ResidentialBusiness

Rochester, New York, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, stood atop Realtor.com's list for the second consecutive year, due to their affordability. View the full article

CES is a show that’s all about the future. Usually, that future is within the next year or two. Companies show off products to kick off marketing campaigns and begin building consumer demand. Sometimes, though, they offer a peek a good bit further down the road. Several prototypes at this year’s CES offered clues about how companies expect the consumer electronics world to evolve. Many, of course, will fall by the wayside. Almost all of them will experience changes before getting anywhere close to market. Despite that, though, they offer a look into a consumer electronics crystal ball. Here are some trends they’re prophesizing for the years to come. Smart watches will get a lot more useful – and easier to repair Smart watches already do a lot. They free up users’ hands, letting them check messages, see who is calling them without fumbling for their phone, track health data, and can act as a lifeline if you’re stranded. They’re good for opening hotel room doors, but they’re generally not seen as being secure enough for something like a banking or access system. Cambridge Consultants, however, showcased a prototype luxury watch that also doubles as a digital passkey. The rotary bezel (the rotating ring with markings most often seen on dive watches) utilizes extreme miniaturization to boost security components. At that same demo: a prototype smart watch designed to let consumers repair the device itself without sacrificing the aesthetics. Augmented reality will ditch the cameras Eye tracking, at present, requires a camera. But another prototype being shown by Cambridge Consultants did away with the lens, using a photonics and sensor fusion instead. That could be the push AR needs to gain wider acceptance, as it could make headsets significantly smaller and more comfortable. TVs are about to be a lot brighter This upcoming trend is a lot closer than some of the others. Both Samsung and TCL were showcasing TV sets that blast out the colors, utilizing next-generation backlighting called RGB LED, the latest in the alphabet soup mishmash of backlighting names (which also includes QLED, OLED, LED, Mini LED, and more). The colors pop like never before, but the screens are also significantly brighter – to the extent that if you’re too close, you might find yourself squinting. The Samsung prototype reached a brightness of 4,500-nits. That’s about twice the level of current high end TVs. Position sensing could be the next battleground As the robotics industry continues to grow and nudge its way into homes and businesses, it’s going to be crucial for positioning software to be as precise as possible. (It’s fun to watch a robot dance, but a lot less fun when it hits you full force while showcasing its moves.) This year’s CES showed off a number of new position sensing technologies, from Lego’s smart bricks, which incorporate position sensing into play, to a prototype architecture that shrinks the footprint of unidirectional position sensing. That could open the door to adding position sensing to devices where it currently can’t be used — while also ensuring your housebot doesn’t accidentally pop you with a right hook as it takes care of your laundry. View the full article

Brands love to insert themselves into cultural conversations or piggyback on buzzy current events, a strategy sometimes called newsjacking. But it can happen without seeking, or even wanting, the attention. The borderline absurd virality of a Nike tracksuit evidently worn by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as he was taken into the custody of American captors is the most high-profile recent example—but it definitely won’t be the last. This form of what we could call involuntary product placement can be a conundrum for brands, which prefer to be associated with upbeat or positive events, not dictators or controversial geopolitics. And that’s been made even more challenging by a starkly divided political climate that has put brands from Bud Light to Tesla to Hilton in the crossfire, and a hypercharged social media environment that constantly hungers for new angles, riffs, and takes on whatever is hogging the spotlight. Of course, involuntary product placement isn’t new: If you remember the car chase climaxing in O.J. Simpson’s arrest, you know he was driving a Ford Bronco. Yet unsolicited pop-culture brand cameos aren’t always bad. Ocean Spray, for instance, enjoyed a boost after it accidentally had a starring role in a feel-good viral clip of a skateboarder sipping the drink as Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” played. And in a marketing-soaked world, plenty of accidental brand appearances scarcely register. But that same ubiquity is part of what makes brands such handy and ultimately irresistible signifiers for people to latch on to and exploit—especially now, when they pop up in full-on news spectacles amplified by social media. Spawning instant and endless memes (and, increasingly, AI fakery), these events soak up and repurpose all the relevant cultural material they can, brands very much included. When a healthcare executive was gunned down in Manhattan in 2024, for example, coverage of the subsequent manhunt included plenty of online scrutiny of his jacket, backpack, and other gear. Since Luigi Mangione was arrested on murder charges for the crime, brand sleuths have continued to obsess over his courtroom style choices, snapping up items like a merino sweater from Nordstrom he wore to his arraignment. Luigi Mangione The Maduro tracksuit has brought all this to a new level, attracting attention for how much attention it was attracting. Searches for Nike Tech spiked, and styles and colorways similar to the jacket and pants Maduro wore were selling out; some reviews on the brand’s site seemed to wink at the whole scenario. (“Viva Venezuela!!”) There was something disconcerting about the “presence of a globally recognizable brand in a moment typically governed by the visual codes of state power,” design writer and educator Debbie Millman observed. “Athleisure replaced uniform; a logo supplanted insignia.” The specific tracksuit “has its own cultural significance,” a New York Times style assessment on the matter reported, and has lately served as a “uniform” of sorts for some rappers and athletes (and their fans). Less seriously, of course, the juxtaposition of a detained head of state and Nike gear was fodder for a slew of ironic meme humor—a “steal his look” parody; the mock slogan “For the gym. For errands. For federal custody,” and so on. A brand caught up in an involuntary product placement moment certainly doesn’t want to be seen as celebrating the attention. But really any kind of acknowledgment can be fraught. When the healthcare executive’s killer was still at large, the CEO of Peak Design recognized the shooter’s backpack as one made by his company, reached out to law enforcement—and ended up being threatened by customers who evidently wanted the fugitive to escape. As for Nike and its tracksuit’s unplanned week in the spotlight, the company swiftly replied to an inquiry from Fast Company, declining any comment. Sometimes when a brand finds its products placed in the middle of the cultural conversation, the best move is to just do nothing and wait quietly until the news moves on. View the full article

