ResidentialBusiness

Scammers frequently target shoppers who are looking for a good deal or a rare find (or both). As holiday sale season winds down, the Better Business Bureau is warning buyers about a scheme in which fraudsters charge you for "out of stock" goods and fail to refund your money. The out-of-stock purchase scam is simple: After you buy a product online, scammers send you a notification that said item is no longer available, cancel your order, and tell you that you'll get your money back. Obviously, the refund never arrives, and no one ever responds to further inquiries. As the BBB points out, in most cases, the item you thought you bought probably never existed in the first place—rather, scammers are selling fake stock, charging customers, and vanishing in hopes you won't notice that you didn't receive your refund. Some consumers who submitted reports to the BBB Scam Tracker said that they did receive products, but items were of poor quality or not what they ordered, and no refund was ever issued. Spot out-of-stock purchase scamsThese fake purchase schemes may have the usual red flags, like prices that are too good to be true, especially those promoted on social media. Personalized items are ripe for scams, as are hard-to-find products or collectibles. If you find an amazing deal from a company or seller you don't recognize, search the name with "scam" and read reviews on Google and Reddit to identify patterns of suspicious activity (or poor-quality products). You should also be wary of websites that aren't secure—those that don't start with HTTPS or have a lock icon in the browser bar—as these are more vulnerable to hackers looking to intercept credit card info and other personal data. Legitimate vendors collect payment securely. Shop with a credit cardShopping scams are a good reason to use a credit card for online purchases, as they offer protection against fraudulent charges. If you don't receive a refund from a seller, you can file a chargeback—while this isn't as simple or swift a process, it is likely you'll get your money eventually. Always keep receipts, order confirmations, and any communication with sellers in case you need to make a claim for a scam purchase. View the full article

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s net worth surged to $749 billion late Friday after the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Tesla stock options worth $139 billion that were voided last year, according to Forbes’ billionaires index. Musk’s 2018 pay package, once worth $56 billion, was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal as “unfathomable.” The Supreme Court said that a 2024 ruling that rescinded the pay package had been improper and inequitable to Musk. Earlier this week, Musk became the first person ever to surpass $600 billion in net worth on the heels of reports that his aerospace startup SpaceX was likely to go public. In November, Tesla shareholders separately approved a $1 trillion pay plan for Musk, the largest corporate pay package in history, as investors endorsed his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut. Musk’s fortune now exceeds that of Google co-founder Larry Page, the world’s second-richest person, by nearly $500 billion, according to Forbes’ billionaires list. —Rajveer Singh Pardesi, Reuters View the full article

If you’re looking to understand the current real estate market, examining the recent sales of 10 properties that sold close to their asking prices is essential. Home sales have increased this year, whereas inventory levels are at a record high, giving buyers more options than ever. With stable median home prices and mortgage rates around 6.8%, you might find opportunities to negotiate favorable deals. Nevertheless, there are trends at play that could impact your decisions. Key Takeaways Home sales increased by 3.0% year-to-date, indicating a resilient market despite rising mortgage rates. The median home price has seen minimal growth, currently sitting at $347,000, reflecting market stability. A record high inventory of 38,713 listings enhances buyer negotiation power, allowing for better purchase terms. Seasonal trends show summer as a strong selling period, while off-peak months may lead to lower sale prices and extended market times. Future predictions suggest stable home prices through 2025, with mortgage rates projected to stay around 6.7% to 6.8%. Overview of Recent Home Sales In the current terrain of home sales, data reveals significant trends that are shaping the market. As of June 2025, there have been 43,795 single-family homes sold year-to-date, reflecting a 3.0% increase over the same period in 2024. The median home price for these properties has risen slightly to $347,000, indicating a modest increase of 0.2%. Meanwhile, the inventory of single-family homes has reached a record high of 38,713 listings, which suggests a competitive market where homes sold close to the asking price may become less common. Furthermore, townhome and condo sales have weakened, with prices dropping by 4.6%. The recent drop in mortgage rates could likewise influence buyer activity moving forward, impacting overall sales dynamics. Key Market Trends Influencing Sales As buyers navigate the evolving real estate environment, several key market trends are influencing home sales in 2025. Comprehending these trends can help you sell to close effectively. Increased inventory: With single-family home listings reaching a record high of 38,713, buyers now have more options. Stable prices: The median home price rose only 0.2%, indicating a more stable market with limited price growth. Shifts in demand: Townhomes and condos saw a 4.6% decrease in sales, as listings surged by 42%, reflecting changing buyer preferences. These trends highlight the importance of staying informed as you navigate the market, ensuring you make strategic decisions in a competitive environment. Impact of Mortgage Rates on Transactions Grasping how mortgage rates affect transactions is fundamental in today’s housing market. Recently, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped from 6.9% to 6.7%, temporarily boosting buyer interest. Nevertheless, the rebound to 6.8% because of inflation and treasury yields shows the volatility of borrowing costs. Historically, lower rates encourage buyer participation; for instance, when rates fell below 6% in late 2024, home sales surged. This sensitivity is evident as many move-up buyers hesitate to switch from lower 3-4% rates to higher 7% loans. With predictions of lower rates in 2025, buyers may find a sell to close option more appealing, facilitating transactions and increasing market activity amid fluctuating inventory levels. Grasping these trends is crucial for informed decision-making. Inventory Levels and Buyer Power Even though many factors influence the housing market, current inventory levels play a crucial role in shaping buyer influence. With single-family homes reaching a record high of 38,713, buyers now enjoy improved authority in negotiations. Here are key points to reflect on: Inventory has increased by 30.7% in Texas over the past year. The current supply stands at 5.4 months, up from 4.2 months last year. Median home prices have only risen by 0.2%, indicating balanced market conditions. This surge in inventory allows you to explore options and negotiate better terms. If you’re looking to purchase a home, comprehending how to close a call effectively can give you an edge in this competitive environment, making it vital to stay informed. Price Changes in Townhomes and Condos As of June 2025, prices for townhomes and condos have dropped by 4.6% year-over-year, reflecting shifting buyer preferences in the market. This price decline coincides with a significant 42% increase in inventory, which has put additional downward pressure on prices. Notably, whereas townhomes and condos face challenges, highrise units are experiencing stable sales and rising prices, indicating a more complex environment within the condo market. Declining Prices Overview While many buyers may still be considering townhomes and condos, recent data reveals a concerning trend in declining prices for these property types. The declining prices overview shows that prices fell by 4.6% year-over-year, indicating a dip in demand. Moreover, you should note: Listings for townhomes and condos surged by 42.0%, suggesting a market oversupply. Active listings for highrise units increased by 18.7%, while sales remained flat. The contrast between these declining prices and a mere 0.2% rise in single-family home prices highlights changing buyer preferences. These trends necessitate careful evaluation for sellers, who may need to adjust marketing and pricing strategies in light of the shifting market dynamics surrounding townhomes and condos. Increased Inventory Impact The significant 42.0% increase in inventory for townhomes and condos has particularly altered the market scenery, impacting both buyer behavior and pricing dynamics. With prices for these properties falling by 4.6% year-over-year, you’ll notice that the increased inventory impact is reshaping demand. Buyers can now enjoy a less competitive market, creating more opportunities for negotiation. Curiously, highrise units saw flat sales in spite of an 18.7% rise in active listings, signaling a shift in buyer interests within the multifamily segment. As inventory levels rise, sellers may need to realign their pricing strategies to attract buyers, reflecting a broader trend of diminishing demand in the townhome and condo market. Comprehending these dynamics is crucial for making informed decisions. Regional Variations in Market Activity Regional variations in market activity reveal significant differences in how real estate performs across Texas. Comprehending these differences can help you navigate the market effectively. Here are some key points to reflect on: Dallas-Fort Worth is the hottest market with 19,668 closed sales. Houston saw a 1.4% increase in median prices, whereas Austin experienced a 2.1% decline. Inventory levels increased from 4.2 to 5.4 months, indicating varying supply and demand dynamics. In this context, knowing the “sell to close” meaning helps you grasp how these regional trends impact pricing and competition. As inventory rises and prices fluctuate, adapting your strategy based on your location becomes essential for success in Texas real estate. Seasonal Trends Affecting Sales Dynamics Comprehending seasonal buyer demand patterns is essential for maneuvering real estate markets effectively. April through June stands out as the ideal selling period, with significant price increases and high sales volumes. Whereas the off-peak months of December and January pose challenges because of low buyer interest. Recognizing these trends can help you strategize your buying or selling decisions throughout the year. Seasonal Buyer Demand Patterns Seasonal buyer demand patterns play a crucial role in shaping the real estate market, influencing when people choose to buy and sell homes. Comprehending these trends can help you navigate the market effectively. Peak buying season typically runs from April through June, with sales averaging 16,530 homes per day. Home prices rise considerably during these months, with a 16% increase in June compared to winter. Activity slows from July to September, averaging 16,200 homes sold daily, and continues to decline in fall and winter, where sales drop to 13,810 per day and days on market extend to 49. Optimal Selling Months When you’re considering selling your home, timing’s everything, and certain months stand out as more advantageous than others. The ideal selling months typically range from April to June, when buyer demand peaks and home prices can rise by 16% compared to winter months. In fact, May and June are especially profitable; homes often sell for more than the listing price, with bidding wars common because of heightened competition. Even though the summer months continue to offer good selling conditions, the number of homes sold per day starts to decline. Conversely, December and January are the least favorable months, with low buyer activity leading to extended market times and lower selling prices. Plan accordingly to maximize your selling potential. Off-Peak Market Challenges During the peak selling months, robust buyer activity and competitive pricing prevail. Nevertheless, the off-peak market from December to February presents distinct challenges for home sellers. You may notice: Lower buyer demand, with only about 11,380 existing homes sold per day. Extended median days on the market, which can reach up to 49 days. Homes often sell for less than the listing price because of holiday distractions. These conditions make it harder to sell to close put option effectively. Yet, off-peak periods can likewise offer unique opportunities for negotiations, as fewer buyers mean less competition. If you’re motivated, you might find better deals, but be prepared for the realities of a slower market. Buyer Preferences and Shifts in Demand As the real estate market evolves, you’ll notice significant shifts in buyer preferences and demand that are reshaping the terrain. Recently, demand for townhomes and condos has weakened, with prices dropping by 4.6% year-over-year and listings surging by 42.0%. This indicates a clear shift in buyer preferences in the direction of different property types. Additionally, the average days on the market for homes in Texas has risen to 72, suggesting buyers are taking more time to decide, reflecting changing market dynamics. Notably, during the median home price rose only 0.3%, highrise units saw flat sales, further emphasizing divergent buyer interests. With increasing inventory, buyers now have more leverage in negotiations, influencing their purchasing choices. Predictions for Future Market Conditions As you look ahead to the future market conditions, expect to see stable home prices and greater flexibility for buyers. With mortgage rates projected to hover around 6.7% to 6.8% throughout 2025, you’ll find it easier to make informed decisions without the pressure of rising costs. Furthermore, increased inventory levels mean you’ll have more options and time as you navigate your home-buying experience. Stable Price Projections Though many markets have experienced volatility in recent years, predictions for Texas home prices indicate a period of stability through 2025. Experts foresee stable price projections, with home prices expected to rise only 1-3% nationally. Key factors influencing this stability include: A 5.89% mortgage rate for 15-year fixed loans, which encourages home sales. An increased inventory reaching 4.8 months of supply, allowing buyers more time to decide. A median home price increase of only 0.3% year-over-year, showing slower growth compared to previous spikes. This calming market environment suggests that buyers can approach their purchases with confidence, as a significant market crash isn’t anticipated. Buyer Flexibility Trends In light of the recent trends in the housing market, buyers are finding themselves in a more advantageous position as we move through 2025. With inventory reaching 5.4 months of supply, you’ll notice greater buyer flexibility trends compared to previous years. The median home price has stabilized, increasing just 0.2% to $347,000, allowing you to make more informed purchasing decisions. Furthermore, declining mortgage rates from 6.9% to 6.7% improve affordability, boosting your buying capacity. Experts anticipate continued stability in home prices and more options for buyers throughout the year. The demand shift in the direction of townhomes and condos, with prices falling 4.6%, further increases choices, making it an opportune time to explore new possibilities. Strategies for Navigating Current Market Trends Steering through the current market trends requires a strategic approach, especially with the notable shifts in inventory and pricing. To effectively navigate this terrain, consider these strategies: Leverage Negotiating Influence: With increased inventory, you can negotiate better terms when you sell to close on your dream home. Monitor Mortgage Rates: Keep an eye on fluctuating fixed mortgage rates; a slight decrease can markedly affect your purchasing influence. Explore Diverse Options: With declining prices in townhomes and condos, you might find better deals in these segments, offering potential savings. Frequently Asked Questions How to Find Real Estate Market Trends? To find real estate market trends, start by analyzing sales data, including the number of homes sold in your area. Monitor inventory levels and median home prices to gauge supply and demand. Review listing statistics to assess market saturation. Furthermore, keep an eye on mortgage rates, as they can influence buyer behavior. What Is the Hardest Month to Sell a House? The hardest month to sell a house is typically January. This month experiences low buyer demand as a result of holiday distractions and colder weather, causing homes to remain on the market longer—averaging 57 days. With fewer buyers, sellers often accept lower prices than expected. The reduced competition makes it challenging to attract interest, leading to extended wait times and decreased profitability. If you’re considering selling, it’s wise to plan for these seasonal trends. Are Wisconsin Home Prices Dropping? Yes, home prices in Wisconsin are dropping. Recent data shows a 4.6% decrease year-over-year for townhomes and condos, as buyer preferences shift in the direction of single-family homes. Increased inventory means more options for buyers, adding downward pressure on prices. Homes are now averaging around 72 days on the market, indicating they’re taking longer to sell. Economic factors like fluctuating mortgage rates and high living costs likewise contribute to this market slowdown. Are Idaho Home Prices Dropping? Yes, Idaho home prices are dropping, with a year-over-year decline of about 2.1% as of mid-2025. The median home price now stands at $400,000, still above the national average but reflecting a slowdown in growth. Increased inventory and rising mortgage rates are creating a more favorable environment for buyers, contributing to longer days on market for homes. These factors indicate a cooling market, affecting overall homebuyer behavior and prices. Conclusion In conclusion, the current real estate market offers both challenges and opportunities for buyers. With a 3.0% increase in home sales and record-high inventory levels, you have greater negotiating influence. Even though median prices remain stable, the impact of mortgage rates at 6.8% suggests careful consideration is needed. By comprehending these market trends and adapting your strategies, you can effectively navigate this environment and make informed decisions that align with your home-buying goals. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Properties That Sold Close – Market Trends You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re looking to understand the current real estate market, examining the recent sales of 10 properties that sold close to their asking prices is essential. Home sales have increased this year, whereas inventory levels are at a record high, giving buyers more options than ever. With stable median home prices and mortgage rates around 6.8%, you might find opportunities to negotiate favorable deals. Nevertheless, there are trends at play that could impact your decisions. Key Takeaways Home sales increased by 3.0% year-to-date, indicating a resilient market despite rising mortgage rates. The median home price has seen minimal growth, currently sitting at $347,000, reflecting market stability. A record high inventory of 38,713 listings enhances buyer negotiation power, allowing for better purchase terms. Seasonal trends show summer as a strong selling period, while off-peak months may lead to lower sale prices and extended market times. Future predictions suggest stable home prices through 2025, with mortgage rates projected to stay around 6.7% to 6.8%. Overview of Recent Home Sales In the current terrain of home sales, data reveals significant trends that are shaping the market. As of June 2025, there have been 43,795 single-family homes sold year-to-date, reflecting a 3.0% increase over the same period in 2024. The median home price for these properties has risen slightly to $347,000, indicating a modest increase of 0.2%. Meanwhile, the inventory of single-family homes has reached a record high of 38,713 listings, which suggests a competitive market where homes sold close to the asking price may become less common. Furthermore, townhome and condo sales have weakened, with prices dropping by 4.6%. The recent drop in mortgage rates could likewise influence buyer activity moving forward, impacting overall sales dynamics. Key Market Trends Influencing Sales As buyers navigate the evolving real estate environment, several key market trends are influencing home sales in 2025. Comprehending these trends can help you sell to close effectively. Increased inventory: With single-family home listings reaching a record high of 38,713, buyers now have more options. Stable prices: The median home price rose only 0.2%, indicating a more stable market with limited price growth. Shifts in demand: Townhomes and condos saw a 4.6% decrease in sales, as listings surged by 42%, reflecting changing buyer preferences. These trends highlight the importance of staying informed as you navigate the market, ensuring you make strategic decisions in a competitive environment. Impact of Mortgage Rates on Transactions Grasping how mortgage rates affect transactions is fundamental in today’s housing market. Recently, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped from 6.9% to 6.7%, temporarily boosting buyer interest. Nevertheless, the rebound to 6.8% because of inflation and treasury yields shows the volatility of borrowing costs. Historically, lower rates encourage buyer participation; for instance, when rates fell below 6% in late 2024, home sales surged. This sensitivity is evident as many move-up buyers hesitate to switch from lower 3-4% rates to higher 7% loans. With predictions of lower rates in 2025, buyers may find a sell to close option more appealing, facilitating transactions and increasing market activity amid fluctuating inventory levels. Grasping these trends is crucial for informed decision-making. Inventory Levels and Buyer Power Even though many factors influence the housing market, current inventory levels play a crucial role in shaping buyer influence. With single-family homes reaching a record high of 38,713, buyers now enjoy improved authority in negotiations. Here are key points to reflect on: Inventory has increased by 30.7% in Texas over the past year. The current supply stands at 5.4 months, up from 4.2 months last year. Median home prices have only risen by 0.2%, indicating balanced market conditions. This surge in inventory allows you to explore options and negotiate better terms. If you’re looking to purchase a home, comprehending how to close a call effectively can give you an edge in this competitive environment, making it vital to stay informed. Price Changes in Townhomes and Condos As of June 2025, prices for townhomes and condos have dropped by 4.6% year-over-year, reflecting shifting buyer preferences in the market. This price decline coincides with a significant 42% increase in inventory, which has put additional downward pressure on prices. Notably, whereas townhomes and condos face challenges, highrise units are experiencing stable sales and rising prices, indicating a more complex environment within the condo market. Declining Prices Overview While many buyers may still be considering townhomes and condos, recent data reveals a concerning trend in declining prices for these property types. The declining prices overview shows that prices fell by 4.6% year-over-year, indicating a dip in demand. Moreover, you should note: Listings for townhomes and condos surged by 42.0%, suggesting a market oversupply. Active listings for highrise units increased by 18.7%, while sales remained flat. The contrast between these declining prices and a mere 0.2% rise in single-family home prices highlights changing buyer preferences. These trends necessitate careful evaluation for sellers, who may need to adjust marketing and pricing strategies in light of the shifting market dynamics surrounding townhomes and condos. Increased Inventory Impact The significant 42.0% increase in inventory for townhomes and condos has particularly altered the market scenery, impacting both buyer behavior and pricing dynamics. With prices for these properties falling by 4.6% year-over-year, you’ll notice that the increased inventory impact is reshaping demand. Buyers can now enjoy a less competitive market, creating more opportunities for negotiation. Curiously, highrise units saw flat sales in spite of an 18.7% rise in active listings, signaling a shift in buyer interests within the multifamily segment. As inventory levels rise, sellers may need to realign their pricing strategies to attract buyers, reflecting a broader trend of diminishing demand in the townhome and condo market. Comprehending these dynamics is crucial for making informed decisions. Regional Variations in Market Activity Regional variations in market activity reveal significant differences in how real estate performs across Texas. Comprehending these differences can help you navigate the market effectively. Here are some key points to reflect on: Dallas-Fort Worth is the hottest market with 19,668 closed sales. Houston saw a 1.4% increase in median prices, whereas Austin experienced a 2.1% decline. Inventory levels increased from 4.2 to 5.4 months, indicating varying supply and demand dynamics. In this context, knowing the “sell to close” meaning helps you grasp how these regional trends impact pricing and competition. As inventory rises and prices fluctuate, adapting your strategy based on your location becomes essential for success in Texas real estate. Seasonal Trends Affecting Sales Dynamics Comprehending seasonal buyer demand patterns is essential for maneuvering real estate markets effectively. April through June stands out as the ideal selling period, with significant price increases and high sales volumes. Whereas the off-peak months of December and January pose challenges because of low buyer interest. Recognizing these trends can help you strategize your buying or selling decisions throughout the year. Seasonal Buyer Demand Patterns Seasonal buyer demand patterns play a crucial role in shaping the real estate market, influencing when people choose to buy and sell homes. Comprehending these trends can help you navigate the market effectively. Peak buying season typically runs from April through June, with sales averaging 16,530 homes per day. Home prices rise considerably during these months, with a 16% increase in June compared to winter. Activity slows from July to September, averaging 16,200 homes sold daily, and continues to decline in fall and winter, where sales drop to 13,810 per day and days on market extend to 49. Optimal Selling Months When you’re considering selling your home, timing’s everything, and certain months stand out as more advantageous than others. The ideal selling months typically range from April to June, when buyer demand peaks and home prices can rise by 16% compared to winter months. In fact, May and June are especially profitable; homes often sell for more than the listing price, with bidding wars common because of heightened competition. Even though the summer months continue to offer good selling conditions, the number of homes sold per day starts to decline. Conversely, December and January are the least favorable months, with low buyer activity leading to extended market times and lower selling prices. Plan accordingly to maximize your selling potential. Off-Peak Market Challenges During the peak selling months, robust buyer activity and competitive pricing prevail. Nevertheless, the off-peak market from December to February presents distinct challenges for home sellers. You may notice: Lower buyer demand, with only about 11,380 existing homes sold per day. Extended median days on the market, which can reach up to 49 days. Homes often sell for less than the listing price because of holiday distractions. These conditions make it harder to sell to close put option effectively. Yet, off-peak periods can likewise offer unique opportunities for negotiations, as fewer buyers mean less competition. If you’re motivated, you might find better deals, but be prepared for the realities of a slower market. Buyer Preferences and Shifts in Demand As the real estate market evolves, you’ll notice significant shifts in buyer preferences and demand that are reshaping the terrain. Recently, demand for townhomes and condos has weakened, with prices dropping by 4.6% year-over-year and listings surging by 42.0%. This indicates a clear shift in buyer preferences in the direction of different property types. Additionally, the average days on the market for homes in Texas has risen to 72, suggesting buyers are taking more time to decide, reflecting changing market dynamics. Notably, during the median home price rose only 0.3%, highrise units saw flat sales, further emphasizing divergent buyer interests. With increasing inventory, buyers now have more leverage in negotiations, influencing their purchasing choices. Predictions for Future Market Conditions As you look ahead to the future market conditions, expect to see stable home prices and greater flexibility for buyers. With mortgage rates projected to hover around 6.7% to 6.8% throughout 2025, you’ll find it easier to make informed decisions without the pressure of rising costs. Furthermore, increased inventory levels mean you’ll have more options and time as you navigate your home-buying experience. Stable Price Projections Though many markets have experienced volatility in recent years, predictions for Texas home prices indicate a period of stability through 2025. Experts foresee stable price projections, with home prices expected to rise only 1-3% nationally. Key factors influencing this stability include: A 5.89% mortgage rate for 15-year fixed loans, which encourages home sales. An increased inventory reaching 4.8 months of supply, allowing buyers more time to decide. A median home price increase of only 0.3% year-over-year, showing slower growth compared to previous spikes. This calming market environment suggests that buyers can approach their purchases with confidence, as a significant market crash isn’t anticipated. Buyer Flexibility Trends In light of the recent trends in the housing market, buyers are finding themselves in a more advantageous position as we move through 2025. With inventory reaching 5.4 months of supply, you’ll notice greater buyer flexibility trends compared to previous years. The median home price has stabilized, increasing just 0.2% to $347,000, allowing you to make more informed purchasing decisions. Furthermore, declining mortgage rates from 6.9% to 6.7% improve affordability, boosting your buying capacity. Experts anticipate continued stability in home prices and more options for buyers throughout the year. The demand shift in the direction of townhomes and condos, with prices falling 4.6%, further increases choices, making it an opportune time to explore new possibilities. Strategies for Navigating Current Market Trends Steering through the current market trends requires a strategic approach, especially with the notable shifts in inventory and pricing. To effectively navigate this terrain, consider these strategies: Leverage Negotiating Influence: With increased inventory, you can negotiate better terms when you sell to close on your dream home. Monitor Mortgage Rates: Keep an eye on fluctuating fixed mortgage rates; a slight decrease can markedly affect your purchasing influence. Explore Diverse Options: With declining prices in townhomes and condos, you might find better deals in these segments, offering potential savings. Frequently Asked Questions How to Find Real Estate Market Trends? To find real estate market trends, start by analyzing sales data, including the number of homes sold in your area. Monitor inventory levels and median home prices to gauge supply and demand. Review listing statistics to assess market saturation. Furthermore, keep an eye on mortgage rates, as they can influence buyer behavior. What Is the Hardest Month to Sell a House? The hardest month to sell a house is typically January. This month experiences low buyer demand as a result of holiday distractions and colder weather, causing homes to remain on the market longer—averaging 57 days. With fewer buyers, sellers often accept lower prices than expected. The reduced competition makes it challenging to attract interest, leading to extended wait times and decreased profitability. If you’re considering selling, it’s wise to plan for these seasonal trends. Are Wisconsin Home Prices Dropping? Yes, home prices in Wisconsin are dropping. Recent data shows a 4.6% decrease year-over-year for townhomes and condos, as buyer preferences shift in the direction of single-family homes. Increased inventory means more options for buyers, adding downward pressure on prices. Homes are now averaging around 72 days on the market, indicating they’re taking longer to sell. Economic factors like fluctuating mortgage rates and high living costs likewise contribute to this market slowdown. Are Idaho Home Prices Dropping? Yes, Idaho home prices are dropping, with a year-over-year decline of about 2.1% as of mid-2025. The median home price now stands at $400,000, still above the national average but reflecting a slowdown in growth. Increased inventory and rising mortgage rates are creating a more favorable environment for buyers, contributing to longer days on market for homes. These factors indicate a cooling market, affecting overall homebuyer behavior and prices. Conclusion In conclusion, the current real estate market offers both challenges and opportunities for buyers. With a 3.0% increase in home sales and record-high inventory levels, you have greater negotiating influence. Even though median prices remain stable, the impact of mortgage rates at 6.8% suggests careful consideration is needed. By comprehending these market trends and adapting your strategies, you can effectively navigate this environment and make informed decisions that align with your home-buying goals. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Properties That Sold Close – Market Trends You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

