ResidentialBusiness

While Rocket Mortgage's satisfaction score improved by 4% versus 2024, the industry as a whole dropped 1%, with credit unions outpacing banks and IMBs. View the full article

Late-stage mortgage delinquencies hit the highest level since January 2020 in September, a new report from VantageScore found. View the full article

Bilt members will be able to earn benefits through Venmo use, with the agreement coming after the company recently added mortgage payments to its points mix. View the full article

Construction resource scheduling is essential for coordinating materials, labor and equipment efficiently across multiple job sites. The process ensures that the right resources are available when needed, preventing delays and budget overruns. Successful construction resource scheduling helps maintain timelines, optimize productivity and reduce waste, which is vital in an industry where every hour and cost counts. Modern tools simplify this process, allowing managers to plan, allocate and track resources effectively throughout each phase of the project. What Is Construction Resource Scheduling? Construction resource scheduling is the process of allocating and managing project resources—such as labor, equipment and materials—throughout the construction lifecycle. It ensures tasks are completed in the right sequence with optimal resource use to meet project deadlines and budgets. Effective scheduling helps avoid resource shortages, overlaps and downtime that can disrupt progress and inflate costs. Construction project management software is ideal for this process because it provides centralized tools to schedule resources, assign tasks and monitor availability in real time. These platforms integrate timelines, workloads and costs, allowing teams to identify bottlenecks and balance resources across concurrent projects seamlessly. ProjectManager stands out as the best choice for construction resource scheduling. It features dynamic workload charts, Gantt-based scheduling, real-time dashboards and mobile timesheets that keep teams coordinated. With the ability to track labor costs, equipment usage and material allocation, our software empowers construction professionals to manage complex projects efficiently from planning to delivery. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. /wp-content/uploads/2022/07/construction-gantt-resources-costs-150-CTA-BUTTON-1.jpgLearn more What Is a Construction Resource Schedule? A construction schedule focuses on the timeline of tasks and milestones, showing when specific work should occur. A construction resource schedule, however, details which resources—such as labor, materials and equipment—are needed for each task. While the construction schedule tracks time, the construction resource schedule ensures that the right resources are available to execute the plan efficiently. What Types of Resources Are Considered in Construction Resource Scheduling? Construction resource scheduling accounts for all essential project inputs. These include the workforce performing the work, equipment used on-site and materials required for each phase. Properly managing these resources ensures smooth operations, prevents shortages and keeps project budgets under control. Manual labor: Refers to direct-hire workers employed by the general contractor, including site laborers, carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers and supervisors. Their work hours are directly managed and allocated to specific tasks within the project schedule. Subcontractor crews: Specialized external teams hired under contract to perform specific trades—such as electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or roofing—whose labor and equipment are indirectly controlled by the general contractor and must be carefully coordinated in the resource schedule to prevent overlaps with other trades. Heavy machinery: Refers to large, shared assets like excavators, cranes, bulldozers and loaders that must be scheduled carefully to prevent conflicts or idle time. Raw materials: Covers bulk items such as concrete, steel, lumber, aggregates and asphalt that need to arrive on site in sync with the construction sequence. Construction equipment: Smaller reusable assets such as generators, compressors, scaffolding and formwork systems that support daily operations. Tools, consumables and safety equipment: Includes hand tools, drills, cutting devices, PPE, fuel and other expendables that are needed continuously and must be replenished. Construction Resource Scheduling Process The construction resource scheduling process ensures that all labor, equipment and materials are available when needed to meet project deadlines. It involves defining project requirements, organizing resources and aligning them with the schedule to avoid conflicts or shortages that can disrupt workflow and increase costs. 1. Define the Scope of Work for a Construction Project The first step in construction resource scheduling is outlining the full scope of work. This includes defining project objectives, deliverables and constraints. A clear scope ensures that every phase of the project is accounted for and helps determine what types of resources are needed to complete each activity efficiently and on time. Related: Free Construction Scope of Work Template 2. Perform a Material Takeoff and Prepare a Bill of Quantities Once the scope is defined, teams perform a material takeoff to list and quantify all required construction materials. This information is then organized into a bill of quantities. This document forms the foundation for budgeting, procurement and tracking material usage throughout the construction resource scheduling process. 3. Make a Resource Breakdown Structure A resource breakdown structure categorizes all resources into logical groups, such as labor, equipment and materials. It helps organize the data needed for estimating and scheduling. By breaking down resources this way, project managers can easily allocate responsibilities and monitor resource usage throughout the construction lifecycle. 4. Estimate Resource Quantities, Crew Sizes and Usage Rates Estimating the quantities of materials, required crew sizes and resource usage rates ensures realistic planning. Construction resource scheduling depends on accurate estimations to prevent overuse or idle time. This step helps balance workload distribution and ensures that the schedule aligns with productivity rates and resource availability. Related: 10 Free Construction Expense Tracker Templates 5. Allocate Resources for Each Project Task After estimating needs, project managers allocate resources to specific project tasks. This includes assigning labor to activities, scheduling equipment use and confirming material delivery dates. Proper allocation prevents resource conflicts and ensures that every aspect of the project is supported by the necessary tools, personnel and materials. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/workload-page-resource-management-lightmode-600x294.pngLearn more 6. Create a Construction Schedule The construction schedule maps out all tasks and their durations, dependencies and milestones. It establishes the project timeline and provides a visual guide for sequencing work. Once this schedule is developed, it becomes the framework upon which the construction resource schedule is built and refined. 7. Make a Resource Schedule that Aligns with the Overall Project Timeline The final step is creating a resource schedule that aligns with the construction timeline. This schedule matches resource availability with project tasks, ensuring smooth coordination. Construction resource scheduling software helps automate this step, optimizing resource usage while keeping the project on time and within budget. /wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-construction-ebook-banner-ad.jpg Construction Resource Scheduling Tools Construction resource scheduling tools help project managers plan, allocate and track resources across complex projects. These tools visualize workloads, identify constraints and optimize resource use. By leveraging them, construction teams can coordinate labor, equipment and materials more effectively to maintain productivity and stay on schedule. Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) A resource breakdown structure (RBS) is a hierarchical chart that categorizes all project resources, including labor, materials and equipment. It outlines what resources are required and how they’re organized. In construction resource scheduling, the RBS ensures that every resource type is accounted for and properly allocated. Resource Histogram A resource histogram is a visual graph that displays resource usage over time. It shows how labor or equipment demand fluctuates throughout a project. For construction resource scheduling, histograms help identify overallocations or idle periods, allowing managers to adjust workloads to maintain efficiency and avoid project delays. /wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Resource-Histogram-2.pngSource Gantt Chart A Gantt chart is a scheduling tool that outlines project tasks along a timeline, showing their durations, dependencies and start or finish dates. In construction resource scheduling, it helps align resource availability with project milestones, ensuring that labor and equipment are deployed efficiently to meet key deadlines. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Dependencies-in-a-Gantt-chart--600x295.pngLearn more Resource Allocation Matrix A resource allocation matrix maps specific resources to tasks or work packages within a project. It clarifies responsibilities and prevents conflicts over resource use. In construction resource scheduling, this matrix ensures that every task has the required materials, crew and equipment assigned for timely completion. Resource Utilization Reports Resource utilization reports track how effectively resources are used across a project. These reports measure actual usage versus planned allocation, identifying inefficiencies or bottlenecks. For construction resource scheduling, they provide data-driven insights that help managers optimize resource distribution and improve overall project performance. Related: 20 Best Resource Management Software of 2025 (Free & Paid) Construction Resource Scheduling Techniques Construction resource scheduling techniques help project managers balance time, cost and resource constraints while maintaining productivity. These methods optimize how labor, materials and equipment are used throughout the project lifecycle. By applying them, construction teams can meet deadlines, reduce waste and improve overall scheduling accuracy. Critical Path Method (CPM) The critical path method (CPM) identifies the longest sequence of dependent tasks that determines a project’s duration. It highlights activities that directly affect completion time. In construction resource scheduling, CPM helps allocate key resources to critical tasks, ensuring project milestones are met without unnecessary delays or cost overruns. /wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ProjectManager-Gantt-Chart-Critical-Path-600x361.pngLearn more Resource Leveling Resource leveling is a technique that adjusts task start and end dates based on resource availability. It ensures no team member, material or equipment is overallocated. In construction resource scheduling, resource leveling balances workloads, reduces idle time and prevents burnout, supporting a more consistent and realistic project timeline. Resource Smoothing Resource smoothing maintains a project’s timeline while adjusting resource allocation to avoid peaks and valleys in workload. It focuses on optimizing efficiency without extending deadlines. For construction resource scheduling, resource smoothing ensures steady productivity and balanced resource use, minimizing disruptions while keeping the project’s critical path intact. Fast Tracking Fast tracking involves performing tasks in parallel rather than sequentially to compress the project schedule. It reduces total duration but can increase coordination risks. In construction resource scheduling, fast tracking enables overlapping activities like design and procurement, helping teams accelerate delivery while efficiently using available resources. Project Crashing Project crashing shortens the schedule by adding extra resources or increasing effort on critical tasks. It often raises costs but reduces completion time. In construction resource scheduling, crashing helps meet urgent deadlines by deploying additional labor or equipment strategically to maintain project quality and control time-sensitive deliverables. Free Construction Resource Scheduling Templates Construction resource scheduling templates streamline project planning by providing ready-made frameworks for organizing tasks, resources and timelines. These free templates save time, reduce errors and make it easier to track labor, equipment and material usage across multiple projects. Using templates ensures consistency while supporting accurate resource allocation and reporting. Construction Schedule Template Download this free construction schedule template to allow project managers to assign resources, set deadlines and track progress visually. This template is ideal for managing complex projects, helping teams align activities with overall project goals and ensuring resources are available when needed. Resource Plan Template Use this free resource plan template to list all personnel, equipment and materials required for a project. It helps project managers allocate resources efficiently, monitor availability and avoid overallocation. By visualizing resource demands, the template supports better construction resource scheduling, ensuring each task has the right resources at the right time. Workload Analysis Template This workload analysis template monitors team and equipment utilization over the project timeline. It highlights underused or overburdened resources, allowing managers to rebalance tasks and optimize productivity. Using this template improves construction resource scheduling by maintaining a steady workflow and preventing bottlenecks throughout the project. ProjectManager Is Award-Winning Construction Resource Scheduling Software ProjectManager provides construction teams with multiple project views, including Gantt charts, kanban boards, task lists and calendar layouts. These views make it easy to visualize project timelines, dependencies and milestones in one place. By offering a flexible interface, our software ensures construction resource scheduling is intuitive, allowing managers to plan, adjust and track projects without switching between applications or losing critical information. Optimize Resource Management Across Teams ProjectManager streamlines construction resource scheduling by enabling managers to plan and balance workloads using the team page and visual workload charts. Teams can see their assigned tasks, availability and upcoming deadlines, while managers can identify bottlenecks or overallocated personnel. This feature ensures optimal use of labor, equipment and materials, helping projects stay on schedule and resources are used efficiently throughout the construction lifecycle. /wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Team-Light-2554x1372-1.png Track Progress With Real-Time Dashboards and Reports ProjectManager enhances construction resource scheduling by providing AI-powered dashboards, customizable reports and secure timesheets that can be updated from the job site with mobile apps. These all help with tracking labor costs and project performance. Managers can monitor progress, identify risks and adjust resources as needed. These tools give construction teams the insight they need to make data-driven decisions, keeping projects on time, within budget and aligned with overall goals. /wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AI-Insights-Light-Mode-Dashboard-GPT5.png Related Construction Scheduling Content There’s more to construction resource scheduling than we’ve touched on here. For readers who care to expand the lens, check out the links below. There are articles exploring the critical path method, material schedules and more. Critical Path Method (CPM) in Construction: A Quick Guide How to make a CPM Schedule: CPM Scheduling Basics How to Make a Material Schedule for Construction The Construction Resource Management Process Explained ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams, whether they’re in the office or out in the field. Teams can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. The post Construction Resource Scheduling: Making a Resource Schedule appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

