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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. This week, Zillow economists published their updated 12-month forecast, projecting that U.S. home prices—as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index—will fall by 0.9% between April 2025 and April 2026. After a series of downward revisions—beginning in January, when Zillow’s 12-month national home price forecast was +2.9%, and subsequently lowered each month until reaching -1.7% last month—Zillow has finally stopped downgrading its outlook. That said, it’s fair to call the Zillow economist bearish, given that for this forecast to be correct, 2025 would mark the first calendar-year home price decline since 2011. Why did Zillow downgrade its forecast for national home prices so many times this year? “The rise in [active] listings is fueling softer price growth, as greater supply provides more options and more bargaining power for buyers,” Zillow economists wrote in March. “Potential buyers are opting to remain renters for longer as affordability challenges suppress demand for home purchases.” Zillow thinks strained housing affordability—caused by U.S. home prices rising over 40% during the pandemic housing boom and mortgage rates spiking from 3% to 6% in 2022—is weighing on price growth. “Affordability is still challenging buyers. A mortgage payment on a typical home in March required about 35.3% of median household income nationwide when using a 20% down payment,” wrote Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen last month. “That’s a slight improvement over last year, but is still unaffordable. Spending more than 30% of income on housing is considered a financial burden, and a 20% down payment is a steep entry fee, coming out to about $72,000 on the typical U.S. home.” According to Zillow’s home price model, the listing site also believes that weakening and softening housing markets across the Sun Belt will weigh on nationally aggregated home prices this year. Among the 300 largest U.S. metro area housing markets, Zillow expects the strongest home price appreciation between April 2025 and April 2026 to occur in these 10 areas: Atlantic City, NJ: 3.2% Kingston, NY: 2.6% Torrington, CT: 2.4% Knoxville, TN: 2.3% Rochester, NY: 2.2% Syracuse, NY: 2.0% Vineland, NJ: 2.0% Fayetteville, AR: 1.9% Concord, NH: 1.9% Hilton Head Island, SC: 1.8% And these are the 10 housing markets where Zillow expects the weakest home price appreciation over that time period: Houma, LA: -10.2% Lake Charles, LA: -8.4% Alexandria, LA: -7.5% New Orleans, LA: -7.1% Lafayette, LA: -7.0% Shreveport, LA: -6.9% Beaumont, TX: -6.2% Midland, TX: -6.1% Monroe, LA: -5.5% Odessa, TX: -5.3% Below is what the current year-over-year rate of home price growth looks like for single-family and condo home prices. Florida is currently the epicenter of housing market weakness right now. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. For anyone looking for a straightforward, budget laptop for school, writing, or browsing, this open-box Microsoft Surface Laptop SE sale is worth a look. It’s priced at $189.99 right now on StackSocial, down from its original $378.99 listing. Even Amazon has it for about $20 more at the moment. Being an open-box item means you're not getting the out-of-the-plastic wrap experience—these units were likely returned, displayed, or pulled from shelves—so the box might be bruised or have a sticker or two, but the product itself is tested, verified, repackaged, and it still comes with a one-year warranty. This 11.6-inch model runs on the Intel Celeron N4120 chip and comes preloaded with Windows 11 SE—a version of the OS designed for school environments. It's lightweight and compact, making it ideal for students or anyone looking for something they can carry around all day. The screen isn’t high-res and you’re not getting a touchscreen here, but for folks who don’t need that and prefer typing on a traditional keyboard, it does the job. Battery life is rated at up to 16 hours, which sounds great on paper, though real-world use is probably a few hours shy of that if you’ve got multiple tabs or videos going. It's not a powerhouse, but with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD, it should hold up fine for most basic tasks like video calls, typing assignments, or streaming. That said, it’s not ideal for anyone needing apps outside the Microsoft Store or planning to multitask heavily. You’re not getting premium design or high-end specs, but you are getting a lightweight, functional machine with solid battery life and basic performance. For under $200, that’s not a bad trade-off. View the full article

Plenty of consumer electronics device categories are next in line for a major connectivity boost with Wi-Fi 7, Qualcomm says. The post FastConnect C7700 brings Wi-Fi 7 to “every kind of compute and consumer electronics device,” Qualcomm says appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Profits for Big Four firm come in ‘below our original plan’, says internal memoView the full article

President tells members of congress they will face significant increase in taxes if they fail to pass the legislation View the full article

DoorDash has announced the launch of its new Preferred Integrations Program (DPIP), a tool designed to help restaurants make better-informed decisions about their technology partners. The program, unveiled on May 19, gives merchants clearer visibility into how well different point-of-sale (POS) and middleware providers perform on the DoorDash platform, aiming to streamline tech selection and improve restaurant operations. According to DoorDash, DPIP is part of its larger effort to support restaurant partners by offering increased operational transparency. The program highlights high-performing providers based on real-time metrics and available features that directly affect restaurant workflows. “We created the DoorDash Preferred Integrations Program to make life easier for restaurants,” said Ruth Isenstadt, Head of U.S. Restaurants at DoorDash. “Merchants have told us that choosing the right tech partner can be overwhelming, especially when trying to understand which integrations will work best for their store, team, and customers. Whether you’re a single-store location, or a growing brand, we want every merchant to feel confident in the decisions they make and to know they’re supported by a reliable, high-performing integration provider.” To earn the Preferred status, integration partners must meet stringent performance benchmarks, including maintaining order and error rates below 1%, as well as offering key features. These include self-serve onboarding, real-time menu synchronization, live item availability, and order ready notifications, all of which are intended to streamline order processing and improve customer service. The initial list of 2025 Preferred Integration Partners includes: Checkmate Chowly ChowNow Deliverect Otter PAR Qu Square Stream Toast UrbanPiper These companies represent what DoorDash calls some of the most reliable integration providers currently available on its platform. The DPIP not only aims to save time for restaurant operators but also to promote partnerships that drive efficiency and accuracy. DoorDash says the program will continue to evolve in real time, expanding its list of recognized providers as more companies meet or exceed performance expectations. Merchants can explore and compare integration providers through DoorDash’s integrations resource hub, which also includes information on tools like POS Order Manager, allowing restaurants to manage DoorDash orders within their existing POS systems. DoorDash emphasized that the program was developed in close collaboration with its integration partners and shaped by direct feedback from merchants. The company sees this as a proactive step toward simplifying complex tech decisions for restaurants of all sizes. This article, "DoorDash Launches Preferred Integrations Program to Help Restaurants Choose Better Tech Partners" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

