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Three years ago, at WWDC 2022, Apple showed off its vision for the next generation of CarPlay. The sneak peak showed off a car with huge, wrap-around displays, featuring customizable widgets, a futuristic UI, and car controls built-into CarPlay. Frankly, it just looked cool. But in the years since, CarPlay has remained largely the same, other than more vehicles offering wireless CarPlay than before. I've mostly forgotten about the promised updates, especially considering that my own car doesn't have an infotainment display in the first place. But Apple surprised us this morning with its latest press release: This radical change to CarPlay, now called CarPlay Ultra, is finally rolling out, today—but only for a very limited audience. Aston Martin or bust CarPlay Ultra is coming to new Aston Martin vehicles today, and will roll out in the coming weeks to existing models that feature the company's "next-generation infotainment system" through a software update. That's a major bummer for any of us who don't happen to own the right Aston Martin. But there's a silver lining: Apple says that Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis have all opted into CarPlay Ultra, and will bring the feature to their cars as well. There's no timeline for when that will happen, but hey—better than nothing. CarPlay Ultra vs. CarPlay The key feature that sets CarPlay Ultra apart from CarPlay is its integration with all the screens in your car. Many cars these days have multiple displays, including one behind the steering wheel. Typically, only a designated display—or a portion of that designated display—is allocated for CarPlay. But with CarPlay Ultra, all the screens are fair game. So, you can have CarPlay Ultra elements take up the display behind your steering wheel. That might manifest as your speedometer, tachometer, and a tool of your choosing, including the driving assist window, Apple Music, Maps, or tire pressure. I'd personally find it quite useful to have my directions featured front and center behind my wheel, so any time I check my speed, I get a heads-up about my next turn. Credit: Apple Once CarPlay Ultra rolls out in full, it won't necessarily look the same from car to car. That's due to two key reasons: First, Apple is letting carmakers customize the experience to "express their distinct design philosophy with the look and feel their customers expect." On the other hand, you, the driver, are also able to customize the look of CarPlay Ultra, between adjusting the colors, wallpaper, and "instrument cluster" themes. We're sure to see more about this feature from Apple as it begins rolling out in full. But if you want a small glimpse of what to expect, check out that initial press release. There's a short simulation of the interior of an Aston Martin; it shows the driver's screen with an active speedometer, tachometer, and Apple Music widget, while the main display has an active Apple Maps view. To its right, you can see a smaller Apple Maps widget displaying the next turn, a small Apple Music widget featuring playback controls, and a small Calendar widget showing the driver's next meeting. Credit: Apple View the full article

A reader writes: I have a truly excellent employee on my team, “Dave.” He is bright, diligent, always volunteers for extra tasks and responsibility, and his work product is very high quality. I’m going to need to provide an annual review of Dave soon and I feel like I owe him more than “you’re doing everything perfectly, keep up the good work.” I worry that endless praise may seem disingenuous, and it might appear to Dave that I‘m not invested in coming up with ways to meaningfully coach him/help him improve. I’ll add that Dave and I were also coworkers/casual friends before I got promoted (though I think we’ve very successfully navigated into a manger/employee relationship and I don’t think this is coloring my view of his objectively excellent work). Dave really is an exceptional team member; am I overthinking? Is it ever a bad thing to only provide positive feedback? I answer this question — and two others — 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. Other questions I’m answering there today include: My colleague demands my attention when I’m busy Candidate is applying for job but also wants an informational interview The post is it a problem to give my employee only positive feedback? appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Accessibility features built into devices and apps are essential for making tech easier to use. Apple recently announced a suite of new and expanded accessibility updates—like Accessibility Reader and improved Braille support—coming to its devices later this year. TikTok is now rolling out a handful of new features to make its platform and content more accessible for everyone. Here's what's coming. AI-powered alt textTikTok already has an alternative text feature that allows creators to manually add alt text—a brief description that can be accessed by screen readers—to photo posts when uploading or even after content has been published. (This can be found under More options > Add alternative text.) The platform is now testing an AI feature that will automatically describe content aloud if creators don't include alt text, improving usability for those who are blind or low vision. Increased color contrastTikTok users can now enable a high-contrast mode, which increases the foreground color of text, icons, and other app elements. Color contrast ups the distinction between text and objects on a page and their background, improving readability. This joins the existing text size feature, which allows users to increase or decrease the size of text in the TikTok app specifically (independent of device settings). Both features can be turned on or off under Accessibility > Appearance. Bold textTikTok will now match device-level bold text settings, so all text in the app will appear bold if that display feature has been enabled. Bold text can be turned on or off under Settings > Display & Brightness on iOS or Settings > Accessibility > Display size and text > Bold text on Android. Other accessibility settings already available on TikTok include toggles to remove photosensitive videos, add auto-generated captions to content, and animate thumbnails, as well as dark mode and compatibility with device-level screen readers. View the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here. The President’s Middle East tour is all about AI diplomacy The U.S. enjoys its superpower status mainly because of two things: its military and its financial influence. What we’re seeing in The President’s tour of the Middle East this week is the rise of another lever of geopolitical power: AI. And the competition between the U.S. and China in this realm is heating up. The U.S. is becoming more focused on exporting the best U.S. AI technology to other countries. The President’s lavish reception by heads of state in the Middle East this week can be explained in part by a major policy change: The The President Commerce Department announced plans Tuesday to rescind Biden’s “AI diffusion rule,” which had restricted the export of the most powerful AI chips to other countries, including those in the Middle East. The removal of the chip restrictions opens big new markets for American AI chipmakers (to wit, Nvidia’s stock rose 6% Tuesday) and could cause an increase in global investment in new AI data centers in the Middle East. The President announced a series of U.S.-Saudi investment deals, including a partnership between Nvidia and Humain, a newly formed Saudi AI firm backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. The plan: to build AI data centers “powered by several hundred thousand of Nvidia’s most advanced GPUs.” The change in posture couldn’t be starker. During Biden’s presidency, the U.S. took a more cautious approach to AI. Biden-era chip export controls were seen as necessary to protect national security and preserve America’s edge in the AI race. Many in the tech industry supported them, at least when it came to chips. Restricting access to the best hardware, as one source put it, was “one lever that the U.S. can pull” to maintain its lead. The result: U.S. firms like OpenAI and Anthropic had access to elite silicon, while Chinese competitors like DeepSeek were left scrambling. But the game has changed since Biden was in office. The U.S. is no longer home to the only company (Nvidia) that can supply chips powerful enough to train state-of-the-art AI models. The Chinese multinational company Huawei is now shipping the Ascend 910C, a chip that rivals Nvidia’s best, along with a high-end server rack, the CloudMatrix 384, that competes with Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72. These systems are powering research inside China and are being pushed into global markets. That has raised alarms in D.C. The Commerce Department recently warned that organizations using Huawei’s Ascend chips could be violating U.S. export rules, since the chips were likely manufactured with U.S.