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Ministers believe that increased use of artificial intelligence can help fix the public finances but experts have their doubts 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. Prior to September 2024, any Apple user interested in active noise-canceling (ANC) AirPods would've had to shell out $250 for the AirPods Pro. With the release of the ANC AirPods 4, the tech is much more affordable—and you can currently grab a pair of these $179 earbuds for $148.99. Apple also has a more budget-friendly version of the AirPods 4 without ANC; that model is currently for $99.99, down from $129. Both of these prices mark record lows, according to price-tracking tools. While the discounts aren't mind-blowing, the fact we're seeing any price reductions on newly released AirPods makes them a good deal, relatively speaking—especially outside of the typical Prime Day/Black Friday sales window. Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, with Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Audio, Transparency Apple AirPods 4 (With ANC) $148.99 at Walmart $179.00 Save $30.01 Get Deal Get Deal $148.99 at Walmart $179.00 Save $30.01 Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Personalized Spatial Audio, Sweat and Water Resistant, USB-C Apple AirPods 4 (Without ANC) $99.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $129.00 Save $29.01 Get Deal Get Deal $99.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $129.00 Save $29.01 SEE -1 MORE The AirPods 4 have updated USB-C charging. Both models are powered by Apple's H2 chip, so you'll get Personalized Spatial Audio (so you can hear sounds seemingly coming from different directions as you move your head) and the ability to use head gestures to tell Siri "yes" or "no" (this also works for answering or denying calls). It's also likely Apple will add a live translation feature to both models when iOS 19 rolls out later this year. If you spring for the ANC AirPods 4, you'll get a charging case with a built-in speaker, which you can use with Find My to locate it if you lose them. You'll also get features like Conversation Awareness, which lowers your music volume when your AirPods detect that you're talking to someone; Transparency Mode, which lets you better hear your surroundings while your earbuds are in; and Adaptive Audio (combines ANC and Transparency mode to adjust ANC levels based on the noise around you). Keep in mind that since these are open style earbuds, lacking a silicone tip to better block out noise, the ANC will not be as good as what you can get from AirPods Pro or Beats Fit Pro. Both versions are rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, offer up to five hours of listening per charge (up to 30 hours with the charging case), and can handle automatic switching with your other Apple devices. You can read more about the non-ANC AirPods in PCMag's "excellent" review, and more about the ANC AirPods in PCMag's "outstanding" review. View the full article

Allegation comes as utility waits for Court of Appeal decision over £3bn emergency loanView the full article

Top executives collectively received $126.5mn for their work in 2024 as overall employee remuneration rose more modestly View the full article

A federal judge in Maryland ruled against the City of Baltimore's attempt to block cuts to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau program funding on procedural grounds. View the full article

Qatar will provide natural gas supplies to Syria with the aim of generating 400 megawatts of electricity a day, in a measure to help address the war-battered country’s severe electricity shortages, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported Friday. Syria’s interim Minister of Electricity Omar Shaqrouq said the Qatari supplies are expected to increase the daily state-provided electricity supply from two to four hours per day. Under the deal, Qatar will send two million cubic meters of natural gas a day to the Deir Ali power station, south of Damascus, via a pipeline passing through Jordan. Qatar’s state-run news agency said that the initiative was part of an agreement between the Qatar Fund for Development and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program and “aims to address the country’s severe shortage in electricity production and enhance its infrastructure.” Syria’s economy and infrastructure, including electricity production, has been devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war and crushing Western sanctions imposed on the government of former President Bashar Assad. Those who can afford it rely on solar power and private generators to make up for the meager state power supply, while others remain most of the day without power. Since Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive in December, the country’s new rulers have struggled to consolidate control over territory that was divided into de facto ministates during the war and to begin the process of reconstruction. The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria, while experts say that number could reach at least $400 billion. The United States remains circumspect about the interim government and current President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former leader of the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Washington designates HTS as a terrorist organization and has been reluctant to lift sanctions. In January, however, the U.S. eased some restrictions, issuing a six-month general license that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions. View the full article

Too many of this government’s proposals introduce the kind of regulation the PM professes to hateView the full article

Google requires ecommerce stores to specify in their structured data which country their return policies apply to. The post Google Updates Structured Data Requirements For Return Policies appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

The White House’s mishmash of radical policies is sapping confidence in America View the full article

Prepare now. By Jennifer Wilson Go PRO for members-only access to more Jennifer Wilson. View the full article

Prepare now. By Jennifer Wilson Go PRO for members-only access to more Jennifer Wilson. View the full article

