ResidentialBusiness

Calculated display of self-confidence is intended to signal it is still leading the charge to superintelligenceView the full article

Google will update its Misrepresentation policy specific to the Dishonest Pricing Practices. Specifically, this will require advertisers to disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will incur before and after purchase, and clarify any false or misleading impressions of the cost of a product or service. What is changing. Google will update the policy specific to these changes: Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will bear before and after purchase. Pricing practices that create a false or misleading impression of the cost of a product or service, leading to inflated or unexpected charges are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: Bait-and-switch tactics: Deceptively advertising a product or service at an enticing, often unrealistic, low price to lure customers, with no genuine intent to sell it, only to pressure them into buying a different, typically more expensive or inferior, alternative once they’re engaged Price Exploitation: Exploiting individuals in vulnerable situations or under duress, leveraging their immediate need or lack of reasonable alternatives to demand a payment significantly higher than the prevailing market rate. For example, a locksmith threatening to leave the customer unless a cost above what was quoted is paid on the spot Promoting apps as free when a user must pay to install the app Promoting a free trial without clearly stating the trial period or that the user will be automatically charged at the end of the trial Violation timeframe. Google will begin enforcing the policy update on October 28, 2025, with full enforcement ramping up over approximately 4 weeks, the company said. If you do get a violation, it will not lead to immediate account suspension without prior warning. A warning will be issued, at least 7 days, prior to any suspension of your account. Recommendation. Google recommends that you review this policy update to determine whether or not any of your ads fall in scope of the policy. If they do fall within the scope, then remove those ads before October 28, 2025, Google added. Why we care. Make sure to review any ads that may fall within the scope of this policy change. You do not want those ads to have a negative impact on your campaigns and overall ad accounts. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, wrote that this is a “minor update” to the overall policy. View the full article

Remember the letter-writer who was covering two full-time jobs and her boss wouldn’t help? It turns out that she solved the problem herself before I printed my answer. Here’s the update. Your advice was lovely and I hope it helps people who are in the same position as I was. As an update – Things got worse for 2-3 more months. I did have conversations with her where I explicitly clarified I could not do the workload she was requesting, and every time she would acknowledge it but continue to act shocked and say degrading things to me when the workload was not completed. I took over the hiring after some pushing, and screened a number of applicants over the phone and hosted in person interviews for the replacement. A total of three people were hired over the course of a month, all of which she proceeded to retract the job offer from prior to their start date and refused to elaborate on why. One replacement went through two interviews with me, followed by THREE MORE with Natalie (I can’t imagine why they kept showing up, to be honest) only to get absolutely nowhere. To my surprise, a local business I have loved since I was a child opened a marketing position and I interviewed for it, and was offered the job. I put in my two weeks with Natalie, and she was in absolute shock and said to me in the rudest tone possible, “I thought you were happy here?! We’ve been working so hard to get the replacement in!” and she spent the next two weeks in complete confusion as to why I was leaving. She also ignored my multiple offers throughout the two weeks to have a farewell meeting in which I would give her all info and documentation needed to have a smooth transition for the company. I ended up writing this information out in a document, which I provided her with. During the last half hour of my last ever shift, she FINALLY decided to have that meeting. We got five minutes in before her friend FaceTimed her, and I spent the rest of the meeting watching her chat with her friend about her new dog. I handed over my documents and left! Fast forward about a month – I started getting voicemails and texts and calls from a new hire (funny how quickly they got hired once I was gone!) on their personal phone number, saying they needed access to my personal gmail account. I clarified very politely that there was nothing on there work-related, all documents had been passed over, and they had access to everything they needed. I have no idea what they would possibly want with my personal google account. Natalie ended up texting me herself, threatening legal action and saying because I used my account on my phone in her building it was legally hers. I told her I’d be happy to hear from her lawyer about it, but otherwise I’d be ignoring that insane request! I blocked her and never heard back. I have been a full time marketing director for months now at a company I love that values my talents. I am thrilled to be out of my former situation! Thank you for all of your advice, your site helped me greatly throughout my time workout in that hell-hole. The post update: I’m covering 2 full-time jobs and my boss won’t help appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

