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Think-tank’s findings show need to change financial incentives to help ill and disabled people return to employmentView the full article

Government-backed review says pace of change in top roles has ‘slowed’ among UK’s biggest companies View the full article

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. The emergence of generative AI and digital transformation has redefined customer-company relationships, empowering consumers like never before. As argued in a previous article I wrote, today’s customer is no longer a mere segment or target consumer, but a brand seeking vendors to help create their unique identity. Companies must now redefine their value propositions to meet these evolving expectations. In recent years, we’ve seen digital platforms like NikeID and physical innovations like Coca-Cola Freestyle allow consumers to customize products within company-defined parameters. This trend towards bespoke experiences is expanding, with companies offering customers greater control in exchange for premium pricing and individualized experiences. Droz: A case study in radical co-creation During a recent visit to Switzerland, I witnessed a remarkable example of customer-company co-creation at Jaquet Droz, a luxury watchmaker established in 1738. Now part of the Swatch Group, this Maison has embarked on a radical journey embracing customer collaboration. Led by CEO Alain Delamuraz, Jaquet Droz launched the “JD 8.0: A Disruptive Legacy” strategy, focusing on creating unique pieces in partnership with customers. The company took the bold step of dismantling its retailer network to work directly with clients. Jaquet Droz built specialized collaboration studios where customers can discuss their desired pieces with artisans. These state-of-the-art facilities allow for real-time interaction and step-by-step follow-up throughout the production process, even down to selecting specific colors for the timepiece. This collaboration may last as long as a year to ensure that the customer’s exact vision is captured to the level of a shade of a color. While the customer is not an expert on watchmaking—this is what Jaquet Droz brings to the table—he is the ultimate expert on his preferences and wishes. For such a storied brand to be willing to collaborate so deeply with its customers and enable their dreams requires a great deal of humility and a clarity of the customer’s role in their existence. High-profile collaborations When Bon Jovi wanted to commemorate the band’s 40th anniversary, it was the unique co-creation collaboration with Jaquet Droz team that resulted in Tourbillon Skelet Red Gold—Bon Jovi. When a Canadian customer and a Rolling Stones fan wanted to ensure that his love for the music is alive every day, The Rolling Stones Automaton—Exile on Main Street was created especially for them. For a brand that started its journey in music by crafting special chirping bird clocks for European elite, crafting music-related timepieces was a natural continuation of its legacy. But their co-creation does not stop with music. From nature-related timepieces to top of the line Tourbillon complications , the company is fully dedicated to fulfilling its customers’ dreams. The courage to innovate Jaquet Droz’s decision to cease working with retailers and boutiques in favor of direct customer engagement was both courageous and risky. This move provided the freedom to focus entirely on individual client needs, setting a new standard in the luxury watch industry. While some may argue that this level of collaboration is a privilege reserved for the wealthy, the example set by Jaquet Droz is likely to inspire other companies to find ways to democratize the customer co-creation model. How can you start a co-creation process with your customers? Here are few steps to consider: Mindset first: Adapt to the fact that your customers are brand owners with district opinions, not just consumers of your end products. Curious listening: Redesign your discovery process to ask different questions and seek design guidance. Transform to a tool kit: Consider your expertise and skills as part of a toolbox available to craft solutions with your customers not for them. Design collaborative space: Like Jaquet Droz, create dedicated spaces that will foster collaboration and reciprocal dialogue. Joint journey management: Include your customer input throughout the creation journey. Adapt as needed based on feedback. One-of-a-kind creations: Focus on creating solutions that will reflect not just the customer needs, but their brand as well. Share credit: Ensure that your customer’s contribution to the creation is respected and expressed in the final product. Ongoing support: The sales are never over as you keep on updating the solution as technology evolves and the customer’s expectations shift. Charge accordingly: Co-creation does not mean you need to lose money. It should lead to a perfect solution at a premium price over the one-size-fits-all sold today. One-of-a-kind story: While your deep knowledge of the processes and production are evident, respect that your customers will know best what they desire and what story they want to craft for themselves. Those stories reflect their identity and therefore will always be one of a kind. Customer co-creation is here to stay. As more manufacturers explore bespoke offerings, Jaquet Droz’s commitment to collaboration—evidenced by their new studios and direct-to-consumer approach—establishes a path forward for the industry. The bold steps taken by this watchmaker demonstrate that sometimes, to move forward, companies must take risks and reimagine their entire business model. As this trend continues, we can expect to see more innovative approaches to customer collaboration across various industries, potentially making co-creation accessible to a broader audience. Lior Arussy is a global transformation expert and the author of Dare to Author! View the full article

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. It’s no secret that corporate and individual giving plays an increasingly significant role in employee satisfaction, providing top talent with pride and a sense of purpose. As a result, many companies, including startups, are finding flexible ways to match funds, allowing people to donate in flexible ways that ignite them and their passion. In 2023, Americans gave over $557 billion to charities from individuals, foundations, and corporations. However, according to a 2023 study from Ipsos Global Trends, 72% of consumers are concerned that in the future, governments and public services won’t look after citizens, thereby widening the large gap nonprofits must step in to fill. Where to donate? When the need is vast, the priorities unclear, how do people, communities, and organizations decide where to donate? I wrote about values-based philanthropy and how it is foundational to ensure impact. From the donor who shows up consistently with $20, to the recognized philanthropist changing the game, like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates, values alignment is the first step in generating trust, an intrinsic component to philanthropy. It is also a way for companies to live their values and engage stakeholders, employees, and consumers. For example, over the years Google employees have participated in annual flu shot campaigns. Google asked employees to donate to UNICEF when they received a flu shot, supporting UNICEF in providing routine immunizations for children outside the United States. Google matched employee donations and the campaign raised over $800,000. The funds supported programs to immunize Syrian children in Iraq, Rohingya children in Bangladesh, and Brazilian children residing in the most remote areas of the Amazon. Google has also been a critical emergency giving partner of UNICEF. Employees have donated millions of dollars over the years through its workplace giving program to support UNICEF’s humanitarian response efforts globally. Flexible funding Flexible funds allow charitable organizations to more equitably allocate money where it is most needed. Yet, many partners like to have a say in where their money goes. We’ve had some partners split their support, with a percentage going to a specific emergency or program area while the rest supports flexible funding. Baxter International Foundation, for example, has supported UNICEF’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programming since 2020, based on the shared values around access to clean, safe water for all children. Our trust-based partnership demonstrates that leveraging cross-sectoral expertise creates meaningful community health and impact as we work toward our goal of a more equitable world for children. The Foundation’s leadership was so inspired by our vision and impact, that it approved an additional grant to our Every Child Fund in 2023, for three years of flexible funding. Aligning philanthropic efforts with a company’s values and employee passions creates a sense of purpose, deep engagement, and retention. Innovation and competition are the fuel of the corporate sector and our partners proudly show that they are leaders in these areas. As the need for philanthropic support continues to grow, companies can embrace and live out their values in an era where employees increasingly seek purpose-driven work environments. Companies that integrate giving into their core values and operations will likely see the greatest returns—both in employee satisfaction and societal impact. Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA. View the full article

Security Council resolution calling for ‘swift end’ to conflict deals further blow to western unityView the full article

