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<title>The Business Economic &#45; Latest Posts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rss/latest-posts</link>
<description>The Business Economic &#45; Latest Posts</description>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2022. The Business Economic &#45; All Rights Reserved.</dc:rights>

<item>
<title>Britain’s green start&#45;ups face ‘triple squeeze’ as early&#45;stage funding crashes to five&#45;year low</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britains-green-start-ups-face-triple-squeeze-as-early-stage-funding-crashes-to-five-year-low</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britains-green-start-ups-face-triple-squeeze-as-early-stage-funding-crashes-to-five-year-low</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Early-stage funding for Britain&#039;s clean tech start-ups halved in 2025, hitting a five-year low. Cleantech for UK warns the innovation pipeline is at risk.
Read more: 
Britain’s green start-ups face ‘triple squeeze’ as early-stage funding crashes to five-year low ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Britain’s, green, start-ups, face, ‘triple, squeeze’, early-stage, funding, crashes, five-year, low</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bristol leads UK innovation jobs boom as the regions close the gap on London</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bristol-leads-uk-innovation-jobs-boom-as-the-regions-close-the-gap-on-london</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bristol-leads-uk-innovation-jobs-boom-as-the-regions-close-the-gap-on-london</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
New research lays bare a striking paradox: workforces at Britain&#039;s most innovative firms are growing fastest outside the south-east, yet eight in every ten venture pounds still pour into the so-called golden triangle.
Read more: 
Bristol leads UK innovation jobs boom as the regions close the gap on London ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bristol, leads, innovation, jobs, boom, the, regions, close, the, gap, London</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Whisky tariffs lifted as Trump hails royal state visit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whisky-tariffs-lifted-as-trump-hails-royal-state-visit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whisky-tariffs-lifted-as-trump-hails-royal-state-visit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain&#039;s distillers have been handed an unexpected fillip after Donald Trump announced the removal of all US tariffs and restrictions on whisky imports, a concession the president attributed directly to the influence of King Charles and Queen Camilla&#039;s four-day state visit to America.
Read more: 
Whisky tariffs lifted as Trump hails royal state visit ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Whisky, tariffs, lifted, Trump, hails, royal, state, visit</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Britain doesn’t have a start&#45;up problem, it has a stay&#45;at&#45;home problem</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-doesnt-have-a-start-up-problem-it-has-a-stay-at-home-problem</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-doesnt-have-a-start-up-problem-it-has-a-stay-at-home-problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain launches companies brilliantly. It just can’t keep them. Richard Alvin on why the next British unicorn will probably IPO in New York, and what to do before it does.
Read more: 
Britain doesn’t have a start-up problem, it has a stay-at-home problem ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Britain, doesn’t, have, start-up, problem, has, stay-at-home, problem</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Last orders for British hospitality: Are Reeves and Starmer trying to kill the UK restaurant sector?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/last-orders-for-british-hospitality-are-reeves-and-starmer-trying-to-kill-the-uk-restaurant-sector</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/last-orders-for-british-hospitality-are-reeves-and-starmer-trying-to-kill-the-uk-restaurant-sector</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
From a £3.4 billion National Insurance hit to a refusal to cut hospitality VAT, the policies of Reeves and Starmer read like a hit job on Britain&#039;s high streets.
Read more: 
Last orders for British hospitality: Are Reeves and Starmer trying to kill the UK restaurant sector? ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Last, orders, for, British, hospitality:, Are, Reeves, and, Starmer, trying, kill, the, restaurant, sector</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The best AI dictation apps, tested and ranked</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-ai-dictation-apps-tested-and-ranked</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-ai-dictation-apps-tested-and-ranked</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI-powered dictation apps are useful for replying to emails, taking notes, and even coding through your voice ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, dictation, apps, tested, and, ranked</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Netflix delays Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ movie for big theatrical push in 2027</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-delays-greta-gerwigs-narnia-movie-for-big-theatrical-push-in-2027</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-delays-greta-gerwigs-narnia-movie-for-big-theatrical-push-in-2027</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;The Magician&#039;s Nephew&quot; looks like a big next step in Netflix&#039;s thawing relationship with movie theaters. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Netflix, delays, Greta, Gerwig’s, ‘Narnia’, movie, for, big, theatrical, push, 2027</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Farewell, Jeeves: Ask.com shuts down</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/farewell-jeeves-askcom-shuts-down</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/farewell-jeeves-askcom-shuts-down</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Owner IAC says it&#039;s discontinuing its search business. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Farewell, Jeeves:, Ask.com, shuts, down</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI&#45;generated actors and scripts are now ineligible for Oscars</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-generated-actors-and-scripts-are-now-ineligible-for-oscars</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-generated-actors-and-scripts-are-now-ineligible-for-oscars</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bad news for Tilly Norwood. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>AI-generated, actors, and, scripts, are, now, ineligible, for, Oscars</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This tiny, magnetic e&#45;reader could stop you from doomscrolling</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-tiny-magnetic-e-reader-could-stop-you-from-doomscrolling</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-tiny-magnetic-e-reader-could-stop-you-from-doomscrolling</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Xteink X3 is a delightfully tiny, MagSafe-compatible e-ink reader that attaches to the back of your phone like a Pop Socket. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, tiny, magnetic, e-reader, could, stop, you, from, doomscrolling</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This free website is like Wikipedia meets the CIA</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-free-website-is-like-wikipedia-meets-the-cia</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-free-website-is-like-wikipedia-meets-the-cia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ You may or may not have ever realized it, but for more than six decades, the CIA published an incredible resource called The World Factbook​. It was a free reference guide to all the countries on Earth, along with several non-state entities such as the European Union, and it was filled with all sorts of eye-opening info.



You might’ve noticed I’m referring to it in the past tense. That’s because after having maintained this project since 1962—first as a printed book and then in more recent years online—the CIA unceremoniously discontinued and deleted The World Factbook earlier this year.



But, as so often happens, the internet has come to the rescue. And now this one-of-a-kind resource and all the wisdom within it is available for anyone to tap into again.



This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!



Your free global field guide



On February 4, the CIA announced​ it was shutting down The World Factbook once and for all. Every single page was deleted simultaneously.



That’s the bad news. The good news: Someone’s already brought it back, and it’s available once more as a free online resource.



➜ The new version is called OpenFactBook​. It’s a community-maintained successor to the original from the CIA.



⌚ You can start browsing it right now, in a matter of seconds.



✅ The simplest way to use OpenFactBook is to pick a country and dive in. Every page starts with a few key statistics, a map, and a brief history. Then, you’ll find a plethora of revealing statistics.



OpenFactBook may look simple on the surface, but it’s filled with mountains of invaluable info.



? Part of the fun is discovering cool or unusual stats. For example: The highest elevation in Vatican City is the Vatican Gardens, which is 78 meters above sea level. The lowest: Saint Peter’s Square, at 19 meters. They use 0% of their land for agriculture.



But there’s so much more here than unexpected stats about microstates.



? One feature I love is the Compare Countries tool​, found in the top menu bar. You can use it to see a quick breakdown of multiple countries, which is great when you’re trying to get a feel for something like the relative size, population, or standard of living between different places.



The ability to perform detailed country comparisons is one of OpenFactBook’s finer features.



Basically, this is the same data the government long offered, only now it’s maintained by dedicated volunteers. The information combines data from the original guide with data from the World Bank Group and a service called REST Countries API.



And now it’ll always be available for anyone to access. All you need to know is where to find it.




OpenFactBook is a good old-fashioned website​—no downloads or installations required.



It’s free, with optional donations to support the hosting and data access expenses.



The site has no cookies, tracking, or personal data collection of any kind.




Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter—starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, free, website, like, Wikipedia, meets, the, CIA</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Stop letting ChatGPT and other AI chatbots train on your data. Here’s why—and how</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-letting-chatgpt-and-other-ai-chatbots-train-on-your-data-heres-whyand-how</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-letting-chatgpt-and-other-ai-chatbots-train-on-your-data-heres-whyand-how</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When you interact with a chatbot, there’s a good chance that everything you say, and every prompt you give, isn’t just used to generate replies to your queries. Nearly every chatbot company on the planet also uses the information you provide to train its AI models. This can leave your privacy—and even your employer’s confidential information—exposed. But you can mitigate these privacy risks by telling chatbots not to use your data for training. Here’s how.



What is AI chatbot training?



In order for a chatbot to provide knowledgeable and (hopefully) accurate answers, the underlying large language model (LLM) that powers it needs to assimilate a massive amount of information, which it then uses to help answer your questions. This process of information assimilation is known as “training.”



The more information an LLM trains on, the more intelligent the LLM, ostensibly, gets. LLMs acquire training data from numerous sources, including public websites, social media platforms, encyclopedias, video-sharing sites like YouTube, and, unfortunately, sometimes even without permission from authors, novelists, artists, musicians, and other creatives.



But LLMs also get their training data from you, too. Every time you enter a prompt to give a chatbot information, that information is likely being used by the AI company to further train its models. And that can leave your privacy severely exposed.



Why you shouldn’t let AI chatbots train on your data



It’s generally a good idea not to allow LLMs to train on your data, especially if, in your interactions with a chatbot, you share a lot of sensitive information about yourself. If you talk to a chatbot about your physical or mental health, your finances, or your relationships, you should know that that data is, by default, usually used by the AI company to further train its LLM, which means your most intimate thoughts, worries, and concerns are becoming part of the model.



AI companies say they anonymize the information you provide before using it to train their models—but you really just have to take them at their word. Even if they do anonymize your information, that doesn’t mean a bad actor in the future couldn’t use some technique to link all the prompts about a particular health, relationship, legal, or financial issue back to you.



And if you are using an AI chatbot for work, you could be exposing your employer to legal and regulatory risks if the data you feed it contains confidential user or client information. Even if it doesn’t, you could inadvertently give away your employer’s corporate secrets, such as proprietary code or sales data. The chatbot may give you the answers you’re searching for, but it will also use all the data you give it to further train its models—and retain that data as part of itself.



How to prevent AI chatbots from training on your data



All this means that it’s a very good idea to prohibit a chatbot from training on your data. Doing so will not hinder the quality of the results the chatbot provides to you, but it will ensure, as best as possible, that the data you provide to it won’t be permanently absorbed into the bot’s underlying LLM.



The good news is that most reputable chatbots—including the four most popular ones: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and Perplexity AI’s Perplexity—now offer ways you can opt out of having your data used for training. Here’s how to tell the big four chatbots to stop training on your data:




ChatGPT: Select your profile to access the chatbot’s settings. Select Data Controls. Select “Improve the model for everyone.” Toggle the “Improve the model for everyone” switch off.



Gemini: Go to the Gemini Apps Activity settings page. Select the button that says “On.” From the pop-up, select “Turn off.” Select “Got it” in the confirmation box that appears.



Claude: Select your profile to access the chatbot’s settings. Select the privacy menu. Toggle the “Help improve Claude” switch off.



Perplexity: Select your profile to access the chatbot’s settings. Select the Preferences menu. Toggle the “AI data retention” switch off.




Once you’ve done this, none of the big four AI giants should be able to use the prompts and other information you give their chatbots to further train their LLMs. However, since these firms haven’t provided independent auditors with access to their systems, you have to take the companies’ word that they will stop using your data to train their models.



Also note that even if AI companies agree not to use your data to train their models, they may retain information from your chats and other information you provide for legal or regulatory purposes for a set period of time.



And even with these anti-training orders in place, it’s still a good idea to thoroughly (and correctly) redact sensitive information from any documents before you upload them to an AI chatbot. To get even more privacy when interacting with popular chatbots, consider using proxies like Apple Intelligence on the iPhone or DuckDuckGo’s Duck.ai, which can help better obscure your digital footprint from AI giants. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>This NASA astronaut has spent years shaping the future of spaceflight. Now he’s finally heading to orbit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-nasa-astronaut-has-spent-years-shaping-the-future-of-spaceflight-now-hes-finally-heading-to-orbit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-nasa-astronaut-has-spent-years-shaping-the-future-of-spaceflight-now-hes-finally-heading-to-orbit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anil Menon might have the world’s spaciest resume. After several years as a NASA flight surgeon, he became SpaceX’s medical director in 2018, where he authored research on the effects of space on the human body. In 2021, he was selected as a NASA astronaut and has spent the past several years training for his own journey to space. Along the way, he also supported his wife, Anna Menon, who traveled to space on a private mission in 2024 and was herself selected as a NASA astronaut last year.



Somewhere in the margins, Menon has also served as an Air Force Reserve member and emergency room doctor.



Now, he’s finally heading to space himself. This July, Menon will travel to Kazakhstan, where Russia’s space program conducts launches, and join two cosmonauts on the next mission to the International Space Station. He’ll fly aboard the storied Russian Soyuz crew vehicle, which has been used successfully for decades, and is expected to spend eight months aboard the station.



For years, NASA and Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, have maintained the practice of placing astronauts and cosmonauts on one another’s missions. One side effect of that arrangement, and of the modern space age more broadly, is that Menon brings an unusually expansive perspective on life in space, with experience spanning NASA, Russia’s space program, and SpaceX, as well as a firsthand view of NASA’s distinct institutional role.



“NASA kind of bridges the gap between some of these different cultures and synthesizes it,” he says. “As we look at the moon, everyone is going to pursue that as well. I think that NASA is this great synergy for all of that.”



Fast Company spoke with Menon about his upcoming mission, the future of commercial space stations, and the biggest unanswered questions surrounding microgravity’s effects on the human body. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.



Can you talk a little bit about the differences between the Soyuz and the Crew Dragon?



The Soyuz was developed for some of the first space flights and it’s got this long heritage tracing back to what we consider the space race. They’ve tried to keep things that work and just keep them working for high-reliability reasons. Some of the computers and screen layouts are things that are push-button… They work. 



The same goes for engines and some of the seats and comfort level. Most of the astronauts during the early Russian space program were shorter in stature, so someone who’s 6’1’’ like me doesn’t fit as well, but I fit… It works, and that’s the interesting thing. The spacesuit has a rubber pressure seal, and you twist it … and then you put a band around it to seal it—two bands—and that’s how you create your seal. It isn’t a zipper. It isn’t some locking mechanism, but it works. And it’s always worked. 



SpaceX, born in this era, is really pushing the frontiers of engineering and developing things. You’ll see more touch displays. It’s automated procedure sequences….you hit a button, and you get that procedure popping up for you with a lot of data flowing in, as you’d see in a sci-fi movie. It also works, and it’s a different way to tackle the problem, and it’s got some advantages. 



The suits: you zip them around and put them on… They look really cool, and they work really well. There are different sorts of engines —[where] the rocket itself lands—which adds usability. I’d say it’s pushing the frontiers of where we want to go with things, which is uniquely cultural to us in terms of the way we look at things.



As a physician, what do you see as the biggest open questions about, like, the impact of space on the human body? We’ve done a lot of studies on through the International Space Station, but what open questions intrigue you as we think about going to the moon, and maybe Mars?



I’ll answer that in a nebulous way and a very specific way. The more general answer is that there’s just so much new stuff. We’ve been flying healthy astronauts to space for a long time. We are going to be flying—and we are starting to fly—the whole spread of humans to space. You know, on Inspiration 4, Hayley Arceneaux had an osteosarcoma [bone cancer].  How does that change things? So there’s just a lot of unknown. 



At this point in time, in medicine, it’s not often you see totally new diseases, but we’re seeing new things in space. I think in the future, we’ll continue to see new things, and that’s probably like the biggest thing. 



If I were to just pick a specific thing for a concrete example, we’re seeing clotting happen in space in unexpected ways. You take a really healthy person, put them in space, there’s three things that increase your chance of a clot: One is injury, and that’s when your body, like closes the wound—[and] that’s normal. The other is stasis, which means if you just keep blood in a static spot, it’s going to clot. The other is like some element of hypercoagulability. If you take oral contraceptives for women, it  makes you a little more prone to clotting. In space, what you’re getting is stasis on some level, so blood isn’t moving the same. You’re getting one cornerstone of that clotting triangle, and it just takes a little bit more to see something else. 



As you send more people up there, a lot of these diseases that are related to that [and] you’re just going to see more of them. That could be deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, strokes, things like that. We’ll have to figure out, like, what do we do about it? 



On the flip side, is there any promise or hope that there are health metrics that seem to improve in space compared to on Earth?



You always see this in sci-fi, but if you have disabilities on Earth, maybe that goes away in space, right? You don’t need your legs in space, and so you can do a lot of things that you couldn’t do on Earth, which opens up the doors for a lot of people for whom that’s an issue. And I watch enough sci-fi movies that I’m hoping that I get a mutant gene while I’m up there and have some new superpower. I’m just kidding!



We’re preparing for the next generation of commercial space stations that will eventually replace the ISS. What do you have in mind for what we could do differently or change? 



ISS is a great stepping stone to leverage to learn about our next step. I think the next step, a commercial space station, will also be a stepping stone to the future. So what are the things we do on ISS that we could do better on those would be really important science. Increase the throughput and make it easier for people to do science. On the ISS, that’s great, but you can always do things better. 



Letting people do real-time feedback on some of the science that they’re doing there. Experimenting with things that could open up the door to going to Mars and staying on the Moon. 



Looking at those things that kick off the orbital economy, like printing and developing those manufacturing processes. They want to make new chips up there, and that stimulates more jobs in space and doing stuff. Focusing on the high-yield things and then kicking them off are going to be transformative…Think about all the things that need to go into a data center that’s in space. Some of these future stations can lean into that and help carry out or fix that technology until it’s like something that you can just deliver and launch. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, NASA, astronaut, has, spent, years, shaping, the, future, spaceflight., Now, he’s, finally, heading, orbit</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Housing market power divide: States where buyers can find the most, and least, inventory right now</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/housing-market-power-divide-states-where-buyers-can-find-the-most-and-least-inventory-right-now</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/housing-market-power-divide-states-where-buyers-can-find-the-most-and-least-inventory-right-now</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.



When assessing home price momentum, ResiClub believes it’s important to monitor active listings and months of supply. If active listings start to increase rapidly as homes remain on the market for longer periods, it may indicate pricing softness or weakness. Conversely, a rapid decline in active listings beyond seasonality could suggest a market where sellers are gaining power.



Since the national pandemic housing boom fizzled out in 2022, the power dynamic has slowly been shifting directionally from sellers to buyers. Of course, that shift has varied across the country.



Generally speaking, local housing markets where active inventory has jumped above pre-pandemic 2019 levels have experienced softer home price growth (or outright price declines) over the past 47 months. Conversely, local housing markets where active inventory remains far below pre-pandemic 2019 levels have, generally speaking, experienced, relatively speaking, more resilient home price growth over the past 47 months.



Where is national active inventory headed now?



While national active inventory is still up year over year, the pace of growth has slowed in recent months as softening has slowed.



National active listings are up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis from April 30, 2025, to April 30, 2026, according to Realtor.com’s inventory data. But if you go back 12 months, that year-over-year national inventory growth rate was much higher (+30.6%).



After a period in which leverage shifted more toward homebuyers, the supply-demand equilibrium in the nationally aggregated housing market has been more stable in recent months.



Nationally, we’re still below pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels (-11.8% below April 2019) and some resale markets, in particular chunks of the Midwest and Northeast, still remain tightish, relatively speaking.







April inventory/active listings total, according to Realtor.com:




April 2017 -&gt; 1,198,424



April 2018 -&gt; 1,102,064



April 2019 -&gt; 1,137,198



April 2020 -&gt; 941,733



April 2021 -&gt; 435,663 (pandemic housing boom overheating)



April 2022 -&gt; 379,978 (pandemic housing boom overheating)



April 2023 -&gt; 562,966



April 2024 -&gt; 734,318



April 2025 -&gt; 959,251



April 2026 -&gt; 1,002,935




If we maintain the current year-over-year pace of inventory growth (+43,684 homes for sale), we’d have 1,046,619 active inventory come April 2027. (Note: That’s not a prediction—I’m just showing what the math looks like if that pace continues.)



Below is the year-over-year active inventory percentage change by state.







While active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, the pace of growth continues to decelerate across much of the country (see the side-by-side maps below). In fact, Florida—home to many of the weakest regional housing markets over the past two years—is now seeing active inventory edge down a little year over year (-12%).







Above, left: Year-over-year active inventory shift from April 2024 to April 2025



Above, right: Year-over-year active inventory shift from April 2025 to April 2026



And while active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, some markets still remain tightish.







As ResiClub has been documenting, both active resale and new homes for sale remain the most limited across huge swaths of the Midwest and Northeast. That’s where home sellers in the spring/summer are likely, relatively speaking, to have more power than their peers in many Southern markets.



Active inventory in April 2026 compared to pre-pandemic April 2019:




Southwest —&gt; +23%



West —&gt; +3%



Southeast —&gt; -2%



Midwest —&gt; -35%



Northeast —&gt; -50%




In contrast, active housing inventory for sale has neared or surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels in many parts of the Sunbelt and Mountain West, including metro area housing markets such as Punta Gorda, Florida, and Austin.



Many of these areas saw major price surges during the pandemic housing boom, with home prices getting stretched compared to local incomes. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Punta Gorda and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.



This softening trend was accelerated further by an abundance of new home supply in the Sunbelt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives (if they have the margins to do so) to maintain sales in a shifted market, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market, with some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, opting for new homes with more favorable deals over the past couple years. That then puts some additional upward pressure on resale inventory.



Click here to view an interactive version of the map below.







At the end of April 2026, 12 states were above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (The District of Columbia—which we left out of the table below—is also back above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels.)









The big picture



Over the past several months, the post-boom softening has lost momentum, and inventory growth has decelerated on a year-over-year basis. That said, the nationally aggregated housing market remains soft. While home prices are declining in some parts of the Sunbelt, a large share of Northeast and Midwest markets are still eking out modest year-over-year gains. At the national level, home prices are essentially flat year over year.







Below is another version of the table; this one includes every month since January 2017.







If you’d like to examine the monthly state inventory figures further, use the interactive chart below.



Florida—which has been the epicenter of housing market weakness over the past two years, particularly in Southwest Florida—is no longer seeing the upward burst in inventory. Indeed, the intensity of Florida’s housing market correction is easing across many pockets of the state.



Click here to view a sortable version of the chart below.






 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Housing, market, power, divide:, States, where, buyers, can, find, the, most, and, least, inventory, right, now</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lululemon needs its ‘Gap’ moment</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lululemon-needs-its-gap-moment</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lululemon-needs-its-gap-moment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Heidi O’Neill is having a tough week. 



In late April, the Lululemon board announced it had ended its monthslong search to replace CEO Calvin McDonald, who left the company abruptly in 2025 after six years at the helm. As soon as the company announced that O’Neill, a 26-year Nike veteran, would be taking on the position, things got messy. Lululemon’s stock took a plunge, suggesting that investors didn’t think O’Neill was the right pick. And many analysts—including myself—argued that following the Nike playbook would not lead Lululemon out of its financial doldrums.



Then, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson weighed in. Wilson launched the company in 1998 as a yoga brand and left in 2005, but he has never stopped trying to stay involved, and he still wields considerable power at the company as its largest shareholder. He had made it clear that he didn’t approve of McDonald’s leadership, and in a LinkedIn post, he went after the board for choosing O’Neill, arguing they should be looking for “passionate, creative renegades who have a vision that will shake up the status quo.”



Wilson’s judgment is not always right. This is someone who once had to apologize for saying that women’s thighs rubbing together was responsible for the pilling on Lululemon leggings—a comment widely perceived to be body shaming. And last year he criticized Lululemon’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for welcoming customers “you don’t want . . . coming in.” But that doesn’t mean his instincts are always wrong.



What Lululemon needs right now is the kind of revitalization we’re seeing at Gap—and it’s worth paying attention to how that brand pulled it off. The legacy apparel brand, founded in 1969, had gone through several years of declining sales. But these days it’s having a moment.



Over the past two years, it has had hit marketing campaigns every season, tapping stars like Young Miko, Troye Sivan, and, most notably, Katseye. Zac Posen has created a high-fashion version of the Gap label called GapStudio, which has put red-carpet garments on the backs of celebrities like Timothée Chalamet and Anne Hathaway. The brand has also launched collaborations with Béis, Dôen, and, most recently, Victoria Beckham, all huge hits.



While this kind of turnaround is the stuff brands dream of, Mark Breitbard, president and CEO of the global Gap Brand, has made it clear that it’s the result of a lot of hard work. It has also required a deep knowledge of the brand. 



Breitbard is not a Gap outsider. Early in his career, from 2009 to 2013, he worked as the chief merchant at Old Navy and then Gap, and later came back in 2017 to run Banana Republic.



When he took on his current role in 2020, he inherited a mess. The brand had too many stores, many of them unprofitable. It also had too much inventory, which resulted in heavy discounting. The quality of clothing had declined. 



“The business was broken,” Breitbard told me recently. “We had to address each of these issues with discipline. It wasn’t fun, but it laid the foundation for us to bring the brand back into the center of culture.”



Product, he points out, is crucial. Despite its long history as a beloved maker of basics, Gap’s clothes had lost their luster. Breitbard, who is steeped in supply chains and merchandising, worked to improve the quality of the materials and fit. And consumers are responding. 



After the Katseye video, which featured retro denim styles, people rushed to Gap to buy ’90s-style jeans—and they weren’t disappointed. During Coachella, Gap created an activation focused on sweats, and people loved how cozy they were.



This is an important lesson for Lululemon. The brand has always been known for its unique fabrics, developed out of its internal design philosophy, which it calls “the science of feel.” It has had many blockbusters, including its proprietary buttery-soft Nulu fabric, which is in its famous Align pants, which have generated more than $1 billion for the company. Lululemon customers come to the brand for its high quality and reputation for innovation, and its new leader must be laser-focused on product.



Once this pillar is in place, it’s possible to bring the brand back into the cultural conversation. It’s notable that Breitbard didn’t start pushing out these creative campaigns for Gap five years ago; he waited until he believed the foundations of the business were in order. Only then did he turn his attention to launching some of the most exciting marketing campaigns we’ve seen recently.



When I interviewed him for Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies podcast, Breitbard said he empowers his creative team to do what they do best. This includes Fabiola Torres, the CMO he brought on in May 2024.



“If we have amazing creatives, and we put them in a position where we can trust the creatives to keep pushing and driving, and not overburden them with bureaucracy, we will stay in this moment of heat,” he says.



This is exactly the kind of creativity Wilson is hoping for. And it’s unclear whether O’Neill is the right person for the task. In recent years, she has been focused on more technical parts of the business, which is not a bad thing, except she was responsible for helping Nike pivot toward a direct-to-consumer approach that has proved lacking for the company. And when it comes to creative, Nike’s heyday as an engine for brilliant advertising and marketing is long gone.



Gap proved that legacy brands can come roaring back—but only with the right leader at the helm. Whether O’Neill is that person for Lululemon remains to be seen. She’ll have plenty to prove, assuming the board doesn’t have second thoughts.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lululemon, needs, its, ‘Gap’, moment</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Businesses investing in AI see limited returns as workforce skills gap holds back impact</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/businesses-investing-in-ai-see-limited-returns-as-workforce-skills-gap-holds-back-impact</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/businesses-investing-in-ai-see-limited-returns-as-workforce-skills-gap-holds-back-impact</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By QA on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


AI training platform, QA, explain the AI skills gap and the effect it has on your business. Find out how their training courses can help
The post Businesses investing in AI see limited returns as workforce skills gap holds back impact appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/04/125488.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Businesses, investing, see, limited, returns, workforce, skills, gap, holds, back, impact</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Free Business Bank Accounts for UK Businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/free-business-bank-accounts-for-uk-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/free-business-bank-accounts-for-uk-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By James Earnshaw on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Here&#039;s an easy-to-understand guide on the best free business bank accounts in the UK and what to consider before you sign up
The post Free Business Bank Accounts for UK Businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/04/123179.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Free, Business, Bank, Accounts, for, Businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The 8 best business savings accounts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-8-best-business-savings-accounts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-8-best-business-savings-accounts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


If you have surplus funds, why not deposit your business revenue into a dedicated business savings account?
The post The 8 best business savings accounts appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2016/12/Banking-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, business, savings, accounts</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Sources: Anthropic potential $900B+ valuation round could happen within 2 weeks</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sources-anthropic-potential-900b-valuation-round-could-happen-within-2-weeks</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sources-anthropic-potential-900b-valuation-round-could-happen-within-2-weeks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic is asking investors to submit allocations for the AI company’s latest fundraise within the next 48 hours, according to sources familiar with the matter. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Dario-Amodei-.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sources:, Anthropic, potential, 900B, valuation, round, could, happen, within, weeks</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Y Combinator alum Skio sells for $105M cash, only raised $8M, founder says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/y-combinator-alum-skio-sells-for-105m-cash-only-raised-8m-founder-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/y-combinator-alum-skio-sells-for-105m-cash-only-raised-8m-founder-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Subscription billing fintech Skio sold to its competitor Recharge in what was a healthy exit, according to its founder and former CEO. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-157503102.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Combinator, alum, Skio, sells, for, 105M, cash, only, raised, 8M, founder, says</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>As Tim Cook steps down, Apple hit record sales — but a chip shortage looms</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-tim-cook-steps-down-apple-hit-record-sales-but-a-chip-shortage-looms</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-tim-cook-steps-down-apple-hit-record-sales-but-a-chip-shortage-looms</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Cook warned that Apple is facing supply-chain headwinds from RAMageddon that could impact its business. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/tim-cook-iphone-GettyImages-2234563479.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tim, Cook, steps, down, Apple, hit, record, sales, —, but, chip, shortage, looms</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>ChatGPT Images 2.0 is a hit in India, but not a big winner elsewhere, yet</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chatgpt-images-20-is-a-hit-in-india-but-not-a-big-winner-elsewhere-yet</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chatgpt-images-20-is-a-hit-in-india-but-not-a-big-winner-elsewhere-yet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Users in India are embracing ChatGPT Images 2.0 for creative, personal visuals — from avatars to cinematic portraits. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/chatgpt-india.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ChatGPT, Images, 2.0, hit, India, but, not, big, winner, elsewhere, yet</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>People are finally using Reddit’s search</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/people-are-finally-using-reddits-search</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/people-are-finally-using-reddits-search</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company saw a 30% year-on-year jump in the number of people using search every week, CEO Steve Huffman said on Thursday. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/reddit-ipo-v2.webp" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>People, are, finally, using, Reddit’s, search</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Hyatt’s CEO has built a ‘family’ culture for 20 years. Now he’s leaning on it</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hyatts-ceo-has-built-a-family-culture-for-20-years-now-hes-leaning-on-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hyatts-ceo-has-built-a-family-culture-for-20-years-now-hes-leaning-on-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As geopolitical shocks and a fractured workforce test his industry, Mark Hoplamazian tells Fortune that caring for people isn&#039;t soft — it&#039;s strategic. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/26-050-0139-e1776986549246.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hyatt’s, CEO, has, built, ‘family’, culture, for, years., Now, he’s, leaning</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why your data infrastructure — not your AI model — will determine whether Agentic AI scales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-your-data-infrastructure-not-your-ai-model-will-determine-whether-agentic-ai-scales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-your-data-infrastructure-not-your-ai-model-will-determine-whether-agentic-ai-scales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Most enterprises are burning AI budgets on tools they&#039;re not ready to use. The constraint isn&#039;t compute — it&#039;s the messy, siloed data underneath. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270922393.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, your, data, infrastructure, —, not, your, model, —, will, determine, whether, Agentic, scales</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump&#45;tied public crypto company buys startup from one&#45;time ‘cannabis king’ who serves as current advisor in deal worth up to $43 million</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-tied-public-crypto-company-buys-startup-from-one-time-cannabis-king-who-serves-as-current-advisor-in-deal-worth-up-to-43-million</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-tied-public-crypto-company-buys-startup-from-one-time-cannabis-king-who-serves-as-current-advisor-in-deal-worth-up-to-43-million</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The public company, AI Financial, struck a deal in August with a Trump family crypto outfit to stockpile $1.5 billion in Trump-linked cryptocurrency. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2229158775-e1777550533680.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump-tied, public, crypto, company, buys, startup, from, one-time, ‘cannabis, king’, who, serves, current, advisor, deal, worth, 43, million</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Current price of oil as of April 30, 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-30-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-30-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When oil prices change, it affects your energy costs—and even the price of everyday items. Here’s why. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Price-of-Oil-April-30.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Current, price, oil, April, 30, 2026</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How AstraZeneca’s 17,000 AI&#45;certified employees are helping it reach a ‘stretch goal’ of $80 billion in revenue</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-astrazenecas-17000-ai-certified-employees-are-helping-it-reach-a-stretch-goal-of-80-billion-in-revenue</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-astrazenecas-17000-ai-certified-employees-are-helping-it-reach-a-stretch-goal-of-80-billion-in-revenue</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ CFO Aradhana Sarin breaks down the building blocks behind the revenue target and reflects on a strong Q1.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Aradhana-Sarin.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, AstraZeneca’s, 17, 000, AI-certified, employees, are, helping, reach, ‘stretch, goal’, 80, billion, revenue</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Are You Building a Future&#45;Ready Small Business? Choose Tech That Is Less Visible, Not More Complicated</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-you-building-a-future-ready-small-business-choose-tech-that-is-less-visible-not-more-complicated</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-you-building-a-future-ready-small-business-choose-tech-that-is-less-visible-not-more-complicated</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
You may have heard the joke: an older fish says to a younger fish, ‘The water’s nice today, huh?’ and the younger fish replies, ‘What the hell is water?’ It works because the things that shape our experience most are often the easiest to overlook.
Read more: 
Are You Building a Future-Ready Small Business? Choose Tech That Is Less Visible, Not More Complicated ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/HPAMD-logo-lockup-2-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Are, You, Building, Future-Ready, Small, Business, Choose, Tech, That, Less, Visible, Not, More, Complicated</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Britain braces for £35bn energy shock as Iran conflict pushes inflation back above 4%</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-braces-for-35bn-energy-shock-as-iran-conflict-pushes-inflation-back-above-4</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-braces-for-35bn-energy-shock-as-iran-conflict-pushes-inflation-back-above-4</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Niesr warns the UK economy will lose £35bn over two years as the Iran conflict pushes inflation above 4% and forces the Bank of England to raise interest rates. SMEs face a fresh squeeze.
Read more: 
Britain braces for £35bn energy shock as Iran conflict pushes inflation back above 4% ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/shutterstock_1007918233-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Britain, braces, for, £35bn, energy, shock, Iran, conflict, pushes, inflation, back, above</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Barclay Brothers swerve bankruptcy with eleventh&#45;hour creditor pact</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/barclay-brothers-swerve-bankruptcy-with-eleventh-hour-creditor-pact</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/barclay-brothers-swerve-bankruptcy-with-eleventh-hour-creditor-pact</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Aidan and Howard Barclay escape bankruptcy as HSBC withdraws its High Court petitions following an Individual Voluntary Arrangement with creditors over the collapse of the family&#039;s £143.5m logistics empire.
Read more: 
Barclay Brothers swerve bankruptcy with eleventh-hour creditor pact ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Barclay-Brothers-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Barclay, Brothers, swerve, bankruptcy, with, eleventh-hour, creditor, pact</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>John Lewis dragged into High Court over click&#45;and&#45;collect rent at Brent Cross</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-dragged-into-high-court-over-click-and-collect-rent-at-brent-cross</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-dragged-into-high-court-over-click-and-collect-rent-at-brent-cross</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
John Lewis faces a High Court battle as Brent Cross landlords Hammerson and Standard Life argue a 1972 lease entitles them to a cut of click-and-collect sales.
Read more: 
John Lewis dragged into High Court over click-and-collect rent at Brent Cross ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_789261955.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>John, Lewis, dragged, into, High, Court, over, click-and-collect, rent, Brent, Cross</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>JP Morgan reverses Brexit&#45;era Paris move as London beckons trading roles back</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jp-morgan-reverses-brexit-era-paris-move-as-london-beckons-trading-roles-back</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jp-morgan-reverses-brexit-era-paris-move-as-london-beckons-trading-roles-back</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
JP Morgan is shifting trading roles from Paris back to London after over-estimating EU staffing needs post-Brexit, as it presses ahead with its £10bn Canary Wharf tower.
Read more: 
JP Morgan reverses Brexit-era Paris move as London beckons trading roles back ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shutterstock_2303666989.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Morgan, reverses, Brexit-era, Paris, move, London, beckons, trading, roles, back</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google Translate now lets you practice pronunciation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-translate-now-lets-you-practice-pronunciation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-translate-now-lets-you-practice-pronunciation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The feature is rolling out in the U.S. and India with support for English, Spanish, and Hindi. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/google-translate.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, Translate, now, lets, you, practice, pronunciation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meet Shapes, the app bringing humans and AI into the same group chats</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-shapes-the-app-bringing-humans-and-ai-into-the-same-group-chats</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-shapes-the-app-bringing-humans-and-ai-into-the-same-group-chats</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Think Discord chats, but with AI characters in addition to humans.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2270785056.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meet, Shapes, the, app, bringing, humans, and, into, the, same, group, chats</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>BMW i Ventures has a new $300M fund and AI is riding shotgun</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bmw-i-ventures-has-a-new-300m-fund-and-ai-is-riding-shotgun</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bmw-i-ventures-has-a-new-300m-fund-and-ai-is-riding-shotgun</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BMW i Ventures is interested in startups working on agentic AI and physical AI, as well as industrial software, advanced materials, and manufacturing and supply chain technologies. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/BMW-Portraits-BMW-i-Ventures-2026-03102660-copy.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BMW, Ventures, has, new, 300M, fund, and, riding, shotgun</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Firestorm Labs raises $82M to take drone factories into the field</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/firestorm-labs-raises-82m-to-take-drone-factories-into-the-field</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/firestorm-labs-raises-82m-to-take-drone-factories-into-the-field</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A defense startup just raised $82 million to put drone factories inside shipping containers and bring manufacturing to the front lines. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/DSC07538.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Firestorm, Labs, raises, 82M, take, drone, factories, into, the, field</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Sri Lanka discloses another missing payment, days after hackers stole $2.5M from its finance ministry</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sri-lanka-discloses-another-missing-payment-days-after-hackers-stole-25m-from-its-finance-ministry</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sri-lanka-discloses-another-missing-payment-days-after-hackers-stole-25m-from-its-finance-ministry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The government of Sri Lanka has lost more than $3 million in two recent, separate cybersecurity incidents as the country continues to recover from its 2022 debt crisis. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-477672484.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sri, Lanka, discloses, another, missing, payment, days, after, hackers, stole, 2.5M, from, its, finance, ministry</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why people should work together for a cure</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-people-should-work-together-for-a-cure</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-people-should-work-together-for-a-cure</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 



Cancer has a way of touching lives without warning. Nearly everyone in our community has a story—someone they love, someone they’ve lost, or someone still fighting. At MG2, that shared reality is why Swing for the Cure to benefit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has become so deeply meaningful to us. It isn’t just a charity event. It’s a collective response to something that has affected so many of us personally.



Swing for the Cure began as a golf tournament, but it quickly became much more. Driven by the loss of his first wife, Patricia, our former CEO Jerry Lee believed that no one should lose a friend, family member, or loved one to breast cancer. That conviction helped our firm shape the heart of the event from the very beginning. Jerry and his wife Charlene, herself a breast cancer survivor for more than 25 years, continue to inspire us through their resilience, optimism, and unwavering commitment to this mission.



What makes Swing for the Cure special is the common bond it creates. People come together not as job titles or companies, but as individuals with shared experiences and deeply personal reasons for being there. Some are survivors. Some are caregivers. Some are honoring those they’ve lost. That sense of connection transforms a day on the golf course into something far more powerful: a community united around a clear goal, which is to support research and move closer to a cure.



A SENSE OF PURPOSE MATTERS



Over the years, MG2 has intentionally worked to make Swing for the Cure bigger, deeper, and broader. What started as a standalone experience has grown into a purposeful annual gathering that reflects our values. We challenged ourselves to think beyond a traditional fundraiser and create something hopeful—an experience where people feel connected, motivated, and part of something meaningful. Clients, partners, and colleagues come together not out of obligation, but because they believe in what the event represents.



That sense of purpose matters. When people gather with intention and when they know why they’re there and what they’re working toward, then good things happen. Energy builds. Conversations deepen. Commitment follows. Swing for the Cure demonstrates that goodwill is not abstract; it’s something that grows when people are aligned around a shared cause. And goodwill, when cultivated thoughtfully, benefits everyone.



IMPACT FROM SHOWING UP CONSISTENTLY



For MG2, this commitment mirrors how we approach our work. Just as strong design is rooted in care, collaboration, and long-term thinking, meaningful community engagement requires the same. Swing for the Cure, going strong for almost a quarter century, has raised more than $2 million to date, and it reminds us that real impact comes from showing up consistently, staying focused on the goal, and inviting others to take part.



Last year was by far our biggest year. Our 2025 Swing for the Cure raised $250,000. Thanks to our close ties with Fred Hutch, we can choose the specific research we want to fund. That adds a personal touch to the entire experience.



This year we awarded the total amount raised to one radiation oncologist, whose upcoming trial will work to improve how physicians deliver concurrent radiation and chemotherapy and enhance outcomes for high-risk patients. Grants like this are important for the larger health community, and it’s an emotional moment for researchers—and for us—to push for cures.



When we come together with purpose, we can honor those we’ve lost, support those still fighting, and move closer to a future where fewer families face this journey alone.



Mitch Smith AIA, LEED AP, is the CEO and chairman of MG2, an affiliate of Colliers Engineering &amp; Design. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, people, should, work, together, for, cure</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Otter wants AI agents to mine your meetings for institutional knowledge</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/otter-wants-ai-agents-to-mine-your-meetings-for-institutional-knowledge</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/otter-wants-ai-agents-to-mine-your-meetings-for-institutional-knowledge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Otter wants to turn your work meetings into institutional knowledge. 



The company is known for its audio transcription tool, which has evolved over the years to be able to join and transcribe online meetings in real time and answer questions about them via an AI chat tool. It’s now adding additional AI features to make it easier to integrate knowledge from those recorded meetings with other information, including integrations with other software like Google Drive, Jira, Salesforce, and Notion. Those will let Otter’s AI access live data from those apps, so it can pull data from an email or customer database as needed to best answer a follow-up question from a recorded meeting. 



Otter has also now added server functionality that lets other AI tools, including ChatGPT and Claude, connect to it via the popular model context protocol (MCP), so other AI agents can also access data from Otter with permission. Additionally, enhancements to the AI chat feature itself will make it easier for users to specify when to pull insight from particular meetings, from multiple meetings, and from other data sources to which they have access. 



[Photo: Otter]



The aim is to help unlock knowledge that’s primarily or exclusively shared in meetings and make it available to both human workers and AI agents, says Otter cofounder and CEO Sam Liang. One challenge for corporate knowledge bases, he says, is that information stored in written documents can lag behind reality.  



“People create documents, but documents become obsolete really fast,” he says, with the latest updates presented via meetings. 



But even when that’s known to be the case, and even as research repeatedly shows white-collar workers spend a big portion of their time attending meetings, information from those meetings often isn’t easy to access in a systematic way. Even AI-generated transcripts can end up stored in the accounts of individual users rather than broadly available. Otter has already developed what it calls channels—essentially groups of users who have shared access to meeting recordings and transcripts—and the company suggests its AI agents will be able to surface new insights from collections of meetings, like aggregating trends from multiple sales calls or departmental meetings. 



[Photo: Otter]



An improved Otter desktop client for Mac and Windows will also make it easier to record more meetings from a computer, Liang says, though he says many companies do prefer Otter’s AI agent which can conspicuously join calls on platforms like Zoom, giving everyone clear notice the meeting is being recorded. 



In general, broader recording of meetings and harnessing AI notes may raise privacy and legal concerns at some organizations. But Liang emphasizes that Otter’s channels allow companies to control who has access to meetings internally and that it gives organizations control over how long both audio and transcripts are retained. 



“We provide a data retention mechanism so that enterprises can decide how long they want to keep the audio recording,” he says, and users can also pause recording—and even eject Otter’s AI notetaker entirely—if they want some of a meeting to be off the record. 



The new Otter features come as a growing number of companies vie to become an organization’s central AI hub, with AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, workplace productivity businesses from Slack to Asana, and office software makers like Google and Microsoft all offering tools to command AI agents and regulate their access to corporate data. Otter also faces no shortage of competition in the meeting transcription market, with comedy website Clickhole noting earlier this month that “all the random AI programs on your computer are desperately fighting for permission to summarize your meeting” and even pasta sauce maker Prego looking to record household dinner table conversations. 



But Liang says Otter still has features that competitors don’t, like the ability for AI to cleanly separate opinions of different speakers in a meeting, and the option to set up custom templates for how meetings are summarized. Additionally, Liang says, Otter’s AI is optimized to be able to reliably answer questions using information from hundreds of meetings, letting users quickly analyze what took place in sales calls they didn’t personally conduct or get up to speed on what’s already been discussed about a particular project. 



“You get intelligence from hundreds or thousands [of] meetings, even though you didn’t attend them,” he says.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Otter, wants, agents, mine, your, meetings, for, institutional, knowledge</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>You’re about to see a lot more alcohol on TikTok—and there’s a reason</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/youre-about-to-see-a-lot-more-alcohol-on-tiktokand-theres-a-reason</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/youre-about-to-see-a-lot-more-alcohol-on-tiktokand-theres-a-reason</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When Malibu launched its “Get Ready With Malibu Pink” campaign this spring, the rum brand had all the necessary ingredients for a modern influencer campaign. Creator partnerships with Sabrina Brier and other influencers, on-trend “get ready with me” style videos, all centered on the debut of a new flavored rum with guava, coconut, and pineapple.



But there was also one element that was surprisingly new terrain for Malibu’s parent company Pernod Ricard: its first major campaign designed specifically for TikTok.



A platform once off-limits



Until very recently, alcohol brands like Malibu were completely absent from TikTok. But over the past two years, TikTok’s stronger age-gating protocols, which help guarantee to marketers like Malibu that the content they publish is only seen by legal-age users, have opened the platform for greater experimentation. The growing, cross-generational popularity of TikTok, with four in ten U.S. adults active on the platform and 80% over the age of 21, was also heralded as a key factor.



“It’s important for us to connect with Zillennials,” Caroline Begley, Pernod Ricard’s vice president of marketing, tells Fast Company of the importance of the microgeneration of younger millennials and older Gen Z. “Malibu has been around for decades, but it’s always important to introduce new consumers to the brand.”



The rush to catch up



Boozy TikTok campaigns have proliferated, including Grey Goose vodka’s “Devil Wears Prada 2” content starring supermodel Heidi Klum, Espolòn Tequila’s “Shot Kings Week” celebration with actor and comedian Ken Jeong, St-Germain liqueur’s spritz-making session with actress Sophie Turner, and a behind-the-scenes look at a commercial for the ready-to-drink brand -196 with content creator Pooja Tripathi.



From left: Heidi Klum, Ken Jeong, Sophie Turner [Photos: Bacardi Limited, Campari Group]



They are now playing catch-up to connect with the highly coveted Gen Z crowd that dominates the cultural conversation and trends on an app that’s already almost a decade old and generates more than $14 billion in U.S. advertising spending annually, according to data from market researcher eMarketer.



How the rules changed



Pernod Ricard and Bacardi were early adopters, launching limited pilots beginning in 2024. At the same time, TikTok was in active discussions with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), the liquor trade advocacy group responsible for setting the protocols for advertising across television, print media, out-of-home advertising, and social platforms including Facebook and Instagram.



Liquor brands were allowed to create their own TikTok branded accounts in July 2024, when paid ads were also authorized to target users above 25. Organic brand pages and content were fully “age gated” beginning in July 2025, according to DISCUS, and influencer-related alcohol content began to flow by early 2026. There are still a few restrictions, including most notably that TikTok Shop doesn’t permit the sale of alcohol.



