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Allies of tech billionaire say he has signalled he would back an alternative to populist partyView the full article

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development and he would move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived under the State Department. Rubio made the announcement in a post on X, in one of his relatively few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at State and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams. Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid. President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all of the tens of billions of dollars of U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda. Rubio’s social media post Monday said that review was now “officially ending,” with some 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs eliminated. Those programs “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote. “In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping … to be administered more effectively under the State Department,” he said. Democratic lawmakers and others call the shutdown of congressionally funded programs illegal, saying such a move requires Congress’ approval. USAID supporters said the sweep of the cuts made it difficult to tell what U.S. efforts abroad the Trump administration actually supports. “The patterns that are emerging is the administration does not support democracy programs, they don’t support civil society … they don’t support NGO programs,” or health or emergency response, said Andrew Natsios, the USAID administrator for Republican former President George W. Bush. “So what’s left”?” Natsios asked. A group of former U.S. diplomats, national security figures and others condemned what it said was an opaque, partisan and rushed review process and urged Congress to intervene. “The facts show that life-saving programs were severely cut, putting millions of people in allied countries at risk of starvation, disease and death,” while giving Russia, China and other adversaries opportunities to gain influence abroad as the U.S. retreats, the group, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, said. The Trump administration gave almost no details on which aid and development efforts abroad it spared as it mass-emailed contract terminations to aid groups and other USAID partners by the thousands within days earlier this month. The rapid pace, and the steps skipped in ending contracts, left USAID supporters challenging whether any actual program-by-program reviews had taken place. Aid groups say even some life-saving programs that Rubio and others had promised to spare are in limbo or terminated, such as those providing emergency nutritional support for starving children and drinking water for sprawling camps for families uprooted by war in Sudan. Republicans broadly have made clear they want foreign assistance that would promote a far narrower interpretation of U.S. national interests going forward. The State Department in one of multiple lawsuits it is battling over its rapid shutdown of USAID had said earlier this month it was killing more than 90% of USAID programs. Rubio gave no explanation for why his number was lower. The dismantling of USAID that followed Trump’s order upended decades of policy that humanitarian and development aid abroad advanced U.S. national security by stabilizing regions and economies, strengthening alliances and building goodwill. In the weeks after Trump’s order, one of his appointees and transition team members, Pete Marocco, and Musk pulled USAID staff around the world off the job through forced leaves and firings, shut down USAID payments overnight and terminated aid and development contracts by the thousands. Contractors and staffers running efforts ranging from epidemic control to famine prevention to job and democracy training stopped work. Aid groups and other USAID partners laid off tens of thousands of their workers in the U.S. and abroad. Lawsuits say the sudden shutdown of USAID has stiffed aid groups and businesses that had contracts with it totaling billions of dollars. The shutdown has left many USAID staffers and contractors and their families still overseas, many of them awaiting back payments and travel expenses to return home. In Washington, the sometimes contradictory orders issued by the three men — Rubio, Musk and Marocco — overseeing the USAID cuts have left many uncertain who was calling the shots, and fueled talk of power struggles. Musk and Rubio on Monday, as Trump had last week, insisted relations between the two of them were smooth. “Good working with you,” Musk tweeted in response to Rubio’s announcement. “Tough, but necessary,” Musk wrote of Rubio’s announcement on the cuts. —Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press View the full article

The legislation is aimed at loosening regulation of new-home construction in the Grand Canyon State, where median prices have shot up by 59% since 2020. View the full article

Tesla’s stock has dropped by nearly half in three months. Even so, investors are still debating whether Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker remains overpriced. The company’s market capitalization has dropped 45% since hitting an all-time high of $1.5 trillion on December 17, erasing most of the gains the stock made after CEO Musk helped finance the election victory of U.S. President Donald Trump. The rout intensified Monday, as its shares dropped more than 15%, making it the worst performer in the S&P 500 Index. And yet, Tesla continues to fetch a valuation far above those of the world’s biggest automotive and technology firms, judging by standard financial metrics. That’s because most investors and analysts have bought Musk’s pitch that the world’s most-valuable automaker isn’t really a car company at all, but rather an artificial-intelligence pioneer that will soon unleash a revolution in robotaxis and humanoid robots. Tesla’s electric-vehicle business accounts for almost all of its revenue but less than a quarter of its stock-market value, according to a Reuters review of more than a dozen analyses by banks and investment firms. The bulk of its worth rests on hopes for autonomous vehicles Tesla hasn’t yet delivered, despite Musk’s promises in every year since 2016 that driverless Teslas would arrive no later than the following year. The stock’s decline since December stems from falling vehicle sales and profits; protests of Musk’s political activity, including his mass firings of U.S. government workers as a senior Trump advisor; and investor worries that politics are distracting the world’s richest man from tending to his cash cow. Still, Tesla’s market capitalization remains up about $65 billion since the election – an amount higher than the entire value of General Motors. Tesla’s total worth of $845 billion as of Friday’s close still tops the next nine most-valuable major automakers combined, which collectively sold about 44 million cars last year, compared to Tesla’s 1.8 million. Investors have long bet on Musk’s visions of Tesla’s tomorrow rather than its profits today. But the widening gap between its real-world performance and analysts’ earnings estimates for unborn products has prompted some to warn of irrational exuberance. “For how much longer can the stock remain divorced from the fundamentals?” JP Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman wrote in January, after Tesla reported poor earnings and its first-ever annual vehicle-sales decline. Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. In July, Musk said investors who don’t believe Tesla would “solve vehicle autonomy” should “sell their Tesla stock.” After this article was published on Monday, Tesla shares fell by more than 15%, slicing off more than $125 billion in market value, after UBS cut its forecast for the automaker’s first-quarter deliveries. The decline came in tandem with a broader market selloff on worries about tariffs and recession fears, with the Nasdaq was down more than 4% and the S&P 500 dropped more than 3%. Robotaxi pivot Tesla’s previous peak value of more than $1.2 trillion came in 2021, in response to concrete achievements. Soaring sales of its ground-breaking Model 3 and Model Y had proved that EVs could sell profitably in mass volumes. Musk vowed then that Tesla would produce even cheaper EVs and sell 20 million vehicles annually by 2030, nearly double what the world’s largest automaker, Toyota, sells now. Musk, however, shifted from the mass-volume goal last year. In April, Reuters reported Tesla had killed a long-awaited, all-new $25,000 “Model 2” that investors had counted on to drive growth. Since then, Musk has pitched investors on Tesla’s robotaxi focus. The pivot was persuasive: Tesla shares jumped 71% from last year’s low in April through the November election, even as its EV sales stalled and profits fell. Then the stock nearly doubled in the weeks after Trump’s election. Musk spent more than $250 million supporting Trump and now serves as his top advisor on slashing government staff and regulations. Musk’s political clout has convinced bullish analysts that Trump will clear regulatory roadblocks to deploying a vast fleet of Tesla robotaxis. Tesla, however, already faces little oversight from many U.S. states, which control most autonomous-vehicle regulation. Texas, where Musk promises to launch fare-collecting robotaxis by June, has barred cities from regulating them. “There’s absolutely nothing stopping him from releasing this self-driving technology right now,” said Gordon Johnson, chief executive of investment-advisory firm GLJ Research, which recommends shorting Tesla’s stock. The tech isn’t road-ready, Johnson argues: “If he released it tomorrow, the jig would be up. These things would be wrecking across America.” Tesla has faced lawsuits and federal investigations into accidents, including fatalities, involving the driver-assistance systems it has marketed as Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. The company warns consumers the systems don’t make its cars autonomous and require drivers to pay strict attention. Musk has long said Tesla’s technology will soon be safer than a human driver. Falling sales, rising competition The automaker’s core EV business is struggling. The only vehicle Tesla has launched since the 2020 Model Y is the Cybertruck. The triangular pickup had sales of 38,965 units last year, Cox Automotive estimates, well below the 250,000 that Musk initially predicted Tesla would produce by 2025. Tesla has also cut prices on the now-aging models 3 and Y amid slowing electric-vehicle demand globally and rising competition, especially in China, where EVs start below $10,000. New data also show sharp Tesla-sales declines this year in European markets following Musk’s embrace of far-right political movements there. Tesla now faces headwinds from the president Musk helped elect. Trump, a frequent EV critic, has called for scrapping EV subsidies and policies that have added billions of dollars to Tesla’s bottom line. Musk has dismissed the impact on Tesla of losing subsidies, saying rivals would suffer more. When Tesla reported a 20% drop in annual operating profit in January, analysts on the earnings call asked no questions about Tesla’s financials or falling EV sales. They focused instead on Musk’s promises of “autonomous ride-hailing” in Austin, Texas, by June and a wider driverless-vehicle launch by year-end. Tesla shares rose 3% the next day. Tesla still trades at huge premiums, as measured by forward price-to-earnings ratios. The measure is used by investors to judge whether stocks are fairly valued. A high ratio suggests shares might be overpriced. Tesla’s forward PE ratio is more than nine times the average of the next 25 most-valuable automakers. It’s quadruple that of BYD, the Chinese automaker that passed Tesla last year as the world’s top EV seller. Unlike Tesla, BYD also has a booming business in gas-electric hybrids, driving total 2024 sales to about 4.2 million units, more than double Tesla’s deliveries. Yet BYD’s market capitalization is less than a sixth of Tesla’s. Tesla’s forward PE ratio also is more than double or triple those of tech giants Nvidia, Apple, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Amazon.com and Microsoft — the other six high-flying stocks, along with Tesla, known as the Magnificent Seven. Optimistic models Bulls discount standard financial metrics for judging Tesla’s potential, arguing Musk is singularly capable of leading a transportation revolution. He has said robotaxis and robots will make Tesla the “most valuable company in the world by far.” Brian Mulberry, client-portfolio manager at Tesla investor Zacks Investment Management, said Musk “always pulls off the technology,” despite long-running concerns about his “mad-scientist personality.” Most analyst models reviewed by Reuters remain bullish. Such models typically justify Tesla’s market value by breaking it into several categories: Its auto business, including services such as EV charging (now 90% of revenue); its energy-generation and storage business (10% of revenue); and three embryonic businesses: robotaxis; licensing or subscriptions for self-driving technology; and Optimus humanoid robots. Three such models in January rated EV sales as a relatively minor factor in Tesla’s expected growth. Truist Securities attributed just 9% of Tesla’s value to car sales, 21% to driverless-tech services, 17% to robotaxis and 34% to robots. Bank of America’s model attributes about half of Tesla’s value to robotaxis and 28% to self-driving software subscriptions. Morgan Stanley attributes 21% to robotaxis and 39% to subscriptions for autonomous-tech and other services. Tesla investor Ark Investment Management projects the stock will hit $2,600 by 2029, with robotaxis accounting for 88% of the company’s value. Ark forecasts Tesla could produce millions of robotaxis by then, generating about $760 billion in annual revenue. That would be more than Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue. Tasha Keeney, Ark’s director of investment analysis and institutional strategies, said she believes Tesla will achieve such growth by slashing the cost-per-mile of ride-hailing, making human drivers obsolete. “It’s cheaper than driving your personal car,” she said. “Maybe people will stop even driving.” Tesla tech ‘does not work safely’ Trump could potentially clear the path for driverless cars with no steering wheels or pedals because the federal government regulates the safety of vehicle designs. Musk last October unveiled a concept car with such a configuration, the two-door Cybercab, saying it would go into production in 2026. But individual states govern autonomous-vehicle travel on public roads, limiting Trump’s influence. Some states, including Texas, have few rules. Tesla’s largest U.S. market, California, requires extensive driverless testing under state oversight before granting robotaxi permits. A Trump move to loosen robotaxi regulation could benefit all competitors, not just Tesla. The tiny U.S. robotaxi industry, for now, is dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo, which operates hundreds of driverless taxis in cities including Los Angeles and Phoenix. Waymo and most other autonomous-tech developers seek to ensure safety with many overlapping technologies, including artificial intelligence, radar and lidar. Tesla aims to develop much cheaper robotaxis by relying solely on cameras and AI. Some investors doubt Tesla has found a unique path to cut-rate robotaxis. Mark Spiegel, an investment manager at Stanphyl Capital Partners, is shorting Tesla’s stock, an investment that pays off if shares fall. Tesla’s approach to robotaxis “does not work safely and never will without radar and lidar,” Spiegel said. And China’s BYD said last month it would offer — for free, as a standard feature — a driver-assistance technology similar to the Full Self-Driving system that Tesla sells in China for more than $8,000. “BYD is telling you there’s no value in self-driving,” said Johnson, the GLJ Research analyst. “In fact, it’s so valueless that we’ll give it away.” —Chris Kirkham, Reuters Additional reporting by Abhirup Roy, Noel Randewich, and Geert De Clercq. View the full article

