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In honor of its 25th anniversary, the Gates Foundation made a major announcement. On Thursday, chair Bill Gates said he would give away most of his fortune over the next two decades. “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote in an announcement on GatesNotes. The statement continued, “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned.” Gates explained that he would give away practically all of his fortune over the next 20 years, estimating about $200 billion in spending will occur in an effort to save and improve lives. The businessman and Microsoft cofounder said the exact amount will depend on the markets, as well as inflation. A news release from the Gates Foundation called the plan “the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history” and said it will wind down operations circa 2045. In his post, Gates shared that on December 31, 2045, the foundation will cease all operations. An accelerated timeline for a world on fire Gates noted that the plan is a major shift away from the foundation’s original plan to sunset 20 years after his and his ex-wife Melinda Gates’s deaths. Post-divorce, Melinda French Gates has given away a hefty share of her own wealth, pledging over $1 billion to organizations supporting women and girls. In Bill Gates’s statement, he also outlined three major goals for the accelerated spending plan: “help end preventable deaths of moms and babies” “ensure the next generation grows up without having to suffer from deadly infectious diseases” “lift millions of people out of poverty, putting them on a path to prosperity” “The Gates Foundation’s mission remains rooted in the idea that where you are born should not determine your opportunities,” Gates wrote in his statement Thursday. “I am excited to see how our next chapter continues to move the world closer to a future where everyone everywhere has the chance to live a healthy and productive life.” 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've been meaning to add a security camera to your backyard, driveway, or any dimly lit spot around the house, the Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera might be the kind of no-fuss solution that works. It’s battery powered, which makes it a standout for renters or anyone who doesn’t want to mess with wiring or hiring an electrician. And at $64.99 on Amazon—down from $129.98—it’s currently sitting at its lowest price to date (according to price-trackers), making it easier to justify trying out a new piece of tech without overcommitting. Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera $64.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $129.98 Save $64.99 Get Deal Get Deal $64.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $129.98 Save $64.99 You’re looking at a completely wire-free setup with motion-triggered floodlights and a built-in camera—all powered by four D-cell batteries and two AAs (meaning it can go pretty much anywhere wifi reaches). That alone makes it worth considering if you’ve got areas around your home where power outlets just don’t exist, notes this ZDNet review. The floodlight automatically turns on when it detects motion, shining up to 700 lumens—plenty to light up dark driveways, side yards, or alleyways. The camera itself captures 1080p video with infrared night vision, and according to PCMag’s review, it handled detection pretty well, especially once fine-tuned in the app. Keep in mind, Blink’s full set of features—like cloud storage, video history, and smart alerts—are tied to its subscription plans, which start at $3 per month for one device and $10 per month for unlimited devices. A free 30-day trial is included (so you can test out those features without pressure), but after that, you’ll need to pay if you want ongoing access to clips and advanced features. You can also store your clips locally by connecting a USB flash drive (sold separately) to the included Sync Module 2. If you’re looking for something with constant recording or a wired connection for uninterrupted power, this isn’t the pick for you. But if you’re piecing together an affordable, wire-free security setup, this one has the basics covered. View the full article

The federal human resources agency at the heart of billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce is poised to roll out software to speed layoffs across the U.S. government, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The software could turbocharge the rapid-fire effort to downsize the government at a time when a number of larger federal agencies are preparing to execute plans for mass layoffs of tens of thousands of workers. Some 260,000 government workers already have accepted buyouts, early retirement or been laid off since Republican President Donald The President returned to the presidency in January, according to a Reuters tally. The process has been far from smooth. Some workers were mistakenly fired and had to be rehired. The software is an updated version of a decades-old Pentagon program, known as AutoRIF, that had been little used in recent years. Under direction from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), software developers at the U.S. Office Of Personnel Management (OPM) have created a more user-friendly web-based version over the past few months that provides targets for layoffs much more quickly than the current labor-intensive manual process, four sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The program is poised to be rolled out to the agencies by OPM just as Musk steps back from DOGE, which has driven the downsizing effort, to focus more on Tesla and his other companies. AutoRIF’s name comes from “Reduction in Force,” a term used to describe mass layoffs. The revamped version has been given the more benign-sounding name “Workforce Reshaping Tool,” three sources said. With the software revamp now complete, OPM will lead demonstrations, user testing and start adding new users in the coming weeks, one of the sources said. DOGE, OPM, the White House, Pentagon and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Wired magazine was first to report on the revamp effort. But Reuters is reporting for the first time on the completion of that revamp, the capabilities of the new program, rollout plans and its new name. JOB-CUTTING SCYTHE The President established DOGE to modernize government software, cut spending and drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, which he complains is bloated and wasteful. DOGE has said it has saved more than $160 billion through cuts to federal contracts and staff, but it has given few details publicly about what it is doing to modernize technology to make the government more efficient. The update of the Pentagon software, which DOGE has not publicly confirmed, is the only known example of that effort bearing fruit. Currently, most federal RIFs are done manually—with HR employees poring over spreadsheets containing data on employee seniority, veteran status and performance, three sources told Reuters. The new software is being rolled out just as larger agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs are set to move forward with plans to eliminate some 80,000 jobs. The Internal Revenue Service has said it wants to slash its payrolls by 40%, according to media reports. The tool will allow agencies “to remove a massive number of federal employees from their positions,” if it works, said Nick Bednar, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota who has been tracking the government layoffs. “What DOGE has started is going to continue without Elon Musk,” Bednar said. AutoRIF was developed by the Pentagon more than a quarter century ago. It pulled data from its HR system, sifted through firing rules quickly and produced names of employees eligible to be laid off. But it was difficult to migrate it to other agencies, whose workers had to manually input data on potential candidates for dismissal, a cumbersome process that is subject to errors. The program, described as “clunky” by a 2020 Pentagon HR newsletter, also would allow only one employee to work on a RIF, two sources said. The upgrade makes it web-based, easing employee access to the tool while enabling multiple people to work on a mass layoff, three sources said. It also allows for the upload of employee data for analysis, freeing HR workers from having to manually input personal records of possible targets for dismissal. While speed is a clear advantage, the software could pose other challenges, according to Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. “If you automate bad assumptions into a process, then the scale of the error becomes far greater than an individual could undertake,” Moynihan said. “It won’t necessarily help them to make better decisions and it won’t make those decisions more popular,” Moynihan added. The President’s drive to downsize and reshape the government already has led to the gutting of entire agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to protect Americans from financial abuses. The government overhaul has led to numerous lawsuits that seek to block the The President administration from moving forward with some of the planned dismissals. —Alexandra Alper, Reuters View the full article

Owl Labs, the first company to build AI-powered, 360-degree video conferencing solutions for hybrid organizations, today released new survey data that offers a look at the state of the workplace for the first half of 2025. Surveying more than 1,000 full-time knowledge workers across the United States, the data provides a pulse check on how AI is shaping our day to day office life, a look at the Gen Z worker, and much more. View the full article