DoorDash has announced the launch of its new Preferred Integrations Program (DPIP), a tool designed to help restaurants make better-informed decisions about their technology partners. The program, unveiled on May 19, gives merchants clearer visibility into how well different point-of-sale (POS) and middleware providers perform on the DoorDash platform, aiming to streamline tech selection and improve restaurant operations. According to DoorDash, DPIP is part of its larger effort to support restaurant partners by offering increased operational transparency. The program highlights high-performing providers based on real-time metrics and available features that directly affect restaurant workflows. “We created the DoorDash Preferred Integrations Program to make life easier for restaurants,” said Ruth Isenstadt, Head of U.S. Restaurants at DoorDash. “Merchants have told us that choosing the right tech partner can be overwhelming, especially when trying to understand which integrations will work best for their store, team, and customers. Whether you’re a single-store location, or a growing brand, we want every merchant to feel confident in the decisions they make and to know they’re supported by a reliable, high-performing integration provider.” To earn the Preferred status, integration partners must meet stringent performance benchmarks, including maintaining order and error rates below 1%, as well as offering key features. These include self-serve onboarding, real-time menu synchronization, live item availability, and order ready notifications, all of which are intended to streamline order processing and improve customer service. The initial list of 2025 Preferred Integration Partners includes: Checkmate Chowly ChowNow Deliverect Otter PAR Qu Square Stream Toast UrbanPiper These companies represent what DoorDash calls some of the most reliable integration providers currently available on its platform. The DPIP not only aims to save time for restaurant operators but also to promote partnerships that drive efficiency and accuracy. DoorDash says the program will continue to evolve in real time, expanding its list of recognized providers as more companies meet or exceed performance expectations. Merchants can explore and compare integration providers through DoorDash’s integrations resource hub, which also includes information on tools like POS Order Manager, allowing restaurants to manage DoorDash orders within their existing POS systems. DoorDash emphasized that the program was developed in close collaboration with its integration partners and shaped by direct feedback from merchants. The company sees this as a proactive step toward simplifying complex tech decisions for restaurants of all sizes. This article, "DoorDash Launches Preferred Integrations Program to Help Restaurants Choose Better Tech Partners" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Americans largely agree that women have made significant gains in the workplace over the past two decades. But what about men? While many Americans believe women are thriving, over half believe men’s progress has stalled or even reversed. To make matters more complex, recent research has revealed a massive divide along gender and partisan lines. The majority of Republican men think full gender equity in America has been achieved, while the majority of Democratic women think there’s still work to be done. As researchers at the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, we think this divide matters a lot. And for business leaders, this gap isn’t just a social or political issue. It’s a leadership challenge with direct implications for team cohesion and morale. If gender equity efforts are seen by some employees as a loss rather than a collective gain, leaders risk inadvertently entrenching division. When equity feels like a loss Efforts to advance gender equity often come with the reassurance that equality isn’t a zero-sum game—that women’s advancement need not come at men’s expense. Data backs this up, showing, for example, that having gender-diverse executive teams can boost company profits by as much as 21%. Yet workers’ perceptions of gender equity efforts tell another story. For example, 61% of Americans believe changing gender norms have made it easier for women to be successful at work, but only 36% say the same for men. What’s more, 61% of men think women have equal job opportunities, but only 33% of women believe the same thing. These differences reveal an important truth: Perception, not policy alone, shapes how equity efforts are received. Involving men in the equity conversation Research suggests men and women associate power with different psychological outcomes. Men are more likely to associate power with control, while for women, power is more often linked to a feeling of freedom. As a result, efforts to share power may feel more liberating to women but destabilizing to men—particularly to those already in power. But this doesn’t mean one’s gain needs to come at another’s expense—just that people make sense of change through the lens of their own identities and experiences. When men perceive progress for women as a threat to their status or opportunity, resistance grows, even in the face of data suggesting otherwise. This cycle becomes especially difficult to break because it requires challenging one’s own beliefs, which isn’t always easy. This is why learning about others’ experiences is so useful. For example, a man and a woman might be equally ambitious and capable, but perhaps only one of them experiences being routinely interrupted in meetings. These differences in personal history and lived experience shape how work environments are interpreted and therefore navigated. Understanding this diversity of perspectives and discussing lived experiences can help gender equity efforts become more effective. Building a truly equitable future requires acknowledging that feelings about efforts required to reach that future may differ widely. With that in mind, here are some best practices for leaders to consider as they navigate the changing landscape. Preparing for differences in perspective Avoid zero-sum thinking. If men think gender equity efforts will erode their opportunities or diminish their own power, they’ll disengage. Leaders should instead frame equity as essential to team and business success—and ground conversations in metrics that show how inclusion drives outcomes. Know that the stakes may vary. Women may see gender equity as a matter of justice or even survival, and when stakes are existential, compromise can be difficult. At the same time, they may experience organizational progress toward gender equity as a personal win. Publicizing these changes and their mutually beneficial gains can help to create a more cohesive team where everyone can thrive. Be aware that different clocks are ticking. Some men may view change as happening too quickly, destabilizing established norms. Women, on the other hand, may feel progress is too slow, given centuries of systemic inequity. Holding both views as worthy of respect requires teamwork. Encourage dialogue where the goal is mutual understanding rather than unity. Building coalitions around shared experiences Promote policies that benefit everyone. By promoting policies such as hybrid work and parental leave that benefit everyone, workplaces will attract and retain a more diverse workforce, which leads to greater innovation. Encourage men to take advantage of these policies and ensure your company culture makes it acceptable to do so. This enables men to actually experience the benefit of these initiatives. Align efforts around shared values—such as the desire for healthier families, better education or stronger economies. Use both/and thinking. Supporting men who express fears about status loss can open space for dialogue. Provide that space. At the same time, acknowledge the ongoing struggles women continue to face and their fears about workplaces returning to “the way they used to be.” One viewpoint does not need to negate the other. Prioritize lived experience. Rather than insisting that everyone see gender equity the same way, find ways for men to experience mutually beneficial initiatives. Then, encourage dialogue about experiences rather than ideas. Bridge divides with dialogue Mixed mentorship matters. Pairing employees with mentors of different backgrounds—across gender, race, age, department or seniority level—can help them cultivate curiosity and learn from one another. Activate resource groups. Groups focused on cross-cultural engagement provide employees with a platform to discuss challenges, share experiences and collaborate on inclusion initiatives. Additionally, encouraging allies to participate in employee resource groups and business resource groups fosters increased openness and understanding. Leaders can support groups by providing resources, visibility and executive sponsorship. Embrace discomfort. In general, people work to avoid feeling uncomfortable. However, discomfort is often necessary for growth. Starting with this premise and encouraging thoughtful, open and honest discussions about sensitive topics and potential fears can help foster transparency and build trust. Leaders can facilitate these conversations through town halls, roundtable discussions or dedicated dialogue sessions. Progress depends not just on metrics and policies but on trust, communication and humility. When people feel seen and heard—whether they’re feeling empowered or uncertain—they’re more likely to engage. In other words, the real opportunity isn’t to win an argument about whether gender equity is “done,” but to build organizations where everyone can see a future for themselves in the workplace—and feel as if they have a role in shaping it. Colleen Tolan is a postdoctoral researcher for the Center for Women in Business at Rutgers University. Lisa Kaplowitz is an associate professor and the executive director at the Center for Women in Business at Rutgers University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