With its goofy block lettering and bright colors, the MetroCard feels like a relic, which it sort of is—an early 1990s design, complete with gradients and drop shadows, that’s managed to stick around long enough to become one of New York’s defining symbols. At a time when generic minimalism and the sheen of AI-generated graphics have taken over, its unmistakable graphics feel refreshing. And the fact that a 31-year-old fare payment system is still in circulation when most tech today becomes obsolete in a matter of months is a remarkable achievement. But the end is near: on December 31st, the MTA will stop selling MetroCards and completely phase them out on an imminent date that the agency has yet to announce. Loving tributes have already begun as the city pays its respects to the slim piece of plastic that kept commuters moving for three decades. “It’s not as iconic as the token, but maybe in the future it will be,” says Jodi Shapiro, curator of the New York City Transit Museum, which on December 17 opened “FAREwell, Metrocard,” a new exhibition on the card’s history. While it might be New York City Transit’s second-most famous fare payment system, it has had a tremendous effect on the metropolis’s culture, how people get around, and what good municipal design ought to accomplish. It all began with a big ask: getting New Yorkers to change their habits. Peter Stangl A generational shift For 40 years before the MetroCard, New Yorkers paid for the subway using tokens. Dropping it into a turnstile wasn’t much different than paying with coins. The MetroCard was a technical leap that changed how riders experienced the public transit system. “At the time of its introduction, not many people used swipe cards,” Shapiro explains. “If you were familiar with them, you probably worked some kind of job where there was a security measure.” The idea to replace tokens percolated in the late 1970s, when city council member Carol Bellamy proposed the idea. But it took until the 1980s for the MTA to take fare cards seriously. Richard Ravitch, the chairman at the time, wanted to update the system and keep it on par with Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Paris, which already adopted magnetic strip cards. He argued that it would encourage off-peak ridership, curb fare evasion, and allow the sale of monthly passes. “’Passes will encourage mobility,” Ravitch said, and “enhanced mobility will increase commercial activity in this region.” The MTA launched the MetroCard in January 1994 and existed side-by-side with tokens for nearly a decade. With the change to a fare card also came a change to the turnstiles. To riders, the subway’s built environment doesn’t change all that much, but when it does, it’s big—the Vignelli/Noorda signage, demolishing the El lines, the fare evasion spikes and fins. The MetroCard was responsible for a major physical shift: electrified turnstiles, which were required to power the magnetic strip readers, and with them electrified emergency exit gates that can be remotely opened by booth clerks. The ’90s are calling Now back to the MetroCard itself. With a blue gradient background, MetroCard spelled out in golden block letters that ascend in angle and descend in size from the bottom right to top left corner, the card is 1990s to the core. The decade was a highly experimental time for graphic designers because of the freedom desktop publishing, a relatively new tool at the time, gave them. With typography in particular, designers obliterated the rules. They set type on curves, stretched and warped letterforms, and layered text. Cubic Transportation Systems designed the magnetic strip and the turnstile readers, but the exact designers of the graphics are unknown. The most Shapiro has been able to concretely find is that a group of people within the MTA was responsible for the visual direction. Compared to the disciplined Helvetica wayfinding signage throughout the system, the MetroCard was pure pop, especially after the MetroCard Gold replaced the original in 1997. What is MetroCard? “It wasn’t just a cosmetic change,” Shapiro says. “It indicated visually that the magnetic strip was functionally different.” Magnetic strip technology improved in the first few years after the original card debuted and more information could be encoded onto it. The new cards enabled free transfers between buses and the subway and also let the MTA sell 7-day and 30-day unlimited passes. (The new magnetic strips also gave rise to green and white student passes and gold and white reduced-fare cards for seniors and people with disabilities.) For this iteration of the MetroCard, the agency reversed the colors—blue lettering on a gold gradient background—and added a drop shadow to the text. The MTA logo in the top corner switched to gold, too, giving the image a faint resemblance to a sunset. The MetroCard’s graphics were friendly and, like the genius of the Antenna-designed MetroCard machine, taught riders how to use it. (There was even a plan to have an affable MetroCard mascot named the Cardvaark to boost early adoption.) You can only swipe it in one direction and so the text orientation indicates which side should go up and the slanted lettering mimics the swiping motion. That clipped top-right corner? It’s an accessibility cue to let riders with low vision know how to orient the card through the reader. Human-centered design About that swipe: It’s a motion that requires just the right speed: not too fast, not too slow, just brisk enough much to the annoyance and exasperation of tourists as well as daily riders who don’t want to look like newbies. (The exact speed should be between 10 and 40 inches per second.) “The cool thing about the MetroCard is the swipe mechanism is human powered,” Shapiro says. SubTalk: Refill your MetroCard Relying on the manual labor of riders had ripple effects, like traffic jams at turnstiles, but on the whole it’s a lot simpler than the alternative: a conventional magnetic ticket reader, which mechanically draws a card in, reads it, and spits it out. The machine could jam at any of those three steps, which is risky given the volume of straphangers in New York. Over 4.6 million people ride the subway each day, which means that a single turnstile can clock thousands of swipes a day; in 2011 the busiest turnstile saw over a million riders pass through. “How many points of failure do you really want to have with a system that has that amount of transactions?” Shapiro says. “And the answer is you want to have as few points of failure as possible. When you have a human-powered card reader, that’s only really one point of failure.” In the calculus of subway math, lost time and expense of fixing a jam is worth a lot more than personal embarrassment. (Just ask Hillary Clinton and George Pataki.) From to fare passes to holy grails While the MetroCard’s front gave it its identity and functionality, its back turned it into a collector’s item. This was by design from the beginning, too. The graphics enticed people to buy and use them and offered an advertising opportunity. The MTA described them as “walking billboards.” MetroCards are printed using flexography and CMYK color, a process that results in crisp, vivid imagery and a high level of customization. “Since tokens were a big souvenir for people’s trips to New York, then why wouldn’t the Metro Card be one?” Shapiro says. The MTA launched the MetroCard with four collectible fixed value cards—$1.25 (a single-ride fare at the time), $5, $10, and $20. Each denomination featured a different scenic view of New York on the back: Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center, Times Square, and the skyline. Through the years, the MTA issued many more special-edition MetroCard that celebrated the city and its culture, over 400 in all. The Transit Museum has “several thousand” MetroCards in its collection and just a fraction of them are in the exhibition. They’re grouped thematically based on recurring motifs including sports teams, musicians, artists, PSAs and safety ads, commemorative moments, and transit facts. “There was definitely some fun being had,” Shapiro says. The first five years alone featured the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup, an illustration of subway riders by the Brooklyn-born artist James Rizzi, and an ad for Gang Starr’s album Moment of Truth—the first time rap artists appeared on the card. “Gang Starr is great,” Shapiro says, “but one of their members is from Boston so I can’t forgive that.” In 2012, the MTA changed the MetroCard rules to allow special graphics on the front amid a wider expansion of advertising in the system. (Before then, the MTA issued a MetroCard with a green logo in honor of climate week.) The Brooklyn Museum took advantage of this to publicize its David Bowie exhibition in 2018 as did Instagram with its content creators campaign from 2024, the very last limited-edition MetroCards printed. The MTA’s collector’s item strategy worked. After the Supreme card launched to hordes of Hypebeasts rushing to vending machines (the NYPD had to barricade the lines and limit buyers to two cards apiece), resellers listed the limited-edition MetroCards for upwards of $1,000 (you can find them on the secondary market in the double digit range now). And some holdouts are still hoping their Biggie cards will fetch $5,000. But the rarest, according to Shapiro, is actually a special prepaid New York Times MetroCard mailed to newspaper subscribers in 1994. “You couldn’t buy it from a booth or anything like that,” she says. One is listed on eBay for $950. “It’s interesting to see something that is such a fundamental part of every New Yorker’s commute becomes some kind of grail on the secondary market,” Shapiro says. “It’s odd.” While Shapiro doesn’t personally collect MetroCards, she has held onto a select few, including Barbara Kruger’s designs released for the 2017 edition of Performa, the James Rizzi illustrations, and ads from defunct businesses like Kozmo and Urban Fetch. Compared to the MTA’s annual operating budget, around $20 billion, the revenue it earned from MetroCard campaigns is anemic. From 2012 to 2018, the MTA averaged about $600,000 a year in ad revenue. It rose to $1 million in 2019 then dropped to zero during 2020 on account of the pandemic, then ticked up to $166,000 per year between 2021 and 2023. In 2024, promos earned $641,000. Cultural touchstones More than being trophies for transit nerds, the MetroCard simply became part of the fabric of the city—literally. Ana Ratner, the editor of The Other Almanac and a lifelong New Yorker, recalls how she and her friends used to gather spent cards (broken boxes where riders discarded spent cards were jackpots) and make clothes out of them. “I wasn’t that good at it, so I did square things like wallets and tote bags, but then friends of mine could make dresses and those are really cool,” Ratner says. “You would punch holes in different parts of the MetroCard, link them with metal loops or wire or string, and then you’d have the chain tunic dress.” Teen Vogue even featured one of her friends with a MetroCard-wrapped desk in its Last Look column. “She was extremely crafty,” Ratner adds. Juan Carlos Pinto, an artist based in Brooklyn, has been making collages out of MetroCards since 2002, using the ads on the back to bring color to his mostly blue, gold, and yellow compositions. “Of course I will miss the card,” he says. “It became my bread and butter. But the switch to other forms of payment is unavoidable. Change is good.” Numerous other artists have used the card as material, too. The Transit Museum’s next MetroCard show, opening in March, will chronicle it as an artistic medium. On the conceptual side, Shawn Lawrence James, aka The Blue Hundreds, a 40-year-old artist born and raised in Bed-Stuy, wrote a song in 2015 about the MetroCard that was featured in an exhibition at MoMA PS1. In it, he describes a glitch within two-trip tickets (bending the card just right lets riders swipe in for free, a trick he learned 20 years ago) against a backdrop of rising transit costs and increased policing of fare beaters. He saw the song as a way to help people save money, stay out of trouble, and offer “access on your own terms,” James says. “The song was kind of like a protest.” As the MTA phases out the MetroCard this graphic ephemera and the culture around it will slowly fade away. When tap-to-pay through OMNY fully takes over, many riders will never need a dedicated physical object to ride New York City transit, a first in over 160 years. “Since transportation started in New York City in the 1860s, you’ve always either had to have a ticket or a token,” Shapiro says, noting that tokens existed and were in use before the subway opened. “It’s going to be weird to not have everyone using something tangible.” With the MetroCard’s retirement comes another casualty of dematerialization (remember ticket stubs, loyalty cards, and handwritten correspondence?) and another retreat into the digital wallets trapped in our phone screens. As the MetroCard exits daily circulation, we also lose the collective experience it embodied. On any given day, thousands—maybe even millions—of New Yorkers carried the same exact object, with the same messages printed on them. The MetroCard is a link to a specific place and time: a PSA about the dangers of subway surfing, a fact about the most checked-out book in the NYPL system (that would be The Snowy Day by Jack Keats), or a simple poem. When the MTA released the Biggie cards, in honor of what would have been his 50th birthday, fans lined up for hours for the chance to buy one. “Who’s not going to want this, being born and raised in Brooklyn?” a woman from Brighton Beach told the New York Post. Presumably, the MTA could offer limited-edition OMNY cards, but since their expiration date, usually five years after issuance, is longer than the MetroCard and its cost, $5 each, is also higher, there’s less incentive to switch up the graphics. A spokesperson from the MTA says that “moving to a contactless payment unlocks potential for new customer-friendly promotions and fare discounts” and mentioned a Barilla activation that turned pasta boxes with an OMNY decal stuck on them into a one-way ticket. Has anyone collected these? I, for one, haven’t swiped my MetroCard in nearly a year (it expired on January 31, 2025) since contactless payments are so much more convenient, but the scuffed up card with a PSA about not going on the tracks for any reason remains in my wallet, and likely will for quite sometime as a tribute to the legendary object. [a] View the full article