Coding websites was my personal Everest in college, when I first started to learn WordPress to help my dad build his domain portfolio. He had registered thousands of domains while flipping through the dictionary in the early ‘90s, and if I had AI capabilities back then, I’d be retired by now. Alas, we’re finally living the future. Last week, I individually built 12 landing pages in two days using Cursor, an AI-powered code editor that allows you to generate and edit landing pages using simple prompts, no hand-coding required. What used to take me a marketing manager, copywriter, designer, developer, and weeks of production, was suddenly handled in a fraction of the time by a single expert within one platform. Wielding this “AI developer” felt like unlocking a coding superpower overnight, but I certainly had a few moments of rage while learning alongside my Fractl co-founder and AI mentor, Kristin Tynski. My biggest learning curve? Understanding that Cursor is like managing an extremely talented but overly enthusiastic junior developer, prone to scope creep and mistakes if you’re not managing it closely. After 18 years in this industry and several weeks of Cursor lessons, I have no doubt that vibe coding is the future of web development. What is vibe coding? Vibe coding is an AI-driven approach where users give high-level instructions, and the AI generates the code. Instead of writing every line of code manually, users guide the AI through prompts and feedback, allowing for faster and more accessible web development. To give you a leg up, I’ve distilled my most essential learnings into our top tips for setting up an effective AI development workflow. 1. Invest in a robust training library The first step in building my landing pages was developing a solid resource library that Cursor could learn from and draw on to assemble my content. To start, I created a desktop folder with the following resources: An HTML file of the landing page template I wanted it to replicate (including style.css). Image files of Fractl Agents in action that I wanted to feature on each page. A CSV that included the name of each agent and a summary of its core functionality. Our brand style guide with HEX colors. An expert persona I wanted it to emulate when writing. Always consider the resources that would make the foundation for any marketing manager to complete a similar project with your developer. Remember, the file nomenclature you use and your project/folder/file organization are paramount to your success. This is because the models don’t only understand context from the files themselves, but from the naming system and overall hierarchy of your project/folders/files. For example, anytime I took a screenshot of our internal tool, I followed a similar nomenclature so that Cursor could match the images to the associated landing page later: It’s also important to have the proper file hierarchy, since Cursor will rely on a “Cursor Training” folder for certain tasks, but other files need to have top-level nesting for it to reference when coding: Make sure you organize this well from the start. Have the AI continue organizing things with regular refinements to avoid clutter, confusing or conflicting filenames, or other inconsistencies that might make the AI assume something is wrong. 2. Choose your AI ‘developer’ wisely Cursor lets you choose from a library of AI models. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and can dramatically affect your outcomes. In general, the latest Gemini and GPT models are among the most creative and powerful LLMs on the market. However, they’re also prone to: Scope creep. Taking creative liberties. Adding unrequested features that can derail your progress if you aren’t careful. The key is to pick your AI developer based on the task at hand. Don’t be afraid to switch models at various points in your project based on the type of creative problem solving or strict adherence you’re looking for. When it comes to vibe coding in Cursor, these are a few of our favorite models to rely on: o4-mini: Best at planning and developing the project framework. GPT-4.1: Best at writing new code. Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Best at editing complex code within Cursor. Gemini 2.5 Pro: Best all-around model, and it’s free. (Note: This is very subject to change as new models are released every few weeks.) If you’re unsure which model to use, Cursor offers a handy auto-select feature. It selects the best model for the task, given the context: One of Cursor’s standout advantages is its ability to work with very large context windows, if you’re using the right model. In plain English, a “context window” is the amount of information the AI can hold in its “mind” at once. And with certain models, Cursor can handle a lot. For instance, the Gemini 2.5 Pro Max model boasts a staggering 2.5 million tokens of context capacity, roughly 25 times more than even the most generous mainstream models available elsewhere (at the moment). Why does this matter for a marketer building a site? It means you could feed huge amounts of information into Cursor, and it can consider all of it when generating output. You can load your entire 30-page website’s content and code structure into the prompt and ask for a consistent update across all pages in one go. You might also include extensive style guides, competitor pages, or a massive spreadsheet of product data, and the model can take it all into account. Not every model has this super memory, so you’ll need to understand the context windows right out of the gate: Depending on your budget, you’ll also want to understand the cost of each model in Cursor. Some are free and others are paid, though generally these costs are minimal: Just because you start with one model doesn’t mean you need to finish with it. A pro move is to collaborate between different models throughout your project to get the best of each. For example, you might use Claude to outline the initial project framework because it is disciplined and adheres to your instructions. Once the basic page is laid out, switch to GPT-4.5 or Gemini to refine the creative details, improve the copy, or optimize the code for performance. Conversely, you might have a super smart model draft a complex page structure and then run a cleanup pass with a more literal model to ensure it didn’t hallucinate any extras. Think of this multi-model strategy as your secret sauce for building an AI team with diverse skills, that collaborates and cross-checks to deliver the highest quality output. 3. Turn your project into a step-by-step checklist of goals Even AI can get overwhelmed by a big project. Breaking your workflow into a checklist of bite-sized tasks can help you ensure that Cursor: Understands the project and stays on track. Follows a structured framework to review and validate its work. When you’re ready to get started, ask Cursor to help outline the project: “Let’s map this out. My goal is to [brief project description]. Can you create a detailed, succinct checklist of tasks to help guide you through this project from start to finish? Prioritize which tasks you’ll tackle first, and highlight any dependencies you need from me.” Through this process, Cursor often suggests additional steps (e.g., adding JavaScript for XYZ), which is a supportive type of scope creep that you can approve or adjust from the get-go. But once your checklist is complete and you’re ready to get started, require strict adherence from then on: “Please proceed systematically with the first task on our checklist. Check your own work and prove you did it correctly and completely with a checklist. Update our checklist as you go.” By following a checklist workflow, Cursor treats each item in the checklist as an individual task that needs to be accomplished before proceeding. This will: Give you easy review checkpoints to assess the work quality before moving forward. Keep everyone organized on what’s done and what comes next. Cursor might list out the sub-tasks, which lets you see whether something was missed. By reviewing these checklists, you’ll immediately catch any errors while treating the AI like its own project manager, who can help address the issues as they crop up: This stepwise method ensures that the AI focuses on your mission, versus using YOLO mode and letting the AI go wild, which isn’t recommended for beginners. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. 4. Use prompts that reinforce boundaries and prevent scope creep Once you have your training folder set up, your model selected, and your checklist prepared, you’re ready to get started. Ensure you’re importing your entire “context window” (project folder) within every single prompt, so Cursor has all of the relevant information it needs to learn and stay on task: Remember, when working with an enthusiastic AI, it’s critical you set frequent boundaries to limit the guesswork and its “creative freedom.” These types of prompts give your AI assistant guardrails and should be used every single time you give it a new task: “Please proceed carefully and dilligently, stay in scope and on task.” “Please continue systematically. Do not go outside the scope of what I’m asking for.” “Do not make sweeping changes beyond what I’ve directed.” Phrases like “proceed systematically” are more than just fluff. They’re directives that shape the AI’s behavior to be more methodical, leading to better outcomes. Ultimately, using these types of prompts prevents the model from refactoring your entire site’s code when you only requested a new CTA button. The key takeaway: clearly outline the scope at the start of your project and reiterate your boundaries in every prompt to keep Cursor laser-focused on the task at hand. This will save you countless hours reverting surprise edits. 5. Review changes before you commit Even though you may not be coding by hand, you should still keep a developer’s eye on the changes Cursor is proposing, especially deletions. Cursor’s interface will highlight new code in green and removed code in red if you’re editing existing files. As a rule of thumb, if you notice a large red number (code deletions) alongside a much smaller green number (code additions), it’s worth pausing to investigate. This could be a sign that the AI decided to rip out a huge chunk of your existing code or content. Maybe it’s justified removing duplicate CSS, for example, but it could also be a mistake like deleting an entire section that it “thought” wasn’t needed. Don’t blindly hit accept on a massive overhaul. Ask Cursor why it’s deleting so much: “Explain why these deletions are necessary.” This puts the AI on the spot to justify its choices. Often, this step will either reassure you that the deletions were harmless cleanup, or reveal a misunderstanding. Remember, you’re the editor-in-chief here. It’s easier to catch a potential disaster before hitting the “accept” button. Fortunately, worst case scenario, you can always go back and easily “Restore Checkpoint” to revert your project to the last working file if all hell breaks loose from any specific change: 6. Make a .MDC file of rules to avoid common pitfalls By integrating a solid .mdc file (“Memory Data Configuration”), you can build a smarter, more consistent Cursor assistant that: Remembers your preferences. Follows your rules. Saves you from repetitive course correcting. Fortunately, the Cline Memory Bank provides a preformatted collection of markdown files to get you started, comprised of several key files: projectbrief.md: Outlines the project’s goals and scope. productContext.md: Details the business and user perspectives. systemPatterns.md: Describes the system architecture and design decisions. techContext.md: Lists the development environment and technical stack. activeContext.md: Captures the current state of development. progress.md: Tracks project status and changes over time. As you master Cursor and complete projects, you can use your own experience and niche projects to identify the common blind spots in your specific use cases: Then, task Cursor with helping you create or refine a new .mdc file to help you avoid similar mistakes on future projects: While anecdotal, we’ve found that getting frustrated with these recurring issues results in the model matching your vibe and performing more poorly, so setting up these files helps to keep everyone more organized, happy, and motivated. 7. The future of web development Success with Cursor, or any AI coding assistant, depends on structure, boundaries, and curiosity. Structure, in the form of well-organized files, thoughtful prompts, and methodical workflows. Boundaries, to keep the AI on track and prevent it from “helping” too much. And curiosity, because the more you explore its capabilities, the more you’ll realize what’s possible. While Cursor feels like a magical, all-powerful AI coding tool, like any AI interface, it requires skill, patience, and a growth mindset to use effectively. Mastering Cursor means mastering collaboration: Between you and the AI. Between different models with different strengths. Between the systems you build today and the smarter ones you’ll need to learn when they’re released tomorrow. We’re standing at the edge of a massive shift in how websites, and most digital products, will be built. Vibe coding isn’t a gimmick, it’s the new development workflow standard that will subsume all other workflows, at least digital ones. Those who lean in, experiment, and adapt will find themselves not just more productive but creatively unleashed. Whether you’re a non-technical marketer or a seasoned dev, AI-assisted coding is here to stay, and those who embrace it will outpace those who don’t. View the full article