A reader writes: I’m managing a department of eight people and two of them won’t speak to each other. I’m new to my position and it took me a couple of months to figure out that they weren’t talking. They literally won’t speak to each other. If we have a meeting, they won’t participate if the other person is in the room, unless I address a question directly to one of them. I’ve been managing them for three months, but from what I can gather it’s been like this for at least two years. There seem to be a couple of other people in the department who are on one person’s side or the other, and it is affecting the department’s work. Everyone who has been with the company for a while shrugs it off with a that’s just how it is. However, it is affecting their work (and the department’s), so I need to address it. I’m just not sure how. How do I address two adults who won’t speak to each other? I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. The post two of my employees won’t speak to each other appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

BONUS: A voting decision grid. By Marc Rosenberg The Rosenberg Practice Management Library Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

BONUS: A voting decision grid. By Marc Rosenberg The Rosenberg Practice Management Library Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

JCPenney said it will close seven stores this weekend in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and West Viriginia, according to USA Today, and will be running sales in those locations up until Sunday, May 25. It’s the latest set of JCPenney store closures since the long-struggling retail chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in May 2020 during the pandemic (it announced later that year it would close 200 of its 850 stores). The chain was then purchased by property managers Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management. Fast Company has reached out to JCPenney for comment. Which JCPenney store locations are closing? A JCPenney spokesperson told USA Today the following seven stores will close this Sunday, May 25: The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno, California The Shops At Northfield in Denver, Colorado Pine Ridge Mall in Pocatello, Idaho West Ridge Mall in Topeka, Kansas Fox Run Mall in Newington, New Hampshire Asheville Mall in Asheville, North Carolina Charleston Town Center in Charleston, West Virginia In February, JCPenney said it would be closing a “handful” of stores by mid-2025, but did not disclose which ones. The news came just one month after the retailer announced it was partnering with Forever 21 to create a new company, Catalyst Brands, in a merger that would also include Brooks Brothers, Aéropostale, Lucky Brand, Nautica, and Eddie Bauer. (JCPenney said the closures were unrelated.) The iconic department store chain, like many major retailers, has been struggling in recent years as American consumer foot traffic decreases and more shoppers go online. This, coupled with increasing prices, inflation, and the high cost of living, have led many retailers to file for bankruptcy or initiate waves of store closings. Some have even gone out of business, including: Joann fabrics, Macy’s, Party City, Big Lots, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven. View the full article

A fintech company called Slash offers business banking accounts tailored to the needs of specific kinds of entrepreneurs. Slash provides business checking accounts with funds held at FDIC-insured banks, detailed spending analytics dashboards, free or low-cost wire and ACH transfers, easy access to lending options, and unlimited virtual cards. These cards can be configured with specific spending limits, merchants, and merchant categories to prevent unauthorized or erroneous employee purchases. That control, along with metadata from Slash’s integrations with popular accounting platforms, makes it easier for bookkeepers to classify transactions. The company also offers a range of add-ons built for particular industries—something like an app store for banking—designed to address the unique pain points of different types of businesses. “The insight behind Slash is the work that an accountant [does] at a construction company, or a marketing agency, or a property manager looks very, very different from one another,” says CEO Victor Cardenas. Marketing agencies, for example, often take money from clients to spend on platforms like Google and Facebook. Traditionally, they would use a single business checking account and rely on internal systems to track how much was received, how much had been spent, and when to request more funds. With Slash, agencies can create virtual accounts for each client, allowing both parties to see the remaining balance. They can even trigger automatic billing for more marketing funds—plus the agency fee—when the balance runs low. The approach is popular: Slash reports that more than 1% of global ad spending on Facebook is conducted using a Slash card. “We basically make it much easier for agencies to put their accounts receivable on autopilot,” Cardenas says. Other industries have their own challenges. Contractors in fields like plumbing or HVAC often give technicians credit cards for fueling up, but want to prevent personal purchases—even inside gas stations. Slash enables businesses to restrict cards to fuel purchases only and ties each transaction to a specific driver or vehicle. “We can make it so an owner can basically say, I want this card to only be able to be used to buy gas at the pump and not inside of the station,” Cardenas says. “And then we get data at the time of clearing of the transaction around the actual fuel grade, what the kind of fuel was, and we’re able to pass that on and show that to our customers.” Other users include online travel agents, who generate virtual cards to pay hotels and vendors. For businesses dealing with cryptocurrency, Slash enables sending and receiving stablecoin payments—without needing a separate crypto platform. Slash also offers an API that lets customers build custom dashboards, trigger payments through internal systems, or, in the case of e-commerce marketplaces, automatically transfer funds to vendors when goods are sold. Cardenas says the rise of AI-powered coding tools has allowed Slash to rapidly release features tailored to different industries. The company started in 2021 with a focus on sole proprietors, but pivoted in late 2023 to serve larger businesses in specific verticals. On Tuesday, it announced a $41 million Series B funding round, valuing the company at $370 million. Thanks to AI, Slash can now ship features at a pace that would have been difficult just a few years ago, while leveraging its existing banking infrastructure and relationships. “It’s becoming trivial to build software, but it’s not trivial to stand up a card issuing and banking program,” Cardenas says. “And so while we’re ahead, we want to build solutions for as many industries as quickly as possible.” View the full article

