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It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Clients apologize to my boss for snapping at me I am a receptionist/admin in a two-person office. I understand fully that it is my job to be the front line dealing with clients both in person and on the phone. However, I’m baffled by this thing that has happened several times in the three years I’ve been in this job, and happened again last week most egregiously. A client will snap at me over a policy I cannot change/have zero control over. They will storm out in a huff. Then later, they will call, I’ll answer the phone, they’ll ask to speak to my boss (Jane), and then once I transfer the call, they apologize to her for their outburst (which was directed at me, the person they just bypassed on the phone without a word). Last week, the client was full-on screaming at me, to the point I asked him to please leave. He called back a couple of hours later, chipper as could be, and apologized to Jane. I’ve thought about what I would like to happen. I know there’s no changing the behavior of the client; I don’t expect that. I used to wish Jane would say, “Oh, you actually were just on the line with Jill, let me transfer you back to her so you can apologize to her!” Now after all these times, I would just like Jane to acknowledge it’s weird. She will not. Every time it happens and I remark on it, she just laughs and says people used to yell at her when she had my job. But the yelling isn’t the point! It’s the apology to her for what was said to me. Why can’t she just agree it’s weird? Am I wrong about it? I told her last week it made me feel like the client doesn’t see me as human in some way. Again, she just said people used to yell at her too. I mostly like my job and I like my boss other than this. Am I just being dramatic, which is how she makes me feel when she dismisses this when it happens? You’re not being overly dramatic; what you describe is obnoxious behavior — both the initial rudeness and the apology to someone other than you. When a client skips over you to give their apology to Jane instead, it’s a signal that they don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with her and don’t really care about you, the person they actually mistreated. And there are some bosses who would say, “Let me transfer you back to her so you can apologize” … but a lot wouldn’t, because with client management, the priority is usually to just keep the relationship as smooth as possible and not make the client feel awkward — because at the end of the day, the business (usually) cares most about preserving that relationship, because that’s what pays their bills. There are exceptions to this! But the way Jane is handling it is pretty common. Ideally she’d at least agree with you that it’s weird, but I suspect she’s seeing the whole thing as less personal and more transactional (and maybe wasn’t that bothered when she was the one being yelled at; people care about that to different degrees). 2. Can I make my manager deliver his own bad news? About six months ago, a new head of the department was hired and, overall, I like Perry. But there are also some challenges. For various reasons, I cannot leave the company at this time and need to work within this structure. I have an employee, Jimmy, who has worked hard to build his skills and, after a decade, is a trusted lead of our photography program. Prior to Perry being hired, Jimmy and I had worked over a few years to set him up for a “lead manager of photography” role. Titles have been important at our company and the “lead manager” title in particular opens up additional opportunities here. When Perry started, he had a different approach to titles and wanted to thin out the management ladder, reducing the ability of anyone to take on the lead manager title. He required instead that Jimmy move to a “team lead” title, though allowing the same planned pay increase (this worked because of wide salary bands). Because of all of the work we had put into getting him to this level, Jimmy was really disappointed when I had to tell him. However, I worked on a plan with him to continue to build the role and take on additional responsibilities to keep working in that direction. One piece of that plan was hiring an additional photographer onto his team so that Jimmy can continue to focus on higher level team strategy. Recently, Perry told me he has found a photographer he thinks we should hire into that role (and made it clear that Jimmy and I won’t have much option to say no). However, because of the photographer’s extensive experience (even more than I have), he said they would need to report to me instead of to Jimmy. I oversee all visual arts for the company and don’t manage the day to day projects of the photographers — that’s Jimmy’s role. So the new person would report to me, but take all of their day-to-day instruction and input from Jimmy, who would have responsibility but no authority. None of the other teams I oversee function in this setup. When I raised some resistance, Perry said that Jimmy would