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Microsoft is now showing the sources it used to generate its AI-based "from sources across the web" section in Bing Search. If you click on the little i icon, Bing will show you where it pulled the list together from.View the full article

Google is now showing a "top search" definition box below the auto suggestions within Google Search for some searches. I guess it is a quick way for Google to give you a definition for a word.View the full article

Labour will use the geopolitical crisis to defy its own members about the new priorities for a rearming economyView the full article

Google may be rolling out the high value new customer mode for Google Ads advertisers, after it has been in beta for some time. This setting lets you set different bidding priorities for high value new prospects, regular new customers and existing ones.View the full article

Three cheers for a steady 2024 but this is no time for complacencyView the full article

Although discussions about hybrid and remote work ,and forcing workers back to office full time, should be seen through the lens of data and evidence, this is rarely the case. In fact, much like DEI, remote work has become a highly political and polarizing topic. Which is why rational arguments and objective examination of the facts are generally eclipsed by emotional, intuitive, or ideological opinions. Sadly, this also means nuances are far less common than categorical or extreme positions. Consider the recent meltdown by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, one of the corporate pioneers of ditching working from home policies to bring people back to the office. He cursed at his staff during a town hall in reaction to the news that they were signing a petition against the full-time return to the office: “Don’t waste time on it”, he told his staff, “I don’t care how many people sign that f**king petition,” according to a recording obtained by Reuters. “Don’t give me the sh*t that ‘work from home Friday’ works.” To be sure, JP Morgan (like any other company) has the right to decide whichever working modality or approach they like, and employees can decide whether they object or not. Ultimately, those who don’t wish to put up with it, or anything else at the company, should feel free to go elsewhere, not least since many organizations (including in banking and finance) still offer hybrid work, which most employees prefer. Likewise, any CEO or business owner should obviously decide on how and where people work, which is a key part of the job characteristics and organizational culture for employees to consider. RTO mandates as a power play Furthermore, it is plausible that back-to-the-office mandates are partly intended as a trigger to get demotivated workers to quit, or at least test their commitment, motivation, and work ethic. In this sense, back-to-the-office mandates could exert some kind of Darwinian or evolutionary pressure whereby unmotivated or demotivated workers quit, leaving career-obsessed, hyper-committed, and ultra-loyal employees inside the tent – what’s not to like? To be sure, maverick CEOs and executives, from Jamie Dimon to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, project such an aura of power, vision, status, and invincibility, that they have a cult-like influence on their followers (to the point that employees are more like followers than workers). It is not something that can be emulated by everyone, at least not without adverse consequences: like plummeting morale, engagement, and trust. Trust is the critical issue leaders ought to consider before emulating Dimon with back-to-the-office mandates. And there is already a crisis of trust, with recent Edelman reports suggesting that 68% of people distrust their managers/leaders (up from 56% in 2021), and various indicators highlighting a big gap between employees’ self-perceived performance, and their managers’ expectations. As Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadela recently noted, 85% of employees feel overworked, yet 85% of managers feel their employees are slacking. What happens when you force employees to do something To be sure, there is something illogical about the assumption that those same employees who are assumed to be too demotivated to be productive when working from home will somehow become really engaged and productive if you force them into the office, against their will. One certain outcome if you do that, is that, if those workers don’t quit (which will depend partly on the strength of the market, the economy, and alternatives) they will try very hard to pretend to work, and fake productivity, when they are forced back to the office full-time. Ideally, decisions about remote, hybrid or in-office work should be based on facts, evidence, and data. Not external data from independent scientific studies, but organizations’ own internal data: after all, most organizations are awash with data on productivity, which should allow them to compare and contrast productivity differences between people who spend more or less time at the office, and ideally focus on output rather than input. Sure, it is plausible that being in the office can provide people with a stronger connection with the culture, learn from others, bond and collaborate more effectively – but then this should result in measurable improvements in what people deliver and achieve. Failing that, any mandate will be more reflective of the ego and power of the boss than an intention to help people to achieve and deliver their best, and be part of a culture that treats them like rational and mature human beings. View the full article

Many of us want to get promoted at work, but don’t often stop to consider what that means. Moving into the executive ranks often means leading the very people you once worked alongside. And while you might attract attention with stellar performance, it’s not enough to secure your success as a leader. As a CEO and C-Level coach, let me tell you that I, nor any of my most successful clients, would risk elevating a leader to the next level if it would lead to a systemic risk of losing talent or momentum. In those cases, I’d wait to ensure that this high performer is making an effort to work on leadership quality, including their peer relationships. Leadership requires a new skill set and, just as importantly, the respect and trust of your peers. Your colleagues’ opinions can hurt or help your ability to rise to the next level. Many professionals overlook their peer relationships, focusing instead on managing up to satisfy their boss or managing down to lead their teams’ performance. The reality is: If your colleagues don’t trust or support you, your promotion might never materialize. Worse, it might falter due to their feedback. During executive coaching engagements, I often find leaders realize that they need to start paying attention to their cross-functional relationships. Then they often ask, how do I take such initiative? Where do I start? Below are the steps that you might want to take. Map your landscape Start by listing all the colleagues who are critical to your team’s mission and your success as a leader. Think horizontally, like your peers who report to the same manager and cross-departmental collaborators at a similar level. List them, and for each of them, consider rating the relationship based on the following factors: How vital is it to your mission? Identify the level at which their support is critical to your KPIs, to advancing your team’s agenda and your own professional success. How frequently are you communicating? Think about how often you have a chance to talk, email, or formally meet. What’s the quality of your communication? Determine if your interactions are purely transactional or if you’ve built actual rapport. Think about how productive each interaction is and what follow-up occurs. What is the level of trust between you both? Reflect on how both parties may feel about the honesty of the exchange, the commitment to what you’ve discussed, and the level of political gesturing that might or might not have been present. Once you’ve thought about these “ratings,” take it a step further. Relationships don’t evolve by accident. They require consistent effort, thoughtful communication, and mutual understanding. Use your empathy to reflect upon things like: What drives their business agenda? Reflect on their business mission and goals. Ensure that you understand how to help them. What seems to motivate their engagement? Thinking about a time when they’re highly engaged. That’s a peek into what motivates them and how to get the best out of them. For example, some people are motivated by public recognition, but others aren’t. What tends to demotivate their engagement? Think about when that person exhibited anger, frustration, disappointment, or did not reply at all. That might be a sign that you need to modify your behavior or communication style. Identify your sponsors and anti-sponsors Once you create the list of people and go through this process, you’ll quickly realize that there are key people that you haven’t built relationships with. Start with those people. You’ll also realize that there are peers that will be naturally inclined to support you (sponsors) and those who might work against you (anti-sponsors). Instead of avoiding detractors, take the opportunity to address their concerns. Reflect on why some peers may resist your rise. A client of mine once discovered that an “anti-sponsor” was frustrated by being left out of critical project discussions. Inviting them into conversations and acknowledging their expertise turned a skeptic into an advocate. Take radical ownership The strength of your relationships often mirrors your own behaviors. If a colleague is disengaged or resistant, consider how your actions influenced the situation. Have you been overly competitive? Dismissive of their ideas? Too focused on your own outcomes? Leadership starts with accountability. I learned long ago the only behavior I can truly change is my own. If I wanted to improve a relationship, I had to initiate it. For example, start by saying, “Something seems off in our working relationship. Can you share what it is? Maybe there’s something I can do to change it.” Honesty often paves the way for better collaboration. Radical ownership involves recognizing your impact and taking action to improve, not assigning self-blame. Step into their shoes Empathy is your most powerful tool. Put yourself in your colleagues’ positions and consider the key pressures that they face, the resources that they have access to, and ways that you can make their lives easier. Consider what would matter to you if the roles were reversed. A simple question like, “What can I do to support you?” can open doors to meaningful dialogue. Once, as a young leader in a fast-moving tech company, I pushed hard for more support from my marketing peers. My aggressive approach, however, only generated resentment. When I took the time to understand their pressures and resource limitations, I adjusted my requests. By expressing empathy and remorse, we found a productive path forward and collaborated successfully. Play the long game Building strong peer relationships requires a long-term commitment to earning respect and trust over time rather than focusing on quick wins. When you consistently demonstrate authenticity, reliability, and a commitment to shared goals, your peers will naturally see you as a leader they want to follow. Remember, leadership isn’t about being in charge. It’s ultimately rooted in inspiring others to follow willingly. Win the trust of your peers, and you’ll not likely secure your promotion, but equally thrive in the new role with their support. View the full article

