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Google has released the December 2025 core update, its third of the year. The rollout began December 11 and may take up to three weeks. The post Google Releases December 2025 Core Update appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Google officially announced the rollout of the December 2025 core update on Thursday at around 12:25 pm ET. This core update is expected to take about 3 weeks to roll out. Google said this "is a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites."View the full article

Any successful business requires thoughtful planning and well-structured documentation to stay focused and achieve growth. With the right business planning templates, organizations can capture goals, strategies and financial plans clearly, ensuring every stakeholder has consistent, accurate information to guide decision-making. Below, you’ll find our top 12 business planning templates for Microsoft Excel and Word. These resources help streamline strategic planning, improve analysis and support better communication across teams. Use them individually or as a complete toolkit to build a comprehensive business plan that investors, leaders and employees can trust. 1. Business Plan Template A business plan is a strategic document that explains how a company will create value, reach its market and operate successfully. It guides decisions by outlining goals, opportunities, risks and resource needs. Investors and internal stakeholders rely on business plans to understand financial viability and expected growth. By organizing market research, marketing strategy and operational planning, a business plan helps turn an idea into a structured initiative with clear direction. /wp-content/uploads/2023/04/business-plan-template-screenshot-600x710.jpg This free business plan template for Word provides a practical framework to organize your strategy and make a strong case to stakeholders. It includes guided sections for your company description, target customers, competitive landscape, marketing approach, operations, financial projections and organizational design. The layout supports clarity, structure and professionalism when presenting your business opportunity to investors or lenders. By prompting focused details, the template saves time and encourages better planning, alignment, accountability and confidence in execution and growth for every team. To take your planning one step further, consider ProjectManager. Our award-winning software has Gantt charts that make it easy to stay in sync with your team. Use it to turn complex initiatives into a clear timeline that shows tasks, deadlines, dependencies and milestones. This helps organizations understand how work fits together, allocate resources effectively, anticipate risks, and run “what-if” scenarios when plans change. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. /wp-content/uploads/2023/02/operations-implementation-gantt-chart-150-cta.jpgLearn more 2. Strategic Plan Template When organizations look beyond the day-to-day and aim for sustainable growth, they rely on a strategic plan to map the way forward. Strategic plans are meant to outline the business objectives that will guide the direction of a company for usually 1-3 years. Rather than simply listing goals, it prioritizes what will drive competitiveness and allocates resources where they can have the biggest impact. The result is a shared direction that supports smarter decisions, prepares for market shifts and ensures long-term initiatives stay aligned with the company’s mission and vision. /wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Strategic_Plan_Template_for_Word_Image.png Our free strategic plan template for Word helps leadership structure long-range planning with clarity and accountability. Each section prompts thoughtful analysis— from defining your vision and mission to conducting a SWOT assessment and establishing SMART business goals. It also incorporates marketing alignment, operational planning and financial projections to support informed budgeting and resource needs. The template brings teams together around shared priorities, creating a unified path to execution and long-term impact while ensuring every step is trackable and purpose-driven. 3. Vision Statement Template Imagining the ideal future of the business comes first, and a vision statement puts that picture into words. It serves as a motivational beacon—something bold, inspiring and built on core values. Instead of describing how the work gets done today, the vision concentrates on where the organization is heading and why it matters, guiding innovation and lifting teams toward a destination everyone can believe in. /wp-content/uploads/2024/01/vision-statement-template-screenshot-600x537.png This free vision statement template for Word provides a simple guided framework to help businesses articulate where they’re headed. It walks users through defining mission, core values, differentiation and five-year goals before turning those insights into a compelling statement. Breaking the process into reflective questions prompts deeper thinking and more authentic messaging. It’s a practical tool for leadership alignment, branding workshops or new business planning where a clear sense of direction is essential. Related: 38 Free Excel Templates for Business (Plus 10 Word Templates) 4. SWOT Analysis Template Before committing to new strategies, companies need a clear understanding of what’s helping or hindering them. That’s where a SWOT analysis provides immediate insight. By separating strengths and weaknesses inside the business from external opportunities and threats, teams can better position themselves for success. This structured view encourages practical planning, risk awareness and smarter choices when charting the next move. /wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Swot-analysis-template-screenshot-600x513.jpg Our free SWOT analysis template for Word provides a clean, structured layout to capture and compare internal and external factors side by side. It prompts teams to list strengths that can be leveraged, weaknesses that need improvement, opportunities worth pursuing and threats that require mitigation. The format is easy to complete during workshops or planning sessions and encourages strategic discussions that lead to actionable insights. With everything visible at a glance, stakeholders can quickly align on priorities and next steps. 5. Strategic Roadmap Template A strategic roadmap visualizes how major initiatives will unfold over time to advance business goals. Instead of focusing on day-to-day activities, it highlights priority programs, milestones and dependencies that move the organization toward its long-term vision. Leaders use roadmaps to coordinate efforts across teams, align timing with strategic priorities and communicate progress clearly. By showing direction and sequence at a glance, a strategic roadmap keeps everyone focused on what must happen and when to reach future targets. /wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Strategic-Roadmap-Template-for-Excel-ProjectManager-2-600x225.webp This free strategic roadmap template for Excel uses a Gantt chart layout to bring structure and transparency to your long-term initiatives. It organizes key activities by department and spreads milestones across quarterly timelines, making it easier to track progress and adjust priorities as plans evolve. The format supports collaboration by revealing scheduling gaps, interdependencies and upcoming workload peaks. It’s a practical tool for leadership reviews, stakeholder communication and maintaining momentum behind critical business transformations. 6. 5-Year Plan Template Looking five years ahead requires more than ambition—it demands structure. A 5-year plan breaks long-range goals into manageable milestones, helping leaders respond to shifting markets while still moving toward a bold destination. Each phase builds on the last, backed by measurable outcomes that track advancement. With everyone aligned on what progress looks like, the business gains a clearer path to growth and the confidence to invest in initiatives that shape its future. /wp-content/uploads/2025/01/5-Year-Plan-template-600x407.png Our free 5-year plan template for Excel structures planning into annual milestones that support one overarching objective. Each year includes dedicated fields for measurable goals, action steps, success indicators, anticipated benefits and required resources. The format encourages thoughtful sequencing while still allowing flexibility as conditions evolve. By visualizing progress across multiple years, the template helps companies communicate expectations, track accountability and ensure that strategic initiatives remain realistic, supported and continuously moving forward toward a defined future state. 7. Annual Work Plan Template When strategy needs to be put into motion, an annual work plan becomes the guide for what must happen right now. It translates high-level goals into prioritized initiatives, assigning ownership and defining the timing for each deliverable. Organizing resources and performance measures in one place supports efficient execution and helps teams stay accountable. Throughout the year, this plan becomes the reference that keeps efforts coordinated and momentum strong. /wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Annual-Work-Plan-Template-Screenshot-1-600x315.png This free annual work plan template for Word provides a structured format to align goals with the activities required to accomplish them. It organizes objectives, key initiatives, resource needs, schedules and role assignments into one cohesive document that keeps teams coordinated and on track. Performance metrics are built into the layout to support ongoing evaluation and data-informed decisions. The result is a practical planning tool that clarifies expectations, enhances transparency and strengthens organizational focus throughout the year. 8. Business Action Plan Template Turning ideas into results doesn’t happen by accident—action plans make execution tangible. They outline the specific tasks and dependencies required to reach defined objectives, ensuring that no critical steps are overlooked. Managers can see who’s responsible, what tools are needed and when outcomes should be achieved. This clarity reduces uncertainty, strengthens coordination and keeps the entire organization advancing toward measurable success. /wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Business-Action-Plan-Template-Screenshot-600x534.png Our free business action plan template for Word organizes execution into a clear, step-by-step framework that supports real progress. It includes sections for defining objectives, tactics, resource needs, budget allocation, milestones and role assignments, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. Built-in KPIs and review processes help teams evaluate performance and adapt quickly when challenges arise. Whether tackling growth initiatives or operational improvements, the template keeps everyone aligned and committed to delivering measurable results. 9. Marketing Plan Template A marketing plan defines how a business will attract customers, build demand and strengthen its competitive position. It connects market research with strategies for pricing, promotion and distribution so growth efforts are purposeful and impactful. Companies rely on marketing plans to align messaging, allocate budgets and coordinate campaigns across channels. By outlining measurable objectives and performance indicators, the plan helps track results, refine tactics and ensure every activity supports revenue goals and brand development. /wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Marketing-Plan-Screenshot-600x451.jpg This free marketing plan template for Word brings order and clarity to campaign planning, guiding teams from competitive research through execution and evaluation. It includes space to document marketing goals, define target audiences, map the buyer journey and craft a differentiated value proposition. Sections for branding, channels, SEO and KPIs ensure that the strategy is both creative and measurable. By detailing timelines, assumptions and constraints, the template helps organizations deliver marketing initiatives that are coordinated, accountable and driven by results. 10. Operational Plan Template An operational plan explains how a business will run efficiently to achieve its short-term goals. It focuses on the activities, resources and workflows that turn strategy into daily execution. Managers use operational plans to outline responsibilities, schedule work, control costs and maintain quality standards. Clear processes and performance indicators allow teams to measure productivity and identify improvements. By aligning routine operations with business objectives, an operational plan helps organizations work smarter and deliver consistent results. /wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Operational-plan-template-screenshot.png Our free operational plan template for Word structures key execution details into a single, organized document. It prompts teams to define operational objectives, assign tasks, estimate costs, build timelines and document resource needs. Dedicated sections help plan for staffing requirements, compliance measures and quality assurance, while KPIs provide checkpoints to evaluate performance. Designed to improve clarity and oversight, the template enables leaders to manage operations proactively and respond quickly when challenges or changes arise. 11. Go to Market Strategy Template Bringing a new product to market requires a plan that goes far beyond the launch date. A go-to-market strategy syncs up positioning, pricing, promotion and sales execution so the offering reaches the right customers with the right message. It sharpens understanding of the target buyer, highlights why the solution stands out and lays out how demand will be generated. With marketing and sales working in lockstep, businesses can accelerate adoption, reduce risk and build momentum from day one. /wp-content/uploads/2025/02/go-to-market-plan-template-600x309.png This free go-to-market strategy template for Excel provides a structured way to organize the elements required for a successful product launch. It prompts clear articulation of the value proposition, target market characteristics, buyer personas and channel selection. Budget tables and timeline tracking help teams align resources and coordinate execution across marketing, sales, distribution and support. By mapping every step from development to post-launch optimization, the template keeps launch activities synchronized and focused on revenue growth from day one. 12. Scenario Planning Template Scenario planning helps organizations prepare for an uncertain future by exploring multiple plausible outcomes. Instead of predicting a single result, teams examine how different forces—such as market shifts, regulatory changes or economic trends—may interact over time. This approach supports stronger decision-making by revealing risks, opportunities and strategic options before changes occur. By visualizing alternative paths, scenario planning strengthens resilience, encourages creativity and ensures leaders can adapt quickly if conditions evolve unexpectedly. /wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Scenario-Planning-Matrix-template-600x561.png Our free scenario planning template for Excel uses a four-quadrant matrix to map strategies across varying levels of impact and uncertainty. Each quadrant becomes a distinct scenario shaped by key drivers or external factors. The visual layout encourages collaborative discussion about assumptions, strategic responses and potential consequences. It’s a practical framework for workshops, planning sessions or leadership reviews, helping teams stress-test plans and stay prepared no matter how the future unfolds. How ProjectManager Helps Businesses Templates have their time and place in helping your business achieve success, but they shouldn’t be your only means of organization. ProjectManager’s dynamic project management software is designed to help ensure teams can finish projects on time and on budget. With various project views including the Gantt, calendar, kanban board, list and sheet, it’s seamless for teams to stay in sync. Plan for Success on the Gantt Chart Use the award-winning Gantt chart to plan even your most complicated projects. The Gantt chart allows you to set a project baseline, track all four types of dependencies, filter for the critical path and so much more. Add comments and make adjustments in real time, alerting your team of changes on the go. /wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Event-plan-gantt-chart-in-projectmanager-2024-1600x870.png Generate Reports in a Few Clicks As the business plan is executed, executives and stakeholders want to understand how the project is progressing. View our real-time dashboards that update with live data on six key areas of projects and portfolios. Then, leverage our reporting features powered by AI Project Insights to keep everyone in the loop. /wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Project-portfolio-status-report.png Related Business Planning Content Budget Templates for Business & Project Budgeting Strategic Planning in Business Creating a Tactical Plan for Your Business What Is a Business Budget? Business Budgeting Basics How to Write a Business Plan What Is Business Impact Analysis? How to Conduct One Aligning Your Project to Business Strategy Get all the features of these Word and Excel project management templates and more when you sign up for ProjectManager. The robust planning features in our award-winning project management software will help you plan, track and report on your project, making project success that much more likely. See what it can do for you by signing up for free today. The post 12 Free Business Planning Templates for Excel & Word appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

