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Latest escalation against elite higher education institutions follows recent withdrawal of funding to Columbia UniversityView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Kodak Printomatic Mini Instant Print Camera is about the size of a power bank, light enough to toss in your pocket, and quick to fire up when something photo-worthy happens. You snap, it prints, and you get a little sticker photo you can slap on your scrapbook, phone case, bedroom wall, or wherever you want. There are no cables, ink cartridges, or waiting for an app to sync—you can just point, shoot, and print, and it's on sale for $59.99 on StackSocial right now. It's obviously more of a playful gift or party gadget than something you’d use for serious photography, but if you want to instantly hand out memories, especially to kids or during events, it does the job with minimal effort and no mess. As mentioned, this isn’t a camera you buy for image quality. It maxes out at 5MP, so the photos are more for fun than for framing. The 2x3-inch prints come out smudge-proof and water-resistant, though, thanks to its Zero Ink tech—Kodak ZINK photo paper—which eliminates the need for ink cartridges. You won’t get film-like depth or editing options here. There's a wide-angle 8mm lens with an f/2 aperture and an automatic flash that kicks in when lighting is trash, but you're not shooting your next short film on this thing. Still, you can keep taking photos while it prints in the background, making it a decent companion for chaotic birthdays or travel days when you’re hopping from one view to the next. As for the fine print, it doesn’t come with a charging cable, which is an odd omission considering it uses a built-in rechargeable battery and charges via MicroUSB. And while it comes with a small starter pack of ZINK paper, if you plan to go full scrapbook mode, you’ll want to stock up. You’ll also need to have a microSD card separately if you want to save your photos digitally. There's no screen—just a basic viewfinder—and no real control over how your images turn out. But for people who just want to point, shoot, and print something instantly, it nails that simple joy. View the full article

The deal was highly vetted with regulators following the publicly traded company's failure to obtain approval in a past agreement, an executive said. View the full article

Here is a selection of Posts from March 2025 that you will want to check out: Are you trapped in a singular story? by @workwithpassion - Alaina Love VIDEO from @artpetty: Leadership Caffeine — 60-second leadership tips: frame your day for success How Really Good People Can Be Really Ineffective by @stopyourdrama - Marlene Chism 11 Ways to Build Trust by @JonGordon11 Cultural Monoxide via @LeadershipMain VIDEO from @artpetty: Leadership Caffeine — 60-second tips: raise your questions-to-comments ratio 8 Reasons Some Leaders Disqualify Themselves and Fail to Finish Well by @BrianKDodd Write To Please Your Reader, Not Your Old English Teacher by @WallyBock How “Artifacts” Can Help a Family Business Define Its Legacy via @KelloggSchool 13 Signs Of A Healthy Culture by @BrianKDodd Exemplar or Empire? 3 of 3 by @jamesstrock - From Isolation to Imperium Exemplar or Empire? 2 of 3 by @jamesstrock - From Post-Colonial to Neo-Imperialist 5 Behaviors of Leaders that do it the Hard Way by @DanReiland A New Definition of Servant Leadership (& 5 Ways to Ensure it Happens) by @BrianKDodd 4 Things Reading Can Do For You by @JosephLalonde Leadership: The Importance of Being by @PhilCooke Alan K Simpson, RIP by @jamesstrock - If you have integrity, nothing else matters—and if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters. Dances with Goals: 3 Kinds of Goals You Need to Write a Great Book by @WallyBock 10 Leadership Statements that Spell Trouble by @Clawlessjr 4 Things Only the Greatest Leaders Know About Navigating Threats and Uncertainty by @BrianKDodd The 3 Top Characteristics of a Leader by @JonGordon11 Procrastinate Like a Pro for Creativity and Stress Relief by @WallyBock Procrastinate strategically after any round of initial research, before significant revisions, or whenever you need a better idea. You’ll turn out better work Next Play: The Mindset That Changes Everything by @AlanSteinJr Transmedia Storytelling and Why It Matters by @PhilCooke Make Imposter Syndrome Work for You by @WallyBock 6 Things Your Boss Counts On by @DanReiland How to Spot a Bureaucrat via @AdmiredLeader Managing Generations At Work: The Differences Don’t Really Make A Difference by @davidburkus Manage People, Not Generations At Work See more on Twitter. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