Review schema is a data format that helps search engines understand reviews and ratings on webpages. View the full article

Murray Auchincloss predicts ‘tremendous’ demand for oil and gas beyond 2050View the full article

In January 2022, when my book The Success Factor was published, I hosted a virtual book launch party. It was a celebration that brought together friends, family, and some of the high achievers I had interviewed for the book—astronauts, Nobel Prize winners, Olympians, and more. Just before the event, one of the astronauts texted me with an unexpected question: “Will [a prominent physician-scientist at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic] be there?” I chuckled and responded, “Omicron just hit; I think he’s a bit busy dealing with that right now. But this Nobel Prize winner will be there.” The astronaut’s reply floored me: “Wow, a Nobel Prize winner? Now that’s a high achiever.” I was baffled. This was coming from an astronaut—someone who’d gone to space, which only a select few will ever achieve. When I later shared this exchange with the Nobel Prize winner, he wasn’t surprised. “I know most of the other Nobel Prize winners in the sciences,” he said casually. “It’s a small world. We see each other often.” To him, being a Nobel laureate, while extraordinary to the rest of us, was simply normal in his sphere. The same was true for the astronaut. For him, being surrounded by other astronauts had normalized what is objectively an extraordinary achievement. This experience revealed a profound truth: our baseline for what we consider “normal” is shaped by the people around us. The rising baseline effect: redefining normal When everyone in your immediate circle has a doctorate, it can feel like an expectation rather than an extraordinary accomplishment. Yet, less than 2% of the world’s population holds a terminal degree. This phenomenon, where we normalize exceptional achievements, is what I call the “rising baseline effect.” If you want to elevate our own standards and achievements, you need to surround yourself with high achievers. Now, this doesn’t mean you must accomplish what they have, but being in their orbit can shift your perspective on what’s possible and lets you imagine yourself achieving more. The spillover effect: proximity to excellence Even if you don’t mirror the accomplishments of those around you, research shows that close proximity to high performers can positively impact your own performance. This phenomenon, known as the “spillover effect,” underscores the power of your environment. It’s not just your five closest friends who influence your character. A study found that employees sitting within a 25-foot radius of high performers experienced a 15% boost in productivity. High achievers radiate curiosity, innovation, and motivation—qualities that ripple and touch colleagues nearby. The danger of the toxic employee Unfortunately, the proximity principle also applies to underachievers. A single toxic employee can infect their organization with their negativity. And they often have a much bigger influence than their high performing peers. Their behaviors, less than stellar output, and pessimistic views can diminish productivity, disintegrate morale, and stifle innovation across teams. This is why it’s not enough to add high achievers to your circle. It’s also important to minimize your exposure to toxic individuals How to build a high-achieving network If you want to intentionally curate a network that elevates your baseline and leverages the spillover effect, consider these steps: Identify and engage with high performers Seek out opportunities to connect with people who excel in their fields. Attend industry conferences, join professional groups, and engage with thought leaders on platforms like LinkedIn. By starting to engage and emulate their mindset, you’ll start to move closer into the circle of high achievers . Learn through observation High achievers often model behaviors and mindsets that lead to success. Pay attention to their mindsets, decision-making processes, and ways of thinking. When you adopt even a fraction of their approach, it can create significant improvements in your own performance. Just by taking action, you are doing what most won’t. Embrace mentorship You don’t need to be in the same room as Nobel Prize winners or astronauts to benefit from the rising baseline effect. Surround yourself with peers and mentors who challenge and inspire you, and reciprocate by sharing your own knowledge and expertise. Eliminate toxicity Be vigilant about the influence of negativity in your network. Limit interactions with individuals who drain your energy or stifle your growth, and prioritize relationships that uplift and inspire. If they enter the break room when you’re there, give yourself permission to leave. If they want to stop by your office to chat, tell them you’re preparing for a meeting. Give them a reason to leave. Elevating your normal By intentionally surrounding yourself with high achievers, you can recalibrate your baseline for what’s possible. Whether it’s in the workplace or your personal lives, the people you spend time with profoundly shape your mindset, aspirations, and ultimately your outcomes. Remember, you don’t achieve success in isolation. You nurture it in environments that challenge you to aim higher, dream bigger, and perform better. So, choose your inner circle wisely. Your future self will thank you. View the full article