After Zohran Mamdani’s campaign aired a commercial that used a Knicks-style campaign logo that wrote out “Zohran” over an image of a basketball, the NBA team asked them to take it down. The Mamdani ad, which aired during the New York Knicks’s opening game last week, shows black-and-white footage of a pick-up basketball game in a park as the narrator says “New York, this is our year.” There’s shots of Mamdani campaigning interspersed with the pick-up game, and the narrator says “Things can be different. Hope is back,” before the Knicks-style logo flashes on the screen over the sound of drums. The Knicks, whose owner donated last year to Mayor Eric Adams, weren’t happy with the knock-off logo and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Mamdani campaign asking them to knock it off, according to The New York Post, which first reported the letter. The campaign says it will comply and pulled the ads on Friday. The Mamdani campaign said it was adjusting the ad, and “while the Knicks might not be able to publicly support our campaign, we’re proud to publicly support our NY Knicks,” campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. But it’s not the first campaign to lean on the visual tropes of beloved brand to attempt to say something about hometown pride or a candidate’s values in a single image. Before Mamdani’s Knicks logo, there’s been a history of branding knock-offs In 2022, Tim Short, a Republican state legislative candidate used a logo designed to look like the Fox News logo, searchlights and all, but the searchlights were later taken off without explanation. That same year, Matt Jenkins, a Democrat and U.S. House candidate in New Jersey, was hit with a cease-and-desist letter from Wawa, after the convenience store chain noticed the similarities between the bird in his campaign’s logo and theirs. Jenkins said in a social media post at the time that the design was intentional. “For a lot of people in our district, Wawa represents them. When we launched this race to replace Chris Smith, I wanted our logo to feel instantly familiar,” he wrote. And that’s what these knock-off logos are meant to signal. By leaning on a familiar logo, they visually convey that a candidate is “one of us,” as if to say, this candidate is a Knicks/Fox News/Wawa/[enter brand name here] fan, just like you. Visual parody doesn’t equal a winning brand Brands, though, are quick to distance themselves. After a U.S. House candidate in Michigan with the last name Campbell refused to comply with a cease-and-desist letter from the Campbell’s Company over the candidate’s logo designed like one of its soup cans, the company filed suit this month. Claiming her actions “are not innocent parody but are designed to capitalize on Campbell’s iconic brand and associate one of the country’s most famous and enduring brands with her political campaign,” the company said her rip-off logo confused customers. While campaigns can’t use knock-off logos without inviting potential legal action, that doesn’t mean some won’t try. By designing logos based on popular brands, campaigns hope some of that brand magic will rub off at the ballot box. But would-be copycats, take note: While Mamdani, with his own distinctive campaign logo may well be an exception, other recent candidates who’ve used major brand logos haven’t fared well. In Georgia, Short’s short-lived Fox News logo didn’t help him win the Republican primary. Jenkins rebranded to a bird-less logo and lost. Sometimes it’s better to come up with your own idea. View the full article

Most climate reports are bleak. Temperatures are soaring. Sea levels are rising. Companies are missing—or abandoning—their emissions targets. But a new report from the nonprofit Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit looks at the surprising amount of progress that’s happened since the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago. Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. There’s now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar power—roughly as much as 100 million U.S. homes use—which is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels. One out of every five new cars sold is now an EV; a decade ago, that was one in 100. Even if growth flatlined now, the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028. Dozens of countries have net zero goals that are legally mandated, and comprehensive climate laws. Out of the world’s largest 2,000 companies, nearly 1,300 now have net zero goals in place. Ten years ago, the world was on track to hit a catastrophic 4 degrees of global warming by the end of the century. Now, projections have dropped to 2.6 degrees—not nearly enough, but a major step in the right direction. Typical climate reports, like the U.N.’s Emissions Gap Report, focus on how far off track the world is. “They say the same thing every time, basically: that we’re not doing enough,” says John Lang, net zero tracker lead at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. “That’s one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we have made unbelievable progress, and we’ve laid the foundations for structural, sustained emissions declines over the next few decades.” Ten years ago, projections about the growth of renewable energy were wrong in part because modelers underestimated how the scale of manufacturing in China could help drive costs down. Solar is now 66% cheaper than it was just a decade ago. In 2024, the cost of lithium-ion batteries fell by 20% in a single year. Globally, 91% of renewable energy projects are cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. There are obvious challenges now, particularly the The President administration’s anti-climate push and supply chain bottlenecks from increased protectionism. Still, “the market’s more powerful than a man,” Lang says. Renewable energy will continue to grow. In China, emissions have been dropping since March of last year. China is also exporting clean energy technology to other countries. In the U.S., 19 states representing half of the country’s GDP still have net zero targets in place. “The story since 2015 is essentially around innovation, and through constraints, we’re going to see more innovation,” he says. “So despite the protectionism, I don’t see this unstoppable momentum slowing down.” The world still has a very long way to go. The planet has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius, and we’re seeing the catastrophic impacts, from more severe hurricanes and wildfires to dying coral reefs. There’s little chance that we can avoid heating up more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, one of the goals of the Paris agreement. But every tenth of a degree of warming matters, and there’s still time to change the trajectory. “This decade was always going to be about laying foundations,” says Lang. “It’s not as quick as the IPCC would like us to go. But the reality is that this is hard. I always think of Emmanuel Kant’s quote, ‘From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight has ever been made.’ This is difficult stuff politically and culturally, and it is the biggest energy transition that humans may ever go through.” View the full article

Lenders and investors say the new rules will increase the cost of financing and limit homeowners' access to equity by curbing the enforceability of contracts. View the full article