Cocoa set for large-scale buying during index rebalance periodView the full article

Start-up limits use of image generation system to paid users following spread of deepfakes and child sex abuse materialView the full article

Rokos Capital returned 31% in 2024 following wild swings in equity, bond and commodity marketsView the full article

A new insult for artificial intelligence just dropped thanks to Microsoft’s CEO. If you use Microsoft products, it’s near impossible to avoid AI now. The company is pushing AI agents deep into Windows, with every app, service, and product Microsoft has on the market now including some kind of AI integration, without the option to opt out. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently shared a blog post to LinkedIn titled “Looking Ahead to 2026” offering an insight into the company’s focus for the new year. Spoiler alert: it’s AI. Nadella wrote that he wants users to stop thinking of AI as “slop” and start thinking of it as “bicycles for the mind.” Many took the post as a pushback against the popular insult “slop” often leveled at anything AI-generated, recently crowned Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025. The internet saw Nadella’s critique and raised him a new insult for anything AI, now dubbed “Microslop.” “I will hereby be referring to Microsoft as MicroSlop for the rest of 2026,” one X user posted in response to Nadella’s words. The post currently has almost 200,000 views. The term subsequently trended across Instagram, Reddit, X and beyond. On X, @MrEwanMorrison wrote, “A great example of the ‘Streisand Effect’ – in which telling people not to call AI ‘slop’ is already backfiring and resulting in millions of people hearing the word for the first time and spreading it virally. A huge own goal from Microslop.” “Year of the Linux desktop,” another X user posted. “but not because of Linux.” In a separate clip uploaded over the weekend, programmer Ryan Fleury demonstrates Microslop in action. At the start of the video, the settings page AI-powered search bar for Windows 11 recommends searching “My mouse pointer is too small.” Yet, when Fleury searches “My mouse pointer is too small,” word for word, nothing turns up. He waits around for a moment or two, but nothing loads. But when he looks up “test” afterwards, three results pop up. “This is not a real company,” Fleury wrote. He then added: “AI writes 90% of our code!!!!,” referring to claims made by Nadella that as much as 30% of the company’s code is now written by artificial intelligence. “Don’t worry, we can tell.” View the full article

Over the course of 2025, deepfakes improved dramatically. AI-generated faces, voices, and full-body performances that mimic real people increased in quality far beyond what even many experts expected would be the case just a few years ago. They were also increasingly used to deceive people. For many everyday scenarios—especially low-resolution video calls and media shared on social media platforms—their realism is now high enough to reliably fool nonexpert viewers. In practical terms, synthetic media have become indistinguishable from authentic recordings for ordinary people and, in some cases, even for institutions. And this surge is not limited to quality. The volume of deepfakes has grown explosively: Cybersecurity firm DeepStrike estimates an increase from roughly 500,000 online deepfakes in 2023 to about 8 million in 2025, with annual growth nearing 900%. I’m a computer scientist who researches deepfakes and other synthetic media. From my vantage point, I see that the situation is likely to get worse in 2026 as deepfakes become synthetic performers capable of reacting to people in real time. Just about anyone can now make a deepfake video. Dramatic improvements Several technical shifts underlie this dramatic escalation. First, video realism made a significant leap, thanks to video generation models designed specifically to maintain temporal consistency. These models produce videos that have coherent motion, consistent identities of the people portrayed, and content that makes sense from one frame to the next. The models disentangle the information related to representing a person’s identity from the information about motion so that the same motion can be mapped to different identities, or the same identity can have multiple types of motions. These models produce stable, coherent faces without the flicker, warping, or structural distortions around the eyes and jawline that once served as reliable forensic evidence of deepfakes. Second, voice cloning has crossed what I would call the “indistinguishable threshold.” A few seconds of audio now suffice to generate a convincing clone—complete with natural intonation, rhythm, emphasis, emotion, pauses, and breathing noise. This capability is already fueling large-scale fraud. Some major retailers report receiving over 1,000 AI-generated scam calls per day. The perceptual tells that once gave away synthetic voices have largely disappeared. Third, consumer tools have pushed the technical barrier almost to zero. Upgrades from OpenAI’s Sora 2 and Google’s Veo 3 and a wave of startups mean that anyone can describe an idea, let a large language model such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini draft a script, and generate polished audio-visual media in minutes. AI agents can automate the entire process. The capacity to generate coherent, storyline-driven deepfakes at a large scale has effectively been democratized. This combination of surging quantity and personas that are nearly indistinguishable from real humans creates serious challenges for detecting deepfakes, especially in a media environment where people’s attention is fragmented and content moves faster than it can be verified. There has already been real-world harm—from misinformation to targeted harassment and financial scams—enabled by deepfakes that spread before people have a chance to realize what’s happening. AI researcher Hany Farid explains how deepfakes work and how good they’re getting. The future is real time Looking forward, the trajectory for next year is clear: Deepfakes are