just need to deal because it would be good for the company. I haven’t told Jimmy this yet, but know I need to before we get to the interview stage. It’s going to devastate him. Every time he gets close to taking a step forward, Perry seems to push him back (though in my conversations with Perry, he likes Jimmy well enough and values his skills and never seems to have any major concerns when I ask). I wouldn’t be surprised if Jimmy starts looking around for a new job as a result of this, feeling like the new leadership has some sort of problem with him that they won’t name. Losing him would be a significant setback for my team and the company. I’m doubtful it’s really better for the company to get this experienced photographer if it means we lose a critical lead. Can I tell Perry that he’ll need to relay this update to Jimmy personally? There have been a few other smaller things like this with my other teams. I’m so tired of bearing bad news that, frankly, I don’t agree with and that I know is going to demoralize one of my strongest employees. You can ask Perry to deliver the news with you, but as Jimmy’s manager you shouldn’t insist on sitting it out entirely. Part of the job of management is helping to present and contextualize decisions from above you — and Jimmy deserves to have you there as part of the conversation, too. Trying to opt out risks undermining you with both of them. Maybe more importantly, though, you should first talk to Perry and lay out your concerns: that Jimmy has been working toward this role for years, you and he have been jointly planning for it and openly discussing it, the effect on his morale is likely to be significant, and you’re concerned you won’t be able to retain him for long as a result. Explain as clearly as you can what that would mean for your team and why you’re convinced it would hinder your work. And if you genuinely believe keeping Jimmy is more important than bringing in an experienced photographer, explain why (tying it as clearly as you can to work impacts, not to fairness). Also, though, beyond the current situation it sounds like you and Perry need to get more aligned on staffing plans. You don’t want to be making plans based on one staffing/promotion philosophy and then finding out after the fact that Perry sees it differently. (In this case, he came in after things were already in motion — but going forward it’s important to make sure you and he are on the same page as you’re talking to employees about potential career plans.) Related: how managers should communicate decisions they don’t agree with 3. Is it legal to volunteer at a vineyard? Last week I saw a flyer for a local vineyard looking for “healthy, strong volunteers” to come assist with harvesting for fun! I was horrified and thought of the news story of Chick-fil-A being cited for asking volunteers to work the drive-through. Some light googling turned up that vineyards looking for volunteers is enough of a thing that there are tourism articles listing places to do it. Could you help me understand: Is vineyard volunteering different or just under-enforced? And what makes volunteering via an internship different under FSLA? Vineyard volunteering is generally illegal; for-profit businesses cannot legally use volunteer labor and have to comply with minimum wage laws. But it’s still pretty common, just like volunteering at yoga studios (which is also generally illegal). In theory a vineyard could legally offer an unpaid internship, but to be legal it would need to meet the federal criteria for unpaid internships — the gist of which is that if it’s at a for-profit business (as opposed to a nonprofit), the intern needs to be the primary beneficiary of the arrangement, not the employer. The law looks at things like whether the internship provides significant educational benefits similar to what would be provided in an educational environment, whether they’re doing work that displaces paid employees, and “the extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.” 4. Applying for a job when you know the hiring manager I work in a small field where everybody knows each other. I’m applying for jobs and wondering how to handle it when I know the hiring manager. My uncle is my go-to person for professional advice, and he suggested that I reach out to the hiring manager after submitting my application to flag for them that I applied. Is that also what you would recommend? And do you recommend that even when applying for a job at a very small organization, where the hiring manager is almost certainly the person reviewing applications? Yep, if you know the hiring manager, you should apply and then email them to let them know you applied (and attach a copy of your resume and cover letter so they have it right there in front of them). The wording can be straightforward: “I wanted to let you know I applied for the X position on your team and would love to talk if you think it might be a good match.” And yes, no change if it’s a small organization. If you know the hiring manager, you message them directly that you applied. The post clients