In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation’s largest housing developer, designing and constructing more than 80 new communities across 26 states in just two years. These weren’t hastily erected barracks or rows of identical homes. They were thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, complete with parks, schools, shops and sewer systems. In just two years, this federal initiative provided housing for almost 100,000 people. Few Americans are aware that such an ambitious and comprehensive public housing effort ever took place. Many of the homes are still standing today. But as an urban planning scholar, I believe that this brief historic moment—spearheaded by a shuttered agency called the United States Housing Corporation—offers a revealing lesson on what government-led planning can achieve during a time of national need. Government mobilization When the U.S. declared war against Germany in April 1917, federal authorities immediately realized that ship, vehicle and arms manufacturing would be at the heart of the war effort. To meet demand, there needed to be sufficient worker housing near shipyards, munitions plants and steel factories. So on May 16, 1918, Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to provide housing and infrastructure for industrial workers vital to national defense. By July, it had appropriated US$100 million—approximately $2.3 billion today—for the effort, with Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson tasked with overseeing it via the U.S. Housing Corporation. Over the course of two years, the agency designed and planned over 80 housing projects. Some developments were small, consisting of a few dozen dwellings. Others approached the size of entire new towns. For example, Cradock, near Norfolk, Virginia, was planned on a 310-acre site, with more than 800 detached homes developed on just 100 of those acres. In Dayton, Ohio, the agency created a 107-acre community that included 175 detached homes and a mix of over 600 semidetached homes and row houses, along with schools, shops, a community center and a park. Designing ideal communities Notably, the Housing Corporation was not simply committed to offering shelter. Its architects, planners and engineers aimed to create communities that were not only functional but also livable and beautiful. They drew heavily from Britain’s late-19th century Garden City movement, a planning philosophy that emphasized low-density housing, the integration of open spaces and a balance between built and natural environments. National Archives Importantly, instead of simply creating complexes of apartment units, akin to the public housing projects that most Americans associate with government-funded housing, the agency focused on the construction of single-family and small multifamily residential buildings that workers and their families could eventually own. This approach reflected a belief by the policymakers that property ownership could strengthen community responsibility and social stability. During the war, the federal government rented these homes to workers at regulated rates designed to be fair, while covering maintenance costs. After the war, the government began selling the homes—often to the tenants living in them— through affordable installment plans that provided a practical path to ownership. National Archives Though the scope of the Housing Corporation’s work was national, each planned community took into account regional growth and local architectural styles. Engineers often built streets that adapted to the natural landscape. They spaced houses apart to maximize light, air and privacy, with landscaped yards. No resident lived far from greenery. In Quincy, Massachusetts, for example, the agency built a 22-acre neighborhood with 236 homes designed mostly in a Colonial Revival style to serve the nearby Fore River Shipyard. The development was laid out to maximize views, green space and access to the waterfront, while maintaining density through compact street and lot design. At Mare Island, California, developers located the housing site on a steep hillside near a naval base. Rather than flatten the land, designers worked with the slope, creating winding roads and terraced lots that preserved views and minimized erosion. The result was a 52-acre community with over 200 homes, many of which were designed in the Craftsman style. There was also a school, stores, parks and community centers. Infrastructure and innovation Alongside housing construction, the Housing Corporation invested in critical infrastructure. Engineers installed over 649,000 feet of modern sewer and water systems, ensuring that these new communities set a high standard for sanitation and public health. Attention to detail extended inside the homes. Architects experimented with efficient interior layouts and space-saving furnishings, including foldaway beds and built-in kitchenettes. Some of these innovations came from private companies that saw the program as a platform to demonstrate new housing technologies. One company, for example, designed fully furnished studio apartments with furniture that could be rotated or hidden, transforming a space from living room to bedroom to dining room throughout the day. To manage the large scale of this effort, the agency developed and published a set of planning and design standards—the first of their kind in the United States. These manuals covered everything from block configurations and road widths to lighting fixtures and tree-planting guidelines. National Archives The standards emphasized functionality, aesthetics and long-term livability. Architects and planners who worked for the Housing Corporation carried these ideas into private practice, academia and housing initiatives. Many of the planning norms still used today, such as street hierarchies, lot setbacks and mixed-use zoning, were first tested in these wartime communities. And many of the planners involved in experimental New Deal community projects, such as Greenbelt, Maryland, had worked for or alongside Housing Corporation designers and planners. Their influence is apparent in the layout and design of these communities. A brief but lasting legacy With the end of World War I, the political support for federal housing initiatives quickly waned. The Housing Corporation was dissolved by Congress, and many planned projects were never completed. Others were incorporated into existing towns and cities. Yet, many of the neighborhoods built during this period still exist today, integrated in the fabric of the country’s cities and suburbs. Residents in places such as Aberdeen, Maryland; Bremerton, Washington; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Watertown, New York; and New Orleans may not even realize that many of the homes in their communities originated from a bold federal housing experiment. Google Street View The Housing Corporation’s efforts, though brief, showed that large-scale public housing could be thoughtfully designed, community oriented and quickly executed. For a short time, in response to extraordinary circumstances, the U.S. government succeeded in building more than just houses. It constructed entire communities, demonstrating that government has a major role and can lead in finding appropriate, innovative solutions to complex challenges. At a moment when the U.S. once again faces a housing crisis, the legacy of the U.S. Housing Corporation serves as a reminder that bold public action can meet urgent needs. Eran Ben-Joseph is a professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Do you mean business? Show it. By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Do you mean business? Show it. By Martin Bissett Passport to Partnership Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