While a "no-buy month" isn't anywhere in my future, I do stick to certain minimalist rules to keep my finances on track—specifically, the "one in, one out" method. Lifehacker's household expert Lindsey Ellefson recently covered this method for decluttering your homes. When you bring in a new shirt, an old one leaves your closet. I've found this principle works just as well when applied to personal finances. The concept is beautifully simple: Whenever I plan to purchase something new, I commit to selling something of equivalent value that I already own. Unlike traditional budgeting methods that focus solely on limiting purchases, this approach acknowledges our natural desire for new things while creating a healthy friction that forces me to ask: "Is this new item worth parting with something I already have?" How to decide what becomes the "one in"When I first tried out the "one in, one out" method, I noticed an immediate shift in my purchasing behavior. The extra step of identifying something to sell made me pause and consider each purchase more carefully. I found myself asking better questions: Do I really need this new item? Is it worth the effort of selling something else? What do I own that no longer serves me well? This simple mental exercise eliminated most impulse purchases. When I truly want something, I'm willing to part with something else. When I don't, the barrier of finding something to sell is enough to make me reconsider. In other words, I get all the benefits of a "no-buy" period, but avoid all the strictness that makes that method so tough. How to make the most of the "one out"Once you decide something is worth bringing into your life, it's time to decide what is getting the boot. I'm a huge fan of using online spaces like Facebook Marketplace. Here are some tips for actually making a profit on this hub. Research before pricingBefore listing anything, I search for similar items to understand the market rate. I often find that items I considered nearly worthless actually hold considerable value to the right buyer. Quality photography makes a differenceClear, well-lit photos from multiple angles significantly increase interest and selling price. I always make sure to capture any unique features or details that set my items apart. Timing mattersSeasonal items sell best in their respective seasons. Exercise equipment sells well in January, outdoor items in spring, and holiday decorations a month before the holiday. And for higher-value items, patience pays off. I've learned not to accept the first offer; waiting a few days often brings better offers from serious buyers Bundle related itemsI've found that bundling related items often commands a higher total price than selling individually, while reducing the number of meetups. The bottom lineThis method has also revealed which possessions truly enhance my life. When I'm reluctant to part with something, it signals that item's importance to me. Conversely, easily identifying items to sell highlights where I've made purchasing mistakes in the past. Like with any new habit, start small—perhaps with a single category like clothing or kitchen gadgets. As you build confidence, expand to other areas of spending. Soon, you'll find yourself naturally weighing each purchase against what you already own. Each purchase now requires intentionality. When I buy something new, I've already created space for it—both physically and financially. View the full article

Have your electricity bills skyrocketed this winter? Well, they are about to get even more expensive in three U.S. states as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff war with Canada. On Monday, Canada’s Ontario province began adding a 25% retaliatory tariff on electricity imported into the U.S., which is estimated to add an extra $69 a month for 1.5 million Americans and businesses in New York, Michigan, and Minnesota (or $277,000 a day, total). “President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the U.S. economy. They’re making life more expensive for American families and businesses,” Ontario premier Doug Ford said in a statement. “Until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario won’t back down.” And that’s not all. The new surcharge comes on top of Canada’s nationwide $30 billion in retaliatory tariffs, as our longtime ally and close neighbor to the north fights back against Trump’s barrage of on-again, off-again tariffs, countering with its own cost increases, fully suspending some imports, and has already removed some American-made good from its shelves, including alcohol. It’s a major blow “costing American businesses $1 billion in lost revenue.” On Wednesday, Trump will also levy a 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., just one more headache for our Canada neighbors. Canada’s newly elected prime minister Mark Carney warned Trump “Canada will win” this trade war with the U.S.: “We didn’t ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.” And for intents and purposes, it looks like they mean business. View the full article

If you’ve ever been personally victimized by one too many bad jokes from a boss around the water cooler, you’re not the only one—and now, there’s research to show that a boss who’s trying too hard to be funny might actually reduce job satisfaction. The finding comes from a new study published in the Academy of Management Journal and conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Over the course of several different sessions, the researchers found that leaders who went overboard on puns and jokes drained their employees’ emotional energy, leading to reduced job satisfaction. The results are clear: When it comes to keeping up rapport at the office, it’s probably best to drop the Michael Scott act. Pretending to find your boss funny is draining In an initial study, researchers took to the field in Southern China. They paired up 88 managers and employees for a week-long period, during which one group of managers was told to improve general leader-follower interactions, while the other group was “instructed to use humor in their interactions with employees,” according to an article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). At the end of the week, employees in the latter group reported elevated rates of “surface acting”—basically, pretending to find their boss funny in order to keep up morale. This additional emotional labor caused employees in the “funny manager” group to experience elevated levels of exhaustion, and in turn, dissatisfaction with their jobs. Authenticity matters A second study, conducted in the lab, found that there are further variables which can heighten or lessen the negative “funny manager” effect. This study followed 212 participants at a U.S. business school, who were told they would be part of a series of focus groups at a campus bookstore and then divided into “high humor” and “low humor” manager groups. This time, the researchers experimented with two different kinds of leaders, one who wore formal attire and took a more authoritative tone, and another who dressed casually and introduced himself with his first name. Once again, participants in all of the high humor groups were more exhausted and less satisfied. However, their negative feelings were magnified when paired with the more authoritative boss. “The moderator had a lot of puns . . . I pretended to laugh to be nice,” one participant in the authoritative group recalled. According to the researchers, this difference is attributable to the perceived power difference between the boss and their employees. The wider that gap grows, the more likely it is that excessive jokes will leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Bosses, keep the puns to a minimum, even if they’re good For managers, these findings demonstrate that humor works best when it’s coming from an authentic place, rather than being used as a pre-calculated tool to encourage camaraderie. And even in the case of spontaneous humor, it might be best to think twice before you fire off the third pun in a row. “Our findings challenge the assumption that leader humor is always a good thing,” the researchers write for HBR. “When used too frequently—especially when followers hold high power distance values—it can backfire. [. . .] Instead, our results suggest that leaders should focus on fewer, higher-impact humor expressions. Less, in this case, might truly be more.” View the full article

The Houston-based company is targeting 30% non-US revenue within 5 years. The post WorldVue eyes expansion in Middle East, Asia, & Europe as demand for better managed Wi-Fi & guest technology grows appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