-origin technology. But enforcement will be difficult as more countries seek alternatives or try to hedge their bets between the U.S. and China. AI models and chips offer a new way for state actors to project power on the world stage. That’s what’s unfolding in the Middle East this week. The The President administration isn’t so much trying to open new markets for Nvidia as it is trying to advance American AI as the prevailing standard around the world. GOP bill would freeze state AI laws for a decade A sweeping AI regulatory ban that would prevent states from overseeing the technology for a decade has been quietly inserted into a powerful Republican tax and spending bill currently under review by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. If passed in its current form, the bill would mark a major victory for the U.S.’s largest tech companies, which argue that state-level regulations threaten innovation. It would impose a 10-year freeze on “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems.” For companies like Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Alphabet’s Google, the provision offers a way to sidestep pending or active state laws that are imposing stricter oversight than the federal government. Their pitch in recent months has been that any slowdown in AI development could allow Chinese competitors to outpace the U.S., a message that’s resonating with many Republicans. Currently, these companies face a wave of state-level scrutiny. In this year alone, states have introduced at least 550 AI-related bills—covering issues from deepfakes to algorithmic discrimination—according to a tracker by the National Conference of State Legislatures. And it’s only May. The House committee’s draft bill could effectively nullify these efforts, a move that has alarmed AI safety advocates and critics of Big Tech, including leading Democrats. “This is an outrageous abdication of congressional responsibility and a gift-wrapped favor to Big Tech that leaves consumers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,” said J.B. Branch, Big Tech accountability advocate at Public Citizen. “This isn’t leadership; it is surrendering to corporate overreach and abuse under the guise of ‘protecting American innovation.’ ” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts warned that the proposal “will lead to a dark age for the environment, our children, and marginalized communities.” Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said the ban would allow “AI companies to ignore consumer privacy protections, let deepfakes spread, and allow companies to profile and deceive consumers using AI.” The bill is advancing through Congress via the budget reconciliation process, which allows certain legislation to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass with a simple majority. However, as Bloomberg reported, the provision may not survive this route, since Senate rules require that such measures be primarily fiscal in nature. Still, the proposal is offering insight into the GOP’s broader stance on AI regulation. Vice President JD Vance has already cautioned that overregulation could “kill” the AI industry—a sentiment that appears to be gaining traction among lawmakers. New Heartland/Rasmussen survey shows 60% of voters say AI companies should pay for lost jobs A new survey from the The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports finds that voters support the idea of AI companies paying reparations for the jobs their technology eliminates. A majority of those surveyed (62%) said that if AI advancements were to cause the elimination of millions of jobs, they would support “a government program that taxes big technology companies and then uses the funds to provide every American with an income large enough to pay for basic necessities like housing, clothes, and food.” The finding suggests the voting public is increasingly aware that AI could threaten their livelihoods sooner rather than later—and that a serious public discussion about the need for a universal basic income (UBI) may be around the corner. UBI is a type of social welfare program in which all people in a society receive regular, unconditional cash payments, regardless of their employment status. Adding urgency to the discussion, the World Economic Forum predicts that AI and automation could lead to the loss of 83 million jobs globally by 2027. More AI coverage from Fast Company: Elon Musk’s DOGE is launching a new AI retirement system. It was built under Biden Polling giant Morning Consult is using AI to help dig through survey data Anaconda wants to become the GitHub of enterprise open-source development Going ‘AI first’ appears to be backfiring on Klarna and Duolingo Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Clients employ accounting firms to deliver outcomes, not services, whether that be basic compliance or far more aspirational goals.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Clients employ accounting firms to deliver outcomes, not services, whether that be basic compliance or far more aspirational goals.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Wholesale inflation falls, but economists warn businesses are yet to pass on the higher costs of trade leviesView the full article

The legacy of Brexit should not get in the way of progress that cuts costs for businessView the full article

Here’s a sentence that’s likely never been seen before in human history: The 2028 Olympic Games have an official air taxi. Archer Aviation, an electric air taxi company based in California, announced that it’s been named the Official Air Taxi Provider for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as well as for the Paralympic Games and Team USA. Archer’s electric air taxis will be zipping around the skies in Southern California during and around the Olympics, shuttling VIPs, athletes, and anyone else who books a ride around various sites in the greater L.A. region. That includes Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium, Hollywood, and LAX airport. Archer’s CEO, Adam Goldstein, tells Fast Company that when the Olympics finally do roll around in a few years, expect to see dozens of Archer’s “Midnight” aircraft quietly navigating the airspace. He also thinks it’s an excellent opportunity to show off some American aviation muscle. “The current [presidential] administration wants to focus on things that can put America in a good light, and aviation is having a tough time right now. This will be like a bright, shining star,” Goldstein says. Not only that, but Goldstein thinks it’ll be a great opportunity for potential customers to learn about and fall in love with air taxi technology. “It’s a good product. It’s clean, quiet, and affordable,” he says, and will also give people a needed break from L.A. traffic, which is notoriously bad. Archer’s aircraft will offer an alternative to helicopters, moving around the city at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. The air taxis can carry up to four passengers (plus a pilot). “If there’s an event at Dodger Stadium and athletes need to get back to SoFi [Stadium] for a ceremony, that could mean sitting for two hours in traffic,” Goldstein says. The air taxi trip will cut that to mere minutes. With a few years to prepare, work will commence on getting the aircraft certified, the landing zones built, and other infrastructure up and running, he says. “It’s a cool way to show that America has some pretty good horsepower in the aviation space,” says Goldstein. 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. Budget TVs have improved dramatically over the years, and the Hisense Class U6HF Series Fire TV is a good example of what you can get today for a "budget" price. While it won't be the same quality as what higher-end QLED or OLED budget TVs can offer, they make up for that with a much cheaper price. Right now, the 75-inch Hisense Class U6HF Series Fire TV is $549.99 (originally $758), the second-lowest price it has been, according to price-checking tools. 