Chegg, the publicly traded education technology company, has sued Google over its AI Overviews, claiming they have hurt its traffic and revenue. The company said that AI Overviews is “materially impacting our acquisitions, revenue, and employees.” What Chegg said. Chegg wrote: Second, we announced the filing of a complaint against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. These two actions are connected, as we would not need to review strategic alternatives if Google hadn’t launched AI Overviews, or AIO, retaining traffic that historically had come to Chegg, materially impacting our acquisitions, revenue, and employees. Chegg has a superior product for education, as evident by our brand awareness, engagement, and retention. Unfortunately, traffic is being blocked from ever coming to Chegg because of Google’s AIO and their use of Chegg’s content to keep visitors on their own platform. We retained Goldman Sachs as the financial advisor in connection with our strategic review and Susman Godfrey with respect to our complaint against Google. More details. CNBC reports that “Chegg is worth less than $200 million, and in after-hours trading Monday, the stock was trading just above $1 per share.” Chegg has engaged Goldman Sachs to look at options to get acquired or other strategic options for the company. Chegg reported a $6.1 million net loss on $143.5 million in fourth-quarter revenue, a 24% decline year over year, according to a statement. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $142.1 million in revenue. Management called for first-quarter revenue between $114 million and $116 million, but analysts had been targeting $138.1 million. The stock was down 18% in extended trading. The report goes on to say that Google forces companies like Chegg to “supply our proprietary content in order to be included in Google’s search function,” said Schultz, adding that the search company uses its monopoly power, “reaping the financial benefits of Chegg’s content without having to spend a dime.” Here is more from Chegg’s statement: While we made significant headway on our technology, product, and marketing programs, 2024 came with a series of challenges, including the rapid evolution of the content landscape, particularly the rise of Google AIO, which as I previously mentioned, has had a profound impact on Chegg’s traffic, revenue, and workforce. As already mentioned, we are filing a complaint against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, making three main arguments. First is reciprocal dealing, meaning that Google forces companies like Chegg to supply our proprietary content in order to be included in Google’s search function. Second is monopoly maintenance, or that Google unfairly exercises its monopoly power within search and other anti-competitive conduct to muscle out companies like Chegg. And third is unjust enrichment, meaning Google is reaping the financial benefits of Chegg’s content without having to spend a dime. As we allege in our complaint, Google AIO has transformed Google from a “search engine” into an “answer engine,” displaying AI-generated content sourced from third-party sites like Chegg. Google’s expansion of AIO forces traffic to remain on Google, eliminating the need to go to third-party content source sites. The impact on Chegg’s business is clear. Our non-subscriber traffic plummeted to negative 49% in January 2025, down significantly from the modest 8% decline we reported in Q2 2024. We believe this isn’t just about Chegg—it’s about students losing access to quality, step-by-step learning in favor of low-quality, unverified AI summaries. It’s about the digital publishing industry. It’s about the future of internet search. In summary, our complaint challenges Google’s unfair competition, which is unjust, harmful, and unsustainable. While these proceedings are just starting, we believe bringing this lawsuit is both necessary and well-founded. Why we care. Will Chegg win in a court against Google? Will Google have to rethink its AI Overviews and find better ways to send traffic to publishers and site owners? It is hard to imagine but this may be the first large lawsuit over Google’s new AI Overviews. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I am always down to try a new social app (a face I have made so, so clear), especially when it involves sharing photos. And the trendy photo-sharing app of the the moment is Yope (available on iOS and Android). Launched in September 2024, it currently has 2.2 million monthly active users and 800,000 daily active users, many of whom are in the investor-coveted Gen Z demographic. I am not a part of Gen Z, but as of today, I am one of the millions of people who used the app this month. It's fun and all, but I'm not sure I'll make it into that 800,000+ cohort of daily users. Here's why, and what you need to know about Yope. So, what's Yope?The easiest way to describe Yope is to say it's kind of like a private Instagram crossed with a group chat. (I have never understood the appeal of having a private Instagram account, so I likewise don't see the appeal of posting to an app designed to hide your content from the majority of users, but that's me.) You can create and name groups, add friends to them, and then post your pictures to those groups. And that's basically it. The pics create a stream that anyone in the small group can look at, and you can choose to have them appear on your lock screen. It that sense, it reminds me of Locket, an app I tested out three years ago that also sent your photos to your friends' lock screens. The problem for me was a lack of friends to put into a group. I synced my contacts right away, but out of 1,500 people on my phone, exactly zero of them were already on the app, signaling that all the hype around this being big for Gen Z might be true—though I definitely have some Gen-Z cousins saved in my phone, and none of them had it either. To put the app through its paces, I had to send my referral link to a bunch of my friends and plead with them to download it, which they are sick of doing, given I am cajoling them into a new app every other week or so as it is. Only one, my lovely friend Danielle, agreed to it. This, at least, allowed me to create my first group. I named it "pals" and Dani and I spent some time uploading pictures to the stream. It was cool for a few minutes, but with just two people, it got old quickly. It honestly wasn't too different from how we used to use Snapchat, ages ago: Here's a picture of what I'm looking at. There's a picture of your face. OK, here's one of my face. You can respond to a photo without sending a photo, so the stream also functions as a basic chat. You can send real-time photos or pics from your camera roll, but that's about it. Is Yope worth downloading? Yope is easy to use, but this is basically all it does. Credit: Yope/Lindsey Ellefson I've read a lot of discourse over the past few years about how the pendulum is swinging away from a cultural desire to post for the masses, and back to a compulsion to post for and interact with more tight-knit groups. Instead of tweeting or posting to a public Instagram, a lot of people do seem to enjoy being in small, interest-specific Discord or Telegram channels, in a way reminiscent of an earlier internet era that required one to seek out chatrooms to find like-minded people. Personally, I am not one who desires a more curated online interactive experience, so I don't really Vibe with Yope. Even if a lot of my friends were using it, I'd prefer to see everything in a jumble than sift through curated group feeds. But maybe that sounds good to you. Yope positives:Account setup is easy The contact-syncing function is seamless (provided you have contacts who actually use the app) There aren't any filters, and there's minimal risk your photos will be seen by anyone you don't want to see them, unless your friends screenshot and share them (taking a screenshot does not trigger a notification to the group) The lock screen function works well and updates immediately There lack of features means it doesn't feel overwhelming; all you can do is post photos into your group stream It's free Yope negatives:It gets a little boring if you don't have a lot of people to share photos with It's yet another photo-sharing app to add to the list of ones you already have, each of which probably already includes the same group of friends you'd be sharing with on Yope The bottom line: NopeI personally won't keep using Yope, at least not the way I used the similar BeReal for a long stretch in the summer of 2022. That doesn't mean it won't continue to gain traction with users who actually want an app that mixes Instagram with a group chat. It seems to have enough momentum to drum up investor capital, which could result in increased visibility and attract more users. Someone you know might even be using it by next month, even if you're older than 27. View the full article