apologize to my boss for snapping at me, can I make my manager deliver his own bad news, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Jeffrey Pfeffer on authenticity: “The last thing a leader needs to be at crucial moments is ‘authentic’—at least if authentic means being both in touch with and exhibiting their true feelings. In fact, being authentic is pretty much the opposite of what leaders must do. Leaders do not need to be true to themselves. Rather, leaders need to be true to what the situation and what those around them want and need from them.” Source: Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time II. Steven Goldbach and Geoff Tuff on getting behind the interpretation: “People frequently speak to each other at the level of a conclusion rather than sharing the data or how they interpreted the data. As a result, when people disagree, they may be doing so simply because they aren’t looking at the foundational information that drew them to different conclusions. ” Source: Provoke: How Leaders Shape the Future by Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

Here's a hot take for you: I always kind of liked Clippy. Maybe it's because I was an only child, but as useless as the animated paperclip (officially known as "Clippit," by the way) was for advice, I did enjoy having a buddy on my desktop while I worked on essays. Now, Microsoft is bringing that same energy back, but for AI. And, finally, I think I understand the Clippy hate. Called Mico, the character is part of Copilot's fall release, which includes a dozen new updates. Some of these are what you'd expect by now: There's a new memory feature that ensures every new conversation doesn't start from scratch, and better integration with outside apps like Gmail or Google Calendar. But there's also a few more out-there ideas, like using Copilot Mode in Edge (which originally released in July) to pick up old browsing sessions right where you left off, even if you already closed all your tabs. By far, though, the most unexpected update is for Microsoft to lean back into its old animated mascot tendencies. Mico isn't the first AI companion, nor is it the most expressive. Grok will sell you on a whole anime girlfriend, if you're into that. But it does call back to a pedigree I once thought long buried (and now, I realize, maybe for good reason). Like Clippy, and unlike Grok, Mico leans more towards the cute side of things, and is just a small, smiling, disembodied blob. It's entirely optional, but the idea is that it works with Copilot's voice input to make you feel like you're being listened to, changing color and reacting based on the tone of the conversation. If that all sounds a bit vague, it's because, well, Mico (and the rest of the Copilot fall release) is still rolling out. I don't have access to it yet, so the best I can do is check out this video shared by Microsoft. The idea, though, is clearly to make AI seem friendlier. Microsoft announced Mico in a post titled "Human-centered AI," and made a point out of debuting the character alongside a new "real talk" mode, which the company says "challenges assumptions with care, adapts to your vibe, and helps conversations spark growth and connection." And I think that's where I finally start to raise my eyebrows a bit. On the plus side, in Microsoft's video, Mico doesn't appear to actually talk, so much as play simple animations. It's not going to build a parasocial relationship with you to the degree that Elon Musk's animated AI girlfriend, which comes with a romance bar to level up, does. On the other hand, though, it still feels like a way to lower my guard. Describing Mico to The Verge, corporate VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI Jacob Andreou said "All the technology fades into the background, and you just start talking to this cute orb and build this connection with it." But what does it mean to be "connected" to a face that is inherently tied to a product? Essentially, with Mico, you're now looking at a big smiley face whenever you interact with Microsoft's AI, even as it continues to try to look at your screen, or redirect your web traffic, or bloat your computer with features that, according to testing done by TechRadar, can hurt performance. Maybe, actually, I should have my guard up when interacting with AI and not letting the technology fade out of my mind. For instance, Mico's release comes a week after Microsoft announced an initiative to "Make every Windows 11 PC an AI PC." It's no wonder the company wants to give it a friendly face while it advertises features that take action for you based on simple voice commands. But am I comfortable with a future where I just tell my computer what I want, with little direct involvement, and expect the company that runs the cloud powering it to know what that means? To a degree, I can see the convenience in that. But it also leaves me at the whims of Microsoft, and it's hard not to see Mico's friendly smile as a way to spin that as a good thing, rather than as a loss in control. At least Clippy could look sarcastic. Maybe I'm overreacting, but