The acting chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday he has directed staff to look at ways to abandon a plan that would have widened the definition of alternative trading systems to include some cryptocurrency firms. The SEC in 2022 proposed requiring some crypto firms to register as alternative trading systems, drawing criticism from the sector in the face of potentially heightened oversight and additional rules. Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda told an audience of bankers he has instructed staff to look at ways to abandon that portion of the plan, which has yet to be finalized. It was an expansion of an earlier effort aimed at trading of Treasuries markets, Uyeda said in prepared remarks. “In my view, it was a mistake for the Commission to link together regulation of the Treasury markets with a heavy-handed attempt to tamp down the crypto market,” Uyeda said. He said he has also asked SEC staff to renew discussions with the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and market participants to consider the original plans for regulatory changes on the government securities alternative trading systems. The 2022 proposal was part of a broader effort by the SEC under Democratic leadership to better protect investors by subjecting the crypto sector to a host of rules and requirements. Under Republican leadership, the SEC in January launched a crypto task force to overhaul its crypto policy and has begun pausing or dismissing pending lawsuits against crypto firms. —Chris Prentice, Reuters View the full article

Prime minister wants to reform disability benefit payments to help fund greater spending on defenceView the full article

UK prime minister says he hopes negotiations will lead to resumption of US aid and intelligence sharingView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple’s AirPods Pro are among the best wireless earbuds you can buy, especially if you’re already entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. Like many Apple products, AirPods Pro are pretty simple to set up and use. However, there are also plenty of settings you should be using (and changing) from the default. Because many of the features are found in the same settings page, here's some advice: When I refer to AirPods Pro settings, I'm talking about those found in Settings > [Your AirPods] (iOS). You can also find these options in Settings > Bluetooth (iOS), or System Settings > Bluetooth (macOS), then by tapping the (i) (iOS) or Options (macOS) next to your AirPods Pro in the list. Note that your AirPods Pro need to be connected to your device to access these settings. Disable device auto-switchingIf you have multiple Apple devices, you might notice something interesting when using AirPods Pro: When you play media on a device not connected to your AirPods Pro, they’ll automatically connect to that device. This feature is great in theory, but can be a real pain if you need to use multiple devices at once. Tapping a video on your iPhone will move your AirPods Pro from your Mac to the phone, even if you don’t want it to happen. While you can simply select the notification that appears on the original device to return the connection, there’s a way to disable this feature if it isn’t right for you. In your AirPods Pro settings, head to Connect to This iPhone or Connect to This Mac. Now, choose When Last Connected to This iPhone or When Last Connected to This Mac and your AirPods Pro won’t automatically switch to that iPhone. If you ever find that you miss being able to automatically switch the audio output as you move between devices, you can always return to this settings page and choose Automatically instead. If you're only using one audio source at a time, this feature can be quite convenient. But if you're listening to music on one devices—say, your iPhone—it is a pain to have it stop if you click on, say, a YouTube video on your Mac. Quickly switch between devices with a tapHere’s the method for switching between devices that I prefer: When you want to move your AirPods Pro to another one of your devices, head to Control Center, press the AirPlay button in the top-right corner of the Now Playing window (Sound window on Mac), then choose your AirPods Pro from the list. Give the earbuds a moment to connect (these days, it's pretty darn quick), and you’re all set. Enable AirPods sharingOne really cool iOS feature that works with compatible headphones is the ability to share audio to two different sources at once. That means you can listen through your AirPods Pro while your friend listens through their AirPods or Beats. To get set up, head back to the AirPlay button in your Control Center’s Now Playing window. Tap Share Audio. If pairing AirPods or AirPods Pro, hold them close to your device with the AirPods inside the case and open the lid. If pairing AirPods Max, hold them close to your device. If pairing Beats wireless headphones, put them in pairing mode and hold them close to your device. Customize stem controlsApple packed quite a few controls into the stems on AirPods Pro. You can long-press them to switch between Noise Control settings (Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, Adaptive Audio (AirPods Pro 2) and Off), but you can also use quick presses to control other areas: One press to play or pause. One press to answer or hang up a call. Double-press to skip forward. Triple-press to skip back. Adjust the volume directly from the stem (AirPods Pro 2)If you have a pair of second-generation AirPods Pro, you can also adjust the volume of the audio from the stem. Just place your thumb on the stem, then use your index finger to drag up or down on the touch control to increase or decrease the volume accordingly. Use Adaptive Audio (AirPods Pro 2)Transparency Mode is a great feature that pumps in the ambient sound around you, so you can either keep up with a conversation or be aware of traffic. AirPods Pro 2 improve upon Transparency Mode with something called “Adaptive Audio" (previously Adaptive Transparency) which block out sounds that reach 85dB or higher in real time. You can even wear second-gen AirPods Pro to concerts because of how well this feature works: You'll be able to hear everything below 85dB as-is, and any noise louder than that comes through comfortably, like dynamic, high-tech earplugs. You can enable Adaptive Audio from Control Center: Long-press the volume slider, then long-press Noise Control and choose Adaptive. From here, you can customize the amount of sound that your AirPods let in with this setting enabled. Head to Settings > Bluetooth, then tap More Info next to your AirPods. Tap Adaptive Audio, then adjust the slider to your preference. Set up Conversation Awareness (AirPods Pro 2)Another AirPods Pro 2-exclusive is Conversation Awareness. With this feature, your AirPods can detect when you start talking to someone, and will lower the volume of audio playback and turn on Transparency Mode. If you're listening to spoken media, like a podcast, your AirPods will pause playback after a few seconds. To turn this feature on or off, head to your AirPods settings and enable Conversation Awareness. You'll also find this option by long-pressing the volume slider in Control Center. Choose Personalized Volume (AirPods Pro 2)In this same settings page, you'll also find Personalized Volume. When enabled, iOS uses machine learning to understand your listening habits, and adjusts the volume of your AirPods automatically. Quickly switch between noise control modes from Control CenterInstead of using your AirPods Pro stem to switch between Noise Control modes, you can do the same from Control Center. Just long-press or click on the volume slider, then tap the “Noise Control” option in the bottom left. Here, you’ll find your three Noise Control options, “Noise Cancellation,” “Off,” and “Transparency.” Customize your stem controlsBy default, pressing the stem on your AirPods cycles between the Noise Control modes (well, all but “Off,” but more on that in a second). You can actually customize these settings. You’ll find the options under Press And Hold AirPods in your AirPods Pro settings. You can choose “Left” or “Right,” depending on which AirPod you want to customize. At the top, you’ll find the option to have a stem press activate Noise Control, or Siri. If you choose Noise Control, you can opt into any and all of the three options listed. This is a great opportunity to add “Off” to your list, since Apple doesn’t include it by default. I enjoy using that setting when I can to save battery life. Turn on Spatial AudioSpatial Audio is a three-dimensional audio experience that follows the movement of your iPhone. (You can also choose to keep Spatial Audio fixed in place.) Enabling it is easy: Just open Control Center, long-press on the volume slider, then make sure that Spatial Audio. Personalize your Spatial Audio experienceSpatial Audio doesn’t have to be the same for everyone. In fact, you can use your iPhone to take a scan of your ear and head shape in order to personalize your Spatial Audio experience. Your iPhone uses this scan to create a Spatial Audio profile for you, which syncs across your Apple devices. That way, Spatial Audio will render the sound the same when listening on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. To get started, head to your AirPods Pro settings, choose Personalized Spatial Audio, then hit Personalized Spatial Audio once more to walk through setup. Check your case's wireless charging light indicatorAll AirPods Pro come with a wireless charging case. As such, they all have this neat trick: With your case on the wireless charger, tap the top of the case to bring up the charging indicator. Orange indicates that your AirPods Pro are still charging, while green means you’re good to go. Find the perfect fit Credit: Jake Peterson Another difference between AirPods and AirPods Pro concerns the varying sizing options. Unlike the one-size-fits-all approach of AirPods, the Pro models give you three or four different sized tips to use. If you don’t want to pick a size yourself, your iPhone has you covered. Head back to your AirPods Pro settings on iOS, then tap Ear Tip Fit Test. Tap Continue, make sure your AirPods Pro are tight in your ears, then tap the play button to get started. Your iPhone will begin playing music, testing the seal created by your AirPods. If the test finds all is good, you’ll see “Good Seal” underneath your AirPods. If not, you might see “Adjust or Try a Different Ear Tip.” It’s possible you’ll need a different size for each AirPod. Rename your AirPods Pro“Jake’s AirPods Pro” is fine, but what if I wanted to call these earbuds something a little more fun? If you feel the same, head to Name in your AirPods Pro settings, then type whatever name you’d like into the text field. On macOS, right-click on your AirPods Pro from the Bluetooth list and choose “Rename.” You can ping your misplaced AirPods ProIf you ever lose your AirPods Pro, don’t panic. If they’re within range of a connected Apple device, you can have them make a chirping sound letting you know where they are. To start, open Find My, then tap the Devices tab. Locate and tap on your AirPods Pro, then tap “Play Sound.” If they’re within range, iOS will let you know your AirPods are playing a sound. It actually gets quite loud, so you might want to double-check that nobody is wearing them first. See exactly where your second-gen AirPods Pro areWhile you can ping your AirPods to find them fast, you might not even need to with AirPods Pro 2. The newest Pros support precise location, which means you can see exactly where both earbuds and the charging case are through the Find My app. Just tap Devices, then the name of your AirPods, then Find. The music doesn’t have to stop when you remove an AirPod ProAt this point, it’s a bit of an AirPod staple to have your music stop when you take out one of the earbuds. While certainly useful, some of us would prefer to disable this feature, especially if you frequently trigger it when adjusting your AirPods's position. Plus, you can pause music on AirPods Pro with a quick press of the stem, so it’s not quite as essential a feature as it is on standard AirPods. To disable the feature, just tap the toggle next to Automatic Ear Detection in your AirPods Pro settings. Choose which AirPod Pro you want to be the micBoth of your AirPods have microphones in them, but only one of them is ever active at once. By default, the system switches between mics automatically, but you can choose to have one microphone always active. This is particularly useful in cases when one of your AirPods’ mics is broken. To choose, head to Microphone in your AirPods Pro settings, then tap Always Left AirPod or Always Right AirPod. Keep your AirPods Pro above 80% when chargingAirPods Pro have what’s called Optimized Battery Charging. This basically means your AirPods Pro charge up to 80%, then hold the charge there until it thinks you’ll need them fully charged. It’s a great feature in theory, because it cuts down on battery degradation, but it does mean that sometimes your AirPods Pro are only charged to 80% when you go to use them. To disable this feature, head to your AirPods Pro settings on iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Optimized Battery Charging. You’ll have the option to Turn Off Until Tomorrow, if you only want to disable the feature temporarily, or Turn Off to shut the feature down for good. You can read more about this feature and why it can be really helpful here. Enable noise cancellation when using one AirPod ProYou don’t need to be wearing both AirPods to enjoy noise cancellation. To unlock noise cancellation when only wearing one AirPod, head to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods on your iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Noise Cancellation With One AirPod. Announce Notifications and Calls with SiriWhenever you receive a new message with Announce Notifications with Siri, the digital assistant will politely interrupt whatever you happen to be doing when listening to AirPods in order to read incoming texts. It’s a great feature, but it’s not for everyone. Here’s how to manage it. On iOS, head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Announce Notifications. To disable the feature entirely, tap the toggle next to Announce Notifications. You can also tap the toggle next to any app in the list to disable the feature for that app only. Some apps may let you choose between announcing all notifications as well as just "time-sensitive" alerts. There’s also Reply Without Confirmation. Disabled by default, this setting lets Siri send your responses without reading it back to you first. It can be convenient, but also dangerous. You won’t know if the assistant misheard you before sending off your reply. You can do the same for calls: Head to Settings > Siri > Announce Calls, then choose either Always, Headphones & Car, Headphones Only, and Never. If you do keep this setting on, and you have a pair of second-gen AirPods Pro, you can address these requests silently by nodding or shaking your head. If Siri announces you have an incoming call, you can nod to accept the call. If the assistant says you have a notification, you can dismiss it by shaking your head. Tune your audio to your likingWhile AirPods Pro sound great by default, you might be someone who enjoys fine-tuning their audio experience. Apple lets you do that on your iPhone in Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Headphone Accommodations. Here, you can tune your audio for Balanced Tone, Vocal Range, or Brightness, and have soft sounds boosted slightly, moderately, or strongly. Apple lets you change these settings around and tap “Play Sample” to hear the differences. You’ll find an even more custom experience by tapping Custom Audio Setup. Apple will walk you through customization for phone calls, movies, music, and Transparency Mode. By the end, you’ll have a totally unique sound experience with your AirPods Pro. Enable Conversation BoostConversation Boost is a great feature tucked away in these Headphone Accommodations settings. When enabled, your AirPods focus on the person in front of you while reducing other noises, making conversations easier to hear in noisy environments. You can learn more about Conversation Boost from our guide here. Use Voice IsolationVoice Isolation is a fantastic and underused Apple feature for phone and video calls. With it enabled, your Apple device focuses on your voice during calls, and blocks out extraneous sounds in your area. You might still be able to hear your dog barking while on a call, but, hopefully your coworkers won't be able to. Wide Spectrum is another option here, which brings in more sounds from your surroundings into a call. That might be useful if you really need everyone to hear what's happening on your end of the line—but, personally, I almost always use Voice Isolation instead. This feature used to work only when using the microphone on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, but as of iOS 18, it works with AirPods Pro 2 as well. The next time you're on a call while using AirPods Pro, pull up Control Center, then tap the "Controls" option at the top of the screen. Here, switch to Voice Isolation. Enable Live ListenLive Listen turns your iPhone into a microphone that can help you hear your surroundings better through your AirPods. To enable the feature, head to Control Center on your iPhone, tap the (+), then search for “Live Listen.” Add this setting tile to your Control Center, then return to Control Center and tap it. When you do, your AirPods will pump in all the sounds your iPhone mic can pick up. You can also fine-tune your Transparency Mode settings here, if you tweaked it in Custom Audio Setup. Control your AirPods Pro modes with your Apple WatchIf your AirPods Pro are connected to your Apple Watch, you can switch between Noise Control modes from there. Pull up Control Center on your watch, then tap the AirPlay button. Unpair your AirPods if they’re acting upIf your AirPods Pro just aren’t acting right, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply unpair them. You can do this easily on iPhone by heading to your AirPods Pro settings, then by tapping “Forget This Device.” Tap “Forget This Device” once more on the pop-up, and your AirPods will be removed from your device’s memory. You can do the same on Mac by right-clicking your AirPods from the list and selecting “Remove.” Now, you can just hold the case open by your iPhone as you did when you first got your AirPods Pro to re-pair them. View the full article