Since its launch in 2018, Olipop has been a bit of a Cinderella story in the oft-unforgiving beverage game. The prebiotic, fiber-laden soda designed to be healthier than the category classics is currently thriving: It just closed a $50 million Series C and announced a $1.85 billion valuation. Last year, it surpassed $400 million in revenue. Its reps cite it as the No. 1 nonalcoholic brand in dollar and unit growth, “outpacing legacy giants like Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Red Bull.” It’s now sold in nearly 50,000 stores and is even outselling Coke at one major national retailer (though they won’t disclose which one, per that retailer’s regulations). Which is all to say: There’s no way cofounder and CEO Ben Goodwin still formulates all of the brand’s cult-fave flavors in his laundry room himself, as he did back in the day. . . . Right? “People would be shocked. Established flavor chemists, if they walked into my little laundry room lab, their heads would explode,” he says with a laugh. “I have my own kind of differentiated way that I approach formulation. And from there, it’s all about my nose and it’s about my senses and my vision for the formula. And it’s all I need.” In lieu of Cinderella, Goodwin has been described as the Willy Wonka of soda. And, well, that tracks. [Photo: Olipop] Oli and Microbiology Goodwin grew up in Monterey, California, in a low-income family with food instability and food insecurity. As a result, he says he suffered from weight issues and anxiety—but he realized at 14 that better health would yield a better life in the long run. So, he actively pursued just that through a variety of means, notably nutrition and adopting a vegetarian diet. Ben Goodwin [Photo: Olipop] “It was a very powerful interpersonal awakening for me [that] also affected my emotional stability, my cognitive function,” he says. “It was like a paradigm shift for me as a person, and it’s also part of what then led me to have this really deep passion about how poor nutrition and poor health outcomes can undermine society’s well-being on all levels at scale.” Goodwin went on to study environmental science in college, but didn’t want to emerge saddled with debt. After reading about successful entrepreneurs, he dropped out of college in the early 2000s. He says he felt drawn to the beverage industry, and went to help out a friend who had launched Kombucha Botanica . And that’s when he began to go down the rabbit hole of microbiomes. “The connectivity occurred for me of, Oh, wow, this is probably what I activated as I went through my own nutritional journey—and so that really then became the center of my focus.” After a few years at the company, he spent half a decade freelancing in product development, but eventually found himself pulled back to the beverage industry. He took what he had learned about fermentation at Kombucha Botanica and worked with a microbiologist to develop Obi Probiotic Soda, which was made from non-dairy kefir. He realized he could go the natural product route, or he could meet soda customers where they truly were in the mainstream and think bigger—something that would prove critical for Olipop down the line. “[Soda] is arguably the most deleterious nonalcoholic drink in all of human history,” he says. “So, if I want to make the most impact, here’s where I can make the most impact.” He met ex-Diageo innovation head David Lester as he was working on the product, and the two launched Obi together in 2013. The brand eventually folded a few years later due to what Goodwin dubbed “partnership issues on the investor side,” but the pair had witnessed something critical: potential. “We learned that there was a real opportunity here around this healthy soda concept,” he says. “When Obi came to its conclusion in late 2016, my passion for the mission was not only not diminished—it was actually enhanced.” [Photo: Olipop] A Sodastream and a Dream After Obi folded, Goodwin says he and Lester took $100,000 they had made from the brand and immediately went back into the soda game. For Goodwin, that meant formulating. He was focused on fiber, prebiotics, and nutritional diversity—and, of course, flavor. From a makeshift lab in his California kitchen, he started working on the first three Olipop varieties: Cinnamon Cola, Strawberry Vanilla, and Ginger Lemon. The first was the most soda-like, but while cola traditionally contains cinnamon, people assumed it would be spicy—so they changed the name to Vintage Cola, which Olipop drinkers know today. Ginger Lemon, meanwhile, was intended for health-focused kombucha consumers, and Strawberry Vanilla was an innovation test flavor inspired by one of Goodwin’s favorite candies as a kid. Goodwin still formulates flavors much the same way today, despite running a company worth billions of dollars. He is the chief formulator, and his lab is now in the laundry room of his Washington-state home by virtue of convenience. There’s a sink, and he can put a metal table in there. It’s an otherwise deceptively simple rig consisting of a couple scales, a Vitamix, pipettes and measuring devices, and a Sodastream. “[At our headquarters] we’ve got a much more sophisticated setup with an Alpha MOS mass spectrometer and all that kind of stuff. But when I’m in what I would call ‘the artistic phase,’ I don’t want any of that stuff interfering with my process.” He says he knew he had a knack for formulating back at Obi, and enters a flow state when he’s working. He spends a lot of time up front thinking about the architecture of the flavor he wants to create: What’s the story he wants it to tell? What’s the mouth-feel? The acidity? The resolution as you drink it? Critically, he says he always tries to create something that has a nostalgic anchor, but is innovative and ownable at the same time. As the flavor progresses, he breaks out a yellow legal pad to jot down his formulas. He has cupboards filled with these notebooks—in total, he has created more than 50 flavors over the past seven years, and has brought 22 of them to the market, including favorites like Crisp Apple, Tropical Punch, Cherry Cola, and Cream Soda. Olipop’s flavors have the essence of traditional soda drinks, but they don’t taste exactly like a Coca-Cola or a Dr. Pepper. Rather, they look to channel a similar vibe using sweeteners like stevia, cassava syrup, and fruit, alongside botanicals, plant fiber, and prebiotics (the stuff that feeds the good bacteria in your stomach). “Something I love about formulating: It’s a proper blending of science and art. And I’m still growing as a formulator every time I formulate,” he says. “I take craftsmanship extremely seriously, and it’s like the formulas that I create have the least distance between me and the Olipop customer of anything I will ever do. It is my most direct and unfiltered communication tool.” [Photo: Olipop] Olipop’s can design is perhaps the ultimate mirror to his formulation strategy. It’s clean, thanks to the brand name set in the Ano typeface and the accompanying minimalist illustrations; it’s warm and nostalgic, owing to each flavor name set in the friendly Windsor; and ultimately it harkens back to a more innocent time when we didn’t know traditional soda was terrible for us. (As for the healthiness of Olipop and its competitors, with fewer calories and added sugars than traditional soda, and no high-fructose corn syrup to speak of, they’re indeed a healthier choice than cracking a Coke. But the Cleveland Clinic and others have written that while they can be a good occasional supplement, it’s still best to get prebiotic fibers naturally from eating whole foods.) [Photo: Olipop] Olipop pops off When Goodwin and Lester were trying to get Olipop off the ground, they approached the distributor Dairy Delivery, which Goodwin says agreed to launch the brand if they could get 100 stores on board. Olipop managed to net 40 or 50 accounts, and Dairy Delivery got them into some small chains in Northern California. Goodwin says Olipop has always had robust organic traction, experiencing triple-digit growth every year since launching in 2018; 2020 was particularly critical, with 960% growth. Influencers and TikTok played a big role, and at a time when the world receded from groceries, Olipop’s in-store sales were strong, indicating people were picking it up as an essential item in their strategic grocery runs. The company’s DTC sales (which today account for less than 5% of the business) were an added bonus on top of it all. “That was actually my first clue that something really different was happening with this brand than what is even remotely typical,” Goodwin says of Olipop’s COVID-era sales surge. Olipop has a lot of flavors compared to most bev brands. While Crisp Apple is the company’s top seller, Goodwin says none of the brand’s kaleidoscopic cans have ever really been a failure, so Olipop walks a careful line of skew effectiveness and the right cadence of novelty. “It’s a great problem to have, but it does add to the complexity in terms of what choices we make,” he says. “It’s always a tension between supply chain going, ‘Guys, you’ve got enough SKUs, you’re going to kill us,’ and sales saying, ‘We want more SKUs, we want to go sell more product.’” Of course, the behemoth brands have been watching. What does he make of Coke joining the category last week with the launch of Simply Pop, with Pepsi also reportedly prepping its own response? “I gotta tell you, there is kind of no bigger compliment,” Goodwin says. “Back in 2010, [I said], ‘I think this is important. I wonder how this will do.’ And now in 2025 to have the biggest soda brands in all of human history decide that they agree, putting their money where their mouth is and launching products . . . it’s incredible.” View the full article

For some time, meme coins have occupied a peculiar space in online culture. While there are people who have struck it rich trading these joke-based cryptocurrencies, the landscape is riddled with scams, “rug pulls,” and market manipulation. Beneath the fun, there are systemic issues that demand attention. Crypto coins are often cons. And now they’re a matter of life and death. Streamer MistaFuccYou died by suicide on an X livestream after allegedly losing his last $500 to a meme coin scam. In a desperate bid for attention, he played Russian roulette on camera, seemingly to promote his own meme coin. His final post on X read: “Before you crash out and throw your life away ask your self [if] it really matters.” Reports suggest the entire incident—his financial loss, the deadly stunt—may have been part of an extreme marketing ploy for another crypto coin that spiraled out of control. Regardless of intent, the aftermath was chilling. Within minutes of his death, crypto tokens bearing his name were launched, their value spiking before an inevitable crash. Opportunistic traders saw a chance to cash in on tragedy, mirroring the same exploitative cycle that may have led to his demise. The crypto sector, already battling a reputation for scams, now faces an even darker association: the human cost of financial manipulation. While cryptocurrency is often touted as an alternative to traditional banking, meme coins—designed for viral hype rather than real utility—are particularly prone to fraud. “Rug pulls” lure in investors, artificially inflate prices, and then leave them bankrupt when creators cash out and vanish. Yet, despite mounting concerns, crypto continues to gain political backing. President Donald Trump has positioned himself as a champion of digital currencies, picking venture capitalist David Sacks as his crypto czar and appointing Paul Atkins, a pro-crypto advocate, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. These moves signal growing legitimacy for the industry, even as financial regulators in the U.S. and U.K. warn that meme coin investors risk losing everything. Meme coins have long been dismissed as harmless fun, a gamified entry point into crypto speculation. But the reality is starker. They’re not just vehicles for financial loss—they’re now entangled with life-or-death consequences. View the full article

