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Apple is preparing to introduce sponsored listings in Apple Maps, marking a significant expansion of its advertising business beyond the App Store. How it will work. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the system will function similarly to Google Maps — allowing retailers and brands to bid for ad slots against search queries. Sponsored businesses will appear in Maps search results, much like sponsored apps already appear in App Store searches. The timeline. An announcement could come as early as this month, with ads beginning to appear inside Maps as early as this summer across iPhone, other Apple devices, and the web version. Why Apple is doing this. Advertising is a growing and high-margin revenue stream for Apple’s services business. Maps — with its massive built-in user base across Apple devices — is a natural next step, particularly as location-based advertising continues to grow. Why we care. Apple Maps has a massive built-in user base across iPhone and Apple devices, and users searching within Maps are expressing clear, high-intent signals — they’re actively looking for somewhere to go or something to buy. This opens up a brand new location-based advertising channel that previously didn’t exist on Apple’s platform, giving local businesses and retailers a way to reach those users at exactly the right moment. Advertisers already running Google Maps or local search campaigns should pay close attention, as this could quickly become a significant complementary channel. The bottom line. Apple Maps ads should open up a high-intent, location-based channel that hasn’t existed before on Apple’s platform. Advertisers running local or retail campaigns should start planning now — early entrants in a new ad auction typically benefit from lower competition and cheaper costs before the market matures. View the full article

Less than two years ago, Sam Altman described advertising as a “last resort” for OpenAI’s ChatGPT, during a Harvard Business School interview. He said he would pursue it if it were the only way to provide global access to high-quality AI services. At the time, the comment stood out—not because ads seemed unlikely, but because it underscored what was at stake. ChatGPT doesn’t win attention the way social platforms do. It wins trust. That’s why ChatGPT’s recent ad launch matters far beyond just the creation of a new advertising surface. It’s a real-time test of whether a product built almost entirely on trust can monetize without fundamentally changing user behavior. OpenAI rival Anthropic signaled skepticism in a Super Bowl ad that humorously questioned whether introducing ads risks eroding user trust. From a business perspective, OpenAI’s move is understandable, not because leadership abandoned its principles, but because scale forces a choice. ChatGPT now serves hundreds of millions of weekly users, processes billions of prompts per day, and is investing heavily in infrastructure to support that scale. Monetization was inevitable. But inevitability doesn’t reduce risk—it concentrates it. THE TRUST THRESHOLD ChatGPT is not a passive discovery environment. Consumers use it to make decisions: what to buy, how to plan a trip, how to manage finances, even how to think through health and relationship questions. That level of reliance creates an unusually high trust bar. If users didn’t trust the interface, they wouldn’t engage with it so deeply or so personally. That’s what makes advertising in AI fundamentally different from advertising in social feeds or search results. WHY ADVERTISING ON AI PLATFORMS IS SO DIFFERENT The risk isn’t that ads exist. It’s that they subtly change how people interpret answers. Once users begin questioning whether a response is genuinely helpful or commercially motivated, the experience shifts. And in trust-based products, behavioral shifts like that are difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. OpenAI has acknowledged this tension directly. The company has said that ads will be clearly labeled, visually separated from model-generated responses, and not driven by the sale of user conversation data. Also emphasized, “Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you. Answers are optimized based on what’s most helpful to you.” That framing matters, because it highlights the real challenge ahead. This isn’t an ad-tech problem. It’s an experience problem. History offers plenty of cautionary examples. Platforms that initially earned consumer trust often introduced monetization that optimized for revenue before experience. The result wasn’t immediate abandonment, but gradual erosion. Users stayed, but engagement became more transactional. Loyalty weakened. Trust thinned. Meta’s own evolution offers a cautionary signal. As feeds evolved toward algorithms and monetization, the share of time spent on friends’ content declined—from 22% to 17% on Facebook and from 11% to 7% on Instagram—even as social media advertising market globally is anticipated to reach $317 billion this year. The platforms didn’t lose users. They lost intimacy. Engagement persisted, but the experience became more transactional. That’s the risk AI platforms now face. Not backlash—but a quieter transformation in how users relate to the product itself. WHAT THIS MOMENT REVEALS This is ultimately a test of platform design. Trust rarely erodes because a single brand gets it wrong. It erodes when monetization is allowed to interfere with utility. The platforms that have avoided this outcome—best-in-class commerce media operators—did so by designing monetization into moments where users are already receptive, not interruptible. Ads are not placed inside core decision-making experiences; timing, context, and boundaries are controlled by the platform itself. When monetization is architected this way, advertising doesn’t feel intrusive. It feels useful. And brands benefit not by borrowing trust from the platform, but because the platform protects the trust it has already earned. The question isn’t whether AI can integrate advertising. It’s whether it can do so without compromising the trust that made it indispensable in the first place. Elery Pfeffer is CEO of Nift. View the full article

Microsoft added query-to-page mapping to its AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools, letting you connect AI grounding queries directly to cited URLs. Why we care. The original dashboard showed queries and pages separately, limiting optimization. Now you can tie specific AI-triggering queries to the exact cited pages, so you can prioritize updates based on real AI-driven demand — not guesses. The details. The new Grounding Query–Page Mapping feature links two existing views in the AI Performance dashboard: Click a grounding query to see which pages are cited Click a page to see which grounding queries drive its citations Mapping is many-to-many: one query can map to multiple pages, and vice versa Catch up quick. Microsoft launched the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools in February as its first GEO-focused dashboard. It: Tracks where and how often your content is cited in AI answers across Bing, Copilot, and partners. Shows grounding queries, cited URLs, and visibility trends over time. Focuses on citation visibility — not clicks, rankings, or traffic. What they’re saying. Microsoft said the update responds to “strong positive customer feedback and numerous requests.” The announcement. The addition of query-to-page mapping to Bing Webmaster Tools appeared in a Microsoft Advertising blog post: The AI Performance dashboard: Your view into where your brand appears across the AI web View the full article

After smashing March heat records in 14 states and the U.S. as a whole, the gigantic heat dome that’s baked the Southwest is creeping eastward and may end up being one of the most expansive heat waves in American history, meteorologists and weather historians said. And it’s not going away for awhile, maybe not till the middle of the next week as April starts, said meteorologist Gregg Gallina of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. “Basically the entire U.S. is going to be hot,” Gallina said Monday. “The area of record temperatures is extremely large. That’s the thing that’s really bizarre.” This heat dome — in which high pressure is acting like a pot lid trapping hot air over a region — will leave Flagstaff, Arizona, with 11 or 12 straight days of temperatures higher than the city’s previous March record, said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections. Gallina said the dome’s eastward movement will mean temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit (mid-30s Celsius) by Wednesday over the southern and central Plains. From one-quarter to one-third of the 48 continental states will be flirting with records for March, Gallina said. The physical area of this heat wave likely dwarfs two other historic heat waves — one in 2012 in the Upper Midwest and Northeast and another in 2021 in the Pacific Northwest — according to weather historian Chris Burt, author of the book “Extreme Weather.” It may not be as large as the Dust Bowl heat waves of 1936, but that was a series of heat waves over two months during summer, not a single big event like now, Burt said. Both the Dust Bowl and the 2021 heat wave were more intense, with higher temperatures that hurt people more because they fell in June and July, Gallina said. Another saving grace for people in this heat wave is that it’s not as humid as it would be if the temperatures rose in the summer, Gallina said. On Friday, four places in Arizona and California hit 112 degrees (44.4 degrees Celsius), according to the Weather Service. Not only did that smash the record for the hottest March day in the continental United States by 4 degrees (2 degrees Celsius), but it was only 1 degree shy of the hottest day recorded in the Lower 48 in April. Climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks global weather records, compiled a list of 14 states that have notched their hottest March day on record since this heat dome started: California, Arizona, Nevada, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota and Idaho. “In Mexico, even May records were trashed with March records broken by as much as 14 (degrees Fahrenheit), far more than July 1936, March 1907 or June 2021,” Herrera wrote in an email. The National Center for Environmental Information registered at least 479 weather stations breaking records for March from Wednesday through Saturday, based on its network of stations. Herrera, who analyzed a broader set of data, said the true number is likely higher. Another 1,472 daily records — which are easier to break — were shattered at the same time, the center said. What’s happening is the jet stream — which moves weather systems from west to east — is pretty much stuck as far westward as the storms dousing Hawaii, where people are seeing torrential rains and flooding, Masters and Gallina said. On Friday, a group of international climate scientists called World Weather Attribution determined that the record heat was “virtually impossible” and 800 times more likely because of climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. The result of those activities added at least 4.7 degrees (2.6 degrees Celsius) to the heat, said report co-author Clair Barnes, an Imperial College of London scientist with the group. The heat dome will move on by late next week, Masters said: “We just have to give it time.” The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer View the full article