A joint venture between the military-focused Palantir and investment conglomerate TWG will sell cybersecurity protection to financial institutions that are wary about the safety of artificial intelligence. View the full article

A “massive cyberattack” is causing disruptions to X, the platform’s owner and Trump senior advisor Elon Musk claimed Monday. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform. He added the company was “tracing” the source. Users reported intermittent outages on the social media platform on Monday, according to outage tracker Downdetector. In 2022, Musk bought X, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion and made wide-sweeping cuts to its staff and changes to its content policies. Since then, the billionaire Tesla CEO has endeared himself to President Trump and now plays a key role in the current administration. Musk, leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has brought crews of young tech workers to Washington, D.C., to slash government budgets and workforces. But Musk’s recent rightward shift and current chaos propagating has caused massive backlash against the world’s richest man. Shares of Tesla, his electric vehicle company, were down 14% on Monday. The stock has sunk more than 35% in the past month as sales slumped in Europe and investors feared his political activities were taking too much time away from managing his EV company. Tesla has also been the focus of protests, with many taking to dealerships to call out Musk’s sweeping cuts. Musk had a simple response to an X user who theorized that a mysterious “they” wanted “to silence you and this platform,” leading to the attack. “Yes,” he said. View the full article

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Google is gearing up for its annual Google Marketing Live event, set to stream on Wednesday, May 21, at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT. What’s new: Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison, announced the date on LinkedIn and encouraged advertisers to register for the event Vidhya Srinivasan, Google’s VP of Ads, shared a letter previewing the company’s focus on reimagining ads across platforms like Search and YouTube. AI advancements will play a major role in helping advertisers create tailored experiences and improve business outcomes. You can register here. Why we care. Google Marketing Live is a key event for advertisers, offering insights into the company’s latest ad innovations and AI-driven strategies. As a reminder, here’s everything that was announced at Google Marketing Live 2024. What to watch. Expect updates on AI-powered ad solutions, measurement tools, and cross-platform marketing strategies as Google continues to evolve its ad ecosystem. View the full article