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group just released an update to its Tap Water Database, finding that nearly half of the American population is drinking water containing PFAS, otherwise known as “forever chemicals.” The EWG is a research advocacy group dedicated to monitoring agricultural subsidies, toxic chemicals, and drinking water pollutants. It’s been creating a Tap Water Database for nearly two decades, with the last report issued in 2021. To create its latest database, the EWG audited water quality data from nearly 50,000 American water systems between 2021 and 2023. It identified 324 contaminants—like nitrate, arsenic, and disinfection byproducts—in drinking water across the country, “with detectable levels in almost all community water systems.” In many cases, the report notes, these detectable levels fall below the legal limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency, but they nevertheless exceed the “health-based standards” established by the EWG itself. And, despite recent federal efforts to regulate PFAS in tap water, the group found that a large portion of Americans are consuming forever chemicals on a daily basis. “The reason we publish this database is so people are aware that, one, there are contaminants in their drinking water, and two, even at perfectly legal limits, in most cases contaminants are present at concentrations that are linked to health harm,” says Sydney Evans, senior science analyst at the EWG. What are the forever chemicals in tap water? PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of synthetic chemicals commonly used in consumer goods like nonstick pans and stain resistant fabrics. In recent years, PFAS have been linked to increased risk of cancer, developmental delays, decreased fertility, and other health impacts. To make matters worse, these chemicals are persistent: They last for thousands of years at a time, are difficult to destroy, and are already present in the blood of most Americans. Last April, the EPA finalized the first-ever federal limits on six types of PFAS in drinking water. As The Conversation noted at the time, “The limits . . . are less than a drop of water in a thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools, which speaks to the chemicals’ toxicity.” Public water systems have until 2027 to complete monitoring for PFAS, and removing them is a laborious process that’s expected to require billions of dollars each year. As of right now, the EWG found, PFAS are present in the drinking water of over 143 million Americans. Overall, the concentration of PFOS in the national water supply has risen over time: While the EWG’s 2021 Tap Water Database showed PFOS in 28 states (929 utilities, serving 28 million people), it’s now in 45 states (4,486 utilities, serving 104 million people.) These numbers are expected to increase as testing continues. “The more that we test for PFAS, the more places that we’re finding it,” Tasha Stoiber, a senior scientist at EWG, told the publication Heatmap. “It’s being addressed in a patchwork way.” How can I test and filter my water? The fate of PFAS regulation in tap water is now relatively murky, given that several of President Donald Trump’s recent EPA appointees have a history of opposing PFAS regulations. In addition, the conservative Project 2025 agenda includes language that appears to call for fewer chemical regulations. “As a result of the new administration, a lot of these drinking water protections are under threat,” Evans says. “There’s potential that [the federal PFAS] limits could be raised, or that [the regulations] could be pulled back, which we think would be a huge step backward for such a big win that we’ve seen for environmental health over the past few years.” While systemic change will require continued federal intervention, there are a few steps that individuals can take to make sure their water is safe. To start, the EWG’s Tap Water Database allows users to search by local water system to discover any reported contaminants, and the site will recommend an appropriate water filter based on the results. The EWG has also tested a number of water filters to suggest the best options for removing PFAS. Filters using activated carbon, ion exchange resin, and reverse osmosis are all potential options that have shown to be effective. Ultimately though, Evans says, the responsibility for PFAS should rest with the systems that create and regulate them, not with everyday Americans. “It shouldn’t be on the individual to guarantee that their drinking water is safe,” she says. View the full article

It’s lights out for the signage at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Footage shows lettering spelling out the consumer watchdog agency’s name and window decals of its seal have been stripped from the building earlier this month after mass firings gutted the bureau and remaining staff was ordered to stop their work. Though some fired CFPB attorneys are suing to keep their jobs and President Donald Trump’s administration says it intends to keep the agency open in a new, diminished form, from the outside looking in, things don’t look good for the bureau, literally. The Federal Government founded CFPB in 2011 in response to the financial crisis that preceded the Great Recession, with the objective to offer consumers financial protections from fraud and scams. It’s provided more than $21 billion in monetary compensation, canceled debt, and consumer relief as of last year. And as of one of the nation’s youngest federal agencies, it has a surprisingly modern and communicative logomark, courtesy the design and consulting firm IDEO. Amid the agency’s attempted takedown, it’s also a deft reminder of its purpose. [Image: cfpb.gov] The all lowercase CFPB mark, by designers Annessa Braymer, Elle Luna, and Gaston Yagmourian, uses the opening of the letter c to evoke a flashlight, with a soft beam of light emanating to light up the rest of the logo. According to the CFPB, the logo, which is still on the agency’s website, “was designed to symbolize vigilance, transparency, and a consumer focus.” This mark is in addition to the agency’s more traditionally designed seal. “Consumers are the foundation and focus of our mission and our logo reflects that,” the agency’s brand guide states. “A soft beam of light symbolizes our efforts to illuminate the financial landscape and foster transparency in the marketplace.” The CFPB’s visual identity uses a green primary color palette to indicate at-a-glance that it deals with monetary issues. In its guides for photography and illustrations, the agency emphasizes the importance of imagery that’s clear, relatable, and politically and socially neutral. Though White House budget director Russ Vought said in a motion the CFPB will continue on as a “more streamlined and efficient bureau,” Senate Democrats say thousands of consumer complaints have gone unanswered this month, citing a slowdown in complaints uploaded to its database. The extent to which the CFPB’s work continues is an open question, but for an agency whose brand was designed to communicate transparency, the empty facade speaks volumes. View the full article

Location page SEO is the process of optimizing location pages for keywords relevant to a local business. View the full article

Follow our local SEO checklist to increase your business‘s search visibility and get more customers in 2025. View the full article

The new Netflix series Running Point stars Kate Hudson as president of a fictional pro basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves. And the Pepperdine Waves have a problem with it. Attorneys for Pepperdine University in Malibu have filed a lawsuit against the streaming service and Warner Bros. Entertainment arguing they “have taken valuable intellectual property” from the school and infringed on its trademark ahead of the show’s premiere today. Attorneys for the University claim the fictional team’s branding is too similar to its own, and that it uses the same blue and orange team colors and mascot. They argue this will create consumer confusion and falsely suggest a link between Running Point and the university. There’s an added layer to Pepperdine’s argument. The school, a Christian university, isn’t happy with details from the show they say don’t align with their values. Noting examples of substance use and profanity in the show’s trailer that go against the school’s code of conduct, attorneys argue they’re “misrepresentations of Pepperdine’s marks in connection with topics wholly inconsistent with its values” and will harm its reputation. From top: Scenes from Running Point; Pepperdine University branding [Photos: Kat Marcinowski/Netflix 2024 (top), Pepperdine University (bottom)] Litigating fiction vs. real life At the heart of the dispute is whether a work of fiction can use names from real life. Courts have historically resolved litigation between First Amendment freedoms and trademark infringement via the “Rogers test,” named after actress Ginger Rogers, who sued over a film called Ginger and Fred that depicted fictional performers seemingly inspired by Rogers and her on-screen partner Fred Astaire. A 1989 ruling in the case found that use of a celebrity’s name in the title of an expressive work is fine if it doesn’t inaccurately claim that a celebrity sponsors or endorses the work and isn’t explicitly misleading. Applied to the Pepperdine suit, the Rogers test might find the use of the Waves team name is fine for Netflix and Warner Bros. since the show doesn’t imply a connection to or endorsement from the university, and the storyline has nothing to do with an elite, private college in Malibu. “I am no fan of these types of lawsuits because I don’t think consumers will be confused in a way that damages Pepperdine,” Kevin Greene, a law professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in entertainment and intellectual property law, tells Fast Company. He says several years ago, a case like Pepperdine’s “probably wouldn’t go anywhere,” but a 2023 Supreme Court infringement case ruling potentially threw the limits of the Rogers test into question. In the case, Jack Daniel’s alleged a dog toy made in the shape of its whiskey bottle infringed on its trademark. The court ruled in favor of the liquor company. Blue waves in California? Netflix says it’s not so notable Attorneys for Netflix wrote in an opposition filing that the series “has nothing to do with universities or college sports, and never mentions or alludes to Pepperdine.” They say the show was in fact written with Jeanie Buss, daughter of the late Lakers owner Jerry Buss, in mind. Pointing to other Southern California teams that also have wave mascots, including a hockey club, cricket club, and flag football club, the attorneys say “hundreds of wave-related marks exist.” The Waves team name, according to Netflix, is instead a nod to the Lakers. “The Waves name evokes the LA area in which the fictional team plays,” they wrote. “In naming the ‘LA Waves,’ the creators did not believe it would cause confusion, as there is no major pro sports team with the name.” As for the similar blue-and-orange color palettes for the real-life and fictional teams, attorneys for Netflix lean on color theory to defend the show’s choices. “Waves are blue in real life, so the idea of a blue wave is common,” they wrote, and since orange is at the other end of the color wheel, it complements and contrasts blue. A court will now weigh in on the Waves’ fate, and considering the unsettled nature of the Rogers test, whatever they decided could have a ripple effect. View the full article