In a rural corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the world’s largest data centers, a $10 billion behemoth as big as 70 football fields that will consume more power in a day than the entire city of New Orleans at the peak of summer. While the colossal project is impossible to miss in Richland Parish, a farming community of 20,000 residents, not everything is visible, including how much the social media giant will pay toward the more than $3 billion in new electricity infrastructure needed to power the facility. Watchdogs have warned that in the rush to capitalize on the AI-driven data center boom, some states are allowing massive tech companies to direct expensive infrastructure projects with limited oversight. Mississippi lawmakers allowed Amazon to bypass regulatory approval for energy infrastructure to serve two data centers it is spending $10 billion to build. In Indiana, a utility is proposing a data center-focused subsidiary that operates outside normal state regulations. And while Louisiana says it has added consumer safeguards, it lags behind other states in its efforts to insulate regular power consumers from data center-related costs. Mandy DeRoche, an attorney for the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, says there is less transparency due to confidentiality agreements and rushed approvals. “You can’t follow the facts, you can’t follow the benefits or the negative impacts that could come to the service area or to the community,” DeRoche said. Private deals for public power supply Under contract with Meta, power company Entergy agreed to build three gas-powered plants that would produce 2,262 megawatts — equivalent to a fifth of Entergy’s current power supply in Louisiana. The Public Service Commission approved Meta’s infrastructure plan in August after Entergy agreed to bolster protections to prevent a spike in residential rates. Nonetheless, nondisclosure agreements conceal how much Meta will pay. Consumer advocates tried but failed to compel Meta to provide sworn testimony, submit to discovery and face cross-examination during a regulatory review. Regulators reviewed Meta’s contract with Entergy, but were barred from revealing details. Meta did not address AP’s questions about transparency, while Louisiana’s economic development agency and Entergy say nondisclosure agreements are standard to protect sensitive commercial data. Davante Lewis — the only one of five public service commissioners to vote against the plan — said he’s still unclear how much electricity the center will use, if gas-powered plants are the most economical option nor if it will create the promised 500 jobs. “There’s certain information we should know and need to know but don’t have,” Lewis said. Additionally, Meta is exempt from paying sales tax under a 2024 Louisiana law that the state acknowledges could lead to “tens of millions of dollars or more each year” in lost revenue. Meta has agreed to fund about half the cost of building the power plants over 15 years, including cost overruns, but not maintenance and operation, said Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a consumer advocacy group. Public Service Commission Jean-Paul Coussan insists there will be “very little” impact on ratepayers. But watchdogs warn Meta could pull out of or not renew its contract, leaving the public to pay for the power plants over the rest of their 30-year life span, and all grid users are expected to help pay for the $550 million transmission line serving Meta’s facility. Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard University’s Electricity Law Initiative, said tech companies should be required to pay “every penny so the public is not left holding the bag.” How is this tackled in other states? Elsewhere, tech companies are not being given such leeway. More than a dozen states have taken steps to protect households and business ratepayers from paying for rising electricity costs tied to energy-hungry data centers. Pennsylvania’s utilities commission is drafting a model rate structure to insulate customers from rising costs related to data centers. New Jersey’s utilities regulators are studying whether data centers cause “unreasonable” cost increases for other users. Oregon passed legislation this year ordering utilities regulators to develop new, and likely higher, power rates for data centers. And in June, Texas implemented what it calls a ‘kill switch’ law empowering grid operators to order data centers to reduce their electrical load during emergencies. Locals have mixed feelings Some Richland Parish residents fear a boom-and-bust cycle once construction ends. Others expect a boost in school and health care funding. Meta said it plans to invest in 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy in Louisiana and $200 million in water and road infrastructure in Richland Parish. “We don’t come from a wealthy parish and the money is much needed,” said Trae Banks, who runs a drywall business that has tripled in size since Meta arrived. In the nearby town of Delhi, Mayor Jesse Washington believes the data center will eventually have a positive impact on his community of 2,600. But for now, the construction traffic frustrates residents and property prices are skyrocketing as developers try to house thousands of construction workers. More than a dozen low-income families were evicted from a trailer park whose owners are building housing for incoming Meta workers, Washington says. “We have a lot of concerned people — they’ve put hardship on a lot of people in certain areas here,” the mayor said. “I just want to see people from Delhi benefit from this.” Brook reported from New Orleans. Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. —Jack Brook and Sophie Bates, Associated Press/Report for America View the full article