The entity home is the single page that anchors how algorithms, bots, and people understand your brand. It’s usually your About page, and it does far more than most teams realize. It’s where algorithms resolve your identity, where bots map your footprint, and where humans verify trust before they convert. In one test, improving that page alone lifted conversions by 6% for visitors who reached it. The reason is simple: the human and the algorithm are doing the same job — checking claims, validating evidence, and deciding whether to trust you. For years, this was overlooked. Most SEOs focused on rankings and traffic while underinvesting in the page that defines what their brand actually is. That’s no longer sustainable. The entity home is the foundation of how your brand is interpreted across search, AI, and what comes next. What the entity home isn’t Before going further, here are four misreadings worth pre-empting. Not a ranking trick Getting the entity home right doesn’t produce a traffic spike next Tuesday. It builds the confidence prior that compounds through every gate of the pipeline over time. Not just schema Schema markup helps the algorithm read what is already there. It isn’t a substitute for the claims, the evidence links, and the consistent positioning that schema describes. Schema without substance is a well-formatted, empty declaration. Not always the About page For most companies, it is, and for most individuals, it is a page on someone else’s website. The right URL to use carries the clearest identity statement, the strongest internal link prominence from the rest of the site, and the most stable long-term address (something people often don’t think about). Not enough without corroboration The entity home is where you declare your claims. Independent third-party sources confirm and corroborate your claims. The algorithm will only cross the confidence threshold when what you say matches what the weight of evidence supports. 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 Three audiences, one anchor — and most brands are ignoring two of them The entity home serves three simultaneously, through three completely different mechanisms. Most brands haven’t yet given them enough thought. Bots use the entity home when mapping the digital footprint. They use it to establish what entity they are dealing with and how to interpret every corroborative source they find. Algorithms anchor their identity resolution against it, checking confidence at every relevant gate against whatever baseline this page set. Humans reach for it when they want to see a resource that feels authoritative precisely because it is structured to inform rather than to sell. So, the entity home webpage is vital to all three audiences — bots, algorithms, and humans: it sets the tone for the bot in DSCRI, the algorithms in ARGDW, and for the person who converts. The entity home is just one page, and that isn’t enough The entity home anchors everything: the canonical URL where the algorithm initializes its model of the brand, where bots orient themselves, and where humans arrive to verify their instinct. One page, doing one critical job. But one page declares. It doesn’t educate. The entity home website educates. Every facet of the brand structured across pages that give the algorithm a complete picture of: Who this entity is. What it does. Who it works alongside. What it has produced. Where independent sources confirm what the brand claims about itself. The difference between the two is the difference between introducing yourself and making your case. Search built the web around a single assumption — the human acts. The engine organized, the website presented, and the human chose. That model shaped 30 years of architecture decisions because the website’s job was to win the human’s attention and trust once the engine had delivered them to you. But assistive engines broke that assumption. They took on the evaluation work the human used to do: reading, comparing, synthesizing, and recommending. The human still makes the final call, but the website needs to have made its case to the algorithm before the human ever arrives. The audience that matters first has shifted, and a website that speaks only to humans is already losing the conversation that determines whether those humans show up at all. Agents go one step further. The agent researches, decides, and acts. The human receives the outcome. The website that wins in an agentic environment isn’t the one with the most compelling hero section — it’s the one the agent can read, trust, and act on without inferring anything. All three modes co-exist, and all three always will. Search serves the window shopper. Assistive engines serve the human who wants a recommendation without doing the research. Agents serve the task that can be delegated entirely. What shifts over the next three years isn’t which mode exists — it’s which mode does the most work, and what your website needs to do to win each one. This is where I’ll plant a flag, and you can disagree. All three jobs need attention right now — the percentages below describe where the main focus of your effort sits, not permission to ignore the others. The work on assistive and agential is already overdue. The speed of change will probably make these figures look dated in a few months. 2026: Search 60%, Assistive 35%, Agential 5% Search still drives most conversions. But the 35% on assistive isn’t optional, it’s late. The brands that started two years ago are already compounding. 2027: Search 35%, Assistive 50%, Agential 15% Assistive engines will be handling enough upstream evaluation that discovery and correct interpretation become the primary battle. Search remains significant. Agential execution is arriving. 2028: Search 20%, Assistive 45%, Agential 35% Agents execute. The algorithm’s confidence in your brand determines whether you’re in the consideration set before any human is involved. Search and assistive don’t disappear — they become the infrastructure the agential layer runs on. The entity home website anchors all three eras. What changes is who it speaks to first, and what that conversation needs to contain. Each cluster in that diagram declares something: these satellite pages, grouped this way, belong to this entity and describe one specific dimension of what it is. /social names the platforms the brand controls. /peers places the entity in its professional network. /companies closes the relationship loop between person and organization. The grouping carries meaning — an algorithm that reads the structure learns something the individual pages couldn’t tell it separately. The entity home website has three jobs Search, assistive, and agential engines co-exist, which means the entity home website runs three distinct jobs simultaneously. The search job is the one 30 years of practice has refined, and it doesn’t change: get the bots through the DSCRI infrastructure gates cleanly, so the ranking engine delivers the right humans to you, and your content draws them through the funnel with clarity, credibility, and a path to conversion. The assistive job is the one most brands are ignoring, and where the competitive gap is opening fastest: educate the algorithms. Your entity home website structures your brand’s story so algorithms understand it without guessing, and your content wins the competitive phase (ARGDW) with the highest possible confidence intact. Every explicit link from your entity home website to a satellite property declares a graph edge, carrying higher confidence through the pipeline than any connection the algorithm has to infer for itself. Hardest to prepare for, and already arriving: brief the agents. Agentic engines don’t read your website the way a human reads a marketing page — they read it the way an instructed system reads a briefing document, scanning for structured, unambiguous, machine-interpretable facts. Don’t make the machine use imagination it doesn’t have. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Entity pillar pages solve the identity problem keyword cornerstones were never built for SEO has always known what to do with a topic: build an authoritative page around it, link it well, and earn rankings. That architecture works because the ranking engine evaluates content. What it can’t do is tell the algorithm who the entity behind that content is, what relationships it has built, what it has demonstrated over time, or why it should be trusted to recommend rather than merely rank. An entity has facets, and facets aren’t the same thing as topics. A person isn’t “SEO consultant” plus “technical SEO” plus “keynote speaker”: those are keyword clusters, useful for ranking, useless for identity. What the algorithm actually resolves identity against is the network of dimensions that define what this entity is — the companies it belongs to, the peers it works alongside, the publications it has appeared in, the expertise it has demonstrated over years, the events it speaks at, and the work it has produced. An entity pillar page is the authoritative page on your own property for one of those dimensions. The /expertise page establishes demonstrated knowledge in a specific domain, not as a content topic, but as an identity declaration. The /peers page places the entity in a professional network the algorithm already trusts. The /companies page closes the loop between person and organization. The /press page links to independent coverage that corroborates the entity’s claims, giving the algorithm something to cross-reference rather than take on faith. These pages aren’t traffic pages in the traditional sense, and that framing matters: SEOs who measure them against keyword rankings will consistently underinvest in them because the return doesn’t show up in rank tracking. The return shows up in what AI assistive engines say about your brand when your prospects ask. Keyword cornerstone pages and entity pillar pages serve different audiences, and your website needs both The keyword cornerstone page and the entity pillar page aren’t competing strategies: they’re parallel architectures serving different audiences, which means your website needs both, and the question is how to build them so they compound each other’s value rather than compete for the same resource. The coincidence between them is real and worth engineering deliberately. The expertise page that ranks for “technical SEO audit” can also function as the entity pillar page that declares this entity’s demonstrated knowledge in that domain if it’s built with that second function in mind: Explicit entity statements. Schema that names the relationships rather than just the topic. Links to corroborating third-party sources stable enough to persist across years. A URL structure that commits to the identity dimension rather than the keyword cluster. When those two requirements align, one page does both jobs, which is a good thing. When they diverge: when the page that captures search traffic can’t easily carry the identity declaration without sacrificing one function for the other, you face an architectural choice, and making that choice consciously rather than defaulting to the keyword model is the skill the transition requires. The percentages already told you the weighting: Both layers are required starting today Earlier in this article, the 2026/2027/2028 split put search at 60%, then 35%, then 20% of focus. What those numbers don’t say, but what the logic demands, is that the other percentage — the assistive and agential share — needs your website to feed them right now. Don’t wait until the balance shifts. Keyword cornerstone pages feed the search share. Entity Pillar Pages feed the assistive and agential share. If you build the Entity Pillar Pages in 2027 when assistive engines truly dominate, you’ll be building into a window that has already closed for the brands that started in 2025, because the algorithm’s model of your entity solidifies around whatever you gave it during the period it was actively learning. The percentages describe where the demonstrable value sits at each stage. Your investment needs to precede the moment your boss sees the results, not follow it. Both architectures are required today; the balance shifts, but the requirement for both never goes away. Building for machines and humans simultaneously is cheaper than building for each separately The risk brands hear when they encounter the machine-optimization argument is a false trade-off: build for machines at the expense of humans, strip the warmth from the copy, replace narrative with structured data fields, and turn the About page into a schema exercise. You can absolutely avoid the trade-off in practice because the best practices are more complementary than they might appear. Clear entity statements that help the algorithm resolve your identity also help the human visitor understand immediately who they’re dealing with. Explicit links to corroborating third-party sources that build algorithmic confidence also give the human prospect the independent validation they’re quietly looking for. Schema markup that declares relationships for machine consumption gives structured clarity that human scanners doing final due diligence actually appreciate. For me, this is the reframe that makes the whole project manageable: my approach to the entity home website is your current marketing, restructured to serve three audiences simultaneously, not a technical infrastructure project running alongside it. One investment that has three returns, and (when done right), the requirements pull in the same direction more often than they pull apart. The funnel is moving inside the assistant. When an assistive engine names your brand, summarizes it, and links to it in response to a user query, a conversion event has happened that you don’t see in your Analytics dashboard, and the human who arrives at your website has already been half-sold by the algorithm before they clicked. Traffic will decline as more of that evaluation work moves upstream, and the brands that measure only what arrives at the site will systematically underestimate both the value they’re generating and the gaps in their strategy. Start measuring where your brand appears in assistive engine responses, how consistently it appears, and what the algorithm says about you when it does. 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 Getting the entity home right requires definition, proof, and a sustained corroboration campaign Start with the entity home page itself: choose the single URL that functions as the canonical anchor for your brand’s identity and commit to it. Don’t discover it by asking an AI engine what it thinks your entity home is, because the engine will tell you what it has already learned, and that might be your website homepage, Wikipedia, a press profile, or a LinkedIn page you half-filled in five years ago. You choose it, then you verify the algorithm has learned the lesson you are giving it. You are the adult in the room. Five criteria determine that choice, in order of weight: The most explicit identity statement on the property. The strongest internal link prominence from the rest of the site. The best-structured schema markup with a stable @id. The clearest outbound links to corroborating third-party sources. The most stable long-term URL. If your About page doesn’t hit all five, it isn’t doing the job the algorithm requires. Invest in your About page. Strengthen it with a clear entity statement, schema with a proper @id, verified links to Wikipedia and Wikidata where they exist, every accurate sameAs declaration you can support, and the claims that define your brand’s positioning. That single page is the anchor. The entity home website is the education hub built around it: every entity pillar page you build — /expertise, /peers, /companies, /press — extends the identity declaration outward, giving the algorithm more dimensions to resolve against and more facets to cross-reference with independent sources. Each of those pages does for one identity dimension what the About page does for the whole: declares something specific, verifiable, and machine-readable about who this entity is. The practical work on the entity home website side is the same audit applied at scale: for each entity pillar page, ask whether it declares a clear facet, links to corroborating evidence, and carries schema that names the relationship rather than just the topic. The pages that answer yes to all three are doing both jobs simultaneously — identity infrastructure and keyword architecture. The ones that don’t need a decision: extend them, or build the pillar function its own dedicated page. If you’re unsure how much influence you actually have over what AI communicates about you, the answer is more than most people assume — and the channels that give you the most leverage are exactly the ones entity pillar pages are built to activate. Then force the corroboration loop across the whole footprint: drive independent third-party sources to reference, link to, and echo the claims the entity home makes and the facets the pillar pages declare across enough independent contexts that the algorithm’s confidence crosses from hedged claim to corroborated fact. That crossing doesn’t happen on a deadline and can’t be engineered in a sprint. The corroboration loop is the curriculum, slow by design, compounding with every cycle, never truly finished. It is the work, and it rewards the brands that start it today over the ones that plan to start it when the percentages shift. This is the sixth piece in my AI authority series. The first, “Rand Fishkin proved AI recommendations are inconsistent – here’s why and how to fix it,” introduced cascading confidence. The second, “AAO: Why assistive agent optimization is the next evolution of SEO,” named the discipline. The third, “The AI engine pipeline: 10 gates that decide whether you win the recommendation,” mapped the full pipeline. The fourth, “The five infrastructure gates behind crawl, render, and index,” walked through the first five gates. The fifth, “5 competitive gates hidden inside ‘rank and display’,” covered the last five gates. Up next: “The push layer returns.” View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