Play details Prep time15 – 30 minsRun time20 – 120 minsPeople1What you’ll needPreferred AI tool that lets you build an agent (e.g., Rovo) 5-second summary Come up with ideas for AI agents. Build your first agent. Test and edit your agent Play resources Get started quickly with Rovo Learning Path Get help from Rovo Chat and Agents Learning Path Get the most out of Atlassian Intelligence (AI) Learning Path About this play What is an AI Teammate play?This play helps you understand the full potential of AI teammates by guiding you in building your first agent, specifically tailored to meet your unique needs and workflows, offering far more efficiency and personalization than a general AI chat. Your agents can serve as: – Creative and technical partners to brainstorm, iterate, and refine ideas. – Assistants to automate routine tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work. – Expert advisors to expand knowledge, enhance decision-making, and ensure your team can innovate and execute efficiently.Why run the AI Teammate Play?Creating a custom AI agent is like hiring a specialist to join your team who really excels at performing a certain task with a high degree of speed and quality. For example, when you build your own agent, you can tailor it to your unique needs, automating specific tasks and integrating it seamlessly into your workflow.When should you run the AI Teammate Play?The best teams align on what needs to get done and how the work will happen, and teams that include humans and AI are no different. However, unlike expanding your human team, expanding your AI team doesn’t necessarily mean consulting the rest of your team. You can create AI teammates anytime to suit your needs or collaborate and build with your team.3 benefits of AI Teammates PlayBy treating AI as a teammate and developing specialized agents, you can transition from a simple AI user to a strategic AI collaborator. This shift brings several advantages, including: 1. Improved Return on Investment (ROI): Strategic AI collaborators save more time on a daily basis compared to simple users. 2. Increased Productivity: People who treat AI as a strategic collaborator are more likely to reinvest the time saved to dive more deeply into their work, like learning new skills and generating new ideas. 3. Higher Quality Work: 85% of those who collaborate strategically with AI said their work quality improved over the last month. Instructions 1. Come up with ideas for agents (15-30 minutes) At the end of this week, spend five minutes reflecting on workflows where agents could have been useful. Focus on tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and involve text-based outputs, as these are prime candidates for automation. Ask yourself: What tasks did you not enjoy that you’d rather outsource to a teammate? What tasks took way longer than you thought that you might be able to speed up? Looking at your calendar, are there any tasks that are repeated each day/week/month? Here are some examples of when to build an agent vs. use general AI tools: Repetitive tasks (that you can automate): If you’re performing the same task over and over, an AI agent can automate it for you. Example: Automating data entry into spreadsheets or generating weekly sales reports. Prompts that you feed AI over and over: When you find yourself repeatedly using similar prompts for specific tasks, an AI agent can handle those with less effort on your part. Example: Consistently generating marketing content based on specific themes or product categories. Problems you face every week: For recurring issues, a custom AI agent can handle routine problem-solving or flag challenges that need attention. Example: Managing customer support tickets or automatically scheduling meetings based on availability. Nuanced tasks where you want to store specialized knowledge: If a task requires knowledge that needs to be refined or specific expertise, an AI agent can store and apply that knowledge to make better decisions. Example: An internal knowledge base for legal or financial compliance, where the AI pulls up relevant information based on the current task or question. Once you have a few things on your list, block off 15 – 90 minutes in your calendar next week to build an agent to address one of these tasks. Optional: Find an accountability buddy and plan to make a list of use cases together. Message your buddy with your idea for an agent and when you plan to try to build it. Research shows we’re likelier to follow through on intentions if we make an if-then plan for how we’ll do so. 2. Build your agent (15-90 minutes) Now that you’ve identified a task that’s a prime candidate for turning into an AI agent, it’s time to start building your agent. Outline the agent’s role: Define the problem you want your agent to solve Next, determine whether the agent will function as an assistant, a decision-maker, or a data processor. Here are some examples: Assistant agent: The agent is meant to communicate with users. Example: A customer support agent that can understand and respond to user inquiries in natural language, such as “What’s the status of my order?” and “Can you help me with a refund?” by processing text and generating human-like replies. Decision-making agent: The agent is meant to take action based on inputs. Example: A sales agent that uses decision trees to qualify leads. If a lead responds with “I’m interested in a subscription plan,” the agent might ask follow-up questions like “Which plan are you interested in?” or “What’s your company size?” to determine the appropriate next steps. Task automation agent: The agent is meant to automate a defined task. Example: An email response agent that automatically replies to common inquiries, such as “Thank you for your message, we’ll get back to you soon,” or schedules meetings by pulling available time slots from a calendar and confirming with the user. Choose an AI platform: Choose your preferred AI tool like Rovo or OpenAI’s GPT. Choose your approach for building the agent: Decide if you will duplicate an existing agent or build one from scratch. Many AI tools, like Rovo, include instructions for how to build new agents or use premade agents that you can tailor to your specific needs. Write instructions for your agent: Whether you’re making a new agent or making a copy of an existing one, you’ll need to give your agent instructions on what to do. Instructions help define the agent’s tasks and guide its behavior, ensuring it responds accurately and efficiently to user requests. Consider the following questions when drafting these instructions: What will the agent do? (role) What specific goals or knowledge will your agent focus on? (context)) What specific tasks or jobs will your agent be able to perform? (task) What tone and response style should your agent have? (tone/format) What constraints should be emphasized or avoided? Tip: have your agent ask you questions Tell your agent to ask you questions in the prompt one at a time and wait for a response before proceeding to the next question. That way, it won’t try to perform its job before you’ve provided it with all the necessary context. Create conversation starters: Include suggested prompts or questions that help you begin a chat with an agent and guide them on how to interact. Try to use examples that show off the most common things you plan to ask the agent to do as shortcuts. If you leave the field blank, your agent will use generic conversation starters. Example: An agent that writes social media content for your brand might have the following conversation starters: “Write a short Instagram post,” “Create 15 hashtags I can use for this post,” “What’s a tagline I can use to get people’s attention on this post?” Example: An agent that helps you find subject matter experts might have the following conversation starters: “Who should I talk to about this work?,” “What team is responsible for this work?,” “Has anyone been working on similar subject matter to this page?” Provide knowledge to your agent: This refers to the information and resources you give your agent to improve its accuracy and responses. While all agents have generic knowledge, adding specific sources, like Confluence pages, templates, examples of tone, specific expertise, or even Google Drive links, help optimize performance. Tip: update your knowledge sources Regularly update the knowledge sources linked to your agent to keep it current and accurate. 3. Fine-tune your agent Once your agent has been created, testing and tweaking are crucial to identify and correct any inconsistencies or errors in its responses. Here are some ways to test and edit your agent: Put on a different “hat” and try to “break” your agent. Ask unusual/strange questions and challenge its assumptions. Ask a colleague to “break” your agent. Pro tip: Have them make a video, like a Loom recording, of them trying to break the agent so you can see the prompt and response. Revise your prompt based on any strange or unexpected responses it gives to you or your colleague. Tip: Keep your original prompts Copy and paste your original prompt somewhere else (e.g., a Confluence page) so you can revert if your changes do not solve the problem—not all agent builders have version history. The post Team Playbook: Your AI teammate appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Play details Prep time15 – 30 minsRun time20 – 120 minsPeople1What you’ll needPreferred AI tool that lets you build an agent (e.g., Rovo) 5-second summary Come up with ideas for AI agents. Build your first agent. Test and edit your agent Play resources Get started quickly with Rovo Learning Path Get help from Rovo Chat and Agents Learning Path Get the most out of Atlassian Intelligence (AI) Learning Path About this play What is an AI Teammate play?This play helps you understand the full potential of AI teammates by guiding you in building your first agent, specifically tailored to meet your unique needs and workflows, offering far more efficiency and personalization than a general AI chat. Your agents can serve as: – Creative and technical partners to brainstorm, iterate, and refine ideas. – Assistants to automate routine tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work. – Expert advisors to expand knowledge, enhance decision-making, and ensure your team can innovate and execute efficiently.Why run the AI Teammate Play?Creating a custom AI agent is like hiring a specialist to join your team who really excels at performing a certain task with a high degree of speed and quality. For example, when you build your own agent, you can tailor it to your unique needs, automating specific tasks and integrating it seamlessly into your workflow.When should you run the AI Teammate Play?The best teams align on what needs to get done and how the work will happen, and teams that include humans and AI are no different. However, unlike expanding your human team, expanding your AI team doesn’t necessarily mean consulting the rest of your team. You can create AI teammates anytime to suit your needs or collaborate and build with your team.3 benefits of AI Teammates PlayBy treating AI as a teammate and developing specialized agents, you can transition from a simple AI user to a strategic AI collaborator. This shift brings several advantages, including: 1. Improved Return on Investment (ROI): Strategic AI collaborators save more time on a daily basis compared to simple users. 2. Increased Productivity: People who treat AI as a strategic collaborator are more likely to reinvest the time saved to dive more deeply into their work, like learning new skills and generating new ideas. 3. Higher Quality Work: 85% of those who collaborate strategically with AI said their work quality improved over the last month. Instructions 1. Come up with ideas for agents (15-30 minutes) At the end of this week, spend five minutes reflecting on workflows where agents could have been useful. Focus on tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and involve text-based outputs, as these are prime candidates for automation. Ask yourself: What tasks did you not enjoy that you’d rather outsource to a teammate? What tasks took way longer than you thought that you might be able to speed up? Looking at your calendar, are there any tasks that are repeated each day/week/month? Here are some examples of when to build an agent vs. use general AI tools: Repetitive tasks (that you can automate): If you’re performing the same task over and over, an AI agent can automate it for you. Example: Automating data entry into spreadsheets or generating weekly sales reports. Prompts that you feed AI over and over: When you find yourself repeatedly using similar prompts for specific tasks, an AI agent can handle those with less effort on your part. Example: Consistently generating marketing content based on specific themes or product categories. Problems you face every week: For recurring issues, a custom AI agent can handle routine problem-solving or flag challenges that need attention. Example: Managing customer support tickets or automatically scheduling meetings based on availability. Nuanced tasks where you want to store specialized knowledge: If a task requires knowledge that needs to be refined or specific expertise, an AI agent can store and apply that knowledge to make better decisions. Example: An internal knowledge base for legal or financial compliance, where the AI pulls up relevant information based on the current task or question. Once you have a few things on your list, block off 15 – 90 minutes in your calendar next week to build an agent to address one of these tasks. Optional: Find an accountability buddy and plan to make a list of use cases together. Message your buddy with your idea for an agent and when you plan to try to build it. Research shows we’re likelier to follow through on intentions if we make an if-then plan for how we’ll do so. 2. Build your agent (15-90 minutes) Now that you’ve identified a task that’s a prime candidate for turning into an AI agent, it’s time to start building your agent. Outline the agent’s role: Define the problem you want your agent to solve Next, determine whether the agent will function as an assistant, a decision-maker, or a data processor. Here are some examples: Assistant agent: The agent is meant to communicate with users. Example: A customer support agent that can understand and respond to user inquiries in natural language, such as “What’s the status of my order?” and “Can you help me with a refund?” by processing text and generating human-like replies. Decision-making agent: The agent is meant to take action based on inputs. Example: A sales agent that uses decision trees to qualify leads. If a lead responds with “I’m interested in a subscription plan,” the agent might ask follow-up questions like “Which plan are you interested in?” or “What’s your company size?” to determine the appropriate next steps. Task automation agent: The agent is meant to automate a defined task. Example: An email response agent that automatically replies to common inquiries, such as “Thank you for your message, we’ll get back to you soon,” or schedules meetings by pulling available time slots from a calendar and confirming with the user. Choose an AI platform: Choose your preferred AI tool like Rovo or OpenAI’s GPT. Choose your approach for building the agent: Decide if you will duplicate an existing agent or build one from scratch. Many AI tools, like Rovo, include instructions for how to build new agents or use premade agents that you can tailor to your specific needs. Write instructions for your agent: Whether you’re making a new agent or making a copy of an existing one, you’ll need to give your agent instructions on what to do. Instructions help define the agent’s tasks and guide its behavior, ensuring it responds accurately and efficiently to user requests. Consider the following questions when drafting these instructions: What will the agent do? (role) What specific goals or knowledge will your agent focus on? (context)) What specific tasks or jobs will your agent be able to perform? (task) What tone and response style should your agent have? (tone/format) What constraints should be emphasized or avoided? Tip: have your agent ask you questions Tell your agent to ask you questions in the prompt one at a time and wait for a response before proceeding to the next question. That way, it won’t try to perform its job before you’ve provided it with all the necessary context. Create conversation starters: Include suggested prompts or questions that help you begin a chat with an agent and guide them on how to interact. Try to use examples that show off the most common things you plan to ask the agent to do as shortcuts. If you leave the field blank, your agent will use generic conversation starters. Example: An agent that writes social media content for your brand might have the following conversation starters: “Write a short Instagram post,” “Create 15 hashtags I can use for this post,” “What’s a tagline I can use to get people’s attention on this post?” Example: An agent that helps you find subject matter experts might have the following conversation starters: “Who should I talk to about this work?,” “What team is responsible for this work?,” “Has anyone been working on similar subject matter to this page?” Provide knowledge to your agent: This refers to the information and resources you give your agent to improve its accuracy and responses. While all agents have generic knowledge, adding specific sources, like Confluence pages, templates, examples of tone, specific expertise, or even Google Drive links, help optimize performance. Tip: update your knowledge sources Regularly update the knowledge sources linked to your agent to keep it current and accurate. 3. Fine-tune your agent Once your agent has been created, testing and tweaking are crucial to identify and correct any inconsistencies or errors in its responses. Here are some ways to test and edit your agent: Put on a different “hat” and try to “break” your agent. Ask unusual/strange questions and challenge its assumptions. Ask a colleague to “break” your agent. Pro tip: Have them make a video, like a Loom recording, of them trying to break the agent so you can see the prompt and response. Revise your prompt based on any strange or unexpected responses it gives to you or your colleague. Tip: Keep your original prompts Copy and paste your original prompt somewhere else (e.g., a Confluence page) so you can revert if your changes do not solve the problem—not all agent builders have version history. The post Team Playbook: Your AI teammate appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