Top officials from across political spectrum warn president’s move would jeopardise central bank’s independence View the full article

Intuit has made significant strides in its development of GenOS, the company’s Generative AI Operating System, with enhancements designed to revolutionize the way small businesses manage their financial needs. In just 90 days, Intuit has refined its GenOS platform to support a new wave of agentic AI experiences that promise to empower users by automating everyday tasks and streamlining workflows. The latest innovations within GenOS include the introduction of custom-trained Financial Intuit large language models (LLMs), which are tailored to deliver personalized financial experiences. These models boast 5% improved accuracy and a staggering 50% reduction in latency for various accounting tasks compared to traditional off-the-shelf offerings. This means faster and more reliable service for small business owners when they need to access financial insights or manage their accounts. “By rapidly advancing our GenOS in record time, we’ve dramatically stepped up our pace of innovation to further unleash the power of data, AI, and human intelligence on our platform to become the ‘system of intelligence’ for our customers,” said Alex Balazs, Intuit’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. This innovation is aimed at making financial processes more manageable and efficient for small and mid-sized businesses. One of the standout features is the integrated “expert-in-the-loop” capability, which connects AI agents seamlessly with human experts for tasks that require additional oversight. Whether a small business owner encounters an unusual transaction or a complex tax situation, they can effortlessly transition from AI assistance to human guidance, improving confidence and accuracy in financial decision-making. Intuit has also enhanced the Agent Starter Kit, equipping developers with tools to measure and optimize agent performance. For small businesses, this translates to more effective AI solutions that adapt to their unique needs, ultimately providing a better customer experience. As Intuit rolls out additional AI agents for its QuickBooks Online platform, small businesses can expect improved versions of agents focused on payroll management and project oversight. This capability allows growing enterprises to tackle more complex tasks, positioning them for rapid scalability. However, while the benefits are compelling, small business owners should consider a few challenges as they integrate these technologies. The implementation of advanced AI can involve an initial learning curve, requiring time for teams to adapt to new systems. Additionally, the reliance on AI for critical tasks raises questions around data privacy and security. Intuit emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI and data governance, adhering to industry-leading practices to safeguard customer information. In tandem with the deployment of these AI tools, Intuit has built a robust data infrastructure that supports 625,000 customer attributes for each small business. This extensive dataset allows for highly customized service, offering insights specific to each company’s financial health. The promise of achieving 60 billion machine learning predictions daily hints at increased personalization for users, although the actual experience may vary based on individual business contexts. For small business owners, leveraging Intuit’s latest GenOS advancements could significantly enhance operational efficiency, drive financial intelligence, and ultimately contribute to growth. As they evaluate these cutting-edge tools, it’s crucial for entrepreneurs to stay informed on the dynamic nature of AI solutions and be prepared for the necessary investments in training and integration. With continuous developments in AI technology, Intuit’s commitment to creating a “system of intelligence” could define the future of financial management for small businesses. To learn more about these advancements, visit the original press release here. This article, "Intuit Unveils Advanced GenOS to Enhance AI Experiences for Millions" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Intuit has made significant strides in its development of GenOS, the company’s Generative AI Operating System, with enhancements designed to revolutionize the way small businesses manage their financial needs. In just 90 days, Intuit has refined its GenOS platform to support a new wave of agentic AI experiences that promise to empower users by automating everyday tasks and streamlining workflows. The latest innovations within GenOS include the introduction of custom-trained Financial Intuit large language models (LLMs), which are tailored to deliver personalized financial experiences. These models boast 5% improved accuracy and a staggering 50% reduction in latency for various accounting tasks compared to traditional off-the-shelf offerings. This means faster and more reliable service for small business owners when they need to access financial insights or manage their accounts. “By rapidly advancing our GenOS in record time, we’ve dramatically stepped up our pace of innovation to further unleash the power of data, AI, and human intelligence on our platform to become the ‘system of intelligence’ for our customers,” said Alex Balazs, Intuit’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. This innovation is aimed at making financial processes more manageable and efficient for small and mid-sized businesses. One of the standout features is the integrated “expert-in-the-loop” capability, which connects AI agents seamlessly with human experts for tasks that require additional oversight. Whether a small business owner encounters an unusual transaction or a complex tax situation, they can effortlessly transition from AI assistance