United Parcel Service posted third-quarter results that handily beat Wall Street’s expectations and gave details about its turnaround efforts, including approximately 48,000 job cuts. Shares rose more than 7% in afternoon trading on Tuesday. UPS earned $1.31 billion, or $1.55 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. The Atlanta-based company earned $1.99 billion, or $1.80 per share, a year earlier. Removing one-time costs, earnings were $1.74 per share. That easily topped the $1.31 per share that analyst polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for. Revenue totaled $21.42 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s estimate of $20.84 billion. UPS said in a regulatory filing that it has cut about 34,000 operational positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the first nine months of this year as part of its turnaround plan. The company also announced approximately 14,000 job cuts, mostly within management. It said that it is still looking to identify additional buildings to close. In April, UPS announced that it was looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduces the number of Amazon shipments it handles. At the time, the company said that it anticipated closing 73 leased and owned buildings by the end of June. The company noted that it was still reviewing its network and might identify more buildings to be shuttered. In January, UPS announced that it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026. During UPS’ fourth-quarter earnings conference call in January, CEO Carol Tomé said that the company had partnered with Amazon for almost 30 years and that when its contract came up this year, UPS decided to reassess the relationship. UPS has realized cost savings of approximately $2.2 billion as of Sept. 30. It anticipates achieving $3.5 billion total year over year cost savings in 2025. —Michelle Chapman, AP business writer View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you've been considering getting one of Peloton's new Bikes, Treads, or Rows, this might be the time—as long as you know someone who is already an All-Access Member. Until Nov. 11, referral codes from existing members get you more money off your hardware purchases. The discount detailsLast month, Peloton rolled out upgraded versions of its fleet, including the Bike, Bike+, Tread+, Tread+, and Row. The new devices are known as the Cross Training series and, as such, are named the Cross Training Bike, Crosstraining Tread+, etc. If you want to know how they differ from the old models, I wrote an explainer here, but the basic gist is that the proprietary touchscreens on which you follow guided classes now swivel around, making it easier to hop off your machine and do, say, a strength or yoga class. The Plus line also comes with a movement-tracking camera that uses AI to correct your form, suggest when it's time to add more weights or reps, and monitor your workouts. As you can assume, these are pricier than their predecessors, which is why the current referral promotion might be of interest to you. If you get a referral code from an existing All-Access Member, here's what you can get off at checkout: $300 (instead of the usual $250) off your cart when you purchase a new Peloton Cross Training Bike $700 off your cart (instead of $500) when you purchase a new Peloton Cross Training Bike+ $500 off (instead of $300) when you get a Peloton Cross Training Tread $1,200 off (instead of $600) a purchase of a new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ $200 off a new Peloton Cross Training Row+ All the discounts will return to normal after Nov. 11. (Note: This probably isn't the best time to get a Cross Training Row+, as the typical referral discount on that is $300.) Your referrer has to be an All Access Member, not someone who uses one of the less-expensive, app-only versions of Peloton's digital offerings. The referrer can't be renting their machine, their membership can't be paused, and they can't be a Peloton employee. Notice, too, that this specifically applies to new devices. That means you can't use the referral code to get money off a purchase on Peloton's resale platform, Repowered, although that's always a solid option if you're looking for equipment on a budget. You don't have to have the Cross Training series to get a good workout (although I enjoyed my demos of those devices); I have been using the same Peloton Bike for nearly five years and love it—I ride it every day. You can redeem your code on the Peloton website or at Peloton stores. Bear in mind, however, you have to be a new customer. How to find a referral codeIf you want to be the referrer, not the referee, here's how to generate the code that will get you some brownie points with your fitness-focused friends. The easiest way is to go to this link and log into your Peloton account. Otherwise, head to members.onepeloton.com and select the hamburger menu in the top right corner, then hit Refer friends. If you're not seeing that or the link above didn't work, you're not eligible to share a code. You can also do this on your mobile app by tapping the Community tab, then Add Friends on the upper right, then Refer Friends. Remember how I said you'll get brownie points with the people you refer? You get something else, too: You can give out up to $1,200 in referrals, but you also get a free month of your All Access Membership for every person you refer. Once someone makes a purchase with your code, you'll get en email containing a code of your own, plus instructions on how to redeem it, after three to five business days. The voucher codes are valid for three months after their issue date. View the full article

ChatGPT wants to be your personal shopper. PayPal announced Tuesday that its digital payment system will be integrated into ChatGPT, inviting anyone who uses it to shop directly from the chatbot. Starting next year, ChatGPT users will be able to check out with a click through a PayPal account and connect directly with the tens of millions of sellers who rely on PayPal’s payments system. “By partnering with OpenAI and adopting the Agentic Commerce Protocol, PayPal will power payments and commerce experiences that help people go from chat to checkout in just a few taps for our joint customer bases,” PayPal CEO Alex Chriss said in a press release. PayPal’s shares rose on the news, which was announced on the same day as the company’s quarterly earnings report. PayPal is all-in on an AI-focused future of online retail. Beyond the new ChatGPT plans, the company is “collaborating to create new AI shopping experiences” with Google and partnering on free premium trials with AI search engine Perplexity. Chriss said on Tuesday’s earnings call, adding that the company was better positioned than it was two years ago. “With differentiated competitive advantages, clear strategic direction and building execution momentum, we believe we are exceptionally well-placed to win into the future.” OpenAI’s shopping mall PayPal is the latest partner to join OpenAI’s e-commerce vision, but it isn’t the first. In September, ChatGPT’s parent company revealed that it would integrate Shopify and Etsy directly in what it described as “first steps toward agentic commerce” through an instant checkout platform built with Stripe. “ChatGPT doesn’t just help you find what to buy, it also helps you buy it,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post on the announcement. The Etsy integration is already live, surfacing U.S. Etsy sellers directly in response to prompts in chat, like “Find me blue and white teacups under $50.” The Shopify partnership will bring major retailers into the mix, with products from brands like Glossier, SKIMS and Vuori woven into the chat. Earlier this month, it struck a similar deal with Walmart. For OpenAI, aggressively gobbling up the market with ChatGPT has been the name of the game, not monetization. The “build first, profit later” method – a Silicon Valley special – has gone swimmingly for the AI company so far and it boasts more than 700 million weekly active users. OpenAI shot out of the gate with a buzzy free product, collecting loyal customers and funneling power users toward tiered premium subscriptions, though it actually loses money on some of those paid plans. For OpenAI, e-commerce is a logical next step for revenue. It’s also a direction that opens the door wide for advertising, which the company was one staunchly against but seems to be gravitating toward with recent hiring and its new corporate structure which was finalized this week. On the consumer side, the plunge into AI-powered shopping is poised to steer people away from Google as a first port of call and toward tailored results shaped by AI queries. That behavior shift is just one more way that AI continues to creep into every aspect of digital life, reshaping every interaction – and transaction – we make in the process. View the full article

Apple suppliers Skyworks Solutions and Qorvo will merge in a cash-and-stock deal to create a radio chip company with an enterprise value of $22 billion. Qorvo shareholders will receive $32.50 in cash and 0.96 of a Skyworks common share for each Qorvo share held at the close of the transaction, which is expected in early 2027, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Activist investor Starboard Value, which owns about 8% of Qorvo, has already signed off on the deal. On a conference call with investors Tuesday, Skyworks said its biggest customers also expressed approval of the merger. After closing, Skyworks shareholders will own roughly 63% of the combined company, with Qorvo shareholders owning the remaining 37%. The companies which make radio frequency components and semiconductors for a broad array of technology including mobile phones, said that with demand growing, they will be better able compete with larger rivals as a single company. Skyworks CEO Phil Brace will take the chief executive job at the combined company, while Qorvo CEO Bob Bruggeworth will join the board. Upon closing, the company’s board will have eight directors from Skyworks and three from Qorvo. Skyworks specializes in high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, while Qorvo provides connectivity and power solutions. The companies say combining will create a $5.1 billion mobile business. Skyworks, based in Irvine, California, released its preliminary fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, beating Wall Street revenue and profit expectations. Qorvo, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, posted preliminary results from its most recent quarter as well, which also came in ahead of Wall Street’s projections. View the full article

