the $748 increase in refunds that the Tax Foundation has estimated the average household will receive. Through March 6, refunds have risen by much less than that, according to IRS data: They have averaged $3,676, up $352 from $3,324 in 2025. Still, average refunds could rise as more complex returns are filed. Other estimates show similar impacts. Economists at Oxford Economics, a consulting firm, estimate that if gas prices average $3.70 a gallon all year, it will cost consumers about $70 billion — more than the $60 billion in increased tax refunds. The gas price spike comes with many consumers already in a precarious position, particularly compared to 2022, when gas prices also soared because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At that time, many households still had fattened bank accounts from pandemic-era stimulus payments and companies were hiring rapidly and sharply lifting pay to attract workers. Now, hiring is nearly at a standstill and Americans’ saving rate has steadily fallen in the past few years as many households borrow more to sustain their spending. “When you start looking across the perspective from a consumer side, you’re seeing people who have maxed out their credit cards, are using ‘buy now, pay later’ to purchase their groceries,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of The Century Foundation, a think tank. “They’re making it work for now, but that can fall apart quite quickly.” The impact will likely worsen the “K-shaped” narrative around the U.S. economy, analysts said, in which higher income households have fared better than lower-income households. The bottom 10% of earners spend nearly 4% of their incomes on gasoline, Pantheon Macroeconomics estimates, while the top 10% spend just 1.5%. For now, most analysts still expect the U.S. economy to expand this year, even if more slowly, given the gas price shock. Higher gas prices will likely worsen inflation in the short run, but over time weaker spending will also slow growth. American consumers and businesses have repeatedly shaken off shocks since the pandemic — soaring inflation, rising interest rates, tariffs — and continued to spend, defying concerns that the economy would tip into recession. Many economists note that the proportion of their incomes that Americans spend on gas and other energy has fallen significantly compared with a decade ago. Data from the Bank of America Institute, released Friday, showed that spending on gas on the bank’s credit and debit cards shot 14.4% higher in the week ended March 14 compared with a year ago. Before the war, such spending was running 5% below the previous year, a benefit to consumers. Spending on discretionary items — restaurant meals, electronics, and travel — is still growing, the institute said, evidence of consumer resilience. But there is little sign it is accelerating, as many economists had hoped. “The longer these gasoline prices persist, the more that will gradually sap consumer discretionary spending,” said David Tinsley, senior economist at the institute. Other analysts expect growth will slow because of the war. Bernard Yaros and Michael Pearce, economists at Oxford Economics, forecast that the U.S. economy will grow just 1.9% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 2.5%. “We had anticipated a lift in spending from a bumper tax refund season,” they wrote, “but the rise in gasoline prices, if sustained, would more than offset that boost.” —Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer View the full article

Ukrainian-American billionaire bought majority stake in controversial porn streaming platform in 2018View the full article

Stocks reverse losses and oil tumbles after US President says there have been ‘constructive’ talks with TehranView the full article

Choosing the right name for your business is essential, and using a business name generator can simplify the process. Tools like Shopify, Namelix, and Looka offer customized suggestions based on your industry, as well as AI-driven features improve creativity. Furthermore, unique domain name checkers guarantee your chosen name has an online presence. Comprehending how these generators work can greatly impact your branding strategy, leading to effective decisions. Let’s explore these top options and their unique features. Key Takeaways Shopify Business Name Generator provides unique, industry-specific suggestions with unlimited searches and domain availability checks for entrepreneurs. Namelix AI uses advanced algorithms for personalized name ideas, allowing users to filter by length and keywords for tailored results. Looka Business Name Generator creates distinctive names while offering logo design ideas and instant checks for domain availability and social media handles. Magic Write integrates with Canva to generate customized names, featuring logo previews and collaboration tools for team input on branding. Unique Domain Name Checkers ensure quick domain availability checks and suggest alternatives while analyzing SEO potential for enhanced online visibility. Shopify Business Name Generator Have you ever struggled to come up with a catchy name for your business? The Shopify Business Name Generator can help you overcome that challenge. By simply entering a keyword related to your business idea, this user-friendly tool generates unique brand names instantly. It’s particularly useful if you’re in construction, as it includes a construction name generator feature for industry-specific ideas. This random name generator offers hundreds of creative suggestions, allowing you to compare and brainstorm effectively. Plus, it checks domain availability to guarantee you can establish an online presence with your chosen name. Best of all, it’s completely free, so you can conduct unlimited searches, making it accessible for entrepreneurs at any stage of their expedition. Namelix AI Name Generator Finding the perfect name for your business can often feel overwhelming, but the Namelix AI Name Generator simplifies this process considerably. This innovative business name generator uses advanced AI name generation to produce unique name suggestions customized to your specific ideas and keywords. You can filter results based on name length, preferred keywords, and domain extensions, ensuring the names generated are relevant to your needs. Namelix encourages a creative naming process, offering catchy and memorable options that are ideal for startups and new ventures. Plus, the user-friendly interface allows you to explore diverse naming possibilities quickly. By saving your preferred names, you help the algorithm learn, improving future suggestions and making your naming experience even smoother. Looka Business Name Generator When you’re launching a new business, choosing an effective name can be a critical step that influences your brand’s identity. Looka’s Business Name Generator excels in creating unique names customized to your specific industry. Its user-friendly interface streamlines the process, allowing you to filter results by name length and related terms. Key features include: Categorized naming options: invented, multi-word, and traditional Instant checks for domain availability and social media handles Logo design ideas accompanying name suggestions Improved branding experience for entrepreneurs With Looka, you’ll find a business name generator that assists you in brainstorming and guarantees your chosen name aligns with your business goals and vision. Magic Write for Creative Naming Magic Write for Creative Naming offers an innovative solution for businesses seeking to develop a distinctive brand identity. This AI-powered tool, integrated within Canva, generates customized business name ideas based on your prompts. You can easily customize suggestions to suit your unique selling points and target market. Simply create or open a design in Canva and use the /Magic shortcut or Canva Assistant. With 50 free queries available, it’s a cost-effective option for startups and established businesses alike. Moreover, Magic Write includes logo preview capabilities, allowing you to visualize your brand alongside name suggestions. It also promotes collaboration among