We all know influencing can pay well—but just how well? Philadelphia-based influencer Brandon Edelman, known online as @bran_flakezz, recently went viral on TikTok after revealing he made $768,000 last year, primarily from brand partnerships and creator funds. After taxes and expenses, he pocketed net earnings of just over $300,000. Known for his self-described “feral party content,” Edelman discussed his TikTok career on Your Rich BFF, a finance podcast hosted by Vivian Tu. “So $768,000 is the top number, 20 percent of that goes to management, so we’re down to, like, what $550k? From $550k, $200,000 of that goes to taxes,” Edelman said. “Just the way it goes. Now we’re down to $330k. After the $330k, you have your expenses. I have a team now, so it’s like, lawyer, accountant, therapist . . . it’s insane.” After doing the math, the 28-year-old revealed he wound up pocketing, “probably about $300,000”—still a far cry from his previous $40,000 salary working in the fashion industry. “I grew up, literally, dirt poor, so this is insane,” he told Tu. “My parents made enough money to put food on the table, but they didn’t have savings. We lived paycheck to paycheck. I knew when I grew up, I wanted to be more financially secure.” (Fast Company has reached out to Edelman for comment.) Edelman’s transparency has encouraged a wave of salary disclosures across social media. Still, Edelman is the exception—not the rule. In 2023, 48% of creator-earners made $15,000 or less, according to a 2024 report by the Wall Street Journal, pointing to figures from NeoReach, an influencer marketing agency. Just 13% made upwards of $100,000. There’s also the racial pay gap to account for. Influencers like @aliyahsinterlude and @claaaarke joined the conversation on TikTok, addressing pay disparities and the different expectations put upon creators of color in the industry. A 2024 report from SevenSix Agency, a British influencer marketing and talent management agency, revealed stark pay disparities based on ethnicity, with white influencers earning up to 50% more than their BAME counterparts. For example, when it comes to Instagram Reels, white influencers earn an average of £1,637.62 ($2,100.92) per post, while Black influencers make £1,080.41 ($1,386.07). South Asian influencers average £1,135.00 ($1,456.10), Southeast Asian influencers £700.63 ($898.85), and East Asian influencers £1,009.55 ($1,295.16). Edelman acknowledged this pay disparity in a follow-up video on his TikTok page. “This is why salary transparency is important,” he explained. “In every industry, in every walk of life. We don’t know what we don’t know. For us to be able to have open conversations about what we are making gives us the edge to then negotiate what we are actually worth.” View the full article

What’s the difference between a COO and an FA? By Marc Rosenberg The Rosenberg Practice Management Library Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

What’s the difference between a COO and an FA? By Marc Rosenberg The Rosenberg Practice Management Library Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

If you own a pair of AirPods, you might have quite the futuristic upgrade arriving later this year. That is, unless you're a former Google customer—otherwise this will seem a bit like old news. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is working on a live translation feature for AirPods with the release of iOS 19. Gurman's sources appear to be keeping as quiet as possible, as the feature is still quite secret, so it's not clear exactly which AirPods models are going to be compatible with this feature, should it arrive with the update. But seeing as most new AirPods features seem to hit the second-gen AirPods Pro these days, my guess would be those buds—maybe AirPods 4, if Apple is feeling generous. (I hope AirPods Max would be so lucky.) Gurman's sources did share how the feature will roughly work: When someone is speaking to you in another language, your AirPods will translate their words into your target language. Then, when you start to speak in reply, your iPhone will translate back into the other speaker's language and read those words out loud. Apple is not the first company to release a feature like this. In fact, Google's Pixel Buds have had live translation for years now through "Conversation" mode in the Translate app. If you have the proper buds and an Android phone, you can open the Translate app, and ask your Pixel Buds to help you translate something in another language. This will automatically kick on Conversation mode: When the other party responds, your Pixel Buds will play the translation in your ear for you. You don't need the Pixel Buds for Conversation mode to work, of course. You can rely on your phone's speaker to achieve the same result. But it's cool that you can be the one to hear the translation in your ear, and understand what the other person was saying. It's not clear from Gurman's limited information whether Apple's feature will work this way via its proprietary Translate app. The fact that your iPhone will speak its translation of your side of the conversation sounds like how Google handles this feature, so it does seem likely that you'll need the Translate app open in order for your AirPods to translate the other party's words, as well. Apple's app has its own Conversation mode too, so, like on Android, you can already have a live translation experience on iPhone. Give it a try if you want a taste of what the experience might be like once (or if) it arrives on AirPods. Apple will likely reveal iOS 19 and all of its new features in June at WWDC. The company will then spend the summer beta testing the software, before releasing it to compatible iPhones sometime in the fall. View the full article

Moscow has little reason to stop fighting unless it achieves its goals through other meansView the full article

Idea of displacing Palestinian population has been widely opposed, including by countries being approachedView the full article