Monetary Policy Committee split three ways over decisionView the full article

The price of Bitcoin is nearing the psychologically important price point of $100,000 this morning—a level the cryptocurrency has not seen since early February. As of the time of this writing, one Bitcoin is currently trading at over $99,800. That’s up nearly 3% in the last 24 hours and only $10,000 lower than the all-time high that the token reached earlier this year. Here’s what you need to know about Bitcoin’s most recent approach to six figures. Bitcoin nears $100,000—again Bitcoin is currently trading at less than $200 shy of $100,000 per coin as of the time of this writing. The cryptocurrency king hasn’t traded at levels this high since early February, and it has not surpassed the $100,000 mark since the first few days of that month. While a $100,000 price point of Bitcoin doesn’t have any underlying meaning on a fundamentals level, the passing of the six-figure barrier again will likely signal an important psychological threshold in many investors’ minds. In late January, just a day before President The President was sworn in for his second term, Bitcoin traded at an all-time high of over $109,114 per coin. The coin had first crossed the $100,000 threshold back in December 2024, shortly after then-president-elect The President announced the crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair. Atkins’s appointment was seen as signaling a much more friendly regulatory environment with the new administration. In the days leading up to The President’s inauguration, Bitcoin continued to rise. But then came The President’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April—and along with the crash of global stock markets, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed too. Last month, Bitcoin was trading at less than $75,000 per coin. Today’s nearly $100,000 price, then, marks a staggering turnaround for Bitcoin from just over 30 days ago. It is up over 30% in the past month and up over 4% in the past five days alone, with the price of the digital asset up nearly 3% in just the last 24 hours. But what is the reason for Bitcoin’s flirtation with the $100,000 mark today? Trade deals. Hopes of trade deals boost Bitcoin Investing.com notes that Bitcoin’s rise to nearly $100,000 in the past 24 hours can be attributed to one main factor: trade deal optimism. Yesterday, President The President teased on Truth Social that today there would be a “big news conference” detailing a “major trade deal” with a “big” country. It was the president’s first firm sign that one of his many promised trade deals was actually imminent. If the United States actually starts signing trade deals with other nations, investors will likely feel less uncomfortable about the state of the global economy and the economic uncertainty that The President’s tariffs have unleashed within America’s borders and across the world. Then, early today, The President took to Truth Social to follow up on his earlier post, announcing that the U.S. has entered into a “full and comprehensive” agreement with the United Kingdom. While The President didn’t specify that it was a trade agreement, that is the most likely type of agreement he is talking about. The president added, “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!” Details of the U.S.-U.K. agreement are expected to be announced at a press conference at 10 a.m. ET today, reports CNBC. Anticipation of the U.S.-U.K. news further buoyed earlier optimism that, after nearly a month of uncertainty, major countries were closer than ever to working out new economic frameworks with the United States. Other cryptocurrencies are also on the rise Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency to rise on trade deal optimism. As of the time of this writing, other major coins are also up, including: Ethereum: up 6.2% XRP: up 3.1% Solana: up 4.2% Meme coins are also up, including: Dogecoin: up 5.8% Shiba Inu: up 4.7% Of course, it’s worth noting that cryptocurrencies are more volatile than more traditional assets, so there’s no guarantee that Bitcoin will indeed cross the $100,000 threshold again. However, today’s move closer to that mark will surely please jittery investors who have been forced to watch the crypto king decline by tens of thousands of dollars over the past several months. View the full article