75-inch Hisense U6HF Series Fire TV QLED, 600-Nit Dolby Vision, HDR 10 plus, 240 Motion Rate, Voice Remote, Compatible with Alexa, Black $549.99 at Amazon $758.00 Save $208.01 Get Deal Get Deal $549.99 at Amazon $758.00 Save $208.01 The Hisense Class U6HF Series Fire TV first came out in 2022 as the Fire TV version of the Hisense U6H Google TV. The bigger 65- and 75-inch classes came out later as newer versions. Hisense's Fire TVs are the televisions with the highest specs that have the Amazon operating system. The Fire TV and Google TV versions are quite similar, with the operating system being the main difference, but some users on Reddit say they notice a local dimming difference between the two, which shouldn't be a big deal for most people unless you have a trained eye on these things. Hisense says gamers can increase the refresh rate up to 240Hz from its native 60Hz, which is pretty impressive for a budget TV, but you'll likely have to go down to 1,080p resolution to do that. The image will also look great with Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10, and HDR10+ as long as you have access to them from wherever you're streaming your media. Since this is a Fire TV, you can sync it with your Alexa devices to command it with your voice, but if you don't, you won't be able to talk to it since it doesn't have a microphone. But, like in any Fire TV device, you can install Kodi on it to virtually stream anything you want to watch for free. If you can afford to pay more, the newer U8 is a higher-end QLED at its lowest price right now, but if not, the U6HF is a nice budget TV at a bargain. View the full article

US president dampens expectations about Ukrainian-Russian talks in TurkeyView the full article

Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she has cut her costs as much as she can to live on a tight budget. But it’s about to get far tighter. As the The President administration resumes collections on defaulted student loans, a surprising population has been caught in the crosshairs: Hundreds of thousands of older Americans whose decades-old debts now put them at risk of having their Social Security checks garnished. “I worked ridiculous hours. I worked weekends and nights. But I could never pay it off,” says Farro, a retired child welfare worker in Santa Ynez, California. Like millions of debtors with federal student loans, Farro had her payments and interest paused by the government five years ago when the pandemic thrust many into financial hardship. That grace period ended in 2023 and, earlier this month, the Department of Education said it would restart “involuntary collections” by garnishing paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security retirement and disability benefits. Farro previously had her Social Security garnished and expects it to restart. Farro’s loans date back 40 years. She was a single mother when she got a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology and when she discovered she couldn’t earn enough to pay off her loans, she went back to school and got a master’s degree. Her salary never caught up. Things only got worse. Around 2008, when she consolidated her loans, she was paying $1,000 a month, but years of missed payments and piled-on interest meant she was barely putting a dent in a bill that had ballooned to $250,000. When she sought help to resolve her debt, she says the loan company had just one suggestion. “They said, ‘Move to a cheaper state,'” says Farro, who rents a 400-square-foot casita from a friend. “I realized I was living in a different reality than they were.” Student loan debt among older people has grown at a staggering rate, in part due to rising tuitions that have forced more people to borrow greater sums. People 60 and older hold an estimated $125 billion in student loans, according to the National Consumer Law Center, a six-fold increase from 20 years ago. That has led Social Security beneficiaries who have had their payments garnished to balloon by 3,000% over the same period, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from CFPB. Debbie McIntyre, a 62-year-old adult education teacher in Georgetown, Kentucky, is among them. She dreams of retiring and writing more historical fiction, and of boarding a plane for the first time since high school. But her husband has been out of work on disability for two decades and they’ve used credit cards to get by on his meager benefits and her paycheck. Their rent will be hiked $300 when their lease renews. McIntyre doesn’t know what to do if her paycheck is garnished. She floats the idea of bankruptcy, but that won’t automatically clear her loans, which are held to a different standard than other debt. She figures if she picks up extra jobs babysitting or tutoring, she could put $50 toward her loans here and there. But she sees no real solution. “I don’t know what more I can do,” says McIntyre, who is too afraid to check what her loan balance is. “I’ll never get out of this hole.” Braxton Brewington of the Debt Collective debtors union says it’s striking how many older people dial into the organization’s calls and attend its protests. Many of them, he says, should have had their debts cancelled but fell victim to a system “riddled with flaws and illegalities and flukes.” Many whose educations have left them in late-life debt have, in fact, paid back the principal on their loans, sometimes several times over, but still owe more due to interest and fees. For those who are subject to garnishment, Brewington says, the results can be devastating. “We hear from people who skip meals. We know people who dilute their medication or cut their pills in half. People take drastic measures like pulling all their savings out or dissolving their 401ks,” he says. “We know folks that have been driven into homelessness.” Collections on defaulted loans may have restarted no matter who was president, though the Biden administration had sought to limit the amount of income that could be garnished. Federal law protects just $750 of Social Security benefits from garnishment, an amount that would put a debtor far below the poverty line. “We’re basically providing people with federal benefits with one hand and taking them away with another,” says Sarah Sattelmeyer of the New America think tank. Linda Hilton, a 76-year-old retired office worker from Apache Junction, Arizona, went through garnishment before COVID and says she will survive it again. But flights to see her children, occasional meals at a restaurant and other pleasures of retired life may disappear. “It’s going to mean restrictions,” says Hilton. “There won’t be any travel. There won’t be any frills.” Some debtors have already received notice about collections. Many more are living in fear. President Donald The President has signed an executive order calling for the Department of Education’s dismantling and, for those seeking answers about their loans, mass layoffs have complicated getting calls answered. While Education Secretary Linda McMahon says restarting collections is a necessary step for debtors “both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” even some of The President’s most fervent supporters are questioning a move that will make their lives harder. Randall Countryman, 55, of Bonita, California, says a Biden administration proposal to forgive some student debt didn’t strike him as fair, but he’s not sure The President’s approach is either. He supported The President but wishes the government made case-by-case decisions on debtors. Countryman thinks Americans don’t realize how many older people are affected by policies on student loans, often thought to be the turf of the young, and how difficult it can be for them to repay. “What’s a young person’s problem today,” he says, “is an old person’s problem tomorrow.” Countryman started working on a degree while in prison, then continued it at the University of Phoenix when he was released. He started growing nervous as he racked up loan debt and never finished his degree. He’s worked a host of different jobs, but finding work has often been complicated by his criminal record. He lives off his wife’s Social Security check and the kindness of his mother-in-law. He doesn’t know how they’d get by if the government demands repayment. “I kind of wish I never went to school in the first place,” he says. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky —Matt Sedensky, AP National Writer View the full article