moving toward real-time synthesis that can produce videos that closely resemble the nuances of a human’s appearance, making it easier for them to evade detection systems. The frontier is shifting from static visual realism to temporal and behavioral coherence: models that generate live or near-live content rather than pre-rendered clips. Identity modeling is converging into unified systems that capture not just how a person looks, but how they move, sound, and speak across contexts. The result goes beyond “this resembles person X,” to “this behaves like person X over time.” I expect entire video-call participants to be synthesized in real time; interactive AI-driven actors whose faces, voices, and mannerisms adapt instantly to a prompt; and scammers deploying responsive avatars rather than fixed videos. As these capabilities mature, the perceptual gap between synthetic and authentic human media will continue to narrow. The meaningful line of defense will shift away from human judgment. Instead, it will depend on infrastructure-level protections. These include secure provenance, such as media signed cryptographically, and AI content tools that use the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity specifications. It will also depend on multimodal forensic tools such as my lab’s Deepfake-o-Meter. Simply looking harder at pixels will no longer be adequate. Siwei Lyu is a professor of computer science and engineering and director of the UB Media Forensic Lab at the University at Buffalo. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Kyiv confirms projectile flying up to 13,000km an hour hit infrastructure near western city of LvivView the full article

Strategic planning is a big business. Companies spend millions of dollars working with consulting firms to chart a path forward. Not only does a lot of money change hands as part of this process, but the amount of time that employees invest in working on the plan likely doubles the cost of the entire process. In the end, leadership gets a shiny report they can send to employees, shareholders, external stakeholders, and others. Often, though, much less money and time is invested in implementing that plan than was spent creating it. As a result, there is a lot of cynicism around engaging in strategic plans. In many ways, this feels a lot like New Year’s resolutions. With great fervor, people will identify a change they want to make in the new year. Now is the time to get physically fit, develop deeper relationships, or get an education. Yet, most people have abandoned their resolutions in a few weeks. The central problem with strategic plans is in the name itself. Every organization needs to be concerned both with strategy and tactics. Strategy defines the north star for the organization. What are the big-picture elements you’re trying to accomplish? Tactics is the method for getting there. What specific steps are team members going to take on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis that will lead to the desired outcome. Ultimately, a strategy is unlikely to meet with success without a tactical plan to get there. There are several things leaders can do to increase the chances of success for a strategic plan. In many ways, these mirror the steps people need to take to be better at achieving their New Year’s resolutions. Focus on resources A big part of the problem with the strategic planning process is that the focus is almost entirely on strategy instead of the resources needed to execute on it. Organizations take their plan and then develop other teams tasked with turning that plan into a reality. This creates two central problems. There are inevitable tradeoffs that must be made to start to implement a plan, which dampens enthusiasm for the golden future the strategy promised. In addition, the resource (human, financial, and material) needed to implement the plan is rarely identified ahead of time, which leads to significant battles during implementation. A planning process should put most of the effort into the tactical planning rather than the strategic planning. Responsibility for particular elements of the plan should be given to specific groups. Money needed to move the plan forward should be identified early. The new work to be done should not just be dumped on top of the existing load carried by employees. Instead, responsibilities must be shifted so that people in the organization have the time to make progress on the new work. Otherwise, the plan will fail. Identify concrete steps If an organization is going to do things differently in the future than it does in the present, people are going to have to engage in different actions than they were before. That means you need to know what people are doing now. How do the actions people take now move the organization’s mission forward? How can the elements of that mission that cannot be lost be integrated with tasks that will promote the new direction? Much of the success of this planning process also requires thinking through the reward structure for employees. In any organization, there is what you say, what you do, and what you reward, and people listen to those in reverse order. What you reward is what drives a lot of daily behavior. So, if you want people to do something different tomorrow than they were doing today, you’re going to have to shift what people are rewarded for doing so that more of the actions related to the new goals is incorporated into the work day. This kind of specific exploration of the work day is not nearly as much fun as envisioning a bright future, which is why strategic planning processes often kick that can down the road. But, this kind of detailed work is directly related to the likelihood of success of the plan. Try, then adapt As Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The other reason that the planning process is fun (albeit unproductive) is that it is blissfully unsullied by reality. It is impossible to envision the issues that will inevitably arise as you implement a plan. Success at reaching a strategic goal is done in successive approximations. You try something, measure the outcomes, and then assess what is working and what is not. Keep what works, and fix what doesn’t. Ultimately, your plans are more like software than hardware. Hardware is as good as it will ever be when it comes out of the box. Software gets better by patching the bugs and adding new features. When you commit to continuous improvement of your tactical plans, you greatly improve the likelihood of reaching strategic aims. View the full article