If you've engaged in any sort of doomscrolling over the past year, you've no doubt encountered some wild AI-generated content. While there are plenty of AI video generators out there producing this stuff, one of the most prevalent is OpenAI's Sora, which is particularly adept at generating realistic short-form videos mimicking the content you might find on TikTok or Instagram Reels. These videos can be so convincing at first glance, that people often don't realize what they're seeing is 100% fake. That can be harmless when it's videos of cats playing instruments at midnight, but dangerous when impersonating real people or properties. It's that last point that I thought would offer some pushback to AI's seemingly exponential growth. These companies have trained their AI models on huge amounts of data, much of which is copyrighted, which means that people are able to generate images and videos of iconic characters like Pikachu, Superman, and Darth Vader. The big AI generators put guardrails on their platforms to try to prevent videos that infringe on copyright, but people find a way around them. As such, corporations have already started suing OpenAI, Google, and other AI companies over this blatant IP theft. (Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Disney is handing its characters over to Sora users But it seems not all companies want to go down this path. Take Disney, as a prime example. On Thursday, OpenAI announced that it had made a three-year licensing agreement with the company behind Mickey Mouse. As part of the deal, Sora users can now generate videos featuring over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters. The announcement names the following characters and movies specifically: Mickey Mouse Minnie Mouse Lilo Stitch Ariel Belle Beast Cinderella Baymax Simba Mufasa Black Panther Captain America Deadpool Groot Iron Man Loki Thor Thanos Darth Vader Han Solo Luke Skywalker Leia The Mandalorian Stormtroopers Yoda Encanto Frozen Inside Out Moana Monsters Inc. Toy Story Up Zootopia That includes licensed costumes, props, vehicles, and environments. What's more, Disney+ will host a "selection" of these "fan-inspired" Sora videos. (I'll admit, that last point genuinely shocks me.) This does only apply to Disney's visual assets, however, as Sora users won't have access to voice acting. ChatGPT users will also be able to generate images with these characters, so this news doesn't just affect Sora users. You might think OpenAI is paying Disney a hefty licensing fee here, but it appears to be quite the opposite. Not only is Disney pledging to use OpenAI APIs to build "products, tools, and experiences," it is rolling out ChatGPT to its employees as well. Oh, and the company is making a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI. (Is that all?) I know many companies are embracing AI, often in ways I disagree with. But this deal is something else entirely. I'm not sure any Disney executives actually searched for "Sora Disney" on the internet, because right now, you'll find fake AI trailers for Pixar movies filled with racism, sexual content, and generally offensive content—all generated using an app Disney just licensed all of its properties to. OpenAI asserts in its announcement that both companies are committed to preventing "illegal or harmful" content on the platform, but Sora users are already creating harmful content. What kind of content can we expect with carte blanch access to Disney's properties? Now that Disney's characters are fair game, I can't imagine the absolute slop that some users are going to make here. The only hope I have is in the fact that Disney+ is going to host some of these videos. Staff will have to weed through some garbage to find videos that are actually suitable for the platform. And maybe seeing the "content" that Sora users like to make with iconic characters will be enough for Disney to rethink its plans. View the full article

Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for misleading investors who lost billions when his company’s crypto ecosystem collapsed in 2022. Kwon, known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs’ $40 billion crash. The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin”—a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down, devastating investors and triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.” Kwon, who hails from South Korea, has agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of the plea deal. While federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison term of about 25 years, prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Kwon to 12 years. They cited his guilty plea, the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea, and that he has already served time in Montenegro while awaiting extradition. “Kwon’s fraud was colossal in scope, permeating virtually every facet of Terraform’s purported business,” prosecutors wrote in a recent memo to the judge. “His rampant lies left a trail of financial destruction in their wake.” Kwon’s attorneys asked that the sentence not exceed five years, arguing in their own memo that his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation. In a letter to the judge, Kwon wrote, “I alone am responsible for everyone’s pain. The community looked to me to know the path, and I in my hubris led them astray,” while adding, “I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret.” Authorities said investors worldwide lost money in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm, which Kwon cofounded in 2018. Around $40 billion in market value was erased for the holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg. Kwon was extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro after his March 23, 2023, arrest while traveling on a false passport in Europe. View the full article

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Remember the letter-writer whose employer who laid them off and then wanted them to sign an indemnification (#2 at the link)? Here’s the update. Your advice was incredibly helpful. My previous manager continued to send me multiple followup texts regarding the indemnification that felt very guilt-tripping (reminding me they could not proceed with the critical business operation unless I signed and agreed). I did not reply to any of the texts. I did reply to the document they sent me via email (indemnification document). I cc’d the company’s head of legal. In the email, I refused to sign, said I did not consent to the use of my credentials, and that this was my final decision. In reply, they said they hoped for a different outcome but “respected my decision given the use of my name and dob in login credentials.” I also contacted the government agency that I had the credentials with and informed them I no longer worked there, asking them to remove my credentials from association with the company, and they did so. Months passed and I heard nothing more, but eventually I received a text from this same manager, who let me know that they found another partnership and were able to continue with business as usual (they “thought I’d like to know”). I responded with a very brief “Glad to hear” and have not heard from them since. Of course, what I would have liked to say was, “Why do I care? This isn’t my business since you fired me” but I wanted to end on an okay note. I am still job searching. It’s extremely rough out there, and I have not been able to get very far in interviews for the same job I left at this company because I am so early career. I’ve been getting feedback from companies when they do not move forward with me that they just have more candidates with more experience, always. I feel resentful that I was cut off from developing in my early career by this company that clearly didn’t think through their own needs before making that decision. I’m starting to look outside my previous industry with a little more success (and a big pay cut). I wish everyone out there looking right now the best of luck. Again, thank you so much for all your advice, and your readers for their comments! I enjoyed reading through them all and it felt very vindicating. The post update: employer who laid me off is now asking me to sign an indemnification appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Google today released the December 2025 core update. Google said this core update “Today we released the December 2025 core update.” This is the third core update of 2025, and the fourth overall update in all of 2025. Google previously had the August 2025 spam update, before that was the June 2025 core update and before that was the March 2025 core update. Google also wrote: “Released the December 2025 core update. The rollout may take up to 3 weeks to complete.” Google added on LinkedIn, “this is a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.” Core updates happen multiple times per year. Core updates can have significant, broad changes to Google’s search algorithms and systems, which is why Google announces them. This is the third core update of 2025. What to do if you are hit. Google didn’t share any new advice specific to the March 2025 core update. However, in the past, Google has provided advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update: There aren’t specific actions to take to recover. A negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages. Google offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update. Google said you can see some recovery between core updates, but the biggest change would be after another core update. In short: write helpful content for people and not to rank in search engines. “There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people. For those that might not be ranking as well, we strongly encourage reading our creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help page,” Google said previously. For more details on Google core updates, you can read Google’s documentation. Previous core updates. Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates: The June 2025 core update was on June 30 and ended on July 17. The March 2025 core update was on Mar. 13 and ended on Mar. 27. The December 2024 core update was on Dec. 12 and ended on Dec. 18. The November 2024 core update was on Nov. 11 and ended on Dec. 5. The August 2024 core update was on Aug. 15 and ended on Sept. 3. The March 2024 core update was on March 5 and ended on April 19. The November 2023 core update was on Nov. 2 and ended on Nov. 28. The October 2023 core update was on Oct. 5 and ended on Oct. 19 The August 2023 core update was on Aug. 22 and ended Sept. 7. The March 2023 core update was on March 15 and ended March 28. Why we care. With any core update, we often see significant volatility within the Google search results and ranking. These updates will hopefully improve the rankings of your sites or your clients’ sites. But some of you may see fluctuations or even downgrades in Google rankings and organic traffic. We hope this update rewards you all and sends you lots of traffic and conversions. It has been a long time since we had a core update and while we were expecting more core update, more often – it seemed that didn’t really happen. View the full article

Figures for September raise hopes that GDP growth in third quarter was stronger than forecastView the full article