If your loyalty strategy still revolves around points and perks, it’s time for an update. Consumer allegiance is no longer built on convenience alone—it’s driven by alignment. Shoppers are scrutinizing your brand’s ethics, your data practices, and your follow-through. And younger audiences aren’t shy about walking away if you miss the mark. AtData’s white paper, Beyond the Purchase: The Future of Consumer Behavior in 2025, outlines the real drivers of brand trust and retention in a post-personalization landscape. Based on emerging data and behavioral trends, it shows how to evolve from transaction-first to values-led—and still deliver measurable growth. Inside you’ll find: Why Gen Z sees most brand messaging as performative—and what to do instead How micro-moments and immersive tech are reshaping the customer journey Why 86% of Americans say transparency matters more than ever—and how to deliver it Your brand loyalty strategy can’t run on autopilot anymore. Download the white paper and start reshaping your approach today. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Though streaming movies often get lost in the shuffle, Prime Video has managed to assemble a fairly impressive run of films that have broken through not merely in terms of viewership, but in the broader world of awards—including a handful of Best Picture Oscar nominees. You're probably already paying for an Amazon Prime subscription, so you might as well take advantage of Prime Video's library of exclusive offerings. Here are some of the best of the bunch. G20 (2025) What do you do when you're an EGOT laureate whose awards shelves are overflowing? Anything you want, apparently—as Viola Davis' recent turn to action roles in the last couple of years bears out. Here she plays U.S. President Danielle Sutton, with a rebellious daughter and a plan to boost the fortunes of sub-Saharan African farmers. She's also an Army veteran, which isn't just a resume detail—those skills come in handy when an Australian mercenary and company ambush the G20 summit with an eye toward making a fortune in crypto. Big mistake! Viola Davis: Action President goes all Die Hard on the mercenaries, and, yes, it's as silly as it sounds, but still a lot of fun. You can stream G20 here. Another Simple Favor (2025) Pretty much the whole gang's back from the 2018 comedy/mystery, including director Paul Feig and writer Jessica Sharzer as well as our leads Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). Emily, last seen in prison for a double murder, is out of prison on appeal while Stephanie needs a boost in her book sales. She's wrangled into becoming Emily's maid of honor and the two are off to a destination wedding in Capri—even if Stephanie's still a little worried that her "friend" is going to try to murder her again. This one's got a bigger body count than the original, paying homage to bloody gialli filmmaking while the plot turns on Emily's marrying into the mob, but the real pleasure here remain the sexy, funny, surreal chemistry between Kendrick and Lively. You can stream Another Simple Favor here. Saltburn (2023) Writer/director Emerald Fennell followed up her buzzy Oscar-winner Promising Young Woman with the thoroughly scandalous Saltburn, a somehow even darker spin on The Talented Mr. Ripley that sees Barry Keoghan's Oliver Quick doing whatever it takes to ingratiate himself into the endlessly posh world of his Oxford classmate Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Making the most of all his skills in manipulation and bathtub cleaning, the scholarship student weasels his way onto the titular estate, and finds that the family is desperately gullible, but rich enough that they still hold all the cards. No matter: Oliver has a plan. Opinions are mixed on whether this is all smart satire or lurid trash, but it's pretty entertaining either way. You can stream Saltburn here. One Night in Miami... (2020) Actress Regina King had a fair bit of experience directing television before taking on this, her first feature directorial project, and it’s an undeniably impressive debut. From a 2013 play by Kemp Powers (who also wrote the screenplay), the film offers a speculative look at a real-life meeting of four of the twentieth century’s most prominent figures at the Hampton House Motel in Florida in 1964. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. star as Malcom X, Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay at the time), Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke as the four debate and discuss their own roles in the Black power and Civil Rights movements, while also hashing out their own demons and the demands of their lives as role models. Its origins as a play are clear, but the powerhouse performances, and King’s confident direction, bring tension and power to the story. You can stream One Night in Miami... here. Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023) Queer people deserve dorky rom-coms as much as anybody else, and Red, White, and Royal Blue (from the Casey McQuiston bestseller) more than fits the bill. Taylor Zakhar Perez plays Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the U.S. President (Uma Thurman) against Nicholas Galitzine’s Prince Henry, spare heir to the British throne. A public spat between the two sets off an international incident which, naturally, leads to a slow-burn romance and a couple of mildly spicy sex scenes. You can stream Red, White, and Royal Blue here. Superboys of Malegaon (2024) A thoroughly charming coming-of-age drama, Superboys of Malegaon was inspired by a 2008 documentary about the city of Malegaon in Maharashtra, India. there's not a lot of money in Malegaon, but there is a love of film, and a thriving local arts scene that sees residents producing spoofs of popular Bollywood films. This drama, based loosely on stories from the documentary, follows a group of friends who make a very successful film in 1997, only to find that their accomplishment drives a wedge between them over the years. There's a lot of heart here, and a real love of movies and moviemaking, without the film ever becoming cloying. You can stream Superboys of Malegaon here. Catherine Called Birdy (2022) Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones and, of course, The Last of Us) stars in this adaptation of the much-loved novel from Karen Cushman, and they offer up a pretty delightful performance. 14-year-old Catherine lives in 13th-century Lincolnshire, England, and, though she's the daughter of a lord, it's still not the best time to be a young girl—even, or especially, one as spry and independent as Catherine (who prefers that you call her Birdy). She's just as soon not be put on the marriage market, thank you very much, and thus concocts various schemes in order to dodge her potential fate as a commodity (rags soaked in menstrual blood get stuffed under floorboards, and salves made of shit become an unsurprisingly effective way of keeping unwanted suitors away). Director Lena Dunham and company strike an impressive balance of tones here: The stakes for Birdy are very real, but there's still plenty of joy in the coming-of-age story. You can stream Catherine Called Birdy here. Frida (2024) Not to be confused with the Salma Hayek drama from way back in 2002, this one's a clever and inventive documentary (from debut director Carla Gutierrez) that explores the real life of the iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The novelty here, aside from new animations of Kahlo's paintings, is in the film's format: Using existing writing and interviews, Gutierrez and company tell Frida's story from her own, first-person perspective, as though she's narrating her own, always fascinating, life story. What's more, the film uses some rarely seen stills and camera footage to flesh out the narrative—some recently restored film of Frida at her Blue House, with one-time lover Leon Trotsky no less, is particularly mind-blowing. You can stream Frida here. In My Mother's Skin (2023) Caring for an aging parent is tough under the best of circumstances, and these circumstances are far from ideal. It's 1945 in the Philippines, and Japanese soldiers are terrorizing the locals as the war winds down, while a local strongman is determined to strip a once-prominent family of the wealth he thinks they've secreted away. Desperate for food, the two children of that family wander into the forest to forage and instead happen upon what seems like a helpful fairy, offering