team members, making it an effective ai team name generator and an interesting name generator for creating an elaborate name or even a name generator Instagram. Unique Domain Name Checkers To establish a strong online presence, using unique domain name checkers is essential for entrepreneurs and businesses alike. These tools let you input desired business names and instantly check for domain availability across various extensions. If your first choice is taken, they often suggest alternatives that align with your brand vision. Here are some benefits of using unique domain name checkers: Check domain availability quickly and easily. Get alternative name suggestions that fit your brand. Analyze SEO potential for better online visibility. Verify social media handle availability for consistent branding. Frequently Asked Questions How to Generate a Catchy Business Name? To generate a catchy business name, start by brainstorming keywords relevant to your brand. Use tools like AI-powered generators to create unique combinations. Incorporate techniques such as alliteration or puns to improve memorability. Check the availability of domains and social media handles to guarantee consistency. Prioritize clarity and uniqueness, aiming for a name that reflects your identity. Finally, review and refine your options based on feedback, making sure the chosen name resonates with your audience. How Do I Name My Creative Business? To name your creative business, start by identifying your unique selling point and target market. Brainstorm names that reflect these elements, ensuring they’re memorable and easy to pronounce. You can use AI tools to generate options customized to your industry. Check domain and social media availability for your chosen name. Finally, consider using alliteration or puns to improve creativity, making your business name stand out in a competitive environment. How Do I Come up With a Catchy Craft Business Name? To come up with a catchy craft business name, start by brainstorming keywords that reflect your style, materials, or techniques. Use tools like Canva’s Magic Write or Namelix for name generation. Incorporate alliteration or rhymes for memorability. Check domain and social media availability to guarantee consistency. Finally, engage your audience through surveys to gather feedback on potential names, making certain they resonate and capture the essence of your craft effectively. How Do I Come up With a Creative LLC Name? To create a creative LLC name, start by defining your core values, offerings, and target audience. This foundation helps guarantee your name reflects your brand’s identity. Use online tools to generate ideas, but prioritize names that are memorable and easily pronounceable. Check domain and social media availability to maintain a consistent online presence. Finally, conduct trademark searches to avoid legal issues and guarantee your chosen name is unique and protectable. Conclusion In summary, utilizing business name generators like Shopify, Namelix, Looka, Magic Write, and unique domain name checkers can greatly simplify your naming process. These tools not only provide creative suggestions customized to your industry but also guarantee domain availability, enhancing your online presence. By leveraging these resources, you can save time and focus on developing your brand, allowing you to explore diverse options that resonate with your vision as you support your entrepreneurial expedition. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Best Business Name Generators to Ignite Creativity" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As usual, this week's collection of youth culture flotsam is all over the map. We got the surprising appearance of ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in AI-generated brainrot videos; a meme about winning at gambling that's becoming a meme about hypocrisy; an emoji that probably means something different than you think; and truly creative videos that, whew, don't use AI. Viral video of the week: Socrates and skeletonThe breakout star of viral videos this week is foundational Athenian philosopher Socrates, with his co-star, a living skeleton. In these AI -generated videos, the skeleton represents the viewer, and the idea is to illustrated hypothetical scenarios like "What if you and Socrates opened a Chick-fil-A in ancient Greece?" or "what if you ended up dating Socrates in Ancient Rome?" The trend started with this Instagram video: They then spread to TikTok, where anyone can generate one by posting a dumb prompt to an AI video generation app. Maybe it's good that kids are incorporating Socrates into their internal hierarchy of meme characters, but Socrates is portrayed as the most annoying person imaginable, who goes around pestering strangers with pseudo-philosophical questions. This isn't that far from actual descriptions of the philosopher, who was so confrontational and condescending that his fellow Athenians voted to make him drink poison. But it wasn't because his questions were annoying; it was because they revealed unpleasant contradictions at the center of people's beings. The Socratic Method is about arriving at truth through fearless self-assessment, not about being a jerk. Also, Socrates was from Greece, not Rome. Socratic Irony is using feigned ignorance to reveal the truth, while Internet Irony is using AI to imagine modern people are superior to ancient philosophers when they don't even know the difference between Greece and Rome. The story behind the "I just hit the jackpot" memeIt might be impossible to really know why Socrates has become popular now, so let's take a look at an easier-to-explain trend. "I just hit the jackpot" is a meme format where a clip of rapper GameboyJones singing the chorus to his song "HIT THE JACKPOT! (Hakari Dance)" is overlaid with text about a situation in which someone has hit a metaphorical jackpot. Like when there's a substitute teacher: or when a test you haven't studied for is delayed: GameboyJones originally posted the song to accompany an edit of the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen. The song and meme are tied to the character Kinji Hakari, whose superpower is themed around gambling and "hitting the jackpot." The anime connection means many of the memes made from the clip go deep into corners of the anime world that only the hardest of hardcore understand. Your guess is as good as mine with clips like this: Also, many of these memes refer to "love over lust mfers," so let's get into that, shall we? What does "love over lust mfers" mean?The mfers part means "motherfuckers," but "love over lust" is a little harder to explain. On the surface, it's self-explanatory and refers to people who say they're into love over lust. Videos like these have been cropping up on TikTok lately: The self-conscious, performative sincerity in these videos is so thick, a backlash is inevitable. It's come in the form of videos where the joke is that anyone who says they're into love over lust is secretly a huge freak, a joke that happens to pair perfectly with the "I just hit the jackpot" meme: What does 🪫, the low battery emoji, mean? Among young people, 🪫, the low battery emoji, is not saying "I need to find a charger, right away." It means something like "I am experiencing emotional depletion, heartbreak, or a general feeling of 'I can't anymore.'" It's a more general version of 🥀, the wilted rose emoji, but unlike the rose, it doesn't only refer to heartbreak. (If you can't get enough definitions of Gen Z and Gen A slang, check out Lifehacker's glossary.) These cartoon chase videos are inspired Here's something young people are doing that's original, creative, clever, and doesn't use AI. Cartoon chase videos employ old-fashioned sound effects, video editing, and cleverness to recreate iconic cartoon moments, like so: I'm sure Socrates would have some serious questions about reenacting old Looney Tunes cartoons, like "When a coyote runs off a cliff, does it fall because of gravity or because it looks down and holds up a sign that reads, 'Yipes'?" and "When Bugs Bunny dresses as a sexy female rabbit to trick his enemy, is it Bugs or Elmer who is deceived?" But that annoying prick's been dead since 399 bc, so screw him. Six-Seven! View the full article

