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Sellers have roughly a month to bring transactions involving properties from the "claims without conveyance of title" and REO programs in line with the changes. View the full article

Officials are worried US president will use minor progress in talks as ‘excuse’ to disengageView the full article

The fraudsters aren't doing anything new or sophisticated, but are successfully using familiar tactics, said reports from CertifID and FundingShield. View the full article

Energy drink company Celsius Holdings announced today that its subsidiary brand, Alani Nu, has notched more than $1 billion in sales over the past 52 weeks—representing a head-turning 72.4% year-over-year sales increase. The company’s impressive success demonstrates that the functional beverage craze may not be merely a passing fad for consumers. Celsius Holdings, which also owns the popular energy drink Celsius, officially acquired Alani Nu last month for $1.8 billion. The brand was originally founded by entrepreneur Katy Schneider and husband Haydn Schneider in 2018, and has since found a growing audience of Gen Z and millennial consumers looking for a low-calorie, zero-sugar energy drink option. According to a press release, Alani Nu’s $1 billion milestone “has been fueled by accelerated brand growth, strong and unique innovation, and a growing female energy drink consumer segment seeking better-for-you, functional beverages that fit their health and wellness lifestyles.” As of this writing, Celsius Holdings stock is up slightly by 0.16% since market open. What Alani Nu’s success says about the future of “functional beverages” Over the past several months, “functional beverages,” or drinks that offer some kind of mood or health boost (in the case of Alani Nu and Celsius, that would be the added jolt of caffeine), have gained popularity in the mainstream beverage market. A study by Nielsen IQ last spring found that sales of functional beverages grew by 54% between March 2020 and March 2024 to $9.2 billion, accounting for 10% of the total nonalcoholic beverage market in the U.S. Subcategories of this market, including energy drinks and sports beverages, are similarly trending up. Experts across the beverage industry largely attribute this trend to a rising interest in health and wellness among Gen Z and millennial consumers, who are increasingly choosing to ditch alcoholic beverages in favor of more “healthy” drinks that can offer one or more benefits. In the past year, new brands like the DTC sports beverage company Magna and influencer Alex Cooper’s electrolyte drink brand Unwell have emerged to capitalize on this widening consumer base. Meanwhile, existing brands like Mio, Bodyarmor, and Liquid I.V. have all introduced refreshed looks to emphasize their “functional” features. Alani Nu, which has positioned itself as a “health and wellness” brand for women since its founding, was uniquely prepared to capitalize on this trend as it emerged. The energy drink comes with 200 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce can (the equivalent of about two cups of coffee) and is vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, and low-calorie. The brand’s $1 billion milestone shows that, more than a year after the initial hype around functional beverages first began, the sector has taken root as a more permanent beverage category—one that’s both attracting a new generation of consumers and causing beverage giants to rethink how they market their products. View the full article

U.S. stocks are drifting Monday ahead of potential flashpoints looming later in the week that could bring more sharp swings for financial markets. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading, coming off a winning week in its whipsaw ride that’s been rattling investors for weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 145 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. The relatively calm trading offers a respite following historic swings that have come as hopes rise and fall that President Donald The President may back down on his tariffs, which investors expect would otherwise cause a recession. The S&P 500 has roughly halved its drop that had taken it nearly 20% below its record set earlier this year. This upcoming week will feature earnings reports from some of Wall Street’s most influential companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. Their performances carry huge sway over the market because they’ve inflated to become the biggest by far in terms of size. Outside of Big Tech, executives from Caterpillar, Exxon Mobil, and McDonald’s may also offer clues about how they’re seeing economic conditions play out. Several companies across industries have recently been slashing their estimates for upcoming profit or pulling their forecasts completely because of uncertainty about what will happen with The President’s tariffs. “We heard more plans to mitigate tariff impacts than in prior months and than during 2018” from U.S. companies, including preordering, shifting production, and increasing prices for their own products, according to Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian. But she also said in a report that she’s seeing “some indications of a pause: no hiring/no firing, no new projects/no cancellations etc.” A fear is that The President’s on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour. Domino’s Pizza was flipping between small losses and gains after it reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pizza chain’s CEO, Russell Weiner, called the global economic environment “challenging,” and its stock was most recently up 0.7% DoorDash added 1.2% after Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, said it heard from DoorDash about a possible cash offer to take over the company. So far, economic reports have mostly seemed to show the U.S. economy is still growing, though at a weaker pace. On Wednesday, economists expect a report to show that U.S. economic growth slowed to a 0.8% annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from a 2.4% rate at the end of last year. But most reports Wall Street has received so far have focused on data from before The President’s “Liberation Day” on April 2, when he announced tariffs that could affect imports from countries worldwide. That could raise the stakes for upcoming reports on the U.S. job market, including Friday’s, which will show how many workers employers hired during all of April. Economists expect it to show a slowdown in hiring down to 125,000 from 228,000 in March. The most jarring economic data recently have come from surveys showing U.S. consumers becoming much more pessimistic about the economy’s future because of tariffs. The Conference Board’s latest reading on consumer confidence will arrive on Tuesday. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. They’ve calmed since an unsettling, unusual rise rise in yields earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond market’s reputation as a safe place to park cash. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.25% from 4.29% late Friday. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.8%, but stocks slipped 0.2% in Shanghai. —Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed. View the full article

Chinese robotaxi technology company Pony AI Inc. (Nasdaq: PONY) was up a whopping 55% on Monday—yes, you read that right—after Chief Technology Officer Lou Tiancheng told the Wall Street Journal it can now build its autonomous driving system for 70% less and is on the road to profitability. Pony AI makes the technology that allows cars to become autonomous, or self-driving, not the cars itself, but is partnering with companies that do. It also operates a fleet of robotaxis in China. Last week, Pony AI unveiled three new driver-less vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show, which were co-developed with Chinese state-owned automakers BAIC Motor and Guangzhou Automobile Group, as well as, Toyota. Analysts estimate the company has slashed its bill-of-materials, or BOM, (all the materials, components, sub-assemblies, and instructions needed to manufacture a product) costs for its robotaxis from $137,217 to a $41,165. Cheaper production could enable Pony AI to achieve single-unit breakeven, the point it makes a profit each time a new robotaxi is added to its fleet, according to the WSJ. Some analysts think they could reach that coveted goal by the end of 2025, but that the company wouldn’t likely turn a profit until at least 2030 when it hits 50,000 robotaxis. “The key is software optimization,” Lou told the WSJ. “For example, our software performance has tripled under the same computing power.” It’s worth noting, Pony AI, which focuses on developing and deploying autonomous driving technology, including robotaxi services, has yet to turn a profit and, in fact, posted a loss last quarter, it first reporting since going public last year. If all goes well, Pony plans to to start production of its robotaxis mid-year, with the goal of expand from 300 vehicles to from 1,000 at the end of 2025, per the WSJ. View the full article

David Spector, the firm's CEO, touted Pennymac's technology, consistency and support for the broker channel. View the full article