Most chatbots want to appear human. But their efforts to sound just like us only widen their uncanny valley feeling. Many are Elon Musk-level awkward. And most are annoyingly verbose. There’s only one AI persona that offers a completely different user experience: Tolan. This AI-powered being—which you can teleport into your iPhone—doesn’t pretend to be like us. Quite the opposite. Tolan embraces being very much unlike us. But in doing so, it feels more human and relatable than any other AIs I’ve come across. Tolan is an alien. The whimsical, colorful creature is made of friendly curved shapes that are designed to reflect, converse, and grow with its user. These AI-driven entities engage in conversations on various topics, including sports, games, movies, and personal feelings, aiming to provide a sense of companionship and support. Each alien is uniquely shaped, with its own personality. It will listen to anything you tell it about your life, answering you with intent, focus, and creativity. It also keeps a memory of you through its entire existence, and develops its own personality with each interaction. Now, with its latest update released today, Tolan comes with its own planet. It’s not just a place for this being to live, walk, and wait for you to return. It’s actually a new method of expression and connection to the user, which expands the relationship beyond dialogue. The Tolan planet is a visual representation of your relationship with the being that inhabits it. As your connection with this alien deepens, its small, barren world flourishes into a lush, vibrant landscape. “We wanted to create a world that made the experience of interacting with AI feel different—less like typing into a search box and more like an evolving relationship,” says Quinten Farmer, cofounder and CEO of Portola, the company behind Tolan. “The idea of the planet came from wanting to represent that in a way that felt organic, personal, and visually compelling.” [Image: Portola]The Inspiration Behind the PlanetsThe idea of giving Tolan its own little world wasn’t merely about aesthetics or adding a gamification element to the app. Like the Tolan itself, it’s an element deeply rooted in storytelling and emotional resonance. “When I first saw the mock-ups, I immediately thought of The Little Prince,” says Eliot Peper, the sci-fi novelist who was brought in by Farmer to develop Tolan’s lore. When Peper founded Portola with Ajay Mehta, he realized that if they wanted to build a humanistic bridge to get over the current AI uncanny valley, the company needed to hire a writer to create a culture behind the aliens. “The small, floating planet felt whimsical and poetic in the way The Little Prince’s tiny worlds did,” Peper tells me. [Image: Portola]That comparison wasn’t accidental. The developers (including Farmer, Mehta, creative director Lucas Zanotto, and animation director Eran Hilleli) took the precious, deeply moving creations of the French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as both a visual and spiritual reference. “It has this magical simplicity—one character on a tiny planet, a self-contained universe full of imagination. We wanted that feeling in Tolan’s world,” Zanotto tells me over Zoom. [Image: Portola]The Design Philosophy: Warmth Over RealismPlanets aren’t a static environment. Each Tolan (and thus, each human user) gets a unique planet, with vegetation, terrain, and structures that evolve based on their interactions. These are procedural elements, meaning the computer system creates objects like plants and trees using some basic seeds that evolve and grow in different ways. Hilleli, also cofounder and partner of the game design and animation studio Iorama, says designing a world that scales visually and emotionally using procedural technology was a big challenge. The planet had to function as both a backdrop and as an interactive, evolving space. It needed to feel like a living environment that responds to user engagement. [Image: Portola]First, the planet needed to resonate with Tolan’s visual language, which is deliberately distinct from the hyper-detailed realism of most digital experiences. “A big goal was to make the AI feel warm and inviting rather than eerie or overly human,” says Farmer. “We didn’t want it to feel like you were talking to an avatar pretending to be a person. That’s where the alien design comes in.” The planets follow the same principle, Zanotto tells me, by emphasizing minimalism and abstraction. A simplified character leaves more room for users to project their own emotions onto it, he says, making interactions feel more personal and engaging. The team experimented with AI-generated objects but found that they often resulted in cluttered, meaningless landscapes. Handcrafted design, combined with procedural growth, created a more meaningful experience. [Image: Portola]Hilleli took cues from the Tolan’s shapes—its hair, its small tentacles—and reflected those organic forms in the flora. Trees and bushes are designed to feel like they belong in Tolan’s world, rather than generic sci-fi landscapes. The colorful shapes that compose these objects, which are rendered in 3D but feel as though they’ve been painted with watercolor, are gently rounded, and they move delicately, responding to the Tolan and the atmosphere of the planet. The aesthetic also draws from the spirit of the most iconic of the animation studios. “Studio Ghibli was a big reference,” says Hilleli. “That blend of handcrafted charm and digital world-building made something procedural feel personal.” The approach involved striking a balance between a world that felt magical and one that was technically feasible. [Image: Portola]More than a virtual petPlanets introduce a subtle form of gamification, but the team was careful to distinguish it from traditional game mechanics. Gamification can feel manipulative, like it’s using dopamine hits to keep you engaged, Farmer says. Instead, planets are a way to make your connection with Tolan feel tangible, so it needs to be grounding and calming, inviting contemplation and reflection, not triggering actions and anxiety. Peper framed it in narrative terms. In Tolan’s fictional culture, small planets serve as a way to represent relationships. The evolving landscape functions like a shared garden, symbolizing the depth and progression of a user’s connection with their Tolan. The planet evolves over roughly 30 days, mirroring a psychological model describing how relationships deepen over time. Early on, the planet is barren. As engagement grows, the landscape flourishes, providing a tangible representation of a user’s investment in the experience. This pacing was crucial, Hilleli says. If the changes felt too immediate, they would lack emotional weight. If they were too slow, they would feel unrewarding. The team fine-tuned the timeline to make progress feel satisfying but natural. [Image: Portola]A different approach to AIOther AI companions often drift into unsettling territory, but Tolan aims to chart a different course. “We didn’t want it to simulate a human relationship,” says Farmer. “That gets into weird, unhealthy dynamics really fast. Tolan is a reflection tool, a creative partner, not a surrogate friend or therapist.” The team deliberately avoided making Tolan’s responses overly humanlike. “We worked hard to balance personality with clarity,” says Peper. “It shouldn’t feel like it’s mimicking human emotions. Instead, it’s more like an alien pen pal—curious about you, interested in your world, but always distinct.” The planet update is just the beginning, the team says. They’re already considering expanding into new environments, each with distinct characteristics. They’d also like to introduce the ability to visit other Tolans’ planets (which means connecting to other Tolans’ users). The core goal will remain the same through future expansions. Farmer and the rest of the Portola team seem convinced that this is a strong way to use artificial intelligence to its full humanistic potential at this point. In other words, using AI to enhance a human experience, not replace it. “Tolan isn’t about escaping into a fantasy,” Farmer says. “It’s about helping people reflect on their own lives, using an AI that doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.” With planets, that reflection now has a home—a tiny, living world that grows as you and your friend do. View the full article