Over the past five years, the remote work revolution has changed life as we know it for corporate folks like myself. And while I’m on the record singing the praises of working from home, I’d like to set the record straight: It’s not without its faults. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed my weekday afternoon naps and time away from co-workers. But I’ve also come to realize that before the pandemic, we were putting a little bit too much gas on working from home. Is WFH convenient? You bet your ass it is. Waking up and not having to get out of bed — or get in the shower or get dressed because I’m taking all my meetings with the camera off — is a lifestyle I’ve come to appreciate. But what has actually depreciated is my personal satisfaction with my apartment, my building, and my neighbors. I’m not the only person dreading the stricter return-to-office policies companies like Paramount and Microsoft are mandating for the new year, but there are some aspects of working from home that I certainly won’t miss. Let’s start with my own pad, a modest one-bedroom with a nice view. It’s one of those places that often garner compliments from first-time guests after they return from the bathroom. You know what I’m talking about. They walk out, still drying their hands with a paper towel, look around, and say, “Wow, you’ve got a nice place here.” I’ve always appreciated that, because I felt the same way. But when I began working from home, I started to realize that what I had is not enough. Specifically, I need a building that can help a brother out when it comes to maintenance. I may not live in The PJs, but our super, Randy, has the apathy of Thurgood Stubbs. Which I wouldn’t care about if it didn’t infringe on my own work performance. Dude almost never comes to the building, and when he does, he tries to get everything done in one day. It’s inefficient as hell. While I’ve successfully plunged a toilet back in my day, I’m no Black Tim “The Toolman” Taylor, which usually leaves me at Randy’s mercy when things go haywire at home. On one occassion, my kitchen sink randomly started leaking. And while Randy promised to come take a look as soon as possible, I knew that could take days. So I rolled up my sleeves and aimlessly poked around under the sink, losing track of time and logging in a few minutes late for a Zoom meeting as a result. Ugh. (Speaking of video conferences, due to my apartment’s ancient infrastructure, we’re apparently not equipped to receive Fios service, which means our internet connectivity is more than seldom subpar. With the number of times I’ve been told I’m frozen on calls, you’d think I lived in Antarctica. Burr!) There are other obstacles that WFH has presented. Since my name is the first in my building’s intercom directory, I’m the default buzzer for delivery workers who are too lazy to find the appropriate resident receiving a package or food order. All due respect to delivery persons, but with an average of damn near four rings a day — for deliveries that are rarely my own — I just want to tell them to buzz off. Last but not least, my neighbors have replaced my former officemates as daily distractions of choice. An opera singer lives in the apartment directly below mine, which means her practice sessions can sound less like music and more like cries for help. There’s just so much drama in whatever she’s singing that on several occasions, while I’ve been speaking in a meeting, I’ve been concerned that my co-workers think a murder or violent sex is happening somewhere in my background. There are other offenders: the neighbor with a dog whose barks are so loud that you’d think it was living in my unit; the grunting fitness buff who racked up on free weights last year and slams them on the floor during workouts like he’s at the damn gym; the new parents across the hall whose bundle of joy gets to crying for hours at a time at approximately 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily. The list of grievances can go on, but honestly, I’m sure lots of folks have their own issues, whether tending to their own households during work hours or simply being thirsty for a change of scenery. My solution to the WFH woes has been to get an escape by popping out to a cafe for a few hours a couple of times a week. Because let’s be real — the true value in remote work isn’t necessarily the fact that it’s happening from your own residence; it’s that it’s not happening at the office. View the full article

Rather than unleashing a new multi-polar era, US retreat has left states scrapping for advantage in an ill-defined orderView the full article