State department says individuals used national security law ‘extraterritorially’ to pursue rights activists 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 for a MacBook without dropping over a grand, this refurbished 13" 2020 Apple MacBook Air is going for $439.99 on StackSocial right now. That’s a fraction of the original price, and it comes with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 processor. It’s not the latest and greatest, but it holds up surprisingly well for students, freelancers, or anyone who needs a decent everyday laptop for web browsing, emails, documents, and streaming. You’re also getting that bright 13.3-inch Retina display with True Tone, which still looks sharp and vibrant in 2024. This model comes with the backlit Magic Keyboard and Touch ID, which makes unlocking your Mac or making secure purchases easy. The build is sleek, and at just under three pounds, it’s light enough to carry around all day. Battery life is also solid—you can expect up to 11 hours of wireless web use or 12 hours of video playback. Your mileage may vary depending on usage. You’ll get two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports for charging and accessories, and while that can feel limiting, a simple hub can easily expand your setup. It runs macOS and is compatible with updates to macOS Sonoma 14, so you’re not locked out of modern apps or features. It’s rated Grade-A refurbished, so you might see minimal cosmetic wear, but performance should be unaffected. It ships with a MagSafe charger and comes with a 30-day parts and labor warranty from a third party, not Apple. That’s something to factor in if long-term support matters to you. It also won’t blow you away with speed or handle heavy creative work like video editing or 3D rendering. Still, this deal checks the right boxes for writing, streaming, Zoom calls, and basic productivity—especially if you just want a clean, modern MacBook without paying full price. View the full article

Slow repair cycle times, widespread premium increases and the volume of catastrophic events all contribute to dissatisfaction, according to the U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power. View the full article