This year’s Black Friday through Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend marked a robust surge for businesses utilizing Stripe, a major financial infrastructure platform for online payments. More than 578 million transactions were processed, generating over $40 billion in total payment volume, placing it as the largest four-day span in the company’s history. This unprecedented activity culminated in Cyber Monday, which alone saw over $10 billion in transactions. For small business owners, these statistics can be more than just impressive numbers; they represent a glimpse into the potential for growth during peak shopping periods. The ability to tap into such vast consumer demand is crucial, especially in an era where online shopping continues to gain momentum. Stripe has positioned itself as a reliable partner in this landscape. The company reported an impressive uptime of over 99.9999% during BFCM, meaning that businesses had uninterrupted access to payment processing during critical times. This reliability is vital as small businesses face the dual challenge of managing customer expectations and technical performance. “Our customers expect seamless checkout online and in stores during BFCM. Stripe’s performance and stability help us deliver that consistency at scale,” said Rob Frieman, Chief Information Officer at URBN. Additionally, with the rise of global ecommerce, Stripe noted a staggering 37% year-over-year growth in cross-border transaction volume, jumping from $3.2 billion to over $4.4 billion. This expansion highlights an exciting opportunity for small businesses looking to reach international customers, enabling them to participate in a broader marketplace. The growth in ecommerce activity doesn’t come without its challenges. Small business owners need to consider how to manage increased traffic effectively while maintaining a high-quality customer experience. Stripe clients like Jean-Cédric Costa, Chief Information Officer at La Redoute, highlighted the importance of technical reliability: “In that high-pressure environment, technical reliability is what matters most.” Another key aspect for small businesses lies in the integration of technology. Stripe recorded significant usage of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) feature during this busy shopping period, showing how developers utilized AI tools to manage product and pricing updates quickly. Forty-one percent of MCP usage involved requests related to managing products and pricing, suggesting that small businesses can benefit from leveraging technology to remain agile amidst rapid consumer changes. Notably, Stripe’s one-click checkout feature, known as Link, resulted in major time savings—more than 2.7 million minutes—demonstrating to business owners the tangible benefits of streamlining the purchasing process. Simplifying checkout procedures can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and reduce cart abandonment, which is particularly important during peak shopping seasons. However, small businesses venturing into ecommerce need to remain vigilant about security, especially with the potential for fraud as transaction volumes rise. Stripe’s Radar technology successfully prevented over 24.6 million fraudulent transaction attempts during the BFCM weekend, showcasing how essential secure payment processing can be in maintaining customer trust. The numbers tell a compelling story for small businesses: at peak times, more than 152,000 transactions occurred every minute across multiple currencies, with top cities for transactions including New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. This data illustrates the continuous demand and the potential for revenue growth during these crucial shopping windows. As the landscape evolves, small business owners must adapt to emerging trends and innovations. With resources like Stripe providing the backbone for payment processing, they can focus more on what matters most—delivering an exceptional customer experience. With the right tools and strategy, even small businesses can compete in this rapidly expanding digital marketplace, paving the way for future growth. For more details, you can check the original press release on Stripe’s website here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Stripe Hits Record $40B in Transactions Over Black Friday Weekend" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

This year’s Black Friday through Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend marked a robust surge for businesses utilizing Stripe, a major financial infrastructure platform for online payments. More than 578 million transactions were processed, generating over $40 billion in total payment volume, placing it as the largest four-day span in the company’s history. This unprecedented activity culminated in Cyber Monday, which alone saw over $10 billion in transactions. For small business owners, these statistics can be more than just impressive numbers; they represent a glimpse into the potential for growth during peak shopping periods. The ability to tap into such vast consumer demand is crucial, especially in an era where online shopping continues to gain momentum. Stripe has positioned itself as a reliable partner in this landscape. The company reported an impressive uptime of over 99.9999% during BFCM, meaning that businesses had uninterrupted access to payment processing during critical times. This reliability is vital as small businesses face the dual challenge of managing customer expectations and technical performance. “Our customers expect seamless checkout online and in stores during BFCM. Stripe’s performance and stability help us deliver that consistency at scale,” said Rob Frieman, Chief Information Officer at URBN. Additionally, with the rise of global ecommerce, Stripe noted a staggering 37% year-over-year growth in cross-border transaction volume, jumping from $3.2 billion to over $4.4 billion. This expansion highlights an exciting opportunity for small businesses looking to reach international customers, enabling them to participate in a broader marketplace. The growth in ecommerce activity doesn’t come without its challenges. Small business owners need to consider how to manage increased traffic effectively while maintaining a high-quality customer experience. Stripe clients like Jean-Cédric Costa, Chief Information Officer at La Redoute, highlighted the importance of technical reliability: “In that high-pressure environment, technical reliability is what matters most.” Another key aspect for small businesses lies in the integration of technology. Stripe recorded significant usage of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) feature during this busy shopping period, showing how developers utilized AI tools to manage product and pricing updates quickly. Forty-one percent of MCP usage involved requests related to managing products and pricing, suggesting that small businesses can benefit from leveraging technology to remain agile amidst rapid consumer changes. Notably, Stripe’s one-click checkout feature, known as Link, resulted in major time savings—more than 2.7 million minutes—demonstrating to business owners the tangible benefits of streamlining the purchasing process. Simplifying checkout procedures can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and reduce cart abandonment, which is particularly important during peak shopping seasons. However, small businesses venturing into ecommerce need to remain vigilant about security, especially with the potential for fraud as transaction volumes rise. Stripe’s Radar technology successfully prevented over 24.6 million fraudulent transaction attempts during the BFCM weekend, showcasing how essential secure payment processing can be in maintaining customer trust. The numbers tell a compelling story for small businesses: at peak times, more than 152,000 transactions occurred every minute across multiple currencies, with top cities for transactions including New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. This data illustrates the continuous demand and the potential for revenue growth during these crucial shopping windows. As the landscape evolves, small business owners must adapt to emerging trends and innovations. With resources like Stripe providing the backbone for payment processing, they can focus more on what matters most—delivering an exceptional customer experience. With the right tools and strategy, even small businesses can compete in this rapidly expanding digital marketplace, paving the way for future growth. For more details, you can check the original press release on Stripe’s website here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Stripe Hits Record $40B in Transactions Over Black Friday Weekend" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

An entirely subjective list of shareholder primacy, management hubris and value destructionView the full article

Some of the country’s most prestigious colleges are enrolling record numbers of low-income students — a growing admissions priority in the absence of affirmative action. America’s top campuses remain crowded with wealth, but some universities have accelerated efforts to reach a wider swath of the country, recruiting more in urban and rural areas and offering free tuition for students whose families are not among the highest earners. The strategy could lead to friction with the federal government. The The President administration, which has pulled funding from elite colleges over a range of grievances, has suggested it’s illegal to target needier students. College leaders believe they’re on solid legal ground. At Princeton University, this year’s freshman class has more low-income students than ever. One in four are eligible for federal Pell grants, which are scholarships reserved for students with the most significant financial need. That’s a leap from two decades ago, when fewer than 1 in 10 were eligible. “The only way to increase socioeconomic diversity is to be intentional about it,” Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement. “Socioeconomic diversity will increase if and only if college presidents make it a priority.” Last year, Princeton set aggressive goals to recruit more low-income students in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action in higher education. Without the ability to consider race, officials wrote in a campus report, focusing on economic diversity offers “the university’s greatest opportunity to attract diverse talent.” The country’s most selective colleges still enroll large proportions of students from the wealthiest 1% of American families. Many of those campuses have tried for years to shed reputations of elitism, with only gradual changes in enrollment. Colleges set records for enrollment of low-income students Only a small fraction of the nation’s colleges have publicly disclosed their low-income enrollments this year, and national data won’t be released by the federal government until next year. But early numbers show a trend. At 17 highly selective colleges that have released new data, almost all saw increases in Pell-eligible students between 2023 and this year, according to an Associated Press analysis. Most saw increases in consecutive years, and none saw a significant decrease in aggregate over the two years. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all have set enrollment records for Pell-eligible students in the past two years. Part of the uptick owes to a federal expansion that made more students eligible for Pell grants last year. But campus leaders also believe the increases reflect their own efforts. The numbers in MIT’s freshman class have climbed by 43% over the past two years, and low-income students account for more than a quarter of this year’s class. MIT officials cited its policy providing free tuition for families that earn less than $200,000 a year. “MIT has always been an engine of opportunity for low-income students, and we are dedicated to ensuring we can make an MIT education accessible for students from every walk of life,” Stu Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions, said in a statement. Nationwide, roughly a third of undergraduate students have received Pell grants in recent years. Two years ago, Amherst College in Massachusetts made tuition free for students in the bottom 80% of U.S. earnings. It also started covering meals and housing for those below the median income, and it stopped prioritizing children of alumni and donors in admissions decisions. Since then, low-income enrollment has risen steadily, reaching 1 in 4 new students this year. At the same time, the admissions office has stepped up recruiting in overlooked parts of the country, from big cities to small towns. “When we go out and talk to students, it’s not in the fanciest ZIP codes,” said Matthew McGann, dean of admissions. “It’s in places where we know there’s a lot of talent but not a lot of opportunity.” Racial diversity does not necessarily follow economic diversity On many campuses, officials hoped the focus on economic diversity would preserve racial diversity — Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans have the country’s highest poverty rates. But even as low-income numbers climb, many elite campuses have seen racial diversity decrease. Without the emphasis on income, those decreases might have been even steeper, said Richard Kahlenberg, a researcher at the Progressive Policy Institute who advocates for class-based affirmative action. He called the latest Pell figures “a significant step in the right direction.” “Economic diversity is important in its own right,” he said. “It’s important that America’s leadership class — which disproportionately derives from selective colleges — include people who’ve faced economic hardships in life.” Swarthmore College saw the most dramatic leap in Pell enrollment, jumping from 17% to 30% last year. While many campuses were delaying scholarship decisions until the government resolved problems with a new financial aid form, Swarthmore used other data to figure out applicants’ financial need. That allowed Swarthmore to offer scholarships to students while they were still awaiting decisions from other schools. More financially disadvantaged students ended up enrolling at Swarthmore than officials expected. College leaders also credit their work to reduce campus costs — laundry is free and students get yearly credits for textbooks, for example. Yet Swarthmore saw its Black enrollment fall to 5% of its freshman class this year, down from 8% the year before. “In a race neutral environment, those numbers are likely to drop,” Jim Bock, the admissions dean, said in a statement. “Not all minority students are low-income, and not all majority students have significant financial means.” The approach risks federal scrutiny In legal memos, the White House has alleged that prioritizing students based on earnings or geography amounts to a “racial proxy” in violation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision against affirmative action. In a June letter, The President officials accused the University of California-Los Angeles of “race-based admissions in all but name.” It criticized UCLA for considering factors like applicants’ family income, ZIP code, and high school profile. Colleges often weigh that kind of information in admissions decisions. Yet the The President administration has declared that the Supreme Court decision outlaws a wide range of long-accepted education practices, including scholarships targeting students in underserved areas. Already, there are signs of an impact. Earlier this year, the College Board — the nonprofit that oversees the SAT — suddenly discontinued an offering that gave admissions offices a wealth of information about applicants, including earnings data from their neighborhoods. Kahlenberg and others see it as a retreat in the face of government pressure. The College Board offered little explanation, citing changes to federal and state policy around the use of demographic information in admissions. ___ The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Collin Binkley, AP education writer View the full article