The government recently shut down the program that would mail four free COVID tests to anyone who requested them, but a lesser-known program for community groups is still running. If you have a plan to distribute tests for free, you can request them by the hundreds. Individual COVID tests are no longer available by mail for freeJust to bring everyone up to speed: The government program that sent free COVID tests through covidtests.gov is not currently taking orders. A message on that page states that “Tests ordered before 8:00 PM EDT, Sunday, March 9, 2025, will be shipped.” This is the program that would send a package of four tests, per household, per round of the program. There were several rounds, the last one beginning in September 2024. There’s no indication of whether the program may resume at some later date. Some news articles had stated or speculated that the government’s stockpile of COVID tests was going to be destroyed, but so far there has been no confirmation that any usable tests are being destroyed. If you, personally, need a free test, you can try these locators to find places that provide government-funded COVID tests: HRSA health center locator Test-to-treat locations ICATT testing locations (free if you are uninsured and have been exposed to COVID) Community groups can request bulk orders of COVID tests for freeWhile the program for individuals has shut down, a lesser-known one for community groups is still going strong. There isn’t an official government website that explains the program or provides an order form, but mutual aid groups have been passing around a spreadsheet and instructions for requesting tests from a government email address. For example, this Instagram post from Clean Air KC includes several comments from groups who placed successful orders and are sharing information about the brands, expiration dates, and even the size of the boxes they come in. Reportedly, the minimum order is 300 tests. Clean Air KC has successfully placed orders of 3,000 tests, and a person from that group also showed me a thank-you note from someone who used their information about the program to place an order of, and receive, 360 tests. How to request free COVID tests in bulkOfficially, the way to get information about this program is by emailing tdx@hhs.gov. I didn’t get a response when I reached out to that address, but I did hear back from the media contact for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which maintains COVID test stockpiles. They confirmed today (March 14, 2025) that the program is still running, and that any community group with a plan to distribute the tests for free “can request a one-time or recurring shipment of 400 over-the-counter tests for free distribution.” It's unclear if 400 is a new minimum, or just a recommended amount. My contact at Clean Air KC said that they placed an order for 3,000 this week, after the USPS individual test program shut down, and received confirmation that the requested tests are on the way. To order tests, send an email to tdx@hhs.gov with the following information: The number of tests you’re requesting The address to send them to Contact information for the person receiving the tests The name or purpose of your group Food banks, libraries, faith based organizations and others can request tests, but so can informal groups so long as they intend to distribute the tests for free. You cannot resell tests received through this program. Groups have been using this spreadsheet as an order form, although it’s not clear if the spreadsheet is strictly necessary. Older web pages from nursing home organizations (like this one) describe a similar program that required requesters to be long term care facilities with CLIA certification or a CLIA waiver, but this appears to be no longer necessary. ASPR confirmed to me that “any organization” that agrees to distribute the tests for free can order them. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. View the full article

In his February 2025 cover story for The Atlantic, journalist Derek Thompson dubbed our current era “the anti-social century.” He isn’t wrong. According to our recent research, the U.S. is becoming a nation of homebodies. Using data from the American Time Use Survey, we studied how people in the U.S. spent their time before, during, and after the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic did spur more Americans to stay home. But this trend didn’t start or end with the pandemic. We found that Americans were already spending more and more time at home and less and less time engaged in activities away from home stretching all the way back to at least 2003. And if you thought the end of lockdowns and the spread of vaccines led to a revival of partying and playing sports and dining out, you would be mistaken. The pandemic, it turns out, mostly accelerated ongoing trends. All of this has major implications for traffic, public transit, real estate, the workplace, socializing, and mental health. Life inside The trend of staying home is not new. There was a steady decline in out-of-home activities in the two decades leading up to the pandemic. Compared with 2003, Americans in 2019 spent nearly 30 minutes less per day on out-of-home activities and eight fewer minutes a day traveling. There could be any number of reasons for this shift, but advances in technology, whether it’s smartphones, streaming services, or social media, are likely culprits. You can video chat with a friend rather than meeting them for coffee; order groceries through an app instead of venturing to the supermarket; and stream a movie instead of seeing it in a theater. Of course, there was a sharp decline in out-of-home activities during the pandemic, which dramatically accelerated many of these stay-at-home trends. Outside of travel, time spent on out-of-home activities fell by over an hour per day, on average, from 332 minutes in 2019 to 271 minutes in 2021. Travel, excluding air travel, fell from 69 to 54 minutes per day over the same period. But even after the pandemic lockdowns were lifted, out-of-home activities and travel through 2023 remained substantially depressed, far below 2019 levels. There was a dramatic increase in remote work, online shopping, time spent using digital entertainment, such as streaming and gaming, and even time spent sleeping. Time spent outside of the home has rebounded since the pandemic, but only slightly. There was hardly any recovery of out-of-home activities from 2022 to 2023, meaning 2023 out-of-home activities and travel were still far below 2019 levels. On the whole, Americans are spending nearly 1.5 hours less outside their homes in 2023 than they did in 2003. While hours worked from home in 2022 were less than half of what they were in 2021, they’re still about five times what they were ahead of the pandemic. Despite this, only about one-quarter of the overall travel time reduction is due to less commuting. The rest reflects other kinds of travel, for activities such as shopping and socializing. Ripple effects This shift has already had consequences. With Americans spending more time working, playing and shopping from home, demand for office and retail space has fallen. While there have been some calls by major employers for workers to spend more time in the office, research suggests that working from home in the U.S. held steady between early 2023 and early 2025 at about 25% of paid work days. As a result, surplus office space may need to be repurposed as housing and for other uses. There are advantages to working and playing at home, such as avoiding travel stress and expenses. But it has also boosted demand for extra space in apartments and houses, as people spend more time under their own roof. It has changed travel during the traditional morning – and, especially, afternoon – peak periods, spreading traffic more evenly throughout the day but contributing to significant public transit ridership losses. Meanwhile, more package and food delivery drivers are competing with parked cars and bus and bike lanes for curb space. Perhaps most importantly, spending less time out and about in the world has sobering implications for Americans well beyond real estate and transportation systems. Research we’re currently conducting suggests that more time spent at home has dovetailed with more time spent alone. Suffice it to say, this makes loneliness, which stems from a lack of meaningful connections, a more common occurrence. Loneliness and social isolation are associated with increased risk for early mortality. Because hunkering down appears to be the new norm, we think it’s all the more important for policymakers and everyday people to find ways to cultivate connections and community in the shrinking time they do spend outside of the home. Brian D. Taylor is a professor of urban planning and public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles; Eric Morris is a professor of city and regional planning at Clemson University, and Sam Speroni is a PhD student in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