Last week, Apple launched their developer beta for iOS 18.4. The update brings fresh changes to iOS, including Priority Notifications, a new Genmoji button, and additional supported languages. While it may be some time before iOS 18.4 is launched to all iPhone users, those curious to try out the new features can do so by installing the beta. However, doing so may cause some issues, so proceed with caution. How to install the iOS 18.4 developer betaIt's worth mentioning that there is some risk involved in installing a developer beta. The software can be unstable, as it is currently in testing and designed mainly for developers to make sure their apps are compatible with the latest iOS update. There are also likely bugs and glitches in this developer beta, which Apple is still working on fixing ahead of the public rollout. Those bugs can lead to data loss if you don't properly back up your device before installing the beta. If you have a idea of what you're doing and still want to try the new features, then go forth and have fun with the beta. However, it may not be a great idea to install the beta on your main iPhone. As mentioned, you should back up your iPhone before installing the iOS 18.4 beta on your iPhone. I recommend backing up with your Mac or PC using Finder or iTunes. While you can use iCloud to back up your iPhone, this can be tricky with betas: If your iPhone backs up to iCloud while running iOS 18.4, you won't be able to retrieve the data should you need to downgrade to the public iOS version. Backing up to your computer helps to ensure all your data from your iPhone stays intact. Next, you'll need to enroll your Apple ID in Apple's developer program. To do so, first head to the Apple Developer site, then select Enroll. Log in to your Apple ID, fill out your information, and agree to Apple's terms and conditions. While Apple has made it free to access developer betas, if you want to publish apps to the App Store, you'll still need to pay Apple's $99 yearly fee for full access to their developer program. Once you've backed up your iPhone and enrolled your Apple ID, you're ready to install the new developer beta. To install the beta, open Settings > General > Software Update. Below Automatic Updates, you should see an option for Beta Updates. Choose iOS 18.4 Developer Beta, then hit Back. Let iOS load for a moment, and you'll see an option to Download and Install the beta. View the full article

A first-of-its-kind project will use a swarm of small, independent submersibles to monitor, protect and provide data on offshore artificial reefs whose purpose is to attract new marine life in otherwise barren sections of sea, officials said Monday. The small, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, hailed as the “future of underwater surveillance” will be equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras to give scientists at the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute a clear picture on the effectiveness of their intricate artificial reefs designed and built using 3D printing. Made of an environmentally friendly cement mixture, the artificial reefs will be embedded with a docking station at which the AUVs can recharge and transmit collected data including video, said CMMI CEO Zakarias Siokouros. The advantage of the AUVs lies in their ability to loiter underwater for as long as a month at a time and provide a continuous flow of data while “protecting” the reefs by alerting scientists to any disturbance in protected waters from illegal fishing and encroaching boats. Scientists would, in turn, notify local authorities. A trial run of the project, dubbed EONIOS, is currently underway off Cyprus’ Ayia Napa marina. Scientists plan to place the artificial reefs in waters off Cyprus’ southern coastal town of Limassol at a depth of around 20 meters (66 feet) where sunlight can still reach the seabed. “The reefs attract everything from vegetation to large fish and for waters off Cyprus where there isn’t enough food for fish, we aim to create the appropriate environment to bring such fish there,” Siokouros told The Associated Press following a demonstration of the AUVs’ capabilities at the Ayia Napa Marina. EONIOS is a partnership between the CMMI, AUV makers Arkeocean of France, Cypriot tech company SignalGeneriX and French consultancy company Lanego. Siokouros said the partnership aims to market EONIOS to other countries who would want to build up their fish stocks using artificial reefs. A key selling point for the AUVs is that they can provide surveillance, 3D data collection and area protection at a significant discount compared to tethered submersibles, said Arkeocean official Tamara Brizard. “Our goal is to make a system under which six of our mini-drones can do the same work for the price of one conventional drone,” Brizard said. Arkeocean AUVs can currently pack a maximum 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of sensors and other gear and can operate to a depth of 300 meters (984 feet) although newer versions are being designed to reach 3,000 meters (9,842 feet). The AUVs receive commands through an attached acoustic antenna and can pinpoint their location. Battery-powered thrusters make the AUVs very stealthy and nearly undetectable, Brizard said, making them extremely useful for defense purposes such as surveillance in restricted waters. The AUVs can operate anywhere in the world thanks to an Iridium satellite antenna. The AUVs can also use undersea currents to roam, extending battery life. Another application is in the energy field where the submersibles can be used to detect seismic activity for offshore oil and gas exploration as well as finding suitable areas on which to build offshore wind and solar farms, said Brizard. —Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press View the full article

Hundreds of the most advanced, experienced, and passionate search marketers on the planet are heading to Boston this June 11-13 for the ultimate summer camp for search marketers: SMX Advanced is back in-person, and this is your chance to unlock actionable tactics, intimate networking, and the unmatched energy of a live event. Designed by advanced search marketers, for advanced search marketers, SMX Advanced delivers expert-level training you won’t find anywhere else. This is your chance to connect face-to-face with the sharpest minds in the industry, validate your ongoing initiatives and instincts, and geek out with your search community IRL. It’s summer camp for search marketers… and it won’t be the same without you. Your All Access pass packs the entire SMX Advanced experience you know, love… and missed: Hand-crafted programming: Attend sessions you won’t find anywhere else – hand-crafted by the powerhouses behind Search Engine Land, the industry publication of record. Advanced, actionable tactics: Dive deep into experts-only topics and discussions and return to the office ready to implement changes that drive measurable results. Exclusive networking: Reconnect with your search community face-to-face, and meet new hires, potential employers, and future BFFs. Premium amenities: Hot meals, free wifi, recharge lounges, and enough coffee to keep you buzzing for days. It’s all hosted at the stunning Westin Boston Seaport June 11-13. Don’t miss the ultimate reunion of the most seasoned members of the search marketing community. You deserve to be a part of this long-anticipated experience. Grab your All Access pass now and lock in Super Early Bird rates while you’re at it! events.searchengineland.com/smx-advanced-2025 View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I wear my Apple Watch continuously, only removing to to charge it or when I'm showering. I wear it to sleep and to work out, under heavy sweatshirts, on the beach—basically anywhere and everywhere. As you can imagine, the device gets dirty. But as you might also imagine, I have no interest in cleaning my expensive smartwatch in a way that might damage it. Here are the two methods I use to clean my fitness tracker without harming it—plus some other things to keep in mind when cleaning yours. Before doing any kind of cleaning, remove your watch band to make it easier to access all of its crevices. It's also a good idea to power it off; even if it's waterproof, cleaning can result in unintended button presses. Smartwatch cleaning method #1: Soap and waterThough the device is high tech, the simplest cleaning method isn't at all: You can use water and a drop of mild soap to help scrub away any dirt or grime. If you're confident the device is waterproof, you can actually dunk it in a bowl full of warm water and a drop or two of dish or hand soap. If it's not, or you'd rather not risk it, you can also use a q-tip or soft cloth dipped in a soapy mixture. (I prefer the q-tip because it's easier to get in and around the buttons and the crevices where the band connects to the device.) Smart watch cleaning method #2: Isopropyl alcoholSoap and water works fine for me when it comes to general cleaning, but from time to time, I like to use 70% isopropyl alcohol to remove oils or more serious grime. Again, I use a fresh q-tip and focus my attention on the face of the watch as well as the sensor underneath. To the extent possible, I avoid scrubbing around holes or buttons with the wet end. Instead, I use the dry end to dislodge any dirt in those areas. Even if your watch is extremely dirty, use soap and water first. The alcohol should only be dabbed quickly on the exterior, then left to air dry. Those little alcohol pads can come in handy here. Before and after some soap and water followed by isopropyl alcohol. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson Different companies recommend different cleaning techniques I use the methods above to keep my Apple Watch clean, and they're pretty broadly applicable across other devices. However, some brands get more specific about what you should or shouldn't do to clean their watches. Google Pixel users, for instance, are advised by the company not to use anything but fresh water on a damp cloth to rub the Pixel down, while Withings and Samsung recommend the same. Why? As Samsung advises, "Do not use soap, cleaning agents, abrasive materials and compressed air when cleaning your Galaxy Watch and do not clean it with the external heat sources. Doing so may damage the Galaxy Watch. Skin irritation may be caused by soap, detergents hand sanitizers, or cleaning agents left on the Galaxy Watch." Considering the watch is waterproof, it seems the warning about skin irritation is more relevant, but as long as you rinse it well, it shouldn't be a problem. Spend some time reading the specific information related to your own device, but if it's really dirty, consider some tech cleaning wipes. The way I see it, you're not introducing any more soap and water than you would be if you, say, took a shower or washed your dishes while wearing the watch. Other things to keep in mind when cleaning a smart watchIf you have visible gunk in the tiny holes on your watch, gently (very gently!) try to dislodge it with a soft toothbrush or blow on it at an angle. If that doesn't work, wipe gently with a dry cloth. There really aren’t any holes big enough on an Apple Watch to cause problems, but if your device has some, be careful not to push the icky stuff further inside. Get in the habit of running a damp cloth over your watch after a sweaty workout or before you put it on the charger to stop it from getting quite so dirty before you next clean it. Allow it to dry before you power it back on, charge it, or wear it. You should also clean your watch band regularly, but how you do that will depend on what it’s made of. Most of mine are fabric, so they go in the washing machine, but rubber or silicone ones can be cleaned with soap and water or disinfectant. If it’s leather, wipe it with a dry cloth, then use a drop of gentle soap (like hand soap) on a damp cloth to rub any messy spots. Use a clean, damp cloth to wipe away any soap residue and let the leather air dry, then hit it with some leather conditioner. View the full article

