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US pair set to return home on Wednesday after Boeing Starliner problems meant eight-day mission lasted nine monthsView the full article

When we think of climate change, we may consider extreme weather events – record-breaking heatwaves, heavy downpours and devastating floods. But have you considered that these changes could also increase your risk of exposure to certain viruses? We now live in world where extreme weather events are common. With the increasing frequency of prolonged rainstorms and heatwaves, climate change may raise the likelihood of being exposed to sewage-associated viruses in rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Intense rainstorms can also result in rainwater overloading urban sewer systems. As a result, raw untreated sewage is released into rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Newly published research I have collaborated on shows that sewage-associated viruses can persist for days in certain weather conditions, raising health risks for people exposed to untreated outfall. Raw sewage contains human urine and excrement, and carries with it a rich load of dead cells, food waste, pharmaceuticals, bacteria and viruses. Although most viruses shed by humans are relatively harmless, people infected with disease-causing viruses – such as enterovirus and norovirus – can shed billions of viral particles each time they go to the toilet. Even after the disease symptoms have passed, people can still shed the viruses in large amounts when they use the lavatory. These are then released into the sewer system, flowing through the network until they reach the sewage treatment plant. Typical wastewater treatment practices used in the UK are more than 99% effective at removing viruses. But despite this efficiency, treated wastewater discharged into the environment still poses some risk. Consequently, every day of the year, our rivers, lakes and seas receive potentially harmful viruses. However, the release of raw untreated sewage represents a much more severe risk. Health risks from extreme weather While the UK is prolonged periods of rain, climate projections also predict more heatwaves like those in 2022, where temperatures reached record highs. It’s important for scientists to understand how these extreme weather events will influence the sewage-associated viruses discharged into the environment. We already know that recreational water users are exposed to harmful pathogens as a direct result of sewage discharge and agricultural runoff entering bodies of water. What remains unclear is how weather conditions affect a virus’s ability to infect people – and whether climate change could make these risks worse. Understanding this is crucial to tackling the growing health challenges posed by extreme weather and sewage contamination. To explore these questions, scientists need reliable ways to detect potentially infectious viruses in the environment. This isn’t easy. Environmental samples often contain contaminants including various chemicals and bacteria, which can interfere with standard laboratory testing methods. These challenges make it difficult to accurately assess the presence and potential risk of harmful viruses in water sources. To address these challenges, my colleagues and I developed methods that filter out viruses too damaged to cause infection. This approach ensured our data focused solely on the potentially infectious viruses in each sample. Our methods also allowed us to identify multiple types of virus simultaneously, making the process more efficient and comprehensive. We conducted a series of experiments to investigate how climate change affects sewage-associated viruses, and the risks they pose to human health. These experiments were designed to simulate both short-term weather events, such as storms, and long-term changes including rising temperatures. We introduced sewage-associated viruses, such as adenovirus and norovirus, into samples of river, estuary and seawater, and tracked how they degraded over two weeks. In one experiment, we exposed the samples to different temperatures, while in another, we simulated sunlight exposure. At various intervals, we measured the levels of intact, potentially infectious viruses to monitor their decline. From this data, we calculated “T90 decay rates”, which is the time it takes for viral loads to drop by 90%. These rates were measured separately for viruses still capable of causing infections, and for those in all stages of decay. Interestingly, we found that the type of water – river, estuarine or sea – had little effect on how long viruses remained infectious or detectable in our analyses. Enteric viruses – those that cause stomach upsets – stayed infectious in seawater for up to three days at temperatures as high as 30C. At cooler temperatures, they lasted even longer, persisting for up to a week. When exposed to sunlight, viruses in water survived less than 24 hours on a sunny day. But on cloudy days, they remained viable for around 2.5 days. These findings demonstrate the significant health risks posed by sewage-associated viruses in wastewater. Advice To reduce the risk of infection, our research suggests people should avoid recreational activities in waters affected by sewage discharge for at least 2.5 days during cloudy weather, and at least 24 hours after sunny days. And climate change could worsen the problem: some summers may see an increase in sewage contamination, especially following heavy rain after droughts. This issue isn’t limited to the UK, of course. Many countries continue to release untreated or partially treated sewage into natural waters, making it a global health concern. Our research highlights the urgent need for better sewage treatment practices worldwide. It also demonstrates the need for governments and health agencies to develop targeted risk management strategies which address the growing threats posed by climate change. Jessica Kevill is a post-doctoral research associate at the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences at Bangor University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Prince Mohammed creates unit to combat prostitution and begging after years of loosening hardline social restrictionsView the full article

Brussels sought visit to mark 50 years of ties, but move adds to scepticism about warm words from BeijingView the full article

Factors behind sharp rise in incapacity and disability benefits are complex and at times counterintuitiveView the full article

It’s a lot harder than it should be despite decades of corporate effortView the full article