With the weather warming up, your thoughts may be turning to spending lazy summer afternoons at the beach with a good book. Tina, an online creator and co-host of the podcast Book Talk, Etc., opened her edition of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday to find the newspaper's "Summer reading list for 2025." If Tina were me, someone who isn't in-tune with the latest in literature, this article might have seemed like a useful jumping-off point for some new book recommendations. But seeing as Tina creates content all about books, I imagine she is acutely aware of which authors are writing which books—which is why she was able to immediately spot a number of books on the list that simply do not exist. Tina took a photo of the article and posted it to her Threads account, accusing the newspaper of using AI to generate its recommendations. That image of the article is now circulating on Bluesky, as well as the Chicago subreddit. I'm not a subscriber, and the article doesn't appear to be on the Sun-Times' website, so I can't verify the list myself. But based on the photograph, it doesn't look good for the Sun-Times. Of the 15 "books" on this summer reading list, only five are real books you can actually, you know, read: Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan; Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury; Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman; and Atonement by Ian McEwan. Coincidentally, they are the last five books on the list, and are not new. The other 10 are totally made up, including such "hey, I'd read that" entries as The Last Algorithm, a new AI thriller from The Martian author Andy Weir; and Boiling Point, a smart-sounding story of environmental ethics by critical darling Rebecca Makki. Alas. Given these fake books have real authors attached to them, fans of those authors may believe their favorite writer has a new, intriguing novel out. Even if you have no idea who any of the named authors are, you might use this piece to head to your library or book store to get a jump on your summer reading list—and if you're pulling from the first 10 recommendations, you're going to be looking for a long time. What happened here?Like I said, this article does not appear on the Chicago Sun-Times' website, nor does it appear in the archives for May 18 (the date on the image in question). I'm only working off of Tina's picture of a physical copy of the newspaper, since I can't find another image of it anywhere online. Hopefully, another reader can upload their copy as supporting evidence. If this list is real, and it was published in the Sunday edition of the Sun-Times, it does strongly suggest the newspaper used generative AI to write it. (I've reached out to the paper for comment, and will update this piece if I receive a response.) That's not just because the writing is stilted. AI often hallucinates, or, in other words, sometimes makes things up. It's not totally clear why the models do this—it could be an issue with the training data, or the conclusions the models draw from that training—but the problem is only getting worse even as AI models ostensibly improve. This isn't something you can avoid with better prompts, either: If you use generative AI, it's going to hallucinate sometimes, which means you need to check the outputs for inaccuracies (or straight-up lies). I follow that someone who doesn't understand this technology would see what a program like ChatGPT can do and want to use it to generate articles like this, but as many writers and artists have been arguing for years now, you can't replace a human worker with an AI chatbot and expect the same quality work. Sure, ChatGPT will happily generate you a list of 15 book recommendations in under a minute—but it's possible some (if not most) of those recommendations will be garbage. I don't believe in using generative AI to publish stories like this. But if a newspaper is going to outsource the writing to a bot, it needs a human fact-checker (or perhaps, I don't know, an editor) to review the generation and make sure everything is correct. Though at that point, I'd suggest just just paying a human writer to offer the book recommendations themself. I gaurantee you there are plenty of out-of-work or underemployed journalists who would jump at the chance. Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT for the synopsis of The Last Algorithm by Andy Weir. The bot searched the web for an answer, and, to its credit, accurately reported that the book doesn't actually exist. It made some assumptions, saying the Sun-Times definitely used AI to generate the article (though I suppose a very lazy intern who was hoping to be fired could have made up the books as well), likely because the social media posts it was pulling from suggested as much. But I also found its final thought to be particularly on-point (and accidentally self-aware): "This incident underscores the importance of verifying information, especially when AI-generated content is involved," ChatGPT wrote. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I first reviewed the Boox Palma e-reader, I called it the ideal solution to your doomscrolling habit—a device as portable and pocketable as a phone, with an adaptable Android operating system that allows you to run any apps you want, but with an e-ink screen that is both easier on the eyes and not nearly as stimulating to stare at as your smartphone’s LED display. Weirdly, by looking like a smartphone but feeling just a little bit worse to use (complimentary), this little device helped me smash my 2025 reading goal in fewer than six months. But doomscrolling isn’t a mobile-only problem (at least, not for me)—it’s just as easy to get sucked into the latest political outrage when I’m scrolling Bluesky on my laptop via my web browser, never mind that I'm supposed to be writing. So I decided to take a cue from the Palma fans on Reddit and explore transforming my Palma into an on-the-go productivity device: a coffee shop-friendly word processor that wouldn’t leave me pretending to work while I was really scrolling social media or wandering down another Wiki-hole. To put it to the test, I decided I would write up my findings on the Palma itself—yes, I wrote this entire article on an e-reader. BOOX Palma 2 Mobile ePaper Fingerprint Recognition Smart Button Dual Speakers Microphones (White) $299.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $299.99 at Amazon iClever Foladable Bluetooth Keyboard $54.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Shop Now Shop Now $54.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg SEE -1 MORE How to turn your Boox Palma (or other Android e-reader) into a mini-word processorBecause the Palma runs on an open version of Android, using it as a replacement for your laptop is as simple as connecting a Bluetooth keyboard. (While the Palma is my favorite e-reader, you can use a similar setup on any open Android e-ink device—not just those from Boox, like the Note Air 4C and Note Max, but also from competitors like Bigme and Hisense.) In the interest of keeping my setup as svelte and portable as possible, I opted for the iClever BK08, a slim foldable that, when stored, is roughly the size and thickness of the Palma itself. It even has a trackpad and comes with a little cloth carrying case that has enough room to fit my favorite little e-reader. (Annoyingly, it does not fit the little foldable stand that comes with the keyboard.) Credit: Joel Cunningham Getting it set up was simply a matter of enabling Bluetooth on my Palma, putting the keyboard in pairing mode, and opening up Google Docs. (Well, and also spending five minutes looking for the setting to disable the onscreen keyboard when a physical keyboard is attached.) To do this on the Palma, you'll need to go into the system-level Settings app, scroll to More Settings, then tap Language and Input. Tap Current and select ONYX Keyboard as your default. Next, connect the keyboard via Bluetooth, open your Google Doc, and tap on the screen to bring up the onscreen keyboard. Tap the settings icon (it looks like a hexagon with a hole in the center) and then Switch Keyboard. Turn the slider next to Show virtual keyboard to off. (These directions will obviously vary if you're using a different Android-based e-reader, like the Bigme B751C, which I have yet to test out.) With this accomplished, you're all set to begin treating your e-reader like a teeny tiny laptop. What it's like to write on the Boox PalmaIf you’ve ever tried to search for something on your Kindle using the clunky onscreen keyboard, you might be expecting the experience of typing onto an e-ink screen would be a similar exercise in frustration. I had my own doubts, given I wasn’t thrilled with the performance of Boox’s own keyboard dock for the Note Max tablet I tested last year. But the iClever keyboard impressed me–the build quality feels good, it's small but not unreasonably so for shorter writing sessions, and it even has a small touch-sensitive trackpad that allowed me to click around within Google Docs (though to be honest, just using the touch screen is faster and easier). Performance-wise, I noticed no significant delay between pressing the keys and the characters appearing on the screen. To be fair, this likely has less to do with the keyboard (which is a sturdy little device, and fun to fold and unfold, but likely any Bluetooth keyboard will perform similarly) and more to do with Boox’s speedy refresh modes, which do their darnedest to make the Palma's e-ink screen as responsive as the LED on your smartphone. Do they get there? Kinda. Ish. If you put the Palma in “speed” mode, you can watch YouTube on the Palma and almost make out what’s happening onscreen. But typing is way less graphically intense, and as a word processor, this little e-reader is as speedy as you need it to be. The setup is great for writing without distractions: No intrusive notifications, no new tabs to click away to just for a second. Depending on how you configure your settings, the smaller display can also mean you'll only see a few lines of text at any given time, which can be a boon if you're the kind of person who gets caught up in obsessive on-the-fly editing: You'll be able to quickly get the words out, and leave the revisions for later, when you're back in front of a "real" computer. The biggest hiccup I experienced had nothing to do with the keyboard at all. For some reason, the Palma didn’t want to play nice with the free wifi at Starbucks. I could connect to it, but the popup menu where you agree to the terms of use kept crashing before I could enter my email address and click “agree.” One could argue this is a feature and not a bug—you can’t waste time online if you can’t get online—but I also wasn't able to back up my writing to the cloud without connecting to my iPhone's hotspot. The bottom lineAs fun and functional as I found this setup, I’m not suggesting you toss out your laptop in favor of an e-reader—full disclosure, I did not edit and insert the images into this review using the Palma, and I didn’t even bother trying to connect it to the Lifehacker CMS. But if you just want to be left alone with a blinking cursor, it’s kind of ideal. I wrote the preceding 1,000 words more or less in one go, without navigating away from Google Docs to check my email or respond to texts or a notification from Instagram, which is, er, not my usual workflow (no one tell my boss; I am very good at staying on task, I swear). View the full article