Key Takeaways Importance of a Publishing Schedule: A well-structured social media publishing schedule saves time, ensures consistency, and builds trust with your audience. Key Components: Essential elements include a content calendar, publishing frequency, content diversity, platform consideration, and performance analysis. Audience Understanding: Tailor your content based on audience demographics and preferences to enhance engagement and community interaction. Effective Tools: Utilize scheduling tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, and Sprinklr to streamline your workflow, automate posting, and optimize engagement. Measure Success: Analyze engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments to refine your strategy and adjust your publishing schedule for better performance. Automation Benefits: Automating your posts enhances productivity, ensures a consistent online presence, and increases organic reach by targeting peak engagement times. In today’s fast-paced digital world, a well-planned social media publishing schedule can make all the difference. You might be wondering how to keep your audience engaged while juggling multiple platforms. A strategic approach not only boosts your visibility but also helps you maintain consistency, which is key to building trust with your followers. Crafting a social media schedule tailored to your brand’s needs can save you time and enhance your overall effectiveness. By understanding peak engagement times and aligning your content with your audience’s preferences, you can maximize your reach. Let’s dive into the essentials of creating a successful social media publishing schedule that keeps your brand at the forefront of your audience’s minds. Understanding Social Media Publishing Schedule A social media publishing schedule is essential for managing your online presence effectively. You create a blueprint that boosts brand awareness and enhances your social media strategy by planning your posts in advance. Importance of a Publishing Schedule A well-structured publishing schedule saves time and ensures consistency, which is crucial for small business social media growth. You can maximize your audience targeting and improve engagement rates by aligning your content with peak user activity on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Maintaining a regular posting routine builds trust with your followers and showcases your brand voice, ultimately fostering customer interaction and loyalty. Key Components of a Publishing Schedule A successful publishing schedule includes several key components: Content Calendar: A visual outline of your posts helps streamline content creation and keeps your social media campaigns organized. Publishing Frequency: Establishing how often you’ll share posts ensures your brand remains visible without overwhelming your audience with excess content. Content Types: Diversifying between video content, user-generated content, and storytelling approaches enhances engagement and keeps your audience interested. Platform Consideration: Different social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram require tailored strategies based on their unique algorithms and user behaviors. Performance Analysis: Regularly review social media analytics to evaluate your performance and adjust your strategy based on engagement metrics, feedback, and trends. Implementing these components within your publishing schedule leads to optimized social media posts that resonate with followers and drive organic growth on your chosen platforms. Strategies for Creating an Effective Schedule Creating an effective social media publishing schedule involves strategic planning to maximize your brand’s outreach. You can boost brand awareness and foster social media engagement by employing targeted strategies. Identifying Your Target Audience Understanding your target audience is crucial for small business social media success. You can analyze demographics, interests, and behaviors to tailor content that resonates with them. Utilize social media analytics tools to gather data about your audience’s preferences and online activity. Conduct surveys or polls to collect customer feedback, which helps refine your content strategy. Engaging your audience through storytelling or user-generated content enhances community interaction, fostering loyalty among your social media followers. Choosing the Right Platforms Select social media platforms that align with your audience’s preferences and your business goals. For instance, Facebook is excellent for community building through groups, while Instagram excels in visual storytelling with posts and stories. Twitter is ideal for real-time interactions and quick updates. LinkedIn serves professional networking, making it suitable for B2B connections. TikTok for business can help you tap into younger demographics with engaging video content. Understanding where your audience spends their time allows you to optimize your social media strategy effectively, ensuring maximum engagement and organic growth. Tools for Managing Your Social Media Schedule Managing a social media publishing schedule requires tools that enhance organization, consistency, and engagement. Several popular scheduling tools streamline your workflow and ensure your brand maintains a strong online presence. Popular Scheduling Tools Hootsuite: Hootsuite allows you to plan and queue content across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can specify the date and time for each post, making it easier for small businesses to maintain brand consistency and optimize engagement. Buffer: Buffer also enables scheduling of posts in advance. It helps you maintain a consistent publishing schedule while providing insights into the performance of your social media campaigns. Tracking performance can boost your organic reach and overall growth. Sprout Social: Sprout Social offers advanced features, including Optimal Send Times and ViralPost®. By utilizing AI, it analyzes audience engagement patterns to determine the best posting times for your brand, maximizing social media engagement. Sprinklr: Sprinklr provides tools to design a social media posting schedule effectively. It analyzes audience behavior and automates posting, ensuring your content reaches users when they are most active, enhancing your brand awareness. Benefits of Automation Automation saves time and improves efficiency for small businesses. Scheduling posts in advance allows you to focus on content creation and community management rather than constant posting. Consistent Presence: Regularly scheduled posts keep your audience engaged and informed about your brand, resulting in higher engagement rates. Enhanced Productivity: Automation tools reduce the workload, allowing you to analyze social media analytics, gather customer feedback, and create buzz around your brand without overwhelming yourself. Increased Reach: Automated tools help publish content at peak times based on user behavior, which can lead to better organic growth. Utilizing these tools and automation techniques enables your small business to navigate the complexities of social media marketing effectively, ensuring consistent interaction with your audience while building a solid brand voice. Measuring the Success of Your Schedule Measuring the success of your social media publishing schedule is essential for effective social media marketing. Focusing on key metrics helps improve engagement rates and enhances brand awareness. Analyzing Engagement Metrics Engagement metrics provide insights into how your audience interacts with your social media posts. Key metrics include likes, shares, comments, and clicks. Tracking these allows you to determine which content resonates with your audience. Tools such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite help monitor these metrics, offering analytics that reveal peak engagement times. Regularly reviewing engagement data can guide your content creation and ensure your posts align with current social media trends. For small businesses, understanding these metrics can significantly boost organic reach and community interaction. Adjusting Your Schedule Based on Insights Adjusting your publishing schedule based on insights gathered from analytics is critical for refining your social media strategy. If data shows that specific formats—like video content or Instagram stories—drive higher engagement, consider prioritizing these in your schedule. If certain times yield better results, shift your posting accordingly. Utilize customer feedback collected through surveys or comments to tailor your content further. Engaging with your audience through Facebook groups or TikTok for business can also enhance your brand voice. By optimizing your posting schedule based on data, you effectively improve your social media growth and maximize your online presence. Conclusion A well-crafted social media publishing schedule is essential for elevating your brand’s online presence. By tailoring your approach to your audience’s preferences and behaviors you can enhance engagement and build lasting trust. Utilizing scheduling tools streamlines your efforts and allows you to focus on creating impactful content. Regularly analyzing performance metrics helps refine your strategy ensuring you’re always in tune with your audience’s needs. Embrace the power of a strategic publishing schedule and watch your social media efforts transform into a powerful growth engine for your business. Frequently Asked Questions What is a social media publishing schedule? A social media publishing schedule is a strategic plan that organizes when and what content will be posted on social media platforms. It helps brands maintain consistency, improve visibility, and engage their audience effectively. Why is a social media schedule important? A well-planned social media schedule enhances brand awareness, saves time, and aligns content with audience preferences. It is crucial for building trust with followers and ensuring sustained engagement over time. How can I tailor my social media schedule? Tailoring your schedule involves analyzing your target audience, choosing appropriate platforms, and aligning content with peak engagement times. Use tools and analytics to refine your strategy based on audience insights. What are key components of a successful social media schedule? Key components include a content calendar, established publishing frequency, diverse content types, platform-specific strategies, and performance analysis. Together, these elements enhance the overall effectiveness of your social media presence. Which tools can help manage a social media schedule? Popular tools for managing schedules include Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, and Sprinklr. These tools allow users to automate posting, track performance, and analyze audience behavior across multiple platforms. How do I measure the success of my social media schedule? Success can be measured through key engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks. Tools like Sprout Social and Hootsuite can help track these metrics for better insights. What role does audience feedback play in a social media schedule? Audience feedback is essential for refining your content strategy. By gathering insights through surveys and direct interactions, you can tailor your schedule to better meet the needs and preferences of your followers. Why should small businesses prioritize a social media publishing schedule? For small businesses, a social media publishing schedule maximizes audience targeting, improves engagement rates, and boosts brand visibility. This strategic approach is vital for driving growth and establishing a strong online presence. Image Via Envato This article, "Optimize Your Social Media Publishing Schedule for Maximum Engagement and Growth" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The alphabet soup of TV terminology is overwhelming enough, but you might have seen a particularly confusing term pop up lately: mini-LED. LEDs are already tiny, so what exactly could the "mini" here even mean? It turns out, quite a lot, and that distinction can mean the difference between washed out colors and a more vivid display. The thing is, almost every TV you see is technically some kind of LED display. Most use bright white LEDs as a backlight, which shines through an LCD matrix and color filter to produce a coherent image. (The exception is OLED, which lights up each pixel individually and thus doesn't require a backlight.) Mini-LEDs are an improvement over the backlight part of that process. Traditionally, the backlight on most LCD TVs have been either uniform or only divided into a few sub-zones. Mini-LEDs are much smaller back lights that can be individually controlled, allowing your TV to be bright in spots where it needs to be bright, and dark where it needs to be dark. How do LED displays work?Before we get to mini-LEDs, let's break down how most LCD displays work a little further. When manufacturers advertise a display as an "LED TV," this is usually referring to the backlight and, well, LED is kind of a given there. However, there are a couple different types of backlights: Edge-lit backlighting: In this arrangement, LEDs are placed in an array along the outside edge of the screen, which then shine through light guides that more evenly distribute the light across the display. This can be more cost-effective, but it can sometimes lead to light bleed around the edges, or duller areas in the middle of the screen. Full array backlighting: Alternatively, some manufacturers will create a grid of LEDs that fill the area of the display. This leads to more even lighting across the picture. More importantly, those LEDs can usually be controlled individually, allowing for local dimming (more on that below). These backlights shine white light (or blue, in the case of quantum dot displays) that is then dimmed or blocked by an LCD matrix. This layer uses tiny liquid crystals to block or allow light to pass through, which then passes through either a red, green, or blue filter. By controlling how much light goes through each of these filters (or "subpixels"), the TV can control what color each pixel will be. There's just one tiny problem with this: LCDs can't perfectly block all of the light that the backlight emits. This is why, even when your LCD screen is displaying all black, it still looks "on." Some light is always making its way through. In order to achieve darker blacks, you need another technique. How does local dimming work?"Local dimming" refers to a range of techniques for LED-backed displays that essentially boils down to the same thing: dimming or disabling backlights where you don't need them. This means less light bleeding through, resulting in darker black levels, and more contrast with the brighter parts of the screen. The only hitch is, there are quite literally millions more pixels in an LCD display than there are individual backlights. Fewer backlights means less resolution to distinguish between bright and dark zones. It also means you can get what's called a "bloom effect" when a bright object seems to glow more than it should. This is caused when the backlight bleeds through in the dark pixels around a bright object. Every backlight creates a dimming "zone" and the more zones you have the better. For most LED-lit TVs, this can range from a couple dozen to a few hundred. However, mini-LED tech allows TVs to crank that number up to the thousands. What makes mini-LED displays different?Put simply, in a mini-LED display, the LEDs are, well, mini. That's it. To be more specific, the term is defined as any display where the backlight LED diodes are no larger than 0.2 mm. They can be smaller than that, but any larger and they can't (or at least shouldn't) be called "mini-LED" anymore. When they're packed that small, you can fit a lot more LEDs into the same space. This Sony 65-inch Bravia Mini-LED TV, for example, has over 1,500 local dimming zones. That means that each LED backlight only has to light up a little over one square inch. This provides a lot more flexibility to create contrast between the light and dark parts of the image. Why would you want mini-LED over OLED?It does seem a little weird, right? OLED displays light up every single pixel individually, so you're only using the pixels you need. Why this rigmarole with a local dimming array? In part, it's because OLED displays have a higher susceptibility to burn in. The organic LED elements can degrade in ways that leave ghosting of images that are frequently on screen, such as menus, taskbars, or lower-thirds. This isn't an issue for typical LED-lit displays, where the LCD layer is made of sturdier, inorganic materials. LED and mini-LED panels can also get a lot brighter than OLED displays. This makes them better suited for TVs that might sit in your living room, near a lot of sunny windows. While OLED TVs exist and they're great, they can struggle to compete with the light in bright rooms, making them better suited to night-time viewing or dimly lit rooms. View the full article