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit said last week hackers had stolen digital tokens worth around $1.5 billion, in what researchers called the biggest crypto heist of all time. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said the crypto was taken from a “cold wallet” – a digital wallet usually stored offline and so supposedly more secure – that was used for ether tokens. Blockchain research firm Elliptic said the hack was more than double the last-biggest crypto heist and “is almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind in all time.” The crypto industry has suffered a series of thefts, prompting questions about the security of customer funds, with hacking hauls totalling more than $2 billion in 2024 – the fourth straight year where proceeds have topped more than $1 billion. Here are some of the other major thefts to have plagued the industry since bitcoin was born in 2008. Poly network Hackers stole around $610 million in August 2021 from Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer token transactions. The hackers behind the heist later returned nearly all of the stolen funds. The hack underscored vulnerabilities in the burgeoning decentralised finance – DeFi – sector, where users lend, borrow and save in digital tokens, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of finance such as banks and exchanges. Ronin Network Hackers stole cryptocurrency worth – at the time of the hack – around $540 million from a blockchain project linked to the popular online game Axie Infinity in March 2022. Ronin, a network that allows the transfer of crypto coins across different blockchains, said that hackers stole some 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD Coin tokens. Coincheck In January 2018, hackers stole cryptocurrency then worth around $530 million from Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck. The thieves attacked one of Coincheck’s “hot wallet” – a digital folder stored online – to drain the funds, drawing attention to security at exchanges. South Korea’s intelligence agency said at the time that a North Korean hacking group may have been behind the heist. Mt. Gox In one of the earliest and most-high profile crypto hacks, bitcoin worth close to $500 million dollars was stolen from the Mt.Gox exchange in Tokyo – then the world’s biggest – between 2011 and 2014. Mt.Gox, which once handled 80% of the world’s bitcoin trade, filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 after the hack was revealed, with some 24,000 customers losing access to their funds. Wormhole DeFi site Wormhole was hit by a $320 million heist last month, with the hackers making off with 120,000 digital tokens connected to the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether. The crypto arm of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which had the year before acquired the developer behind Wormhole, later replaced the funds “to make community members whole and support Wormhole now as it continues to develop.” —Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Tom Wilson and Elizabeth Howcroft, Reuters View the full article

Most of my adolescent free time was spent in the kitchen making Thai food with my mom. She was firm in the practice of using up every last bit of an ingredient. If there was any leftover coconut milk, it went in the fridge and we used it for random stuff (coffee, cereal, rice) until it was done within a day or two. It never went in the freezer because it would become a disgusting, curdled mess upon defrosting. I’ve previously addressed what a person should do with a leftover half-can of coconut milk before it spoils, but it turns out I’ve been thinking about the conundrum all wrong. My entire life, I believed freezing it was not an option. But it is. Yes, you can (and you should) freeze your leftover coconut milk. I wasn't wrong in thinking it looks like hell when it’s defrosted—gritty and broken, like cottage cheese gone wrong—but it’s not actually ruined. What my mom and I didn’t know at the time is that thawed coconut milk can be perfectly rejuvenated with a little heat. Those clumps and clusters are merely ice crystals and coagulated fat, and heat melts them both. I came across this important truth from one of my most trusted Thai food sources, Hot Thai Kitchen on Instagram. (In case you were wondering, when I shared this revelation with my mom, she acted like she’d known about it this whole time. Parents.) How to freeze coconut milkAny coconut milk that you don’t plan on using in the next five days or so can be frozen. First, I like to pour the contents of the can out into a freezer-friendly bag or container. (I put the bag in a measuring cup so I don't have to hold it open.) If you opt for a container, it might be worthwhile to separate the milk into smaller portion sizes for easier thawing. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann If you’re using a freezer-safe zip top bag, squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the top. Lay it flat on a small metal baking sheet and put the whole thing in the freezer. Freezing it flat allows the milk to freeze faster, and it will be easier to break into portions later. Flat objects also stack more easily, so you can your optimize freezer space. How to thaw frozen coconut milkWhen you’re ready to use frozen coconut milk, remove it from the freezer and bend the icy plank to break it up into chunks while it’s still in the bag. Pour as much of the frozen coconut milk as you want into a pot or a microwave-safe measuring cup. Heat the milk over low heat, or on 15 to 30-second blasts in the microwave until it melts and it returns to its normal smooth and silky consistency. Alternatively, you can just drop the frozen chunks directly into the food you’re cooking. For example, if I’m putting together a curry dish, I can add the frozen pieces of milk just as I’d normally add liquid coconut milk. It’ll take an extra minute or two to warm up and incorporate, but then you can proceed as usual. I’ve used coconut milk after it’s been frozen for a few weeks and detected no texture problems or decline in the taste. According to Medical News Today, most milks (both dairy and non-dairy) can be frozen for up to three months. That should be plenty of time to make another batch of Thai curry spaghetti and meatballs. View the full article

Through 1stResponder+, Rate is offering a complimentary one-year accidental death insurance policy that covers the mortgage balance up to $650,000. View the full article