Adobe and YouTube have announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at revolutionizing content creation for video creators around the globe. This collaboration merges Adobe’s industry-leading video editing capabilities with YouTube Shorts, a platform that has rapidly gained popularity among content creators. The new feature, called Create for YouTube Shorts, will soon be integrated into the Adobe Premiere mobile app, providing creators with enhanced tools to produce high-quality, engaging short videos. The partnership was revealed during Adobe MAX, the world’s largest creativity conference, where Adobe and YouTube executives emphasized their commitment to empowering creators. “We’re excited to partner with YouTube to give creators the power to produce, share, and grow on the world’s biggest stage, YouTube,” said Ely Greenfield, Adobe’s chief technology officer and senior vice president of digital media. This sentiment was echoed by YouTube’s Scott Silver, who remarked, “This partnership with Adobe to integrate YouTube Shorts into Premiere mobile will give creators even more choice and access to more editing features.” For small business owners and independent creators, this partnership presents significant opportunities to enhance video marketing strategies. The Create for YouTube Shorts feature will allow users to leverage Adobe’s powerful video editing tools, including exclusive effects, transitions, and templates designed specifically for short-form content. This is particularly relevant as businesses increasingly turn to video as a primary means of engaging customers and promoting products. Creators will benefit from the ease of use that Premiere mobile will offer. They can utilize ready-made templates with professional transitions, allowing even those with limited video editing experience to produce polished content. In a world where attention spans are fleeting, the ability to create eye-catching videos quickly and efficiently can be a game-changer for small businesses looking to capture the interest of potential customers. Moreover, the integration allows for seamless sharing directly to YouTube Shorts with just one tap, streamlining the process of getting content in front of audiences. This is crucial for small business owners who may not have extensive resources for content distribution. By simplifying the production and sharing process, Adobe and YouTube are effectively lowering the barrier to entry for quality content creation. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. While the tools are designed to be user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve associated with mastering Adobe’s video editing software, especially for those unfamiliar with its features. Additionally, staying on top of trends in short-form video content will require continuous learning and adaptation. To fully utilize these tools, businesses will need to invest time into understanding what resonates with their target audience on platforms like YouTube Shorts. The collaboration also underscores the importance of embracing innovation in the digital landscape. As video content continues to dominate social media, small businesses that leverage these new tools can differentiate themselves from competitors. The ability to create engaging, trend-driven content can significantly enhance brand visibility and customer engagement. As Adobe prepares to roll out this new content creation space within Premiere mobile, small business owners should be ready to explore these capabilities. The ability to create customized templates and use Adobe’s advanced editing features presents an exciting opportunity to elevate marketing strategies and connect more deeply with audiences. This integration marks a significant step forward in the democratization of video content creation. With the combined power of Adobe’s editing tools and YouTube’s expansive reach, small business owners have a unique opportunity to harness the potential of short-form video and transform their marketing efforts. As the digital landscape evolves, those who adapt and leverage these new tools will be well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. This article, "Adobe and YouTube Unite to Elevate Content Creation for Creators" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adobe and YouTube have announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at revolutionizing content creation for video creators around the globe. This collaboration merges Adobe’s industry-leading video editing capabilities with YouTube Shorts, a platform that has rapidly gained popularity among content creators. The new feature, called Create for YouTube Shorts, will soon be integrated into the Adobe Premiere mobile app, providing creators with enhanced tools to produce high-quality, engaging short videos. The partnership was revealed during Adobe MAX, the world’s largest creativity conference, where Adobe and YouTube executives emphasized their commitment to empowering creators. “We’re excited to partner with YouTube to give creators the power to produce, share, and grow on the world’s biggest stage, YouTube,” said Ely Greenfield, Adobe’s chief technology officer and senior vice president of digital media. This sentiment was echoed by YouTube’s Scott Silver, who remarked, “This partnership with Adobe to integrate YouTube Shorts into Premiere mobile will give creators even more choice and access to more editing features.” For small business owners and independent creators, this partnership presents significant opportunities to enhance video marketing strategies. The Create for YouTube Shorts feature will allow users to leverage Adobe’s powerful video editing tools, including exclusive effects, transitions, and templates designed specifically for short-form content. This is particularly relevant as businesses increasingly turn to video as a primary means of engaging customers and promoting products. Creators will benefit from the ease of use that Premiere mobile will offer. They can utilize ready-made templates with professional transitions, allowing even those with limited video editing experience to produce polished content. In a world where attention spans are fleeting, the ability to create eye-catching videos quickly and efficiently can be a game-changer for small businesses looking to capture the interest of potential customers. Moreover, the integration allows for seamless sharing directly to YouTube Shorts with just one tap, streamlining the process of getting content in front of audiences. This is crucial for small business owners who may not have extensive resources for content distribution. By simplifying the production and sharing process, Adobe and YouTube are effectively lowering the barrier to entry for quality content creation. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. While the tools are designed to be user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve associated with mastering Adobe’s video editing software, especially for those unfamiliar with its features. Additionally, staying on top of trends in short-form video content will require continuous learning and adaptation. To fully utilize these tools, businesses will need to invest time into understanding what resonates with their target audience on platforms like YouTube Shorts. The collaboration also underscores the importance of embracing innovation in the digital landscape. As video content continues to dominate social media, small businesses that leverage these new tools can differentiate themselves from competitors. The ability to create engaging, trend-driven content can significantly enhance brand visibility and customer engagement. As Adobe prepares to roll out this new content creation space within Premiere mobile, small business owners should be ready to explore these capabilities. The ability to create customized templates and use Adobe’s advanced editing features presents an exciting opportunity to elevate marketing strategies and connect more deeply with audiences. This integration marks a significant step forward in the democratization of video content creation. With the combined power of Adobe’s editing tools and YouTube’s expansive reach, small business owners have a unique opportunity to harness the potential of short-form video and transform their marketing efforts. As the digital landscape evolves, those who adapt and leverage these new tools will be well-positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. This article, "Adobe and YouTube Unite to Elevate Content Creation for Creators" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adobe has unveiled a suite of new AI innovations designed to enhance the creative workflow for professionals using its Creative Cloud applications. Announced at Adobe MAX, the world’s largest creativity conference, these features aim to provide small business owners and creative professionals with tools that boost efficiency, precision, and ultimately, the quality of their creative output. The newly introduced AI capabilities are set to transform how creative teams approach their projects. With features like one-click tools for compositing and masking, Adobe’s updates allow users to save significant time at each stage of the creative process. This could be especially beneficial for small businesses facing increased competition and demand for high-quality creative content. Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe’s vice president of product marketing for creative professionals, emphasized the importance of these innovations: “We’re delivering several groundbreaking AI tools and models into creative professionals’ go-to apps, so they can harness the tremendous economic and creative opportunities presented by the rising global demand for creative content.” Key benefits of the new features include: – Generative Fill and Upscale: In Photoshop, users can now utilize enhanced Generative Fill and Generative Upscale tools, which allow for precise content modification and resolution enhancements. This is particularly useful for small businesses that may not have large libraries of high-resolution images, enabling them to create stunning visuals from lower-quality assets. – AI Object Mask and Advanced Masking Tools in Premiere: The introduction of the AI Object Mask tool means that video editors can automatically identify and isolate subjects in video frames, streamlining the editing process significantly. This feature, along with new precision masking tools, can help small video production companies save hours of manual editing work. – Assisted Culling in Lightroom: This feature helps users quickly sift through large photo collections to identify the best images based on focus and sharpness. For small photography businesses, this could mean a more efficient way to manage and present portfolios. – Firefly Creative Production: This new AI-powered batch editing tool allows users to edit thousands of images simultaneously, applying consistent color grading and cropping without coding knowledge. Such capabilities can dramatically reduce turnaround time for marketing materials or social media content, making it easier for small businesses to maintain a steady output of fresh visuals. While the advantages are clear, small business owners should consider a few potential challenges. As with any new technology, there is a learning curve involved. Adapting to AI tools may require time and training, which could be a hurdle for businesses with limited resources. Additionally, while AI can enhance creativity, it is essential for users to ensure that the final output maintains a personal touch, as over-reliance on automation might risk diluting unique brand identities. Moreover, the integration of advanced AI tools into existing workflows may require an initial investment in time and possibly training. Small business owners might need to allocate resources to educate their teams on maximizing these new capabilities, ensuring that they leverage the full potential of these innovations. Pricing and availability of these new features are also noteworthy. Many of the tools, including Photoshop’s Generative Fill and Lightroom’s Assisted Culling, are already available, while others are set to roll out in the coming months. For small business owners, taking advantage of the current promotional offers—such as unlimited image generations for Firefly and Creative Cloud Pro subscribers until December 1—could provide a cost-effective way to explore these tools. Adobe’s approach to AI emphasizes that these innovations are meant to complement human creativity, not replace it. As AI continues to evolve, small businesses can expect more tools that not only enhance productivity but also enrich the creative process. In an era where visual content is paramount, Adobe’s latest features present an opportunity for small businesses to elevate their creative capabilities, allowing them to compete more effectively in a crowded marketplace. Embracing these advancements could be the key to unlocking new levels of creativity and efficiency. This article, "Adobe Unveils Game-Changing AI Tools to Elevate Creative Workflows" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adobe has unveiled a suite of new AI innovations designed to enhance the creative workflow for professionals using its Creative Cloud applications. Announced at Adobe MAX, the world’s largest creativity conference, these features aim to provide small business owners and creative professionals with tools that boost efficiency, precision, and ultimately, the quality of their creative output. The newly introduced AI capabilities are set to transform how creative teams approach their projects. With features like one-click tools for compositing and masking, Adobe’s updates allow users to save significant time at each stage of the creative process. This could be especially beneficial for small businesses facing increased competition and demand for high-quality creative content. Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe’s vice president of product marketing for creative professionals, emphasized the importance of these innovations: “We’re delivering several groundbreaking AI tools and models into creative professionals’ go-to apps, so they can harness the tremendous economic and creative opportunities presented by the rising global demand for creative content.” Key benefits of the new features include: – Generative Fill and Upscale: In Photoshop, users can now utilize enhanced Generative Fill and Generative Upscale tools, which allow for precise content modification and resolution enhancements. This is particularly useful for small businesses that may not have large libraries of high-resolution images, enabling them to create stunning visuals from lower-quality assets. – AI Object Mask and Advanced Masking Tools in Premiere: The introduction of the AI Object Mask tool means that video editors can automatically identify and isolate subjects in video frames, streamlining the editing process significantly. This feature, along with new precision masking tools, can help small video production companies save hours of manual editing work. – Assisted Culling in Lightroom: This feature helps users quickly sift through large photo collections to identify the best images based on focus and sharpness. For small photography businesses, this could mean a more efficient way to manage and present portfolios. – Firefly Creative Production: This new AI-powered batch editing tool allows users to edit thousands of images simultaneously, applying consistent color grading and cropping without coding knowledge. Such capabilities can dramatically reduce turnaround time for marketing materials or social media content, making it easier for small businesses to maintain a steady output of fresh visuals. While the advantages are clear, small business owners should consider a few potential challenges. As with any new technology, there is a learning curve involved. Adapting to AI tools may require time and training, which could be a hurdle for businesses with limited resources. Additionally, while AI can enhance creativity, it is essential for users to ensure that the final output maintains a personal touch, as over-reliance on automation might risk diluting unique brand identities. Moreover, the integration of advanced AI tools into existing workflows may require an initial investment in time and possibly training. Small business owners might need to allocate resources to educate their teams on maximizing these new capabilities, ensuring that they leverage the full potential of these innovations. Pricing and availability of these new features are also noteworthy. Many of the tools, including Photoshop’s Generative Fill and Lightroom’s Assisted Culling, are already available, while others are set to roll out in the coming months. For small business owners, taking advantage of the current promotional offers—such as unlimited image generations for Firefly and Creative Cloud Pro subscribers until December 1—could provide a cost-effective way to explore these tools. Adobe’s approach to AI emphasizes that these innovations are meant to complement human creativity, not replace it. As AI continues to evolve, small businesses can expect more tools that not only enhance productivity but also enrich the creative process. In an era where visual content is paramount, Adobe’s latest features present an opportunity for small businesses to elevate their creative capabilities, allowing them to compete more effectively in a crowded marketplace. Embracing these advancements could be the key to unlocking new levels of creativity and efficiency. This article, "Adobe Unveils Game-Changing AI Tools to Elevate Creative Workflows" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Two decades after a Republican-controlled Congress gave gun manufacturers immunity from being sued over crimes committed with their firearms, blue state Democrats upset about gun violence think they’ve found a way to penetrate that legal shield. Since 2021, 10 states have passed laws intended to make it easier to sue gunmakers and sellers. The newest such law, in Connecticut, took effect this month. It opens firearms manufacturers and retailers up to lawsuits if they don’t take steps to prevent guns from getting into the hands of people banned from owning them, or who should be suspected of intending to use them to hurt themselves or others. Other states have allowed lawsuits against companies deemed to have created a “public nuisance” through the sale or marketing of firearms. The legislation — and flurry of lawsuits against gun companies that followed — has outraged gun rights advocates, who accuse the states of trying to skirt the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. That law, which blocked a wave of similar lawsuits two decades ago, says gun companies operating legally cannot be held liable for violent acts committed by people misusing weapons. “They know these laws are unconstitutional. They know these laws violate the PLCAA,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “They don’t care,” he said, adding that the real goal of the lawsuits was to harass the industry and drain it financially. Gun control groups say the states have simply set clearer requirements for gun companies to ensure their products aren’t sold or used illegally. “These laws don’t just open the courthouse doors to survivors. They also force the gun industry to operate more responsibly and, most importantly, can help prevent future tragedies,” said Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, a gun-violence prevention group founded after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Two decades of federal immunity Congress adopted protections for the gun industry after lawsuits filed in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere attempted to hold the firearms industry responsible for violent crime. Many of those suits argued that gun companies had knowingly oversupplied certain markets with cheap handguns and ignored signs that those weapons were being trafficked to places with strict gun controls. The firearms industry and the National Rifle Association saw the lawsuits as unfair. As long as gun companies weren’t breaking rules around sales, they shouldn’t be held responsible for violence, they said. President George W. Bush, a Republican, agreed and signed the shield law in 2005, saying it helped stem “frivolous lawsuits.” “Our laws should punish criminals who use guns to commit crimes, not law-abiding manufacturers of lawful products,” Bush said at the time. A new approach The legal protections Congress gave the gun industry aren’t absolute. For example, a gunmaker that sells a faulty firearm can still be sued over dangerous defects. Another exception allows lawsuits against companies that knowingly violate laws regulating how firearms are sold and marketed. When Congress drafted that exception, it cited the example of a shop that knowingly sold a gun to someone banned from owning one, such as a convicted felon. The new state laws have sought to expand potential liability for gun companies by creating new rules for the industry. New York passed a law in 2021 requiring gun companies to create controls to prevent unlawful possession or use of their products. It also says they cannot knowingly or recklessly “contribute to a condition” that endangers public safety. “Any business operating in New York must adhere to our laws — and if they don’t, they are held accountable,” said Democratic state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, the law’s chief proponent. Several states and cities have used the new liability laws to sue Glock over the design of its pistols, saying it is too easy to convert them into automatic weapons. Many of the new laws follow legal theories from a lawsuit filed against gunmaker Remington by families of Sandy Hook victims. The suit, which was settled for $73 million in 2022, argued that Remington’s marketing violated state consumer protection law. What’s next? It’s too soon to say if courts will uphold the new state laws. A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that New York’s law wasn’t expressly barred by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, but that decision is not expected to be the last word. One of the judges, Dennis Jacobs, made it clear he believes the law is vulnerable to future legal challenges, calling it “nothing short of an attempt to end-run PLCAA.” The U.S. Supreme Court, which is controlled 6-3 by Republican-nominated justices, hasn’t yet considered the state liability laws, but the gun industry was encouraged when the justices unanimously agreed in June to toss out a $10 billion lawsuit Mexico filed against top firearms manufacturers claiming their business practices fuel cartel violence. Justice Elena Kagan, a Democratic nominee, wrote in her opinion how Congress passed PLCAA to halt lawsuits similar to the one filed by Mexico. She said Mexico had made no plausible argument that the companies knowingly helped gun trafficking. “The Court doubts Congress intended to draft such a capacious way out of PLCAA, and in fact it did not,” she wrote. —Susan Haigh, Associated Press Associated Press Writer Dave Collins contributed to this report. View the full article

