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Business communications and collaboration face big changes and a software tool from Zoho leads the way. Zoho Cliq changes the way teams communicate and work together even at great distances. “Zoho Cliq is a part of the Unified Communication and Collaboration stack. It basically helps teams work together more efficiently by integrating all your communication and collaboration needs into one platform,” explains Shanthana Lakshmi S, Senior Marketing Analyst for Zoho Cliq. How Technology Forces Changes in Communications and Collaboration One big change involves how close in proximity team members need to be in physical space. Take a look at this example. You come into the office on a Monday morning. You hoped to chat with Phil about a new hire but see he is in a huddle with two other co-workers. You take a minute to chat with Shiela in HR about the new hire instead. Then you notice a department head meeting scheduled for 3 p.m., so you start organizing your presentation until Phil gets free. Nothing about this scenario seems unusual for any office on any Monday morning anywhere in the world. Except that you work in the guest room of your apartment in New York City while Phil lives in Buenos Aires and his two co-workers reside in Portland, Ore. and Sacramento, Calif. Shiela from HR works from your company’s regional office in Columbus, Ohio and the department heads you plan to present to this afternoon are scattered across the globe from Australia, to South Asia to Toronto, Can. Obviously the new communications and collaboration revolution defies the old understanding of what working together even means. And Zoho’s communications and collaboration software continues to broaden this defintion. Cliq Pushes The Limits of Team Collaboration Zoho launched Cliq in 2017, and today the company says a substantial percentage of its users work remotely. The service includes both instant messaging, a market projected to reach $75 billion by 2025, and internal communication, a market set to break $1.78 billion by 2027. The global pandemic only increased this demand, especially for messaging. The Cliq dashboard creates an overview giving you the feeling of working in an office instead of what you are really doing. That is sitting at a laptop maybe hundreds or even thousands of miles from the rest of your team. (See below.) At a glance, you see availability of team members and an overview of meetings. Cliq also gives you the ability to schedule new meetings with your team. But more than just calendar management, it allows you to make calls and attend meetings right on the software with audio and video. This puts Cliq light years ahead of simple internal messaging or scheduling software which offer only some of these functions, not all. Zoho Cliq Offers Messaging with Something Extra The impressive Zoho Cliq messaging dashboard (below) offers an ongoing flow of communications with your team keeping you constantly in touch. This represents way more than a simple messaging app with a list of contacts! Features include DMs, groups and channels. So you can send messages to individuals. Or you can send messages to groups or channels you’ve created. You can even time your messages so they reach the proper people (or team members) at the proper time. With messaging, you can text one on one with your sales manager or head of marketing or create a channel for both departments so everyone can get involved in the conversation. File sharing means you can quickly share slides for an upcoming meeting. A writing assistant brings AI into the picture helping you quickly craft a message to the staff without sitting and musing about it first. Voice and video messaging allow you to give your team interactions a more personal tone. Multi-chat view lets you keep track of all these conversations at once. A message reaction feature lets you react to a team member’s comments or shared files without typing out a comment – or to respond to a specific comment directly underneath. Rich message formats let you and your team bump up the look of your message from just straight text. This helps when you need to highlight information with your team that you don’t want them to miss! And yes, you even get a task management view, so you can keep track of projects and their due dates – and offer progress reports. “Whether you’re chatting one on one or with a group or with a particular channel for a team – also you’re sharing files or expressing ideas – every interaction should feel effortless,” says Shanthana Lakshmi S. Zoho Cliq Makes Virtual Meetings a Breeze Now look at the calls and meetings features Zoho Cliq offers. The solution allows you to join one on one calls or meetings instantly. But, wait! That’s not all! If you jump on a call at the office near the end of the day and you’re ready to leave, simply transfer the call (or meeting) to your smartphone or smartwatch. Finish the call or meeting on your way home without the need to disconnect. Calls and meetings aren’t limited to your internal team either. Say you want to invite external users. Maybe you and your sales manager need to chat with an existing client. Or maybe you need to give a presentation to a prospective client or partner. Whatever the reason, Zoho Cliq allows you to easily invite guest users into calls or meetings. The meeting feature also syncs with your calendar making it easy to keep track of scheduled meetings and calls – and never miss one. Zoho Cliq also adds another nifty little feature if you need to skip a meeting due to a scheduling conflict. It provides a transcript, summary and list of action points which sum up what was discussed. This allows you to read what transpired at your leisure and bring yourself up to speed about what was discussed. Hold the Phone! Zoho Cliq Provides This Service Too There happens to be another hugely important communications detail Zoho Cliq can take off your plate. Yes, Zoho Cliq also offers phone service inside the platform. Use Zoho Voice, the company’s native service, for your support teams and for incoming calls without need for traditional PBX systems. If you prefer, use RingCentral or other similar services instead. Zoho Cliq allows integration of these services into its software too. Zoho Cliq Unifies Communications and Collaboration for Teams With Cliq, Zoho aims to unify communications and collaboration for teams. What began as Zoho Chat, an instant messaging tool, in 2007, has grown into an all-in-one collaboration hub combining messaging, meetings, automation and more recently AI and enterprise grade features. The tool also includes Networks, an external collaboration feature. (More on this later.) “With every update, every innovation and every consumer insight, Cliq has grown, not just in features, but in impact,” Shanthana Lakshmi S explains. “Today it’s more than just a chat platform. It’s where teams brainstorm, collaborate, and build together.” Cliq addresses some longtime pain points faced by collaborating teams. Of course, team collaboration (and even remote teams) are nothing new to the business environment. But numerous challenges remain. The need for a variety of tools causes communications to take place across multiple platforms. Likewise, productivity tools remain scattered. For example, you might use one platform for communications, another for calendars and reminders and yet another for notebooks. In the end, workflows remain chaotic and disorganized, conversations are scattered, decisions become delayed and productivity suffers. And none of this begins to address security concerns. By contrast, Zoho Cliq introduces a very different idea. Imagine instead a scenario where all the tools you use and all the people you talk to are in one place and workflows are automated. The result becomes a solution to simplify, streamline and bring your team together – no matter where they are in the world. For example, you might be the CEO of an ecommerce business with a marketing department that brings in traffic to your online store via social media, email campaigns and content marketing. That content marketing comes mainly in the form of a blog and guest posts on other websites. Your order processing team works from an office in Boise, Idaho. Employees ship your products to customers from a warehouse in Atlanta, Ga. Your social media is handled by a virtual assistant from the Philippines. Blog posts are written by a freelancer just outside London, U.K. And your email marketing is handled by a marketer in Philadelphia, Pa. They talk to each other and share information via instant messaging, voice, video and file sharing. You hold weekly meetings with each of them via an online calendar you all share. And you do it all whether you happen to be at your kitchen table in your apartment in Seattle, Wash. or lying on the beach in Honduras. Sound too good to be true? Just look at what other teams are already doing with Zoho Cliq! Imagine What Your Team Could Do Check out what this business organization does with Zoho Cliq. One of Zoho’s customers in the healthcare industry with locations throughout the U.S. used Cliq to transform company wide and departmental announcements. In particular, an automated customized alert system makes sure critical updates reach staff in a timely fashion. This allows the company to share the best, most updated information for treatment of patients. Many businesses in the healthcare sector already use Zoho Cliq to improve collaboration and communications for better patient care. Just imagine easier consultations between physicians, better access to patient information and critical information updates about new treatments. Of course, other businesses benefit from these communications tools as well, not just those in the healthcare industry. For example, a U.K.- based outsourcing provider uses Zoho Cliq to streamline communications between management and employees. Zoho’s phone system also helps customer facing teams respond to calls efficiently while letting apps handle more mundane customer service tasks. Use Live Events and Networks Zoho Cliq also provides some other functions that shouldn’t be overlooked. Take Live Events. Not too long ago industry events required booking hotels and conference centers and having all your participants climb aboard airplanes bound for a single remote location. This process made events costly – think of the catering bill alone! – and time consuming for your company and attendees. The same holds true for corporate retreats or anything similar that allows you to bring your team together. And frankly this cost and complexity put such events beyond the reach of companies without the financial and logistical resources to pull them off. Enter Zoho Cliq’s Live Events feature. It allows anyone to host large scale virtual events where teams can see keynote speakers and interact just like at an in-person event. And all this happens by logging on with a laptop or other mobile device from anywhere in the world. There are more features too. For example, Zoho Cliq’s Networks allows you to corral your external collaborators into separate groups. These groups might include your clients, your partners and your vendors. You can interact with each Network individually without giving them access to your company’s full online resources. This feature is an example of Zoho’s wider dedication to security too. Final Thoughts Freeing teams from the tyranny of proximity means a level of autonomy businesses have rarely experienced before. At the same time, collaboration and communication continue to evolve. This ties teams and even individual team members scattered across the world more closely than ever before. For huge enterprises, this sea change represents a totally different way of doing business. For smaller organizations, the shift is even more seismic. It enables small businesses and start-up entrepreneurs to access resources and build teams anywhere in the world. Zoho Cliq allows teams to connect with text, file sharing, one-on-one calls and meetings from anywhere in the world. And all you need is a laptop or mobile device and internet connection. Team members access Cliq either directly or from almost any other Zoho app they happen to be using through a simple “mini bar.” Native integrations already exist with apps like Zoho Project, Zoho Voice, Zoho Notebook, and Zoho People. Find other extensions in the Zoho Marketplace. Get Zoho Cliq in a free version or professional and enterprise versions for $1.80 per user per month and $3.60 per user per month respectively. See details here. The app also comes with the Zoho One, Zoho Workplace, CRM Plus, Marketing Plus, and People Plus suites. Learn more about Zoho Cliq here. This article, "Zoho Cliq Leads a Communications and Collaborations Revolution" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Business communications and collaboration face big changes and a software tool from Zoho leads the way. Zoho Cliq changes the way teams communicate and work together even at great distances. “Zoho Cliq is a part of the Unified Communication and Collaboration stack. It basically helps teams work together more efficiently by integrating all your communication and collaboration needs into one platform,” explains Shanthana Lakshmi S, Senior Marketing Analyst for Zoho Cliq. How Technology Forces Changes in Communications and Collaboration One big change involves how close in proximity team members need to be in physical space. Take a look at this example. You come into the office on a Monday morning. You hoped to chat with Phil about a new hire but see he is in a huddle with two other co-workers. You take a minute to chat with Shiela in HR about the new hire instead. Then you notice a department head meeting scheduled for 3 p.m., so you start organizing your presentation until Phil gets free. Nothing about this scenario seems unusual for any office on any Monday morning anywhere in the world. Except that you work in the guest room of your apartment in New York City while Phil lives in Buenos Aires and his two co-workers reside in Portland, Ore. and Sacramento, Calif. Shiela from HR works from your company’s regional office in Columbus, Ohio and the department heads you plan to present to this afternoon are scattered across the globe from Australia, to South Asia to Toronto, Can. Obviously the new communications and collaboration revolution defies the old understanding of what working together even means. And Zoho’s communications and collaboration software continues to broaden this defintion. Cliq Pushes The Limits of Team Collaboration Zoho launched Cliq in 2017, and today the company says a substantial percentage of its users work remotely. The service includes both instant messaging, a market projected to reach $75 billion by 2025, and internal communication, a market set to break $1.78 billion by 2027. The global pandemic only increased this demand, especially for messaging. The Cliq dashboard creates an overview giving you the feeling of working in an office instead of what you are really doing. That is sitting at a laptop maybe hundreds or even thousands of miles from the rest of your team. (See below.) At a glance, you see availability of team members and an overview of meetings. Cliq also gives you the ability to schedule new meetings with your team. But more than just calendar management, it allows you to make calls and attend meetings right on the software with audio and video. This puts Cliq light years ahead of simple internal messaging or scheduling software which offer only some of these functions, not all. Zoho Cliq Offers Messaging with Something Extra The impressive Zoho Cliq messaging dashboard (below) offers an ongoing flow of communications with your team keeping you constantly in touch. This represents way more than a simple messaging app with a list of contacts! Features include DMs, groups and channels. So you can send messages to individuals. Or you can send messages to groups or channels you’ve created. You can even time your messages so they reach the proper people (or team members) at the proper time. With messaging, you can text one on one with your sales manager or head of marketing or create a channel for both departments so everyone can get involved in the conversation. File sharing means you can quickly share slides for an upcoming meeting. A writing assistant brings AI into the picture helping you quickly craft a message to the staff without sitting and musing about it first. Voice and video messaging allow you to give your team interactions a more personal tone. Multi-chat view lets you keep track of all these conversations at once. A message reaction feature lets you react to a team member’s comments or shared files without typing out a comment – or to respond to a specific comment directly underneath. Rich message formats let you and your team bump up the look of your message from just straight text. This helps when you need to highlight information with your team that you don’t want them to miss! And yes, you even get a task management view, so you can keep track of projects and their due dates – and offer progress reports. “Whether you’re chatting one on one or with a group or with a particular channel for a team – also you’re sharing files or expressing ideas – every interaction should feel effortless,” says Shanthana Lakshmi S. Zoho Cliq Makes Virtual Meetings a Breeze Now look at the calls and meetings features Zoho Cliq offers. The solution allows you to join one on one calls or meetings instantly. But, wait! That’s not all! If you jump on a call at the office near the end of the day and you’re ready to leave, simply transfer the call (or meeting) to your smartphone or smartwatch. Finish the call or meeting on your way home without the need to disconnect. Calls and meetings aren’t limited to your internal team either. Say you want to invite external users. Maybe you and your sales manager need to chat with an existing client. Or maybe you need to give a presentation to a prospective client or partner. Whatever the reason, Zoho Cliq allows you to easily invite guest users into calls or meetings. The meeting feature also syncs with your calendar making it easy to keep track of scheduled meetings and calls – and never miss one. Zoho Cliq also adds another nifty little feature if you need to skip a meeting due to a scheduling conflict. It provides a transcript, summary and list of action points which sum up what was discussed. This allows you to read what transpired at your leisure and bring yourself up to speed about what was discussed. Hold the Phone! Zoho Cliq Provides This Service Too There happens to be another hugely important communications detail Zoho Cliq can take off your plate. Yes, Zoho Cliq also offers phone service inside the platform. Use Zoho Voice, the company’s native service, for your support teams and for incoming calls without need for traditional PBX systems. If you prefer, use RingCentral or other similar services instead. Zoho Cliq allows integration of these services into its software too. Zoho Cliq Unifies Communications and Collaboration for Teams With Cliq, Zoho aims to unify communications and collaboration for teams. What began as Zoho Chat, an instant messaging tool, in 2007, has grown into an all-in-one collaboration hub combining messaging, meetings, automation and more recently AI and enterprise grade features. The tool also includes Networks, an external collaboration feature. (More on this later.) “With every update, every innovation and every consumer insight, Cliq has grown, not just in features, but in impact,” Shanthana Lakshmi S explains. “Today it’s more than just a chat platform. It’s where teams brainstorm, collaborate, and build together.” Cliq addresses some longtime pain points faced by collaborating teams. Of course, team collaboration (and even remote teams) are nothing new to the business environment. But numerous challenges remain. The need for a variety of tools causes communications to take place across multiple platforms. Likewise, productivity tools remain scattered. For example, you might use one platform for communications, another for calendars and reminders and yet another for notebooks. In the end, workflows remain chaotic and disorganized, conversations are scattered, decisions become delayed and productivity suffers. And none of this begins to address security concerns. By contrast, Zoho Cliq introduces a very different idea. Imagine instead a scenario where all the tools you use and all the people you talk to are in one place and workflows are automated. The result becomes a solution to simplify, streamline and bring your team together – no matter where they are in the world. For example, you might be the CEO of an ecommerce business with a marketing department that brings in traffic to your online store via social media, email campaigns and content marketing. That content marketing comes mainly in the form of a blog and guest posts on other websites. Your order processing team works from an office in Boise, Idaho. Employees ship your products to customers from a warehouse in Atlanta, Ga. Your social media is handled by a virtual assistant from the Philippines. Blog posts are written by a freelancer just outside London, U.K. And your email marketing is handled by a marketer in Philadelphia, Pa. They talk to each other and share information via instant messaging, voice, video and file sharing. You hold weekly meetings with each of them via an online calendar you all share. And you do it all whether you happen to be at your kitchen table in your apartment in Seattle, Wash. or lying on the beach in Honduras. Sound too good to be true? Just look at what other teams are already doing with Zoho Cliq! Imagine What Your Team Could Do Check out what this business organization does with Zoho Cliq. One of Zoho’s customers in the healthcare industry with locations throughout the U.S. used Cliq to transform company wide and departmental announcements. In particular, an automated customized alert system makes sure critical updates reach staff in a timely fashion. This allows the company to share the best, most updated information for treatment of patients. Many businesses in the healthcare sector already use Zoho Cliq to improve collaboration and communications for better patient care. Just imagine easier consultations between physicians, better access to patient information and critical information updates about new treatments. Of course, other businesses benefit from these communications tools as well, not just those in the healthcare industry. For example, a U.K.- based outsourcing provider uses Zoho Cliq to streamline communications between management and employees. Zoho’s phone system also helps customer facing teams respond to calls efficiently while letting apps handle more mundane customer service tasks. Use Live Events and Networks Zoho Cliq also provides some other functions that shouldn’t be overlooked. Take Live Events. Not too long ago industry events required booking hotels and conference centers and having all your participants climb aboard airplanes bound for a single remote location. This process made events costly – think of the catering bill alone! – and time consuming for your company and attendees. The same holds true for corporate retreats or anything similar that allows you to bring your team together. And frankly this cost and complexity put such events beyond the reach of companies without the financial and logistical resources to pull them off. Enter Zoho Cliq’s Live Events feature. It allows anyone to host large scale virtual events where teams can see keynote speakers and interact just like at an in-person event. And all this happens by logging on with a laptop or other mobile device from anywhere in the world. There are more features too. For example, Zoho Cliq’s Networks allows you to corral your external collaborators into separate groups. These groups might include your clients, your partners and your vendors. You can interact with each Network individually without giving them access to your company’s full online resources. This feature is an example of Zoho’s wider dedication to security too. Final Thoughts Freeing teams from the tyranny of proximity means a level of autonomy businesses have rarely experienced before. At the same time, collaboration and communication continue to evolve. This ties teams and even individual team members scattered across the world more closely than ever before. For huge enterprises, this sea change represents a totally different way of doing business. For smaller organizations, the shift is even more seismic. It enables small businesses and start-up entrepreneurs to access resources and build teams anywhere in the world. Zoho Cliq allows teams to connect with text, file sharing, one-on-one calls and meetings from anywhere in the world. And all you need is a laptop or mobile device and internet connection. Team members access Cliq either directly or from almost any other Zoho app they happen to be using through a simple “mini bar.” Native integrations already exist with apps like Zoho Project, Zoho Voice, Zoho Notebook, and Zoho People. Find other extensions in the Zoho Marketplace. Get Zoho Cliq in a free version or professional and enterprise versions for $1.80 per user per month and $3.60 per user per month respectively. See details here. The app also comes with the Zoho One, Zoho Workplace, CRM Plus, Marketing Plus, and People Plus suites. Learn more about Zoho Cliq here. This article, "Zoho Cliq Leads a Communications and Collaborations Revolution" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Kremlin said Russian president ‘reacted positively’ to US counterpart’s suggestion during callView the full article