US president describes three people accused of painting pro-Palestinian messages at his Scottish resort as ‘terrorists’View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. We all know that renovating and remodeling a house is expensive. An average kitchen renovation costs more than $27,000, and a bathroom will run you more than $25,000 even if your plans are relatively modest. A lot of that cost is labor, which runs anywhere from $20 to $150 per hour depending on the trade involved and the specific contractor. If you’re looking to save some money on your home project, doing it yourself is one of the most obvious ways to go. But there are other, less obvious ways you can trim costs on your DIY renovation or remodel. To save money on a house project, it’s not always about buying cheaper materials or scaling back your design. Sometimes there are indirect actions you can take that lead to lower costs in surprising ways. Here are some unexpected strategies for reducing the overall costs of your next DIY project. Reuse demoThe demolition phase of a renovation project is something just about anyone can take care of themselves, and it saves a little money on labor. Plus, it’s cathartic to take a hammer to those outdated aspects of your house that you’ve hated since moving in. But if your goal is to save as much money as possible, hit pause before you swing that hammer and ask yourself if you can re-use any of the materials. Sanding and painting existing cabinetry instead of buying brand-new replacements is an obvious way to re-use materials instead of smashing them up, but think deeper: Tile. If your floor or backsplash tile is in good shape and still fits your new design, removing it carefully and cleaning it up instead of smashing it into pieces is a great use of existing resources. Decking. If you’re removing an old composite deck, consider using some of the composite materials as framing for the replacement. This works best with roof decks or ground-level decks where you only need a slight elevation, but it can save you money on fresh timber—and the composite materials will last longer. Removable stuff. All the things that can be easily removed instead of smashed up could be repurposed. Doors, cabinet hardware, and light fixtures don’t need to be replaced unless they’re crucial to your design (or no longer work properly). If you’re not going to re-use your doors, remember that they’re made of high-quality wood that could be cut up and repurposed elsewhere—as headboards or furniture, for example, instead of buying new. Walls. Taking a sledgehammer to the walls is fun, but ask yourself if you actually need to replace the walls. Drywall can be repaired and rehabbed, even if the paper has been peeled away or damaged (using a specialty primer like this), and once fresh paint, tile, or wallpaper is applied no one will know it’s the same wall that’s always been there. The Domino Effect. Consider whether you can save money on other projects by salvaging what you have. Old kitchen cabinets could be transferred to a garage or basement instead of buying new storage solutions for those areas, for example. If your dream involves fresh, brand-new everything, go for it. But spending a little time thinking about what you can salvage and re-use can add up to serious savings. Mix-up materialsBuying cheaper materials is one of the first things DIYers think of when trying to cut costs—and it works! But there’s a price to be paid, sometimes, in terms of the final look and durability of the finishes. One solution is to think about form and function separately. For example, cheap kitchen cabinets are usually not the most attractive, but a cabinet is essentially a wooden box. Cheap cabinets combined with high-end doors, drawer faces, hardware, and counter materials will look luxe but cost a lot less. You can also use different materials in different areas of a room. In the kitchen, for example, you can use different counter materials on the base cabinets and an island, going high-end in one area and mid-range in another. This not only saves you a little money, it adds a spice of variety to the design as well. Dry-fit everythingYou’ve heard the expression “measure twice, cut once.” Planning and taking your time are some of the easiest ways to save a little money on any home project. Before you start drilling, nailing, and driving screws into cabinets, for example, make sure they fit the way you expect and that there are no unexpected problems. Dry-fitting everything also lets you ensure your measurements for fill pieces and trim are correct, that all power cords will reach outlets, and that you haven’t overlooked anything that’s going to be costly to fix. This concept applies to your skill set, as well. If you’re planning to learn how to do something in real-time while you’re actually doing it, be prepared to waste a lot of time—and expensive materials. Practicing things you’ve never done before will save you money in the long run. When I decided to remodel my bathroom, I bought small squares of drywall and practiced cutting and installing tile a few times before tackling the actual job, and it paid off because I’d gotten basic mistakes out of the way before they could turn into tear-out-an-entire-wall-of-fresh-tile mistakes. Seek out dealsThings cost what people are willing to pay for them. If you can find high-end materials at discount prices, they’re still high-end, so before you break out the credit card to buy new, check out some options for lightly-used stuff, like Recycling centers. Stores like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore chain take donated materials and sell them at steep discounts. You can find everything from flooring to kitchen cabinets at these stores, ranging from used-but-functional to brand new. Floor models. You can often find high-end appliances and furniture at steep discounts because of the relatively light wear-and-tear they suffer. It pays to make some calls or in-person visits to see what might be available. Your best bets for floor models are when new models come out, which is usually September/October for washers, dryers, and dishwashers, January/February for ovens, and May for refrigerators. Also, if you need framing material, you can look for the imperfect lumber at your local lumberyard or big box store. These pieces may not be perfectly straight, but can often be cut down to usable portions that might save you a lot of money. Remnants. Search for remnant stores to find leftover countertops, tile, and other renovation materials. When stone slabs are cut for custom countertops, for example, the remnants are often oddly-shaped or nonstandard size, so you can buy them cheap. Keep in mind, if you bought a full-sized slab that is cut down to fit your design, you can keep the remnants from that slab and use them as well. Often there’s enough material left over to use as a small vanity countertop in your bathroom, for example. Keep the layoutOne of the easiest ways to add costs to your kitchen or bathroom renovation is to move the plumbing. It costs nearly $1,100 on average per piping run to relocate your plumbing, and can run much higher if you’re making dramatic changes as opposed to shifting something a few feet this way or that. If you plan your design around the existing plumbing and electrical outlet layout, you can save a fair amount of money without losing any functionality. Tool librariesDIY projects often require tools you’ve never heard of before and may never use again. Renting those tools instead of buying them can save you some money—but first check if your local library has a tool library. You might be able to use an expensive tool for a few days or weeks at zero cost, and you get to avoid trying to find a place to store something you’ll probably never need again. Camp inSimply by choosing to live in your house during your renovation you’re saving money by not renting an apartment or hotel room. Yes, the dust and disorder can be stressful, but the savings will be significant. If you’re renovating your kitchen or only bathroom, however, this can be a challenge. Not having a functioning kitchen probably means a fortune in food delivery bills, and not having a working bathroom is simply no way to live. Setting up a temporary kitchen is relatively easy. With a few small appliances like an air fryer, microwave, toaster oven, hot plate, and mini-fridge, you can do some basic cookery. A dish-washing station outside, in the bathroom, or by a utility sink in the laundry room or basement might not be an ideal experience, but it will get the job done. It’s also possible to set up a usable temporary bathroom—even without plumbing. How fancy your bathroom accommodations have to be is entirely up to you, but as you shower in a makeshift stall in the basement, remind yourself how much money you’re not spending on a hotel room. View the full article

As a potential TikTok ban looms in the United States (again), Substack is making (another) play for video creators to join its platform. Back in January, Substack CEO Chris Best wrote on his personal account that the company was “going to rescue the smart people from TikTok!” It seems he’s making good on that promise, as the company announced on Monday that it’s rolling out a scrollable video feed in its app. Given the timing of this TikTok-like launch, Substack appears eager to capitalize on the potential void left behind if TikTok is actually banned this time around. Substack first launched video in 2022, later introducing an in-app Media Tab in 2024. The latest redesign transforms that tab into a scrollable, TikTok-style feed featuring short-form videos under 10 minutes, with long-form content and podcast previews expected to follow. This update comes just a month after Substack’s announcement that creators can now monetize their videos on the platform and publish video posts directly through the Substack app. As of February, 82% of the platform’s top-earning writers are using multimedia, up from just over 50% last April. Substack hopes to continue building on this momentum. According to the company, creators who’ve adopted video and/or audio have seen their revenue grow 2.5 times faster than those who haven’t. The new scrollable feed is designed to boost visibility and discovery for creators experimenting with new formats, while also helping readers stumble across new voices beyond their inboxes. “Substack isn’t built around any one medium—it’s built around creators. We’re committed to giving them the tools to share their work, connect with subscribers, and contribute to a thriving network of independent voices,” Substack product manager Zach Taylor tells Fast Company. “As we expand publishing capabilities across formats, the updated media tab makes it easier to discover standout video content from across the network—whether it’s a sharp take, a compelling story, or a powerful clip that sparks connection.” Taylor continues: “We’re excited to keep evolving the Substack app into a dynamic space where creators of all kinds can grow, connect, and build a sustainable business.” From TikTok to Substack, the demand for bite-size content shows no signs of slowing down. View the full article