A new internet theory about American politics and society just dropped. From anti-vaxxers to AI slop, everything can be explained by one simple idea: Everyone is twelve now. In September, Bluesky user and musician Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant.lawyer) posted, “working on a new unified theory of american reality i’m calling ‘everyone is twelve now.'” He continued: “‘I’m strong and I want to have like fifty kids and a farm’ of course you do. You’re twelve. ‘I don’t want to eat vegetables I think steak and French fries is the only meal’ hell yeah homie you’re twelve. ‘Maybe if there’s crime we should just send the army’ bless your heart my twelve year old buddy.” It’s funny, but it also feels depressingly accurate. It’s already being called “the most important political thread of our time.” Or as another user wrote: “making a pilgrimage to a post that will one day be studied in history books”. It took a few weeks for the theory to spread to X, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and other platforms, but once it did, it became the go-to comeback under conservative posts and government propaganda alike. “You wanna do a ride-along in the backseat of a big plane and cosplay being a pilot? Of course you do, you’re twelve,” user @jjellisart said in response to a video of Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, in a fighter jet. “You wanna dress up like a knight and play swords? Of course you do, you’re twelve,” he also posted to a Homeland Security propaganda post of medieval knights. The meme even made its way into the political press corps after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt replied to a HuffPost reporter’s question about the location of Donald The President’s upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin with: “Your mom did.” One user quote-tweeted the exchange with: “The ‘Everyone is Twelve Now’ theory is rapidly gaining credibility, I fear.” So what’s behind the apparent sudden collective regression? According to the National Literacy Institute, 54% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level. That limited literacy makes it harder to understand complex and nuanced issues and easier to fall for oversimplified narratives peddled on social media. As one Reddit user suggested: “an ideology specially crafted to appeal to nostalgia kinda has to be childish. the world was never perfect, so to pretend it was you have to appeal to childlike innocence.” Case in point: a glass bottle of Coca Cola balanced on the hood of a red Bronco as marketing material for the Department of Homeland Security. It might also explain why government agencies like the DHS have leaned into childhood classic Pokémon references and viral TikTok trends as part of their social media strategy. In the context of the “everyone is twelve” theory, it suddenly makes a lot of sense And once you’ve seen it, you’ll start spotting examples everywhere you look. Unless, of course, you’re twelve. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Nintendo Switch 2 is out, and it might not be worth the upgrade yet if you already own the original Nintendo Switch (especially at its $450 to $500 price point). If you don't, you can still get one and enjoy it before the Switch 2 really kicks off. Walmart is currently selling the Nintendo Switch Gray Joy-Con for $294.99 (originally $361.40). No other reputable seller has this version new on sale. If you're okay with a used console, GameStop has a pre-owned version for $209.99, a great price for the gray Joy-Con version. Nintendo Switch Console with Gray Joy-Con. $294.99 at Walmart $361.40 Save $66.41 Get Deal Get Deal $294.99 at Walmart $361.40 Save $66.41 (Pre-owned) Nintendo Switch Gray Joy-Con $209.99 Shop Now Shop Now $209.99 SEE -1 MORE With tariffs affecting Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch 2 already out, it's hard to gauge if this is a fair historical price. However, considering the Switch 2 can easily go for double the price, it makes the decision to get the original console much easier. What might be a harder decision is whether to get the OLED version or not. To help you decide which Switch is better for you, check out our breakdown. Keep in mind, there are also other costs to owning a Nintendo Switch. At this point, the Nintendo Switch already has an incredible library of games to choose from, but the same cannot be said about the Switch 2. This specific model comes with gray Joy-Con, which is a more mature-looking version than the original blue and red version. You can expect between 4.5 and 9 hours per charge depending on your use and the game you're playing. It has a 6.2-inch screen, 32GB of data storage, and online gaming if you pay for the Nintendo Switch Online plan, which starts at $19.99 a year. I've personally been enjoying the classic Nintendo 64 games that are available to play with the online membership. It's a nice nostalgic feeling that I get to relive with my brothers and friends. View the full article