Amazon is in the process of overhauling Alexa, introducing a new Alexa+ AI service that will be available free of charge for Prime users (or $20 per month on its own). But as the company plans to roll out this new service, user privacy across Echo devices is taking a hit. In a March 15 email, Amazon announced its Echo devices will no longer support local processing for Alexa requests, and will stop offering “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” as an option. This means that every request—and its subsequent voice recording—will end up going to Amazon's cloud. Even a request as simple as "turn off the lights" will be sent to Amazon. This change starts on March 28th, and it includes all spoken commands to Alexa in Echo speakers and smart displays. Why is this happening? According to Amazon's email (sourced by Ars Technica) it all comes down to Alexa's new generative AI features. In the email, Amazon says: As we continue to expand Alexa’s capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature. The focus is Amazon's new Alexa Voice ID feature, which the company is highlighting as a flagship feature in Alexa+. It lets Alexa+ recognize who is speaking to it, and reply accordingly. But even if you choose not to enable Alexa+, or to use Voice ID, Amazon is still taking away local processing. Why is this concerning?This move has raised many concerns about user privacy on Amazon devices. The idea that a major tech company can listen in on all requests made through its devices, at any time, doesn't sit well, especially when users have no choice in the matter. There really isn't much that Amazon Echo customers can do here, aside from quitting Alexa. Of course, for many users, Alexa is an integral part of their smart home. The decision now is to continue on using the features users have relied on for years, forgoing privacy, or quit the ecosystem entirely. Amazon does say that they will automatically delete recordings of all Alexa requests after the processing is done. Plus, Amazon is assuring users that all their recordings are encrypted in transit to Amazon's secure cloud servers. But given Amazon's track record, it's hard to trust their word. Amazon has a history of mismanaging Alexa voice recordings. In 2023, Amazon paid $25 million in a case over revelations the company stored recordings of children's voices forever, and it gave employees access to this data, as well as footage from Ring cameras. In the same year, reports showed Amazon was using real conversations in Alexa to train its AI (the one that is now shipping with Alexa+). In the past, company also admitted to letting its employees listen in on audio conversations. 'Don't Save Recordings' is now much less useful Previously, users at least had the choice to stop sharing their requests to Amazon servers (“Do Not Send Voice Recordings”) as well as not to save them ("Don't Save Recordings"). Now, Amazon is effectively removing that second choice as well, if you want your device to work as advertised. As it happens, the "Don't Save Recordings" toggle is also linked to the Voice ID feature. This is the feature that can identify who is making the request, so Alexa can personalize its response accordingly. That way, your requests for calendar events, reminders, or music don't interfere with anyone else's requests in your home. It was already quite useful, and is becoming an even bigger deal with Alexa+. The thing is, if you ask Alexa not to save your recordings, it will also automatically disable Voice ID, and you'll lose out on all the user-identifying features. Amazon previously warned enabling this feature could affect Voice ID, but now it essentially guarantees it won't work. So, your "choice" isn't really a choice at all. You can either let Amazon process, save, and use your recordings however they want, or you lose out on the Voice ID feature, limiting the usefulness of the product—while still sending your requests to Amazon's servers. View the full article