in the same blog where Microsoft introduced Mico, it also debuted "Copilot for health" and "Learn Live." In the former, the company actively encourages you to take your health questions to its AI, while the latter supposedly lets Copilot act as a "voice-enabled Socratic tutor." Microsoft promises that Copilot for health, at least, pulls from credible sources like Harvard Health, but as AI continues to face security risks and accusations of model collapse, I remain skeptical about letting it aid in self-diagnosing or tutoring my kid. And perhaps that's on me. When I finally get Copilot's fall release, it could prove itself. But Mico is the exact type of mascot that's meant to dismantle skepticism while it's still healthy. It benefits Microsoft, but "corporate-centered AI" and "human-centered AI" aren't the same thing. At best, I think Mico will seem obnoxious, in the same way enforced positivity usually does. But at worst, it comes across as a first attempt to make your computer seem like a friend you make requests of, rather than a machine you own. While users fight for right-to-repair and warn about dropping tech literacy among people who spend all their time with computers, it's hard not to see the idea of Copilot as a friend rather than something a bit more sinister. The Clippy connections aren't just in my head, for what it's worth. Andreou also told The Verge that "Clippy walked so that we [Mico] could run." But as we approach Halloween, I'd like to remind Microsoft that sometimes, dead is better. View the full article

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. When Mark Zuckerberg described Meta's Horizon Worlds back in 2019, he seemed to think the virtual community hub would be a place for cool, tech-forward young adults to socialize and network. Six years later, it’s essentially a virtual daycare center; everywhere in virtual space is filled with kids. I don’t mean 16-year-olds or tweens, either—I’m talking young kids, so prevalent they’ve earned the nickname “squeakers” for their high-pitched voices and twitchy energy. So what’s a grown-ass adult who likes virtual reality but wants to avoid children to do? Here are some tips and strategies for finding VR places to game and/or socialize that are free of children. Sometimes. Avoiding kids in Horizon WorldsMeta’s rules for Horizon Worlds say kids as young as 10 can log in, and that’s mostly who does, but there are worlds designated as 13+ and 18+, too. This is mainly enforced through Meta’s own age-check systems and community moderation in the form of adults reporting kids if they see ‘em. There are also “tests” like this one: Credit: Stephen Johnson If your reach is too small: sorry, kid. Some worlds even have voice testing to bar anyone with a voice higher than Michael Jackson's. None of this is foolproof of course—kids will find a loophole—but 18+ worlds are reasonably kid-free, and are your best bet for finding fellow adults in Meta’s social hub. Adult-friendly worlds tend to revolve around things like poker, trivia, or stand-up comedy, and popular 18+ worlds like The Soapstone have active moderators, both of which keep the little ones away. Ironically, you can hijack Quest’s parental controls and use them to protect yourself from children by blocking kid-heavy zones and saving adult-heavy ones. Speaking of blocking, Meta has made it easy to instantly ignore and report people you don’t want to be around. You just hover your pointer over the person’s avatar to open their profile, select “options,” then choose “block” and “confirm.” In Horizon Worlds, blocked users appear as a gray, featureless avatar and you will not be able to hear each other. Avoiding kids in VRChatIf Horizon Worlds is the safe, corporate-approved virtual chat option, VRChat is the Wild West. It’s where the stranger corners of the metaverse collide, but if you stick to verified 18+ rooms or private invite-only instances, you can usually avoid excessive Roblox energy. VRChat weeds kids out with a mix of user moderation, reporting, and sheer chaos. The app doesn’t actually check ID to confirm users are 18. It relies on self-reported ages and community moderation, and some creators use extra barriers like requiring membership in a verified Discord server or having a certain “trust rank” (earned by spending time in-game and being a generally non-terrible person) before you can join their worlds. It’s not airtight, but it’s enough friction to keep out most of the literal children. Play games kids don't care aboutIf you want to avoid kids, avoid games with subjects that appeal to kids. Don’t play Gorilla Tag, Rec Room, or Super Rumble; and definitely steer clear of the public parts of Minecraft and Roblox. Instead, play games that kids would call "boring” or “lame.” What self-respecting child is going to download Racket Club to play virtual pickle ball? But Racket Club is an excellent game. Here’s a list of games to check out with adult energy: Walkabout Mini Golf: The low-stakes competition and camaraderie of virtual miniature golf is kryptonite for kiddos. Eleven Table Tennis: Like Racket