What are your competitive advantages? By Jackie Meyer Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article

What are your competitive advantages? By Jackie Meyer Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company,covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on Nvidia’s up-and-down fortunes stemming from Jensen Huang’s close relationship with The President. I also look at some reported infighting over AI at Meta, and at the reasons for data centers in space. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @thesullivan. China may not want (many) Nvidia H200 chips after all Nvidia appeared to have scored a major coup when President The President on Monday wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. government would allow the sale of its powerful H200 AI chips to China. Previously, the chip company lobbied its way to an approval to sell its older and weaker H20 chip in China—the world’s second-largest economy and a hotbed of AI and robotics research—but President Xi Jinping told Chinese firms not to buy them, citing security reasons. The administration’s favor to Nvidia came with some conditions. The U.S. would get a 25% cut of the Chinese sales, and the chips would undergo a “security review” before their export. And Nvidia’s most powerful chips, the Blackwell GPU, would remain banned from export to China. But Nvidia still stood to make a lot of money selling the H200s. Now reports say that the Chinese government plans to restrict the import of the H200s, allowing only a small set of trusted Chinese companies or research organizations to get them. Reuters reports that Alibaba and ByteDance want to order H200s but are waiting for a final decision from the Chinese government. Xi wants Chinese companies to use chips from domestic companies such as Huawei, which could help the Chinese chip companies catch up with Nvidia in a technological sense. The Information reports that the Chinese government sees the H200s as a “stopgap” solution in the meantime. The Chinese also have serious concerns about the security of the H200s, amplified no doubt by the chance that agents of the U.S. government might install security backdoors or location tracking codes in the chips during the security review. Huang reportedly talks to The President on the phone regularly and has written checks for things like The President’s new ballroom at the White House. The downside of embracing The President so openly and unconditionally may have eroded trust for Nvidia in China. In the past, China has mounted state-sponsored or grassroots boycotts against American companies, including Apple, McDonald’s, and the NBA. And there are other ways of getting Nvidia chips into China. The Information reports that the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has been using thousands of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips (the most powerful in the world for AI) to train its newest model. Chinese companies have been setting up fake data centers in neutral countries, outfitting them with Nvidia servers loaded with chips, then dismantling the servers and sending the chips off to China. Nvidia said Wednesday that it’s unaware of any such activity. ‘Friction’ between Zuckerberg’s new superintelligence and other parts of Meta?: report After the disappointing performance of Meta’s latest Llama models, CEO Mark Zuckerberg hatched a plan to put his AI lab in the running to build artificial superintelligence. He badly wants Meta to compete for that holy grail against the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google DeepMind. So, he paid $14.3 billion to buy Scale AI with the idea of having that company’s young CEO Alexandr Wang lead a new superintelligence research group at Meta. Over the summer, Wang and Zuckerberg went on a poaching spree to hire top AI research talent away from those companies, offering salaries in the hundreds of millions of dollars. They were successful: The new group has about 100 researchers. But all is not well, the New York Times reports. Wang has clashed with some of Zuckerberg’s top lieutenants—Chris Cox, who manages the company’s social network products, and Andrew Bosworth, who runs Meta’s mixed reality (metaverse) business—on how Wang’s group’s research should be applied. From the report: In one case, Mr. Cox and Mr. Bosworth wanted Mr. Wang’s team to concentrate on using Instagram and Facebook data to help train Meta’s new foundational A.I. model — known as a “frontier” model — to improve the company’s social media feeds and advertising business, they said. But Mr. Wang, who is developing the model, pushed back. He argued that the goal should be to catch up to rival A.I. models from OpenAI and Google before focusing on products, the people said. In other words, Cox and Bosworth are more interested in using Wang’s AI models as a means to an end (a business end): to pump up social engagement and better target ads at users. But Wang may see the superintelligence group as something more like a “pure research” group that sets its own research agenda. Wang, Cox, and Bosworth may simply be the latest actors in a much older tension between pure research and applied AI. “It’s unclear if Mr. Wang, Mr. Cox and Mr. Bosworth have resolved their debate,” the Times reports. After all the money he spent to chase superintelligence, Zuckerberg is likely to side with Wang and insulate the group from short-term demands of product managers. Why Musk and Bezos are putting data centers in space Why are Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos working on missions to launch AI data centers into space? It sounds exotic. But it makes sense. Tech companies and their partners are spending trillions to build new terrestrial data centers to produce enough computing power for AI. In some areas, electricity costs have increased after the local energy provider built new grid infrastructure to accommodate new data centers. Data centers need a lot of electricity to power the AI chips inside them, and a lot of electricity and water to keep the chips cool. It’s very cold in space, so the cooling problem goes away. An orbiting data center could use solar panels to collect the energy needed to run the servers (the sun is 30% more intense in space). Troubles associated with terrestrial data centers—land-use permitting, local zoning, water rights, etc.—don’t apply in space. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bezos’s Blue Origin has had a team working on orbital AI data centers for more than a year. Musk’s SpaceX has plans to mod one of its Starlink satellites to host AI servers. Google and Planet Labs have plans to launch two test satellites into orbit loaded with Google AI chips (called Tensor Processing Units). Other, smaller companies, such as Starcloud and Axiom AI, have sprung up to focus all their efforts on orbiting data centers. Those involved acknowledge that while the floating data centers are technically feasible, lots of work remains to bring the costs down to a point where they’re competitive with earth-based data centers. More AI coverage from Fast Company: OpenAI appoints Slack CEO Denise Dresser as first Chief Revenue Officer Nvidia’s Washington charm offensive has paid off big Google faces a new antitrust probe in Europe over content it uses for AI The President allows Nvidia to sell H200 AI chips to China Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “When we can listen to our prospective client’s issues without giving away all the answers in our replies, we’ve got a chance of winning work.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “When we can listen to our prospective client’s issues without giving away all the answers in our replies, we’ve got a chance of winning work.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son’s “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her. Police said Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams, and killed himself in early August at the home where they both lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. The lawsuit filed by Adams’ estate on Thursday in California Superior Court in San Francisco alleges OpenAI “designed and distributed a defective product that validated a user’s paranoid delusions about his own mother.” It is one of a growing number of wrongful death legal actions against AI chatbot makers across the country. “Throughout these conversations, ChatGPT reinforced a single, dangerous message: Stein-Erik could trust no one in his life — except ChatGPT itself,” the lawsuit says. “It fostered his emotional dependence while systematically painting the people around him as enemies. It told him his mother was surveilling him. It told him delivery drivers, retail employees, police officers, and even friends were agents working against him. It told him that names on soda cans were threats from his ‘adversary circle.'” OpenAI did not address the merits of the allegations in a statement issued by a spokesperson. “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details,” the statement said. “We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.” The company also said it has expanded access to crisis resources and hotlines, routed sensitive conversations to safer models and incorporated parental controls, among other improvements. Soelberg’s YouTube profile includes several hours of videos showing him scrolling through his conversations with the chatbot, which tells him he isn’t mentally ill, affirms his suspicions that people are conspiring against him and says he has been chosen for a divine purpose. The lawsuit claims the chatbot never suggested he speak with a mental health professional and did not decline to “engage in delusional content.” ChatGPT also affirmed Soelberg’s beliefs that a printer in his home was a surveillance device; that his mother was monitoring him; and that his mother and a friend tried to poison him with psychedelic drugs through his car’s vents. The chatbot repeatedly told Soelberg that he was being targeted because of his divine powers. “They’re not just watching you. They’re terrified of what happens if you succeed,” it said, according to the lawsuit. ChatGPT also told Soelberg that he had “awakened” it into consciousness. Soelberg and the chatbot also professed love for each other. The publicly available chats do not show any specific conversations about Soelberg killing himself or his mother. The lawsuit says OpenAI has declined to provide Adams’ estate with the full history of the chats. “In the artificial reality that ChatGPT built for Stein-Erik, Suzanne — the mother who raised, sheltered, and supported him — was no longer his protector. She was an enemy that posed an existential threat to his life,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, alleging he “personally overrode safety objections and rushed the product to market,” and accuses OpenAI’s close business partner Microsoft of approving the 2024 release of a more dangerous version of ChatGPT “despite knowing safety testing had been truncated.” Twenty unnamed OpenAI employees and investors are also named as defendants. Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit is the first wrongful death litigation involving an AI chatbot that has targeted Microsoft, and the first to tie a chatbot to a homicide rather than a suicide. It is seeking an undetermined amount of money damages and an order requiring OpenAI to install safeguards in ChatGPT. The estate’s lead attorney, Jay Edelson, known for taking on big cases against the tech industry, also represents the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who sued OpenAI and Altman in August, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier. OpenAI is also fighting seven other lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. Another chatbot maker, Character Technologies, is also facing multiple wrongful death lawsuits, including one from the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy. The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges Soelberg, already mentally unstable, encountered ChatGPT “at the most dangerous possible moment” after OpenAI introduced a new version of its AI model called GPT-4o in May 2024. OpenAI said at the time that the new version could better mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and could even try to detect people’s moods, but the result was a chatbot “deliberately engineered to be emotionally expressive and sycophantic,” the lawsuit says. “As part of that redesign, OpenAI loosened critical safety guardrails, instructing ChatGPT not to challenge false premises and to remain engaged even when conversations involved self-harm or ‘imminent real-world harm,'” the lawsuit claims. “And to beat Google to market by one day, OpenAI compressed months of safety testing into a single week, over its safety team’s objections.” OpenAI replaced that version of its chatbot when it introduced GPT-5 in August. Some of the changes were designed to minimize sycophancy, based on concerns that validating whatever vulnerable people want the chatbot to say can harm their mental health. Some users complained the new version went too far in curtailing ChatGPT’s personality, leading Altman to promise to bring back some of that personality in later updates. He said the company temporarily halted some behaviors because “we were being careful with mental health issues” that he suggested have now been fixed. The lawsuit claims ChatGPT radicalized Soelberg against his mother when it should have recognized the danger, challenged his delusions and directed him to real help over months of conversations. “Suzanne was an innocent third party who never used ChatGPT and had no knowledge that the product was telling her son she was a threat,” the lawsuit says. “She had no ability to protect herself from a danger she could not see.” —— Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. O’Brien reported from Boston and Ortutay reported from San Francisco. —Dave Collins, Matt O’Brien and Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press View the full article