[Photo: Campari Group]



“Social media companies have gotten really good at also identifying when somebody is misreporting their age using signal data,” says Courtney J. Armour, chief legal officer of DISCUS, in an interview with Fast Company. TikTok’s advertising policies for alcohol include never featuring people below the age of 25, avoiding the portrayal of excess drinking or intoxication, stating the alcoholic content level, and carrying a responsible drinking disclaimer.



One sticking point that was recently resolved involved user comments left on a brand’s TikTok page. DISCUS wanted more guardrails to ensure age verification before allowing brands to turn that feature on.



Learning TikTok’s language



While most liquor brands still have minuscule TikTok follower counts, they’re actively setting up pages and developing unique strategies for the platform that they say cannot mirror what works on Instagram.



“It’s more raw, it’s imperfect, and I think that’s what people gravitate to,” Ned Duggan, global CMO and president of Bacardi Global Brands, tells Fast Company. He adds that TikTok users are more motivated to discover new products and be entertained, while Instagram is more curated and polished. “TikTok is more like behind the scenes, whereas Instagram and other platforms are more front-of-stage,” he adds.



TikTok says that 42% of users have discovered a new alcohol brand on the platform. Users over the age of 21 are 1.6 times more likely to buy alcohol or try a new cocktail recipe versus those not using TikTok, the company says.



Speed, volume, and experimentation



Italian liquor maker Campari Group debuted on TikTok in June 2025 and has since rolled out several campaigns for brands including Espolòn Tequila, Wild Turkey bourbon, and the aperitif Aperol.



“When we jumped into TikTok, we quickly learned that it plays by a totally different set of rules than other platforms,” Brian Chang, Campari’s head of consumer marketing and ecommerce, tells Fast Company.



Karrueche Tran [Photo: Campari Group]



Liquor marketing executives have quickly learned the need for speed when it comes to effective TikTok storytelling. “We wanted to make a point where the zoom-in mouth effect will be the first few seconds that people would see on TikTok, so that they’re not consistently doomscrolling past the content,” says Chang, of the “Bring Your Own Courvoisier” content that began with a close-up of actress Karrueche Tran’s mouth.



Last year, Suntory piloted content centered on -196 with STEM-focused videos that explained how the company uses whole fruits that are frozen in liquid nitrogen, then crushed and infused into vodka. “The category as a whole lends itself, I think, to TikTok as a channel, given the Gen Z connectivity with RTDs,” Davin Nugent, president of global RTD at Suntory Global Spirits, tells Fast Company.



Turning views into sales



The benchmarks that Suntory is monitoring include ad recall, a marketing metric that measures how many consumers remember seeing an ad, as well as awareness, favorability, and, of course, sales. “If we have great campaigns, but we aren’t getting new purchase intent, then we’re just creating new work and making people smile,” says Nugent. “It has to result in an uptick in consumer purchases.”



[Photo: Suntory]



The ecommerce platform ReserveBar is one of the key players that helps enable brands like Bacardi and Campari to link campaigns to direct sales, as liquor manufacturers aren’t allowed to directly sell to consumers due to the three-tier system in the U.S. that mandates that alcohol flows from producers, to distributors and then retailers before reaching consumers. ReserveBar’s links are now allowed on TikTok and the brand set up its own organic handle a couple of months ago.



“There’s not a playbook, because everyone in the industry, we’re starting from scratch,” ReserveBar Chief Marketing Officer Kate Zaman tells Fast Company. But she says the industry can take some cues from lessons learned from non-alcoholic consumer product brands that have had more time to cultivate their TikTok strategies. Success on TikTok isn’t just about speed and cultural tie-ins; there’s also a thirst for volume.



“The pure amount of content that you really need to be successful on TikTok is much more than I think what you need on Meta,” says Zaman. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>You’re, about, see, lot, more, alcohol, TikTok—and, there’s, reason</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bed Bath &amp;amp; Beyond to the moon? Why the retailer is getting a major stock boost today, despite a lack of profits</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bed-bath-beyond-to-the-moon-why-the-retailer-is-getting-a-major-stock-boost-today-despite-a-lack-of-profits</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bed-bath-beyond-to-the-moon-why-the-retailer-is-getting-a-major-stock-boost-today-despite-a-lack-of-profits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shares of Bed Bath &amp; Beyond Inc (NYSE: BBBY) are surging this morning, a day after the company reported its Q1 2026 results. 



Despite the company reporting a loss for the quarter, BBBY stock is significantly higher, as many investors see evidence that the once-iconic home goods retailer’s turnaround efforts are finally showing results. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Yesterday, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond reported first-quarter results for its fiscal year 2026. 



While many will recognize the company due to its “Bed Bath &amp; Beyond” name, the firm actually owns several businesses under its corporate umbrella, including Bed Bath &amp; Beyond, Overstock, buybuy BABY, Kirkland’s, and Kirkland’s Home. It is also in the process of merging with The Container Store.



In the early 2000s, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond was a suburban staple, but in the decades that followed, the company struggled with declining foot traffic as customers shifted their buying habits online. 



The chain ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2023, and its IP was bought by Overstock.com shortly after. 



In early August 2025, the retail partner of Overstock owner Beyond Inc announced that it was reopening the Bed Bath &amp; Beyond chain with a store in Nashville. 



Shortly after, Beyond Inc changed its name to Bed Bath &amp; Beyond Inc, going all-in on the brand as it worked to turn around its fortunes.



Now, it seems that the company’s initiative may be working. In its Q1 earnings report, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond announced that it had achieved its first “significant revenue growth in 19 quarters.” 



The revenue growth signaled “strong brand awareness among customers,” according to the company.



But it also appears to have motivated investors, who have poured money into the company’s shares this morning.



Bed Bath &amp; Beyond still didn’t make a profit



Announcing the company’s surprising Q1 revenue growth, which totaled $248 million, up 6.9% year-over-year, CEO Marcus Lemonis said that its results “show that the work we’ve been doing to stabilize and rebuild the business is taking hold.” 



“We delivered real year-over-year revenue growth, something we haven’t seen meaningfully in several years, while continuing to take costs out of the business and operate more efficiently,” Lemonis continued. “That combination matters.”



However, while the company is right to call out its revenue growth—and investors are clearly buoyed by the results—it’s important to note that Bed Bath &amp; Beyond still racked up losses for the quarter.



The company achieved a net revenue of $248 million, but it had a net loss of $16 million for the quarter. That equated to a loss per share of 24 cents. 



At the same time, losses marked a $24 million improvement over the same period a year ago.



More stores and a larger retail footprint



Despite the better-than-expected Q1 earnings, investors will now likely shift their focus to Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s immediate future, which is expected to usher in a growing retail footprint for the company’s goods.



First up, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond Inc is expected to close its merger with The Container Store this summer. Once that happens, 30% of retail space in Container Store locations will be dedicated to selling Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s wares, expanding the reach and awareness of the once-beloved, Millennial-nostalgic chain.



Additionally, the company will open a dozen combined Container Store and Bed Bath &amp; Beyond locations in California, further expanding its retail footprint, and in a state where the brand once had one of its most loyal customer bases.



Whether these moves will have a material impact on Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s future earnings remains to be seen.



But as for today, the company’s stock price is surging, thanks to its Q1 results. As of this writing, BBBY stock is currently up nearly 24% to $6.63 in premarket trading. That is a high the company stock price has not seen since January.



As of yesterday’s close at $5.34 per share, BBBY stock had declined by about 2.2% since the year began. But with its nearly 24% jump this morning, the company’s stock price is now significantly in the green for 2026.



Over the past 12 months, as of yesterday’s close, BBBY shares had risen 30%. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bed, Bath, Beyond, the, moon, Why, the, retailer, getting, major, stock, boost, today, despite, lack, profits</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How the Trump administration is responding to Iran’s proposal to end the war</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-trump-administration-is-responding-to-irans-proposal-to-end-the-war</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-trump-administration-is-responding-to-irans-proposal-to-end-the-war</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Trump administration seemed unlikely Tuesday to accept Iran’s offer to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its blockade on the country.The proposal would postpone discussions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, something that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to rule out in a Fox News interview Monday.“We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” he said of the proposal, which was delivered to the U.S. by Pakistan.The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security team discussed the offer and Trump would address it later.The offer emerged Monday as Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It was unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,521 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Sixteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.



—Associated Press ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/AP26117545385742.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, the, Trump, administration, responding, Iran’s, proposal, end, the, war</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How to Buy Clothes Without Regret, Drama, or Fake Labels</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-buy-clothes-without-regret-drama-or-fake-labels</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-buy-clothes-without-regret-drama-or-fake-labels</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Let’s be honest—some clothes look fabulous in the store, then become tragic after one wash. Others survive years, vacations, breakups, and buffet dinners.

The difference? Fabric quality, garment quality, and smart buying. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/2022/01/image_750x500_61f7f19483a73.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Buy, Clothes, Without, Regret, Drama, Fake, Labels</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Fashion Designing Work</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-fashion-designing-work-10562</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-fashion-designing-work-10562</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fashion design works when illusion meets reality.

The designer creates the dream.
The ad sells the fantasy.
But you must make it work in daylight.

Choose clothing that flatters your body, respects your personality, and supports your real life.

Because the most stylish thing you can wear is not fashion—

It is good judgment. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/2022/01/image_750x500_61f7db3af005c.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Fashion, Designing, Work</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title> It&amp;apos;s Not Just Interior Design. It&amp;apos;s Fashion for Your Space</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/its-not-just-interior-design-its-fashion-for-your-space</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/its-not-just-interior-design-its-fashion-for-your-space</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When you choose Noubikko Interiors, you’re not just decorating a room — You’re dressing it in confidence, luxury, and timeless elegance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ebbe731e124.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords> Its, Not, Just, Interior, Design., Its, Fashion, for, Your, Space</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Signature Elegance From The Runway Into Your Living Space.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/signature-elegance-from-the-runway-into-your-living-space</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/signature-elegance-from-the-runway-into-your-living-space</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whether you&#039;re staging a penthouse, redesigning a boutique hotel, or simply elevating your private residence, Noubikko&#039;s visionary approach transforms ordinary spaces into catwalk-ready interiors. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e92877a93ba.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Signature, Elegance, From, The, Runway, Into, Your, Living, Space.</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Interior Design Tips Inspired by Fashion Designer</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/interior-design-tips-inspired-by-fashion-designer</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/interior-design-tips-inspired-by-fashion-designer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Great interior design today goes beyond decoration—it creates identity, emotion, and lasting value. Drawing from a visionary approach to design-led development, here are practical interior design tips you can apply to elevate any space into something timeless and desirable. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec8d6bb5f9a.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Interior, Design, Tips, Inspired, Fashion, Designer</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Feng Shui&#45;Inspired Interiors Define Interiors in Its Maximum Format</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/feng-shui-inspired-interiors-define-interiors-in-its-maximum-format</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/feng-shui-inspired-interiors-define-interiors-in-its-maximum-format</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Noubikko’s Secret is exposed:  Feng Shui Integration That Reflects the Modern Lifestyle ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ebc0255d62d.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Feng, Shui-Inspired, Interiors, Define, Interiors, Its, Maximum, Format</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Peaceful Luxury Is the New Status Symbol</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/peaceful-luxury-is-the-new-status-symbol</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/peaceful-luxury-is-the-new-status-symbol</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Today’s generation values wellness as much as wealth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec8df9334e9.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Peaceful, Luxury, the, New, Status, Symbol</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Noubi Says: Smart Luxury, Zen Peace, and Bold Beauty Come Alive</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noubi-says-smart-luxury-zen-peace-and-bold-beauty-come-alive</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noubi-says-smart-luxury-zen-peace-and-bold-beauty-come-alive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world moving faster than ever, the home has become more than a place to live—it has become your sanctuary, your office, your creative studio, your statement, and your refuge. Today’s modern lifestyle demands more than furniture and decoration. It demands meaning, intelligence, beauty, and emotional peace. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec8cfcc9a1c.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Noubi, Says:, Smart, Luxury, Zen, Peace, and, Bold, Beauty, Come, Alive</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Looking Into Your Wardrobe — A Guide to Effortless Style and Smart Living</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/looking-into-your-wardrobe-a-guide-to-effortless-style-and-smart-living</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/looking-into-your-wardrobe-a-guide-to-effortless-style-and-smart-living</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Investing in a cohesive basic wardrobe is more cost-effective and impactful than accumulating disconnected statement pieces. By curating essentials that work together, individuals can reduce expenses while elevating their overall image. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec6afbb8bc0.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Looking, Into, Your, Wardrobe, —, Guide, Effortless, Style, and, Smart, Living</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meta inks deal for solar power at night, beamed from space</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-inks-deal-for-solar-power-at-night-beamed-from-space</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-inks-deal-for-solar-power-at-night-beamed-from-space</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Overview Energy&#039;s first contract with Meta is a small step toward a future of space-based solar power. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Overview-satellite-rendering.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, inks, deal, for, solar, power, night, beamed, from, space</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Spotify’s next frontier: fitness content</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotifys-next-frontier-fitness-content</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotifys-next-frontier-fitness-content</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Spotify is adding fitness as its next major category, launching workout videos, playlists, and Peloton classes inside the app for free and Premium users. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/spotify-fitness.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spotify’s, next, frontier:, fitness, content</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Critical infrastructure giant Itron says it was hacked</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/critical-infrastructure-giant-itron-says-it-was-hacked</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/critical-infrastructure-giant-itron-says-it-was-hacked</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The American technology giant provides water and energy monitoring and utility meters to hundreds of millions of homes and businesses. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/gas-itron-meter-2220610114.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Critical, infrastructure, giant, Itron, says, was, hacked</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>OpenAI could be making a phone with AI agents replacing apps</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-could-be-making-a-phone-with-ai-agents-replacing-apps</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-could-be-making-a-phone-with-ai-agents-replacing-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The phone could go in mass production in 2028, an analyst says. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2206295463.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, could, making, phone, with, agents, replacing, apps</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>China vetoes Meta’s $2B Manus deal after months&#45;long probe</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/china-vetoes-metas-2b-manus-deal-after-months-long-probe</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/china-vetoes-metas-2b-manus-deal-after-months-long-probe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ China has ordered Meta to unwind its multibillion-dollar Manus acquisition, dealing a potential setback to Zuckerberg’s push into AI agents. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2209215388.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>China, vetoes, Meta’s, 2B, Manus, deal, after, months-long, probe</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Trek spent over $300,000 closing women’s cycling’s prize&#45;money gap. Its CEO says the point is to make the checks obsolete</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trek-spent-over-300000-closing-womens-cyclings-prize-money-gap-its-ceo-says-the-point-is-to-make-the-checks-obsolete</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trek-spent-over-300000-closing-womens-cyclings-prize-money-gap-its-ceo-says-the-point-is-to-make-the-checks-obsolete</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Trek is topping off women’s cycling prize purses, and says its bill is shrinking as race organizers move toward equal pay. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2219144550-e1777063348402.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trek, spent, over, 300, 000, closing, women’s, cycling’s, prize-money, gap., Its, CEO, says, the, point, make, the, checks, obsolete</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Kalshi and Polymarket are racing to ban insider trading. The economist who built the theory behind prediction markets says it’s the whole point</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kalshi-and-polymarket-are-racing-to-ban-insider-trading-the-economist-who-built-the-theory-behind-prediction-markets-says-its-the-whole-point</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kalshi-and-polymarket-are-racing-to-ban-insider-trading-the-economist-who-built-the-theory-behind-prediction-markets-says-its-the-whole-point</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;You want the most accurate prices. That&#039;s pretty clear. The purpose of the market is to inform decisions.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266472472-e1777086305857.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kalshi, and, Polymarket, are, racing, ban, insider, trading., The, economist, who, built, the, theory, behind, prediction, markets, says, it’s, the, whole, point</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI is frying our brains — here’s what leaders need to do about It</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-is-frying-our-brains-heres-what-leaders-need-to-do-about-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-is-frying-our-brains-heres-what-leaders-need-to-do-about-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ New research confirms AI isn&#039;t reducing cognitive load — it&#039;s multiplying it. Neuroscience explains what&#039;s causing &quot;brain drain&quot; and offers organizations ways to reverse it. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2183358582-e1776881843465.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>frying, our, brains, —, here’s, what, leaders, need, about</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>More than 90,000 tech workers have been laid off this year. But here’s why companies like Microsoft are offering voluntary buyouts instead</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/more-than-90000-tech-workers-have-been-laid-off-this-year-but-heres-why-companies-like-microsoft-are-offering-voluntary-buyouts-instead</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/more-than-90000-tech-workers-have-been-laid-off-this-year-but-heres-why-companies-like-microsoft-are-offering-voluntary-buyouts-instead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Buyouts target specific kinds of employees, says employment lawyer Domenique Camacho Moran.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1921103583.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>More, than, 90, 000, tech, workers, have, been, laid, off, this, year., But, here’s, why, companies, like, Microsoft, are, offering, voluntary, buyouts, instead</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why the key to American drone dominance lies with blockchain</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-key-to-american-drone-dominance-lies-with-blockchain</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-key-to-american-drone-dominance-lies-with-blockchain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The U.S. is at a pivotal moment when it comes to reclaiming its drone supply chain from China. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-503831464.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, the, key, American, drone, dominance, lies, with, blockchain</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Carrying a Bag Is Not Only Fashionable—But Brilliantly Useful in Many Ways</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/carrying-a-bag-is-not-only-fashionablebut-brilliantly-useful-in-many-ways</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/carrying-a-bag-is-not-only-fashionablebut-brilliantly-useful-in-many-ways</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec8c67dfbac.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Carrying, Bag, Not, Only, Fashionable—But, Brilliantly, Useful, Many, Ways</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>“On Buying Clothes”: Smarter, More Conscious Fashion Choices</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/on-buying-clothes-smarter-more-conscious-fashion-choices</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/on-buying-clothes-smarter-more-conscious-fashion-choices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fashion philosophy advocate Noubi reminder on mindful clothing consumption, “On Buying Clothes,” emphasizing that fashion is not just about purchasing garments—but about making informed, intentional, and personal style decisions. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ebdf139ad75.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>“On, Buying, Clothes”:, Smarter, More, Conscious, Fashion, Choices</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Smart Fashion Investments Over Cheap Purchases</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/smart-fashion-investments-over-cheap-purchases</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/smart-fashion-investments-over-cheap-purchases</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world driven by discounts, fast fashion, and impulse shopping, Noubi Says releases a powerful reminder that the smartest clothing purchase is not always the cheapest one.  “On Buying Clothes,” Noubikko encourages consumers to focus on quality, durability, and long-term value rather than temporary low prices.

“Cheap clothing may save money today, but quality clothing often saves money tomorrow.” — Noubi Says ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec77597279f.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Smart, Fashion, Investments, Over, Cheap, Purchases</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Living in Style: Where Fashion, Luxury, and Modern Interiors Become One</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/living-in-style-where-fashion-luxury-and-modern-interiors-become-one</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/living-in-style-where-fashion-luxury-and-modern-interiors-become-one</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Noubikko Interiors is a bold design concept that combines the elegance of fashion design with the functionality of modern interiors to create spaces made for people who believe life should be lived beautifully. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ebcb4ba8903.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Living, Style:, Where, Fashion, Luxury, and, Modern, Interiors, Become, One</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Noubikko Interiors Redefines Living in Style: Where Fashion, and Modern Interiors Become One</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noubikko-interiors-redefines-living-in-style-where-fashion-and-modern-interiors-become-one</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noubikko-interiors-redefines-living-in-style-where-fashion-and-modern-interiors-become-one</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For the new generation, style has moved beyond wardrobes and into homes, studios, offices, lounges, and personal spaces. A well-designed interior now speaks as loudly as designer fashion. It reflects confidence, ambition, taste, and the quality of life a person chooses to embrace. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ec8c263e345.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Noubikko, Interiors, Redefines, Living, Style:, Where, Fashion, and, Modern, Interiors, Become, One</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Tesla accelerates European comeback as EV sales surge past one&#45;in&#45;five milestone</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-accelerates-european-comeback-as-ev-sales-surge-past-one-in-five-milestone</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-accelerates-european-comeback-as-ev-sales-surge-past-one-in-five-milestone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Tesla sales jump 84% in Europe as electric vehicles now account for more than one in five new cars registered. Germany overtakes UK on EV penetration.
Read more: 
Tesla accelerates European comeback as EV sales surge past one-in-five milestone ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tesla, accelerates, European, comeback, sales, surge, past, one-in-five, milestone</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>UK borrowing slips to four&#45;year low but Middle East tensions threaten Reeves’s fiscal plan</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-borrowing-slips-to-four-year-low-but-middle-east-tensions-threaten-reevess-fiscal-plan</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-borrowing-slips-to-four-year-low-but-middle-east-tensions-threaten-reevess-fiscal-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK government borrowing dropped to £12.6bn in March, a four-year low, as debt interest payments tumbled. But economists warn the Middle East conflict could wipe out Rachel Reeves&#039;s fiscal headroom.
Read more: 
UK borrowing slips to four-year low but Middle East tensions threaten Reeves’s fiscal plan ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reeves_Spring_Budget.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>borrowing, slips, four-year, low, but, Middle, East, tensions, threaten, Reeves’s, fiscal, plan</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Employers hit with £28bn National Insurance Shock as rate rise bites harder than treasury forecast</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employers-hit-with-28bn-national-insurance-shock-as-rate-rise-bites-harder-than-treasury-forecast</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employers-hit-with-28bn-national-insurance-shock-as-rate-rise-bites-harder-than-treasury-forecast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Employers&#039; National Insurance Contributions have soared by £28bn in a single year, £4bn above the Government&#039;s own forecast, triggering redundancies in hospitality and retail and slowing hiring across the UK private sector.
Read more: 
Employers hit with £28bn National Insurance Shock as rate rise bites harder than treasury forecast ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2458546307.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Employers, hit, with, £28bn, National, Insurance, Shock, rate, rise, bites, harder, than, treasury, forecast</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>L’Oréal banks on the ‘lipstick effect’ as anxious shoppers reach for affordable luxuries</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loreal-banks-on-the-lipstick-effect-as-anxious-shoppers-reach-for-affordable-luxuries</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loreal-banks-on-the-lipstick-effect-as-anxious-shoppers-reach-for-affordable-luxuries</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The world&#039;s largest cosmetics group shrugs off the drag from the Iran war, posting forecast-beating first-quarter sales as European consumers treat themselves to small indulgences and China stirs back into life.
Read more: 
L’Oréal banks on the ‘lipstick effect’ as anxious shoppers reach for affordable luxuries ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_1018777936.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>L’Oréal, banks, the, ‘lipstick, effect’, anxious, shoppers, reach, for, affordable, luxuries</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>UK employers saddled with sharpest tax rise in developed world, OECD finds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-employers-saddled-with-sharpest-tax-rise-in-developed-world-oecd-finds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-employers-saddled-with-sharpest-tax-rise-in-developed-world-oecd-finds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain&#039;s tax wedge jumped 2.45 points in a year — 16 times the OECD average — as Reeves&#039;s employer NI hike and frozen thresholds punish SMEs and shrink payrolls.
Read more: 
UK employers saddled with sharpest tax rise in developed world, OECD finds ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shutterstock_1565524723.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>employers, saddled, with, sharpest, tax, rise, developed, world, OECD, finds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Two college kids raise a $5.1 million pre&#45;seed to build an AI social network in iMessage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/two-college-kids-raise-a-51-million-pre-seed-to-build-an-ai-social-network-in-imessage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/two-college-kids-raise-a-51-million-pre-seed-to-build-an-ai-social-network-in-imessage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Series, a social networking app that&#039;s grown popular on college campuses, announced a $5.1 million pre-seed round from some big names in tech. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Nathaneo-Johnson-and-Sean-Hargrow.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Two, college, kids, raise, 5.1, million, pre-seed, build, social, network, iMessage</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cohere acquires, merges with Germany&#45;based startup to create a ‘transatlantic AI powerhouse’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cohere-acquires-merges-with-germany-based-startup-to-create-a-transatlantic-ai-powerhouse</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cohere-acquires-merges-with-germany-based-startup-to-create-a-transatlantic-ai-powerhouse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Cohere, the Canada-based AI company that makes AI tools for businesses in regulated industries, announced Friday it would merge with Aleph Alpha, a German company that also builds AI systems for businesses and governments.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2157583770.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cohere, acquires, merges, with, Germany-based, startup, create, ‘transatlantic, powerhouse’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Palantir is reportedly helping the IRS investigate financial crimes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/palantir-is-reportedly-helping-the-irs-investigate-financial-crimes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/palantir-is-reportedly-helping-the-irs-investigate-financial-crimes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The IRS has used Palantir&#039;s software since at least 2018, The Intercept reports. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2266940912.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Palantir, reportedly, helping, the, IRS, investigate, financial, crimes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Steve Ballmer blasts founder he backed who pleaded guilty to fraud: ‘I was duped and feel silly’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/steve-ballmer-blasts-founder-he-backed-who-pleaded-guilty-to-fraud-i-was-duped-and-feel-silly</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/steve-ballmer-blasts-founder-he-backed-who-pleaded-guilty-to-fraud-i-was-duped-and-feel-silly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Steve Ballmer wrote a fiery letter in the sentencing of disgraced founder Joseph Sanberg documenting all the harm that&#039;s befalling him as an investor. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-524085750.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Steve, Ballmer, blasts, founder, backed, who, pleaded, guilty, fraud:, ‘I, was, duped, and, feel, silly’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a $200M valuation, sources say</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lachy-groom-to-back-india-startup-pronto-at-a-200m-valuation-sources-say</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lachy-groom-to-back-india-startup-pronto-at-a-200m-valuation-sources-say</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This round, should it occur, would double the house-help startup&#039;s valuation in a matter of weeks. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pronto.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lachy, Groom, back, India, startup, Pronto, 200M, valuation, sources, say</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why brands should ignore Trump’s latest loyalty test</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-brands-should-ignore-trumps-latest-loyalty-test</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-brands-should-ignore-trumps-latest-loyalty-test</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Earlier this week, in a live interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, President Donald Trump was asked for his reaction to reports that Apple, Amazon, and some other companies had not filed refund requests for tariffs they paid over the past year—tariffs the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional. 



“I think it’s brilliant if they don’t do that,” Trump replied. “If they don’t do that, I’ll remember them.”



To be clear, this wasn’t negotiation posturing. This was the president openly signaling that companies who forfeit money to which they are entitled will be “remembered” for a symbolic display of loyalty. 



The government has collected a combined $166 billion or so from U.S. importers; an act the Supreme Court ruled an overstep of presidential power. The companies in question are in effect taking the administration’s side despite the court’s ruling. 



Left unspoken but clearly implied is that those who exercise their legal rights may find themselves remembered, too, but certainly not for being “brilliant.”



Given the Iran war, as well as the panoply of controversies and alleged scandals swirling around the administration, this incident was easy to miss. But it’s worth pausing over and paying attention to what companies affected by the illegal tariff scheme ultimately do.



The tariffs, imposed last year and affecting U.S. trade with practically every country on earth, were struck by way of a 6-to-3 Supreme Court ruling in February, resulting in the $166 billion forced refund. 



Despite this lack of ambiguity, it’s not hard to imagine why a company might at least ponder whether it’s worth trying to stay on the president’s good side.



The Trump administration has not been shy about involving itself in the actions of private commerce, taking an unusually active stance over mergers, regulation, even bailouts or direct ownership stakes.



Nevertheless, Trump’s not-so-veiled threat is one that companies should firmly resist. It amounts to betraying shareholders and customers alike. 



For starters, the board members and executives of publicly traded companies obviously have fiduciary obligations to their shareholders. Shrugging off millions (or even billions) of dollars in legally recoverable refunds does not square with those duties.



Moreover, it’s a bad look for a brand. Many companies passed along tariff costs through higher prices. Declining to pursue refunds in effect tells customers: We raised your prices because of costs we are now choosing not to recover, because the president said he’d be impressed if we didn’t.



As a contrast, consider Costco, which has been among those striking an aggressive stance on the refunds. In November 2025, well before the high court’s ruling, the discount club chain filed a federal lawsuit challenging the tariffs as unlawful, asking the courts to order full refunds including interest on all tariffs paid. 



Costco executives have told investors the company would in effect pass along the refunds to its customers through “lower prices and better values.” Admittedly, that sounds a bit vague, but the company has said it will be open about the process. 



And compared to speculation about ignoring the refunds to curry favor with the administration, Costco’s simple clarity about adhering to the rule of law practically sounds like a profile in courage.



Plenty of businesses have shown no hesitation about collecting refunds, particularly smaller enterprises. And shipping businesses FedEx, DHL, and UPS have all indicated they’ll be passing along refunds to customers who were billed to cover tariff fees.



For many others, the process will admittedly be more complex. The payout fund is designed to reimburse entities that paid directly to import the tariffed goods—not the end consumers who may have ultimately absorbed those costs in the form of higher prices. 



Unlike the case of shipping, there’s usually not a clean paper trail to quantify what an individual customer might be owed. (Class action lawsuits are already coming together to challenge how the money is being distributed.)



Still, this seems like a moment for companies to at least make clear their intent. The Costco response is a handy and straightforward example: Collect the refund and be vocal about returning value to customers. Treat this as an opportunity to demonstrate loyalty to shoppers. 



At the very least, signaling a greater interest in pleasing the administration than in pleasing your own shoppers seems like a shortsighted way to treat consumers, particularly in a moment when affordability is in the zeitgeist. “I’ll remember” cuts both ways.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, brands, should, ignore, Trump’s, latest, loyalty, test</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Rising fuel costs are triggering flight cancellations. What to do if your trip is impacted</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rising-fuel-costs-are-triggering-flight-cancellations-what-to-do-if-your-trip-is-impacted</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rising-fuel-costs-are-triggering-flight-cancellations-what-to-do-if-your-trip-is-impacted</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up prices — but the disruption doesn’t end there.For travelers, it can mean having to navigate a confusing web of passenger protections that vary widely depending on where they’re flying.And the timing is amplifying the impact.“These pressures are arriving at a time when summer travel demand is ramping up, with major events such as the World Cup expected to put additional strain on airports,” said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, a company that helps travelers secure compensation for flight disruptions and advocates for passenger rights.Here’s what to know if your flight is canceled.



Are these cancellations happening at the last minute?



In most cases, no. At least for now, fuel-related cuts are often being made days or weeks in advance. Lufthansa Group, for example, said this week it is cutting 20,000 short-haul flights across its network through October.That gives you more time to adjust plans than you’d typically get with weather-related disruptions, which tend to trigger last-minute cancellations.



My flight was canceled. What should I do first?



Check your airline’s app or website immediately for rebooking options. If you’re flying on a U.S. carrier, that’s often the fastest and easiest way to secure a new seat, according to Tyler Hosford, security director at International SOS, a global risk management and travel security company.Non-U.S. carriers tend to have fewer digital tools, Hosford said, so it’s worth trying multiple channels, including the airline’s customer service lines or airport desks.



Do I have the right to a refund or a new flight?



In most cases, yes. Airlines typically offer either a refund or a rebooking on the next available flight. The exact rules vary by country, but those are the baseline options you can expect.In the U.S., for example, if your flight is canceled and you choose not to travel, the airline must refund you, regardless of the reason. Airlines may offer travel credits instead, but you’re entitled to a full refund for airfare and any extras you didn’t use, such as baggage fees or seat upgrades.



Are passenger rights the same everywhere?



No, and protections vary widely by region — from the Montreal Convention, which governs airline liability across more than 140 countries, to specific consumer protection laws in the U.S., Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Brazil.Europe has some of the strongest protections, including compensation in certain cases. And they apply to any flight departing from an EU airport, regardless of the airline, as well as to passengers flying on an EU-based carrier into the EU — even if the journey starts outside Europe. The United Kingdom maintains a similar framework.The U.S. and Canada offer more limited protections. Policies vary widely across Asia, and in some cases travelers may need to rely more on airline policies than formal regulations.To get a clearer picture, experts recommend searching the name of the country you’re departing from and “passenger rights” before your trip.



What protections apply?



It depends.Airlines may cite fuel shortages or rising fuel costs as the reason for cancellations. But whether you’re entitled to compensation often comes down to if the disruption is considered within the airline’s control under local laws.Regardless of the cause, Napoli said, airlines in the European Union, for example, still have a “duty of care,” meaning they must provide “necessary support” to travelers, including rebooking.“While airlines are citing fuel shortages as a reason for upcoming cancellations, travelers need to know that this does not automatically waive their rights” under EU laws, Napoli said.



How can I prepare before a trip to avoid headaches?



A few steps can make disruptions easier to manage.Sign up for flight alerts to stay informed, and book directly with the airline when possible — it’s much easier to resolve issues with the carrier directly than through a third-party booking site.Knowing your options ahead of time and having a backup plan can make a significant difference if plans change.



What do I need for a claim or complaint?



Documentation is critical. Save everything: boarding passes, receipts, cancellation notices and any communication from the airline.Take screenshots of app or website updates and any communication taking place online, and jot down key details from phone calls.Napoli also recommends asking the airline for written confirmation of a flight disruption, including the stated reason.



Should I accept the first alternative flight the airline offers?



Not necessarily.Experts say one of the most common mistakes travelers make is taking the first option without checking alternatives. Look at other flights, routes or even nearby airports because you may find a faster or more convenient way to reach your destination.



Can I book a different flight myself?



Yes, but proceed carefully.If the airline’s rebooking option doesn’t meet your needs — especially if your new flight isn’t for several days — you can look for alternatives and request a refund instead.Just be aware you may need to pay any fare difference up front, and you might not be reimbursed later.



Any other tips to avoid getting stuck?



— Book flights earlier in the day so you have more rebooking options if something goes wrong.— Set up flight alerts through tracking apps such as Flighty to get early notice of cancellations or delays. In some cases, Hosford said, notifications arrive before the airline’s.— Consider nearby airports as backup options.— Be kind. Airline agents may be more willing to help when interactions stay calm and respectful.“Ultimately, the shortage is squeezing the entire system, from travelers to airlines, and is something to watch as the industry looks for any relief ahead of the summer travel season,” Napoli said.



—Rio Yamat, AP Airlines and Travel Writer ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rising, fuel, costs, are, triggering, flight, cancellations., What, your, trip, impacted</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tech layoffs update: Meta, Nike, Snap, and others join the growing list of companies slashing jobs in April 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tech-layoffs-update-meta-nike-snap-and-others-join-the-growing-list-of-companies-slashing-jobs-in-april-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tech-layoffs-update-meta-nike-snap-and-others-join-the-growing-list-of-companies-slashing-jobs-in-april-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ April is shaping up to be yet another brutal month for job cuts in the technology sector. But the announcements may not have the immediate effect that many companies are hoping for. Here’s the latest on the situation.



Microsoft to offer buyouts to 7% of its US workforce



While Microsoft hasn’t announced another round of layoffs, the Windows giant is planning job reductions of another kind. 



As Fast Company reported yesterday, the Redmond, Washington, company is expected to offer buyouts to 7% of its U.S. workforce by the end of June. A buyout is when a company offers an employee a financial incentive to resign.



Buyout helps companies avoid being forced to choose which employees to let go, while still reducing their workforce and achieving their goal of lowering operational costs. 



An employee who accepts the buyout loses their job, but generally gets a significant financial incentive for the voluntary move. Buyouts typically target employees who are closer to retirement age.



As for the reason for the buyouts, it’s the same reason driving most of the tech industry’s recent layoffs: the drive to cut labor costs so more money can be spent on building out the huge data centers needed for AI training and services.



Meta to lay off 10% of its workforce



While Microsoft is giving some of its employees the option of voluntary buyouts, Meta isn’t providing its employees an option at all. 



Yesterday, the company told its employees that it will lay off about 8,000 of them—roughly 10% of its workforce—on May 20. An additional 6,000 currently open roles will not be filled.



Meta’s latest layoff comes after the company has committed $135 billion in capital expenditure to its latest round of AI initiatives. 



Much of that expenditure will go to building massive data centers that the company needs to run its AI systems. As Fast Company reported yesterday, Meta says the job cuts aim to boost efficiency while also offsetting its “heavy spending on artificial intelligence.”



Nike announces 1,400 tech job layoffs



Also yesterday, shoe giant Nike announced it was laying off around 2% of its workforce, or about 1,400 employees. While the company is primarily known as a maker of apparel and footwear, the job cuts will mostly hit Nike’s technology roles.



But while Nike’s job cuts will primarily target its tech workforce, the company is one of the few to not suggest that AI is behind the layoffs. 



Instead, Nike says the job cuts are part of its “Win Now” strategy, which aims to modernize its manufacturing, merge parts of its supply chain, and reshape its technology division.



Nike’s layoffs will reportedly impact employees globally, including in North America.



Snap to lay off 16% of its global workforce



The trifecta of tech job cuts announced yesterday aren’t the only ones in April. 



On April 14, Snapchat maker Snap Inc. announced it would cut 16% of its global workforce. As CNBC reported, that equates to about 1,000 jobs, while another 300 currently empty roles will remain unfilled.



The primary driver behind the job cuts is the desire to cut costs by leveraging AI instead of a human workforce. 



“We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers,” CEO Evan Spiegel wrote in a letter announcing the job cuts.



GoPro to reduce its workforce by 23%



Finally, earlier this month, on April 7, wearable camera maker GoPro announced that it planned to lay off 145 workers. But while that may seem small in comparison to the other companies on this list, it represents a staggering 23% of the company’s workforce.



According to the Wall Street Journal, GoPro’s job cuts come as the company struggles with profitability amid macroeconomic pressures, including increased memory costs as AI demand drives prices higher and tariffs add costs. 



The company reportedly hopes to reduce operating costs in order to help it return to profitability by the end of the year.



Company stock prices react to layoffs



While layoffs are devastating to the affected workers and their families, investors usually cheer the news of job cuts. 



That’s because reducing the workforce is usually the fastest way for a company to cut costs. It’s why share prices tend to increase after a company announces major job cuts.



But this time, investor response has been a mixed bag. 



Since GoPro, Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO) announced its job cuts, the stock has climbed an impressive 73%. 



Likewise, Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) stock rose immediately after it announced its job cuts. After the announcement, SNAP stock was up about 7%. However, as of yesterday’s close, the stock had given back some of those gains, now up only about 4.3% since the layoffs were announced.



But the other companies’ stock prices have hardly reacted.



Shares in Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: META) fell more than 2% yesterday, and are barely up half a percent in premarket trading this morning, as of the time of this writing. 



Shares in Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell nearly 4% yesterday and are up only about 1.3% in premarket trading today.



Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) shares fell nearly 2% yesterday and haven’t even recovered half of that this morning.



In other words, announcing major job cuts no longer seems guaranteed to get investors excited about a stock—and that’s something the tech giants are likely taking note of this morning. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tech, layoffs, update:, Meta, Nike, Snap, and, others, join, the, growing, list, companies, slashing, jobs, April, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>NASA made a typeface using satellite images of the Earth</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nasa-made-a-typeface-using-satellite-images-of-the-earth</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nasa-made-a-typeface-using-satellite-images-of-the-earth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ NASA is looking not to the stars but back to our planet for inspiration. 



In honor of Earth Day, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center shared an interactive digital tool turns satellite images of the planet’s landscapes into a typeface.  



“The planet can spell your name—literally,” the Kennedy Space Center’s X post says.



Using a feature called “Your Name in Landsat,” users can type in whichever word they choose into the generator’s textbox. The site will then generate the phrase using landscapes from Earth, like rivers, lakes, farmland, and more. When hovering over each “letter,” users can learn more about where the landscape is located and even its coordinates.



NASA first unveiled the tool in August of 2024 for Camp Landsat, a virtual summer camp the agency runs. The letters are part of an extensive record of satellite images from Landsat—the longest ongoing series of Earth observing missions—which spans more than 50 years. The Landsat mission was first launched on July 23, 1972 and has since successfully launched eight satellites that have photographed the planet.



The project has not only awarded earthlings with high-resolution imagery for fun visualizations like “Your Name in Landsat”; it has also provided valuable data for scientists and policy makers alike to make decisions regarding the environment and natural resources.



The images that feed into the word generator are part of the satellite program’s Alphabet Image Gallery, with images sourced from the NASA Earth Observatory, NASA Worldview, USGS EarthExplorer, and the ESA Sentinel Hub.



Some letters get more than one iteration depending on how complex and prevalent the shape is in nature. 



Take the “A” which has five different options, with landscapes ranging from Yukon Delta, in Alaska, to Lake Guakhmaz, in Azerbaijan.



The “G” in comparison, is somewhat rarer, with only one option currently available in the gallery: an image from Fonte Boa, a municipality in the Amazonas state of Brazil.



People love the tool. The social media post received over 22 million views and more than 1,300 people posted their creations in the comments. (Even brands like Xbox got in on the fun.) 



“I’m here for this,” one user replied.



Another added, “that’s cool as hell, are you kidding me.” 



Beyond serving as a delightful interactive feature, Your Name in Landsat is also a powerful visualization that reminds us of how vast the world is and why its natural landscapes are worth saving.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>NASA, made, typeface, using, satellite, images, the, Earth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Officials charge a U.S. soldier for using intel on this $400K Polymarket bet</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/officials-charge-a-us-soldier-for-using-intel-on-this-400k-polymarket-bet</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/officials-charge-a-us-soldier-for-using-intel-on-this-400k-polymarket-bet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A U.S. special forces soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 in an online betting market, federal officials announced Thursday.Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.He has been charged by the Justice Department with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. He could face years in prison.Van Dyke, 38, was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning Dec. 8, 2025, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. Even though he signed nondisclosure agreements promising to not divulge “any classified or sensitive information” related to the operations, prosecutors say the Army soldier used this information to make a series of bets related to Maduro being out of power by Jan. 31, 2026.“This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit off of a righteous military operation,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post to social media.A telephone number listed for Van Dyke in public records was not in service. There was not yet an attorney listed for him in court documents.Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets in the world, said it had found someone trading on classified government information, alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and “cooperated with their investigation.”“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket,” the company said in a statement.



Second complaint filed against the soldier



The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, announced Thursday it had filed a parallel complaint against Van Dyke.That complaint alleges that Van Dyke moved $35,000 from his personal bank account into a cryptocurrency exchange account on Dec. 26 — a little over a week before U.S. forces would fly into Caracas and seize Maduro.Van Dyke used more than $32,500 to make a series of bets on when Maduro might be removed from power, according to the complaint. He placed those bets between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2, with the vast majority occurring the night of Jan. 2 — just hours before the first missiles would fall on Caracas.In the early hours of Jan. 3, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform a photo of the now-captured Venezuelan leader, wearing a gray sweatsuit, headphones and a blindfold.The bets Van Dyke made on Maduro leaving power resulted in “more than $404,000 of profits,” the complaint said. Bets on three other Venezuela-related contracts netted the solider more than $5,000, according to the document.“The defendant was entrusted with confidential information about U.S. operations and yet took action that endangered U.S. national security and put the lives of American service members in harm’s way,” said Michael Selig, the commission’s chairman.The massive profits from the well-timed bets aroused public attention days after the raid and brought bipartisan calls for stricter regulation of the markets where people can wager on just about anything.Officials allege that shortly after the operation, Van Dyke put most of the money he won in a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He also asked Polymarket to delete his account, saying he had lost access to his email associated with the account, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.Trump, when asked about the case Thursday, drew parallels between the embattled soldier and late professional baseball player Pete Rose, who was banned from the sport amid accusations that he placed bets on his own team.“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what’s going on all over the world and Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things,” Trump told reporters.The Trump administration has been a key ally of the growing prediction market industry in a critical legal fight with states seeking to ban the platforms. The president’s eldest son is an adviser for both Polymarket and its competitor Kalshi, and a Polymarket investor. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.



Nearly two decades in the Army



Van Dyke joined the Army in 2008 and, in 2023, was promoted to the rank of master sergeant, the second-highest enlisted rank in the Army, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors said he was part of the special forces community and was stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, but their indictment offered little other details about his military service.The document said Van Dyke was photographed following the raid on the deck of a ship “wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing U.S. military fatigues.”The Pentagon referred questions on the case to the Army and the Justice Department.Army officials declined to provide Van Dyke’s service record. Typically, the military services are reticent to offer details about members of the special forces and take measures to keep their identities secret.