Amazon on Monday launched its latest AI model, designed to take over a user’s web browser and perform simple tasks. The move places the e-commerce giant in more direct competition with artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which are also developing AI “agents.” The model, called Nova Act, is currently available as a “research preview” for developers, meaning it’s not yet open to the general public. It can complete tasks such as browsing the web and making purchases without supervision. For instance, the company demonstrated Nova Act searching for apartments within biking distance of a specific train station. It can also handle more nuanced instructions like “don’t accept the insurance upsell.” “We think of agents as systems that can complete tasks and act in a range of digital and physical environments on behalf of the user,” Amazon wrote in a blog post on Monday. These types of agents are still in their early stages, but tech companies are placing big bets that agentic AI represents the next major frontier. OpenAI recently released “Operator,” a tool that automates web-based tasks, along with Deep Research, which it says can gather information from across the web and summarize it into digestible reports. Anthropic, the creator of Claude, and Google have also introduced AI agents. Nova Act is part of Amazon’s Nova series, first announced in December 2024, which is capable of generating text and images. “The Nova Act SDK is a crucial step forward, toward building reliable agents by enabling developers to break down complex workflows into atomic commands (e.g., search, checkout, answer questions about the screen),” the company wrote. View the full article

Microsoft Advertising will require advertisers to provide explicit user consent signals starting May 5. First communicated to advertisers a few weeks ago, this change ensures compliance with global privacy regulations while maintaining the ability to gather insights that optimize ad performance. Why we care. As data privacy concerns grow, businesses face increasing pressure to protect personal information. Microsoft’s enforcement of Consent Mode offers a way to balance privacy with performance, reinforcing trust while meeting regulatory requirements. What is Consent Mode? Consent Mode is a feature from Microsoft Advertising that respects user privacy preferences while allowing advertisers to track conversions and optimize campaigns. It adjusts cookie access based on user consent, using the ad_storage parameter to either allow or block cookies. This applies to: Universal Event Tracking (UET) on the Microsoft Advertising Platform. Universal Pixel, Segment, and Conversion pixels within Microsoft Invest, Curate, or Monetize. Consent signals can also be shared through the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) or directly via a Consent Management Platform (CMP). How to implement Consent Mode. Businesses can send user consent signals using one of these three options: Direct integration. Implement Consent Mode with UET, Universal Pixel, Segment, or Conversion pixels. IAB framework. Pass consent signals directly in a TCF 2.0 string or through a CMP. Third-party tools. Integrate Microsoft’s Consent Mode through tools like Google Tag Manager. View the full article

Making a pizzeria-quality pizza at home is completely achievable, but it does take a little bit of know-how to make this happen. You can read my nine tips to get started, but you should know that there’s one very special tip on that list. Doing this one thing makes a huge impact on your pizza, requires literally no work on your end, and costs no money. In short: You should be aging your pizza dough. I do it every time I make pizza now and I haven’t looked back. Homemade pizza makes for a fun, shareable family dinner, but I actually love making personal pizzas for lunch. I’ll buy a pound of pizza dough from Trader Joe’s or Shoprite and cut it into four equal parts. I wrap the quadrants separately and start making personal pizzas for lunch—one small dough ball gets used each day, while the others sit in the fridge and wait for their turn. That's four days in a row of personal pizza. As the dough aged, I noticed a change. The first day’s crust would be more difficult to stretch out, the dough would feel more firm, and the finished pizza crust would be more dense, with tiny, close-set air bubbles. With each subsequent day, the texture of the crust would improve. By day four, the crust would have big, irregular bubbles, stretch easily, and bake with a more pizzeria-like quality. Plus, the crust would be more flavorful. Great bubbling action happening here on my aged dough. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Why aging your pizza crust gives you better resultsWhether you’re making your own homemade crust recipe or you're buying raw dough from the supermarket, pizza dough is a yeast-leavened bread, and yeast breads develop flavor as they ferment. That’s why many sourdough recipes suggest letting the dough cold-ferment in the fridge overnight, and why others suggest 72-hour fermentation periods for pizza dough. This extra time gives the yeast time to eat and release carbon dioxide to make those lovely air pockets. Additionally, the gluten in the dough gets time to relax, so you can actually stretch it without a fight. My favorite thing about pizzeria pizza is when those gigantic air bubbles blossom around the pie. The only way I’ve been able to duplicate that at home is after aging my pizza dough in the fridge for three or four days. How to age (ferment) your pizza doughAging your pizza dough is so easy you might have done it by accident a few times already. If you buy your dough frozen from the supermarket, simply pop it into the fridge for at least three days. The first day is to thaw the dough, so it’s more like Day 0. Add 48 to 72 hours of additional time in the fridge for the dough to ferment. Left: 72-hour aged dough. Right: Un-aged dough. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann You can see the difference in the picture. The dough on the left has been fermenting for three days and the one on the right is just thawed—technically ready to use but unfermented. There are tons of air bubbles on the aged dough, visible against the plastic. You can also see a difference in the overall elasticity, the aged dough is much looser while the un-aged dough on the right still maintains a tight shape with a smooth, un-bubbled surface. If you make your own pizza dough, mix the recipe as usual. After the dough is completely mixed, shape it into a smooth ball and put it into a plastic bag or in a lightly oiled large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge for 48 to 72 hours. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Once it’s finished fermenting, scrape the dough out onto a floured surface and stretch the dough like you normally would. Slather it with tomato sauce (or one of these adventurous pizza sauces), top it and bake it until bubbling and crispy. And keep in mind, if you like big bubbles, make sure you don’t pop them while you stretch the dough. You shall be rewarded. View the full article