It’s been a pretty wild year in the world of advertising and brand work. Amid broader industry shifts, there has been some incredible brand work created this year across many different platforms, film, experiences, and more. But as we bring 2025 to a close, I wanted to take a more targeted look at some of the best commercials of this year. I’ve tried to adhere to criteria that includes level of difficulty, creative inventiveness, risk, and sheer entertainment. Despite how much great work is out there, sadly, most advertising can be generously categorized as cultural wallpaper. But these select few pieces of brand weren’t a waste of time—they made me laugh, think, and, yes, crave a fast-casual margarita. Let’s dive in, shall we? Best Social Commentary Commercial for a Meat Australian Lamb “The Comments Section” What is it about Australian Lamb? And I’m not even talking about the meat. The Aussie meat producer marketer is making a habit of crafting hilarious social commentary while hyping the taste and quality of its young sheep. This year, it holds a mirror up to online culture and the absurdity of how people act in the comments compared to IRL. The results are simply delicious. Best Self-Aware AI Commercial That Absolutely No one Should Copy But Many Will Kalshi “The World’s Gone Mad” If you were watching the NBA playoffs when this ad aired, you’d be excused if you thought someone snuck some ‘shrooms in your beer glass. Unhinged doesn’t even begin to describe how the prediction market platform Kalshi went about introducing itself to the broader American public. Hilarious, wild, and an absolute AI-generated nightmare, the spot immediately grabbed attention, but also burned the bridge of shock-and-awe AI ads behind it. Any other spot that tries to use this approach will just be a copycat—see: McDonald’s now-pulled European holiday spot. I’m definitely not a fan of AI slop advertising, but here Kalshi sets the bar for AI as a creative ad gimmick. Bonus points here for the equally funny behind-the-scenes spot that quickly followed online. Best Reinterpretation of a Classic Tagline Nike “Why Do It?” When Walt Stack ran across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nike’s first commercial, “Just Do It” became the tagline and philosophy that propelled the swoosh to become an iconic global brand. Now almost 40 years later, Nike needed to remind a new generation what “Just Do It” actually means. Launched in September, the brand’s campaign was called “Why do it?”, and it took aim at the pervasiveness of cringe culture, which often frames earnest effort as uncool. “Those three words mean so much to us, but we can’t just be holier-than-thou about it,” Nike chief marketing officer Nicole Graham told me at the time. “We have to make sure that those three words are resonating with each generation.” Narrated by Tyler, the Creator, and starring a laundry list of star athletes, this was a stylish way to bridge the brand’s heritage as an iconic advertiser, with a modern message that shouldn’t get old. Best Blockbuster Video Game Commercial Battlefield 6 “Live Action Trailer” Created with agency Mother LA, the video game giant appears to be bringing Battlefield 6 squads to life with the help of Zac Efron, NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, chart topper Morgan Wallen, and MMA fighter Paddy Pimblett. It harkens back to the days when Call of Duty enlisted Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel (2010), or Jonah Hill and Avatar’s Sam Worthington (2012) to hype its new releases. Except the celebs in this spot only last for about three seconds. Set to Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” it quickly becomes clear that the game doesn’t need to rely on the celebrity of Efron, Butler, Wallen, and Pimblett, but its strength is actually in the community of everyday players that make it what it is. A clever play on a classic gaming trope to help launch a blockbuster. Best Meta Movie Marketing Award A24 “Marty Supreme zoom call” It’s 18 minutes long. Here we get Chalamet—sporting a bright yellow tank top, buzz cut, and dainty necklace—joining a Zoom call full of supposed studio marketing execs leading the prom campaign ahead of the film’s December 25th release. The star actor then gradually unloads an increasingly ridiculous list of ideas to market the film. As my colleague Grace Snelling wrote, it may be his best role yet. Absolute genius. Meta advertising in entertainment used to be the lone realm of Mr. Ryan Reynolds. Here, by lampooning entertainment marketing in a way that doesn’t give anything away about Marty Supreme, while still building curiosity and hype, A24 and Chalamet raise the bar. Best Brand Apology Award Ram Trucks “This is our Ram-demption” It can be surprisingly difficult for brands to admit they’ve made a mistake. It’s even harder to get them to actually apologize for it. Back in June, Ram Trucks did both shockingly well. In 2024, parent company Stellantis announced it would discontinue the automaker’s popular Hemi V-8 engine for its Ram 1500 full-size pickup truck beginning this summer, and fans were upset—to say the least. Sales dropped 18%. Created with the ad agency Argonaut, the apology spot was shot entirely with practical effects, and featured CEO Tim Kuniskis behind the wheel of the truck, doing doughnuts, drifting, and taking a few hot laps on a NASCAR track. Here he says, “We own it. We got it wrong. And we’re fixing it.” It’s a simple, textbook brand apology, creatively combined with the kind of pep talk aimed to get brand fans hyped for what’s next. New Sports Tradition We Didn’t Know We Needed Award Oscar Mayer “Wienie500” Part commercial, part sports event, this year Oscar Mayer redefined what was possible when you make a car in the shape of a hotdog. First created in 1936 as a promotional vehicle for the brand, the Wienermobile has seemingly always been part of the hotdog brand’s heritage. So the brand asked itself a simple question, why not race them? The Wienie500 raced five of the brand’s famed Wienermobiles against each other at the Indianapolis 500 in May. It streamed live on the Fox Sports app, getting 150 million total views; media coverage and social media attracted nearly seven billion earned impressions, and Oscar Mayer saw its biggest Memorial Day sales lift in years. Best New Country Song to Sell Margs Chili’s “Ride the ‘Dente” Word on the street is that Chili’s sells more margaritas than any other U.S. restaurant chain. In 2024, it sold more than 25 million margs. So when the brand was looking to connect with a NASCAR audience, it combined country music, margaritas, and some good ol’ fashioned hilarious copywriting to create an epic music video featuring its signature marg, the Presidente. The tune is catchy and the lyrics are remarkably transparent: Chili’s wanted to reintroduce the Presidente Margarita to a NASCAR audience But that was pretty complex, so we came up with a catchy line And it ends with, “I’m singing ‘bout Chili’s y’all.” It’s a lifestyle choice. Most Creative Use of a Billboard Steph Curry “Shot Ready” To promote the Golden State Warriors’ star’s new book Shot Ready, Curry and his publisher Random House enlisted agency Known to create what may go down as a pantheon billboard. Timed with three days of a November supermoon, the billboard makes it look like Curry is actually shooting the actual moon, as it crests over the Los Angeles skyline, in a perfect arc. So much of our world—and especially advertising—is digital, that billboards have become a welcome analog canvas for creativity. Bonus: They are still able to spread globally thanks to our social feeds. This joins BBC’s 2020 remake of Dracula, and the original Deadpool ‘s emoji as one of the most creative billboards in recent memory. Best Commercial That’s Also a Feature Doc That’s Also A Commercial WhatsApp “The Seat” Okay, okay, I’m cheating here a bit, I know. Brand entertainment is not technically a commercial. But WhatsApp is so embedded in this entire story that I can’t really help but make an exception. Back in May, Netflix debuted a new doc that chronicled Mercedes search for its new F1 driver after Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving for Ferrari. The one-hour doc was directed by Kyle Thrash, and produced by RadicalMedia, but it can also be considered an elaborate WhatsApp commercial. The Meta-owned app is a producer, and created the whole project with its content partner Modern Arts. With a budget similar to a 60-second ad,The Seat is the ultimate example of non-interruptive advertising that people actually want to watch. View the full article

You’re staring at an incident that looks familiar. The symptoms match something you saw three months ago: authentication failures cascading through the mobile app, then the web portal, then the partner integrations. You remember the pain of that incident clearly. What you can’t remember is whether you actually fixed the underlying problem or just patched the symptoms. You pull up the previous incident ticket. It shows the resolution: “Updated connection pool settings in the auth service.” But you’re looking at a Jira ticket, and the actual authentication service lives in a different team’s Azure DevOps backlog. The monitoring alerts came through PagerDuty. The customer complaints started in Zendesk. The infrastructure changes were tracked in ServiceNow. You’ve got fragments of a story scattered across five systems, and no clear line of sight from symptom to root cause. This is the gap where institutional knowledge goes to die. You can investigate all day long, but when the trail crosses a system boundary, you’re effectively starting over. That’s where root cause analysis (RCA) comes in. Why RCA fails when incident data lives in multiple systems The standard advice about pattern recognition in incident management assumes you have one place where incidents live. Check for similar symptoms, review the resolution notes, look at your historical data. Straightforward enough when your infrastructure team, your application teams, and your support organization all work in the same tool. Most operations don’t look like that. Your infrastructure incidents live in ServiceNow because that’s what the enterprise standardized on. Your development teams track their work in Jira or Azure DevOps because that’s what fits their workflow. Your support team uses Zendesk because that’s what customer-facing teams need. Each system has its own incident history, its own resolution patterns, its own tribal knowledge locked in comments and updates. When you’re investigating an incident, you’re trying to figure out if you’ve fought this battle before. Did someone already discover that when the cache invalidation timing shifts, it triggers authentication retries that overwhelm the connection pool? Maybe. But if they documented that discovery in a different ticketing system, you’re starting from scratch. Three engineers independently discover the same root cause across three separate incidents because nobody can see the pattern. The Jira ticket describes the application behavior. The ServiceNow incident captures the infrastructure response. The Azure DevOps work item documents the code fix. Individually, each looks like a discrete problem. Together, they’d tell you this is a systemic issue needing architectural attention. Root cause analysis also demands validating your hypothesis against evidence from multiple sources. When you think you’ve identified a root cause, you need corroboration: timestamps that line up, multiple independent observers seeing related symptoms, infrastructure changes that correspond to when problems started appearing. You suspect a deployment triggered the authentication cascade. You need to correlate the deployment timestamp from Azure DevOps with when errors started appearing in your monitoring system, when customer complaints hit Zendesk, and when your infrastructure team got alerted through ServiceNow. Each system stamps its events with its own clock, in its own timezone, using its own categorization scheme. Getting them to line up requires manual detective work: opening six browser tabs, exporting data to spreadsheets, building your own correlation timeline in a document that immediately goes stale. Without cross-system visibility, you can’t validate your hypothesis with confidence. You end up with plausible theories that feel right but lack hard evidence, or you chase red herrings because you can’t see the fuller picture. This is why so many root cause analyses end with “monitoring showed X, we fixed X, incident resolved.” That might be accurate. Or you might have fixed a symptom while the root cause waits to resurface under slightly different conditions next month. The timeline reconstruction problem nobody talks about The most basic requirement for effective RCA is knowing what happened when. Not what one system saw, but what actually occurred across your entire stack. In ServiceNow, you’ve got a major incident ticket opened at 14:23. In Zendesk, customer complaints started arriving at 14:15. In Azure DevOps, a deployment completed at 14:08. In PagerDuty, the first alert fired at 14:20. Already you have useful information: the customer impact preceded your monitoring detection by five minutes, and both followed a deployment by seven to twelve minutes. That correlation matters. But those timestamps only tell you part of the story. You need the context inside each system. The Zendesk tickets describe specific user workflows that failed. The PagerDuty alert shows which services were affected. The Azure DevOps deployment notes mention which configuration changed. The ServiceNow incident captures which teams were engaged and what actions they took. When you’re actively fighting an incident, you don’t have time to build this integrated view. You’re troubleshooting in whatever system is most relevant to your role, coordinating through war room calls, and sharing updates in Slack. The connective tissue between systems happens in people’s heads, not in their tools. It’s only during RCA that you need the complete picture. By then, the critical details have already dispersed across disconnected systems. Reconstructing the timeline means tracking down which engineer updated which ticket in which tool, which changes were documented where and which evidence exists in what system. Every cross-reference is a context switch, a search query, a manual correlation. The engineer is frantically opening six browser tabs, trying to line up timestamps across systems while the postmortem deadline approaches. This gets particularly brutal when you’re investigating something that happened weeks or months ago. The Slack channel is buried in history. The war room call wasn’t recorded. The engineer who had the key insight is on vacation. All you have are the tickets, scattered across tools that weren’t designed to form a coherent narrative together. Here’s what experienced problem managers know: the person who recognizes a pattern often isn’t the person who documented the previous incident. It’s someone who worked on a related problem in a different part of the stack, using a different tool, tracking their work in a different system. When an incident hits, your best asset isn’t your ticket history. It’s your network of people who’ve seen adjacent problems. Your infrastructure engineer who remembers that authentication issues correlate with database connection pool exhaustion. Your application developer who debugged a similar timeout pattern six months ago. Your support analyst who noticed this exact customer complaint pattern during the last major release. That knowledge exists in people’s heads because your systems don’t make it visible. The infrastructure engineer’s resolution is documented in ServiceNow. The developer’s fix is captured in Jira. The support analyst’s observation is buried in Zendesk ticket comments. None of them know the others exist until someone manually makes the connection. This is why major incidents often get resolved through hallway conversations and Slack threads rather than through formal RCA processes. Someone says “wait, I think I’ve seen this before” and drops a link to a ticket in a completely different system. Suddenly you’ve got context. The timeline makes sense. The pattern emerges. But that only works if the right people are in the room, if they remember the connection, if they happen to participate in that particular incident response. It’s fragile, personality-dependent, and it doesn’t scale. Why real-time workflow sync doesn’t solve retrospective learning The typical response to multi-system problems is workflow integration. Connect ServiceNow to Jira so that when a major incident is created, it automatically generates a development ticket. Link PagerDuty to Slack so alerts appear where your team already communicates. Build webhooks that push updates between systems when status changes. These integrations absolutely help during active incident response. They reduce manual coordination, keep teams aligned, and ensure important updates flow to the right places. If you’re integrating ServiceNow and Jira, you can track development work without forcing engineers to context-switch between tools. Real-time workflow synchronization matters when you’re trying to resolve an incident quickly. But workflow integrations optimize for forward motion: getting from incident detection to resolution faster. They don’t solve the retrospective problem. Looking back across multiple incidents to identify patterns, validate hypotheses, or learn whether you actually fixed the root cause or just papered over symptoms requires different infrastructure. A webhook that creates a Jira ticket from a ServiceNow incident doesn’t help you three months later when you’re trying to determine if the current authentication failures match a pattern from previous incidents. The tickets exist in both systems, linked by reference IDs. But when you’re doing RCA, you’re not following that one-to-one link. You’re searching for similar symptoms, looking across time ranges, trying to spot patterns that weren’t obvious during any individual incident. You need to query across systems: show me all ServiceNow incidents tagged with authentication failures in the last six months, along with any related Jira tickets, any Azure DevOps deployments that happened within two hours of incident start times, and any Zendesk tickets from customers reporting login problems. That query requires having the data synchronized across tools, not just systems that can push updates to each other during active incidents. What bidirectional synchronization enables for RCA What you actually need is persistent integration where the relationships between incidents, deployments, customer issues, and infrastructure changes remain visible over time. Not just real-time workflow handoffs, but stateful synchronization that maintains connections even as tickets evolve. When an engineer adds crucial context to a Jira ticket, that context syncs to the connected ServiceNow incident. When a customer files a follow-up Zendesk ticket about the same issue, it connects to the incident timeline. When a deployment in Azure DevOps correlates with incident timing, that relationship persists for future analysis. The sync preserves the incident lineage across system boundaries, so you can trace the full history of a problem regardless of which tools captured different parts of the story. The value shows up when you’re three months past an incident and trying to figure out if you’re seeing a pattern. Instead of reconstructing timelines manually from six different tools, you can look across the synchronized data: all incidents where authentication services degraded within four hours of a deployment, along with related customer complaints and infrastructure metrics. The answer comes from data that’s been continuously synchronized, not from emergency exports and manual correlation. This is particularly powerful for pattern recognition. When incident data lives fragmented across tools, you only see patterns within each system. Similar ServiceNow incidents look like discrete problems unless you can see that each one followed deployments tracked in Azure DevOps and triggered customer complaints documented in Zendesk. The pattern is only visible when you can look across all three sources simultaneously. Bidirectional synchronization also supports improved hypothesis validation. When you theorize that a configuration change caused cascading failures, you can validate that by correlating timestamps, affected systems, and customer impact across your tools. You’re not relying on manual timeline reconstruction or hoping an engineer remembers details from a previous incident. The evidence either supports your hypothesis or it doesn’t, because you can actually see the complete picture. For organizations serious about reducing repeat incidents, this kind of integration becomes necessary infrastructure. You can’t consistently improve what you can’t consistently measure. IT service management isn’t just about resolving individual incidents quickly. It’s about learning from them so you stop having the same incident repeatedly. That learning requires visibility across the ecosystem where incidents actually live. Unito maintains bidirectional synchronization across the ticketing and development tools your teams actually use. Not just during active incidents, but continuously, so your historical data remains connected when you need to do serious pattern analysis. The question isn’t whether you should consolidate onto a single platform. The question is whether you’ll keep fighting incidents with one hand tied behind your back, or whether you’ll build the cross-system visibility that makes effective root cause analysis possible. Ready to transform your ticket escalation workflow? Meet with a Unito product expert to see what a two-way integration can do for your workflow. Talk with sales View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Backbone Pro mobile gaming controller is currently down to $134.99 from $169.99, its lowest price yet, according to price trackers. That drop helps justify its somewhat in-between status—it’s more expensive than basic clamp-on controllers but still cheaper than buying both a dedicated phone grip and a standalone Bluetooth gamepad. BACKBONE Pro Mobile Gaming Controller $134.99 at Amazon $169.99 Save $35.00 Get Deal Get Deal $134.99 at Amazon $169.99 Save $35.00 The appeal here is flexibility. The Backbone Pro snaps directly onto your phone through USB-C, but it can also work wirelessly over Bluetooth with a PC, tablet, or TV. That means one controller can live in your bag and handle quick mobile sessions, cloud gaming on a laptop, or couch gaming on a bigger screen without extra mounts or adapters. PCMag rated it “excellent,” which tracks with how polished it feels, though it’s not without trade-offs. In hand, the Backbone Pro feels noticeably better than the original Backbone One. The rounded grips and full-size analog sticks make longer sessions easier, especially for shooters or racing games where precision matters. The sticks are the same size as an Xbox controller’s and track movement reliably. Buttons are smaller than a full-size gamepad but clicky and well-spaced, which helps avoid accidental presses. Triggers are responsive, though their shorter pull takes some adjustment in games that rely on fine throttle control. That said, the controller lacks haptic motors, so there is no rumble feedback, which makes it feel a bit hollow compared to traditional console controllers. It is still solid and well-built, just not as weighty or immersive as something like a full-size gamepad. Where things get more complicated is the software. Plugging the Backbone Pro into a USB-C phone is simple, and it works with most Android phones and iPhone 15 and newer models, even large devices like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Wired mode gives you access to the Backbone app, where you can update firmware, remap buttons, and use the screenshot capture button. Many of the more appealing features, though, are locked behind the Backbone+ subscription, which costs $39.99 per year. That includes game launching, video capture, 1080p recording, Twitch streaming, or retro emulation for iPhone users. That’s a bit of a letdown considering the already steep price tag. Still, you’re getting a compact and dual-purpose controller that can travel with you, hook onto your phone, or connect wirelessly to just about anything that supports XInput. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Graphite) — $139.99 (List Price $219.99) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core — $74.99 (List Price $189.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $29.99 (List Price $49.99) Meta Quest 3 512GB Mixed Reality VR Headset with Controllers — $499.00 (List Price $499.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