Crisis talks with regulator and government led to agreement to pause controversial payoutsView the full article

A humanoid robotics startup co-founded by prominent artificial-intelligence futurist Ray Kurzweil said on Tuesday that venture capital firm Gauntlet Ventures will back its $100 million Series B funding round. The company, Beyond Imagination, will be valued at $500 million, and venture capital firm Gauntlet Ventures will be the round’s sole investor. Kurzweil is known for popularizing the term “the singularity,” when he predicted two decades ago that by 2045, artificial intelligence would surpass human intelligence and embark on a path of accelerating self-enhancement. These ideas, which once seemed like science fiction, are now viewed as mainstream by many technologists. Beyond Imagination is co-founded by scientist, entrepreneur and filmmaker Harry Kloor. The company has developed a humanoid robot—the Beyond Bot—and accompanying AI models that it intends to deploy in industrial settings such as factories, pharmaceutical plants and chip manufacturing facilities, said Gauntlet Ventures co-founder Oliver Carmack. The company has been testing its robots and is now looking for large enterprises into which they can be deployed, Carmack said, adding that he chose to back Beyond Imagination because of its potential to revolutionize U.S. manufacturing and address the projected global shortage of skilled labor. Major tech companies including Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla, alongside various startups, are rushing to make humanoid robots, and are betting that recent advances in AI will also lead to breakthroughs in robots and automation. In October last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “a lot of progress” has been made with its humanoid robot, Optimus, which could perform many daily tasks. Progress on robots has been slow, however, as researchers have found that the language-related AI breakthroughs driving chatbot development have not necessarily helped with understanding of the physical world. Many companies are spending enormous sums to collect the real-world training data necessary to train models that can power robots. In addition to humanoid robots, Beyond Imagination is also developing Aura, which co-founder Kloor described as a universal operating system for intelligent manufacturing, allowing humans, robots and legacy machines to work together. Beyond Imagination has attracted an eclectic roster of advisers, including former Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and onetime Paramount Pictures chairman Jim Gianopulos. —Dawn Chmielewski and Anna Tong, Reuters View the full article

That’s where we are with optimizing for visibility in LLMs (LLMO), and we need more experts to call out this behavior in our industry, like Lily Ray has done in this post: If you’re tricking, sculpting, or manipulating a large…Read more ›View the full article