Block Advisors by H&R Block has announced the launch of its second annual Fund Her Future grant program, designed to support women-owned small businesses with high growth and community impact potential. Applications are now open and will be accepted through May 30, 2025. The 2025 program will award a total of $100,000 in grant funding and nearly $30,000 worth of small business services to six recipients. One grant recipient will receive a $50,000 package, while up to five additional winners will each receive $10,000 grants. All winners will also gain a year of access to Block Advisors’ small business services, which include tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping, and business structure analysis. “We understand the challenges entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses. They need more than just capital; they need trusted expertise that saves them time and puts their mind at ease,” said Jamil Khan, Chief Small Business Officer at H&R Block. “That’s why Fund Her Future provides not only financial support but also access to Block Advisors year-round small business services, including such business-critical services as tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping and business structure analysis.” Block Advisors highlighted that despite women being among the fastest-growing segments of new small business owners, they continue to face significant barriers to funding and resources. According to the 2024 State of Women’s Small Business Report by Block Advisors, 42% of women business owners who applied for a bank loan were never approved, and nearly 90% reported relying on personal finances and credit cards to fund their ventures. To apply for the Fund Her Future program, applicants must be over 18 years old and own a United States-based business. Businesses that demonstrate a strong community impact are especially encouraged to apply. Full eligibility requirements can be found on the Fund Her Future website. Recipients of the 2025 grants will be notified by the end of July. Last year’s inaugural Fund Her Future program attracted more than 6,000 applicants and awarded grants to five entrepreneurs whose businesses demonstrated significant growth potential. Grant recipient Heather Jiang, owner of Allégorie, a New York City-based small-batch accessory line that turns food waste into fashion, expanded her product lines and hired additional staff with the help of her grant. “There is a sense of relief in handing off my bookkeeping to a Block Advisors expert,” Jiang explained. “It frees up my time to focus on other aspects of the business. They ensure everything is handled properly. The recognition from the grant has been amazing, as well. We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in online traffic to our website since the 2024 grant was announced.” Another 2024 grant recipient, Erica Cole, owner of Richmond-based No Limbits, used the funding and support to scale her accessible apparel brand. “The funding and small business support from Block Advisors has allowed me to scale my business. It enabled me to launch my sensory-friendly collection in Walmart and acquire Buck & Buck, a leader in adaptive apparel,” Cole shared. Ameka Coleman, owner of Strands of Faith based in Pearl, Mississippi, also saw significant growth following her 2024 grant. “This grant allowed us to onboard two more hospital networks, which significantly increases demand for our products. We’re looking at a 400% increase in revenue from this workstream,” said Coleman. For more information about the Fund Her Future program and how to apply, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com/FundHerFutureGrant. To learn more about Block Advisors’ year-round services for small businesses, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com. This article, "Block Advisors by H&R Block Opens Applications for 2025 Fund Her Future Grant Program" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Block Advisors by H&R Block has announced the launch of its second annual Fund Her Future grant program, designed to support women-owned small businesses with high growth and community impact potential. Applications are now open and will be accepted through May 30, 2025. The 2025 program will award a total of $100,000 in grant funding and nearly $30,000 worth of small business services to six recipients. One grant recipient will receive a $50,000 package, while up to five additional winners will each receive $10,000 grants. All winners will also gain a year of access to Block Advisors’ small business services, which include tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping, and business structure analysis. “We understand the challenges entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses. They need more than just capital; they need trusted expertise that saves them time and puts their mind at ease,” said Jamil Khan, Chief Small Business Officer at H&R Block. “That’s why Fund Her Future provides not only financial support but also access to Block Advisors year-round small business services, including such business-critical services as tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping and business structure analysis.” Block Advisors highlighted that despite women being among the fastest-growing segments of new small business owners, they continue to face significant barriers to funding and resources. According to the 2024 State of Women’s Small Business Report by Block Advisors, 42% of women business owners who applied for a bank loan were never approved, and nearly 90% reported relying on personal finances and credit cards to fund their ventures. To apply for the Fund Her Future program, applicants must be over 18 years old and own a United States-based business. Businesses that demonstrate a strong community impact are especially encouraged to apply. Full eligibility requirements can be found on the Fund Her Future website. Recipients of the 2025 grants will be notified by the end of July. Last year’s inaugural Fund Her Future program attracted more than 6,000 applicants and awarded grants to five entrepreneurs whose businesses demonstrated significant growth potential. Grant recipient Heather Jiang, owner of Allégorie, a New York City-based small-batch accessory line that turns food waste into fashion, expanded her product lines and hired additional staff with the help of her grant. “There is a sense of relief in handing off my bookkeeping to a Block Advisors expert,” Jiang explained. “It frees up my time to focus on other aspects of the business. They ensure everything is handled properly. The recognition from the grant has been amazing, as well. We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in online traffic to our website since the 2024 grant was announced.” Another 2024 grant recipient, Erica Cole, owner of Richmond-based No Limbits, used the funding and support to scale her accessible apparel brand. “The funding and small business support from Block Advisors has allowed me to scale my business. It enabled me to launch my sensory-friendly collection in Walmart and acquire Buck & Buck, a leader in adaptive apparel,” Cole shared. Ameka Coleman, owner of Strands of Faith based in Pearl, Mississippi, also saw significant growth following her 2024 grant. “This grant allowed us to onboard two more hospital networks, which significantly increases demand for our products. We’re looking at a 400% increase in revenue from this workstream,” said Coleman. For more information about the Fund Her Future program and how to apply, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com/FundHerFutureGrant. To learn more about Block Advisors’ year-round services for small businesses, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com. This article, "Block Advisors by H&R Block Opens Applications for 2025 Fund Her Future Grant Program" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Iran and the United States will hold talks Saturday in Oman, their third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The talks follow a first round held in Muscat, Oman, where the two sides spoke face to face. They then met again in Rome last weekend before this scheduled meeting again in Muscat. The President has imposed new sanctions on Iran as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign targeting the country. He has repeatedly suggested military action against Iran remained a possibility, while emphasizing he still believed a new deal could be reached by writing a letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jump start these talks. Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to any attack with an attack of its own. Here’s what to know about the letter, Iran’s nuclear program and the tensions that have stalked relations between Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Why did The President write the letter? The President dispatched the letter to Khamenei on March 5, then gave a television interview the next day in which he acknowledged sending it. He said: “I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing.’” Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks while ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a military strike by Israel or the U.S. could target Iranian nuclear sites. A previous letter from The President during his first term drew an angry retort from the supreme leader. But The President’s letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to limit Pyongyang’s atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental U.S. How did the first round go? Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, hosted the first round of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The two men met face to face after indirect talks and immediately agreed to this second round in Rome. Witkoff later made a television appearance in which he suggested 3.67% enrichment for Iran could be something the countries could agree on. But that’s exactly the terms set by the 2015 nuclear deal struck under U.S. President Barack Obama, from which The President unilaterally withdrew America. Witkoff hours later issued a statement underlining something: “A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a The President deal.” Araghchi and Iranian officials have latched onto Witkoff’s comments in recent days as a sign that America was sending it mixed signals about the negotiations. Yet the Rome talks ended up with the two sides agreeing to starting expert-level talks this Saturday. Analysts described that as a positive sign, though much likely remains to be agreed before reaching a tentative deal. Why does Iran’s nuclear program worry the West? Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Iran now enriches uranium to near weapons-grade levels of 60%, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so. Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s program put its stockpile at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds) as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has warned in a televised interview that his country has the capability to build nuclear weapons, but it is not pursuing it and has no problem with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections. However, he said if the U.S. or Israel were to attack Iran over the issue, the country would have no choice but to move toward nuclear weapon development. “If you make a mistake regarding Iran’s nuclear issue, you will force Iran to take that path, because it must defend itself,” he said. Why are relations so bad between Iran and the U.S.? Iran was once one of the U.S.’s top allies in the Mideast under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased American military weapons and allowed CIA technicians to run secret listening posts monitoring the neighboring Soviet Union. The CIA had fomented a 1953 coup that cemented the shah’s rule. But in January 1979, the shah, fatally ill with cancer, fled Iran as mass demonstrations swelled against his rule. The Islamic Revolution followed, led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and created Iran’s theocratic government. Later that year, university students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seeking the shah’s extradition and sparking the 444-day hostage crisis that saw diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. severed. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s saw the U.S. back Saddam Hussein. The “Tanker War” during that conflict saw the U.S. launch a one-day assault that crippled Iran at sea, while the U.S. later shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that the American military said it mistook for a warplane. Iran and the U.S. have see-sawed between enmity and grudging diplomacy in the years since, with relations peaking when Tehran made the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. But The President unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, sparking tensions in the Mideast that persist today. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. —Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat contributed to this report. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. As long as we have employers, we’ll also have managers who issue nonsensical or inefficient edicts — even when their employees point out a smarter way to go. Sometimes that’s because they’re more focused on control or appearances than on actual results. Sometimes it’s because they’re out of touch with the day-to-day realities of the work. And sometimes they’re just bad managers. Today at Slate, I wrote about how some irritated employees have learned to respond to these policies with “malicious compliance”: scrupulously doing exactly what they’re being told to do, but in a way that exposes the absurdity of the request. You can read it here. View the full article