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The United States and Britain are expected to announce a trade deal on Thursday that will lower the burden of President Donald The President’s sweeping tariffs and deliver a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The President posted on his Truth Social platform that a deal due to be announced at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) will be a “full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.” It’s the first bilateral trade deal announced since The President began slapping tariffs on U.S. trading partners. He said: “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!” Starmer’s office said the prime minister would give an “update” about U.S. trade talks later Thursday. “As you know, talks with the U.S. have been ongoing and you’ll hear more from me about that later today.” Starmer said at a defense conference in London. The agreement is likely to fall short of a full free trade deal, but will provide tariff relief to certain sectors. The president has imposed a 10% tax on imports from Britain, as well as 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum on the premise that doing so would foster more factory jobs domestically. A major goal of British negotiators has been to reduce or lift the import tax on U.K. cars and steel. The U.S. is the largest destination for British cars, accounting for more than a quarter of U.K. auto exports in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. Britain has also sought tariff exemptions for pharmaceuticals, while the U.S. wants greater access to the British market for agriculture products. Starmer’s government has said it won’t lower U.K. food standards to allow in chlorine-rinsed American chicken or hormone-treated beef. The British government will see a deal it as a vindication of Starmer’s emollient approach to The President, which has avoided direct confrontation or criticism. Unlike the European Union, Britain did not announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to The President’s import taxes. A trade deal with the United Kingdom would be symbolically important, and a relief for British exporters. But an agreement would do little to address The President’s core concern about persistent trade deficits that prompted him to impose import taxes on countries around the world. The U.S. ran a $11.9 billion trade surplus in goods with the U.K. last year, according to the Census Bureau. The $68 billion in goods that the U.S. imported from the U.K. last year accounted for just 2% of all goods imported into the country. The U.S. is much more important to the U.K. economy. It was Britain’s biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain’s exports to the U.S. are services rather than goods. The President has shown a desire to strike a trade agreement with the U.K. since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union. Yet as recently as Tuesday, The President showed no awareness of the possible terms of the deal when asked about its possibility. “They’re offering us concessions?” The President told reporters. “I hope so… They do want to make a deal very badly.” The President has previously said that his leverage in talks would be U.S. consumers, but he appeared to suggest that the U.K. would also start buying more American-made goods. “I think that the United Kingdom, like every other country, they want to … go shopping in the United States of America,” he said. A trade deal with the U.S. is one of several that Starmer’s government is seeking to strike. On Tuesday, Britain and India announced a trade after three years of negotiations. The U.K. is also trying to lift some of the barriers to trade with the EU imposed when Britain left the bloc in 2020. Jill Lawless reported from London. Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington. —Zeke Miller and Jill Lawless, Associated Press View the full article