What Is Logistics Management? Logistics management is the process of managing the activities that are required to transport goods from its source to the final customer. That process involves a series of logistics activities such as order processing, material handling, packaging, warehousing, transportation and customer service management. The logistics management process is used for tangible goods such as raw materials, finished products, equipment and machinery to food or other consumable items. A person who works in this field is called a logistician or logistics manager. Who Is a Logistics Manager? A logistics manager plays an integral role in overseeing the flow of goods and materials within an organization. Their primary role is to ensure the product gets to the right place, at the right time and most efficiently and cost-effectively. This role plays a vital link in the supply chain to ensure goods are moving as they should. The logistics manager is deeply involved in the supply chain, from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished products to customers. They also oversee areas such as inventory management, warehousing, optimization and stakeholder coordination. Logistics Manager Degrees and Certifications A career as a logistics manager usually involves a mixture of formal education and practical experience. A bachelor’s degree is the standard entry-level requirement in a field of study such as supply chain management, logistics, business administration or industrial engineering. Those seeking advanced or senior-level positions may benefit from a master’s degree in business administration. Key skills of a supply chain manager include the ability to identify trends, optimize resources, manage supply chains and use data analysis tools. Excellent verbal and written communication skills help interact with suppliers and internal teams while problem-solving skills help resolve challenges quickly. Logistics manager certifications include Certified Professional Logistician (CPL), Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution (CLTD), Certified Logistics Technician (CLT), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) or Project Management Professional (PMP). Logistics Management vs. Supply Chain Management Logistics management is a subset of the larger supply chain management. Supply chain management plans, implements and controls the efficient flow of storage, goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption. This is done for the purpose of meeting the requirements of customers. Logistics management in business works across industries. It aims to manage the fruition of project life cycles, supply chains and resultant efficiencies. As businesses grow more complex and expand into a global marketplace, business logisticians have evolved into something called supply chain logisticians. With logistics management in manufacturing, the focus is twofold: inbound logistics for internal functions and outbound logistics for the external flow from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Logisticians focus on inventory management, purchasing, transportation, warehousing, consultation and the organization and mapping of these processes. /wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Inventory-Template.png Get your free Inventory Template Use this free Inventory Template for Excel to manage your projects better. Download Excel File Different Types of Logistics Management Here’s a quick overview of the main types of logistics management, each emphasizing a different aspect of the supply chain management process. Inbound Logistics Management Inbound logistics management refers to the logistics activities that are necessary to transport materials, equipment and machinery from a supplier to a production facility. Production Logistics and Management Production logistics management manages the transportation of goods during the production process. This involves the staging of materials from production warehouses to the production line at the right time to streamline the production process. Outbound Logistics Management Outbound logistics management is the opposite of inbound logistics. It involves the transportation of goods from the production or distribution center to the final customer. Third-Party Logistics Management Third-party logistics management refers to the outsourcing of logistics management activities. Third-party logistics management can involve outsourcing inbound or outbound logistic activities. Supply Management Logistics Management This involves the planning, procuring and coordinating materials that are needed at a certain time at a particular place for the production of a task. This includes transportation of the materials as well as a place to store them. Additionally, evaluating the level of supply at the different stages of the process is required to ensure the needs of the customer are met, for example delivering materials to a construction site or parts for a manufacturing plant. Distribution Logistics Management This takes stored materials and transports them to where they need to go. The issues in this involve moving materials; including loading, unloading and transportation, as well as keeping track of the stock and how it’s used. This type of logistics management controls the movement of supplies from a central warehouse to the stores that sell the product to the public. Customer Service Logistics Management Customer service logistics management consists of ensuring products are delivered on time and damage-free to ensure customer satisfaction. To do this, organizations use logistics management tools and techniques to track customer interactions along the logistics management process of order processing, handling, transportation and delivery of goods. Reverse Logistics Management This is about the management of reclaiming materials and supplies from the customer back to production. For example, reverse logistics management is concerned with the return of unwanted or unused products from the end customer seeking a refund. To model, analyze, visualize and optimize this complex logistical puzzle, the use of logistics management software is often used. ProjectManager has planning tools such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, timesheets and real-time dashboards to help you manage the tasks in your logistics management process. Get started for free today. /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Manufacturing-gantt-chart-light-mode-costs-exposed-cta-e1712005286389.jpgMake your logistics management flawless with ProjectManager’s Gantt charts. Learn more! The Logistics Management Process: Logistics Activities Logistics management is a process that consists of logistic activities, also referred to as functions that allow organizations to implement the types of logistics management explained above. 1. Warehousing or Warehouse Management A warehouse is a physical place where goods are stored when they come out of production. However, warehouse management can be strategically used by companies to excel in the market. For example, the location of a warehouse can play a significant role by allowing companies to deliver their products faster than their competitors. Warehousing automation can also help companies cut labor costs. 