The ubiquitous food delivery app DoorDash will pay almost $17 million to settle claims that it unfairly used customer tips to subsidize the wages of its delivery workers in New York City, rather than letting drivers keep the tips on top of their guaranteed pay, Attorney General Letitia James said Monday. James said DoorDash used the wage model between May 2017 and September 2019. The company would guarantee workers a base payment for each delivery but was factoring tips into that equation, only paying workers for whatever the tips didn’t cover, according to the attorney general. DoorDash also did not make it clear to customers that their tips were being used to offset worker wages, said James, a Democrat. “This is just fundamentally unfair,” she said at a news conference in Manhattan. ”Customers had no reason to believe that these tips were being used by DoorDash to reduce its costs.” The company will pay $16.75 million in restitution that will be distributed to DoorDash workers who made deliveries between May 2017 and September 2019 in New York. Eligible workers will be contacted by a settlement administrator. In a statement, DoorDash said, “While we believe that our practices properly represented how Dashers were paid during this period, we are pleased to have resolved this years-old matter and look forward to continuing to offer a flexible way for millions of people to reach their financial goals.” The company said the old pay model is no longer in use. View the full article

Momentum against Maryland guidance that extends licensing requirements to securitization trusts is growing and some legislators want to scale it back. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you’re feeling awful because of a cold, you just want something to fix you—if not to cure you, at least to help you temporarily feel better. Unfortunately a lot of remedies are placebos, but some things in the drugstore work better than others. Before we talk about which medicines are best, here's an important note to consider: Cold medicines do not cure your cold, nor do they shorten its duration. If you're reading this because you want to know how to get rid of a cold fast, or what a doctor would prescribe you to get rid of a cold—sorry. Colds are caused by viruses, and there's no medication that will kill them off the way that antibiotics can kill off bacteria. The point of cold medicines is to help you be a little less miserable while you wait for your immune system to fight it off. Ignore brand names on cold medicinesThe companies that make cold medicines rely on our stuffy-headed memories. If you bought Sudafed (or Mucinex, or Dayquil) the last time you had a cold, they hope you'll buy the same thing this time, while makers of store brands are hoping you buy something the same color and figure it's good enough. But the brand name tells you next to nothing about what's actually inside the package. Each of the major cold medicine brands sells a variety of products with completely different ingredients. Sometimes, there are so many that the same brand will sell the same thing under two different names. My favorite example of this is the labyrinth of Mucinex products: Their Maximum Strength Fast-Max Severe Congestion and Cough has the same dosage and ingredients as their Maximum Strength Sinus-Max Pressure, Pain, & Cough. Meanwhile, Maximum Strength Sinus-Max Severe Congestion & Pain—which sounds like it should be very similar to the other Sinus-Max product—takes out a cough-related ingredient and swaps in some acetaminophen (that's Tylenol). You are never going to have much luck navigating the cough and cold aisle on brand names and symptoms alone. So where to go instead? Well, for quick relief of congestion, you'll need the good stuff they keep behind the counter. Pseudoephedrine (original Sudafed) is the good stuffIf you have a stuffy nose, pseudoephedrine is the real deal. In the old days, you could find it on the store shelves. Sudafed was one brand name. (Sudafed, pseudoephedrine, get it?) But pseudoephedrine can be converted into methamphetamine, so a 2006 law restricted its sale. It's still an over the counter medication, but you'll need to take the time to show your ID to the pharmacist if you want to buy some. Studies have shown pseudoephedrine to be effective at clearing nasal congestion. When you feel like your nose is “stuffed” with dried or gooey mucus, that’s not literally true. Blood vessels in the lining of your nose and sinuses swell up, and that’s what narrows the air passages. Pseudoephedrine makes those blood vessels constrict, reducing the swelling and opening your airways so you can breathe easier. (Pseudoephedrine also constricts blood vessels in other parts of the body, which is why it can increase blood pressure in some people, and why it is sometimes used off-label for priapism, also known as prolonged erections.) Anything with "PE" in the name isn't worth buyingPhenylephrine is the decongestant that replaced pseudoephedrine in over-the-counter products. Phenylephrine, the "PE" ingredient, has been known for years to be useless at treating cold symptoms when taken by mouth. This led two pharmacists to write a paper in 2022 entitled “Why Is Oral Phenylephrine on the Market After Compelling Evidence of Its Ineffectiveness as a Decongestant?”) Finally, as of November 2024, the FDA agreed that phenylephrine products will (eventually) be removed from store shelves. Phenylephrine is what’s in Sudafed PE. This is another case of brand names leading you astray—regular Sudafed is the good stuff, but Sudafed PE has the ineffective ingredient. Don’t be fooled—anything with a PE in the name won't work. Most cough medicines don't work, eitherBut that's not the only cold medicine that probably does little to nothing for your cold. The "active" ingredients in cough medicines are probably useless too. Dextromethorphan is considered a cough suppressant, though there's not much evidence to suggest it actually does its job. Nor does guaifenesin, an “expectorant” that’s intended to thin out mucus to make it easier to cough up. A Cochrane review concluded that there’s not enough evidence to say whether these or any other over-the-counter cough medicines actually work. By the way, children under 4 years of age should not use any of the cough or cold medicines we’ve mentioned so far, according to the FDA. Fortunately, home remedies like drinking fluids and getting their snot sucked out with a bulb syringe are safe, and tend to bring actual relief. Tylenol and ibuprofen can help with fevers and painThere is one more category of over-the-counter medicines that may actually help you feel better when you have a cold, although they’re probably not what you’re thinking of when you think of cold medicines. Acetaminophen (regular Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil) are known as pain relievers and fever reducers. They do work for these jobs, and they are considered safe to use even in young children. That said, the American Academy of Pediatrics warns that you should always contact your pediatrician for a fever in a baby less than 3 months old, and not give medication unless directed, since fevers at that age can be life threatening and need to be evaluated in a healthcare setting. If you’re used to looking at brand names, please make sure you turn the package around and make sure it contains what you’re expecting on the ingredients list. Regular Tylenol is just acetaminophen, but the company also makes a Tylenol Cold and Flu that contains all three of the ingredients mentioned above that do not work for colds or coughs. Advil makes a similar product. These aren’t the ones you want. Another important note: Tylenol, or acetaminophen, is in a lot of cold medicines as part of a mixture of ingredients. It’s also potentially toxic if you take more than the recommended amount. If you’re combining medications, make sure you’re not double-dosing on this ingredient. The best cough syrup is honeySo you have a decongestant that works (pseudoephedrine), and something to bring your fever and headache under control (acetaminophen or ibuprofen). Is there anything we can do about that nasty cough? There is, but you’ll want to leave the pharmacy aisles and head over to the grocery shelves. Honey isn’t going to cure your cold, but it seems to soothe sore throats and relieve coughing, at least a little bit. Studies often show it works better than over-the-counter cough syrups. (Is this because honey is great or because cough syrups kind of suck? Possibly the latter, to be honest.) But don’t bother with honey-based cough syrups—yes, these are a thing—just grab some actual honey and mix it into some hot water or tea. That’s cheaper and easier. An important caveat on honey, by the way: honey is not considered safe to give to babies under 1 year old. There’s a small risk of botulism, and babies are particularly susceptible. Honey isn’t going to help that much, so it’s not worth the risk. Children's cold medicines are almost all scamsPretty much every “children’s” cold medicine is garbage. After all, the ones with decongestants and antihistamines aren’t considered safe for kids under 4. But since you’re in the medicine aisle anyway, “natural” brands are there to fill that gap with concoctions of vitamins, honey, and herbal supplements. These don’t really do anything, either, but somehow they cost like eight bucks a bottle. But it gets worse. In both the kids’ and adults’ sections, you’ll find homeopathic remedies, which are pretty much scams and should be illegal. Watch out for anything that says “homeopathic” or that has ingredients measured in “X” or “C” instead of a real unit like milligrams. These aren’t simply natural supplements, as the labels sometimes suggest, and homeopathy is not another word for home remedy. Homeopathic “drugs” are beneficiaries of a bizarre loophole in FDA and FTC policy that allows them to be marketed as drugs while claiming to work by magic. I wish I were making this up, but I’m not. Save your money. View the full article