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that applications are now open for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Value-Added Grant Program. The initiative aims to boost the state’s agricultural and renewable energy sectors by supporting value-added businesses with targeted equipment investments. Through the AGRI Value-Added Grant, eligible applicants — including individuals, farmers, businesses, agricultural cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, local governments, and tribal governments — can apply for funding to enhance the production capacity, market diversification, and market access of value-added agricultural products. For this program, “value-added” is defined as the addition of value to an agricultural product through processing. The MDA expects to award a combined $2 million in funding through the AGRI Value-Added and AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Milk (MPEM) Grants. Funding priorities for this round include projects that increase food safety and expand hemp fiber production capacity. Grant recipients are required to meet specific cash match requirements. Applicants must provide 50% of the first $50,000 of project costs to qualify for up to $25,000 in reimbursement. For expenses beyond the first $50,000, recipients must cover 75% of the additional costs, with the state reimbursing 25%, up to a maximum grant award of $150,000. For example, a project costing $400,000 would be eligible for $112,500 in total grant reimbursement. Applicants would receive $25,000 for the first $50,000 of expenses and $87,500 for the remaining $350,000, requiring them to contribute $287,500 of their own funds. Applications for the AGRI Value-Added Grant are due by 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Interested parties are encouraged to carefully review the Value-Added Request for Proposals – Spring document for full eligibility and requirement details. Applications must be submitted online through the designated MDA portal, and new users will need to create an account before applying. The AGRI Program is a key component of Minnesota’s strategy to advance its agricultural economy, offering resources to help businesses grow while promoting innovation and sustainability in the industry. Image: Canva This article, "Minnesota Department of Agriculture Opens Applications for AGRI Value-Added and MPEM Grant Programs" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that applications are now open for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Value-Added Grant Program. The initiative aims to boost the state’s agricultural and renewable energy sectors by supporting value-added businesses with targeted equipment investments. Through the AGRI Value-Added Grant, eligible applicants — including individuals, farmers, businesses, agricultural cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, local governments, and tribal governments — can apply for funding to enhance the production capacity, market diversification, and market access of value-added agricultural products. For this program, “value-added” is defined as the addition of value to an agricultural product through processing. The MDA expects to award a combined $2 million in funding through the AGRI Value-Added and AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Milk (MPEM) Grants. Funding priorities for this round include projects that increase food safety and expand hemp fiber production capacity. Grant recipients are required to meet specific cash match requirements. Applicants must provide 50% of the first $50,000 of project costs to qualify for up to $25,000 in reimbursement. For expenses beyond the first $50,000, recipients must cover 75% of the additional costs, with the state reimbursing 25%, up to a maximum grant award of $150,000. For example, a project costing $400,000 would be eligible for $112,500 in total grant reimbursement. Applicants would receive $25,000 for the first $50,000 of expenses and $87,500 for the remaining $350,000, requiring them to contribute $287,500 of their own funds. Applications for the AGRI Value-Added Grant are due by 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Interested parties are encouraged to carefully review the Value-Added Request for Proposals – Spring document for full eligibility and requirement details. Applications must be submitted online through the designated MDA portal, and new users will need to create an account before applying. The AGRI Program is a key component of Minnesota’s strategy to advance its agricultural economy, offering resources to help businesses grow while promoting innovation and sustainability in the industry. Image: Canva This article, "Minnesota Department of Agriculture Opens Applications for AGRI Value-Added and MPEM Grant Programs" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Two Democratic members of the National Credit Union Administration board of directors are suing the The President administration for wrongful dismissal, a suit that could have implications for the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. View the full article

Audit requires innovation. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

Audit requires innovation. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

By CPA Trendlines Research Individual tax returns often turn up a need for eldercare for a client or a client’s relatives. MORE Listicles here Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today. Often younger family members … Continued Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

By CPA Trendlines Research Individual tax returns often turn up a need for eldercare for a client or a client’s relatives. MORE Listicles here Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today. Often younger family members … Continued Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