food and a cure for their dying mom, Ligaya (Beauty Gonzalez). The cure, though, involves "saving" Ligaya by turning her into a vampiric Aswang of Filipino legend. This grim, bloody supernatural horror is a bit under the radar, but worth a look for fans with the stomach for it. You can stream In My Mother's Skin here. A Million Miles Away (2023) Michael Peña plays real-life Mexican-American astronaut José M. Hernández in this inspiring biopic. If "inspiring" sounds like damning with faint praise, that's entirely fair—the movie is based on Hernández’s own memoir, and plays it fairly safe in any number of ways. Still—it's a stylishly directed and well-acted movie, with Peña, Sarayu Blue, Garret Dillahunt, and Rose Salazar all putting in great performances to tell the story of a kid who traveled from Michoacán, Mexico, to California in the 1960s so that he and his family could work in the fields, who went on to become and engineer and an International Space Station mission specialist. For quality family entertainment, you could do a whole lot worse. You can stream A Million Miles Away here. Peterloo (2018) The great Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake) wrote and directed this political historical drama about the Peterloo Massacre, a peaceful gathering in Manchester to demand voting rights that was met with overwhelming force by government forces, leaving 18 dead and hundreds wounded. The film is talky, no question, at least until the violence erupts, but Leigh effectively dramatizes the questions at its core, reminding us of the modern-day relevance of the story in ways both subtle and overt. You can stream Peterloo here. The Big Sick (2017) This was the moment that Kumail Nanjani made clear he had talents other than comedy, even if his subsequent graduation to Marvel movies isn’t even remotely an improvement over something like The Big Sick, which he co-wrote with Emily V. Gordon. The film is based on their relationship and follows a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and a white psychology student whose very new relationship is complicated when Emily becomes unexpectedly ill. It’s smart and funny, avoiding schmaltz in favor of a healthy cynicism and sense of humor, even as the film is frequently heartbreaking. You can stream The Big Sick here. The Vast of Night (2019) Director Andrew Patterson made a wildly confident debut with this film that takes us back to the 1950s, to a small town in New Mexico on the night of the big basketball game. A young local disc jockey, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and his best friend, local switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) are caught up in a series of bizarre events that begin when Everett’s show is interrupted by a strange signal. The premise involves any number of UFO-movie cliches, but none of that is really the point: The film has a phenomenal visual flair, and makes the typical alien invasion stakes feel deeply personal for this small town. You can stream The Vast of Night here. Judy Blume Forever (2023) The documentary covers Judy Blume’s life, and a half-century career that’s included such triumphs as Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972), and Blubber (1974), to name a few. If that were all it were, it would be worth it, and it’s a joy to hear insights from Blume herself. The timing couldn’t be better, though, given Blume’s hard-earned reputation for covering subjects once (and often still) not considered fit for young adult audiences: menstruation and puberty, divorce, molestation, and what we’d now call body dysmorphia. Given the current culture of hostility toward libraries, Blume’s trajectory isn’t merely fascinating—it’s essential. You can stream Judy Blume Forever here. Lucy and Desi (2022) Released in the wake of Aaron Sorkin’s Desilu drama (see below), Amy Poehler’s documentary takes an intimate look at one of Hollywood’s great power couples, with a focus on their fiery personal lives. Though it seems as though there wouldn’t be much left to be said about Lucy and Desi, Poehler makes extensive use of never-released recordings, with the full cooperation of the estate. That kind of family seal of approval can be a mixed blessing, but nothing here feels safe or watered-down. It’s an insider look at the events and emotions going on behind the scenes while the two were crafting TV’s most popular show and running the production powerhouse Desilu. You can stream Lucy and Desi here. Being the Ricardos (2021) Stepping back for the Oscar-nominated Aaron Sorkin docudrama, the focus here is on the critical period early in the run of of I Love Lucy, circa 1953, when Ball was under investigation for potential communist ties. It feels like a play in many ways, but the two leads are great: Javier Bardem captures Desi’s business acumen and undeniable charisma, making clear both the positive and negative impacts that charm had on his personal life. Nicole Kidman doesn’t do a straight-up Lucy impression, and the movie is the better for it; while she doesn’t necessarily capture that distinctive comic styling, she’s impeccable as the more serious, mature, behind-the-scenes Lucy. You can stream Being the Ricardos here. Get Duked! (2019) Probably my personal favorite of the films on this list, this dark British comedy finds a group of slacker students dropped off in the Scottish highlands in pursuit of the Duke of Edinburgh Award (a real thing), requiring them to navigate the landscape with no more than a paper map. The teens are soon pursued by hunters (Eddie Izzard’s involved) who’ve come to appreciate the opportunity to cull the louder, more ungrateful kids. Utterly ill-prepared for nature, much less for fleeing from serial killers, the kids face complications that pile up in increasingly, and genuinely, gasp-worthy ways. With its mix of class commentary and wild sense of humor, it’s like a stoner Triangle of Sadness, but at a much more reasonable length. You can stream Get Duked! here. The Voyeurs (2021) I'm not going to make the case that Voyeurs is a great movie, or even that it's some kind of misunderstood cult gem. Nope. It's a fairly silly erotic thriller, but no less entertaining for it. Sydney Sweeney plays Pippa (just "Pippa"), who lives with her boyfriend Thomas (Justice Smith) in an apartment that looks across to another building inhabited by a sexy couple with a wild sex life. At first the voyeurism is a turn-on, but then, Rear Window-style, things get freaky in a less-hot way. The twists and turns that follow are as juicy as they are ridiculous, but if you can turn off your higher-order thinking, it's a lot of horny fun. You can stream The Voyeurs here. The Tomorrow War (2021) Solidly entertaining, if somewhat forgettable, The Tomorrow War is a reasonable choice when you’re looking for sci-fi action that doesn’t require a ton of brainpower. The movies’ third- or fourth-favorite Chris (Pratt) plays a biology teacher/former Green Beret who finds himself drafted in 2022 to fight a war against aliens in 2048. Pratt is fine, but Sam Richardson steals the movie as a nerdy scientist and fellow draftee, blending a comic relief role with real emotion. With a $200 million budget, this has been one of the most expensive of the COVID-era movies to debut on streaming, and a sequel (in the works since the original's release, is still on the way. You can stream The Tomorrow War here. Uncle Frank (2020) Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood) directs this 1970s period piece starring Paul Bettany as a closeted gay man roadtripping with his 18-year-old niece (Sophia Lillis), and surprised when his partner of a decade, Wally, joins them on the road (Peter Macdissi). The resulting complications set up some poignant drama, but the movie doesn’t lack a sense of humor either; it’s as much about broader family dynamics as it is about secrets and the closet. The three primary cast members are all pretty fantastic, and it’s nice to be reminded that Bettany is more than just Marvel’s Vision. You can stream Uncle Frank here. Master (2022) The phenomenal Regina Hall stars in this masterful psychological thriller as Gail Bishop, the first Black master of Ancaster, a fictional elite New England university. The school is haunted by the 1965 suicide of its first Black undergraduate, and strange doings are soon afoot involving Bishop and new freshman Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee), a Black student working hard to fit in with the school’s clique of rich white girls. The