Paycheck pay, or net pay, is what you actually take home after deductions. To figure it out, you’ll start with your gross pay, which is based on your hourly wage or annual salary. From there, various deductions like taxes and contributions come into play. Comprehending this process is essential, as it affects your overall financial planning. Next, let’s break down the calculations and see what influences your paycheck further. Key Takeaways Paycheck pay is the net income received after all deductions from gross pay, including taxes and contributions. Gross pay is calculated by multiplying hourly rate by hours worked or dividing annual salary by pay periods. Deductions include federal, state, local taxes, FICA taxes, and any pre-tax contributions like retirement savings. Net income is determined by subtracting all applicable deductions from gross pay, resulting in take-home pay. Pay frequency affects the number of pay periods annually, influencing cash flow and financial management. Understanding Paycheck Pay Comprehending paycheck pay is crucial for managing your finances effectively, especially since it directly impacts your take-home income. Paycheck pay refers to the amount you receive after deductions, commonly known as net pay. To calculate this, you start with your gross pay, which is your total earnings before any deductions are taken out. These deductions include federal, state, and local taxes, in addition to FICA taxes, which fund Social Security and Medicare. Your gross pay can be determined by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of hours worked, or by dividing your annual salary by the number of pay periods. Grasping these calculations allows you to see how much you’re actually bringing home. To simplify this process, you can use paycheck calculators that help estimate your take-home pay by inputting your salary, pay frequency, and applicable deductions, making it easier to plan your finances. Calculating Gross Pay Calculating your gross pay accurately is essential, as it serves as the foundation for grasping your overall earnings. To figure out gross pay, start by determining if you’re paid hourly or salaried. For hourly employees, multiply the number of hours worked by your hourly wage, including any overtime hours at a higher rate. If you’re salaried, calculate your annual salary from your hourly rate by dividing your yearly salary by the number of pay periods in a year. You can likewise use a payroll hours calculator to assist with these calculations. Knowing how to compute monthly income or how to determine hourly rate from salary guarantees you comprehend your earnings. Keep in mind that gross pay may fluctuate based on hours worked, bonuses, or commissions. Mastering how to calculate gross salary helps you grasp your financial situation and prepares you for realizing net pay after deductions. Deductions and Withholdings When you receive your paycheck, it’s crucial to comprehend that various deductions and withholdings will reduce your gross pay, leading to your net income. Federal income tax withholding is based on the details you provide on your W-4 form, including your filing status and number of dependents. In addition, FICA taxes, which include a 6.2% Social Security tax and a 1.45% Medicare tax, are likewise deducted from your gross pay. If you earn over $200,000, an extra 0.9% Medicare tax applies. Pre-tax deductions, such as contributions to retirement plans or health insurance premiums, lower your taxable income, thereby reducing the amount of federal and state taxes owed. Wage garnishments can furthermore affect your take-home pay, as these deductions occur because of court orders. Comprehending these deductions and withholdings is crucial for managing your finances effectively. Determining Net Income Comprehending your paycheck goes beyond just recognizing the deductions and withholdings. To determine your net income, you start with your taxable income, then subtract pre-tax contributions like retirement plan contributions and health insurance premiums. After calculating this figure, you need to evaluate the applicable federal, state, and local taxes, which are withheld based on your Form W-4 and current tax rates. Next, any post-tax contributions, such as Roth 401(k) contributions, are deducted from your gross pay, along with any mandatory wage garnishments if applicable. The final amount remaining after all these deductions and withholdings is your net income, which represents your take-home pay for the pay period. Grasping how to accurately calculate net income is essential for effective financial planning and budget management, helping you make informed decisions about your expenses and savings. The Importance of Pay Frequency Grasping the significance of pay frequency is crucial for both employees and employers alike, as it directly influences financial planning and cash flow management. Pay frequency refers to how often you receive your paycheck, impacting the total number of pay periods annually. For example, a weekly pay frequency results in 52 pay periods, whereas bi-weekly gives you 26. This choice can affect the gross paycheck amount; more frequent payments mean smaller individual checks, but your overall annual salary remains the same. Knowing how to calculate hourly rate from salary can help you better grasp your finances. Furthermore, employers must be aware of state regulations on pay frequency to guarantee compliance. Accurate payroll processing is critical for budgeting, so using an employee hours calculator can aid in tracking hours worked and planning accordingly. In the end, comprehending pay frequency is key to managing both personal and professional finances effectively. Frequently Asked Questions How Is a Paycheck Calculated? To calculate your paycheck, start with your gross pay, which is your total earnings before deductions. This is determined by multiplying your hourly wage by the hours you worked or dividing your annual salary by pay periods. From gross pay, subtract federal, state, and local taxes, along with any other deductions. Finally, the result is your net pay, the amount you take home after all deductions are made. How Much Tax Comes Out of a $300 Paycheck? When you receive a $300 paycheck, various taxes come out. Federal income tax withholding can range from 10% to 22%, depending on your W-4 information and filing status. Furthermore, FICA taxes, which include Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%), amount to about $21.60. If your state has income tax, you’ll see further deductions. After all taxes, your net income might range between $250 to $260, depending on your specific situation. Is Salary Calculated by 26 Days or 30 Days? Salary isn’t calculated by 26 days or 30 days; instead, it’s based on the number of pay periods in a year. For example, if you’re paid bi-weekly, your annual salary is divided by 26 pay periods. Monthly salaries are divided by 12, providing consistency regardless of the month. Hourly wages depend on the total hours worked, multiplied by your hourly rate, without