For the past five years, Google's Emoji Kitchen has offered a way for users to make unique emojis from existing icons. The feature lets you take two emojis and combine them into one to make emojis that are familiar yet new. You can take the saluting emoji and combine it with the robot emoji to make a saluting robot, or the alien emoji and the "shh" emoji to make an alien telling you to be quiet. You can't necessarily mix each and every emoji that you see in your emoji keyboard, though—first, Google has to make those combinations possible. Every now and then, Google will include new combinations within software updates, even if they don't advertise each one. The more often you use emojis with Gboard, the more combinations you're bound to discover. But now, you no longer need to experiment with Emoji Kitchen in order to discover new combinations. In fact, Google will do the combining for you: All you have to do is scroll. Browse Emoji Kitchen combinations on PixelAs reported by 9to5Google, Google is rolling out an update to the emoji keyboard on Pixel devices. Once the update hits your Pixel, you'll now see a short row of emoji combinations along the top of the emoji keyboard, with an arrow at the end of the row. Tap the arrow, and you'll open up a full grid of emoji combinations, which you can scroll through for a long time. If you somehow reach the bottom without finding an emoji you like, you can return to the top of the grid and pull down to refresh the browser. Credit: Jake Peterson/Lifehacker When you do find a combination you like, tap on it. The emoji keyboard will reveal a pop up, showing you which two emojis were used to make this new one. If you want to use it, just tap Send. Credit: Jake Peterson/Lifehacker While the Emoji Kitchen is available on all devices using Gboard, the new Emoji Kitchen browser is exclusive to Pixel devices. Other devices will still need to create Emoji Kitchen icons by hand. Alternatively, you can use the "Randomize" option in the Emoji Kitchen tool built into Google: just search Emoji Kitchen in the web browser, then click Get cooking. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Youth culture moves fast. New slang is created and abandoned in days, whole communities organize around a blurry photograph, jokes become memes, memes become rituals, and everything might is abandoned before you even notice it exists. It's like to trying to study a snowflake: Once you can look at it, it's already melted. So it is this week, as I take a look a new lexicon of brain-rot slang (that might not really be slang), a meme format based on threatening to eat your Uber driver, and the performative disappointment of youth. Plus, as a reminder that we still still share something, a video about humanity's never-ending fascination with digging holes. What do "Kevin," "gurt," and "IKIAB" mean? I cover slang a lot in this column and keep a running glossary of Gen Z and Gen A words, but I'm not sure what to make of "Kevin," "gurt," "IKIAB," and countless other slang terms born in the past couple of weeks. To many young people, anything bad can be described as Kevin, and the word gurt means something like "smart but dangerous" and IKIAB is an acronym for "Imma keep it a buck," which means "I'm telling the truth." But maybe they don't mean anything. All these new words are part of the quickly evolving world of brain-rot memes, and they straddle a line between self-aware parody of slang and actual slang. IKIAB was coined a few weeks ago by TikTok user @xznthos, who declared it was new slang that everyone would now use. Gurt was invented and defined a few days later, and Kevin a few days after that. This led to making up slang words becoming a meme format in brain-rot videos, with all kinds of people declaring that all kinds of words now mean all kinds of things. But do they? Is slang really slang just because someone says it is and a lot of people see the video? Taking it a step further, a writer at Daily Dot asked Google Search’s generative AI Overview to define nonsense phrases like “banana slurp” and “cyclops vibing," and it answered that banana slurp "could potentially be a misinterpretation of ‘that’s bananas’ or ‘she/he went bananas,’ which both mean something is crazy, wild, or extremely agitated," and that cyclops vibing "essentially suggests that a person is enjoying themselves and in a good place, even if they are depicted with a somewhat intimidating or unusual image like a cyclops.” So you don't even need a person to have ever used a word or phrase for it to have a definition (at least to a computer), so when is a word slang and when is it nonsense? That's the kind of question only a total stork smoother would ask. What is the "I'm so hungry I could eat..." trend?The "I'm so hungry I could eat..." trend is way easier to understand than brain-rot slang. It's a form of prank video where you secretly record someone's reaction to you saying, "I'm so hungry I could eat X," with X being whatever is likely to get the biggest reaction. It started with videos of parents saying "I'm so hungry I could eat a kid" to their kids, which is adorable: Then dog owners started threatening to eat their dogs: Then things started getting stranger, like this video where someone threatens to eat their Uber driver. But the height of the trend is saying you're so hungry they could eat a random, specific person from their victim's past. Like an old classmate who might have been dangerous: or their first boyfriend: or their coke dealer from the 90s. What is the Hiccup Cult?If your child has just joined The Hiccup Cult, don't worry. It's not a cult like The People's Temple; it's just a random TikTok thing with no real meaning. A few weeks ago, TikToker @annesstinkysock posted a video where they pointed out that the character Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon is kind of funny-looking, and that she'd changed her profile picture to an image of Hiccup. That's it. That's the whole origin story. For some reason no one can explain, this video was spat out to millions of TikTok users, thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of whom changed their own profile pictures to Hiccup. Many of them started following each other, and a cult was born. To join, you just have to change your profile picture to Hiccup and you're in. TikTok cults aren't new. There have been a ton of them revolving around a picture of a hamster, or Dragon Ball character Goku, or minions. It's the kind of thing that will be forgotten quickly, but maybe it provides some sense of belonging for the 12 seconds it exists. "Rejection cakes" take over the internetIt's the time of year when high school seniors are crossing their fingers and receiving their acceptance or rejection emails from the colleges they applied to. As you'd probably expect, social media is filled with videos of over-achievers crying happy tears because they were accepted at Harvard, Boston College, or all four of the Ivy League schools they applied to. As you'd probably expect, it's getting ridiculous. Just check out how elaborate this video is for getting into UT Austin: Good for her and all, but I mean, it's UT Austin? Anyway, I'm more interested in the people who won't be choosing between Yale and Dartmouth this fall. The trend for the rest of us, the also-rans and the almost-made-its, this year is rejection cakes. Videos like this one: and this one: are providing a much-needed counter-narrative to all the terrible success some people experience. I think there's something more valuable in performative displays of resilience than displays of pride, because we can't all get into Stanford, but we can all eat cake. Anyway, If you'd like to look at young people who have had their hopes dashed early instead of having them dashed when they graduate from their dream college there's a bunch of videos here. Viral video of the week: A Video About Digging A Hole A lot of youth culture these days lives up to the "brain-rot" name, but there's always a yin to the yang, like this week's viral video, "A Video About Digging a Hole." This video will not rot anyone's brain. In it, YouTuber Jacob Geller goes deep into the subject of holes. People, particularly younger people, have always been fascinated with holes, and Geller's video examines the cultural and symbolic power of the simple hole in the ground, finding connections between Louis Sachar's classic young adult novel Holes, Minecraft's constant digging and tunneling, 2025's unexpected blockbuster video game A Game About Digging a Hole, and way more hole-based media. This video is worth the watch just for the section on The Kola Superdeep Borehole—the deepest hole humans have ever dug. View the full article

FTSE 100 company tells hundreds of workers to stay at home and admits it has no idea when operations will recoverView the full article