to human guidance, improving confidence and accuracy in financial decision-making. Intuit has also enhanced the Agent Starter Kit, equipping developers with tools to measure and optimize agent performance. For small businesses, this translates to more effective AI solutions that adapt to their unique needs, ultimately providing a better customer experience. As Intuit rolls out additional AI agents for its QuickBooks Online platform, small businesses can expect improved versions of agents focused on payroll management and project oversight. This capability allows growing enterprises to tackle more complex tasks, positioning them for rapid scalability. However, while the benefits are compelling, small business owners should consider a few challenges as they integrate these technologies. The implementation of advanced AI can involve an initial learning curve, requiring time for teams to adapt to new systems. Additionally, the reliance on AI for critical tasks raises questions around data privacy and security. Intuit emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI and data governance, adhering to industry-leading practices to safeguard customer information. In tandem with the deployment of these AI tools, Intuit has built a robust data infrastructure that supports 625,000 customer attributes for each small business. This extensive dataset allows for highly customized service, offering insights specific to each company’s financial health. The promise of achieving 60 billion machine learning predictions daily hints at increased personalization for users, although the actual experience may vary based on individual business contexts. For small business owners, leveraging Intuit’s latest GenOS advancements could significantly enhance operational efficiency, drive financial intelligence, and ultimately contribute to growth. As they evaluate these cutting-edge tools, it’s crucial for entrepreneurs to stay informed on the dynamic nature of AI solutions and be prepared for the necessary investments in training and integration. With continuous developments in AI technology, Intuit’s commitment to creating a “system of intelligence” could define the future of financial management for small businesses. To learn more about these advancements, visit the original press release here. This article, "Intuit Unveils Advanced GenOS to Enhance AI Experiences for Millions" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Former President Bill Clinton opened the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative Wednesday with a list of things that worry him. “It would be irresponsible, almost jarring, for us to take off and not acknowledge the traumatic rise in political violence that we’ve seen in our country,” Clinton said about the shooting deaths of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. “We’re pulling further and further away from one another.” Clinton said he worried about the dismantling of domestic and foreign assistance programs, “the war on science and public health,” cuts to education, trade wars, and being “at risk of losing our freedom of speech.” “We’re trying to do everything we can to provide a counterweight to a lot of the negative things that have taken place in the last several months,” Clinton said of the two-day conference, which shifted its format to create working groups to tackle many of the issues he outlined. The conference’s biggest announcement on Wednesday was a partnership between the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Unitaid, and Wits RHI that will provide Gilead Sciences’ HIV prevention drug lenacapavir in 120 low- and middle-income countries for $40 a person each year, starting in 2027. The Gates Foundation announced a similar agreement with the Indian manufacturer Hetero Labs. Clinton said the move was partially in response to foreign aid cuts from President Donald The President’s administration, which he said could lead to more than 6 million more HIV cases and potentially 4 million more deaths in Africa. In July, GOP leaders stopped an additional cut of $400 million to PEPFAR, a program combating HIV/AIDS credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then-President George W. Bush. Points of Light Chairman Neil Bush said PEPFAR and the way it has helped so many in Africa has always been a point of family pride. And though he hasn’t talked to his brother, former President George W. Bush, about the new program announced at the Clinton Global Initiative, Neil Bush said he sees it as a way philanthropy can help fill in gaps. “It seems like America’s withdrawal from the world is having terrible ramifications, in my personal view,” he said, adding that Points of Light hopes to increase the help it provides through its ambitious plan to double the number of volunteers in America in the next 10 years. Activist and philanthropist Abigail Disney urged Clinton Global Initiative attendees to be more aggressive in their giving and encouraged them to support cultural movements instead of programs. “I don’t care where you are on the political spectrum — there is mistrust, there’s fear and there is anger, and we should all be very alarmed,” Disney said. “And I hang around big philanthropies these days and I don’t see any alarm. I don’t think that’s because they’re not alarmed. I think that’s because they’re afraid. Everybody’s afraid.” However, President Clinton said that the Clinton Global Initiative, which launched in 2005, has always looked to create solutions. “If we hold our heads high, keep our eyes and ears open and deal with others with an outstretched hand and not a clenched fist, we’ve got a chance to keep hope alive,” he said. “We have the chance to make a meaningful difference in other people’s lives.” _____ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. —Glen Gamboa, AP business writer View the full article