Bets on geopolitical tensions draw scrutiny



The high-profile indictment comes as bipartisan lawmakers are considering legislation to ban prediction markets from allowing bets on war, assassinations or terrorist attacks.Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that a group of new accounts on Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new customers. On the same day the AP published the report, the White House warned staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.On Wednesday, Kalshi fined and suspended three congressional candidates who the company said wagered on the outcome of their own elections.—Hallie Golden, Konstantin Toropin and Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Officials, charge, U.S., soldier, for, using, intel, this, 400K, Polymarket, bet</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Is it worth opening a holiday let?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-it-worth-opening-a-holiday-let</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-it-worth-opening-a-holiday-let</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Even with cheap flights and exotic destinations, holidays in the UK are still popular. If you&#039;re considering a holiday let, read on
The post Is it worth opening a holiday let? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>worth, opening, holiday, let</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Free advertising ideas for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/free-advertising-ideas-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/free-advertising-ideas-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By James Earnshaw on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Discover free advertising ideas for your small business that can increase your revenue and brand awareness easily
The post Free advertising ideas for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/07/AdobeStock_64602834-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Free, advertising, ideas, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Sales pipeline management from a small business perspective</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sales-pipeline-management-from-a-small-business-perspective</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sales-pipeline-management-from-a-small-business-perspective</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


In this guide, you&#039;ll find out what a sales pipeline is, how to set one up and how to manage it – with tips from the experts
The post Sales pipeline management from a small business perspective appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-1434012318.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sales, pipeline, management, from, small, business, perspective</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to increase profits – without raising prices</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-increase-profits-without-raising-prices</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-increase-profits-without-raising-prices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By James Earnshaw on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Profits aren&#039;t just linked to prices – find out how you could increase your profits by reducing costs and boosting revenue 
The post How to increase profits – without raising prices appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/09/Business-growth-7917-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, increase, profits, –, without, raising, prices</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Fashion and Style Work? — Perspective on Personal Style Harmony</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-fashion-and-style-work-perspective-on-personal-style-harmony</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-fashion-and-style-work-perspective-on-personal-style-harmony</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ NOUBI SAYS:  In dealing with your particular style,  your body is dependent on your personality just as any part of your body is dependent on the rest of your clothing. The relationship of your personality, body, and clothing must be in harmony as a whole for the best result.   Because we tend to read clothing messages only as a harmonious whole according to what we know as our standard. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e91e6572a62.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Fashion, and, Style, Work, —, Perspective, Personal, Style, Harmony</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>First Impressions Last — The Power of Image in a Split Second</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/first-impressions-last-the-power-of-image-in-a-split-second</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/first-impressions-last-the-power-of-image-in-a-split-second</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Whether it’s fair or not, clothing has become the first clue absorbed by the eye before the brain begins to judge,” says Noubikko. “Everything else—intellect, personality, attitude—comes second.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e8c647d1d02.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>First, Impressions, Last, —, The, Power, Image, Split, Second</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bold Message: Master Your Image or Be Defined by It</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bold-message-master-your-image-or-be-defined-by-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bold-message-master-your-image-or-be-defined-by-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Blame it on first impression,” Noubikko declares. “That single instant determines whether you are perceived as an opportunity or overlooked as noise.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e8c4abe8b90.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bold, Message:, Master, Your, Image, Defined</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>“The Art of Presence” — Redefining Interview Dressing as a Strategy for Success</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-art-of-presence-redefining-interview-dressing-as-a-strategy-for-success</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-art-of-presence-redefining-interview-dressing-as-a-strategy-for-success</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world where first impressions are formed in seconds, Noubikko introduces a powerful new visual and editorial concept: “The Art of Presence: Dressing for the Interview.” More than a style guide, it is a philosophy—one that positions personal presentation as a decisive advantage in a competitive professional landscape. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e8cc7dd8fc1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>“The, Art, Presence”, —, Redefining, Interview, Dressing, Strategy, for, Success</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A CALL TO DRESS WITH PURPOSE, POWER, AND INTENTION</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-call-to-dress-with-purpose-power-and-intention</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-call-to-dress-with-purpose-power-and-intention</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world driven by first impressions and instant judgments, clothing has become more than style—it is identity, influence, and opportunity. The message is clear and urgent: if you are not intentionally shaping how you present yourself, the world will decide for you. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e91120ecc5d.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>CALL, DRESS, WITH, PURPOSE, POWER, AND, INTENTION</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>“The Message of Clothing”: The Power of Personal Presentation in Everyday Life</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-message-of-clothing-the-power-of-personal-presentation-in-everyday-life</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-message-of-clothing-the-power-of-personal-presentation-in-everyday-life</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At the core of the message is a simple but striking idea: “You are what you wear.” According to Noubi Says, clothing functions as more than fabric—it is a visual language that communicates who a person is long before words are spoken. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e911c68e8fa.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>“The, Message, Clothing”:, The, Power, Personal, Presentation, Everyday, Life</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Style Is Not What You Wear &#45; It Is Who You Are:  THE FASHION TRUTH </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/style-is-not-what-you-wear-it-is-who-you-are-the-fashion-truth</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/style-is-not-what-you-wear-it-is-who-you-are-the-fashion-truth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world saturated with trends, filters, and fast-moving aesthetics, Noubi Says by Noubikko releases a bold, uncompromising statement that challenges everything people think they know about fashion: ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e92877a93ba.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Style, Not, What, You, Wear, Who, You, Are:,  THE, FASHION, TRUTH </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Empower Confidence Through Smart Styling and Camouflage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/empower-confidence-through-smart-styling-and-camouflage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/empower-confidence-through-smart-styling-and-camouflage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At the heart of the philosophy is a simple yet transformative truth: every individual is a blend of strengths and imperfections. Rather than striving for unattainable ideals, Noubikko emphasizes the art of highlighting one’s best features while subtly minimizing perceived flaws through thoughtful wardrobe choices. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e92f927d44a.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Empower, Confidence, Through, Smart, Styling, and, Camouflage</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>You Are Not The Problem &#45;  Your Styling Is</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-are-not-the-problem-your-styling-is</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-are-not-the-problem-your-styling-is</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Stop exposing what weakens your image,” Noubikko commands. “Start displaying what defines your strength.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://noubikko.net/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e9341fb75a0.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Noubi Says -  By Noubikko</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>You, Are, Not, The, Problem, - , Your, Styling</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Beehiiv rolls out new creator tools, including webinars and customizable paywalls</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/beehiiv-rolls-out-new-creator-tools-including-webinars-and-customizable-paywalls</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/beehiiv-rolls-out-new-creator-tools-including-webinars-and-customizable-paywalls</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Beehiiv is clearly done being just a newsletter platform based on today&#039;s launch of a new webinar feature, customizable paywalls, and more. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/GettyImages-155283357.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Beehiiv, rolls, out, new, creator, tools, including, webinars, and, customizable, paywalls</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Surveillance vendors caught abusing access to telcos to track people’s phone locations, researchers say</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/surveillance-vendors-caught-abusing-access-to-telcos-to-track-peoples-phone-locations-researchers-say</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/surveillance-vendors-caught-abusing-access-to-telcos-to-track-peoples-phone-locations-researchers-say</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Citizen Lab found two separate surveillance vendors abusing the backbone of cellular networks to spy on several victims across the world. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cityscape-location-data.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Surveillance, vendors, caught, abusing, access, telcos, track, people’s, phone, locations, researchers, say</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI galaxy hunters are adding to the global GPU crunch</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-galaxy-hunters-are-adding-to-the-global-gpu-crunch</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-galaxy-hunters-are-adding-to-the-global-gpu-crunch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Astronomers are turning to GPUs to find needles in the galactic haystack. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/z14-galaxy.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>galaxy, hunters, are, adding, the, global, GPU, crunch</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>WhatsApp adds prepaid phone recharges in India as its payments usage still lags</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whatsapp-adds-prepaid-phone-recharges-in-india-as-its-payments-usage-still-lags</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whatsapp-adds-prepaid-phone-recharges-in-india-as-its-payments-usage-still-lags</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ WhatsApp is rolling out prepaid phone recharges to its 500 million users in India via PayU. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/whatsapp-iphone-icon.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>WhatsApp, adds, prepaid, phone, recharges, India, its, payments, usage, still, lags</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tesla drops Musk’s $29B ‘interim’ award after Delaware court restored larger pay package</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-drops-musks-29b-interim-award-after-delaware-court-restored-larger-pay-package</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-drops-musks-29b-interim-award-after-delaware-court-restored-larger-pay-package</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company is following through on its promise to not let Musk &quot;double dip&quot; if he won his appeal to restore Tesla&#039;s 2018 compensation package, worth $56 billion. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-2171035708.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tesla, drops, Musk’s, 29B, ‘interim’, award, after, Delaware, court, restored, larger, pay, package</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>At $5 billion startup Checkr new employees build an app using AI during onboarding—even the new CFO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/at-5-billion-startup-checkr-new-employees-build-an-app-using-ai-during-onboardingeven-the-new-cfo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/at-5-billion-startup-checkr-new-employees-build-an-app-using-ai-during-onboardingeven-the-new-cfo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Checkr hires ZipRecruiter veteran Tim Yarbrough as its new CFO. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2152136545.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>billion, startup, Checkr, new, employees, build, app, using, during, onboarding—even, the, new, CFO</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Stephen and Ayesha Curry are coming for the sports drink market—and their kids were the first focus group</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stephen-and-ayesha-curry-are-coming-for-the-sports-drink-marketand-their-kids-were-the-first-focus-group</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stephen-and-ayesha-curry-are-coming-for-the-sports-drink-marketand-their-kids-were-the-first-focus-group</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In an interview with Fortune, the Currys explain why they jumped at the chance to work on a Michelle Obama-backed healthy sports drink Plezi Hydration. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-Currys.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Stephen, and, Ayesha, Curry, are, coming, for, the, sports, drink, market—and, their, kids, were, the, first, focus, group</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The $6 trillion reinvention: Why IT services firms must start underwriting outcomes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-6-trillion-reinvention-why-it-services-firms-must-start-underwriting-outcomes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-6-trillion-reinvention-why-it-services-firms-must-start-underwriting-outcomes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI now offers firms a chance to build something valuable—but only if they have the courage to put results on the line. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ravi-kumar-s-e1767997248841.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, trillion, reinvention:, Why, services, firms, must, start, underwriting, outcomes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘An investment thesis is not a religion’: $44 billion CIO warns you need to figure out how you might lose money, not just make it</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/an-investment-thesis-is-not-a-religion-44-billion-cio-warns-you-need-to-figure-out-how-you-might-lose-money-not-just-make-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/an-investment-thesis-is-not-a-religion-44-billion-cio-warns-you-need-to-figure-out-how-you-might-lose-money-not-just-make-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Farallon Capital&#039;s Nicolas Giauque says the secret to nearly four decades of outperformance comes down to one core habit: always knowing how you&#039;re wrong. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2244559616-e1776815409446.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘An, investment, thesis, not, religion’:, 44, billion, CIO, warns, you, need, figure, out, how, you, might, lose, money, not, just, make</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Current price of oil as of April 22, 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-22-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-22-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When oil prices change, it affects your energy costs—and even the price of everyday items. Here’s why. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Price-of-Oil-April-22.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Current, price, oil, April, 22, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Brady bows out: West Ham vice&#45;chair ends 16&#45;year tenure as boardroom pressure mounts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brady-bows-out-west-ham-vice-chair-ends-16-year-tenure-as-boardroom-pressure-mounts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brady-bows-out-west-ham-vice-chair-ends-16-year-tenure-as-boardroom-pressure-mounts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Baroness Karren Brady has departed West Ham United after 16 years as vice-chair, ending a near four-decade business partnership with David Sullivan amid sustained fan protests.
Read more: 
Brady bows out: West Ham vice-chair ends 16-year tenure as boardroom pressure mounts ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Karren_Brady.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Brady, bows, out:, West, Ham, vice-chair, ends, 16-year, tenure, boardroom, pressure, mounts</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Unemployment dip flatters to deceive as SME hiring freezes amid Iran shock</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/unemployment-dip-flatters-to-deceive-as-sme-hiring-freezes-amid-iran-shock</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/unemployment-dip-flatters-to-deceive-as-sme-hiring-freezes-amid-iran-shock</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK unemployment unexpectedly drops to 4.9% in the quarter to February, but vacancies sink to a five-year low and payrolled jobs fall as SMEs feel the squeeze from the £25bn NI hike and the Iran war energy shock.
Read more: 
Unemployment dip flatters to deceive as SME hiring freezes amid Iran shock ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_689496949.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Unemployment, dip, flatters, deceive, SME, hiring, freezes, amid, Iran, shock</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bezos’s physical AI lab Prometheus nears $10bn raise at $38bn valuation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bezoss-physical-ai-lab-prometheus-nears-10bn-raise-at-38bn-valuation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bezoss-physical-ai-lab-prometheus-nears-10bn-raise-at-38bn-valuation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Jeff Bezos&#039;s physical AI venture Project Prometheus is closing in on a $10bn funding round at a $38bn valuation, with BlackRock and JPMorgan on board.
Read more: 
Bezos’s physical AI lab Prometheus nears $10bn raise at $38bn valuation ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/shutterstock_1399561367-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bezos’s, physical, lab, Prometheus, nears, 10bn, raise, 38bn, valuation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Barclays and Lloyds join FCA’s second AI sandbox as banks race to prove their tech credentials</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/barclays-and-lloyds-join-fcas-second-ai-sandbox-as-banks-race-to-prove-their-tech-credentials</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/barclays-and-lloyds-join-fcas-second-ai-sandbox-as-banks-race-to-prove-their-tech-credentials</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Barclays and Lloyds have joined the FCA&#039;s second AI live testing cohort alongside Experian, GoCardless and UBS, as UK banks accelerate their artificial intelligence investment.
Read more: 
Barclays and Lloyds join FCA’s second AI sandbox as banks race to prove their tech credentials ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/fca.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Barclays, and, Lloyds, join, FCA’s, second, sandbox, banks, race, prove, their, tech, credentials</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Reeves tightens windfall tax on renewables as ministers move to sever gas&#45;electricity link</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reeves-tightens-windfall-tax-on-renewables-as-ministers-move-to-sever-gas-electricity-link</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reeves-tightens-windfall-tax-on-renewables-as-ministers-move-to-sever-gas-electricity-link</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Chancellor Rachel Reeves lifts the electricity generator levy from 45% to 55% as Ed Miliband unveils market reforms. What the renewables windfall tax means for UK SMEs, energy bills and investment.
Read more: 
Reeves tightens windfall tax on renewables as ministers move to sever gas-electricity link ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Reeves_HOC.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reeves, tightens, windfall, tax, renewables, ministers, move, sever, gas-electricity, link</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>With US spy laws set to expire, lawmakers are split over protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/with-us-spy-laws-set-to-expire-lawmakers-are-split-over-protecting-americans-from-warrantless-surveillance</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/with-us-spy-laws-set-to-expire-lawmakers-are-split-over-protecting-americans-from-warrantless-surveillance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Some lawmakers are calling for widespread reforms following years of surveillance scandals and abuses across successive U.S. administrations. But even if the spy law known as Section 702 expires on April 30, the government&#039;s spy powers will not automatically lapse. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/nsa-surveillance-525618310.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>With, spy, laws, set, expire, lawmakers, are, split, over, protecting, Americans, from, warrantless, surveillance</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What’s the key to better vegan cheese? Microbreweries, one startup says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-the-key-to-better-vegan-cheese-microbreweries-one-startup-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-the-key-to-better-vegan-cheese-microbreweries-one-startup-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AuX Labs says it has found a better way to make vegan cheese that tastes and feels like the real thing — and costs the same. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/aux-labs-grilled-cheese.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What’s, the, key, better, vegan, cheese, Microbreweries, one, startup, says</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cash App is targeting a new kind of customer: 6&#45;12 year olds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cash-app-is-targeting-a-new-kind-of-customer-6-12-year-olds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cash-app-is-targeting-a-new-kind-of-customer-6-12-year-olds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Tech companies are constantly on the hunt for new customers, and Cash App, the fintech company owned by Jack Dorsey’s Block, believes it has found a promising new demographic: children. The company, which already offers financial services to teens, said this week that it is expanding its youth-focused services in an effort to build a […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/U13_HeroAlt_9_16.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cash, App, targeting, new, kind, customer:, 6-12, year, olds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>GRAI believes AI can make music more social, not replace artists</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/grai-believes-ai-can-make-music-more-social-not-replace-artists</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/grai-believes-ai-can-make-music-more-social-not-replace-artists</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI music startup GRAI says fans want to remix tracks, not generate songs from scratch. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/listening-to-music-GettyImages-2170179832.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>GRAI, believes, can, make, music, more, social, not, replace, artists</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Revolut eyes valuation of up to $200B in eventual IPO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/revolut-eyes-valuation-of-up-to-200b-in-eventual-ipo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/revolut-eyes-valuation-of-up-to-200b-in-eventual-ipo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fintech giant Revolut, which secured a full banking license in the U.K. in March after years of waiting, was most recently valued at $75 billion in a secondary share sale. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/PR-lib-office-exterior-4.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Revolut, eyes, valuation, 200B, eventual, IPO</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>U.S. attacks and seizes Iranian ship in Strait of Hormuz, throwing a ceasefire into question</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-attacks-and-seizes-iranian-ship-in-strait-of-hormuz-throwing-a-ceasefire-into-question</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-attacks-and-seizes-iranian-ship-in-strait-of-hormuz-throwing-a-ceasefire-into-question</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The United States attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Iran’s joint military command vowed to respond, throwing a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires.It was the first interception since the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports began last week. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation, the state broadcaster said.With the U.S.-Iran standoff over the strait sharpening and the ceasefire expiring by Wednesday, it was not clear where President Donald Trump’s earlier announcement on new talks with Iran now stood. He had said U.S. negotiators would head to Pakistan on Monday.The uncertainty sent oil prices rising again. One of the worst global energy crises in decades threatened to deepen.Trump on social media said a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman warned the Iranian-flagged ship, the Touska, to stop and then “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom.” U.S. Marines had custody of the U.S.-sanctioned vessel and were “seeing what’s on board!”It was not clear whether anyone was hurt. The U.S. Central Command, which didn’t answer questions, said the destroyer had issued “repeated warnings over a six-hour period.”



Iranian state media suggest new talks won’t take place



There was no comment from Iranian officials directly addressing Trump’s announcement of talks. However, Iranian state media, without citing anyone beyond unnamed sources, issued brief reports suggesting that they would not happen.Minutes after the ship seizure was announced, Iranian state media reported on President Masoud Pezeshkian’s phone conversation with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, earlier Sunday. U.S. actions, including bullying and unreasonable behavior, have led to increased suspicion that the U.S. will repeat previous patterns and “betray diplomacy,” the reports cited Pezeshkian as saying.Two previous attempts at talks — last June and earlier this year — were interrupted by Israeli and U.S. attacks.On another phone call, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, that recent U.S. actions, rhetoric and contradictions were signs of “bad intentions and lack of seriousness in diplomacy,” Iran’s state broadcaster said.Pakistan did not confirm a second round of talks, but authorities had begun tightening security in Islamabad. A regional official involved in the efforts said mediators were finalizing preparations and U.S. advance security teams were on the ground. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss preparations with the media.The White House had said Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of historic face-to-face talks over 21 hours last weekend, would lead the U.S. delegation to Pakistan with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.Iran on Saturday said it had received new proposals from the United States. While Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, late Saturday said “there will be no retreat in the field of diplomacy,” he acknowledged a wide gap remained between the sides.It was unclear whether either side had shifted stances on issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the Strait of Hormuz.



Trump’s announcement on talks repeated his threats against Iranian infrastructure that have drawn widespread criticism and warnings of war crimes. If Iran doesn’t agree to the U.S.-proposed deal, “the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” he wrote.



Iran wants to control strait until ‘war fully ends’



Iran early Monday warned it could keep up the global economic pain as ships remained unable to transit the strait, with hundreds of vessels waiting at each end for clearance.Security of the strait is not free and “the choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president of Iran, said in a social media post calling for a lasting end to military and economic pressure on Tehran.Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes through the strait, along with critical supplies of fertilizer for the world’s farmers, natural gas and humanitarian supplies for places in dire need like Afghanistan and Sudan.Iran had announced the strait’s reopening after a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday. But then Trump said the U.S. blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the United States. Iran said it would again enforce restrictions it imposed early in the war. On Saturday, Iran fired at ships trying to transit.For the Islamic Republic, the strait’s closure is perhaps its most powerful weapon, inflicting political pain on Trump. For the United States, the blockade squeezes Iran’s already weakened economy. Each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire.Since most supplies to U.S. military bases in the Gulf region come through the strait, “Iran is determined to maintain oversight and control over traffic through the strait until the war fully ends,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said late Saturday. That means Iran-designated routes, payment of fees and issuance of transit certificates.The council has recently acted as Iran’s de facto top decision-making body.The war is now in its eighth week after the U.S. and Israel launched it on Feb. 28 during talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. At least 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this report.







An earlier version of this story corrected the name of the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson to Esmail Baghaei.



—Michelle L. Price, Samy Magdy and Sam Metz, Associated Press ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/AP26108447222186.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>U.S., attacks, and, seizes, Iranian, ship, Strait, Hormuz, throwing, ceasefire, into, question</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>2 new Chase Sapphire airport lounges are coming. Here’s what to expect and when</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/2-new-chase-sapphire-airport-lounges-are-coming-heres-what-to-expect-and-when</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/2-new-chase-sapphire-airport-lounges-are-coming-heres-what-to-expect-and-when</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For years, premium credit cards competed on points, perks, and airport lounge access. Now the lounge itself is becoming the strategy.



Chase is the latest to double down.



With new Sapphire Lounge locations planned—starting with one at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and another at Los Angeles International Airport—the company is expanding its footprint at a moment when airport lounges have become one of the most competitive battlegrounds in consumer finance. The move follows a wave of recent openings that show how Chase is trying to differentiate not just on access, but on experience.



“We’re really excited,” Dana Pouwels, head of airport lounge benefits at JPMorgan Chase, told Fast Company in an interview. “Dallas is opening this year, and Los Angeles will be opening within the next 12 months.”



Specific details of those lounges are still under wraps, but the broader strategy is already visible, and it’s less about square footage and more about turning the airport into part of the destination.



The Chase Sapphire Lounge at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas [Photo: Chase]



The lounge arms race is splitting in two directions



To understand what Chase is doing, it helps to look at its biggest rival.



American Express, which helped define the modern airport lounge with its Centurion network, is expanding in two directions at once. The company is building larger flagship lounges in key hubs like Boston and Dallas Fort Worth, while also rolling out smaller “Sidecar” spaces designed for travelers with limited time.



That split reflects a simple reality. Not all travelers use lounges the same way. Some want a place to settle in for hours. Others want something closer to a high-end restaurant that they can move through more quickly, such as Capital One’s recently launched LGA lounge with José Andrés.



Chase, at least for now, is leaning harder into the first camp, but with a twist.



Designing for the destination, not just the delay



If there is a defining feature of Chase’s lounges, it’s how much they try to feel like the city in which they’re located.



The Las Vegas lounge, opened at the end of 2025, pushes that idea to its limit, leaning into theatrical design and playful details.



“We went for bold and shimmering finishes, and it’s really just inspired by that city’s nightlife,” Pouwels said.



The lounge includes a champagne parlor, a menu created with Momofuku founder David Chang, and cocktails that nod to the city’s history, like a jet-black libation topped with edible gummy dice.



The Philadelphia lounge takes a different approach. There, Chase built a 20,000-square-foot space centered on the city’s beer culture, complete with a beer garden and a beer flight program that proved so popular it’s already been replicated by Chase in its Boston lounge.



Beyond the food and drink offerings, the Philadelphia lounge also includes sports memorabilia, retro arcade machines, and one of the lounge network’s only TV-equipped spaces, a deliberate nod to local fan culture.



The goal is consistency in quality, but not in sameness.



The Chase Sapphire Lounge at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas [Photo: Chase]



Data decides where to go next



Behind the scenes, Chase’s expansion is driven as much by data as design.



“We’re always looking at the top places where our card members travel to and through, and also where they live,” Pouwels said.



Los Angeles stands out as a priority, ranking as the second-most-booked destination for Chase cardholders in 2025. Dallas checks multiple boxes, serving as both a major travel hub and a city with a large Chase employee base.



Still, demand alone is not enough.



“The location has to be right in terms of the airport, but it also has to be right in terms of the terminal and the amount of space that’s available,” Pouwels said.



That constraint helps explain why lounge growth, across the industry, has been steady but uneven.



The post-pandemic traveler wants something different



What is changing fastest is not where lounges are built, but what travelers expect from them.



According to Pouwels, that shift started during the pandemic, when people grew accustomed to highly personalized environments at home and began expecting the same from travel.



“Our lounges really have evolved to be more personalized experiences,” she said.



That means more than just comfortable seating. Travelers are looking for discovery, whether that is a local chef, a regional drink, or a design element tied to the city.



“They want to see something or learn something different every time they’re on a travel journey,” Pouwels said.



American Express is responding to that demand by segmenting its lounge experience into multiple formats. Chase, meanwhile, is trying to build a sense of discovery into every location.



The Chase Sapphire Lounge at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas [Photo: Chase]



Lounges as a loyalty engine



The bigger play is not the lounge itself. It’s what the lounge represents.



Chase sees these spaces as part of a broader travel ecosystem that starts before a trip is booked and continues through the airport and beyond.



“We’re really focused on the end-to-end travel journey,” Pouwels said.



That includes everything from trip planning to the airport experience itself, which has become a central touchpoint.



“We really want to ensure that we’re bringing the local element of the city into the airport experience. . . . and really, the lounges are a natural extension of that, right? Enhancing every step of the card member’s travel journey,” Pouwels added.



In other words, the airport is no longer just a stop along the way. It’s part of the product.



What comes next



With the Dallas lounge set to open this year and the one at LAX expected within the next 12 months, Chase’s new wave of lounges will test how far that strategy can go.



The competitive pressure is only increasing. American Express continues to scale both larger and smaller formats. Other issuers, like Capital One, are experimenting with their own concepts. Travelers are gaining more access and, in turn, becoming more selective.



For Chase, the bet is that the future of loyalty isn’t just about getting people to travel. It’s about owning more of the journey once they do.



 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-91527555-new-chase-sapphire-lounges.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>new, Chase, Sapphire, airport, lounges, are, coming., Here’s, what, expect, and, when</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Gap is dropping a Victoria Beckham collab, bringing her discerning eye to denim</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gap-is-dropping-a-victoria-beckham-collab-bringing-her-discerning-eye-to-denim</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gap-is-dropping-a-victoria-beckham-collab-bringing-her-discerning-eye-to-denim</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I’m not one for binaries, but it’s likely you’re either aware of Gap’s 2025 comeback tour, or you have a healthy amount of screen time. For those of us who aren’t full luddite teen (aspirational), I’m here to tell you that Gap is continuing its play to cement its place among the fashion set—and cultural domination—in 2026.



We’re seeing this with Gap’s announcement today of a new Spring collection kicking off a multi-season partnership with Victoria Beckham, bringing clean lines and refined classics that harken from the designer’s British sensibilities to the eponymous American brand. The 38-piece line of wardrobe staples will be available online and in select global Gap stores beginning April 24 at 9am ET, with prices that range between $34 to $328.



[Photo: Gap]



This isn’t Gap’s first partnership of the year. It previously launched collaborations with Harlem’s Fashion Row and Awake, as well as a keystone campaign for the brand’s sweatpants with rapper Young Mikko. (And let’s not forget last year’s sell-out Sandy Liang collaboration.) The Victoria Beckham collaboration is its latest in an ongoing story of reinvention the brand wants to convey to the public.



“We always are looking for new, interesting, cool, unexpected-for-our-customer collabs, and Victoria Beckham is a real natural for us,” says Gap CEO Mark Breitbard of the pairing, noting that her design sensibilities bring an elevated level of polish and refinement to Gap’s casual everyday wear. 



The partnership was the result of a conversation Breitbard had with celebrity stylist Alastair McKimm, who he considers to be part of the Gap creative team, about his other clients. “When he brought up Victoria, we both just kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Wait, could this be interesting for us?’” Breitbard recalled. And Beckham, for her part, was game.



The design results apply subtle degrees of difference from Gap classics like its Arc denim and matching jacket, pull-over denim quarter zips with a tent-like shape, dark wash capris (having a moment this spring), pleated khaki shorts, white button-downs, jersey tank dresses, and a classic trench coat. The difference from Gap pieces may not be detectable to the non-fashion obsessive’s human eye, but the simplicity of lines and the appeal of the Victoria Beckham brand ID could subconsciously appeal to the same discerning shopper who gets neutral manicures and wears La Ligne.



[Photo: Gap]



“You’ll see really modern lines and elegance that still has Gap casual in it,” says Breitbard. “So it’s very versatile. Dress up, dress down. Look incredibly chic, but also don’t look like you tried too hard. It’s just a really great balance, but clean lines and a fine aesthetic.” 



The cerulean blue pullover anorak adds a bright pop of color to staples like white, khaki, olive, and denim, which have enough wearability that could toss on a piece and head out the door. There is some overlap between the positioning of this line and Gap Studio as an elevated take to Gap classics, but Breitbard splices Gap Studio as more of a play for red carpet caché, with some looks they then commercialize.



[Photo: Gap]



The multi-season partnership also points to the brand’s broader partnerships strategy, which aims to reestablish relevancy through brand partners with caché. Gap is extending these partnerships through marketing that’s less sales-y and more shareable content (“brandtainment” is the linguistic ligature du jour). By doing so, it’s goal is to drive cultural conversation. In short: organically become part of the chatter in the elusive group chat.



At this point, the brand is building on the momentum of the previous year-and-a-half. (Its financial gains are still playing out: net sales were up 2% and store sales up 1% year over year, respectively.)



Where Gap gets luxury fashion bonafides from Beckham, Beckham gets to capitalize on her existing growth and expand her reach. Victoria Beckham posted $170 million in group sales resulting in 19% growth in 2025, which includes fashion and beauty, (Breitbard noted her success in beauty in particular). Beckham told WWD last fall that she plans to open more stores in the U.S., which is the brand’s biggest market—this collab could be a preview for a lot of new consumers.



[Photo: Gap]



Ultimately a collaboration is successful if it’s multidimensional. “[The Victoria Beckham collaboration] is going to hit new consumers who are paying attention to fashion and existing consumers, and consumers who have been with us for a while,” says Breitbard. 



While I can’t say that the Victoria Beckham brand has been in my group chats lately (that’s been dominated by fashion brands like Khaite, the Row, Still Here, and quests for vintage Prada and Manolo Blahniks, and even Gap itself), it does have a major online fan base: 3 million TikTok followers compared to Gap’s one million, and 33.4 million Instagram followers compared to Gap’s 3.7 million.



“One of the things that I think we’re doing well when we do a remix, [is] there might be dimensions that the younger consumer really appreciates, and then there is also just artistry and creative that is very accessible and easy,” says Breitbard, which translates to online traction and cultural interest that are bigger than sales KPIs.



[Photo: Gap]



He points to the Katseye campaign as an example. “They’re young. They have a young demographic. They have a huge fan base, but tens of thousands of people reposted that dance. We had 600 million views, and it wasn’t just from young [people]. It was so accessible and so uplifting to a very broad audience. That’s what we’ve done well,“ he says. “Victoria has younger consumers, but also consumers who have known her and followed her throughout her career and I think that’ll be inspiring very broadly.” 



He adds that Beckham’s cultural impact and personal relationship with her brand also fit with Gap’s story telling sensibilities. The story they plan together was too big for one drop. And a multi-season collaboration has to have a different business strategy.



[Photo: Gap]



“The strategy for us here is to bring in the right amount to have excitement and energy and have it be accessible, but not bought with such depth that it’s meant to live for months and months in the store,” says Breitbard. “These things are meant to be moments of high heat, to draw attention, to have fun, to drive business. And so we are intending to do that for this drop and then another drop later in the year, versus it’s going to launch and it’s going to be in the store.”



Beckham’s designer bonafides are another lens for potential Gap customers who haven’t thought of the brand yet to tap in. “Gap made new,” says Breitbard concisely of the brand’s strategy. “We want to continue to make Gap new and this is a great way to do that.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-1-91529005-beckham-x-gap.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gap, dropping, Victoria, Beckham, collab, bringing, her, discerning, eye, denim</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Refunds can now be claimed by businesses impacted by Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/refunds-can-now-be-claimed-by-businesses-impacted-by-trumps-unconstitutional-tariffs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/refunds-can-now-be-claimed-by-businesses-impacted-by-trumps-unconstitutional-tariffs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A refund system for businesses that paid tariffs which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump imposed without the constitutional authority to do so is scheduled to launch Monday.Importers and their brokers will be able to begin claiming refunds through an online portal beginning at 8 a.m., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency administering the system.It’s the first step in a complicated process that also might eventually lead to refunds for consumers who were billed for some or all of the tariffs on products shipped to them from outside the United States.Companies must submit declarations listing the goods on which they collectively put billions of dollars toward the import taxes the court subsequently struck down. If CBP approves a claim, it will take 60-90 days for a refund to be issued, the agency said.The government expects to process refunds in phases, however, focusing first on more recent tariff payments. Any number of technical factors and procedural issues could delay an importer’s application, so any reimbursements businesses plan to make to customers likely would trickled down slowly.In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court on Feb. 20 found that Trump usurped Congress’ tax-setting role last April when he set new import tax rates on products from almost every other country, citing the U.S. trade deficit as a national emergency that warranted his invoking of a 1977 emergency powers law.Although the court majority did not address refunds in its ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade determined last month that companies subjected to IEEPA tariffs were entitled to money back.



Not all taxed imports immediately eligible



Customs and Border Protection said in court filings that over 330,000 importers paid a total of about $166 billion on over 53 million shipments.Not all of those orders qualify for the first phase of the refund system’s rollout, which is limited to cases in which tariffs were estimated but not finalized or within 80 days of a final accounting.To receive refunds, importers have to register for the CPB’s electronic payment system. As of April 14, 56,497 importers had completed registration and were eligible for refunds totaling $127 billion, including interest, the agency said.



System requires accuracy



Meghann Supino, a partner at Ice Miller, said the law firm has advised clients to carefully list in their declarations all of the document numbers for forms that went to CBP to describe imported goods and their value.“If there is an entry on that file that does not qualify, it may cause the entire entry to be rejected or that line item might be rejected by Customs,” she said.Supino thinks the portal going live will require composure as well as diligence.“Like any electronic online program that goes live with a lot of interest, I would expect that there might be some hiccups with the program on Monday,” she said. “So we continue to ask everyone to be patient, because we think that patience will pay off.”Nghi Huynh, the partner-in-charge of transfer pricing at accounting and consulting firm Armanino, said most companies claiming refunds will have imported a mix of items, and not all will qualify right away.“It’s about having a clear process in place and keeping track of what’s been submitted and what’s been paid, so nothing falls through the cracks,” she said. “Each file can include thousands of entries, but accuracy is critical, as submissions can be rejected if formatting or data is incorrect.”



Patience with the process



Small businesses have eagerly awaited the chance to apply for refunds. Brad Jackson, co-founder of After Action Cigars in Rochester, Minnesota, said he starting compiling records and preparing to enter information into the system the minute CPB announced the launch date.The company imports cigars and accessories from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Last year, it paid $34,000 in tariffs and absorbed much of the cost instead of raising customer prices, Jackson said.Last spring, he had a two-week delay in a shipment due to a missing document, so he is being more careful with refund documents, he said.“My main concern is the turnaround time,” Jackson said. “A refund process that takes several months to complete doesn’t solve the cash flow problem that it is supposed to fix.”



Will consumers see refunds?



Tariffs are paid by importers, and some companies pass on the tax costs to consumers via higher prices.The system starting up Monday will refund tariffs directly to the businesses that paid them, which are not obligated to share the proceeds with customers. However, class-action lawsuits that aim to force companies, ranging from Costco to Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica, to reimburse shoppers are winding their way through the U.S. legal system.Individuals may be more likely to receive refunds from delivery companies like FedEx and UPS, which collected tariffs on imports directly from consumers. FedEx has said it would return tariff refunds to customers when it receives them from the CPB.“Supporting our customers as they navigate regulatory changes remains our top priority,” FedEx said in a statement. “We are working with our customers as CBP begins processing refunds and plan to begin filing claims on April 20.”



—Mae Anderson, AP Business Writer ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/AP26107665696914.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Refunds, can, now, claimed, businesses, impacted, Trump’s, unconstitutional, tariffs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Elon Musk is summoned to Paris over allegations of child sexual abuse images on X</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/elon-musk-is-summoned-to-paris-over-allegations-of-child-sexual-abuse-images-on-x</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/elon-musk-is-summoned-to-paris-over-allegations-of-child-sexual-abuse-images-on-x</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris on Monday, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content.The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino — the former CEO of X — have been summoned for “voluntary interviews,” while other employees of the platform are scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.It remains unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris. A spokesperson for X did not respond to questions from The Associated Press and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, did not answer a request sent to the press email.French prosecutors also suspect that controversy around the platform’s AI system Grok’s deepfakes was concocted to boost the value of Musk-owned companies ahead of a key market listing, and alerted U.S. authorities. Musk welcomed a report that U.S. justice officials refused to help French investigators, posting on X, “This needs to stop.”



The reason for summoning Musk



Musk was summoned after a search took place in February at the French premises of X as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory.”The Paris prosecutor’s office said Musk and Yaccarino’s potential no-show on Monday “is not an obstacle for investigations to continue.”



What is being investigated



French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded after the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.Grok also wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.



French prosecutors alert U.S. authorities



In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating and overseeing financial markets — suggesting “that the controversy surrounding sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the companies X and xAI — potentially constituting criminal offenses,” prosecutors said.The Paris prosecutor’s office said this could have been done “ahead of the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity formed by the merger of Space X and xAI, at a time when company X was clearly losing momentum.”



Justice Department brushes off French call



According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department told French law enforcement authorities it wouldn’t facilitate their efforts to investigate Musk’s X. The newspaper reported that the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, in a two-page letter last week, accused the French of inappropriately using its justice system to interfere with an American business.The letter also said France’s requests for U.S. assistance “constitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.”French judicial authorities didn’t respond to requests for comments.



Investigations launched into several internet platforms



The cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office has launched in recent years a series of investigations focusing on internet platforms’ suspected illegal activities.French-language website Coco, which was cited in the landmark trial that turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon against sexual violence, closed in 2024 as its manager is accused of complicity in spreading child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, among other things.Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, was handed preliminary charges and placed under judicial supervision for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the platform, including child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking.The Paris prosecutor’s office opened last year an investigation into TikTok over allegations that the platform allows content promoting suicide and that its algorithms may encourage vulnerable young people to take their own lives.Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it has lodged a new complaint against X with the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office targeting “the platform’s policies that allow disinformation to flourish.”







Associated Press reporter Kelvin Chan contributed to this story.



—Samuel Petrequin, Associated Press ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/AP26091650729710_a81700.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elon, Musk, summoned, Paris, over, allegations, child, sexual, abuse, images</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Getting small business loans with bad credit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/getting-small-business-loans-with-bad-credit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/getting-small-business-loans-with-bad-credit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Ben Lobel on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Even a small business owner with bad credit may need to borrow unexpectedly for stock or a sudden car repair. Where can you turn to for a small business loan with bad credit?
The post Getting small business loans with bad credit appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/01/bad-credit-loans-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Getting, small, business, loans, with, bad, credit</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Fast business funding and loans</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fast-business-funding-and-loans</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fast-business-funding-and-loans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Worried about cash flow for your small business? Need cash fast? Find out more about fast business funding and who the key providers are
The post Fast business funding and loans appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/06/Fast-funding-scaled-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Fast, business, funding, and, loans</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI chip startup Cerebras files for IPO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-chip-startup-cerebras-files-for-ipo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-chip-startup-cerebras-files-for-ipo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In recent months, the company announced an agreement with Amazon Web Services to use Cerebras chips in Amazon data centers, as well as a deal with OpenAI reportedly worth more than $10 billion. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ASW-Chip_tour-servers.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>chip, startup, Cerebras, files, for, IPO</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>VC Ron Conway says he has a ‘rare form of cancer’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vc-ron-conway-says-he-has-a-rare-form-of-cancer</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vc-ron-conway-says-he-has-a-rare-form-of-cancer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Conway wrote that he “will be stepping back from some of my usual activities,” but he will “continue to support” founders backed by his firm SV Angel. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ron-conway-147a4107.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ron, Conway, says, has, ‘rare, form, cancer’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tesla brings its robotaxi service to Dallas and Houston</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-brings-its-robotaxi-service-to-dallas-and-houston</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-brings-its-robotaxi-service-to-dallas-and-houston</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company now offers robotaxi service in three cities, all of them in Texas, after launching in Austin last year and starting to offer rides without safety drivers in January 2026. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/tesla-getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tesla, brings, its, robotaxi, service, Dallas, and, Houston</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Blue Origin successfully re&#45;uses a New Glenn rocket for the first time ever</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blue-origin-successfully-re-uses-a-new-glenn-rocket-for-the-first-time-ever</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blue-origin-successfully-re-uses-a-new-glenn-rocket-for-the-first-time-ever</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It&#039;s a major milestone for the company&#039;s new mega-rocket system, putting it in position to challenge SpaceX&#039;s dominance of the global launch market. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-19-at-7.41.48-AM.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Blue, Origin, successfully, re-uses, New, Glenn, rocket, for, the, first, time, ever</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cracks are starting to form on fusion energy’s funding boom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cracks-are-starting-to-form-on-fusion-energys-funding-boom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cracks-are-starting-to-form-on-fusion-energys-funding-boom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fusion startups and investors risk deepening fissures if some key disagreements aren&#039;t settled amicably. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/GettyImages-1092180978.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cracks, are, starting, form, fusion, energy’s, funding, boom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Trump lawyers confirm talks with Scott Bessent’s IRS to resolve $10 billion lawsuit over leaked tax returns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-lawyers-confirm-talks-with-scott-bessents-irs-to-resolve-10-billion-lawsuit-over-leaked-tax-returns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-lawyers-confirm-talks-with-scott-bessents-irs-to-resolve-10-billion-lawsuit-over-leaked-tax-returns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 2024, former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking Trump tax information. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2271127364-e1776508017842.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, lawyers, confirm, talks, with, Scott, Bessent’s, IRS, resolve, 10, billion, lawsuit, over, leaked, tax, returns</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>NJ Transit scrambles to defend $150 tickets for 9&#45;mile World Cup ride: ‘This isn’t price gouging’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nj-transit-scrambles-to-defend-150-tickets-for-9-mile-world-cup-ride-this-isnt-price-gouging</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nj-transit-scrambles-to-defend-150-tickets-for-9-mile-world-cup-ride-this-isnt-price-gouging</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;We&#039;re literally trying to recoup our costs, said NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri. The $62 million cost is only offset by $14 million in outside grants. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26107566483591.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Transit, scrambles, defend, 150, tickets, for, 9-mile, World, Cup, ride:, ‘This, isn’t, price, gouging’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dana Perino was terrified to leave the White House — until George W. Bush changed how she thinks about her career</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dana-perino-was-terrified-to-leave-the-white-house-until-george-w-bush-changed-how-she-thinks-about-her-career</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dana-perino-was-terrified-to-leave-the-white-house-until-george-w-bush-changed-how-she-thinks-about-her-career</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Former White House press secretary Dana Perino says George W. Bush taught her to stop rigid career planning and focus on now. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-76444833-e1776268759747.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dana, Perino, was, terrified, leave, the, White, House, —, until, George, Bush, changed, how, she, thinks, about, her, career</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meet the AI founders using agents to build instantly profitable 3&#45;person companies</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-the-ai-founders-using-agents-to-build-instantly-profitable-3-person-companies</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-the-ai-founders-using-agents-to-build-instantly-profitable-3-person-companies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;We launched 2.5 months ago, and right now, we have $300,000 in ARR.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1773549808956.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meet, the, founders, using, agents, build, instantly, profitable, 3-person, companies</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI’s next act: how Salesforce is turning efficiency gains into revenue</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ais-next-act-how-salesforce-is-turning-efficiency-gains-into-revenue</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ais-next-act-how-salesforce-is-turning-efficiency-gains-into-revenue</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Salesforce used AI agents to cut $100 million in support costs and handle 3 million customer conversations. Now it&#039;s deploying that tech for other things. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2256811569-e1776374316820.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>AI’s, next, act:, how, Salesforce, turning, efficiency, gains, into, revenue</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The April Cost Squeeze: Why Small Businesses Must Plan Ahead, Not Catch Up</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-april-cost-squeeze-why-small-businesses-must-plan-ahead-not-catch-up</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-april-cost-squeeze-why-small-businesses-must-plan-ahead-not-catch-up</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
For many small businesses in the UK, April has become a predictable pressure point.
Read more: 
The April Cost Squeeze: Why Small Businesses Must Plan Ahead, Not Catch Up ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2626373921.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, April, Cost, Squeeze:, Why, Small, Businesses, Must, Plan, Ahead, Not, Catch</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Desmond’s £1.3bn National Lottery battle collapses as High Court sides with Gambling Commission</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/desmonds-13bn-national-lottery-battle-collapses-as-high-court-sides-with-gambling-commission</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/desmonds-13bn-national-lottery-battle-collapses-as-high-court-sides-with-gambling-commission</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Richard Desmond&#039;s £1.3bn damages claim against the Gambling Commission over the fourth National Lottery licence awarded to Allwyn has been dismissed by the High Court.
Read more: 
Desmond’s £1.3bn National Lottery battle collapses as High Court sides with Gambling Commission ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/desmond-20160401094919667.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Desmond’s, £1.3bn, National, Lottery, battle, collapses, High, Court, sides, with, Gambling, Commission</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tesco urges ministers to ease cost burden as Iran conflict clouds outlook</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesco-urges-ministers-to-ease-cost-burden-as-iran-conflict-clouds-outlook</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesco-urges-ministers-to-ease-cost-burden-as-iran-conflict-clouds-outlook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Tesco chief Ken Murphy urges ministers to ease tax and energy costs as the grocer posts an 8.5% profit rise and widens guidance amid the Iran conflict.
Read more: 
Tesco urges ministers to ease cost burden as Iran conflict clouds outlook ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/shutterstock_699213481-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tesco, urges, ministers, ease, cost, burden, Iran, conflict, clouds, outlook</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Seres files patent for voice&#45;activated in&#45;car toilet as china’s EV makers battle for attention</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/seres-files-patent-for-voice-activated-in-car-toilet-as-chinas-ev-makers-battle-for-attention</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/seres-files-patent-for-voice-activated-in-car-toilet-as-chinas-ev-makers-battle-for-attention</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Chongqing-based EV manufacturer Seres has patented a voice-controlled in-vehicle toilet, as Chinese carmakers pile on novel features to survive a brutal price war.
Read more: 
Seres files patent for voice-activated in-car toilet as china’s EV makers battle for attention ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Toilet-chair.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Seres, files, patent, for, voice-activated, in-car, toilet, china’s, makers, battle, for, attention</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Finance chiefs sound alarm over Anthropic’s ‘mythos’ AI model amid cyber&#45;security fears</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/finance-chiefs-sound-alarm-over-anthropics-mythos-ai-model-amid-cyber-security-fears</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/finance-chiefs-sound-alarm-over-anthropics-mythos-ai-model-amid-cyber-security-fears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Finance ministers, central bankers and Barclays&#039; chief executive warn that Anthropic&#039;s new Mythos AI model could expose critical vulnerabilities in the world&#039;s financial systems.
Read more: 
Finance chiefs sound alarm over Anthropic’s ‘mythos’ AI model amid cyber-security fears ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2645234093-2.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Finance, chiefs, sound, alarm, over, Anthropic’s, ‘mythos’, model, amid, cyber-security, fears</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI bets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-leaders-new-fund-sequoia-has-raised-7b-to-expand-its-ai-bets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-leaders-new-fund-sequoia-has-raised-7b-to-expand-its-ai-bets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The fundraise is the first major capital raise under Sequoia&#039;s new leadership, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-13-at-3.33.43-PM.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>New, leaders, new, fund:, Sequoia, has, raised, 7B, expand, its, bets</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>SaySo is a new short&#45;form video app that aims to restore users’ trust in news</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sayso-is-a-new-short-form-video-app-that-aims-to-restore-users-trust-in-news</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sayso-is-a-new-short-form-video-app-that-aims-to-restore-users-trust-in-news</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Users are fed up with misinformation and AI slop cluttering their feeds. SaySo is a new short-form video app that delivers news from vetted creators and journalists. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SaySo-Image-1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>SaySo, new, short-form, video, app, that, aims, restore, users’, trust, news</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Loop raises $95M to build supply chain AI that predicts disruptions</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loop-raises-95m-to-build-supply-chain-ai-that-predicts-disruptions</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loop-raises-95m-to-build-supply-chain-ai-that-predicts-disruptions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The San Francisco startup closed a Series C funding round led by Antonio Gracias&#039; firm Valor, which is a major backer of xAI. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/loop-founders.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Loop, raises, 95M, build, supply, chain, that, predicts, disruptions</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Netflix plans to add a vertical video feed, use AI for recommendations</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-plans-to-add-a-vertical-video-feed-use-ai-for-recommendations</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-plans-to-add-a-vertical-video-feed-use-ai-for-recommendations</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Netflix is going to launch a TikTok-like vertical video feed within its apps this month, and plans to use AI broadly for content creation and recommendations. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2235383828.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Netflix, plans, add, vertical, video, feed, use, for, recommendations</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bluesky confirms DDoS attack is cause of continued app outages</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bluesky-confirms-ddos-attack-is-cause-of-continued-app-outages</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bluesky-confirms-ddos-attack-is-cause-of-continued-app-outages</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bluesky has been experiencing ongoing service disruptions since just before 3 a.m. ET. on April 15. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bluesky-GettyImages-2185144073.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bluesky, confirms, DDoS, attack, cause, continued, app, outages</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis on the long game of AI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-deepminds-demis-hassabis-on-the-long-game-of-ai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-deepminds-demis-hassabis-on-the-long-game-of-ai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 1988, a London pre-teen with a penchant for programming and gaming wrote a version of the classic board game Othello—also known as Reversi—for his Amiga 500 home computer. Teaching a piece of software to play the game was an ambitious coding project for someone so young.
And with that, Demis Hassabis notched his first achievement in the field of artificial intelligence.
The Othello-playing app “beat my kid brother, who was only five at the time,” Hassabis remembers. “It was an ‘a-ha’ moment for me, because I just thought, ‘Wow, it’s incredible that you can make a program that’s inanimate and it can go off and do something on your behalf.&#039;”
That proved to be a fateful epiphany. More than two decades later, it led to him cofounding DeepMind, the AI startup that did much to push the technology forward, both before and after its acquisition by Google in 2014. In 2023, Google merged DeepMind with Google Brain, its other highly productive AI arm, and named Hassabis as CEO of the combined operation, Google DeepMind. The AI model he oversees, Gemini, is now at the heart of Google products used by billions of people.
Long before the fruits of DeepMind’s work were everywhere, the company was a research lab whose early focus was on training algorithms to play games. That didn’t just connect them back to Hassabis’s childhood Othello app. From the very dawn of AI, researchers have used gaming as a canvas for discovery. For example, back in 2019, I wrote about a 1960 TV special that documented IBM’s checkers-playing computer.
Games are so powerful as a research tool because they’re “a microcosm of something important in real life,” explains Hassabis. “And we get to practice it many times in an environment that’s serious, but not serious, in a sense.”
Last month marked the tenth anniversary of the capstone to that quest—a history-making moment not just for DeepMind, but the entire AI field. The 2,500-year-old Chinese board game Go had been considered, in Hassabis’s words, “the Mount Everest of game AI”—so deep and mystical in its mechanics that for years, computers struggled to play it even poorly, let alone well. But from March 9-15 2016, in a match held in Seoul, DeepMind’s AlphaGo software beat Lee Sedol, Go’s world champion, four games to one.