Women may be at a heightened risk for being edged out of their job (or having their duties change) due to AI. According to a new study, jobs disproportionately done by women, especially in higher income countries, are more steadily becoming automated. The joint study, which comes from the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) and Poland’s National Research Institute (NASK), was released today. It assessed the ways in which generative AI is reshaping the world, as well as how it changes the role of human beings. “We went beyond theory to build a tool grounded in real-world jobs. By combining human insight, expert review, and generative AI models, we’ve created a replicable method that helps countries assess risk and respond with precision,” said Pawel Gmyrek, ILO senior researcher and lead author, in a statement included in the study. How AI is changing jobs The report found that globally about one in four people have a job with generative AI exposure, meaning their jobs had the potential to be performed by AI. Researchers also found a significant contrast between how at-risk women’s jobs were versus men’s. They found that the jobs that had the greatest risk of being performed by AI made up 9.6% of female employment compared to just 3.5% of jobs typically held by men. Administrative tasks, most commonly performed in clerical jobs, were at the greatest risk, but jobs in media, software, and finance were also at notable risk, as well. The researchers noted that rather than AI taking over employees’ jobs completely, human roles will, more commonly, evolve with the technology. “We stress that such exposure does not imply the immediate automation of an entire occupation, but rather the potential for a large share of its current tasks to be performed using this technology,” the report explained. Shaping the future of work The study’s authors also noted that governments, social dialogue, and worker organizations will be important in determining AI’s growing impact on the workforce in the future. “This index helps identify where GenAI is likely to have the biggest impact, so countries can better prepare and protect workers,” said Marek Troszyński, one of the researchers and a senior expert at NASK. Still, when it comes to women’s work, it’s not the first bad news about the impact of AI. A 2025 report from the World Economic Forum and LinkedIn found that AI is making the gender gap worse. It showed that women are currently in fewer roles being augmented by AI, and more in those disrupted by the technology. Currently 33.7% of women work in occupations that are being disrupted, compared to just 25.5% of men. View the full article

There is a new landmark at the home of the Chicago White Sox—Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2. That’s where Father Bob—the future Pope Leo XIV—sat for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series. The White Sox unveiled a graphic installation Monday that pays tribute to the new pontiff and that moment during their last championship run. The pillar artwork features a waving Pope Leo XIV, along with a picture from the TV broadcast of the future pope sitting with good friend Ed Schmit and his grandson, Eddie. The team also is planning to do something to commemorate the Rate Field seat the pope occupied during the 2005 World Series opener. “When people come into the ballpark, it’s an interesting piece of our history and they’re going to want to see it,” said Brooks Boyer, the chief executive and marketing officer for the White Sox. “So we’re going to be able to put something on that seat.” Robert Prevost became the first pope from the U.S. in the history of the Catholic Church when he was elected on May 8. The Chicago-born missionary, who took the name Leo XIV, is a White Sox fan, according to his friends and family. Prevost attended the World Series opener with Schmit, a longtime season-ticket holder who died in 2020. The White Sox beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on their way to a four-game sweep for the title. Eddie Schmit, 25, who works in the family’s day-care business, described the future pope as a great guy and kindhearted. “A lot of this is about the White Sox. It should be more about what kind of guy the pope is,” Schmit said. “You look at some of the things he’s done with his missions, I mean it’s incredible. He’s been in places that are so poor, just trying to help other people.” Prevost and Schmit knew each other through their work at a Catholic high school on Chicago’s South Side, and Schmit’s son, Nick, remains the account holder for the pope’s World Series seat. Ed Schmit used to tell Father Bob he was going to be the next pope, Schmit’s daughter, Heidi Skokal, said. “Right around when my dad was passing, Father Bob made sure, he couldn’t be there, but made sure he spoke with him and everything,” an emotional Skokal said. “And he said, ‘Father Bob, Father Bob, I know you’re going to be the next pope. I may not be here to see it.’ And he goes, ‘But I’ll be definitely looking down.’ And I’m sure he is today.” The White Sox, who have struggled on the field in recent years, and their fans have embraced their connection to the new pope since he was elected. The team said it sent a jersey and a hat to the Vatican after the announcement. Some fans have been dressing as the pope for White Sox games, and there are several different T-shirts that celebrate the team’s most famous fan. “The pope absolutely has an open invite to come back,” Boyer said. “To come sit in Section 140, to throw out a first pitch. Heck, maybe we’ll let him get an at-bat.” AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb —Jay Cohen, AP Baseball Writer View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Tariffs on products being imported to the U.S., especially from China, Canada, and Mexico, have been a hotly debated topic in the news, and many people are predicting a hike in prices on things like tools and materials for DIY projects as the tariffs are enacted. There is a lot of conjecture about how to keep your home improvement and DIY projects prices down, with many commentators advising people to simply “buy American"—but that probably won’t work. The economy is increasingly international, with parts of almost everything made in the U.S. being imported from all over the world. Most tools made in the U.S., even from brands that have a reputation for being American-made, are actually “made in the USA from globally sourced parts,” meaning that at least some of the components of these tools are made elsewhere. A few exceptions to this rule exist, like Estwing hammers and hatchets, and Channellock, which makes a large selection of tools mostly in the U.S. from U.S.-sourced materials and parts. But most tools are affected at some point along the supply chain by tariffs on imported materials and parts. Because of an overall increase in the cost of manufacturing due to tariffs on things like fuel and electricity, as well as materials and parts, and a decrease in demand for American products abroad, manufacturing in the U.S. has slowed significantly over the last few months. As a result of this lull in activity and the lack of international demand for American goods, prices on tools made in the U.S. aren’t likely to be much cheaper than imported products. Whether companies are battling higher costs, lower demand for their products, or both, their prices won’t be going down as compared to other products as long as their business operates in the global economy. Here's what you can do if the prices get too high. Buy used toolsDon’t get me wrong: Estwing still makes my favorite hammer, and Klein still makes my favorite tool bag right here in the U.S., and I would never advise people not to buy these things; ultimately, the reason I like them isn’t because of tariffs but because they’re well-made and they last a long time. But if you want to save money in the economic storm caused by tariffs, consider buying used. Buying good-quality used tools is a better bet than buying low-quality new tools—they will likely last longer. For more information on how to identify quality used tools, read my article on buying tools from estate sales. Repair broken tools instead of buying new onesWhile parts might be more expensive because of tariffs, you can likely still save some money by fixing power tools when they break rather than replacing them. Sharpening saw blades for a table saw can range from $15 to about $50 per blade, which is much cheaper than replacing them, especially for specialty blades. If you have a tool with a power cord that has become worn, you can get a replacement cord for between $10 and $40, depending on the length and gauge. Even if you don’t feel comfortable replacing the cord yourself, the cost of having the repair done is likely still cheaper than buying a new drill press or bench sander. Join a makerspaceYou might be able to find a makerspace locally at a school, community center, or one that's run as its own business. Depending on the size and scope of the space, membership can cost anywhere from $10/month to $200/month and includes access to on-site tools for a variety of DIY projects. Some of these communal shops also have tools you can check out and take home. While the price of membership for some of these spaces can seem expensive, it's still likely cheaper than the cost of buying all the tools you would have access to, especially if you consider the cost of maintenance and electricity for some of the larger ones, like table saws. Rent your toolsWhile renting smaller power tools like drills and drivers might not be worth it—the minimum rental on those is around $27—larger tools like power washers, floor sanders, and tillers can be rented for between $80 and $90 per day. This is a significant savings on buying a large tool like this, but make sure to check your rental contract to see what's included. Sometimes you'll be responsible for providing sanding discs and other needed accessories for the rented tool. Auto repair stores like Autozone also sometimes have tools to loan out for a deposit, as long as you return the tools within the 90-day loan period. If you have a DIY project that only requires the use of a particular tool for a short period of time, this type of rental or loan can result in significant savings. Where to borrow toolsIf you want to avoid tariffs altogether, you can try borrowing tools through a local tool library or neighborhood swap group. This is by far the most tariff-resistant way to get your DIY projects done on a budget—and build community while you work. Tool libraries can often be a resource for more than just tools—they often host classes and repair workshops, too, making them a perfect place to start if you’re a DIY beginner or you just want to make some DIY friends. View the full article