Transitioning isn’t always smooth sailing. By Jackie Meyer Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article

Transitioning isn’t always smooth sailing. By Jackie Meyer Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article

New technology advances reasoning capabilities in general-purpose machines in push to make them more useful View the full article

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, which means many entrepreneurs’ minds are turning towards beach getaways, lakeside camping trips, or lazy days at the pool with the kids. These kinds of water-based activities are a great way to relax and stay cool. But according to fascinating research in neuroscience, swimming isn’t just a fun vacation activity. It actually has special brain benefits that other forms of exercise just can’t match. Not just another form of exercise It will surprise exactly no one that exercise is good for your brain. (If this is news to you, here are some studies for you to get up to speed.) Swimming is, obviously, a form of exercise, so therefore it’s good for your brain too. And that’s the end of it, right? Not exactly. Swimming is a perfectly excellent way to get the generalized benefits of more movement in your life if that’s your preferred way to work out. But psychologists and neuroscientists have uncovered a variety of unique benefits that swimming seems to provide. 1. Swimming reduces stress. In fact, the benefits of swimming start before you even stick a toe in the water. Psychologists have discovered that even just looking at a beach seems to help us calm down and let go of stress. “Recent experiments show that after just two minutes of viewing water outdoors, blood pressure and heart rate drop. It’s more calming to look at a lake, pool, or stream than trees or grass. And wider bodies of water bring more tranquility,” explained star psychologist Adam Grant in a recent edition of his newsletter, Granted. Evolutionary psychologists suggest this may be because marine environments offered our hunter gatherer ancestors a rich source of food and a clear view of incoming predators. Whatever the reason though, the effect is clear. The human brain seems wired to love the beach. 2. Swimming makes your brain work better. You might spend time by the pool or lake in order to forget the stresses of your working life. But while you’re leaving your stresses behind, you’re actually also boosting your memory in general. For one study, neuroscientists forced rats to do daily laps in a mini rat pool and then tested their memories. “After just seven days of swim training, researchers saw improvements in both short- and long-term memories, based on a reduction in the errors rats made each day,” reports neuroscientist Seena Mathew. And it’s not just rats. Studies on whether humans see the same cognitive benefits are ongoing but initial results are promising. One showed kids recalled a list of words much more accurately after swimming, compared to when they colored or did CrossFit-like exercise. Another study of older adults “concluded that swimmers had improved mental speed and attention compared with non-swimmers,” Mathew says. 3. Swimming boosts mental health. If your holiday involves swimming outdoors under the sky, you can expect to see additional benefits. A large recent global survey of “wild swimmers”—i.e., those who take their dips in open air pools or natural environments—found that mixing swimming and nature delivered a particularly large boost to people’s well-being. Experiment after experiment shows nature just seems to make humans happier. But the researchers behind the study think something else is driving much of the increase in mental health experienced by wild swimmers. “Our study suggests that the key to this effect lies in experiencing feelings of autonomy and competence—freedom and mastery over the swimmer’s environment—two factors that are strongly linked to well-being,” explained Lewis Elliot, one of the researchers behind the findings. Swimming outdoors makes us feel free and confident. And freedom and confidence make us happier. Time to hit the beach or pool? All of which adds up to a simple message for entrepreneurs: If you’re daydreaming of the beach, pool, or lake this Memorial Day weekend, maybe you should follow your impulse to plan that trip. You already know swimming is a great way to unwind. New neuroscience reveals it is also apparently a form of exercise with special brain benefits. Spending some time in the water this summer is likely to make you calmer, smarter, happier, and more confident. So maybe it’s time to dig out that bathing suit. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Strap in: Another Amazon Prime Day is around the corner. This fall event is technically called "Prime Big Deal Days" and will run from Tuesday, October 7 to Wednesday, October 8. We'll keep you updated with all the best deals leading up to and all throughout the mega-sale. But to take advantage of everything Prime Day has to offer, you’re going to need to be a Prime Member. Millions of Amazon Prime users currently pay $14.99 per month or $139 per year for their memberships, though other plans cost less if you qualify. For example, the new Amazon Prime Student program allows young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 to get all of the Prime perks for half the cost—$7.49 per month or $69 annually. For frequent Amazon shoppers, Prime can pay for itself quickly—mostly thanks to the shipping