Hi there, When the pandemic broke out, one of the key ways to keep people safe was working from home. Now, as energy crises emerge, WFH is once again being called upon. It’s not just a perk—it’s a powerful work model shaping our world. This caught my attention this week, along with some exciting developments in AI and an article that sparks dreamy thoughts of living in rural Italy, Spain, or Switzerland. I’d love to hear—what stood out to you in today’s reads? -Maja Our Favorite Articles 💯When Energy Crises Push Us Back Home (The Verge)As fuel shortages loom, experts suggest remote work as a solution, showing how WFH can extend far beyond convenience into global necessity. 👉 ​Learn more​. Opening Doors for Neurodiverse Talent With AI (Patch)A new AI-powered platform aims to connect neurodiverse adults with work, tackling long-standing barriers in hiring and inclusion. 👉 ​Keep reading​. Claude’s Learning Mode: AI That Actually Learns With You (X · Nav Toor)Turn Claude into a knowledgeable professor with “learning mode” 👉 ​See here​. 8 Countries That Will Pay You to Move There (Forbes)From Europe to Asia, countries are offering financial incentives to attract new residents. 👉 ​Read on​. This Week's Sponsor 🙌Find your dream remote job without the hassle. 135,000+ roles, advanced search filters, and the ability to save searches and track applications. Try Remotive today​! Remotive Jobs 💼Let's get you hired! This great company is hiring now: 💻 Engineering 👉 ​Senior Independent AI Engineer / Architect at A.Team​ (Americas, Europe, Israel) 👉 ​Senior Independent Software Developer at A.Team​ (Americas, Europe, Israel) 👉 ​iOS Developer at nooro ​(USA Only) Free Guides & Tools​Premium Job Board​We curate 140,000+ fully remote jobs so you don't have to. ➡️ ​Find your remote job​ ​Job Search Tips​Looking for a remote job? Here are our tips to help you work remotely. ➡️ ​Check it out​ Join the Remotive newsletter Subscribe to get our latest content by email. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. Email address Subscribe Powered by ConvertKit View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon’s Spring Sale is set to kick off later this week, but some early discounts are already live. One worth paying attention to is the Insta360 X5 Essentials Bundle. Currently listed at $559.99 (originally $659.99), this is the lowest this bundle has ever reached, according to price trackers. It’s also worth noting that PCMag gave the X5 an “outstanding” rating and named it the best action camera of 2025. That context makes the $100 discount feel more meaningful, especially since this bundle already includes most of what you need to get started, including a selfie stick and a carry case. You’ll still need to factor in a microSD card, but this gets you most of the way there without needing to piece things together later. Insta360 X5 Essentials Bundle Waterproof 8K 360° Action Camera $559.99 at Amazon $659.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $559.99 at Amazon $659.99 Save $100.00 The X5 is built around the idea that you don’t have to frame your shot perfectly while filming. It captures everything in 360 degrees at up to 8K, so you can decide what the shot should look like later in the app. That approach makes a lot of sense for fast-moving situations like biking, traveling, or navigating crowded places where stopping to adjust angles just isn’t practical. It can also shoot 4K at 120fps for slow-motion clips and take 72MP photos that are detailed enough for social media. You can take it straight into the water too, since it’s waterproof up to 49 feet without needing a case. One of the more practical upgrades is the user-replaceable lenses. Scratches are common with action cameras, and this lets you fix the problem without replacing the entire unit. Plus, the touchscreen is easy to work with, and the app does a decent job of guiding you through edits with AI tools that can pull together highlights or suggest templates. That said, the learning curve is the main trade-off. You can shoot quickly, but getting polished results takes some effort, especially when reframing clips and applying edits. As for its battery life, it’s rated for up to 185 minutes in endurance mode, though that number drops with higher resolutions and frequent use of features. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $148.99 (List Price $179.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam Plus 2K Wired Security Camera (White) — $39.99 (List Price $59.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

The numbers tell a story that most agency owners already know in their gut: AI anxiety is rising fast. In 2024, 44% of digital marketing agencies viewed AI as a significant threat to their business model. Just one year later, that number jumped to 53%, according to SparkToro’s annual State of Digital Agencies survey of hundreds of agency owners worldwide. But here’s what makes this particularly painful: agencies aren’t just watching AI disrupt their industry from the sidelines. They’re actively using it themselves, automating tasks, reducing costs, and hoping to improve margins. All while their clients are doing the exact same thing, using AI to justify slashing budgets or bringing work in-house entirely. It’s a squeeze play from both directions, and agencies are caught right in the middle. The promise that became a problem When AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude first exploded onto the scene, many agency leaders saw opportunity. Finally, a way to automate the repetitive, time-consuming work that ate into profitability. Content briefs, initial drafts, performance reports, basic ad copy, all could be accelerated or partially automated. The math seemed simple: use AI to do more work with fewer people, pocket the difference, and stay competitive on pricing. Except clients did the same math — and they reached a different conclusion. When brands can spin up decent content, analyze campaign performance, or generate ad variations with a few prompts, the question becomes unavoidable: why are we paying an agency for this? “Several services that agencies once charged a premium for are now performed in-house or by automation software,” notes Al Sefati, CEO of Clarity Digital Agency, who’s been vocal about the pressures facing boutique agencies. Earlier this year, Sefati had clients “put marketing on pause” despite strong performance metrics. A manufacturing client backed out of a contract entirely due to tariff uncertainty. When budgets get tight, and AI makes certain marketing tasks feel commoditized, agencies become an easy line item to cut. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with The margin trap nobody talks about Agencies adopt AI hoping to increase profits by doing more with less staff. But clients expect the cost savings to flow to them, not the agency’s bottom line. The result? Shrinking retainers across the board. SparkToro’s research shows that sales cycles are lengthening, more agencies now report deals taking 7-8 weeks or even 12+ weeks to close, up significantly from 2024. Prospects are taking longer to commit because they’re doing their own internal math: “If AI makes this cheaper and faster, shouldn’t we pay less?” Meanwhile, client expectations haven’t decreased at all. In fact, they’ve intensified. Progress is no longer good enough. Brands now demand tangible business outcomes, pipeline impact, revenue attribution, and demonstrable ROI on every dollar spent. So agencies are stuck: use AI to stay efficient and risk commoditizing their own services, or refuse to adopt it and get outpaced by competitors and in-house teams who will. Dig deeper: Why AI will break the traditional SEO agency model The junior talent crisis nobody’s preparing for Perhaps the most concerning finding from the research: 66% of agency owners worry that junior team members will have fewer career opportunities in the future. This goes beyond entry-level headcount to the entire talent pipeline. Historically, agencies have relied on junior staff to handle the repetitive, foundational