A new study from American Express reveals that the majority of businesses are looking to improve their payments processes in 2025, with automation emerging as a key focus. The Amex Trendex: B2B Payments Edition survey, which polled 1,000 U.S. business decision-makers, highlights the role of streamlined payments in business growth, supplier relationships, and operational efficiency. Key Findings According to the study, 91% of business decision-makers recognize that “easy, streamlined and secure payments drive business growth.” However, despite this acknowledgment, only 17% of businesses surveyed have fully automated their payments processes, while 15% have not automated any payments at all. Late or slow payments have also had a tangible impact on business relationships, with 26% of respondents citing payment delays as a reason they have stopped working with a buyer or supplier. Additionally, four in five business leaders (82%) indicated that a single fraud incident could significantly impact trust in their business relationships. The Benefits of Payments Automation Automation in payments processing offers businesses multiple advantages, including enhanced cash flow visibility, more secure transactions, and increased operational efficiency. “Payments optimization is not always appreciated for its positive impact on relationships between buyers and suppliers and overall business success,” said Widad Chaoui, Senior Vice President, Corporate and B2B Solutions Product Management, Global Commercial Services, at American Express. “Automated payment methods like virtual cards or digital push payments drive more cash flow visibility, more secure transactions, and better relationships. They also give businesses greater working capital flexibility, enabling them to invest in moving their business forward.” Business leaders recognize these advantages, with 29% of survey respondents stating they would “sleep better at night” if they did not have to worry about payment accuracy and timeliness. However, perceived barriers continue to prevent many companies from fully embracing automation. Challenges to Automation Adoption Despite its benefits, the survey found that concerns around cost (45%), lack of perceived benefit (28%), and security risks (26%) are among the main reasons businesses have yet to implement full payments automation. “Often, it can feel like a daunting task for business leaders to change their payment processes from manual to automated, even if the current manual approach presents challenges, is insufficient, and poses risks,” said R.J. Ancona, Vice President and General Manager, B2B Product, Partnerships and Client Management, Merchant Services at American Express. “But the reality is that the time and cost associated with automation can be easier to implement than expected, and can benefit businesses in both the short and long run.” Automation as a Growth Strategy The study found that 95% of business decision-makers believe “easy, streamlined, and secure payments create happy customers.” In 2025, 43% of those planning to change their payments processes cite business growth as their primary motivation. American Express identifies several key automated solutions that businesses can adopt to improve their payments processes: Automated AP (Accounts Payable) and AR (Accounts Receivable) software solutions – Reduce errors, save time and money, and enhance cash flow efficiency. Straight-through processing for static and virtual cards – Fully electronic processing without manual steps. EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment) – Streamlined electronic invoicing and payment acceptance. Digital Push Payments – Transactions initiated by the payer for greater control over payment timing and destination. As businesses look to improve efficiency and strengthen relationships with suppliers and buyers, automation is expected to play a crucial role in shaping payments strategies. The survey suggests that while challenges remain, the shift toward automated payments could drive significant benefits for businesses in the coming year. The Amex Trendex B2B Payments Edition survey was conducted online by Opinium Research on behalf of American Express between December 9, 2024, and January 2, 2025. The survey included 1,000 business decision-makers across various industries, selected based on their responsibility for financial services, accounting, banking, or business credit facilities within their organizations. Image: American Express This article, "American Express Study Finds Businesses Prioritizing Payments Automation in 2025" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A new study from American Express reveals that the majority of businesses are looking to improve their payments processes in 2025, with automation emerging as a key focus. The Amex Trendex: B2B Payments Edition survey, which polled 1,000 U.S. business decision-makers, highlights the role of streamlined payments in business growth, supplier relationships, and operational efficiency. Key Findings According to the study, 91% of business decision-makers recognize that “easy, streamlined and secure payments drive business growth.” However, despite this acknowledgment, only 17% of businesses surveyed have fully automated their payments processes, while 15% have not automated any payments at all. Late or slow payments have also had a tangible impact on business relationships, with 26% of respondents citing payment delays as a reason they have stopped working with a buyer or supplier. Additionally, four in five business leaders (82%) indicated that a single fraud incident could significantly impact trust in their business relationships. The Benefits of Payments Automation Automation in payments processing offers businesses multiple advantages, including enhanced cash flow visibility, more secure transactions, and increased operational efficiency. “Payments optimization is not always appreciated for its positive impact on relationships between buyers and suppliers and overall business success,” said Widad Chaoui, Senior Vice President, Corporate and B2B Solutions Product Management, Global Commercial Services, at American Express. “Automated payment methods like virtual cards or digital push payments drive more cash flow visibility, more secure transactions, and better relationships. They also give businesses greater working capital flexibility, enabling them to invest in moving their business forward.” Business leaders recognize these advantages, with 29% of survey respondents stating they would “sleep better at night” if they did not have to worry about payment accuracy and timeliness. However, perceived barriers continue to prevent many companies from fully embracing automation. Challenges to Automation Adoption Despite its benefits, the survey found that concerns around cost (45%), lack of perceived benefit (28%), and security risks (26%) are among the main reasons businesses have yet to implement full payments automation. “Often, it can feel like a daunting task for business leaders to change their payment processes from manual to automated, even if the current manual approach presents challenges, is insufficient, and poses risks,” said R.J. Ancona, Vice President and General Manager, B2B Product, Partnerships and Client Management, Merchant Services at American Express. “But the reality is that the time and cost associated with automation can be easier to implement than expected, and can benefit businesses in both the short and long run.” Automation as a Growth Strategy The study found that 95% of business decision-makers believe “easy, streamlined, and secure payments create happy customers.” In 2025, 43% of those planning to change their payments processes cite business growth as their primary motivation. American Express identifies several key automated solutions that businesses can adopt to improve their payments processes: Automated AP (Accounts Payable) and AR (Accounts Receivable) software solutions – Reduce errors, save time and money, and enhance cash flow efficiency. Straight-through processing for static and virtual cards – Fully electronic processing without manual steps. EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment) – Streamlined electronic invoicing and payment acceptance. Digital Push Payments – Transactions initiated by the payer for greater control over payment timing and destination. As businesses look to improve efficiency and strengthen relationships with suppliers and buyers, automation is expected to play a crucial role in shaping payments strategies. The survey suggests that while challenges remain, the shift toward automated payments could drive significant benefits for businesses in the coming year. The Amex Trendex B2B Payments Edition survey was conducted online by Opinium Research on behalf of American Express between December 9, 2024, and January 2, 2025. The survey included 1,000 business decision-makers across various industries, selected based on their responsibility for financial services, accounting, banking, or business credit facilities within their organizations. Image: American Express This article, "American Express Study Finds Businesses Prioritizing Payments Automation in 2025" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Package aims to cut benefits bill by up to £5bn a year and includes measure to encourage return to workView the full article

Critics say rarely used authority could expand power to detain and expel people without due processView the full article