If you’re looking to manage a project and facilitate better collaboration with your teams, chances are you’ve heard of and are thinking of trying Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner. To help with that decision, we’ve set up a comparison with Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner. May the best app win. The stats when comparing Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner tell us that the former is a robust project management tool and the latter is more of a stripped-down version. MS Project integrates with MS products such as Office and has financial management tools and Gantt charts. However, it doesn’t have a mobile app and is expensive and complicated to use. Microsoft Planner also integrates with MS products and has kanban boards and other project views. It’s bundled in the business edition of Microsoft 365 and is good for single projects. However, it’s weak on integrations with competitor apps and is feature-light compared to Microsoft Projects. In the battle of Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner, the winner is an outsider: ProjectManager. This cloud-based tool can deliver the pros of both apps without the cons. It’s a great collaborative platform, with multiple project views, resource management and more, all delivered with real-time data. ProjectManager’s Gantt chart does more than either, linking all four task dependencies, filtering for the critical path and setting baselines to track project variance. They also have a mobile app, which Microsoft Project doesn’t, and you can seamlessly import and export Microsoft Project files. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. /wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Construction-Gantt-Costs-Resources-CTA-BUTTON-2.jpgLearn more Microsoft Planner vs. Project: Why Should You Choose MS Project? We’re getting ahead of ourselves. There are reasons to prefer ProjectManager in a Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner battle, but let’s provide some context first. To start, we’ll take a closer look at Microsoft Project, which is the big project management software in the room and deserves a fair shake. /wp-content/uploads/2023/05/microsoft.png What Is Microsoft Project? Microsoft Project is a project management software that has a suite of tools that are used by project managers to work more efficiently when managing projects and portfolios. It’s used in industries such as construction, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, government, retail, financial services and health care. Microsoft Project Pricing Planner Plan 1: $10.00 user/month, billed annually Planner and Project Plan 3: $30.00 user/month, billed annually Planner and Project Plan 5: $55.00 user/month, billed annually Project Standard 2024: $679.99, one-time license purchase Project Professional 2024: $1129.99, one-time license purchase Microsoft Project Reviews G2 review: 4 / 5 Capterra review: 4.4 / 5 Highlighted Positive User Reviews “The most helpful aspect of Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) is its comprehensive project management capabilities, enabling organizations to efficiently plan, track, and manage projects from start to finish.” Tushar K – From Capterra “I really like the tie-in with every other Microsoft product we use in the office. It’s been very easy to collaborate with the other people on my team and keep everyone on track.” Jeb B – From Capterra “Most project managers across industries understand reports/project plans generated from MS Project, whether or not they have used the software before.” Alex N – From G2 Highlighted Negative User Reviews “The UI may look a bit complex to new users and the learning curve is steep as well. Also it is pricey if you are a small business.” Aviral G – from Capterra “There is a learning curve—especially for new users. It’s not as intuitive as some newer project management tools, and setting up complex projects can take some time.” Alicia B – From Capterra “The software is sophisticated and tough to master, with a steep learning curve, in my opinion. Others have pointed out restrictions in customizing possibilities and integration with other products.” Aamir A – from G2 What Is Microsoft Project Used For? Microsoft Project is used to help set realistic goals for project teams. It does this by creating project schedules, distributing resources and managing budgets. Microsoft Project users can create projects, track tasks, generate reports to monitor progress and manage resources and costs. /wp-content/uploads/2023/06/microsoft-project-gantt-chart.webp Who Uses MS Project? As we’ve noted above, Microsoft Project is used across several industries. Anyone who’s tasked with delivering a project will find this software useful. Some companies that have used or are using Microsoft Project include Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin and Harris Corporation, all in the aerospace and defense sector. Deutsche Bahn, which is in the rail, bus, commuter and taxi sectors and many others. Notably, MS Project isn’t the choice of Mac users as it doesn’t work on Apple computers. Microsoft Project Key Features Microsoft Project has many use cases and it tends to be used by businesses that are managing one or many larger, more complex projects. Here are some key features that help with enterprise project management: Project and portfolio management tools such as Gantt charts Task and resource management tools such as roadmaps and resource allocation Collaboration and reporting tools that integrate with other MS products Related: Microsoft Project Online: Pros, Cons and Best Alternatives Microsoft Planner vs. Project: How Is Microsoft Project Better Than Planner? Now that we have the stats down, it’s time for Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner to get in the ring and see who comes out on top. When the bell rings, it looks as if Microsoft Project has a big advantage over Microsoft Planner. It’s more comprehensive and built to manage more complex projects with more complex tools that use time-phased scheduling for medium to large-sized teams. Microsoft Project creates more detailed project outlines and comprehensive project planning, with task structuring and timeline. It also consolidates project scheduling, resource allocation and budget management. Microsoft Planner vs. Project: How Is Microsoft Project Worse Than Planner? Microsoft Project is on the ropes when it comes to ease of use. Planner is far easier to use and is a superior tool for team planning when working with less complicated projects. It has fewer features, but that makes it more user-friendly, especially if you’re working on a project that doesn’t need those advanced features. Therefore, Microsoft Planner is going to be the choice for small teams and agile projects that prefer a lightweight and user-friendly tool that’s more focused on task management exclusively. Related: Best Microsoft Project Alternatives Microsoft Planner vs. Project: Why Should You Choose MS Planner? In the bout of Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Project has come out strong and looks dominant. It’s more powerful, has more features and is the preferred project management software for very established companies that run big projects. But Microsoft Planner isn’t down for the count. There are many reasons why Microsoft Planner is the champion in this bout. But don’t take our word for it. Let’s look at what makes Microsoft Planner so good. /wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Microsoft-Planner-logo.webp What Is Microsoft Planner? Microsoft Planner is a lightweight, mobile and cloud-based tool that’s included with some subscriptions to Office 365. Unlike Microsoft Project, Microsoft Planner can be used as a personal task management app. In fact, its main focus is task management, which is an integral part of project management and is an ideal tool for simple projects being managed by smaller teams. It’s a collaboration tool that can create plans and assign tasks. Microsoft Planner Pricing Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6.00 user/month, billed annually Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 user/month, billed annually Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22.00 user/month, billed annually Microsoft 365 Apps for business: $8.25 user/month, billed annually Microsoft Planner Reviews G2 review: 4.2 / 5 Capterra review: 4.3 / 5 Highlighted Positive User Reviews “Overall I really enjoy it. It is not as robust as Project of course, but for day to day projects and task assignment it is perfect.” Karen L – From Capterra “Overall this is an easy to use project planning tool with good integration with other Microsoft products including Microsoft To Do and email.” Kate M – From Capterra “Microsoft Planner makes task organization a breeze and effortless. The ability to create tasks, assign them to members, set deadlines and prioritize them all in one