Club, few kids are going to want to play this, but it's one of the best competitive online VR games. out there Demeo: Tabletop role-playing games take too much patience for most children. Breachers : This is a tactical shooter with grown-up teamwork energy. You might think that parents would keep their little darlings out of more violent, teen-rated games like this (and Population One or Ghosts of Tabor) but it’s hit or miss. Luckily, kids are usually bad at these games, so you can use ‘em to boost your K/D ratio. Play games you have to pay forWhile the above more adult-focused VR games are all over the map in terms of genre and vibe, they share something important: You can't play them for free, unlike Gorilla Tag and Roblox. Money is a great barrier to kid entry. Build your network of adultsWhen you do find some you like playing with, add them to your friend list so you can find them again next time. When you have enough pals, many games will let you set up private lobbies that require invite codes, so no one can just wander in and invade your child-free zone. Mute everyone else’s micsIf you don’t care about the social aspect of gaming, there’s nothing stopping you from just muting everyone else’s microphones. Although many children find ways to be annoying without speaking, especially if it’s a team game and you’re on the same side. When all else fails, embrace the chaosThe Metaverse may be crawling with kids, but with patience, mutes, and private lobbies, you can still find a tribe of tired adults trying escape reality in peace. But we're badly outnumbered. There are so many children in VR that you are going to run across them, no matter what you do. Sometimes the best way to handle it is to lean into the chaos. Obviously report kids in restricted spaces, but kids in “not-technically 18+” virtual spaces are a hallmark of the hobby. And they are the future after all, so, if you have the energy, try to provide positive role-modeling and patience. You're in their world, after all. View the full article

Not content with having hundreds of millions of users peppering ChatGPT with queries and conversations every day, OpenAI wants to further embed itself in our digital lives. This week the company released Atlas, an AI-laden web browser it hopes will challenge incumbents and be adopted at scale. Atlas is one of a raft of AI-powered browsers that have been unleashed on the market in recent months. Perplexity, the AI answer engine, has Comet. Opera, a smaller European competitor to the likes of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, released Neon, which has its own AI functionalities. OpenAI stands a better chance than most of dislodging Google Chrome, which is used by around 70 percent of all web users, according to Statcounter. But it’s still hard to see how Atlas will eat into Chrome’s supremacy. “It’s hard to get people to change browsers,” says Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Open Markets Institute who has investigated how users choose different digital services. Of course, OpenAI has good reason to feel confident. ChatGPT became a success within a matter of weeks thanks to its novel interactivity. OpenAI followed it up earlier this year with its controversial Sora 2 video generator, which gained a million users in five days. But for the average person, web browsers are decidedly less sexy. Unless you’re extremely techy, the reality is that a web browser is a utilitarian piece of software, designed to get you from point A to point B: From one website to another. Provided it does that without destroying your device in the process, most people are content with how it works. Over Statcounter’s 15-year history of recording web-browser market share, two browsers have dominated the market. Until 2012, that browser was Internet Explorer, as it had been since around the millennium, when it held a market share of between between an 80 and 95 percent. But as competitors began offering better features and higher service quality, Internet Explorer’s global dominance began to fade. In Europe, demand for Internet Explorer took a hit following a 2009 agreement with the European Commission requiring Microsoft to offer a “browser choice” screen to users, letting them know that there were alternatives to Internet Explorer. While the company did not immediately comply, around the time they began implementing it, in 2011 and 2012, they were supplanted by Google Chrome. Those who do differ from the mean when it comes to browser choice often do so for moral reasons—preferring, for instance, DuckDuckGo’s browser because of opposition to what they see as Google’s overly draconian data collection on its users—or a personal preference for a different type of browser. “The web-browser market consists of the three big browsers that ship as default on their respective operating systems. Beyond that, there is a vivid market of people who seek a different and better web experience,” says Jan Standal, vice president at Opera. But, barring egregious performance issues, most people stick with whatever they’re given. I personally hopped