2. Order Processing & Fulfillment Order processing and fulfillment is the process of receiving an order, ensuring payment terms have been met, checking the production capacity and availability of stock and preparing the order for transportation. Another important aspect of order processing & fulfillment is to document transactions and make sure the warehouse inventory is updated whenever an order is fulfilled. /wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Master-Production-Schedule-Screenshot-600x318.jpgProduction schedule template Free download 3. Material Handling Materials handling refers to the movement of goods in a warehouse. Companies need to plan their warehouse layouts carefully to help their employees clearly understand where to find the products that are ordered by customers. Some warehouses for big companies can be large, so it’s important to plan carefully to avoid any logistic inefficiencies. 4. Packaging In logistics management, the packaging doesn’t focus on the aesthetics of the product packaging for the final customers, but instead on how well the product is packaged for transportation in terms of storage space efficiency, breakage prevention, packing cost and ease of handling. If packaging meets these requirements, it can help companies save money and facilitate its logistics management process. 5. Transportation Management Transportation is the process of delivering products or materials from their warehouse to the final customer. This is the most expensive logistics activity and therefore, is a step that should be planned carefully to minimize manufacturing costs. Logistic managers need to find the most efficient transportation schedule and method of transportation such as rail, truck water and air. 6. Inventory Management Keeping an inventory of products at the warehouse is costly for businesses and may affect their profitability. For this reason, the goal of inventory control is to gauge customer demand to maintain an inventory level that satisfies it, but without causing overcosts. Some manufacturing methods such as lean manufacturing or just-in-time manufacturing allow businesses to manage their inventory costs. /wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Equipment-inventory-template-screenshot-updated-600x153.pngInventory template Free download The Distribution Network of Logistics Management The various links and points of distribution in a logistics management network include the following: Factories that manufacture products Warehouses that store products Distribution centers to receive and return items for clients Transport to deliver the product Retail locations, from small to larger stores sell a product These are the major hubs for the logistics of a product, though there can be vendors and intermediaries operating between these points. Tips for Smart Logistics Management Logistics management involves a lot of planning and the more steps, the better. By considering every stage of the product, its distribution and the return of materials and supplies, you’re more likely to increase efficiencies and increase revenues. The larger the operation, the more complex and difficult the logistics management. Therefore, the more you need a strong logistics management plan. To be prepared and have the best plan possible, follow the below tips. Have a strong plan: Like any management, it succeeds or fails on the plan’s strength. The more thorough your plan, the less you’ll have to think on your feet. There will always be issues and only so many potential risks you can anticipate, but planning early and in detail can help mitigate delays and other obstructions to the clear flow of materials and supply. Make a plan B: No matter how good your initial plan is, there can always be something that comes along that it cannot manage. That’s why you need a contingency plan for every element of your logistics plans to respond to unforeseen problems that might arise. But it’s important to also know when to give up the original plan and move on to the secondary one. Hire a manager: It’s critical that this process has an experienced leader who can work with a variety of different parties, all of whom are involved in the logistics of the materials and supplies. That means interpersonal skills are a must. They should also have strong industry contacts to deal with any last-minute logistics changes in suppliers, etc. Automate: It goes without saying that automation is a built-in way to make workflow more efficient. They are so many processes that can be helped through task automation, from tracking to monitoring delivery to fleet and inventory management software. Learn from mistakes: This goes for almost everything. You’ll take missteps on your journey of managing logistics. That’s a given. What’s not assured is that you’ll learn from those mistakes, so they don’t happen again. Take time to look back on what you’ve done, where it worked and where it didn’t, and get feedback from your team. Why Is Logistics Management Important? The purpose of logistics management is about finding more efficient and effective ways to move resources and products from conception to completion and, finally, to the customer. But the driving force of these actions is to meet customer demand and provide the best service possible to retain customers and maintain their satisfaction by meeting their product requirements. As customers demand better service, there’s a need to ship faster, more accurately and with a high level of quality. It’s through logistics management that customer satisfaction is achieved. But that’s not the only benefit. It also helps to create visibility in the business’ supply chain. By analyzing historical data and tracking the real-time movement of goods, logistics managers can better the flow of materials and avoid potential disruptions. Therefore, logistics management helps drive up revenue. It improves customer service and adds to the company’s good reputation and brand, which in turn creates new and more business. With more visibility into the supply chain, there’s the opportunity to save costs in operations, by controlling inbound funds, keeping inventory at the right level and organizing the reverse flow of goods. Free Logistics Management & Supply Chain Management Templates To streamline the logistics management process and improve accuracy, consider using pre-built templates. ProjectManager has a library of project management templates for Excel and Word available to download from our site. Here are a few that help with logistics management. Inventory Template Download this free inventory template for Excel to record the level of inventory and track how much is turned over. It provides managers with the details they need to monitor stock, manage reordering and keep inventory costs from skyrocketing. Payment Schedule Template This free payment schedule template for Excel offers an organized framework to track payments, due dates and amounts to businesses remain financially accountable. It reduces errors, improves budgeting and ensures timely payments. Process Map Template Use this