There are brief moments when Annisa Faquir forgets that the Little Red Hen Coffee Shop, the Altadena diner her grandmother founded a half century ago, burned down in the Eaton Fire. “You think, ‘I can go grab something—oh wait, it’s in ashes,’” said Faquir, who has worked at the shop since her mother, Barbara Shay, took over the family business seven years ago. The women want to rebuild the diner loved by neighbors for its shrimp and grits, catfish, and Shay’s secret house coffee blend. They knew they’d need help, but were surprised when Paris Hilton called to offer it to them. The Little Red Hen Coffee Shop is one of 50 women-owned businesses impacted by the Eaton Fire receiving a recovery grant of up to $25,000 from Hilton’s nonprofit 11:11 Media Impact and GoFundMe.org. “These women are the backbone of their communities,” the reality TV star said in a statement. “Through this powerful partnership, we’re not just helping them rebuild—we’re investing in their futures, their families, and their neighborhoods.” Faquir said the significant grant and the ease of the process was helpful, especially compared to tougher questioning for smaller grants from other donors who asked “for an arm and a leg.” “They saw us,” she said. “They heard our story.” More than 1,800 businesses were located in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones, according to Los Angeles County’s Economic Development Corporation. They employed 9,600 workers and generated $1.4 billion in annual sales. The county estimates subsequent losses in economic output, income reductions, and tax revenue will be in the billions. “Making sure they stay afloat now is supercritical so that we can even talk to them about long-term recovery,” Kelly LoBianco, director of L.A. County’s Department of Economic Opportunity, said of those businesses. Businesses generally struggle to reopen after catastrophes. In 2023, three-quarters of small businesses were underinsured, according to the insurer Hiscox, and less than half had property insurance. In the L.A. fires, many business owners also lost their homes. Some are still repaying loans from the COVID-19 pandemic. The county is distributing about $20 million in emergency grants, but LoBianco said much more will be needed. After applications flooded in for its own program, 11:11 Media Impact and GoFundMe.org expanded it from 11 to 50 grants. The recipients include childcare centers, bakeries, bookshops, dance studios, and salons. “Seeing the overwhelming response from women entrepreneurs in need of support showed us how important and urgent the need is to help this community rebuild,” said Hilton. The money will boost entrepreneurs who worried the Eaton Fire had destroyed their futures, said Lizzy Okoro Davidson, director of the Pasadena Women’s Business Center, which is partnering on the grant program. The money can help pay back-rent after long closures, secure new spaces, and replace equipment. “In some cases the $25,000 will be the bridge to get them to 100% of what they need,” said Okoro Davidson. Renata Ortega, owner of Orla Floral Studio, used to run her floral design company out of a converted garage next to the home she shared with her husband and three dogs in the Altadena foothills. Since the Eaton fire destroyed their property, Ortega has been working from a shared workshop in downtown L.A. lent to her by a fellow floral designer. It was a kindness Ortega deeply appreciates, but she knows she’ll eventually need her own space. “I really didn’t know if we were going to make it or how long we were going to make it, having to start from scratch, so this grant is really giving me hope right now at a time of uncertainty,” she said. Ortega will use the money for a deposit and rent on a studio while she and her husband rebuild their property. She also needs to replace all the vases, shelving, and tools she lost. “I can continue a business that was once just a dream for me,” said Ortega, adding that she will be forever grateful to Hilton. “Now we’re going to make it.” The Pasadena Women’s Business Center will also receive $25,000 to provide no-cost advising to local business owners. Okoro Davidson said entrepreneurs will need lots of encouragement to keep going. “We’re really at the beginning of the beginning of the rebuild process,” she said, adding that “reimagining” businesses will come next. Companies that never even had websites might now sell their products online, she said, or restaurants could convert to food trucks while they—and their customers—rebuild. The grants came largely from GoFundMe.org’s Wildfire Relief Fund, which has raised $7.7 million from 43,000 donors so far. Hilton, whose Malibu home burned in the Palisades Fire, donated $150,000 to the Wildfire Relief Fund. Her nonprofit, which normally focuses on protecting children and amplifying female voices, raised $1.2 million in the first week after the fires. Faquir said she and her mom will put the money toward building the restaurant, replacing equipment, and finally buying the land their diner has stood on for the last 53 years. “It’s our family legacy,” said Faquir. “We have to uphold what her mom started.” Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. —Gabriela Aoun Angueira, Associated Press View the full article

Some of Abir Barakat’s earliest childhood memories are of her father’s fascination with tatreez, a traditional Palestinian embroidery involving hand-stitching patterns and motifs on clothing, scarves, bedspreads, and pillows. Her father would collect thobes—tatreez-embroidered loose-fitting dresses worn by Palestinian women, ultimately amassing an extensive collection of unique, traditional tatreez pieces crafted decades ago by women in Palestine. “My memory is how passionate he was about it and how he would tell us different stories about (tatreez),” says Barakat. “He would acquire these old Palestinian dresses [some of which] are museum pieces, honestly, because they can no longer be found.” After nearly 15 years of working in various marketing roles, Barakat decided to combine her experience with her passion for tatreez and begin preserving historical tatreez pieces. “It was such a rich history and a rich heritage that it had to be repurposed,” she says, adding that “a lot of these villages that the embroidery comes from no longer exist.” That’s why she started Jeel, which means “generation” in Arabic—a name she chose because it reflects her goal of preserving a rich heritage and passing it down to future generations. Since the brand’s launch in 2014, it has grown into a profitable business selling a range of vibrant tatreez embroidery, amassing more than 18,000 Instagram followers. With the United Nations Cultural agency warning that tatreez is at risk of disappearing from collective memory, brands like Jeel and others are focused on preserving Palestinian heritage. Tatreez and the fabric of Palestinian identity Historically, tatreez also formed a Palestinian’s cultural identity as the embroidery weaves the origins and history of Palestinians into its diverse patterns and colors. “They would even know the social status of a person depending on what she is wearing,” Barakat says. “The headpieces in the Palestinian costumes would reflect if that person is rich or not.” Just like tatreez created a strong identity for Palestinian people decades ago, Barakat started Jeel hoping the craft would do the same for her. Despite growing up in Jerusalem as a Palestinian Muslim, she says she often grappled with understanding her identity, feeling that it was constantly under threat. “Every Palestinian would tell you there is always a piece of us that feels we need to preserve [our heritage] because we feel endangered at every point of our life,” Barakat says. “We feel always jeopardized to make sure we say we exist because at every level of our existence, we are being challenged about being Palestinian.” This pressing need to preserve Palestinian identity also motivated Suzy Adnan Tamimi, a New York-based Palestinian designer, to begin making tatreez designs of her own in 2014. Two years into the project, Tamimi got a unique opportunity which she defines as her “launchpad”: In 2016, the United Nations invited her to design a contemporary interpretation of a traditional Palestinian dress for an exhibition aimed at preserving Palestinian identity. She created a modern-day gown from tatreez scraps she bought from Hanan Munayyer—a renowned curator and collector of tatreez embroidery. The gown was displayed at the United Nations Headquarters for a month. Her experience at the United Nations deepened her passion for reinventing tatreez, exploring ways to modernize the craft and bringing Palestinian embroidery to a more global audience. Today, Tamimi’s tatreez brand boasts more than 29,000 followers on Instagram. She works with Palestinian women in refugee camps in the West bank city of Jenin to repurpose tatreez embroidery, integrating it with modern designs. Her modern take on tatreez has enabled her brand to attract a younger demographic. “I started coming up with ideas that were very innovative and new and fresh, like (tatreez embroidered) sneakers or guitar straps or jumpsuits, sweatsuits, bucket hats. So, kind of like an urban sportswear vibe,” says Tamimi. Growing awareness amid crisis As Israel’s assault on Gaza has worn on, both Barakat and Tamimi have seen growth in their followers—leading to mixed feelings about the growth of tatreez’s visibility being driven by the ongoing killing of Palestinians. “It’s kind of a confusing situation where you feel like, this is trending right now, but this is not really a trend,” she says. Tamimi is ardently focused on preserving the tatreez stitches through innovation and plans to further showcase the beauty and history of Palestine through this art form. Her Freedom Fighter collection is a tribute to resilience and a powerful statement about the resilience of Palestinians. More recent additions to her store—alongside the custom embroidery she offers—include sweaters, T-shirts, and hoodies featuring a 1950s chest panel from a tatreez thobe. On the back, the products read “these stitches speak of existence.” “When I pick up an old piece of embroidery from Palestine, sometimes I’m in tears because I can feel the energy in each piece,” says Tamimi. “I want them to live on and that’s why I bring them to life.” View the full article