around various browsers between 15 and 20 years ago because they offered then-revolutionary tools like tabbed browsing, better multimedia support, or the ability to customize how they worked with extensions. But today’s crop of browsers are much of a muchness: Even the vaunted AI integration that OpenAI puts at the core of its marketing for Atlas is common now in many browsers. If a web browser works well enough, then people tend to stick with it. That’s been true for decades. Internet Explorer was the market leader for years up until the early 2010s because it was bundled into the Windows operating system as the default browser, with no immediate indication to users that there were alternatives. Ryan points out that Atlas has one thing going for it—the perceived increasing unreliability of Chrome. Many users complain about its CPU-draining draw on processing power, and the way its tabs can quickly use up a device’s memory. “As Chrome gets worse, the incentive goes up,” Ryan says. But he points out that as the general worries around AI’s environmental impact mount, users may think twice about adopting a browser so reliant on AI. “As unease about AI data centers causing blackouts and water shortages grows, is this really the browser people will choose to move to?” he asks. View the full article

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Walk through any park these days and you might spot them: people sporting bulky weighted vests, adding 10, 20, even 30 pounds to their morning stroll. Scroll through social media and you'll find countless influencers touting weighted vests as the secret to building unbreakable bones and sculpted muscles. Many videos have gained hundreds of thousands of views with claims that weighted vests will "transform your body"—a claim that, to be fair, is par for the course in any fitness trend. "Weighted vest walks" are popular enough to be parodied, and even if I find those videos a little mean-spirited, they do point to an important question: Does this trendy fitness accessory actually deliver on its promises? Let's dig into what science really says about weighted vests—and what they can (and can't) do for your body. The claim: Weighted vests can build bone density or stop bone lossI can see how this theory sounds legit. Bones respond to mechanical stress by becoming stronger—it's why astronauts lose bone density in zero gravity, and why weight-bearing exercise is recommended for osteoporosis prevention. So logically, strapping on extra weight should signal your bones to bulk up, right? Not exactly. According to Dr. Leah Verebes, a professor at the Touro School of Health Science's DPT program, the reality is more nuanced. "Some research, particularly among elderly persons and postmenopausal women, suggests that the use of a weighted vest while exercising, or plain walking, can slow bone loss or improve bone density modestly—especially in the legs and hips," she says. However, the gains are far from dramatic. Verebes notes that "results are variable and gains are minimal." Traditional resistance training like weightlifting and higher-impact activities like jogging or jumping produce significantly better results. A 2023 review found that while weighted vests may help maintain bone mineral density, the overall quality of evidence supporting this benefit remains low to moderate. Weighted vests can help maintain bone strength, particularly for people who can't tolerate high-impact exercise due to joint issues or other limitations. But they're not a substitute for proper resistance training or impact activities. The claim: Wearing a weighted vest builds muscle and increases strength.Here's where expectations need serious adjustment. Yes, adding weight to your body does increase the resistance during bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and step-ups. And yes, this can contribute to improvements in muscular endurance and modest strength gains. But there's a catch. "Vest walking also increases caloric expenditure and activates muscles more than regular walking, but the weight is typically too low to induce significant muscle growth," Verebes says. Most weighted vests are designed to be 5-15% of your body weight—enough to make your workout harder, but not enough to trigger substantial muscle building. Think of it this way: If you weigh 150 pounds, a 10% weighted vest adds just 15 pounds. That's less resistance than you'd use for a basic strength training exercise. "Significant muscle growth continues to require progressive resistance training with more substantial weights," Verebes says. So, weighted vests can intensify your workout and improve muscular endurance, but they won't replace a proper strength training program if your goal is building significant muscle mass. The risks nobody's posting aboutWhile social media showcases people effortlessly crushing workouts in weighted vests, the reality is that adding load to your body comes with real risks. Verebes says that "too much excess weight can cause strain on joints, especially the knees, hips, and lower back." The increased load can