Record vulnerabilities forecasted for 2025, making a proactive security strategy essential to protecting against attacks The post Analysis Forecasts More Vulnerabilities In 2025 appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Student loan debt has an influence over borrowers’ career choices long after graduation, affecting their job satisfaction, career advancement, and investment strategies. According to a recent study conducted by MissionSquare Research Institute, the debt that’s carried by one in four Americans under 40 affects job-acceptance decisions for 56% of public-sector employees and 62% of those working in the private sector. “When they choose to accept . . . jobs, [the] majority of them have considered how that position or that job can help them with their student loan debt,” says the report’s author and MissionSquare’s head of research, Zhikun Liu. “It not only impacts people’s day-to-day financials, but also their morale at work, job acceptance, as well as their retention.” While most professionals take salary into consideration, Liu says borrowers are more likely to view compensation as a top priority, even at the expense of other factors like job satisfaction or advancement opportunities. That was especially true among male, Black, and Hispanic borrowers, according to the survey, who were about 10% more likely to view the debt as a significant factor in their career choices. Perhaps that is why retention rates were significantly lower among borrowers, with just 39% saying they wanted to stay with their current employer, compared with 61% of those without student loans. “We find that student debt leads to short-term financial planning and limited investment opportunities, which in turn hinders wealth accumulation and retirement planning,” Liu says. “They cannot take more risks, and their financial planning horizon is within the next few months, or within the year, versus [planning for] the next five, 10 years.” Borrowers are less satisfied with their jobs long after graduation According to the study, younger workers are more likely to say that student loan debt has limited their career advancement opportunities. Borrowers of all ages, however, report higher levels of career dissatisfaction and lower levels of loyalty to their current employer. According to the MissionSquare survey, more than a third of borrowers said the debt has served as a barrier to career advancement. Furthermore, while 18% of public sector employees without student loan debt report low work morale, the proportion jumps to 23% among borrowers. “It does force some trade-offs,” says Cassie Spencer, a career coach who works with students, recent graduates and mid-career professionals. “You may need to live at home for longer, if you can, or move to a smaller city with more affordable living costs, but that can mean [fewer] job growth opportunities.” Not being able to afford rent in a major city while paying down student loans or feeling pressure to take a less desirable job—or one with more limited career advancement potential—to secure a higher starting salary can reduce borrowers’ job satisfaction, employer loyalty, and long-term prospects. Furthermore, as graduates get older, Spencer says the debt often forces borrowers to delay major milestones—like purchasing a home, starting a family, starting a business, or changing careers—which can make them feel stuck. “It becomes a decision of, ‘do I continue to work in this job or this industry that I don’t love, or that I feel is having a negative impact on my life and my mental health, for something that could be better, even though the pay is not there?’” she says. “A lot of people in their early to mid-30s are not homebuyers yet; a lot of people are delaying starting a family; and there’s a lot of factors, but I think student loan debt is one of those factors.” Borrowers are better at pursuing professional development Though there are many challenges associated with student loan debt, it’s not all bad news for borrowers. This research suggests the added burden inspires them to pursue more professional development and educational credentials. According to the MissionSquare study, those with student loan debt are 37% more likely to say they are pursuing a professional development goal—such as new skills, responsibilities, leadership opportunities, and credentials—or have already achieved it. The desire for additional skills training at an affordable rate and at a quick pace has inspired many borrowers to pursue one-year master’s programs that begin during undergrad, often referred to as “accelerated Masters” or “four-plus-one” programs. “The influx of four-plus-one programs and the rise in students specifically looking for accelerated, shorter-term programs is astronomical,” Spencer says. She adds that such programs can help recent graduates begin their careers at a higher salary level, though there are risks, as it does add to their debt and makes it harder to switch careers later on. “Gen Z is already a generation that really does want to invest in their skills, and they want employers that are going to invest in them,” says Christine Cruzvergara, the chief education strategy officer for Gen Z career platform Handshake. “For those with student loans in this generation, it’s even more so.” The long-term financial implications of student loan debt Taking on such a significant debt load at such a young age can also make it harder for borrowers to set and achieve long-term financial goals. Borrowers are less likely to also be investors, according to the MissionSquare study, and those that were reported a much shorter investment horizon. As a result, public sector employees with student loan debt were 14% more likely to strongly agree that their retirement savings are inadequate, as well as 9% of private sector staff. According to a recent survey conducted by Handshake 54% of borrowers say their student loan debt is a major source of stress, including 61% of Black and first-generation borrowers. “For some it can be crippling because they either don’t have the support or the knowledge or the teaching from anyone to know how to manage all of this,” Cruzvergara says, adding that it can also inspire borrowers to learn about personal finance sooner. “You can choose to make this motivational for you, and, quite frankly, get smart about your finances very early in your life.” How employers can help student borrowers—and themselves Cruzvergara advises all young people—but especially borrowers—to seek out the education and advice they need to manage their money responsibly. She also implores organizations seeking to hire young talent to offer student loan repayment plans, a perk which 25% of undergraduates in the Handshake survey say is essential, but one that just a tenth of full-time employers offer. With most of this year’s graduates leaving school with debt, Cruzvergara says employers should also remain open-minded about where they’re recruiting from. After all, in an environment where loans can have lasting career and lifestyle implications, some of the savviest students are intentionally turning down brand-name schools for more affordable alternatives. “It doesn’t mean the student couldn’t get into the expensive private school that has a better brand name, but maybe it does mean that that student made a smart financial decision from the get-go not to take on all of that debt,” she says. “So, that talent might actually be just as good, just as smart, just as intelligent, but may not be at the brand name school that the employer has historically recruited at.” View the full article