A gust of wind sweeps over bare soil, kicking up enough dirt and dust to cut visibility to nearly zero, and for drivers, the dust storm seems to come out of nowhere. Such conditions resulted in a pileup on Interstate 70 last week in western Kansas involving dozens of cars and trucks that left eight people dead. Blinding dust also prompted New Mexico’s transportation department to close Interstate 25 from the Colorado border southwest to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Hazy or dust-darkened skies have recalled the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s, when millions of tons of blowing soil buried farms and coated towns across the Great Plains. Lesser storms occur every year, particularly in the western U.S., particularly when farmland hasn’t been planted yet in the spring. Some scientists worry that many motorists don’t take them seriously enough. “We have a very low level of public awareness of a dust storm and what damage it can cause,” said Daniel Tong, an associate professor of atmospheric chemistry at George Mason University who is among the authors of a 2023 paper on dust storm deaths. Dust storms have a history of causing fatalities The High Plains Museum in Goodland displays a photo of a tractor buried in blown soil in the 1930s, a reminder of the consequences of a severe drought across the Great Plains that came after farming had destroyed native grasses. The fatalities Friday near Goodland were the first in the area in a dust storm since 2014, said Jeremy Martin, the Weather Service meteorologist in charge there. But they came less than a month after an 11-car pileup on I-25 left three people dead, with heavy dust cited as a factor, according to Albuquerque TV’s KRQE. Similarly, a dust storm on I-55 between St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois, in 2023 led to a fatal pileup involving dozens of vehicles. In 1991, 17 people died in an accident involving more than 100 vehicles on I-5 in California’s San Joaquin Valley, blamed on blowing dust. Tong and four co-authors concluded in their paper published in 2023 in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that there were 232 deaths from “windblown dust events” from 2007 through 2017, far higher than the number recorded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association data. In January, he and four colleagues concluded that the economic damaged caused by wind erosion and dust is four times higher than previously calculated and more than $154 billion a year. A cold front carries dust through western Kansas Martin said a cold front moved through the area of the pileup after it had been warm and dry for six hours. Winds that reached 70 miles per hour (113 kph) kicked up dust that then became trapped in the cold front. “That’s when you get that classic wall of dust,” he said. As blowing dust cut visibility on the road to almost zero, drivers slowed down, causing collisions, authorities said. A preliminary investigation found that 71 vehicles were involved, said Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April McCollum. Aerial photos showed at least 10 were semis. “It was hard to even keep your eyes open outside because there was so much dust in the air,” said Jeremy Martin, the National Weather Service meteorologist in charge in Goodland. “It kind of stung to even breathe out in it.” Similar conditions in eastern Colorado prompted the Colorado State Patrol to warn drivers: “Zero visibility due to high winds and blowing dirt.” “You couldn’t see,” said Jerry Burkhart, the fire and emergency services chief in Lamar, Colorado. “The best thing to do is get way off the road in a parking lot or something like that.” A lack of visibility is not the only problem Martin said it’s hard to tell how thick dust is from a distance, so motorists often don’t know they won’t able to see until they’re in it. Weather Service forecasters also said some of the advice for motorists in a dust storm is counter-intuitive. Michael Anand, a NWS meteorologist in Albuquerque, said motorists should pull off the road as safely as possible, turn off all lights and never use their high beams. “You don’t want people behind you to think you’re going in the road,” Martin said. “That light from your tail light might be the only thing they can see. They’re thinking the road suddenly curves.” High winds make cars harder to control, and a dust storm coats the road with fine particles that slow breaking, and drivers panic, Tong said. He said dust storms are frequent and widespread enough across the U.S. that states should test prospective drivers on what to do in a dust storm on license exams. “That could be, actually, a very easy way to educate drivers,” he said. —John Hanna, Associated Press Associated Press writer Janie Far contributed. View the full article