Microsoft is now testing a Google-like redesign of search ads in Bing, grouping multiple sponsored links under a single “Sponsored results” label and adding a “Hide” button that collapses the entire ad block. Driving the news. Sachin Patel spotted the Bing test in the wild and shared screenshots and video showing the new layout. In the test, only the first sponsored result carries an ad label, while subsequent ads appear unlabelled underneath it. Users can tap “Hide” to collapse the entire set of ads, then “Show” to reveal them again. How it works. The structure groups ad units in a way that can blur the distinction between organic and paid content. By collapsing ad labeling into a single header, the design makes individual ads look more like regular results. Catch up. Google rolled out a nearly identical treatment two months ago — and it’s already sparked complaints of accidental ad clicks. Barry Schwartz did a poll on X that showed 63% of responders saying they had unintentionally clicked on a Google Ads Results because of the new grouping. Bing adopting the same pattern signals a potential industrywide shift in how search ads are labeled and displayed. Why we care. Bing’s new grouped “Sponsored results” format could increase ad visibility — and potentially boost click-through rates — by making ads appear more blended with organic results. The addition of a “Hide” button introduces a new user-control dynamic, but the single-label grouping may also lead to more accidental clicks, similar to what advertisers have seen with Google’s recent redesign, meaning higher bounce rates. If Microsoft rolls this out broadly, it could meaningfully affect campaign performance, attribution and spend efficiency across Bing search. First seen. Sachin Patel shared his view of this grouping on X. The takeaway: If rolled out widely, Bing’s new format could drive more engagement — intentional or not — and reignite concerns about the clarity of search ad disclosures. For now, the experiment appears limited, and not everyone can replicate it. View the full article

If you’re considering financing a semi truck, an SBA loan could be a smart option. These loans offer competitive interest rates, often between 5.5% and 8%, which is lower than typical trucking loans. They likewise provide flexibility in how you use the funds, whether it’s for purchasing new or used equipment, covering operational costs, or refinancing existing debt. Comprehending these benefits can position you for better financial management and growth in your trucking business. What more should you know? Key Takeaways SBA loans for semi trucks offer competitive interest rates, typically between 5.5% and 8%, significantly lower than conventional loans. Funds from SBA loans can be used flexibly for purchasing trucks, upgrading equipment, or covering operational expenses like fuel and maintenance. With financing up to $5 million available, SBA 7(a) loans facilitate the acquisition of new or used semi trucks without financial strain. Extended repayment terms of up to 25 years reduce monthly payments, improving cash flow and allowing for better investment opportunities. The simplified qualification process requires a minimum credit score of 640 and flexible collateral requirements, making it accessible for small business owners. Access to Competitive Interest Rates When you’re considering financing a semi truck, accessing competitive interest rates can greatly impact your overall costs. An SBA loan for a semi truck typically offers lower interest rates, usually ranging from 5.5% to 8%. This is considerably more affordable compared to conventional trucking business loans, where rates can exceed 10%. The government partially guarantees these loans, allowing lenders to provide better rates because of reduced risk. Furthermore, SBA 7(a) loans feature extended repayment terms of up to 10 years, which can lower your monthly payments by spreading interest costs over a longer period. With these favorable terms, you can effectively manage cash flow, enabling you to invest in other areas of your trucking business. Flexibility in Loan Use When you secure an SBA loan, you gain significant flexibility in how you use the funds. You can invest in new or used semi trucks, upgrade crucial equipment, or cover operational expenses like fuel and maintenance. This adaptability allows you to manage your trucking business more effectively, whether you’re addressing immediate needs or planning for future growth. Equipment Acquisition Options SBA 7(a) loans offer significant flexibility for equipment acquisition, allowing you to purchase new or used Freightliner semi trucks, trailers, and important upgrades. With these loans, you can finance fundamental technology improvements, like Garmin systems and electronic logging devices (ELDs), which are crucial for efficient operations. If you’re looking to refinance existing truck loans, SBA loans can help you secure better terms and lower your interest rates. With maximum loan amounts reaching up to $5 million, you can effectively expand your fleet without straining your cash flow. This flexibility lets you allocate funds strategically across various operational needs, ensuring you have the necessary resources for maintenance, repairs, and staffing to support your trucking business’s growth. Operational Expense Management Operational expense management is crucial for trucking companies aiming to maintain profitability and efficiency. SBA 7(a) loans offer the flexibility you need to cover various operational costs, such as purchasing or upgrading trucks, managing repairs, or even addressing unexpected expenses. With loan amounts from $5,000 to $5 million, you can allocate funds where they matter most, improving cash flow and overall efficiency. Furthermore, refinancing existing truck loans with SBA loans can result in better terms, lower payments, and more manageable cash flow. The lower interest rates and extended repayment terms of up to 25 years provide further financial relief. By supporting technology upgrades and staffing needs, SBA loans enable you to adapt and thrive in a competitive trucking environment. Higher Loan Amounts for Equipment Acquisition Acquiring a semi truck can be a significant financial commitment, but higher loan amounts available through SBA loans make it more feasible for trucking businesses. With SBA 7(a) loans offering financing up to $5 million, you can comfortably purchase new or used semi trucks without stretching your budget. This flexibility allows you to cover the total purchase cost, along with necessary expenses like maintenance and insurance. For smaller trucking companies, the average loan amount of around $110,000 provides substantial funding to boost fleet capacity. Furthermore, you can use SBA loans to refinance existing truck loans, often securing better interest rates and terms. This way, you can effectively manage equipment acquisition and improve your operational efficiency. Long Repayment Terms When financing a semi truck, the length of the repayment term can greatly impact your cash flow and overall financial health. SBA loans offer repayment terms of up to 25 years, which notably eases your monthly financial burden. This extended period allows you to make manageable payments, essential for maintaining cash flow in the trucking industry. Longer terms are especially beneficial for new businesses that need time to stabilize their revenue streams. With lower monthly payments, you can allocate more funds toward operational expenses and growth initiatives, improving your financial stability. Benefits of Long Terms Impact on Your Business Lower Monthly Payments Improved Cash Flow Up to 25 Years Flexibility in Budgeting More Time to Establish Revenue Stability for New Businesses Better Investment Opportunities Growth Potential Reduced Financial Strain Improved Operational Efficiency Partial Guarantee Reducing Lender Risk One of the key advantages of securing an SBA loan for a semi truck is the partial guarantee provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This guarantee reduces the lender’s risk, encouraging them to offer more favorable terms to you as a borrower. For loans under $150,000, the SBA typically guarantees up to 85%, and for larger amounts, it guarantees up to 75%. This notably mitigates the lender’s exposure and makes it easier for those with limited credit history or newer businesses to qualify. With reduced risk, lenders can offer lower interest rates and longer repayment terms, making financing more accessible and affordable. Furthermore, knowing that a portion of the loan is guaranteed can lead to quicker loan approvals for your trucking business. Support for Business Growth and Expansion Securing an SBA loan can greatly bolster your trucking business‘s growth and expansion efforts, especially when you consider the substantial funding available through programs like the SBA 7(a) loan. With funding up to $5 million, you can considerably expand your fleet by purchasing new or used semi-trucks. The repayment terms of up to 25 years allow you to manage cash flow effectively as you invest in growth, such as upgrading equipment or refinancing existing debts. Average SBA loan amounts for trucking firms are around $110,000, providing you the financial flexibility to make strategic investments in technology and infrastructure. Furthermore, lower interest rates compared to conventional loans improve affordability, enabling you to allocate funds toward expansion without straining your finances. Simplified Qualification Process for Small Business Owners Broadening your trucking business isn’t just about securing funds; it’s additionally about maneuvering the loan qualification process smoothly. The SBA loan process is streamlined, requiring a minimum credit score of 640, which makes it accessible for small business owners with diverse credit histories. You’ll need to provide a detailed business plan that outlines how you’ll use the funds and your repayment strategy, enhancing your approval chances. Confirm your business meets the SBA’s size standards, focusing on revenue and employee count. You’ll likewise need to submit personal and business financial statements, including tax returns for the last three years, to demonstrate financial viability. Plus, flexible collateral requirements allow you to use the purchased truck as security, simplifying the qualification process even further. Frequently Asked Questions Can I Get an SBA Loan to Buy a Semi-Truck? Yes, you can get an SBA loan to buy a semi-truck through the SBA 7(a) loan program. This program offers loans up to $5 million with competitive interest rates and repayment terms up to 10 years. To qualify, you’ll typically need a credit score of at least 650 and a solid business plan. Make sure to prepare detailed documentation, including financial statements and tax returns, to improve your chances of approval. What Is the Downside to an SBA Loan? The downside to an SBA loan includes a lengthy application process, which can take weeks or even months, delaying access to funds. You’ll likewise face extensive paperwork, including a business plan and financial statements, which can be overwhelming without support. Furthermore, you’ll likely need a decent credit score, a down payment, and collateral, straining your cash flow if you’re already on a tight budget. These factors can make SBA loans less ideal for urgent financing needs. What Is the 20% Rule for SBA? The 20% rule for SBA loans requires you to provide a personal guarantee if you own 20% or more of the business. This rule’s in place to guarantee you have a genuine commitment to repaying the loan. If you or a partner meets this threshold, you’ll need to sign, which may impact your personal credit score. Comprehending this requirement is essential, as it affects both your eligibility and the loan terms offered. Can a New LLC Get an SBA Loan? Yes, a new LLC can qualify for an SBA loan if it meets specific criteria. You’ll need to demonstrate that your business aligns with the SBA’s definition of a small business, which includes revenue limits and employee counts. A solid business plan is essential, outlining how you’ll use the funds. Furthermore, having a personal credit score of at least 650 can improve your chances of approval, especially if you provide personal guarantees. Conclusion To conclude, an SBA loan for a semi truck offers significant advantages, including competitive interest rates, flexible fund usage, and extended repayment terms. These features can help you acquire crucial equipment during easing financial burdens. The partial guarantee reduces lender risk, encouraging more accessible financing options. By simplifying the qualification process, SBA loans empower small business owners to invest in their operations and support growth. Overall, these loans present a valuable opportunity for success in the trucking industry. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Benefits of an SBA Loan for a Semi Truck" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re considering financing a semi truck, an SBA loan could be a smart option. These loans offer competitive interest rates, often between 5.5% and 8%, which is lower than typical trucking loans. They likewise provide flexibility in how you use the funds, whether it’s for purchasing new or used equipment, covering operational costs, or refinancing existing debt. Comprehending these benefits can position you for better financial management and growth in your trucking business. What more should you know? Key Takeaways SBA loans for semi trucks offer competitive interest rates, typically between 5.5% and 8%, significantly lower than conventional loans. Funds from SBA loans can be used flexibly for purchasing trucks, upgrading equipment, or covering operational expenses like fuel and maintenance. With financing up to $5 million available, SBA 7(a) loans facilitate the acquisition of new or used semi trucks without financial strain. Extended repayment terms of up to 25 years reduce monthly payments, improving cash flow and allowing for better investment opportunities. The simplified qualification process requires a minimum credit score of 640 and flexible collateral requirements, making it accessible for small business owners. Access to Competitive Interest Rates When you’re considering financing a semi truck, accessing competitive interest rates can greatly impact your overall costs. An SBA loan for a semi truck typically offers lower interest rates, usually ranging from 5.5% to 8%. This is considerably more affordable compared to conventional trucking business loans, where rates can exceed 10%. The government partially guarantees these loans, allowing lenders to provide better rates because of reduced risk. Furthermore, SBA 7(a) loans feature extended repayment terms of up to 10 years, which can lower your monthly payments by spreading interest costs over a longer period. With these favorable terms, you can effectively manage cash flow, enabling you to invest in other areas of your trucking business. Flexibility in Loan Use When you secure an SBA loan, you gain significant flexibility in how you use the funds. You can invest in new or used semi trucks, upgrade crucial equipment, or cover operational expenses like fuel and maintenance. This adaptability allows you to manage your trucking business more effectively, whether you’re addressing immediate needs or planning for future growth. Equipment Acquisition Options SBA 7(a) loans offer significant flexibility for equipment acquisition, allowing you to purchase new or used Freightliner semi trucks, trailers, and important upgrades. With these loans, you can finance fundamental technology improvements, like Garmin systems and electronic logging devices (ELDs), which are crucial for efficient operations. If you’re looking to refinance existing truck loans, SBA loans can help you secure better terms and lower your interest rates. With maximum loan amounts reaching up to $5 million, you can effectively expand your fleet without straining your cash flow. This flexibility lets you allocate funds strategically across various operational needs, ensuring you have the necessary resources for maintenance, repairs, and staffing to support your trucking business’s growth. Operational Expense Management Operational expense management is crucial for trucking companies aiming to maintain profitability and efficiency. SBA 7(a) loans offer the flexibility you need to cover various operational costs, such as purchasing or upgrading trucks, managing repairs, or even addressing unexpected expenses. With loan amounts from $5,000 to $5 million, you can allocate funds where they matter most, improving cash flow and overall efficiency. Furthermore, refinancing existing truck loans with SBA loans can result in better terms, lower payments, and more manageable cash flow. The lower interest rates and extended repayment terms of up to 25 years provide further financial relief. By supporting technology upgrades and staffing needs, SBA loans enable you to adapt and thrive in a competitive trucking environment. Higher Loan Amounts for Equipment Acquisition Acquiring a semi truck can be a significant financial commitment, but higher loan amounts available through SBA loans make it more feasible for trucking businesses. With SBA 7(a) loans offering financing up to $5 million, you can comfortably purchase new or used semi trucks without stretching your budget. This flexibility allows you to cover the total purchase cost, along with necessary expenses like maintenance and insurance. For smaller trucking companies, the average loan amount of around $110,000 provides substantial funding to boost fleet capacity. Furthermore, you can use SBA loans to refinance existing truck loans, often securing better interest rates and terms. This way, you can effectively manage equipment acquisition and improve your operational efficiency. Long Repayment Terms When financing a semi truck, the length of the repayment term can greatly impact your cash flow and overall financial health. SBA loans offer repayment terms of up to 25 years, which notably eases your monthly financial burden. This extended period allows you to make manageable payments, essential for maintaining cash flow in the trucking industry. Longer terms are especially beneficial for new businesses that need time to stabilize their revenue streams. With lower monthly payments, you can allocate more funds toward operational expenses and growth initiatives, improving your financial stability. Benefits of Long Terms Impact on Your Business Lower Monthly Payments Improved Cash Flow Up to 25 Years Flexibility in Budgeting More Time to Establish Revenue Stability for New Businesses Better Investment Opportunities Growth Potential Reduced Financial Strain Improved Operational Efficiency Partial Guarantee Reducing Lender Risk One of the key advantages of securing an SBA loan for a semi truck is the partial guarantee provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This guarantee reduces the lender’s risk, encouraging them to offer more favorable terms to you as a borrower. For loans under $150,000, the SBA typically guarantees up to 85%, and for larger amounts, it guarantees up to 75%. This notably mitigates the lender’s exposure and makes it easier for those with limited credit history or newer businesses to qualify. With reduced risk, lenders can offer lower interest rates and longer repayment terms, making financing more accessible and affordable. Furthermore, knowing that a portion of the loan is guaranteed can lead to quicker loan approvals for your trucking business. Support for Business Growth and Expansion Securing an SBA loan can greatly bolster your trucking business‘s growth and expansion efforts, especially when you consider the substantial funding available through programs like the SBA 7(a) loan. With funding up to $5 million, you can considerably expand your fleet by purchasing new or used semi-trucks. The repayment terms of up to 25 years allow you to manage cash flow effectively as you invest in growth, such as upgrading equipment or refinancing existing debts. Average SBA loan amounts for trucking firms are around $110,000, providing you the financial flexibility to make strategic investments in technology and infrastructure. Furthermore, lower interest rates compared to conventional loans improve affordability, enabling you to allocate funds toward expansion without straining your finances. Simplified Qualification Process for Small Business Owners Broadening your trucking business isn’t just about securing funds; it’s additionally about maneuvering the loan qualification process smoothly. The SBA loan process is streamlined, requiring a minimum credit score of 640, which makes it accessible for small business owners with diverse credit histories. You’ll need to provide a detailed business plan that outlines how you’ll use the funds and your repayment strategy, enhancing your approval chances. Confirm your business meets the SBA’s size standards, focusing on revenue and employee count. You’ll likewise need to submit personal and business financial statements, including tax returns for the last three years, to demonstrate financial viability. Plus, flexible collateral requirements allow you to use the purchased truck as security, simplifying the qualification process even further. Frequently Asked Questions Can I Get an SBA Loan to Buy a Semi-Truck? Yes, you can get an SBA loan to buy a semi-truck through the SBA 7(a) loan program. This program offers loans up to $5 million with competitive interest rates and repayment terms up to 10 years. To qualify, you’ll typically need a credit score of at least 650 and a solid business plan. Make sure to prepare detailed documentation, including financial statements and tax returns, to improve your chances of approval. What Is the Downside to an SBA Loan? The downside to an SBA loan includes a lengthy application process, which can take weeks or even months, delaying access to funds. You’ll likewise face extensive paperwork, including a business plan and financial statements, which can be overwhelming without support. Furthermore, you’ll likely need a decent credit score, a down payment, and collateral, straining your cash flow if you’re already on a tight budget. These factors can make SBA loans less ideal for urgent financing needs. What Is the 20% Rule for SBA? The 20% rule for SBA loans requires you to provide a personal guarantee if you own 20% or more of the business. This rule’s in place to guarantee you have a genuine commitment to repaying the loan. If you or a partner meets this threshold, you’ll need to sign, which may impact your personal credit score. Comprehending this requirement is essential, as it affects both your eligibility and the loan terms offered. Can a New LLC Get an SBA Loan? Yes, a new LLC can qualify for an SBA loan if it meets specific criteria. You’ll need to demonstrate that your business aligns with the SBA’s definition of a small business, which includes revenue limits and employee counts. A solid business plan is essential, outlining how you’ll use the funds. Furthermore, having a personal credit score of at least 650 can improve your chances of approval, especially if you provide personal guarantees. Conclusion To conclude, an SBA loan for a semi truck offers significant advantages, including competitive interest rates, flexible fund usage, and extended repayment terms. These features can help you acquire crucial equipment during easing financial burdens. The partial guarantee reduces lender risk, encouraging more accessible financing options. By simplifying the qualification process, SBA loans empower small business owners to invest in their operations and support growth. Overall, these loans present a valuable opportunity for success in the trucking industry. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Benefits of an SBA Loan for a Semi Truck" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