considering the number of days in a month. How Do I Calculate a Biweekly Paycheck? To calculate your biweekly paycheck, divide your annual salary by 26, since there are 26 pay periods in a year. For instance, if you earn $52,000 annually, your gross biweekly pay would be around $2,000. Next, subtract pre-tax deductions, like retirement contributions. Don’t forget to include federal income tax withholding based on your Form W-4 and FICA taxes, which consist of Social Security and Medicare taxes, to find your net pay. Conclusion In conclusion, comprehending paycheck pay is crucial for both employees and employers. By calculating gross pay accurately and accounting for all deductions, you can determine your net income effectively. Keeping track of these figures helps you manage your finances better and guarantees compliance with tax regulations. Regularly reviewing your paycheck can likewise help you identify any discrepancies or changes in your earnings. Being informed about your paycheck pay ultimately empowers you to make better financial decisions. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is Paycheck Pay and How Is It Calculated?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Paycheck pay, or net pay, is what you actually take home after deductions. To figure it out, you’ll start with your gross pay, which is based on your hourly wage or annual salary. From there, various deductions like taxes and contributions come into play. Comprehending this process is essential, as it affects your overall financial planning. Next, let’s break down the calculations and see what influences your paycheck further. Key Takeaways Paycheck pay is the net income received after all deductions from gross pay, including taxes and contributions. Gross pay is calculated by multiplying hourly rate by hours worked or dividing annual salary by pay periods. Deductions include federal, state, local taxes, FICA taxes, and any pre-tax contributions like retirement savings. Net income is determined by subtracting all applicable deductions from gross pay, resulting in take-home pay. Pay frequency affects the number of pay periods annually, influencing cash flow and financial management. Understanding Paycheck Pay Comprehending paycheck pay is crucial for managing your finances effectively, especially since it directly impacts your take-home income. Paycheck pay refers to the amount you receive after deductions, commonly known as net pay. To calculate this, you start with your gross pay, which is your total earnings before any deductions are taken out. These deductions include federal, state, and local taxes, in addition to FICA taxes, which fund Social Security and Medicare. Your gross pay can be determined by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of hours worked, or by dividing your annual salary by the number of pay periods. Grasping these calculations allows you to see how much you’re actually bringing home. To simplify this process, you can use paycheck calculators that help estimate your take-home pay by inputting your salary, pay frequency, and applicable deductions, making it easier to plan your finances. Calculating Gross Pay Calculating your gross pay accurately is essential, as it serves as the foundation for grasping your overall earnings. To figure out gross pay, start by determining if you’re paid hourly or salaried. For hourly employees, multiply the number of hours worked by your hourly wage, including any overtime hours at a higher rate. If you’re salaried, calculate your annual salary from your hourly rate by dividing your yearly salary by the number of pay periods in a year. You can likewise use a payroll hours calculator to assist with these calculations. Knowing how to compute monthly income or how to determine hourly rate from salary guarantees you comprehend your earnings. Keep in mind that gross pay may fluctuate based on hours worked, bonuses, or commissions. Mastering how to calculate gross salary helps you grasp your financial situation and prepares you for realizing net pay after deductions. Deductions and Withholdings When you receive your paycheck, it’s crucial to comprehend that various deductions and withholdings will reduce your gross pay, leading to your net income. Federal income tax withholding is based on the details you provide on your W-4 form, including your filing status and number of dependents. In addition, FICA taxes, which include a 6.2% Social Security tax and a 1.45% Medicare tax, are likewise deducted from your gross pay. If you earn over $200,000, an extra 0.9% Medicare tax applies. Pre-tax deductions, such as contributions to retirement plans or health insurance premiums, lower your taxable income, thereby reducing the amount of federal and state taxes owed. Wage garnishments can furthermore affect your take-home pay, as these deductions occur because of court orders. Comprehending these deductions and withholdings is crucial for managing your finances effectively. Determining Net Income Comprehending your paycheck goes beyond just recognizing the deductions and withholdings. To determine your net income, you start with your taxable income, then subtract pre-tax contributions like retirement plan contributions and health insurance premiums. After calculating this figure, you need to evaluate the applicable federal, state, and local taxes, which are withheld based on your Form W-4 and current tax rates. Next, any post-tax contributions, such as Roth 401(k) contributions, are deducted from your gross pay, along with any mandatory wage garnishments if applicable. The final amount remaining after all these deductions and withholdings is your net income, which represents your take-home pay for the pay period. Grasping how to accurately calculate net income is essential for effective financial planning and budget management, helping you make informed decisions about your expenses and savings. The Importance of Pay Frequency Grasping the significance of pay frequency is crucial for both employees and employers alike, as it directly influences financial planning and cash flow management. Pay frequency refers to how often you receive your paycheck, impacting the total number of pay periods annually. For example, a weekly pay frequency results in 52 pay periods, whereas bi-weekly gives you 26. This choice can affect the gross paycheck amount; more frequent payments mean smaller individual checks, but your overall annual salary remains the same. Knowing how to calculate hourly rate from salary can help you better grasp your finances. Furthermore, employers must be aware of state regulations on pay frequency to guarantee compliance. Accurate payroll processing is critical for budgeting, so using an employee hours calculator can aid in tracking hours worked and planning accordingly. In the end, comprehending