With one sweeping gesture, Dar Sleeper hoists the humanoid robot off the ground. Bracing its back with one arm and its legs with the other, he gently carries it across the room and lowers it onto a sofa, where it lies in repose as if catching a quick nap. It’s a slightly surreal scene, but it has a serious point. I am visiting the Palo Alto headquarters of 1X Technologies, and Sleeper, the company’s VP of growth, is demonstrating that Neo, its home robot, is a lightweight at a mere 66 pounds. That’s a crucial design feature, given that a weighty domestic bot could prove hazardous if it toppled over in the vicinity of a human, a pet, or just a pricey vase. Soon, Neo will take on the ultimate proving ground for a home robot: actual homes. 1X is announcing that it’s taking preorders and plans to ship units to its earliest customers next year. The price is $20,000, or $499 per month as a subscription service, with a six-month minimum. Like a smartphone, the robot will come in multiple color options—tan, gray, and dark brown. Wait, $20,000? There isn’t much precedent for mainstream consumer products in that price range. Cars, of course. (The average price for a new one just topped $50,000.) Maybe boats? Even if you can come up with another example or two, it’s a short list. Then again, 1X founder and CEO Bernd Børnich’s goals for his robots involve attaining a degree of utility that few inventions ever have. He wants to teach Neo to handle every household task that people perform because they need to, not because they want to. Even if the time saved came in bits and pieces—five minutes of dishwasher unloading here, 15 minutes of laundry folding there—it would add up to many hours newly available for more rewarding pursuits. Now multiply that by hundreds of thousands of Neos, which is the quantity Børnich talks about when outlining 1X’s long-term plans for manufacturing capacity. “Potentially it’s the biggest thing ever, with respect to productivity increase across society,” he tells me when I catch up with him via Zoom after my visit to the company. Børnich is hardly the only entrepreneur spinning visions of a world in which humans coexist with teeming masses of robots modeled on them. Companies such as Agility Robotics, Apptronik, and Figure AI are all building humanoid bots of their own. So is Sleeper’s former employer, Tesla, whose Optimus robot has seemingly diverted much of Elon Musk’s attention away from boring old EVs. Most of the nascent category’s focus is on environments such as factories and warehouses, where robots might take on jobs that are dangerous or repetitive—no paychecks required. (1X is presently focused on the home but says it “plans to offer humanoids for the workplace at a later date.”) It’s not just robotics manufacturers that see a vast business in the making. Humanoid bots could fuel enormous growth in chips, foundational models, cloud services, and other elements of the AI economy—a wave of optimism 1X is already riding. In 2023, OpenAI led the company’s $23.5 million Series A2 funding round; its Series B round the following year raised another $100 million. The company also has a strategic alliance with Nvidia, whose CEO, Jensen Huang, accepted a custom leather jacket from Neo during an onstage appearance last March. By 2050, according to a May Morgan Stanley report, there could be more than a billion humanoid robots in service, with the vast majority in commercial and industrial settings. Only 80 million would be in homes, the report speculates. Still, that’s roughly 80 million more humanoid home robots than exist today. For all the grandeur of 1X’s plan to transform how we spend our time, the company is up front that Neo is not yet ready to handle all the drudgery you might want to offload to a home robot. Some of the things it can do are only possible under the control of remote 1X employees, who can orchestrate its actions as if it were a marionette. That human assistance might be a stopgap, but it will also provide 1X with AI training data it can use to make Neo more autonomous over time. My encounter with Neo at 1X’s office did as much to tamp down my impressions of its present form as ratchet them up. The robot gamely ambled about, with a gait that didn’t closely resemble that of a human but was more limber than you might expect. It showed off its strength by hefting a restaurant-sized sack of rice. It also presented me with a chilled bottle of water, though the feat involved a mix of autonomy (walking to the refrigerator) and remote control (opening the fridge and fishing out the bottle), and took much longer than if I’d simply grabbed the water myself. A demo of Neo’s sweeping skills went south when it turned out the cordless vacuum it was wielding had a dead battery. (A human house cleaner would have easily diagnosed and solved the problem.) And some uses 1X is citing for its robot—such as setting birthday reminders and managing grocery lists—do not seem to call for $20,000 of advanced machinery. For Neo to succeed, 1X won’t just need to finish building out the robot’s skill set. It will also have to live up to expectations long steeped in cultural touchstones such as The Jetsons and Star Wars. As Sleeper puts it, “The ultimate North Star, in a lot of people’s minds, is Rosie the robot.” Børnich emphasizes that 1X isn’t entirely sure how Neo will fit into homes, and the company is getting ready to sell them in part to help figure that out. ”I don’t think there’s any way we could be as creative as the full set of our customers,” he says. “That’s one of the beauties of actually developing this in public.” Robots come home Originally known as Halodi Robotics and founded by Børnich in Norway in 2014, 1X didn’t set out to build a home humanoid right away. Its first robot, Eve, was designed for industrial applications, had grippers instead of hands, and rolled on two wheels. It looked a little like it was riding a built-in Segway. As with anything dependent on generative AI, teaching robots to engage with the world requires vast amounts of training data. As 1X considered where to get that data, it came to see the home as rife with possibilities. That fact nudged it in the direction that eventually led to Neo. “A cup has the ability to give you more data than an entire industrial task,” says Sleeper. “Because that cup could be full. It could be empty. It could be half full. It could be on the kitchen table full, meaning you should leave it there because somebody’s probably drinking it. It can be empty on the coffee table, which means you should take it to the sink or put it in the dishwasher. It could be in the cupboard, meaning that that’s where you go to grab it to give it to somebody when they ask it for it.” Along with data, homes were also full of challenges that Eve had never been designed to overcome, such as climbing stairs to fetch a laundry basket. So when the company formally decided to pursue the home market, it realized it would need to build an all-new robot. ”Every lesson we’ve learned has moved us more and more in the direction of being very confident that the human form factor is the only form factor,” says Sleeper. Humanoids were hardly a new field of robotics research: Børnich says he drew inspiration from examples such as Honda’s Asimo, a staple of trade-show demos early in this century. But he adds that “The type of hardware that we’ve designed here, which is so lightweight and safe and capable, we couldn’t have done that 20 years ago.” Visiting 1X’s Palo Alto operation is certainly an evocative experience. Along with standard tech-company accoutrements such as HP 3-D printers cranking out prototype parts, it’s full of robots—from the Neo I watched in action to a row of decommissioned Eves sitting next to a staircase. One skinless Neo hangs from a hook in an area thrumming with human technicians: “It’s very Westworld in here,” says Sleeper. Much of Neo’s innovation lies underneath its knit turtleneck jumpsuit. 1X created its own motors, which it says have five times more torque than any other in the world and help the robot lift up to 154 pounds and carry up to 50 pounds. It equipped the robot with a tendon-drive transmission system, intended to reduce weight while increasing safety and affordability. It engineered hands with 22 degrees of freedom—only five less than human ones—and attached them to longer-than-human arms, since robots have no shoulder blades. The company even custom-designed its own batteries. Neo officially runs for four hours on a charge, though it can top off its own battery as necessary—“You’ll never really have to think about it,” promises Sleeper. At 5 feet 6 inches, Neo is 2.5 inches taller than the average American woman and 3 inches shorter than the average man. Its physique is intentionally neither feminine nor masculine: “It was important that nobody be sexually attracted to it,” says Sleeper, suggesting scenarios I prefer not to contemplate any further. Owners will, however, be able to choose between female and male speaking voices. (For the record, Sleeper referred to Neo as “he” during our conversation, but said that opinions on its gender, if any, vary.) Regardless of how capable Neo’s hardware may be, 1X’s AI platform will determine what it can actually do around a house. Its elements include machine vision, audio recognition, and an onboard LLM with memory that provides ongoing context. Melding all of them will allow the robot to listen for instructions, navigate its surroundings and the objects therein, and perform useful tasks. The LLM will also power Neo’s personality. That will come out as people talk to it, which 1X thinks they may do quite a lot. Rather than mimicking human companionship, the company is aiming to make the robot a lovable, pet-like sidekick—Hobbes to the owner’s Calvin, Sleeper says. All of this is where the experience that 1X plans to ship next year will be, at best, a first rough draft. The company’s examples of jobs Neo will be able to perform autonomously on day one are modest: fetching items, greeting guests at the door, switching off the lights at night. It will handle these and other responsibilities by breaking them down into 10-second “microtasks.” At the moment, things get tricky if much more than three microtasks are involved. 1X expects its first customers to understand that they’re buying into a long-term proposition. “As you continue to use your robot, you’ll get more updates, and your basic autonomy features will expand to be able to do more,” says Sleeper. “Your robot can always try something if you ask it to, like getting you a beer. And if it hasn’t learned how to do that yet efficiently, it will fail. Some people might hate it. But those aren’t the early users.” (Historical footnote: Delivering beer may be home robotics’ most enduring example of an exciting application. It’s what a bot called Androbot did for Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell during an onstage demo at CES in 1983, to cheers from the audience.) From the beginning, Neo will be able to go beyond basic autonomy through its remote-assistance feature. Called Chores, it will enable California-based 1X employees to see through Neo’s eyes and steer the robot through more elaborate processes. The company has anticipated privacy concerns over its bot becoming a roaming window into its customers’ homes: Chores sessions are only initiated if users explicitly ask for them, and can be terminated at any time. When they’re active, the LED ring around Neo’s ears will change from white to blue. Remote-controlled robots made me think of the Tesla event held a year ago whose Optimus bartenders provoked amazement, at least at first. When it turned out they’d been puppeteered by off-site humans, the awe dissipated. Sleeper told me that 1X doesn’t consider Chores to violate the fundamental idea of a home robot: “We just think that there’s actually quite a lot of value to come from these expert operators being able to supplement and support your experience.” As they do, the training data they generate may redound to the benefit of future Neo owners. To err is humanoid Børnich, who has been living with Neo at home for “quite some time,” professes not to be overly concerned with any flaws in the current experience, cheerfully calling them “robotic slop.” Maybe Neo “didn’t put all of the glasses in the cabinet exactly in line, like this master Japanese butler, but it put them in there,” he says by way of example. “Okay, the shirt isn’t folded perfectly, but it’s folded pretty well, and I didn’t need to do it. I’m actually very happy.” But he also expects that Neo will quickly prove its worth to a fairly broad audience. How soon? By 2027, the purchase will be “a no-brainer,” he predicts. Comparing home robots to smartphones—which have tended to get more powerful over time rather than much cheaper—Børnich says that $20,000 may remain Neo’s price tag even after 1X can scale up production well beyond its current capacity of 25,000 U.S.-made robots a year. “You just want to keep expanding the capabilities until you can not only do what humans can do, but you can also do a lot of things that we can’t,” he explains. A lot has to go right for these ambitions to play out, including 1X having access to the necessary capital. Last month, The Information’s Wayne Ma, Natasha Mascarenhas, and Valida Pau reported that the company was seeking $1 billion in additional funding at a $10 billion valuation, dwarfing its previous numbers. For now, 1X is still working on teaching Neo to tackle work that humans can literally do with their eyes closed. But when I ask Børnich if he considers the company’s ultimate business model to lie in selling home robots or building services around them, he pushes back on the assumption that it’s a home robotics company at all. “Actually, I think of 1X mainly as an AGI company,” he says. “We want to solve intelligence and solve artificial labor across society. Digitally and physically—the entire substrate. And you’re not going get there without robots.” Now 1X has to prove that it will get there with them. View the full article