A reader writes: A couple of weeks ago, I gave my employee, Rita, negative feedback on her behavior. It wasn’t what she was saying; it was how she was saying it. She was speaking rapidly and in a panicked but unwarranted manner. She was high-strung and scattered, and I felt interrogated. She accepted my feedback professionally, apologized, and showed subsequent improvement. Two days ago, a coworker texted me a link to a blog about people with disabilities and asked, “This you?” Rita has a regular column on a blog about her disability, ADHD. I knew she had an ADA accommodation, but that’s all. She wrote her latest column about our interaction. She accurately described everything, and she used this exchange as part of her argument that managers should be required to take training to better understand and manage neurodivergent staff. Rita explained my criticisms of her were all about behaviors she couldn’t help, and the workplace is still based on neurotypical norms and expectations. (I am neurotypical, and she knows that.) She mentioned that she never disclosed her ADHD diagnosis at work as she has struggled with skepticism and disbelief before and “you can’t control what happens afterwards.” Plus she doesn’t want to be seen as a label. She talked about striking the balance between accommodating people with disabilities and not singling anyone out. If someone is acting in an unexpected manner, managers should never assume such behaviors are controllable or intentional. According to Rita, I didn’t truly understand what I was asking her to do. Despite taking medicine, she takes extra steps to control her mannerisms now. I get the impression from her blog post that she’s nervous around me and she is apprehensive about contributing in discussions. Although she expressed sympathy for my role, she mentioned I probably had no idea how hurtful it was for her to hear that feedback and how difficult controlling herself is. She likened it to being asked never to touch your face at work. I don’t know Rita that well. She is a top performer. I don’t feel comfortable bringing up the blog post because she intentionally didn’t disclose her ADHD. I wonder if she’s right. I have biases like everyone else, and I truly don’t know what her life is like. Was I wrong? It’s hard to say without knowing exactly what happened and what feedback you gave about it. Rita definitely is not wrong that workplace expectations are based on neurotypical norms and expectations. I don’t think it inherently follows from that that managers can never give feedback about something because it might stem from neurodivergence, or that every behavior stemming from neurodivergence is necessarily one that workplaces should accommodate. But it’s certainly true that, in general, we could all do a better job of thinking more expansively about what behaviors are truly problematic or disruptive versus what just doesn’t neatly align with what we were taught professional behavior looks like. It’s also true that most managers get little to no training on neurodivergence (or disabilities in general) and most are out there winging it. Making this more difficult, Rita has good reasons for choosing not to divulge her diagnosis at work; there’s still a lot of stigma toward ADHD and other mental health diagnoses, and disclosing can end up harming people, even if they have generally supportive managers. (For example, it can mean that everything they do ends up seen through an ADHD lens — and so even minor mistakes that everyone makes will be seen as part of A Concerning Pattern for them, whereas for someone else it would get dismissed as a fluke or an off day.) But it’s also not reasonable to decide that managers should never give feedback on anything because it might be linked to neurodivergence. At some point, the employee has a role in speaking up, too. The best solution would be a broadening of what we understand “professional” behavior to look like — but we live in the world we live in, and that’s not something any of us has the power to change on our own. Would it be better for individual managers to stop and think, “Could there be more going on here than I understand, and are there ways for that to inform my approach when I raise this?” Yes, absolutely — and that’s the case for all sorts of factors, not just possible neurodivergence. But it’s not realistic to expect things will never be raised at all if they are (a) very outside a particular office’s norms in ways that are disruptive or alarming to others, or (b) out of character for a particular person. I agree you shouldn’t bring up the blog post with Rita. She clearly didn’t intend for you to see it or to disclose anything to you. But you can use it to inform your own thinking! Would you have handled things differently with her if you’d accounted for a factor like ADHD in play? Would you have needed to raise it regardless but might have tailored your approach differently? And if so, could that become more of your default approach for everyone, since there could always be context you don’t have? Or does it not change anything about how you handled that situation? I don’t know what these answers should be since I don’t know exactly what happened — but they’re useful questions to think over, and you now have the advantage of some insight that can challenge your thinking. You might not land anywhere differently in the end, but it’s still useful to think all that through. The post my employee thinks I’m intolerant of neurodiversity appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article