Maintaining a home is expensive, with many financial advisors recommending you set aside around 2% of its purchase price for upkeep each year. That cost is well worth it, as it prevents small problems from becoming bigger ones, and keeps your home in good shape so you can actually enjoy living there. It’s reasonable to assume that if you’re doing at least the bare minimum home maintenance tasks, you can rest easier. But even if you repair stuff as needed and do all the recommended annual checks and upkeep, you might still be damaging your house in a myriad of ways. That’s because many things homeowners without thinking about it can actually damage a house over the long term. Doing these 10 things occasionally likely isn't a big deal, but over time and with repetition, they can contribute to some major headaches. Using too many bath bombsIf you soothe the stress of home ownership with a nice hot bath spiced up by a fizzing, colorful bath bomb, you may be slowly ruining your home’s plumbing. Bath bombs typically contain stuff like citric acid, cream of tartar, Epsom salts, and baking soda, not to mention scented oils, glitter, or other decorations intended to give your bath a whimsical or romantic vibe. Over time, all that stuff can easily congeal in your pipes, or get caught on existing clogs, making them worse. A bath bomb once in a while won’t cause much trouble, but if you have a regular habit, you’re risking paying a plumber a lot of money sooner rather than later. Using chemical drain cleanersIf you have a clogged drain and you turn to a chemical drain cleaner to open it up, you’re probably not going to destroy your house in the process. But if you have frequent clogged drains that you use drain cleaner to clear, you’re not only putting a band-aid on a bigger problem (why are your drains always clogged?) you’re probably damaging your pipes. Most of the drain cleaners you buy in a store are either caustic or oxidizing, and both release heat as part of the process of turning clogged material into something more easily dissolved and cleared away. That heat can soften PVC pipes and warp metal pipes over time. If your drains are always clogged and slow, it’s probably better to call a plumber and implement some basic drain maintenance steps. Putting your appliances in the wrong spotJust about every appliance in your home, from the refrigerator to the television, generates heat as a byproduct. If you place an appliance or two near your home’s thermostat, this can have a real negative impact on two things: Your heating or cooling bills, and your HVAC’s lifespan. That’s because the heat from the appliance will fool the thermostat into thinking your home is hotter than it actually is, causing the air conditioning to run more in the summer and the heat to run less in the winter. With the former scenario, your HVAC system will suffer more wear and tear, leading to a shorter lifespan, more repair bills, and more frequent replacement costs. In the latter scenario, you’ll find yourself turning the heat up to compensate, leading to a similar situation. Painting over brickIf you’ve got exposed brick in the interior of your home that you’ve painted, congratulations: You may have just lit the fuse on an expensive home repair bomb. Brick is a porous material, and it needs to “breathe” properly. Paint can seal the brick, trapping moisture within, which can lead to deterioration of the brick, mold growth, peeling paint, and spalling. The problem is worse when it’s an exterior brick wall, but even a totally interior wall can be slowly destroyed if improperly painted. If you must paint that wall, prepare the surface carefully and use a paint designed for masonry work. Then keep an eye on it. Inspect it regularly for bubbling, peeling, and brick dust—all evidence that moisture is doing your walls dirty. Painting over rotSpeaking of paint, it’s important to note that it’s not magic. If you notice that wood in your home’s interior or exterior is suffering a bit of rot, cleaning it up and painting over it will absolutely not arrest the progression. It will, in fact, make things worse as the paint traps moisture, likely accelerating the process of rot that is eating your house alive—plus, that trapped moisture will cause the paint to bubble and peel soon enough anyway. Even if the rot you’ve discovered is minor, you have to figure out where the moisture is coming from and address that, then repair or replace the wood as needed before painting. Flushing wipes down the toiletIt’s a weird fact of late-stage capitalism that items clearly marked “flushable” on their packaging are often not flushable at all. Neither is a long list of stuff that seems like it should be flushable, like food (which can persist a long time in your pipes, forming cement-like clogs) or kitty litter, including the clumping kind. If you’ve been flushing “flushable” wipes down the toilet, you’re on a countdown to plumbing disaster. Using the wrong cleanersCleaning your house requires time, elbow grease, and the right cleaning products—which is more important than you think. Vinegar can be an effective cleaner, to the point where it’s suggested for just about any cleaning job. But vinegar is a weak acid, and as such it can damage surfaces like natural stone, television and monitor screens, hardwood flooring, and wood furniture. It can also do a lot of damage to washing machines and dishwashers if you toss it in to freshen things up, because the vinegar will weaken the rubber seals inside those appliances over time. Similarly, bleach is a powerful cleaning agent—but it's powerful it can actually corrode metal surfaces (like those on your kitchen appliances) and natural stone. If you’re cleaning your house with vinegar and bleach regularly, you’re basically slowly dissolving big parts of it over time. And if you’re using a steam cleaner on wood or laminate floors, you’re probably slowly ruining them, too. Unlike a spilled liquid, steam is pushed under pressure into the tiny seams in your floor, infiltrating the wood and making it swell-resulting in permanent and irreversible damage. Not sweeping enoughEven if you’re not steaming your floors, you might be ruining them by not doing something: Sweeping (or vacuuming) regularly. As in, daily. Even if the floors look superficially clean, dirt that’s invisible to you is busily destroying your floors. It gets pushed into the tiny cracks and seams, dulling the finish and discoloring the floor. And the tiny particles of dirt and debris act like sandpaper, and as you walk around you’re grinding that stuff into the floor, creating scratches. When you do sweep, notice how much stuff you’re cleaning off a floor that didn’t look dirty to the naked eye, and realize that you’re scraping that stuff along your floors all the time. Planting climbing vinesIf you think a vine enveloping your house is charming, think again: Creeping and climbing plants that grow up and over homes are eating those homes bit by bit. They trap moisture and open up cracks in your home’s exterior that allow that moisture to infiltrate, their weight can damage siding and other exterior cladding, they offer shelter to damaging insects and small animals—they can even tear stuff off your house, like gutters and downspouts. Misusing your garbage disposal Garbage disposals are garbage (if you ask me, anyway), but if you have one, you probably use it. And if you use it, you might be setting yourself up for a big repair bill in the future because people seem to believe that garbage disposals are magical bags of holding that simply make anything disappear. The list of stuff that will wind up clogging your pipes and/or septic system includes most fats, oils, and grease (including stuff like peanut butter or heavy cream), egg shells (or any kind of shell, actually), vegetable peels, and corn husks. The list is so long you might wonder what even is the point of a garbage disposal, anyway, and you would not be wrong. View the full article