For the past decade, image SEO was largely a matter of technical hygiene: Compressing JPEGs to appease impatient visitors. Writing alt text for accessibility. Implementing lazy loading to keep LCP scores in the green. While these practices remain foundational to a healthy site, the rise of large, multimodal models such as ChatGPT and Gemini has introduced new possibilities and challenges. Multimodal search embeds content types into a shared vector space. We are now optimizing for the “machine gaze.” Generative search makes most content machine-readable by segmenting media into chunks and extracting text from visuals through optical character recognition (OCR). Images must be legible to the machine eye. If an AI cannot parse the text on product packaging due to low contrast or hallucinates details because of poor resolution, that is a serious problem. This article deconstructs the machine gaze, shifting the focus from loading speed to machine readability. Technical hygiene still matters Before optimizing for machine comprehension, we must respect the gatekeeper: performance. Images are a double-edged sword. They drive engagement but are often the primary cause of layout instability and slow speeds. The standard for “good enough” has moved beyond WebP. Once the asset loads, the real work begins. Dig deeper: How multimodal discovery is redefining SEO in the AI era Designing for the machine eye: Pixel-level readability To large language models (LLMs), images, audio, and video are sources of structured data. They use a process called visual tokenization to break an image into a grid of patches, or visual tokens, converting raw pixels into a sequence of vectors. This unified modeling allows AI to process “a picture of a [image token] on a table” as a single coherent sentence. These systems rely on OCR to extract text directly from visuals. This is where quality becomes a ranking factor. If an image is heavily compressed with lossy artifacts, the resulting visual tokens become noisy. Poor resolution can cause the model to misinterpret those tokens, leading to hallucinations in which the AI confidently describes objects or text that do not actually exist because the “visual words” were unclear. Reframing alt text as grounding For large language models, alt text serves a new function: grounding. It acts as a semantic signpost that forces the model to resolve ambiguous visual tokens, helping confirm its interpretation of an image. As Zhang, Zhu, and Tambe noted: “By inserting text tokens near relevant visual patches, we create semantic signposts that reveal true content-based cross-modal attention scores, guiding the model.” Tip: By describing the physical aspects of the image – the lighting, the layout, and the text on the object – you provide the high-quality training data that helps the machine eye correlate visual tokens with text tokens. The OCR failure points audit Search agents like Google Lens and Gemini use OCR to read ingredients, instructions, and features directly from images. They can then answer complex user queries. As a result, image SEO now extends to physical packaging. Current labeling regulations – FDA 21 CFR 101.2 and EU 1169/2011 – allow type sizes as small as 4.5 pt to 6 pt, or 0.9 mm, on compact packaging. “In case of packaging or containers the largest surface of which has an area of less than 80 cm², the x-height of the font size referred to in paragraph 2 shall be equal to or greater than 0.9 mm.” While this satisfies the human eye, it fails the machine gaze. The minimum pixel resolution required for OCR-readable text is far higher. Character height should be at least 30 pixels. Low contrast is also an issue. Contrast should reach 40 grayscale values. Be wary of stylized fonts, which can cause OCR systems to mistake a lowercase “l” for a “1” or a “b” for an “8.” Beyond contrast, reflective finishes create additional problems. Glossy packaging reflects light, producing glare that obscures text. Packaging should be treated as a machine-readability feature. If an AI cannot parse a packaging photo because of glare or a script font, it may hallucinate information or, worse, omit the product entirely. Originality as a proxy for experience and effort Originality can feel like a subjective creative trait, but it can be quantified as a measurable data point. Original images act as a canonical signal. The Google Cloud Vision API includes a feature called WebDetection, which returns lists of fullMatchingImages – exact duplicates found across the web – and pagesWithMatchingImages. If your URL has the earliest index date for a unique set of visual tokens (i.e., a specific product angle), Google credits your page as the origin of that visual information, boosting its “experience” score. Dig deeper: Visual content and SEO: How to use images and videos Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. The co-occurrence audit AI identifies every object in an image and uses their relationships to infer attributes about a brand, price point, and target audience. This makes product adjacency a ranking signal. To evaluate it, you need to audit your visual entities. You can test this using tools such as the Google Vision API. For a systematic audit of an entire media library, you need to pull the raw JSON using the OBJECT_LOCALIZATION feature. The API returns object labels such as “watch,” “plastic bag” and “disposable cup.” Google provides this example, where the API returns the following information for the objects in the image: NamemidScoreBoundsBicycle wheel/m/01bqk00.89648587(0.32076266, 0.78941387), (0.43812272, 0.78941387), (0.43812272, 0.97331065), (0.32076266, 0.97331065)Bicycle/m/0199g0.886761(0.312, 0.6616471), (0.638353, 0.6616471), (0.638353, 0.9705882), (0.312, 0.9705882)Bicycle wheel/m/01bqk00.6345275(0.5125398, 0.760708), (0.6256646, 0.760708), (0.6256646, 0.94601655), (0.5125398, 0.94601655) Good to know: mid contains a machine-generated identifier (MID) corresponding to a label’s Google Knowledge Graph entry. The API does not know whether this context is good or bad. You do, so check whether the visual neighbors are telling the same story as your price tag. By photographing a blue leather watch next to a vintage brass compass and a warm wood-grain surface, Lord Leathercraft engineers a specific semantic signal: heritage exploration. The co-occurrence of analog mechanics, aged metal, and tactile suede infers a persona of timeless adventure and old-world sophistication. Photograph that same watch next to a neon energy drink and a plastic digital stopwatch, and the narrative shifts through dissonance. The visual context now signals mass-market utility, diluting the entity’s perceived value. Dig deeper: How to make products machine-readable for multimodal AI search Quantifying emotional resonance Beyond objects, these models are increasingly adept at reading sentiment. APIs, such as Google Cloud Vision, can quantify emotional attributes by assigning confidence scores to emotions like “joy,” “sorrow,” and “surprise” detected in human faces. This creates a new optimization vector: emotional alignment. If you are selling fun summer outfits, but the models appear moody or neutral – a common trope in high-fashion photography – the AI may de-prioritize the image for that query because the visual sentiment conflicts with search intent. For a quick spot check without writing code, use Google Cloud Vision’s live drag-and-drop demo to review the four primary emotions: joy, sorrow, anger, and surprise. For positive intents, such as “happy family dinner,” you want the joy attribute to register as VERY_LIKELY. If it reads POSSIBLE or UNLIKELY, the signal is too weak for the machine to confidently index the image as happy. For a more rigorous audit: Run a batch of images through the API. Look specifically at the faceAnnotations object in the JSON response by sending a FACE_DETECTION feature request. Review the likelihood fields. The API returns these values as enums or fixed categories. This example comes directly from the official documentation: "rollAngle": 1.5912293, "panAngle": -22.01964, "tiltAngle": -1.4997566, "detectionConfidence": 0.9310801, "landmarkingConfidence": 0.5775582, "joyLikelihood": "VERY_LIKELY", "sorrowLikelihood": "VERY_UNLIKELY", "angerLikelihood": "VERY_UNLIKELY", "surpriseLikelihood": "VERY_UNLIKELY", "underExposedLikelihood": "VERY_UNLIKELY", "blurredLikelihood": "VERY_UNLIKELY", "headwearLikelihood": "POSSIBLE" The API grades emotion on a fixed scale. The goal is to move primary images from POSSIBLE to LIKELY or VERY_LIKELY for the target emotion. UNKNOWN (data gap). VERY_UNLIKELY (strong negative signal). UNLIKELY. POSSIBLE (neutral or ambiguous). LIKELY. VERY_LIKELY (strong positive signal – target this). Use these benchmarks You cannot optimize for emotional resonance if the machine can barely see the human. If detectionConfidence is below 0.60, the AI is struggling to identify a face. As a result, any emotion readings tied to that face are statistically unreliable noise. 0.90+ (Ideal): High-definition, front-facing, well-lit. The AI is certain. Trust the sentiment score. 0.70-0.89 (Acceptable): Good enough for background faces or secondary lifestyle shots. < 0.60 (Failure): The face is likely too small, blurry, side-profile, or blocked by shadows or sunglasses. While Google documentation does not provide this guidance, and Microsoft offers limited access to its Azure AI Face service, Amazon Rekognition documentation notes that: “[A] lower threshold (e.g., 80%) might suffice for identifying family members in photos.” Closing the semantic gap between pixels and meaning Treat visual assets with the same editorial rigor and strategic intent as primary content. The semantic gap between image and text is disappearing. Images are processed as part of the language sequence. The quality, clarity, and semantic accuracy of the pixels themselves now matter as much as the keywords on the page. View the full article

Oracle co-founder has agreed to backstop Paramount’s $108bn hostile bid personallyView the full article

Method is still used in some restaurants but campaigners say this ‘torture’ is avoidable View the full article

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” opened with $345 million in worldwide sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, notching the second-best global debut of the year and potentially putting James Cameron on course to set yet more blockbuster records. Sixteen years into the “Avatar” saga, Pandora is still abundant in box-office riches. “Fire and Ash,” the third film in Cameron’s science-fiction franchise, launched with $88 million domestically and $257 million internationally. The only film to open bigger in 2025 was “Zootopia 2” ($497.2 million over three days). In the coming weeks, “Fire and Ash” will have the significant benefit of the highly lucrative holiday moviegoing corridor. But there was a tad less fanfare to this “Avatar” film, coming three years after “Avatar: The Way of Water.” That film launched in 2022 with a massive $435 million globally and $134 million in North America. Domestically, “Fire and Ash” fell a hefty 35% from the previous installment. Reviews for “Fire and Ash” were also more mixed, scoring a series-low 68% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet those quibbles are only a product of the lofty standards of “Avatar.” The first two films rank as two of the three biggest box-office films of all time. To reach those heights, the “Avatar” films have depended on legs more than huge openings. “Avatar” (2009), opened with $77 million domestically but held the top spot for seven weeks. It ultimately grossed $2.92 billion worldwide. “The Way of Water” also held strong to eventually tally $2.3 billion globally. James CameronSuzy Amis Cameron “The openings are not what the ‘Avatar’ movies are about,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers. “It’s what they do after they open that made them the no. 2 and no. 3 biggest films of all time.” For “Fire and Ash” to follow in those footsteps, it will need robust ticket sales to continue for weeks. Working in its favor so far: strong word-of-mouth. Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore. In interviews, Cameron has repeatedly said “Fire and Ash” needs to perform well for there to be subsequent “Avatar” films. (Four and five are already written but not greenlit.) These are exceptionally expensive movies to make. With a production budget of at least $400 million, “Fire and Ash” is one of the costliest movies ever made. “James Cameron is not known for his low budget movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “You can’t exactly create the world of Pandora on the cheap. If you’re going to have a 3D movie, an epic film that’s three hours and 17 minutes, it’s a huge buy-in of money, time, resources, and then you have to hope the audience wants to once again go along on that ride.” “Fire and Ash” was especially boosted by premium format showings, which accounted for 66% of its opening weekend. A narrow majority of moviegoers (56%) chose to watch it in 3D. The “Avatar” films have always been especially popular overseas. “Fire and Ash” was strongest in China, where its $57.6 million opening weekend surpassed the two previous movies. ‘David’ overperforms and ‘Marty Supreme’ sets a record “Fire and Ash” didn’t have the weekend entirely to itself. A trio of other new wide releases made it into theaters in hopes of offering some counterprogramming: Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid,” Angel Studios’ “David” and Paramount Pictures’ “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” In the race for second place, “David” came out on top. The animated tale of David and Goliath collected $22 million from 3,118 theaters, notching the best opening weekend for Angel Studios, the Christian-oriented studio that emerged with 2023’s surprise hit “Sound of Freedom.” “The Housemaid,” Paul Feig’s twisty psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, opened with $19 million 3,015 theaters. The Lionsgate release, which cost about $35 million to make, is set up well to be one of the top R-rated options in theaters over the holidays. Based on Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel, it stars Sweeney as a woman with a troubled past who becomes a live-in maid for a wealthy family. Trailing the pack was “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” which collected $16 million from 3,557 theaters. The G-rated film, based on the Nickelodeon TV series, is the first “SpongeBob” theatrical movie since 2015’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.” All of this weekend’s new films will hope the ticket sales keep rolling in over the upcoming Christmas break. Starting Dec. 25, they’ll need to contend with some new wide releases, including A24’s “Marty Supreme,” with Timothée Chalamet; Focus Features’ “Song Sung Blue,” with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson; and Sony’s “Anaconda,” with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Before expanding on Christmas, “Marty Supreme” opened in six theaters over the weekend, grossing $875,000 or $145,000 per theater. That was good enough for not only the best per-theater average of the year, but the best since 2016 and a new high mark for A24. The film, directed by Josh Safdie and starring Chalamet as an aspiring table tennis player in 1950s New York, is the most expensive ever for A24. Top 10 movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $88 million. “David,” $22 million. “The Housemaid,” $19 million. “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” $16 million. “Zootopia 2,” $14.5 million. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” $7.3 million. “Wicked: For Good,” $4.3 million. “Dhurandhar,” $2.5 million. “Marty Supreme,” $875,000. “Hamnet,” $850,000. —Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer View the full article