Financier gives evidence for first time in his appeal against FCA ban and £1.8mn fineView the full article

If you’re looking to save on shoes at Macy’s, there are some valuable coupon codes you should know about. You can start with 25% off your first order by signing up for their email list. During Black Friday, expect up to 60% off select footwear. Creating a profile can net you an additional 25% discount. Plus, there are savings of 35% when you buy three or more items, and up to 40% off on select women’s shoes. Want to learn more about these deals? Key Takeaways 25% Off First Purchase: Sign up for Macy’s email list to receive a promo code for your first online or in-store shoe order. Black Friday Star Deals: Enjoy up to 60% off select shoes during Black Friday, including popular brands like Nike and adidas. Extra 25% Off with Profile Creation: Create a profile on Macy’s website for an additional 25% off your next online shoe purchase. 35% Off When Buying 3 or More Items: Use a specific coupon code to save 35% on your total order when purchasing three or more shoes. 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Conclusion In summary, taking advantage of these Macy’s coupon codes can greatly improve your shoe shopping experience. Whether you’re a new customer looking for 25% off your first purchase, or you’re interested in saving on multiple items, there are plenty of opportunities to save. Don’t forget about the seasonal deals, like the Black Friday Star Deals offering up to 60% off. By utilizing these codes, you can refresh your footwear collection as you keep your budget in check. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "5 Best Macy’s Coupon Codes for Shoes You Can’t Miss" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

New ChatGPT citation data shows a small group of domains owns most visibility, while broad, cluster-based pages outperform single-intent content. The post The Science Of How AI Picks Its Sources appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