free process map template for Excel to better visualize workflows, identify inefficiencies and optimize processes. It maps out steps, responsibilities and decision points to help organizations ensure consistency and save time. How ProjectManager Helps Your Logistics Management Logistics is just planning with literal deliverables. Therefore, successful logistics managers understand the importance of a project management software tool to help them collect, organize and move items from one place to the next efficiently. ProjectManager is award-winning software that’s designed to improve the organization of projects and teams to maximum effect. Track Progress With Kanban Boards When you’re dealing with an overwhelming amount of shipping, priorities and deadlines, you need a way to see where those pieces are at any given time. Our kanban tool visualizes the movement of your shipments with cards representing each item and columns that show where it is in your shipping cycle. /wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kanban-task-card-moving-manufacturing-order-management-light-mode.png Dashboards and Reporting Keep Things Moving Smoothly Since our software is online, every time there’s a status update, it reflects across the tool. We have dashboard and reporting tools that provide more data and make managing logistics simple. For example, you can get a high-level view of your costs, variance, tasks and more. The data is crunched automatically and displayed in easy-to-read graphs and charts. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/portfolio-dashboard-screenshot-lightmode.pngLogistics management has many things to track and resources to schedule. As projects go, it’s one of the more complicated. ProjectManager is project management software that gives you the tools to manage logistics more efficiently through automation and real-time monitoring. Kanban boards for visual workflows, online Gantt charts for scheduling and a real-time dashboard to report on progress as it happens. See how it can remove bottlenecks from your supply chain by taking this free 30-day trial today. The post Logistics Management 101: Types, Degrees and How It Works with Supply Chain Management appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Netflix's streaming era began way back in 2007, right around the time the company had delivered its billionth DVD by mail (a copy of Babel to a woman in Texas). That’s the year when the company began development of an app that would allow you to watch video-on-demand content on your actual TV, rather than in a window on your PC via Internet Explorer—or whatever the hell browser you happened to be using during the George W. Bush administration. Internet speeds and interest built and, by 2011, the company had moved fully away from its DVD-by-mail business as streaming took on a life of its own. While distribution rights for streaming content were, and remain, wildly different than for physical copies, the potential of streaming was obvious: Netflix would offer something like the breadth and depth of its DVD library, minus the "mailing things back and forth" part. There was a value proposition there, too: As cable prices skyrocketed and we were all forced to pay for endless channels that we mostly didn’t watch, Netflix (and Hulu, which grew more slowly, but debuted around the same time), the promise of a vast library of movies to watch whenever you wanted was irresistible—and cheap: In 2011, you could get an all-streaming subscription for about $8 a month. Which was a good deal, even during the Obama administration. Despite a few caveats—you might've needed to bump your internet connection to a higher, pricier bandwidth, and you still needed a separate DVD subscription to watch some older movies, it seemed like the future was in sight, filled with endless possibilities. A decade and a half later, we all know that future was a lie—especially if you're a movie lover. The rise of "streaming originals"Netflix’s first foray into original programming was a straight-to-series order for the Kevin Spacey-led, David Fincher-produced political thriller House of Cards, which debuted in 2013. The decision to pursue the show—and to outbid every traditional cable and broadcast network for it—was almost entirely data-driven, and a harbinger for what would come: Netflix saw that viewers liked Kevin Spacey (it was a different era, obviously), and David Fincher movies! House of Cards had both. Data has always been the Holy Grail of entertainment programming, but Netflix had data that was better, more specific, and more current than any focus group could hope to provide. Gone were the days of extrapolating from surveys—Netflix knew who was watching what and when with unheard-of specificity, and thus the streamer’s ability to give people what they want would become unprecedented. It would also lead them to focus more on developing their own proprietary series and films, rather than negotiating massive licensing deals for stuff other studios owned. And the deals were massive—Netflix would spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to fill its servers with "content." But as time went on, and other studios launched their own streaming services, chasing cash they used to make selling movies to cable, Netflix's library started to shrink, going from 11,000 titles in 2015 to just 6,000 by 2022. The golden age of streamingStill, it was hard to complain too much when those Netflix rivals seemed willing to do anything to compete. Whereas Disney once kept tight control over its library, placing films into "the Disney Vault" so it could rerelease them to theaters and on video every decade or so, the launch of Disney+ in March 2020 saw the studio offering up hundreds of its classic films at once—a treat for animation buffs and a boon to parents who no longer had to endure their kids watching the same handful of DVDs on repeat (in theory, anyway). Not to be outdone, when Warner Bros. launched what was then known as HBO Max in May 2020, it seemed like a pandemic-era gift: The studio went all-in on its massive catalogue—one of the largest and most enviable in Hollywood, encompassing classic films, more recent blockbusters, beloved animation, and shows culled from its array of cable networks. Alongside big gets—like securing the rights to all of the films from Japan's revered Studio Ghibli, something its cranky co-founder Hayao Miyazaki swore would never happen—Warner Bros. leaned into its history, loading the service with hundreds of classics from across the decades. For a while, perusing the lists of films coming to these services every month was a delight—sure, no one service offered every movie, but there was a decent chance what you wanted to watch was available somewhere, and monthly subscriptions were cheap enough that most people subscribed to a few of them. But this golden age of streaming proved to be short-lived. Shrinkflation comes for streamingEven during this period of explosive growth, streamers started to follow the Netflix model of investing more money in original content, and leaving catalogue as an afterthought. It's hard to build buzz around movies that are 50, 20, or even a decade old, after