work, keyword research, content optimization, reporting, and campaign setup. These weren’t glamorous tasks, but they were essential training grounds. Junior marketers learned the craft by doing the work, eventually graduating to strategy and client leadership. AI is rapidly automating precisely those tasks. And while that might seem like a net positive for efficiency, it creates a devastating long-term problem: where do future senior strategists come from if there’s no ladder to climb? The war for senior talent is brutal. Top strategists, creatives, and media planners know their worth and demand premium compensation. Meanwhile, clients push back on fees. The math doesn’t work unless agencies can maintain lean teams, which AI theoretically enables. But five years from now, when those senior people retire or move on, who replaces them? If an entire generation of marketers never got hands-on experience because AI was doing the work, the industry risks hollowing itself out. What AI can’t replace yet Despite the disruption, there’s a clear pattern in what’s working for agencies weathering this transition. The research shows that larger agencies (51+ employees) are reporting healthier sales pipelines than their smaller counterparts. Part of this is resources, larger shops have dedicated sales teams, and can absorb economic volatility better. But there’s something else at play. Agencies that are surviving, and in some cases thriving, are the ones who’ve stopped trying to compete on execution alone. They’re selling something AI can’t easily replicate: strategic thought, real-world market experience, nuanced storytelling, and intelligent execution tied directly to business outcomes. “Clients desire teams that really understand their industry,” Sefati observes. The trend is clear: specialization is no longer optional. Generalist “we do everything” agencies are struggling most. Those with deep vertical expertise, B2B SaaS, financial services, healthcare, and ecommerce, are proving that context and strategic insight still command premium fees. This matters because AI is phenomenal at pattern recognition and execution within known parameters. But it struggles with the messy, ambiguous work of understanding a client’s competitive position, reading market dynamics, or crafting positioning that actually resonates with a specific audience. The problem? Many agencies haven’t made this transition yet. They’re still selling and delivering services that feel interchangeable with what AI, or a capable in-house team with AI, can produce. Dig deeper: What successful brand-agency partnerships look like in 2026 Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. The uncomfortable truth about commoditization A few years ago, simply having the technical skill to launch a Google Ads campaign or set up marketing automation gave agencies an edge. That’s no longer true. As martech platforms have become more complex and AI tools grow faster, more brands have built competent internal teams. The bar for what counts as “differentiated agency value” has risen dramatically. This is why the sales pipeline data is so revealing. Only 14% of agencies describe their current pipeline as “very healthy.” Over half say it’s just “average.” 32% admit it’s “not good.” These numbers have improved marginally from 2024 (when 36% said “not good”), but we’re talking about incremental gains in a fundamentally challenged environment. Smaller agencies, those with 1-10 people, are hit hardest. They typically lack dedicated sales staff, so business development competes with client delivery for founders’ time. And when budgets tighten, brands consolidate with larger, more specialized agencies that feel less risky. How your agency can escape the squeeze Focus on these priorities as client demands rise and margins tighten. Be honest about what AI has commoditized Don’t fight AI or pretend it doesn’t exist. Be brutally honest about what AI has already commoditized, and ruthlessly focus on what it can’t replicate. This means making some uncomfortable decisions now. Stop competing on services that AI handles well enough. If you’re still selling basic content creation, social media management, or standard reporting as core offerings, you’re volunteering to be price-shopped. Instead, double down on the work that requires genuine expertise: deep market understanding, strategic positioning, creative concepts that actually move the needle, and the kind of nuanced judgment that comes from having seen what works (and what fails spectacularly) across dozens of client situations. Lead with AI, don’t hide from it Change how you talk about AI with clients. Rather than downplaying it or treating it as a threat to hide, lead with it. “Yes, AI can generate content, and we use it to do that faster and cheaper than ever. But what AI can’t do is know that your competitors just shifted strategy, or understand why your last three campaigns underperformed despite good metrics, or recognize that your messaging is technically correct but completely misses what your audience actually cares about. That’s what you’re paying us for.” Rethink pricing models Hourly billing and retainers based on team size are relics of a world where labor hours correlated to value. They don’t anymore. Outcome-based pricing, value-based fees, and performance partnerships align agency incentives with client success, and make the AI efficiency gains work in your favor rather than against you. Rebuild the talent pipeline Address the junior talent crisis head-on. The agencies that figure out how to train the next generation of strategists in an AI-enabled world, by pairing them with senior experts on high-level work rather than relegating them to tasks AI now handles, will have a massive competitive advantage in five years when everyone else is scrambling for talent. Dig deeper: How to work with your SEO agency to drive better results, faster See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with The old agency model isn’t coming back The data shows 64% of agencies expect revenue growth over the next 12 months. Whether that optimism is justified depends entirely on whether agencies adapt to the new reality or keep hoping the old model comes back. It won’t. The squeeze is permanent. But there’s a path through it for agencies willing to fundamentally rethink what they sell and how they deliver it. Will your agency become indispensable because of how you use AI, or get bypassed entirely because clients realize they can do what you do themselves? View the full article

If you pick up plastic trash from a beach, you’re helping protect marine wildlife from harm. And every little piece—from a plastic bottle cap to food wrappers—matters, because even small amounts of this trash can be deadly to animals like sea turtles and seabirds. A new calculator from Ocean Conservancy can now quantify that impact. If you enter the amounts of different types of plastic that you clean up into the Wildlife Impact Calculator, it will tell you how many animal lives would have been at risk, had those items made their way into the ocean and been ingested. “We hope that people really see that beach cleanups matter,” says Erin Murphy, Ocean Conservancy’s manager of Ocean Plastics Research and lead co-author of the study that underpins the Wildlife Impact Calculator. The issue of ocean plastic pollution Plastic pollution in the ocean is a massive, global environmental issue. Every day, 2,000 truckloads worth of plastic waste enter ocean waters. Addressing that pollution would require research into better kinds of food packaging and recycling, and policies like an international plastic treaty. In the meantime, though, beach cleanups can also make a difference. Ocean Conservancy has been hosting an annual International Coastal Cleanup for 40 years. Nearly 19 million volunteers have taken part, removing more than 400 million pounds of plastics and other debris from coastlines over those decades. Volunteers count and weigh all the pollution they pick up—with common items ranging from candy and chip wrappers to cigarette butts and grocery bags. But raw numbers, like the fact that the volunteers collected 1.4 million