pay frequency is key to managing both personal and professional finances effectively. Frequently Asked Questions How Is a Paycheck Calculated? To calculate your paycheck, start with your gross pay, which is your total earnings before deductions. This is determined by multiplying your hourly wage by the hours you worked or dividing your annual salary by pay periods. From gross pay, subtract federal, state, and local taxes, along with any other deductions. Finally, the result is your net pay, the amount you take home after all deductions are made. How Much Tax Comes Out of a $300 Paycheck? When you receive a $300 paycheck, various taxes come out. Federal income tax withholding can range from 10% to 22%, depending on your W-4 information and filing status. Furthermore, FICA taxes, which include Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%), amount to about $21.60. If your state has income tax, you’ll see further deductions. After all taxes, your net income might range between $250 to $260, depending on your specific situation. Is Salary Calculated by 26 Days or 30 Days? Salary isn’t calculated by 26 days or 30 days; instead, it’s based on the number of pay periods in a year. For example, if you’re paid bi-weekly, your annual salary is divided by 26 pay periods. Monthly salaries are divided by 12, providing consistency regardless of the month. Hourly wages depend on the total hours worked, multiplied by your hourly rate, without considering the number of days in a month. How Do I Calculate a Biweekly Paycheck? To calculate your biweekly paycheck, divide your annual salary by 26, since there are 26 pay periods in a year. For instance, if you earn $52,000 annually, your gross biweekly pay would be around $2,000. Next, subtract pre-tax deductions, like retirement contributions. Don’t forget to include federal income tax withholding based on your Form W-4 and FICA taxes, which consist of Social Security and Medicare taxes, to find your net pay. Conclusion In conclusion, comprehending paycheck pay is crucial for both employees and employers. By calculating gross pay accurately and accounting for all deductions, you can determine your net income effectively. Keeping track of these figures helps you manage your finances better and guarantees compliance with tax regulations. Regularly reviewing your paycheck can likewise help you identify any discrepancies or changes in your earnings. Being informed about your paycheck pay ultimately empowers you to make better financial decisions. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is Paycheck Pay and How Is It Calculated?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My interviewer mentioned my boudoir photos I went to an interview at an event planning company I have wanted to work at for a long time. The first interview was successful and I got along with the group of managers really well. They gave me an assignment to do and, after I did that, they happily invited me to return for a follow-up interview, this time with only one of the managers. We got along so well, and I was told I did very well on the assignment. Near the end of the interview, the manager told me to wait a minute and she left and then came back and offered me the job. I was super ecstatic, and we started chatting about getting to know each other more when I start. She mentioned that she did a check of my socials and saw that I love dogs and she talked about her own dogs. We also talked about which concerts we had been to, as I had many pictures of me at concerts on my pages. At the end, she got a little too comfortable in my opinion and mentioned that she had done a boudoir shoot with the same company that I did mine with. At that point, I remembered that I had my boudoir pictures on social media. After I left the interview, I was a tad bit embarrassed that my new manager saw me in such a state of undress. I’m obviously at fault for them seeing it, but I’m wondering if you think this is a major red flag for me working there? It seems as if she didn’t mean any offense by it and was just very friendly and chatting with me. She also didn’t say it was a bad thing and, hey, I got the job and at least I had a bra and underwear on and wasn’t nude! I’ve always wanted to work there and I am not sure if I am overthinking this or not? Oh noooo. Yeah, “I saw your boudoir shots” is not what you want to hear from the person who just offered you a job. But “I did my own with the same company” actually does make it less creepy … it’s still boundary-crossing, but it’s a different kind of boundary-crossing. It sounds like she’d already been thinking the two of you have a lot in common and maybe lost sight of appropriate professional boundaries in the moment. There’s no guarantee that she won’t continue to do that once you’re working there, but it’s also possible that she just got too comfortable with you. “Too comfortable with you” can still be a bad thing, of course! But if everything else was good, I wouldn’t let this be the reason you don’t take the job (although I’d go in prepared to be thoughtful about what boundaries you want to keep up so that you can actively enforce them rather than going with the flow without thinking about it, and then realizing too late that conversation wandered into a place you’d rather it not have gone). 2. What to do about serious problems you never see firsthand We are an educational institution, and I am in support/professional development. We have several classrooms where teachers are concerning, but when I or the directors or anybody is in for an observation, they are fine or good-enough, and I document they are doing what they are supposed to. But when I meet with other staff, they say it stops as soon as the observer is out of the room — and that if no one is in observing, the teacher is more abrupt with children, lets frustration show, doesn’t use the appropriate nurturing language, and lots of specific practices around interactions with children that we expect are not happening. A teacher said to me about another teacher we’ve been working with, “I guess it’s a little better, but they still have bad days, and I’ve heard from other teachers it’s worse when I’m not here (when it is just that staff and the assistant).” I asked the supervisor if those specific behaviors had been directly addressed with that teacher and their response was, “Well, we haven’t seen it.” The supervisors will also say, “The other staff need to let us know. We can’t do anything if we don’t know.” But there is a dynamic of staff going to leadership with concerns and feeling like they were not heard and nothing was done. Morale is tanking in some of these rooms, and we’ve lost teachers. When people see that others are not held accountable, it is hard on everyone. I think staff don’t feel trusted, because their