The skies over London could soon get a lot more exciting. Joby Aviation, the California-based electric air taxi company, announced an exclusive partnership with Virgin Atlantic on Saturday that it says will pave the way to launching its vehicles across the United Kingdom. The partnership will see Joby’s services integrated into Virgin’s app and website, and connect passengers at Heathrow and Manchester airports. Passengers will be able to reserve a seat on a Joby air taxi using Virgin’s app, the companies say. The announcement did not say when service is expected to begin. “We are delighted to be partnering with Joby to bring short-haul, zero-emission flights to airports and cities throughout the United Kingdom,” said Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s CEO, in a statement. “Our strategic partnership combines Joby’s expertise in design, engineering, and technology with the power of Virgin Atlantic’s brand and award-winning customer experience. We look forward to working together to bring Joby’s service to the U.K. and to deliver greater connectivity for our customers.” [Photo courtesy of Joby Aviation] Up in the air Joby’s air taxis, which have been shown off during exhibition flights in New York and other cities, are catching a lot of lift recently, with the company having inked deals with Uber, Delta Air Lines, and Toyota, along with raising hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. While waiting for the green light to start operating in full in the United States and the U.K., Joby is expected to start carrying passengers in the UAE as early as this year. Joby’s aircraft, known as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, can carry four passengers plus a pilot, and travel at up to 200 miles per hour. That means rapid transit around the U.K. with absolutely no emissions. While there is plenty of electricity in the air about these types of vehicles, they remain part of a speculative industry with regulatory hurdles and a ways to go before their path to the skies become clear. Joby Aviation stock (NYSE: Joby) has reflected this cycle of hype versus uncertainty over the last few months, rising significantly in the weeks following the 2024 presidential election only to fall again this year. Shares are down 22% since the beginning of January. Still, the company’s string of recent deals suggests it could very well defy gravity soon enough. “Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to delighting its customers is unparalleled and we couldn’t imagine a better partner to work with in the U.K.,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Joby’s founder and CEO. “Together, we are committed to delivering faster options for mobility across the country, including for Virgin Atlantic customers to get to the airport and move between U.K. towns and cities.” View the full article

Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell and award-winning creator Kenya Barris sat down with Fast Company’s KC Ifeanyi at the FC Grill at SXSW. The trio discussed The Unusual Suspects, Gladwell and Barris’s latest podcast series, as well as their business partnership and creative process. Stay tuned for key takeaways from their conversation and why The Unusual Suspects is a must-listen. https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Unusual-Suspects-with-Kenya-Barris-and-Malcolm-Gladwell-Audiobook/B0DNLMFCX7 View the full article

US president warns Tehran against supporting militant group which has disrupted shipping in the Red SeaView the full article

Zendesk has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Local Measure, a provider of Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and advanced voice solutions. The acquisition, expected to close in May 2025, aims to enhance Zendesk’s AI-powered voice capabilities and deepen its integration with Amazon Connect, Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud contact center solution. Strengthening AI Voice and Enterprise CX According to Zendesk, this acquisition is part of its broader strategy to expand into larger and more complex service environments. “Voice is one of the most personal and powerful ways businesses connect with their customers and employees, and managing it at scale requires a solution that is both intelligent and adaptable,” said Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk. “By acquiring Local Measure, we are fast-tracking our ability to deliver a fully integrated, AI-powered voice solution that combines the strength of Zendesk’s platform with the flexibility, security, and scalability of Amazon Connect. This move positions Zendesk to lead in the next generation of AI-powered service.” Local Measure’s technology is designed for high-volume service environments and includes features such as AI-powered automation, sophisticated call routing, and real-time service insights. The integration of these capabilities is expected to improve customer service efficiency by unifying inbound service and outbound sales and marketing efforts. Expanding Partnership with AWS Zendesk stated that the acquisition will reinforce its partnership with AWS, leveraging Local Measure’s existing integration with Amazon Connect. “At AWS, we are focused on helping customers solve complex challenges at scale, and Amazon Connect is a critical part of that because it brings enterprise-ready capabilities that are global and AI native,” said Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of AWS. “We are excited to work with Zendesk and Local Measure to unlock new opportunities for organizations to benefit from Amazon Connect helping them improve customer experience and operate faster, smarter, and more efficiently.” A New Era in Cloud Contact Centers Jonathan Barouch, CEO of Local Measure, emphasized that the acquisition will streamline operations for Zendesk users. “We’ve worked closely with Zendesk as a strategic partner, and this next step means faster deployment, lower complexity, and cloud-native innovation making Zendesk a fresh alternative to legacy Contact Center providers,” Barouch stated. The proposed acquisition is set to proceed under a scheme of arrangement under Australian law. Closing remains subject to customary conditions, including shareholder approval from Local Measure and regulatory and Australian Court approvals. This article, "Zendesk to Acquire Local Measure, Expanding AI-Powered Voice Capabilities" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Zendesk has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Local Measure, a provider of Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and advanced voice solutions. The acquisition, expected to close in May 2025, aims to enhance Zendesk’s AI-powered voice capabilities and deepen its integration with Amazon Connect, Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud contact center solution. Strengthening AI Voice and Enterprise CX According to Zendesk, this acquisition is part of its broader strategy to expand into larger and more complex service environments. “Voice is one of the most personal and powerful ways businesses connect with their customers and employees, and managing it at scale requires a solution that is both intelligent and adaptable,” said Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk. “By acquiring Local Measure, we are fast-tracking our ability to deliver a fully integrated, AI-powered voice solution that combines the strength of Zendesk’s platform with the flexibility, security, and scalability of Amazon Connect. This move positions Zendesk to lead in the next generation of AI-powered service.” Local Measure’s technology is designed for high-volume service environments and includes features such as AI-powered automation, sophisticated call routing, and real-time service insights. The integration of these capabilities is expected to improve customer service efficiency by unifying inbound service and outbound sales and marketing efforts. Expanding Partnership with AWS Zendesk stated that the acquisition will reinforce its partnership with AWS, leveraging Local Measure’s existing integration with Amazon Connect. “At AWS, we are focused on helping customers solve complex challenges at scale, and Amazon Connect is a critical part of that because it brings enterprise-ready capabilities that are global and AI native,” said Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of AWS. “We are excited to work with Zendesk and Local Measure to unlock new opportunities for organizations to benefit from Amazon Connect helping them improve customer experience and operate faster, smarter, and more efficiently.” A New Era in Cloud Contact Centers Jonathan Barouch, CEO of Local Measure, emphasized that the acquisition will streamline operations for Zendesk users. “We’ve worked closely with Zendesk as a strategic partner, and this next step means faster deployment, lower complexity, and cloud-native innovation making Zendesk a fresh alternative to legacy Contact Center providers,” Barouch stated. The proposed acquisition is set to proceed under a scheme of arrangement under Australian law. Closing remains subject to customary conditions, including shareholder approval from Local Measure and regulatory and Australian Court approvals. This article, "Zendesk to Acquire Local Measure, Expanding AI-Powered Voice Capabilities" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