plastic bottles in 2023’s cleanup, don’t always connect people to the real impact they’re making on wildlife, Murphy says. With the calculator, that impact is clear, even for small quantities. Say your beach cleanup collected 20 plastic bottles, 15 bottle caps, and 10 plastic bags. Enter those figures into the calculator (which covers more than 20 types of plastic pollution, all of which have been found inside marine animals), and it tells you that you protected five sea turtles and 25 seabirds. It also shares info about such species, plus details on those types of plastic pollution. Small amounts of plastic can be deadly The calculator highlights the danger that even small amounts of plastic can pose to animals. And that was the point. The calculator is based on a study Murphy led, published in 2025, that aimed to identify the lethal dose of plastic for all sorts of animals. “That’s something that at a broad scale hasn’t been done before,” she says. “And what we found was that very, very small amounts of plastic can still kill marine life.” Just three sugar cubes worth of plastic, for example, has a 90% chance of killing a seabird like the Atlantic puffin, which is only 11 inches in length. For those birds, ingesting less than one sugar cube worth of plastic comes with a 50% chance. Even bigger animals are at risk: ingesting just over two baseball’s worth of plastic has a 90% likelihood of death for Loggerhead turtles, and for harbor porpoises, a soccer ball’s worth of plastic is deadly. With the calculator, Murphy says, “We wanted to flip that on its head and understand, what are the benefits of cleanups?” Coastal areas, where cleanups take place, are often where these animals nest or feed, too. Picking up whole pieces of plastic trash from beaches also prevents that trash from breaking up in the ocean and harming wildlife when they ingest fragments of plastic. Understanding these risks, and the benefits of cleaning up beaches, could spur regulatory decisions around plastic pollution. But ultimately, Ocean Conservancy hopes the calculator buoys individuals who undertake this effort. “We know that systemic change is going to be needed to address this plastic pollution globally,” Murphy says, “but it’s just a reminder that every single person can be part of the solution.” View the full article

A strange pattern has emerged in Google’s paid search results — multiple competing ads are displaying the exact same web statistics, raising questions about a potential bug or intentional design shift. What’s happening. Several paid search ads are surfacing the same website statistics simultaneously, despite the fact that these signals are typically unique to each individual site. The uniformity makes the data appear unreliable, and it’s unclear whether this is a display glitch, a testing experiment, or something more deliberate. Why we care. Trust signals in search ads exist to help users make informed decisions and to boost click-through rates by giving users confidence in a result. If those stats appear identical across competing ads, users may dismiss them as unreliable — potentially reducing the credibility boost advertisers have come to rely on. What we don’t know. Whether Google is actively testing this or it’s an unintended bug How widespread the issue is across different search queries or markets Whether it’s affecting user click behavior or advertiser performance No official word. Google has not confirmed or commented on the behavior. The anomaly was first spotted and flagged by Paid Media expert and Founder Anthony Higman who shared spotting it on LinkedIn. The bottom line. If trust signals can’t be trusted, they stop serving their purpose. Advertisers and users alike should keep an eye on whether this pattern spreads — or quietly disappears. View the full article

President Donald The President on Monday extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, saying the U.S. would hold off on strikes against Iranian power plants for five days. Shortly after The President made the announcement on his Truth Social site, Iranian state television put up a graphic that read: “U.S. president backs down following Iran’s firm warning.” The reprieve came hours ahead of The President’s self-imposed deadline later in the day. Writing in all capital letters, The President said the U.S. and Iran have had “very good and productive conversations” that could yield “a complete and total resolution” in the war. Talks would continue “throughout the week,” he said. The President added that the suspension of his threat to attack power plants was “subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.” The President did not elaborate on the negotiations that had taken place. Iran did not immediately acknowledge any talks between the countries, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did say he spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Turkey has been an intermediary before in negotiations between Tehran and Washington. The President’s announcement came as the United Arab Emirates reported its air defense were attempting to intercept new incoming Iranian fire Monday afternoon. Earlier Monday, Iran warned it would strike electricity plants across the Middle East and mine the Persian Gulf after The President threatened to bomb power stations in the Islamic Republic if it did not reopen the strait. The war, now in its fourth week, has already seen several dramatic turning points — the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, the bombing of a key Iranian gas field, and strikes targeting oil and gas facilities and other civilian infrastructure in Gulf Arab nations. The conflict has killed more than 2,000 people, shaken the global economy, sent oil prices surging, and endangered some of the world’s busiest air corridors. The President’s ultimatum and Iran’s promise of retaliation threatened to raise the stakes yet again, with potentially catastrophic repercussions for civilians across the region. If carried out, the attacks could cut electricity to wide swaths of people in Iran and around the Gulf and knock out desalination plants that provide many desert nations with drinking water. There are also increasing concerns about the consequences any of strikes on nuclear facilities. The fever pitch of the rhetoric shows how the war has spiraled to a point unimaginable at the start of the conflict on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. The President issues a deadline and trades threats with Tehran The President said the U.S. would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless the country releases its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours — a deadline that would expire late Monday Washington time but has now been extended. Iran has shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped along with other important commodities, in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes. A trickle of ships has gotten through, and Iran insists the crucial waterway remains open — just not to the U.S., Israel or their allies. The chokehold has wreaked havoc on energy markets, pushed up the prices on food and other goods well beyond the Middle East and sent shock waves throughout the global economy. “No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” said Fatih Birol, the head of the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard promised retaliation if The President made good on his threat, saying Iran it would hit power plants in all areas that supply electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares.” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran would consider vital infrastructure across the region to be legitimate targets, including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant. Over the weekend, Iran launched missiles targeting Dimona in Israel, near a facility key to its long-suspected atomic weapons program. The Israeli facility wasn’t damaged. United States Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper, meanwhile, claimed in an interview that Iran was launching missiles and drones from populated areas, and suggested those areas would be targeted. “You need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper told Iranian civilians in the interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International that aired early Monday. In his first one-on-one interview since the war started, Cooper said the U.S. and Israel were targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s capabilities to rebuild its military. “It’s not just about the threat today,” he said. “We’re eliminating the threat of the future.” Israel strikes Tehran and Iran warns against any invasion Israel launched new attacks Monday on the Iranian capital, saying it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating. Explosions were heard in multiple locations in the afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit. With the U.S. deploying more amphibious assault ships and additional Marines to the Middle East, Iran warned against any ground attack. “Any attempt by the enemy to target Iran’s coasts or islands will, naturally and in accordance with established military practice, lead to the mining of all access routes … in the Persian Gulf and along the coasts,” Iran’s Defense Council warned said in a statement. The widespread use of mines could imperil not only military vessels but scores of commercial ships waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and a cleanup would last long after the conflict ends. The President has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but also has said that he retains all options. Israel has suggested its ground forces could take part in the war. Israel has also targeted the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon during the war, while the group has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel. In recent days, Israel has hit many apartment buildings in Beirut and bombed bridges over the Litani river in the Lebanon’s south. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the targeting of bridges “a prelude to a ground invasion,” while Egypt denounced the strikes as the “collective punishment” of civilians for the actions of Hezbollah. Authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million. Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states. Oil prices are up more than 50% since start of the war Oil prices remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, at around $113 a barrel, up some 55% since the war began. Jorge Moreira da Silva, a senior United Nations official, said the world has already seen a ripple effect, including “exponential price hikes in oil, fuel and gas” that have had a far-reaching impact on millions, primarily in Asian and African developing countries. “There is no military solution,” he said. In another sign of the far-reaching effects, South Korean chemical giant LG Chem said Monday it had to shut down a major industrial plant because the war had disrupted supplies of naphtha, a petroleum product used in plastic manufacturing. AP writers Charlotte Graham-McLay, Sally Abou AlJoud, Bassem Mroue, and Tong-hyung Kim contributed to this report. —Jon Gambrell, David Rising and Samy Magdy, Associated Press View the full article

Governments are wrong to assume the US is arguing in good faith for the organisation to reformView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon’s Spring Sale hasn’t officially started, but some of the better discounts are already live, like the OnePlus Buds 4. These latest earbuds from the brand are down to $79.99 (from $129.99), their lowest price so far, according to price trackers. Amazon is also testing one-hour and three-hour delivery in select locations, as reported by our senior tech editor Jake Peterson, which makes these early deals easier to act on if you need something fast. The Buds 4 are positioned as a step up from the Buds 3, borrowing a few ideas from the more expensive Pro series, particularly in how they handle noise cancellation and overall tuning. OnePlus Buds 4 Wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation $79.99 at Amazon $129.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $79.99 at Amazon $129.99 Save $50.00 The biggest reason to consider these is the noise cancellation—it cuts down steady background sounds like traffic, fans, or office chatter well enough that you don’t have to keep increasing the volume. They’re also light enough to wear for a few hours without ear fatigue. Sound-wise, these lean toward bass. Songs with heavier beats feel fuller and more engaging, though it can come at the cost of some clarity in vocals or instruments. You also get Bluetooth connectivity that stays stable, along with decent battery life that can stretch through most of a day with the case. That said, the experience isn’t perfect. The companion app can feel inconsistent, with occasional bugs that make adjusting settings more frustrating than they should be. Plus, the touch controls take some getting used to and can misfire if you’re adjusting the earbuds on the go. There’s also the fact that these cost more than the Buds 3 (at full price), which still hold up well for less money. Still, at $79.99, the Buds 4 makes more sense as a value buy, especially if strong noise cancellation is high on your list. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $148.99 (List Price $179.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam Plus 2K Wired Security Camera (White) — $39.99 (List Price $59.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Save time in Google Ads using seven practical shortcuts that simplify workflows and highlight optimization opportunities. The post 7 Google Ads Shortcuts Every PPC Manager Should Be Using appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Account suspensions are essential to “maintain a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem, with user protection at its core,” according to Google Ads. For advertisers, though, navigating the suspension process can be a minefield. Suspensions can happen suddenly, limit what you can do in your account, and, in some cases, affect related accounts as well. Here’s what triggers account suspensions, the different types you might encounter, and what to do if your account is flagged or suspended. Why do accounts get suspended? Accounts get suspended when Google Ads finds a violation of one of its policies. The platform uses a combination of automated systems and manual reviews when detecting violations. The process involves reviewing the account and other aspects, including your customer reviews, business practices, and website content. In November 2025, Google addressed concerns that a large volume of accounts were being unfairly suspended by announcing that it had improved the accuracy of the system. Google says that, by using new processes and AI, it’s reduced incorrect suspensions by over 80% and improved resolution times by 70%, with 99% of suspensions now resolved within a 24-hour window. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with How Google Ads suspends accounts and what happens next Depending on the violation, accounts may be suspended immediately upon detection. In other cases, advertisers will be given a prior warning of at least seven days before the suspension takes place. Advertisers will be notified via email, along with a red banner at the top of their Google Ads account. When an account is suspended: Ads will not run. You won’t be able to create any new content, such as ads, ad groups, or campaigns. You can, however, still access the account to review historical data and reports. In some instances, accounts related or linked to the suspended account may also be suspended, such as linked Merchant Center accounts or those linked to the same manager account. These will be lifted if or when the original suspension is resolved. Dig deeper: Google Ads’ three-strikes system: Managing warnings, strikes, and suspension What are the different types of account suspensions? Not all suspensions are the same. Google Ads groups them into a few main categories, each with different causes and outcomes. Policy violations These suspensions are due to violations of Google Ads policy or its terms and conditions. Common examples include: Inappropriate or restricted content. Issues related to editorial requirements. Misuse of data. Egregious violations These are suspensions that Google Ads deems unlawful or harmful. They typically reflect the overall practices of a business, not necessarily its campaigns or accounts. As such, it’s unlikely that the suspension will be overturned and will probably be permanent. Common egregious violations include: Circumventing systems. Unacceptable business practices. Malicious software. Counterfeiting. Illegal activities. Other suspensions Other reasons why an account may be suspended include: Suspicious payment activity. Unpaid balance. Promotional code abuse. Unauthorized account activity. Failure to meet age requirements. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. What to do if your account is suspended? What you should do next depends on the type of suspension and what caused it. Policy violations If your account has been suspended for policy or terms and conditions violations, you must resolve the issue causing the suspension before submitting an appeal. The Google Ads help guides contain detailed information on these policies, so make sure you read them thoroughly. Don’t submit an appeal until you’re certain that you’ve made the relevant changes. For example, if you’ve been suspended for violating editorial requirements, review your ad copy to check for potential issues regarding capitalization, spacing, spelling, and symbols. If you’re uncertain about the violations that caused the suspension and how to fix them, you can use the account troubleshooter beta to determine what steps need to be taken. Head over to the Google Ads account suspensions overview page and follow the instructions. Egregious violations Egregious violations are treated very seriously. In most cases, the suspension is permanent. However, if you genuinely believe that the suspension is baseless, then you can submit an appeal. Make relevant changes to your account or business practices before you submit your appeal. This is important because egregious violations only get one chance to submit an appeal. Take the time to review your business practices honestly and make sure you’ve done all that you can to comply. Unauthorized account activity In the case of an “Unauthorized account activity” suspension, Google Ads has detected suspicious activity, and your account has been suspended to protect it. This may be triggered due to recent changes to account access, an unusual increase in your ad spend, or if your ads are sending traffic to unfamiliar destinations. You will need to: Change your Google account password immediately. Check for any unfamiliar devices signed in to your account. Submit a compromised account form. Other suspensions In many of these cases, billing issues cause suspension, so check the billing section of your account. Ensure that billing information is accurate, your payment method is up to date, and recent payments haven’t been declined. If your account has been suspended for a billing or payment issue, you must fix this within 30 days. You may also be required to complete the advertiser verification program to confirm your identity or business operations. Verified advertisers show in the Ads Transparency Center, which plays a part in Google’s efforts to build a safe and positive experience. Best practices for submitting an appeal While the specific steps you need to take will depend on the type of suspension your account is under and what caused it, there are some best practices for submitting your appeal: Ensure that you’ve submitted your advertiser verification, as this will help the system verify your identity and business authenticity. If you recognize that you’ve made an error, for example, opening a new account for a business when there was already a dormant account created before you joined, be upfront and honest about this information. If you believe that the suspension has been made in error, then provide as much information, evidence, and context as possible. While you’ll have a minimum of six months to submit an appeal, try to resolve the issue and submit your appeal as soon as possible. It can be very tricky to return to an account that was suspended years ago and accurately recall the steps that led to the suspension in order to address them. Dig deeper: Dealing with Google Ads frustrations: Poor support, suspensions, rising costs What happens after you submit an appeal Unfortunately, many advertisers are reporting long wait times to hear back about their appeal. This means that you’ll need to be patient and wait for a response via email. In the meantime, don’t submit additional appeals. Doing so will not increase the speed at which your appeal is addressed and may result in the suspension of your appeal process for seven days. If your appeal is accepted and your account is reinstated You can resume running your campaigns via Google Ads as usual. Be aware of violating the same policy again in the future. Depending on the type of policy infringement, you may face permanent suspension for repeat violations. If your appeal is denied You may be eligible to submit another appeal, but you must make the relevant changes before you do so. While there is no limit on the number of appeals you can make, if too many appeals have been made, they may not be processed. For egregious violations If your appeal is denied and you’re permanently suspended, you’ve been banned from using Google Ads. Creating any new accounts will also result in suspensions. If you still have funds in your account, you’ll need to cancel your account to receive a refund. Making sense of Google Ads account suspensions Account suspensions are designed to help keep advertisers and users safe. They help keep dangerous and malicious activities off the platform, improving the Google Ads experience. While finding out your account is suspended is frustrating, in most cases, there are steps you can take to resolve the issues behind the violation and have your account reinstated. View the full article

It’s another bad day for gold and silver. Traders in precious metals are seeing both gold and silver plummet significantly as the week kicks off, with gold down nearly 7% and silver down 8% over the past 24 hours. Worse, gold has now fallen nearly 20% since its all-time high of over $5,586 in January. Silver is down even more, falling more than 44% since its all-time high earlier this year of over $121. Here’s what you need to know. The ‘safe haven’ trade is absent Silver and especially gold are generally considered “safe haven” assets—assets investors turn to when economic uncertainty abounds, and they want to park their money in a valuable that isn’t likely to fluctuate much, or at least not go down in value significantly. Safe haven assets like gold and silver contrast with other assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies, which are traditionally more volatile, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Given their safe-haven status, it’s natural to assume that the geopolitical and economic uncertainty unleashed by President The President’s war in Iran over the past two weeks would cause investors to flock to gold and silver. But just the opposite has happened. After both metals hit all-time highs earlier this year, they have slowly lost value, and their sell-off has only intensified with the breakout of the Iranian war. That incongruity has left many scratching their heads, asking “why?” Government bonds are starting to look more attractive than metals While any individual investor has their own reason for selling off a valuable asset, there are two likely factors that have contributed significantly to the fall in gold and silver both today and in recent weeks. The first is solidly related to the war in Iran. While wars breed geopolitical conflict and economic uncertainty, which usually sends investors to safe-haven assets like gold and silver, they can also affect interest rates, especially if central banks need to reconsider their positions due to rising prices in things like oil, which can have a knock-on inflationary effect across the economy. And, as the Wall Street Journal notes, thanks to the war in Iran, many investors now believe