narrative shifts in unpredictable ways, leaving us as off-balance as the lead characters. The screenplay’s abundant ideas don’t always get the development that they deserve, but the finished product is nevertheless appropriately haunting. You can stream Master here. Sound of Metal (2019) A movie about a heavy metal drummer slowly losing his hearing could easily have been excessively on the nose, but Sound of Thunder avoids the obvious traps to finds the heart and fury in the lead character of Ruben Stone, played by Riz Ahmed. He’s joined by Paul Raci playing Joe, an alcoholic war veteran who runs a shelter for deaf addicts; both actors received well-earned Oscar nominations for their work, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. The film is perfectly content to challenge assumptions about deafness, but the understated character piece never feels like a lecture. You can stream Sound of Metal here. Time (2020) This documentary takes a look at the American prison-industrial complex from a deeply personal vantage point. It’s the story of Sibil Fox Richardson, fighting for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a six-decade prison sentence in Louisiana for his role in an armed robbery. Director Garrett Bradley at first planned a short film on the story of the family, but after getting access to hours and hours of home video of Rob in his pre-incarceration life, realized she had something much deeper on her hands. I’m not sure that there’s a more concise or persuasive argument for the dehumanizing nature of our incarceration system, nor is it easy to come away from the film still thinking of prisoners as something other than humans worthy of your compassion. You can stream Time here. You Were Never Really Here (2017) It sounds like a spin on John Wick: Joaquin Phoenix plays a mercenary named Joe, hired by a politician to retrieve his kidnapped daughter, and to eliminate the criminal network that took her. Writer/director Lynne Ramsey (Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin), though, has something deeper and darker in mind, and the resulting film feels less like an action thriller then it does an impossibly tense spin on Taxi Driver, with Phoenix and Ekaterina Samsonov as the young girl involved in a story about facing lifelong trauma rather than than solving problems with bullets. You can stream You Were Never Really Here here. I Am: Celine Dion (2024) Across decades, Celine Dion has never been a controversial figure in the slightest, but with that comes the fact that it's been hard to feel like we know the real person behind the stage presence. In that regard, this documentary feels like a revelation: Dealing in large part with the singer's recent medical problems, it cuts through the veneer to feel intensely raw and personal. One of our most polished modern superstars suddenly feels very much like a human being, and that's a wildly impressive and unexpected feat in a world of celebrity docs that barely scratch the surface. You can stream I Am: Celine Dion here. View the full article

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I’m writing in to find out how to get prepared, both literally and mentally, for a relatively quick change in my work situation. Context: I work at a state agency in Minnesota and for the last five years a large majority of state employees have been teleworking, with occasional in-person attendance for division meetings, conferences, trainings, etc. There are state employees who have been working onsite the whole time, so I understand that I am very fortunate to have been able to work from home. However, on Tuesday a notice was released announcing that state employees are being ordered back to the office at least 50% of their scheduled workdays in a month, effective June 1st (well, I guess June 2nd since that’s a Sunday but that’s not why I’m writing in, obviously). My main reason for reaching out is to get advice on what steps to take so I can be ready for this not insignificant change to my whole working life. How do I adapt to a very different routine? Buying business-appropriate clothing? Figure out transportation? Food? Having a lack of privacy/office for difficult or sensitive conversations with employees (I work in human resources)? I am also quite aware that I am lucky that I still get to work from home at least half the time, when many state employees have never had that option, so please be kind in the comments and refrain from telling me I am entitled and lazy and not productive. Any suggestions are greatly welcomed! Readers? The post how do I adjust to returning to the office after working from home for 5 years? appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Walmart, known as one of America’s most affordable retail chains, just signaled that President The President’s tariffs are about to disrupt its competitive pricing. Here’s what to know: What did Walmart announce? On an earnings call Thursday discussing the company’s newly released Q1 FY2026 financial results, CEO Doug McMillon spoke about price changes that he says will hit in the coming weeks, as the impact of tariffs builds. “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,” he said on the call. “But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.” Which items sold at Walmart will be the most impacted? McMillon said that tariff-related pressure has been building over the last two months, noting that, so far, toys and electronics have been most impacted. Many companies whose products are sold at Walmart have already raised prices to absorb the impact of tariffs, or signaled that they will soon, such as toy brand Mattel. Last week, the brand said it would raise prices and move production from China to countries with lower tariffs. But on Thursday, McMillon acknowledged that pressure has been building on food prices, too. “We want to keep our food and consumables prices as low as we can,” he added, noting that many Americans have felt financially strained when it comes to buying groceries in recent years. He also noted that the retailer may feel more tariff-related-pressure on some food items more than others, such as bananas, avocados, coffee, and more, coming out of countries like Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia. “We’ll do our best to control what we can control in order to keep food prices as low as possible,” he said. “An example would be controlling the amount of fresh food waste.” What did Walmart’s earnings report say? Walmart’s Q1 report showed the company’s revenue was up 2.5%, which slightly missed Wall Street’s projections. Walmart said in Thursday’s press release that it expects second-quarter net sales to increase by 3.5% to 4.5% in constant currency. Walmart stock (NYSE: WMT) was down more than 3% in early trading on Thursday. Will other retailers raise prices, too? Given that Walmart is a giant brand that offers so many products, experts say the company is better equipped than most to absorb some tariff-related pressure. But if the chain is being forced to raise prices, that’s a very bad sign for consumers. “If Walmart’s coming out—with its scale and its buying power and its focus—and saying prices are going to rise, everyone else is going to have to follow suit,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at retail consultancy GlobalData, per NBC. “Walmart is firing the starting gun on a period of price increases.” View the full article

The real culprits for the rise of the right are the complacent parties who have ruled since the 1989 revolutionView the full article

Get better insights into your industry, competitors, and target audience with these market research tools. View the full article