"It’s a five-year degree for accounting versus four years for finance, and finance graduates often earn more." Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown Go PRO for members-only access to more Rob Brown. View the full article

"It’s a five-year degree for accounting versus four years for finance, and finance graduates often earn more." Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown Go PRO for members-only access to more Rob Brown. View the full article

Around 25 countries attended Saturday’s online meeting which came two weeks after London summitView the full article

Elite US schools including Harvard, Stanford and Princeton could see levies on investment gains raised as high as 21%View the full article

How brands reach consumers is always evolving. And at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW this past weekend, executives from Duolingo, NBCUniversal, and Creators Corp. discussed how they’re not only holding their consumers’s attention, but finding ways to embed their brands into their daily lives, primarily through branded entertainment. NBCUniversal: Find Ways to Engage Fans within an Experience When John Jelley, SVP of product and user experience at Peacock and global streaming for NBCUniversal, thinks about branded entertainment, he thinks about fandoms. From Love Island to The Traitors to Saturday Night Live, NBCUniversal has a wide array of IP with deep fandoms Jelley is looking to engage in broader ways through the company’s streaming service Peacock. In January, the company slowly began rolling out mini-games and short video clips within the Peacock app. And to Jelley, it’s been about providing casual entertainment but also leaning into the fandom these shows have attained. “I think it’s really important as well, not just to think about people coming in the game, but how are you’re going to get them to stay and feel progression. And so I think one of the things we’re thinking about is since we have these fandoms and people are kind of a little competitive, seeing where you rank against others in that fandom, Jelley said. “If the user can feel like you’re testing their knowledge and they’re themselves part of the game in a way and associated with the brand, they’re going to be much more open to playing it versus it feeling sort of somehow forced or non-organic.” Duolingo: Build your Brand with your audience Entertainment is core to language learning app Duolingo’s brand, said senior creative director James Kuczynski. Because the app is a gamified way to learn, everything revolves around “making it fun,” he said. Duolingo’s entertainment marketing plan focuses on creating brand partnerships that stand out and don’t feel boring, he noted. For example, when Squid Game’s first season launched on Netflix, Duolingo saw an increase in Korean language learning by 40%. So, with the release of season two this past December, Duolingo partnered with Netflix to launch the “Learn Korean or Else” campaign that played off of the rather aggressive tactics Duolingo’s viral mascot Duo employs to get users to stick with their lessons. “For us, it was really about tapping into that fandom—how can we help fans of a specific topic get the most out of what they love?” said Kuczynski. “And that really is the core question that we ask for every single partnership that we have. Because if we’re not adding value, then it just feels like another brand attaching themselves onto another IP.” Last year, Duolingo also made a deal with Sony Music last year to bring recordings from popular artists to the app’s music course, as well as teaming up with comic platform Webtoon for a series of digital comics featuring the app’s various characters—some of whom have become almost as popular as Duo. Case in point: the app’s angsty, emo teen Lily got her own sitcom Living with Lily in 2023. “We’ve really built our brand listening to all of our fans and followers. And I think that’s something that over the course of the last several years, we just keep leaning into,” Kuczynski said. “We’re looking for ideas that allow our fans and people on the internet to just create our brand for us. We listen to them, we lean in, and then we create content that they want to share.” Creators Corp.: Know where you Belong Over the past decade, brands have learned to “meet audiences where they are,” said Anne-Margot Rodde, founder and CEO of game studio Creators Corp., which partners with notable figures including four-time NBA champion Steph Curry, sports and comedy creators Dude Perfect, and others to create branded video games. In the gaming space, Rodde said that young audiences gravitate towards highly social games like Roblox and Fortnite—where creators can build whatever branded entertainment they want within the game. However, in creating this content, Rodde said that authenticity and recognizing what audiences want is key. “I think the place where there still needs to be improvement is really understanding the audience and understanding what works,” she said. “A lot of the time you see branded experiences where the brand is everywhere. It’s not something that the player necessarily wants to see in the game that they love and want to play.” View the full article