Demis Hassabis speaks at DeepMind’s match against Go world champion Lee Sedol in 2016. [Photo: Courtesy of Google DeepMind]


The victory reverberated far beyond the crowd of obsessives who had wondered if it was even possible. “Maybe, looking back on it now, it was the beginning of what we would consider the modern AI era,” says Hassabis. It was certainly tangible proof that the tech could amaze even the people responsible for its breakthroughs. It was soon joined by other signs, such as Google Brain’s June 2017 research paper on “transformers”—the fundamental ingredient that would give us generative AI.
AlphaGo also marked a transition for DeepMind. Once its AI had beaten Go, gaming was short on obvious Mount Everests to conquer, and more consequential challenges beckoned. In 2018, DeepMind unveiled the first version of AlphaFold, its algorithm for predicting protein structures. That breakthrough’s transformative implications in areas such as drug discovery and materials research inspired the creation of Isomorphic Labs, a new startup within Google’s parent company Alphabet, and led to Hassabis and DeepMind distinguished scientist John Jumper sharing the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Today, Google DeepMind’s website reflects its wide-ranging research efforts, from predicting weather to error-correcting quantum computers to understanding how dolphins communicate. But Hassabis doesn’t talk about games like they’re a musty part of his past. Indeed, he’s as engaged and proud talking about the long road that led to AlphaGo’s big win as when discussing Google DeepMind’s current activities. Gaming just happened to be the first type of artificial intelligence that captured his imagination. What he learned along the way remains as relevant as ever.
“It was obvious to me from 16, 17 years old that AI was what I was going to do with my career,” he says. “And, if it could work, the biggest thing of all time.”
From chess to Pong to Go
By the time Hassabis tackled Othello on his Amiga, he was already an old hand at board-game wizardry. At four, he took up chess. At eight, he’d earned enough playing it competitively to buy his first computer. At 13, he became the world’s second-highest rated player under the age of 14, after the legendary Judit Polgár.


On the left, a young Demis Hassabis makes his move. [Photo: Courtesy of Google DeepMind]


Hassabis credits his time as a chess prodigy with sharpening his skills at problem-solving, visualization, and thinking clearly under pressure; it doesn’t seem a stretch to guess that it might have been a boon to his self-confidence as well. “There aren’t many things children can do where they can compete against adults at the highest level when they’re five or six years old,” he says. (He recommends chess as part of school curriculums and still plays it online in the middle of the night as “a gym for the mind.”)


Chess prodigy with trophy. [Photo: Courtesy of Google DeepMind]


Still a wunderkind at age 17, Hassabis won an internship at computer game studio Bullfrog after entering a competition in a magazine for Amiga users. Before long, he’d co-created Theme Park, an amusement-park simulator that sold tens of millions of copies.
Theme Park didn’t just let players choose rides. They also set prices, hired staff, operated concessions, sold stock, and otherwise optimized the business to thrive. Unlike a board game or most computer games, it offered entirely open-ended play, powered by an algorithm rather than a fixed set of rules.
As Hassabis saw his creation behave in ways he hadn’t explicitly programmed into it, his mind reeled. “The key thing was that every time someone played the game, they had a unique experience, because the AI would react to how they were playing it,” he recalls. “We got letters from kids. They sent screenshots of these amazing end states they got their theme parks into. And we had no idea you could even do that, even though we’d made the game.”


The graphics may be very 1990s, but Hassabis’s Theme Park was a pioneer in applying AI to a simulation game.


Sixteen years elapsed between Theme Park‘s release and DeepMind’s inception. During them, Hassabis earned a BA in computer science and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, with more time in the game business sandwiched in between.
When he and his friends Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman decided to start an AI company together, it was with the aspiration—even loftier in 2010 than now—of developing algorithms that could at least match human cognitive ability at typical tasks. (Legg called that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a term the entire field embraced.) But the cofounders began with a vastly more manageable project: training AI to excel at early Atari home video games such as Pong, Breakout, and Space Invaders.
Not that it was a sure thing at the time. “We might have been 20 years too early,” says Hassabis. “Nobody knew. And so we had to try it.”
The fact that the video games in question were ultra-minimalist 1970s relics didn’t result in immediate gratification. “It took months to win a single point at Pong, the simplest Atari game,” Hassabis remembers. Eventually, though, “We won the game 21-nil,” he says. “And then we could play all Atari games after another year or so.”







The technique DeepMind used to trounce Pong—deep reinforcement learning—had broad applicability in AI beyond gaming. Heartened by its progress, the company turned its attention to Go.
Though leaping directly from some of the world’s most basic games to one of unrivaled complexity might sound jarring, it may have been inexorable. Teaching AI to play Go at the highest possible level had been an irresistibly audacious goal for computer scientists since the 1970s. It had also been on Hassabis’s own mind for 20 years, even though he was only an amateur at the game himself.
As a Cambridge undergrad, he’d discussed AI and Go with a classmate, David Silver. In 2008, a program Silver had co-created, MoGo, became the first software to beat a professional Go player, albeit while competing with the advantage of a handicap. Hassabis was reunited with his old friend when Silver joined DeepMind, where he worked on the Atari project and went on to lead AlphaGo’s development.
Decades of thought had also gone into chess-playing AI before IBM’s Deep Blue beat reigning world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. But compared to Go, chess looked like Candyland. “In Go, there are 10 to the power 170 possible board positions—far more than there are atoms in the universe,” says Hassabis. That ruled out brute-force approaches such as programming the AI to handle every theoretical combination of pieces, as IBM had done for Deep Blue.
DeepMind ended up training a deep neural network with reinforcement learning to only explore meaningful moves for any given layout of pieces on the Go board. Hassabis compares the approach to infusing the algorithm with human intuition. Except AlphaGo was capable of taking more data into consideration than even the most gifted and disciplined human player, providing it with the opportunity to make decisions that felt not just intuitive, but magical.
That point was proven early in game two of AlphaGo’s match with Sedol, in a way that left jaws agape when it happened and still resonates today. For the game’s 37th move—forever after known as “Move 37″—the AI chose a play so unexpected that eyewitnesses wondered if Aja Huang, the DeepMind scientist responsible for moving AlphaGo’s pieces on the board, had made it in error.
“Lee Sedol chose that moment to go and have a smoke on the balcony,” recounts Hassabis. “He comes back in, and he sees Move 37. You see his facial expression change, and he’s sort of amazed by it. And bemused, perhaps.”


AlphaGo’s victory against Go master Sedol was dramatic at the time, and reverberates today. [Photo: Courtesy of Google DeepMind]


Everyone involved knew that no human Go master would have made Move 37. But it wasn’t clear until much later in the game if it had been remarkably smart or remarkably dumb. Eventually, however, it turned out to be essential to beating Sedol—”almost as if AlphaGo put the piece there for 100 moves later,” says Hassabis. “Not only was it unusual, it was the pivotal move to win the game. That’s what makes it one of the greatest Go moves of all time.”
Maybe you’d need to be a serious Go aficionado—which I’m not—to truly appreciate what made Move 37 special. But it’s easy to get swept up in its drama when watching AlphaGo, the 2017 documentary about the match. It continues to be fodder for courses, presentations, blog posts, and podcasts, making it a strong candidate for the most-analyzed single decision made by AI to date.
Of course, if Move 37 was merely a startling bit of board-game play, it wouldn’t be so endlessly compelling. By making it, AlphaGo showed how AI is capable of not just simulating human thought, but going beyond it. Achieving that higher state of reasoning was why DeepMind took on Go in the first place.
Subsequent research efforts such as AlphaFold have aimed to catalyze a similar effect. “The real world’s a lot harder than a game,” says Hassabis, but “You need that element of finding a new insight or new structure in the data. That’s what you’re looking for in science.” He adds that Move 37-like thinking is also apparent in current Google products such as the Deep Think version of Gemini, which is tuned for applications in science, math, and engineering.
At its best, human game play—be it on a computer, a board, or an athletic field—is always an act of creativity. Hassabis doesn’t hesitate to call Move 37 creative. But mind-blowing though it was, he doesn’t consider it equal to human creativity at its most inspired.
“It’s not true out-of-the-box creativity,” he stresses. “Because that would be something like [telling] the AI system, ‘Come up with an elegant game that only takes a few hours to play. It takes five minutes to learn the rules, but several lifetimes to master. And it’s esoterically beautiful as well.&#039;”
In other words, he says, AI must do more than conjure up additional moments like Move 37 to prove its creative bona fides: “It needs to invent a game as deep and as beautiful as Go—and obviously, with today’s systems, we’re nowhere near that.” That gives AI researchers at Google DeepMind and elsewhere another gaming Everest to scale—and we humans comforting evidence that we remain unbeatable, for now, on at least one meaningful front. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, DeepMind’s, Demis, Hassabis, the, long, game</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Allbirds stock is already falling after the AI pivot. History suggests investors should proceed with caution</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/allbirds-stock-is-already-falling-after-the-ai-pivot-history-suggests-investors-should-proceed-with-caution</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/allbirds-stock-is-already-falling-after-the-ai-pivot-history-suggests-investors-should-proceed-with-caution</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ After rising by more than 580% in a single trading session yesterday, shares of Allbirds Inc. (Nasdaq: BIRD) fell this morning in premarket trading, at one point more than 30%.



The steep rise and now potential fall in the stock price followed the company’s unexpected announcement that it intends to transition from a sustainable shoemaker to an AI compute infrastructure provider.



But while AI-obsessed investors initially cheered the odd move, history suggests the pivot may be a challenging one to pull off in the long run. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Yesterday, San Francisco-based Allbirds, whose wool footwear had been popular with Silicon Valley locals, announced something completely unexpected: it would stop making shoes and instead become yet another AI company.



Specifically, Allbirds said it will “pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.” 



In other words, the company’s new business model will involve spending millions to buy GPUs, and it will then rent those GPUs out to AI developers. This GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) model puts the former shoemaker against GPUaaS juggernauts like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.



Allbirds will be changing its name to NewBird AI, while the “Allbirds” shoe brand will continue to be sold under its new owner, American Exchange Group (AXNY). Allbirds announced in March that it was selling its assets to AXNY for $39 million.



But what many found crazier than this out-of-left-field pivot was that investors absolutely ate up the news. 



After announcing its AI plans, BIRD stock soared 582% yesterday, closing at $16.99 per share. To put that into further context, BIRD stock closed at $2.49 just the day before.



Yet today, BIRD stock is already falling. If history is any guide, the shoemaker’s AI pivot might not turn out as well as investors hope.



Allbirds stock drops in premarket trading



BIRD shares experienced a steep decline this morning in premarket trading. At one point, BIRD was down more than 30%. As of this writing, premarket trading remained volatile, with shares down about 8% at press time. 



The most likely reason for the decline is simple profit-taking. Allbirds investors made massive gains yesterday, and some of those investors no doubt want to lock in those paper gains, which they do by selling the stock, thereby solidifying their profits.



Such profit-taking is very common the day after any stock has a tremendous run.



But today’s profit-taking isn’t what should worry Allbirds’ investors the most. What should worry them most is that Allbirds is not the only company to ever abandon its historic business model to pivot to a completely unrelated one just to join the latest hype train. And it didn’t work out well for the most notorious example.



The specter of Long Island Iced Tea



In 2011, the Long Island Iced Tea Corp was founded. As the company’s name suggests, it was a beverage company that made ready-to-drink iced tea products. 



But in 2017, when investors were throwing their money at any company operating in the then-burgeoning hot blockchain space, Long Island Iced Tea Corp decided to go all-in on the blockchain hype.



While the company said it would continue to operate its beverage business, it said it intended to shift “its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology.” 



As part of this shift, Long Island Iced Tea Corp changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp.



And with that “blockchain” keyword in the name, boy did investors bite.



As noted by CNN, Long Island’s stock price surged by as much as 380% on the pivot news. But from there, things went downhill. Its blockchain pivot never really materialized, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation. In the end, the company’s once surging stock was delisted from the Nasdaq.



While the Long Island Iced Tea Corp’s story doesn’t mean the same thing will happen to every company that pivots its business model, it is a stark example of the potential challenges that lie ahead—possible risks for investors—when a company announces a radical shift toward the latest sector that just happens to be taking Wall Street by storm.



Whether Allbirds’ pivot will be successful remains to be seen. But it may serve investors best in the long term to proceed with caution before jumping into such an abrupt change of direction. Maybe sit back and have a nice glass of iced tea first.



This story is developing… ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Allbirds, stock, already, falling, after, the, pivot., History, suggests, investors, should, proceed, with, caution</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Canva is officially ‘an AI platform with design tools’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-is-officially-an-ai-platform-with-design-tools</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-is-officially-an-ai-platform-with-design-tools</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Canva built its 265-million-person audience by being the easy-to-use, template-friendly design tool for everyone. And when generative AI arrived, it quickly integrated the technology.



Now, Canva is amongst the leading spenders on compute from platforms like ChatGPT, it’s building its own models and acquiring its own AI companies, and it’s launching even more AI design features as part of its Canva AI 2.0 release that it’s announcing today.



But the headline marks a deeper, philosophical shift within Canva: From being “a design platform with AI tools” to becoming an “AI platform with design tools.”



[Image: Canva]



Connecting with Canva’s CEO, Mel Perkins, I asked about the motivation behind this repositioning. In this age of AI, much of the industry has been discussing what you could call either a flattening or a war between the roles of designers, product managers, and engineers. Was Canva responding to this trend? 



In response, Perkins pulls up an old idea from 2011 called Canvas Chef, which looks a lot like the Google Search page but with wood paneling and some kitchen kitsch. 



“From the very early stages, we always believed that you could just be able to type in whatever you want and kind of get kickstarted straight away,” she says. “Obviously, it has been a very long journey to get to this point in time, but really, that is actually what we’re launching today.”



Canva AI 2.0 looks like Perkins’s 15-year-old vision, and also the Canva you already know. The real difference now is that Canva’s existing AI tab—which is pretty much a search bar—has been supercharged with more capabilities. 



A big upgrade is around connecting services. You can now link Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, Zoom, and Notion—plus it’ll crawl for an answer on the web, or even search your old Canva projects—allowing Canva to bring in relevant information that I imagine will be particularly valuable to marketers. 



[Image: Canva]



Whereas you used to be able to create a somewhat generic deck from a prompt, now you can infuse that deck with data that’s lurking in your emails or spreadsheets. Other upgrades allow you to do a lot more when AI-editing that deck. Formerly, it was a one-shot, generate-the-whole-thing-for-me ask. Now, you can actually edit individual slides with AI prompts instead of starting over. Similar capabilities exist for brand templates. Before, if you didn’t start a project with your brand standards, you couldn’t always update them retroactively. Now, AI will transform any design you throw at it to be more on-brand.



[Image: Canva]



And of course, Canva will develop interactive projects, too, which publish straight to the web.



“When we launched Canva, the huge innovation was we went from pixel editing, where you had to very deeply know the tools, to object editing, where you could just lay things out,” says Perkins. “And now with Canva AI 2.0 we’re actually moving into concept editing, where you can put in a concept it can then assemble it for you on the fly.” 



That said, Canva isn’t removing any of the physical tools people are used to. For this big update and grand repositioning, Canva’s vibe is largely unchanged. The more radical updates live under the hood, developed by Canva’s 100+ person AI research team.



Multi-agents made invisible



Behind the scenes, Canva provides this upgraded AI toolset by offering AI agents to its users—but those users never actually see them. I’m told that Canva’s own AI layer sits between its app and the external AI services it queries, juggling a complicated, multi-agent workflow that the Valley’s top coders are addicted to, without ever asking the user to think about more than one AI question at once. Perkins says this is what allows complicated tasks, that might need to remove the background of an image and generate copy and apply brand standards at the same time.



[Image: Canva]



As the capabilities stack up, I wonder if Canva’s subscription prices can offer people the amount of AI processing they’ll need to take advantage of the service. Canva is ahead of this issue, as it’s introducing a special AI Pass that, for $100/mo, offers Pro users 40x more AI and Business users 20x more AI.



Despite Canva’s aggressive incorporation of AI, I still can’t help but wonder if it’s being experimental enough, as AI feels poised to melt the boundaries of media as we know them. Canva is excellent at reducing the friction around creating things, but it’s not all that deep for experimentation or exploration. And it’s not challenging the status quo of the prompt.



CJ Jones, head of GenAI design at Canva, says the company is rolling out the AI features that its users are asking for. And the fact is that, today, a lot of their users aren’t graphic design professionals who are artists with a mouse. Instead, most people are using AI to remove backgrounds in images and translate text to English (as many users are not native English speakers).



Even still, Jones insists that Canva is thinking more experimentally in the larger term, taking a patient, car company approach to redesigning its own software over time.



“Part of our product development process is looking at two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, and what we’ll do from there is [consider] this might be a really wild idea that completely redesigns Canva,” says Jones. “But we have to keep in mind our base right now…How easy is it to move them from where we are today to that? And so what we’ll do is look at the core of that vision, and how we want to bring that [to the product].” 



Canva AI 2.0 launches today in a preview to Pro and Business customers. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Canva, officially, ‘an, platform, with, design, tools’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Social Security COLA prediction for 2027 could mean bad news for seniors</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-security-cola-prediction-for-2027-could-mean-bad-news-for-seniors</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-security-cola-prediction-for-2027-could-mean-bad-news-for-seniors</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) could stay at 2.8% in 2027, the same as its rate for this year.



That’s the latest prediction from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) and mirrors 2026’s COLA. If enacted in October, it would increase the average benefits check from $2,024.77 to $2,081.46—a $56.69 increase. 



The TSCL finds the 2.8% increase concerning due to high costs of living, such as rents and mortgages. 



“The fact is that most senior households already get by on only about 58% as much income as their working-age counterparts, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a middle-class or working-class American who thinks the economy is doing well right now, especially as oil prices rise,” TSCL executive director Shannon Benton said in a statement. 



She added: “Reforming Social Security needs to follow a two-pronged approach, strengthening revenues and benefits at the same time to ensure prosperity for all Americans, of all ages.”



How was the COLA prediction calculated? 



The nonpartisan senior group’s prediction uses a model incorporating the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Federal Reserve interest rate, and the national unemployment rate. It releases a new figure monthly, but has maintained a predicted 2.8% COLA since February. 



The predicted COLA comes as Congress has proposed capping Social Security payments at $50,000 for one person and $100,000 for couples. 



The “Six Figure Limit” aims to prevent looming insolvency—something that is on track to occur in seven years. 



However, the TSCL claims most seniors aren’t in favor of the cap, instead in favor of getting rid of a $184,500 limit on income receiving Social Security tax. 



Notably, TSCL’s prediction is just one estimate floating around. 



For instance, independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst Mary Johnson has predicted a COLA of 3.2%, CNBC reports. This figure is up from Johnson’s March prediction of 1.7%, a shift she attributes to rising gas prices. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Social, Security, COLA, prediction, for, 2027, could, mean, bad, news, for, seniors</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What’s next for Live Nation? Jury reaches verdict in antitrust case over Ticketmaster fees</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-next-for-live-nation-jury-reaches-verdict-in-antitrust-case-over-ticketmaster-fees</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-next-for-live-nation-jury-reaches-verdict-in-antitrust-case-over-ticketmaster-fees</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Music lovers who have complained for years about Ticketmaster fees for concert tickets are surely reveling in a jury verdict Wednesday that found its parent company Live Nation has been running a harmful monopoly over large venues across the U.S.But they will have to wait to see if the verdict leads to changes that make concerts more affordable.Here are some things to know about the verdict in the closely-watched antitrust battle:



No immediate relief for concertgoers



The lawsuit, initially led by the U.S. government under former President Joe Biden, accused Live Nation of smothering competition and blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers. Days into the trial, however, President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would settle its claims against the concert giant. Some states joined the $280 million settlement, which still needs a judge’s approval, but more than 30 states pressed ahead with the trial.A federal jury in New York found that Ticketmaster had overcharged customers $1.72 per ticket in 22 states, which a judge could order the company to pay back. That could cost Live Nation hundreds of millions of dollars.“The jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter,” Live Nation said in a statement Wednesday.The verdict brings no immediate relief for concertgoers. But the states view it as a step toward opening the market to other companies in a way that will enhance competition and could slightly lower prices.“There might be a few extra dollars that will come trickle down at consumers who bought tickets through Live Nation,” said Shubha Ghosh, a law professor at Syracuse University who focuses on technology and antitrust law. “Whether ticket prices will go down in the long run, I think it largely depends.”



Verdict could cost company hundreds of millions



The next step will be determining the penalties. Beyond the hundreds of millions that Live Nation could be ordered to pay, possible sanctions could force the company to sell off some of its venues. Live Nation owns, controls booking for or has equity in hundreds of venues, and its subsidiary Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events.



Live Nation has continued to insist that it is not a monopoly.The company predicted that once the remedies phase of the case plays out and any appeals are resolved, the outcome likely won’t be much different from the deal it reached with the federal government.U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian told attorneys to meet and deliver a joint letter by next week that proposes a schedule for next steps.



Senators urge judge to scrutinize federal settlement



A group of Democratic senators wrote to the judge Wednesday after the verdict, urging him to closely scrutinize the Trump administration’s proposed settlement with Live Nation before he considers granting approval.The deal includes a cap on service fees at some amphitheaters and new ticket-selling options that could allow promoters and venues to also use Ticketmaster competitors, such as SeatGeek, Eventbrite or AXS. However, it does not separate Ticketmaster from Live Nation, which was an original goal of the Justice Department’s 2024 complaint.U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono and Peter Welch argue the deal was “negotiated under suspicious circumstances” and does not go far enough in restoring competition or protecting customers, artists and independent venues.The Justice Department has called the settlement a “win-win for everybody,” and Live Nation has said it is pleased with a deal that increases access for other promoters.







Associated Press journalists Wyatte Grantham-Philips and David Martin contributed.



—Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/AP26105688281469.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What’s, next, for, Live, Nation, Jury, reaches, verdict, antitrust, case, over, Ticketmaster, fees</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The best CRM system for your micro business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-crm-system-for-your-micro-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-crm-system-for-your-micro-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


A customer relationship management (CRM) system can really help your micro business to grow. We take a look at key features and platforms.
The post The best CRM system for your micro business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/AdobeStock_228728388-e1559665846519.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, CRM, system, for, your, micro, business</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to become a driving instructor</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-become-a-driving-instructor</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-become-a-driving-instructor</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Do you want to become a driving instructor? Here we explain the need-to-knows such as  what the tests entail and franchise vs independent
The post How to become a driving instructor appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/09/Driving-instructor-pic.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, become, driving, instructor</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Solar panel grants for businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/solar-panel-grants-for-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/solar-panel-grants-for-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Dom Walbanke on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


If your business uses solar panels, you can generate cash from National Grid suppliers for the energy you produce and do not use
The post Solar panel grants for businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2023/02/solar-panel-grants-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Solar, panel, grants, for, businesses</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to start a taxi business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-start-a-taxi-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-start-a-taxi-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Tim Adler on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Driving a minicab or a taxi has many benefits. You can work the hours you want to and supplement another career, whether you are a creative, a tradesman or even a teacher. But the biggest benefit could be the sense of performing a service for the vulnerable
The post How to start a taxi business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2023/01/Uber-driver-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, start, taxi, business</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to create a YouTube channel for your small business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-create-a-youtube-channel-for-your-small-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-create-a-youtube-channel-for-your-small-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Before you jump in and start creating content for your channel, you need to create a YouTube account for your small business. Here&#039;s how
The post How to create a YouTube channel for your small business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/10/YouTube-pic-scaled-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, create, YouTube, channel, for, your, small, business</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Amazon unveils a slimmer Fire TV Stick HD, opens Ember Artline TVs for preorder</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-unveils-a-slimmer-fire-tv-stick-hd-opens-ember-artline-tvs-for-preorder</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-unveils-a-slimmer-fire-tv-stick-hd-opens-ember-artline-tvs-for-preorder</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On Wednesday, Amazon announced the launch of its new Fire TV Stick HD and Ember Artline televisions, both now available for preorder.  Following the initial release of the first-generation Fire TV Stick HD two years ago, Amazon has created a new model that is its thinnest streaming device to date, the company says. Launched in […] ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, unveils, slimmer, Fire, Stick, HD, opens, Ember, Artline, TVs, for, preorder</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Chipmakers AMD, Arm, and Qualcomm are all investing in this buzzy self&#45;driving tech startup</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chipmakers-amd-arm-and-qualcomm-are-all-investing-in-this-buzzy-self-driving-tech-startup</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chipmakers-amd-arm-and-qualcomm-are-all-investing-in-this-buzzy-self-driving-tech-startup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Wayve&#039;s $1.2 billion Series D round, which was announced in February, keeps growing. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Wayve-Germany-02.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chipmakers, AMD, Arm, and, Qualcomm, are, all, investing, this, buzzy, self-driving, tech, startup</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Adobe’s new Firefly AI assistant can use Creative Cloud apps to complete tasks</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobes-new-firefly-ai-assistant-can-use-creative-cloud-apps-to-complete-tasks</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobes-new-firefly-ai-assistant-can-use-creative-cloud-apps-to-complete-tasks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Adobe says the assistant can work across apps like Firefly, Photoshop, Premiere, Lightroom, Express,  Illustrator and its other apps to do tasks for you. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Adobe-Firefly-Innovations-Visual-Asset.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Adobe’s, new, Firefly, assistant, can, use, Creative, Cloud, apps, complete, tasks</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Reid Hoffman weighs in on the ‘tokenmaxxing’ debate</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reid-hoffman-weighs-in-on-the-tokenmaxxing-debate</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reid-hoffman-weighs-in-on-the-tokenmaxxing-debate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Reid Hoffman says tracking AI token use can gauge adoption, but cautions it should be paired with context and not treated as a direct productivity metric. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-14-at-3.17.58-PM.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reid, Hoffman, weighs, the, ‘tokenmaxxing’, debate</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Snap is cutting 1,000 jobs, 16% of its workforce</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/snap-is-cutting-1000-jobs-16-of-its-workforce</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/snap-is-cutting-1000-jobs-16-of-its-workforce</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company cites advancements in AI for the cuts. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/snapchat-getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Snap, cutting, 1, 000, jobs, 16, its, workforce</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump’s leaky blockade: ship sneaks through and talks with Iran resume</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trumps-leaky-blockade-ship-sneaks-through-and-talks-with-iran-resume</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trumps-leaky-blockade-ship-sneaks-through-and-talks-with-iran-resume</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Two Pakistani officials said the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26102802553726-e1776169248966.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump’s, leaky, blockade:, ship, sneaks, through, and, talks, with, Iran, resume</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Trump tips $100 to DoorDash driver who dropped off 2 McDonald’s bags at White House</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-tips-100-to-doordash-driver-who-dropped-off-2-mcdonalds-bags-at-white-house</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-tips-100-to-doordash-driver-who-dropped-off-2-mcdonalds-bags-at-white-house</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ President Donald Trump had two bags of McDonald’s delivered to the Oval Office on Monday by a DoorDash driver he tipped $100, using his favorite food and a reality TV flourish to promote a tax policy he says has meant big rebates for Americans who earn gratuities. Sharon Simmons, dressed in a “DoorDash Grandma” T-shirt, walked up […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26103621191560.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, tips, 100, DoorDash, driver, who, dropped, off, McDonald’s, bags, White, House</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>‘If I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example’: OpenAI suspect’s chilling manifesto</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-i-am-going-to-advocate-for-others-to-kill-and-commit-crimes-then-i-must-lead-by-example-openai-suspects-chilling-manifesto</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-i-am-going-to-advocate-for-others-to-kill-and-commit-crimes-then-i-must-lead-by-example-openai-suspects-chilling-manifesto</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It turns out that tech executives saying their products will wipe out civilization is radicalizing the fringe. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26103841655432-e1776169676301.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘If, going, advocate, for, others, kill, and, commit, crimes, then, must, lead, example’:, OpenAI, suspect’s, chilling, manifesto</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Palantir CEO says working at his $316 billion software company is better than a degree from Harvard or Yale: ‘No one cares about the other stuff’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/palantir-ceo-says-working-at-his-316-billion-software-company-is-better-than-a-degree-from-harvard-or-yale-no-one-cares-about-the-other-stuff</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/palantir-ceo-says-working-at-his-316-billion-software-company-is-better-than-a-degree-from-harvard-or-yale-no-one-cares-about-the-other-stuff</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Sorry, Apple, Google, and OpenAI, Palantir’s billionaire boss Alex Karp says a job at his AI firm is the &quot;best credential in tech.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2059236853-e1754579616411.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Palantir, CEO, says, working, his, 316, billion, software, company, better, than, degree, from, Harvard, Yale:, ‘No, one, cares, about, the, other, stuff’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>IMF slashes global growth forecast, blaming ‘war in the Middle East’ for halted momentum</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/imf-slashes-global-growth-forecast-blaming-war-in-the-middle-east-for-halted-momentum</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/imf-slashes-global-growth-forecast-blaming-war-in-the-middle-east-for-halted-momentum</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The IMF downgraded its forecast for global growth to 3.1% in 2026 from the 3.3% it had forecast back in January. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26099555524765.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>IMF, slashes, global, growth, forecast, blaming, ‘war, the, Middle, East’, for, halted, momentum</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Founders push for ‘repeat entrepreneur relief’ to keep exit capital flowing back into UK start&#45;ups</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/founders-push-for-repeat-entrepreneur-relief-to-keep-exit-capital-flowing-back-into-uk-start-ups</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/founders-push-for-repeat-entrepreneur-relief-to-keep-exit-capital-flowing-back-into-uk-start-ups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Entrepreneurs are urging the Treasury to introduce a capital gains tax deferral for founders who reinvest exit proceeds into new UK ventures within 12 months, as lobbying intensifies around repeat entrepreneur relief.
Read more: 
Founders push for ‘repeat entrepreneur relief’ to keep exit capital flowing back into UK start-ups ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Reeves_No11.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Founders, push, for, ‘repeat, entrepreneur, relief’, keep, exit, capital, flowing, back, into, start-ups</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>UK firms risk being left behind as AI adoption gap widens, warns PwC</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-firms-risk-being-left-behind-as-ai-adoption-gap-widens-warns-pwc</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-firms-risk-being-left-behind-as-ai-adoption-gap-widens-warns-pwc</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
British companies are spending less on AI and seeing weaker returns than global leaders, with PwC warning the next 12 months are critical for UK firms to close the gap.
Read more: 
UK firms risk being left behind as AI adoption gap widens, warns PwC ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2763201555.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>firms, risk, being, left, behind, adoption, gap, widens, warns, PwC</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Virgin StartUp opens second round of free accelerator for dyslexic entrepreneurs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/virgin-startup-opens-second-round-of-free-accelerator-for-dyslexic-entrepreneurs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/virgin-startup-opens-second-round-of-free-accelerator-for-dyslexic-entrepreneurs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Virgin StartUp has opened applications for Momentum 2.0, its free accelerator programme for dyslexic entrepreneurs, running from May to July 2026 with backing from Virgin Unite and Made By Dyslexia.
Read more: 
Virgin StartUp opens second round of free accelerator for dyslexic entrepreneurs ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shutterstock_1205279446-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Virgin, StartUp, opens, second, round, free, accelerator, for, dyslexic, entrepreneurs</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Rising energy costs from Middle East conflict set to leave UK households £480 worse off this year</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rising-energy-costs-from-middle-east-conflict-set-to-leave-uk-households-480-worse-off-this-year</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rising-energy-costs-from-middle-east-conflict-set-to-leave-uk-households-480-worse-off-this-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Resolution Foundation warns typical working-age household faces 0.6% income decline as oil and gas price rises driven by Iran conflict wipe out energy cap savings.
Read more: 
Rising energy costs from Middle East conflict set to leave UK households £480 worse off this year ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2762013411.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rising, energy, costs, from, Middle, East, conflict, set, leave, households, £480, worse, off, this, year</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Government doubles down on gaming with £30m funding package as sector eyes global growth</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-doubles-down-on-gaming-with-30m-funding-package-as-sector-eyes-global-growth</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-doubles-down-on-gaming-with-30m-funding-package-as-sector-eyes-global-growth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The UK government has unveiled a £30m funding package for video game developers, doubling support for the sector through its Creative Industries Sector Plan and Industrial Strategy.
Read more: 
Government doubles down on gaming with £30m funding package as sector eyes global growth ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2503867505.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Government, doubles, down, gaming, with, £30m, funding, package, sector, eyes, global, growth</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Apple reportedly testing four designs for upcoming smart glasses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-reportedly-testing-four-designs-for-upcoming-smart-glasses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-reportedly-testing-four-designs-for-upcoming-smart-glasses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ These glasses are a step back from an ambitious plan that once called for Apple to launch a variety of mixed and augmented reality devices. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2224174932.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, reportedly, testing, four, designs, for, upcoming, smart, glasses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump officials may be encouraging banks to test Anthropic’s Mythos model</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-officials-may-be-encouraging-banks-to-test-anthropics-mythos-model</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-officials-may-be-encouraging-banks-to-test-anthropics-mythos-model</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The report is particularly surprising since the Department of Defense recently declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/anthropic-image-jagmeet-singh-techcrunch.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, officials, may, encouraging, banks, test, Anthropic’s, Mythos, model</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The largest orbital compute cluster is open for business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-largest-orbital-compute-cluster-is-open-for-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-largest-orbital-compute-cluster-is-open-for-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Kepler Communications is flying 40 GPUs in Earth orbit. And its latest customer is Sophia Space. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/KEPLER-T1-.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, largest, orbital, compute, cluster, open, for, business</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Roblox introduces ‘Kids’ and ‘Select’ accounts for age&#45;appropriate access to games and chat</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/roblox-introduces-kids-and-select-accounts-for-age-appropriate-access-to-games-and-chat</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/roblox-introduces-kids-and-select-accounts-for-age-appropriate-access-to-games-and-chat</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Users aged five to nine will be assigned to a &quot;Roblox Kids&quot; account, and users aged nine to 15 to will be put in a &quot;Roblox Select&quot; account. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/roblox-header.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Roblox, introduces, ‘Kids’, and, ‘Select’, accounts, for, age-appropriate, access, games, and, chat</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Slate Auto raises $650M to fund its affordable EV truck plans</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/slate-auto-raises-650m-to-fund-its-affordable-ev-truck-plans</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/slate-auto-raises-650m-to-fund-its-affordable-ev-truck-plans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Slate Auto&#039;s latest funding round was led by existing investor TWG Global, a firm run by LA Dodgers owner Mark Walter. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Blank-Slate-Profile_web.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Slate, Auto, raises, 650M, fund, its, affordable, truck, plans</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Workplaces are pushing out working mothers—and paying the cost</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/workplaces-are-pushing-out-working-mothersand-paying-the-cost</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/workplaces-are-pushing-out-working-mothersand-paying-the-cost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Dr. Anne Welsh had her dream job as a clinical psychologist at Harvard University Health Services, working with undergraduate and graduate students. But in 2011, while pregnant with her second child and raising a toddler at home, she decided that her 60-client caseload was no longer sustainable.



Welsh and another pregnant colleague developed a plan. They would share a caseload, splitting responsibilities so they could continue working part-time while caring for their growing families. They created a detailed job-share proposal covering logistics, scheduling, and continuity of care. Welsh brought it to their practice director. 



Their director barely glanced at it. 



Part-time work, he informed Welsh, was “too logistically complicated.” There were hundreds of other people who wanted her job. She could take it—or leave it. 



Welsh left.



She wasn’t the only one to leave. In the following years, four or five more clinicians resigned after becoming parents, including the colleague who co-created the job proposal with Welsh. The institution finally adjusted its caseload expectations, but not before inflexibility cost these parents their jobs and led to the loss of talented employees with institutional knowledge.



What looks like a personal choice is often shaped by something larger—systems that leave little room for mothers to stay. 



The forces pushing women out 



During the first half of last year, more than 455,000 women left the U.S. workforce—the sharpest decline in over 40 years for mothers of young children. 



Some have described it as opting out. Welsh says “forced out” is more accurate.



Experts point to a combination of pressures: return-to-work mandates, limited flexibility, invisible labor pressures at home, and rising childcare costs. Daycare and preschool have risen around two times the cost of overall inflation for the past year and a half.



“It means that more and more workers are being affected,” Matthew Nestler, a senior economist at KPMG, told Fast Company. “And it’s roughly 90% women, mostly women 25 to 44.” 



Many of these women are leaving their careers to become the default parent. 



At the same time, the Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that women were 6% less likely than men to seek promotions, framing the trend as an “ambition gap.” 



However, the report notes that this so-called gap is often a response to a lack of workplace support, including limited mentorship and persistent gender bias. The report also found that 25% of entry and senior-level women cite personal obligations at home as the reason they don’t want to take on more responsibilities.



Many high-achieving women, Welsh says, are caught in a psychological bind—deeply committed to their career and motherhood, yet feel as though they’re failing at both.



This “ambition paradox” is a concept explored in her forthcoming book, Ambitious Mother: From Surviving to Thriving in Your Career and at Home. Women aren’t losing ambition, she says, they’re forced to refine it. Some are doing this by starting their own companies, others by stepping back to part-time work or staying home to care for their children. 



But scaling back often comes at the expense of career advancement and long-term earning potential, a phenomenon known as the “motherhood penalty.” One Urban Institute study estimated that caregivers lose an average of $237,000 in lifetime earnings. And according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, employed mothers nationwide earned around 62 to 74 cents per dollar paid to fathers in 2022. 



The motherhood advantage that companies are losing out on



Working mothers are often viewed as less committed, driven, or focused, but the irony is that the transition into motherhood has cognitive benefits that can benefit their careers. One study found that midlife mothers with more children had “younger-looking brains,” “faster response times, and fewer errors on visual memory tasks,” and better verbal memory.



 “When you have a child, it is the most massive neuro-rewiring that you experience as a person other than in adolescence,” says Welsh, adding that mothers often become stronger in time prioritization, emotional intelligence, delegation, and boundary setting



In other words, workplaces are losing women when they are at their zenith. Companies are paying a price for this.



Those that fail to support and train mothers lose out on institutional knowledge, productivity, and profitability, says Nestler. There are also tangible financial losses: replacing mid-level employees can cost as much as double their annual salary, due to recruiting, training, and ramp-up time.



 Research also shows that companies who prioritized women’s representation outperform their peers by 18%. 



When workplaces recognize motherhood as an advantage, not a liability, they may begin promoting mothers instead of punishing them, Welsh says.



The care and keeping of working mothers 



Welsh says meaningful support starts with parental leave policies that don’t penalize either parent. 



“I’ve worked with women who returned from leave to find they were passed over for a promotion that had been on track before they left,” says Welsh. “I’ve worked with others who were told to “take it easy” when they came back, even when they were ready and eager to re-engage, and in that process had key clients or projects reassigned.” 



Allowing parents to take the leave promised to them without penalties needs to come with “clear promotion criteria, intentional re-onboarding, and ensuring people return to meaningful work rather than a narrowed scope,” adds Welsh. 



 Flexible work environments with real boundaries, not 24/7 expectations, are also imperative. 



“There are plenty of jobs that cannot be done remotely, but we can have flexibility in those cases around schedules—coming in or leaving, having a longer workday, fewer days a week…or some flexibility around structure,” says Welsh. 



She advocates for outcome-based evaluations rather than time-based ones.



 “What are we actually wanting to pay people for?” she asks. “Is it the literal time they’re sitting at their chair, or is it the impact they are making?”



Additional supports include childcare support, normalizing caretaking responsibilities, and executive coaching for working parents. 



Executive coaching helps parents to stop viewing work and family as competing forces, says Welsh, and to translate their experiences at home into intentional leadership skills that show up in the workplace, too. 



When you offer this kind of support to new parents, Welsh says companies often see “higher retention, especially at mid-career points where many women leave. You see stronger leadership pipelines because people aren’t opting out or being sidelined during these transitions. And you see managers who are more thoughtful, more decisive, and better equipped to lead teams through complexity.”



But until workplace culture evolves, working mothers are stuck feeling as if they have to choose between their family and their careers. 



The corporate ladder is not working for mothers



For decades, success has been defined by the corporate ladder—you climb up the rungs for money, power, and titles, or you fall off. However, working mothers are now redefining what career success looks like.



Instead of a ladder,  Welsh uses the analogy of a playground web to illustrate how ambition is an expansive concept that allows movement in all directions—upward, sideways, downwards, depending on someone’s needs. Lynette-Matthews-Murphy, an award-winning restaurateur in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, can relate.



Matthews-Murphy started in fashion and events, later purchased a wedding publication, which she sold three years later when the demands of motherhood felt overwhelming. She then stayed home with her toddler. But, while pregnant with her second child, her marriage fell apart. She was forced to re-enter the workforce as a single mother of two boys, an infant and a three-year-old. 



Over the years, she says her career looked like a zig-zag line, shifting careers to meet the demands of her growing boys. When the boys were in late elementary and middle school, Matthews-Murphy stepped back from her full-time job as visitor center manager in Winston-Salem to a part-time position to spend more time with them. She had remarried, making the pay cut possible. 



Two years later, she rejoined the workforce this time as an executive director for Winston-Salem’s event program. While it was a full time job and far more responsibility, she was also given flexibility such as setting her own hours and working from home, which made the job sustainable.



After her children left for college, Matthews-Murphy felt ready to reinvent her career again, and ultimately opened two award-winning restaurants, which are fixtures in the Winston-Salem community. 



Both Welsh and Matthews-Murphy have adapted and reinvented themselves multiple times. For mothers like them who step away or pull back for a season, ambition isn’t lost—it simply shifts. With support and a bit of reinvention, they can re-enter or remain in the workforce. But it takes flexibility from smart companies willing to recognize motherhood as an advantage, not a liability. In turn, they’re rewarded with a more productive, efficient, and resilient workforce. 



The companies that force mothers out will pay for it through the steep financial costs of turnover, retraining, and missed innovation they can’t easily replace. And it will be a loss of their own making.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Workplaces, are, pushing, out, working, mothers—and, paying, the, cost</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why you’re just one event away from quitting your job</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-youre-just-one-event-away-from-quitting-your-job</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-youre-just-one-event-away-from-quitting-your-job</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Below, Anthony Klotz shares five key insights from his new book, Jolted: Why We Quit, When to Stay, and Why It Matters.



Klotz is a professor of organizational behavior at UCL School of Management in London. He is best known for predicting the pandemic-related Great Resignation. He has written for the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal, and his research is regularly published in leading academic journals in management.



What’s the big idea?



Even when quitting feels like a slow burn that dances around your mind for months—or even years—the truth is that finally leaving is caused by a sudden spark. Unexpected “jolts” drive us to rethink our work, often leading to impulsive exits, but we can respond more deliberately to make smarter career moves.



Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Klotz himself—in the Next Big Idea app, or buy the book.







1. We’re all one event away from quitting our jobs.



If you were to get enough money to live as comfortably as you would like for the rest of your life, would you continue to work or stop?



Every two years since 1972, the General Social Survey has asked a representative sample of Americans this very question. For most of that time, the results have steadily indicated that around 7 out of 10 people would keep working even if they didn’t need the paycheck. Global surveys indicate similar findings. But then the pandemic hit, and the number of people reporting they would keep working if they won the lottery dropped precipitously to an all-time low. This drop corresponded with a historic surge in people quitting their jobs: the Great Resignation.



When teaching and speaking, I ask the lottery question and always find similar results. However, one time, a professional in the audience asked me to rephrase the question so that instead of asking How many people would keep working, it asked How many people would quit their jobs if they won the lottery. I have asked it in this rephrased way many times since, and consistently find that only around 10% of people would keep working at their current job if they struck it rich.




“But then the pandemic hit, and the number of people reporting they would keep working if they won the lottery dropped precipitously to an all-time low.”




What do the changes in these lottery-question responses—before and after the pandemic, and between working in general versus working at your current job—tell us about our relationship with work? We are all just one event away from quitting our jobs. These events, called jolts, happen much more frequently than lottery wins or pandemics.



2. “Jolts” are the missing piece of the quitting puzzle.



In 2005, comedian Dave Chappelle abruptly quit his TV show at the height of its success. What led him to suddenly walk away?



Organizational psychologists have studied the causes of quitting for over a century, and for most of that time, the research could be boiled down to two main reasons for turnover:




The negative parts of your job add up over time and push you toward quitting.



When positive opportunities for other jobs or careers are appealing enough, they pull you away from your current job, toward the exit door.




Push and pull. These two forces are intuitive and powerful, and they do explain why people quit in many cases. The only problem is that they only explain around half of the quitting that happens in the workforce. What about the other half, like Chappelle’s sudden turn away from success?



In the early 1990s, organizational researchers Tom Lee and Terry Mitchell found the missing piece of the puzzle. They proposed, and then provided evidence, that quitting often stems from one single event that jolts employees, causing them to rethink their relationship with work. In explaining why he left, Chappelle described one such jolt, in which the bad behavior of a single colleague during a specific episode triggered reflection, and then a strong urge to walk away from the show.



If you think back over your own life, you can probably recall some of the jolts you’ve experienced—events, big and small, that stop you in your tracks, often leading you to make major career changes.



3. You will encounter six types of jolts in your life.



Over the past three decades, researchers, including myself, have catalogued the different types of jolts that spur employees to quit:




Direct jolts stem from negative events that happen to us at work. They can range from major failures that make us question whether we are a good fit for our jobs, to minor slights like a rude comment from our boss.



Sideways jolts come to us collaterally, stemming from events that befall our coworkers. These also include when our colleagues quit their jobs, and it affects us through a process called turnover contagion.



External jolts reside outside of work, when negative events in our personal lives reveal that we need to rethink our relationship with work.



Specialized jolts such as those that strike during what is, somewhat counterintuitively, the most common time for quitting across organizations: the first year on the job.



Distant jolts don’t affect us directly, but still can jolt us. Science is increasingly revealing how and why events that happen in faraway places influence us.



Positive jolts come from the bright side of life, emerging from both the big and the mundane positive events in our lives.




Jolts are everywhere! Because jolts are so prevalent, it can be difficult to determine when we should take action in response to them, versus simply carrying on. But figuring that out is critical, given the stakes involved.



4. The honeymoon-hangover effect is real, but avoidable.



In the years following the Great Resignation, dozens of news stories reported that some workers who quit during that period ultimately regretted their decision. Some went so far as to call it the Great Regret. For those of us who study turnover, however, a spike in regret following a spike in resignations is to be expected, due to what is known as the honeymoon-hangover effect.



One of the most common mistakes people make in response to jolts is quitting too soon. Although quick quitting is sometimes warranted, it is often a one-way ticket to regret. Discovered and coined by management scholar Wendy Boswell, the honeymoon-hangover effect describes the reality that many job and career changes lead to an immediate bump in happiness and well-being, followed by a crash that leaves many workers less happy in their new role than in the one they just quit.