On Saturday evening, a group of Yosemite National Park employees hung an upside-down American flag 3,000 feet in the air, at the top of El Capitan summit. The display was absolutely not missed. It happened in the midst of this year’s Firefall at Horsetail Fall, a popular event at the Mariposa County, California, national park, when between mid- to late February, the waterfall begins to light up 5 to 15 minutes before sunset, looking almost like molten lava. Hundreds of photographers and observers were in the park when the upside-down flag, known as a “distress flag,” according to American flag code—a sign that something is desperately wrong—hung from the mountain top. The act came shortly after Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired more than 1,000 National Park Service rangers amid drastic cuts to the federal budget. The message was clear: America’s parks are in trouble. “We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,” Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic at the park, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Carpenter was central to the employees pulling off the feat, supplying the flag and helping to get it to the top of El Capitan. “It’s super important we take care of [the parks] and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,” Carpenter told the paper. National Park Service rangers are massively important to the preservation of our national parks. Their duties range from running programs and camps for children to maintaining the cleanliness and upkeep of trails, as well as staffing visitor centers and helping to keep visitors safe from wild animals and other dangerous natural elements. But as DOGE’s federal firings continue, many are expressing huge concerns over how parks will be maintained if there are not enough employees to manage them. Some parks have already begun trimming their hours, cancelling tours and other events, and closing visitor centers. In a post on Facebook, which has garnered more than 20,600 comments, the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Florissant, Colorado, announced it would be forced to cut hours. “Due to a lack of staffing, effective Monday, February 24, 2025, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays. There will be no access to the visitor center, trailhead parking, or public restrooms,” the post read. Social media posts from devastated park employees who have been let go in recent weeks have gone viral, too. “I am absolutely heartbroken and completely devastated to have lost my dream job of an education park ranger with the National Park Service this Valentine’s Day,” former ranger Brian Gibbs wrote in a February 14 post on Facebook. “My position was ripped out from under my feet after my shift was over at 3:45 p.m. on a cold snowy Friday.” The post went on to detail the many irreplaceable roles of a national parks ranger: “I am my son’s ‘Junior Ranger’ idol . . . I am a college kid’s dream job . . . I am the smiling face that greets you at the front door . . . I am your family vacation planner . . . I am a voice for 19 American Indian cultures.” DOGE’s alarming layoffs have not been limited to park workers. Last week, the administration also fired more than 300 National Nuclear Security Administration workers, then quickly rehired most of them over major national security concerns. And on Sunday, approximately 2,000 employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were informed they were being laid off. The majority of full-time staff were put on administrative leave. View the full article

Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees and eliminate hundreds of open and unfilled positions, CEO Brian Niccol said on Monday. In a memo, Niccol said the cuts will remove duplication “to create smaller, more nimble teams,” and the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Starbucks, which has 16,000 corporate employees, said the cuts will not affect staff at cafés. “We believe it’s a necessary change to position Starbucks for future success,” Niccol said in the statement. “Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity, and drive better integration.” Shares of the coffee giant (NASDAQ:SBUX) rose nearly 2% on the news in midday trading Monday. Like many fast-food chains and retail stores, Starbucks has been struggling with declining in-store sales as customers are less interested in the chain’s high-priced drinks. The cuts come just one month after the Seattle-based coffee chain reversed its popular open-door policy, which allowed anyone to sit in its cafés or use the bathroom without making a purchase. Last week, Niccol told the Wall Street Journal he plans to speed up wait times and improve mobile ordering. He also said Starbucks will be offering smaller menus in the future. According to Today.com, starting March 4, these 13 drinks will be off the menu: Iced Matcha Lemonade Espresso Frappuccino Caffè Vanilla Frappuccino White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino Java Chip Frappuccino Chai Crème Frappuccino Caramel Ribbon Crunch Crème Frappuccino Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino Chocolate Cookie Crumble Crème Frappuccino White Chocolate Crème Frappuccino White Hot Chocolate Royal English Breakfast Latte Honey Almondmilk Flat White The chain will instead focus on customer favorites like the new Cortado and will be bringing back the Iced Cherry Chai and Jalapeño Chicken Pocket this spring. 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. Party speakers hold a special place in my heart. I love hosting people and music, so I'm always on the lookout for the next best thing, which at the moment, it's the JBL PartyBox Stage 320. But not everyone has over $500 to spend on a party speaker. If you're looking for a budget option that still has great features and packs a punch, consider Hisense's HP100 Party Rocker Speaker, currently $149.99 (originally $299.95) on Woot, the lowest price it has been according to price-tracking tools. Remember Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. If you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping; otherwise, it’ll be $6 to ship. Hisense Party Rocker Speaker HP100 2.0CH, 300W, IPX4 Waterproof, 15 Hour Long-Lasting Battery, Bluetooth 5.0, DJ and Karaoke Mode. $149.99 at Woot $299.95 Save $149.96 Get Deal Get Deal $149.99 at Woot $299.95 Save $149.96 The HP100 has been around since 2022, but it was ahead of its time when it comes to features for party speakers. It has a waterproof IPX4 rating, a 15-hour battery (with no lights and 50% volume), a two-channel system so you get stereo sound, and features to set it up for karaoke. One of the most important things for a party speaker is its output power. The HP100 has 300W of output power, which beats the PartyBox Stage 320's 240W, meaning it can get loud and not sound edgy (of course, the quality of your media also plays a role). You'll also be limited to Bluetooth 5.0, so your range, codec support, and other features will be affected (the JBL has Bluetooth 5.4). The HP100 has a microphone and guitar in port, so you can set up karaoke and control those inputs with the speaker. The control panel on the top has a wireless charging pad for supported phones, a slot to place phones so they're propped up, a battery indicator, controls for playing FM radio, light controls, and other physical buttons. The HP100 is a respectable speaker in 2025, just don't expect any fancy features like an app companion and everything that comes with that. However, this is a great opportunity at just $150 for a quality party speaker. View the full article

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. National home prices have risen by 2.6% year-over-year from January 2024 to January 2025, according to the Zillow Home Value Index, a slightly decelerated rate from the 4.6% year-over-year rate last spring. However, not every housing market is seeing rising home prices. Among the 300 largest metro area housing markets, 31 markets are seeing falling home prices on a year-over-year basis. While home prices continue to rise in regions with tight inventory—such as much of the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern California—some housing markets in states like Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, where inventory has now surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels, are experiencing modest price corrections. These year-over-year declines are evident in major metros such as Austin (-3.4%); Tampa (-2.8%); San Antonio (-1.8%); New Orleans (-1.1%); Jacksonville, Florida (-0.9%); Phoenix (-0.8%); Dallas (-0.7%); and Orlando (-0.6%).\] The markets seeing the most softness, where homebuyers are gaining leverage, are primarily located in Sun Belt regions, particularly the Gulf Coast and Mountain West. These areas saw major price surges during the pandemic housing boom, with home price growth outpacing local income levels. As pandemic-driven migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Tampa and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices. This softening trend is further compounded by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives to maintain sales, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, are now opting for new homes with more favorable deals. Will this softening continue this year? A key indicator to watch will be active inventory levels. If weaker markets like Tampa continue to see substantial increases in active inventory—already above pre-pandemic levels—it may signal ongoing softening, potentially creating more opportunities for homebuyers. View the full article