Until recently, David Friedman and his friends braved New York City parks and playgrounds to get their pickleball fix. They brought their own nets and line tape, avoided the broken glass, and adjusted to the weird bounces the ball took on cracked concrete. “We were competing with kids on scooters,” he says. Pickleheads in other cities think nothing of setting up on tennis courts, but Friedman knew better than to try that in Brooklyn. “Tennis players here will murder you,” he says. For a time, his group got their dinks in at some newly constructed handball courts, until those got too crowded. This October, Friedman did what a handful of New York City entrepreneurs have been doing lately: He opened a private pickleball facility of his own, called PKLYN, which added five bookable courts to the city’s rapidly growing total. Pickleball is America’s fastest-growing sport, as you’ve no doubt heard by now. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, a trade group, participation has increased by more than 220% since 2020. As the game has swept the country in roughly counterclockwise fashion, beginning in the Pacific Northwest and arriving in the Northeast by way of the Sun Belt and Southeast, the shortage of courts has been acutely felt in densely populated New York, where indoor and outdoor space are both at a premium. That’s beginning to change, because some of those new players have become entrepreneurs focused on building new facilities. “Everyone sees that as the primary [business] opportunity,” says Eric Ho, cofounder of NYC Pickleball, an online guide to the city’s pickleball courts and player communities. [Photo: courtesy CityPickle] And it’s an opportunity that businesses large and small are seizing on. CityPickle opened New York’s first pickleball club in 2022, a four-court indoor facility in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City. This past summer, it operated 32 courts around the city and sold a minority stake to ex-Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund. In another sign that serious investors consider the game more than a passing fad, CityPickle has expanded its partnership with the Related Companies, the real-estate developer that also owns SoulCycle and Equinox, in glamorous locations like New York’s Central Park and West Palm Beach. Life Time, the national fitness chain, has also bet big on the sport and recently built courts alongside swimming pools, fitness studios, and other amenities in its New York City locations. Meanwhile, smaller operators (especially in Long Island City, site of two recent openings) are also pinning their hopes on New York’s ongoing love of pickleball. PKLYN, which occupies a converted warehouse in the postindustrial Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus and charges up to $110 an hour, is aiming for more of a cool factor than most, with canned beers from nearby Threes Brewing and sandwiches by Alidoro. (Friedman, the facility’s operator and majority owner, says that two-thirds of his funding came from individuals, including local pickleball players, and that one-third was debt-financed.) [Photo: courtesy PKLYN] The courts are sleek gray and black, the exposed-bricks walls eggplant purple, and painted that shade not just for style points, either. Friedman notes that the dark colors—and the pointed absence of banners and other loud branding—make it easier to track the neon-green ball. And whereas other converted spaces around the city can feel cramped and awkward, he points out that PKLYN has abundant room between courts and 23-foot-tall ceilings that allow for real lobs. [Photo: courtesy PKLYN] Pickleball entrepreneurs in other cities have faced fewer architectural constraints. In Los Angeles, the organizers of an open-air weekend flea market have added three courts to their space on the roof of a parking garage. In Arizona, a company called Picklemall has set up in a 280-acre sports and entertainment complex. In hypercompetitive New York City, though, that kind of innovation can be harder. [Photo: courtesy PKLYN] “New York’s a pain in the ass,” says Friedman, a former real-estate lawyer. “Securing the real estate is one of the hardest parts, and being a great operator doesn’t mean you’re going to get a lease.” Though he eventually scored one, for 10 years and with a pair of five-year options—in a Brooklyn neighborhood, Gowanus, that is poised to become the next Williamsburg, no less—it wasn’t easy. Many of the landlords he approached were skeptical of leasing to a business built around a potential “fad,” he says, especially to a tenant with no track record. Those obstacles have been less of a problem for CityPickle, which has made a name for itself with seasonal courts in highly visible and heavily trafficked spots like Central Park’s Wollman Rink. The Manhattan-based company calls its 14-court complex there–which operates from April to October–the largest pickleball installation in the Northeast. (The new season begins on April 4.) It operates a total of six venues around the city, including the indoor club in Long Island City. Private courts there start at $40 an hour, whereas during peak times at Wollman Rink they go for $120. [Photo: Justin Steele/courtesy CityPickle] CityPickle has found the spotlight and some powerful partners in just two years—including Related Companies, the developer of New York City’s Hudson Yards (where CityPickle also has a showcase court) and part of the joint venture managing Wollman Rink. In November, CityPickle “activated” 13 new seasonal courts in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, in a development built by Related ex-chairman Stephen Ross. In June, Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund acquired a “significant minority stake” in CityPickle. Cofounder Mary Cannon says that the company’s balance sheet and operational track record have positioned it to win contracts. It’s in the licensing process with the New York City Parks Department to convert a 60,000-square-foot former construction site under the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge into a recreational space that will include 14 pickleball courts, food trucks, and a dog run. Cannon describes it as the sort of “regenerative, place-making” project that city-dwellers crave. “Coming out of COVID, people want to connect, be social, put their phones down, move their bodies,” she says. “In five to seven years, we could see supply meeting demand in the suburban market”—but in urban areas, she sees it taking longer to fill that gap. She and Desai say they’d like to expand internationally, starting with Toronto and London. [Photo: Jane Kratochvil/courtesy CityPickle] The challenges of operating in New York City may be offset by the market for corporate events, especially as pickleball’s relaxed reputation and accessibility have made it a popular alternative to networking at bars or golf courses. “We’ve gotten good at offering top-tier events to top-tier firms,” says CityPickle cofounder Erica Desai. She adds that CityPickle’s dozens of New York City venues give it unmatched flexibility: When a Meta launch event for Threads at Wollman Rink was rained out earlier this year, CityPickle simply moved the event to its indoor facility in Industry City, Brooklyn. At around midday on a fall Monday—not exactly prime time—most of CityPickle’s Central Park courts were in use for lessons or casual play. A group of girls in uniforms from a neighborhood private school dashed on, but others were almost certainly out-of-towners. The spectacular location, with the Plaza hotel’s mansard roof just visible over the treetops, makes playing here something a visiting Texan or Arizonan would do between shopping at FAO Schwartz and catching a Broadway musical. “Pickleball tourism is a thing,” Desai says. [Photo: courtesy CityPickle] Meanwhile, on weekends, younger crowds would spread out on the courtside cabanas to drink mango “tipsy pickles,” a house variation on a margarita. When it is suggested that this sounds like a moderately more active version of the West Village brunch scene, Desai and Cannon nod in agreement. “We think of ourselves as a hospitality company. It’s about the experience, leaving people with a certain feeling,” says Desai. The feeling they’re chasing at the Life Time at PENN 1 is a bit more intense. Open since April, the 54,000-square-foot gym and health club in midtown Manhattan offers seven pickleball courts, 11 coaches, and many of the performance-enhancing perks and accoutrements enjoyed by tour-level pros. There are treadmills and Stairmasters for a pregame warm-up. There’s an app that will have a whey-protein smoothie waiting for you the minute you’re done playing. There are also stretch specialists, cryo-beds, hydromassage beds, and Normatec compression boots available for worn-out muscles. As Ryan Brister, a regional vice president of operations for Life Time, puts it: “Recovery, stretch, nutrition, all under one roof.” Life Time founder and CEO Bahram Akradi, an avid player, has vowed to make the company the national leader in pickleball courts and programming. The upscale fitness chain has more than 700 courts nationwide and aims to achieve 1,000 by the end of 2025. Akradi has also helped to engineer a faster, more durable pickleball—which was inaugurated at PENN 1 this past summer by retired tennis star (and Life Time advisor) Andre Agassi. “We want to attract, and have attracted, the best pickleball players in the area,” Brister says, adding that Life Time’s Manhattan two pickleball locations draw a younger crowd than its suburban one in nearby Westchester. This is a competitive crowd that has the will and the wealth to get better fast, he explains. Only the top-tier membership—which starts at $359 a month—includes pickleball, but it comes with unlimited pick-up or “open” group play, as well as private courts for $60 an hour. [Photo: courtesy CityPickle] The free city parks are at the other end of the cost spectrum, but according to Ho, the founder of NYC Pickleball, they have become less beginner-friendly. “On the public courts it used to be easy to hop in and learn the game. Now the lines are long and people don’t want to wait for someone who doesn’t know how to hit the ball. It’s more harrowing,” he says. His company—which he left his finance job two years ago to manage full-time—caters to new players by booking indoor basketball courts at schools and elsewhere and charging between $12 and $25 an hour for court time. Ho considers pickleball a “new third place” between work and home, and has been struck by the amount of community organizing it has elicited, in the form of WhatsApp groups, communal gear bins, and more. But he’s also watched the attitudes of New Yorkers change as more private courts have opened. “At first, everyone was like, ‘So expensive!’ But more and more people have come in, the free infrastructure is so limited, and it has become such an integral part of people’s lives—health-wise, mentally, socially,” Ho says. “Even people who are unemployed have to keep their membership! Because what else are they going to do? Pickleball keeps them sane and active. It’s worth it.” View the full article