A reader writes: I ran a catering business on the side for a while, in addition to my regular job. I don’t do it much anymore, but on occasion I do still take paid jobs, usually for past clients. It’s a way to make some extra money and I enjoy the work. Since my friends know I still do this, it’s not uncommon for them to ask me to do catering work for their own events (parties, kids’ birthdays, etc.). This would be fine except that I can tell they think they’re doing me a favor by giving me their business, and they aren’t! I have enough of the work coming in through regular channels that I’m not really looking for more work. It’s thoughtful of them to want to pay me (at least I don’t have the problem of them expecting I’ll do it for free) but most of the time I would much rather have my weekend free than spend it making appetizers for someone else’s party. When a regular client approaches me about a job I’d rather not do, it’s easy to just say that I’m booked for that time period. And I guess technically I could say that to a friend, too, but often these are people I’m close enough to that they know I’m not filling up my time with catering jobs that way (and I wouldn’t want to have to keep track of the lie to make sure that I don’t mention something else I did that weekend when I had said I’d be “catering”). Also, jobs for friends are usually the ones that end up being a lot more customized so it’s more work for me, on top of the fact that I usually give them a discount because they’re friends (which is fully my choice; I know they’d pay full price if I asked for it). How do I tell people, “I appreciate you thinking it’s a favor to throw business my way, but I’d actually rather you didn’t”? I know one option is that I could just say I’m not catering for friends at all anymore, but I’m still up for doing it if they really actively want my food. If I’m the caterer they’d most want for this particular event, even if we didn’t know each other, great. I just want them to stop thinking they “should” give me the business because we’re friends. Can you tell your friends that you’re actively trying to take on fewer catering jobs? That sounds like it’s the truth, and it’s information they don’t have. You can mention that in casual conversation as you’re catching up on each other’s lives, but you can also mention it when someone approaches you about catering for them. For the latter, you could say, “I’m actually trying to take on fewer catering jobs, so unless there’s something specific I prepare that you really want, please don’t feel you need to offer me the business — I’m trying to cut back on jobs, rather than adding more.” That opens the door for them to say, “I was really hoping you’d make your famous stuffed zucchini because I love it so much” and for you then to decide if you’re up for taking the job or not (since you mentioned you might want to do it under those circumstances), while moving things out of the “favor” framing. Or, if you’d really prefer not to do it at all, that’s okay too! You can say, “Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I’m cutting back on catering so I have more weekends free.” It also might help to have other caterers you can refer them to — “I’m cutting back on how much catering I’m doing, but Caterer X and Y are really great at that kind of party if you want to try them.” It sounds like everyone has great intentions here; you just need to give them more information so they’re not working off of the wrong set of assumptions and assuming you’d be grateful for the business. The post my friends think they’re doing me a favor by giving me business … but they’re not appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Adobe has unveiled significant updates to its GenStudio platform, designed to meet the growing demand for scalable content production among businesses. During the recent Adobe MAX conference, the company introduced features that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline content creation and enhance marketing efforts, targeting small business owners looking to optimize their operations in an increasingly competitive landscape. Adobe GenStudio addresses a pressing challenge for many businesses: the need for a continuous supply of engaging content. As Varun Parmar, general manager of Adobe GenStudio and Firefly Enterprise, stated, “GenStudio brings together best-in-class Adobe capabilities for businesses to remain competitive in an attention-based economy, dramatically shortening the time it takes to deliver on-brand experiences at scale.” This focus on efficiency is especially relevant for small businesses that often operate with limited resources. One of the standout features of GenStudio is Firefly Design Intelligence, a new AI-powered tool that allows businesses to produce compliant content at scale. This tool was developed in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company and enables teams to move beyond traditional static brand guidelines. By creating “StyleIDs,” which codify complex design rules, small businesses can generate new layouts and copy while ensuring brand consistency across all marketing materials. Another notable addition is Firefly Creative Production for Enterprise, which enhances the existing web application by allowing users to resize and reframe thousands of assets quickly. The platform now includes advanced features such as a workflow builder for reusable production processes and seamless integration with Adobe Experience Manager Assets and Frame.io. This capability can significantly reduce the time small business teams spend managing content, enabling them to focus on strategy and engagement. For small business owners engaged in performance marketing, the introduction of Adobe’s Content Production Agent in GenStudio is particularly promising. This generative AI tool interprets marketing briefs and automatically generates tailored content for various channels, helping businesses align their messaging with campaign goals and brand guidelines. The automation of content creation can free up valuable time for marketing teams, allowing them to concentrate on other critical tasks. As part of its ongoing innovation, Adobe has also introduced Firefly Services APIs, which facilitate the automation of creative workflows. These APIs now support video reframing and object compositing, essential for businesses looking to produce high-quality visual content quickly. Additionally, the Content Authenticity API ensures that digital credentials are embedded in content, protecting brand integrity—a crucial consideration for small businesses eager to establish trust with their audience. Perhaps one of the most transformative offerings is Adobe Firefly Foundry, which enables businesses to create proprietary generative AI models unique to their brand. By training these models on existing intellectual property, small businesses can generate consistent content tailored to their specific marketing needs. This customization can enhance brand recognition and loyalty, as businesses deliver personalized experiences to their customers. Integration with major advertising platforms is another critical aspect of the new GenStudio features. Businesses can now activate and optimize campaigns across platforms such as Amazon Ads, Google, LinkedIn, and TikTok. For small business owners, this means the ability to manage multi-channel advertising efforts from a single platform, streamlining operations and enhancing performance tracking. While these innovations promise significant benefits, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. The reliance on AI for content production may raise concerns regarding the authenticity and originality of generated content. Businesses must ensure that they maintain a distinct voice and uphold their brand values amidst automation. Moreover, the integration of numerous advertising platforms, while convenient, may require small businesses to invest time in learning how to leverage these tools effectively. Training and adaptation will be essential to maximize the potential of these new capabilities. As Adobe continues to enhance its GenStudio platform with AI-driven solutions, small business owners stand to gain from increased efficiency, improved content quality, and streamlined marketing efforts. By embracing these innovations, businesses can not only keep pace with the demands of the digital landscape but also carve out a competitive edge in their respective markets. This article, "Adobe Unveils GenStudio: A Game-Changer for Scalable Content Production" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adobe has unveiled significant updates to its GenStudio platform, designed to meet the growing demand for scalable content production among businesses. During the recent Adobe MAX conference, the company introduced features that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline content creation and enhance marketing efforts, targeting small business owners looking to optimize their operations in an increasingly competitive landscape. Adobe GenStudio addresses a pressing challenge for many businesses: the need for a continuous supply of engaging content. As Varun Parmar, general manager of Adobe GenStudio and Firefly Enterprise, stated, “GenStudio brings together best-in-class Adobe capabilities for businesses to remain competitive in an attention-based economy, dramatically shortening the time it takes to deliver on-brand experiences at scale.” This focus on efficiency is especially relevant for small businesses that often operate with limited resources. One of the standout features of GenStudio is Firefly Design Intelligence, a new AI-powered tool that allows businesses to produce compliant content at scale. This tool was developed in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company and enables teams to move beyond traditional static brand guidelines. By creating “StyleIDs,” which codify complex design rules, small businesses can generate new layouts and copy while ensuring brand consistency across all marketing materials. Another notable addition is Firefly Creative Production for Enterprise, which enhances the existing web application by allowing users to resize and reframe thousands of assets quickly. The platform now includes advanced features such as a workflow builder for reusable production processes and seamless integration with Adobe Experience Manager Assets and Frame.io. This capability can significantly reduce the time small business teams spend managing content, enabling them to focus on strategy and engagement. For small business owners engaged in performance marketing, the introduction of Adobe’s Content Production Agent in GenStudio is particularly promising. This generative AI tool interprets marketing briefs and automatically generates tailored content for various channels, helping businesses align their messaging with campaign goals and brand guidelines. The automation of content creation can free up valuable time for marketing teams, allowing them to concentrate on other critical tasks. As part of its ongoing innovation, Adobe has also introduced Firefly Services APIs, which facilitate the automation of creative workflows. These APIs now support video reframing and object compositing, essential for businesses looking to produce high-quality visual content quickly. Additionally, the Content Authenticity API ensures that digital credentials are embedded in content, protecting brand integrity—a crucial consideration for small businesses eager to establish trust with their audience. Perhaps one of the most transformative offerings is Adobe Firefly Foundry, which enables businesses to create proprietary generative AI models unique to their brand. By training these models on existing intellectual property, small businesses can generate consistent content tailored to their specific marketing needs. This customization can enhance brand recognition and loyalty, as businesses deliver personalized experiences to their customers. Integration with major advertising platforms is another critical aspect of the new GenStudio features. Businesses can now activate and optimize campaigns across platforms such as Amazon Ads, Google, LinkedIn, and TikTok. For small business owners, this means the ability to manage multi-channel advertising efforts from a single platform, streamlining operations and enhancing performance tracking. While these innovations promise significant benefits, small business owners should also consider potential challenges. The reliance on AI for content production may raise concerns regarding the authenticity and originality of generated content. Businesses must ensure that they maintain a distinct voice and uphold their brand values amidst automation. Moreover, the integration of numerous advertising platforms, while convenient, may require small businesses to invest time in learning how to leverage these tools effectively. Training and adaptation will be essential to maximize the potential of these new capabilities. As Adobe continues to enhance its GenStudio platform with AI-driven solutions, small business owners stand to gain from increased efficiency, improved content quality, and streamlined marketing efforts. By embracing these innovations, businesses can not only keep pace with the demands of the digital landscape but also carve out a competitive edge in their respective markets. This article, "Adobe Unveils GenStudio: A Game-Changer for Scalable Content Production" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