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YouTube's Rene Ritchie advises creators on adapting to mid-roll ad changes, recommends combining automatic and manual placements. The post YouTube’s Creator Liaison Shares Advice For Mid-Roll Ad Changes appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Before you can manage a project, you need the right project tools to collect the necessary data to formulate a strategy—and project management Excel templates are a great place to begin. Employees and team members are often familiar with Microsoft Excel, since there are 1.1 to 1.5 billion Excel users worldwide, so it can be a comfortable starting software for project management. Whether you need to plan a project, track progress, run a status report or balance a budget, you’ll find a project management template for Excel in this list that suits your needs. Using Excel for Project Management Microsoft Excel does a lot of things well: mathematics, analysis and organization. But, it’s not intuitive for project management due to its blank spreadsheet format. So, without using pre-built project management templates or spreadsheets, it’s hard to execute project management on Excel, especially as a team. Think of all the things you have to process along the way to a successful project—scheduling, resource planning, defining tasks and milestones, etc. The days of Post-It notes and notebooks filled with scraps of paper are long gone. Thankfully, today project managers can use Microsoft Excel templates for project management—or better yet, project management software. Best 38 Project Management Templates for Excel Visit our project management templates page and you’ll find Excel and Word templates for creating all the project documents you need to manage your project. But, if you just need free Excel project management templates and spreadsheets, then look no further. Here are 30 essential project management Excel templates you can download and use right now. Transform your bland Excel spreadsheets into expertly-designed project management templates, and take your project management Excel processes to the next level. 1. Gantt Chart Template A Gantt chart is a visual tool that helps you see at a glance the scheduling of tasks and their dependencies over the project timeline. That makes it an ideal project planner template for Excel. /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Gantt-Chart-Screenshot.jpg While it’s true that a Gantt chart template can be overly complex in Excel spreadsheets, especially when you need of more advanced scheduling features like task dependencies and resource allocation, they remain a vital part of any project manager’s toolkit. That’s why we recommend using online Gantt chart software to help plan tasks and projects collaboratively with your team. Online Gantt chart tools integrate into project management & planning software, so they update in real time. This allows for easy drag-and-drop changes and can be color-coded to customize as you need. ProjectManager is a project management software that does this and more. Try it for yourself today! /wp-content/uploads/2022/07/construction-gantt-resources-costs-150-CTA-BUTTON-1.jpgPlan and manage your project online with ProjectManager’s robust tools. Learn more But to quickly make a Gantt chart from your task lists, download this free Gantt chart Excel template, also known as a project timeline template, for an easy way to create a project schedule. Simply add tasks and deadlines to this Excel spreadsheet and visualize how long your project will take. 2. Project Management Dashboard Template The project dashboard is what keeps you in the driver’s seat as you travel through the lifecycle of the project. It allows you to monitor the project, tracking the task status, budget and more in one place. From this free project management dashboard for Excel, you create graphs and charts that give you a visual and easily digestible look at your task and workload management, as well as cost. It’s a sure way to stay on top of a project generally and know where you have to drill down into specifics. You can add more power to your PM dashboards when you use online project management software. That way, when team members are updating task statuses, the dashboards populate with real-time data. 3. Project Status Report Template The need for a project status report is obvious. If you don’t have good intel on what’s happening in the project, then you’re managing blindly. You have no idea if you’re on track or if resources are being blocked. /wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Status-Report-Screenshot.jpg With this free Excel project status report template, you have a tool to greatly improve your project communications, both with stakeholders when you’re delivering a presentation, but also with team members. It’s up to you to decide on the frequency of the reports. But with a project status report template, a lot of the busy work that can pull you away from a project is already done, giving you greater access to the information you need. 4. Action Plan Template A project is initiated to complete the realization of a goal. But achieving that objective requires a strategy and the steps to implement that strategy successfully. In short, projects require an action plan. /wp-content/uploads/2022/11/action-plan-template-zoomed-in-1.jpg Projects are pragmatic and the action plan is a framework to collect your thoughts about executing the project plan in an effective and efficient way. With our free action plan template, you can fill in the blanks to ensure that you’ve covered all bases and make your project start on the right foot. It’s a great companion template to an overall project plan and project charter. From prioritizing tasks to assigning and noting the status, timeline and resources, we have you covered. And, again, the action plan can be uploaded seamlessly into ProjectManager, so you can then use all our great features to visualize workflow with kanban boards and monitor progress with our real-time dashboard. 5. Project Tracker Template Tracking the project is crucial to ensure that it remains on schedule. That means also keeping tabs on the work at a task level. /wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Task-Tracking-Screenshot.jpg This project tracker & task list template can help as a task to-do list, and it includes columns for the planned and actual duration of the project to determine what’s working and what needs more attention. Once you integrate your project and task tracking template into a project management software system, you can then produce Gantt charts to get a clear visual on the project timeline, as well as get that data delivered to your dashboard to note project progress in real time. And, of course, you can import your Excel and Microsoft Project files seamlessly into ProjectManager. Our software can transform your static Excel files into stunning, dynamic project management tools. /wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IT-issues-list-lightmode-150.png 6. Project Budget Template A project can have a great plan, but without the financial backing to pay for it, nothing can happen. That’s why a project budget, as tedious as it might be, is one of the most important phases of getting a project on track to successful completion. /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Project-Budget-Screenshot.jpg With this free Excel project budget template, you can literally see when you’re in the red because it’s color-coded. And this document, more than just one that’s crucial to the start of a project, is also a way to track that budget across the lifecycle of the project. This template has room to cover all your costs, from easy ones to collect — such as labor and materials — to ones that change or carry over from project to project. Budgets are estimates, but with this free template, those numbers will be more accurate. 7. Critical Path Template The critical path method helps with planning and scheduling projects. It can determine the duration of the project more accurately, allocate and optimize resources efficiently and even identify risks. But calculating the critical path is complicated and pulls project managers away from more important work. Download this free critical path template for Excel and avoid the pitfalls of manually doing critical path analysis. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/critical-path-method-screenshot.png Use this free Excel template during the planning phase to discover the sequence of tasks that must be completed on time in order to successfully deliver a project: figure out the earliest start, earliest finish, latest start and latest finish for each task. Users can also determine slack, which is how long a task can be delayed before it negatively impacts the project schedule. 8. Project Calendar Template Another must-have project management Excel template is a project calendar. The calendar grid is familiar to most everyone, which makes it a valuable communication tool. It also provides a high-level overview of the project and its progress for stakeholders. /wp-content/uploads/2023/07/image-2.png Download this free project calendar template for Excel to improve task management, but also foster team collaboration and communicate changes in workflow. It can also be used to show team availability, holidays, PTO and more. This free template is easy to use and already divided into the 12 months of the year. It’s fully customizable to adjust for shorter or longer projects and can schedule both human and nonhuman resources. 9. Work Breakdown Structure Template A project is made up of deliverables and those deliverables are created by tasks. The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a way to visualize the project deliverables, the tasks, and the subtasks, which are necessary to make them. /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/WES-Screenshot.jpg ProjectManager has a free WBS template that structures the process of breaking down the large project into smaller and smaller tasks, in a hierarchical visual that allows you to see the entire scope of the project work. This is a key element of project planning, but it’s also critical to estimating project costs and setting up a realistic schedule. Better still, because our WBS free template is an Excel spreadsheet, it can then be uploaded into the ProjectManager software to initiate a project, assign tasks to team members and monitor and track progress once the project is executed. 10. Project Plan Template A project plan template has everything you need to map out your project once it’s been approved. It has space for you to define your project goals, activities and tasks as well as all the resources you’ll need to execute the work. You can begin to schedule your activities, tasks and the duration of each across a project timeline. There’s even a place to identify task dependencies. /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Project-Plan-Screenshot.jpg Project plans are tailored around your project and no two are the same. That’s why this project management template has a place to add appendices. Here is where you can attach a scope, cost and schedule management plan or a work breakdown structure (WBS) as well as your business case, feasibility study and project charter. The more detailed your project plan, the more you position yourself and your team for success when the project is executed. 11. Project Risk Template Risk is a part of managing a project. The job involves being able to anticipate what risks are likely to occur and then formulating a response to get the project back on track. That’s where this free Excel risk-tracking template comes in. /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Risk-Tracking-Screenshot.jpg First, it allows you to list all the possible risks you believe may happen over the course of the project. Next, you can define how it’ll impact the project. You determine the level of the risk and assign it to an owner so that someone is responsible to keep an eye on it. Now you have a plan in place to resolve that risk quickly, and a document that can be shared so the risk is never given a chance to blindside a project. 12. Project Timesheet Template Team members need to have a way to track their work through the tasks they are assigned, and a simple timesheet can provide an easy way to keep them on schedule as well as give them the needed information to know where they are in their tasks. /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Timesheet-Screenshot.jpg The free Excel timesheet can calculate cost per hour and includes vacation and overtime columns, to accurately note the time spent on and off the project. But project timesheets are useful for a number of different purposes, so this is a handy tool. When you manage timesheets with online project management software, then the rubber hits the road. You’ll be able to filter columns and customize reports, easily sharing them in an email, PDF or Excel and CSV file. Plus your team can submit timesheets based on actual tasks in the system, and you’ll get alerted by email when they do. 13. Project Estimate Template This free project estimate template for Excel will help you forecast a more accurate budget and realistic schedule. Before you can plan a project, you need to identify all the costs that will be associated with it. This free project management spreadsheet allows you to do a more detailed collection of what you’ll need to spend on your labor, materials and project resources. /wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Project-Estimate-Screenshot-600x404.jpg From a job description to estimate details, this project template is a great way not only to figure out your budget but collect the various vendors and contractors you’ll be employing to help you execute the project. Create as many project phases as you require. Each is subtotaled and those subtotals are then tallied automatically for a final sum. Change is impossible to avoid when managing a project, or work plan, but the more accurate your estimate, the more likely you’ll deliver on time and within budget. 14. RACI Matrix Template Using a RACI matrix template is an essential tool for organizing projects. Projects can be confusing, and if people aren’t sure of their roles, problems are going to occur. The RACI template for Excel is a free tool to identify and define the various roles and responsibilities of everyone involved with the project. /wp-content/uploads/2020/05/RACI-Matrix-Screenshot.jpg This project management Excel template is broken up by project phase on the left and across the top all the various project positions are listed. Then in the corresponding box beneath the title is filled in with R, A, C or I to explain their relation to that specific point in the project. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. Defining these roles with this Excel spreadsheet leads to smoother operations. 15. Issue Tracker Template Issues are when something is happening right now in your project. So, what do you do when this happens? You track those issues and resolve them with the help of this free issue tracker template. /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Issue-Tracking-Screenshot.jpg The first thing, of course, is identifying those issues as they occur. This is the document in which you can collect that information. The issue tracking template serves you by making sure every step of the way, from identifying to resolving the issue, is documented. Of course, you’ll want to share the issue tracker template, and you can with this free Excel template, but only as a static document. With project management software, that information is easy to collect and share, as well as edit in real time. 16. Project Resource Plan Template Resources are anything you need for a project. Our free resource plan template for Excel is the first step to managing your team and resources. You can use it to identify, list and organize all your project resources as well as figure out how much of each you’ll need and what that’ll cost. You can use this project Excel template to integrate with your schedule and budget to track costs as you execute the project. /wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Resource-Plan-Screenshot.jpg While you’ll want to start your resource plan during the planning phase of your project, it should be a living document that’s regularly updated as things change over the life cycle of the project. Once the project has been completed, you can save the template and use it when you’re planning resources for future projects that are similar. Using this free project management template for Excel keeps everyone informed, which leads to a smoother project. 17. PERT Chart Template PERT charts are tools to plan and schedule project tasks. PERT stands for program evaluation review technique and the PERT chart is a visual representation of the project’s timeline, which shows the relationships between various tasks. Download this free PERT chart template for Excel to visualize a project’s timeline and the relationship between various tasks. This will give project managers valuable insight into analyzing the time required to complete each task. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pert-chart-template-screenshot.png This free project management template for Excel works by relying on a weighted average of three factors: the most pessimistic, optimistic and likely estimates for a project’s duration. Use the PERT Chart template to do the work instead of having to calculate the complex formula. 18. Change Log Template Try our free change log template for Excel and create a successful change management process. Change is going to happen in every project, whether due to requests from stakeholders or from external forces, such as weather or supply chain issues. Being prepared for change and how to respond to it is going to make or break your project. /wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Change-Log-Screenshot.jpg This project management Excel spreadsheet allows you to number changes that you identify in the project to track them easier. There’s a place to capture when the change was first discovered, who owns it and who is tasked with dealing with that change. There’s even space to note its status and set the priority so you know which changes should be dealt with first. Having a change log means you can manage change and not allow change to negatively impact your project. 19. Multiple Project Tracking Template If you’re managing a program or a portfolio of projects, then you need our free multiple-project tracking template for Excel. When you download this free project management Excel template, you have the tool you need to monitor the progress of many projects at once. /wp-content/uploads/2023/02/multiple-project-tracking-template-for-excel-projectmanager-1600x743.jpg This free template provides a high-level overview of your projects, including all relevant information, all in one place. You can track tasks, dependencies, schedules and costs, which allows you to make more informed decisions when allocating resources across all your projects and helps you identify issues quickly. Whether you’re a program manager, portfolio manager or work for a PMO, our free multiple project tracking template is going to make your job easier. It will serve you throughout the life cycle of all the projects you’re managing for resource management, communicating with stakeholders and more. 20. Project Timeline Template Use this free project timeline template for Excel to outline the sequence of tasks in a project. This visual tool captures the entirety of the project, from start to finish, all in one place. Users can even color-code the timeline to differentiate project phases. /wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Project-Timeline-Screenshot.jpg This essential project management Excel template is perfect when planning a project. On the left side of the template is a spreadsheet to list all project tasks and their duration. This information then automatically populates the timeline to the right. A project timeline template is both a spreadsheet and a bar chart, with the tasks shown as bars, their length representing the duration of that task. Project managers can use this free template to visualize the project for the project team. 21. Kanban Board Template Kanban boards come from the Toyota factory floor, developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer and businessman, as a planning system to manage and control work and inventory. Since being introduced as physical boards with columns representing phases in production and tasks that are displayed as cards that move across the board, they’ve evolved into digital tools. /wp-content/uploads/2023/03/kanban-board-excel-template-1600x538.jpg When you download our free kanban board template for Excel, you’ll get five columns and multiple cards, all of which are fully customizable so you can make adjustments to reflect the production cycle of your project. We’ve set up the kanban board to have five columns: backlog, to-do, doing, in review and done. Cards are color-coded to show the priority level, from high (red) to medium (green) and low (blue). On each card is the name and description of the task, who it’s assigned to and what the due date is. Again, you can add as much or as little information to the card as you like. Of course, you can also use a project management template in ProjectManager and get access to dashboards, reports, resource management features and much more. 22. Production Schedule Template In order to balance supply and demand when producing any commodity, you have to have a production schedule. It tracks the production of your product over a specific time period. No manufacturer is going to make anything without one. Download our free production schedule template for Excel. /wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Master-Production-Schedule-Screenshot.jpg Use our free production schedule as part of your larger supply chain management to manage resources, help your sales team and get your goods to customers on time without negatively impacting quality. Our template helps you to make more accurate production plans and manage your inventory. You can manage both your workers and your materials, workstations and processes, as well as track your targets, manage deliveries and more. Our free template is a must-have document when you’re in production planning. 23. Punch List Template A punch list captures the work that still needs to be done on a construction site. The job isn’t complete until that punch list is completed. The punch list is also a great way to capture tasks that fall outside the contract and track their progress. These are only some reasons why you need to download our free punch list template for Excel. /wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Punch-List-Screenshot-1600x561.jpg Our free punch list template lists all the items on the punch list, including a description and who has been assigned to do that work. There’s also space to add a date for when it was first identified and when it was approved. You can also add the estimated duration for doing the work. This is a special template, too, in that you can use it as an Excel document or open up the template in ProjectManager. If you use our software, then you’ll have access to kanban boards to visualize workflow, a real-time dashboard for a high-level view of your progress and performance as well as Gantt charts, timesheets, workload charts and much more. 24. To-Do List Template A to-do list gets things done. Whether it’s the grocery list you stick on the door of your refrigerator or a task list for a project, being able to collect and prioritize work ensures that you don’t forget anything important and tackle the most important tasks first. Plus, it’s a lot of fun crossing off tasks once you’ve done them. /wp-content/uploads/2018/06/To-Do-List-Screenshot.jpg This free project management Excel template can list as many tasks as you have, each with a start date, due date and even a column that shows the percentage complete of each task. There’s also a column to note the process, for example, to indicate if the task is done. Finally, a column is set aside for notes to capture anything you need to add. The to-do list template is a simple tool that can be used to make more complex tasks manageable. It helps motivate you to do the work because it’s no longer overwhelming, but doable. It’s a rudimentary plan, and everyone knows planning is everything. 25. Weekly Work Schedule Template If you need help handling your human resources, get our free weekly work schedule spreadsheet for Excel. You can use it to manage your team’s weekly work and the project’s workflow. Note the days your team can work and collect the rate of pay and hours they work on their tasks. This flexible employee work schedule can apply to the regular nine-to-five work week or a more hybrid model. /wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Work-Schedule-Screenshot.jpg Use this project management template for Excel to get info on your team members and their work schedule. You can add their name, tasks assigned to them and the project on which they’re working. There’s space to list all the days they’ll be working. This Excel template is a great place to capture data, but it’s a static document. If you want to update it, you have to do that manually. It can take time and pull you away from managing the project and your team’s work. 26. Change Request Form Template One thing that’s constant in any project is change. Those changes, however, must be managed. That’s where the change request form comes in. /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Change-Request-Screenshot-600x514.jpg Our free change request form template gives you the structure to identify, track and resolve those changes when they arise in a project. The free template has space to note what the change is, give a team member ownership to lead the task of resolving it and then get it signed off on. When used in conjunction with ProjectManager, the change request form is more dynamic. It can act as a collaborative platform in which team members can communicate and attach relevant documents, even hand-offs and sign-offs. Keeping everything under one roof is something you’ll not want to change. Related: How to Run MS Project on your Mac Step by Step! 27. Project Prioritization Matrix Template Project prioritization is a way to objectively determine which projects are the best fit for meeting strategic goals when managing a project. It can also be used to prioritize tasks in a project to figure out what’s critical and what can wait. Download this free project prioritization matrix template for Excel to separate what’s critical and what’s not, as well as what must be done immediately and what can wait. This allows project managers to decide if work should be done now, scheduled for later, delegated or deleted. /wp-content/uploads/2022/09/project-prioritization-template-screenshot-final-600x554.jpg Use this free project management Excel template for a variety of work, from prioritizing projects and managing time to getting consensus. It’s valuable for anyone who has to make a project decision, whether a project management office (PMO), project manager or team member. 28. Gap Analysis Template If you’re looking to improve your business and stay innovative, then you need this gap analysis template for Excel. It’s one of the tools you can use to get a strategic analysis of where you are now and how to get to where you want to be in the future. This project management spreadsheet will help you devise an action plan to move you from your current state of affairs to wherever you plan to take your organization in the future, whether that’s an increase in market share or getting a product to market quickly. /wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Gap-Analysis-Screenshot.jpg This free Excel template has everything you need to start meeting your goals, from general information and the current state of your business to the future state you’re aiming to achieve, what the gap percentage is and the actions necessary to close that gap. You can identify who in the organization can lead the initiative and even track the status. You have to start somewhere and a gap analysis is where it all comes together. 29. Stakeholder Analysis Template Stakeholders are invested in the project and project managers have to keep them updated and manage their expectations. That’s where this free stakeholder analysis template for Excel comes in. It helps you identify and manage all the stakeholders in your project. This free template is a cornerstone of any thorough stakeholder management plan. /wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Stakeholder-Analysis-Screenshot.jpg The stakeholder analysis template gets you started with a project overview, which is followed by a list of all the stakeholders involved with the project. There’s a dropdown menu to note if that particular stakeholder is of high, medium or low influence. That means, how much power they have to impact the project. That information is crucial to how to manage them. Then you identify each stakeholder in the spreadsheet as they relate to the project. Note the frequency you need to communicate with each stakeholder and more to manage them and keep the project moving forward. 30. Cost Benefit Analysis Template Crunch the numbers to learn if your project is worth pursuing with our free cost-benefit analysis template for Excel. You can see if the project can be delivered within a specific time frame and reasonable cost. This Microsoft Excel template allows you to compare what you expect to spend against the benefits or opportunities the project might provide. From a cost perspective, you can see if the project is viable. /wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Cost-Benefit-Analysis-Screenshot.jpg Whether a personal or professional project, our free cost-benefit analysis template is a powerful and flexible tool. It can be used over and over again, collecting the project information, quantitative costs (indirect, intangible and opportunity) and quantitative benefits (direct benefits, indirect benefits, intangible benefits and competitive benefits). Adding up the three cost sections and the four benefits sections of the template provides a total cost to compare against total benefits. It’s an essential analysis to undertake before committing to any project. 31. Project Budget Dashboard Template A project budget dashboard template is used to provide a clear overview of a project’s financial status, helping project managers track expenses, compare actual costs to the budget and make informed financial decisions. It consolidates key financial metrics, such as total budget, expenditures, remaining funds and cost variances and displays them in graphs and charts. /wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Budget-dashboard-template-screenshot.png Download the free project budget dashboard template for Excel to keep project staying with their budget. This project management Excel template makes it easier to identify potential overspending or cost-saving opportunities. By using a project budget dashboard, teams can enhance transparency, improve financial control and ensure the project stays on track financially. 32. Project Task Tracker Dashboard Template Use this project management Excel template as a tool used to monitor and manage project tasks efficiently. A project task tracker dashboard provides a visual representation of task progress, deadlines, priorities and team responsibilities in a centralized format. /wp-content/uploads/2025/02/task-tracker-dashboard-template-final.png By using this free task tracker dashboard for Excel, project managers and teams can quickly identify bottlenecks, track overall project progress and ensure that tasks are completed on schedule. This enhances productivity, improves accountability, and helps maintain project timelines. 33. Stakeholder Map Template Download this free stakeholder map template for Excel. This project management Excel template is a visual tool used to identify, categorize and analyze stakeholders based on their level of influence and interest in a project. It helps project managers understand stakeholder relationships, prioritize engagement strategies, and ensure effective communication. /wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Stakeholder-Map-Screenshot.jpg The template has a matrix that can be used to place stakeholders into categories by level of influence and level of interest. The four quadrants define if the stakeholder must be kept satisfied, managed closely, monitored or kept informed. Using this stakeholder map, project managers and project teams can proactively manage stakeholder expectations, address concerns and enhance project success. 34. Project Risk Matrix Template This project management Excel template is used to identify, assess and prioritize potential risks in a project based on their likelihood and impact. It helps project managers visualize risks in a structured format, enabling proactive risk management and mitigation planning. /wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Risk-Matrix-Screenshot.jpg Use this free project risk matrix template for Excel to determine if the risk is low to very high by placing it on the matrix, which measures the severity and likelihood of the risk occurring. These two axes are broken down from insignificant to severe for severity and rare to almost certain for likelihood. By using a risk matrix, teams can prioritize critical risks, develop mitigation strategies and improve project resilience. 35. RAID Log Template RAID stands for risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies. A RAID log template is used to track and manage these key project elements. Using this project management Excel template helps project managers and project teams to identify potential challengers, monitor ongoing issues and proactively address critical factors to better deliver a successful project. /wp-content/uploads/2023/08/raid-log-template-1.jpg Our free RAID log template for Excel improves decision making, helps with project transparency and gives project teams more control over project risks and uncertainties. It is typically used when planning for a project, but can be useful in the execution phase as well. At the end of the project, this template should be archived and used when researching future projects. 36. Stakeholder Register Template A stakeholder register template is a structured document used in project management to identify, document and track stakeholders involved in a project. Download this free stakeholder register template for Excel and use it as a central reference for managing stakeholder expectations, communication and engagement throughout the project lifecycle. /wp-content/uploads/2024/06/stakeholder-register-template-screenshot-1600x537.png This project management Excel template lists all the stakeholders involved in the project, whether internal or external. Their role is then identified and each stakeholder is defined in terms of their power and influence on the project. There’s also a column to measure their interest and expectations. Finally, contact information is collected and the preferred form and frequency of communication. 37. Lessons Learned Template A lessons learned template is a project management Excel template used to capture insights, experiences and key takeaways from a completed project or project phase. It helps teams identify what worked well, what went wrong and how future projects can benefit from these insights. /wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Lessons-Learned-Screenshot-1600x531.jpg Use this free lessons learned template for Excel to determine whether the aspect of the project being examined was a win or issue. There’s space to describe it, the impact, how to change it for future projects and then a column to collect the action items by which that change can be implemented. 38. Project Decision Matrix Template Use this free project decision matrix template for Excel to evaluate and prioritize different project options or solutions based on predefined criteria. It helps project teams make objective, data-driven decisions by scoring each option against key factors, such as cost, quality, value to customer, safety and more, allowing them to compare the relative merits of each choice. /wp-content/uploads/2023/10/decision-matrix-screenshot.png By using this project management Excel template, teams can make more informed, transparent and objective decisions, minimizing bias and aligning with project goals. This template can be used whenever there’s a problem of multiple choices to choose from in order to make a reasoned decision. Go Beyond Excel Project Management Templates & Spreadsheets With ProjectManager Project management software can take you way further than Excel templates for project management ever could. ProjectManager, an award-winning project management software, is a comprehensive platform that lets you plan, track and report on your projects online. Because it’s an online tool, you get live visibility into your project team and their tasks. Plan your projects from start to finish with our Gantt chart feature. This feature allows you to map your project tasks in phases and assign them to team members. You can even create dependencies and set milestones. Plus, you can import Excel files and Microsoft Project files into the Gantt chart, bringing your static templates to life. In addition, ProjectManager integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps such as Google Drive, Slack and Microsoft Office 365 so that you can share your project with everybody on your team. /wp-content/uploads/2024/04/critical-path-light-mode-gantt-construction-1.png Team members (and managers) can choose to manage their own tasks in either the task list or kanban view. The kanban view is a favorite for visual workers who are involved in many projects. The customizable columns on a kanban board allow a user to easily see their progress, or sort their tasks by project or department. Of course, every view, whether it’s the Gantt, list or board, allows you to collaborate with other team members and get more work done than you ever thought possible. You’ll wonder why you ever used project management Excel processes. /wp-content/uploads/2024/04/kanban-light-mode-manufacturing-order-process-150-zoom-collaboration.png Related Excel Project Management Content While Excel is not a project management software, it can still be a very helpful for managing various aspects of your projects. That’s why we’ve created dozens of blogs, templates and guides to help you use Excel for project management. Essential Excel Report Templates Free Manufacturing Excel Templates Free Excel Construction Templates Free Word & Excel Templates for Business Excel Spreadsheet Templates for Tracking Tasks, Costs and Time How to Create a Project Timeline in Excel (Free Template Included) How to Make a Gantt Chart In Excel Step-By-Step (Template Included) Get all the features of these Excel project management templates and more when you use ProjectManager. All of these tools are available in our award-winning project management software to help you plan, track and report on your project in real time. See what it can do for you by taking a free 30-day trial run. The post 38 Project Management Excel Templates and Spreadsheets for Free appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