word that someone is problematic is not good enough. I understand the impulse to not go by rumor or hearsay; everyone needs due process, and we can’t really set up cameras to see what is going on when no one else is there, and lurking in the doorway and trying to watch when they don’t know isn’t going to do it either. What can I tell directors about how to deal with this? They acknowledge there is a problem, but act like they are helpless unless they see it themselves, but also don’t really go out of their way to see what is really happening. Well, that’s wildly problematic! I don’t know how schools typically deal with these issues, but I can tell you how I’d deal with it as manager in a different environment and maybe something here will be applicable. If I was getting secondhand reports about serious concerns with an employee’s performance and that they were deliberately altering their behavior when I was observing, I’d do a few things. First, I’d find ways to observe for longer periods. For example, if I was hearing reports like this about a trainer — probably the closest comparable situation — I might even take a laptop into their training room and work from there for a few days. Second, I’d talk with people who were seeing it firsthand — which in this case presumably means teaching assistants and the students themselves. If enough people are reporting a behavior, and especially when you know those people to be generally credible, there’s a point where you don’t need to see it firsthand; the pattern of reports is enough in itself. Third, I’d talk directly with the employee in question, tell them forthrightly what concerns have been reported, and say that we need to work together to resolve those concerns and that I was going to be spot-checking with others who observe their work — because at some point, the perception itself is a problem, totally aside from the rest of it. I’m concerned that your colleagues are so willing to wash their hands of dealing with what sound like truly serious issues (and ones involving kids?!) just because they’re not witnessing the behavior firsthand. If they heard a teacher was, I don’t know, slapping kids, would they say they couldn’t do anything about it because they didn’t see it happen? Presumably not. They need to bring similar urgency to this too. 3. Foster care and parental leave My workplace offers five weeks of parental leave, which includes birth of a baby, adoption, or the placement of a foster child. I cannot have biological children, but I am about to be licensed to be a foster parent with the goal of caring for a teenager. When I receive my first foster placement, would it be unethical to take parental leave? I’d like to use the full benefits that are available to me as an employee, but I also don’t want to be unreasonable: I won’t have a baby at home, and for that reason won’t “need” the leave in the same way as others. But, it’s a big life transition. I almost wish I could split it up and use it for court dates, appointments, etc., but that’s not an option — the leave must be taken in one chunk and it can be taken a maximum of once per year. Another consideration is that I won’t have months of pregnancy and a due date to tell my boss, make arrangements, etc. Once I’m licensed, I have no idea how long I’ll wait before getting a call, and I could find out hours before that a placement is happening. If I choose to take parental leave, how do I navigate this conversation with my manager and HR? What can I be doing now to prepare? Yay to fostering teenagers! There is a massive, massive need. You should absolutely use the leave when you get the placement. The policy explicitly allows it; you’re not doing anything wrong or anything that the policy didn’t explicitly envision. And there is a ton of work in the beginning of a placement, as well as just lots of relationship-building to do (so even if you’re not actively caring for him or her every hour of the day like with a baby, being around and available is very helpful). You should also look into FMLA, because it also covers the placement of a foster child, and it can be taken intermittently and specifically includes court dates, appointments, etc. As for what to say to your boss and HR: “I am in the process of being approved to foster a child. The timing is somewhat up in the air, but it could be any time after X. When I get a placement, my plan is to take parental leave per our policy. So I wanted to talk with you about logistics and what I should be doing to prepare now, since I might not have a lot of advance notice when it happens.” 4. Can I ask if my department is going to be dissolved? My department was just subsumed by a larger department, which has negative implications for our entire team’s titles. We are pretty niche, and I am worried the ultimate goal is to just slowly get rid of us completely, with our work being absorbed by the larger department. Can I just … ask? My manager’s manager reportedly made a comment to my manager at one point implying that our department might not need to exist forever. I really love my job, and I have had a lot of professional success recently. I cannot help but worry that the recently merged organization no longer places much value in our work, so that success will not protect me if they don’t feel it serves their business needs. I am kicking myself for being too specialized at this point. I don’t know if they would be honest if I do ask, and I worry that asking makes it obvious I am going to be looking if I don’t get reassurance. Don’t ask, right? You can ask, but if you hear “no, we’re not going anywhere,” you can’t place any real weight on it. For one thing, if there are plans to cut your team, your manager may not even know that right now. For another, if they do know, they might not be allowed to tell you (that’s highly likely, in fact). You can still ask, because you might hear something useful (like that she’s worried about that too) that confirms your worries, but you’ve got to go into knowing that you can’t take anything you hear as negating your worries (unless it’s something really clear and unusual, like they have specific plans to expand and support your work). In other words, either way you should probably be thinking about next steps. The post interviewer mentioned my boudoir photos, problems you never see firsthand, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Performance Coach Julie Gurner on caring deeply: “You have to care deeply to be able to challenge directly, and … somebody has to know that you care deeply about who they are in their role, that you care about their performance, that this is coming from a place that’s meant to make them better. And if it’s not coming from that place, and it’s coming from a place of punishing or shaming or humiliating or dominating, it’s not a really effective thing to do. But people can take hard feedback from people that they know are in their corner.” Source: The Knowledge Project Podcast: Caring Deeply, Challenging Directly II. Heidi Priebe on loving someone as they change: “To love someone long-term is to attend a thousand funerals of the people they used to be. The people are too exhausted to be any longer. The people they don’t recognize inside themselves anymore. The people they grew out of, the people they never ended up growing into. “We so badly want the people we love to get their spark back when it burns out; to become speedily found when they are lost. But it is not our job to hold anyone accountable to the people they used to be. It is our job to travel with them between each version and to honor what emerges along the way.” Source: This Is Me Letting You Go * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