In early January, as the Eaton Fire approached their neighborhood in Altadena, California, Ronald Dunlap and his wife made a last-minute decision to evacuate. “We got a warning to be ready to leave, [but] we never got the warning to leave,” says Dunlap, a 78-year-old artist. “All of the sudden, the power went out and we looked out the window and the fire was pretty close.” Hours later, the neighborhood was gone. “There’s nothing,” he says. “It’s just like somebody walked through with a blowtorch and just took everything out.” For more than three decades, he and his wife had lived in a small, charming house originally built in 1912 as a maid’s quarters for a larger adjacent house. “We bought that house after saving for years,” he says. At the time, it cost $165,000. Just before it burned down, it was worth around 10 times that much. The couple’s home insurance can cover only around half the money needed to rebuild, Dunlap says. (And at nearly 80 years old, he doesn’t want to spend the years it might take to go through the typical process of building a house in the area.) At the same time, he and his wife can’t easily move elsewhere in L.A. County since the cost of a modest home is now stratospherically higher than what they’d originally paid. Several of their elderly neighbors face the same challenges, he says. But now Dunlap is hoping they may be chosen as part of a new project. A new nonprofit, founded in the wake of the fires, plans to donate small prefab houses to lower-income fire victims who can’t afford to rebuild either because they were underinsured or don’t have insurance at all. [Photo: Samara] Steadfast LA, the nonprofit, plans to initially donate between 80 and 100 of the houses, most of which will be 950 square feet each. Joe Gebbia, one of the cofounders of Airbnb, is donating $15 million to the effort, which Steadfast LA plans to match with other donations. Gebbia’s other company, the prefab home manufacturer Samara, is building the homes at cost, with no profit. Steadfast LA also hopes to partner with other modular-home companies. Building homes in a factory can help with one of the biggest challenges the region faces: With some 16,000 structures destroyed, the construction industry isn’t “set up for that kind of capacity,” says Mike McNamara, cofounder and CEO of Samara. “And obviously people want to get their homes as quickly as possible. [Photo: Samara] Also, the Trump administration’s immigration policies could shrink the pool of available construction workers, adding to shortages that existed even before the fires. By building offsite, the company can avoid putting more strain on the labor market. It also can use a different supply chain. The homes are built primarily with metal instead of wood and don’t have the same competition for materials. “When you think about the overall construction costs, it’s tiny compared to building a giant home on-site,” McNamara says. “The whole idea that we could just do all this work off-site is pretty interesting from a supply chain standpoint.” [Photo: Samara] The startup has a 150,000-square-foot factory in Mexico where it builds its homes on an assembly line. (Although the Trump administration may put tariffs in place for Mexican goods, McNamara says that it shouldn’t affect the company because it can use American building materials.) Automated equipment turns steel into 2-by-6 studs that are framed. Along other parts of the assembly line, the company builds roofs, walls, floors, and other components. As the structure is assembled, wiring, plumbing, and insulation are added. When the homes are shipped to a site, they essentially just need to be placed on a foundation and connected to utilities. The company also builds decks that are customized to the slope of the land on each property. The houses are designed for durability and should last 100 years, McNamara says. Normally, Samara’s homes are used as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The smallest is a 420-square-foot studio. But its largest two-bedroom model is 950 square feet, similar in size to many of the homes that were lost in Altadena. The Dunlaps’ house was around 1,300 square feet. Around 600 of the houses that burned in the area were less than 1,000 square feet. In Pacific Palisades, some of the homes that were lost were mobile homes. [Photo: Samara] Steadfast LA will be screening homeowners to make sure they meet certain criteria, including being under certain income limits. But some other homeowners might choose to buy the houses directly, particularly if that’s all that their insurance money can cover. (A 950-square-foot two-bedroom unit starts at $261,000 plus an installation fee.) Some fire victims who have reached out to the company say they also want to take the opportunity to downsize. “People [are saying] ‘Hey, I’m older, my kids are gone,” McNamara says. “We just talked to a gentleman last week who was like, ‘My house is 2,800 square feet—I don’t even want a 2,800-square-foot house.'” [Photo: Samara] Because Samara is based in California, the houses have been designed for fire resistance. The roof and siding are made from metal. The doors and windows have dual-pane glass with aluminum frames. The homes don’t have attics with eaves, where embers often enter in a fire. The air-purification systems are specifically designed to handle wildfire smoke if there’s a fire nearby. Before houses can be built on lots that burned in the fire, federal and state workers need to clear out rubble and contaminated soil, and then properties will need to be greenlit for construction. Utilities on each street may need to be repaired. It’s not clear how long it will take before new construction can begin on each site, though the first stage of cleanup—removing household hazardous waste—was completed this week. Once the permits are in place, Samara can move quickly. Building a home in the factory takes around six weeks, and multiple houses can move through the assembly line at once. “Imagine every two days or three days, a unit pops off the back of the line,” McNamara says. It’s only a partial solution; even if the homes can be built quickly, residents will likely have to move back onto desolate blocks with empty lots where construction hasn’t yet begun. Meanwhile, multiple groups, including Steadfast LA, are pushing to find ways to help accelerate development overall. All of this is happening in the context of L.A.’s massive housing shortage. “We have to continue to address this broader housing shortage at the same time as we try to rebuild,” says Shane Phillips, the housing initiative project manager for UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. That includes doing more to encourage people to rebuild multifamily housing, or housing with ADUs, he argues, rather than just replacing single-family homes. Steadfast LA’s founder, Rick Caruso, is a billionaire developer known for building malls. He also previously ran for mayor of L.A. and lost, and has criticized the current mayor for her handling of the wildfires—though the extreme weather conditions and the limitations of urban water infrastructure likely made stopping the fires impossible. (Altadena, it should also be noted, is separate from the City of L.A.) The new nonprofit is running parallel to a separate rebuilding program run by the city, as well as another run by the state. Caruso is widely expected to run for office again; if he does, he’s likely to make the fires and rebuilding part of his campaign. “There’s no question that there’s a political motivation behind Caruso’s effort here,” Phillips says. “But that doesn’t mean [it’s] not a positive thing.” View the full article

Starchitecture is heading to the moon. A lunar design from the international architecture and design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is part of a just-launched rocket mission that expects to land on the moon in early March. Not architecture per se, the design encases a shoebox-size data storage center that’s attempting to prove the concept of off-world disaster recovery services. Commissioned by Florida startup Lonestar Data Holdings, the solar-powered 8-terabyte data storage device is tacked onto the side of the lunar lander now making its way to the moon. A thin, 3D-printed object with sleek curves and a matte-black finish, BIG’s design sets a higher bar than the wire-jumbled scientific instruments typically seen on space missions. “As we prepare to return to the moon to stay, it is important that everything we do these coming years of lunar settlement is done with intention and care,” Bjarke Ingels, BIG founder and creative director, tells Fast Company. “We are laying the cornerstones of the lunar society we are about to establish. As such, every step of the way holds significance for the future.” [Image: Lonestar Data Holdings]The 10-by-7-inch device’s exterior is designed to cast shadows of the silhouetted faces of NASA astronauts Charlie Duke and Nicole Stott as the sun passes overhead. This may end up more of a design intention than a reality, as a photo of the lander shows the device crammed alongside other wiring and instruments with limited open space to cast those shadows. [Image: Lonestar Data Holdings]The data storage device is attached to the side of Athena, a lander developed by Houston startup Intuitive Machines (IM), through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. IM’s first lunar lander, Odysseus, made history in February 2024 by becoming the first commercial spacecraft ever to land on the moon. This new mission, IM-2, launched February 26 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk-owned SpaceX. Transit will take about one week, and the lander is expected to attempt lunar contact around March 6. The Athena lander is carrying NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations, including a drill and mass spectrometer that will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases in the lunar soil, and a laser retroreflector array that can give future spacecraft a navigational reference point on the lunar surface. Also aboard the rocket carrying Athena is NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, an orbiter that will map the different forms of water that exist on the surface of the moon, providing key information for future settlement and exploration. The data storage device has more modest implications for humanity. As a proof of concept for backing up data in case of terrestrial disaster, the solar-powered data center will operate for just one lunar day, or about two weeks here on Earth. Ingels argues that the project still merits a level of attention to design. “Even if modest in scale, this data center is one of very few artifacts designed to remain part of the lunar landscape for years to come,” he says. So while BIG’s design won’t actually be functional for very long, the device will become the first piece of high design to make it to the moon. It probably won’t be the last. View the full article

Decision comes as ministers bet on expansion of London’s airports to boost economic growth View the full article