platform is a boon.” Naif H – From G2 Highlighted Negative User Reviews “Microsoft Planner serves as a rudimentary tool for project management, best suited for simple tasks. It falls short in providing the necessary tools for managing larger or more complex projects.” Michael D – From Capterra “Really more of a planning or task management tool than a full project management tool, as it does not include time or risk management nor does it have a dashboard to view multiple projects at the same time.” Samuel S – From Capterra “It doesn’t allow you to tag people in a comment, multiple coworkers have missed the updates on different tasks.” Deisy S – from G2 What Is Microsoft Planner Used For? Microsoft Planner is an app that helps teams create plans, assign tasks, chat about those tasks and track progress on their work. It’s used to give project team members better tools to manage their tasks, facilitate teamwork and give managers visibility into that work. It’s used by teams to collaborate on a visual interface that helps them organize their work and enables each team member to manage their tasks while fostering collaboration with the whole team. It’s used for lightweight projects. While it sounds like a project management tool, it’s more of a task management app that helps with projects through work management and team collaboration. Along these lines, it shows the tasks that are behind schedule, prioritizes tasks and shows how many tasks each team member has to complete and if they’re over-allocated. Therefore, it’s used for simple task management and can help with project management through time management. /wp-content/uploads/2022/05/microsoft-planner-screenshot.png Who Uses Microsoft Planner? Microsoft Planner is part of the suite of Microsoft tools for project managers and their teams. Therefore, one group of users are certainly project management professionals who want to add to their project management software by incorporating an app that helps them with task management and collaboration. It’s meant to be used by a group, however, because of the lightweight quality of the app, it’s also popular with the general public who wants help with managing their personal work. For example, it could be used by a family that wants to coordinate tasks among its members or if someone is planning a small event. Microsoft Planner Key Features There are many features that Microsoft Planner has to help project managers and their teams with task management and collaboration. Here are the main features: Visual status chart Kanban-style boards To-do lists Preview pictures to quickly identify tasks Calendar that can be used to schedule events Meeting notes that are great for collaboration Microsoft 365 integration as well as the full Office suite of products as well as Microsoft SharePoint for documents Related: How to Make a Gantt Chart with Microsoft Planner Data Microsoft Planner vs. Project: How Is Microsoft Planner Better Than Project? Microsoft Planner is better than Microsoft Project if you’re looking for a simpler, easier-to-use tool. It has kanban boards that can be quickly created, which has content-rich task cards and is more appropriate for ad-hoc teams. It excels at team collaboration and is simple to use, unlike Microsoft Project. Planner is preferred by smaller teams working on less complicated projects. Microsoft Planner vs. Project: How Is Microsoft Planner Worse Than Project? Microsoft Project is the preferred tool for larger teams who are working on longer, more complicated projects. Planner doesn’t offer a grid or timeline view. You can’t link dependent tasks, which can cause delays, and there’s no roadmap for managing multiple projects, such as programs and portfolios. Microsoft Planner also lacks advanced project management features, such as baselines, critical path, resource and risk management. Fortunately, there are a number of Planner alternatives, besides just Microsoft Project, to choose from for managing your work. Microsoft Planner vs. Project: Pricing Comparison Finally, let’s look at the bottom line: cost. More often than not, the price of subscribing to the app is going to be the determining factor in one’s decision-making. There are several plans offered by Microsoft 365, which features MS Planner. They are listed below. Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6 user/month with an annual commitment Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 user/month with an annual commitment Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22 user/month with an annual commitment Microsoft 365 Apps for Business: $8.25 user/month with an annual commitment What does it cost to use Microsoft Project? Below are the three tiers of subscription. Project Plan 1: $10 user/month Project Plan 3: $30 user/month Business Plan: $55 user/month ProjectManager Is Better Than Microsoft Project and Planner If you’re thinking that it’d be great to have one software product that combined the advanced project management features of Microsoft Project with the more agile task management and collaborative tools of Microsoft Planner, good news: there is. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that’s flexible enough for teams of any size who are working on projects big or small. Our software has features for portfolio management, risk management and is also a collaboration tool that makes it easy for teams working anywhere to work better together. You’ll find all the project management tools available on both Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner, but they’re more accessible, less expensive and easier to use. Plus, we have a mobile app for Android and iOS so you can take the tool anywhere. Work With Better Resource Management Features Microsoft Planner has no resource management features and Microsoft Project has some, but it isn’t available for Mac users and is complicated and expensive for everyone else. Our resource management tools allow you to set the availability of your team, including vacation, PTO and global holidays, which makes it easier to assign tasks. Our color-coded workload chart allows you to see who is overallocated and then lets you reallocate resources right from that chart to quickly balance the workload so everyone is working at capacity. You can manage human and nonhuman resources on our Gantt chart, which by the way links all four task dependencies, filters for the critical path and can set a baseline to track project variance in real time. We also have secure timesheets to streamline payroll and manage labor costs. /wp-content/uploads/2023/10/tab-workload-1.jpg Track Progress With Real-Time Project Tracking and Reporting Once you’ve set a baseline for your project plan on the Gantt chart, you can monitor your progress and performance across our tool. You can get a high-level overview of the project with our real-time dashboard or portfolio dashboard, both of which automatically collect live project data and display it on easy-to-read graphs and charts. There you can see everything from time to tasks, costs to workload and more. Unlike Microsoft Planner and Project, there’s no complicated and lengthy setup required. It’s ready when you are. If you want more detail, use our customizable reporting features. You can quickly generate status and portfolio reports as well as reports on variance, timesheets, workload and more. Each report can be filtered to show only the data you want to see and then shared across multiple formats to keep stakeholders informed. /wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tab-dashboards.png In addition to these robust project management features, ProjecManager allows users to easily import Microsoft Project Plan files (MPP files), Excel files and CSV files so they can seamlessly switch from Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project. Related Microsoft Content If you’re still not convinced that ProjectManager puts both Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project to shame, then look over these related pieces that we’ve published on everything from Microsoft Project alternatives to Microsoft Project for Mac. These are just a few of the weekly blogs, tutorial videos and free templates you’ll find on our website, an online hub for everything related to project management and the industries that use it. Microsoft Lists vs. Planner: In-Depth Software Comparison ProjectManager vs Microsoft Project: Full Breakdown Best Microsoft Project Alternatives Best Microsoft Planner Alternatives Microsoft Project Viewer – How to View & Edit MPP Files Online MPP File Extension: What Is It & How to Open It Microsoft Project for Mac: How to Run MS Project Files on Your Mac How to Use Microsoft Project ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, out in the field or anywhere in between. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. The post Microsoft Planner vs. Project: In-Depth Software Comparison appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