also impair balance and increase fall risk, a particular concern for older adults who might be using vests specifically to improve bone health. Perhaps most concerning is the risk of overuse injuries when people add weight too quickly. "Professionals recommend starting with a light vest—roughly 5–10% body weight—and adding to it gradually as strength and tolerance improve," Verebes says. What actually works for building strong bones and musclesIf you're serious about improving your musculoskeletal health, Verebes offers evidence-based recommendations: Prioritize resistance training. Weightlifting or using resistance bands remain the most effective methods for keeping bones and muscles strong. Progressive overload—gradually increasing the weight you lift—is key to continued improvement. Include impact and weight-bearing exercise. Walking, hiking, stair climbing, and jumping all provide bone stimulation. Activities that involve impact force your bones to adapt and strengthen. Support exercise with proper nutrition. You can't out-train a poor diet. Adequate protein, calcium, and vitamin D are essential for maintaining bone and muscle health. Without proper nutrition, even the best exercise program will fall short. So, should you use a weighted vest?Look, weighted vests aren't worthless. They can add challenge to bodyweight exercises and walking routines, providing modest improvements in muscle endurance and bone maintenance, particularly for older adults or those unable to do high-impact activities. But as Verebes says, "they are not a shortcut to get to stronger bones and bigger muscles overnight. For significant improvements, regular resistance training and impact exercise remain the gold standard." The bottom line? Weighted vests are a tool, not a miracle solution. If you do decide to try a weighted vest, start conservatively with 5-10% of your body weight, add load gradually, and pay attention to how your joints respond. And crucially: Always speak with your doctor first, especially if you have existing joint problems, balance issues, or bone density concerns. View the full article

The FBI dropped a bombshell indictment on Thursday, announcing arrests and criminal charges against dozens of people allegedly involved with gambling and rigging NBA games. The whole thing involved not only some of basketball’s biggest names, but also the mob. At a press conference in New York, FBI Director Kash Patel announced “a historic arrest across a wide-sweeping criminal enterprise that envelopes both the NBA and “La Cosa Nostra,” more commonly known as the Sicilian Mob or Mafia. Among some of the high-profile individuals indicted are Chauncey Billups, an NBA hall-of-fame player and current head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, and Terry Rozier, who currently plays for the Miami Heat. Damon Jones, another former NBA player, was also arrested and indicted. A statement from the NBA, per CNBC, says that both Billups and Rozier have been placed on “immediate leave from their teams,” and that the league “will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. The indictments arose from two fraud-related investigations that included sports betting and underground poker games. In the first instance, it appears that insider information related to player injuries (including one involving an injury to LeBron James) was leaked to sports bettors, effectively giving those bettors an advantage—an injury to James, for instance, could impact his level of play, and turn the outcome of a game. The underground poker games, on the other hand, sound like a scheme Tony Soprano’s crew cooked up at The Bing. “As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., in a statement. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contacts lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big. Today’s indictment and arrests sounds the final buzzer for these cheaters.” It’s a huge shakeup in the world of professional sports, particularly as sports betting has become increasingly mainstream in recent years, and has been legalized in several states and jurisdictions. Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, data from Goldman Sachs shows that, as of last year, it’s become a $10 billion industry. Big sports betting companies—such as FanDuel, DraftKings, and others—have also become seemingly synonymous with names like Wynn, MGM, and Caesars. It’s also another blow to the NBA, which was already contending with the news that superstar Kawhi Leonard, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, was using an investment firm to circumvent the league’s salary cap—an investigation that’s also snared Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, and has ties to entertainers like Drake and Leonardo DiCaprio View the full article

Salesforce and Nvidia chiefs helped lobby against a ‘surge’ to the cityView the full article

This is the second acquisition deal Old Republic has been involved in this year, after selling its title production business in January. View the full article