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For some, spooky season begins sometime in late August—when Target puts out the animatronic skeletons and ghost projectors, and when every vacant retail space is possessed by a Spirit Halloween. For others, it's after Labor Day. For yet another subset, spooky season runs year-round. A quick check of the calendar reveals that at least one of those criteria have been met, which means it's time to queue up something with chilling vibes—even if the sun is shining. Talk to Me (2022) A group of teens comes across an embalmed hand and realize that they can use it to conjure spirits, which is all tremendous fun until it most assuredly isn't. While there are elements of "elevated" horror here in the film's suggestion that grief and trauma are pretty much the real gateways to hell, Talk to Me is also packed with old-school thrills and a general freakiness that we love to see. You can stream Talk to Me here. Psycho (1960) What could possibly be scary about sweet Norman Bates, a boy whose best friend is, after all, his mother? Alfred Hitchcock's film shocked audiences back in 1960, and still stands as a high-water mark in slasher cinema, with masterful twists and shifts in perspective that keep Psycho thrilling even after decades and endless imitators. Anthony Perkins makes you kinda cheer for Norman, even after you're wise to the movie's climactic reveal. You can stream Psycho here. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Of the many (many, many) Scream imitators that came out post-1996, I Know What You Did Last Summer was the most effective (it was also written by Kevin Williamson), and has proven to be the one with the most staying power—the original sequels were not so much, but there's a fair bit of anticipation around a new movie coming this summer. With the '90s super-group cast of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr., Last Summer gets off on the right foot with a smart, simple premise: a group of kids accidentally hit someone while driving their car, but, as suggested by the title, they're unable to put that event behind them. You can stream Last Summer here. Scream VI (2023) While the venerable franchise's future is looking increasingly rocky (the upcoming sequel lost several actors, a director, and a lot of good will on its way to theaters), Scream came back in a big way in 2022 with a wildly successful sequel/reboot from Radio Silence. Scream VI moves the action out of small-town Woodsboro, California for the first time, sending our previous film's survivors off to New York City, and without decades-long-lead Neve Campbell. No worries, though: Ghostface is as brutal and funny as ever in a film full of impressive set pieces and with a central mystery that's as well-constructed as any in the series (meaning that it mostly makes sense). The big finale is probably the most elaborate of the series. You can stream Scream VI here. Train to Busan (2016) Before Parasite, Yeon Sang-ho’s film was, perhaps, the biggest South Korean film to break into the American market, even if some of the subtext gets lost stateside (Busan was a haven for refugees during the Korean War). The 2016 film follows Seok-woo, a workaholic divorced dad who comes to feel that he’s running out of time to be the father he ought to be for his daughter Su-an. He has no idea how right he is. The train trip he plans for them as bonding time becomes something much more desperate when a zombie-infected woman hops aboard just before departure. What follows is one of the best action-horror movies of the past decade, but also a surprisingly moving story about a father and daughter reconnecting at the end of the world, as well as one that doesn't shy away from some pretty pointed critiques of modern capitalism. You can stream Train to Busan here. Compliance (2012) No need for zombies, demons, or ghosts here: just plain old humans being horrifying without any supernatural help. And this one's based on a true story, replacing a real-life McDonalds with the fictional "ChickWich." Becky (Dreama Walker) is working her shift at the fast-food restaurant when she's called into the office—it seems that an "Officer Daniels" (Pat Healy) is on the phone, and that Becky matches the description of a woman the police are looking for regarding a series of thefts. Manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) first questions Becky and then, under instructions from the man on the phone, strip searches the young woman. Things get far worse from there. You can stream Compliance here. The Deliverance (2024) Any cheapo movie can be weird, but with big name talent, a weird movie can really enter the cultural conversation—to whit, The Deliverance is helmed by Precious/The Butler director Lee Daniels, and stars Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo'Nique, and Omar Epps. And the discourse here? It's mostly centered around the age-old question: What the fuck did I just watch? Based on a true story (which: sure), it stars Day as a struggling single mom with a prison record who is raising three kids by herself while paying for cancer treatments for her mom (Glenn Close). It hits many typical exorcism-movie beats, but by the time you get to EGOT nominee Close sprouting fangs and screaming about what body parts she can smell from across the room, it's clear we've been in high-camp territory all along. You can stream The Deliverance here. Under Paris (2024) You might want to rethink those Paris travel plans after this one. This is an aggressively fun (and very French) update on Jaws that sees a killer mako shark loose, first in the Seine and later in the famous catacombs. An Olympic qualifying event is about to occur in the city, which, of course, the mayor won't call off in spite of the growing body count. There's some stuff here about environmental catastrophe being the cause, but mostly it's just a bone-chomping good time. You can stream Under Paris here. Thanksgiving (2023) Eli Roth dropped his first straight-up horror movie since 2013's The Green Inferno in this funny but bleak satire. When an unruly mob storms a Walmart (ahem: "RightMart") on Black Friday, violence and bloodshed ensue, leading one of the victims of the incident to seek revenge. Patrick Dempsey stars in this bit of wild and gory holiday fun. You can stream Thanksgiving here. Blood Red Sky (2021) German widow Nadja is taking a flight to New York with her kid, Elias. She seems sick—we and her fellow passengers are meant to think that she has cancer, which makes her an easy mark for the terrorist hijackers who board the plane and shoot her out of pique. Big mistake. The vampires-on-a-plane high concept at work could have been silly, but at no point does the movie forget that we're seated for gory bloodsucking action. You can stream Blood Red Sky here. Nightbooks (2021) So, Nightbooks is technically for kids, and therefore might not provide quite the volume of scares that a grown-up horror audience might be hoping for. That being said: There are some legit frights here, frankly a little beyond what you’d expect from a kids’ movie. It’s the old story of kids kidnapped by a witch (Krysten Ritter), with the added twist that one of the kidnapped, Alex (Winslow Fegley) writes scary stories, and has to tell one each night that he’s trapped in the witch’s apartment in order to stay alive. There’s imagery here to creep out just about anybody. You can stream Nightbooks here. Bone Tomahawk (2015) What's that? You want even more Patrick Wilson in your horror movies? He joins this modern cult classic, led by Kurt Russell as Sheriff Franklin Hunt, in charge of a posse to rescue a young woman from a group of inbred cannibals in the old west. The "Weird" Western, in which we encounter ghosts, aliens, or, in this case, cannibals in the old west, is a venerable genre in literature, but rarely if ever done so well on the screen. This is old west horror done right. You can stream Bone Tomahawk here. Apostle (2018) If you’re familiar with the wild tower action spectacle The Raid, you might have some sense of the energy that director Gareth Evans brings to Apostle’s second half, even if the styles are very different. This one’s pure folk horror, with nods to The Wicker Man: Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Guest) plays Thomas Richardson, a now-faithless missionary who returns home to discover that his sister has been kidnapped by a religious cult on a remote Welsh island. What starts out feeling a bit like a sleepy period drama evolves into a truly wild gorefest before it’s done. You can stream Apostle here. His House (2020) As fraught (and snooty) as the term “elevated horror” has become, it’s good to remember that a movie can have deep emotional resonance and a social conscience, all without sacrificing the haunted-house chills. Here, Bol and Rial (Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku), with their daughter Nyagak, flee war-torn Sudan to find refuge in a quiet English town, only to find that there’s evil waiting there for them. You can stream His House here. Gerald’s Game (2017) Gerald’s Game, from the 1992 Stephen King novel, never seemed terribly filmable. The story is set entirely in an isolated cabin in the woods, and involves a single immobilized character for much of its page count. Enter director Mike Flanagan—who, in addition to his successful miniseries projects (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club), did the impossible in crafting a killer adaptation of King’s lesser-loved Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. Carla Gugino stars as a married woman trapped when her husband, played by Bruce Greenwood, dies after having handcuffed her to the bed. Increasingly delirious, she’s forced to face not only her past trauma, but the hungry dog that keeps sniffing around. You can stream Gerald’s Game here. Creep (2014) One of the better (maybe one of the best) found footage-style films of recent years, Creep takes place within the camera of Aaron (Patrick Brice, who also directed) and stars Mark Duplass (The Morning Show) as a dying man who hires the videographer to document his final days for his unborn son. The movie builds its tension around, initially, Aaron’s excessive friendliness—there are few better ways to create an atmosphere of unease than by offering up a character who’s a little too nice. Before long, the guy’s effusiveness curdles into an unpredictability that gets, well, creepier and creepier. You can stream Creep here. The Platform (2019) The metaphor might seem a little heavy-handed—but modern life has begun to teach us that even the direst of dystopian sci-fi is just around the corner. The titular platform is a large tower, euphemistically referred to as the “Vertical Self-Management Center,” in which food is delivered via a shaft that stops on each floor from the top down: those near the top get to eat their fill; those at the bottom get scraps. The Spanish-language thriller is wildly violent, but inventive, and it’s not as if real-life capitalism is particularly subtle in its deprivations. You can stream The Platform here. Under the Shadow (2016) In Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, a woman estranged from her husband is forced to protect her child from mysterious supernatural forces as the bombs continue to fall. Writer/director Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow invokes the jinn (neither necessarily good nor evil, but potentially threatening) as a way to talk about the strife and turmoil of war and political conflict, as well as about the anxieties of women in oppressive societies. The atmospheric film plays simultaneously as the story of a haunting, and also as one about women and civilians in times of war; each element serves to heighten the other. You can stream Under the Shadow here. The Call (2020) I love a time-travel horror movie (a tiny but venerable genre that includes movies like Timecrimes, Triangle, and Happy Death Day). This one involves Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) visiting her childhood home in 2019, only to discover that an old cordless phone still works (never a good sign), and connects her to Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), living in the house in 1999. The two bond over shared experiences, but things soon go very wrong when Seo-Yeon tells the other young woman about the future, and influences her to make changes. Some events, it seems, are best left alone. Clever and disturbing, with a solid high concept. You can stream The Call here. Cam (2018) Director Daniel Goldhaber (the upcoming How to Blow Up a Pipeline) teamed up with writer Isa Mazzei, who based this Black Mirror-esque story partly on her own memoir. Madeline Brewer (Orange is the New Black) plays online sex worker Alice Ackerman, aka Lola_Lola, who one night discovers there’s another Lola out there—a cam girl who’s identical to Alice in appearance and general vibe, but whose willingness to go further puts her out in front in terms of viewership. It’s a horror movie with a lot to say about the dehumanization of sex workers, with a great central performance from Brewer. You can stream Cam here. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) Girl, yeah you are! A brisk, chilling, and effective gothic horror film starring Ruth Wilson as a live-in nurse who comes to believe that the creaky old house where she works is haunted. This one’s less concerned with immediate shocks and scares than with getting under your skin, but there’s definitely a creepiness here that lingers. Director Osgood Perkins had similar success with The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel. You can stream I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House here. The Block Island Sound (2020) Strange doings are afoot on the title's Block Island, the most obvious being the vast numbers of dead fish that keep washing ashore. Almost as alarming, though, is the behavior of one of the local fishermen, Tom, who keeps waking up in strange places and generally losing time. His daughter Audry (Michaela McManus) works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is sent to investigate the mass fish deaths; she brings along her daughter and reunites with brother Tom (Chris Sheffield) along the way. Together, they discover that no ordinary environmental catastrophe is to blame (I guess it wouldn't be much of a horror movie if it were), as the film blends family drama and the eerie local events as it builds to a pretty chilling climax. You can stream Block Island Sound here. Cargo (2017) With the always-welcome Martin Freeman in the lead, this is, OK, yet another zombie film, but one that still manages to do things a bit differently. An Australian import, this one tweaks the rules so that the infected have just about 48 hours of humanity before they turn, meaning that everyone has a bit of time to contemplate their fates, and maybe even to think about how to make the best use of their time. It’s a more melancholic take on the zombie apocalypse, full of chilling outback atmosphere and some genuine scares. Don't get confused with the 2020 sci-fi movie of the same name, also on Netflix. You can stream Cargo here. Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) We heard you like movies about toys? (Hey Barbie!) Hasbro brings you this sequel to the fairly by-the-numbers 2014 movie based on the company's "let's pretend to talk to the dead" board game. But there's a shocking twist: This one's actually good, or certainly better than it has any right to be, which probably has something to do with the involvement of co-writer and director Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, etc.), who treats this like an actual movie rather than a bit of tie-in marketing. Set in 1967, the movie finds a mom/con artist running a fake medium business out of her home. "Let's add a Ouija board to the proceedings," she thinks. "It'll be fun." Spoiler: it is not fun, at least for her family. But it's a spooky good time for the rest of us. You can stream Origin of Evil here. Dawn of the Dead (2004) Director Zack Snyder commits a bit of cinematic blasphemy in remaking George Romero's brutal and pointedly funny 1978 satire; this one doesn't try for social commentary or consumerist critiques, and that's probably for the best. What we get instead is a sharp, fast-paced, and fairly well-acted zombie action movie. It's brisk and brutal and without much socially redeeming value, but manages to be a bloody good time even still. You can stream Dawn of the Dead here. There's Something in the Barn (2023) A Christmastime horror comedy from Norway that, I'd say, can be enjoyed any time of the year that you're in the mood for holiday fear. An American family is dragged back to their ancestral family farm in rural Gudbrandsdalen, Norway by an overzealous dad. No one else is terribly happy about it until they discover an elf living on the property. At first it seems like a cool thing, having a mythical creature out back—until the family begin ignoring the three simple rules one must always observe in the presence of a barn elf. What starts as a quirky holiday comedy turns into a full-bore gorefest by the final act. You can stream There's Something in the Barn here. Trap (2024) Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a pretty cool dad in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see a very cool Taylor Swift-ish pop star in concert. We quickly learn, though, that Cooper is a hunted serial killer, and that the FBI knows that "The Butcher" will be at the concert, even if they don't know exactly who it is. Of such premises are fun thrillers made, as Cooper has to try to escape the pop concert while somehow making sure his daughter gets to enjoy the show. You can stream Trap here. Verónica (2017) Loosely based on purportedly true events, this import from Spain is all spooky atmosphere and old-school chills. It's the story of a young woman who conjures up evil demons following some ill-conceived Ouija-play. (Seriously: Stop messing with those things). When some friends try to conjure up lost loved ones during a solar eclipse, they wind up making contact with a spirit they weren't expecting. Because of course they do. It's not the most original chiller, but the creepy fundamentals are sound, and there are plenty of solid scares. You can stream Verónica here. Sister Death (2023) If Verónica was your cup of sangria, you can click right over to this sequel (actually a prequel set in 1939), following Sister Narcisa (Aria Bedmar) after she arrives at a Spanish convent. As a child she'd supposedly seen a vision of the Virgin Mary, making her both famous and a bit notorious around the place, which quite naturally is rife with spooky doings in the style of several other nun-related horror-movies of recent years. Sister Death breaks from the habit by being just a bit scarier, and quite a bit smarter in its consideration of all the ways religion can turn people into monsters. You can stream Sister Death here. Hunger (2023) This one isn’t billed as a horror film, but good luck finding a more harrowing psychological thriller on the streamer. Whether it’s The Bear, The Menu, or Triangle of Sadness, some of the most intense dramas on TV and in film are centered around preparing or eating food. Restaurant-related anxiety is deep in the zeitgeist right now, perhaps reflecting our deep understanding that the food is running low, whether we care to acknowledge it or not. Here, Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying plays Ayo, a young woman working in a family noodle shop who finds a mentor in the dictatorial Chef Paul (Nopachai Chaiyanam). It’s worth it, she figures, even as her climb exposes her to a world for which she’s not prepared. You can stream Hunger here. 1922 (2017) Another Stephen King adaptation (this one from a novella) and another reminder that, while they aren’t all winners, there’s still plenty of gold to be mined from the King canon. Here, farmer Thomas Jane convinces his son to help him kill wife and mother Molly Parker (she wants to sell the family farm and move to the big city), leading to a solid example of the one-thing-leads-to-another genre of horror film, wherein the lead character just keeps getting deeper and deeper into a crime with increasingly wild and horrific results. You can stream 1922 here. Watcher (2022) A straightforward premise is impossibly tense under the direction of Chloe Okuno. An American couple moves to Bucharest, and Julia (Maika Monroe) quickly finds herself isolated: She's alone for hours of the day while her husband works and she doesn't speak the language, so has a hard time making friends or even communicating. So it's even more terrifying than it might otherwise be when she starts seeing a man who appears to be following and watching her wherever she goes. You can stream Watcher here. Bird Box (2018)This high-concept thriller might be horror-lite in some regards, but the clever premise generates a ton of tension throughout. The premise here is that, if you see the creatures that have descended upon the world, you die. So Bullock and co. are forced to navigate by sound alone, and the invisible threats are almost certainly more scary than anything Netflix might have visualized. The sequel, Bird Box: Barcelona (also a Netflix original), is somewhat less effective but still entertaining. You can stream Bird Box here. The Ritual (2017) What do you do when one of your best friends is murdered in a botched liquor store robbery? Go to Sweden and tromp around in the woods, obviously! The four friends here do just that in this effective film that blends don’t-get-lost-in-the-woods horror with some genuinely mythological frights that play to the best traditions of folk horror. You can stream The Ritual here. The Babysitter (2017) It’s not terribly original, but that’s kind of the point. In the film, 12-year-ole Cole finds out that his hot babysitter (Samara Weaving) is part of a murderous satanic cult. It’s a bloody, gory, high-energy comedy from director McG (Charlie’s Angels), and one with a really game supporting cast having fun playing with, and against, the usual tropes. The 2020 sequel, Killer Queen, feels like more of the same—but worth a look if you enjoy this one. You can stream The Babysitter here. Calibre (2018) It’s more of a thriller than a straight-up horror movie, but there’s enough of a body count here to qualify, and an ending that goes pretty hard (there are Scottish townies involved, so the folk-horror vibes are well-earned). On a hunting trip in the highlands, two posh and obnoxious friends accidentally kill a child, and then his father. The two men figure they can just cover up the crime and get on with their lives—which, of course, they absolutely cannot. You can stream Calibre here. May the Devil Take You (2018) Indonesia has been a particularly fertile ground for the development of horror movies for a long time, and Netflix has hosted a few recent bangers. This one’s a pretty straight-up story of demonic possession and being very careful what you wish for, involving a man who sells his soul for wealth and success, only to release a demonic presence that brings goopy, gory harm to his loved ones. It might not be the most visually explicit in terms of its body horror, but it’s up there. The 2020 sequel, May the Devil Take You Too, is almost as good. You can stream May the Devil Take You here. Malevolent (2018) It goes off the rails a bit (quite a bit, actually) in the final act, but Florence Pugh (as Angela) gives a great performance of one half of a scammy brother-sister team of ghostbusters in the 1980s. In Scotland. In the course of the movie, Angela discovers that her mom’s supposed ability to communicate with the dead wasn’t a lie, and that she also has the ability—complicating their lives, especially when the siblings learn more than they should about a house where a group of children were killed. You can stream Malevolent here. Fear Street Trilogy (2021) I'm covering three movies at once here, as each film in the trilogy, adapted from the R. L. Stine books, shares a tone, quality, and director (Leigh Janiak, best known for Honeymoon prior to Fear Street). Fear Street Part One: 1994 kicks off the films by introducing the town of Shadyside, which the local kids call “Shittyside,” and has a dark history of multiple murders, most of them covered up. A group of teens upsets the grave of a witch, kicking off the revival of a murderous cult. The vibe here is a little bit Stranger Things, with some legit gore and scares (it’s YA, but definitely not kids’ stuff) as Janiak pays homage to a wide range of horror movies past. The series continues with a camp slasher homage in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, and then an origin that brings things to a conclusion in Fear Street Part Three: 1666. You can stream Fear Street Part One: 1994 here. The Perfection (2018) A short synopsis, involving Charlotte Willmore (Allison Williams) returning to her prestigious music academy after an absence and finding that another woman (Logan Browning) has taken her place at the head of the class, might make it seem as though we’re entering Black Swan territory, at worst—but the intentionally disjointed narrative here quickly careens into wildly claustrophobic body horror. It might not be the first film to mine dark thrills and gore out of arts education (Suspiria, anyone?) but it goes as far as any of them, and even beyond. You can stream The Perfection here. View the full article