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has introduced the Cooper WORK Series Regional Haul All-position (RHA) 2, a commercial truck tire designed to balance fuel efficiency with durability for super-regional and regional fleets. The SmartWay-verified tire is engineered to deliver long miles to removal and even wear, addressing the evolving demands of Less-than-Truckload (LTL) carriers and super-regional operations. Addressing Efficiency and Durability in Super-Regional Transport As shipping hubs move closer to last-mile delivery networks, the demand for commercial tires that can withstand both highway and urban driving conditions is increasing. Joe Burke, vice president of North America Commercial at Goodyear, emphasized the importance of adapting to these trends. “The super-regional category is evolving with shorter routes between shipping hubs and a focus on improving efficiency by being closer to last-mile delivery fleets,” says Joe Burke, vice president, North America Commercial at Goodyear. “The new Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 helps address these needs by combining a long-haul tread with a scrub guard compound, creating a tough tire that can handle everything from long trips to urban traffic.” Key Features of the Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 The RHA 2 is designed to provide fleets with both performance and longevity, featuring: Balanced long-haul and regional tread compound for improved fuel efficiency and extended mileage. Scrub guard compound to resist wear in high-scrub environments. Five-rib tread with a wide footprint and solid shoulder to promote even wear and long tread life. Stone protector ledges to reduce stone retention and improve retreadability. Cooper Wear Square indicator for quick assessment of remaining tread life. Expanding the Cooper WORK Series Portfolio The RHA 2 joins Goodyear’s Cooper WORK Series, SEVERE Series, and PRO Series in providing commercial fleets with high-value tire solutions. Each line is designed to optimize total cost of ownership while meeting the durability needs of modern trucking operations. The Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 is available now. This article, "Goodyear Unveils Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 Tire for Super-Regional and Regional Fleets" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has introduced the Cooper WORK Series Regional Haul All-position (RHA) 2, a commercial truck tire designed to balance fuel efficiency with durability for super-regional and regional fleets. The SmartWay-verified tire is engineered to deliver long miles to removal and even wear, addressing the evolving demands of Less-than-Truckload (LTL) carriers and super-regional operations. Addressing Efficiency and Durability in Super-Regional Transport As shipping hubs move closer to last-mile delivery networks, the demand for commercial tires that can withstand both highway and urban driving conditions is increasing. Joe Burke, vice president of North America Commercial at Goodyear, emphasized the importance of adapting to these trends. “The super-regional category is evolving with shorter routes between shipping hubs and a focus on improving efficiency by being closer to last-mile delivery fleets,” says Joe Burke, vice president, North America Commercial at Goodyear. “The new Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 helps address these needs by combining a long-haul tread with a scrub guard compound, creating a tough tire that can handle everything from long trips to urban traffic.” Key Features of the Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 The RHA 2 is designed to provide fleets with both performance and longevity, featuring: Balanced long-haul and regional tread compound for improved fuel efficiency and extended mileage. Scrub guard compound to resist wear in high-scrub environments. Five-rib tread with a wide footprint and solid shoulder to promote even wear and long tread life. Stone protector ledges to reduce stone retention and improve retreadability. Cooper Wear Square indicator for quick assessment of remaining tread life. Expanding the Cooper WORK Series Portfolio The RHA 2 joins Goodyear’s Cooper WORK Series, SEVERE Series, and PRO Series in providing commercial fleets with high-value tire solutions. Each line is designed to optimize total cost of ownership while meeting the durability needs of modern trucking operations. The Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 is available now. This article, "Goodyear Unveils Cooper WORK Series RHA 2 Tire for Super-Regional and Regional Fleets" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The new iOS 18.4 beta is still missing an AI-overhauled Siri, on-screen awareness, and the app integrations feature we were promised all the way back in June at WWDC. If you're waiting for those features, try your luck with iOS 18.5. However, 18.4 isn't an empty update. The first beta introduces Priority Notifications, and Apple Intelligence now supports more languages—which is great news for Apple users across the globe. In addition, Apple Intelligence is now accessible in the European Union for the first time. Here's everything that's new with iOS 18.4. Priority NotificationsOne of the new highlight features in iOS 18.4 is Priority Notifications. When enabled, your iPhone will use on-device intelligence to figure out which notifications are truly important, and will highlight them in a new Priority Notifications box at the top. However, in this beta, it's not enabled by default. Go to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and then enable the feature. Credit: Khamosh Pathak Sketch style in Image Playground Credit: Khamosh Pathak When you're creating an image in Image Playground, you'll see a new style option called Sketch. This style makes it look like your AI-generated image was sketched on a paper. If that sounds familiar, that's because we also saw this back at WWDC, but Apple only just added it to iOS with this update. New Ambient Music feature in Control Center Credit: Khamosh Pathak Apple already has a background sounds feature that generates nature sounds for ambient playback. However, in iOS 18.4, you'll find a new Ambient Music section in Control Center. There are four options: Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Tap one, and it'll play a corresponding playlist from Apple Music. Credit: Khamosh Pathak Apple has mapped a playlist to each button by default, but you're not locked to any. If you go into the editing view and then tap on a control, you can choose a different playlist (Apple gives you four different options for each control), or you can choose any playlist from your own collection. Apple Intelligence comes to the EUApple Intelligence now supports French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), plus there's now support for localized English language in both India and Singapore. Recipes come to the News+ appThe News app has a new Apple News Food+ section for paying subscribers. Here, you can access tens of thousands of aesthetically pleasing recipes. There are also stories, restaurant reviews, and more. The new Mail app comes to iPad and MacWith iPadOS 18.4 beta and macOS 15.4 beta, the redesigned Mail app is coming to the iPad and the Mac. Once you update, you'll get access to email categories and other AI features on your tablet and computer. A much better Genmoji button Credit: Khamosh Pathak When I wrote about Genmoji, I was tempted to call it a hidden feature, because that's what it felt like. Genmoji was just a multicolor smiley face tucked in the corner of the Emoji keyboard. Apple seems to have learned its lesson: With 18.4, the new icon says "Gemoji" right next to the smiley face rainbow icon. New Podcasts widgets Credit: Khamosh Pathak The Podcasts app has two new widgets: one for Library, and for Shows. The Library widget can show you all saved episodes, downloaded episodes, or latest episodes. The Shows widget is for highlighting all episodes from a single show. You can choose a show, and then access all the latest episodes from the show from the Home Screen. More choices for default apps Apple's selection of default apps options is growing. You can now set a different Translate app by default, and if you're in the EU, there's now support for choosing a default navigation app, too. (If you're not in the EU, try using Map Redirect as a workaround.) CarPlay changesFor some users, it looks like CarPlay is adding a third row of app icons on the Home screen. Other small changesMajor app updates like iOS 18.4 typically include a number of smaller changes in addition to more notable ones. Here's what else iOS 18.4 updates on your iPhone: When you're setting up a new device with iOS 18.4, you'll be prompted to select an age range. You can choose between Child (12 or younger), Teen (13 to 17), and Adult (18 or older). Apple says that it will use this data only to help set up parental controls. There are two new Shortcuts actions for the Messages app: Open Conversation, and Send Message. When you go to edit your Albums, you'll see a new List View option, hopefully making it easier to rearrange albums. View the full article