It's about to get a whole lot harder for catfishers on Tinder. Starting today, new users in California will have to scan their faces while setting up their accounts to ensure that they're both real and that they match their profile photos. Called Face Check, the new mandatory feature is the first step in a new initiative from Tinder's parent company Match Group, which says the goal is to help reduce "spam, scam attempts, or [bots] operating automated fake profiles." When signing up, users will need to complete a "liveness check," during which they'll take a video selfie from various angles. After that, the app will compare the selfie to profile pictures also uploaded during setup, and if it determines that they match, the user will get a "Photo Verified badge" and they'll be able to finish making their account. Tinder also says the system can determine if a picture has been used across multiple accounts to help prevent impersonation. While Face Check is new to the United States, it's already been launched abroad in Colombia, Canada, Australia, India, and "several countries across Southeast Asia." According to Tinder, "when coupled with other recent safety initiatives," Face Check has led to an over 60% decrease in users exposed to "bad actors," and an over 40% decrease in reports of bad actors. Face Check's debut also coincides with the rise of AI image generators, and while the company's announcement post doesn't explicitly call out AI, it's not hard to see how it could prove handy against bots using generated photos to pretend to be someone who doesn't even exist. Traditional catfishing methods, such as using stock photos, can be detected with diligent reverse image searching, but AI's ability to quickly create novel, believable, and specifically tailored results has made it harder than ever to know whether you're speaking to a genuine human online. At the same time, as other apps begin to collect personal information like government IDs, there is a privacy concern. Tinder says that Face Check only uses your video selfie to complete the verification process, and deletes it shortly after review, although it does generate a "non-reversible, encrypted face map" that is stored to "help verify new photos, detect fraud, and prevent duplicate accounts." As someone who met my husband on Twitter (RIP), I'll leave it up to you whether that's worth it. Have you tried just getting real good at posting instead? For now, though, you might have to wait a bit until Face Check actually makes its way to you. First, Tinder is not forcing existing accounts to use Face Check, which is why I assume it's using a badge to indicate the accounts that have gone through Face Check, even though it's mandatory during setup. Second, Face Check is rolling out slowly. Tinder says that it will come to additional states "in the coming months," although the company did not provide an exact timeline. As for other apps, Match Group (which also owns OKCupid, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish, among others) says it will extend Face Check to additional platforms in 2026. View the full article

We've been trying to get a handle on this although it is not easy. Here's what we know going all the way back to the first launches of 2023. The post What service providers across the global have launched Wi-Fi 7? Here’s our status report. appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Following OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Atlas, software company Search Atlas flagged a major issue: the AI-powered browser can interact with websites in a way that looks indistinguishable from real human users, including clicking on paid advertisements. Why we care. Businesses running digital ad campaigns could unknowingly pay for clicks generated by AI agents, not real prospects. The technology also threatens to corrupt analytics data, making it harder to measure genuine traffic and user behavior. The problem. ChatGPT Atlas is built on Google Chrome, so ad networks and websites perceive its activity as a legitimate user. Every AI click on sponsored posts can trigger ad spend just like a real visitor. Website metrics may become unreliable, affecting marketing decisions and ROI. Most platforms ban bot traffic, but current detection methods cannot flag AI agents like ChatGPT Atlas. What to do. Look for unusual traffic spikes or patterns in your analytics, as well as odd click behavior or declining conversion rates. If irregular activity is detected, inform marketing teams and ad providers. Industry implications. Search Atlas founder Manick Bhan warned this could push platforms like Google and Meta to develop new standards for distinguishing human traffic from AI agents. He predicts the rise of AI-driven agents operating in the background will make separating human and AI activity critical for accurate measurement and protecting ad budgets. Bottom line. As AI browsers gain adoption, brands may face hidden costs and unreliable data unless new detection tools and standards are developed – signaling both risk and opportunity for innovation in ad measurement and traffic verification. View the full article