My SEO colleagues have a tall task on their hands, one that grows taller by the day as AI-powered search proliferates: compensating for eroding website traffic. Yes, I’m talking about zero-click search, which is taking root across AI search and LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini – and the AI Overviews creeping into more traditional SERPs. A recent report featured in these pages cites an organic SERP CTR drop between .64% and 1.41%. The smart money is on that CTR dropping as zero-click search behavior gains momentum. (Though recent Semrush data showed zero-click behavior declined slightly.) I would also bet on Google finding more ways to minimize the “necessary evil” – their words – of sending traffic to publisher sites. In other words, you can’t count on your current SEO strategy to deliver the levels of organic traffic you’re accustomed to. Even if you succeed in showing up prominently in search results in an evolving landscape, there’s no guarantee you’ll get clicks. If you’re on the PPC side, and you’re determined to be great partners to your organic colleagues and the clients they serve, what’s your charter? That’s what I’ll explore in this article. Know the impact on your industry User behavior (and search platform presence) is highly variable by industry. AI search is gaining tremendous traction in retail and travel, with queries showing activity all along the purchase journey, a recent Adobe report shows. For B2B, which is a big part of our client portfolio, we’re seeing the most AI search activity on top-of-funnel, research-based searches. When people are searching for branded terms, we’re not (yet) seeing much AI Overviews volume in the SERPs. For B2C and ecommerce, then, your zero-click mitigation strategy needs to cover the full range of searches. For B2B, you can focus on the top of the funnel and demand generation, at least for now. Expand your channel presence My SEO colleagues have been pounding this drum for a while, and it’s important to consider for paid as well. No matter the size of your brand, allocate some budget to expand outside of your biggest channels, which are still: Google and Meta for B2C. Google, LinkedIn, and Meta for B2B. (Before I go any further here, I’ll note that we still talk to brands that are only active on Google search, which never fails to surprise me.) If you’re in B2C, consider testing the waters of: TikTok. YouTube. Pinterest. Connected TV (CTV). Even Reddit, if there are robust communities relevant to your product or service. If you’re in B2B, consider moving even more up-funnel on LinkedIn. We’ve seen thought leader ads bring in good reach and engagement. Also, invest in Reddit and Quora. Even TikTok has a growing B2B presence that you should put on your radar. The reasoning for expansion goes beyond reach (though that’s important). The social proof provided by some of these channels, particularly TikTok and Reddit, packs a huge mid- and lower-funnel punch. The trend of increased searches for Reddit content on Google shows that users have more trust in less-varnished, more authentic content: Last – and certainly not least – content that draws strong engagement on some of these platforms (particularly Reddit, TikTok, and Quora) is frequently pulled into Google SERPs. It’s a great multichannel diversification play, even if AI Overviews is shoving that content down the page. Dig deeper: Search everywhere optimization: 7 platforms SEOs need to optimize for beyond Google Keep coordinating with your SEO colleagues We talk about “being the primary source” at my agency, and this extends to paid as well. Make sure you’re in close communication with your SEO team to understand their most critical queries and how PPC can supplement your brand presence for them, particularly if your SEO team is seeing CTR slip on those terms. Get fluent with placement data (and Performance Max) One thing Google doesn’t appear to be blowing smoke about is increased search volume. That could mean (and Google has certainly been claiming this for months) that people actually like AI Overviews content, which marketers need to take seriously. With AI Overview ads live and AI Mode ads starting to leak out, I assume that those placements will eventually be part of the Performance Max portfolio (and I also assume there won’t be a specific way to target them). Now, the performance of those ads is very tough to predict, but if you want to test them, you’ll need to be: Active on Performance Max, which I certainly don’t recommend for all B2B brands unless you have a strong offline conversion tracking and enhanced conversion setup. Up to speed on PMax’s new placement reporting functionality, which should ultimately deliver AI Overviews and AI Mode data. What’s next? It’s been a strange year for performance marketers. Aside from the uncertainty of TikTok advertising in the U.S., most of the biggest news is happening on the organic and user-behavior fronts. But smart performance marketers aren’t staying heads-down and conducting business as usual. They’re looking for ripple effects and ways to adapt their strategies to mitigate organic loss and capitalize on positive organic trends. View the full article