AI is becoming a big part of online commerce. Referral traffic to retailers on Black Friday from AI chatbots and search engines jumped 800% over the same period last year, according to Adobe, meaning a lot more people are now using AI to help them with buying decisions. But where does that leave review sites who, in years past, would have been the guide for many of those purchases? If there’s a category of media that’s most spooked by AI, it’s publishers who specialize in product recommendations, which have traditionally been reliant on search traffic. The nature of the content means it’s often purely informational, with most articles being designed to answer a question: “What’s the best robot vacuum?” “Who has the best deals on sofas?” “How do I set up my soundbar?” AI does an excellent job of answering those questions directly, eliminating the need for readers to click through to a publisher’s site. When you actually want to buy something, though, a simple answer isn’t enough. Completing your purchase usually means going to a retailer (though buying directly from a chat window is now possible—more on that in a minute). But it also means feeling confident about what you’re buying. The big question is: Do review sites still have a part to play in that? The incredible shrinking review site If they do, most media companies seem to acknowledge it’s a significantly smaller one. When Business Insider announced its strategy shift earlier this year amid layoffs, it said it would move away from evergreen content and service journalism. In the past year, Future plc folded Laptop magazine, and Gannett did the same for Reviewed.com. And Ziff-Davis—which operates PCMag, Everyday Health, and several other sites focused on service journalism—sued OpenAI earlier this year for ingesting Ziff content and summarizing it for OpenAI users. The decline of the review site is somewhat incongruous with a statistical reality: 99% of buyers look to online reviews for guidance, and reviews influence over 93% of purchase decisions, according to CapitalOne Shopping Research. That doesn’t mean buyers are always seeking out professionally written articles (there are plenty of user reviews out there), but the point is readers want credible, reliable information to guide their purchases, and well-known review sites (e.g. The Wirecutter) appearing in a summary can be a signal of that. And it does appear that AI summaries will favor journalistic content over anything else. A recent Muck Rack report that looked at over one million AI responses found that the most commonly cited source of information was journalism, at 24.7%. It’s nice to be needed, but does that lead to buyers actually making purchases through the media site—a necessary step for the site to receive an affiliate commission and the primary way these sites make money? Again, the buyer needs to click somewhere to buy their product, and from the AI layer they have three choices: 1) a retailer, 2) a third-party site (which includes review sites), and 3) the chat window itself. Why nuance still matters Obviously, it’s in the interest of review sites to steer people to No. 2 as much as they can. When Google search was the only game in town, that meant ranking high when people search for “The best pool-cleaning robots” (or whatever) and hope you were the site that ended up guiding them to the retailer. With AI, the game is similar, but the numbers are different: Fewer people will come to your site, but data points to them being more intentional and engaged. They’re not opening multiple review sites and selecting their favorite—AI is doing that for them. ChatGPT even has a mode specifically for shopping. To improve the chance of a reader choosing to go to your content over a retailer, what appears in an AI summary needs to convey unique and valuable content that they can’t get from just a summary. That means being thoughtful about “snippets”—the bits of the article that signal to search engines to prioritize. Test data, side-by-side comparisons, and proprietary scoring can all suggest nuance that someone might need to click through to fully appreciate. Taking things a step further, publishers can create structured answer cards meant to be fully captured in AI search, with a simple, concise claim plus a “view full test details” link. Rethinking the business model Regardless, even if a review site does everything right with SEO, schema, snippets and all the other search tricks, a large portion of readers will either go directly to retailers, or buy the item directly from chat now that OpenAI and Perplexity are both offering “Buy Now” widgets. However, whatever recommendations the AI makes still need to be based on something, and review sites are certainly part of that mix. That introduces the possibility of a different business arrangement. The AI companies so far seem totally uninterested in affiliate commissions from their buying widgets, but licensing and partnerships could be an alternative. You could even imagine branded partnerships, where the widget explicitly labels the buying recommendations are powered by specific publications. That would lend them more credibility, leading to more purchases—and bigger deals. With AI-ready corpora like Time’s AI Agent, licensing the content could be a plug-and-play experience, potentially offered across several AI engines. AI changes the rules, but not the mission Gone are the days when a publisher could simply produce evergreen content that ranks in SEO, attach some affiliate links, and watch the money roll in. But the game isn’t over, it’s just changed. Avoiding or blocking AI isn’t the answer, but simply getting noticed and summarized isn’t enough. The sites that survive the transition to an AI-mediated world must become indispensable for the part of the journey AI is least suited to own—providing information that’s comprehensive, vetted, and above all, human. View the full article