that central banks around the world are unlikely to cut interest rates this year. That’s the opposite of what investors believed before the war. If interest rates remain the same or even increase, government bonds become more attractive due to their higher yields. This can lead investors to park their money in bonds rather than precious metals, which don’t offer a guaranteed income stream. Profit taking after gold and silver’s great run A second significant factor likely contributing to gold and silver’s demise recently is, ironically, how well the two metals have performed lately. Between January 2025 and gold’s all-time high in January 2026, gold rose more than 100%. In that same timeframe, silver rose by more than 275%. Those are massive gains. But big gains don’t translate into big profits until you sell. And it’s very likely that some of the reasons gold and silver are falling so much lately are due to profit taking, so investors can lock in some of those stratospheric gains they’ve made over the past 12 months. Investors are generally also more interested in cashing out on assets they’ve made a killing on when the other assets they own are experiencing downturns, such as stocks. And lately, stocks have been hit hard. In the past five weeks, the Dow has lost around 9% of its value, the Nasdaq has dropped more than 6%, and the S&P has also dropped more than 6%. Many investors fear that markets could drop further the longer the Iran war drags on, and that the resulting increase in oil prices would negatively impact the overall economy. One way to hedge against a fall in stocks is to lock in any precious metal gains by selling them. After hitting an all-time high in January, gold is currently sitting at around $4,397. That is a price point gold last saw in December 2025. Silver is currently around $68.40, a price it has also not seen since December 2025. View the full article

Market research can be a slow, fragmented, and difficult process, often involving tedious internet searches, questionable data sources, and time-consuming manual synthesis. This makes it a great candidate for some assistance from AI. What’s more, an update to a popular feature on ChatGPT has made it even better at doing this kind of work. Imagine that you have a potential business idea but still need to validate how viable it actually is, identify primary competitors in your market, and develop an ideal customer persona. Instead of spending hours collating data, explains Dan McCarthy, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Maryland, you can use Deep Research, a ChatGPT feature that directs an AI agent to develop a comprehensive, well-cited report on any topic. Last week, OpenAI upgraded Deep Research with some new abilities. The feature now runs on GPT-5.2, one of the company’s most recent models (previously it ran on a much older o3 model), and can now prioritize specific websites in its search process. Deep Research is available for all paid ChatGPT users. Here’s how to use it to get some thorough market research done quickly. Step 1: Get your prompt right To test out how this feature could help with market research, I pretended that I wanted to start a digital transformation firm based in Denver with a focus on upgrading bars with mobile, bar-to-table ordering capabilities. All I needed to do in order to get started was click the plus button next to the text box, select More, then Deep Research, and enter a prompt. This prompt will determine the information that ChatGPT prioritizes in its search, so it helps to be verbose. If you need help developing a lengthy prompt, try using ChatGPT to help write it. McCarthy, who uses AI tools extensively, says that an easy way to develop a comprehensive prompt is to activate the chatbot’s voice mode and simply have a conversation with it. Once you’ve explained what you want, McCarthy says, you can ask ChatGPT, “Given all this that I’m telling you, what do you think would be the best thing that I should even be asking you?” That should help clear up any blind spots you might’ve missed. According to McCarthy, this method should produce a solid prompt that you can give to the Deep Research agent. When I asked ChatGPT to help expand my prompt, the platform generated a 673-word result. This prompt (which you can view here) defined the agent as a market research analyst and gave it objectives to determine the business idea’s viability, map out the competition, and define my ideal customer’s persona. Additionally, it provided details on the scope of the research, and information for how the agent should format its report. I also used ChatGPT to develop a list of specific websites for the Deep Research agent to prioritize in its search. Step 2: Start the research I entered my ChatGPT-created prompt, selected the Deep Research feature, and pressed return. Before getting to work, the agent broke down its objectives into the following bullet points: Collect primary vendor docs and pricing pages starting with user-preferred sites. Survey industry, local Denver sources, and hospitality reports for market context. Compile POS integration lists, local competitors, and implementation partners in Denver. Analyze demand, model ROI scenarios, and estimate Denver bar counts and adoption rates. Draft recommendations, ICP personas, GTM plan, and cite sources with confidence ratings. Over the next 21 minutes, the agent searched through hundreds of web pages. It found liquor license databases, census information, and data regarding competitors in Denver’s hospitality-focused digital transformation market. It compiled all this information into a multi-section report. Step 3: Read the report That report (which you can view here) ended up being roughly 4,000 words. It included an overview of the market, identified customer pain points, and listed out my potential competitors. The report also included recommendations for how to position my business, strategies to break into the Denver hospitality scene, and even identified a small business that would likely be my direct competitor: a Denver-based POS integrator called Megabite. ChatGPT found that while my business idea had potential, it wouldn’t fully meet the needs of Denver-based bar owners, who have reported that bar-to-table ordering can actually lead to fewer sales and tips. Instead, the report suggested, I should consider a system that can sit on top of popular POS in which diners don’t need to pay for every new drink they order, and can instead open a digital tab. What the expert thinks of the result McCarthy told me he was impressed by the report that Deep Research produced. In particular, he was pleasantly surprised by the agent’s cleverness in using liquor licenses to get a sense of the market size, and its thoughtfulness in calling out disruption to bar culture as a potential blocker to the business. But the report wasn’t perfect. McCarthy said much of what was included was unnecessary or needlessly complex. An easy prompt to fix this? “Just tell it, ‘Explain it to me like I’m an idiot.’” McCarthy adds, “I do that all the time.” He says that a solid market research report should also answer questions regarding the scope of adoption and how often repeat purchasing is expected. McCarthy also says that users should direct the Deep Research agent to be very upfront about the data it attempted to get but couldn’t. Many websites block AI agents from engaging with their content to prevent data scraping, which can hinder the research process. By telling your agent to list out the sites that it couldn’t access, you can manually obtain that data and add it to the analysis. Our bar-to-table digital transformation firm will have to remain a pipe dream for now, but it’s clear that AI has made the process of taking an idea from zero to one easier and faster than ever. If you have an idea for a new business or are planning on an expansion or pivot in your current business, consider giving Deep Research a spin. It might unearth something that makes you think in a different way. —Ben Sherry This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Perpetual war and fading American popular support is a formula for disasterView the full article