perks. But it may not make financial sense for infrequent users. If you’re on the fence about signing up for (or renewing) your Prime membership, here’s how to judge whether or not the benefits outweigh the $139 cost for you. The benefits of Amazon PrimeBefore we do the math, here are the main perks of Amazon Prime that make it worth the cost for so many users. Free two-day shipping on millions of items: This is the main draw of Prime. If you shop frequently on Amazon and want quick free delivery, the shipping perks alone may make Prime worthwhile. Prime members also get free same-day delivery on over 3 million items in eligible areas. The ultra-fast (and morally dubious) shipping usually costs $9.99 per order for non-members. Access to Prime Video: Prime includes unlimited streaming of movies, TV shows, and Amazon Originals. If you ask me, the content library isn’t as robust as Netflix or Hulu, but could still add value. Other Prime benefits: You also get Amazon Music for streaming songs, Prime Reading for ebooks and magazines, Prime gaming, free photo storage, and discounts/deals. Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card: Cardholders get 5% back on Amazon/Whole Foods purchases. So Prime members who use this card extensively can earn rewards that offset the annual fee. Number of users: Prime benefits can be shared with other members of your household. The more users, the more value per person. Doing the mathLet's say you don't really care about Prime Video, Amazon Music, or free e-books, and just want to know if you'll save money you would otherwise be spending on shipping. For non-Prime members, Amazon requires a minimum order of $35 to qualify for free shipping on eligible items. Otherwise, average shipping costs an Amazon aren't publicly listed. For our purposes, I messed around on my non-shared, non-Prime Amazon account to find that shipping costs typically run around six dollars per item. Of course, shipping costs will vary depending on the item and how quickly you want it, but let’s compare the cost to the appeal of Prime’s two-day shipping option. So, we have the cost of individual online orders (around six bucks a pop) compared to the free delivery that comes with an $139 annual fee. This means the costs you’d save on shipping alone make Prime worth the the cost so long as you order online more than two dozen times a year. In other words: The $139 annual fee pays for itself so long as you order from Amazon Prime at least twice a month. Of course, this is strictly in terms of shipping costs. How it stacks up ethically is between you and the man in the mirror. And then there's this important caveat: You can get free shipping from Amazon without a Prime membership provided your order has $35 or more of eligible items. However, this won't grant you Prime shipping speed—your order will typically take five to eight days to be delivered. The bottom lineThe cost of a Prime membership is a solid value for anyone using Amazon 23 times per year or more—especially if you're also watching shows on Prime Video and sharing your account with your loved ones. But if you only shop on Amazon a few times a year and don't take advantage of the other benefits, then that $139 annual fee isn't exactly paying for itself. Of course, if you are interested in Prime Day bargains, you can always sign up right before the start of the sale and then cancel your membership after Prime day is over—but Amazon doesn't always make it easy on you. For more information about deals and discounts, keep an eye on all of Lifehacker’s Amazon Prime Day coverage. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge 256GB Unlocked AI Phone (Titanium JetBlack) — $699.99 (List Price $1,099.99) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Roku Streaming Stick Plus — $29.00 (List Price $39.99) Blink Mini 2 1080p Indoor Security Camera (2-Pack, White) — $34.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Battery Doorbell Plus — $79.99 (List Price $149.99) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $34.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $49.98 (List Price $79.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on the terms of Nvidia’s investment in OpenAI, in which the GPU maker gets guaranteed chip sales, an equity stake, and likely a product road map for years to come. I also look at the industry’s fixation on huge models and the quiet appeal of small ones. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @thesullivan. Nvidia cements its power as AI infrastructure race begins Now it’s all about data centers and electricity. Big Tech companies are promising that AI models and apps are about to revolutionize business, and executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman say the greatest barrier to that happening is a dearth of data centers to run the models that businesses will soon need to operate. Big Tech companies are also challenged to find enough new energy sources to power and cool the massive data centers. Collectively, OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft plan to spend more than $325 billion on data centers by the end of 2025, The New York Times reports. Anthropic said last year that it expects to spend $100 billion on these massive facilities over the next decade. The tech companies are now racing to plan and finance the new data centers. And this is creating some unique arrangements. Nvidia announced Monday it will invest $100 billion in OpenAI, which will buy