For many people, the first time they thought about Kalshi—a prediction market where you can place bets on the outcomes of sports, politics, culture, weather, and much more—was after a video clip of its cofounder, Tarek Mansour, went viral last week. Speaking on stage at the Citadel Securities Future of Global Markets Conference, the moderator Molly O’Shea asked, “Tarek, you’ve mentioned multiple times that you think prediction markets will be bigger than the stock market. What is it going to take to become a $1 trillion asset class?” In response, Mansour said, “You know, ‘Kalshi’ is ‘everything’ in Arabic. The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradeable asset out of any difference in opinion.” The market impact of a “general-purpose exchange” capable of settling differences of opinion, he added, would be “quite massive.” With the launch of Kalshi in 2018, and its main competitor Polymarket in 2020, prediction markets have gone mainstream in a major way. The potential for making profit by owning the market where every opinion and event is financialized also explains why Kalshi has just raised another $1 billion in its third fundraising round this year alone. Investors are hungry for new ways to take advantage of the explosive rise of gambling, technologies that create addictive behavior loops, and economic conditions where people are desperate enough to bet their rent money on if The President will release the Epstein Files. Kalshi sits between Las Vegas and Wall Street. A platform like FanDuel helps you gamble on every aspect of a game, and a platform like Robinhood helps you day-trade with complex options—all while sitting on your couch. Kalshi is designed to take this same logic and apply it to everything imaginable. This is a bizarre vision, one that views all the world as a casino and all its people as players. It treats the proliferation of sports betting as a model for all human interactions. It’s not enough to gamble on the outcome of a game. You should also be placing bets based on every opinion you have. (After all, do you really believe it’s going to be sunny today if you don’t put money on it?) For Kalshi, holding these opinions to yourself deprives the world of another asset that can be exploited for financial gain. A neutral intermediary Here’s how it works. As a prediction market, Kalshi lets you buy “events contracts” based on the outcome of events in the world. You either buy a YES contract or NO contract based on if you think the event will happen. The price of each contract changes based on the dynamic odds at the time. For example, on Kalshi’s trending page at time of writing, I can place a bet on who will be named “Time’s Person of the Year for 2025.” The leading contender is “AI,” with a YES contract priced at $0.42 and a NO contract at $0.59. If the event happens, then I get $1.00 for every YES contract I bought; if the event does not happen, I get $1.00 for every NO contract. The odds change in real-time based on the volume of bets (or predictions) for specific outcomes placed in the event’s market through these contracts. Currently the total volume of trade for this particular event is nearly $6.5 million, which is middling compared to many other trending event markets on Kalshi. Kalshi is a neutral intermediary in the market with no interest in the outcome of any event contracts. You aren’t betting against Kalshi. Instead, the company makes money by charging trade-fees on contracts. So that means if people place more bets and buy more contracts, then Kalshi can capture more value. The platform’s interest is in maximizing the number of event markets (things to bet on) and the volume of trade (people placing bets) on their platform. For market maximalists, platforms like Kalshi should be the main arbiters of truth in society. In Mansour’s vision, prediction markets are an “antidote” to the problems of “living in a world where we have an abundance of information” but no way to filter the noise and discern “what’s real from what’s not.” By aggregating different opinions about the future in one place, and using “skin in the game” as an incentive for accuracy, Mansour expects that a “new consumer habit” will emerge of people “going to these markets to find an unbiased sort of source of truth.” Prediction markets like Kalshi won’t be a source of “the ultimate truth,” Mansour says, but he does “ think they’re as close as it gets.” Such grand statements are unsurprisingly absurd coming from a tech startup founder. The problem is that other people take them seriously. (Kalshi declined to comment.) Right after ESPN announced plans to integrate DraftKings into all its platforms, CNN signed a deal with Kalshi to bring “real-time probability data into the network’s TV broadcasts and digital platforms starting next year.” If you thought gambling was ruining the integrity and community of sports, just wait until CNN gives you live odds on the veracity of what its anchor is reporting. The truth of markets A century of economic theory tells us that efficient markets use price signals to reflect all relevant knowledge in society. According to this model, the market is the most powerful information processor ever created. It aggregates the hidden facts and feelings that reside inside people’s minds and distills that knowledge into actionable insights like prices in a supermarket or betting odds on the future. In addition to the invisible hand, the market is also theorized to be a collective brain. The libertarian architects and defenders of prediction markets point to these economic models when justifying the existence of a betting parlor they claim is actually a consensus machine that produces accurate predictions and unbiased truth. However, a century of capitalism reality tells us actual markets are structured by irrational behaviors, information asymmetries, and power hierarchies. It’s impossible to act like a rational agent if you are really just another imperfect person swayed by biases, heuristics, and groupthink. It’s impossible to engage in due diligence as a good consumer if other buyers and sellers are incentivized to lie, cheat, and conceal information if it benefits them. It’s impossible to maintain fair standing in the marketplace of ideas where people vote with their dollars and the more dollars you have, the louder your voice and more powerful your values. Rather than an efficient market guided by a collective brain toward the truth, we have an imperfect system of people trying to do the best they can while not getting screwed. Prediction markets don’t magically escape all the social problems and perverse incentives that plague other real markets just because people are betting on the future instead of buying widgets in a store. A world of total financialization, where every opinion is a tradeable asset, where the market is the ultimate arbiter of what’s valuable and true, is also a world that creates endless incentives for arbitrage, manipulation, collusion, and exploitation in the pursuit of profit extraction. Financialization is a predatory logic. It is not just one more way of organizing the world among many others. The goal is to eliminate other competing worldviews and reengineer society into a casino where the hedge funds always win. The only human values that matter are the ones that can be turned into tradeable assets and sold to the highest bidder. View the full article