This crash comes from two places. First, it comes from a jolt wherein you realize that one or more expectations that you had about your new job are not going to be met. Second, it comes from the realization that you could have taken action to fix the problem in your prior job before you called it quits.




“One of the most common mistakes people make in response to jolts is quitting too soon.”




While it’s normal to have some mixed feelings after quitting a job, regret needn’t be one of them. By developing a strategy for responding to jolts that goes beyond the binary options of carrying on or walking away, we can maximize the chances of either fixing our relationship with work without quitting or quitting in a way that avoids any hangovers in our next chapter.



5. You can learn to leave better.



In 2012, Greg Smith quit his job at Goldman Sachs by publishing an op-ed in The New York Times that cast the bank in an unfavorable light. Although bridge-burning resignations remain rare, thanks to social media, examples of them are more prevalent than ever.



However, instead of actively harming their relationship with a soon-to-be former employer, most workers try to quit in a way that preserves or strengthens it. And yet, people often resign in ways that unnecessarily harm their connection to the company or don’t set them up for success in their next role. Quitting is complicated and doesn’t come with a guidebook, and you often can’t ask for help from the most useful sources of information—your current coworkers and boss. Still, we can quit better.



The pre-resignation period is critical because it’s when we decide on the reason we’ll give for our departure, who we’ll confide in (if anyone) before we put in our notice, and how we will say goodbye.




“The pre-resignation period is critical.”




Next comes the actual resignation. In my research, I’ve found that there are seven different ways people quit, and each has different consequences for their final days on the job and future relationship with their former employer.



Finally, there’s that awkward time after you’ve announced your departure but before you’ve left. When navigated well, the notice period can provide a satisfying close to one chapter of your life and a smooth transition to the next.



Enjoy our full library of Book Bites—read by the authors!—in the Next Big Idea app.



This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, you’re, just, one, event, away, from, quitting, your, job</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The 3 reasons why VCs invest: Faith, opportunity, or evidence</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-3-reasons-why-vcs-invest-faith-opportunity-or-evidence</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-3-reasons-why-vcs-invest-faith-opportunity-or-evidence</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I have spent the better part of a decade helping thousands of first-time founders raise their first round of outside capital, and evaluating thousands more for investment.



In all of these data points, I found a pattern that explains every single VC round. 



In the last six months, I’ve seen this pattern play out more dramatically than ever before. Founders are failing to raise without ever really knowing why. I find myself bringing it up again and again to help folks who are raising.



So I decided to write about it. Because every founder should know exactly where they fall, and plan accordingly.



The only 3 types of rounds in venture capital



There are three core reasons why venture capitalists make an investment: faith, opportunity, and evidence. These reasons are sequential and cumulative: Some VCs will invest on faith but no evidence, but no VCs will invest on evidence but no faith. 



Let’s break it down.



Faith-based investing



The difference between hope and faith is belief, and that’s what drives an investor to write a check at the earliest stage of a company—their belief in the founder or founding team. This belief might be based on firsthand knowledge of the founder—like a former coworker or a cousin you know well. Or it might be based on pattern-matching the founder’s background—making bets on founders with a certain university degree and two years of experience at specific hot startups or an AI lab.



All that is needed here is belief in the person or team, and little, or nothing, more. The result may be a friends-and-family round, or a giant pre-seed for a proven founder. 



Of course, not everyone gets to raise on faith. If you don’t match the pattern, don’t have prior outcomes, and don’t have rich friends and family, you are probably not going to raise a faith-based round. 



If that’s you, there’s no choice but to skip this round and go straight to the next one.



Opportunity-based investing



This is the stage at which investors start to look for more and clearer proof in the opportunity itself. The team still has to be strong—that’s table stakes. But now the team has started to show how they operate. They’ve started to target a giant total addressable market (TAM) and demonstrate an early competitive advantage. It might be an early prototype or a built-in distribution moat. Just enough to pique investors’ interest without needing prior firsthand knowledge of the founder. Most pre-seed and seed rounds today are based on opportunity. 



Evidence-based investing



As the company grows and there is more evidence to scrutinize, investors start evaluating the traction itself. The team is still important, and the opportunity still has to be enticing. But neither of these is enough. At this stage, investors will look at a company’s business performance, make some forward-looking assumptions, and calculate how much the company is worth based on the net present value of its expected future cash flows. It’s Finance 101.



For founders, the first evidence-based round can be quite the cold plunge. All of a sudden, the numbers really, really matter. Not just top-line revenue, but also pace of growth, unit economics, quality of the revenue, and repeatability of the motion. This is when the dream you’ve been selling meets cold-hard-cash reality. And unless you are among the very rarefied group of absolute top performers, that reality might hit hard.



A growing chasm



Traditionally, the shift from opportunity to evidence happened around the Series A, but this has swung wildly over the years and varies a lot based on sectors and macro factors. 



Notably, there used to be more overlap between opportunity-based and evidence-based rounds—the transition was more like going up a dial than turning on a switch.



Those days are well over.



I have never seen a bigger chasm between opportunity- and evidence-based investing than what I see today. It’s so wide that it’s more like a bifurcation—there’s a lot of VC money-chasing opportunities, there’s a lot of VC money-chasing hyperscalers, and there’s almost no VC money for anything in between.



The reason, of course, is artificial intelligence. The size of the opportunity created by the AI platform shift is unprecedented, which creates a lot of heat for certain companies at a very early stage—zero evidence necessary. The speed at which it’s happening is also unprecedented, and makes things super hard for everyone else. Even if you’re not AI-native, and even if that kind of growth shouldn’t and can’t be expected in every sector, hyperscalers like Anthropic are the new high watermark for evidence-based investing. For most companies, that watermark is phenomenally hard to reach.



This means that companies with traction that is anything less than phenomenal by hyperscaler standards are having a much harder time raising capital than ever before.



What this means for founders



Being a founder is not for the faint of heart. Once again, we’re living in unprecedented times. The way I see it, founders have two good choices, as well as some harder ones if they fall in between.



Option one is to go for broke. Raise as much as you can in your opportunity round. Raise as many opportunity rounds as you’re able. And then, swing for the fences. In finance-speak, you’re chasing alpha. Hypergrowth is possible in the age of AI, and for some founders, the best possible strategy is to go big or go home . . . the risk being the “go home” part.



Option two is to find your way to profitability. You can/should still raise as much as you can in your opportunity round, and raise as many opportunity rounds as you’re able. And then, focus on revenue and get profitable, fast. That way, you don’t have to raise against the shutdown clock or retain much more optionality for your business, and you may even seed-strap your way to a life-changing outcome. The risk here is stagnation, running out of motivation, and not finding an interested acquirer.



No man’s land



If you’re anywhere in between—if you have modest results and need more capital—your options are more limited, but you do have options. First, I’d focus on revenue quality and unit economics—even if your growth is more modest, you should be able to find investors who value strong business fundamentals. (You may have to go outside of VC to find them.) Second, keep your investors in the know—send consistent investor updates, and don’t wait until things get dire to ask for help. And finally, get creative—lower your burn and look for new sources of revenue, even if they’re not repeatable. (Pro tip: These days, you can do consulting and call it “forward deployed engineering” ?).



For every perfectly executed startup, there are many, many more companies that took a much less storied path to exit and success. It is okay not to have it all figured out. It is okay if your growth doesn’t look like Anthropic’s.



The only bad decision is to lie to yourself about where your next round will come from.



The math behind selling a dream



A note about why this all happens. There’s a truism in VC that’s hard to understand if you’ve never been in the investor’s seat: A company with no traction is more attractive to a VC than a company with traction—unless said traction is absolutely stellar.



The roots of this are the mathematics of probability. In short, the expected value of a huge-opportunity, no-evidence company is higher than the expected value of a high-opportunity, okay-evidence company. This leads a VC to lean toward the unproven moonshot nearly every time.



Here’s some simple math to illustrate. (I’m oversimplifying, so don’t @ me.)



Company A is pre-revenue, but in a super hot space. To an investor, it might appear as having a 99% chance of failure, and a 1% chance of a giant outcome. The Expected Value of Company A is ($0*99%) + ($1B*1%) = $10M.



Company B is further along. It might have reached six-figure revenue, but it took a couple of years. All of a sudden, the VC is plotting a trend line against the revenue, and it doesn’t look exponential. So, the outcome probability curve changes. Company B has a lower chance of failure, say 10%, because it has some revenue. There’s still some tiny chance that revenue will accelerate. But given the evidence, there is now a lot more certainty that the most likely outcome for Company B is a smaller acquisition.



The Expected Value of Company B is ($0*10%) + ($10M*89.9%)*($1B*0.1%) = $9.99B. Lower than the day zero moonshot, Company A.



Different investors will plot different outcome sizes and likelihoods to come to their own decision. But as a general rule, in the eyes of VCs, companies that are on a high-certainty path to an okay exit will always suffer against companies that are on a lower-certainty path to a giant exit. It’s the nature of alpha.



And that’s why, once you’ve got revenue, it’s much harder to sell the dream. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-1-91525359-why-vcs-invest.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, reasons, why, VCs, invest:, Faith, opportunity, evidence</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is a Formula One partnership worth it?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-a-formula-one-partnership-worth-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-a-formula-one-partnership-worth-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s no secret that a brand alliance with a Formula One team requires a major investment. Whether a company joins at the title level or as a technical partner, the commitment is significant. For most executives, the first question is straightforward: Is the visibility worth it? Drawing on our experience as a global cybersecurity company partnered with one of the sport’s most recognizable teams, this article offers practical insights to help organizations decide whether such partnerships align with their business goals. 



F1 delivers global exposure that few properties can match. With an estimated 800 million fans worldwide and a race calendar spanning Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia, it offers unmatched global audience reach across all major economic regions.



But exposure alone is not a strategy. F1 sits at the intersection of advanced engineering, real-time decision-making, and relentless performance standards, making it a natural platform for companies operating in performance-driven industries. That environment closely mirrors cybersecurity, where precision, speed, and innovation define outcomes. This alignment made the partnership commercially and culturally relevant. Global reach opened the door, but compatibility is what ultimately justified the investment.



Key considerations



The most important question for any company considering F1 is whether the platform and the team align with its long-term strategic objectives.



Each F1 team is a global brand with its own heritage, personality, and fan base. Strategic alignment matters. Companies should assess whether the team’s identity reinforces their brand positioning and target audience. Does your organization primarily serve consumers, businesses, or both, and does the team’s fan base reflect that mix? Are there shared attributes around quality, ambition, innovation, or performance? When alignment is authentic, the partnership feels natural and credible. When it is not, it risks feeling purely transactional.



Beyond brand fit, companies should assess whether the relationship can unlock deeper value through technology integration, storytelling, and measurable business enablement. Can your products or expertise meaningfully support the team’s operations? Can the partnership be activated across sales, marketing, talent recruitment, and executive engagement?



The hidden value of F1 partnership



Broadcast and trackside branding may be the most visible elements of an F1 partnership, but much of the real value lies in the broader media and content environment surrounding the sport.



F1 now functions as a year-round global content engine. Documentary series such as Drive to Survive, social media storytelling, team-produced digital content, and official video games extend brand visibility far beyond the two-hour race window. This continuous exposure creates a multiplier effect that traditional strategic alliances rarely achieve.



One unexpected example illustrates this shift. A major video game publisher reached out and requested permission to feature our logo in its upcoming 2026 F1 game. Inclusion in a widely distributed title means millions of players will interact with a digitally rendered team car carrying our branding, session after session. That added visibility comes at no incremental cost and reaches a younger, digitally native audience in an immersive rather than passive environment.



This evolution has fundamentally changed the economics of sports partnerships. An F1 partnership is no longer confined to race-day impressions; it becomes embedded in long-form storytelling, highlight clips, driver interviews, fan-generated content, and interactive digital platforms. Brands that treat the partnership as a dynamic storytelling platform, rather than a static placement, unlock significantly greater long-term value.



Another often overlooked dimension is the business network itself. Race weekends function as global convening platforms for senior executives and decision-makers. Access to the Paddock, the restricted area behind the pit lane where teams operate and interact during a race weekend, provides entry into a unique business environment where relationships are built in ways that traditional outreach cannot replicate. For companies seeking strategic growth, this access can generate commercial opportunities that extend well beyond marketing metrics.



Driver influence as a force multiplier



The influence of F1 drivers adds another powerful layer of value. Today’s drivers are global celebrities whose reach extends well past race weekends. They command massive followings not only for their performance on track, but for their personal lives, fashion choices, philanthropic efforts, and relationships that regularly generate headlines. They shape conversations across sport, culture, and digital media, engaging audiences well outside the sport’s core fan base.



For companies that partner with brands, that cultural relevance can significantly amplify brand impact. When a driver dominates headlines or trends on social platforms, associated brands benefit from the added attention. Realizing that value, however, requires deliberate activation. Companies must carefully plan how to collaborate with drivers, strategically integrate them into campaigns, and ensure they have the internal marketing support to capitalize on high-visibility moments.



Association with elite athletes reinforces perceptions of quality, ambition, and precision, strengthening brand positioning in competitive industries. When brands collaborate with drivers to communicate products and strategic messaging in accessible ways, they turn celebrity influence into lasting trust.



A long-term commitment



F1 is not a short-term marketing tactic. Companies that generate meaningful returns treat it as a multi-season investment aligned with defined business objectives. Before embarking on a relationship, organizations must clearly understand what they are gaining from the relationship, how it will be activated during the season and in the off-season, and whether they have the internal resources and sustained commitment to support it effectively. Success requires cross-functional alignment, disciplined planning, and the ability to deliver measurable outcomes.



For companies prepared to approach it with that level of focus and preparation, the starting lights can mark the beginning of something much bigger than sponsorship: a true partnership built on shared ambition and complementary strengths, unlocking powerful synergies and delivering greater long-term value for everyone involved. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-1-91523104-f1-partnership-value-prop.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Formula, One, partnership, worth, it</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The Pentagon is doubling down on laser weapons research</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-pentagon-is-doubling-down-on-laser-weapons-research</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-pentagon-is-doubling-down-on-laser-weapons-research</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ After months of bold promises about its directed energy weapon ambitions, the U.S. military is putting its money where its mouth is.



The U.S. Defense Department’s published a “skinny” version at its historic $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request on April 3, with plans to release additional details (including my precious justification books and their program-by-program spending plans) on April 21. While this budget release only offers a high-level view of the U.S. military’s spending priorities, a preliminary analysis indicates the Pentagon wants to pour more than $2 billion into research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&amp;E) programs involving high-energy laser weapons and other directed energy systems in fiscal year 2027.



This funding, if approved, would not just mark a major increase over the more than $1 billion in annual expenditures on directed energy RDT&amp;E over the last five years, but also significantly outpace the Pentagon’s average yearly spending on such efforts under the Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as “Star Wars”) across the entire life of that program. This might just be the most significant U.S. military investment in directed energy weapons research, well, ever.



Below, you’ll find some high-level insights on proposed directed energy weapon spending culled from the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2027 budget request.



No Significant Directed Energy Procurement (Yet)



Despite the Pentagon’ stated goal of fielding laser weapons at scale within the next three years, the procurement section of the department’s fiscal year 2027 budget request does not currently detail any major purchases to that end. The sole procurement line item explicitly for directed energy—‘Directed Energy Systems’,’ which covers the U.S. Navy’s low-power AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser weapons, according to previous budget documents—is completely zeroed out, down from the $3 million requested in fiscal year 2026 to support the eight ODIN systems already installed across the service’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer fleet.That said, the procurement documents do contain two ‘Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS)’ program elements that could encompass directed energy procurement efforts. The first program element is a defense-wide item under ‘Major Equipment, TJS [The Joint Staff]’ that includes an $800 million request (up from $732 million authorized last year), which is likely for the Pentagon’s new Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) established last year, according to the corresponding fiscal year 2027 budget documents for RDT&amp;E.



The second program element, however, is a U.S. Army item that includes a $994.1 million request (up from $693.4 million authorized last year) and previously involved the Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL) system, 24 of which the service plans to “produce and rapidly field” in the coming years as its first official directed energy program of record. Given that E-HEL units cost nearly $25 million apiece, according the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2026 budget request, the boost in the Army’s C-sUAS line item could potentially cover the procurement of additional systems. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure until the full justification books are released later in April.



Defense-Wide Laser Weapon RDT&amp;E Increases, With Room to Grow



Defense-wide laser weapon RDT&amp;E efforts overseen by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) saw significant increases in the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2027 budget request, to $44.5 million requested under the ‘High Energy Laser Advanced Component Development &amp; Prototype’ program element (up from $5.5 million in fiscal year 2026) and $201 million requested under the ‘High Energy Laser Advanced Technology Program’ (up from $120 million).



Managed by the Pentagon’s Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (JDETO), these program elements are focused on accelerating the maturation of directed energy systems like laser weapons to “enable the demonstration of military utility for mission areas” across the U.S. military, according to the department’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. The High Energy Laser Advanced Technology Program in particular includes the Joint Laser Weapon System (JLWS), a collaboration between the Army and Navy to designed to counter cruise missile threats as part of the President Donald Trump’s ‘Golden Dome for America’ missile defense shield. (It also likely includes the Pulsed High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative, a new start in fiscal year 2026 designed to explore the potential applications of pulsed laser weapons.)



There’s also the question of the Pentagon’s $580 million in RDT&amp;E funding for JIATF 401 detailed in its fiscal year 2027 budget request. While the organization is certainly interested in directed energy weapons given their potential counter-drone applications, it’s unclear from the budget documents how much of that funding will apply to such initiatives given the its expansive remit.



A Major RDT&amp;E Boost for Golden Dome Directed Energy Efforts



The Pentagon’s fiscal year 2027 budget request contains $452 million in proposed RDT&amp;E spending for the “development, integration, and assessment” of directed energy weapons in support of Golden Dome, more than triple the $142 million enacted under the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ reconciliation package that Trump signed into law in July 2025. Like last year’s funding, this particular program element is also reliant on a reconciliation package separate from the Pentagon’s base budget request.



It’s worth pointing out that this spending increase is marked as procurement, even though it’s featured in the RDT&amp;E documentation of the Pentagon’s budget request. This is likely because this proposed funding will focus on purchasing technology to develop and test prototypes or prove a concept, while the separate procurement budget title will go to acquiring systems for active fielding.



U.S. Army Laser Weapon RDT&amp;E Is Unclear



With the cancellation of the 50 kilowatt Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) and 300 kw Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) efforts, the Army now has three publicly-known laser weapons initiatives in the works: E-HEL, JLWS, and the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) that’s already actively shooting down drones (at home, at least).



Unfortunately, the fates of these projects appear ambiguous at the moment, mostly due to the structure of the Pentagon’s budget request. Apart from defense-wide programs, the budget documents only contains program elements that explicitly cover laser weapons or directed energy systems for the Navy and U.S. Air Force, but not for the Army. Indeed, AMP-HEL and E-HEL fall under the Army’s Maneuver – Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) item, while JLWS work falls under the Expanded Mission Area Missile (EMAM) program. And while both of those larger programs are poised for significant spending increases in fiscal year 2027—$460 million requested for M-SHORAD (up from $296 million) and $235 million requested for EMAM (up from $63 million)—how those funds will trickle down to their subordinate directed energy projects remains to be seen.



U.S. Navy Laser Weapon RDT&amp;E Expands



When senior Navy leaders declared that “the dream of a laser on every ship can become a real one” at the beginning of the year, they were absolutely not kidding. The service’s fiscal year 2027 budget request includes a significant increase in funding under its ‘Directed Energy and Electric Weapon Systems’ program element, with the service asking for more than $94 million in RDT&amp;E spending, up from $14.5 million in fiscal year 2026.



Without the justification books, the applications of this funding are also unclear. The service has no stated plans to procure more ODIN systems, or additional 60 kw High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) weapons beyond the lone system installed aboard the destroyer USS Preble, according to last year’s budget request. In addition, the service’s 300 kw High Energy Laser Counter [Anti-Ship Cruise Missile] Project (HELCAP) was officially slated for completion in fiscal year 2026, the budget documents say.



This leaves a few potential options to consider: the Navy’s funding boost is likely focused on either jumpstarting HELIOS development, advancing the Office of Naval Research’s 400 kw “SONGBOW’ initiative, or something related the unidentified (and potentially new) laser weapon the service reportedly tested in the Red Sea last year. We’ll have to wait for the release of this year’s justification books to find out.



U.S. Air Force Laser Weapon RDT&amp;E Shrinks, But Not By Much



Despite plans to pursue yet another airborne laser weapon and revisit ground-based laser systems to protect airbases and other installations, the Air Force’s budget request actually indicates a small decrease in RDT&amp;E funding for under its ‘Directed Energy Technology’ program element, which fell from $96 million requested in fiscal year 2026 to just under $92 million requested for fiscal year 2027. The service’s other directed energy program element, ‘Directed Energy Prototyping,’ remained zeroed out after falling from $1.31 million in fiscal year 2025 to zero in fiscal year 2026.



The Pentagon’s skinny fiscal year 2027 budget request suggests a familiar pattern for directed energy weapons: sustained (and in many cases accelerating) investment in RDT&amp;E, but no definitive signals that the technology is ready to transition into procurement and fielding at scale just yet. Despite years of promises that these systems are nearing operational relevance, the funding profile still points to a force that is continuing to experiment, refine, and prototype rather than putting them in the hands of U.S. service members in the immediate term.



Of course, that picture could shift once the full budget justification books are released later this month. But for now, the future of directed energy research and development appears brighter than ever.



This article is republished with permission from Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-1-91525120-the-pentagon-is-doubling-down-on-laser-weapons-research.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, Pentagon, doubling, down, laser, weapons, research</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Employer of Record – everything you need to know</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employer-of-record-everything-you-need-to-know</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employer-of-record-everything-you-need-to-know</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Interested in hiring overseas talent? We&#039;re delving into Employer of Record - what it is, the pros and cons and if it&#039;s right for you
The post Employer of Record – everything you need to know appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/02/GettyImages-1313246059.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Employer, Record, –, everything, you, need, know</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Stalking victim sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT fueled her abuser’s delusions and ignored her warnings</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stalking-victim-sues-openai-claims-chatgpt-fueled-her-abusers-delusions-and-ignored-her-warnings</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stalking-victim-sues-openai-claims-chatgpt-fueled-her-abusers-delusions-and-ignored-her-warnings</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ OpenAI ignored three warnings that a ChatGPT user was dangerous — including its own mass-casualty flag — while he stalked and harassed his ex-girlfriend, a new lawsuit alleges. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-1733837014-e.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Stalking, victim, sues, OpenAI, claims, ChatGPT, fueled, her, abuser’s, delusions, and, ignored, her, warnings</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Battery recycler Ascend Elements files for bankruptcy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/battery-recycler-ascend-elements-files-for-bankruptcy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/battery-recycler-ascend-elements-files-for-bankruptcy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Ascend Elements said that it will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the wake of a canceled government grant and a challenging market for lithium-ion batteries. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Ascend-Elements-Apex-1_med-2048x1365-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Battery, recycler, Ascend, Elements, files, for, bankruptcy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic temporarily banned OpenClaw’s creator from accessing Claude</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-temporarily-banned-openclaws-creator-from-accessing-claude</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-temporarily-banned-openclaws-creator-from-accessing-claude</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This ban took place after Claude&#039;s pricing changed for OpenClaw users last week. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ChatGPT-OpenClaw-Claude.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, temporarily, banned, OpenClaw’s, creator, from, accessing, Claude</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How to watch NASA’s Artemis II splash back down to Earth</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-watch-nasas-artemis-ii-splash-back-down-to-earth</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-watch-nasas-artemis-ii-splash-back-down-to-earth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ NASA&#039;s Artemis II mission has traveled farther from Earth than any mission before. Here&#039;s how to watch the crew&#039;s return landing in the Pacific Ocean. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/art002e008487large.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, watch, NASA’s, Artemis, splash, back, down, Earth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>NASA Artemis II splashes down in Pacific Ocean in ‘perfect’ landing for Moon mission</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nasa-artemis-ii-splashes-down-in-pacific-ocean-in-perfect-landing-for-moon-mission</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nasa-artemis-ii-splashes-down-in-pacific-ocean-in-perfect-landing-for-moon-mission</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Integrity craft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego just after 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/artemis-II-Getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>NASA, Artemis, splashes, down, Pacific, Ocean, ‘perfect’, landing, for, Moon, mission</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The next generation of senators has a ticking time bomb in its lap: Social Security’s impending insolvency and no plan for the national debt</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-next-generation-of-senators-has-a-ticking-time-bomb-in-its-lap-social-securitys-impending-insolvency-and-no-plan-for-the-national-debt</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-next-generation-of-senators-has-a-ticking-time-bomb-in-its-lap-social-securitys-impending-insolvency-and-no-plan-for-the-national-debt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;My hope would be that, come January, the campaign is over and [they] lay down some of the weapons and pick up some of the calculators and pencils, and try and come up with a solution.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2262890175-e1775817767872.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, next, generation, senators, has, ticking, time, bomb, its, lap:, Social, Security’s, impending, insolvency, and, plan, for, the, national, debt</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>26% of CEOs think the greatest threat to their job security is their own CFO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/26-of-ceos-think-the-greatest-threat-to-their-job-security-is-their-own-cfo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/26-of-ceos-think-the-greatest-threat-to-their-job-security-is-their-own-cfo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A new BCG stress index finds CEOs are stretched thin by growth targets, board pressure, and increasingly powerful CFOs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-85406541.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>26, CEOs, think, the, greatest, threat, their, job, security, their, own, CFO</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘Downward mobility is incredibly radicalizing’: The college bargain is broken. What comes next could reshape America</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/downward-mobility-is-incredibly-radicalizing-the-college-bargain-is-broken-what-comes-next-could-reshape-america</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/downward-mobility-is-incredibly-radicalizing-the-college-bargain-is-broken-what-comes-next-could-reshape-america</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;Creative, brilliant people are going to wake up this decade and realize the jobs that they thought they were going to have ... are gone.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-528822656.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Downward, mobility, incredibly, radicalizing’:, The, college, bargain, broken., What, comes, next, could, reshape, America</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Current price of oil as of April 10, 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-10-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-10-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When oil prices change, it affects your energy costs—and even the price of everyday items. Here’s why. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Price-of-Oil-April-10.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Current, price, oil, April, 10, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘Babies become sitting ducks’: Babies too young for vaccines remain vulnerable in measles ‘hotbed’ communities</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/babies-become-sitting-ducks-babies-too-young-for-vaccines-remain-vulnerable-in-measles-hotbed-communities</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/babies-become-sitting-ducks-babies-too-young-for-vaccines-remain-vulnerable-in-measles-hotbed-communities</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Trump administration officials have been pushing anti-vaccine experts in statehouses. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AP26096555305099-e1775828698796.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Babies, become, sitting, ducks’:, Babies, too, young, for, vaccines, remain, vulnerable, measles, ‘hotbed’, communities</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>John Lewis chairman’s pay climbs 21% to £1.2m as 3,300 roles disappear across the partnership</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-chairmans-pay-climbs-21-to-12m-as-3300-roles-disappear-across-the-partnership</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-chairmans-pay-climbs-21-to-12m-as-3300-roles-disappear-across-the-partnership</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
John Lewis Partnership chairman Jason Tarry received a 21% pay rise to £1.2m while the retailer shed 3,300 jobs across its department stores and Waitrose supermarkets.
Read more: 
John Lewis chairman’s pay climbs 21% to £1.2m as 3,300 roles disappear across the partnership ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/John_Lews_Jason_Tarry.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>John, Lewis, chairman’s, pay, climbs, 21, £1.2m, 3, 300, roles, disappear, across, the, partnership</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Britain smashes solar records as ministers greenlight country’s largest solar farm</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-smashes-solar-records-as-ministers-greenlight-countrys-largest-solar-farm</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-smashes-solar-records-as-ministers-greenlight-countrys-largest-solar-farm</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain set new solar generation records on consecutive days this week, hitting 14.4GW, as the government approved the Springwell solar farm in Lincolnshire — the UK&#039;s largest.
Read more: 
Britain smashes solar records as ministers greenlight country’s largest solar farm ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/shutterstock_1119701291-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Britain, smashes, solar, records, ministers, greenlight, country’s, largest, solar, farm</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Harrods Estates shuts up shop after 130 years as tax raids on wealthy overseas buyers take their toll</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/harrods-estates-shuts-up-shop-after-130-years-as-tax-raids-on-wealthy-overseas-buyers-take-their-toll</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/harrods-estates-shuts-up-shop-after-130-years-as-tax-raids-on-wealthy-overseas-buyers-take-their-toll</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Harrods Estates has shut its doors after 130 years, citing falling demand in London&#039;s luxury property market driven by stamp duty rises, the abolition of non-dom status and shifting buyer tastes.
Read more: 
Harrods Estates shuts up shop after 130 years as tax raids on wealthy overseas buyers take their toll ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2531095157-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Harrods, Estates, shuts, shop, after, 130, years, tax, raids, wealthy, overseas, buyers, take, their, toll</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Vinted breaks the billion&#45;euro barrier as thrifty shoppers embrace second&#45;hand fashion</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vinted-breaks-the-billion-euro-barrier-as-thrifty-shoppers-embrace-second-hand-fashion</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vinted-breaks-the-billion-euro-barrier-as-thrifty-shoppers-embrace-second-hand-fashion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Vinted revenues rose 38 per cent to €1.1bn as cash-strapped consumers turn to second-hand fashion, with the UK now its second-largest market boasting 16 million users.
Read more: 
Vinted breaks the billion-euro barrier as thrifty shoppers embrace second-hand fashion ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2195893251.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Vinted, breaks, the, billion-euro, barrier, thrifty, shoppers, embrace, second-hand, fashion</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oil price surges towards $100 as Middle East ceasefire begins to unravel</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-price-surges-towards-100-as-middle-east-ceasefire-begins-to-unravel</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-price-surges-towards-100-as-middle-east-ceasefire-begins-to-unravel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Brent crude jumps 4% towards $100 a barrel after Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli strikes, threatening 20% of global oil and gas supplies.
Read more: 
Oil price surges towards $100 as Middle East ceasefire begins to unravel ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2750893585.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, price, surges, towards, 100, Middle, East, ceasefire, begins, unravel</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Collide Capital raises $95M fund to back fintech, future&#45;of&#45;work startups</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/collide-capital-raises-95m-fund-to-back-fintech-future-of-work-startups</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/collide-capital-raises-95m-fund-to-back-fintech-future-of-work-startups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Collide Capital, founded by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, announced Thursday the close of a $95 million Fund II. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Brian-and-Aaron.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Collide, Capital, raises, 95M, fund, back, fintech, future-of-work, startups</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Radify’s sci&#45;fi plasma reactors could break China’s dominance of rare earth elements</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/radifys-sci-fi-plasma-reactors-could-break-chinas-dominance-of-rare-earth-elements</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/radifys-sci-fi-plasma-reactors-could-break-chinas-dominance-of-rare-earth-elements</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Radify Metals is developing a new way to process a variety of metals that promises to be pollution free. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-1205041726.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Radify’s, sci-fi, plasma, reactors, could, break, China’s, dominance, rare, earth, elements</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Waymo robotaxis are tracking potholes and sharing that data with Waze users</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/waymo-robotaxis-are-tracking-potholes-and-sharing-that-data-with-waze-users</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/waymo-robotaxis-are-tracking-potholes-and-sharing-that-data-with-waze-users</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Two Alphabet-owned businesses are teaming up to find potholes and share that information with cities. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2259268884.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Waymo, robotaxis, are, tracking, potholes, and, sharing, that, data, with, Waze, users</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Instagram expands its movie inspired content restrictions for teens internationally</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instagram-expands-its-movie-inspired-content-restrictions-for-teens-internationally</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instagram-expands-its-movie-inspired-content-restrictions-for-teens-internationally</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Instagram first debuted its movie rating inspired content settings in limited countries in 2025. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/instagram-app-icon-GettyImages-1046023150.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Instagram, expands, its, movie, inspired, content, restrictions, for, teens, internationally</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Spotify now lets everyone turn off all videos in its app</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotify-now-lets-everyone-turn-off-all-videos-in-its-app</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotify-now-lets-everyone-turn-off-all-videos-in-its-app</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The controls can be used to choose an audio-first experience on the app or a video-enhanced one, Spotify says. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/spotify-logo-phone-GettyImages-2236404299.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spotify, now, lets, everyone, turn, off, all, videos, its, app</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The co&#45;founder of Refinery29 makes the case for playfulness</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-co-founder-of-refinery29-makes-the-case-for-playfulness</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-co-founder-of-refinery29-makes-the-case-for-playfulness</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The airport is chaos. Lines snake beyond the designated barriers and out the doors as frazzled travelers tug their luggage and scowl at their phones, their grimaced faces even more dramatic in the harsh lighting.



I stand in the security queue, sensing the stress emanating from everyone around me like swarms of buzzing flies. A man behind me huffs with dramatic indignation, a couple ahead bickers in hissed whispers “we should have left earlier!”, and someone’s roller bag keeps thwacking my heels.



My fists clench as irritation winds me tighter. The security checkpoint seems miles away and my flight is in an hour. I feel myself being sucked into the collective vortex of misery.



Then, as we make our first zig in the queue, I catch my partner’s eye and make a split-second decision. I raise my hand for a high five.



“Yes!” I exclaim with exaggerated enthusiasm. “One turn closer!”



My partner looks momentarily confused, then a half grin lights up his face as he slaps my raised palm. A few people nearby glance over, some with bemused smiles.



When we reach the next turn, we were ready. “Turn number TWO!” We announce together, high-fiving with gusto. A woman behind us lets out a chuckle that seems to surprise even herself.



By the third turn, a family with a toddler holds up their hands for high fives before we can even offer ours. “We’re on a roll now!” the dad says, grinning.



With each zigzag, our celebration grows a little as others join our absurd celebration of incremental progress. Soon, a pocket of genuine laughter has formed in our section of the line, rippling outward like a skipped rock as others catch on to our game.



Pressured vs. playful



In that moment of travel chaos, we made a choice: instead of facing the frustrating situation with tense resentment (what I now call “The Pressured Way”) we decide to transform it through levity and connection (“The Playful Way”).



This simple shift doesn’t change our situation. We are still in the same painfully slow airport security queue. We are still at risk of missing our flight. But it changes what the situation feels like—from stress to humor, from isolation to community, storm cloud to sun break.



This choice between The Pressured Way and The Playful Way appears constantly in our lives: during technology crashes, tricky conversations, power struggles, or canceled plans. When challenges arise, we can clench our jaws and white-knuckle our way through—or we can bring imagination, inquiry, and openness to the situation. This choice isn’t just about boosting fun (thought that’s a welcome bonus), it’s about accessing new solutions, deeper camaraderie, and a richer experience of everyday life.



Playfulness isn’t one size fits all. While our airport moment involved a social game, you might express your playful side by finding beauty in the terminal architecture, creating backstories for fellow travelers, or scoring the scene with a film soundtrack—turning a mundane wait into the opening of your personal heist movie or Broadway musical.



The Pressured Way tightens our vision like horse blinders, while The Playful Way opens our peripheral sight to possibilities we’d otherwise miss entirely.



A transformative mindset



When I talk about playfulness in adulthood, I’m often met with puzzled looks. “You mean sports?” people ask. Or “Board games with friends?”. “Oh, like, work hard/play hard… partying?”



But playfulness runs deeper than scheduled recreation (though that is important). It’s not a leisure activity reserved for weekends or vacations—it’s a mindset that transforms how we experience everything.



Playfulness is:



— Finding humor and lightness even in tense moments— Navigating situations with genuine questions instead of assumptions— Staying open to possibilities rather than fixating on one “right” way— Experimenting rather than seeking perfection— Bringing an ethos of adventure to difficulties— Reimagining the mundane through reframes and games— Being willing to collaborate rather than control



When we move through the world playfully, we remain pliable, ready to adapt, change, and work with whatever comes our way: to navigate obstacles nimbly and alchemize even the most mundane tasks into micro adventures.



Playfulness is often dismissed as frivolous — a charming but dispensable quality best left in childhood alongside stuffies and imaginary friends.



But watch any child transform a cardboard box into a spaceship or a pile of sticks into a fairy house and — beyond the cute façade — you are witnessing them exercising some of humanity’s most valuable capacities: imagination, adaptation, and ingenuity.



The good news? Playfulness is part of us all — it’s standard issue for the human species. Even if you’ve left it in the drawer gathering dust, you can pick up your playfulness again and relearn to use it.



I haven’t always been able to find the high-five moments in life’s security lines. There was a time when I was deeply lost in what I now recognize as “The Pressured Way.”



Beyond burnout



During a particularly intense period building my first company, I found myself alone late one night, pen in hand, making a list titled “Ways I’m Failing RN.” It contained eleven meticulously detailed items—work projects falling behind, leadership shortcomings, fertility struggles, neglected friendships and family relationships—each one a knife twist of self-criticism. At the bottom, almost as an afterthought, I’d written: “Stressing myself out with my stress and inability to emotionally regulate.”



I was beyond burnout — overworked and under-played. Night after night, I’d come home, collapse on my apartment floor, and sob until I was empty, unable to see any of the success around me. The brilliantly colored, creative world I’d built felt like it was happening to someone else entirely. The weight of my perfectionism had become so crushing that I couldn’t imagine a way forward.



What moved me through this period wasn’t working harder or being more disciplined. It was remembering The Playful Way of life I’d learned as a child, sitting around our kitchen table in Maine with my family, brainstorming wild ideas over dinner.



Our kitchen was the beating heart of my childhood home, with its cheerful painted tiles, bright green countertops, and wall jam-packed with family photos. After my brother and I helped our parents serve dinner, the fun began. My words would tumble out in excitement: “Hey, what if we started a kids’ karaoke club?” My parents would exchange a conspiratorial glance. “Now there’s an idea!” Mom would reply, leaning forward. “What would that look like? Where would we host it?”



Between bites of penne, my brother would chime in: “We could have themed nights — Disney songs one week, pop hits the next!” My dad would smile, his laughter-creased eyes twinkling. “I love it! Now what would we name it?” Before anyone could answer, his fork was in the air, face lit up with enthusiasm. “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I know! Kiddieoke!”



These kitchen table sessions were boisterously loud, as we built upon each other’s ideas. No idea was too outrageous to explore. We were elementary schoolers doing business brainstorms—and our parents took us seriously and egged us on.



Eventually, we’d have to clear the table, do our homework, and return to our daily responsibilities. But in these moments, I learned that any endeavor could be handled with an inquisitive attitude and a spirit of adventure.



I was fortunate to have parents who showed me that wonder and whimsy could be woven into all aspects of life. My mom—a social worker, artist, gardener—and my dad—an entrepreneur, engineer, inventor—modeled what it looks like for adults to be playful while simultaneously building businesses, dealing with illness and loss, and nurturing families and communities.



My voyage of questioning took a new turn at age 15 when I found my heart fluttering like butterfly wings whenever I was around my best girl friend and realized I wasn’t just attracted to one gender. Growing up Catholic, I learned that boundaries were fixed—lines drawn between right and wrong, holy and profane, approved and forbidden forms of love. But my bisexual heart didn’t fit into hard pews or rigid boxes, it spilled out like vivid stained glass light. Luckily my mom told me that some rules were for bending so I turned to playfulness, curiously exploring and embracing the expansiveness of being queer, rather than fearing it.



Carving out play space



This current of exploration carried me to New York City, where I co-founded and built Refinery29 from a small style website into one of the most influential digital media brands for women, reaching millions with its distinctive mix of fashion, culture, and boundary-pushing storytelling.



Even in boardrooms, I carved out spaces for play—like my apricot-colored office dubbed “The Peach Pit” with its round table that became our magic circle for brainstorms. All the players around the table now were adults, so I had to take some extra measures to get the ideas flowing including doing physical shake breaks and having a lovingly bedazzled Taboo! game buzzer on hand for when anyone got into excessively “serious mode.”



Our playful approach led us to create innovative experiences like 29Rooms—a funhouse of culture that reimagined vacant warehouses into kaleidoscopic, artist-made wonderlands where 100,000 adults came through to frolic and fall down imagination rabbit holes in cities across the US.



A new chapter



In 2021, I found myself ready to begin a new chapter. But leaving the company I’d built over fifteen years was like moving out of a home you’ve loved — even when you’re ready to go, there’s still a bittersweet ache. Add to that the wild adventure of new motherhood and a global pandemic, and I was navigating multiple identity shifts at once. Daunting questions loomed: Who was I beyond the role I was most known for? What kind of parent would I become? What did I want to create next?



As I faced these huge transitions, my spirit whispered an answer: experiment! Instead of rushing to figure it all out, I turned my life into a play laboratory. I led cathartic dance parties on Zoom, created public art experiences connecting strangers in parks, took classes in improv and storytelling, and said “yes” to pretty much any foray that sparked curiosity. I dove deep into researching the power of play for our health and happiness, and piles of books stacked up on my desk.



My calendar filled up with what I lovingly called “play dates with possibility,” and something magical happened: as I led thousands of people in unlocking their vibrant spirits, I discovered my next chapter — creating spaces for playful, creative practice and shared joy.



Playfulness is my power tool and my life preserver across all aspects of my life from parenting to self care to career. It’s how I’ve come up with innovative solutions at work, built meaningful relationships, found purpose during transitions, and made memories in mundane moments. My relationship with playfulness isn’t just about joy—it’s been essential medicine for navigating life with depression, anxiety, and ADHD.







I’ve developed my own methods and seen the power of this approach transform not just my own life, but countless others I’ve worked with. And now, I’m on a mission to unlock that magic for you too—to help you dive into that giddy river that flows when we approach life with playfulness.Adapted excerpt from The Playful Way, by Piera Gelardi, and reprinted with permission from HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2026. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>People are losing it over 7&#45;Eleven merch. Welcome to the surprisingly cool world of convenience store chic</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/people-are-losing-it-over-7-eleven-merch-welcome-to-the-surprisingly-cool-world-of-convenience-store-chic</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/people-are-losing-it-over-7-eleven-merch-welcome-to-the-surprisingly-cool-world-of-convenience-store-chic</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In the world of convenience stores, 7-Eleven is undoubtedly the cool kid.  



Phoebe Bridgers named-dropped the c-store in a song, Lana Del Rey has posed in front of its parking lot, and, in Asia, the stores have become a must-visit spot.



But is the brand cool enough to wear? People seem to think so.



“Nothing could have prepared me for how hard the 7-Eleven merch website goes,” Axios congressional reporter Andrew Solender said on X this week, sparking a discussion about the brand’s merchandise website.



Some of the offerings are straightforward—a white T-shirt with 7-Eleven’s logo—while others look less like corporate swag and more like they belong to a hypebeast brand. Consider a cream-colored, ’70s-inspired knit sweater featuring a twirly serif typeface reading, “Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven.”



And some offerings are just silly, like a series of sold-out inflatable Slurpee costumes.



For many, discovering the collection has ignited a sense of irreverent excitement. “I’m going to be flooded out in 7-Eleven merch on St. Mark’s this summer,” a user added on X, referencing the famous street in Manhattan’s East Village that’s popular among young people for outdoor drinking.



But many point out that the apparel line is not new. “Omg they’ve been killin’ it for some time now. Welcome to the club,” a user responded on an X thread.



Give me convenience



The items belong to 7-Eleven’s 7Collection, an online-exclusive apparel store launched in 2022. The collection initially offered exclusive apparel and accessories inspired by the brand’s famous products, including the Big Gulp and the Slurpee. But it has since broadened its scope, tapping into its own cultural currency.



“Today, 7Collection is a creative platform for collaboration and cultural connection,” a 7-Eleven spokesperson told Fast Company. “It allows 7-Eleven to participate in the broader lifestyle of its customers, showing up across streetwear, sports, gaming, music, and other passion points in a way that feels authentic to the brand.”



With over 83,485 stores across the world, 7-Eleven has a globally recognizable logo, but it’s also become a cultural hot spot—and the brand is leaning into it.



“7-Eleven uniquely sits at the intersection of so many lifestyle touchpoints—food, sports, gaming, car culture—and we intentionally design drops that reflect the different ways fans connect with the brand in their own daily lives,” 7-Eleven added.



Take a recent collection that dropped last year as an homage to the chain’s most profitable store in the U.S., the Montauk location, a summer staple for Hamptons regulars during the warm-weather season.



“More than a store; it’s a scene and a summer ritual,” Alex Crawford, creative director and head of 7Collection, said on LinkedIn. “People weren’t just shopping at Montauk 7-Eleven. They were documenting it, tagging it, and turning it into cultural currency.”



Named “Château Montauk 7-Eleven,” the summer 7Collection was a collaboration with local artist Sean Kinney that featured his handwriting and cheeky quotes across caps, T-shirts, key chains, and more.



The collection could be spotted during DJ sets at the beach town’s popular club Surf Lodge, and even designer Cynthia Rowley stopped by the store, where the merch was available for a weekend.



Drops and designs are a collaborative effort, the company says, with an internal team identifying key cultural opportunities. Then, the team works with Craftwork Design Co., 7Collection’s agency partner, to develop design, production, and content creation.



But 7-Eleven isn’t only c-store dabbling in the apparel and accessories game.



Circle K sells polo shirts and quarter zips featuring its logo, while Wawa fans have been able to snag tumblers, hoodies, and hats for years. And still, users online can’t hide their excitement.



One user said on X: “I just know wearing that 7-Eleven cardigan would give me all the confidence I need.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>People, are, losing, over, 7-Eleven, merch., Welcome, the, surprisingly, cool, world, convenience, store, chic</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Delta Air Lines is reducing flights and raising fees as it combats fuel shock. Here’s why the stock is up anyway</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/delta-air-lines-is-reducing-flights-and-raising-fees-as-it-combats-fuel-shock-heres-why-the-stock-is-up-anyway</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/delta-air-lines-is-reducing-flights-and-raising-fees-as-it-combats-fuel-shock-heres-why-the-stock-is-up-anyway</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shares in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) are on the rise this morning after the company reported its Q1 2026 results. 



While Delta comfortably beat revenue expectations, the U.S. air carrier also addressed the biggest challenge it is currently facing, rising gas prices, and how it is working to mitigate that challenge. Here’s what you need to know.



Delta’s Q1 beats expectations, stock surges



On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines announced its Q1 2026 financial results, covering the January through March period. The results, announced before markets opened, showed the company had a strong quarter.



The company reported non-GAAP operating revenue of $14.2 billion and an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64. 



To put those numbers into greater perspective, Wall Street analysts were expecting Delta to post $14 billion in revenue and an EPS of $0.57, notes CNBC. In other words, Delta handily beat Wall Street expectations.



In a bit of fortuitous timing for Delta, the airline reported its latest earnings just hours after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a fragile two-week ceasefire, which will see the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route, reopened. 



That news sent the price of a barrel of oil plunging below the $100 mark for the first time in weeks.



It’s particularly good news for airlines like Delta, whose fuel expenditures are among their greatest potential liabilities when it comes to profitability. 



As a result of Delta’s expectation-beating Q1, combined with investor relief over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Delta shares surged in premarket trading. At the time of this writing, they are currently up more than 11% to above $73.



Delta signals how it will combat rising gas prices



But investors might not only be cheering Delta’s earnings and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Many are also likely satisfied with Delta’s game plan for offsetting higher oil and gas prices.



Along with announcing its Q1 results, Delta CEO Ed Bastian confirmed that passenger demand remains strong.



That’s normally a good thing—an airline generally wants as many customers as possible. But at a time of spiraling oil and gas prices, a strong customer base means airlines need to buy more fuel to move passengers from point A to point B. Paying higher costs can eat into profits.