O btaining a business license in Texas involves several key steps customized to your specific business type and location. First, you’ll need to identify the licenses required for your operation, which can vary widely. Next, registering your business entity with the Secretary of State is essential, along with securing an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. If you’re selling taxable goods, don’t forget to apply for a sales and use tax permit. But that’s just the beginning; local municipalities often have additional requirements to take into account. Key Takeaways Determine the necessary licenses based on your business type and local regulations before starting the application process. Register your business entity with the Secretary of State if applicable, unless you are a sole proprietor. Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for most business structures to facilitate tax reporting. Apply for a sales and use tax permit through the Texas Comptroller’s website if you will sell taxable goods or services. Check with local city or county authorities for any additional permits required for your specific business operations. Understanding Business Licenses in Texas When starting a business in Texas, you might wonder what licenses you’ll need to operate legally. Texas doesn’t require a general business license at the state level, but requirements vary based on your business type and local regulations. If you’re selling tangible goods or taxable services, you’ll likely need a sales and use tax permit. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships must file an Assumed Name Certificate if using a different name, but they don’t need to register with the Texas Secretary of State. Furthermore, certain industries, like food service, may require specific city licenses for business from local health departments. To guarantee compliance, consult the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for details on how to get a business license and where to get a business license. Types of Business Licenses Required Several types of business licenses may be required to operate legally in Texas, depending on the nature of your business activities. Additionally, Texas doesn’t have a general state-level business license; local municipalities may require specific licenses. Common types include sales and use tax permits, local health department permits for food service businesses, and specialized licenses for regulated industries like alcohol and firearms. If you’re running a sole proprietorship or general partnership, you won’t need to register with the Secretary of State, but you must obtain an Assumed Name Certificate for a different business name. Furthermore, if you’re considering an online business, check if you need a permit for online business. For those in Georgia, researching how to apply for a business license in GA is crucial, especially if you’re in areas like Atlanta GA. Steps to Apply for a Business License Comprehending the types of business licenses required is just the beginning; the next step is to navigate the application process. First, identify the licenses necessary for your specific business type and location. If you’re in Texas, register your business entity with the Secretary of State, except if you’re a sole proprietor. Then, obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS, needed for most business structures. If you plan to sell taxable goods, apply for a sales and use tax permit through the Texas Comptroller’s website. Finally, check with your local city or county for any additional permits. If you’re considering how to get a business license in GA or getting a business license in another state, the steps may vary. Costs Associated With Business Licenses Comprehending the costs associated with obtaining a business license is vital for any entrepreneur. In Texas, these costs can range from $15 to $1,000, influenced by the type of license and industry risks. Although there’s no general state-level requirement, local licenses may have various fees based on municipal regulations. If you’re forming an LLC or corporation, expect to pay $300 by mail or $310 online, separate from local business license costs. Furthermore, specific activities, like food service or health permits, could incur extra fees. Remember, timely renewal of business licenses is important, typically involving a base fee of $110, plus any other filing costs. Grasping these factors helps when asking, “how do I obtain a business license?” Licensing Considerations for Online Businesses When starting an online business in Texas, comprehension of the licensing requirements is crucial to avoid legal complications down the road. You’ll need to obtain a sales and use tax permit if you sell tangible goods or taxable services, which you can apply for online through the Texas Comptroller‘s website. If you’re operating from another state, you might wonder, “Does my GA business licensure work in Georgia?” You’ll need to check Texas regulations. In addition, consider federal licensing if you’re in regulated industries. Research local laws, as they may vary, and keep in mind that obtaining your business license number can take time. Consulting with a legal expert can help clarify these requirements and streamline your process, ensuring compliance with all necessary regulations. Frequently Asked Questions What License Is Best for a Small Business? The best license for your small business largely depends on your industry and location. If you’re selling goods, you’ll likely need a Sales and Use Tax Permit. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships don’t need a general business license but must file an Assumed Name Certificate if using a different name. If you want to protect personal assets, consider forming an LLC, which requires filing a Certificate of Formation with the state. Always check local requirements. Conclusion In conclusion, obtaining a business license in Texas involves identifying the necessary licenses based on your business type and location, registering your entity, and applying for permits as needed. It’s crucial to understand local regulations and any additional requirements that may apply to your specific situation. By following these steps and staying informed about compliance, you can guarantee that your business operates legally and efficiently. Take the time to research and complete all necessary paperwork to avoid future complications. Image via Google Gemini This article, "How Do You Obtain a Business License?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

O btaining a business license in Texas involves several key steps customized to your specific business type and location. First, you’ll need to identify the licenses required for your operation, which can vary widely. Next, registering your business entity with the Secretary of State is essential, along with securing an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. If you’re selling taxable goods, don’t forget to apply for a sales and use tax permit. But that’s just the beginning; local municipalities often have additional requirements to take into account. Key Takeaways Determine the necessary licenses based on your business type and local regulations before starting the application process. Register your business entity with the Secretary of State if applicable, unless you are a sole proprietor. Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for most business structures to facilitate tax reporting. Apply for a sales and use tax permit through the Texas Comptroller’s website if you will sell taxable goods or services. Check with local city or county authorities for any additional permits required for your specific business operations. Understanding Business Licenses in Texas When starting a business in Texas, you might wonder what licenses you’ll need to operate legally. Texas doesn’t require a general business license at the state level, but requirements vary based on your business type and local regulations. If you’re selling tangible goods or taxable services, you’ll likely need a sales and use tax permit. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships must file an Assumed Name Certificate if using a different name, but they don’t need to register with the Texas Secretary of State. Furthermore, certain industries, like food service, may require specific city licenses for business from local health departments. To guarantee compliance, consult the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for details on how to get a business license and where to get a business license. Types of Business Licenses Required Several types of business licenses may be required to operate legally in Texas, depending on the nature of your business activities. Additionally, Texas doesn’t have a general state-level business license; local municipalities may require specific licenses. Common types include sales and use tax permits, local health department permits for food service businesses, and specialized licenses for regulated industries like alcohol and firearms. If you’re running a sole proprietorship or general partnership, you won’t need to register with the Secretary of State, but you must obtain an Assumed Name Certificate for a different business name. Furthermore, if you’re considering an online business, check if you need a permit for online business. For those in Georgia, researching how to apply for a business license in GA is crucial, especially if you’re in areas like Atlanta GA. Steps to Apply for a Business License Comprehending the types of business licenses required is just the beginning; the next step is to navigate the application process. First, identify the licenses necessary for your specific business type and location. If you’re in Texas, register your business entity with the Secretary of State, except if you’re a sole proprietor. Then, obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS, needed for most business structures. If you plan to sell taxable goods, apply for a sales and use tax permit through the Texas Comptroller’s website. Finally, check with your local city or county for any additional permits. If you’re considering how to get a business license in GA or getting a business license in another state, the steps may vary. Costs Associated With Business Licenses Comprehending the costs associated with obtaining a business license is vital for any entrepreneur. In Texas, these costs can range from $15 to $1,000, influenced by the type of license and industry risks. Although there’s no general state-level requirement, local licenses may have various fees based on municipal regulations. If you’re forming an LLC or corporation, expect to pay $300 by mail or $310 online, separate from local business license costs. Furthermore, specific activities, like food service or health permits, could incur extra fees. Remember, timely renewal of business licenses is important, typically involving a base fee of $110, plus any other filing costs. Grasping these factors helps when asking, “how do I obtain a business license?” Licensing Considerations for Online Businesses When starting an online business in Texas, comprehension of the licensing requirements is crucial to avoid legal complications down the road. You’ll need to obtain a sales and use tax permit if you sell tangible goods or taxable services, which you can apply for online through the Texas Comptroller‘s website. If you’re operating from another state, you might wonder, “Does my GA business licensure work in Georgia?” You’ll need to check Texas regulations. In addition, consider federal licensing if you’re in regulated industries. Research local laws, as they may vary, and keep in mind that obtaining your business license number can take time. Consulting with a legal expert can help clarify these requirements and streamline your process, ensuring compliance with all necessary regulations. Frequently Asked Questions What License Is Best for a Small Business? The best license for your small business largely depends on your industry and location. If you’re selling goods, you’ll likely need a Sales and Use Tax Permit. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships don’t need a general business license but must file an Assumed Name Certificate if using a different name. If you want to protect personal assets, consider forming an LLC, which requires filing a Certificate of Formation with the state. Always check local requirements. Conclusion In conclusion, obtaining a business license in Texas involves identifying the necessary licenses based on your business type and location, registering your entity, and applying for permits as needed. It’s crucial to understand local regulations and any additional requirements that may apply to your specific situation. By following these steps and staying informed about compliance, you can guarantee that your business operates legally and efficiently. Take the time to research and complete all necessary paperwork to avoid future complications. Image via Google Gemini This article, "How Do You Obtain a Business License?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Managing your inbox is a never-ending task, which is why we should seek to simplify it as much as possible. When emails pile up, you start overthinking what you need to do—I know I do, anyway. But if you pare down your options to the most basic and straightforward ones, it'll help ease your decision paralysis and keep you on top of things. That's what the "four Ds," or the 4D method, does. It’s easy to remember and easy to implement, which makes it helpful for anyone who has a pile of emails to contend with every day. Here’s how to follow it. What is the 4D method of inbox management?This method of managing your overflowing inbox has been around quite a while and rests on quick decision-making to help you easily weed through it all. Time-tested, it works—but only if you get what you’re supposed to do. 4D stands for, obviously, four “D” words: Delete the email Do what the email says Delegate what the email wants you to do Defer it Those are easy to remember and, once you get the hang of calling them to mind, easy to do. Proponents of the method, like Aleksandra Brzeska, business development manager at XTRF Translation Management System, say this works as long as you adhere to it. Here’s how to put it in action. How to use the 4D method of inbox management4D is similar to the one-touch rule. In fact, it relies on it, but takes it a step further. When using the one-touch rule, you make a decision about the email as soon as you open it up, but with that one, your focus is simply opening it the moment it comes in. For these techniques to work, you have to be opening every email, or at least looking at it and identifying from the subject line whether it’s worth opening. So, first things first, you’ll need to designate a time every day to sort through all your communications. Use timeboxing to block out time every morning, for example, to get this done. Make email management a core part of your daily to-do list when you use a method like the 3-3-3 list. When it’s time to go through your messages every day, set out to make a choice about each one, referring to the four options above. If it’s irrelevant, spam, or won’t ever require a follow-up, delete it. If it calls for a task that is doable right now, you’re responsible, and/or it’s pretty urgent, just do it. If it’s a less urgent task for someone else in your department or could be handled by another person without overloading them, delegate it and forward it their way. If it’s something that could or should be handled in the near future but doesn’t require immediate action, defer it by archiving it, putting it in a folder, or starring it. When this is done, go back through once more and archive or delete anything that’s now been done or delegated, clearing out your inbox for the next wave of messages. The benefit of using this method is that it makes decision-making simple, quick, and actionable, plus keeps your inbox low or close to zero. Removing unnecessary choices or procrastination streamlines the process and keeps you moving in just one of four ways, ensuring everything gets done or removed from your plate. View the full article

Power was restored Sunday to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by a massive outage a day earlier that caused major disruptions in the city. About 17,000 customers remained without power as of noon Sunday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. PG&E said earlier its crews were working to restore electricity in several neighborhoods and small areas of downtown San Francisco following Saturday’s outage. PG&E in a statement said it expects to restore power to remaining customers no later than 2 p.m. Monday. “The damage from the fire in our substation was significant and extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex,” the utility said, referring to the substation at 8th and Mission streets. That fire has been blamed for some of the blackouts. The outage remains under investigation. PG&E said it mobilized additional engineers and electricians to help with restoration efforts. “This is a very complex work plan and will require the highest amount of safety focus to ensure safe work actions,” PG&E said. No injuries have been reported. The outage, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, left a large swath of the northern part of the city without power that began to grow in size. At its peak, the outage represented roughly one-third of the utility company’s customers in the city. At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, PG&E posted on X that it had stabilized the grid and no further outages were expected. Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations on Saturday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said on X there were “significant transit disruptions” happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops. Waymo, the operator of driverless ride-hailing vehicles, suspended its services. At least one video posted on social media appeared to show a Waymo vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection. —Jaimie Ding and Susan Haigh, Associated Press View the full article

Tokyo is one of those cities that feels endlessly deep. You can visit a dozen times and still discover new food stalls, hidden shrines, late-night bars, quirky subcultures, and neighborhoods that feel like completely different worlds. (I know because I’ve visited about 10 times already!) One of my favorite ways to explore Tokyo is by taking an Airbnb Experience. Led by locals and long-term residents, these tours give you a front-row seat to Tokyo’s food culture, nightlife, history, and crafts in a way you rarely get when wandering on your own. I’ve done a lot of Airbnb Experiences in Tokyo over the years and think they are often even better than traditional tours you find on Get Your Guide (though Arigato Travel is next level and the best traditional tour company in the city so don’t miss out on them). To help you pick from the endless Experiences you can find, below are my favorite in Tokyo that combine cultural immersion, hands-on learning, and just the right amount of fun: Learn to Make Authentic Sushi with a Trained Chef Sushi-making classes are common in Tokyo but this Airbnb Experience stands out because it’s done in an omakase restaurant. This class is given by a sushi master (or his apprentice). You don’t just learn how to shape rice or slice fish; you learn why certain cuts matter, how chefs season rice differently depending on style, and how to pair ingredients to highlight texture and flavor. The class is hands-on and surprisingly approachable. It’s a small group experience done in the morning so you can have a filling and fun breakfast experience before going out to explore Tokyo. I absolutely loved it. Book here! Shibuya Nightlife with Unlimited Drinks This is my favorite nightlife tour in Tokyo. The host, Suemi, and her friends provide the absolute best time. This Shibuya nightlife tour one takes you to 3-4 izakaya spots that are very untouristy and filled without locals. You get unlimited food and drinks and it’s a really great experience. My guide, Shugo, was outgoing, spoke conversational English, handled large group dynamics well, was entertaining, explained the culture of izakaya restaurants in detail, and stayed past when the Experienced ended. He was great! Additionally, Suemi and her friends also run an unlimited Sake tasting class, which is the best Sake class I’ve done in Tokyo. They go into incredible detail about how sake is made and use a lot of visuals so it’s really easy to understand. It’s a small group of six, which made the Experience really personable. If you take a Sake experience, take this one. (They also un a whiskey tasting experience that I haven’t done this one yet but I bet it’s just as good). Book here! Shinjuku Izakaya Tour This experience is similar in spirit to the Shibuya nightlife tour but set in one of Tokyo’s other major nightlife hubs. Shinjuku is packed with tiny izakaya spots, many of them hidden in narrow alleyways or upstairs spaces you’d never think to enter on your own. On this tour, Yuma (a knowledgeable sake sommelier) takes you to several of these small, local spots and walks you through how izakaya culture really works. You’ll try different styles of sake along the way and learn how to read menus, what to order, and how locals typically drink and eat in these settings. Yuma is outgoing, fun, and very good at explaining things clearly without overwhelming you. It’s social, relaxed, and a great way to experience Shinjuku nightlife without feeling lost or intimidated. Book here! Historic Tokyo Walking Tour This is one of the most educational experiences I’ve done in Tokyo. Instead of focusing on the usual tourist areas, this tour explores quieter neighborhoods that retain a strong connection to the city’s past. The host is a lecturer specializing in Japanese history and traditional culture, and it really shows in the depth of information shared throughout the walk. You’ll visit places like Nezu Shrine, walk through its tunnel of red torii gates, explore the old streets of Yanaka, and learn about the Edo period, the Meiji Restoration, and how the role of the samurai changed as Japan modernized. It’s a 2.5-hour walk that never feels rushed and gives you a much clearer understanding of how Tokyo became the city it is today. I learned a lot from this tour. Book here! Tokyo Coffee Culture Tour Tokyo has an burgeoning coffee scene and this tour does a great job of showing it to you. You explore Jimbocho and Kanda, two very under visited neighborhoods, to learn about both old-school kissaten and modern specialty cafés. You’ll learn about brewing techniques, flavor profiles, and how Japan developed such a meticulous approach to coffee. The tour includes visits to historic cafés, specialty shops leading Tokyo’s third-wave movement, and even wagashi shops where you’ll learn how traditional Japanese sweets pair with coffee. It’s a really thoughtful and unique afternoon experience. Book here! Organic matcha Tea Ceremony This one-hour experience is a great introduction to matcha and Japanese tea culture. You’ll learn about the history of matcha, its role in Japanese society, and how to tell high-quality matcha from lower-grade varieties. The host walks you through the traditional preparation process step by step. You’ll whisk and taste authentic matcha in a calm, traditional setting that feels worlds away from Tokyo’s busy streets. It’s short but memorable, and it gives you a much deeper appreciation for something you’ll see everywhere while traveling in Japan. Book here! Tokyo Ramen Tour Ramen is synonymous with Japanese food, and this tour helps you understand why it inspires such devotion. Over the course of about three hours, you’ll visit multiple ramen shops, each highlighting a different style or approach. You’ll learn about ramen’s origins, modern trends, and regional variations while tasting everything from classic bowls to more experimental or fusion styles. The guide explains broth types, noodle textures, and toppings in a way that’s easy to follow. Come hungry as this tour will absolutely fill you up! Book here! Shibuya and Harajuku Street Art Tour This tour takes you through Shibuya and Harajuku to see murals and installations hidden in alleyways and less obvious spaces. Street art is a much quieter, more underground scene in Tokyo (they Japanese aren’t so keen on murals on their buildings) so learning about where it is allowed and how the culture thrives in such a restrictive environment is really interesting. he tour also includes visual examples of murals before and after they were created, which adds helpful context. I think it is one of the most interesting and unique Airbnb Experiences and gives you a really good look at a side of Japan most people don’t see! Book here! *** There’s a lot of Airbnb Experiences in Tokyo and I know I’m probably I’m missing some really great ones (After all, I’m only one person) but these eight will give you a good start. Try to do at least one when you’re in Tokyo because most conventional organized tours are all cookie cutter experiences. These Airbnb tours are way more fun! Book Your Trip to Tokyo: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Use Skyscanner to find a cheap flight. They are my favorite search engine because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the biggest inventory and best deals. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. For places to stay, check out my article on my favorite hostels in Tokyo. If you want to stay in a hotel, check out this list of favorites. And, for a neighborhood by neighborhood breakdown of Tokyo, check out this post. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: Safety Wing (for everyone below 70) Insure My Trip (for those over 70) Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage) Looking for the Best Companies to Save Money With? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use to save money when I’m on the road. They will save you money when you travel too. Be sure to check out the Japan Rail Pass if you’ll be traveling around the country. It comes in 7-, 14-, and 21-day passes and can save you a ton of money! Want More Information on Tokyo? Be sure to visit my robust destination guide on Tokyo for even more planning tips! The post The 8 Best Airbnb Experiences in Tokyo appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site. View the full article