all, when you could instead promote something shiny and new. Still, the reckoning didn't truly come until 2022, when inflationary pressures, including rising interest rates, coupled with a surprising loss of subscribers, caused Netflix's stock value to crater, dropping from more than $600 to less than $200 over the course of a few months. Suddenly, every streaming service seemed concerned about the bottom line—and it seems the easiest way to cut costs, when it comes to digital offerings, is to reduce your library. Over the course of the next year, embattled entertainment companies announced plans to begin removing vast quantities of older content from their services—often even as they raised prices. Like spending more money for a smaller bag of chips at the grocery store, shrinkflation came for streaming too. Where did all those movies go?Remember the data I mentioned earlier? The downside is that the numbers apparently showed streamers that customers don't care that much about older movies—or at least, not enough about any one movie for a lack of them to move the needle when it comes to subscriptions. So why give people free access to stuff most wouldn't watch when you could instead make a little money? While some of these films have gone to ad-supported services like The Roku Channel and Tubi, watching a movie with a bunch of ad breaks is no cinephile's dream. Enter digital rentals: For five years I've been writing streaming guides for Lifehacker, suggesting movies you can watch based on your mood or to fit a particular theme. And, anecdotally but undeniably, these film lists are increasingly less about "streaming" and more about reminding you of things you can pay to rent. Whereas I used to be able to point you to a few dozen films spread across the major services, these days my recommendations tend to include a lot more rentals. Broad categories of films, usually anything more than a decade old, aren’t typically included with any streaming service. If you want to watch them, you're going to have to pony up around $4 for a digital rental. This holds true no matter how beloved the movie: As of this writing, the likes of Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity, All About Eve, The Shining, Back to the Future, Malcolm X, and The Iron Giant are all rental-only, meaning you have to pay extra on top of whatever streaming fees you’re already paying. That list of movies is entirely off the top of my head—I looked them up based on my confidence that, being older than a decade or two, they would only be available for a fee. Netflix still has a classic movies section, but it's pretty anemic. While the rotation changes, the oldest movie currently in the lineup is 1957’s An Affair to Remember—not ancient by classic film standards, but certainly venerable. It’s tagged as “Leaving Soon.” Beyond that, there are but a dozen movies from the 1970s (almost all of them Bollywood classics), and a few more than that from the 1980s and ‘90s. Of the dozen or so 1980s movies offered, several are marked as “Leaving Soon,” including The Karate Kid films. (They do have a James Garner movie from 1984 that I’ve never heard of called Tank, if you have a couple of hours to kill.) New content has pushed classic movies to the backI’m picking on Netflix here, with its relentless focus on original “content” and newer releases that sees the streamer churning through shows and movies, often before they have time to register. But the picture at Hulu, Paramount+, MGM+, etc. is roughly the same, even if those others have slightly better libraries of current-ish movies. Max remains a bright spot, with a reasonably well-curated selection of movies dating back to the silent era—but even that has shrunk. The streamer used to prominently feature its association with classic-movie network TCM as its own category. It’s still there, but now you have to dig. No one’s tracking exact month-to-month numbers of older (meaning, sigh, the ‘90s or earlier) movies included in streaming, but, again, anecdotally: whenever possible, I try to recommend movies from a cross-section of streaming services. I figure it’s nice if any list of suggestions includes options for everyone, and I know that for me, personally, that extra rental price (on top of all the streaming fees) is a big barrier—no matter how much I want to see a particular movie. And that's a lot harder than it used to be. A culture of relentless, exhausting new-ness has evolved around streaming, one in which shows and movies are considered out of date once the first-week drop window has passed. So we're left with a (very) limited selection of old movies, or we're stuck with rental fees on top of streaming charges. It's hard out there for a cinephile. The best streamers for movie fansMaxThough I still mourn the loss of HBO Max, Max—the app that replaced it—is still the mainstream streamer with the best classic film library, including a broad range of Warner Bros. stuff, from Casablanca to Goodfellas to Lord of the Rings; it includes popular favorites alongside some more artsy fare, including those Studio Ghibli films. A recent partnership with A24 films has also made it the destination of choice for the modern cinephile crowd. Cost: starting at $9.99/month with ads, or $99.99/year. The Criterion ChannelAn offshoot of boutique film distributor Janus Films, The Criterion Collection has billed itself as a purveyor of "important classic and contemporary films" for decades. The Criterion Channel streaming service is, thus, unsurprisingly the destination of choice for anyone who wants to watch movies older than the Reagan administration. It has a rotating library of a couple of thousand films, including many foreign and classic American films. You may never heard of many of them, which could be either a pro or a con, but it’s not all snooty art films. Last year, for example, the Channel ran a month of Razzie-nominated movies including Showgirls, Gigli, The Blair Witch Project, and even Freddy Got Fingered. Cost: $10.99/month or $99.99/year. MubiAnother boutique streamer, Mubi is similar in some ways to The Criterion Channel, but with a key difference: Since Mubi has more of a focus on its role as a distributor of newer films (including recent Oscar nominee The Substance), the catalog tends to be a bit newer, and a bit smaller, but with a steady and smartly curated rotation. Cost: $14.99/month or $119.88/year. TCM (Turner Classic Movies)TCM is the gold standard in classic film, particularly when it comes to Hollywood, and the curation is solid. TCM has introduced me to more classic films that I otherwise never might have heard of than any other service, but finding it is more complicated. Max has a limited selection of TCM-branded films but, to get the full experience, including “live” movies, interviews, host segments, etc., you need to either suck it up and subscribe to cable, or a rough equivalent: YouTube TV offers TCM as part of its lineup, including on-demand content, as do Hulu with Live TV and Sling TV. Sticker shock with these options is real, however. Cost: Sling TV: starts at $45.99/month, YouTube TV: starts at $82.99 per month; Hulu+Live TV starts at $82.99/month. View the full article