On Thursday morning, Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods announced its plans to acquire footwear and apparel retailer Foot Locker. The two companies have entered into a merger agreement, where Dick’s Sporting Goods will buy Foot Locker for $2.4 billion. Here’s what to know about the deal. How will the deal work? Dick’s will finance the merger using a combination of cash-on-hand and new debt. As part of the agreement, Dick’s will acquire Foot Locker’s vast portfolio of brands, including Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and WSS. Foot Locker currently operates over 2,000 retail stores across the globe. Dick’s will operate Foot Locker as a standalone business within its portfolio. How have the companies’ stock prices reacted to the news? Dick’s Sporting Goods shares (NYSE: DKS) were down more than 13% in early-morning trading on Thursday. By contrast, Foot Locker stock (NYSE: FL) jumped more than 82%. In a joint press release, leaders from both companies shared optimism for the planned merger. Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart said, “We look forward to welcoming Foot Locker’s talented team and building upon their expertise and passion for their business.” Hobart continued, “Sports and sports culture continue to be incredibly powerful, and with this acquisition, we’ll create a new global platform that serves those ever evolving needs through iconic concepts consumers know and love.” Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon said, “By joining forces with DICK’S, Foot Locker will be even better positioned to expand sneaker culture, elevate the omnichannel experience for our customers and brand partners, and enhance our position in the industry.” Tariff pain and broader economic uncertainty The news comes as retailers brace for uncertainty due to President The President’s tariffs on foreign goods. The vast majority of footwear sold in the U.S. is imported from other countries. Earlier this week, the United States and China reached a trade-war truce. Both countries will temporarily reduce tariff rates for 90 days. However, there is still uncertainty among U.S. retailers due to The President’s erratic and ever-changing trade policies. The merger agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Dick’s and Foot Locker. As part of the agreement, Foot Locker investors can elect to receive $24 in cash or 0.1168 shares of Dick’s stock. View the full article

The Federal Reserve chair said there is 'room for improvement' in how the central bank conveys economic uncertainties to markets and the broader public. View the full article

“Leaders should model respect, not just expect it.” Accounting ARC With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto Center for Accounting Transformation Go PRO for members-only access to more Center for Accounting Transformation. View the full article

“Leaders should model respect, not just expect it.” Accounting ARC With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto Center for Accounting Transformation Go PRO for members-only access to more Center for Accounting Transformation. View the full article

“Did our organic traffic just drop again – even though our rankings went up?” If that question has come up in your marketing meetings lately, you aren’t alone. AI is reshaping SEO, breaking the traditional link between rankings, clicks, and conversions. We’re all trying to redefine what “good” SEO performance looks like. When Google serves your answer directly in a featured snippet or AI Overview, is that a win – or a lost click? In 2025, measuring SEO success demands a new approach. AI-driven search may boost your content’s visibility, but it also shifts user behavior in ways that make legacy metrics unreliable, if not completely misleading. Over the past six months, I’ve worked with clients across industries to test new frameworks for measuring SEO performance. This article covers what’s actually working – practical, up-to-date metrics that reflect real value when impressions are up, clicks are down, and old KPIs no longer tell the full story. Why your current SEO dashboard is missing the full picture That monthly SEO report you’ve been running for years? It’s telling an increasingly incomplete story. Here’s why your traditional metrics need a 2025 upgrade. The impression-click paradox AI has created a strange new reality where more visibility often leads to fewer clicks. Your content might be getting more impressions than ever before as AI makes search results more relevant, but those extra eyeballs aren’t translating to traffic. I recently audited a client’s health information site, where impressions had increased 32% year over year, yet clicks had decreased by 17%. Why? Their content was being featured in snippets and AI Overviews that answered users’ questions without requiring a click. Think about your own search behavior. When you ask “how to aerate lawn,” and Google displays a complete step-by-step guide right in the results, do you still click through to the website? Probably not. Bot traffic is skewing your analytics That traffic spike you’re celebrating might actually be AI bots crawling your site for their knowledge bases, not humans showing genuine interest in your content. Automated traffic has surpassed human activity for the first time in a decade, accounting for 51% of all web traffic, according to the 2025 Imperva Bad Bot report. This AI traffic muddles critical engagement metrics like time on page, bounce rates, and page views per session. One of our ecommerce clients discovered that 23% of their recent traffic came from various AI crawlers, traffic that looked normal in GA4 but wasn’t converting at all. Search is happening everywhere now Your SEO metrics are likely missing huge chunks of your actual search visibility. Users now search through: Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. Social media platforms. Specialized apps. AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, etc. When someone asks Alexa for the best pasta recipe and it pulls information from your site, that valuable impression never shows up in your Google Search Console. However, it’s still delivering brand exposure and potential value. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. How AI is fundamentally changing search (and what that means for your metrics) To measure SEO success accurately, you need to understand exactly how AI is changing search. These changes are more profound than just another algorithm update. Search results are becoming answer engines Remember scrolling through pages of blue links? That experience is rapidly disappearing. Many of today’s search queries feature AI-generated summaries that directly answer user questions without requiring clicks. These AI interfaces act as intermediaries between users and websites. When someone searches for “best hiking trails in Colorado,” they often get a complete answer right on the results page instead of needing to visit multiple outdoor blogs. For your metrics, this means measuring success based solely on clicks misses a huge part of your content’s actual performance and value. User behavior has shifted dramatically Users now expect immediate answers. Google AI overviews appeared in 13.14% of all US desktop searches in March, up from 6.49% in January, per Semrush data. Of that: 88.1% of triggered queries are informational (e.g., “what is BMR”). 8.69% are commercial queries – up from 6.28% in January. 1.43% are navigational queries – this is double from 0.74% in January. This behavior shift requires metrics focused on user intent fulfillment rather than just traffic generation. You need to measure how effectively your content provides value within this new ecosystem, not just how many people visit your site. AI algorithms evaluate content differently Modern search algorithms understand context, intent, and relationships between concepts in ways that make traditional keyword-focused metrics increasingly irrelevant. These algorithms recognize when content truly addresses user questions versus when it’s just throwing in keywords hoping to rank. They evaluate factors like: Content comprehensiveness. Expertise and authoritativeness. User engagement signals. Technical structure and accessibility. This means your measurement approach must evolve to track how well your content demonstrates expertise and satisfies user intent, not just how many keywords you rank for. Which traditional metrics still matter (and how to interpret them now) Not all traditional SEO metrics are obsolete, but they need fresh interpretation to provide accurate insights in today’s landscape. Organic traffic: Quality over quantity Traffic volume remains important, but now tells an incomplete story. With AI delivering answers directly in search results, many users get what they need without clicking through. How to adapt Track organic traffic alongside impression data in Search Console. A steady impression count with declining clicks likely means your content is appearing in search results but being consumed right on the SERP. Focus more on traffic quality metrics like: Pages per session from organic traffic. Average session duration from search. Conversion rates from organic visitors. Remember, I’d rather have 500 highly engaged visitors who convert than 5,000 who bounce immediately after landing on my site, and so should you. Keyword rankings: Beyond position tracking Traditional keyword position tracking hasn’t disappeared, but its meaning has fundamentally changed. In AI-enhanced search, rankings fluctuate based on user context, location, and search history. How to adapt Instead of obsessing over specific positions, focus on: Search visibility across topic clusters rather than individual keywords. Representation in rich results like featured snippets and People Also Ask sections. Share of voice in your industry compared to competitors. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs now offer visibility metrics that better capture your overall SERP presence beyond simple rankings. Click-through rates: New benchmarks needed CTR metrics remain valuable but require context. With zero-click searches increasing, benchmark your CTR against industry averages rather than historical standards. How to adapt To maximize CTR in AI-driven search: Optimize title tags and meta descriptions to stand out even when surrounded by rich results. Implement schema markup to enhance your SERP listings with ratings, prices, or other distinctive elements. Create compelling content that promises more value beyond what appears in snippets. A 5% CTR might represent strong performance for highly informational queries, while you should expect higher rates for transaction-oriented keywords. The new SEO metrics that actually reflect success in the AI era To truly measure SEO success now, you need to adopt new metrics designed for the AI-driven search landscape. Here are the most important ones I’m tracking with clients. 1. Visibility in AI search features Track how often your content/brand appears in AI-driven features: Featured snippets and knowledge panels. “People Also Ask” inclusions. AI Overviews and summaries. Brand citations in LLM results. Voice search results. Tools like STAT, Nightwatch, Semrush, and Ahrefs Position Tracking now track many of these features. For one B2B software client, we found that their content appeared in featured snippets for 23% of their target keywords, representing significant brand exposure despite a traffic decrease. 2. Brand search volume trends When your content successfully answers questions through AI interfaces, it often increases brand awareness and leads to subsequent branded searches. Track month-over-month and year-over-year branded search volume as an indicator of how well your content is building awareness, even when it’s being consumed directly in search results. 3. Topical authority metrics AI algorithms assess your overall subject matter expertise, not just keyword usage. Measure these critical factors: Topic coverage scores: How comprehensively you address all aspects of your core topics (tools like MarketMuse and Clearscope help quantify this) E-E-A-T signals: Elements that reflect experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (author credentials, content freshness, factual accuracy). Structured data implementation: The percentage of your pages with proper schema markup. 4. Journey-based engagement metrics Traditional engagement metrics remain useful, but should be segmented by user journey stage: Awareness metrics: Impressions in search features, brand mention volume. Consideration metrics: Return visit rate from search, pages per session, newsletter signups. Conversion metrics: Assisted conversions where organic search played a role, even if not the last click. How to align your strategy with these new measurement standards Now that you know what to measure, here’s how to adapt your overall approach: Content strategy upgrades Optimize content for both human readers and AI systems: Create direct, answer-focused content that addresses user questions clearly in the first paragraph. Structure content for machine readability with descriptive headings and logical information hierarchy. Focus on comprehensive coverage of topics rather than individual keyword optimization. Include concise, factual statements that AI systems can easily extract for featured snippets. Technical optimizations for AI visibility Implement comprehensive schema markup beyond the basics (HowTo, FAQ, Product, etc.). Ensure mobile optimization and fast load times remain priorities. Use semantic HTML elements to provide context cues about your content’s purpose. Create content hierarchies through proper internal linking to establish topic clusters. Reporting that tells the full story When presenting SEO results to stakeholders: Connect technical metrics to business outcomes. For example: “Our featured snippet appearances generated an estimated 1,500 brand impressions worth $3,000 in equivalent media spend.” Educate teams on how AI has transformed the customer journey from search to conversion. Create custom dashboards that incorporate both traditional and AI-era metrics. Focus on the metrics that most directly correlate to revenue for your specific business model. Your action plan: Measuring SEO success in 2025 If you take just five actions after reading this article, make them these: Audit your current measurement approach: Identify which traditional metrics still provide value and which are now misleading Implement featured snippet tracking: Set up monitoring for AI-driven search features where your content appears Create journey-based measurement: Segment your SEO metrics by customer journey stage from awareness to conversion Update reporting templates: Redesign dashboards to include AI-era metrics alongside traditional ones Test and validate: Correlate your new metrics with actual business outcomes to verify which are most predictive of success for your specific situation The goalposts haven’t just moved in SEO; the entire playing field has been redesigned. By adapting your measurement approach now, you’ll not only demonstrate the true value of your SEO efforts but also gain insights that can guide your content strategy. Remember, success in SEO is no longer just about driving traffic. It’s about creating content that serves users’ needs regardless of where they consume it. View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google is rethinking its search stack from the ground up due to LLMs...View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you're looking to build out your home security system without spending a ton at once, right now you can pick up a 2K Arlo indoor camera for less than $30—63% off the original $79.99 price. This camera is ideal if you’re looking for easy installation, smart home-enabled commands, and basic indoor surveillance. It features 2K video quality with sharp 1080p resolution and exceptional color quality, according to this PCMag review. It’s also Arlo’s only wired model, providing a continuous power supply that eliminates the need to worry about battery life. Arlo Essential Indoor Camera (2nd Generation) $29.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $29.99 at Amazon $79.99 Save $50.00 Offering motion sensing and smart integrations, the second generation Arlo Essential Indoor Camera provides a solid blend of security and affordability, making it a good choice starter cam or an excellent addition to an existing surveillance system. Additional features include remote siren activation, night vision in low-light conditions, a 130-degree field of view and two-way audio, which lets you communicate with household members (including four-legged ones) from afar. Reviews indicate people have put the camera to use as a baby monitor, and a pet cam as well as a general home security device, and they appreciate its audio and video quality, as well as its responsive motion detection. It offers automated privacy shield via the Arlo Secure App, which gives you control over when the camera will and won't be recording. That said, some reviewers have experienced wifi connectivity issues, and some features, like advanced detection and cloud storage, require a paid monthly Arlo Secure plan (starting at $8/month). Smart home integration is also mixed: It supports Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant, but not Apple HomeKit. Overall, this is Arlo’s most budget-friendly camera, particularly at the current discount. If you’re in the market for a high-quality starter camera or want to bolster your existing setup, tit's a good choice. However, if you’re seeking an option with more to offer in terms of features and storage, you may want to consider the TP-Link Tapo Indoor/Outdoor Home Security Wi-Fi Camera C120 instead. View the full article