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time this week, Rite Aid is already planning to wind down operations at underperforming locations in at least nine states, court documents show. The long-suffering drug store chain, which is scrambling to sell parts of its business less than one year after emerging from bankruptcy the first time, has identified 47 locations that it will initially close as is negotiates with potential buyers and moves through the Chapter 11 process yet again. Rite Aid has 1,277 pharmacies, three distribution centers, and more than 24,000 employees across 15 states, and it’s hoping to sell many of its locations to preserve jobs, minimize the impact on customers, and extract the most value out of its business operations—especially its prescription files, which it sees as its most vaulable assets. However, it saw “little or no value” in the initial stores that were marked for closure in this week’s filing, and so it has either started the process of closing the stores down or will do so soon. Fast Company has reached out to Rite Aid for more details about the timeline of these store closures. Will all Rite Aid locations eventually close? Some news outlets have falsely reported that Rite Aid is already planning to close all of its locations, but the company has made no such announcement. While many stores will no doubt shutter as the bankruptcy process unfolds, others could be sold to new owners. Which stores will be sold and how many is unclear. What is clear is that this will be a fast-moving process, as Rite Aid believes time is of the essence. Why is this process moving so quickly? This is not Rite Aid’s first time at the Chapter 11 rodeo. The company knows from its bankruptcy in 2023 that the longer it takes to secure deal with buyers, the more pharmacy customers it’s going to lose. That’s because people who get their prescriptions from Rite Aid are increasingly likely to transfer them elsewhere the more they read about the company’s bankruptcy in media reports. A substantial customer exodus will make Rite Aid’s business less attractive to buyers. “The timeline proposed for the contemplated sale process is, in the Debtors’ business judgment, essential to preserving value and facilitating an orderly sale process,” Rite Aid wrote in a court filing. “Based on Rite Aid’s prior experience selling similar assets, the longer the sale process takes, the greater the value erosion through attrition in the meantime. This risk is entirely one-sided and to the Debtors’ detriment.” Which locations are closing soon? According to this week’s filing, the following 47 locations are set to close and may already be in the process of doing so. (Based on a search of their Yelp pages, some may have already closed.) Rite Aid says it chose the locations based on factors such as underperformance and “lack of proximity” to competitors that might be willing to buy the locations. California 211 East 17th Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92627 1331 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403 446 East Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015 23 Peninsula Center, Rolling Hills Ests, CA 90274 3300 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804 1203 West Imola Avenue, Napa, CA 94559 1550 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125 501 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA 90731 4840 Niagara Avenue, San Diego, CA 92107 32450 Clinton Keith Road, Wildomar, CA 92595 720 Sutton Way, Grass Valley, CA 95945 34420 Yucaipa Boulevard, Yucaipa, CA 92399 2751 Del Paso Road, Sacramento, CA 95835 1038 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91106 6150 Van Buren Boulevard, Riverside, CA 92503 220 West East Avenue, Chico, CA 95926 1534 East Florence Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90001 4774 West Lane, Stockton, CA 95210 4920 La Sierra Avenue, Riverside, CA 92505 Connecticut 56 Rubber Avenue, Naugatuck, CT 06770 113-115 Mill Plain Rd., Danbury, CT 06811 180 Main Street, Cheshire, CT 06410 Massachusetts 10084-02 1031 Main St., Clinton, MA 01510 New Hampshire 354 Winchester Street, Keene, NH 03431 19 Wilton Road Ste 1A, Peterborough, NH 03458 75 Portsmouth Avenue Unit 1, Exeter, NH 03833 New Jersey 75 South Main Street, Neptune, NJ 07753 403 Sicklerville Road, Sicklerville, NJ 08081 New York 55-60 Myrtle Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385 8222 18th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11214 5901 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11204 50-15 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377 60-26 Woodside Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377 Oregon 2521 South Sixth Street, Klamath Falls, OR 97601 700 S.E. 3rd Street, Bend, OR 97702 514 NE 181st Avenue, Portland, OR 97230 1400 West 6th Street, The Dalles, OR 97058 Pennsylvania 304 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101 23 North Elm Street, Kutztown, PA 19530 3773 Peters Mountain Rd., Halifax, PA 17032 843 Rostraver Road, Belle Vernon, PA 15012 400 West Second Street, Berwick, PA 18603 1039 2nd Street Pike, Richboro, PA 18954 10941-01 Pittsburgh Intl Airport, Pittsburgh, PA 15231 209 Atwood Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Washington 248 Bendigo Blvd S, North Bend, WA 98045 250 Basin Street SW, Ephrata, WA 98823 View the full article

It has been a couple of weeks since we last reported on a Google search ranking update, I bet a ton of you were wondering if I was feeling off. But it has been relatively calm for the past couple of weeks, that is until today. I am seeing renewed volatility over the past 24-hours and the SEO community chatter is picking up on it as well.View the full article

Last week marked The President’s first 100 days in office—and when it comes to climate policy, things are already pretty grim. In just three months, the president has elevated fossil fuels, pulled back billions from green investments, and implemented tariffs that make it harder to import renewable infrastructure. And that’s just the start. But despite The President’s relentless attacks on the environment, there are still some bright spots—from climate startups, from cities and states, and from nonprofits that are taking these actions to court. In a recent conversation, Fast Company senior editor Aimee Rawlins and executive editor Morgan Clendaniel discussed some of The President’s most significant attacks on the environment—as well as the ways that people are pushing back. If you missed the subscriber-only event, you can catch the whole conversation in the video above. View the full article

Google has launched several new charts within the Google Ads interface. We recently saw the table tree view (which was not 100% new, I was told) and now we are seeing new stacked bar chart, stacked column chart, combo chart, stacked area chart and 100% stacked area chart.View the full article

Google is testing new buttons and tags on its local listings and local ads. These include a new "read reviews" button, various appointment tags and other business descriptive tags.View the full article

There may no longer be space for two major parties of the traditional middle after Reform’s disruptionView the full article

Yesterday, Apple's Eddy Cue said searches on Google via Safari were down last month for the first time in 22 years. Then later, Google issued a statement saying there was an "increase in total queries coming from Apple's devices and platforms."View the full article

Google is testing a slightly different layout for its search result snippets. Google seems to be indenting the title link, URL and description to the right and placing the favicon indented to the left of that placement.View the full article

New Delhi also claims knocked out air defence system in Lahore View the full article

Google Business Profiles has another bug, this time with the toggle to hide or show the business address. The toggle for "Show business address to customers" just does not work - I even tried it myself and it is not working for my business.View the full article