A little less than eight months ago, Crusoe and Redwood Materials launched a new kind of project: a modular data center powered by solar panels and repurposed EV batteries. Now they have data showing it works—and they’re scaling up. Over the months that the solar microgrid has been in use, it’s run 99.2% of the time, outperforming the companies’ targets. And unlike other data centers that rely on fossil fuels, this one uses only clean power. It’s very different from the standard way to build a data center. “The normal approach would be to get in line with a utility, wait for any number of years, and hopefully one day get an approval and join the grid,” says Cully Cavness, cofounder, president, and chief strategy officer at Crusoe. “This is a pretty innovative approach that bypasses a lot of that timeline and lets us take our outcome into our own hands by really going off-grid with renewables in a very fast timeline.” Solar power was already cheap to deploy. But Redwood Materials, the country’s largest recycler of EV batteries, recognized that reusing those batteries could help dramatically drop the cost of energy storage for solar or other power sources. “Storing [solar] overnight and making that into a base load resource that can be dispatched 24/7 historically has been very, very expensive,” Cavness says. “What Redwood has done is they’ve made a 24/7 battery solution with renewables economic and scalable.” When Redwood receives used EV batteries to recycle, most of them still have enough power for a second life. The company tests each battery, and also developed technology to monitor and manage the batteries in a microgrid. Crusoe developed modular data centers, each the size of a shipping trailer, that can be built in a factory and then shipped to a site to be quickly connected, unlike larger construction projects that take much more time. The first site sits at Redwood’s campus in Nevada, where the company built out a small solar field and a network of hundreds of used EV batteries over a few months last year. Initially Crusoe connected four of its modular units, called Spark data centers, to the microgrid. Now, at a new Colorado factory, it plans to build another 20, boosting compute power nearly sevenfold. (Because Redwood intentionally built a large amount of solar power, it likely won’t need to add more; the new units will just ensure that 100% of the solar is used.) Because so many more EV batteries exist than batteries for the electric grid, there’s an ample supply. “It’s still a very small percentage of EVs that are coming off the road, but it only takes a very small percentage to start to be a big number that’s relevant to the stationary market,” says JB Straubel, founder and CEO of Redwood Materials. Crusoe develops a range of data centers—from huge projects like a gigawatt-scale campus in Abilene, Texas, to the small, modular Spark units. But it sees the potential for used EV batteries in projects at all scales. “Through our conversations, it’s been pretty clear to me that we could go to hundreds of megawatts and beyond with this solution,” Cavness says. Without sharing details about specific new projects, he says the company is looking at ways to expand now. It’s a model that could solve many of the current challenges for AI. “I really think that more of the data center power is going to look like this,” says Straubel. “Grid interconnect timelines are getting longer and worse. The pricing and political problems around energy pricing, I think that’s kind of intractable. I don’t see that going away. To really defensively solve how you can decouple a data center’s impact on regional pricing or any grid dynamics, having extensive behind-the-meter power or entirely off-grid data centers, I think, is the path. I don’t see another really clear path. And it can happen quickly.” 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. If you’re building a cordless tool set for the first time, or replacing an older set that’s worn out, a combo kit is a good way to save money on several tools as well as batteries and chargers. Because batteries can be an expensive component to a cordless tool set, getting a kit that includes them is a good way to keep your costs down. If you’re trying out a new battery platform, you can expand your set as your needs change by adding new tools that will work with your existing batteries. Why the Milwaukee five-tool combo set is a good dealThe Milwaukee five-tool combo set is on sale at Home Depot for $299, 50% off its regular price, and it has some of the most useful tools they make. Milwaukee five-tool combo set $299.00 at Home Depot $599.00 Save $300.00 Get Deal Get Deal $299.00 at Home Depot $599.00 Save $300.00 Since a battery and charger set on its own can cost up to $200, depending on the battery capacity, getting five tools as well as two batteries with a charger is a big savings. Since the 18-volt Milwaukee batteries are compatible with all of their 18-volt tools, the set is versatile and can be added to without needing to replace the batteries. Since these tools are known for being durable, you can also save money on replacing worn out tools and batteries every few years. My set of 18-volt Milwaukee batteries have lasted at least 10 years, and some of them are going strong 15 years in. What comes with the Milwaukee five-tool combo set The Milwaukee five-tool combo set comes with a ½-inch chuck drill, a ¼-inch chuck impact driver, an oscillating multitool, a compact reciprocating saw, a work light, a three-amp-hour battery, a 1.5-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a tool bag. The drill and impact driver are the foundation of a cordless tool set, allowing you to drill holes and drive screws and other hardware for DIY projects. These tools are the basics for a DIY tool set. The oscillating multitool can trim material from metal to PVC and can perform plunge cuts into plaster and drywall. You can also use it with a sanding attachment to get into tight spaces. I used my oscillating multitool when I needed to replace my bathroom sink, and I used one tool with multiple blades instead of three or four different tools for the job. The work light might not seem like a crucial piece of the set, but if you’ve ever needed to turn off the breaker to an outlet you’re working on, or needed to see into a dark corner of your basement when you’re connecting a dryer vent, you’ll be glad you have a portable work light that you can aim anywhere you need. Why I recommend Milwaukee toolsI use Milwaukee tools in my personal tool set, and as a professional woodworker, I often rely on my 18-volt set for building furniture and installing shelves. I’ve had the same battery set since I bought my tools and I’ve only had one battery wear out—and that was after a decade of use, both outside and in a shop in hot, wet, and muddy conditions. Milwaukee has been making tools for over 100 years, and their line of cordless tools has been a trusted brand for contractors since the 1990s. Because their first cordless tools were made mainly for professional use, they developed a reputation for being long-lasting and durable. Now that their battery system and tools are more affordable, lots of DIYers use them in their home tool kits as well. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $149.00 (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) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