Google's John Mueller cited the newly updated Quality Rater Guidelines when affirming that filler content is problematic for page quality The post Google Cautions SEOs & Creators About Filler Content appeared first on Search Engine Journal. 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’ve been waiting for a low-stakes opportunity to buy an iPad, this $159.99 bundle on StackSocial could check enough boxes. It includes a refurbished 7th-gen Apple iPad (2019) with 32GB of storage and wifi in Space Gray, plus a pair of refurbished Beats Flex headphones. The refurbished condition means it’s been tested and certified to work as expected, though you might spot some cosmetic wear. You’re also getting a solid handful of accessories—a case, screen protector, stylus, charger, and cable—all generic but usable. This isn’t the newest iPad on the block, but it still runs iPadOS and handles the basics like email, Netflix, YouTube, and Zoom calls just fine. If you're not running Photoshop or editing videos, it does what most people need. That said, the 32GB of internal storage is tight—after system files and apps, you're not left much room. And since iPads don’t support microSD cards, cloud storage or streaming is your best workaround. Battery life is around 10 hours, which is fine for a day of use. The front and rear cameras are both 8MP and 1.2MP, so don't expect Instagram-ready shots, but they’re fine for FaceTime. The inclusion of Beats Flex wireless headphones makes this bundle a little better. They’re not high-end, but they get the job done for casual music, calls, or blocking out noise while watching a show. The neckband design isn’t for everyone, but they stay in place and have a 12-hour battery life. All things considered, this bundle makes sense if you're looking for a reliable tablet for the kids, for travel, or just as a backup screen for light tasks. View the full article

Former Capital One Multifamily executive Grace Huebscher departed recently and the Federal Housing Finance Agency appointed a replacement amid broader reform. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Oura Advisor, an AI feature formerly tucked away in Oura’s beta testing program, is now rolling out to all Oura Ring customers. It takes the form of a chatbot that you can start a conversation with at any time from within the Oura app—plus the Advisor promises to “check in” with you daily, weekly, or three times a week, depending on what you request. But do you actually want it to do any of those things? What does the Oura Advisor do? Credit: Beth Skawrecki Honestly, this seems to be a pretty standard fitness app AI—meaning that all it really does is restate metrics from the app in a more conversational tone. The Advisor itself told me that it "analyze[s] your Oura data to provide insights and guidance tailored to your health goals." Its language is in the same style as the little encouraging sentences you get on the Oura home screen, and it tends to repeat the same kinds of advice. When you open a chat with the Advisor, it asks what you’d like to talk about. So far I haven’t gotten it to tell me anything that wasn’t already obvious from other screens of the app. When I asked why my resting heart rate has been high lately, it gave a generic list of reasons that a resting heart rate might be high for anyone. When I asked it for an “insight” (since it told me that its job is to provide insights), it told me my cardiovascular age, which is a metric that also appears on my app home screen. How to turn on the Oura AdvisorUntil recently, you had to opt in to Oura Labs (the beta testing program) to access the Advisor. It’s still rolling out to all users, so if you want to try it in the meantime, you can turn on any Oura Labs features you like by going to the menu in the top left corner, selecting Oura Labs, and choosing what “experiments” you’d like to turn on. (There is currently a meal tracking feature, and a “heart check-in.”) You do have to use the app in English, although Oura says they're planning to offer the Advisor in other languages in the future. Once the Advisor is enabled, you can tap the “+” in the bottom right corner (the same place you would add an activity or start a meditation session) and choose Advisor. This opens up the chat, and from this screen you can also adjust the Advisor’s settings. How to change settings and delete “memories” on the Oura AdvisorIn the chat, you can tap a settings icon in the upper right corner of the screen. The available settings are: Style: Conversational, conversational, or direct. I can’t tell if the two “conversational” options are different, or if the duplication is an error on Oura’s part. Check-in notifications: Daily, three times a week, or weekly; you can also set whether your preferred time of day is morning, afternoon, or evening (or any combination) Memories: The Advisor remembers things you’ve told it about yourself. My Memories section has “The user participates in competitive weightlifting,” and “the user has been sick,” both things I told it directly in our conversations. You can delete a memory by tapping the trash can icon next to it. There is also a button to “reset” the advisor, which means all settings, conversations, and memories will be deleted. To test what it’s getting from its memories, I asked the advisor if its data suggested I was getting sick. With the “memory” of my illness, it said yes, and suggested I might want to focus on recovery today. After deleting that memory, I asked the same question again. It said that my resting heart rate suggests I’ve been under some stress, and that I might want to focus on recovery today. Is the Oura Advisor worthwhile? So far I haven’t seen the Advisor hallucinate data or say anything inappropriate, but it also hasn’t told me anything I would consider an “insight.” I tried asking it about data that I can’t easily read from the app—like my long term resilience trends—and it said it didn’t have that data available. On the Oura subreddit, most posts about the Advisor seem to be complaints that it isn't doing anything interesting, but one user said they were able to get the Advisor to talk to them about their meal choices logged with the Meals feature, which is still in beta. One user said the Advisor helped them to improve their resilience score, but they didn't provide much information about how it did that, just that they gave the advisor specific information about things like their sleep schedule. Now that the feature has rolled out to more users, perhaps we'll find out whether more people find it useful. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: For some reason — largely due to how bad the job market currently is for replaceable lifelong individual contributors — I’ve been following one of those quasi-influencer recruiter types on LinkedIn for a little while. Some of his advice is decent, and at the very least he pokes fun of all the problems with job-seeking in 2025. But this appeared on my LinkedIn feed just now: “Your job title matters. If your company gave you an internal title that no one understands, tweak it to something more industry-standard. Just keep it accurate…don’t inflate it. Your resume should be clear to an outsider, not just your past company.” Wouldn’t this just open a candidate up to confusion at best during a reference check? Personally my own title is definitely more grandiose in name than in practice, but if I changed “ABC” to something more accurate like “XYZ” in order to get a new role and then they called my current manager to ask whether I was in fact XYZ, surely that would raise questions with the potential new employer about my trustworthiness and accuracy. Interested to hear whether my suspicion was right or if I’m wildly off-base here! Well, yes and no. It’s true that you want to avoid problems where a prospective employer verifies your title during a reference check or background check and discovers it’s wrong. It’s also true that it’s important for your resume to convey what your role really was, and some titles really don’t do a good job of that. For example, let’s say you have a vague title like Analyst Level 1. One easy solution to that is to list your correct title but then a more explanatory one in parentheses immediately following it, like this: Taco Institute, Analyst Level 1 (Taco Strategy Coordinator) Or you could even do that in reverse: Taco Institute, Taco Strategy Coordinator (Analyst Level 1) That way, it’s clear what your job was but you won’t look like you were being misleading if they confirm it. (That assumes that the bulk of your work really is taco strategy, of course. Your descriptive title needs to be accurate.) But let’s say you left out Analyst Level 1 entirely, and that came up in a background check. It’s not guaranteed that it would disqualify you; they might be perfectly capable of figuring out that the work is indeed the work of a taco strategy coordinator, and there might be no issues with moving forward. But it also might not go that way, and it’s better not to introduce the possibility of problems. What you definitely can’t do is to give yourself a promotion. If your title is Taco Strategy Coordinator, you can’t list yourself as Director of Taco Strategy, even if you’re working at a director level and believe your title should have reflected that all along. However, in that case, you’d make very sure that the other info you list for that job makes clear the level you were working at. View the full article