To counteract this potential hit to the company’s bottom line, Bastian said that Delta would take “actions to protect our margins and cash flow.” 



Those actions include “meaningfully reducing capacity growth, with a downward bias until the fuel environment improves, and moving quickly to recapture higher fuel costs.”



To put that in plain English, it means that Delta will likely reduce the number of flights it offers, or cancel some routes altogether. This will make fewer seats available, saving on fuel costs, but that scarcity will mean Delta can charge more for the seats it does offer.



And this isn’t the only way Delta plans on combating higher fuel costs. Bastian also said the company will move “quickly to recapture higher fuel costs,” which is basically corporate-speak for passing those increased fuel costs on to customers. 



Earlier this week, Delta announced it was raising its checked baggage fee by $10, following other airlines that are doing the same. Another way Delta could recoup higher fuel costs from passengers is by adding fuel surcharges to flight prices.



DAL stock is once again green for the year



Yesterday, Delta’s stock price closed at $65.62 per share, representing a year-to-date loss of around 5.4%. But with today’s double-digit gain, DAL stock is now firmly in the green for the year.



And Delta’s isn’t the only airline stock seeing double-digit growth today. 



In addition to Delta, American Airlines Group Inc. (Nasdaq: AAL) is up 11%, United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) is up 12%, and Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is up nearly 11%, as of the time of this writing in premarket trading.



This suggests the primary factor spurring investors to buy into airline stocks this morning is the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 



However, the ceasefire is currently scheduled to last only two weeks if the warring nations cannot reach a final agreement. 



If the ceasefire expires or, worse, doesn’t hold until then, all the airline stocks getting a boost today could be in for a future beating. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Delta, Air, Lines, reducing, flights, and, raising, fees, combats, fuel, shock., Here’s, why, the, stock, anyway</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Iran, Israel, and the U.S. strike a ‘fragile’ 2&#45;week ceasefire. Here’s what to know</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/iran-israel-and-the-us-strike-a-fragile-2-week-ceasefire-heres-what-to-know</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/iran-israel-and-the-us-strike-a-fragile-2-week-ceasefire-heres-what-to-know</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire, an 11th-hour deal that allowed U.S. President Donald Trump to pull back from his threat to unleash a bombing campaign that would destroy Iranian civilization. Hours after the announcement, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks Wednesday.It was not clear if the sporadic attacks would be enough to scuttle the deal, which U.S. Vice President JD Vance called “fragile.”Even before the new strikes were reported, much about the deal was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.— Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but the terms were not clear, nor was whether ships would feel safe using the crucial transit lane for oil. It also was unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition.— Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.— The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — the elimination of which were major objectives for the U.S. and Israel in going to war — also remained unclear. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators screamed: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!” after the ceasefire announcement and burned American and Israeli flags.The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the United States. Trump warned Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” if a deal wasn’t reached.



Varying reports of ceasefire’s terms



Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the U.S. launched with Israel on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.Trump also suggested American warships would be “hangin’ around” the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. That could be a potential flashpoint in days to come.Iran’s demands for ending the war, meanwhile, include a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions, and the release of its frozen assets.In his post Wednesday, Trump said: “We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran.”It’s not clear if other Western nations would agree to that – and the other points are likely nonstarters.Pakistan said that talks to hammer out a permanent end to the war could begin in Islamabad as soon as Friday.Israel backed the U.S. ceasefire with Iran, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Wednesday that the deal doesn’t cover fighting against Hezbollah. Israel’s military said later that fighting and ground operations continue.Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, though the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the group would not stop firing at Israel unless Israel agreed to do the same.



Iran and Oman will collect shipping fees in Strait of Hormuz



While Iran could not match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz since the war began proved a tremendous strategic advantage: The chokehold roiled the world economy and raised the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.The ceasefire may formalize that control — and give Iran a new source of revenue.The plan allows for both Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they were directly involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit and will likely not be acceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said passage through the strait would be allowed under Iranian military management — further clouding the picture of who would be allowed to transit the waterway.Nevertheless, news of the ceasefire drove oil prices down and pushed stocks up Wednesday.



Fate of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs remains unclear



U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and its leadership, but they have not entirely eliminated the threats posed by Tehran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies, like Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to “dig up and remove” enriched uranium that was buried under joint U.S-Israeli strikes in June. He added that none of the material had been touched since. Any retrieval is expected to be an intensive undertaking.There was no confirmation from Iran on that.Tehran insisted for years that its nuclear program was peaceful, although it enriched uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.Iran referred to its nuclear program differently in two versions of the ceasefire plan that it released. The version in Farsi included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. That phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats with journalists.A senior Israeli official said the United States had coordinated the ceasefire with Israel in advance and said Israel’s government credited “the massive crushing of the regime’s infrastructure” with securing the agreement.Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing private diplomatic conversations, the official said Washington had committed to pressing for the removal of nuclear material and dismantling of Iran’s ballistic missile program.



Airstrikes reported in the hours after the deal is announced



Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all issued warnings about incoming missiles from Iran. That fire stopped for a time, then hostilities appeared to restart.An oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island came under attack, according to Iranian state television. Its report said that firefighters were working to contain the blaze but no one had been hurt. It did not say who launched the attack.The island is home to one of the terminals that Iran uses to export oil and gas. The U.S. military’s Central Command did not respond to questions about the strike.A short time later, the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses fired at an incoming Iranian missile barrage. Kuwait’s military forces, meanwhile, responded to an “extensive wave” of drone attacks.More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the war’s toll for days.In Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, more than 1,500 people have been killed. and 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died.In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.







Associated Press writers Edie Lederer, Natalie Melzer, Abby Sewell, and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.



—Bassem Mroue, Jon Gambrell, Samy Magdy and Sam Metz, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, Israel, and, the, U.S., strike, ‘fragile’, 2-week, ceasefire., Here’s, what, know</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>U.S.&#45;Iran ceasefire sends Wall Street soaring with crude oil prices down 16%</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-iran-ceasefire-sends-wall-street-soaring-with-crude-oil-prices-down-16</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-iran-ceasefire-sends-wall-street-soaring-with-crude-oil-prices-down-16</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Wall Street surged in Wednesday premarket trading as oil prices plunged 16% after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.Futures for the S&amp;P 500 jumped 2.7% before the opening bell and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.6%. Nasdaq futures soared 3.4%.Benchmark U.S. crude sank $18.43 to $94.52 a barrel, a nearly 16% decline. Brent crude, the international standard dropped $15.54 to $93.73 a barrel. Natural gas futures declined close to 5%.The drops reversed some of the rise in oil prices since the start of the war more than five weeks ago that had effectively blocked passage through the strait that’s a crucial route for global supplies.“Yet the mood remains one of cautious optimism rather than outright celebration,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. “The ceasefire is only two weeks long, and markets will be watching closely to see whether shipping through the Strait of Hormuz normalizes as promised and whether the fragile truce can pave the way for a more durable peace agreement.”Late Tuesday, Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets. Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.But analysts warned against too much optimism.“There is a reason to be optimistic, but it is still too early to tell, because, as you know, after all, it is Trump,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at MONEX.In equities trading, major U.S. airline stocks soared on the steep drop in oil prices. Delta and United jump more than 12% in premarket while American rose 10%. Delta on Wednesday also reported first-quarter sales and profit that came in ahead of Wall Street forecasts and said that demand remained strong with the summer travel season just a few months away.Elsewhere, in Europe France’s CAC 40 added 4.5% by midday, while the German DAX soared nearly 5%. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 2.9%.In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 5.4% to finish at 56,308.42. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 jumped 2.6% to 8,951.80. South Korea’s Kospi soared 6.9% to 5,872.34. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 3.1% to 25,893.02, while the Shanghai Composite added 2.7% to 3,995.00.In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 158.39 Japanese yen from 159.52 yen Wednesday. The euro cost $1.1701, up from $1.1597. The dollar usually becomes a safe haven during geopolitical uncertainty, so the ceasefire deal worked to lessen that appeal.







Associated Press videographer Mayuko Ono and Writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report.Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama



—Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott, AP Business Writers ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>U.S.-Iran, ceasefire, sends, Wall, Street, soaring, with, crude, oil, prices, down, 16</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Expenses Software for UK Small Businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/expenses-software-for-uk-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/expenses-software-for-uk-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post Expenses Software for UK Small Businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2013089711.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Expenses, Software, for, Small, Businesses</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The AI gold rush is pulling private wealth into riskier, earlier bets </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ai-gold-rush-is-pulling-private-wealth-into-riskier-earlier-bets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ai-gold-rush-is-pulling-private-wealth-into-riskier-earlier-bets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On a recent episode of Equity, we  talked to Arena Private Wealth to explore a growing trend: family offices bypassing VCs to gain direct exposure to AI startups, turning them from passive investors into active participants. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-493527752.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, gold, rush, pulling, private, wealth, into, riskier, earlier, bets </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Adobe launches Acrobat Spaces, a free AI&#45;powered study tool for students</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-launches-acrobat-spaces-a-free-ai-powered-study-tool-for-students</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-launches-acrobat-spaces-a-free-ai-powered-study-tool-for-students</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Adobe Acrobat Spaces is a free tool for students to use AI and create different kind of study material from documents ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2162453288.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Adobe, launches, Acrobat, Spaces, free, AI-powered, study, tool, for, students</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Waymo opens robotaxi service in Nashville, partners with Lyft</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/waymo-opens-robotaxi-service-in-nashville-partners-with-lyft</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/waymo-opens-robotaxi-service-in-nashville-partners-with-lyft</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Waymo now operates commercial robotaxi services in 11 cities, with various methods to hail. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/waymo-fleet-getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Waymo, opens, robotaxi, service, Nashville, partners, with, Lyft</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why a former AirPods engineer is now building heat pumps</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-a-former-airpods-engineer-is-now-building-heat-pumps</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-a-former-airpods-engineer-is-now-building-heat-pumps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Merino Energy has simplified the heat pump dramatically in a quest to make them cheaper and easier to install. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/merino-mono-installation.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, former, AirPods, engineer, now, building, heat, pumps</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Trump administration plans to cut cybersecurity agency’s budget by $700 million</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-administration-plans-to-cut-cybersecurity-agencys-budget-by-700-million</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-administration-plans-to-cut-cybersecurity-agencys-budget-by-700-million</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The budget proposal would force CISA to operate with a significantly lower budget than previous years, citing the government&#039;s claims that the election misinformation programs were used to &quot;target the President.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2225249178.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, administration, plans, cut, cybersecurity, agency’s, budget, 700, million</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A quantum threat to Bitcoin has some asking the unthinkable: Is it time to freeze old wallets belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-quantum-threat-to-bitcoin-has-some-asking-the-unthinkable-is-it-time-to-freeze-old-wallets-belonging-to-satoshi-nakamoto</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-quantum-threat-to-bitcoin-has-some-asking-the-unthinkable-is-it-time-to-freeze-old-wallets-belonging-to-satoshi-nakamoto</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A hacker with quantum tools could crack open old Bitcoin wallets and flood the market as soon as 2029. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-1341873850.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>quantum, threat, Bitcoin, has, some, asking, the, unthinkable:, time, freeze, old, wallets, belonging, Satoshi, Nakamoto</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Robinhood Ventures has rebounded 30% since its lackluster debut. Can the new private markets fund now withstand the mega IPOs?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/robinhood-ventures-has-rebounded-30-since-its-lackluster-debut-can-the-new-private-markets-fund-now-withstand-the-mega-ipos</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/robinhood-ventures-has-rebounded-30-since-its-lackluster-debut-can-the-new-private-markets-fund-now-withstand-the-mega-ipos</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shareholders in private companies are holding their breath as SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic look to make big splashes in the public markets. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2264482666.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Robinhood, Ventures, has, rebounded, 30, since, its, lackluster, debut., Can, the, new, private, markets, fund, now, withstand, the, mega, IPOs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The biggest mistake HR leaders make when pitching new benefits to their CFO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-biggest-mistake-hr-leaders-make-when-pitching-new-benefits-to-their-cfo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-biggest-mistake-hr-leaders-make-when-pitching-new-benefits-to-their-cfo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ HR leaders keep leading with the wrong argument. Here&#039;s what actually gets a &quot;yes.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2200097017-e1775240394523.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, biggest, mistake, leaders, make, when, pitching, new, benefits, their, CFO</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AMRO holds Asia’s 2026 growth forecast steady at 4%, but said it would have been higher if not for the Iran war</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amro-holds-asias-2026-growth-forecast-steady-at-4-but-said-it-would-have-been-higher-if-not-for-the-iran-war</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amro-holds-asias-2026-growth-forecast-steady-at-4-but-said-it-would-have-been-higher-if-not-for-the-iran-war</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;The Middle East conflict has shifted the balance of risks to the downside,” says Dong He, chief economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2268842009.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>AMRO, holds, Asia’s, 2026, growth, forecast, steady, 4, but, said, would, have, been, higher, not, for, the, Iran, war</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Current price of oil as of April 6, 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-6-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-april-6-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When oil prices change, it affects your energy costs—and even the price of everyday items. Here’s why. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Current, price, oil, April, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI’s flagship UK data centre hits the buffers in blow to Starmer’s AI ambitions</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-flagship-uk-data-centre-hits-the-buffers-in-blow-to-starmers-ai-ambitions</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-flagship-uk-data-centre-hits-the-buffers-in-blow-to-starmers-ai-ambitions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
OpenAI&#039;s flagship Stargate data centre in Tyneside has stalled with no updated timeline, casting doubt over the government&#039;s AI infrastructure ambitions and Keir Starmer&#039;s growth agenda.
Read more: 
OpenAI’s flagship UK data centre hits the buffers in blow to Starmer’s AI ambitions ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Starmer-AI.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI’s, flagship, data, centre, hits, the, buffers, blow, Starmer’s, ambitions</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Reform UK becomes first British political party to launch its own podcast</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reform-uk-becomes-first-british-political-party-to-launch-its-own-podcast</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reform-uk-becomes-first-british-political-party-to-launch-its-own-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Reform UK is launching a weekly podcast offering behind-the-scenes access to Nigel Farage and senior party figures, becoming the first British political party to produce its own show.
Read more: 
Reform UK becomes first British political party to launch its own podcast ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reform, becomes, first, British, political, party, launch, its, own, podcast</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Labour’s tax uncertainty is pushing Britain’s wealthiest towards the exit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/labours-tax-uncertainty-is-pushing-britains-wealthiest-towards-the-exit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/labours-tax-uncertainty-is-pushing-britains-wealthiest-towards-the-exit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Two-thirds of Britain&#039;s ultra-wealthy have considered leaving the UK, with inconsistent tax policies cited as a bigger factor than high rates, according to a new BDO survey of multi-millionaires.
Read more: 
Labour’s tax uncertainty is pushing Britain’s wealthiest towards the exit ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Labour’s, tax, uncertainty, pushing, Britain’s, wealthiest, towards, the, exit</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Easter and Eid collision sends British lamb prices to a record high</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/easter-and-eid-collision-sends-british-lamb-prices-to-a-record-high</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/easter-and-eid-collision-sends-british-lamb-prices-to-a-record-high</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
British lamb prices surge to record highs as Easter and Eid drive demand, with supermarket legs topping £16/kg and the UK flock at its lowest in living memory.
Read more: 
Easter and Eid collision sends British lamb prices to a record high ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Easter, and, Eid, collision, sends, British, lamb, prices, record, high</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Vince calls on Miliband to halt North Sea oil exports as Iran war rattles supply</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vince-calls-on-miliband-to-halt-north-sea-oil-exports-as-iran-war-rattles-supply</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/vince-calls-on-miliband-to-halt-north-sea-oil-exports-as-iran-war-rattles-supply</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Labour donor Dale Vince tells Ed Miliband to halt North Sea oil exports and shield Britain from Iran-driven fuel shortages, as crude tops $109 a barrel.
Read more: 
Vince calls on Miliband to halt North Sea oil exports as Iran war rattles supply ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/dale_vince.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Vince, calls, Miliband, halt, North, Sea, oil, exports, Iran, war, rattles, supply</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic is having a moment in the private markets; SpaceX could spoil the party</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-is-having-a-moment-in-the-private-markets-spacex-could-spoil-the-party</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-is-having-a-moment-in-the-private-markets-spacex-could-spoil-the-party</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Glen Anderson, president of Rainmaker Securities, says the secondary market for private shares has never been more active — with Anthropic the hottest trade around, OpenAI losing ground, and SpaceX&#039;s looming IPO poised to reshape the landscape for everyone. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, having, moment, the, private, markets, SpaceX, could, spoil, the, party</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>After fighting malware for decades, this cybersecurity veteran is now hacking drones</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/after-fighting-malware-for-decades-this-cybersecurity-veteran-is-now-hacking-drones</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/after-fighting-malware-for-decades-this-cybersecurity-veteran-is-now-hacking-drones</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mikko Hyppönen is one of the most recognizable faces of the cybersecurity industry. After fighting computer viruses, worms, and malware, for more than 35 years, he tells TechCrunch why he is now working on systems to stop killer drones. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>After, fighting, malware, for, decades, this, cybersecurity, veteran, now, hacking, drones</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic says Claude Code subscribers will need to pay extra for OpenClaw usage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-says-claude-code-subscribers-will-need-to-pay-extra-for-openclaw-usage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-says-claude-code-subscribers-will-need-to-pay-extra-for-openclaw-usage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s about to become more expensive for Claude Code subscribers to use Anthropic’s coding assistant with OpenClaw and other third-party tools. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-1396827010.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, says, Claude, Code, subscribers, will, need, pay, extra, for, OpenClaw, usage</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Embattled startup Delve has ‘parted ways’ with Y Combinator</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/embattled-startup-delve-has-parted-ways-with-y-combinator</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/embattled-startup-delve-has-parted-ways-with-y-combinator</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The controversy around Delve appears to have cost the compliance startup its relationship with accelerator Y Combinator. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Embattled, startup, Delve, has, ‘parted, ways’, with, Combinator</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Peter Thiel’s big bet on solar&#45;powered cow collars</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/peter-thiels-big-bet-on-solar-powered-cow-collars</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/peter-thiels-big-bet-on-solar-powered-cow-collars</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Why did Founders Fund invest $220 million in cattle management startup Halter? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Craig-Piggott_Halter-CEO.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Peter, Thiel’s, big, bet, solar-powered, cow, collars</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A New York Times critic used AI to write a review, but good criticism can’t be outsourced</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-new-york-times-critic-used-ai-to-write-a-review-but-good-criticism-cant-be-outsourced</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-new-york-times-critic-used-ai-to-write-a-review-but-good-criticism-cant-be-outsourced</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An author and freelance journalist has admitted to using AI to help him write a book review for The New York Times.



Alex Preston’s review of Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s novel Watching Over Her, published by The New York Times in January 2026, draws phrases and full paragraphs from Christobel Kent’s review in The Guardian. The “error” was brought to light by a reader, who alerted The New York Times to the similarities.



Preston told The Guardian he is “hugely embarassed” and “made a huge mistake.”



The Times promptly dropped Preston, calling his “reliance on A.I. and his use of unattributed work by another writer” a “clear violation of the Times’s standards.” An editor’s note now precedes the review online, advising readers of the issue and providing a link to the Guardian review.



Preston’s apology to The Guardian raises more questions than it resolves. The portion quoted online seems to speak more to the issue of unattributed work than his use of AI. It reads: “I made a serious mistake in using an AI tool on a draft review I had written, and I failed to identify and remove overlapping language from another review that the AI dropped in.” This implies that if he had removed the “overlapping” language, the issue would have been avoided.



As a literary critic and scholar, I believe the deeper question isn’t whether or not critics should do more to hide their use of AI—but the ethics of using it at all.



Why AI can’t do criticism



The role of the critic isn’t to summarize or repackage art, but to actively participate in a conversation about it. “Good criticism thrives in the complexity of its environment,” writes critic Jane Howard, who is also The Conversation’s Arts + Culture editor. “Each review sits in conversation with every other review of a piece of art, with every other review the critic has written.”



In other words, the critic is in conversation with both the artist and the audience. The critic’s emotional and intellectual engagement with art—and their translation and communication of meaning—is intrinsic to their role as mediator. That role is deeply human.



Perhaps information can be outsourced, but emotional engagement can’t. Nor can an individual perspective, filtered through one human’s reading, viewing, listening, and experiences.



Art and AI controversies



There are valid arguments outlining the functional uses of AI, and warning against significant climate repercussions. But there is also an escalating concern around the intrusion of AI into creative expression.



Last month, author Mia Ballard was accused of using AI to write her horror novel, Shy Girl. It was withdrawn from publication in the U.K. and canceled from scheduled publication in the U.S. after “readers on platforms such as Goodreads and Reddit had questioned whether sections of the text bore hallmarks of AI-generated prose,” according to The Guardian.



In 2023, German artist Boris Eldagsen sparked controversy when he revealed that his prize-winning photograph The Electrician was AI-generated. In 2025, Tilly Norwood, the first fully AI-generated “actress” ignited debate around whether so-called synthetic actors were a tool for creative expression or a threat to human creators.



In 2025, writers were “horrified” to discover that their work had been pirated by Meta to train AI systems.



If the question that underlies these examples is “What is the role of art?” this latest debacle adds “And what is the responsibility of the critic?”



Breaking a pact



Art criticism in Australia is what Howard describes as a “niche within a niche.” The sector is unbearably small, so most critics have an additional day job and are in close professional and personal proximity to the artists whose work they review.



Some critics of the critics, such as writer Gideon Haigh, have suggested this has led to a culture of what literary academic Emmett Stinson called “too-nice” criticism.



But I would argue generosity is fundamental to public-facing criticism—and that the critic reviewing in the public sphere has a responsibility to writers and readers.



The writer might safely assume that when we’re publishing a review that surmises their book’s successes and failings against its ambition, we have, at the very least, taken the time to read and carefully consider their work, and our own response to it.



This unspoken pact is broken when the writer begins to use AI—particularly when a professional reviewer like Preston seems to outsource his assessment to it.



Such fiascos point to a disturbing future where readers’ opportunities to build community and develop empathy through engagement with literature is outsourced entirely to AI.



Australian literature academic Julieanne Lamond has said, “When we write reviews we have to do it ‘naked’—as individual readers, with a public to judge our judgments.” In other words, we sit at the middle of a pact between the writer of a book and their potential readers.



Criticism can be literature



Done well, criticism is literature. As Australian author, playwright, and critic Leslie Rees argued in 1946, good literary criticism is a “real and creative service to literature.”



Popular criticism, written for the general public and published as journalism, might sit on a different playing field from scholarly criticism. But its obligation to readers—to convey real and honest opinions about books and bring readers into a conversation about literature—is no less significant. There is a shared obligation to be honest, and surely this honesty extends to a transparency about AI use.



French professor and essayist Phillipe Lejeune, best known for his work on autobiography, used the term the autobiographical pact to describe the relationship between the writer of a memoir and the reader. That is, the reader accepts what the memoirist says as truth, based on the writer’s acknowledgments of their own biases and subjectivity.



We might transfer a similar pact to the reviewer and their reader. Should the reader not be able to trust that the review they’re reading is the critic’s own?



Hannah Bowman, a literary agent from Liza Dawson Associates, recently described mistrust as the book industry’s greatest peril: “It’s essential for all parties in the publishing process to have transparency and clarity in conversations about how AI tools are being used by any party, especially in the creative process.”



In failing to disclose his use of AI, Preston has not only embarrassed himself but also broken the trust of his readers.





Bec Kavanagh is a senior tutor in publishing and creative writing at the University of Melbourne.



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>3 surprising (but simple) ways to save gas as fuel costs skyrocket</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-surprising-but-simple-ways-to-save-gas-as-fuel-costs-skyrocket</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-surprising-but-simple-ways-to-save-gas-as-fuel-costs-skyrocket</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We’re in the middle of the extended Easter holiday weekend, which usually sees millions of Americans taking long road trips to visit family or just get away. But this year, these trips will probably be more costly—at least at the pump. Still, there are steps you can take while driving to save fuel and reduce your overall gas bill.



Why are gas prices rising?



According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline passed the $4 threshold this week. That’s a price not seen since August 2022, and one that is more than $1 per gallon more expensive than just over a month earlier.



What is causing these price increases? If you’ve read a newspaper or watched the news in the past month, you can probably guess: Trump’s war with Iran, which has led to nearly complete disruption of oil shipments through the geographically critical Strait of Hormuz, upending global oil supply chains, and leading to a spike in oil prices of more than 50% over the past month.



As gas is refined from oil, any price increases in crude will eventually (and, usually, quickly) filter down to you at the pumps. How long oil prices will stay high depends on how long the war with Iran drags on—something the average driver has no control over. However, there are three surprising moves you can make to help conserve gas in your tank and keep your fuel costs down.



1. Drive slower



Yes, driving slower really does use less fuel, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s why, in addition to the safety advantages, the AAA and other transportation experts advise drivers to adhere to the speed limits posted.



But why does driving slower save gas? The AAA says that it comes down to aerodynamic friction. “On the highway, aerodynamic drag causes fuel economy to drop off significantly as speeds increase above 50 mph,” the organization notes.



If you are having trouble slowing down, it may help, mentally, to put a price on your excess speed. The US Department of Energy (DOE) says that for every 5 miles per hour driven over 50 MPH, it’s “like paying an additional $0.27 per gallon for gas.”



2. Shut off the AC



Now that Spring has arrived, temperatures will begin to rise, which means more people will turn on their air conditioners while behind the wheel. But using your AC is a great way to burn your gas.



If you’re cost-conscious about fuel prices, the AAA recommends minimizing your air conditioning use. Instead, try rolling down your windows. At first, this might seem counterintuitive: We imagine that pushing air into the car may increase drag, which burns more fuel, but the AAA says that any additional drag still uses less fuel than the AC. “Even at highway speeds, open windows have less effect on fuel economy than the engine power required to operate the air conditioning compressor,” the club notes.



As for why the AC uses fuel, Kelley Blue Book explains that your car’s AC unit is powered by the alternator, which runs on gasoline. The vehicle valuation company says that AC use can reduce your car’s fuel efficiency by as much as 10%.



3. Jettison the excess weight



The more something weighs, the more energy it needs to move from one point to the next. So the more extra stuff you have weighing down your vehicle, the more quickly you’ll burn through the gas in your tank.



This is why both the AAA and the Department of Energy recommend that you remove unnecessary objects from your vehicle. And yes, every little bit of weight removed does help increase your fuel efficiency. As the DOE notes, “An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by about 1%,” with smaller cars affected more than larger ones.



The DOE says that for every 100 pounds of weight you remove from your car, you can expect fuel savings of about 4 cents per gallon.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>surprising, but, simple, ways, save, gas, fuel, costs, skyrocket</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This turbulence&#45;tracking travel app will make your next trip more tolerable</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-turbulence-tracking-travel-app-will-make-your-next-trip-more-tolerable</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-turbulence-tracking-travel-app-will-make-your-next-trip-more-tolerable</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When we talk about travel apps, we typically talk about the types of tools that help you organize your itineraries, find worthwhile stops along your way, or maybe even just find flights (and/or fuel!) in the first place.



Those types of tools are important—but there’s another travel resource I recently ran into that might be even more invaluable.



It’s a free website that gives you unprecedented insight into exactly how much turbulence you can expect on any given flight, before you take off—as well as what the wind and overall weather conditions may mean for your odds of an on-time (or, if you’re lucky, maybe even early) arrival.



Trust me: This is one you’ll absolutely want to pack away for the future.



This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!



Your helpful eye on the sky



The next time you’re about to fly the not-so-friendly skies, take a moment to pull up a website called Turbli​ before you take off.



➜ Turbli is a free site that shows you exactly how much turbulence you’re likely to encounter on different parts of any specific flight you’re taking. (It’s also an incredibly fun name to say, as an extra little bonus. Seriously—try it out loud: Turbli. Turbli. Turbli!)



Turbli relies on the same data sources that actual airline pilots use—from advanced weather models provided by places like the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.K. Met Office.



It instantly analyzes all that info and spits back a plain-English summary and simple illustration showing you what to expect. Particularly with plane turbulence growing more frequent and severe​ as of late, having that knowledge ahead of time can make a meaningful difference in your flight experience.



⌚ It couldn’t be much easier to use, either. We’re talkin’ roughly 20 seconds of time for any flight lookup.



✅ All you do is pull up the Turbli website​ in any browser, on any device you’re using—then put your departure and arrival city into the box on the center of the screen and tell it if you’re leaving today or tomorrow.



All you need to know is your departure and arrival airport to get going with Turbli.



Turbli will then show you a list of specific flights scheduled for the path and date you selected.



Turbli shows you a selection of flight options.



Once you’ve selected your flight, you’ll see your turbulence forecast along with other relevant weather-related info.



The turbulence and wind forecasts tell you exactly what to expect at every moment of your flight.



Odds are, that’ll tell you everything you need to know. But if you want to dive in deeper, note the little “Maps” option at the top-right of those boxes.



Clicking or tapping that will take you to a live, interactive map that’ll give you even more visuals into your upcoming flight conditions.



Turbli’s interactive map is available if you really want to dive deep into the expected flying conditions.



Turbli has a detailed FAQ page​ that explains all of its forecasts, including exactly what different types of turbulence are likely to feel like in practice. (Long story short: Light turbulence is nothing, moderate makes for a bumpy flight, moderate/severe is gonna give you that roller coaster feeling but still be no actual cause for concern, and severe is likely to be quite intense but still perfectly safe as far as what modern aircrafts are designed to handle.)



Turbli does require an active internet connection to operate, as you’d expect—but other than that, there’s not much to it in terms of planning. Just pull up the site, put in your flight info, and start your next flying journey with full knowledge of what’s ahead and no sudden surprises.




Turbli is entirely web-based,​ so it’ll work in any browser and on any device you’re using—no downloads required.



It’s completely free and the passion project of a single weather-obsessed engineer. The site does accept donations​, and its creator also ​sells a related book​—but you never have to pay anything or make any purchases to use it.



The site doesn’t require any sign-ins or request any manner of personal info.




Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter—starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in truly delightful ways. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Managing AI has become its own job</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/managing-ai-has-become-its-own-job</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/managing-ai-has-become-its-own-job</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Managers are rushing to deploy AI for efficiency gains. Employees have to figure out how to make it work—and that’s sometimes harder than it seems.



Half of organizations piloted general-purpose AI tools last year, according to MIT research. But adoption and readiness aren’t the same thing. 



According to Rumman Chowdhury, former U.S. Science Envoy for AI and CEO and cofounder of Humane Intelligence, the burden is likely to fall on workers.



“There’s a lot of FOMO among C-suites and high-level execs on pressure to build AI, and then they’re also incentivized to pretend like it works really well,” she says. “If and when it doesn’t, the responsibility is on the employee who had no say in whether or not this technology was adopted and used, or even often what it was used for.”



For many employees, particularly those who don’t have a technical background, the promise of AI-driven efficiency comes with a catch: Useful output often requires time and effort that doesn’t always get counted. The gap between what these tools are supposed to do and what it actually takes to make them work has become its own job. 



Companies are figuring out whether the fix is better training or more realistic expectations around what these tools can deliver. For now, employees are absorbing the additional labor involved in prompting AI and double-checking its outputs.



“PhD-level experts in your pocket”?



Kellie Romack, chief digital information officer at enterprise software company ServiceNow, suggests managing AI is a hands-on effort. During a recent session with one of the company’s AI tools, she caught the model making a basic math error.



“I wrote back and said, I think your math is wrong,” she recalled. “It wrote back to me and said, ‘Oh, you’re right. I do have it wrong.’” Romack gave it a thumbs-down and flagged it for her team’s feedback loop. 



The cleanup that follows is a cost organizations don’t always account for. 



“There may be efficiencies of production,” Chowdhury says. “And then if you scratch beneath the surface, some of this employee frustration is like, yeah, it’s producing stuff—and then I have to spend three hours going through every citation and making sure it’s not a hallucination.”



A January 2026 Workday study of 3,200 employees found that over a third of time saved through AI is offset by rework, which the report calls an “AI tax on productivity.” 



Most leaders, the report finds, are focused on gross efficiency, or how much time AI saves. That metric doesn’t account for rework, and when it does, the net value of AI is often lower than expected. Net value, which the report defines as “time saved minus time lost,” is what shows whether AI is improving how work gets done. The only way to capture AI’s return is to move beyond hours saved and account for outcomes achieved, the report says.



The problem is the AI industry oversold what these tools could do, Chowdhury says, pointing to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s claim last year that users would have a “team of PhD-level experts in your pocket.” The result has been frustration among both employees and managers: What was promoted as transformative has turned out to be far more uneven.



“These technologies are simultaneously capable and not capable, and that’s what’s weird about it,” she says. “People who are the furthest removed from AI—the imagery they have in their head is this magical sentient being. And then they’re frustrated because . . . this isn’t a magical sentient being.”



The difference, she adds, tends to be greatest among those with the least experience using the tools.



The training gap



A 2024 study by University of Texas at Austin researchers Min Kyung Lee and Angie Zhang included a workshop with 39 primarily knowledge workers from 26 countries—with follow-up interviews conducted separately with some participants. When workers received AI training, the majority described it as superficial.



One participant recounted a colleague who used ChatGPT to generate a list of publications and didn’t realize the titles had been invented by the AI.



The consequences of using AI without proper training or context can be serious. 



Zhang recalled one participant who worked at a labor standards organization that had to fire a junior employee after their AI-assisted work repeatedly fell short. The employee kept turning to generative AI to draft labor standards, producing work that drew on standards the participant had never come across or had no bearing on the task. (The organization had not formally adopted AI but some employees had begun using it anyway.)



Some companies are trying to get ahead of the problem. IBM Consulting requires every employee to acquire a foundational generative AI badge, covering not just how to use the tools, but what they can and can’t do, says Tess Rock, associate partner for global finance transformation at IBM Consulting.



But training alone isn’t enough. What matters more is leaders who can clearly define how and where AI should be used, she says. Without that, even well-trained employees get frustrated.



“There needs to be that leadership mandate, operating model, governance-type decisions to be made, versus kind of having a population of frustrated practitioners trying to leverage this,” Rock says.



IBM Consulting is treating AI adoption like any other business discipline. It involves two-week sprints where teams pitch an AI idea with an ROI case, build it, and scale what works. What doesn’t prove value gets cut.



Working with one client, Rock’s team identified more than 200 potential AI use cases, then measured each against ROI. Half were cut immediately. The top 10 ended up driving 80% of the total value. 



“Focus on those areas that are going to drive impact, and invest there,” she says.



Making it work



Part of what makes the AI management burden so hard to address is that workers’ frustration runs deeper than the tools, Chowdhury says. Employees weren’t asked whether they wanted the tools in the first place. That puts middle managers in a difficult spot, caught between executives wanting to accelerate AI rollouts and employees pushing back.



Her advice: Don’t just push harder. Try to understand what’s actually behind the resistance. 



“The majority of the fear is that people think that ultimately management wants to replace them,” she says. “And it’s a valid fear.”



For Rock, a key question is how organizations think about AI and productivity. Too often the focus is on how much time individual employees save writing emails faster or summarizing meetings. She argues that’s the wrong unit of measurement.



“That to me is pennies on the dollar,” she says. “When people talk about productivity, it’s less about Tess Rock as an individual being more productive and [more], how do you fundamentally set up your organization to be more productive?”


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Managing, has, become, its, own, job</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why Gen Z is fangirling over Apple’s ‘Finder Guy’ mascot</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-gen-z-is-fangirling-over-apples-finder-guy-mascot</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-gen-z-is-fangirling-over-apples-finder-guy-mascot</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At first, he appeared in the top corner of a multi-slide TikTok post. Then he was spotted demurely relaxing in a lawn chair on a livestream. Finally, on March 30, Apple’s new mascot, nicknamed “Finder Guy,” made his debut—and the internet has instantly become enamored with him.



Finder Guy appeared as part of the rollout for Apple’s MacBook Neo, a colorful, affordable laptop marketed to younger consumers. For the Neo campaign, Apple introduced an entirely new TikTok brand persona on March 4, clearly making a play to capture Gen Z and Gen Alpha viewers by combining trending aesthetics with Apple’s high-design point of view. 



Popular videos have included a brain-tingling clip of an Apple-branded blush, a vibey throwback to a 1984 ad, and a goofy original song. But some eagle-eyed fans quickly became fixated on another element of the TikTok relaunch: a cute little mascot modeled after the Mac Finder icon.



Why everyone loves Finder Guy



Finder Guy is an adorably chunky, dual-toned blue creature with a rounded head and a perpetual smile. Apple is being fairly tight-lipped about him; he hasn’t been officially announced or acknowledged by the company. “Finder Guy” isn’t even his real name, just a moniker coined by the internet. The company declined to comment on his design to Fast Company.



Still, it’s fairly obvious why Apple decided to double down on the mascot. After getting mere glimpses of him in those initial TikTok slides and livestream, Apple fans were already singing his praises.



LinkedIn thinkpieces were written about his cherubic qualities. Blog posts were made about his mysterious origins. Independent designers were compelled to create mock-ups of him wearing slouchy sweaters. He was called “a baby,” “cute,” and “adorable” in almost every corner of the internet.



Ryan Benson, cofounder of the creative agency Loudmouth, which helps brands figure out how to capture attention online, says there are a few key reasons why Finder Guy has charmed so many. Like the MacBook Neo itself, Finder Guy taps into Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s yearning for a bygone tech era when Frutiger Aero aesthetics (a retro-futuristic style characterized by bubbly motifs and bright colors) coexisted with serious software developments—in other words, when Apple’s brand felt a little bit more fun. 



“I think they’re adjusting to meet their consumer,” Benson says. “Cute content with cute things for a generation that appreciates aesthetics.” 



Finder Guy’s squat build and angelic features mimic blind box characters like Smiski, Sonny Angel, and Labubu that have become an obsession for many young consumers. One fan even orchestrated an April Fool’s prank to convince his followers that Apple was creating Finder Guy blind boxes.



“It’s so simple, cute, and self-explanatory that it just begs to be remixed, edited, and have fan art made of it,” Benson explains.



“I want Apple with their whimsy turned up to 11”



Beyond the knee-jerk appeal of its cutesy design, Finder Guy feels reminiscent of a ’90s tech moment that’s become an aesthetic fascination for young shoppers. Think Apple’s colorful G3 iMac cases, Tamagotchis, and Clippy: For those who didn’t experience this exciting era firsthand, its hardware outputs seem like relics of a time when new tech wasn’t just sleek and functional but also adventurous and even silly.



“For many of these consumers, Apple was in their Metal Square era as opposed to what they’re exploring now,” Benson says. Finder Guy, he explains, feels like a callback to retro “clear Mac shells and colorful accessories”—a far cry from the clean minimalism that young shoppers traditionally associate with Apple.



That feeling has been echoed in the subreddit r/mac, where a March 31 post with more than 2,000 upvotes is dedicated to discussing users’ thoughts on Finder Guy. “I like it,” one commenter wrote, adding, “With the more colourful devices, the short films on their Youtube, the mascot . . . I like that new art direction they are going for. Making Apple more ‘fun’ again. The sterile, clean aesthetic got a bit old imo.”



Another responded, “Whimsy. I want Apple with their whimsy turned up to 11!” It seems like many of Apple’s young customers agree.


 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/04/p-1-91520603-genz-and-apple-finder-guy.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, Gen, fangirling, over, Apple’s, ‘Finder, Guy’, mascot</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>New tax year – 2026/27 – what small business owners need to know</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-tax-year-202627-what-small-business-owners-need-to-know</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-tax-year-202627-what-small-business-owners-need-to-know</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The new tax year (April 6) usually brings about a few changes for small business owners, but 2026 is going to be a big one. Here&#039;s a summary 
The post New tax year – 2026/27 – what small business owners need to know appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/2148693309.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>New, tax, year, –, 202627, –, what, small, business, owners, need, know</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>OpenAI acquires TBPN, the buzzy founder&#45;led business talk show</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-acquires-tbpn-the-buzzy-founder-led-business-talk-show</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-acquires-tbpn-the-buzzy-founder-led-business-talk-show</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TBPN, Silicon Valley&#039;s cult-favorite tech podcast, will operate independently, even as it&#039;s overseen by chief political operative Chris Lehane. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jordi_Hays_and_John_Coogan_on_set_2_1.webp" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, acquires, TBPN, the, buzzy, founder-led, business, talk, show</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Gateway Capital announces first close of $25M Fund II</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gateway-capital-announces-first-close-of-25m-fund-ii</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gateway-capital-announces-first-close-of-25m-fund-ii</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Gateway Capital, the Milwaukee-based venture firm founded by Dana Guthrie, can now begin investment operations for its $25M Fund II. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Dana-Guthrie.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gateway, Capital, announces, first, close, 25M, Fund</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Artemis II is NASA’s last moon mission without Silicon Valley </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/artemis-ii-is-nasas-last-moon-mission-without-silicon-valley</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/artemis-ii-is-nasas-last-moon-mission-without-silicon-valley</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Next time around, the pressure will be on SpaceX and Blue Origin. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/55182911054_fb70d829b3_k.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Artemis, NASA’s, last, moon, mission, without, Silicon, Valley </media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Telehealth giant Hims &amp;amp; Hers says its customer support system was hacked</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/telehealth-giant-hims-hers-says-its-customer-support-system-was-hacked</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/telehealth-giant-hims-hers-says-its-customer-support-system-was-hacked</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The U.S. telehealth giant says hackers stole customer support ticket data over the course of several days in February. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_3413.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Telehealth, giant, Hims, Hers, says, its, customer, support, system, was, hacked</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Amazon hits sellers with ‘fuel surcharge’ as Iran war roils global energy markets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-hits-sellers-with-fuel-surcharge-as-iran-war-roils-global-energy-markets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-hits-sellers-with-fuel-surcharge-as-iran-war-roils-global-energy-markets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The e-commerce giant called the surcharge &quot;temporary&quot; but couldn&#039;t give a date for when the policy would be retired. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IMG_20221023_152246-e1666570908650.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, hits, sellers, with, ‘fuel, surcharge’, Iran, war, roils, global, energy, markets</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Blend’s post&#45;IPO reset: CEO Nima Ghamsari bets that AI can turn it all around</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blends-post-ipo-reset-ceo-nima-ghamsari-bets-that-ai-can-turn-it-all-around</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blends-post-ipo-reset-ceo-nima-ghamsari-bets-that-ai-can-turn-it-all-around</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ After a $4 billion public markets peak and a mortgage market downturn, Blend is refocusing on AI-driven automation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Nima-Ghamsari-photo.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Blend’s, post-IPO, reset:, CEO, Nima, Ghamsari, bets, that, can, turn, all, around</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Ford CEO Jim Farley says America is sleepwalking past its ‘essential economy’ crisis. Goldman Sachs just showed how big it really is</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ford-ceo-jim-farley-says-america-is-sleepwalking-past-its-essential-economy-crisis-goldman-sachs-just-showed-how-big-it-really-is</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ford-ceo-jim-farley-says-america-is-sleepwalking-past-its-essential-economy-crisis-goldman-sachs-just-showed-how-big-it-really-is</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Does America have enough essential AI workers? Not really. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2237973140.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ford, CEO, Jim, Farley, says, America, sleepwalking, past, its, ‘essential, economy’, crisis., Goldman, Sachs, just, showed, how, big, really</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The hedge fund billionaire betting Miami can rival New York’s Wall Street</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-hedge-fund-billionaire-betting-miami-can-rival-new-yorks-wall-street</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-hedge-fund-billionaire-betting-miami-can-rival-new-yorks-wall-street</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Ken Griffin’s relocation playbook offers lessons on cost, talent, and regulatory strategy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2244686903.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, hedge, fund, billionaire, betting, Miami, can, rival, New, York’s, Wall, Street</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Prediction markets caught insider traders in real time. Congress wants to shut them down anyway</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/prediction-markets-caught-insider-traders-in-real-time-congress-wants-to-shut-them-down-anyway</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/prediction-markets-caught-insider-traders-in-real-time-congress-wants-to-shut-them-down-anyway</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Blockchain-based platforms Polymarket and Kalshi are doing what Wall Street regulators never could—leaving a public, immutable trail of suspicious trades. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1715935588709.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Prediction, markets, caught, insider, traders, real, time., Congress, wants, shut, them, down, anyway</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>12 Fortune 500 CEOs worked for Pepsi. Delta’s Ed Bastian explains why it’s a leadership factory</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/12-fortune-500-ceos-worked-for-pepsi-deltas-ed-bastian-explains-why-its-a-leadership-factory</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/12-fortune-500-ceos-worked-for-pepsi-deltas-ed-bastian-explains-why-its-a-leadership-factory</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On Fortune&#039;s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, Bastian explained how PepsiCo&#039;s cutthroat talent culture prepared him to lead the most profitable airline in the U.S. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/EdBastian-Fortune.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Fortune, 500, CEOs, worked, for, Pepsi., Delta’s, Bastian, explains, why, it’s, leadership, factory</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK business investment lags G7 rivals as energy costs bite</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-business-investment-lags-g7-rivals-as-energy-costs-bite</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-business-investment-lags-g7-rivals-as-energy-costs-bite</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK firms invest less than most G7 peers, with high energy costs and low capital intensity holding back productivity and growth, says IPPR.
Read more: 
UK business investment lags G7 rivals as energy costs bite ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2628086841.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>business, investment, lags, rivals, energy, costs, bite</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Roadchef secures 75&#45;year leases to unlock £300m motorway investment</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/roadchef-secures-75-year-leases-to-unlock-300m-motorway-investment</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/roadchef-secures-75-year-leases-to-unlock-300m-motorway-investment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Roadchef will invest £300m in UK motorway services after securing 75-year lease extensions, boosting EV charging, HGV facilities and retail.
Read more: 
Roadchef secures 75-year leases to unlock £300m motorway investment ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2571068701.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Roadchef, secures, 75-year, leases, unlock, £300m, motorway, investment</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK warned it will rely on US gas as calls grow to boost North Sea output</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-warned-it-will-rely-on-us-gas-as-calls-grow-to-boost-north-sea-output</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-warned-it-will-rely-on-us-gas-as-calls-grow-to-boost-north-sea-output</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain could rely on US LNG for 60% of gas by 2035, prompting calls to boost North Sea production to strengthen energy security.
Read more: 
UK warned it will rely on US gas as calls grow to boost North Sea output ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2110031327-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>warned, will, rely, gas, calls, grow, boost, North, Sea, output</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oracle cuts thousands of jobs as Ellison doubles down on AI investment</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oracle-cuts-thousands-of-jobs-as-ellison-doubles-down-on-ai-investment</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oracle-cuts-thousands-of-jobs-as-ellison-doubles-down-on-ai-investment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Oracle begins cutting thousands of jobs as it ramps up AI spending, with analysts warning up to 30,000 roles could be affected.
Read more: 
Oracle cuts thousands of jobs as Ellison doubles down on AI investment ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_788751619.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oracle, cuts, thousands, jobs, Ellison, doubles, down, investment</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Marmite and Hellmann’s to join us giant in £50bn flavour deal</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/marmite-and-hellmanns-to-join-us-giant-in-50bn-flavour-deal</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/marmite-and-hellmanns-to-join-us-giant-in-50bn-flavour-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Marmite and other iconic brands will join US group McCormick in a £50bn deal, creating a global flavour powerhouse and raising concerns over UK jobs.
Read more: 
Marmite and Hellmann’s to join us giant in £50bn flavour deal ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_736100806.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Marmite, and, Hellmann’s, join, giant, £50bn, flavour, deal</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Anthropic is having a month</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-is-having-a-month</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-is-having-a-month</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A human really borks things at Anthropic for the second time this week. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GettyImages-1570465901.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, having, month</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Toyota’s Woven Capital appoints new CIO and COO in push for finding the ‘future of mobility’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/toyotas-woven-capital-appoints-new-cio-and-coo-in-push-for-finding-the-future-of-mobility</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/toyotas-woven-capital-appoints-new-cio-and-coo-in-push-for-finding-the-future-of-mobility</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Woven Capital is the growth-stage venture capital arm of Toyota, focused on backing founders building in space, cybersecurity, and autonomous driving. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Woven-Capital.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Toyota’s, Woven, Capital, appoints, new, CIO, and, COO, push, for, finding, the, ‘future, mobility’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mercor says it was hit by cyberattack tied to compromise of open&#45;source LiteLLM project</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mercor-says-it-was-hit-by-cyberattack-tied-to-compromise-of-open-source-litellm-project</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mercor-says-it-was-hit-by-cyberattack-tied-to-compromise-of-open-source-litellm-project</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The AI recruiting startup confirmed a security incident after an extortion hacking crew took credit for stealing data from the company&#039;s systems. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/mercor-website.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mercor, says, was, hit, cyberattack, tied, compromise, open-source, LiteLLM, project</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nothing’s AI devices plan reportedly contains smart glasses and earbuds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nothings-ai-devices-plan-reportedly-contains-smart-glasses-and-earbuds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nothings-ai-devices-plan-reportedly-contains-smart-glasses-and-earbuds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The glasses will reportedly feature cameras, microphones and speakers, and will connect to a smartphone and the cloud to process AI queries. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Carl-Pei-Nothing.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nothing’s, devices, plan, reportedly, contains, smart, glasses, and, earbuds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lucid Motors recalls over 4,000 Gravity SUVs citing improperly welded seat belts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lucid-motors-recalls-over-4000-gravity-suvs-citing-improperly-welded-seat-belts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lucid-motors-recalls-over-4000-gravity-suvs-citing-improperly-welded-seat-belts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company struggled with quality issues when Gravity production started last year, and the new recall shows it&#039;s not out of the woods yet. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/lucid-gravity-suv.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lucid, Motors, recalls, over, 4, 000, Gravity, SUVs, citing, improperly, welded, seat, belts</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Memory chip stocks are falling again: Why Micron, SanDisk, WDC, and Seagate keep getting hammered</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/memory-chip-stocks-are-falling-again-why-micron-sandisk-wdc-and-seagate-keep-getting-hammered</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/memory-chip-stocks-are-falling-again-why-micron-sandisk-wdc-and-seagate-keep-getting-hammered</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It has been a bruising 24 hours for investors in memory chip storage companies, including Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK), Western Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: WDC), and Seagate Technology Holdings (Nasdaq: STX).