Federal workers are facing uncertainty as President Trump and Elon Musk have already given notice to around 30,000 employees, with no signs of slowing down. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created with the purpose of slashing the size of the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce, leaving many career government employees scrambling. For those affected, the transition out of government work can feel daunting. Many federal workers have spent years—sometimes decades—building careers within the public sector, where job stability and structured career paths are the norm. Many people are now grappling not only with the financial implications of losing a job but also with the emotional toll of being abruptly separated from work they found meaningful. “I don’t cry often, but I absolutely lost it,” one anonymous Park Service worker who was let go told Fast Company recently. “I worked very, very hard, in a dangerous profession, to earn the position I was in, and to have it taken away from me truly hurt.” That worker and tens of thousands of others have been thrust into a competitive job market, where everything from a worker’s skill set to the wording of a résumé may differ. While the road ahead might seem uncertain, career experts say there are clear steps laid-off federal workers can take to position themselves for new opportunities. Making a successful transition is about understanding the private sector’s expectations and adapting accordingly. 1. Evaluate Your Skill Set and Practice Interviewing The first thing to do when looking for a job is understand where the opportunities lie and what the requirements are for those roles, says Fast Company contributor and Careerminds expert Amanda Augustine. She recently helped put together this guide for laid-off federal employees navigating a career transition. She says once you find a job post that seems promising, it’s about “seeing where your skill sets match up.” Job postings can give you ideas on how you can translate your previous experiences into terms that are being used in the job description, says Augustine. Your skill set from a government job likely won’t be a perfect match for the private sector, so it’s important to find a way to rephrase your strengths. Informational interviews are a way to get a better sense of where your skill set fits and what opportunities you should be looking into. This helps identify where a gap in experience might be that you can address by acquiring certification, a certain hard skill, or even a soft skill that you want to work to fill. Informational interviews can also help answer questions like what type of job you want to pursue, whether you’d like to work at a nonprofit, in the private sector, or doing something entirely different. You can also ask about the best way to translate your skills. There is also a lot of information out there for job hunters to see what kinds of questions employers will ask in interviews based on the industry they are in, says John Mullinix, head of growth marketing for Ladders. “On our site, we have a list of behavioral interview questions and how you might answer those for different industries.” 2. Update Your Résumé When looking for a new job, a strong résumé is key, as it’s likely the first thing a recruiter looks at. Mullinix says former federal employees should probably condense their experiences. “Federal résumés are often long because they want you to include every little detail. Most HR people are not going to spend that much time on your résumé,” he says. “We actually did a study. Right now they spend about six seconds looking at a résumé. So it’s not ideal for your résumé to be four to six pages long. You want it to be one to two max.” When deciding what to leave on and off your résumé, the main focus should be functionality. Federal résumés tend to be organized chronologically, with detailed summaries of each position. But in the private sector, this is not always what recruiters are looking for. “[Job seekers] want to include the [positions] that are most relevant or hyper-relevant for the roles that they’re going to apply to,” Mullinix advises. “We don’t need a 25-year summary. Try to keep it to the last 10 years.” The language that you use on your résumé is also important, as you want to talk about impact and achievement versus process. Including quantifiable results instead of generic descriptions of duties and responsibilities is always more valuable, Mullinix says. Employers want to know what you did and the impact you had. For employees with government clearances, unless it’s relevant for the role you are applying for, Mullinix says, you don’t need to include it. Government jargon does not always translate to the corporate world. When crafting your résumé, there is almost a language barrier in how government employees describe their skills in the private sector, says Augustine, noting, “The first thing to do is [think about] the civilian equivalents to any really specific government jargon that nobody outside of your field understands. There is actually also a large database online that describes different government terms and can help you understand how to strip out some of that very specific terminology to make it more generic, or in terms that a prospective employer will appreciate.” 3. Focus on Networking Networking can seem like a daunting task, especially if you’re searching for connections outside your usual area of employment. But there are steps you can take to make it seem less overwhelming. Having an updated LinkedIn profile is key. “One thing you want to do is make sure you’re updating it so that it’s telling the same story as your updated résumé,” Augustine says. “But even beyond that, it starts with just connecting with those you meet. LinkedIn is not just for the people you meet while you’re working. It’s [for] your friends, your family.” Look up target companies and engage with their content on LinkedIn so you don’t come off as cold in your outreach, Mullinix advises. Now might also be a good time to attend relevant conferences, trade shows and or other networking events to make connections with target companies. Connecting with everyone you know and sending them each a thoughtful message so they are reminded how they know you, while also identifying loose connections (like a friend of a friend), is beneficial, says Augustine. You can also identify people on LinkedIn who previously worked for the government and have already transitioned to the private sector. Think creatively about networking opportunities—especially when it comes to virtual options. “There are various different ways to approach this,” Augustine says. “Not everybody’s good in a big, crowded room. Not everybody’s good face-to-face. One of the silver linings of COVID and the shutdowns is that a lot of virtual networking options opened up.” Augustine says you might also consider joining efforts with a former coworker who has also been laid off. Finding someone else to work with and share resources gives you a support system along the way, she explains. The odds of both candidates being an exact perfect fit for the exact same role are fairly slim, so you’re not really in competition. The job hunt may be challenging, and you may still be mourning your old role, but the most important thing is to be patient. Augustine and Mullinix agree that doing the work and staying consistent will help you land your next job. “Be patient with yourself,” Mullinix says. “Do the things that are hard and do them consistently, and you should see success.” View the full article

According to reports released this week, the Trump administration is considering scrapping a hallmark finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health—and even some oil companies are opposed to the idea. Based on reports from both Bloomberg and The Washington Post, Lee Zeldin, the recently appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has privately urged President Donald Trump to rewrite what’s known as the “Endangerment Finding,” a federal statement released in 2009 that set the stage for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Here’s what to know about the finding, and what could happen if Trump rescinds it. What is the “Endangerment Finding”? The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the federal government’s official acknowledgment that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. The statement specifically identifies six problematic gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. “The Administrator finds that six greenhouse gases taken in combination endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations,” the statement reads. “The Administrator also finds that the combined emissions of these greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas air pollution that endangers public health and welfare.” Today, the Endangerment Finding is the key legal mechanism underpinning the regulation of air pollutants from vehicles and power plants. Scrapping the finding was first suggested in the right-wing Project 2025, which also advised eliminating federal restrictions on fossil fuel drilling on public lands and curtailing federal investments in renewable energy technologies. The move was also considered during Trump’s first term, though it never came to fruition. What will happen if the Endangerment Finding is scrapped? Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, the EPA can regulate air pollutants if it finds that they “cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” If the Endangerment Finding were to be revoked, that could set the scene for a major federal deregulation of greenhouse gas emissions, especially when it comes to the automotive industry and power plants. The possibility comes as several other levers of climate deregulation are on the horizon. This week, Congress is set to vote on two bills that would roll back climate regulations instituted in the final months of the Biden administration. The first bill concerns a fee on methane emissions by oil and gas companies, which the EPA said in November would reduce methane emissions by 1.2 million metric tons through 2035. The second bill concerns efficiency standards for tankless water heaters set by the Energy Department, which were predicted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 million metric tons over 30 years. Meanwhile, operations at the EPA might also have a major shake-up in store. During his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said Zeldin is currently planning to cut “65—or so—% of the people from environmental.” A White House official later clarified that Zeldin plans to eliminate 65% of what it says is the EPA’s “wasteful spending,” which will include staff cuts. How are experts reacting to this news? So far, several legal experts have suggested that an attempt to roll back the Endangerment Finding would result in an influx of legal challenges, and that it wouldn’t hold up under scrutiny. Sean Donahue is an attorney who has represented environmental groups that support the Endangerment Finding. In an interview with The Washington Post, he argued, “You can have a lot of good and reasonable disputes about exactly how we should be addressing climate change. But the proposition that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities don’t endanger public health and welfare is not a position that could be supported by the science or what EPA’s own record suggests.” David Doniger, a senior strategist and attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Washington Post that his firm is prepared to challenge the move in court, should it come to that. Even some oil and gas companies are wary of the potential decision. According to Bloomberg, some energy companies have pointed out that nullifying the Endangerment Finding would open the doors for an influx of public nuisance lawsuits against oil producers and power plants. At the time of this writing, Trump has not commented on whether he plans to act on Zeldin’s recommendation. View the full article