Shares in Rocket Lab Corp were heading for their second day of gains on Monday after the aerospace manufacturer was named as one of four companies that will build tracking satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA). The stock (Nasdaq: RKLB) was up more than 4% in premarket trading on Monday as of this writing. That’s in addition to a jump of 17% on Friday when the news was announced. Share are now trading at record highs. What did the Space Development Agency announce? The SDA, a unit of the United States Space Force, said on Friday that it awarded four companies with contracts to build 72 satellites—or 18 apiece—with the aim of expanding missile tracking and defense systems. The total value of the award is $3.5 billion. In addition to Rocket Lab, the SDA also named Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies. The constellation of satellites is expected to launch in 2029. Long Beach California-based Rocket Lab has been gaining more attention recently for its Electron orbital rocket, which is lighter than the heavier vehicles manufactured by rivals SpaceX and Blue Origin. As Fast Company previously reported, the Electron’s lightweight nature gives it an edge in certain complex missions where precision and speed are prioritized. A head-turning market rebound After going public during the ill-fated SPAC craze of 2021, Rocket Lab stock struggled to rise above $10 a share. It limped along for well over three years. But the stock has really broken out this year as excitement has grown around satellite buildouts and Rocket Lab executed successful launches for companies like Kinéis, a French operator of internet-of-things satellites. For its third-quarter financial results released last month, Rocket Lab reported record revenue of $155 million and said it had secured a record 17 Electron launch contracts. The company reported a net loss of $18.3 million for the second quarter, much narrower than the $52 million net loss it reported a year earlier. As of Friday, Rocket Lab’s stock was up more than 182% year to date and was trading at $70.52 a share. View the full article

Learn why AI works best as a support tool, not a decision-maker, and why misplaced trust in autonomy is risky. The post Ironman, Not Superman appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

For as useful as emails are, they sure have a way of hampering productivity. Not only do endless emails bog you down and keep you stuck in a loop of endless replies, but the stress of even having to wade through both the important messages and the junk is enough to make you avoid your inbox altogether. There's a reason "answer emails" is always the example I use for a tedious-but-important task when I'm explaining more complicated, detailed productivity techniques. But there are smaller techniques you can apply directly to email management, too. To stay on top of your work, school, and personal correspondence, you need a productivity plan, but it doesn't have to be intense: You can try the simple “touch” rules of inbox management. The one-touch ruleStart reframing how you think of every email you get and consider them each an immediate priority. Crucially, I only mean the email itself is a priority; if you think too hard about this, you'll get overwhelmed fast. You don’t have to do whatever task is outlined in it the moment it arrives, but you do have to open it. The “one-touch” rule is similar to the “two-minute” rule of productivity in that way: A task that takes less than two minutes to complete should be done right away. Open the email, respond to it, and either delete or archive it, depending on if you’ll need it later. If it requires no response, even better. This method works best for people who get a lot of emails that aren’t necessary to respond to, like all-staff updates. The goal is to touch it once instead of coming back to it repeatedly and deliberating if and when you’ll respond or deal with it or instead of procrastinating, never opening it, and being unaware of its contents (or even existence) when you actually need to know what it said. Open it, take in the information, send feedback if necessary, and be done with it. The two-touch ruleIf you tend to have a lot of emails that need a response and the one-touch rule isn't working well, you can move on to a “two-touch” method to clear your mind and be more productive. On the first touch of the email, decide if you need to respond to it right away (making it one-touch) or it’s something that can or should be responded to later in the week. Use your email service’s flagging or snoozing functions to categorize it, so it is available to you easily when you’re ready to respond. Your first touch is still opening it right away—that’s key. Letting emails pile up is overwhelming, but opening them right away will help you maintain peace in your inbox. Designating a specific time to respond to non-urgent messages will also free you up to be more productive, as you’ll know you’ll get it done and won’t feel it weighing on you. Make sure you schedule time into your week to circle back on the flagged emails. Try building a 3-3-3 list to manage your to-dos, designating one of your three medium-sized or small tasks to opening all those saved messages. View the full article

Social media managers are juggling multiple plates at once every day: brainstorming content ideas and creating text and video contentscheduling posts and engaging on multiple social media accountsanalyzing social media marketing performance and tweaking strategy based on data…And a lot moreWhew. It takes some elbow grease to keep the wheels spinning. But what if you don’t have to do all that every single day? What if you could automate the mundane, repetitive tasks to social media tools and focus on your core jobs that actually move the needle toward your return-on-investment (ROI)? Enter: Social media automation aka using software to automate repetitive tasks like scheduling posts, measuring performance, storing ideas, etc. This article will share ten tasks you can automate in your social media management strategy to free up some headspace and clear up that to-do list. Jump to a section: Why do you need social media automation? 1. Use digital bookmarks to save content ideas 2. Use social media listening tools to stay on top of niche trends 3. Use social media scheduling tools to publish your posts 4. Use social media analytics tool to analyze your performance 5. Use AI to refine your social media captions 6. Use chatbots to provide quick social media customer service 7. Use templates for faster content creation 8. Use social media collaboration tools to work with your team 9. Use social media monitoring software to track brand mentions 10. Use influencer discovery software to find creators The best social media automation tools you can use Why do you need social media automation?Social media automation has plenty of benefits. Here are the top three: Saving time: Take a simple task like social media scheduling. On the surface, it doesn’t sound like a lot of time saved. But when you think about publishing posts for multiple social media platforms over a long period of time, you get back a lot of hours.Less prone to human error: Social media managers are doing a lot, to put it mildly. It’s not unfair to assume you might forget to reply to a message or post on a new network because of the length of your to-do list. When you use a social media automation tool to manage your tasks, you shrink your margin of error significantly.More time for the fun (and more impactful) stuff: Relying on social media automation to do the repetitive tasks gives you more freedom and time to use your energy for the fun and more impactful tasks — like creating content and speaking to your target audience.Automation puts the wind in the sails for your social media marketing efforts. Let's dig into the meaty stuff now and talk about the actual tasks on your never-ending to-do list you can outsource to a social media automation tool. 1. Use digital bookmarks to save content ideasImagine you saw an inspo post or piece of content that’d be perfect for your social media campaign. Then, life happened (Slack pings, laundry is done, someone has commented on your post…you get it). That A+ content idea or inspiration is now lost in the abyss. Collecting and storing the right ideas when they strike you (or when you stumble on them) is one of the most important tasks in social media management. It’s also one of the easiest to get lost in the shuffle. The solution: A digital bookmark tool to save all your web links. You integrate it in your browser and save any idea you like in one click. This not only ensures you never lose a beloved piece of content, but also gives you a collection of social media post ideas to tap into when you’re creating content.Buffer’s Create space to store any content ideas you get while walking the dog, showering, or doing the dishes. Can you use an ordinary Notes app for this social media task? Of course. But Buffer can become your one-stop social media management suite — meaning you can store ideas, create posts, engage with your audience, track your social media performance, and even create your link in bio all from one tool.In a digital bookmark tool (like Raindrop) and in Buffer, you can organize your ideas into collections or group them using tags. This way, when you finally sit to batch-create your social media posts, you can find specific ideas for your various content pillars in a jiffy. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Raindrop, Buffer. 2. Use social media listening tools to stay on top of niche trendsSocial listening means observing what your audience is saying online and creating content around it. For instance, if you’re a haircare creator, you might notice trends around using rosemary water for hair growth and create a TikTok video on the topic. But how do you know what’s hot and trending in your industry? Yes, there are several newsletters you could subscribe to. And sure, if you’re spending time online everyday and working in a specific niche, you’d know what’s up — to a certain extent. It’s still easy to miss a beat or two. But there’s a better way to stay on top of trends than scrolling for multiple social networks every day for hours: Social listening tools. These automation tools help you uncover what your audience is searching for, what they are excited about, and related questions on a topic. Many social media tools also contain trending topics with in-depth data on which terms & topics are trending — like Google Trends for social media. ⚡ Pro-tip: Many social networks also help you do this for their specific channel like Pinterest’s trend forecast and Instagram’s “Reel Trends” feature. Keep an eye out for trends by spending time engaging with your audience on your social media accounts and scrolling for sometime. Match this data with your findings from social listening tools. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Exploding Topics, SparkToro. 3. Use social media scheduling tools to publish your postsScheduling posts is the easiest social media task you can automate. Many social platforms, like Instagram and LinkedIn, natively provide you the option to schedule posts in advance. But I wouldn’t recommend automating natively within social channels. Here’s why: Lack of visual planning: Social media networks don’t offer a drag-and-drop content calendar feature, making it tough to see and adjust your schedule at a glance. One-stop scheduling is sloooow: If you’re a creator or social media manager, you’re likely maintaining a consistent social media presence across multiple social networks. Scheduling posts natively on each channel can be too time-consuming for your workflow. Using a scheduling tool, you can plan content for multiple platforms in one place, saving time and reducing context switching. This feature is especially helpful if you’re cross-posting the same social media post across multiple channels.Now, the market’s saturated forehead-deep with social media publishing tools. Use the one that gets you the most bang for your buck. I recommend Buffer because: It’s easy to use — there’s no time wasted in a learning curveIt lets you create custom posts for each network (if you wish to)It’s a leader in releasing integrations with new social media platformsIt has a free tier and even its paid plans are quite affordable for small businessesIt’s a full-fledged social media management tool so you can do multiple tasks with just one softwareWhichever tool (or native feature) you choose, scheduling posts is the easiest social media task to automate. And it’s beginner-friendly because it doesn’t require you to relinquish a lot of control. So, if you’re just beginning with your social media automation strategy, begin by automating publishing your posts in advance. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Buffer. 4. Use social media analytics tool to analyze your performanceAnalyzing your social media metrics plays a big role in improving your strategy. You want to know how many likes, shares, comments, and saves your social media posts received. Robust analytics on every post can help you find patterns and recognize your best-performing topics, what your audience resonates the most with, etc. Collecting and dissecting your performance numbers natively is a tedious task. You have to note the performance data for posts on every social media account you have and then find patterns across multiple platforms. Social media analytics tools can automate collecting and analyzing all your performance metrics so you don’t have to do the math yourself. You’ll still need to tie back how your social media efforts contribute to your larger goals, but you can easily outsource the “gather how my posts are doing” job. In Buffer, you can set a timeframe and not only see the basic metrics like impressions, likes, yada yada, but also get answers to questions that actually matter — like, “Which is the best type of post for this social media channel?” or “At what time should I post to get the most social media engagement?” and even “How often should I post?” All of these answers are tailored to you and your social media accounts. The more you use Buffer, the more data you’ll have to make calculated insights into what’s working the best in your social media strategy. Gathering insights from the analysis to optimize the social strategy is your wheelhouse. But gathering those metrics? Delegate that to a software. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Buffer. 5. Use AI to refine your social media captionsAI is a big part of work today everywhere and social media management is no exception. You can use AI assistants to: Populate popular hashtags in a categoryWrite the first draft of your social media captionRefine your existing copy to be more clear and conciseGenerate post ideas by giving a simple prompt of your nicheRepurpose posts from one social media account for multiple platformsThe likes of ChatGPT are good for this, but many social media management platforms (like Buffer) are also AI-powered. Buffer, for example, comes with an in-built assistant so you can do all of the above tasks without switching a single tab. Many AI tools have excellent capabilities, but remember you can’t automate the task completely to them. Add your human voice and niche expertise into the mix. Read more about how we use AI at Buffer to strike the balance between automation and human. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: ChatGPT, Buffer. 6. Use chatbots to provide quick social media customer serviceIf you’ve used social media for customer service for even one day, you know the need for a chatbot that can quickly reply to customers’ comments and DMs, redirect them to the right help article, and sell products. Instagram has a native feature to help you set up frequently asked questions (FAQs) in your chat box. When someone starts a chat with you, they will first see the commonly asked questions and can tap for an automated reply (which seems real-time). But it’s not flexible or adaptable for various use cases. For a better social media engagement strategy, you can use either: A DM automation tool that automatically replies to customers’ comments or DMs with the right link or content. You know those “comment for link/access” types of social media posts — you can create them using a DM automation tool.A social media management platform with conversation management features. Such a tool can’t automate replies, but it can present you with a unified social media inbox for multiple accounts in one tab. For example, with Buffer's Community, you can see comments across different social media platforms in one tab and reply to them all at once. You can also save replies to answer FAQs and use AI assistance to reply faster.Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Buffer, Manychat. 7. Use templates for faster content creationTemplates have a wide variety of use cases. You can set up FAQs for customer service, as we discussed above, but you can also use them in the content creation process. For example, in any graphic design platform (like Canva), you can use templates to build off the visuals for a social media post. Perhaps you can templatize a certain type of content format (say, customer testimonial posts). Or on Instagram, you can use Reel templates to quickly edit your video. Think: What are some steps in your social media management process that are repeatable and can be streamlined? You’ll find plenty of areas that can benefit from a template (like building automated reports using a template). Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Canva. 8. Use social media collaboration tools to work with your teamIf you work in a team, you often need inputs from your coworkers on a social media post or you might need to approve what content is going live. Instead of Slacking each other back and forth, use a social media collaboration software that can help you streamline the process. In many social media management software (like Buffer) allows you to create content approval workflows and provide different levels of access for each specific team member. This means a creator can upload a post on the tool, a social media manager can approve it, and others can chime in with any notes or feedback they have. Collaborating with a team can add up a lot of hours in your social media management if done manually. It’s best to automate the task so no message is missed and every step of your workflow is followed. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Buffer. 📚Related reading: How to Use Buffer for Social Media Teams9. Use social media monitoring software to track brand mentionsSocial media monitoring involves tracking when someone mentions your brand in their post, Instagram Story, or comment. This helps catch feedback, register customer complaints, and spot user-generated content. But you’d get a notification for every brand mention, so why bother using a social media automation tool for this task? Here’s why: 1. You can miss notifications, especially if you get an influx of them 2. You can’t track brand mentions unless you were tagged Besides, you can use social media monitoring tools to track much more than just brand mentions — like your product name(s) or a competitor’s negative reviews. Many social media management software like Buffer allow you to respond to comments from inside the tool so you don’t have to toggle tabs continuously. Such automation tools are excellent to ensure you never leave an audience comment unanswered, regardless of whether you’re explicitly tagged. There are also some dedicated social media monitoring tools that help you combine social listening and monitoring in one software — you can track brand & product mentions alongside trends and news topics. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Buffer, Mention. 10. Use influencer discovery software to find creatorsIf your social media efforts involve running an influencer marketing campaign, you can use influencer discovery tools to find creators who match your criteria quickly. Most of these automation tools rely on filters to help you narrow down the kind of influencer you want. You can add filters related to different platforms — like follower count, reel views, engagement rate, etc. Many tools also support natural language AI search. This alone saves you a lot of time you would’ve spent scouting through different platforms hunting for relevant influencers. Not only do these tools help you with managing your social media campaigns, some influencer marketing tools also allow you to run paid campaigns from social posts of influencers. Social media automation tools I’d recommend for this task: Modash, SARAL. The best social media automation tools you can useIn summary, here are the tools mentioned you can use for social media automation: Buffer for social media management in general: building a content calendar, scheduling posts, collaborating with teammates, responding to your audience, and more.Raindrop to save content ideas from the web.Exploding Topics or SparkToro for social listening.ChatGPT for AI assistance with captions, copy, or generating post ideas.Manychat for DM automation.Canva for visual templates.Mention for social media monitoring.The above list can seem like a lot of tools to use simultaneously. I’d recommend using a dedicated social media management tool like Buffer to automate most of your tedious tasks and slowly add more to your tech stack as and when needed. Try to find tools that can help you complete multiple tasks so you don’t have the financial and the psychological burden of using too many social media automation platforms. Don’t automate the human interactionSocial media marketing automation is wonderful for keeping your online presence intact, but it’s crucial to draw a clear line between streamlining tasks and outsourcing empathy. Automating relationship-building itself can backfire — one ill-placed “So cute!” bot comment on a serious post is enough to lose a follower for good. For example, it’s great to use automation to answer a customer’s FAQs. But when queries need a personalized response, don’t use templates. Your audience can easily spot the automated response and they’ll feel like you’re not really listening to them. Avoid automating whatever activities give you the human touch on social media. This might mean responding to comments, showing up on videos, and replying to DMs thoughtfully. In the end, remember that automation should help you serve your audience better instead of diminishing their experience. View the full article