OpenAI said Tuesday it has reorganized its ownership structure and converted its business into a public benefit corporation and two crucial regulators, the Delaware and California attorneys general, said they would not oppose the plan. The restructuring paves the way for the ChatGPT maker to more easily profit off its artificial intelligence technology even as it remains technically under the control of a nonprofit. Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in separate statements that they would not object to the proposal, seemingly bringing to an end more than a year of negotiations and announcements about the future of OpenAI’s governance and the power that for-profit investors and its nonprofit board will have over the organization’s technology. The company also said it has signed a new agreement with its longtime backer Microsoft that gives the software giant a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI’s new for-profit corporation but changes some of the details of their close partnership. The attorneys general of Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated, and California, where it is headquartered, had both said they’re investigating the proposed changes. “We will be keeping a close eye on OpenAI to ensure ongoing adherence to its charitable mission and the protection of the safety of all Californians,” said Bonta. OpenAI said it completed its restructuring “after nearly a year of engaging in constructive dialogue” with the offices in both states. “OpenAI has completed its recapitalization, simplifying its corporate structure,” said a blog post Tuesday from Bret Taylor, the chair of OpenAI’s board of directors. “The nonprofit remains in control of the for-profit, and now has a direct path to major resources before AGI arrives.” AGI stands for artificial general intelligence, which OpenAI defines as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.” OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 with a mission to safely build AGI for humanity’s benefit. It later started a for-profit arm. Microsoft invested its first $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and the two companies formed an agreement that made Microsoft the exclusive provider of the computing power needed to build OpenAI’s technology. In turn, Microsoft heavily used the technology behind ChatGPT to enhance its own AI products. The two companies first revealed in January that they were altering that agreement, enabling San Francisco-based OpenAI to build its own computing capacity, “primarily for research and training of models.” That coincided with OpenAI’s announcements of a partnership with Oracle and SoftBank to build a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas. It’s since announced more such projects planned in the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America, along with big deals with chipmakers like Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom. But other parts of its agreements with Microsoft remained up in the air as the two companies appeared to veer further apart before reaching a tentative new agreement in September. OpenAI had previously said its own nonprofit board will decide when AGI is reached, effectively ending its Microsoft partnership. But it now says that “once AGI is declared by OpenAI, that declaration will now be verified by an independent expert panel,” and that Microsoft’s rights to OpenAI’s confidential research methods “will remain until either the expert panel verifies AGI or through 2030, whichever is first.” Microsoft will also retain some commercial rights to OpenAI products “post-AGI” and through 2032. Microsoft put out the same joint announcement about the revised partnership Tuesday but declined further comment. Its shares spiked 2% on Tuesday. Going forward, the nonprofit will be called the OpenAI Foundation and Taylor said it would grant out $25 billion toward health and curing diseases and protecting against the cybersecurity risks of AI. He did not say over what time period those funds would be dispersed. Robert Weissman, co-president of the nonprofit Public Citizen, said this arrangement does not guarantee the nonprofit independence, likening it to a corporate foundation that will serve the interests of the for profit. Even as the nonprofit’s board may technically remain in control, Weissman said that control “is illusory because there is no evidence of the nonprofit ever imposing its values on the for profit.” The Delaware attorney general’s investigation focused on ensuring OpenAI put its commitment to safety first and before any financial interests. Jennings also said OpenAI promised to keep its nonprofit in control of the public benefit corporation, including the right to appoint and remove its board members. The removal of OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman in Nov. 2023 by the nonprofit’s board at the time — and his subsequent reappointment — kicked off the company’s effort to restructure. The nonprofit’s board will continue to include a Safety and Security Committee, which will have the power “to oversee and review” OpenAI’s technology development. It will even have the power to stop the release of a new product, according to the Delaware attorney general’s statement. Additionally, within a year, the nonprofit’s board will include at least two members who do not also serve on the public benefit corporation’s board. OpenAI still faces a legal challenge from billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, an early OpenAI investor who now runs his own AI firm, xAI, and has accused the startup he co-founded of betraying its original mission. A federal judge in March denied Musk’s request for a court order blocking OpenAI from converting itself to a for-profit company but said she could expedite a trial to consider Musk’s claims. —Matt O’Brien and Thalia Beaty View the full article

At Adobe MAX 2025, held in Los Angeles, Adobe unveiled a suite of innovative AI tools designed to enhance the creative process for small business owners and creators alike. This announcement represents a significant leap in how creative professionals can leverage technology to streamline their workflows, produce high-quality content, and optimize resource management. Adobe’s new offerings include advanced generative audio and video tools within Adobe Firefly. These tools allow users to create entire videos from concept to production, a game-changer for small business owners who often juggle multiple roles in content creation. David Wadhwani, president of digital media at Adobe, emphasized this opportunity: “We believe every creator should be able to harness the economic and artistic opportunities flowing from generative AI.” For small business owners, the practical applications of these tools are extensive. With the introduction of studio-quality soundtracks through the “Generate Soundtrack” feature and crystal-clear voice-overs via “Generate Speech,” creators can produce professional-grade video content without needing extensive audio production skills. This capability reduces the barriers to entry for high-quality video marketing, making it accessible even to those with limited budgets. The integration of top generative AI models into Adobe’s Creative Cloud applications, including partnerships with industry leaders like Google and OpenAI, offers small business owners a variety of tools tailored to their specific needs. For example, the new Firefly Custom Models allow users to create personalized generative AI models that reflect their unique brand style. This feature could significantly enhance brand consistency across marketing materials, making it easier for small businesses to establish a recognizable identity in crowded markets. Moreover, Adobe Firefly now includes an all-in-one studio for ideation, creation, and production, which integrates collaborative tools like Firefly Boards. This can facilitate teamwork among small business owners and their teams, streamlining the creative process from brainstorming to final execution. The ability to publish across multiple channels simultaneously further simplifies the process of content distribution, an essential factor for businesses aiming to maximize their outreach. Despite these advancements, small business owners should also be mindful of potential challenges. The rapid adoption of AI tools can lead to a steep learning curve. While Adobe aims to make its tools user-friendly, those unfamiliar with advanced creative software may need to invest time in training. Additionally, as content creation becomes more automated, maintaining a personal touch in branding and marketing is crucial. Small business owners must ensure that the AI-generated content continues to resonate with their target audience and aligns with their brand values. Adobe’s GenStudio solution, which optimizes the content supply chain, addresses another critical issue for small businesses: the overwhelming demand for content. By integrating generative AI directly into content production workflows, Adobe helps businesses streamline their processes, allowing them to focus on creativity rather than administrative tasks. This could prove invaluable for small businesses struggling to keep pace with content demands. The potential for Adobe Firefly Foundry further underscores the adaptability of these tools for small businesses. By working directly with Adobe to create tailored generative AI models based on their existing intellectual property, businesses can accelerate content production while ensuring that their brand remains front and center. This could significantly enhance the efficiency of marketing campaigns, making it easier to respond to market trends and customer needs. As Adobe MAX 2025 showcased, the future of creative work is being reshaped by AI, providing small business owners with powerful tools to enhance their capabilities. While challenges exist, the benefits of increased efficiency, improved quality, and greater control over the creative process present an exciting opportunity for those ready to embrace this technology. With the right approach, small business owners can leverage these innovations to not only keep up with industry demands but also to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. This article, "Adobe Unveils Revolutionary AI Tools for Creators at MAX 2025" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

At Adobe MAX 2025, held in Los Angeles, Adobe unveiled a suite of innovative AI tools designed to enhance the creative process for small business owners and creators alike. This announcement represents a significant leap in how creative professionals can leverage technology to streamline their workflows, produce high-quality content, and optimize resource management. Adobe’s new offerings include advanced generative audio and video tools within Adobe Firefly. These tools allow users to create entire videos from concept to production, a game-changer for small business owners who often juggle multiple roles in content creation. David Wadhwani, president of digital media at Adobe, emphasized this opportunity: “We believe every creator should be able to harness the economic and artistic opportunities flowing from generative AI.” For small business owners, the practical applications of these tools are extensive. With the introduction of studio-quality soundtracks through the “Generate Soundtrack” feature and crystal-clear voice-overs via “Generate Speech,” creators can produce professional-grade video content without needing extensive audio production skills. This capability reduces the barriers to entry for high-quality video marketing, making it accessible even to those with limited budgets. The integration of top generative AI models into Adobe’s Creative Cloud applications, including partnerships with industry leaders like Google and OpenAI, offers small business owners a variety of tools tailored to their specific needs. For example, the new Firefly Custom Models allow users to create personalized generative AI models that reflect their unique brand style. This feature could significantly enhance brand consistency across marketing materials, making it easier for small businesses to establish a recognizable identity in crowded markets. Moreover, Adobe Firefly now includes an all-in-one studio for ideation, creation, and production, which integrates collaborative tools like Firefly Boards. This can facilitate teamwork among small business owners and their teams, streamlining the creative process from brainstorming to final execution. The ability to publish across multiple channels simultaneously further simplifies the process of content distribution, an essential factor for businesses aiming to maximize their outreach. Despite these advancements, small business owners should also be mindful of potential challenges. The rapid adoption of AI tools can lead to a steep learning curve. While Adobe aims to make its tools user-friendly, those unfamiliar with advanced creative software may need to invest time in training. Additionally, as content creation becomes more automated, maintaining a personal touch in branding and marketing is crucial. Small business owners must ensure that the AI-generated content continues to resonate with their target audience and aligns with their brand values. Adobe’s GenStudio solution, which optimizes the content supply chain, addresses another critical issue for small businesses: the overwhelming demand for content. By integrating generative AI directly into content production workflows, Adobe helps businesses streamline their processes, allowing them to focus on creativity rather than administrative tasks. This could prove invaluable for small businesses struggling to keep pace with content demands. The potential for Adobe Firefly Foundry further underscores the adaptability of these tools for small businesses. By working directly with Adobe to create tailored generative AI models based on their existing intellectual property, businesses can accelerate content production while ensuring that their brand remains front and center. This could significantly enhance the efficiency of marketing campaigns, making it easier to respond to market trends and customer needs. As Adobe MAX 2025 showcased, the future of creative work is being reshaped by AI, providing small business owners with powerful tools to enhance their capabilities. While challenges exist, the benefits of increased efficiency, improved quality, and greater control over the creative process present an exciting opportunity for those ready to embrace this technology. With the right approach, small business owners can leverage these innovations to not only keep up with industry demands but also to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. This article, "Adobe Unveils Revolutionary AI Tools for Creators at MAX 2025" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article