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Here’s the annual U.S. household income needed to finance the purchase of the typical valued U.S. home: January 2020: $51,646 January 2021: $51,740 January 2022: $62,669 January 2023: $86,184 January 2024: $92,006 January 2025: $92,538 That’s a +79% shift in just 5 years. Methodology: This Zillow calculation is conservative and assumes a 20% down payment and the homebuyer spends less than 30.0% of their monthly income on the total monthly payment. This is a financed purchase, of course. For typical home value, Zillow economists used the latest Zillow Home Value Index reading. How did we get here? During the Pandemic Housing Boom, housing demand surged rapidly amid ultra-low interest rates, stimulus, and the remote work boom. Federal Reserve researchers estimate “new construction would have had to increase by roughly 300% to absorb the pandemic-era surge in demand.” Unlike housing demand, housing supply isn’t as elastic and can’t quickly ramp up like that. As a result, the heightened pandemic-era demand drained the market of active inventory and sent national home prices soaring. The typical U.S. home value measured by the Zillow Home Value Index in January 2025 ($356,776) is still a staggering +44% greater than in January 2019 ($247,106). That overheated home price growth, coupled with the ensuing mortgage rate shock, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumping up from under 3.0% to over 7.0%, has created the fastest-ever deterioration in housing affordability. This affordability squeeze has been broad-based. Below is what this analysis looked like in January 2020. Below is what this analysis looked like for January 2025. The problem, of course, is that incomes haven’t kept up. While the annual U.S. household income needed to purchase a typical U.S. home has increased by +79% between January 2020 and January 2025, average weekly earnings of U.S. workers have risen by +25%, and overall U.S. consumer inflation has grown by +23% during the same period. What’s the impact of this housing affordability deterioration? The biggest immediate impact of this affordability deterioration is that across the country, existing home sales have been constrained since mortgage rates spiked in 2022. Some of that’s the result of suppressed housing demand, but a lot of it is due to the fact that many homeowners who’d like to sell their home and buy something else simply can’t afford to do so or don’t want to part with their lower monthly payment/mortgage rate. All signs point to 2025 being another year of constrained existing home sales. View the full article