Discovery now happens before search demand is visible in Google. In 2026, interest forms across social feeds, communities, and AI-generated answers – long before it shows up as keyword search volume. By the time demand appears in SEO tools, the opportunity to shape how a concept is understood has already passed. This creates a problem for how search marketing research is typically done. Keyword tools, search volume, and Google Trends are lagging indicators. They reveal what people cared about yesterday, not what they are starting to explore now. In a landscape shaped by AI Overviews, social SERPs, and shrinking organic real estate, arriving late means competing inside narratives already defined by someone else. Exploding Topics sits upstream of this shift. It helps surface emerging themes, behaviors, and conversations while they are still forming – before they harden into keywords, content clusters, and product categories. Used properly, it is not just a trend tool. It is a way to plan SEO, content, digital PR, and social-led search proactively. This article breaks down how to use Exploding Topics to identify future entities, validate them through social search, and build search visibility before demand peaks. Use Exploding Topics Trend Analytics to identify future entities – not just topics Most marketers who use Exploding Topics already understand its value for content ideation, and we will cover that. But its bigger opportunity is identifying future entities – concepts that search engines and AI systems will soon recognize as distinct “things,” not just keyword variations. This matters because modern search no longer operates purely on keywords. Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other LLM-powered systems organize information around entities and relationships. Once an entity is established, the narrative around it hardens. Arrive late, and you are competing inside a story that has already been defined. Exploding Topics gives you visibility early enough to act before that happens. Example: Weighted sleep masks In Exploding Topics, you might notice “weighted sleep mask” rising steadily. Search volume remains low, and most keyword tools understate its importance. At a glance, it looks like a niche product trend that is easy to ignore. Look closer, and the signals are stronger: The phrase is consistent and repeatable. Adjacent topics are rising alongside it, including deep pressure sleep, anxiety sleep tools, and vagus nerve stimulation. Questions that signal intent are increasing. Early discussion focuses on understanding the concept, not just buying a product. This is the point where something shifts from being a product with an adjective to a named solution. In other words, it is becoming an entity. The traditional play Most brands wait until: Search demand becomes obvious, acting in December 2025 rather than July 2025. Competitors launch dedicated product pages. Affiliates and publishers surface “best” and “vs.” content. Only then do they create: A category page. A “What is a weighted sleep mask?” article or social-search activation. SEO content designed to chase presence, such as FAQs, SERP features, and rankings. By this point, the entity already exists, and the story around it has largely been written by someone else. In this case, NodPod is clearly dominating the entity. Acting earlier, while the entity is forming Using Exploding Topics well means acting earlier, while the entity is still being defined. Instead of starting with a product page, you: Publish a clear, authoritative explanation of what a weighted sleep mask is. Explain why deep pressure can help with sleep and anxiety. Address who it is for – and who it is not. Create supporting content that adds context, such as comparisons with weighted blankets or safety considerations. This work can be done quickly and at scale through reactive PR and social search activations. You are not optimizing for keywords yet. You are teaching social algorithms, search engines, and AI systems what the concept means and associating your brand with that explanation from the start. This is how brands can win at search in 2026 and beyond. This early, proactive approach: Helps search systems understand new concepts faster. Increases the chance your framing is reused in AI-generated answers. Positions your brand as the authority on the entity – not just a seller within the conversation. Dig deeper: Beyond Google: How to put a total search strategy together Validate emerging entities through social search Identifying an emerging entity is only the first step. The real risk is not being early to a conversation. It is being early to something that never takes off. This is where many SEO teams stall. They wait for search volume and arrive too late, publish on instinct and hope demand follows, or freeze under uncertainty and do nothing. There is a better middle ground: validate emerging entities through social search research and activation tests before scaling them into owned SEO and on-site experiences. Exploding Topics is straightforward. It shows what might matter. Social platforms tell you whether your audience actually cares. How social search becomes your validation layer Once Exploding Topics surfaces a potential emerging entity, the next step is not Keyword Planner. It is native search across platforms such as TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube, using either built-in trend tools or basic platform search. You are looking for signals like: Multiple creators independently explaining the same concept. Comment sections filled with questions such as “Does this actually work?” or “Is this safe?”. Repeated framing, metaphors, or demonstrations. Early how-to or comparison content, even if production quality is low. These signals point to intent. Curiosity is turning into understanding. Historically, this phase has always preceded measurable search demand. Revisiting the weighted sleep mask example After spotting “weighted sleep mask” in Exploding Topics, you might search for it on TikTok. What you want to see is a lack of heavy brand advertising. Mature ecommerce pushes or TikTok Shop funnels suggest the market is already established. Instead, look for creators – not brand channels – testing products, discussing solutions, and exploring the underlying problem. Focus on videos that explain pains, needs, and motivations, such as why pressure may help with anxiety. Check the comments for comparisons to other solutions. Look for questions raised in videos and comment threads. Tools like Buzzabout.AI can help do this at scale through topic analysis and AI-assisted research. These signals answer two critical questions: Are people actively trying to understand this concept? What language, framing, and objections are forming before SEO data exists? That is validation. Rethinking how SEO strategy gets built This is where search strategy shifts. Instead of asking, “Is there enough volume to justify content creation?” the better question is, “Is there enough curiosity to justify building authority early?” If social signals are weak: Pause. De-risk by testing with creators outside your owned channels. Avoid heavy investment in content that takes months to rank. If signals are strong: Scale with confidence. Work with creators and activate brand channels. Invest in entity pages, hubs, FAQs, comparisons, and PLP optimization. In this model, fast-moving social platforms become the testing layer. SEO is not the experiment, it’is the compounding layer. Dig deeper: Social and UGC: The trust engines powering search everywhere Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Editorial digital PR that earns links and LLM citations Most digital PR still works backward. A trend reaches mainstream awareness. Journalists write about it. Brands scramble to comment. PR teams try to extract links from a story that already exists. The result is short-term coverage, diluted impact, and little lasting search advantage. Exploding Topics makes it possible to reverse that dynamic by surfacing editorial narratives before they are obvious and positioning your brand as one of the sources that helps define them. In 2026, this matters more than ever. Links still matter, but they are no longer the only outcome that counts. Brand mentions, explanations, and citations increasingly feed the systems behind AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLM-driven discovery experiences. Why early narratives outperform reactive PR When a topic is everywhere, journalists are aggregating. When a topic is emerging, they are still asking questions. Exploding Topics surfaces concepts at the stage where: There is no consensus narrative. Definitions are inconsistent. Journalists are looking for clarity, not quotes. “What is this?” stories have not yet been written. This is the point where brands can move from commenting on a conversation to shaping it. From trend-jacker to narrative owner Instead of pitching “our brand’s take on X,” you lead with early signals you are seeing, why a concept is emerging now, and what it suggests about consumer behavior or the market. The difference is subtle but important. You are no longer reacting to coverage that already exists. You are creating the framing that journalists, publishers, and, eventually, AI systems reuse. LLMs do not learn from rankings alone. They learn from editorial context, repeated explanations, and how trusted publications describe and define emerging concepts over time. Done consistently, this approach compounds. As your brand becomes associated with spotting and explaining emerging narratives early, you move from reactive commentary to trusted source. Journalists begin to recognize where useful insight comes from, and that trust carries into more established coverage later on. You are no longer pitching for inclusion. Your perspective is actively sought out. The result is early narrative ownership and stronger access when mainstream coverage follows. An editorial window before mainstream coverage Before “weighted sleep mask” became a crowded ecommerce term in early 2025, there was a clear editorial window. Journalists had not yet published stories asking: “What is a weighted sleep mask?” “Are weighted sleep masks safe?” “Do they actually work for anxiety?” That was the opportunity. A PR-led approach at this stage includes: Supplying journalists with expert explanations of deep pressure and sleep. Sharing early insight into why the product category is emerging. Contextualizing it alongside weighted blankets and other anxiety tools. The result is not just coverage. It connects PR to search, curiosity, and discovery by helping define the concept itself. That earns links, builds brand mentions, and signals authority around emerging entities that LLMs are more likely to cite and summarize over time. Dig deeper: Why PR is becoming more essential for AI search visibility Content roadmaps and briefs that don’t rely on search volume Search volume is a poor starting point for content briefing. It reflects interest only after a topic is established, language has stabilized, and the SERP is already crowded. Used as a primary input, it pushes teams to chase demand instead of building authority. That is why so many brands end up rewriting the same “What is X?” post year after year. Better briefs start upstream. They use Exploding Topics to spot what is forming and social search to understand how people are trying to make sense of it. Reframing the briefing process The core shift is moving away from briefs built around keywords and volumes and toward briefs built around audience intent. That means focusing on three things: Problems people are beginning to articulate. Concepts that are not yet clearly defined or are actively debated. Language that is inconsistent, emotional, or exploratory. When content is approached this way, the objective changes. It is no longer “create X to rank for Y.” It becomes “explain X so the audience does not experience Y.” That shift matters. Designing content that compounds instead of expiring The goal for SEO content teams in 2026 and beyond should be to brief content that defines a concept clearly. That includes: Connecting it to adjacent ideas. Comparing it to established solutions. Answering questions within conversations that are still forming. This does not always require written content. The same work can happen through social search activations or digital PR. Approached this way, content grows into demand rather than chasing it. Instead of being rewritten every time search volume changes, it evolves through updates, expansion, and, where possible, stronger internal linking. As interest grows, the content does not need replacing. It needs refining. This is the type of material AI and LLMs tend to reference – timely, clear, explanatory, and grounded in real questions. Publication isn’t the end Publishing and waiting for content to rank is no longer the end of the brief. Teams need a clear plan for distribution and reuse. For emerging topics, that means contributing insight in relevant Reddit threads, Discord communities, niche forums, and creator comment sections. Not to drop links, but to answer questions, share explanations, and test framing in public. Those conversations feed back into the content itself, improving clarity and increasing the likelihood that your explanation is the one others repeat. With a social search activation approach, brands can scale messaging quickly by working with partners who interpret and distribute the brief in their own voice. When this works, SEO content stops being static and starts acting like a living reference point – one that contributes to culture and builds lasting brand recognition. Dig deeper: Beyond SERP visibility: 7 success criteria for organic search in 2026 Where this leaves SEO in 2026 Search demand does not appear fully formed. It develops across social platforms, communities, and AI-driven discovery long before it registers as keyword volume. Exploding Topics helps surface what is emerging. Social search shows whether people are trying to understand it. Digital PR shapes how those ideas are defined and cited. SEO compounds that work by reinforcing narratives that are already taking shape, rather than trying to test or invent them after the fact. In this model, SEO is the layer that turns early insight and clear explanation into durable visibility across Google, social platforms, and AI-generated answers. Search no longer starts on Google. The teams that act on that reality will influence what people search for next. View the full article

Shares in Rocket Lab Corp were heading for their second day of gains on Monday after the aerospace manufacturer was named as one of four companies that will build tracking satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA). The stock (Nasdaq: RKLB) was up more than 4% in premarket trading on Monday as of this writing. That’s in addition to a jump of 17% on Friday when the news was announced. Share are now trading at record highs. What did the Space Development Agency announce? The SDA, a unit of the United States Space Force, said on Friday that it awarded four companies with contracts to build 72 satellites—or 18 apiece—with the aim of expanding missile tracking and defense systems. The total value of the award is $3.5 billion. In addition to Rocket Lab, the SDA also named Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies. The constellation of satellites is expected to launch in 2029. Long Beach California-based Rocket Lab has been gaining more attention recently for its Electron orbital rocket, which is lighter than the heavier vehicles manufactured by rivals SpaceX and Blue Origin. As Fast Company previously reported, the Electron’s lightweight nature gives it an edge in certain complex missions where precision and speed are prioritized. A stunning market rebound After going public during the ill-fated SPAC craze of 2021, Rocket Lab stock struggled to rise above $10 a share. It limped along for well over three years. But the stock has really broken out this year as excitement has grown around satellite buildouts and Rocket Lab executed successful launches for companies like Kinéis, a French operator of internet-of-things satellites As of Friday, Rocket Lab’s stock was up more than 182% year to date and was trading at $70.52 a share. View the full article