Lidar has long been considered the gold standard of self-driving technology. Most car companies use the technology, alongside cameras, radar, and AI, to fully assess a vehicles’ environment. Except for one notable exception: Tesla. Elon Musk has always had it out for Lidar, calling it a “a crutch,” “a loser’s technology” and “too expensive.” After experimenting with Lidar in early autonomous driving prototypes, Musk went a different direction. He ditched radar from Tesla’s production models in 2021, against the criteria of his own engineers, opting instead for his camera-based AI “Tesla Vision” system, which relies on cameras and AI alone. This has proven to be one of his biggest mistakes when it comes to Tesla’s future. Lidar, which works by firing laser beams to capture a car’s surroundings in three dimensions as a way to assess its environment, is widely used in the autonomous vehicle industry because it provides precise depth perception, even in poor visibility conditions. Radar is also needed to detect obstacles further away and calculate their speed…and yet, Musk insisted that vision-based AI alone—using only cameras, like human eyes—is sufficient. As of December 2024, Tesla remains committed to its camera-only Tesla Vision system. “We are confident that this is the best strategy for the future of Autopilot and the safety of our customers,” the company says on its webpage. But as this video by Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer-turned-YouTuber, demonstrates, Tesla Vision may not be the safest option both drivers and pedestrians. Rober designed an experiment inspired by the classic Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons to compare Tesla’s Autopilot with Lidar-based systems. He created a polystyrene wall with an image of a road printed on it and placed it in the middle of a real street to evaluate the reaction of the sensors in his own Tesla Model Y, which relies only on cameras. For comparison, Rober also tested a Lexus RX equipped with Lidar under the same conditions. In the initial tests, both the Tesla and the Lexus successfully stopped in front of a stationary dummy and another dummy in motion. But the Tesla’s camera-based system, which struggles in poor visibility, failed when adverse conditions were introduced. It could not detect the same dummy in fog and rain, while the Lexus’ Lidar identified it without issue. The ultimate test was the painted-wall experiment. In Chuck Jones’ classic cartoons, Wile E. Coyote often paints a fake tunnel on a wall, making it appear as though the road continues. The Road Runner always escapes by running through the illusion, while the Coyote, baffled, inevitably crashes into the obstacle. That’s exactly what happened to Rober’s Tesla, which kept driving until it smashed into the wall. The vehicle’s artificial intelligence trusted what its cameras saw: an uninterrupted road. The Lexus, on the other hand, stopped immediately—its laser beams detected a solid wall, regardless of the image painted on it. Some have dismissed the test as a gimmick, but it highlights a fundamental flaw: Tesla’s system cannot reliably distinguish real objects from illusions. It misinterprets reality because it relies solely on optical sensors. As seen in the dummy test under rain and fog, poor visibility leads the car’s AI to make dangerous misjudgments. While Lidar scans the environment in 3D regardless of an object’s visual appearance, Tesla’s cameras only process flat images, making them vulnerable to visual deception. This is a well-documented issue in AI systems, as multiple studies have shown. More concerning is that this test was conducted under ideal conditions—broad daylight, with no rain or fog—yet the Tesla still failed to recognize the obstacle, exposing a fundamental flaw in its technology. This technology has not changed since 2022, when sensor company Luminar conducted a similar test with a child-sized dummy, and Tesla failed in poor visibility conditions. Another Musk mistake This isn’t the first time Tesla’s disastrous design choices have called its products’ viability into question. Elon Musk’s obsession with only using cameras goes against the strategy of his competitors. As a result, Tesla’s Autopilot has remained stuck at Level 2 autonomy—requiring constant driver supervision—for a decade, while Waymo and Mercedes have reached Level 4, and Chinese manufacturer BYD has reached Level 3, meaning their cars can drive autonomously without human intervention. Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, has demonstrated that its self-driving system allows vehicles to travel 17,311 miles between human interventions. In contrast, Tesla’s misleadingly named Full Self-Driving (FSD) software requires corrections every 71 miles. Waymo’s cars are not perfect, but they are light-years ahead of Tesla’s. In 2024, Tesla purchased Lidar sensors from Luminar, leading some to speculate that Musk was reconsidering his stance. But the reality was different. The sensors were only used for reference data collection, not for integration into Tesla’s vehicles. In fact, Musk recently claimed that Tesla no longer needs Lidar for testing. This confirms that he remains committed to his camera-only approach, despite overwhelming evidence of its limitations. Rather than admitting his mistake, Musk is doubling down. He has been promising full self-driving since 2014, repeatedly claiming the technology would be ready “next year.” Just months ago, he pitched the idea that Tesla would launch autonomous Cybercab taxis by 2026—while Waymo already operates robotaxis in multiple U.S. cities, and brands like Mercedes and BYD have secured certification for driverless operation on roads in Germany and China. After watching Rober’s test, the notion that Tesla can catch up to its competitors without using Lidar seems as viable as Wile E. Coyote’s plans to catch the Road Runner. View the full article