about 2% equity in the company. But OpenAI will likely use most of that money to buy Nvidia GPUs, or graphics processing units, the chips that represent the greatest single capital expenditure of building a data center. “[T]hese investments might be circular and raise related party concerns, as Nvidia may own shares in a customer that will likely use such funds to buy more Nvidia gear,” writes Morningstar equity analyst Brian Colello in a research brief. (OpenAI struck a similar agreement with Microsoft when it took a $10 billion investment from the software giant, then used the money to buy its Azure cloud computing services.) Notably, the Nvidia investment will time the release of the funds according to the pace at which OpenAI buys the chips: Nvidia gets guaranteed chip sales and a 2% share of OpenAI. (As Bryn Talkington, managing partner at Requisite Capital Management, told CNBC: “Nvidia invests $100 billion in OpenAI, which then OpenAI turns back and gives it back to Nvidia.”). But it may be even better than that. Pitchbook AI and cybersecurity analyst Dimitri Zabelin believes Nvidia intends to plan the design of its future AI chips according to what it learns from OpenAI’s infrastructure scale-up. That could be an invaluable feedback loop if all of the big AI companies follow OpenAI’s lead in scaling up its infrastructure and developing compute-intensive AI products. “Nvidia is consolidating control over the AI stack and reinforcing its position as the indispensable enabler of the sector’s next phase,” Zabelin says. OpenAI will likely buy between 4 and 5 million of Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin GPUs, which will require 10 gigawatts of power to run. They will likely be installed within the five new data centers the company just announced as part of its Stargate Project (revealed at the White House with partners SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX). OpenAI now expects that Stargate will secure the full $500 billion in planned investment to build new data centers, and do so by the end of this year, ahead of schedule. Betting big on big models—not smaller, safer ones Right now, a huge portion of the total value of the stock market is held up by AI hope, the promise that AI will bring dramatic new efficiencies to the way business is done. Maybe businesses will grow more profitable by moving faster, or maybe they’ll do so by sloughing off human workers. Most likely both. The massive infrastructure investments of the Big Tech companies are all about supporting that transformation. The companies building the gigantic data centers are frontier model companies; their products are huge, generalist models, like OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini, that have trillions of parameters and are very expensive to train and operate. Generalist models are built to possess a wide array of knowledge—even a modicum of common sense about how the world works—that can be leveraged for all kinds of tasks. They’re trained with massive amounts of diverse data and web content. It’s these frontier models that the AI companies hope will evolve to possess artificial general intelligence (AGI), or as much intelligence as most humans bring to most tasks, and then superintelligence, in which the model is far smarter than humans at almost any task. But many of the analysts and researchers I’ve spoken to say that businesses usually need smaller models trained with a narrower set of (often proprietary) data that automate a specific set of tasks. They don’t need to power their apps with a gigantic (and expensive) model that knows about 15th-century gold coins and can write poetry. Small models often don’t need to run inside a dedicated data center, but are small enough to run on on-premise computers (in some cases, laptops or phones) or within a private cloud. With less exposure to wider networks, models that run on the edge devices are far less exposed to would-be hackers that might try to steal or poison corporate or personal data. But OpenAI and Google aren’t selling that. They offer access to frontier models via application programming interfaces (APIs) to developers and corporations. And it’s the massive frontier models that carry the greatest risks for society-level harms such as aiding in the building of a bioweapon or crashing economic systems. Some have worried that putting so much intelligence and computing power together in one place could create a supercomputer smart enough to crack open every cryptocurrency wallet on the blockchain—which would cause economic chaos. Reducing the number of large frontier models (and tightly controlling their use) may be the only rational approach to protecting against the large-scale harms they might, in theory, inflict. Currently, as the big AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta quickly and dramatically scale up their data centers and models, we are trusting them to keep the models from being used for harm. Can private, profit-driven companies—some of which are under great pressure to get to profitability—control intelligences far greater than our own? Let’s hope so. More AI coverage from Fast Company: AI tools aren’t making much of a difference for companies Are companies calling themselves ‘AI-first’ helping or hurting their own brands? This is how Gen Zers are ‘AI-proofing’ their careers I gave ChatGPT $500 of real money to invest in stocks. Its picks surprised me Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