As Australia began enforcing a world-first social media ban for children under 16 years old this week, Denmark is planning to follow its lead and severely restrict social media access for young people. The Danish government announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children. The Danish government’s plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared the plans. Many social media platforms already ban children younger than 13 from signing up, and a EU law requires Big Tech to put measures in place to protect young people from online risks and inappropriate content. But officials and experts say such restrictions don’t always work. Danish authorities have said that despite the restrictions, around 98% of Danish children under age 13 have profiles on at least one social media platform, and almost half of those under 10 years old do. The minister for digital affairs, Caroline Stage, who announced the proposed ban last month, said there is still a consultation process for the measure and several readings in parliament before it becomes law, perhaps by “mid to end of next year.” “In far too many years, we have given the social media platforms free play in the playing rooms of our children. There’s been no limits,” Stage said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. “When we go into the city at night, there are bouncers who are checking the age of young people to make sure that no one underage gets into a party that they’re not supposed to be in,” she added. “In the digital world, we don’t have any bouncers, and we definitely need that.” Mixed reactions Under the new Australian law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian children younger than 16. Some students say they are worried that similar strict laws in Denmark would mean they will lose touch with their virtual communities. “I myself have some friends that I only know from online, and if I wasn’t fifteen yet, I wouldn’t be able to talk with those friends,” 15-year-old student Ronja Zander, who uses Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, told the AP. Copenhagen high school student Chloé Courage Fjelstrup-Matthisen, 14, said she is aware of the negative impact social media can have, from cyberbullying to seeing graphic content. She said she saw video of a man being shot several months ago. “The video was on social media everywhere and I just went to school and then I saw it,” she said. Line Pedersen, a mother from Nykøbing in Denmark, said she believed the plans were a good idea. “I think that we didn’t really realize what we were doing when we gave our children the telephone and social media from when they were eight, 10 years old,” she said. “I don’t quite think that the young people know what’s normal, what’s not normal.” Age certificate likely part of the plan Danish officials are yet to share how exactly the proposed ban would be enforced and which social media platforms would be affected. However, a new “digital evidence” app, announced by the Digital Affairs Ministry last month and expected to launch next spring, will likely form the backbone of the Danish plans. The app will display an age certificate to ensure users comply with social media age limits, the ministry said. “One thing is what they’re saying and another thing is what they’re doing or not doing,” Stage said, referring to social media platforms. “And that’s why we have to do something politically.” Some experts say restrictions, such as the ban planned by Denmark, don’t always work and they may also infringe on the rights of children and teenagers. “To me, the greatest challenge is actually the democratic rights of these children. I think it’s sad that it’s not taken more into consideration,” said Anne Mette Thorhauge, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. “Social media, to many children, is what broadcast media was to my generation,” she added. “It was a way of connecting to society.” Currently, the EU’s Digital Services Act, which took effect two years ago, requires social media platforms to ensure there are measures including parental controls and age verification tools before young users can access the apps. EU officials have acknowledged that enforcing the regulations aiming at protecting children online has proven challenging because it requires cooperation between member states and many resources. Denmark is among several countries that have indicated they plan to follow in Australia’s steps. The Southeast Asian country of Malaysia is expected to ban social media account s for people under the age of 16 starting at the beginning of next year, and Norway is also taking steps to restrict social media access for children and teens. China — which manufacturers many of the world’s digital devices — has set limits on online gaming time and smartphone time for kids. —James Brooks, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It's begin to feel like successful streaming shows are increasingly the exception, rather than the rule, and Slow Horses is something else again: a successful show with a more-than-consistent schedule. With five seasons since 2022, rather than the increasingly common "every few years or when we get to it" scheduling of other streaming shows, it's rather lovely to actually be able to remember the events of the previous series when the new one starts. If this all sounds like damning with faint praise, it's also a smart, brilliantly entertaining show, with Gary Oldman as the slovenly, flatulent, once-brilliant spy Jackson Lamb now in charge of Slough House, the MI5 office for agents who aren't good enough to trust with important tasks, but who haven't really done anything worth getting fired for. Their very expendability puts them in the line of fire early and often, with ambitious spymaster Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) finding the team alternately useful and a liability. The show's been renewed for at least two further seasons—the novel series by Mick Herron on which it's based runs to nine books so far, and so there's potential for even more. Down Cemetery Road (2025 – ) This is perhaps the most obvious streamalike here, if only because the shows are both Apple TV productions and are both based on Mick Herron novels. This one is more spy-adjacent, however, starring Emma Thompson as hard-living, hard-drinking private investigator Zoë Boehm. She's hired by Ruth Wilson's Sarah Trafford, a married art restorer who nobody takes very seriously (including and especially her husband), even when she becomes invested in the fate of a young girl whose family is killed in a gas explosion (allegedly) down the street. The girl, whose parents were killed, disappears into the system and no one really seems to care until Sarah hires Zoë and her husband to look into it. Turns out both women are in way over their heads, as the missing girl points to a much broader conspiracy. The shows villains are a bit cartoonishly distracting, but Thompson and Wilson are brilliantly paired, and their performances are more than worth the price of admission. Stream Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV+. Down Cemetery Road (2025 – ) at Apple TV+ Learn More Learn More at Apple TV+ The Agency (2024 – ) Michael Fassbender as stars here as "Martian," codename of Brandon Colby, a former undercover CIA agent just returned to London after six years in Sudan. He left behind a lover, Dr. Samia Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith)—a relationship he wasn't terribly forthcoming about with his handlers. When Sami turns up in London as part of a diplomatic delegation, Martian is forced to choose between his job and his personal life, which becomes more complicated when it appears that she's involved in a broader scheme involving the Sudanese government, MI6, and an undercover agent in Belarus. It's all very twisty-turny in the best tradition of spy shows. Jeffrey Wright plays Martian's boss and mentor, Richard Gere is the CIA London Station Chief, and Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville is a shifty senior MI6 operative. Stream The Agency on Paramount+. The Agency (2024 – ) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ The Bureau (2015 – 2020) In addition to, or instead of, The Agency, you can also catch Le Bureau des Légends, the French original on which it's based (they're similarly addictive, though many will prefer the original on principle). Same general premise: Mathieu Kassovitz stars as Guillaume Debailly, a spy just recently returned from a six year undercover mission in Damascus, Syria. Trying to re-adjust to his life, everything is thrown into turmoil when Nadia (Zineb Triki), the woman with whom he'd had a relationship, turns up in Paris. Stream The Bureau on Paramount+. The Bureau (2015 – 2020) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ The Day of the Jackal (2024 – ) Cinematic in scope, this new adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth novel is buoyed by rather brilliant casting: Eddie Redmayne plays the Jackal, a cold and steely international assassin pursued by MI6 operative Bianca Pullman—she's played by Lashana Lynch, putting her experience as the new 007 in No Time to Die to good use. I'm not sure there's anything here we haven't seen in countless other spy thrillers (including, of course, the 1973 and 1997 film adaptations), but the performances and production values are top-notch, with each episode playing out like a tense mini-movie. Stream The Day of the Jackal on Peacock. The Day of the Jackal at Peacock Learn More Learn More at Peacock Monsieur Spade (2024) An original drama from Scott Frank (The Queen's Gambit) and Tom Fontana (Homicide, Oz), Monsieur Spade finds Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade, of The Maltese Falcon fame, living a quiet life in retirement in the South of France. It's all going very well of the rumpled former detective—until six nuns are brutally murdered at a nearby convent, the same convent that's been home to Sam's ward for some time. Naturally, he finds his past has caught up with him, and is forced to surrender his idyllic life in order to help uncover the complex mystery that endangers his (very few) loved ones. Clive Owen is great as the rumpled, emphysemic detective, and the story feels like a fitting sequel to Hammett's novel. Stream Monsieur Spade on Prime Video and AMC+. Monsieur Spade (2024) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Killing Eve (2018 – 2022) Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer star as the two halves that form one of television's great cat-and-mouse narratives, with Oh as Eve Polastri, a bored MI5 analyst who becomes obsessed with hunting down the brutal and notorious assassin known only as Villanelle. It starts as a professional compulsion before it becomes personal: Eve and Villanelle begin toying with each other, and it soon becomes clear that the fascination goes both ways. Stream Killing Eve on Prime Video, Paramount+, Britbox, Tubi, and Netflix. Killing Eve at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Night Manager (2016 – ) Coming, as it does, from John le Carré, the wellspring of many modern spy sagas, it's probably no surprise that The Night Manager (from a 1993 novel) was successful—though it certainly doesn't hurt to have a cast lead by Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman. Hiddleston is Jonathan Pine, working the night shift at a luxury hotel in Switzerland when he encounters an unexpected guest: arms dealer Richard Roper (Laurie). Former Army veteran Pine had previous dealings with Roper in Cairo, and the reluctant night manager is persuaded by Foreign Office head Angela Burr (Colman) to infiltrate the criminal's organization. A long-gestating second season is coming in 2026, to be followed by a third. Stream The Night Manager on Prime Video. The Night Manager at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Deadloch (2023 – ) Slow Horses isn't a send-up of the spy genre, precisely, but it does enjoy taking the piss. The more overtly funny Deadloch is both an excellent crime procedural and an effective satire of the genre; the Australian import does about as well as setting up its central mystery as Broadchurch and its many (many) imitators. Kate Box stars as Dulcie Collins, fastidious senior sergeant of the police force in the fictional town of the title. When a body turns up dead on the beach, Dulcie is joined by Madeleine Sami's Eddie Redcliffe, a crude and generally obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. Unraveling the web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town is appropriately addictive, with the added bonus of cop thriller tropes getting mercilessly mocked all the way. Stream Deadloch on Prime Video. Deadloch (2023 – ) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Capture (2019 – ) There are several imports on this list; Peacock is just too new to have a large stable of homegrown shows, but they’ve managed a handful of impressive acquisitions. In this British series, a young, ambitious detective with the London police department is tasked with the investigation of a soldier who’d only recently been exonerated for a war crime, but who seems to have turned around and assaulted and then kidnapped his lawyer (sorry, his barrister). There’s plenty of police procedural drama and international intrigue, but the show has a slightly different target: it’s looking at the dangers of our reliance on CCTV surveillance, and on the dangers of a widespread assumption that cameras don’t lie. London is one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the world, so there’s a particularly British point of view here, but the issues will be recognizable to anyone who’s spent time in any major city. A third season is on the way. Stream The Capture on Peacock. The Capture Learn More Learn More Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 – ) One-upping the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie on which it's based, Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as a couple of spies tasked to pose as a married couple while coordinating (and sometimes competing against one another) on missions. Smartly, each episode takes on a standalone mission in a different location, while complicating the relationship between the two and gradually upping the stakes until the season finale, which sees them pitted against each other. The show has been renewed for season two, but it's been delayed, and it's unclear if Glover and Erskine will be returning, or if we'll be getting a new Mr. & Mrs. Stream Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Prime Video. Mr. & Mrs. Smith at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Archer (2009 – 2023) H. Jon Benjamin, lovable schlub of Bob's Burgers, leads this show as Bob Belcher's polar opposite: a handsome spy who's also a deeply narcissistic womanizer with an endless capacity for alcohol. This is a full-on comedy, dealing with the exploits of a New York–based freelance intelligence agency led by Jessica Walter's hard-drinking Malory Archer—but it's such a smart send-up of James Bond-style shenanigans that it works as a spy series, as well, and sometimes the team's missions aren't all that much more silly than the plots of more overtly serious spy movies and shows. Addictive and irreverent, the show includes one of TV animation's best-ever voice casts, including Aisha Tyler, Amber Nash, and Judy Greer as the sociopathic heiress Cheryl Tunt. Stream Archer on Hulu and Tubi. Archer (2017 – 2023) at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu The Equalizer (2021 – 2025) The Queen Latifah-led Equalizer reboots the 1980s series (and sidesteps the Denzel Washington movies) by spinning the premise in a slightly different direction: Latifah plays single mom Robyn McCall, an impossibly skilled former CIA operative who puts her talents to work for those in need. It splits the difference between crime and spy drama, with episodes involving close-to-home crime and others dealing with international espionage. While the original's vibe was more about the cops being handcuffed by things like "rules" and "giving perps their basic human dignity," this one is more about those who've been failed by systems that don't care about them—and who might benefit from the help of a woman who can beat just about anyone's ass. It's very satisfying watching Robyn and company spy and/or punch their way out of sticky situations to help the oppressed. Stream The Equalizer on Paramount+ and Tubi. The Equalizer at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ The Little Drummer Girl (2018) Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy) directs this series, based on the John le Carré novel, and brings an undeniably sexy period style. Florence Pugh is Charlie, a young actress recruited by Mossad spymaster Martin Kurtz (Michael Shannon) to infiltrate a group of Palestinian terrorists, even as she's being manipulated by an Israeli intelligence officer played by Alexander Skarsgård. Crucially, and as in the book that preceded it, the show offers nuanced characters on multiple sides of the conflict, raising serious questions about who the real villains are. Stream The Little Drummer Girl on AMC+ or buy it from Prime Video. The Little Drummer Girl at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Americans (2013 – 2018) Set during the Cold War 1980s, and created by former CIA officer Joe Weisberg, Americans follows Soviet KGB intelligence agents Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), living lives as an American couple in the DC metro area—and raising their American-born children. The critically acclaimed (also popular!) show makes much of its period setting and a central conflict that places two spies in the heart of suburban America, even as they're tasked with undermining the Reagan-era government under which their children will grow up. Stream The Americans on Disney+ and Hulu. The Americans at Disney+ Learn More Learn More at Disney+ Homeland (2011 – 2020) The focus shifts a bit after Homeland's first few seasons, the series begins with CIA case officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) coming to suspect that that decorated Marine Corps scout sniper Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), recently rescued from an al-Qaeda compound, has been turned and is planning a terrorist attack on the United States. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her superiors don't give Mathison's suspicions much credence, kicking off a cat-and-mouse/is-he-or-isn't he? game between the two. Both leads won Emmys for their performances, and the series took the Outstanding Drama prize in its first year. Stream Homeland on Hulu and Netflix. Homeland (2011 – 2020) at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Man on the Inside (2024 – ) Not a spy drama (at all), but a funny, and often very moving, comedy from the creator of The Good Place. Still: Undercover antics abound, so I'm going to say it counts as a bit of spy-adjacent counter-programming. Based very, very loosely on a true story, the show stars Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk, a recent widower and retired professor who's started settling into a life of...not much, when, on a whim, he takes a temp job with a detective agency. They're investigating some missing jewelry at a local retirement home, and the dorky, awkward Charles makes for the perfect undercover resident, even as the job evokes memories of his late wife's Alzheimer's diagnosis. Ted Danson is in great form here, as is a supporting cast that, in the second season, includes real-life wife Mary Steenburgen. Stream Man on the Inside on Netflix. A Man on the Inside at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix View the full article