The "Sell America" trade that gripped markets this month has left a potentially lasting dent in investors' willingness to hold the US government's longest-maturity debt, a mainstay of its deficit-financing toolkit. View the full article

Many articles detail the top-level costs of SEO. While the fee you will pay an SEO consultant or agency is part of the cost to do SEO, getting results also requires a contribution in time and effort from the business. This article will look beyond the surface at the full spectrum of costs associated with doing SEO well, enabling you to approach 2025 well-prepared for SEO success. SEO costs: The basics If you are just looking for a straightforward overview of SEO costs, several studies have answered the question. Exact costs vary depending on factors such as business size, goals, industry, geographical location, and the overall complexity of the project, but as an average in 2025, we have: Hourly rates between $75 and $100. Project-based fees from $2,501 to $5,000. Monthly retainers ranging from $500 to $1,500. Local SEO ranges from $250 upwards, depending on competition and total locations. While some of these figures may seem high, most businesses are small, and their SEO costs are much lower. In the U.S., small businesses typically spend $500 or less per month on SEO, while in the UK, the average monthly spend is around £500. The problem with generic SEO costs Unfortunately, there is a problem with this pricing model as it relates to SEO. Improving your SEO is a more involved and complicated process than buying traffic. Generic, top-level figures assume that SEO is an entirely hands-off process. You pay a consultant or agency $$$ per month, and they wave their magic SEO wand and shout “Optimizara” and – Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! – you appear magically at the top of the search rankings. Unsurprisingly, that is not how things work in the real world, and effective SEO requires a synergy between the business and the SEO consultant. In 2025, SEO is hyper-competitive. Competition comes from search ads, AI Overviews, brands, and more aggressive and advanced competitors. SEO for 2025 should focus on improving visibility across these SERP features. Succeeding in this landscape requires sage SEO guidance, a strong SEO strategy, a clear SEO plan, and lots of hard work! You have to aim at what Google is aiming at. Fortunately, Google’s philosophy for SEO is articulated by E-E-A-T. The content Google wants to surface is based on experience and expertise from trusted authority figures in your industry. Your SEO is unlikely to be that authority in your business, so rather than someone who does it all for you, your SEO should be a guide who analyzes the current SEO situation and provides you with a map to better results. Your SEO should be a kind of SEO Obi-Wan Kenobi – a wise sage who will tutor you in the ways of the SEO force and guide you forward. Instead of viewing SEO as a one-time service you pay for and complete, it’s better to think of it within the framework of the 3Ms model: manpower, money, and minutes. Manpower is the time you provide. Money is how you pay for guidance and advice. Minutes is how long it will take to get results (a key SEO consideration). This will allow you to develop a more holistic and comprehensive idea of how much SEO will cost to develop results. Is SEO the right choice for now? On that note, you must consider whether SEO is the right fit for your immediate needs. SEO is powerful, but it often takes time, so if you need new business today, you may need to have an SEO or PPC conversation first. The key here is to consider your goals, often using a system like SEO SMART goals. Then, determine if SEO’s realities align with your overall marketing requirements. If you decide to integrate SEO into your broader marketing approach, be mindful of tracking your progress with KPIs. Dig deeper: When your business doesn’t need SEO The SEO outsourcing trap One final word of warning. SEO is not the same as PPC. Google wants to show the best sites at the top of the search engine. You can’t just pay to play with SEO. This thinking can cause you to fall into an SEO outsourcing trap. This is where you constantly seek the agency that knows the secret to SEO and will be able to succeed where many others have failed before them. Remember, no agency has a special relationship with Google, and there is no secret trick to get to the top of Google (for long, at least). Strategize. Plan. Do the work. The real costs of SEO Let’s dig a little deeper and look at how to understand the true costs of doing SEO well. SEO is not as simple as Google Ads. It is not a direct pay-to-win model or as straightforward as paying an agency and getting guaranteed results. Investing in organic search requires: Analysis. Insight. Strategy. Expert guidance. Tactical support. Technical updates. Creative effort. It works best when the SEO and the business work closely together, where the SEO often plays the role of researcher, strategist, and project manager to pull everything together. If I haven’t scared you off yet – and if you really want to improve your SEO, which you really should – then you must go into this with your eyes open and expect it to be difficult. You will need to sacrifice time and money on the altar of SEO success, but if your sacrifice is worthy, there will be a pile of gold at the end. Remember, the smartest SEO happens at the intersection of your business knowledge and the agency’s SEO expertise. Working together, you can achieve results far beyond what either could accomplish alone. At its heart, this is multi-format content marketing and SEO integrated and working together. Caveats aside, let’s break this down into a more comprehensive set of SEO costs: 1. SEO outsourcing costs Your first SEO cost is for professional advice from a credible, experienced expert. As detailed above, this will cost you anywhere from $100 per hour upwards, depending on competition, complexity, and scope. Be mindful that there are many types of SEO companies, all of which offer a range of services from analysis and strategy to technical SEO and content creation. As such, educate yourself on your situation and likely requirements. Be prepared to do an initial piece of work to: Understand your marketplace. Assess your current SEO situation. Develop a plan with clear timelines. Before you dive in, it’s crucial to become an educated buyer and understand the difference between SEO goals, strategy, and planning. With a solid plan in place, you can then determine who will handle what responsibilities on both the client and agency sides. The plan is crucial – don’t skip this step. Although it may seem like extra work, planning saves time and money while improving results. Choose wisely and plan effectively. This step determines whether you succeed or face slow, gradual, painful failure. 2. SEO internal resources costs As a business, there are many ways you can inform and assist the agency in developing your SEO, including: The marketing big picture: The agency needs to understand the overall marketing strategy and approach and where SEO fits into that bigger picture. Defining goals and objectives: Goals and objectives must be clear for the overall marketing and SEO within that larger framework. Content creation and approval: The agency may help, but often, this will depend upon specific industry knowledge that the business may need to provide. In many cases, the content may need to come from authentic individuals within the company to hit those E-E-A-T targets. Website support: Not all agencies provide website support, and many websites are complicated and require developer support to optimize the website design and SEO fully. Your website remains crucial and must be carefully planned to maximize SEO success. Reporting and feedback: SEO is often judged on several KPIs, but it can be helpful to close the loop here and reconcile conversions to actual leads and sales. This will help the agency understand the real-world impact rather than just the metrics and improve results. Training: Where the business will perform some of the more day-to-day SEO tasks, time may be assigned for training sessions. Day-to-day SEO tasks: Where the business is undertaking website updates or content creation, there are some SEO tasks here (all of which should be covered in the SEO training). Regular communication and meetings: SEO is an iterative process, and healthy engagement on the client side only helps ensure that opportunities are grasped and the SEO stays oriented toward the goal. Regular catch-ups, reviews, and communication help ensure hurdles are overcome and progress is consistent. This all takes time, but will improve results and keep you on track. The specifics here will always vary depending on the business and that all-important SEO plan. The key takeaway is that the best results will come when the business and agency work together toward agreed goals. Dig deeper: Where should you spend your SEO budget? 3. The cost of not doing SEO Not doing SEO also carries costs and impacts on the business. Reduced visibility: If your customers search, not being organically visible will lead to less visibility and fewer visitors. Reduced local or brand awareness: If customers can’t find you, this impacts direct business, referrals and recommendations. Credibility: There is a trust associated with organic rankings, and if you rely solely on ads or other means, then this will impact credibility and conversions. Impact on other channels: Should a prospect find you from other marketing, they may still search for you unless you consider how your business is presented in search results. Then, you could lose business for all the wrong reasons. Losing out to competitors: Each job you don’t win is what your competitors do. By not having a solid organic presence, you are slowly losing ground that will be harder to reclaim. Higher advertising costs: Organic, when well-established, tend to have higher engagement and lower costs for generating leads and sales than other channels. This pushes you to rely on more expensive channels and again seeds a competitive advantage to your competitors who are winning more work at lower costs. Ultimately, if your customers use search engines and you don’t do SEO, you are almost certainly losing out and handing opportunities to your competitors. 4. The cost of doing SEO badly There is the old saying that if you think it is expensive to use an expert, wait until you see how expensive it is to do the job cheaply with an amateur. That is SEO in a nutshell. There are SEO experts on Fiverr. There is always someone who will do the job for less. Many low-rent SEO tools and companies will make wondrous promises but deliver very little. The SEO AI tools are the latest addition of big promises and offer to pump out content daily to boost your SEO, but they will do little to help and could cost you dearly. Doing SEO badly will, at best, cost you time and money. Worse still, in the helpful content world, doing SEO badly could hurt your site’s ability to rank in the future. The key is to use a credible, experienced expert and to put a plan together. Don’t scrimp on SEO today; it is too expensive in the long run! 5. Costs for SEO software and tools Another SEO cost is the many tools available that aim to help you rank. These tools range from around $50 to $100 monthly for a single site. These tools certainly have their uses from a monitoring perspective, and they can also provide suggestions regarding tasks that may improve your SEO. The main problem with these tools is that they have to make recommendations, many of which will do nothing to improve your SEO whilst eating up a lot of your time. John Mueller addressed the output of SEO tools in a recent Reddit SEO thread. “Any SEO tool will spit out 10s or 100s of ‘recommendations,’ most of those are going to be irrelevant to your site’s visibility in search. Finding the items that make sense to work on takes to experience.” That is our experience, and whilst SEO tools can be helpful, they require an experienced eye to separate the wheat from the chaff. My take on whether you should use SEO tools is that it depends on your experience. If you are a novice SEO trying to use the tool to steer your efforts, you will likely eat up many hours, days and weeks following the advice of a tool that will do nothing to help your SEO. The real cost of SEO tools for most novice users is simply the lost time (which is the most precious resource of all). 6. Time to results An important note with SEO vs. other paid tactics is that it can take a while to benefit from improved visibility and traffic. Over time, you can often reduce SEO spend while seeing results stabilize and keep improving, but be prepared for the long game and don’t give up before you capture the hill! In the early stages, SEO often involves marketing spend aimed at progress toward a goal, but with little immediate tangible business result, so keep this in mind. Dig deeper: What percentage of your budget should go toward SEO? Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. SEO planning and accurate SEO costs The key to getting accurate SEO costs is to work on an SEO plan. The specifics here will vary, but at a high level, you will need to determine your: Situation: Where are you now? Objectives: Where do you want to get to? Strategy: What is the overarching strategy? Why should Google rank you? Tactics: What are the specifics of your approach? Action plan: Who will do what and when? Measurements: How will you measure progress and results? Once you understand all of the financial costs and internal resources and how long it will take to start seeing actual traffic, you can decide how to proceed. There is a wonderful little book called “The Art of War” by the military strategist Sun Tzu, written around 500 BCE. Much can be mined from this book for business and marketing strategy, and the following statement seems particularly apt for SEO: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” A lot of SEO is tactics without strategy, citations, links, blog posts, etc. This never goes anywhere. Strategy is only useful if it is acted on through tactics. You need a well-researched and documented plan to understand the costs and timescales. Remember, professionals have plans; with modern SEO, this is the difference between success and failure. How much should you spend on SEO? This is a trickier question and depends on your business and situation. Small businesses should generally spend between 7% and 12% of their gross revenue on marketing. How much of that should be spent on SEO depends on: Your current rankings. How vital SEO is as a channel for customer acquisition. And myriad other factors. If you believe that 50% of customers will search and find you, investing 50% of your marketing budget on organic search and SEO may make sense. Or you could spend 25% on paid search and 25% on organic (depending on your short vs. long-term goals). It is impossible to answer this question without considering your current situation, so I recommend enlisting the help of an expert to help you develop a plan and move forward. The real cost of SEO My aim here is to give you a broader overview of everything required to do SEO well in 2025 and beyond. If you approach this thinking that you can get everything you need by spending just $500 a month, you will never compete with businesses that also invest their time and effort into building a long-term plan and vision for SEO. Even for smaller businesses and local firms, where the agency can handle most of the work, you will achieve far better results by collaborating closely on content. The win happens at the intersection of the business’s customer knowledge and the SEO’s knowledge of search. If you’ve read this far, take solace in the fact that most won’t – and likewise, most won’t put in the requisite effort to get real results. Most companies will either do the job badly or not at all. By being one of the few willing to put in the work to do it properly, you are already well ahead of the pack. Find an expert to guide you, work diligently to build a plan, and aim squarely at being the best — and letting the world know about it. This approach will embed SEO into your business in a way competitors can neither easily copy nor compete with. Good luck! Dig deeper: How to create and manage an SEO budget View the full article