Clarity is the key. By Anthony Zecca Leading from the Edge Go PRO for members-only access to more Anthony Zecca. View the full article

Clarity is the key. By Anthony Zecca Leading from the Edge Go PRO for members-only access to more Anthony Zecca. View the full article

Contract agreed just days after the president and his billionaire backer met at memorial for Charlie Kirk View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Your proposal document is what will differentiate you from the competition and show why that business should break away from their current accountant.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Your proposal document is what will differentiate you from the competition and show why that business should break away from their current accountant.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Barnes & Noble Click to purchase “Digital Nomad Nation” in eBook or paperback from Barnes & Nobles Google Play Store Click here to read the first 20 pages, or order the eBook in Google Play A Brother Abroad Library Click to download the PDF copy (or use a free coupon code) at the ABA Library ... Read moreView the full article

"Antifa" is in Donald The President's sights. Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, The President has blamed "radical leftists" for pushing political violence against those on the right—even as the assassin's motives remain under active investigation. As such, the president is going after Antifa, calling it a "domestic terrorist organization," despite the fact that Antifa is not actually an organization, and that the U.S. has no domestic terrorist designation. When the president of the United States enflames tensions in this way, it's no surprise our discourse enflames as well. Here's one such example: You may have seen posts on social media this week claiming that Threads is now attaching warnings to posts from users who are suspected members of Antifa, or posts with the label attached itself. One viral post discussing the subject comes from the account "Balleralert," who shared the following screenshot on Wednesday: The label, affixed to a innocuous post by the account benballer, reads: "This user is suspected of being part of a terrorist organization called Antifa. Please report any suspicious behavior." Taken at face value, one might assume Threads, owned by Meta, is trying to get on the The President administration's good side by identifying seemingly "leftist" accounts as members of Antifa. It's all a bitThe thing is, the label is not real: A Meta spokesperson confirmed this to me via email, saying that the label is just a meme, and not something created by Meta. That's not to say the label hasn't appeared in any Threads posts. They absolutely have, and you may have seen them. But if some Threads posts appear to have the label attached, it's because it's actually part of the original text of the post, formatted to look like an addition by Meta. Some users appear to be adding the text to their posts in jest, such as in this example, which puts the label in context with a popular meme from the film Inglourious Basterds. This post, which places the label on an innocent declaration about how pumpkin pie is good. These are solid jokes, but they're also fueling confusion: Some commenters are concerned about the label, while others are sharing their own versions of the meme, which are quite obvious compared to the "Antifa label." A good reminder to think before you shareOfficial labels on posts are increasingly a standard across social media posts, which is likely why this meme is something a handful of users are falling for, especially given recent controversies over the relationships between the U.S. government, the media, and tech companies. If you're used to seeing community notes or warning from companies like Meta, you assume this Antifa label is legitimate. Learning that it isn't should serve as a good reminder that the internet is a treasure trove of disinformation. You should never take a random post on Instagram as the unvarnished truth, especially if that post seems particularly controversial, or particularly aligned to your own worldview. Before you believe something you see on your feeds, take a moment to think it through. Do some research to see if any trusted sources have confirmed the claims. If they haven't, remain skeptical, and refrain from spreading it around. View the full article

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Jeff Schmid said that the central bank should continue its focus on curbing inflation, as the job market is "largely in balance." View the full article

The push by some The President officials to bring charges against James had stalled as former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert determined their wasn't enough evidence. View the full article

The real estate agent's guilty plea is the first under the law passed last summer, following thousands of deed theft complaints in the past ten years alone. View the full article

Agreement includes largest ever penalty issued for breach of regulator’s rulesView the full article