When both my picky kids discovered they loved eggs, it was a blessed relief for meal planning. After years of trying to find dinners that everyone was happy to eat, my kids’ affinity for eggs added quiche, frittatas, and omelets to our cooking repertoire. We now go through two dozen eggs a week at chez Guy Birken. Which means I have personally been paying very close attention to spiking egg prices. My local grocery store is selling a dozen eggs for $5.99—more than two times the price of eggs as of March 2024. If you’ve been wondering why you need a second mortgage to afford your breakfast, here’s what you need to know about this price eggsplosion. Supply and demand Even if you slept through your Econ 101 class, you probably remember the law of supply and demand: When supply is low and/or demand is high, prices increase. In the case of the humble chicken egg, supply is down because of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), aka the bird flu, while demand has remained the same, resulting in higher prices. Avian flu Since 2022, over 166 million birds have come down with this harmless-sounding malady, and over three-quarters of the affected birds are egg-laying hens. Millions of chickens have died and millions more have been culled to prevent the spread of this very contagious disease. The loss of so many chickens means there is a smaller supply of eggs, which has pushed up the price. Bird flu may be the primary driver of the eye-watering prices of a dozen eggs, but it’s not the only one. Garden-variety inflation has also affected the price of eggs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unadjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.8% for the year ending February 2025. This may not sound like much—and it is only 0.8% higher than the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation—but it does have an effect on the cost of getting an egg from a hen to a dairy aisle when everything from chicken feed to gasoline is more expensive. Inelastic demand When prices for many goods go up, many consumers will substitute a different product. For example, if beef prices suddenly skyrocketed, a lot of shoppers would buy pork, chicken, or tofu instead. This is known as “elasticity of demand” and it helps keep prices somewhat stable. (Elasticity of demand is also why grocery prices tend to go up much more slowly than healthcare prices, since it’s easy to substitute one protein for another and impossible to substitute one prescription drug for another.) But eggs are an inelastic product. Even when their prices spike, people still buy about the same number of eggs. There are not many appropriate substitutes for eggs in applications like baking, and eggs offer a relatively low-cost source of healthy protein, even when prices rise. Since consumers continue to purchase eggs at about the same rate they always did, prices won’t go down until the supply returns to previous levels. Will egg prices keep rising? Like many consumers, I have simply been paying the higher prices for eggs on the assumption that what goes up must eventually come down. That’s how it’s gone for every previous price spike I’ve lived through. But that is not necessarily what will happen this time around. This version of the avian flu appears to be more virulent and tenacious than other strains of the disease. The 2014–2015 bird flu outbreak disappeared after about a year, since hot weather helped kill off the virus. The current outbreak has been affecting our nation’s birds since 2022 and the change of seasons has not had a noticeable effect on ending the virus—so we may yet see scrambled eggs become a status symbol. Of course, no economist, journalist, or farmer has a crystal ball. There is no way to know for sure where egg prices are headed—and it’s not like we can stockpile eggs to prepare. Finding cheaper eggs (or egg substitutes) There are a number of options available to shoppers to keep eggs from destroying their grocery budget. (Please note: despite the current administration’s recommendation, raising backyard chickens is not feasible for most people—and introducing a heap of inexperienced urban farmers to the joys of backyard poultry could prolong the avian flu outbreak.) To start, check the local egg prices at the Pantry & Larder site Eggspensive. This site tracks the cost of a dozen eggs at every Walmart location nationwide. The Krazy Coupon Lady’s egg price comparison and egg coupons can also help you get the lowest possible price. You can also work around your egg needs for many recipes. While egg substitutes in baking are never quite perfect, using ingredients like applesauce, Greek yogurt, mashed banana, aquafaba, or vinegar + baking soda can re-create some of the specific properties eggs add to your favorite baked goods. And don’t forget that vegans like baked goods, too. (If you haven’t tried vegan baking since you broke your tooth on a carob-chip “cookie” in the 1980s, you’ll be delighted to learn that it’s come a long way.) Vegan bakers have come up with a number of delicious recipes that don’t require any eggs or egg substitutes. Dealing with eggstreme prices The price of eggs often works as a political shorthand to describe the kitchen table economic worries of the average person. But since last fall, there’s nothing metaphorical about the high price of eggs in America. The ongoing avian flu has reduced the supply of eggs, and the demand for eggs has remained inelastic. It’s possible that egg prices will continue to rise if we can’t get the bird flu under control, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck paying through the nose for your eggs. Several websites offer price trackers and coupons for eggs, and there are a number of substitutes that can re-create eggy properties for your baking and other recipes—and dabbling with some vegan recipes can help you avoid the need for eggs altogether. View the full article

AI image editing may be all the rage, but good old-fashioned image editors are still essential. There’s a problem, though: Windows PCs, Chromebooks, and Macs don’t include exceptional image editors that go beyond the most basic editing needs. Sure, you can pay for Photoshop or hunt down another image editor—but what if you just want to do something quick? Well, then you’re left searching the web—and maybe you come across a reasonably decent online image editor, but perhaps it forces you to sign into an account or pay for a subscription. Or maybe it just doesn’t do what it promises to do in any especially impressive way. Let’s skip all that. Today’s tool is an easy, free, and completely browser-based image editor that doesn’t need any accounts or payments. You can access it from any type of device, too, and start editing images almost instantly. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Photoshop for the rest of us Allow me to introduce you to Photopea. ➜ ​Photopea​ is a powerful tool that many of our Cool Tools newsletter readers have recommended over time. ⌚ You can get started with it in roughly 10 seconds. It’s simple: Just head to ​the Photopea website​. (The first time you load it, you’ll want to click the “X” in the top-right corner to hide the welcome banner.) Then choose the “Open From Computer” button and select an image from your device’s storage—or, if you’re on a PC, drag and drop an image from your computer’s file manager directly onto the Photopea page. Photopea makes it easy to import files from your phone or computer. You’ll then see an image-editing interface that’ll look immediately familiar if you’ve ever used Adobe Photoshop. Photopea is packed with professional-grade tools that are normally limited to costly, complex, and at-times clunky desktop image editors. You’ll find layers, filters, a ​clone stamp​ for touch-ups, a background removal system, and even batch resizing and image-converting options. Whenever you’re made the modifications you need, click the “File” menu and select “Save” to download your final file. That’s it. Photopea looks and feels a lot like Photoshop, but it’s completely free and runs entirely in your browser. Now you’ve got a Photoshop-caliber image editor at your fingertips whenever you need it—for free, usable without signing in, and without any software installation required. What’s not to love? You can ​use Photopea on its website​ in your browser. (It’s technically compatible with both desktop and mobile browsers, but the desktop experience tends to be best. If you see a Photopea app in the Android or iOS App Store, know that it isn’t official or associated with this same site.) Photopea is free with ads. You can sign up for an account and pay $5 per month to remove the ads and get access to AI photo-editing tools, if you like, but it absolutely isn’t required. Photopea’s ​privacy policy​ says all your photos are stored on your device and never sent to any remote servers or shared in any way. Keep the geeky goodies coming with my free Cool Tools newsletter. You’ll get an instant introduction to an incredible audio app and a new off-the-beaten-path gem in your inbox every Wednesday! View the full article