When it comes to digital assistants, especially on mobile, there are really two most people think of: Siri and Google Assistant. (Sorry, Bixby.) Just as Siri is Apple through and through, Google Assistant is synonymous with Android for me (even if you can download Google Assistant on iPhone). But it appears Google Assistant's time is coming to an end, and faster than you might think. Google announced in a blog post on Friday that the company is switching more users from Google Assistant to Gemini "over the coming months," before retiring its iconic assistant later this year on most devices. That includes not just the built-in assistant on most Android devices, but also downloads on app stores—so iPhone users won't be able to download Google Assistant, either. Why the sudden retirement party for Android's version of Siri? Well, there's a new player in town, whether or not it's actually ready for primetime. Goodbye, Google AssistantIn case you missed it, Google is all-in on Gemini, the company's generative AI assistant. Gemini, formerly Bard, is both a generative AI model, like OpenAI's GPT models, and an assistant, like ChatGPT. As such, Google can offer Gemini as a tool for users to rely on for traditional assistant tasks, while routinely upgrading it with the company's latest AI models. Like other big tech companies, Google is rolling out these new AI models at a steady clip, which means Gemini is constantly receiving upgrades. Google Assistant, on the other hand, is not. If you don't care for generative AI, or haven't found Gemini all that reliable, you might be disappointed by this latest announcement. But it isn't necessarily a surprise. Google has signaled this was the plan for a while now. Since its launch, Google has started rolling out Gemini to more users, either as a built-in solution on Android, or as a standalone app, pushing users to try it out over Google Assistant. In fact, the company quickly began allowing Android users to replace Google Assistant with Gemini, even when Gemini lacked basic assistant features like setting alarms or integrating with your calendar. If you wanted the full assistant experience, Google Assistant was still the way to go. Of course, that wouldn't stay the case forever. Google kept adding to Gemini, while actively limiting its legacy assistant. The company started removing Google Assistant features over a year ago, and continues to do so to this day. But why replace Google Assistant with Gemini?In Google's view, Gemini is simply the better all-around solution. It now offers previously missing assistant features, like playing song requests and setting timers, but also includes the company's latest AI features, like Gemini Live, which gives Gemini access to your camera to answer questions about your surroundings, and Deep Research, which uses a "reasoning" model to "think" through each step of a problem before solving it. The service has expanded to support more than 40 languages in over 200 countries, so it is now widely available—just as Google Assistant once was. In theory, it makes sense: New tech replaces the old, and Gemini happens to be the new tech in the game. The problem is, there are still tons of issues with generative AI, issues companies like Google have struggled to stamp out. While Google has added assistant features to Gemini, users continue to report the bot has trouble with basic tasks, such as opening specific apps, setting reminders, or changing smart lights a certain color. The only devices that won't make the switch are those that can't meet the Gemini device requirements, which include those with fewer than 2GB of RAM and running Android 9 or older. If you want to keep using Google Assistant into 2026, you're going to need a very old Android. View the full article