Americans spend almost $28 billion on interior decorating every year, and there are good reasons why. Our homes are incredibly personal spaces—they’re where we walk around in our underwear, where we talk to ourselves, where we spend intimate moments with our families. That’s why decorating our homes isn’t frivolous—it’s important that the space we live in feels comfortable, usable, and, maybe most importantly, personal. Making your home beautiful while reflecting your personality can seem daunting, though. Design shows on TV offer an impossible standard of supposed taste, and it’s easy to believe that you need a professional interior designer or your house will look tacky or cheap. In reality, it’s not that hard to infuse your house with your personality. The key is to remember that you live there, not the interior designers of the world. Here are six practical approaches to making your home decor reflect your personality. Space for your stuffThe first step toward making a house feel like an intimate space that reflects your personality is making space for the things you love. If you collect something, think about how to display that collection either in a specific place in the home or distributed throughout the space. If you’re an avid reader, for example, instead of concentrating your books in a specific room, consider having books integrated throughout the space. If you collect art, put it on the walls throughout without worrying whether you have an “eye” for it, or if it’s not expensive—display those colorful garage sale, flea-market paintings that bring you joy on display. The key is to make the things you love visible and part of the space. Not only does it literally bring the visual aspects of your personality into each room, it will make you happy every time you see it. Be practicalOne easy way to make a house feel generic is to approach each room as a neutral space from the very beginning. The spaces in your home can all have specific uses and applications. Some are obvious—kitchens are kitchens, bathrooms are bathrooms—but other spaces can be used in any way you want. Bedrooms can be offices, libraries, crafting rooms, recording studios, or anything else. Landings, hallways, and closets can be used in a variety of creative ways, too. When designing the look and feel of these spaces, start with how you will use the room—not how the real estate agent described it, or how the previous owners used it. Forget about trends and decorate the space based on the function you’ll use it for. That will make it easier to use the space the way you want to, which will make it feel more personal. Embrace chaosMany people experience a form of “decision paralysis” when decorating their home because they’re worried about getting it right, or that people will think they have bad taste. This often results in very neutral design decisions—after all, people might be bored by a neutral, safe aesthetic, but they won’t make fun of you for it. That results in a house that will never feel like you, however—if you want your space to reflect your personality, you have to embrace the chaos and stop worrying about perfection. That means choosing furniture, colors, and accent pieces that you enjoy regardless of whether they “work” in a traditional sense. The key here is to embrace “slow decorating”—focusing on decor that will last and function, as opposed to instant gratification—and take your time. Your space will come together as you edit and refine your choices—and in the meantime, the stuff that gives you energy will be on display and in use, making your house feel personalized. Go smallBringing your personality into your home’s decor doesn’t have to give you a panic attack. If you’re not comfortable with painting your walls your favorite colors or leaning into your decidedly oddball taste in vintage furniture, go more neutral with the big stuff and use accents and details to make it personal. This could be an accent wall in a favorite color, a display wall with art or other items that bring you joy, or just thoughtfully placing smaller items throughout that reflect your taste and bring just a hint of your style throughout. You can keep increasing the level of unique details over time, too, moving at a pace you’re comfortable with. Use your historyWe are all the sum of our experiences. Every trip, every relationship, every job and adventure shapes us into the people we are. Lean into that when designing the look of your home. Mementos and souvenirs, photos of your friends and shared experiences, and other bits of your past can be inserted into the overall design of your house to give every room a personal feel. One easy trick is to bring something along from your prior home that you love. This could be anything—a doorknob or drawer handle you love, a light fixture, or a piece of furniture that has been with you for years. An example from my own life is a cereal bowl from my childhood with a cartoon character on it—when I moved into my first apartment, I used it as a bowl for my keys and spare change, and I’ve brought it with me to every subsequent home. I no longer have a need for it, but just having it in the space makes me feel more at home. Stuff like that will bring a sense of history and continuity to the design that will be all about you and your journey, even if it doesn’t entirely make sense in the design. Subtle not literalIt’s natural to turn to established themes and design traditions for a starting point when designing your home. Maybe you like a “nautical” theme, or you’re into cottagecore. But if you go too literal with these kinds of themes you’re not really making the place reflect your personality—unless your entire personality is, in fact, nautical in nature. Instead of decking your space out in the literal visuals—ship’s wheels! sailboat wallpaper! seashells everywhere!—dial it down to a more subtle. If nautical is your thing, use a color palette inspired by that approach, and use only as many literal touches as you like. Keeping it subtle with color let’s you calibrate the theme to your liking instead of drowning your personality in a prefabricated style. And don’t be afraid to deviate. Just because you find a color palette for your cottagecore dreams doesn’t mean you can’t deviate from it or tweak the specifics. Choosing a color that makes you happy, even if it’s not officially considered correct for the theme you’re working from, is key to making it all feel like yours. View the full article

Cybertruck owners are having a tough time of it, increasingly saying that their $80,000-plus vehicles are the victims of cheese-related attacks and “anti-nazi” harassment as a result of recent backlash against CEO Elon Musk. Now, one owner has taken matters into his own hands, calling on his congressman to demand it be made a hate crime to be mean to Tesla owners. “I find it deeply troubling that owning an American-made vehicle has made me—and many others—a target for unjustified hostility,” he wrote in a Facebook post last week. “I have personally experienced multiple alarming incidents. On one occasion, while driving on I-80, another driver deliberately attempted to run me off the road. In another unsettling encounter, while washing my car in my own driveway, a stranger drove up, hurled insults at me, and then left while running stops signs.” Rather than an issue of property damage, he believes these “crimes” call for harsher punishments. “I urge you to consider legislative action that would increase penalties for these acts, potentially classifying them as hate crimes or enhancing legal consequences for individuals who engage in such behavior,” he continued. “No one should be harassed, threatened, or harmed based on the car they drive.” This concerned Facebook user has not been the only target. 404 Media recently reported on a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners full of videos and photos of passersby and other drivers flipping them off, as well as people kicking their cars. One video taken from inside a Cybertruck shows a man throwing American cheese slices at its windshield. The comments are full of fellow Cybertruck owners suggesting the victim files a police report against the cheese-attacker. Attempts have also been made to dox the person by posting a screengrab of his face to social media. Police appear to be taking these pleas from Cybertruck owners for protection seriously. One TikTok posted from a march organized to commemorate International Women’s Day in New York this weekend, shows no less than nine police officers guarding the perimeter of a single Cybertruck. “Thought the Cybertruck was tough with a steel body and unbreakable glass,” one user commented. “Why does it need protection?” Wider protests and backlash against Elon Musk at Tesla dealerships has turned driving a Cybertruck into an intended, or unintended, statement. On Saturday, over 350 protesters convened upon a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the nationwide “Tesla Takedown” protests. Protesters are encouraging shareholders and vehicle owners to dump their stock and sell their cars in response to the political role Musk has played in the Trump administration as part of the cost-cutting task force Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). TSLA stock (Nasdaq: TSLA) has dropped about 40% since the beginning of the year, and was down 13% in midday trading Monday. For those who can’t afford to sell, they are coming up with other creative solutions. Anti-Musk bumper stickers have been popping up on Etsy and topping Amazon bestseller lists. Regretful Tesla owners are grabbing up stickers with the statements like, “I bought this before Elon was crazy,” “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” and “Elon ate my cat.” View the full article