Yesterday, all four leaders in the memory chip space ended the day significantly lower. 



Here’s what’s happening—and why some are questioning whether the RAM shortage that has driven these companies’ stock prices to new heights will soon come to an end.



Memory chip stocks get pummeled—again



Just a few weeks ago, the sky seemed to be the limit for memory chip makers. After all, the world is in the middle of a full-blown RAM shortage, which means memory chips are in high demand.



This demand has caused the stock prices of four companies—Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital, and Seagate—to surge over the past six months, with performance that has been, simply put, eye-watering.



For example, the least best-performing stock of the four companies is Seagate, but even its stock price has risen 53% in the past six months.



Micron’s stock price has performed even better, rising 92%. Western Digital is up even more, rising 109% over the past six months.



As for SanDisk, its stock performance over the same period has been phenomenal, up more than 410%.



And keep in mind that those were the gains even after the memory chip makers’ stock prices began getting pummeled last week. 



Yesterday, that pummeling continued, with Micron shares dropping nearly 10% during the trading session, while Western Digital lost 8.6%, SanDisk lost 7%, and Seagate dropped 4.6%.



With yesterday’s dips, all four major memory chip makers have seen massive stock price declines over the past five days, with Micron down more than 20%, SanDisk down 18.5%, Western Digital down almost 15%, and Seagate down more than 10%.



The question is, why?



What the AI boom gives, it can take away



The AI boom of the past several years has led many of the world’s largest tech giants to spend hundreds of billions building massive data centers to run their AI systems. These data centers require servers that in turn require massive amounts of RAM to run the AI.



The staggering RAM requirements for the AI boom have led to a memory chip shortage. 



And while that is bad for everyday retail customers like you and me, that shortage has been very good for the memory chip makers themselves. Their once-cheaper RAM technology now sells at a premium—and they have no shortage of deep-pocketed enterprise customers snapping up all the RAM they can make.



But what the AI boom gives, it can take away. 



Last week, one of the world’s AI leaders, Google, announced it had developed a new technology called TurboQuant. As Fast Company previously reported, Google says the tech is “a compression algorithm that optimally addresses the challenge of memory overhead in vector quantization.”



Without going into too much detail, the tech essentially means that AI giants like Google might soon be able to run compute-intensive AI tasks on computers that require up to six times less RAM than they do now. 



While this is great news for the AI giants, it’s horrible news for memory chip makers, as demand for their chips could drop by as much as 6x.



Why did memory stocks get hit so hard yesterday?



Importantly, Google’s TurboQuant news was released last week (RAM makers also took a beating when it was first announced), so why did memory chip stocks fall again yesterday?



It’s always impossible to know the exact motivations for any large-scale selloff in the markets, but investors probably spent the weekend digesting the TurboQuant news.



And when markets opened on Monday, enough investors thought it might be a good idea to start taking some profits on the four memory chip makers, which have seen such impressive gains in recent months.



Such profit-taking can often trigger a snowball effect, resulting in significant falls in a stock in any given trading session. 



The only other thing likely to have affected memory chip stocks yesterday is the same event that has affected most other stocks over the past month: lingering uncertainty around the war in Iran.



The markets have been generally down this month, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that we could be heading for our worst quarter in four years.



What investors will be watching for in particular with memory chip stocks is whether the RAM shortage may indeed be coming to an end sooner than most expected. That answer will likely have the greatest influence on memory-chip stocks in the months ahead. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Memory, chip, stocks, are, falling, again:, Why, Micron, SanDisk, WDC, and, Seagate, keep, getting, hammered</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How can you spot a bad manager fast? Look for this 1 warning sign</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-can-you-spot-a-bad-manager-fast-look-for-this-1-warning-sign</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-can-you-spot-a-bad-manager-fast-look-for-this-1-warning-sign</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Here’s a familiar scenario: The product development team creates a hot new app. The client is excited to launch it, and the PR team is preparing the campaign for its release.



And then this happens: The manager in charge of the project steals the spotlight and takes all the credit for the work. There’s no praise for the team, no celebration of everyone’s success, and no recognition of team members’ contributions. When that happens, it’s quite likely that team morale will take a nosedive. 



This behavior has frequently appeared in research as a bad-boss trait that leads to employee disengagement and even turnover. In a study I tracked a few years ago, “taking credit for employees’ work” was rated the worst managerial behavior by 63 percent of respondents and something they would consider worth quitting over. 



It’s worth considering: Can taking credit for employees’ work actually be an effective management tactic for advancement? Or might it hold leaders back and hinder their progress? A study highlighted in Forbes, which looked at 3,800 managers and assessed how effective they were when claiming credit, found that those who took credit for others’ work were seen as quite ineffective (13th percentile). In contrast, leaders who made a genuine effort to give credit to their team members were regarded as some of the most successful (85th percentile).



Having trained numerous managers and executives in my leadership course, I see this harmful tendency to dominate the spotlight and claim all the credit as a reflection of individual performance. Managers with this mindset focus on personal recognition, caring primarily about their accomplishments and how they are perceived by superiors.



Identify more servant leaders



To stop the cycle of bad managers in our midst, we need to identify, develop, and promote more servant leaders—people naturally inclined to give their people credit for their contributions, shine a spotlight on them, and show them appreciation. In fact, Gallup research found that employees who regularly receive credit increase their productivity, achieve higher customer loyalty and satisfaction scores, and are more likely to stay with their organization.



Great leaders with loyal followers don’t seek glory or validation; they recognize their own achievements. They highlight others’ successes, and then take a step back to celebrate these accomplishments, fostering greater confidence and trust among their followers.



—Marcel Schwantes







This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 



Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, can, you, spot, bad, manager, fast, Look, for, this, warning, sign</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>We’re going back to the moon! Here’s how to watch</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/were-going-back-to-the-moon-heres-how-to-watch</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/were-going-back-to-the-moon-heres-how-to-watch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s finally happening.



The Artemis II mission—returning humans to the lunar neighborhood for the first time in more than 50 years—is set to launch on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a two-hour window that opens at 6:24 p.m. (EDT), with additional launch opportunities through April 6.



The first crewed Artemis mission will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the moon. Objectives include testing the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems in situ for the first time with people, gathering additional data on how spaceflight affects the human body, and laying the groundwork for future crewed Artemis missions. It may also offer views of the moon never before seen.



This mission will break six major records: the first Black astronaut (Glover, as Orion’s first pilot), first woman (Koch), first non-American (Hansen, his maiden voyage to space), and oldest (Wiseman, aged 50) to visit the lunar arena, traveling the farthest from Earth (250,000 miles), and returning with the fastest re-entry speed (25,000 mph).



NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Complex 39B, Friday, March 27, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. [Photo: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani]



NASA is streaming a series of prelaunch, launch, and in-flight mission events and briefings on NASA’s YouTube channel, NASA+, as well as its other social media platforms. The public can find a full list of activities here. Enthusiasts can register for the mission’s virtual guest program and receive curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a NASA virtual guest passport stamp. Likewise, C-SPAN will offer Artemis programming on C-SPAN.org, its YouTube channel, radio station, and mobile app. 



Fun fact: The Zero Gravity Indicator—the plush toy flying with the astronauts to visually confirm when they’ve reached weightlessness—was designed by Lucas Ye, a second-grader from Northern California, chosen from 2,600 entries submitted in 50+ countries through the Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Challenge run by Freelancer on behalf of NASA.



[Photo: Freelancer]



Beginning April 2, NASA will conduct daily updates from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and on the Artemis Blog, and the crew will engage in live conversations throughout the mission. To track Orion in space, visit: nasa.gov/trackartemis.



New York-based folks still jonesing for more post-launch space theatrics can check out We Chose to Go to the Moon, an immersive experience recounting America’s Apollo moon race, on April 7 and 8, featuring Broadway stars and Neil Armstrong’s son and granddaughter.  



[Photo: Susan Karlin]



Here’s to smooth sailing after a turbulent couple of months. First, NASA scrubbed the initial February 6 launch to repair hydrogen leaks and helium flow issues in the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. In early March, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a revamped schedule for subsequent Artemis missions to standardize the SLS configuration, push back the moon landing to Artemis IV in 2028, and align workforces with private contractors to enable more frequent launches. On March 20, the 322-foot SLS and Orion rolled back out to Launch Pad 39B.



Now, let’s light this candle.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>We’re, going, back, the, moon, Here’s, how, watch</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What happened to Allbirds?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-happened-to-allbirds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-happened-to-allbirds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AllBirds Inc. was valued at $4 billion less than five years ago. Now, it will be sold for just $39 million. 



The shoe company on Monday announced a definitive agreement with American Exchange Group (AXNY), which involves selling all of its intellectual property, assets, and liabilities. 



Privately held AXNY owns a number of brands, including Aerosoles, Ed Hardy, and Jonathan Adler. 



“We are incredibly thankful to our teams for the work they have been doing to fuel our product engine, build awareness of Allbirds and deliver an engaging customer experience,” Allbirds CEO Joe Vernachio said in a statement. 



The sale has already been approved by Allbirds’ board of directors, but still requires the go ahead from the company’s common stockholders. 



Allbirds plans to file its request for stockholder approval by April 24, complete the transaction in the second quarter, and distribute a yet-to-be-determined amount of net proceeds to stockholders in the third quarter. 



Vernachio continued: “Over the past decade, Allbirds has evolved into a lifestyle footwear brand known for modern design, innovative materials and unparalleled comfort. This next chapter with AXNY builds on the foundational work already completed and sets up the brand to thrive in the years ahead.” 



What’s next for Allbirds on the Nasdaq?



The company will no longer release its quarterly earnings press release or hold a related call on Tuesday, March 31. Instead, Allbirds will solely file its 2025 annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 



On Monday, shares of Allbirds (Nasdaq: BIRD) closed 6.29% down. Following the sale announcement, shares rose more than 20% in after-hours trading. In Tuesday’s premarket, shares of Allbirds were still up more than 17%. 



Allbirds stock cratered post-COVID, and never really recovered. In 2024, the company had to do a reverse stock split (1-for-20) in order to keep Nasdaq’s minimum bid price and avoid delisting.  



How did Allbirds fall so far?



Allbirds was a phenomenon in 2021 when it made its $4 billion IPO. Founded in 2015, the company promised—and delivered—comfortable shoes for everyone. 



But, it also tried to expand into apparel, finding less success in that market. Allbirds has also faced the same problems that many apparel and retail brands face: reduced foot traffic and tighter purse strings. 



In 2023 cofounder Tim Brown stepped down as co-CEO. His partner Joey Zwillinger followed suit the following year. 



Vernachio took on the role of CEO after holding the position of COO since 2021. Store closures accompanied the change. In January, Allbirds announced that it would shutter almost all of its brick-and-mortar stores. 



Allbirds has recently been funding its operations, in part, through borrowings in its credit agreement. 



In 2025, the company had a net loss of $77.3 million and used $55.1 million in net cash for operating activities. At the end of the year, Allbirds had $26.7 million between its cash and cash equivalents, with $17.4 million outstanding in its credit agreement. 



In an SEC filing, the company said it “does not expect to continue its operations” once the sale is complete. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, happened, Allbirds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>As the Iran war drags on, are Trump’s tactics to regulate markets working?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-the-iran-war-drags-on-are-trumps-tactics-to-regulate-markets-working</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-the-iran-war-drags-on-are-trumps-tactics-to-regulate-markets-working</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As the Iran war intensifies, President Donald Trump has prioritized efforts to calm the financial markets — trying to keep oil prices from exploding upward, stocks from cratering and interest rates from surging.When the markets have flashed danger, Trump has been quick with a social media post or a remark to claim the war he launched last month could soon end. He’s publicly declared that the markets are doing better than he expected, even with the S&amp;P 500 stock index declining over the past five weeks and the global oil benchmark up roughly 60%.“I thought oil prices were going to go up higher than they are now,” Trump said at a Friday investor summit. “And I thought that we would see a bigger drop in stock. It hasn’t been that bad.”With the Iran war, the White House has largely refrained from messaging more aggressively to voters about the economic consequences — choosing instead to try to contain any damage in the financial markets, which have swung wildly on the prospects of ceasefire or escalation in what has become a high-stakes guessing game about Trump’s next moves.The Republican president showed the extremes of his messaging Monday before the U.S. stock market opened, writing in a social media post that great progress had been achieved on peace talks with Iran while also threatening civilian infrastructure such as desalination plants if a deal wasn’t reached “shortly.”The White House sees the stock, energy and bond markets as a way to indirectly reach voters. Trump has staked his economic agenda on cheap prices at the pump, robust gains in 401(k) accounts and cheaper mortgage rates.But that messaging appears to be wearing thin as the president’s various pronouncements have done little to change the reality that a large chunk of the world’s energy supplies is stranded by the conflict. Just 38% of U.S. adults approve of how he’s handling the economy and only 35% support him on Iran, according to a March survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.



The president has tried to dictate to markets instead of talking directly to Americans



Gene Sperling, a top economic adviser in the Democratic Clinton, Obama and Biden administrations, said voters can make a direct connection between prices at the pump and Trump’s choice to attack Iran. He said “simplistic jawboning” to the markets is insufficient for a public that is stuck paying the price as gasoline soars past $4 a gallon nationwide.“Most advisers would say the president has to speak directly to the American people and fully acknowledge the economic pain that his policy has so directly caused in a short amount of time and make the case for why the national security concerns justify it,” Sperling said. “Instead, you have a strategy of not recognizing or even dismissing people’s economic pain.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday called the oil price increases a “short-term fluctuation.”Trump’s strategy of giving mixed messages has started to work against him, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale University School of Management and co-author of the new book “Trump’s Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox.”“The uncertainty is now soaring,” Sonnenfeld said. “As the messaging to calm markets with false reassurances is having diminishing credibility in financial markets, so, too, has Trump diminished public confidence.”



Trump’s desire for flexibility on the war limits his ability to offer clarity



Trump has embraced having flexibility in how he chooses to conduct the war, even though this has muddled his stated objectives.During a Cabinet meeting Thursday, he said Iran was “begging” for a deal even as he threatened further military action — all the while maintaining that any economic damage to the U.S. would reverse itself.On Friday after the markets closed, he extended his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the flow of oil, saying he would hold off on bombing Iran’s energy plants in the meantime.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox &amp; Friends” that Iran was letting some tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and that the “market is well supplied” because countries are releasing their strategic petroleum reserves and sanctions have been removed for Russian and Iranian oil already on tankers.“We are seeing more and more ships go through on a daily basis as individual countries cut deals with the Iranian regime for the time being,” Bessent said. “But over time, the U.S. is going to retake control of the straits, and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort.”Graham Steele, a Biden-era Treasury official, said Trump’s messaging techniques “can work temporarily, but they have diminishing returns, over time,” if they’re detached from actual policies and results.“We saw a lot of the volatile market reactions initially, when he kept announcing these things and then walking them back,” Steele said. “The market reaction now is just a steady trend upward in prices,” he noted, adding that markets are “not responding to it in the same way anymore.”



Confidence in the economy and Trump is fading without clear results



The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment on Friday fell to a reading of 53.3 in March, its lowest level since December. Joanne Hsu, director of the surveys of consumers, pointed to the financial market volatility “in the wake of the Iran conflict” as reducing confidence in the economy for households with middle and higher incomes.Hsu noted that the survey indicated that people do not expect the higher energy costs and stock market declines to persist, but that could change if the war “becomes protracted or if higher energy prices pass through to overall inflation.”Gus Faucher, the chief economist at PNC Financial Services, stressed that low levels of consumer sentiment do not automatically signal a recession. But he said consumers would have to see lower gas prices, a steady stock market and decreased mortgage rates to feel better about the economy, which likely means a definitive resolution to the conflict rather than a series of pronouncements by Trump.“The proof is in the pudding,” Faucher said. “People need to see some substantive improvements before they feel better about conditions.”







Follow the AP’s coverage of the Iran war at https://apnews.com/hub/iran.



—Josh Boak and Fatima Hussein, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>the, Iran, war, drags, on, are, Trump’s, tactics, regulate, markets, working</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>5 business benefits of investing in virtual landline numbers</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/5-business-benefits-of-investing-in-virtual-landline-numbers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/5-business-benefits-of-investing-in-virtual-landline-numbers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Jon Sumner on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post 5 business benefits of investing in virtual landline numbers appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/09/smartphone-695164_640.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>business, benefits, investing, virtual, landline, numbers</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Starcloud raises $170 million Series A to build data centers in space</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/starcloud-raises-170-million-series-a-to-build-data-centers-in-space</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/starcloud-raises-170-million-series-a-to-build-data-centers-in-space</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Starcloud becomes the fastest Y Combinator startup to reach unicorn status, just 17 months after demo day. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Starcloud, raises, 170, million, Series, build, data, centers, space</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Qodo raises $70M for code verification as AI coding scales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/qodo-raises-70m-for-code-verification-as-ai-coding-scales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/qodo-raises-70m-for-code-verification-as-ai-coding-scales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As AI floods software development with code, Qodo is betting the real challenge is making sure it actually works. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-2080252145.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Qodo, raises, 70M, for, code, verification, coding, scales</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mistral AI raises $830M in debt to set up a data center near Paris</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-ai-raises-830m-in-debt-to-set-up-a-data-center-near-paris</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-ai-raises-830m-in-debt-to-set-up-a-data-center-near-paris</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mistral aims to start operating the data center by the second quarter of 2026. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2219786590.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mistral, raises, 830M, debt, set, data, center, near, Paris</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI chip startup Rebellions raises $400 million at $2.3B valuation in pre&#45;IPO round</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-chip-startup-rebellions-raises-400-million-at-23b-valuation-in-pre-ipo-round</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-chip-startup-rebellions-raises-400-million-at-23b-valuation-in-pre-ipo-round</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The startup, which is planning to go public later this year, designs chips specifically for AI inference, another challenger to Nvidia&#039;s dominance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-08-at-12.27.26-PM.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>chip, startup, Rebellions, raises, 400, million, 2.3B, valuation, pre-IPO, round</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>ScaleOps raises $130M to improve computing efficiency amid AI demand</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scaleops-raises-130m-to-improve-computing-efficiency-amid-ai-demand</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scaleops-raises-130m-to-improve-computing-efficiency-amid-ai-demand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ ScaleOps just raised $130M to tackle GPU shortages and soaring AI cloud costs by automating infrastructure in real time. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-1136663877.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ScaleOps, raises, 130M, improve, computing, efficiency, amid, demand</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>One AI bubble has already burst. The next one—a ‘rare’ kind—is still growing, economist warns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/one-ai-bubble-has-already-burst-the-next-onea-rare-kindis-still-growing-economist-warns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/one-ai-bubble-has-already-burst-the-next-onea-rare-kindis-still-growing-economist-warns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Capital Economics’ John Higgins noted the price-earnings ratio has already collapsed from its peak—but there’s another metric that hasn’t. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2266590940-e1774652623564.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>One, bubble, has, already, burst., The, next, one—a, ‘rare’, kind—is, still, growing, economist, warns</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How a couple’s kitchen table and a bean burrito built a $1 billion food empire</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-a-couples-kitchen-table-and-a-bean-burrito-built-a-1-billion-food-empire</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-a-couples-kitchen-table-and-a-bean-burrito-built-a-1-billion-food-empire</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Amy&#039;s Kitchen founders Andy and Rachel Berliner never planned to be in big business. Nearly four decades later, they still live in the same ranch house where it all started. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Andy_Rachel_Berliner_AmysFounders_Owners.tif" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, couple’s, kitchen, table, and, bean, burrito, built, billion, food, empire</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The ROAD Act passed by the Senate aims to expand America’s housing supply. It’s likely to shrink it instead</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-road-act-passed-by-the-senate-aims-to-expand-americas-housing-supply-its-likely-to-shrink-it-instead</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-road-act-passed-by-the-senate-aims-to-expand-americas-housing-supply-its-likely-to-shrink-it-instead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The ROAD Act aims to keep big investors out of the single family home rental market. Critics say that could kill investment in new homes, and drive up prices. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267898983-e1774556642835.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, ROAD, Act, passed, the, Senate, aims, expand, America’s, housing, supply., It’s, likely, shrink, instead</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The AI doomsday everyone’s worried about is the wrong one</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ai-doomsday-everyones-worried-about-is-the-wrong-one</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ai-doomsday-everyones-worried-about-is-the-wrong-one</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Companies are spending 93% of their AI budgets on tech and only 7% on people. It&#039;s already backfiring. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-57357867-e1774641153932.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, doomsday, everyone’s, worried, about, the, wrong, one</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>America has a workforce crisis. The solution is already here — and it’s being wasted</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/america-has-a-workforce-crisis-the-solution-is-already-here-and-its-being-wasted</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/america-has-a-workforce-crisis-the-solution-is-already-here-and-its-being-wasted</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A neurosurgeon driving Uber. A civil engineer stocking shelves. Millions of work-authorized, highly trained immigrants can fill the labor shortage now. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/haile.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>America, has, workforce, crisis., The, solution, already, here, —, and, it’s, being, wasted</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Next to invest £300m in UK logistics as new warehouse set to deliver £2.5bn boost</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/next-to-invest-300m-in-uk-logistics-as-new-warehouse-set-to-deliver-25bn-boost</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/next-to-invest-300m-in-uk-logistics-as-new-warehouse-set-to-deliver-25bn-boost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Next will invest £300m in UK warehouses, including a new Yorkshire site, as it targets £2.5bn economic boost and accelerates online growth.
Read more: 
Next to invest £300m in UK logistics as new warehouse set to deliver £2.5bn boost ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/shutterstock_2408705265-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Next, invest, £300m, logistics, new, warehouse, set, deliver, £2.5bn, boost</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>US warns Starmer’s EU reset could strain UK trade ties</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-warns-starmers-eu-reset-could-strain-uk-trade-ties</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-warns-starmers-eu-reset-could-strain-uk-trade-ties</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The US has warned Keir Starmer’s plans to align with EU rules could disrupt UK-US trade, raising concerns over future economic ties.
Read more: 
US warns Starmer’s EU reset could strain UK trade ties ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/US-Ambassador.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>warns, Starmer’s, reset, could, strain, trade, ties</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Petrol set to top £1.50 a litre as Iran war drives fuel price surge</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petrol-set-to-top-150-a-litre-as-iran-war-drives-fuel-price-surge</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petrol-set-to-top-150-a-litre-as-iran-war-drives-fuel-price-surge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK petrol prices are set to exceed £1.50 per litre as oil costs surge after the Iran conflict, with diesel rising even faster, warns the RAC.
Read more: 
Petrol set to top £1.50 a litre as Iran war drives fuel price surge ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/shutterstock_2229891587-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Petrol, set, top, £1.50, litre, Iran, war, drives, fuel, price, surge</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dyson hit by £440m sales drop as Trump tariffs bite</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dyson-hit-by-440m-sales-drop-as-trump-tariffs-bite</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dyson-hit-by-440m-sales-drop-as-trump-tariffs-bite</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Dyson reports £440m sales decline due to US tariffs and weak demand, but profits rise after cost cuts and continued investment in innovation.
Read more: 
Dyson hit by £440m sales drop as Trump tariffs bite ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/shutterstock_2647124317-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dyson, hit, £440m, sales, drop, Trump, tariffs, bite</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Octopus Investments to cut 20% of staff as AI reshapes asset management</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/octopus-investments-to-cut-20-of-staff-as-ai-reshapes-asset-management</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/octopus-investments-to-cut-20-of-staff-as-ai-reshapes-asset-management</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Octopus Investments plans to cut around 20% of staff as it accelerates AI adoption, highlighting growing disruption across the asset management sector.
Read more: 
Octopus Investments to cut 20% of staff as AI reshapes asset management ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/shutterstock_2510684429-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Octopus, Investments, cut, 20, staff, reshapes, asset, management</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Physical Intelligence is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion, again</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/physical-intelligence-is-reportedly-in-talks-to-raise-1-billion-again</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/physical-intelligence-is-reportedly-in-talks-to-raise-1-billion-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The deal would effectively double the company&#039;s $5.6 billion valuation in just four months. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/IMG_4026.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Physical, Intelligence, reportedly, talks, raise, billion, again</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Whoop has LeBron – now it wants your mom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whoop-has-lebron-now-it-wants-your-mom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whoop-has-lebron-now-it-wants-your-mom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whoop founder Will Ahmed has spent 14 years building a health wearable beloved by elite athletes, and is now racing Oura — and the FDA, and the limits of consumer medicine — to turn it into something that could one day save your life. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/DSC06101.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Whoop, has, LeBron, –, now, wants, your, mom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From Moon hotels to cattle herding: 8 startups investors chased at YC Demo Day</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-moon-hotels-to-cattle-herding-8-startups-investors-chased-at-yc-demo-day</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-moon-hotels-to-cattle-herding-8-startups-investors-chased-at-yc-demo-day</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We polled nearly a dozen VCs to find out which W26 startups are the sought after in the batch. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/yc-sf.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>From, Moon, hotels, cattle, herding:, startups, investors, chased, Demo, Day</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Let’s take a look at the retro tech making a comeback</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lets-take-a-look-at-the-retro-tech-making-a-comeback</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lets-take-a-look-at-the-retro-tech-making-a-comeback</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Boomboxes, instant cameras, and even landlines are making a comeback. Here are the coolest retro-inspired devices available. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/phone-records-neon-mobile-2198206872.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Let’s, take, look, the, retro, tech, making, comeback</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What will power the grid in 2035? The race is wide open</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-will-power-the-grid-in-2035-the-race-is-wide-open</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-will-power-the-grid-in-2035-the-race-is-wide-open</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fusion, fission, and even natural gas are appeared tied in the race to deliver new power to the grid in the early 2030s. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/electrical-grid-at-night.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, will, power, the, grid, 2035, The, race, wide, open</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Personalised Corporate Gifts Improve Employee Engagement &amp;amp; Loyalty?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-personalised-corporate-gifts-improve-employee-engagement-loyalty</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-personalised-corporate-gifts-improve-employee-engagement-loyalty</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ There’s nothing more meaningful than forming strong human relationships in today’s world. As for corporations, it is crucial to have the ‘nice to have’ policy. Employee engagement today is not an option but a necessity to enhance workplace culture. One of the least-discussed ways to improve employee engagement is personalised corporate gifts. Personalised gifts work […]
The post How Personalised Corporate Gifts Improve Employee Engagement &amp; Loyalty? appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://www.fincyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/How-Personalised-Corporate-Gifts-Improve-Employee-Engagement-Loyalty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Personalised, Corporate, Gifts, Improve, Employee, Engagement, Loyalty</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Noodles &amp;amp; Company closed dozens of restaurants last year. Here’s why the stock price is soaring in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noodles-company-closed-dozens-of-restaurants-last-year-heres-why-the-stock-price-is-soaring-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/noodles-company-closed-dozens-of-restaurants-last-year-heres-why-the-stock-price-is-soaring-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As part of a strategic move to optimize its store footprint, Noodles &amp; Company closed 33 company-owned restaurants in 2025. In January, the chain said it would close dozens more stores this year.  



However, despite the shrinking restaurant count, sales have grown. 



The fast-casual eatery held its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call on Wednesday, March 25. It reported that comparable store sales increased 6.6% in the final quarter of 2025. Sales growth and traffic are also up as of early 2026.



Following the strong earnings report, shares of Noodles &amp; Company (Nasdaq: NDLS) soared over 50% on Thursday. 



The stock is up almost 60% year to date as of premarket trading on Friday. That’s a significant contrast to the broader Nasdaq Composite, which is down 7.78% for 2026 so far.   



How store closures have helped same-store sales



Despite having closed more than 30 stores in 2025, Noodles &amp; Company reported system-wide comparable store sales growth of nearly 7% in the fourth quarter of 2025. 



On Wednesday’s earnings call, CEO Joe Christina told investors that the restaurant closures “resulted in a material transfer of sales to nearby locations . . . which also favorably impacted margins.” 



And store closures haven’t stopped customers from spending money. 



CFO Mike Hynes explained during the call that a significant portion of Noodles &amp; Company customers place takeout or delivery orders, so they’ve continued to order from nearby locations that remain open.



“The most meaningful impact is the post-closure transfer of sales to nearby Noodles &amp; Company restaurants, which is driving a significant increase to our company-wide restaurant-level profits.”



New menu items also drove traffic



Menu changes and limited-time offerings have also played a significant role in driving sales and traffic growth, Christina said on the call.



“A great example is chili garlic ramen, which we introduced as a limited time offer in October,” he said. “Inspired by trending ramen hacks, this brothless bowl delivered the buttery, spicy, umami-packed flavors guests were already craving. It quickly became one of the strongest [limited-time offers] in our history.”



He noted that the trendy dish resonated well with loyalty program members and also brought in new customers. Because of its success, Noodles &amp; Company is evaluating other ramen recipes. 



Christina also credits the fast-casual noodle chain’s value-focused messaging, “giving guests compelling meal combinations and an attractive price point that delivered balance, variety, and everyday affordability without compromising quality, while also raising consumer awareness to our new menu offerings.”



Hourly workers have been most impacted by the store closures



While an optimized physical footprint may be producing results for the company, store closures have come at a real cost to employees, primarily hourly workers. 



According to Noodles &amp; Company’s year-end 2025 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the fast-casual eatery employed approximately 6,000 hourly workers as of December 30, 2025, down from 6,800 a year prior. 



That’s a net loss of roughly 800 hourly jobs in one year. Meanwhile, the company’s salaried worker headcount remained unchanged during that same period, with 500 salaried workers reported for both years.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Noodles, Company, closed, dozens, restaurants, last, year., Here’s, why, the, stock, price, soaring, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>3 ways to take the ‘work’ out of networking</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-ways-to-take-the-work-out-of-networking</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-ways-to-take-the-work-out-of-networking</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ You’ve spent years building a robust professional network. You’ve cultivated relationships with peers, mentors, and industry leaders. So when you signal that you’re exploring new opportunities, you expect your network to perform. Yet too often, promising conversations dissolve into silence. Warm introductions never materialize. Emails go unanswered.



This isn’t a reflection of your professional standing. It’s a design problem: you’re making it too hard for people to help you. The fix is straightforward. Make it easy. Here are three ways to do so.



Ask To Write to Their Contact Directly



When you reach out to a contact seeking an introduction to a decision-maker, a common response goes something like this: “Absolutely — send me your résumé and I’ll forward it to see if there’s interest.”



It sounds helpful, but rarely is.



The fundamental problem: you’ve just handed over control of your own job search to someone with a dozen other priorities. Even the most well-intentioned contact may not follow through—because the timing isn’t right for their colleague (the chances they need your résumé at any given moment are small), because it slipped off their radar, or because the introduction they made on your behalf didn’t do you justice.



The solution is to reclaim the driver’s seat. When a contact offers to pass your résumé along, respond with something like:



“I really appreciate it. To save you time, could I reach out to your colleague directly and simply mention that I was referred by you? I’m also looking to build a relationship for opportunities now or down the road, so I would rather not forward a resume that implies I need a job quickly. Would this work?”



This proposal removes the burden from your contact while giving you control over the pitch. It also avoids the résumé-forward trap—a résumé implies “please hire me now,” when your real goal is to get an informational meeting with a decision-maker and then keep in touch for future opportunities or get additional referrals.



Half of your networking contacts will agree, and now you can use their name to gain attention: “Subject: Referred by [Contact], re: [Topic].”



But what about the contacts who want to make the introduction themselves?



Send a Forward-Friendly Email



Many contacts will respond with something along the lines of “Let me reach out to my colleague first to see if they’d be interested in speaking with you.” In that case, offer to send them a forward-friendly email.



This move dramatically improves the likelihood that they will actually follow through, because you’ve reduced their effort from 15 minutes spent figuring out how to pitch you to just 2 minutes of forwarding. You’re also improving the odds that their contact will want to meet with you, since you can include a field-tested pitch explaining why a conversation could be mutually beneficial.



The content is virtually the same as the “Referred by …” email; just start it differently:



“Subject: Introduction to Katherine Johnson, re: BigCo



Dear Rosalind,



Thanks for offering to forward my information to Katherine. As discussed, below I’ve shared my background and why I believe a meeting could be mutually beneficial.”



One important note on content: resist the urge to attach your résumé unless there’s a specific opening you’re pursuing. Instead, use your LinkedIn profile as your “low-key résumé.” The impressive content in your thoroughly filled-out profile will drive credibility without signaling desperation.



Have a Clear Job Target



Too many executives prolong their searches because they position themselves too broadly, not wanting to miss an opportunity. The problem: your network finds it harder to advocate for you when your message is watered down across multiple job targets. Worse, you may be asking your contacts to do the heavy lifting of translating your varied background into specific opportunities. That is your job, not theirs.



One client came to me after a long, frustrating search. I quickly saw the issue: she was pitching herself to her network as open to Partnerships leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, COO roles at startups, or Commercialization roles at any company. Three quite varied targets, not connected by a strong theme, led to ineffective messaging. Once we prioritized, she re-launched her outreach with a focused, powerful pitch for COO roles at startups. Within weeks, the interviews began to materialize.



A narrow pitch may feel counterintuitive—but it’s what makes your networking more effective, since people can refer you more easily when they see you clearly in a specific role.



The Bottom Line



Your network wants to help. Your job is to make that help feel effortless—not like a second job. Write the emails they can forward, or email their contacts directly. Do the targeting they shouldn’t have to. And keep yourself in the driver’s seat. The opportunities will follow. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ways, take, the, ‘work’, out, networking</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How the public changes spaces—and art—for the better</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-public-changes-spacesand-artfor-the-better</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-public-changes-spacesand-artfor-the-better</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Designers love intention. Architects draw immaculate plans; curators craft pristine galleries; developers imagine carefully choreographed public experiences. But once the general population shows up, those spaces tend to change. Sometimes there’s an instinct among designers to fight against it; it’s hard to let go of an aesthetic goal.



But—more often than not—the public makes spaces and designs better. It’s the people, not solely the place, who spark true imagination and inevitably shape its character. It’s the people who have the power to turn a design into something more welcoming and relevant, and push designers to think outside the box in creativity and problem-solving.



This January in New York City, at a small placemaking summit hosted by Journey, experts across art, infrastructure, food, and civic design converged around this idea: Spaces come to life once the public makes them their own.



DESIGN FOR VISITORS



At the Summit, Katherine Fleming, CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, for example, described how visitors reshaped the Getty Museum’s iconic steps and lawns. Even though they had been designed as merely aesthetic transitional spaces, they soon became gathering spots: places for picnics, sketching, conversation, or quiet reflection. And instead of correcting that behavior to keep the grounds’ original function, the Getty embraced it. The result was longer museum visits and more positive discourse among the broader Los Angeles community—not, it’s important to note, diminished prestige.



That same flexibility manifests in Antwaun Sargent’s work as the Gagosian director, where he curates galleries informed by the public. His Social Works exhibition highlighted artists embedded in their communities, including an installation from Linda Goode Bryant that displayed a fully functioning aeroponic farm in the gallery to demonstrate its use as a community space, challenging traditional notions of what “art” is and how it serves communities. This approach turned the gallery into a community, making it a place for the public to gather and learn instead of simply observing.



This notion goes beyond art institutions and appears in everyday spaces, like retail communities. As Claire Bernard, senior food &amp; beverage manager for Chelsea Market and Market 57, shared, the design at New York City’s iconic Chelsea Market didn’t stay fixed for long. Shop owners regularly shifted displays, reworked lines, and pulled seating in or out depending on the crowd. What started as clearly defined footprints, where one retailer ended and another began, quickly blurred once real people entered the mix. Those small, practical adjustments weren’t part of some grand plan, but they created a truly organic market that could respond to crowd patterns in real time. In many ways, that flexibility is what made it feel authentic and alive, it is another reminder that adaptation can serve the community, the vendors, and the space itself.



Perhaps the most obvious example is public infrastructure. Tina Vaz, director of arts and design at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), spoke about the MTA’s evolving arts and design efforts, where around 4.3 million daily riders turn transit stations into artistic interactions. Whether it’s poetry installations, live performances, permanent artworks, or occasional uncommissioned graffiti art, the MTA is continually adapting and responding to riders’ lived experiences. Meanwhile, initiatives from the Times Square Alliance embrace the constant flow of one of the world’s busiest crossroads, commissioning installations and digital art pieces designed specifically for visiting multilingual audiences. In many ways, these programs succeed precisely because they accept unpredictability and embrace the variety of the people they’re trying to reach.



4 DESIGN TIPS FOR PUBLIC SPACES



So, what should developers and designers take from this?



1. Design for participation. Spaces aren’t finished when they open. They may never be finished. So, build in flexibility, whether it’s movable seating, adaptable signage, multi-use zones or timely installations, and learn from what your communities demand.



2. Measure engagement differently. Metrics tend to prioritize aesthetic loyalty or operational efficiency. But the real signs of success are more often how long people spend in a place, how often they revisit, and how willing the community is to engage spontaneously in them.



3. Invite collaboration. Artists, residents, commuters, and visitors all bring contexts you may not anticipate. Structured programs like residencies, community groups, public feedback discussions, and community-oriented designs make those contexts productive. In turn, your spaces become more thoughtful and more engaging.



4. Let go of perfection. Some of the most beloved public spaces look “messier” and function differently than their initial designs. But that’s the beauty of designing for the public: The unforeseen transformations are signs of life. A space that can absorb that humanness, rather than resist it, allows a design to step outside itself and become truly communal. And community, by definition, is always a collaboration.



Andrew Zimmerman is the CEO at Journey. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>SpaceX IPO: What we know about the initial public offering as the eagerly awaited stock listing date nears</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-ipo-what-we-know-about-the-initial-public-offering-as-the-eagerly-awaited-stock-listing-date-nears</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-ipo-what-we-know-about-the-initial-public-offering-as-the-eagerly-awaited-stock-listing-date-nears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ With some of the largest and most influential tech giants planning to go public this year, 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the mega IPO. 



Stock listings from OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX could all potentially happen in 2026, and it is the latter that may make its market debut first. 



Here’s the latest on the potential initial public offering from Elon Musk’s space-tech company:



When is SpaceX’s IPO?



For some time, investors have expected, or at least speculated, that Elon Musk’s rocket and space technology company, SpaceX, would go public sometime in 2026. And it looks like that may finally be happening.



Citing anonymous sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX is expected to confidentially file its IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “in coming days.” 



That means the company’s confidential IPO filing is likely to happen sometime between today and next week. The public IPO filing usually happens about eight weeks after the private one.



Of course, the actual SpaceX IPO wouldn’t occur until after both the confidential and public filings. If the standard eight-week timeline holds for public filings, that means SpaceX’s public filing will likely take place sometime in late May or early June. 



And that June timeframe lines up nicely with WSJ reporting that says SpaceX’s IPO could happen sometime that month.



Indeed, the Journal says that SpaceX’s IPO is being timed for mid-June, before Elon Musk’s birthday, which is on Sunday, June 28. He will turn 55 this year.



Retail investors may get a bigger slice of the SpaceX IPO pie



Historically, when companies go public, very few shares are allocated to so-called retail investors—individuals like you and me. 



At most, about 10% of a company’s shares are available to retail investors during an IPO, with the remainder earmarked for institutional investors.



Yet that’s not expected to be the case for the SpaceX IPO. 



As reported by Reuters yesterday, Elon Musk is considering allocating as much as 30% of SpaceX’s IPO shares to retail investors. The move is reportedly being considered in part to help reward the loyalty of Musk’s ardent fanbase. The Reuters story cites an unnamed source. 



This potential retail allocation also stands to benefit Musk and SpaceX. The large retail allocation could help drive hype for SpaceX stock among the masses, leading to a spike in shares on the company’s IPO day as more mom-and-pop investors rush to snap up SpaceX stock. 



As more retail investors buy in, the price would rise, and since Musk is the largest SpaceX shareholder, his net worth would rise in sync, helping him toward one of his likely goals: becoming the first individual trillionaire in history.



Fast Company reached out to SpaceX for comment.



What is SpaceX’s IPO share price?



As of now, it’s not known what SpaceX’s IPO share price will be, nor how many shares will be made available.



How much will SpaceX raise in its IPO?



That’s yet to be decided. But the Wall Street Journal reports that SpaceX is looking to raise anywhere from $40 billion to $80 billion in its initial public offering.



If it were to achieve even the low end of that range, it would make SpaceX’s IPO the biggest in history. 



That current title is held by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), which raised over $29 billion in its 2019 IPO.



What is SpaceX’s stock ticker?



It’s unknown what SpaceX’s stock ticker will be. 



Right now, the ticker “SPAX.PVT” is used to track the private company on financial sites like Yahoo Finance. However, that’s no guarantee that SpaceX will decide to use the “SPAX” ticker.



Which exchange will SpaceX trade on?



It’s likely that SpaceX will trade on the Nasdaq. 



This is likely for a few reasons. First, the Nasdaq is already the home to the largest technology companies, including Apple, Google, Meta, and Nvidia Second, the Nasdaq is also already home to Elon Musk’s other publicly traded company, Tesla. 



Given these factors, many expect Nasdaq to be the home of SpaceX shares.  ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Senate strikes a deal to fund TSA. Here’s where ICE and other agencies stand in the budget impasse</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/senate-strikes-a-deal-to-fund-tsa-heres-where-ice-and-other-agencies-stand-in-the-budget-impasse</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/senate-strikes-a-deal-to-fund-tsa-heres-where-ice-and-other-agencies-stand-in-the-budget-impasse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it Friday.“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “Obviously, we’ll still have some work ahead of us.”With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the endgame emerged in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday. President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.” The deal did not include any of the restraints Democrats have demanded as they sought to rein in Trump’s mass deportation agenda.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the outcome could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump’s “rogue” immigration operation “does not get more funding without serious reform.”



What’s in and out of the funding package



Senators worked through the night on the deal that would fund much of the rest of the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and TSA, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Customs was funded, but Border Protection was not.The package puts no new limits on immigration enforcement, which has remained largely uninterrupted by the shutdown. The GOP’s big tax cuts bill that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions in extra funds to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid despite the lapse.Next steps in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a slim majority, are uncertain. Passage will almost certainly require bipartisan support, as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt.Conservative Republicans have panned their own party’s proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations. Many have vowed to ensure ICE has the resources it needs in the next budget package to carry out Trump’s agenda.“We will fully fund ICE. That is what this fight is about,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said as he tried to offer legislation to fund the agency. “The border is closing. The next task is deportation.”



On-again, off-again talks collapsed



Earlier Thursday, Thune announced he had given a “last and final” offer to the Democrats. But as the day dragged on, action stalled out.Democrats argued the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies who are engaged in the immigration sweeps, particularly after the deaths of two Americans protesting the actions in Minneapolis.They want federal agents to wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places. Democrats have also pushed for an end of administrative warrants, insisting that judges sign off before agents search people’s homes or private spaces — something new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he is open to considering.Trump had largely left the issue to Congress, but warned he was ready to take action, threatening to send the National Guard to airports in addition to his deployment of ICE agents who are now checking travelers’ IDs.The White House had floated the extraordinary move of invoking a national emergency to pay the TSA agents, a politically and legally fraught approach. Instead, Trump’s order would pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.If the Senate package is approved by the House and signed it into law, the action Trump announced to pay TSA agents may be temporary or unneeded.



Airport lines grow as TSA workers endure hardships



The funding shutdown has resulted in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers missing paychecks stop coming to work.Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of the agency’s nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union is grateful the TSA workers will be paid, but said Congress must stay in session to pass a deal “that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.”At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Melissa Gates said she would not make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2½ hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”







Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking, Rebecca Santana, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley, Lekan Oyekanmi, Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Rio Yamat, Russ Bynum, and Gabriela Aoun Angueira contributed to this report.



—Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Senate, strikes, deal, fund, TSA., Here’s, where, ICE, and, other, agencies, stand, the, budget, impasse</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Best Offers for Making Tax Digital accounting software</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-offers-for-making-tax-digital-accounting-software</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-offers-for-making-tax-digital-accounting-software</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post Best Offers for Making Tax Digital accounting software appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Best, Offers, for, Making, Tax, Digital, accounting, software</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>15 best UK side hustles – and how much you could earn</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-best-uk-side-hustles-and-how-much-you-could-earn</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-best-uk-side-hustles-and-how-much-you-could-earn</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We&#039;ve got some of the best side hustles that you can take on and the information you need, even if you don&#039;t have the money or expertise 
The post 15 best UK side hustles – and how much you could earn appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>best, side, hustles, –, and, how, much, you, could, earn</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Late payment rules to include mandatory interest and 60&#45;day cap</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/late-payment-rules-to-include-mandatory-interest-and-60-day-cap</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/late-payment-rules-to-include-mandatory-interest-and-60-day-cap</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Late payment rules include a payment term cap, mandatory interest payments and new powers for the Small Business Commissioner
The post Late payment rules to include mandatory interest and 60-day cap appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/4860.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Late, payment, rules, include, mandatory, interest, and, 60-day, cap</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Making Tax Digital thresholds and timelines for 2026&#45;2028</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/making-tax-digital-thresholds-and-timelines-for-2026-2028</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/making-tax-digital-thresholds-and-timelines-for-2026-2028</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Confused about upcoming Making Tax Digital changes? Check the thresholds and timelines to ensure you&#039;re on the right track
The post Making Tax Digital thresholds and timelines for 2026-2028 appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Making, Tax, Digital, thresholds, and, timelines, for, 2026-2028</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Taking payments online for ecommerce businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/taking-payments-online-for-ecommerce-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/taking-payments-online-for-ecommerce-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post Taking payments online for ecommerce businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Taking, payments, online, for, ecommerce, businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Mistral releases a new open&#45;source model for speech generation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-releases-a-new-open-source-model-for-speech-generation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-releases-a-new-open-source-model-for-speech-generation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mistral&#039;s new speech model can run on a smartwatch or a smartphone. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mistral, releases, new, open-source, model, for, speech, generation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A ‘pound of flesh’ from data centers: one senator’s answer to AI job losses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-pound-of-flesh-from-data-centers-one-senators-answer-to-ai-job-losses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-pound-of-flesh-from-data-centers-one-senators-answer-to-ai-job-losses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fears of AI-driven job loss are growing fast, and they’re fueling backlash against data centers. Sen. Mark Warner suggests taxing them to help workers survive the transition. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘pound, flesh’, from, data, centers:, one, senator’s, answer, job, losses</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>WhatsApp can now draft AI&#45;generated responses based on your conversations</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whatsapp-can-now-draft-ai-generated-responses-based-on-your-conversations</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whatsapp-can-now-draft-ai-generated-responses-based-on-your-conversations</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Meta-owned messaging platform is also launching a way to free up space, the ability to touch up photos with Meta AI, and more. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>WhatsApp, can, now, draft, AI-generated, responses, based, your, conversations</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cohere launches an open&#45;source voice model specifically for transcription</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cohere-launches-an-open-source-voice-model-specifically-for-transcription</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cohere-launches-an-open-source-voice-model-specifically-for-transcription</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Relatively light at just 2 billion parameters, the model is meant for use with consumer-grade GPUs for those who want to self-host it. It currently supports 14 languages. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cohere, launches, open-source, voice, model, specifically, for, transcription</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Conntour raises $7M from General Catalyst, YC to build an AI search engine for security video systems</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/conntour-raises-7m-from-general-catalyst-yc-to-build-an-ai-search-engine-for-security-video-systems</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/conntour-raises-7m-from-general-catalyst-yc-to-build-an-ai-search-engine-for-security-video-systems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Conntour uses AI models to let security teams query camera feeds using natural language to find any object, person, or situation. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Conntour, raises, 7M, from, General, Catalyst, build, search, engine, for, security, video, systems</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>America claims it sent a cease&#45;fire plan to Iran, which doesn’t confirm receipt</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/america-claims-it-sent-a-cease-fire-plan-to-iran-which-doesnt-confirm-receipt</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/america-claims-it-sent-a-cease-fire-plan-to-iran-which-doesnt-confirm-receipt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Tehran did not confirm receiving the plan and publicly dismissed the diplomatic effort while launching more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>America, claims, sent, cease-fire, plan, Iran, which, doesn’t, confirm, receipt</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Philadelphia responds to unpaid TSA worker plight with ‘world record for the longest cheesesteak in history’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/philadelphia-responds-to-unpaid-tsa-worker-plight-with-world-record-for-the-longest-cheesesteak-in-history</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/philadelphia-responds-to-unpaid-tsa-worker-plight-with-world-record-for-the-longest-cheesesteak-in-history</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Organizers say they hit a new Guinness World Record for the longest line of cheesesteaks, with 1,291 far surpassing the previous benchmark of 500. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Philadelphia, responds, unpaid, TSA, worker, plight, with, ‘world, record, for, the, longest, cheesesteak, history’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘You won’t be able to AI your way through an oral exam’: Colleges have an Ancient Greek&#45;style solution to the Gen Z stare</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-wont-be-able-to-ai-your-way-through-an-oral-exam-colleges-have-an-ancient-greek-style-solution-to-the-gen-z-stare</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-wont-be-able-to-ai-your-way-through-an-oral-exam-colleges-have-an-ancient-greek-style-solution-to-the-gen-z-stare</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “It comes across as if we’re trying to prevent cheating,” the University of Pennsylvania&#039;s Emily Hammer says. “That’s not why we’re doing this.&quot; ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘You, won’t, able, your, way, through, oral, exam’:, Colleges, have, Ancient, Greek-style, solution, the, Gen, stare</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI Foundation pledges $1 billion to mitigate some of the jobs that it thinks AI will destroy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-foundation-pledges-1-billion-to-mitigate-some-of-the-jobs-that-it-thinks-ai-will-destroy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-foundation-pledges-1-billion-to-mitigate-some-of-the-jobs-that-it-thinks-ai-will-destroy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The foundation said the donation is for the benefit of &quot;all of humanity.&quot; ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, Foundation, pledges, billion, mitigate, some, the, jobs, that, thinks, will, destroy</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Research shows workers are using AI to get away from their computers—sneaking gym classes, skipping meetings, and clawing back 30 minutes a day</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/research-shows-workers-are-using-ai-to-get-away-from-their-computerssneaking-gym-classes-skipping-meetings-and-clawing-back-30-minutes-a-day</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/research-shows-workers-are-using-ai-to-get-away-from-their-computerssneaking-gym-classes-skipping-meetings-and-clawing-back-30-minutes-a-day</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Your colleagues are saving so much time by using AI that they’re running errands and exercising in the middle of the workday. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Research, shows, workers, are, using, get, away, from, their, computers—sneaking, gym, classes, skipping, meetings, and, clawing, back, minutes, day</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Royal Mail staff allege pressure to hide undelivered post to meet targets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/royal-mail-staff-allege-pressure-to-hide-undelivered-post-to-meet-targets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/royal-mail-staff-allege-pressure-to-hide-undelivered-post-to-meet-targets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Royal Mail workers allege managers told them to hide undelivered post to meet targets, as MPs question the company over ongoing service failures.
Read more: 
Royal Mail staff allege pressure to hide undelivered post to meet targets ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Royal, Mail, staff, allege, pressure, hide, undelivered, post, meet, targets</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Oxford spinout Stateful robotics raises $4.8m to tackle real&#45;world AI for robots</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oxford-spinout-stateful-robotics-raises-48m-to-tackle-real-world-ai-for-robots</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oxford-spinout-stateful-robotics-raises-48m-to-tackle-real-world-ai-for-robots</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Oxford spinout Stateful Robotics raises $4.8m to develop AI that enables robots to operate reliably in real-world environments across industry sectors.
Read more: 
Oxford spinout Stateful robotics raises $4.8m to tackle real-world AI for robots ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oxford, spinout, Stateful, robotics, raises, 4.8m, tackle, real-world, for, robots</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>UK pubs making just 3p profit per £1 as rising costs squeeze margins</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-pubs-making-just-3p-profit-per-1-as-rising-costs-squeeze-margins</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-pubs-making-just-3p-profit-per-1-as-rising-costs-squeeze-margins</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK pubs could make just 3p profit per £1 spent on a pint as rising wages, energy and beer duty squeeze margins and threaten closures.
Read more: 
UK pubs making just 3p profit per £1 as rising costs squeeze margins ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>pubs, making, just, profit, per, £1, rising, costs, squeeze, margins</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Zevero raises $7m as demand for carbon data platforms accelerates globally</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/zevero-raises-7m-as-demand-for-carbon-data-platforms-accelerates-globally</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/zevero-raises-7m-as-demand-for-carbon-data-platforms-accelerates-globally</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Climate tech firm Zevero raises $7m to scale its AI-driven carbon management platform as demand for ESG data and reporting intensifies globally.
Read more: 
Zevero raises $7m as demand for carbon data platforms accelerates globally ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Zevero, raises, 7m, demand, for, carbon, data, platforms, accelerates, globally</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Late&#45;paying firms face multimillion&#45;pound fines under new crackdown</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/late-paying-firms-face-multimillion-pound-fines-under-new-crackdown</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/late-paying-firms-face-multimillion-pound-fines-under-new-crackdown</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Large UK companies face multimillion-pound fines for late payments under new laws, with a 60-day limit and stronger powers for the Small Business Commissioner.
Read more: 
Late-paying firms face multimillion-pound fines under new crackdown ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Late-paying, firms, face, multimillion-pound, fines, under, new, crackdown</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Spotify’s new SongDNA feature maps how your favorite songs are connected</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotifys-new-songdna-feature-maps-how-your-favorite-songs-are-connected</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotifys-new-songdna-feature-maps-how-your-favorite-songs-are-connected</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The new feature lets you explore samples, covers, and more about the people behind your favorite songs, says Spotify. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spotify’s, new, SongDNA, feature, maps, how, your, favorite, songs, are, connected</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Snapchat’s new ‘AI Clips’ Lens format turns photos into five&#45;second videos</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/snapchats-new-ai-clips-lens-format-turns-photos-into-five-second-videos</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/snapchats-new-ai-clips-lens-format-turns-photos-into-five-second-videos</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Snapchat says both experienced and new developers can use the new &quot;AI Clips&quot; Lens format to turn a single prompt into a published Lens in minutes without the need for external tools. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Snapchat’s, new, ‘AI, Clips’, Lens, format, turns, photos, into, five-second, videos</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Zoox brings its robotaxis to Austin and Miami</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/zoox-brings-its-robotaxis-to-austin-and-miami</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/zoox-brings-its-robotaxis-to-austin-and-miami</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ After nearly two years of testing in the two cities, the Amazon-owned company says it&#039;s getting closer to offering rides. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Zoox, brings, its, robotaxis, Austin, and, Miami</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pinterest launches a new feature to promote a Pin</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pinterest-launches-a-new-feature-to-promote-a-pin</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pinterest-launches-a-new-feature-to-promote-a-pin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Pinterest is rolling out promoted pin feature to the users in the U.S. in coming weeks ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Boost-A-Pin_1920x1080-HERO.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pinterest, launches, new, feature, promote, Pin</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cauldron Ferm has turned microbes into nonstop assembly lines</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cauldron-ferm-has-turned-microbes-into-nonstop-assembly-lines</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cauldron-ferm-has-turned-microbes-into-nonstop-assembly-lines</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Australian startup says it has solved one of the biggest challenges facing synthetic biology companies, which it counts as customers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Cauldron10kL.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cauldron, Ferm, has, turned, microbes, into, nonstop, assembly, lines</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>TikTok Shopping: A New Era For E&#45;commerce Store Sales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tiktok-shopping-a-new-era-for-e-commerce-store-sales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tiktok-shopping-a-new-era-for-e-commerce-store-sales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TikTok has taken the world by storm, quickly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms with over 1.67 billion active users. This fast-growing app has captured the attention of individuals and businesses with its unique video-sharing format. As e-commerce continues to dominate the retail landscape, it’s no surprise that TikTok has also entered […]
The post TikTok Shopping: A New Era For E-commerce Store Sales appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>TikTok, Shopping:, New, Era, For, E-commerce, Store, Sales</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bringing ‘Big Food’ energy to a Travis Kelce&#45;backed cult brand </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bringing-big-food-energy-to-a-travis-kelce-backed-cult-brand</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bringing-big-food-energy-to-a-travis-kelce-backed-cult-brand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 



Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. 







When Valerie Oswalt became CEO of breakfast and snack products company Kodiak in November 2022, she inherited a fast-growing business with beloved products, dedicated employees, and an outdoorsy vibe, befitting its Park City, Utah, headquarters. She also walked into a company that needed to bolster the talent, tools, and systems needed to scale the company.  



Her challenge: bring the discipline and knowledge she’d acquired during leadership stints at consumer packaged goods (CPG) giants such as The Campbell’s Company and Mondelēz International without losing the nimbleness and authenticity that had made Kodiak a household name. “It was a powerhouse brand that had a startup mindset,” Oswalt recalls. 



A recipe for success



Kodiak has classic entrepreneurial roots. Founder and former CEO Joel Clark started selling his mother’s homemade whole-grain pancake mix as an 8-year-old. The company catapulted to national attention when an episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank” featuring Clark and cofounder Cameron Smith aired in 2014. Kodiak passed on a deal with the Sharks, but the publicity and the launch of protein-packed pancakes boosted sales.  



Private equity firm L Catterton acquired Kodiak in 2021, and Oswalt became CEO 17 months later, replacing cofounder Clark, who remains chairman of the company’s board of directors.  



To support Kodiak’s growth, Oswalt, who ran Campbell’s $4 billion snack division prior to joining Kodiak, brought in leaders with key experience in certain areas. She revamped the performance review process and instituted a new incentive plan tied to financial outcomes. (All 160 full-time employees have equity in the company.) “There were more processes that needed to be put in place than I had originally anticipated,” she recalls.  



Still, she was mindful of the impact change would have on the company’s entrepreneurial culture. “I did listening tours,” she says. “I talked to every person in the organization. It took about six months, but that was really important.” From there, her team identified the gaps, explained the rationale behind changes, and celebrated wins. 



She also course corrected when her changes were “too heavy” for an organization Kodiak’s size, such as when she rolled out a robust integrated business planning process to help gain insight into inventory and cash flows, plus do forecasting and planning. The fix was to listen to feedback and provide more training. “We wanted to ensure the proper education was provided to effectively” use the tools, she says. 



On a roll attracting celebrity investors



Meanwhile, Kodiak has kept its in-house creative team, which handles all design, photography, and videography. Because the creatives are all employees, Oswalt says they are intimately familiar with the brand, which helps Kodiak retain an authentic voice even as it grows. She also notes that the team can quickly test and make design changes.  



Oswalt’s moves appear to be paying off. Last year, the company’s retail sales value hit $580 million, up 30% from 2023, Oswalt’s first full year in the role. “Valerie is building the kind of brand that earns deep loyalty—one that sits at the intersection of performance, trust, and culture,” says Mark Patricof, whose sports-focused investment firm invested in Kodiak in 2022. Athletes who participated in the round include football stars Travis Kelce and Joe Burrow, who have teamed up with Kodiak to donate meals in Kansas City and Cincinnati, respectively. Investors also include tennis player Sloane Stephens and baseball legend CC Sabathia.  



“That’s a big reason Kodiak has connected so well with our athlete investors, who recognize the authenticity of the mission. Each of our athlete clients who came into this deal have told me time and again how proud they are to be investors in Kodiak,” Patricof says.  



I asked Oswalt what advice she might have for other corporate executives thinking of making the move to a more entrepreneurial brand. “You have to be scrappy. It gets messy,” she says. “If you’re inspired by overcoming challenges and being connected—to your people, your consumers, your suppliers, your customers—then it’s awesome. And if you can find partners who are aligned with your priorities and your values, it’s absolutely magical.” 



Go big or go small



What’s your experience bringing big-company discipline to a smaller organization—or vice versa? I’d love to hear what’s worked and what hasn’t. Send examples to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’ll publish the best examples in a future newsletter.  







Read more: from big to small 




What Alicia Boler David had to ‘unlearn’ from Amazon 





Inside the founder factory known as Palantir 





Laid off from Big Tech, these are the rebounder founders 
 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bringing, ‘Big, Food’, energy, Travis, Kelce-backed, cult, brand </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This single ChatGPT prompt can do hours of market research in minutes—here’s how</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-single-chatgpt-prompt-can-do-hours-of-market-research-in-minutesheres-how</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-single-chatgpt-prompt-can-do-hours-of-market-research-in-minutesheres-how</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Market research can be a slow, fragmented, and difficult process, often involving tedious internet searches, questionable data sources, and time-consuming manual synthesis. This makes it a great candidate for some assistance from AI. What’s more, an update to a popular feature on ChatGPT has made it even better at doing this kind of work. 



Imagine that you have a potential business idea but still need to validate how viable it actually is, identify primary competitors in your market, and develop an ideal customer persona. Instead of spending hours collating data, explains Dan McCarthy, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Maryland, you can use Deep Research, a ChatGPT feature that directs an AI agent to develop a comprehensive, well-cited report on any topic. 



Last week, OpenAI upgraded Deep Research with some new abilities. The feature now runs on GPT-5.2, one of the company’s most recent models (previously it ran on a much older o3 model), and can now prioritize specific websites in its search process. Deep Research is available for all paid ChatGPT users. 



Here’s how to use it to get some thorough market research done quickly. 



Step 1: Get your prompt right



To test out how this feature could help with market research, I pretended that I wanted to start a digital transformation firm based in Denver with a focus on upgrading bars with mobile, bar-to-table ordering capabilities. All I needed to do in order to get started was click the plus button next to the text box, select More, then Deep Research, and enter a prompt.



This prompt will determine the information that ChatGPT prioritizes in its search, so it helps to be verbose. If you need help developing a lengthy prompt, try using ChatGPT to help write it.



McCarthy, who uses AI tools extensively, says that an easy way to develop a comprehensive prompt is to activate the chatbot’s voice mode and simply have a conversation with it. Once you’ve explained what you want, McCarthy says, you can ask ChatGPT, “Given all this that I’m telling you, what do you think would be the best thing that I should even be asking you?” That should help clear up any blind spots you might’ve missed. 



According to McCarthy, this method should produce a solid prompt that you can give to the Deep Research agent. When I asked ChatGPT to help expand my prompt, the platform generated a 673-word result. This prompt (which you can view here) defined the agent as a market research analyst and gave it objectives to determine the business idea’s viability, map out the competition, and define my ideal customer’s persona. Additionally, it provided details on the scope of the research, and information for how the agent should format its report. I also used ChatGPT to develop a list of specific websites for the Deep Research agent to prioritize in its search.



Step 2: Start the research 



I entered my ChatGPT-created prompt, selected the Deep Research feature, and pressed return. Before getting to work, the agent broke down its objectives into the following bullet points: 




Collect primary vendor docs and pricing pages starting with user-preferred sites.



Survey industry, local Denver sources, and hospitality reports for market context.



Compile POS integration lists, local competitors, and implementation partners in Denver.



Analyze demand, model ROI scenarios, and estimate Denver bar counts and adoption rates.



Draft recommendations, ICP personas, GTM plan, and cite sources with confidence ratings.




Over the next 21 minutes, the agent searched through hundreds of web pages. It found liquor license databases, census information, and data regarding competitors in Denver’s hospitality-focused digital transformation market. It compiled all this information into a multi-section report. 



Step 3: Read the report



That report (which you can view here) ended up being roughly 4,000 words. It included an overview of the market, identified customer pain points, and listed out my potential competitors. The report also included recommendations for how to position my business, strategies to break into the Denver hospitality scene, and even identified a small business that would likely be my direct competitor: a Denver-based POS integrator called Megabite.  



ChatGPT found that while my business idea had potential, it wouldn’t fully meet the needs of Denver-based bar owners, who have reported that bar-to-table ordering can actually lead to fewer sales and tips. Instead, the report suggested, I should consider a system that can sit on top of popular POS in which diners don’t need to pay for every new drink they order, and can instead open a digital tab. 



What the expert thinks of the result



McCarthy told me he was impressed by the report that Deep Research produced. In particular, he was pleasantly surprised by the agent’s cleverness in using liquor licenses to get a sense of the market size, and its thoughtfulness in calling out disruption to bar culture as a potential blocker to the business. 



But the report wasn’t perfect. McCarthy said much of what was included was unnecessary or needlessly complex. An easy prompt to fix this? “Just tell it, ‘Explain it to me like I’m an idiot.’” McCarthy adds, “I do that all the time.” He says that a solid market research report should also answer questions regarding the scope of adoption and how often repeat purchasing is expected. 



McCarthy also says that users should direct the Deep Research agent to be very upfront about the data it attempted to get but couldn’t. Many websites block AI agents from engaging with their content to prevent data scraping, which can hinder the research process. By telling your agent to list out the sites that it couldn’t access, you can manually obtain that data and add it to the analysis. 



Our bar-to-table digital transformation firm will have to remain a pipe dream for now, but it’s clear that AI has made the process of taking an idea from zero to one easier and faster than ever. 



If you have an idea for a new business or are planning on an expansion or pivot in your current business, consider giving Deep Research a spin. It might unearth something that makes you think in a different way. 



—Ben Sherry







This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 



Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, single, ChatGPT, prompt, can, hours, market, research, minutes—here’s, how</media:keywords>
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<title>Gold and silver prices down today: 2 factors sending safe haven assets plummeting amid Iran war</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gold-and-silver-prices-down-today-2-factors-sending-safe-haven-assets-plummeting-amid-iran-war</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gold-and-silver-prices-down-today-2-factors-sending-safe-haven-assets-plummeting-amid-iran-war</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s another bad day for gold and silver. Traders in precious metals are seeing both gold and silver plummet significantly as the week kicks off, with gold down nearly 7% and silver down 8% over the past 24 hours. 



Worse, gold has now fallen nearly 20% since its all-time high of over $5,586 in January. Silver is down even more, falling more than 44% since its all-time high earlier this year of over $121. Here’s what you need to know.



The ‘safe haven’ trade is absent



Silver and especially gold are generally considered “safe haven” assets—assets investors turn to when economic uncertainty abounds, and they want to park their money in a valuable that isn’t likely to fluctuate much, or at least not go down in value significantly.  



Safe haven assets like gold and silver contrast with other assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies, which are traditionally more volatile, especially in times of economic uncertainty.



Given their safe-haven status, it’s natural to assume that the geopolitical and economic uncertainty unleashed by President Trump’s war in Iran over the past two weeks would cause investors to flock to gold and silver. 



But just the opposite has happened. After both metals hit all-time highs earlier this year, they have slowly lost value, and their sell-off has only intensified with the breakout of the Iranian war.



That incongruity has left many scratching their heads, asking “why?”



Government bonds are starting to look more attractive than metals



While any individual investor has their own reason for selling off a valuable asset, there are two likely factors that have contributed significantly to the fall in gold and silver both today and in recent weeks.



The first is solidly related to the war in Iran. While wars breed geopolitical conflict and economic uncertainty, which usually sends investors to safe-haven assets like gold and silver, they can also affect interest rates, especially if central banks need to reconsider their positions due to rising prices in things like oil, which can have a knock-on inflationary effect across the economy.



And, as the Wall Street Journal notes, thanks to the war in Iran, many investors now believe that central banks around the world are unlikely to cut interest rates this year. That’s the opposite of what investors believed before the war. 



If interest rates remain the same or even increase, government bonds become more attractive due to their higher yields. This can lead investors to park their money in bonds rather than precious metals, which don’t offer a guaranteed income stream.



Profit taking after gold and silver’s great run



A second significant factor likely contributing to gold and silver’s demise recently is, ironically, how well the two metals have performed lately.



Between January 2025 and gold’s all-time high in January 2026, gold rose more than 100%. In that same timeframe, silver rose by more than 275%. 



Those are massive gains. But big gains don’t translate into big profits until you sell. And it’s very likely that some of the reasons gold and silver are falling so much lately are due to profit taking, so investors can lock in some of those stratospheric gains they’ve made over the past 12 months.



Investors are generally also more interested in cashing out on assets they’ve made a killing on when the other assets they own are experiencing downturns, such as stocks. And lately, stocks have been hit hard. In the past five weeks, the Dow has lost around 9% of its value, the Nasdaq has dropped more than 6%, and the S&amp;P has also dropped more than 6%.



Many investors fear that markets could drop further the longer the Iran war drags on, and that the resulting increase in oil prices would negatively impact the overall economy. One way to hedge against a fall in stocks is to lock in any precious metal gains by selling them.



After hitting an all-time high in January, gold is currently sitting at around $4,397. That is a price point gold last saw in December 2025. Silver is currently around $68.40, a price it has also not seen since December 2025. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gold, and, silver, prices, down, today:, factors, sending, safe, haven, assets, plummeting, amid, Iran, war</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump’s plan to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants is now on hold, extending deadline for Strait of Hormuz</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trumps-plan-to-obliterate-irans-power-plants-is-now-on-hold-extending-deadline-for-strait-of-hormuz</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trumps-plan-to-obliterate-irans-power-plants-is-now-on-hold-extending-deadline-for-strait-of-hormuz</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ President Donald Trump on Monday extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, saying the U.S. would hold off on strikes against Iranian power plants for five days.Shortly after Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social site, Iranian state television put up a graphic that read: “U.S. president backs down following Iran’s firm warning.” The reprieve came hours ahead of Trump’s self-imposed deadline later in the day.Writing in all capital letters, Trump said the U.S. and Iran have had “very good and productive conversations” that could yield “a complete and total resolution” in the war. Talks would continue “throughout the week,” he said.Trump added that the suspension of his threat to attack power plants was “subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”Trump did not elaborate on the negotiations that had taken place. Iran did not immediately acknowledge any talks between the countries, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did say he spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Turkey has been an intermediary before in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.Trump’s announcement came as the United Arab Emirates reported its air defense were attempting to intercept new incoming Iranian fire Monday afternoon.Earlier Monday, Iran warned it would strike electricity plants across the Middle East and mine the Persian Gulf after Trump threatened to bomb power stations in the Islamic Republic if it did not reopen the strait.The war, now in its fourth week, has already seen several dramatic turning points — the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, the bombing of a key Iranian gas field, and strikes targeting oil and gas facilities and other civilian infrastructure in Gulf Arab nations. The conflict has killed more than 2,000 people, shaken the global economy, sent oil prices surging, and endangered some of the world’s busiest air corridors.Trump’s ultimatum and Iran’s promise of retaliation threatened to raise the stakes yet again, with potentially catastrophic repercussions for civilians across the region.If carried out, the attacks could cut electricity to wide swaths of people in Iran and around the Gulf and knock out desalination plants that provide many desert nations with drinking water. There are also increasing concerns about the consequences any of strikes on nuclear facilities.The fever pitch of the rhetoric shows how the war has spiraled to a point unimaginable at the start of the conflict on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.



Trump issues a deadline and trades threats with Tehran



Trump said the U.S. would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless the country releases its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours — a deadline that would expire late Monday Washington time but has now been extended.Iran has shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped along with other important commodities, in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes. A trickle of ships has gotten through, and Iran insists the crucial waterway remains open — just not to the U.S., Israel or their allies.The chokehold has wreaked havoc on energy markets, pushed up the prices on food and other goods well beyond the Middle East and sent shock waves throughout the global economy.“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” said Fatih Birol, the head of the Paris-based International Energy Agency.Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard promised retaliation if Trump made good on his threat, saying Iran it would hit power plants in all areas that supply electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares.”Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran would consider vital infrastructure across the region to be legitimate targets, including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations.Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant. Over the weekend, Iran launched missiles targeting Dimona in Israel, near a facility key to its long-suspected atomic weapons program. The Israeli facility wasn’t damaged.United States Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper, meanwhile, claimed in an interview that Iran was launching missiles and drones from populated areas, and suggested those areas would be targeted.“You need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper told Iranian civilians in the interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International that aired early Monday.In his first one-on-one interview since the war started, Cooper said the U.S. and Israel were targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s capabilities to rebuild its military.“It’s not just about the threat today,” he said. “We’re eliminating the threat of the future.”



Israel strikes Tehran and Iran warns against any invasion



Israel launched new attacks Monday on the Iranian capital, saying it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating. Explosions were heard in multiple locations in the afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit.With the U.S. deploying more amphibious assault ships and additional Marines to the Middle East, Iran warned against any ground attack.“Any attempt by the enemy to target Iran’s coasts or islands will, naturally and in accordance with established military practice, lead to the mining of all access routes … in the Persian Gulf and along the coasts,” Iran’s Defense Council warned said in a statement.The widespread use of mines could imperil not only military vessels but scores of commercial ships waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and a cleanup would last long after the conflict ends.Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but also has said that he retains all options. Israel has suggested its ground forces could take part in the war.Israel has also targeted the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon during the war, while the group has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.In recent days, Israel has hit many apartment buildings in Beirut and bombed bridges over the Litani river in the Lebanon’s south.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the targeting of bridges “a prelude to a ground invasion,” while Egypt denounced the strikes as the “collective punishment” of civilians for the actions of Hezbollah.Authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.



Oil prices are up more than 50% since start of the war



Oil prices remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, at around $113 a barrel, up some 55% since the war began.Jorge Moreira da Silva, a senior United Nations official, said the world has already seen a ripple effect, including “exponential price hikes in oil, fuel and gas” that have had a far-reaching impact on millions, primarily in Asian and African developing countries.“There is no military solution,” he said.In another sign of the far-reaching effects, South Korean chemical giant LG Chem said Monday it had to shut down a major industrial plant because the war had disrupted supplies of naphtha, a petroleum product used in plastic manufacturing.







AP writers Charlotte Graham-McLay, Sally Abou AlJoud, Bassem Mroue, and Tong-hyung Kim contributed to this report.



—Jon Gambrell, David Rising and Samy Magdy, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump’s, plan, ‘obliterate’, Iran’s, power, plants, now, hold, extending, deadline, for, Strait, Hormuz</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Beach cleanups can save the lives of marine animals. This calculator tells you exactly how many</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/beach-cleanups-can-save-the-lives-of-marine-animals-this-calculator-tells-you-exactly-how-many</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/beach-cleanups-can-save-the-lives-of-marine-animals-this-calculator-tells-you-exactly-how-many</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If you pick up plastic trash from a beach, you’re helping protect marine wildlife from harm. And every little piece—from a plastic bottle cap to food wrappers—matters, because even small amounts of this trash can be deadly to animals like sea turtles and seabirds.



A new calculator from Ocean Conservancy can now quantify that impact. If you enter the amounts of different types of plastic that you clean up into the Wildlife Impact Calculator, it will tell you how many animal lives would have been at risk, had those items made their way into the ocean and been ingested.



“We hope that people really see that beach cleanups matter,” says Erin Murphy, Ocean Conservancy’s manager of Ocean Plastics Research and lead co-author of the study that underpins the Wildlife Impact Calculator.



The issue of ocean plastic pollution



Plastic pollution in the ocean is a massive, global environmental issue. Every day, 2,000 truckloads worth of plastic waste enter ocean waters. 



Addressing that pollution would require research into better kinds of food packaging and recycling, and policies like an international plastic treaty. 



In the meantime, though, beach cleanups can also make a difference. Ocean Conservancy has been hosting an annual International Coastal Cleanup for 40 years. Nearly 19 million volunteers have taken part, removing more than 400 million pounds of plastics and other debris from coastlines over those decades.



Volunteers count and weigh all the pollution they pick up—with common items ranging from candy and chip wrappers to cigarette butts and grocery bags.



But raw numbers, like the fact that the volunteers collected 1.4 million plastic bottles in 2023’s cleanup, don’t always connect people to the real impact they’re making on wildlife, Murphy says.



With the calculator, that impact is clear, even for small quantities. Say your beach cleanup collected 20 plastic bottles, 15 bottle caps, and 10 plastic bags. Enter those figures into the calculator (which covers more than 20 types of plastic pollution, all of which have been found inside marine animals), and it tells you that you protected five sea turtles and 25 seabirds. It also shares info about such species, plus details on those types of plastic pollution.



Small amounts of plastic can be deadly



The calculator highlights the danger that even small amounts of plastic can pose to animals. And that was the point. The calculator is based on a study Murphy led, published in 2025, that aimed to identify the lethal dose of plastic for all sorts of animals.



“That’s something that at a broad scale hasn’t been done before,” she says. “And what we found was that very, very small amounts of plastic can still kill marine life.”



Just three sugar cubes worth of plastic, for example, has a 90% chance of killing a seabird like the Atlantic puffin, which is only 11 inches in length. For those birds, ingesting less than one sugar cube worth of plastic comes with a 50% chance.



Even bigger animals are at risk: ingesting just over two baseball’s worth of plastic has a 90% likelihood of death for Loggerhead turtles, and for harbor porpoises, a soccer ball’s worth of plastic is deadly.



With the calculator, Murphy says, “We wanted to flip that on its head and understand, what are the benefits of cleanups?” Coastal areas, where cleanups take place, are often where these animals nest or feed, too. 



Picking up whole pieces of plastic trash from beaches also prevents that trash from breaking up in the ocean and harming wildlife when they ingest fragments of plastic. 



Understanding these risks, and the benefits of cleaning up beaches, could spur regulatory decisions around plastic pollution. But ultimately, Ocean Conservancy hopes the calculator buoys individuals who undertake this effort.



“We know that systemic change is going to be needed to address this plastic pollution globally,” Murphy says, “but it’s just a reminder that every single person can be part of the solution.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Beach, cleanups, can, save, the, lives, marine, animals., This, calculator, tells, you, exactly, how, many</media:keywords>
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<title>The essential guide to point of sale (POS) systems</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-essential-guide-to-point-of-sale-pos-systems</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-essential-guide-to-point-of-sale-pos-systems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


In this guide, we take a look at everything small business owners need to know about buying a Point of Sale (POS) system
The post The essential guide to point of sale (POS) systems appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/05/POS-system-e1531903419398.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, essential, guide, point, sale, POS, systems</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Delve accused of misleading customers with ‘fake compliance’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/delve-accused-of-misleading-customers-with-fake-compliance</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/delve-accused-of-misleading-customers-with-fake-compliance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An anonymous Substack post accuses compliance startup Delve of “falsely” convincing “hundreds of customers they were compliant” with privacy and security regulations. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1542.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Delve, accused, misleading, customers, with, ‘fake, compliance’</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Publisher pulls horror novel ‘Shy Girl’ over AI concerns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/publisher-pulls-horror-novel-shy-girl-over-ai-concerns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/publisher-pulls-horror-novel-shy-girl-over-ai-concerns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Hachette Book Group said it will not be publishing “Shy Girl” over concerns that artificial intelligence was used to generate the text. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/49688202642_09fd5ccc38_k.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Publisher, pulls, horror, novel, ‘Shy, Girl’, over, concerns</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>It’s been 20 years since the first tweet</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/its-been-20-years-since-the-first-tweet</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/its-been-20-years-since-the-first-tweet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey posted a simple message: “just setting up my twittr”. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/twitter-app-icon-ios.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>It’s, been, years, since, the, first, tweet</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Are AI tokens the new signing bonus or just a cost of doing business?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-ai-tokens-the-new-signing-bonus-or-just-a-cost-of-doing-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-ai-tokens-the-new-signing-bonus-or-just-a-cost-of-doing-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Maybe tokens really will become the fourth pillar of engineering compensation. But engineers might want to hold the line before embracing this as a straightforward win. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1151746484.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Are, tokens, the, new, signing, bonus, just, cost, doing, business</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>An exclusive tour of Amazon’s Trainium lab, the chip that’s won over Anthropic, OpenAI, even Apple </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/an-exclusive-tour-of-amazons-trainium-lab-the-chip-thats-won-over-anthropic-openai-even-apple</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/an-exclusive-tour-of-amazons-trainium-lab-the-chip-thats-won-over-anthropic-openai-even-apple</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shortly after Amazon  announced its $50 billion investment in OpenAI, AWS invited me on a private tour of the chip lab at the heart of the deal. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ASW-Chip_tour-servers.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>exclusive, tour, Amazon’s, Trainium, lab, the, chip, that’s, won, over, Anthropic, OpenAI, even, Apple </media:keywords>
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<title>The Strait of Hormuz is the fourth large supply shock this decade. Welcome to the new era of global disorder</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-strait-of-hormuz-is-the-fourth-large-supply-shock-this-decade-welcome-to-the-new-era-of-global-disorder</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-strait-of-hormuz-is-the-fourth-large-supply-shock-this-decade-welcome-to-the-new-era-of-global-disorder</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Fed keeps calling these events bad luck. They aren&#039;t. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267401140-e1774027472646.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, Strait, Hormuz, the, fourth, large, supply, shock, this, decade., Welcome, the, new, era, global, disorder</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Companies are now on the front lines of war. They need to act like it</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/companies-are-now-on-the-front-lines-of-war-they-need-to-act-like-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/companies-are-now-on-the-front-lines-of-war-they-need-to-act-like-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Iranian drones hit U.S. data centers in the Gulf. For corporate security chiefs, it&#039;s a wake-up call that can&#039;t be ignored: your company is now a target. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2267368198-e1774018308862.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Companies, are, now, the, front, lines, war., They, need, act, like</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>‘Godfather of AI’ says tech companies aren’t concerned with the AI endgame. They’re focused on short&#45;term profits instead</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/godfather-of-ai-says-tech-companies-arent-concerned-with-the-ai-endgame-theyre-focused-on-short-term-profits-instead</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/godfather-of-ai-says-tech-companies-arent-concerned-with-the-ai-endgame-theyre-focused-on-short-term-profits-instead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Researchers are interested in solving problems that have their curiosity. It’s not like we start off with the same goal of, what’s the future of humanity going to be?” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2188059709-e1755279323632.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Godfather, AI’, says, tech, companies, aren’t, concerned, with, the, endgame., They’re, focused, short-term, profits, instead</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Dairy Queen CEO says he learned from Warren Buffett being the ‘smartest person in the world’ isn’t the most important attribute for success</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dairy-queen-ceo-says-he-learned-from-warren-buffett-being-the-smartest-person-in-the-world-isnt-the-most-important-attribute-for-success</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dairy-queen-ceo-says-he-learned-from-warren-buffett-being-the-smartest-person-in-the-world-isnt-the-most-important-attribute-for-success</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Other leaders like Melinda French Gates and Amex CEO Stephen Squeri have taken the former Berkshire Hathaway CEO&#039;s advice to heart in navigating business. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-540177616-e1773858550571.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dairy, Queen, CEO, says, learned, from, Warren, Buffett, being, the, ‘smartest, person, the, world’, isn’t, the, most, important, attribute, for, success</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The one skill that separates people who get smarter with AI from everyone else</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-one-skill-that-separates-people-who-get-smarter-with-ai-from-everyone-else</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-one-skill-that-separates-people-who-get-smarter-with-ai-from-everyone-else</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ New research from the NeuroLeadership Institute finds fluent AI users share a single cognitive habit — and it has nothing to do with tech skills. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/david.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, one, skill, that, separates, people, who, get, smarter, with, from, everyone, else</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Uber commits up to $1.25bn to Rivian in major Robotaxi push</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-commits-up-to-125bn-to-rivian-in-major-robotaxi-push</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-commits-up-to-125bn-to-rivian-in-major-robotaxi-push</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Uber will invest up to $1.25bn in Rivian to deploy 10,000 robotaxis globally, marking a major step in the race to scale autonomous ride-hailing.
Read more: 
Uber commits up to $1.25bn to Rivian in major Robotaxi push ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2659223225.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Uber, commits, 1.25bn, Rivian, major, Robotaxi, push</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>SME lending rises to £17.5bn as small businesses drive AI&#45;led growth across the UK</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sme-lending-rises-to-175bn-as-small-businesses-drive-ai-led-growth-across-the-uk</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sme-lending-rises-to-175bn-as-small-businesses-drive-ai-led-growth-across-the-uk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK SME lending climbed to £17.5bn in 2025 as smaller firms drive AI adoption, though experts warn funding still falls short of what’s needed for long-term growth.
Read more: 
SME lending rises to £17.5bn as small businesses drive AI-led growth across the UK ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/shutterstock_1455248144-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>SME, lending, rises, £17.5bn, small, businesses, drive, AI-led, growth, across, the</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Surge in UK borrowing limits scope for energy bill support as fiscal pressures mount</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/surge-in-uk-borrowing-limits-scope-for-energy-bill-support-as-fiscal-pressures-mount</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/surge-in-uk-borrowing-limits-scope-for-energy-bill-support-as-fiscal-pressures-mount</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK borrowing jumps to £14.3bn, raising concerns over limited government capacity to support households as energy bills rise amid Middle East tensions.
Read more: 
Surge in UK borrowing limits scope for energy bill support as fiscal pressures mount ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_583596115.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Surge, borrowing, limits, scope, for, energy, bill, support, fiscal, pressures, mount</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Luke Littler moves to trademark his face in bid to combat AI fakes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/luke-littler-moves-to-trademark-his-face-in-bid-to-combat-ai-fakes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/luke-littler-moves-to-trademark-his-face-in-bid-to-combat-ai-fakes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Darts champion Luke Littler applies to trademark his face to prevent AI deepfakes and counterfeit products, highlighting gaps in UK IP law.
Read more: 
Luke Littler moves to trademark his face in bid to combat AI fakes ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Luke-Littler.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Luke, Littler, moves, trademark, his, face, bid, combat, fakes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Truro targets former Zipcar users with capital&#45;light expansion in London</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/truro-targets-former-zipcar-users-with-capital-light-expansion-in-london</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/truro-targets-former-zipcar-users-with-capital-light-expansion-in-london</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Turo is expanding in London targeting former Zipcar users with a capital-light peer-to-peer model, as traditional fleet-based car clubs struggle with rising costs.
Read more: 
Truro targets former Zipcar users with capital-light expansion in London ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Truro.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Truro, targets, former, Zipcar, users, with, capital-light, expansion, London</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Employees had to restrain a dancing humanoid robot after it went wild at a California restaurant</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employees-had-to-restrain-a-dancing-humanoid-robot-after-it-went-wild-at-a-california-restaurant</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employees-had-to-restrain-a-dancing-humanoid-robot-after-it-went-wild-at-a-california-restaurant</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A dancing robot in a Haidilao hot pot restaurant boogied down a little too hard. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2253900044.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Employees, had, restrain, dancing, humanoid, robot, after, went, wild, California, restaurant</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Jeff Bezos reportedly wants $100 billion to buy and transform old manufacturing firms with AI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jeff-bezos-reportedly-wants-100-billion-to-buy-and-transform-old-manufacturing-firms-with-ai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jeff-bezos-reportedly-wants-100-billion-to-buy-and-transform-old-manufacturing-firms-with-ai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Amazon magnate has a new project centered around acquiring industrial firms and revamping them with AI technology. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-184123956.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jeff, Bezos, reportedly, wants, 100, billion, buy, and, transform, old, manufacturing, firms, with</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Amazon acquires Rivr, maker of a stair&#45;climbing delivery robot</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-acquires-rivr-maker-of-a-stair-climbing-delivery-robot</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-acquires-rivr-maker-of-a-stair-climbing-delivery-robot</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Amazon and Jeff Bezos had previously invested in the startup. The deal signals the e-commerce giant&#039;s interest in doorstep delivery. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Hero-Image.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, acquires, Rivr, maker, stair-climbing, delivery, robot</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The best AI investment might be in energy tech</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-ai-investment-might-be-in-energy-tech</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-best-ai-investment-might-be-in-energy-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Power has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in rolling out new AI data centers. That&#039;s creating an opening for investors. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-1316185179.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, investment, might, energy, tech</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to grow at work when your manager won’t give you feedback</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-grow-at-work-when-your-manager-wont-give-you-feedback</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-grow-at-work-when-your-manager-wont-give-you-feedback</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “I have no idea if this is what they want me to do. I barely get any feedback.” 



This is a statement I often hear from leaders in my coaching calls, even those at a senior level.When these leaders were early in their careers, there was more frequent guidance and coaching on what success looked like for them and if their work met expectations. However, research by Amy Edmondson shows that the higher you rise in an organization, the less feedback you tend to receive, which can make it feel like you’re losing reassurance. In coaching calls with my clients, we often discover how reliant they were on their leader’s affirmation, and that this recognition served as motivation. 



In addition to getting less feedback from leaders, as your level of influence increases, transparency can decrease. Authority bias can take over as direct reports put their leaders on a pedestal and withhold critical feedback, assuming that their leader knows best or fearing the repercussions of sharing a divergent opinion. 



As you rise, there are simply fewer people in the organization who can guide you on your next steps. Here are some strategies you can leverage to get better feedback at work.



ASK FOR ADVICE INSTEAD OF FEEDBACK



People sometimes hesitate to give feedback, but most people love giving advice. A phrase I often use is this: “I’d love some advice on what I can try next time to make this meeting agenda clearer and more actionable for our group.” Recent research finds that framing the ask as advice rather than “feedback” helps reviewers focus on future-oriented, tangible suggestions instead of only dwelling on past performance.



NURTURE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY



To create an environment where your team feels comfortable sharing advice or feedback, you can model vulnerability (this signals that it’s safe for others to take interpersonal risks). You can also explicitly invite input and questions from everyone (for instance, “What could we improve here?”) and respond in ways that reinforce openness (like thanking people for their honesty). In addition, you can also call out where you saw yourself needing improvement. This might sound like, “I noticed I started rambling at the end of that meeting. Where could I have shortened my message for better clarity?”



AVOID VAGUE QUESTIONS



Vague requests, like asking, “How can I improve this?” can lead to insubstantial or equally vague responses. Instead, focus on clearly defining your goal and ask for advice on how to do a better job reaching that goal. For example, instead of saying, “I want to improve my presentation skills,” you can instead lead with, “I want to improve my presentation flow for clarity and brevity.”It can also be helpful to set the purpose before you make the request. This means sharing why you want the feedback (for example, to be more influential in asking for resources for our team) and how you’ll use it. This can help people frame their thoughts in a way that moves you closer to your goal. If they have a shared interest in your outcome, this also incentivizes them to give you helpful input.



BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR CIRCLE



Leaders often end up surrounded by similar perspectives (people who think like them or report to them), which reduces the likelihood of honest challenge. If your current circle is limited, try exploring your industry or professionally affiliated groups. Because of the shared common interest in the type of work you do, this is a great place to foster connection. You can do this by participating in conferences, meet-ups, or even online forums. Ask them to challenge your viewpoints or provide evidence from their experience that contradicts your viewpoints. 



As you rise in the organization, your relationships with your colleagues to get work done can also be just as important as the relationship with your leader. This is especially true at executive levels when you often need resources from your peers’ teams to accomplish your own projects. To nurture these relationships, you can schedule recurring 1:1s with peers that allow them to also raise topics of importance. Another great way to build these relationships is to set up collaborative coworking sessions where advice naturally flows as you work alongside them.



As you gain more visibility, seniority, and decision-making ownership in your organization, feedback will flow differently to you. You have to cultivate it intentionally, with clarity and from a new circle of sources. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, grow, work, when, your, manager, won’t, give, you, feedback</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The price of crude is nearly $115 a barrel following Iran’s strikes on these key Gulf energy facilities</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-price-of-crude-is-nearly-115-a-barrel-following-irans-strikes-on-these-key-gulf-energy-facilities</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-price-of-crude-is-nearly-115-a-barrel-following-irans-strikes-on-these-key-gulf-energy-facilities</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Global energy prices soared Thursday after Iran attacked two oil refineries in Kuwait and a key natural gas facility in Qatar that can supply one-fifth of the world’s liquified natural gas.The attacks added to fears the energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic may be longer and more extensive than feared, with lasting damage to oil and gas production.Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose nearly 6% to $113.77 per barrel, up from less than $73 per barrel on the eve of the war. U.S. benchmark crude was less affected by the latest attacks in the Middle East, rising less than 1% to $96.26 per barrel.The European TTF benchmark for natural gas prices traded 17% higher on Thursday and has doubled in the past month.The Iranian attack hit the Ras Laffan terminal for shipping out liquefied natural gas in Qatar. Qatar normally supplies some 20% of the world’s consumption of LNG, which can be carried by ship. The facility shut down after a drone attack. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most tanker traffic also left the gas with nowhere to go.If the disruptions from Iran’s attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors’ energy infrastructure keep oil and gas prices high for long, they could create a debilitating wave of inflation for the global economy.Markets on Wall Street slipped before the opening bell. Futures for the S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell a 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures dipped 0.3%.On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve opted to leave its benchmark interest rate alone and projected just one more quarter-point cut this year due to ongoing elevated inflation and uncertainty about the ramifications the Iran war will have on the global economy.Prices for gold and silver also tumbled, dragging down major mining stocks with them. Gold fell 4% to $4,697 an ounce, while silver slipped 8.7% to $70.80. Most industrial metals also saw their prices fall.Shares in miners Hecla and Newmont slid 7.8%, while Freeport-McMoRan fell 4.6%.Markets in Europe and Asia were getting hit much harder than U.S. markets. