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In 2019, President Donald Trump appointed a lawyer named Mark Lee Greenblatt to root out fraud, abuse, and corruption in the Department of the Interior. Greenblatt quickly got to work, directing his 270 staff members to conduct audits, inspections, and investigations across the agency of 70,000 federal employees, which oversees 30% of the United States’s natural resources, 20% of its public lands, and its relationships with 573 Native American tribes and villages. He found that a gas marketing outfit conspired to defraud oil and gas companies on leased federal land, a Bureau of Land Management employee viewed pornography on a government computer, a tribal police officer stole $40,000 earmarked for a tribal youth diversion program, and three offshore oil rig workers and three companies acted negligently in a 2012 incident that resulted in a deadly explosion. And that was just in the span of two months in 2019. Until last week, Greenblatt was one of 73 inspectors general working within the United States government—independent watchdogs that keep tabs on federal agencies, which all in all collect more than $4 trillion in revenue every year and spend more than $6 trillion. On Friday night, he and 17 of his colleagues were summarily dismissed, in contravention of U.S. law. “President Trump fired me last night,” Greenblatt wrote in a post on LinkedIn over the weekend. “It’s all just so surreal.” The firings leave the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other departments that shape the country’s environmental and climate policy without independent oversight. This comes at a moment of extreme tumult and uncertainty as Trump attempts to transform the federal government in his image. In his first several days in office, the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to temporarily stop communicating with the public and ordered a freeze on the disbursal of federal grants, though that order was later rescinded. “All of this is so corrosive,” said an EPA employee who asked Grist not to name them out of fear of retaliation. Trump is “corrupting the health of every federal office with paranoia and distrust. How is anyone supposed to operate under such conditions?” Legal experts and nonprofit groups suspect Trump will replace the fired inspectors general with devotees who will ignore malfeasance, corruption, and abuse—a shift that would put the country’s environmental policies and American public health at risk. “Trump’s effort to terminate the current roster of IGs and, if one allows oneself to speculate, install loyalists who will turn a blind eye to what is to come, is unprecedented and profoundly troubling,” said Michael Burger, the executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Federal employees at regional offices and agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. fear their internal reports and complaints will be ignored or dismissed outright, putting Americans at risk. One important role of inspectors general is to offer federal employees protection if they experience reprisal at work after reporting corruption or impropriety. EPA scientists who raised alarms in 2019 and 2020 about the agency improperly downgrading the cancer risks of chemicals, for example, called their inspector general hotline to report that they were retaliated against by their own agency for blowing the whistle. Sean O’Donnell, who Trump appointed as the EPA’s inspector general in 2020, launched an investigation to determine whether there had been a violation of these employees’ rights under U.S. whistleblower protection law and found that three of the five scientists had had their requests for vacation time rejected, monetary awards withheld, and arbitrarily received poor performance reviews. The office of the inspector general recommended that the EPA administrator “consider appropriate corrective action.” O’Donnell, who has been scrupulous about monitoring the disbursal of funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act passed under former president Joe Biden was one of the 18 inspectors general fired by Trump last week. The Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized more than $300 billion in clean energy incentives and grants, allocates money to support independent oversight of this spending, including new funding for inspector general offices. The majority of the funding from that law has already been disbursed, and Trump has moved to freeze what remains as he attempts to restructure the government. Legal experts say that move is illegal and unconstitutional, but even if a judge lifts the freeze, the watchdogs tasked with scrutinizing these funds will no longer be at their posts. “All of the checks and balances have been stripped,” said Kyla Bennett, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that offers pro bono assistance to whistleblowers within federal agencies. Federal employees, she added, “can’t do the work that they need to do to protect the American people. And that is the point.” The president downplayed the firings over the weekend. “It’s a very standard thing to do,” he told reporters. But the only other president who fired more than a dozen inspectors general in one go was Ronald Reagan, and Congress has since imposed restrictions on abrupt changes to these positions. Burger explained that the dismissals are “in violation of the law, which requires notice, and an explanation to Congress.” The White House is supposed to give 30 days warning before removing an inspector general. The firings disturbed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle., “I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse,” Republican Senator Susan Collins, from Maine, told Politico. Senator Elizabeth Warren, from Massachusetts, said in a post on X that Trump is “paving the way for widespread corruption,” and many other prominent Democrats voiced similar concerns. Many Republican members of Congress, however, were unruffled. “He’s the boss,” Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, told Politico. “We need to clean house.” This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for its newsletter here. 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Today’s fast-paced workplace requires us to change and adapt at increasing speeds, while managing complex interpersonal demands. Despite these challenges, we can utilize emotional intelligence to meet these continually increasing demands and excel in our new reality. The basis of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions—as well as know how they impact others. Beyond that, emotional intelligence gives us greater ability to understand the emotions of others, allowing for greater empathy. This in turn increases our ability to work effectively with others of different backgrounds and perspectives. Glenn Llopis, author of Make Reinvention Your Superpower, argues that a lack of emotional intelligence traps people in what he calls “career quicksand.” He explains that this occurs when individuals lose sight of their unique capabilities because they are rewarded for following the corporate playbook instead of their own. As a result, they are not encouraged to explore new ideas, having been trained to believe that success relies on executing old ones. How to encourage emotional intelligence Organizations are increasingly becoming aware that being successful today requires more collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Research at Lawrence Technological University found that emotional intelligence “improves one’s ability to be socially effective, and can lead to improved collaborative outcomes.” Successful organizations in today’s climate will be comprised of emotionally intelligent people who can pivot quickly. The good news is that emotional intelligence is not some innate quality; it’s something you can build. Employees at all levels of the organization will need to boost their collaboration, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. One way to encourage these traits is for leaders to ask every employee to share examples of collaboration, good teamwork, and problem-solving during staff meetings. They can set up an easy-to-use process whereby staff can recognize each other when they demonstrate using emotional intelligence in their daily work. Having an emotional intelligence employee-of-the-month recognition program can also help keep the focus on continuous improvement. Finally, managers can also ensure that employees are aware that empathy and resilience are attributes that will make workers more likely to get a promotion. Building collaboration and conflict-resolution skills Organizations of the future will need to collaborate more both internally and externally. Having employees who are able to work with various people of different cultural backgrounds will increase team and organizational cohesiveness. Llopis emphasizes the importance of using emotional intelligence to approach workplace diversity with curiosity. This mindset helps uncover valuable insights and opportunities for growth. “When we look around with intentionality and expect to discover something new, we open ourselves to seeing possibilities we might have overlooked,” he says. Conflict and problems inevitably arise at work. But because organizations must move so quickly, teams must be able to solve these issues quickly and effectively. Unresolved frustrations, unexpected changes, anxiety, and disappointment in organizations can lead to a negative and toxic workplace quite quickly if workers don’t have the tools they need. Emotional-intelligence training teaches people to work through these common workplace issues without losing track of what they are trying to accomplish. These workers are better able to navigate difficult conversations that lead to better acceptance and understanding with their peers and leaders. The ability to work through difficult interpersonal relationship challenges leads to increased optimism and stronger growth mindsets for those who go through them. Llopis says that self-trust is central to emotional intelligence and reinvention, enhancing one’s ability to manage workplace conflict. “By cultivating a deep understanding of oneself and confidence in one’s abilities, self-assurance empowers employees to navigate their own challenges and support others, fostering deeper connections and adaptability in high-stress work environments,” he says. The value of an emotionally intelligent culture Companies that invest in supporting emotional intelligence find that their culture shows improvement. The results of an environment of collaboration are greater freedom to be creative and experiment with new solutions and innovations. Open communication and dialogue become part of how everyone in the organization is expected to conduct themselves. This results in an atmosphere of psychological safety, which allows everyone the freedom to experiment, take some risks, and push their own boundaries so they can reach their full potential. Organizations that put a high emphasis on emotional intelligence in their recruitment, onboarding, and training process will find they are molding their organizations in a manner that allows all of their people to have more fulfilling careers. Nurturing empathy and resilience means everyone has a supportive environment where everyone can reinvent themselves while keeping the organization moving forward. View the full article

A confirmation email is useful in various situations. Whether it’s for confirming a restaurant reservation, online or offline events, or other meetings, a confirmation email plays a significant role in the communication strategy. To help you write a thorough confirmation email that includes all the necessary information, you can utilize a confirmation email template. What Is a Confirmation Email? Confirmation emails are used to communicate important information to customers after specific events. There are many types of confirmation emails, including: Restaurant reservation confirmation Order confirmation Webinar confirmation email, including registration confirmation email Subscription confirmation emails Booking confirmation emails Shipping confirmation email Purchase confirmation email Flight confirmation email Cancellation confirmation emails There are many other types of email confirmations, but the goal of each type of email confirmation is to provide the customer with immediate feedback to let them know they have been successful and that your business is aware and taking the necessary next steps. With each confirmation email type, it’s essential to ensure you’ve included all of the relevant information in one place. It’s a type of transactional email that is written in a clear and intuitive manner to make it easy for customers to read and understand the information in the confirmation. After receiving the confirmation email, they should be able to reference it when they need to if they have questions or issues with their order. How to Write Confirmation Emails A confirmation message is an essential tool in digital communication, serving as an acknowledgment that an action has been completed or that information has been received. The content of a confirmation email can vary based on its type. In this guide, we explore essential elements of email confirmations to help you create effective and informative confirmation messages for your audience. Step 1: Write a clear subject line Creating an effective subject line for a confirmation email template is crucial. Regardless of whether it pertains to a registration, purchase, or another form of confirmation, the subject line acts as the email’s initial impression. Commonly, for scenarios like a registration or shipping confirmation email, it should encapsulate key details like the order number coupled with a confirmation alert. The golden rule is simplicity combined with informativeness. Your subject lines should act as a quick snapshot, giving the recipient clarity on the email’s content, thereby allowing them to prioritize its relevance and decide whether it warrants immediate attention. Step 2: Include order confirmation and order details The main content or body of your email is where the bulk of the information resides. For order confirmation, it’s imperative that customers are presented with a clear picture of what they’ve procured. This encompasses not only the confirmation that their order has been successfully placed but also information such as the number of items, the total cost, and a brief description of each product. On the other hand, for an account creation or registration email, it’s pivotal to furnish them with their login credentials, reassure them of a successful sign-up, and provide any additional context or actions required. For instance, you may need to prompt them to verify their email address, thereby solidifying their account security. Following such a structured format ensures that your client is kept in the loop, fostering trust and transparency. Step 3: Add shipping details or other item information When it comes to shipping or order confirmation emails, furnishing precise details can alleviate any anxieties customers might have post-purchase. It’s essential to incorporate not only the shipping address but also the billing address. This double-checking mechanism ensures clarity and avoids any future discrepancies. Furthermore, provide an estimated delivery window so customers can anticipate when their package will arrive. This sort of meticulous detailing isn’t restricted to physical products. For instance, when dealing with a subscription-based service, convey when the subscription gets renewed, along with the exact amount that will be charged. Moreover, for more niche confirmations like restaurant reservations, it’s paramount to provide specifics. From the date and time of their booking to the exact location of the establishment, every little detail can enhance their dining experience. You might even hint at the reservation particulars in the subject line itself, ensuring the recipient has a clear idea from the get-go. Step 4: Provide contact information It’s pivotal for any customer-centric business to have accessible channels for communication. Be sure to incorporate all the relevant contact details, such as a direct phone number, dedicated customer service email address, or even a chat link if available. This inclusion not only instills a sense of reliability but also signifies your readiness to assist. The more accessible and transparent your contact mechanisms are, the more trust you can cultivate with your clientele. Step 5: End with a thank you and any other essential information As the saying goes, “it’s the small things that matter.” Ending your email with a heartfelt expression of gratitude can significantly enhance the relationship between your brand and the customer. Beyond just a simple “thank you,” consider adding value to their next interaction with your brand. This could be in the form of a discount code for their subsequent purchase, details about a referral program to benefit both them and their friends, or an invitation to engage with your brand on various social media platforms. This not only fosters loyalty but also opens up avenues for more personalized and engaging future interactions. Confirmation Email Example Effective confirmation email templates should be concise, straightforward, and include essential information that establishes clear expectations for the customer. Dear _____ Thank you for your _____. The details of your ____ are below; please let us know via email or telephone at _____ if you need to make any modifications. All the best, ____ More Effective Confirmation Email Templates Because there are many types of confirmation messages, here are some more confirmation email examples to help you create your own. Order Confirmation Email Template Order confirmation email examples or order confirmation email templates usually look like the following: Dear ___. Thank you very much for your order! Please find a complete order summary ____ (include item name, quantity, and price). We’ve received your order and are getting ready to have it shipped. It should be with you in ____ (shipping time). We will send another email when your order is out for delivery. As a thank you for your purchase, here is a discount code for future purchases. We thank you again for your order and hope you have a wonderful day. Shipping Confirmation Template A shipping confirmation email template needs to include details for the customer to understand how and when they will receive their order. Shipping confirmation email templates can look like below: Dear ____. Thank you for your order. We’re pleased to let you know that it is on its way to you! Your order is being shipped via ____ (shipping method) and will arrive in ____ (shipping time). You can track your order using the tracking link provided. If you have experience delays or issues with your order, please contact us via email or phone. Thank you again for your order, and we look forward to serving you again! Interview Confirmation Email Template If you are confirming an interview, you will need to create personalized communication with the person, including key details, such as the example below: Dear ____, Thank you for confirming your availability for the interview. We are happy to inform you that it has now been scheduled. Your interview will be held on [DATE] and [TIME] via [INTERVIEW METHOD, e.g., via Zoom, Teams, or in person). You will be speaking to [NAME OF INTERVIEWER, TITLE] for approximately [TIME]. Please let us know if you have any questions or need to reschedule. All the best, ___ Payment Confirmation Email Payment confirmation emails need to include basic payment details so that customers know their purchase went through. Dear ___ Thank you for your purchase on [DATE]. This is a confirmation email to let you know we have received your payment. Payment details are below for your reference: [include payment method and amount]. Please get in touch with us via phone or email if you need to make changes or modify your purchase. Tips for Writing Confirmation Emails A consistent communication process ensures that customers feel confident working with your business, which helps drive more sales and repeat purchases. Whether you’re putting together a booking confirmation email or confirmation emails for eCommerce stores, there are a few tips you can use to make your communication go beyond transactional emails. These tips can help with all kinds of confirmation emails to make them stand out immediately. Make an instant connection with the customer For both new customers and existing customers, it’s important not to treat them as just a number transaction. Personalize your email confirmations with names and other special touches to make them feel special. Write in your brand voice Your brand voice should come through in your confirmation emails to ensure that customers have a consistent experience, so think about what your brand stands for and how it communicates when crafting these messages. Save a great example when you see it Look at the confirmation letters you receive. If you’re seeing a great example, such as clear shipping information, account confirmation, and unique ways to cross-sell items, save them! You can use them as inspiration for your confirmation emails. Use email marketing software If you want to create a seamless, automated confirmation email process, use email marketing software. You can create templates personalized with details depending on the type of confirmation you’re sending, including relevant information. For example, email software can be used for a registration confirmation email, an online purchase confirmation email, and other types of customer purchases. How Do You Politely Confirm Through Email? A polite confirmation via email should include details of the order, registration, or reservation in the subject line. Then, in the body of the email, you can thank them for their time and let them know that everything is confirmed. Finally, outline any next steps the customer should thank, if necessary, at the end of the email with a short sign-off. Is an Order Confirmation Email a Receipt? An order confirmation email can act as a receipt when it contains a detailed order summary, which includes the items ordered, their quantities, payment information, and shipping methods. What Is the Best Confirmation Reply? The best confirmation reply can serve as a double confirmation. First, you can thank the sender for providing the information and let them know it has been received and noted. If you have questions or concerns about the confirmation, you can include them in the reply if needed. Elements of Effective Confirmation Emails As we’ve delved into the world of confirmation emails, it’s evident that their significance goes beyond mere acknowledgments. Each type of confirmation email, be it for an order, reservation, or interview, has its unique components tailored to provide clear, relevant information to the recipient. As a quick reference, we’ve consolidated the critical elements of various confirmation emails in the table below. Use this as your handy guide when crafting your next confirmation message: Type of Confirmation EmailMain Elements to IncludePurpose Restaurant Reservation- Date and Time - Restaurant Address - Booking or Cancellation PoliciesConfirm a booked spot and provide reservation details Order Confirmation- Item details - Quantity - Total ChargesAcknowledge a received order and provide a summary Webinar Confirmation- Registration details - Date - Time - LinkConfirm participation in a webinar and provide access details Subscription Confirmation- Renewal date - Amount chargedAcknowledge a new subscription and provide renewal details Shipping Confirmation- Shipping address - Billing address - Expected delivery dateConfirm item shipment and provide tracking details Booking Confirmation- Date and Time - Venue or PlatformConfirm a booking for an event or service Purchase Confirmation- Item details - Total costAcknowledge a completed purchase and provide a summary Flight Confirmation- Flight details - Date - Time - GateConfirm flight booking and provide necessary travel details Cancellation Confirmation- Original details of the booking or order - Cancellation policiesConfirm cancellation of a service, order, or event Image: Depositphotos This article, "Confirmation Email Template Examples" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A confirmation email is useful in various situations. Whether it’s for confirming a restaurant reservation, online or offline events, or other meetings, a confirmation email plays a significant role in the communication strategy. To help you write a thorough confirmation email that includes all the necessary information, you can utilize a confirmation email template. What Is a Confirmation Email? Confirmation emails are used to communicate important information to customers after specific events. There are many types of confirmation emails, including: Restaurant reservation confirmation Order confirmation Webinar confirmation email, including registration confirmation email Subscription confirmation emails Booking confirmation emails Shipping confirmation email Purchase confirmation email Flight confirmation email Cancellation confirmation emails There are many other types of email confirmations, but the goal of each type of email confirmation is to provide the customer with immediate feedback to let them know they have been successful and that your business is aware and taking the necessary next steps. With each confirmation email type, it’s essential to ensure you’ve included all of the relevant information in one place. It’s a type of transactional email that is written in a clear and intuitive manner to make it easy for customers to read and understand the information in the confirmation. After receiving the confirmation email, they should be able to reference it when they need to if they have questions or issues with their order. How to Write Confirmation Emails A confirmation message is an essential tool in digital communication, serving as an acknowledgment that an action has been completed or that information has been received. The content of a confirmation email can vary based on its type. In this guide, we explore essential elements of email confirmations to help you create effective and informative confirmation messages for your audience. Step 1: Write a clear subject line Creating an effective subject line for a confirmation email template is crucial. Regardless of whether it pertains to a registration, purchase, or another form of confirmation, the subject line acts as the email’s initial impression. Commonly, for scenarios like a registration or shipping confirmation email, it should encapsulate key details like the order number coupled with a confirmation alert. The golden rule is simplicity combined with informativeness. Your subject lines should act as a quick snapshot, giving the recipient clarity on the email’s content, thereby allowing them to prioritize its relevance and decide whether it warrants immediate attention. Step 2: Include order confirmation and order details The main content or body of your email is where the bulk of the information resides. For order confirmation, it’s imperative that customers are presented with a clear picture of what they’ve procured. This encompasses not only the confirmation that their order has been successfully placed but also information such as the number of items, the total cost, and a brief description of each product. On the other hand, for an account creation or registration email, it’s pivotal to furnish them with their login credentials, reassure them of a successful sign-up, and provide any additional context or actions required. For instance, you may need to prompt them to verify their email address, thereby solidifying their account security. Following such a structured format ensures that your client is kept in the loop, fostering trust and transparency. Step 3: Add shipping details or other item information When it comes to shipping or order confirmation emails, furnishing precise details can alleviate any anxieties customers might have post-purchase. It’s essential to incorporate not only the shipping address but also the billing address. This double-checking mechanism ensures clarity and avoids any future discrepancies. Furthermore, provide an estimated delivery window so customers can anticipate when their package will arrive. This sort of meticulous detailing isn’t restricted to physical products. For instance, when dealing with a subscription-based service, convey when the subscription gets renewed, along with the exact amount that will be charged. Moreover, for more niche confirmations like restaurant reservations, it’s paramount to provide specifics. From the date and time of their booking to the exact location of the establishment, every little detail can enhance their dining experience. You might even hint at the reservation particulars in the subject line itself, ensuring the recipient has a clear idea from the get-go. Step 4: Provide contact information It’s pivotal for any customer-centric business to have accessible channels for communication. Be sure to incorporate all the relevant contact details, such as a direct phone number, dedicated customer service email address, or even a chat link if available. This inclusion not only instills a sense of reliability but also signifies your readiness to assist. The more accessible and transparent your contact mechanisms are, the more trust you can cultivate with your clientele. Step 5: End with a thank you and any other essential information As the saying goes, “it’s the small things that matter.” Ending your email with a heartfelt expression of gratitude can significantly enhance the relationship between your brand and the customer. Beyond just a simple “thank you,” consider adding value to their next interaction with your brand. This could be in the form of a discount code for their subsequent purchase, details about a referral program to benefit both them and their friends, or an invitation to engage with your brand on various social media platforms. This not only fosters loyalty but also opens up avenues for more personalized and engaging future interactions. Confirmation Email Example Effective confirmation email templates should be concise, straightforward, and include essential information that establishes clear expectations for the customer. Dear _____ Thank you for your _____. The details of your ____ are below; please let us know via email or telephone at _____ if you need to make any modifications. All the best, ____ More Effective Confirmation Email Templates Because there are many types of confirmation messages, here are some more confirmation email examples to help you create your own. Order Confirmation Email Template Order confirmation email examples or order confirmation email templates usually look like the following: Dear ___. Thank you very much for your order! Please find a complete order summary ____ (include item name, quantity, and price). We’ve received your order and are getting ready to have it shipped. It should be with you in ____ (shipping time). We will send another email when your order is out for delivery. As a thank you for your purchase, here is a discount code for future purchases. We thank you again for your order and hope you have a wonderful day. Shipping Confirmation Template A shipping confirmation email template needs to include details for the customer to understand how and when they will receive their order. Shipping confirmation email templates can look like below: Dear ____. Thank you for your order. We’re pleased to let you know that it is on its way to you! Your order is being shipped via ____ (shipping method) and will arrive in ____ (shipping time). You can track your order using the tracking link provided. If you have experience delays or issues with your order, please contact us via email or phone. Thank you again for your order, and we look forward to serving you again! Interview Confirmation Email Template If you are confirming an interview, you will need to create personalized communication with the person, including key details, such as the example below: Dear ____, Thank you for confirming your availability for the interview. We are happy to inform you that it has now been scheduled. Your interview will be held on [DATE] and [TIME] via [INTERVIEW METHOD, e.g., via Zoom, Teams, or in person). You will be speaking to [NAME OF INTERVIEWER, TITLE] for approximately [TIME]. Please let us know if you have any questions or need to reschedule. All the best, ___ Payment Confirmation Email Payment confirmation emails need to include basic payment details so that customers know their purchase went through. Dear ___ Thank you for your purchase on [DATE]. This is a confirmation email to let you know we have received your payment. Payment details are below for your reference: [include payment method and amount]. Please get in touch with us via phone or email if you need to make changes or modify your purchase. Tips for Writing Confirmation Emails A consistent communication process ensures that customers feel confident working with your business, which helps drive more sales and repeat purchases. Whether you’re putting together a booking confirmation email or confirmation emails for eCommerce stores, there are a few tips you can use to make your communication go beyond transactional emails. These tips can help with all kinds of confirmation emails to make them stand out immediately. Make an instant connection with the customer For both new customers and existing customers, it’s important not to treat them as just a number transaction. Personalize your email confirmations with names and other special touches to make them feel special. Write in your brand voice Your brand voice should come through in your confirmation emails to ensure that customers have a consistent experience, so think about what your brand stands for and how it communicates when crafting these messages. Save a great example when you see it Look at the confirmation letters you receive. If you’re seeing a great example, such as clear shipping information, account confirmation, and unique ways to cross-sell items, save them! You can use them as inspiration for your confirmation emails. Use email marketing software If you want to create a seamless, automated confirmation email process, use email marketing software. You can create templates personalized with details depending on the type of confirmation you’re sending, including relevant information. For example, email software can be used for a registration confirmation email, an online purchase confirmation email, and other types of customer purchases. How Do You Politely Confirm Through Email? A polite confirmation via email should include details of the order, registration, or reservation in the subject line. Then, in the body of the email, you can thank them for their time and let them know that everything is confirmed. Finally, outline any next steps the customer should thank, if necessary, at the end of the email with a short sign-off. Is an Order Confirmation Email a Receipt? An order confirmation email can act as a receipt when it contains a detailed order summary, which includes the items ordered, their quantities, payment information, and shipping methods. What Is the Best Confirmation Reply? The best confirmation reply can serve as a double confirmation. First, you can thank the sender for providing the information and let them know it has been received and noted. If you have questions or concerns about the confirmation, you can include them in the reply if needed. Elements of Effective Confirmation Emails As we’ve delved into the world of confirmation emails, it’s evident that their significance goes beyond mere acknowledgments. Each type of confirmation email, be it for an order, reservation, or interview, has its unique components tailored to provide clear, relevant information to the recipient. As a quick reference, we’ve consolidated the critical elements of various confirmation emails in the table below. Use this as your handy guide when crafting your next confirmation message: Type of Confirmation EmailMain Elements to IncludePurpose Restaurant Reservation- Date and Time - Restaurant Address - Booking or Cancellation PoliciesConfirm a booked spot and provide reservation details Order Confirmation- Item details - Quantity - Total ChargesAcknowledge a received order and provide a summary Webinar Confirmation- Registration details - Date - Time - LinkConfirm participation in a webinar and provide access details Subscription Confirmation- Renewal date - Amount chargedAcknowledge a new subscription and provide renewal details Shipping Confirmation- Shipping address - Billing address - Expected delivery dateConfirm item shipment and provide tracking details Booking Confirmation- Date and Time - Venue or PlatformConfirm a booking for an event or service Purchase Confirmation- Item details - Total costAcknowledge a completed purchase and provide a summary Flight Confirmation- Flight details - Date - Time - GateConfirm flight booking and provide necessary travel details Cancellation Confirmation- Original details of the booking or order - Cancellation policiesConfirm cancellation of a service, order, or event Image: Depositphotos This article, "Confirmation Email Template Examples" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

We‘ve rounded up the best social media campaign examples from X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more. View the full article

Happiness over one’s lifetime has been popularly described as looking like a U-shaped curve: The joys of youth are followed by the challenges of our 20s and 30s before an upswing later in life that reaches a peak after retirement. While that may be true—or not—in wealthier countries such as the United States, it doesn’t apply to low-income, nonindustrialized societies. That is the main finding of a study I led that examined aging in rural, subsistence-oriented communities in 23 countries across the Global South. And our results have implications for global health amid aging populations and growing economic insecurity. In our study, we found that happiness levels did not consistently follow the U-shaped trajectory commonly observed in industrialized societies. In some cases there was a U-shape. But more often we observed an inverted U-shape, where middle-aged adults reported the highest level of happiness, or no significant age-related trend at all. Overall, well-being often declined after middle age among resource-poor populations lacking social security and other institutionalized forms of protection. This aligns with prior research among low-income countries and even of wealthy nations during economic crises. That being said, age itself was a weak predictor of life satisfaction everywhere. Sickness, disability and loss in productivity do a better job of explaining well-being than age. In fact, the few positive effects of age we did find usually disappeared when including measures of these misfortunes in our analysis. Along with other developments showing lower well-being among adolescents and young adults in recent years, my research challenges the assumption that the U-shaped happiness curve is universal. The trend showing that average well-being improves after middle age might be more typical of urban, affluent societies with formal retirement and strong safety nets for older adults. By examining a broader range of settings, we gain insight into how environmental and socioeconomic factors shape well-being over a lifespan, offering a more nuanced perspective on happiness that could guide policies for different age groups and cultures. I believe understanding well-being across diverse cultures is crucial, especially amid global aging and mental health crises. By reconsidering the determinants of happiness outside the U-shaped model, we’re all better positioned to improve quality of life for different populations worldwide. Michael Gurven is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

It’s January, and you’re fired up—new year, new strategy, new wins. Or maybe it’s March, and you’re side-eyeing your social media, wondering if you missed the reset window. Spoiler: You didn’t. Whether it’s the first week of January or the last day of October, the best time to get your social media on track is right now. This checklist is your blueprint for momentum in 2025. Whether you’re aiming for more consistency, kickstarting your creator journey, or landing your first brand deal, this guide will help you build a strategy that sticks. So grab your notepad, open your planning app, or start a fresh Google Doc and let’s dive in. Callout: P.S. Scroll to the end for a simplified checklist 1. Audit & optimize your profilesBefore you dive into posting, take a step back to check on your profiles across all your active (and inactive) social platforms. Refresh your bioYour profile picture should be high-quality, on-brand, and consistent across platforms. If you’re using a logo, make sure it’s clear and properly cropped. If you’re the face, choose a shot that clearly shows your face. Your bio is your elevator pitch in 150 characters or less. Skip the fluff and focus on who you help, how you help them, and why they should follow you. For example, on LinkedIn Instead of having: “Marketing Professional | Growth Enthusiast | Helping Brands Succeed”Try: “I help SaaS startups scale with data-driven content & demand generation”Here are some more resources to help you as you craft your bios: 📚 How to Craft the Perfect Instagram Bio for Your Business 📚 6 Ideas to Make the Most of Your Instagram Bio Update your contact info & linksPeople shouldn’t have to play detective to find your website, book a call, or shop your products. Check that your email, website, and any other key links are updated. If you need to direct people to multiple places, use a simple link-in-bio tool like Start Page. Callout: Try Start Page → Align your brandingBranding isn’t just about fun colors and fonts—it’s about recognizability. A follower on TikTok should immediately know they’re seeing the same brand whether they find you on Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube. Do a quick check: Are your colors and fonts consistent across platforms?Is your messaging consistent even if you change the tone and style slightly?Do your visuals (thumbnails, banners) feel cohesive?Small tweaks can make a huge difference in how professional and credible you look online. 2. Define your goals for 2025If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, you’ll waste time posting without purpose. Setting clear, measurable goals keeps your content focused and your efforts productive. Instead of just saying, “I want to grow on social media,” get specific about what growth looks like for you and how you’ll track it. Set SMART goalsYour goals should be SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Instead of vague aspirations, define clear targets: Instead of: “Post more on Instagram.”Try: “Post four Reels per week to increase engagement by 20% over the next three months.”Other examples of SMART goals: Reach 10,000 TikTok followers by June by posting five times per week.Grow newsletter subscribers by 25% through social media traffic.Increase website clicks from Instagram by 30% in Q1 testing different calls-to-action in posts.With this system, you give yourself the flexibility to switch up your goals as time passes and you see the results of your efforts. Learn more about goal-setting for social media: 📚 9 Social Media Goals You Can Set for Your Business (and How to Track Them) Identify key metrics to trackLikes and follower counts are surface-level. To understand what’s really working, focus on deeper engagement metrics: Reach & impressions: Are more people seeing your content?Engagement rate: Are people interacting (likes, shares, saves, comments)?Click-through rate (CTR): Are your links driving traffic?Conversion rate: Are social media visitors taking action (buying, subscribing, signing up)?Tracking these numbers helps you tweak your strategy based on real data, not guesswork. 📚 10 Content Marketing Metrics to Track (+5 Experts on the Ones that Matter to Them) 📚 3 Qualitative Social Media Metrics That Matter More Than Follower Count 📚 61 Key Social Media Metrics, Defined Figure out your prioritiesEvery creator and business has different priorities. Ask yourself: Do you want more brand awareness or direct sales?Are you focused on building a community or landing sponsorships?Is your goal to drive traffic to your website, grow an email list, or get more leads?Anna Burgess Yang, a solopreneur & content marketer, talked about prioritization in terms of managing workload efficiently. She emphasized focusing on what’s sustainable and building systems to support it. She advises, “…think about what's reasonable for you and grow from there." [Link to interview] 3. Review & improve your content strategyIf your content wasn’t driving the engagement, conversions, or growth you’d hoped for in 2024, it might be time to rethink your approach. Social media success isn’t about posting more—it’s about posting smarter. This step helps you analyze what’s working, refine your strategy, and experiment with new formats to keep your audience engaged. Analyze your best-performing contentLook at your posts from the last six months and identify trends in what performed well. Keep your social media goals in mind — if you want to build community because you’re an events business, focus on increasing engagement. If you’re new and focused on increasing your brand's exposure (brand awareness), pay attention to what gets the most impressions. Thinking about these things helps you balance your content strategy with repeating specific formats. Ask yourself: Which posts got the most engagement (likes, shares, saves, comments)?What content drove the most website clicks, inquiries, or sales?Are certain formats (videos, carousels, memes, text posts) consistently outperforming others?Once you spot patterns, double down on what works. If short-form videos generate the most engagement, prioritize them. If educational carousels drive conversions, create more of them. Here are our top resources on analyzing content: 📚 23 Top Social Media Analytics Tools in 2025 — Free and Paid Options 📚 6 Social Media Analytics and Reporting Tips for Becoming a Data-Savvy Marketer 📚 2024 Social Media Benchmarks You Should Use to Guide Your Strategy Repurpose & refresh existing contentYou don’t always need to create from scratch. Take high-performing content and repurpose it into different formats: Turn a blog post into an Instagram carousel or Twitter thread.Clip long-form video content into bite-sized reels or TikToks.Combine multiple posts into a downloadable guide or email series.This saves time while maximizing the reach of your best ideas. Here are our best resources on repurposing content: 📚 How to Automate Your Content Repurposing in 5 Steps (From Someone Who Has Done It!) 📚 How I Repurpose Blog Content into LinkedIn Posts to Expand My Reach 📚 How to Create a Social Media Report and Explain It to Your Boss or Client Test new content formatsSocial media changes really fast. If your current approach feels stale, experiment with new formats: Pay attention to trending topics and formats in your niche.Experiment with interactive content like Q&A sessions or AMAs.Test short-form video strategies—many platforms now prioritize video content.Try out new formats alongside proven content types to keep things fresh without losing what already works. For some more knowledge on content formats: 📚 9+ Ideas for Your Next LinkedIn Carousel (+Examples) 📚 7 Winning Video Marketing Strategies You Can Implement Today 📚 Posting Like a Pro: What Should You Post on These 8 Social Media Platforms Plan for consistency to avoid burnoutA solid content strategy is sustainable. Posting every day for a month and then disappearing won’t help you grow. Instead, set a realistic posting frequency based on your capacity and schedule your content ahead of time. 📚 Consistent Posting Means 5x More Likes, Comments, and Shares: Study 📚 7 Simple Habits to Help You Get Better at Creating Content More Consistently 📚 5 Tips That Made Me A Consistent Content Creator 4. Create a content calendarConsistency wins on social media, but without a plan, it’s easy to fall into the post-when-you-remember trap. A content calendar keeps you organized, ensures variety in your content, and helps you stay ahead instead of scrambling for last-minute ideas. Map out key themes and campaignsInstead of coming up with random posts each week, organize your content around core themes. This could be: Educational content: Tips, tutorials, industry insightsPromotional content: Product launches, sales, lead generationEngagement-focused content: Polls, Q&As, behind-the-scenesUser-generated content: Customer stories, testimonials, repostsPlan for big moments, too—seasonal trends, product launches, collaborations, or industry events. Check out our 2025 content calendar to start working some of these into your strategy: 📚 Social Media Calendar For Every Holiday of 2025 (+ Ideas for Posts) 📚 How to Create a Swipe File for Your Social Media Ideas 📚 Types of Social Media Content: 30+ Ideas for Your Next Post (With Examples) Batch-create content to save timeInstead of creating content one post at a time, batch similar tasks together: Write captions for a week’s worth of posts in one sitting.Film multiple short-form videos in a single session.Design graphics or templates for upcoming promotions.Batching content helps you stay consistent without constantly feeling like you’re playing catch-up. 📚 How I Designed a LinkedIn Thought Leadership Content Creation System 📚Ask Buffer: How Can You Batch Content for Social Media? 📚The Essential Guide to Content Curation Keep it flexibleA content calendar is a guide, not a rigid rulebook. If something isn’t performing well, tweak your approach. If a trend emerges, adjust your schedule to join the conversation. The goal is consistency with adaptability. 📚 7+ Free Social Media Calendar Templates to Help You Plan Your Content 📚 Buffer’s Content Calendar Template + How Our Content Team Collaborates 5. Adopt AI and automationAI and automation aren’t just trends—they’re tools that can streamline your workflow, generate fresh content ideas, and help you stay consistent without burning out. If you’re still doing everything manually, you’re making social media harder than it needs to be. Use AI to boost your content creationAI can help speed up the creative process without replacing your unique voice. Try AI tools for: Content ideas: Generate post topics, video scripts, or social media captions.Captions & hashtags: Use AI-powered copywriting tools like Buffer’s AI Assistant to test different engagement-driven captions.Video & image generation: AI tools can help with basic video editing, subtitles, and even graphic creation.📚 7 of the Best AI Image Generators for Creators and Marketers + Example Images 📚 The 7 Best AI Video Tools for Creators and Marketers, Tried and Tested 📚 14 Must-Try AI Social Media Content Creation Tools in 2025 Automate your scheduling and postingManual posting can be overwhelming, especially if you’re juggling multiple platforms. Not to toot our own horn, but Buffer offers multiple features that can actively improve your content creation journey, especially stress-free scheduling to multiple social media platforms. Buffer’s one of the most affordable tools for scheduling content and offers multiple features to aid your growth: Ideas, so you can keep track of all your spur-of-the-moment thoughtsBuffer’s AI Assistant to help you quickly come up with contentAnalytics to track your performance and figure out where to make improvementsevery social media platform your audience might be onSchedule in advance, but leave room for real-time content—reacting to trends, engaging with comments, and sharing timely updates. 📚 How Passionfroot's Creator Akta Streamlines Content Scheduling with Buffer However, although automation saves time, social media is still about relationships. Use AI to streamline tasks—not replace real engagement. Show up, interact, and keep your content personal. 📚 5 Powerful Automations for Creators to Streamline Your Content Workflow 📚Social Media Automation Strategy: 10 Tasks You Can Automate 6. Strengthen engagementSocial media isn’t just about broadcasting your content—it’s about building relationships. If your engagement strategy is limited to posting and walking away, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful ways to grow. The more you interact with your audience, the more visible your content, and the stronger your community becomes. Engage with others to receive engagementDon’t just wait for engagement—go out and create it. Set aside 10–15 minutes a day to actively engage with your audience. Whether it’s replying to comments, interacting with other creators, or sharing user-generated content, consistency builds stronger relationships. Comment on posts from industry leaders, potential collaborators, and engaged followers.Start engaging conversations, participate in threads, and leave thoughtful comments.Use platform-specific features (like TikTok duets or Instagram collaborations) to interact with others.The more visibly engaged you are, the more engagement you’ll receive in return. 📚 Social Media Engagement: Why it Matters and How to Do it Well Go Live & start conversationsLive video fosters real-time connection. Whether it’s a Q&A, behind-the-scenes look, or an industry discussion, going live helps deepen relationships. Host a weekly or monthly live session to answer audience questions.Collaborate with another creator or business to expand reach.Use live shopping features (if relevant) to showcase products.If going live feels intimidating, start with short, informal sessions to get comfortable. 📚 TikTok Lives Can Help Boost Your Following — Here’s How to Go Live + Why You Should 📚 How to Use Instagram Live: A Guide to Take You From Beginner to Pro Success on social media is built — not wished forHoping for growth won’t make it happen. You need to show up consistently, refine your strategy, and adapt to what works well. Social media success isn’t (just) about luck or viral moments but intentional, sustained effort over time. As Gigi Robinson, creator economy educator and speaker, said, “Some people blow up. Some people get signed to big agencies and see a lot of money, that's what happens. But that is the exception, not the rule. The rule, in my opinion, should be that creators, if they want to be self-employed as a creator, have to work their butt off to build in a certain way, so that they are seen as a thought leader and a figure of authority in their niche.” Stay consistent, and we’ll see you at the end of 2025 with all your goals checked off. Your Social Media ChecklistCopy and paste this checklist and mark off each item as you achieve it: Profile & branding refreshUpdate profile pictures to be high-quality and consistent across platformsRewrite bios to clearly state who you are and what you offerVerify and update all contact information and linksEnsure branding (colors, fonts, messaging) is cohesive across platformsSet up a link-in-bio tool for easy access to important linksSet your goalsDefine three SMART goals for social media growthIdentify the key metrics you will track (engagement, clicks, conversions)Choose the platforms that align with your goals and audienceCreate an engagement strategy (replying to comments, interacting with peers)Content planning & creationAnalyze past content to determine what performed bestPlan content themes for the next three months (educational, promotional, engagement-focused)Batch-create at least one week’s worth of posts (captions, graphics, videos)Schedule posts in advance using BufferEngagement & growthSet a daily reminder to spend 10–15 minutes checking on your comments and DMsFollow and interact with industry leaders and potential collaboratorsGo live at least once to connect with your audience in real timeShare and encourage user-generated content from your followersOngoing tasksMonitor your analytics weekly and adjust strategy based on performanceExperiment with new content formats (reels, carousels, polls, live Q&As)Keep an eye on industry trends and adapt your strategy accordinglyView the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Offering a job to multiple people and giving it to the first one who accepts Decades ago, in the early 2000s, my friend was offered an assistant professor position at a university. She was told that the same job was being offered to several other candidates too, and that only the first person to accept the offer would be hired. Presumably as soon as one person accepted, the other offers would be withdrawn. I have never seen this practice anywhere else. This makes me curious: is this legal? (We are in the U.S.) What do you think of employers doing this? What advice would you give someone who gets an offer like this? It’s legal. It’s astonishingly terrible, though! First, it’s a crappy way to treat candidates, who deserve time to think over an offer and make sure it’s the right decision for them and not face pressure to beat everyone else to say yes. Second, good employers want new hires to have had time to mull over the offer so they’re confident in their decision (and thus less likely to cut and run soon after starting). Third, it implies that willingness to jump at the job is more important than who the strongest candidate actually is. Fourth, it’s just weirdly unnecessary. If there’s time pressure for making the hire, you can offer the job to your top candidate and explain the situation; you don’t need to turn it into the Hunger Games. Related: company offered me a job but wants an answer the same day 2. Reference checker asked how much sick leave an employee used What do you do when a reference checker asks you something you don’t believe in providing? I recently received an email regarding a reference for a former direct report. She was an excellent employee, and I was happy to provide it. They provided a list of questions via email and asked me to respond in kind. One of the questions was, “How many sick days leave has she taken during her employment?” I don’t think that’s appropriate information to provide. I have no idea if it’s legal — I’m in the U.S. and the new company is in the UK — but regardless, I don’t believe an employee’s usage of sick leave should impact their reference or their hireability. (And if it does, in workload or reliability, then that’ll show up in the rest of the reference, so it’s still unnecessary.) In this case, I was pressed for time, so I wrote: “An appropriate number, within allowable sick leave. I do not have exact figures.” (Which is true!) I think if it had been a phone reference, I would have been able to push back more clearly, but with an email, I wasn’t sure what else to do. Was that a reasonable response? Is there a better way to communicate “I will not help you fish for ways to not hire people who have human bodies and get sick sometimes”? Yeah, that’s a gross question. As you say, there are far better ways to get at whether someone was a reliable, productive employee — by asking about their actual work, not digging into their sick leave and thus their health. It’s also interesting that they didn’t ask about attendance in general, but about sick leave in particular. Your response was perfect. Also, while I can’t speak to UK law, in the U.S. that’s not a question any reference checkers should be asking, because it’s too likely to elicit information about a disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 3. My boss is pretending to answer emails as my coworker who no longer works here One of my coworkers, Jack, recently left the company. Rather than setting up an automatic response to emails that are sent to Jack, his boss has all Jack’s emails automatically forwarded to him. Jack’s boss then responds to the emails as Jack (not just from Jack’s account — he signs off with things like “Thanks! -Jack”). I understand that the email account belongs to the company, not Jack, but am I wrong to think this is strange and might look bad to a client who receives an email from “Jack” only to learn that he’s been gone for months? What! You are not wrong in your take at all. If his boss wasn’t signing off as Jack, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt and figure he just found it easier to answer from Jack’s account (and was maybe a little technologically inept so didn’t realize there are better ways of handling it). But the fact that he’s signing off with Jack’s name is extremely weird and risks blowing up the trust of any client who finds out it wasn’t actually Jack who has been emailing him (at least, assuming this is the sort of work where clients have a relationship with Jack and aren’t just sending one-off questions to be answered by anonymous, interchangeable strangers). Related: my company pretends that former employees still work here 4. My office keeps forgetting my birthday, while they go all-out for others I do outreach in a nonprofit organization, which requires me to travel between three locations in the county. At one location, staff birthdays are loudly recognized with balloons, cards, desserts, the works … except for mine. It has been overlooked for seven years. I talked to the manager of that location last year about it and her reasoning was that since my birthday is right before Christmas, that it’s easy to overlook. So, she put my birthday on the staff calendar. However, as you can probably guess, my birthday was just forgotten again. There are four people at this location and I have worked there longer than all of them except one person. I work at that location two days a week with just as many hours as two of the other staff members there. I am starting to feel really resentful and hurt that I am not as important or appreciated as the other staff, just because my birthday falls before a major holiday. Am I reading too much into this issue and should I just let it go? Do you think it’s worth it to bring it up again to the manager of that location? I think you are probably reading too much into it, but that you don’t need to let it go! I do think it’s probably true that your birthday is getting overlooked because it’s right before Christmas and a lot of people are out then. It’s very unlikely that it’s personal — especially if your coworkers are generally friendly people. You should let it go in the sense of “you shouldn’t keep stewing about it” (to the extent that that’s within your control), but you absolutely can and should point out to your manager that it happened again this year and that it doesn’t feel great, especially when you’d specifically raised it ahead of time. However, since it’s important to you, it also makes sense to change what you do this year! At the start of December, why not approach your manager and say, “Since it’s slipped through the cracks in the past, I was hoping we could plan our normal birthday stuff for my birthday this year. It’s on (date).” 5. I’m contributing a substantial portion of my team’s charitable goal My organization, like many, has an annual appeal for charity where employees can pledge as little as $1 per pay period (or as much as the fairly generous maximum) to charities of their choosing. The website lists thousands of charitable organizations covering almost any issue area that one could imagine. I have been contributing for several years and have increased my contribution each year along with my salary. An off-site administrator manages the campaign and distributes the funds and relays back an aggregate report on how much our organization has contributed. Based on that report, the org has had an overall pledge goal each year that we’ve routinely met. So far, so good. However, over the past few years, the team has been highlighting the progress towards the goal and the final total, and it’s clear that my pledge is a substantial part of each annual total for the entire organization. We are a small-to-medium organization so it’s not surprising that a few people could make a big difference, but my pledge is around 10% of the organization’s pledged total (or more!). I am well aware that many people have good reasons not to contribute to this particular appeal (they have financial constraints on giving, they have charities to which they prefer to give directly, they believe in direct mutual aid or in person-volunteering instead, etc.), and I would never consider it my business to press others to contribute, but it is unnerving to see just how much my single pledge means for the organization meeting this annual challenge. I am not currently planning to leave, but obviously employment across many sectors is in flux and I can’t predict the future. What, if any, responsibility would I have to share with the staffers who manage this campaign for my organization if I did leave? I am wondering if they’d even set a different pledge goal entirely if they knew my single pledge would no longer be included in the total. You have zero responsibility to give the campaign organizers any heads-up when you start thinking about leaving! They can see who contributes what, and they are definitely aware that any of their top givers could leave at any time, or could change their giving patterns. That’s built into the system. They should already be looking at the fact that a single employee is providing 10% of their funds and trying to find ways to balance that out. In any case, if you leave, they will either not meet their goal that year or they will adjust it or they’ll come up with some other plan to meet the goal. It’s not a big deal. (I mean, it might be a big-ish deal to the person charged with organizing the campaign — which ultimately is about PR for your company — but it’s not the sort of big deal where you’d owe anyone any special warning.) View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Offering a job to multiple people and giving it to the first one who accepts Decades ago, in the early 2000s, my friend was offered an assistant professor position at a university. She was told that the same job was being offered to several other candidates too, and that only the first person to accept the offer would be hired. Presumably as soon as one person accepted, the other offers would be withdrawn. I have never seen this practice anywhere else. This makes me curious: is this legal? (We are in the U.S.) What do you think of employers doing this? What advice would you give someone who gets an offer like this? It’s legal. It’s astonishingly terrible, though! First, it’s a crappy way to treat candidates, who deserve time to think over an offer and make sure it’s the right decision for them and not face pressure to beat everyone else to say yes. Second, good employers want new hires to have had time to mull over the offer so they’re confident in their decision (and thus less likely to cut and run soon after starting). Third, it implies that willingness to jump at the job is more important than who the strongest candidate actually is. Fourth, it’s just weirdly unnecessary. If there’s time pressure for making the hire, you can offer the job to your top candidate and explain the situation; you don’t need to turn it into the Hunger Games. Related: company offered me a job but wants an answer the same day 2. Reference checker asked how much sick leave an employee used What do you do when a reference checker asks you something you don’t believe in providing? I recently received an email regarding a reference for a former direct report. She was an excellent employee, and I was happy to provide it. They provided a list of questions via email and asked me to respond in kind. One of the questions was, “How many sick days leave has she taken during her employment?” I don’t think that’s appropriate information to provide. I have no idea if it’s legal — I’m in the U.S. and the new company is in the UK — but regardless, I don’t believe an employee’s usage of sick leave should impact their reference or their hireability. (And if it does, in workload or reliability, then that’ll show up in the rest of the reference, so it’s still unnecessary.) In this case, I was pressed for time, so I wrote: “An appropriate number, within allowable sick leave. I do not have exact figures.” (Which is true!) I think if it had been a phone reference, I would have been able to push back more clearly, but with an email, I wasn’t sure what else to do. Was that a reasonable response? Is there a better way to communicate “I will not help you fish for ways to not hire people who have human bodies and get sick sometimes”? Yeah, that’s a gross question. As you say, there are far better ways to get at whether someone was a reliable, productive employee — by asking about their actual work, not digging into their sick leave and thus their health. It’s also interesting that they didn’t ask about attendance in general, but about sick leave in particular. Your response was perfect. Also, while I can’t speak to UK law, in the U.S. that’s not a question any reference checkers should be asking, because it’s too likely to elicit information about a disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 3. My boss is pretending to answer emails as my coworker who no longer works here One of my coworkers, Jack, recently left the company. Rather than setting up an automatic response to emails that are sent to Jack, his boss has all Jack’s emails automatically forwarded to him. Jack’s boss then responds to the emails as Jack (not just from Jack’s account — he signs off with things like “Thanks! -Jack”). I understand that the email account belongs to the company, not Jack, but am I wrong to think this is strange and might look bad to a client who receives an email from “Jack” only to learn that he’s been gone for months? What! You are not wrong in your take at all. If his boss wasn’t signing off as Jack, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt and figure he just found it easier to answer from Jack’s account (and was maybe a little technologically inept so didn’t realize there are better ways of handling it). But the fact that he’s signing off with Jack’s name is extremely weird and risks blowing up the trust of any client who finds out it wasn’t actually Jack who has been emailing him (at least, assuming this is the sort of work where clients have a relationship with Jack and aren’t just sending one-off questions to be answered by anonymous, interchangeable strangers). Related: my company pretends that former employees still work here 4. My office keeps forgetting my birthday, while they go all-out for others I do outreach in a nonprofit organization, which requires me to travel between three locations in the county. At one location, staff birthdays are loudly recognized with balloons, cards, desserts, the works … except for mine. It has been overlooked for seven years. I talked to the manager of that location last year about it and her reasoning was that since my birthday is right before Christmas, that it’s easy to overlook. So, she put my birthday on the staff calendar. However, as you can probably guess, my birthday was just forgotten again. There are four people at this location and I have worked there longer than all of them except one person. I work at that location two days a week with just as many hours as two of the other staff members there. I am starting to feel really resentful and hurt that I am not as important or appreciated as the other staff, just because my birthday falls before a major holiday. Am I reading too much into this issue and should I just let it go? Do you think it’s worth it to bring it up again to the manager of that location? I think you are probably reading too much into it, but that you don’t need to let it go! I do think it’s probably true that your birthday is getting overlooked because it’s right before Christmas and a lot of people are out then. It’s very unlikely that it’s personal — especially if your coworkers are generally friendly people. You should let it go in the sense of “you shouldn’t keep stewing about it” (to the extent that that’s within your control), but you absolutely can and should point out to your manager that it happened again this year and that it doesn’t feel great, especially when you’d specifically raised it ahead of time. However, since it’s important to you, it also makes sense to change what you do this year! At the start of December, why not approach your manager and say, “Since it’s slipped through the cracks in the past, I was hoping we could plan our normal birthday stuff for my birthday this year. It’s on (date).” 5. I’m contributing a substantial portion of my team’s charitable goal My organization, like many, has an annual appeal for charity where employees can pledge as little as $1 per pay period (or as much as the fairly generous maximum) to charities of their choosing. The website lists thousands of charitable organizations covering almost any issue area that one could imagine. I have been contributing for several years and have increased my contribution each year along with my salary. An off-site administrator manages the campaign and distributes the funds and relays back an aggregate report on how much our organization has contributed. Based on that report, the org has had an overall pledge goal each year that we’ve routinely met. So far, so good. However, over the past few years, the team has been highlighting the progress towards the goal and the final total, and it’s clear that my pledge is a substantial part of each annual total for the entire organization. We are a small-to-medium organization so it’s not surprising that a few people could make a big difference, but my pledge is around 10% of the organization’s pledged total (or more!). I am well aware that many people have good reasons not to contribute to this particular appeal (they have financial constraints on giving, they have charities to which they prefer to give directly, they believe in direct mutual aid or in person-volunteering instead, etc.), and I would never consider it my business to press others to contribute, but it is unnerving to see just how much my single pledge means for the organization meeting this annual challenge. I am not currently planning to leave, but obviously employment across many sectors is in flux and I can’t predict the future. What, if any, responsibility would I have to share with the staffers who manage this campaign for my organization if I did leave? I am wondering if they’d even set a different pledge goal entirely if they knew my single pledge would no longer be included in the total. You have zero responsibility to give the campaign organizers any heads-up when you start thinking about leaving! They can see who contributes what, and they are definitely aware that any of their top givers could leave at any time, or could change their giving patterns. That’s built into the system. They should already be looking at the fact that a single employee is providing 10% of their funds and trying to find ways to balance that out. In any case, if you leave, they will either not meet their goal that year or they will adjust it or they’ll come up with some other plan to meet the goal. It’s not a big deal. (I mean, it might be a big-ish deal to the person charged with organizing the campaign — which ultimately is about PR for your company — but it’s not the sort of big deal where you’d owe anyone any special warning.) View the full article

Discover the top 16 best practices for a successful website migration. Avoid SEO performance issues and maximize the benefits of your site changes. The post Website Migration SEO Best Practices To Preserve Rankings And Avoid Common Pitfalls appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

From streamlining administrative tasks to enhancing brainstorming sessions, AI is becoming an essential workplace companion. Yet, despite its transformative promise, its integration isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. We recently conducted research at Lucid Software to uncover AI usage in the workplace. We found that more than a third of workers globally are already using AI for fundamental tasks like generating ideas (39%), creating content (37%), communicating summaries (33%), and finding documentation (31%). When thinking about how we’ve adopted the technology into our products, our decade-long investment in intelligence has been key to building an AI-ready platform that automates data visualization and enables rapid iteration while aligning seamlessly with how people work. The true potential for AI to continue transforming daily tasks and even larger strategic work will only be possible if AI fits into employees’ workflows in iterative and practical ways that allow teams to master the technology. Employees feel optimistic about AI The global survey of over 2,500 knowledge workers revealed critical insights about AI’s growing impact on the workplace. Overall, the findings paint an optimistic picture: nearly two-thirds (63%) of employees view AI as the gateway to more fulfilling work and improved work-life balance. When we more deeply explored what’s fueling this positive outlook, three key benefits emerged: 62% of employees highlight productivity gains, 40% value cost savings and tech stack consolidation, and 38% see enhanced communication and decision making. But what really caught my attention is the striking tangible impact on productivity; more than 50% of workers believe AI will save them at least three hours of work per week. That’s time they can plan to redirect and invest in strategic, higher-value initiatives. In fact, 45% of employees are already using AI to effectively advance projects. And while saving three hours per week is meaningful to workers, it’s likely just the beginning. As AI tools advance and adoption increases, the time saved could grow significantly in the years ahead. Barriers to AI adoption persist In conversations with customers and prospects, we’ve noticed an interesting sentiment: While they’re excited about what AI can do, they’re overwhelmed by the number of available AI tools. This feedback underscores a key insight—AI shouldn’t feel like an extra layer of complexity. When AI is seamlessly integrated into the tools people already know and love, it streamlines their everyday workflows without adding another system to learn or manage. When we looked further into the barriers holding back AI adoption, our survey uncovered a large divide between organizational levels. While 83% of executives actively use AI-powered collaboration tools, this drops to just 42% of entry-level workers. We’re also seeing a direct correlation between usage and confidence, too. Ninety percent of executives feel confident using AI-powered features, whereas 41% of entry-level employees feel hardly or not at all knowledgeable. AI regulation is top of mind Proper regulation and security are important for companies and employees. AI is a powerful and exciting tool, but there must be guidelines in place to keep company information safe. Our research reveals that 88% of companies are implementing strict guidelines to safeguard their business and employees—but effective implementation proves to be the larger obstacle at hand. The current disconnect between policy creation and awareness in the workforce is significant: While 70% of executives say their company has established AI policies, only 29% of entry-level employees are confident that these guardrails exist. Executives must spend time communicating and implementing these systems so teams are empowered to use AI with security top of mind. The path to more strategic AI AI’s impact extends beyond productivity and efficiency—it’s about enhancing how we work, improving job satisfaction and cultivating better work-life balance. It must be rolled out strategically and practically through comprehensive employee training and transparent AI integration strategies, bridging knowledge gaps across organizational levels, and addressing security and privacy concerns. AI isn’t about replacing people; it’s about empowering them. The future of work is collaborative and AI is a powerful partner that will amplify human potential. At Lucid, our goal is to make AI feel approachable, trustworthy, and impactful—something that genuinely helps teams get things done better and faster. Embracing this technology thoughtfully and inclusively will be key to organizational success and employee empowerment. Dave Grow is CEO of Lucid Software. View the full article

By Gordon Boggis and Michael DiTullo Imagine sitting in a café where the clatter of a fork hitting a plate across the room drowns out your conversation with the person sitting next to you. Have you ever worked in an open office filled with overlapping video calls, making it almost impossible to focus on the document on your screen? Perhaps you recall discussing sensitive matters in a bank while overhearing equally private conversations from the next office. These everyday examples highlight how disruptive noise pollution can be and how important it is to prioritize acoustics. The reality is that poor acoustics are a pervasive yet solvable problem. Like a pebble in your shoe, the issue might go unnoticed initially but grows increasingly unbearable as its effects compound. Many don’t realize the extent of the problem until they experience a well-designed acoustic environment. Moreover, poor acoustics don’t just inconvenience—they impact cognitive well-being, productivity, and learning. Studies consistently show that exposure to uncontrolled noise increases stress levels, reduces focus, and impairs performance. In addition, a study by the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology found that harmful noise impacts the central nervous system, increasing susceptibility to depression, anxiety, suicide, and behavioral problems. Acoustics affect the workplace Poor acoustics is of particular concern in learning and workplace environments. In the education realm, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ”poor acoustical design can result in excessive noise that is disruptive to the learning process and may negatively affect speech perception, student behavior, and educational outcomes.” Another recent study found similar results in higher education, with poor acoustics negatively impacting college students’ listening, learning, and well-being. Additionally, a recent report by JLL highlights how poor office acoustics and a lack of privacy negatively impact employee focus and productivity, with 58% of workers still preferring their home environments for concentration. These studies illustrate why workplace designers increasingly craft offices with diverse spaces tailored for collaboration and individual tasks, leveraging sound-insulating materials and technologies to create environments that support well-being and efficiency. 3 key acoustic design principles Despite this, businesses often overlook acoustic considerations in favor of aesthetics or cost-saving during design. The good news is that by integrating three fundamental principles into the design process, it’s possible to create functional spaces that are acoustically comfortable. Effective materials Materials with high noise reduction coefficient (NRC) ratings can significantly reduce sound reflection and absorption. Acoustic tiles, baffles, carpets, draperies, and upholstered furniture can work together to manage sound reverberation. Adding acoustic panels from 3 to 7 feet off the floor is particularly effective, as it targets the height where most sound waves from human activity occur. Opting for sustainable options—such as those made from recycled PET or reclaimed materials—adds an eco-conscious dimension to the solution. Minimize right angles Right angles in architecture can amplify echoes, causing delayed and overlapping sounds that disrupt clarity. Breaking up these angles with irregular geometries or introducing acoustic baffles and clouds can disperse sound waves, reducing ambient noise. If structural changes aren’t feasible, strategically placing furniture, screens, and partitions can achieve similar effects. Optimize the ceiling Often called the “fifth wall,” ceilings are critical in sound management. Open ceilings with exposed ducts and concrete surfaces, while visually appealing, can act as large reflectors that amplify sound. Incorporating baffles, clouds, or other sound-absorbing elements can transform these spaces without compromising the aesthetic. In one example, a domed cafeteria amplified sound across the room until designers introduced acoustic baffles to disrupt the reverberations. While individual elements like acoustic baffles or tiles with high NRC ratings are important, true acoustic success comes from a holistic approach. It’s not just about adding a couple of high-performing pieces—it’s about understanding how all components interact to create an effective solution. This is where experts, such as acousticians, play a critical role. Acousticians analyze the space comprehensively, considering factors like room geometry, materials, and usage patterns to recommend tailored solutions. Additionally, many companies with in-house acoustic design teams offer consultation services—often at no additional cost. These professionals can assess the entire space to ensure the selected acoustic strategies work cohesively, avoiding the pitfalls of piecemeal fixes that may fail to address the bigger picture. Design spaces that people want to be in Acoustics should be treated as integral to design as lighting or layout. We can create equally functional and enriching environments by thinking of sound as a raw material. Spaces with sculpted and controlled soundscapes promote productivity and focused learning while reinforcing cognitive well-being. Whether it’s improving educational outcomes, supporting a return to the office, attracting customers to a retail space, or enhancing public venues, sound can be a powerful tool for shaping experience. Gordon Boggis is CEO of Carnegie. Michael DiTullo is head of product innovation at Kirei, a division of Carnegie Acoustic Solutions. View the full article

There only a few absolute truths in life. The two most recognizable are death, and unless you’re very rich or politically connected, taxes. There are, however, numerous others just a slight tier below; not the least of which is that nearly everyone has a story of themselves or someone close to them wanting to be an architect at some point in their lives. In our collective societal brains we envision these rarified individuals to be highly creative thinkers and mathematical whizzes who are constantly innovating. Those who study history might even think of the great masters of antiquity such as Imhotep, Vitruvius, Brunelleschi, or other unknown masters of ancient Rome, Persia, Mesoamerica, or China as prime examples of such great genius at work. Folks may even recall the more recent genius of Buckminster Fuller, Eero Saarinen, or Frank Lloyd Wright. The modern reality of our profession, however, could not possibly be further from this perceived history, even in its most romanticized version. The death of architecture as we know it With the rise of technology there are radical changes headed our way and the architecture/design industry as we know it (and have known it for generations) will soon cease to exist as a result. This is not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it has the very real chance to be an incredible opportunity, if we let it. This is not to say that the architects of today aren’t highly creative or have a desire to innovate. It’s simply that the industry (especially in the U.S.) has severely and intentionally limited this creativity to a fault for a wide variety of reasons: consistency, profitability, and liability are chief amongst them. Like any technology, AI’s rise poses as many potential benefits as it does challenges. It’s all in the nuance of how we use it and adapt (or not). Those who do will thrive, those stuck in the ways of the past will count their days numbered (or look for other careers). Our roles as human “producers” of documents will rapidly morph into something much more resembling “creative direction” as many drawings become automated. While some will certainly still need to remain deeply involved to check drawings and provide overall concept direction (similar to what many senior designers and firm principals already do now) many other positions will simply no longer be needed as work that historically took teams of people days/weeks to produce will be accomplished in a matter of minutes. This will drastically reduce firm overhead and billing rates will likely soon follow as a result. Once this occurs, large scale firms that historically leveraged their numbers and resources will lose their competitive advantage and we will see the fast rise of micro studios taking on challenges and being competitive on projects previously thought impossible for all but the largest of companies. This will result in the typical business model being flipped on its head causing the industry to reappraise its value and focus on the more creative side of the profession. As is the case with any radical and fast-moving change, this is both deeply exciting and absolutely terrifying at the same time. The future of architecture This can and will be a golden age of exploration and possibilities if approached correctly. Do we dare to live up to the challenge? For a many reasons, the business of architecture has been profoundly broken for decades. It is often abusive and thrives off a “hustle culture” of overworking for nominal gain—in many cases simply to perpetuate the grandiose myth of a sole genius architect. As an industry we do a terrible job of educating the public, our clients, and to some degree even ourselves, as to what architects actually do. If we can’t define that and communicate our value, how can we ever expect things to ever change? This is not a shock to anyone paying the least bit of attention. It’s far past time that we burned it all down and started from scratch. Whether we like it or not, a sea change is coming. Circumstance will force our evolution and test our creativity in ways never before imagined—unlocking new practices, potential and possibilities. Let’s just all make sure to do this better next time. “Our profession’s culture is trapped in a doom loop and it’s up to us to change it,” said Evelyn Lee, president of the American Institute of Architects. I once told a friend when I was about to go out on my own, rethinking the future of the practice and my place within it, “I don’t want to be an architect. I just want to do really incredible architecture and there’s a really big difference.” William Dodge is founder and design principal at p-u-b-l-i-c and cofounder and artist at A Gang of Three. View the full article

Strong economic growth coupled with a solid labor market allows officials to wait for further evidence of cooling inflation before adjusting rates again. It also offers them time to evaluate President Donald Trump's policies. View the full article

Sharing files or accessing messages between a Windows PC and an iPhone can be an utter pain in the rear, mostly because, without third-party utilities, you can’t rely on AirDrop to do it. There’s the Phone Link app, but even that requires opening up a separate window—your PC won’t even be able to serve you iMessage notifications unless it’s open. Meanwhile, Android users currently have a smoother experience, able to access their connected phones’ battery levels, messages, and calls right from the Windows Start menu. Now, iPhone users are finally about to get the same. In a blog post on its site, Microsoft announced that its Windows Insider beta testers are currently getting expanded Start menu phone integration, bringing features Android users have been enjoying since October to iPhone. These include the ability to connect a phone to your PC right from the start menu, plus that battery status and message/call information (seemingly, you'll finally be able to get your iPhone notifications on Windows without needing to open the Phone Link app first). The only thing that appears to be missing is the ability to browse your photos right from the start menu, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to access them. That’s thanks to the new “Send files” button, an addition for both Android and iPhone. This will let you access your phone’s files without having to go through the Phone Link app, and it should make photo sharing much simpler, as doing so with an iPhone currently requires relying on either another test feature or going through the multi-step process to connect iCloud to the Windows Photos app. To see iPhone integration in the Windows 11 Start menu, you’ll need to have an iPhone running iOS 16 or higher (meaning nothing older than an iPhone 8), plus the Phone Link app on both your iPhone and Windows 11 PC. You’ll also need to register for the free Windows Insider program, but most importantly, you’ll need to wait. Microsoft says these features are “gradually rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels,” so just being signed up might not be enough to access them at first. You can check if you have them by navigating to Settings > Personalization > Start. View the full article

Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were mingling with water almost right from the start. “That’s the kind of environment that could have been essential to the steps that lead from elements to life,” said the Smithsonian Institution’s Tim McCoy, one of the lead study authors. NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft returned 122 grams (4 ounces) of dust and pebbles from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, delivering the sample canister to the Utah desert in 2023 before swooping off after another space rock. It remains the biggest cosmic haul from beyond the moon. The two previous asteroid sample missions, by Japan, yielded considerably less material. Small amounts of Bennu’s precious black grains — leftovers from the solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago — were doled out to the two separate research teams whose studies appeared in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy. But it was more than enough to tease out the sodium-rich minerals and confirm the presence of amino acids, nitrogen in the form of ammonia and even parts of the genetic code. Some if not all of the delicate salts found at Bennu — similar to what’s in the dry lakebeds of California’s Mojave Desert and Africa’s Sahara — would be stripped away if present in falling meteorites. “This discovery was only possible by analyzing samples that were collected directly from the asteroid then carefully preserved back on Earth,” the Institute of Science Tokyo’s Yasuhito Sekine, who was not involved in the studies, said in an accompanying editorial. Combining the ingredients of life with an environment of sodium-rich salt water, or brines, “that’s really the pathway to life,” said McCoy, the National Museum of Natural History’s curator of meteorites. “These processes probably occurred much earlier and were much more widespread than we had thought before.” NASA’s Daniel Glavin said one of the biggest surprises was the relatively high abundance of nitrogen, including ammonia. While all of the organic molecules found in the Bennu samples have been identified before in meteorites, Glavin said the ones from Bennu are valid — “real extraterrestrial organic material formed in space and not a result of contamination from Earth.” Bennu — a rubble pile just one-third of a mile (one-half of a kilometer) across — was originally part of a much larger asteroid that got clobbered by other space rocks. The latest results suggest this parent body had an extensive underground network of lakes or even oceans, and that the water evaporated away, leaving behind the salty clues. Sixty labs around the world are analyzing bits of Bennu as part of initial studies, said the University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, the mission’s chief scientist who took part in both studies. Most of the $1 billion mission’s cache has been set aside for future analysis. Scientists stress more testing is needed to better understand the Bennu samples, as well as more asteroid and comet sample returns. China plans to launch an asteroid sample return mission this year. Many are pushing for a mission to collect rocks and dirt from the potentially waterlogged dwarf planet Ceres in the main asteroid belt. Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus also beckon as enticing water worlds. Meanwhile, NASA has core samples awaiting pickup at Mars, but their delivery is on hold while the space agency studies the quickest and cheapest way to get them here. “Are we alone?” McCoy said. “That’s one of the questions we’re trying to answer.” —Marcia Dunn, AP aerospace writer The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. View the full article

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI chatbot topping App Store downloads, failed 83% of accuracy tests and often promotes government positions. The post DeepSeek Fails 83% Of Accuracy Tests, NewsGuard Reports appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Mortgage experts were expecting the first FOMC meeting under President Trump would have more significance in the long run than short-term, with some wild cards. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you’ve been shopping around for knives, you’ve probably noticed that there are tons of options available to you. Between boning knives, filet knives, bread knives and the like, it can start to feel like each ingredient needs its own special blade. Recently, I was wondering if a carving knife would be worth adding to my toolkit, so I got one to test out. It was sharp, light, and pretty to look at, but it turns out I didn’t need a carving knife at all. I have been working with a lot of chicken lately—spatchcocked birds, butterflied chicken breasts, and deboned chicken thighs—and when you’re slicing a lot of meat you begin to wonder if there’s a “perfect” knife to do the job. I was carving meat, so a carving knife is what I needed. Right? What is a carving knife?The goal of a carving knife is to take care of long cuts or single-stroke cuts. The fewer times you have to lift the knife and continue the same cut, the better. It also might be your intention to use a carving knife to divide a roast into parts, like a chicken into drumsticks, wings, and breast slices. It can help you there too. Carving knives vary slightly depending on the knife-maker or brand, but overall, you’ll see more similarities among them: The length (sometimes up to 12 inches) and a slightly curved and pointed blade. The sharp and thin blade ensures that the meat doesn’t tear, and the length makes it easier to slice large roasts. A chef’s knife can do the trickAfter trying out my carving knife for a few months, I was happy with its performance, but I wasn't in love. I wanted to go back to using my chef’s knife for carving. It was just as sharp, I preferred the balance of its weight more, and the length wasn’t all that different, so I could still get through large roasts. What’s more, I really didn’t use the carving knife for anything else, so it was taking up valuable space on my magnet strip. Sure, if you’re always smoking brisket or whole roasts are frequently a part of your family meal rotation, it might make sense for you to invest in a carving knife. If you do, I suggest one with a hollow edge like this one from Messermeister. The little divots in the sides provide a small air pocket between the metal and the meat to prevent suction. For me and others who are only slicing big roasts a few times a season or once a year, a carving knife may not be a necessary expense if you have a chef’s knife you already like. I’ve had a Wüsthof chef’s knife for ages and it’s often the only knife I need to prepare a meal. WÜSTHOF Classic 10" Chef's Knife, Black $200.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Shop Now Shop Now $200.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg A good chef’s knife can do the chopping, scoring, and carving as long as you keep it sharp. If you’re not sure how to do that, do not fear: Here’s a helpful guide on taking care of your knives. View the full article

Get ready for an onslaught of ads full of celebrities, cute animals and snack brands during breaks in the action at Super Bowl 59 on Feb. 9, when the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Anheuser-Busch, Meta, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Taco Bell, Uber Eats and others will vie to win over the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in for the broadcast on Fox and via the free livestream on Tubi. Demand for ad space was robust this year, said Mark Evans, executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports, with ad space selling out in November and a waitlist for marketers ready to take the space of anyone who pulled out. The high demand seems to have pushed prices to a record, with a few ad spots reportedly selling for a record $8 million and even $8 million-plus for 30 seconds. Fox declined to comment on the specific price tag for 30 seconds, which can vary depending on placement and other factors. But in an earnings call in November, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said ad space had sold out at “record pricing.” Last year, a 30-second spot went for around a reported $7 million. The Super Bowl is a hot ticket for advertisers because the live viewing audience is so large. Last year, an estimated 123.7 million viewers tuned into the game, according to Nielsen. Evans said the mix of ad categories for the most part includes the usual suspects: beverages, snacks, tech companies and telcos. There will be a focus on AI in more commercials, he said, and slightly more pharmaceutical companies advertising this year. One category that’s down is movie promos and streamers. Another traditionally big category for the Super Bowl, automakers, are mainly sitting it out after a tough year in the sector, with only Stellantis’ Jeep and Ram brands having announced an appearance. The California wildfires in January made the lead up to the game less predictable than usual. State Farm pulled out of its planned advertising to focus on the fires. And some other advertisers faced production delays. But Evans said accommodations were made wherever possible. “These are unique circumstances. … So we’re being as accommodating as possible to try to make sure that everybody can get done what they need to get done,” he said. “But more importantly, you know, don’t put themselves or anybody else in harm’s way because of it.” Advertisers are expected to begin releasing their ads in the days ahead of the game. One of the first ads to debut was an ad for Budweiser, featuring a Clydesdale foal that helps make a beer delivery. Another Anheuser-Busch brand, Michelob Ultra, also released its ad, which shows Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara as pickleball hustlers. Hellmann’s ad brings Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal back together for a reprise of the Katz’s Deli scene in “When Harry Met Sally.” Teasers have abounded this year, from an Uber Eats teaser starring Charli XCX and Martha Stewart to Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt touting Meta’s Smart Glasses. —Mae Anderson, AP business writer View the full article

Members whose districts include Altadena and Pacific Palisades are behind the measure, which calls for an initial 180-day forbearance period. View the full article

Mortgage 1 Inc., founded in 1994, says customers and regulators have mistakenly contacted it instead of Mortgage One Funding, which changed its name in 2021. View the full article

If you have T-Mobile, and either an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy device, you now have access to Starlink—potentially. Here's the scoop: Back in December, T-Mobile announced a partnership between itself and SpaceX to bring Starlink service to customers. Then, earlier this month, the company started accepting users into the beta, but only those with specific, recent Samsung devices. However, that changed when Apple released iOS 18.3 this week. It seems the iPhone maker has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to roll out Starlink support to iPhones as well—though none of this was announced from Apple as part of the update. T-Mobile isn't letting all iPhones customers into the beta just yet. If you get in, you'll receive a text message that reads: "You're in the T-Mobile Starlink beta. You can now stay connected with texting via satellite from virtually anywhere. To start experiencing coverage beyond, please update to iOS 18.3." How to join the T-Mobile Starlink betaIf you're interested in getting into T-Mobile's Starlink beta, you first need a compatible device. On the Samsung front, that includes the Galaxy S24 5G, Galaxy S24 Plus 5G, Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G, Galaxy Z Fold 6 5G, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 5G. Any iPhone that can run iOS 18.3 is compatible. From here, you'll need to head to T-Mobile's official Starlink page, and choose "Register now," or scroll down to the registration section. You'll need to enter your first and last name, email address, and phone number. Don't worry if you can't get in yet: T-Mobile says it is expanding the plan soon, so expect more spots to open up imminently. What's the big deal with satellite connectivity?Being able to connect your smartphone to satellites is, quite literally, a game changer. It means you no longer need to worry about losing cell service or being able from a wifi connection. As long as you have a somewhat clear view to the sky, you're able to connect to the outside world. To be clear, this feature only works when you do not have available cellular service. At this point, your phone can then connect to the nearest satellites. You will not have the option to manually connect to satellites when you have a network connection. At this point in time, T-Mobile's Starlink beta only works for texting. But, according to Elon Musk, the current Starlink technology should support medium resolution images, and music and podcast streaming. But even if T-Mobile only supports texting at this time, you can imagine what a lifeline that is. If you have no cell service, and would otherwise not be able to reach out to emergency services or essential contacts, you can connect to a Starlink satellite and send text messages to either (or both). That said, this is not the first time iPhones have been able to connect to satellites. Apple has offered satellite connectivity since 2022, when it debuted "Emergency SOS via satellite" with the iPhone 14. The company expanded upon the feature with iOS 18: Before, you could only contact emergency services or roadside assistance via satellite, but since last year's big update, you've been able to send messages to anyone. For the past two and a half years, Apple has worked exclusively with Globalstar Inc. for satellite connectivity. Going forward, however, if you have an iPhone, and are enrolled in this T-Mobile beta, your phone will default to connecting to SpaceX's satellites. From here, you'll be able to manually connect to Apple's exclusive satellite services if you wish. Interestingly, while Apple's satellite feature makes you point your phone towards the sky to search for the closest satellite, Starlink's service should connect automatically. View the full article

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced pushback on his views on abortion (and other issues) during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Wednesday with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Since his nomination, President Donald Trump’s highly controversial pick to head the nation’s top health post has elicited wide-ranging criticism for his radical views on a whole host of health issues, from vaccines and the U.S. healthcare system to our nation’s food supply. As Fast Company previously reported, Kennedy has been accused of making numerous false and misleading scientific claims, including those relating to autism and raw milk. If confirmed, he would oversee the agencies regulating many of these important health issues. Democrats, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, pressed the nominee hard on his past support for abortion access and recent flip-flop against a woman’s right to choose. It remains unclear whether Kennedy has the votes, particularly from Democrats, to clinch the confirmation. Sanders quoted RFK Jr.’s own 2023 support for women’s autonomy over their bodies, adding, “I have never seen any major politician flip on that issue quite as quickly as you did when Trump asked you to become HHS secretary.” Kennedy replied, “Senator, I believe and I’ve always believed that every abortion is a tragedy.” He refused to answer Sanders’s question on whether healthcare is a human right. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, asked RFK Jr. if pregnant women whose lives were in danger should be allowed to have emergency abortions in states where it is banned. His response: “I don’t know.” RFK Jr. ran against Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate and after dropping out of the race, endorsed Trump (after reported conversations that Trump would reward him with a cabinet position). The son of former U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, he is a member of the prominent Kennedy family, longtime Democrats, who have been quick to say he is unfit for office. His cousin, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), went one step further, writing a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, urging the Senate to reject his nomination, referring to RFK Jr. as a “predator” and arguing that “siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness and death.” She read the letter in a video posted on X by her son, Jack Schlossberg, a popular social media political commentator who has also strongly denounced the nomination. View the full article

Amazon.com was sued on Wednesday by consumers who accused the retailing giant of secretly tracking their movements through their cellphones, and selling data it collects. According to a proposed class action in San Francisco federal court, Amazon obtained “backdoor access” to consumers’ phones by providing tens of thousands of app developers with code known as Amazon Ads SDK to be embedded in their apps. This allegedly enabled Amazon to collect an enormous amount of timestamped geolocation data about where consumers live, work, shop and visit, revealing sensitive information such as religious affiliations, sexual orientations and health concerns. “Amazon has effectively fingerprinted consumers and has correlated a vast amount of personal information about them entirely without consumers’ knowledge and consent,” the complaint said. The complaint was filed by Felix Kolotinsky of San Mateo, California, who said Amazon collected his personal information through the “Speedtest by Ookla” app on his phone. He said Amazon’s conduct violated California’s penal law and a state law against unauthorized computer access, and seeks unspecified damages for millions of Californians. Amazon, based in Seattle, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Individuals and regulators are increasingly complaining that companies are trying to profit from information gathered without consent from cellphones. On Jan. 13, the state of Texas sued Allstate for allegedly tracking drivers through cellphones, using the data to raise premiums or deny coverage, and selling the data to other insurers. Allstate said its data collection fully complies with all laws and regulations. At least eight similar private lawsuits against Allstate have been subsequently filed. The case is Kolotinsky v Amazon.com Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 25-00931. —Jonathan Stempel, Reuters View the full article