Microsoft Bing appears to be testing an aggressive new ad display format that dramatically reduces organic search visibility in favor of sponsored content. The details: Users are reporting search result pages with at least seven paid advertisements. One or two organic results are visible on the first page. The format has been independently verified by multiple users. What they’re saying. The original poster, Red Leaf Web Design, expressed shock at the format, stating “BING Ads Gone Wild!” on X. Several of the Search Engine Land staff were also able to replicate the ad-heavy results, seeing as many as nine ads: Bing Ads Gone Wild! ONE organic result, SEVEN ads – page 1… #PPC #ppcchat @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/A5kUSQEIKZ — Red Leaf Web Design (@FLwebdesigner) March 18, 2025 Why we care. Bing’s ad-heavy testing fundamentally changes the competitive landscape for paid search visibility. With so many ads and barely any organic results on the first page, this format creates a more crowded advertising environment where standing out becomes increasingly difficult and expensive. If rolled out more widely to more commercial queries, competition for the limited ad slots will likely intensify, potentially driving up cost-per-click rates as advertisers vie for visibility. Between the lines. This extreme ad-to-content ratio suggests Microsoft may be testing the limits of user tolerance for sponsored results as search engines face increasing pressure to generate revenue in a rapidly-changing search landscape. The big picture. Major search engines have gradually increased ad visibility over the years, but Bing’s apparent test pushes well beyond Google’s typical ad density, which usually caps at around four sponsored listings on the first screen. 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. A quality set of tools is critical for most any DIY or home improvement project, and whether you’re doing home repairs or trying your hand at woodworking, cordless tools can make your project go much more smoothly—but the tradeoff comes in the investment required, especially as you’re just starting out. Right now, you can ease the pain a bit: Many Milwaukee cordless tools and accessories are currently on sale at Home Depot for more than 50% off, making it a good time to build out a new tool kit or expand your existing one. Cordless toolsCordless power tools can make or break your DIY project, from cutting to driving screws. Here are some deals on power drivers and saws from Milwaukee to help you elevate your DIY game. The Milwaukee 18-Volt quarter-inch impact driver is on sale for $99, 50% off its usual price. The driver includes a 2-amp-hour battery and a charger as well as a tool bag. This is a great beginner kit, as it comes with an 18-volt battery and compatible charger. The Milwaukee 18-volt reciprocating saw is on sale for $149, 52% off its regular price. The reciprocating saw comes with a 5-amp-hour battery and a charger. This is a good deal, as larger-capacity batteries can be expensive on their own, making this tool and 18-volt-battery combo a good choice to expand your existing Milwaukee set. The Milwaukee 18-volt Hackzall reciprocating saw is on sale for $149, 52% off its typical price. This tool set also comes with a 5-amp-hour battery and a charger. The Hackzall version of the reciprocating saw has a compact, one-handed design, making it ideal for squeezing into smaller spaces where a larger tool won’t fit. BatteriesBatteries tend to be the most expensive component of cordless tools. They can also wear out over time, lasting for 2-3 years on average. With a few freshly charged batteries on hand, your projects will go faster, so it's worth picking up some spares at a discount. The Milwaukee 8-amp-hour, 18-volt battery and charger is on sale for $149, 52% off its usual price. This set is a good deal because higher-capacity chargers last longer and can run more powerful tools. If you have a home shop situation that isn’t close to a power outlet, having an 8-amp-hour battery for your cordless tools will allow you to work for hours without needing to swap the battery. The Milwaukee 18-volt battery three-pack is on sale for $219, 33% off its regular price. This set of batteries includes two 18-volt cp3 batteries and one 18-volt, 5-amp-hour battery. The cp3 batteries are smaller and lighter, charging in 35 minutes on a Milwaukee rapid charger. The 5-amp-hour battery takes 60 minutes to top up on a rapid charger. This is a good deal on replacement batteries if you already have tools and chargers, but need to replace worn out batteries. BitsBits for your drivers are essential, and having a good collection of various types and sizes will help to eliminate those lat-minute trips to the hardware store while working on a project. The Milwaukee 105-piece driver and drill bit set is on sale for $69, 37% off its typical price. This set includes several sizes and types of driver bits, and 15 sizes of drill bits to fit either an impact driver or a standard drill. This is a good foundational set if you have a range of small projects to work on. The Milwaukee 90-piece driver bit set is on sale for $49, 51% off its usual price. The bits are a range of sizes and tip types including Philips head, and they come with a case compatible with Milwaukee packout toolboxes. These bits are useful for a range of projects, making this a good choice if you’re building out an impact driver kit. The Milwaukee 95-piece drill and driver bit set is on sale for $39.97, 34% off its regular price. The set includes a quarter-inch socket adapter, a range of driver bit sizes and types, and a few drill bits. This is a more compact kit that travels easily, and is a good addition to your tool go-bag. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: What do you owe a company when you accept a position? Is it ever okay to leave a good job only a few weeks after starting? I worked for a decade in an industry I loved, then burned out hard and left for a better-paying sector. For the past 18 months, I’ve been contracting part-time with a successful startup, doing work that’s similar but less engaging (to me). Since I started here, I’ve made it clear that I’d love to come on as a full-time employee, and for a long time they’ve been saying it’ll happen. My interest is really about the good pay and benefits, since I’ve found this job market very, very tough. I don’t mind the work I’m doing now, but it’s not something I feel invested in. A few weeks ago, I heard back from an application I’d sent months ago for a once-in-a-blue-moon job in a third industry that I’m very passionate about. The job seemed amazing, but after interviewing I was so stressed about what would happen if I got an offer … because the same day of my interview, my contract job let me know that I had been approved to be hired there as a full-time employee. In the end, I didn’t get the passion job, so nothing came of it and I didn’t have to wrestle with a real decision. Yesterday, I received the official offer letter at the company where I’ve been contracting. BUT. Another job that sort of mixes my two sectors (passion and practical) popped up on LinkedIn. I felt like I had to at least apply, because it’s exactly in line with my experience and interests. I got a referral from a friend of a friend. And now I’m wracked with guilt. The job I applied for is competitive, so I don’t expect to get an offer. But if I did, I’d have just officially started my full-time position. My sense of right and wrong is telling me that it’d be awful and would burn bridges if I were to leave a company just a few weeks or a month after starting, especially one where someone used their political capital to get me an offer. I ran this by some friends and everyone seems to think I should just follow what’s best for my own career – that it’s not an ideal scenario, but that shouldn’t stop me from pursuing the other offer. What’s your take? You can read my answer to this letter at New York Magazine today. Head over there to read it. View the full article

John Roberts issues rare statement to say attacks on judicial branch of government are not ‘appropriate’View the full article

The US president wants both to protect domestic manufacturing and hold the dollar as the reserve currencyView the full article

Tell quickly when a delay is the client’s fault. Plus: 12-step tax return and 8-step writeup workflows. By Frank Stitely The Relentless CPA Go PRO for members-only access to more Frank Stitely. View the full article

Tell quickly when a delay is the client’s fault. Plus: 12-step tax return and 8-step writeup workflows. By Frank Stitely The Relentless CPA Go PRO for members-only access to more Frank Stitely. View the full article

It's been clear for some time that the Gemini AI app would be replacing Google Assistant, once it had learned all the necessary tricks and been granted all the required hooks into other apps. Now, Google is in the process of actively dismantling the features available in Google Assistant ahead of its retirement. As per Google's official support document (as spotted by 9to5Google), seven more Google Assistant features have recently been pulled across Android devices and Nest smart speakers and displays. These deactivated features add to a bunch of other capabilities that were taken away last year. On smart displays, you can no longer use your voice and Google Assistant to favorite, share, or ask where and when your photos were taken, or to access photo frame settings. You'll now need to delve into Google Photos or the options panel on your smart display to get at this information. Google Assistant remains integral to Google's smart speakers and displays. Credit: Google Another Google Assistant capability that's going away across devices is interpreter mode, where you can have a conversation translated in real time. It's still available in the Google Translate app, though you can't yet do this with Gemini. When it comes to Google Assistant Routines, you can no longer get birthday reminders as part of a Routine. Google is also taking away daily updates and Family Bell announcements from Google Assistant, pointing users towards Routines instead. And finally, Google Assistant is being pulled from car accessories that work via Bluetooth or an AUX plug. Google says this is all part of "prioritizing the experiences you love and investing in the underlying technology to make them even better" while retiring "underutilized features"—but considering we just received an official announcement that Google Assistant is going to be replaced by Gemini on phones before the end of 2025, there's not going to be much investing in the older AI app from this point on. Google Gemini is the new default on Pixel phones. Credit: Google As long as your phone meets the minimum requirements of 2GB of RAM and Android 10 or later, Google Assistant will be switched off in the coming months, and you'll be pointed toward Google Gemini instead (which has already replaced Google Assistant on newer phones such as the Google Pixel 9). Google also says new Gemini-powered experiences are coming to other devices, including smart speakers and TVs, in the "next few months." The switchover on these other gadgets may take longer, but it'll happen eventually—and it probably makes sense to start using Gemini as much as possible, where you can. There's still a lot of maintenance work for Google to do here: Routines, for example, let you group a bunch of actions with a single Google Assistant voice command, and there's no sign yet of the functionality appearing in Gemini. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see more Google Assistant features deactivated in the coming months. View the full article

Google is testing placing special and very clickable links in its AI Overviwws, but not to publishers or your own website, but rather back to its own search results. You got that right, Google is testing linking the AI Overviews back to new search queries on Google.com. What it looks like. I posted a screenshot and video from Sachin Patel who spotted this change on the Search Engine Roundtable – here they are: Clicking on those underlined links in the text of the AI Overview, both at the top and in the middle section, will take you back to a new Google Search. The smaller link icons take you to the side panel links, those go to publishers and external websites. Here is a video: Google AI Overview appears with an underline, and when clicked, it redirects with a new query.@rustybrick @gaganghotra_ @brodieseo pic.twitter.com/Y6Df6bfxgn — Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) March 17, 2025 Why we care. All that talk, even recently with Google’s new AI Mode, around “prominently surfaces relevant links to help people find web pages and content they may not have discovered before,” and I quoted that from Google, means what here? Those link icons in AI Overviews have shown to result in a drop in CTR from Google Search to external websites. We’ve seen a large company sue Google over traffic drops due to AI Overviews. These links back to Google results in Google search volume growing, but do they actually help the searcher or they only help Google’s bottom line. What about Google saying they value independent publishers and are prioritizing ways to send traffic to publishers in AI Overviews? View the full article

Use these exercises to refine your message. By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Use these exercises to refine your message. By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Despite a weekslong multinational crackdown, scam centers along the Thai-Myanmar border are still operating with up to 100,000 people working there, the top police general leading Thailand’s operations against the fraud compounds told Reuters. Thailand is fronting a regional effort to dismantle scam centers along its borders, which are part of a Southeast Asian network of illegal facilities that generate billions of dollars every year, often using people trafficked there by criminal gangs, according to the United Nations. Based on early assessments of some of the 5,000 people pulled out of sprawling scam hubs in Myanmar’s Myawaddy area, hundreds went there voluntarily, said Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, calling for careful investigations among nationals of over a dozen countries to winnow out criminals. “Many people use Thailand as a pathway to sneak themselves into Myawaddy to find work, and this is not just the call center gangs but also online gambling work and other professions,” Thatchai said in an interview. His comments run counter to widespread reports that scam center workers in and around Myawaddy were victims, lured to go there by criminal bosses. Jason Tower, an analyst with the U.S. Institute of Peace and an expert on regional scam centers, said that many people who willingly travelled to areas such as Myawaddy were trapped in conducting scamming operations. “Many did go in willingly, only discovering that they had been trafficked later,” he said. Several former scam workers describe being trapped in the compounds, where they were forced to trick strangers online into transferring large amounts of money, often pretending to be romantic interests. Although these scam centers have operated for years, they came under renewed scrutiny following the abduction of a Chinese actor Wang Xing in Thailand in January, who was later rescued from Myawaddy. The incident sparked a social media firestorm in China, and Beijing dispatched officials to Thailand to coordinate operations targeted at breaking up scam hubs like Myawaddy and rescuing scores of its citizens, many of whom now have been flown home. “Since the Wang Xing case, there were 3,600 foreigners who travelled Mae Sot, and we did not find one who was tricked or coerced to come,” Thatchai said, citing information gathered by police checkpoints set up in the Thai district bordering Myawaddy. Among some 260 people from 20 nationalities who were sent from Myawaddy to Thailand in February as the crackdown gathered steam, most were not coerced, according to initial investigations conducted by Thai authorities, Thatchai said. “These people went there voluntarily,” Thatchai said, adding that he is waiting on information from countries including China and India that have repatriated hundreds of their nationals on whether they had been trafficked to scam centers in Myawaddy. MULTINATIONAL COORDINATION Thatchai said the crackdown so far has only affected a fraction of the vast operations in Myawaddy, which lies across a narrow river from the Thai town of Mae Sot. “It could be up to 50,000 or 100,000 people that are still left because we are still seeing their operations,” he said, based on Thai police intelligence as well as information gathered by Chinese authorities, who have identified at least 3,700 criminals continuing to operate in the area. Since February, more than 5,200 people have been extricated from scamming facilities in and around Myawaddy, according to Thai police citing Myanmar authorities. Over 3,500 have been sent back to their home countries via Thailand, which has also cut off electricity, internet, and fuel supplies to the area. With scam workers hailing from a wide range of countries, Thatchai said he is pushing for a multinational coordination center to repatriate, investigate, and share information to prosecute criminals involved in the fraud operations. Suspected criminals extricated from Myawaddy and other scam hubs should be prosecuted in their home countries, and the Thai police are ready to help wherever necessary, Thatchai said. The main focus of Thai authorities currently is to help coordinate the return of scam center victims to their home countries, with thousands of former workers still stuck in limbo on the Thai-Myanmar border, including some who are struggling to find their way back because of a lack of funds. “We have to discharge people as quickly as possible,” Thatchai said. “So that the Myanmar authorities and ethnic armed groups can conduct more crackdowns.” —Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat, Reuters View the full article

The Find My Device app for Android is getting an update: The new Find My Device app is now split up into two tabs, one for Devices, and one for People. With it, you can easily coordinate meet-ups with friends or check that your kids have safely arrived home. You'll find the app preinstalled on Pixels, and it's a free download for other Android devices. It's also available on the web, but there's no iPhone app. Despite that, you can still keep tabs on the real time locations of your contacts if they have iPhones—more on that in a moment. The new People tab in Find My Device. Credit: Lifehacker This is the same Find My Device tool that received a pretty major upgrade last year. While it's existed in some form for a long time, showing you Android phones and other gadgets on a map if they were ever lost and stolen, the new and improved version added a bunch of features to make it more useful. Whereas before you would need your phone to be on and connected to wifi to be able to find it, the 2024 improvements mean you can now enlist the help of all the other millions of Android gadgets out there to (securely and anonymously) track down missing devices (Apple's Find My Network works in the same way). The same location sharing list is available in Google Maps. Credit: Lifehacker There's also now support for third-party Bluetooth trackers, and recent Pixels can even be located when they're powered off. Phones and tablets you track down with the app can be made to play a sound to help you find them, plus you have the option to lock them or even wipe them remotely to keep your data safe. All those upgrades were already in place, and now people finding is the latest one to arrive: Contacts who trust you can let you see where they are on a map, and you can opt to share your own location with them in return. If you're thinking that sounds a lot like the functionality that was already built into Google Maps, that's because it is—it's just that now you've got another screen to access it from. Use Find My Device to find peopleOpen Find My Device on your phone and you'll see the People tab has a little Beta label next to it, indicating that this feature is a work in progress. There's also a sticker on the map, showing you that the location sharing feature is powered by Google Maps, even though you're accessing it through Find My Device. If you've already set up sharing through Google Maps, you'll see your contacts listed and their current locations shown on the map. Tap the + (plus) button to share your location with someone new: The default option is to share your whereabouts for an hour, but you can tap this to change it to Today only, Until you turn this off, and Custom duration. You can choose how long you save your location for. Credit: Lifehacker You can then pick a contact from the panel below, or generate a link to send to someone in an app of your choice. They'll be able to see the location of your phone for the time you've specified, as well as the battery level of the device, and they'll get the opportunity to share their location in return—though they don't have to. This is functionality that's been in Google Maps for some time: If you've never used it, you can find it in the Google Maps app by tapping your profile picture (top right) then Location sharing. As it works through Google Maps, contacts with iPhones can be added as well, and see your location—as long as they've got Google Maps installed. You can share your location with anyone who uses Google Maps. Credit: Lifehacker Back in Find My Device, tap on any contact in your list to see where they are on the map. The next screen enables you to get directions to their current location (via Google Maps, of course), and to stop sharing your location with them. Tap the three dots next to a name to hide them from the map, if you only want to check up on them occasionally. Head to Find My Device on the web, and you get the same Devices and People tabs, though you can't add new contacts in the web app. You're always in control when it comes to who can see where you are and for how long, and given the tight integration with Android, you might find it preferable to location sharing tools in apps such as WhatsApp. View the full article

It’s been another bad week for Tesla shares so far. After closing down again yesterday, as of the time of this writing, TSLA shares are down over 5% in early morning trading on Tuesday. The stock’s decline this week comes after the company shed nearly 15% of its value in a single day last week. Much of Tesla’s recent stock declines have been attributed to the public souring of the company as its CEO, Elon Musk, has become increasingly involved in politics in both America and Europe. Since Musk’s political engagements, including his role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the United States and his support of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the EU, Tesla sales have slumped in several markets. While today’s decline could be a continuation of the worry over the brand’s declining image in the eyes of consumers, there are also three other possible reasons why TSLA shares may be heading lower today. Chinese rival BYD unveils new charging technology China is Tesla’s largest market outside of the United States. But the electric vehicle maker faces stiffer competition there than it does at home. And Tesla’s lead rival in China—BYD—has now announced a new charging platform that makes Tesla’s superchargers look archaic. As CNBC reports, BYD has announced its “Super e-Platform” charging technology, which the company says can deliver peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts, allowing a car to be charged up enough to go about 249 miles (400 kilometers) in just five minutes of charging. To put that into perspective, Tesla’s Superchargers have a peak charging rate of just 500 kilowatts. It takes 15 minutes for a Supercharger to give a vehicle enough range to travel around 168 miles (about 270 kilometers). If BYD’s claims hold, the company’s Super e-Platform will be a serious blow to Tesla and its Superchargers. It could be enough to make many in China opt for a BYD over a Tesla. If they do, Tesla sales in the country could continue to decline. Cybertruck quality concerns Another issue that may be negatively impacting Tesla stock this week is reports on social media that the company’s beleaguered Cybertrucks have yet another problem. As GuruFocus reports, videos of Cybertrucks have gone viral on social media recently, showing that the vehicle’s metal panels seem to be detaching. The worry is that if these quality issues are not addressed, it could affect sales of the vehicle. Tesla gets lower price target Finally, on Tuesday, RBC Capital Markets—a traditional Tesla bull—revised its price target on TSLA. While RBC still maintains a “buy” rating on the stock, the firm lowered its price target on TSLA shares from $440 to $320, reports MarketWatch. RBC said it made its revision after it slashed its estimate for what Tesla will charge each month for its self-driving car software. RBC had originally thought Tesla would charge $100 a month, but now thinks a $50 price is more likely. The firm also cut its projection for Tesla’s share of the robotaxi market in Europe and China. It had expected around a 20% share of the markets there, but now says it expects Tesla to have a 10% share. Tesla shares are down 44% year-to-date As of the time of this writing, TSLA shares are currently down another 5.81% in early market trading to $224.19 per share. That means Tesla shares have now fallen over 44% since the beginning of 2025. Tesla shares peaked in December at over $488 apiece. While Tesla shares have crashed in 2025, they are still up about 29% over the past 12 months. View the full article

Macron may not yet be bragging about it, but his crusade for strategic autonomy seems at long last to be vindicatedView the full article

Effective resource allocation can be the difference between a successful project and one that goes over time and over budget. A resource breakdown structure helps make sure your resource allocations solve problems, rather than creating them. Here's how to build an RBS. The post An Ultimate Guide to Resource Breakdown Structures: Step-By-Step Process and Example appeared first on The Digital Project Manager. View the full article

Chancellor-in-waiting uses outgoing Bundestag to loosen debt brake and unleash investments in defence and infrastructureView the full article

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposes central arms reserve capitals could draw fromView the full article