New prime minister must still convince Canadians he can deal with the US presidentView the full article

‘Virtual meeting’ to be held on Saturday with leaders from mainly European and Commonwealth countriesView the full article

Google confirmed to Adweek it will “explore bringing ads” to its new AI Mode search experience. The company will use lessons from ads already running in AI Overviews to inform its approach. Ad buyers warn that user behavior in AI Mode’s conversational interface could reduce ad effectiveness. Big picture. Google is looking to monetize its newest AI search experience, telling AdWeek it plans to “explore bringing ads” into AI Mode — the conversational search feature launched in beta this week. It executes multiple searches simultaneously to answer complex queries. While ads aren’t yet appearing in AI Mode, Google’s approach will be informed by what it learns from ads already running in AI Overviews, the simpler AI-generated answers that sometimes appear at the top of search results. How ads work in AI Overviews. According to Google, Ads within AI Overviews typically: Appear beneath AI-generated responses under a “Sponsored” heading. Draw from existing Search and Shopping campaigns. Match formats to user queries. Link to relevant products or services. These ads are limited to U.S. mobile users. A Google spokesperson told Adweek that consumer response to these ads has been positive since their October debut. Advertiser concerns about AI Mode. Industry experts express mixed feelings about ads in Google’s conversational AI environments: Melissa Mackey, Head of Paid Search at Compound Growth Marketing, finds AI Overview ads “compelling” because they can effectively answer user questions. However, she’s more skeptical about AI Mode advertising, suggesting they “could feel more intrusive to users.” “Advertisers will need to get creative to capture attention and pull users away from the conversation in order to be effective,” Mackey said. Navah Hopkins from PPC platform Optmyzr predicts potential challenges with AI Mode advertising: Lower click-through rates due to users staying within the conversation. Possible premium pricing leading to higher costs per click. Potentially lower return on ad spend. “The goal of AI Mode is to answer the question as completely in the chat,” Hopkins noted, which could reduce users’ incentive to click on ads. Why we care. Google’s introduction of ads into AI Mode could significantly impact how users interact with paid search. Unlike traditional search ads, AI Mode’s conversational format may reduce click-through rates as users receive comprehensive answers within the chat. This shift may require advertisers to rethink their strategies, focusing on more engaging and creative ad formats to capture user attention. Additionally, premium pricing and higher costs per click could affect return on ad spend, making it crucial for marketers to monitor performance closely as Google refines its AI-driven ad experiences. Timing remains unclear. With limited information about auction dynamics or creative formats for AI Mode ads, Hopkins said it’s difficult to predict performance or adoption rates. Meanwhile, some industry watchers, such as Glenn Gabe of G-Squared Interactive, said they haven’t seen ads in AI Overviews despite Google’s announcement, suggesting the rollout may be gradual or highly targeted. Go deeper: Google continues to balance monetization strategies for its AI-enhanced search experiences as it evolves beyond traditional search results pages. View the full article

Affordable technology has eased the friction of digital workplace transformation, opening the process up to businesses of all sizes and budgets. Yet, surprisingly, the majority of businesses are still lagging behind, and the trend applies extra to small businesses. A recent survey by Zoho, “Trends in Digital Workplace Transformation,” noted discrepancies in organizational maturity between international companies and those based in the United States, with US-based ones lagging behind slightly, 61% domestic versus 62.3% average internationally. The margin deepens significantly for small and medium-sized businesses, ranked at 58% maturity. The survey outlines a few reasons why this may be the case. At a base level, it found many US small businesses remain vulnerable due to weak security measures and lack of awareness about the severity of issues and what can be done. While larger enterprises and tech firms have made progress in adopting new security protocols, small businesses often can’t afford that luxury, either with time or money, and thus incur higher risks. The survey highlights two key areas where small businesses are particularly demonstrating a deficit, and what can be done about this: adopt more integrated and scalable digital solutions while simultaneously placing renewed emphasis on security for all of its employees. This can be done without overwhelming limited resources, as well. Centralize information To start the digital workplace transformation survey highlights some organizational areas where small businesses are excelling beyond their larger counterparts. Consider how a company handles service and support tickets, a vital part of any growing organization. The small businesses surveyed in the digital workplace transformation survey were more likely to have adopted a structured and automated request management system than their larger counterparts, who are more likely to employ a more catch-as-catch-can informal and manual request channel. Additionally, the study found that small businesses do a better job of establishing a cadence for internal updates, with more than half (53%) running routine team meetings. However, small businesses start trailing the pack when looking at the survey’s workplace trends entirely enabled by technology. Small businesses rarely employ dedicated, organization-wide communication channels or self-service capabilities for employees to collaborate with others. Much of this is understandable: Technology carries a financial cost that many smaller organizations simply can’t pay. For SMBs to continue growing, it’s paramount that information become centralized and accessible by anyone within an organization to support asynchronous work. Thankfully, better CRM tools are becoming available, for less money, every day, and the pricing structures have evolved to match their democratization. One in particular, “land and expand,” has become quite popular among SMBs because it scales along with the business, allowing for new pieces of software to be added to a package, or an increase in user base, whenever the company would like—without locking them into unnecessary contracts or incurring extra fees. SMBs should look out for vendors offering these sorts of pricing structures and opt to use the associated CRMs, which will give employees time to adjust workflows before going all-in on a new way of working. Emphasize security Over the last few years, security tools have become far more sophisticated and affordable; many of them come standard with software packages focused on small businesses. Yet, according to the survey, many businesses still haven’t worked these safeguards into their workflows. Only half of US businesses make use of multi-factor authentication (MFA), biometrics, or one-time passwords (OTPs) to access systems—far more secure methods than the old-fashioned, one-password method. Both in-person and remote work suffer from security concerns, as well. Less than 25% of remote workers surveyed said they undergo secure access policies, such as VPN encryption or authentication, while working from home. At the office, only 30% of organizations surveyed have implemented physical security controls, like distributing ID badges or designating secure areas. Across the board, less than one fourth of employees have received any cyber threat training whatsoever. Small businesses can buck this trend by prioritizing education for their employees. It begins by demonstrating what questionable activity looks like—phishing emails, scam phone calls, and shady access attempts—followed by actions employees can take right away to mitigate risk. This last point is of particular importance given that a mere 15% of employees surveyed claim to have ever reported a security threat through official channels. Part of this process should include establishing organization-wide communication channels to disseminate information, verify the identity of a sender, or hear directly from HR. The survey found that few small businesses have this piece in place; without easy means of communication, it can be difficult for employees to align on best practices, even when the company itself is small. A small step companies can take is to append a “security updates” segment to mandatory team meetings, even if there isn’t much to discuss. This establishes a routine and makes space for employees to ask questions. Continued change Perhaps most importantly, the digital workplace transformation survey identified a troubling trend: small businesses rarely implement new tools when the technology becomes available, setting them far behind their larger counterparts. This isn’t to suggest all small businesses undergo a complete overhaul of their processes—far from it. Rather, the survey suggests that SMBs begin looking at small areas where technology can enhance either workplace communication or security, and begin laying the groundwork for lasting digital transformation. These small pieces begin to add up quickly. Most importantly, small businesses need to recognize that these are important steps for companies to take at some point; the earlier SMBs can start on their maturation journey, the better. This article, "New Survey Reveals Small Businesses Lag Behind Larger Counterparts in Security and Unification" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article