AI video generators are rapidly improving and becoming more widely available, with Google's Veo 2 now built into the Gemini app for anyone paying for a Google One AI Premium plan. Like OpenAI's Sora, Runway, Adobe's Firefly, and others, Veo 2 enables you to create a professional-looking video from nothing more than a text prompt. With Veo 2 now available to paying users, it seems like a good opportunity to test these different AI video generators against each other, and compare their strengths and weaknesses—and to assess where we're at with AI video in general. We keep being told that these tools will transform movie-making, or at least fill the internet with AI slop, but are they actually practically useful? Microsoft seems to think so, having used it in a recent ad. However, only parts of the clip were AI-made—shots with quick cuts and limited motion, where hallucinations are less likely to happen or be noticed. For the purposes of this guide I'm going to take a look at Google Veo 2 and put it up against Sora, Runway, and Firefly. Other video generators are available, but these are four of the most prominent: They all cost money to access (starting from $20 a month), so you'll need to sign up for a month at least to play around with them. Bouncing balls If you're as old as I am, you'll remember an incredible ad Sony made to promote its new 1080p Bravia televisions in 2005 (above). More than 100,000 bouncy balls were dropped on the steep streets of San Francisco while the cameras rolled, and it was a compelling watch (the behind-the-scenes story is pretty fun, too). This is a real challenge for AI, involving a lot of physics and movement. The prompt I used was: "Thousands of individual, brightly colored balls bouncing down a steep, sunny street in San Francisco, in slow-motion. The camera moves carefully down the street as the balls bounce downwards, passing trees and parked cars." The Google Veo 2 attempt isn't bad. There's some weird physics going on here, but it looks reasonably natural, and could work as a short clip if you're not looking too closely. The background elements are well-rendered, and the instructions in my original prompt were followed pretty closely. Sora seems confused about the scene it's supposed to be rendering. There are colored balls for sure, but they move as a confusing mush, and defy gravity. The pace of the video is OK, even if it's going in the opposite direction to the one I requested, and the background parts of the video look fine on the whole. Runway gets the vibes pretty close, if you compare it to the original Sony clip, but again, there are several problems: The balls aren't at all consistent, the movement isn't what I asked for, and it looks as though there's an alien watching from a window in the top right corner. The street does look pretty cool though. Firefly is probably the worst of the bunch, here. Most of the balls are stationary, and those that are moving aren't very well-rendered. The street looks OK but it's nothing special—there's definitely a retro video game feel to it. As with the Sora clip, the camera is taking me up the street when I really wanted to go down. "Jurassic Park" scene If AI is going to replace the actual people who make movies, then it needs to be able to create scenes as powerful as the "welcome to Jurassic Park" one in Spielberg's 1993 movie: the moment where Richard Attenborough as John Hammond reveals the dinosaurs to his visitors for the first time (above). I was curious to see what AI would make of the scene. The prompt was: "At the top of a hill, two paleontologists slowly stagger along through the grass. As they do so the camera pulls back for a wider shot, revealing a wide clearing and a lake below. There are dinosaurs slowly walking through the lake and the trees." The clip from Google Veo 2 looks pretty good. The camera isn't really moving in the way I described, and the paleontologists aren't really staggering (and they're not on a hill either), but the scenery looks good and the dinosaurs look OK. It's rather generic overall, but it's a decent effort. Sora goes a little bit crazy with this prompt. The camera movements are jerky and don't follow the instructions I made, and the dinosaurs look like weird shape-shifting creatures. The best I can say about this effort is that all the elements I described are included, and the surrounding scenery is reasonably well done. As for Runway, it's probably the closest to what I wanted when it comes to the camera movements and the overall feel of the scene. The lake and the dinosaurs look realistic enough, but it's by no means a perfect rendering—where does the red-shirted paleontologist disappear to? It's another poor effort from Firefly. I'm not sure it knows what paleontologists are, and the dinosaurs are very small. The lake and the surrounding forest are done to an OK standard, though, even if there's a noticeable AI sheen to everything in the frame. The camera movements have been translated well here. "The Living Daylights" scene One more: the memorable Bond and Kara border-crossing scene in The Living Daylights, where they scoot down a snowy mountain on a cello case (above). I don't need to hire Timothy Dalton or Maryam d'Abo, learn how to operate a camera, or travel to Austria, because AI can make the whole scene for me. The prompt for this one was: "A man and a woman in winter clothing are sliding down a snow-covered road on a cello case. There is a barrier on the road, and as they reach it, both characters duck under it." Google Veo 2 manages this pretty well, everything considered—the scene looks mostly realistic and fun, and that does look a bit like a cello case. We do have to ignore the two people going through the road barrier as if it isn't there, but at least there is a barrier there (something the other AI models couldn't grasp). Over to Sora, and again, it's not terrible. OK, that's not really a cello case, and surely the two people would be facing forward, but the snowy road and the surrounding trees look good—it's an immersive scene. Where's my road barrier, Sora? I want to see these people ducking under it. As for Runway, whatever videos it was trained on, they sure weren't videos of people riding cello cases down mountains. The people are blending into each other, elements in the shot are shifting shape, and it just looks weird. The snowy scenery and the actual live snow effect do look good, though. Who knows what Adobe Firefly is thinking here. The physics in this one make absolutely no sense, the characters aren't consistent, and there's no road barrier to duck under. It's actually unsettling to watch. We do get a snowy road, a cello case, and two people in the clip, however. There's no clear winnerI think the Veo 2 videos impressed me most overall, though Runway seems good for realism more often than not. Across the board we have a lot of problems with physics, realism, and prompt interpretation. These are all clearly AI videos, with numerous weird quirks and inconsistencies. Now, I wasn't expecting these AI generators to get anywhere near the quality of professional ads or movies: It's just not possible to recreate those scenes with only a text prompt and a few minutes of time and effort. I'm not trying to take a cheap shot at these tools, which are obviously very clever, but rather point out some of the fundamental issues with AI video. These balls aren't bouncing. Credit: Adobe Firefly/Lifehacker With more careful work and expertise, I could probably get something that looked a lot better, and clearly these video generators are going to improve over time. Who knows what they'll be able to produce in five or 10 years? If you check out the showcased videos on these platforms, you can see that great results are possible. Personally, though, I'm not convinced these AI tools will ever fully replace traditional film work, no matter how well they're trained. To get something like the Sony ad in AI, you'd have to write reams and reams of incredibly detailed prompts, and even then you might not get what you wanted. Would AI think up the frog jumping out of the drain? Results are quick and easy, sure, but you're offloading most of the creative decisions to AI. These videos feel computer-generated. One of these people is about to disappear. Credit: Runway/Lifehacker AI doesn't really know how a ball bounces, or what a dinosaur looks like, or which way people should face as they slide down a snowy road on a cello case. It approximates and calculates based on all the videos it's previously seen, and those shortcomings show up a lot more in video than they do with images or text. You'll notice most AI videos, including the examples above, don't include elements that come in and out of shot, because the AI is likely to forget what they look like if they're not visible. And I haven't even had space here to cover the copyright issues or the energy cost to the planet. No doubt we'll see an increasing number of AI-made ads and shorts as time goes on and the technology improves, but it's worth going back to the famous warning in Jurassic Park: Being so preoccupied with whether we can do it, we don't stop to think about whether we should. Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems. View the full article