When considering a background check, you might wonder if a reference number is necessary. Although it’s not a strict requirement, having one can streamline the process. Reference numbers act as unique identifiers, which helps reduce errors and confusion between candidates, employers, and background check providers. They furthermore guarantee accurate tracking of compliance documentation. Comprehending the role of these numbers is essential, especially when traversing the intricacies of background checks and their implications. What else should you know about the background check process? Key Takeaways A reference number is not mandatory for background checks but is highly beneficial for tracking and organizing candidate screenings. It streamlines communication between employers, background check providers, and candidates, reducing potential errors. Reference numbers create a clear audit trail for compliance documentation in various industries. Using reference numbers helps link relevant data to the correct candidate, enhancing the overall background check process. While optional, incorporating reference numbers can improve efficiency and data integrity in the hiring process. Understanding Background Checks When you apply for a job, comprehending background checks is essential, as they play a significant role in the hiring process. A Maryland background check typically involves verifying your criminal history, employment record, and educational credentials. Employers often conduct a criminal record check MD to assess any possible legal issues that could affect your suitability for the role. This process helps mitigate the risks associated with negligent hiring, guaranteeing a safer workplace for everyone. Before employers initiate a background check, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires them to obtain your written consent. This guarantees transparency throughout the process. In addition, some employers might conduct a reference check, where they contact your previous employers or colleagues to gather insights about your work ethic and character. Grasping these components can help you prepare for what employers will look for, making you a stronger candidate in the competitive job market. The Role of Reference Numbers Reference numbers play a crucial role in the background check process, serving as unique identifiers for each candidate’s screening. When you initiate a background check, especially a Maryland criminal background check, a reference number is assigned to help track and organize the screening. This number makes it easier for employers and background check companies to manage multiple requests efficiently, allowing quick access to specific candidate information during the hiring process. Using a reference number streamlines communication between employers, background check providers, and candidates, minimizing errors or confusion about applicant records. It’s particularly beneficial in industries that require compliance documentation, as reference numbers provide a clear audit trail for each background check conducted. By using these numbers, employers can easily retrieve and review background check results, ultimately making the hiring decision process more organized and effective. Types of Background Checks Background checks encompass a variety of screenings that help employers assess a candidate’s suitability for a position. One key type is the Maryland criminal background check, which reveals any past legal issues, such as arrests or convictions, that could impact hiring decisions. A criminal history records check in Maryland guarantees thorough investigation into an applicant’s legal past. In addition to criminal checks, employment verification is vital; it confirms the authenticity of job titles, dates of employment, and reasons for leaving previous positions. Education verification adds another layer by validating degrees and certifications claimed by candidates, confirming they meet job qualifications. Finally, a credit history check evaluates an individual’s creditworthiness, which is especially important in roles with financial responsibilities. Together, these checks create a detailed md state background check, enabling employers to make informed hiring decisions. Importance of Accurate Information Accurate information in background checks is crucial for verifying a candidate’s identity and history, which directly impacts your hiring decisions. When you guarantee data accuracy, you minimize the risk of delays, legal issues, and poor hires based on incorrect information. Using reference numbers not just helps in efficiently tracking requests but likewise links relevant data to the right candidate, streamlining the entire process. Ensuring Data Accuracy When you’re conducting background checks, ensuring the information you rely on is accurate is vital for safeguarding your hiring process. An effective Maryland background search requires verifying data to prevent potential hiring risks associated with false or misleading information. A Maryland state criminal background check can reveal disqualifying histories that candidates mightn’t disclose. By maintaining data integrity, you can identify discrepancies that may indicate dishonesty, enhancing your hiring process. Accurate information contributes to efficiency, reducing delays caused by disputes over incorrect data or the need for further verification. Ultimately, ensuring data accuracy protects your organization’s reputation and nurtures trust with candidates, creating a transparent hiring environment fundamental for long-term success. Impact on Hiring Decisions Inaccurate information can greatly skew hiring decisions, leading to costly consequences for your organization. With 30% of job applicants providing false details about their employment history, relying on unverified information can mislead you. A study shows that 75% of employers found discrepancies in candidates’ resumes through background checks, underscoring the need for thorough verification. Conducting detailed background checks not only reduces the risk of negligent hiring lawsuits, which can cost thousands in legal fees but additionally improves workplace safety by identifying candidates with troubling histories. Moreover, accurate background information can enhance overall hire quality, as companies that perform effective screenings experience 50% lower turnover rates, ultimately benefiting your organization’s stability and reputation. How Background Checks Are Conducted Background checks are essential for employers aiming to verify a candidate’s qualifications and background before making hiring decisions. The process typically starts by obtaining consent from the candidate, as mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Once consent is secured, specialized companies conduct the checks, utilizing various databases to gather information on criminal history, employment verification, and educational background. Depending on the job requirements and industry regulations, background checks may include searches for criminal records, credit history, and driving records. Employers often establish a clear policy outlining the types of checks performed, ensuring compliance with legal standards throughout the process. Many background check services offer automated systems, streamlining the process and enabling efficient tracking and reporting of results. By following these steps, employers can make informed decisions as they respect candidates’ rights and ensure a fair hiring process. When a Reference Number Is Useful Utilizing a reference number in the background check process can greatly boost efficiency and accuracy for employers. This system allows you and background check companies to track and retrieve specific screening reports tied to individual candidates easily. By implementing reference numbers, you maintain organization and clarity when managing multiple background checks, ensuring that each candidate’s information aligns accurately with their profile. Moreover, reference numbers improve communication between you and background check providers, allowing for quicker resolution of discrepancies or issues that may arise. In industries where regulatory compliance is essential, these numbers create a clear audit trail for each background check conducted, ensuring adherence to legal protocols. Finally, reference numbers help you efficiently manage large volumes of applicant data, greatly reducing the risk of misidentifying candidates or their results. Overall, incorporating reference numbers can streamline your hiring process and boost overall outcomes. Common Misconceptions About Background Checks Misconceptions about background checks can lead to confusion and misinformed decisions during the hiring process. One common belief is that a reference number is necessary, but background checks actually rely on personal details like your name, date of birth, and Social Security number. Many likewise assume that all background checks are uniform; nonetheless, different industries require specific checks based on regulatory needs, particularly in healthcare or finance. Some people think background checks reveal every past behavior, but they only reflect the specific searches conducted and relevant jurisdictions, meaning some records might be inaccessible. Furthermore, it’s a myth that these checks automatically verify all candidate information. Although they can confirm employment and education, gaps in history may not be addressed. Finally, background checks focus on objective data and official records, not subjective assessments of a candidate’s character or work ethic. Comprehending these misconceptions is vital for informed hiring decisions. Differences Between Background and Reference Checks When comparing background checks and reference checks, it’s important to understand their distinct purposes and the types of information they assess. Background checks primarily focus on verifying an applicant’s criminal history, employment, and education, ensuring safety and qualifications. Conversely, reference checks aim to evaluate a candidate’s work ethic, interpersonal skills, and compatibility with company culture, providing insights that are often more subjective. Purpose of Each Check Many employers rely on both background checks and reference checks to make informed hiring decisions, each serving a distinct purpose. Comprehending these differences can guide your hiring strategy effectively. Background Checks: Focus on verifying factual records like criminal history, education, and employment, ensuring workplace safety and compliance. Reference Checks: Assess a candidate’s work ethic and interpersonal skills through insights from previous employers or colleagues. Purpose of Background Checks: Screen out unqualified candidates and protect your brand by identifying potential red flags. Purpose of Reference Checks: Validate candidates’ skills and cultural fit, enhancing the overall hiring decision process. Key Information Assessed Comprehending the key information assessed through background checks and reference checks is vital for effective hiring strategies. Background checks typically investigate an applicant’s criminal history, employment history, educational qualifications, and credentials. These checks verify the accuracy of reported information and reveal any disqualifying criminal records. Conversely, reference checks focus on evaluating an applicant’s work ethic, interpersonal skills, and cultural fit within your organization. They provide insights into past job performance from previous employers or colleagues. Meanwhile, industry regulations often mandate background checks in sectors like healthcare and finance. Reference checks are widely used across all industries. Both checks are fundamental, as background checks improve workplace safety, whereas reference checks help you understand a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. Legal Considerations in Background Checks Legal considerations in background checks play a crucial role in the hiring process, ensuring fairness and compliance with established norms. As an employer or candidate, you need to understand these key points: Written Consent: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that employers obtain written consent from candidates before conducting background checks. State Laws: Different states have specific laws governing background checks, including notification and consent requirements, which can vary markedly. Disclosure Requirement: Employers must provide clear disclosure regarding the use of background checks, typically through a separate document. Adverse Action Process: If an employer opts against hiring based on background check information, they must follow an adverse action process, including a pre-adverse action notice to the candidate. Steps to Prepare for a Background Check Preparing for a background check involves several important steps that guarantee compliance and accuracy. First, create a compliant policy outlining your procedures to confirm adherence to regulations like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Next, obtain written consent from the candidate, as this is legally required before you can initiate any checks. Collect all necessary information from the candidate, including their full name, date of birth, Social Security number, and addresses, which are critical for accurate searches. It’s also important to partner with a reliable background check company experienced in the industry, as this confirms both accuracy and compliance. Furthermore, keep candidates informed throughout the screening process by providing updates on the status of their background check and addressing any potential issues that arise. Following these steps will help streamline the process and maintain transparency, which is essential for building trust with candidates. Impact of Background Check Findings Even though background check findings can play a crucial role in hiring decisions, their implications often extend beyond just the immediate choice of candidate. These findings can shape both individual careers and the overall reputation of a company. Here are some key impacts you should consider: Hiring Decisions: Negative findings, like criminal records or employment discrepancies, can lead employers to withdraw job offers, especially in sensitive sectors. Disputes: Candidates may challenge inaccuracies in their background checks, which can delay the hiring process. Legal Obligations: Employers must adhere to the adverse action process, allowing candidates to address negative information before final decisions. Company Reputation: The nature of background check findings can affect public perception regarding a company’s commitment to safety and integrity. Understanding these impacts can help you navigate the intricacies of background checks effectively. Best Practices for Employers To guarantee a smooth and efficient hiring process, it’s crucial for employers to adopt best practices for conducting background checks. Start by implementing a consistent process that assigns unique reference numbers to each applicant. This approach streamlines tracking and organization, making it easier to manage records. Ascertain compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by obtaining written consent from candidates before performing background checks, which may involve referencing their unique identification numbers. Utilize a reliable background check service that efficiently manages these reference numbers, enhancing accuracy in reporting. Furthermore, train your HR staff to understand the importance of reference numbers for maintaining organized records and facilitating the review process during hiring. Finally, regularly review and update your background check policy to incorporate these best practices, assuring both efficiency and compliance in your hiring efforts. Frequently Asked Questions What Information Is Necessary for a Background Check? For a background check, you’ll typically need to provide your full name, date of birth, and Social Security number. This information helps verify your identity and history. Furthermore, you may need to supply previous addresses, employment details, and education information for a thorough review. Remember, legal consent is required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to guarantee compliance when conducting these checks. Specific industries might’ve extra requirements as well. What Is the Difference Between a Background Check and a Reference Check? A background check focuses on verifying factual information about your criminal history, employment, and education, whereas a reference check assesses your work ethic and interpersonal skills through conversations with former employers. Background checks require your written consent and may include extensive searches, like credit history. Conversely, reference checks are subjective, providing insights into your character and past job performance. Both processes help employers evaluate your qualifications and fit for their organization. What Is a Candidate Reference Number? A candidate reference number is a unique identifier assigned to you during the hiring process. It helps employers and background check Checkr companies track and manage your application efficiently. Typically generated by the applicant tracking system when you submit your application, this number allows you to inquire about your background check status accurately. Keeping your reference number handy guarantees organized records and compliance with background check protocols, streamlining the hiring process for everyone involved. Do Companies Still Require References? Yes, many companies still require references as part of their hiring process. They do this to gain insights into your work ethic, skills, and how well you might fit into their culture. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that around 95% of employers conduct reference checks before making decisions. This process is especially critical in sensitive industries like healthcare or finance, where regulatory compliance and safety concerns are paramount. Conclusion In conclusion, during a background check, a reference number isn’t strictly necessary, but possessing one can significantly enhance the process’s efficiency and organization. It serves as a unique identifier, minimizing errors and confusion among all parties involved. Reference numbers additionally provide a clear audit trail, crucial for compliance. By comprehending the role of reference numbers, you can guarantee a smoother background check process, ultimately benefiting both employers and candidates in maintaining accurate and organized records. Image via Google Gemini and ArtSmart This article, "Does a Background Check Need a Reference Number?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Rebranded from Auvenir, the independent platform doubles down on AI, quality management, and underserved firms. By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Rebranded from Auvenir, the independent platform doubles down on AI, quality management, and underserved firms. By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Innovation isn’t a spark—it’s a sustained pursuit. Meet Google, Proximity Media, Google, Reddit, Unwell and Tubi—the teams turning bold vision into daily discipline, redefining what it takes to lead, create, and stay ahead. View the full article

Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration airport workers going without pay, but excluding ICE’s enforcement and removal operations that have been core to the dispute. The potential breakthrough came after a group of Republican senators headed to the White House late Monday to meet with President Donald The President. Senators said they expected the negotiators to work through the night hammering out the details and present written proposals for both parties to discuss Tuesday at their weekly caucus lunches. “All I can say is that the discussions have been very positive and productive, and hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters late in the evening: “Both sides are working in a serious way.” The sudden shift in the monthlong standoff comes as U.S. airports are jammed with long lines after routine Homeland Security funding was halted, leaving TSA understaffed during the spring travel season. Democrats are refusing to fund Homeland Security without restraints on The President’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the deaths of two U.S. citizens during ICE protests in Minneapolis. The President took the extraordinary step over the weekend of ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to provide airport security, drawing alarm from some lawmakers that it could escalate tensions. The contours of the deal under consideration would fund most of Homeland Security, but exclude funding for one main part of ICE — the enforcement and removal operations that are core to The President’s deportation agenda. Under the package being floated, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations would be funded as well as Customs and Border Protection, but with new guardrails to position officers from those divisions in their traditional roles, rather than as they have been used more recently in immigration roundups in cities. It would also include a number of changes in immigration operations that Democrats have demanded, including mandating that officers wear body cameras and identification. Since so much of ICE is already funded through The President’s big tax breaks bill, and immigration officers are still receiving paychecks during the partial government shutdown, senators said the new restraints would also be imposed on operations that rely on that funding source, as well. “I’m going to be working through the night,” said Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a chief negotiator who returned from the White House meeting hopeful they had a solution to “land this plane.” “We’re going to be working diligently,” she said. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who was not part of the group at the White House, said his understanding was that there was a “sense of urgency” coming from the talks. Coons described various choices before the senators at this point — from no money at all for ICE but also no restraints on the agency operations, to fully funding ICE but with more of the restraints Democrats have demanded, to a middle option of funding most of DHS excluding ICE’s enforcement and removal operations. That middle option is what he and other senators understood was broadly on the table after the White House talks. “First step is to get the proposal in writing,” said Sen. Angus King, the Independent from Maine. “I want to see exactly what that means.” Senators late Monday also confirmed Markwayne Mullin as Homeland Security secretary. He takes over for Kristi Noem, who led the department’s immigration enforcement operations that erupted with the public outcry and the funding standoff. Mullin provides a potentially new face for the immigration operation. During his confirmation hearing last week, Mullin touched on another key demand Democrats want — ensuring a judge has signed off on warrants that immigration officers use to search people’s homes, rather than simply relying on administrative warrants issued by the department. “This is significant,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said about the progress toward changes. “Noem is gone. That’s a big deal.” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said he was hopeful senators could work things out. “Look, there’s a lot of different variables in the equations,” he said. “I’m hopeful we’ll get there.” Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report. —Lisa Mascaro and Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. One of the more practical early deals in Amazon’s Spring Sale is the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD, now $16.99 (originally $34.99). That works out to about 51% off and marks its lowest price so far, according to price trackers. PCMag gave it an “outstanding” rating and called it the best 1080p media hub, which fits with how it performs—it doesn’t offer high-end specs but focuses on making an older TV feel current again without asking you to spend much. Amazon Fire TV Stick HD Media streaming hub $16.99 at Amazon $34.99 Save $18.00 Get Deal Get Deal $16.99 at Amazon $34.99 Save $18.00 This is the kind of device you buy when your TV still works fine but the built-in apps feel slow or outdated. You plug the stick into the HDMI port, connect it to power, and you are up and running in a few minutes. The remote keeps things simple. The remote keeps things simple. It has quick buttons for apps like Netflix and Prime Video, and it can control your TV’s volume and power, which means you are not reaching for a second remote every time. Alexa is built in, letting you press a button to search for a movie, open an app, or control compatible smart home devices. It feels easy to live with, especially if you just want something that works without much setup. In everyday use, it does what most people need from a media streamer. You can stream from all the major apps, and 1080p playback with HDR10 looks good on a Full HD screen. If you have a compatible soundbar or TV, it can pass through Dolby Atmos audio as well. The trade-off is performance. The interface can lag a bit when switching between menus, and it may take a moment to load larger libraries. It also sticks with Wi-Fi 5 and skips features like AirPlay or Google Cast, so it is not the most flexible option if you rely on those. If you are upgrading a main TV or want something faster, the 4K models make more sense. But for a bedroom TV, a guest room, or anything still running at 1080p, this gets the job done at a price that is hard to argue with. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $149.00 (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) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