Banning the far-right leader from standing for office will inflame French politicsView the full article

Google Ads will update its Unfair Advantage Policy to clarify that the restriction on showing more than one ad at a time for the same business, app, or site only applies within a single ad location. This change, staring April 14, follows recent experiments allowing multiple ads from the same advertiser in different locations on the search results page. What’s happening. Double serving now permitted: Advertisers can now run multiple ads for the same business, app, or site on a single search results page—provided they occupy different ad locations. This could potentially increase visibility and clicks for top advertisers but may also intensify competition for smaller players. Shifting auction dynamics: Google’s updated policy leverages different ad locations to run separate auctions, allowing businesses to secure multiple placements. This adjustment aligns with Google’s evolving approach to ads, such as mixing ads with organic results and redefining top ad placements last year. Why we care. This update opens up opportunities to dominate search results by showing multiple ads for the same business in different ad locations. This could lead to increased visibility, higher click-through rates, and more conversions. However, it may also drive up competition and costs, especially for smaller advertisers, as larger brands gain more SERP real estate. Understanding this change is crucial for adapting bidding and placement strategies to stay competitive. Industry reactions. Digital marketing expert Navah Hopkins of Optmyzr noted on LinkedIn: “Google is officially making it fair game to have more than one spot on the SERP. I have thoughts on this, but I want to see how performance actually shakes out in Q2.” Digital marketing expert Boris Beceric commented that Google is only chasing the money: “Another case of Google liking money more than a good user experience…not even talking from an advertiser’s perspective.” Bigger picture. This policy shift marks another fundamental change in Google Ads’ long-standing practices, raising questions about how SERP real estate and competition will evolve. Bottom line. This update could create new opportunities for advertisers to dominate search results, but it might also make it harder for smaller businesses to compete. The real impact will become clearer as the industry adapts in the coming months. View the full article

For most baseball fans, hope springs eternal on Opening Day. Many of those fans—more than you might think—are women. A 2024 survey found that women made up 39% of those who attended or watched Major League Baseball games, and franchises have taken notice. The Philadelphia Phillies offer behind-the-scenes tours and clinics for their female fans, while the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees offer fantasy camps that are geared to women. The number of women working professionally in baseball has also grown. Kim Ng made history in 2020 when she became the first woman general manager of an MLB team, the Miami Marlins. As of 2023, women made up 30% of central office professional staff and 27% of team senior administration jobs. In addition, 43 women held coaching and managerial jobs across the major and minor league levels—a 95% increase in just two years. As a fan and scholar of the game, I’m happy to see more women watching baseball and working in the industry. But it still nags at me that the girls and women who play baseball don’t get much recognition, particularly in the U.S. Women take the field In the U.S., baseball is seen as a sport for boys and men. Girls and women, on the other hand, are supposed to play softball, which uses a bigger ball and has a smaller field. It wasn’t always this way. Women have been playing baseball in the U.S. since at least the 1860s. At women’s colleges such as Smith and Vassar, students organized baseball teams as early as 1866. The first professional women’s baseball team was known as the Dolly Vardens, a team of Black players formed in Philadelphia in 1867. Barnstorming teams, known as Bloomer Girls, traveled across the country to play against men’s teams from the 1890s to the 1930s, providing the players with independence and the means to make a living. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded by Philip K. Wrigley in 1943, also offered women the chance to play professionally. The league, which inspired the 1992 film A League of Their Own, enforced rigid norms of femininity expected at the time. Players were required to wear skirts and makeup while playing and were fined if they engaged in any behavior deemed “unladylike.” Teams were open only to white women and light-skinned Latinas. Black women were not allowed to play, a policy that reflected the segregation of the Jim Crow era. Three Black women—Connie Morgan, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, and Toni Stone—did play in the otherwise male Negro Leagues in the early 1950s. However, their skills were often downplayed by claims that they’d been signed to generate ticket sales and boost interest in the struggling league. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954, and by the late-1950s women’s participation in baseball had dwindled. Girls funneled into softball Softball was invented in Chicago in 1887 as an indoor alternative to baseball. Originally aimed at both men and women, it eventually became the accepted sport for girls and women due to its smaller field, larger ball, and underhand pitching style—aspects deemed suitable for the supposedly weaker and more delicate female body. The passage of Title IX in 1972 further pushed the popularization of fast-pitch softball, as participation in high school and college increased markedly. In 1974, the National Organization for Women filed a lawsuit against Little League Baseball because the league’s charter excluded girls from playing. The lawsuit was successful, and girls were permitted to join teams. In response, Little League created Little League Softball as a way to funnel girls into softball instead of baseball. As political scientist Jennifer Ring has pointed out, this decision reinforced the gendered division of each sport and “cemented the post-Title IX segregated masculinity of baseball.” Girls can still play baseball, but most are encouraged to eventually switch to softball if they want to pursue college scholarships. If they want to keep playing baseball, they have to constantly confront stubborn cultural beliefs and assumptions that they should be playing softball instead. A global game You might be surprised to learn that the U.S. fields a national women’s baseball team that competes in the Women’s Baseball World Cup. But they receive scant media attention and remain unknown to most baseball fans. In a 2019 article published in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, I argued that the U.S. has experienced inconsistent success on the global stage because of a lack of infrastructure, limited resources, and persistent gendered assumptions that hamper the development of women’s baseball. Other countries such as Japan, Canada, and Australia have established solid pathways that allow girls and women to pursue baseball from the youth level through high school and beyond. That being said, opportunities for girls to play baseball are increasing in the U.S. thanks to the efforts of organizations such as Baseball for All and DC Girls Baseball. Approximately 1,300 girls play high school baseball, and a handful of young women play on men’s college baseball teams each year. In recent years, numerous women’s collegiate club baseball teams have been established; there’s even an annual tournament to crown a national champion. Pro league in the works Momentum continues to build. MLB recently appointed Veronica Alvarez as its first girls baseball ambassador, who will oversee development programs such as the Trailblazers Series and the Elite Development Invitational. A new documentary film, See Her Be Her, is touring the country to celebrate the growth of women’s baseball and raise awareness of the challenges these athletes face. Perhaps most significantly, the Women’s Pro Baseball League announced that it is planning to start play in summer 2026 with six teams located in the northeastern U.S. Over 500 players from 11 countries have registered with the league, with a scouting camp and player draft scheduled for later this year. Should the league have success, it will mark a revitalization of women’s professional baseball in the U.S., a nod to the rich history of the women’s game and a commitment to securing opportunities for the girls and women who continue to defy cultural norms to play the game they love. Callie Maddox is an associate professor of sport leadership and management at Miami University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article