Imagine everyone around you sounds like they’re shouting underwater. That’s my world without hearing aids—a reality I’ve hidden since I was a kid. Words reach me as a cacophony of blended vowels, forcing me to piece together meaning from your lips, your expressions, your gestures. And a year ago, if you’d told me artificial intelligence would help me finally embrace this part of myself, I would’ve laughed in your face. Let me explain. In the days before social media could connect you to “others like you” with a single swipe, I was the only kid I knew who needed hearing aids. So at a young age, I made a decision to hide this at all costs. And I became an expert at it. Yet, ironically, I have built my entire career around helping others share their truth. As a Today Show producer and then a business storytelling coach, I spent years in control rooms and conference rooms, creating safe spaces for people to be vulnerable. Yet there I was perfecting my own daily disguise—strategic hair placement (never up), carefully tilted headphones to avoid control room feedback, and endless excuses for why I needed to sit in certain spots during meetings. I was the master of making others feel seen in order to share their stories while doing everything possible to hide a major part of my own. Fast-forward to 2023. Running my video storytelling company, I watched in frustration as students submitted soulless AI-generated scripts. Months of helping them connect the dots on their founder stories, only to have them feed everything into ChatGPT for perfectly polished—but utterly lifeless—final scripts. I hated this new technology. But the journalist in me couldn’t ignore one nagging question: Could we use AI to help us tell more vulnerable, more human stories? Late one night, I decided to test this idea on myself. I opened ChatGPT and typed: “I want to explore something I’ve been hiding my whole life. I wear hearing aids, and I’m exhausted from concealing them. Can you help me understand why I’m struggling to be open about this?” The AI’s response stopped me cold. Instead of the usual generic advice, it reflected back patterns in my own writing—how often I used words like “hide,” “mask,” and “cover.” AI showed me that my greatest strength as a storytelling coach was helping others embrace exactly what made them different, and that I needed to do the same for myself. Tears streamed down my face as I saw my own story in a completely new light. This unexpected moment started me on a journey to help others use AI to tell their authentic stories. But first, I used myself as the guinea pig. I began using AI as a journal—writing down my observations about my clients and students’ biggest fears, their late-night worries, their secret dreams of what their businesses could become, what triggered them on social media or in the workplace. (Anonymized, of course, to protect their privacy.) And then I ventured onto more sinister thoughts from my own entrepreneurial journey: “Am I really qualified to do this?” “What if everyone realizes I’m making this up as I go?” Then I’d ask AI to help me find moments from my own life that could build bridges to the struggles of my audience. The process was iterative, collaborative, difficult, and therapeutic. Where I once saw random life experiences that had no bearing on my current life or business hat, AI helped me spot golden threads of connection. That time I bombed a live TV segment and almost got fired? Suddenly I saw how it connected to my audience’s fear of visibility. My rocky transition from network TV to entrepreneurship? A perfect mirror for their own career pivot anxieties. That moment I was lying on my Brooklyn apartment floor with a newborn and toddler, terrified about getting let go from my “brand new fancy” startup job? It spoke directly to my audience’s fears about taking risks and making big changes. It was like having a mirror that could see past my blind spots—showing me connections I was too close to notice, patterns I was too wrapped up in to recognize, and meaning in moments I’d dismissed as just “stuff that happened.” I began weaving these AI-sparked revelations into my business storytelling, testing how this new vulnerability landed with my audience. The response was immediate. Stories I’d dismissed as “not that interesting” suddenly revealed their power through AI as “she” identified golden threads of connection I was too close to see. My storytelling library cracked wide open. I became excited to dig into some of the uncomfortable life moments with AI as my thought-provoking guide. The real breakthrough came when I started teaching this reflective approach to other business leaders. Together with AI, we excavated the deeper meanings behind their business decisions, revealing stories they never thought to tell. Together we used prompts like this: “What themes emerge in how I talk about my business journey?” “Where might I be holding back out of fear?” “How could my struggles actually help my audience?” I watched founders who’d hidden behind their logos for years finally step into the spotlight with confidence. A soap company founder revealed her real reason for leaving finance for ocean conservation. All of a sudden, her sharing about herself “wasn’t bragging” but necessary to connect to her customers. Another founder realized her obsession with building nurturing corporate cultures stemmed from losing her dad as a child. These weren’t just better marketing stories—they were moments of profound clarity. I watched as “professional facades” crumbled as they realized their personal experiences weren’t distractions from their business stories—they just needed to see those moments in another light. These transformations were so powerful that I knew I needed to make this process accessible to more people. The problem was, most AI tools weren’t built for this kind of deep, reflective storytelling work. They were designed to generate content, not unlock authentic human stories. So I built StoryPro, an AI storytelling tool specifically designed for this intersection of humanity and technology. Not to write stories for people (although it will once it feels you’ve gone deep enough), but to help them discover the stories within themselves that need to be told. It combines the pattern-recognition power of AI with prompts and frameworks I’ve developed over decades of helping people share their authentic experiences. It’s like having a storytelling coach in your pocket—one that helps you see the significance in experiences you might have overlooked and shows you how these moments could resonate with your audience. Then came my moment of truth . . . I decided it was time to tell my hearing aid story publicly for the first time ever. Using a combination of Google Notebook LLM and StoryPro, the storytelling tool I created, I began exploring my own narrative in a deeper way. I wrote a video script story about my hearing aids freely and with a clarity I had never felt before. When I finally shared the video on LinkedIn, the post went viral, generating millions of impressions. Speaking invitations and podcast appearances followed. But the real transformation wasn’t in the metrics. It was in how I finally saw myself: I internalized for the first time how my hearing loss wasn’t a weakness to hide. The past 18 months have transformed everything I thought I knew about AI and authenticity. AI isn’t here to replace our creativity—it’s a mirror, reflecting back the stories we’ve kept locked inside ourselves. It’s a tool that can help us see ourselves more clearly and find courage in our vulnerability. It can even be a partner in healing our wounded self-image. Those hearing aids I spent decades hiding? They’re now proudly visible in every video call and speaking engagement. Not because AI wrote me a perfect story, but because it helped me see the story that was there all along—and own it proudly. Want to start your own journey of discovery? Here’s a prompt that changed everything for me: “The Mirror Prompt” 1. Open your favorite AI tool and paste this: “I need your help exploring something I’ve been hesitant to share. I’ll start by sharing some of my past writing so you can understand my voice. Then I’ll tell you about something I feel called to share with my audience who are {insert a bit of info on your audience and how you serve them} but haven’t found the right way to express it. Can you help me spot patterns and connections I might be missing? Feel free to ask follow-up questions.” 2. After the AI responds, go deeper with: “Help me see this through fresh eyes—what hidden strengths might lie in what I’ve seen as weaknesses? How could this help me connect more authentically with my audience?” 3. Finally, ask for: “Show me three small ways to begin sharing this story, starting with the gentlest first step I could take today.” You might be surprised—like I was—to find yourself feeling truly seen and understood . . . yes, by AI. Sometimes the most powerful insights come from unexpected places. View the full article