In an increasingly automated environment, paid search performance is constrained by a simple reality: Algorithms can only optimize toward the signals they’re given. Improving those signals remains the most reliable way to improve results. That sounds straightforward, but in practice, many people are still optimizing around signals that don’t reflect real business outcomes. Let’s dive into how algorithms function, how you can influence them, and where some people fail. How bidding algorithms actually work Modern bidding systems are often described as “black boxes,” suggesting they operate mysteriously. But that description isn’t helpful. At a high level, bidding algorithms are large-scale pattern recognition systems. Early automated bidding used simple statistical methods, including rules-based logic and regression models. Over time, these evolved into more advanced machine learning approaches using decision trees and ensemble models. Eventually, these became large-scale learning systems capable of processing thousands of contextual and historical inputs. The technology has developed significantly, but the goal has stayed remarkably consistent. Today’s systems evaluate signals such as query intent, device, location, time, historical performance, and user behavior, updating predictions continuously and adjusting bids in near-real time. Despite this complexity, the underlying mechanisms haven’t changed: Bidding algorithms identify patterns tied to a desired outcome, estimate that outcome’s probability and expected value for each auction, and adjust bids accordingly. They don’t understand business context or strategy — they infer success from feedback. This distinction matters. When the feedback loop is weak, noisy, or misaligned with real business value, even advanced algorithms will efficiently optimize toward the wrong objective. Better technology doesn’t compensate for poor inputs. Dig deeper: Bidding and bid adjustments in paid search campaigns 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 signals advertisers can influence Paid search algorithms observe a vast range of signals, many of which are inferred by the platform and not directly controllable by you. These include user intent signals, behavioral patterns, and competitive dynamics. While many signals sit outside of our control, there’s still a meaningful set of levers you control that shape how algorithms learn. These include: Account and campaign structure. Bidding strategy selection. Budget allocation. Targeting and exclusions. Ad creative and asset quality. Landing page experience. The consistency and stability of changes made over time. These inputs shape how the algorithm explores and learns. They help define the environment in which optimization occurs. But they don’t, by themselves, define what success looks like. That role is played by conversion data. Dig deeper: Conversion rate: how to calculate, optimize, and avoid common mistakes Conversion data: The most important signal When performance plateaus, the first instinct is to blame structure, budgets, or creative. In reality, the biggest lever you have available usually sits elsewhere: conversion data. In most accounts, conversion data is the most influential signal you control. It defines the outcome the algorithm is trained to pursue and directly informs prediction models, bid calculations, and learning feedback loops. When conversion setups are misaligned, overly broad, duplicated, or noisy, platforms still optimize efficiently, just not toward outcomes the business actually values. This is why, at times, you can show improving platform metrics while your commercial performance stagnates or deteriorates. A common mistake is focusing on increasing conversion volume rather than improving conversion quality. Volume accelerates learning, but if the signal is weak, faster learning just means faster optimization toward a suboptimal goal. In practice, refining what counts as a conversion often delivers greater performance gains than structural or tactical changes elsewhere in the account. Dig deeper: Why a lower CTR can be better for your PPC campaigns Aligning conversion signals with real business KPIs Before any optimization begins, define what success genuinely means for your business. Paid search platforms don’t have intrinsic knowledge of your revenue quality, profitability, or downstream value. They only see what is explicitly passed back to them. Misalignment typically appears in predictable forms: Revenue is used as the primary signal when margins vary significantly. Lead submissions are optimized without regard to lead quality or sales outcomes. Short-term efficiency metrics are prioritized over long-term value. In each case, the algorithm is doing exactly what it has been instructed to do. The issue isn’t optimization accuracy, but goal definition. If an increase in a given conversion wouldn’t be seen as a win by the business, it shouldn’t be the primary signal used for optimization. Dig deeper: 3 PPC KPIs to track and measure success Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Strengthening conversion signals with richer, more resilient data Conversion quality is determined by how confidently the platform can identify and interpret a tracked event. Browser-based tracking alone is increasingly incomplete due to privacy controls, attribution gaps, and fragmented user journeys. As a result, ad platforms rely on a combination of browser-side and server-side data to improve matching and attribution. This means that, for you, this isn’t just a measurement problem, as it directly affects how confidently platforms can learn from conversions. Stronger conversion signals are typically characterized by multiple reinforcing parameters, including: First-party identifiers, such as hashed personal data passed via enhanced conversion frameworks. Click identifiers that connect conversions back to ad interactions. Transaction or event IDs that prevent duplication. Accurate conversion values. Session- and network-level attributes that improve attribution confidence. When a conversion can be recognized through multiple mechanisms, platforms can match it more reliably and use it in learning models with greater confidence. This improves reporting accuracy and bidding performance by reducing feedback loop uncertainty. Dig deeper: How to track and measure PPC campaigns Choosing conversion goals Selecting the right conversion goal isn’t a binary decision. It involves balancing several competing factors: Volume: Higher volumes support faster learning. Value accuracy: Closer alignment with business outcomes improves decision quality. Stability: Highly variable values can introduce noise. Latency: Delayed feedback slows learning and increases uncertainty. Higher-volume, faster conversions often sit further away from true commercial outcomes, while lower-volume, high-quality conversions may better reflect business value but risk data sparsity. The most effective setups acknowledge these trade-offs rather than attempting to eliminate them entirely. In many cases, the optimal solution involves using proxy or layered conversion goals that strike a balance between learning speed and value accuracy. Dig deeper: How to use proxy metrics to speed up optimization in complex B2B journeys Practical examples of selecting and strengthening conversion goals Ecommerce optimization based on gross margin, not revenue For ecommerce, optimizing toward order value assumes all revenue is equal. In reality, product margins often vary widely. When revenue alone is used as the optimization signal, algorithms may prioritize high-value — but low-margin — products. A more effective approach is to optimize for gross margin by passing margin-adjusted conversion values via server-side tracking or offline conversion imports. This allows bidding systems to prioritize your business’s profitability rather than top-line revenue, without exposing sensitive cost data client-side. Lead generation with long conversion latency In lead gen models where final outcomes occur weeks or months after the initial click, form submissions alone can provide you with weak signals. They are fast and high-volume, but poorly correlated with revenue. Introducing lead scoring improves signal quality. Leads can be assigned proxy values based on known attributes and early indicators of quality, such as company size, role seniority, or engagement depth. These values can then be passed back to the platform via CRM integrations or server-side tracking, enabling value-based optimization even when final outcomes are delayed. Optimizing toward predicted lifetime value If you’re focused on lifetime value (LTV), there are two viable approaches: Where LTV can be reliably predicted within a short window after conversion, predicted values can be imported and used directly for optimization. If early prediction isn’t feasible for you, lead scoring or early behavioral proxies can be used instead. In both cases, your objective is the same: provide the algorithm with timely, value-weighted signals that correlate strongly with long-term revenue, rather than waiting for delayed outcomes that are too sparse to support learning. 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 Key takeaways for performance marketers Modern bidding systems are powerful pattern recognition engines, but their effectiveness is constrained by the signals they receive. The biggest performance gains rarely come from constant restructuring or tactical tests. They come from improving the clarity, quality, and commercial relevance of your conversion data. Conversion signals are the most influential inputs you control, and misaligned or low-quality setups will limit performance regardless of how advanced the algorithm becomes. Regularly audit your conversion definitions and ask a simple question: “Would you genuinely celebrate an increase in this outcome?” If the answer isn’t clear, the signal likely needs refinement. Improving conversion goals, strengthening signal quality, and balancing volume, accuracy, and latency aren’t optional. They’re among the highest-impact ways to improve paid search performance. View the full article

A giant cheesesteak running through multiple terminals at the Philadelphia airport might not solve the world’s problems, but it will make people smile. It’s National Cheesesteak Day, after all, so a little joy is necessary. In honor of this unique day, here’s some history on this lesser-known holiday. We even threw in some ideas on how to celebrate and make Rocky Balboa proud. Brief history of the Philly cheesesteak The cheesesteak is an American invention that originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The desire for something new struck two Italian-American brothers, Pat and Henry Olivieri, one day in 1930. The brothers ran a hot dog cart, but were craving some beef. They grilled that up with onions and put it on a bun. The result was the first cheesesteak, even though dairy wouldn’t be added until 1940 (thanks to “Cocky Joe” Lorenza). The hot dog cart quickly turned into a restaurant called Pat’s King of Steaks. In the 1960s, competitors such as Geno’s, Dalessandro’s Steaks, and Jim’s Steak opened up, further cementing the sandwich into the cultural zeitgeist. Suddenly, everyone in the city had a strong opinion on which establishment was the best. Perhaps the best publicity for the cheesesteak came in 1976. In the classic film Rocky, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) ordered the “whiz wit” at Pat’s. The world would want what he was having. What’s in a cheesesteak? At its core, a cheesesteak is beef, onions, and a roll. There are many variations of this. The beef can be sliced or chopped. You can order it “wit” or “witout,” meaning with or without the grilled onions. Cheese is another personal preference. Most people prefer either Whiz or melted American or provolone. No matter which you choose, this is a messy meal which requires lots of napkins, and inventive leaning to avoid spilling on your clothes. How did National Cheesesteak Day come about? Although nobody can know for certain, four high school friends in Philadelphia might have started this unofficial holiday when celebrating their upcoming high school graduation. On March 24, 1994, buddies Sean Mealey, John McGrath, Jeremy Hollis, and Ted Goldberg enjoyed a terrific day at Stoxy’s Steaks. These young adults wanted to keep the tradition going after moving away for college. They wrote letters, recruited new friends, and even made a website. Years passed, and somehow March 24 became the day everyone celebrated the cheesesteak. How is the Philadelphia airport celebrating National Cheesesteak Day in 2026? The Philly airport is going big this year, potentially bigger than ever before. Its PHL Food & Shops and the City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation are partnering up to break the Record for the “Longest Line of Cheesesteaks.” In the spirit of brotherly love, every restaurant at the airport that has a cheesesteak on the menu will participate. This huge cheesesteak is expected to span both terminals B and C. National Cheesesteak Day deals, discounts, and freebies But the best way to celebrate is through your stomach. If you find yourself in Philadelphia on the big day, there’s a showdown in the Northeast at the Metro by T-Mobile store on Cottman Avenue. More than ten restaurants will be offering samples to attendees, who can vote on their favorites. Participants include Del Rossi’s, Skinny Joey’s, Pat’s King of Steaks, Woodrow’s, Cafe Carmela, Campo’s Philly Cheesesteak, Cleaver’s, Stella’s, Verona Pizza, LaNova and Lucatelli’s. Beyond Philly, Capriotti is offering a buy one, get one half off deal. Grab a friend and chow down. Hot Table is offering its small cheesesteak paninis for only $5 in store only. Philly’s Best is offering $2 off its cooper classic cheesesteak from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Texadelphianation is doing a buy one, get one free deal—another great opportunity for friends. And, New Yorkers, rejoice! G’s Cheesesteaks at 6 Avenue B 10009 is offering free cheesesteaks from 1 to 3 p.m., according to its Instagram account. After your stomach is satisfied, turn on Rocky to put a cherry on top of your National Cheesesteak Day celebrations—as the character points out, even the big man himself gets hungry. View the full article

Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous driving company known for its whimsically shaped robotaxis, is expanding to new locations. The company on March 24 announced plans to begin operations in Austin and Miami later this year, while expanding its existing footprint in Las Vegas and San Francisco. In Las Vegas, riders can now access additional locations along the Strip, with service expected to reach the Sphere, T-Mobile Arena, and Harry Reid International Airport. In San Francisco, service will expand this spring to neighborhoods including the Marina, North Beach, Chinatown, and Pacific Heights, as well as along the Embarcadero—more than quadrupling Zoox’s current footprint in the city. The expansion comes with technical upgrades, including machine learning model updates aimed at smoother rides and more accurate arrival time estimates. Regular software improvements have helped to enable service in new areas as the vehicles become more capable, says cofounder and CTO Jesse Levinson. “For example, in San Francisco, our new geofence includes steeper hills, more dense traffic, places where you have to make more assertive lane changes,” he says. The cars have also gained the ability to operate in fog and rain, which will help in the push into Miami. For now, Zoox’s distinctive electric vehicles—featuring inward-facing seats and no driver’s seat or steering wheel—operate under a regulatory exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that allows them to run free rides. The company is still applying for a separate exemption that would allow it to charge for service, Levinson says. Its fleet remains relatively small, growing from about 75 to roughly 100 prototype vehicles as part of the expansion. That is expected to change once Zoox begins mass-manufacturing the production version of its vehicles at its plant in Hayward, California. The company hopes to start later this year and eventually produce three vehicles per hour, enabling a significant increase in fleet size. Alphabet-owned Waymo reportedly has at least 2,500 automated vehicles in service. “A bit later in the year, when we start producing our production vehicles, you’ll start to see significant expansion in the size of our fleet in the cities we operate,” Levinson says. Anyone can currently request a free ride via the Zoox app in Las Vegas, though wait times can be long due to limited vehicle availability and the lack of fares. In San Francisco, riders must join a waitlist, which already includes several hundred-thousand people. In addition to its custom-built vehicles, Zoox operates a testing fleet of retrofitted SUVs staffed with human safety drivers. These vehicles map and test new cities ahead of launching automated taxi service. In early March, the company announced test deployments in Dallas and Phoenix, joining markets including Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. The test fleet has been operating in Austin and Miami since mid-2024, the company says. Zoox also announced a partnership with Uber that would allow Uber customers in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to be matched with Zoox vehicles. The rollout is expected to begin this summer in Las Vegas—likely after the company is cleared to charge for rides, Levinson says—and in mid-2027 in Los Angeles. Riders will still be able to book directly through the Zoox app, but the partnership gives Zoox access to Uber’s large customer base, including those who may not want to download another ride-hailing app. “We will continue to offer the Zoox app in all of our cities,” Levinson says. “But we have started to explore what a partnership with Uber could look like, starting in those two cities, and I think we’ll both learn a lot from each other.” Zoox is also rolling out new features aimed at improving convenience and comfort. A “Find My Zoox” option will allow passengers to customize lighting and trigger blinking lights on their vehicle, making it easier to spot in crowded areas. Riders will also be able to pair their devices with in-vehicle Bluetooth audio and automatically reconnect on future trips, Levinson says. The vehicles already support music playback from prebuilt playlists. Competition in the ride-hailing market appears poised to heat up, with Waymo also expanding to new markets, Elon Musk touting plans for automated Tesla taxis, and Uber recently announcing a separate deal to invest up to $1.25 billion in electric vehicle maker Rivian as part of its robotaxi plan. But Levinson says he imagines Zoox’s lead time in creating custom-built autonomous cars will give it an edge on rival operators. Still, Levinson argues that Zoox’s early focus on custom-built autonomous vehicles could provide an advantage. “As other companies might try to come out with their first purpose-built robotaxi, we might be on our second or third iteration,” he says. “Hopefully, those learnings will continue to allow us to have a meaningful benefit for our customers.” View the full article

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Research finds that persona prompts "reliably damage" factual accuracy in certain kinds of tasks but work well in others. The post Research: “You Are An Expert” Prompts Can Damage Factual Accuracy appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon’s Spring Sale officially runs from March 25 through March 31, but a few early deals are already live, and some are worth paying attention to. One of them is the Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS + Cellular, 46mm) in a Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band (M/L), now $429 (down from $529), which is its lowest price yet according to price trackers. If you prefer something dressier, the gold titanium version with a Milanese loop is also a $100 off, down to $699 from $799. Amazon is also testing one-hour and three-hour delivery in select locations, as reported by our senior tech editor Jake Peterson, so depending on where you live, you might not be waiting long once you hit buy. Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS + Cellular, 46mm) Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band (M/L) $429.00 at Amazon $529.00 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $429.00 at Amazon $529.00 Save $100.00 The Series 11 doesn’t try to overhaul what Apple already settled with the Series 10, in terms of design. Instead, this smartwatch leans into small upgrades that show up in everyday use. Battery life now reaches 24 hours, finally moving past the long-standing 18-hour ceiling, which means you can track sleep without planning your charging schedule around it. The display gets brighter too, hitting 2,000 nits, so it stays readable outdoors, and Apple’s Ion-X glass helps with visibility at off angles. It’s also tougher this time, with better scratch resistance, IP6X dust protection, and WR50 water resistance for swimming. And with the cellular version, you now get 5G connectivity, which makes leaving your phone behind more realistic for runs or quick errands. There are also software additions like background hypertension alerts and a Sleep Score, although some of those aren’t exclusive to this model. PCMag gave the Series 11 an “outstanding” rating and named it one of the best Apple Watch to buy in 2026, noting that its performance and health features remain among the best available. This is an easy upgrade if you’re coming from a Series 7 or 8, where the battery bump alone changes how you use the watch. If you’re on a Series 10, however, the case is weaker—unless you care about incremental improvements or the new cellular capabilities, especially when you consider how it compares in size and durability to Apple’s higher-end model in this breakdown of the Apple Watch Series 11 against the Ultra 3. If you do pick it up, it’s worth learning how to get more out of it with our guides and hacks for every Apple Watch user, since the hardware is only part of the experience. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $149.00 (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) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

If you’re one of the legion of iPhone fans who can’t wait for the next major software update and all the new features it will bring, there’s some good news. Apple has revealed when you’ll be able to get a look at the iPhone’s next operating system, iOS 27—and you won’t have to wait much longer. Here’s what you need to know. Apple announces the dates for WWDC26 Apple has revealed when it will hold its next Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The conference, affectionately referred to as “dub-dub” by Apple employees, is one of Apple’s two major events throughout the year, and one of the tech industry’s most important. WWDC is an annual week-long event where Apple previews the next major versions of its operating systems to developers and the public for the first time. These are the operating systems that will ship on Apple’s new iPhones and other devices come the fall, and include iOS for the iPhone, macOS for the Mac, iPadOS for the iPad, tvOS for the Apple TV, and more. Yesterday, Apple revealed the dates for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, dubbed WWDC26. The event will run from Monday, June 8, to Friday, June 12. But the most important date is June 8, when Apple will hold its annual software keynote. This keynote will be the first time the public will get a look at the next major versions of all of Apple’s operating systems, including the upcoming iOS 27 for iPhone. iOS 27 may be a ‘less is more’ update Usually, Apple’s major software updates are packed with new features, visual tweaks, or outright overhauls. For example, last year at WWDC25, Apple showed off iOS 26 and its Liquid Glass visual design refresh for the first time—a major shift in the way iOS looked and operated. Yet rumors suggest that this year’s iOS 27 update may be more subdued than prior years when it comes to new features. Instead, Apple is rumored to be using iOS 27 to focus on little refinements and bug fixes across the operating system. As a result, many are referring to iOS 27 as a “Snow Leopard”-like release. Snow Leopard was the product name for the 10.6 version of Mac OS X that Apple released in 2009. The release was different from prior versions of OS X because Apple chose not to introduce many new features, focusing instead on bug fixes and OS refinement. As a result, even to this day, Snow Leopard was one of the most stable and beloved operating system updates Apple ever put out. In recent years, many iPhone users have lamented that iOS has become bloated and buggy as Apple prioritized features over stability. And so the possibility of a “Snow Leopard” like iOS 27 is extremely appealing to many longtime Apple users. Of course, that’s not to say iOS 27 won’t have any new features—but they are expected to be fewer than with previous releases. Specifically, the major new feature of iOS 27 is expected to be a chatbot like Siri powered by Google’s Gemini LLM. Indeed, in its WWDC26 announcement, Apple said this year’s conference will show off “AI advancements,” likely referring to the new Siri chatbot. When can I download iOS 27? While Apple has all but explicitly confirmed it will show off iOS 27 to the public on June 8, users will have to wait a little longer to actually install the new software on their iPhones. When Apple first previews a new iOS at WWDC, it releases a beta of the new operating system to developers the same day. This means if you are a developer, you’ll be able to get your hands on iOS 27 on June 8. But if you’re a general user, you’ll need to wait longer. About a month after Apple releases the first developer beta of the new iOS, the company releases a public beta. This beta is for members of the general public who want to test the new iOS as soon as possible. However, the public iOS beta isn’t a finished product and may have incomplete features and bugs. That’s why many just prefer to wait until the final release of the new iOS. That release usually happens in the fall, shortly after Apple’s second major event of the year: its iPhone launch event. If you plan to wait until then to install iOS 27 on your iPhone, you can expect to be able to do so around the middle of September. View the full article