Starting today, Google is weaving its massive investment in AI into one product nearly everyone already uses—and for many people, the change won’t feel optional. Google announced Thursday that a suite of new features powered by Gemini 3 will begin appearing in Gmail, introducing automation designed to reduce inbox overload. The most consequential update is a new Gmail view called AI Inbox, which reshapes email around summaries, topics, and to-dos, rather than individual messages. What changes the moment this turns on For users, the shift isn’t about learning new tools—it’s about no longer having to manage email the same way. Instead of opening Gmail to a chronological list of messages, AI Inbox presents a briefing-style overview that surfaces conversations, tasks, and updates it thinks matter most. “With email volume at an all-time high, managing your inbox and the flow of information has become as important as the emails themselves,” Gmail VP of product Blake Barnes wrote in a blog post announcing the changes. Google’s goal, he added, is to turn Gmail into a “personal, proactive inbox assistant.” The new AI Inbox won’t roll out right away. Google says it’s currently testing the feature with a small subset of users, with a broader rollout planned for the coming months. Less searching, more trusting In general, the addition of AI is meant to make finding things easier. Google says Gmail’s new AI Inbox will offer a “personalized briefing” that prioritizes conversations based on how you use email, filtering out what it considers clutter so you can focus on what’s important. In practice, that means relying less on Gmail’s search bar—and more on AI judgments about relevance. That’s a notable shift for a product used by roughly 3 billion people worldwide. Next to search, Gmail is Google’s most ubiquitous service, functioning as the default archive for receipts, contracts, travel plans, conversations, and work history. Yet even as inboxes have grown more crowded, Gmail’s core experience has changed little. Google acknowledged that gap directly. “Your inbox is full of important information, but accessing it has required you to become a power searcher,” Barnes wrote. “And even when you find the right emails, you are often left staring at a list of messages, forced to dig through the text to piece together the answer.” The new approach aims to remove that burden entirely by summarizing, prioritizing, and contextualizing information before users ask for it. Your inbox as memory, not messages Every online interaction you’ve ever had likely lives somewhere in your inbox, but finding the right detail at the right moment has long required manual effort. With AI Inbox, Google wants to change that by treating Gmail less like a communication tool and more like an external memory system—one that can recall information, surface context, and suggest next steps. That idea aligns with how people increasingly use AI tools like ChatGPT, but applying the same concept to email raises higher stakes. Gmail doesn’t just hold drafts and threads; it holds personal history. How well users trust AI-generated summaries—and whether they stop opening original messages altogether—may ultimately determine whether the new interface sticks. Trust, not accuracy, is the real test The real test for Gmail’s AI makeover won’t be whether its summaries are technically accurate, but whether users come to trust them enough to stop opening original messages at all. As AI-generated overviews begin to replace scrolling and searching, the act of verifying information—be it reading an entire thread, checking dates, or scanning for nuance—may quietly fade. Over time, Gmail could train users to rely on interpretation rather than inspection, shifting email from a record people consult to a system they simply accept. Which features everyone gets—and which they won’t Many of the new AI-powered Gmail features will roll out to all users, but some of the most powerful tools will be reserved for paying subscribers. One widely available update, called AI Overview, summarizes long email threads and highlights key points, reducing the need to reread entire conversations. That feature is rolling out broadly. However, a more advanced capability—asking Gmail questions like “Who was the plumber that gave me a quote last year?” and receiving an AI-generated answer—will only be available to subscribers on Google One AI Pro or Ultra plans, priced at $20 and $250 per month, respectively. For free users, Gmail becomes more readable. For paid users, it begins acting more like a searchable personal archive. Writing emails with less effort Google is also expanding AI tools designed to reduce the friction of replying and composing emails. A tool called “Help Me Write,” previously just an option for paid subscribers, will now be available to all Gmail users, along with “Suggested Replies,” a refresh of a tool previously called “Smart Replies.” Help Me Write will help users draft emails from scratch using prompts, while Suggested Replies generates a tailored “one-click response” based on the context of your conversation. Paid subscribers will also get access to “Proofread,” which offers more advanced grammar, tone, and style suggestions while composing messages. What you’ll need to opt out of Many of these features will be enabled by default, meaning users who prefer a more traditional Gmail experience will need to actively disable Gemini-powered tools in Gmail’s Smart Features settings. For those eager to hand off more inbox management to artificial intelligence, the transition may feel overdue. For others, it may feel like Gmail has quietly crossed a line—from organizing information to deciding what matters. Either way, once Gmail stops asking you to search your inbox and starts telling you what you need to know, email may never feel quite the same. View the full article

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