Mark Koziel calls for CPA firm transformation amid industry disruption. Gear Up for Growth With Jean Caragher For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Jean Marie Caragher. View the full article

Mark Koziel calls for CPA firm transformation amid industry disruption. Gear Up for Growth With Jean Caragher For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Jean Marie Caragher. View the full article

Microsoft has announced that it's pulling the old Microsoft Remote Desktop tool that you could get in the Microsoft Store. The company is advising users to move over to the shiny new Windows App instead, which takes care of a lot of the same functions—including connecting to PCs remotely, and accessing Windows 365 computers in the cloud. The Windows App provides several improvements over Microsoft Remote Desktop, Microsoft says, such as multi-monitor support, dynamic display resolutions, customizable home screens, and a more unified interface. It's designed so you can access the same Windows machines remotely across multiple devices. If you're a user of Microsoft Remote Desktop, you need to move over by Tuesday, May 27. However, it's not quite as easy as one app fully and completely replacing another—Microsoft has other similar tools available as well, and there are currently some caveats to using the Windows App. What is and isn't changingMicrosoft is retiring a single, specific utility here: Microsoft Remote Desktop in the Microsoft Store. The Windows App is essentially its new and modern replacement. However, while the Windows App does cover most of what Microsoft Remote Desktop did, it doesn't cover everything on every platform. What isn't going away is the Remote Desktop Connection feature that's included in Windows: You can still use this as normal. You can also still download and use the more advanced Remote Desktop client for Windows tool, which is aimed at IT administrators and professionals, and comes with features suitable for organizations. The Microsoft Remote Desktop app is being retired. Credit: Microsoft Confused yet? While the Windows App for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android does allow remote desktop connections at the time of writing, the Windows App for Windows doesn't. For Windows-to-Windows connections, Microsoft recommends using built-in Remote Desktop Connection, "until support for this connection type is available in Windows App"—though it doesn't say when that support is going to roll out. The Windows App is a good idea, in theory, but it's still a work in progress: Microsoft even has an official known issues and limitations page that you should check if you're moving over from the Microsoft Remote Desktop program (the one that's being retired). It also requires a work or school Microsoft account, so it's not something individual users can access (at least not for now). How to set up remote connectionsYou can check out our full guide to the Windows App for more details on what this software package is and what it can do, but if you're moving over from Microsoft Remote Desktop, then you're likely to be most interested in setting up remote PC connections. You can do this by clicking the + (plus) button in the top-right corner of the Devices tab, then choosing Add PC from the list. You then need to provide a host name or IP address for the computer you're connecting to, as well as setting up the rest of the connection configuration—including how the remote PC is displayed on screen, and which folders are shared with the local PC. When all that's done, click Add to put the computer on your Devices screen, then double-click its thumbnails to establish the connection. The new Windows App, on Windows. Credit: Lifehacker There's plenty more to the Windows App as well, including the ability to stream Windows machines running on the Windows 365 platform in the cloud. This is a feature that's aimed at business and organization use, though, and to date Microsoft hasn't said anything about letting ordinary consumers run Windows from the cloud. If you're connecting to a Windows PC from a Windows PC, then you need to use the old-school method, which is Remote Desktop Connection. First, you need to set up the computer you want to connect to, which must be running a Pro version of Windows. From Settings, choose System and Remote Desktop, then turn on the feature and make a note of the PC name displayed on screen. The old Remote Desktop Connection tool lives on. Credit: Lifehacker Over on the computer you're connecting from, type "remote desktop connection" into the search box on the taskbar, then choose the Remote Desktop Connection app when it appears. You'll be prompted for the PC name that was displayed on the other machine, and then the connection is established. It's all a bit patchy, with multiple tools offering slightly different feature sets and at different stages in their development, but the Windows App is clearly going to be the future—eventually. If you find Microsoft's approach to remote desktop access too confusing, there are plenty of third-party options around as well—including TeamViewer and Chrome Remote Desktop. View the full article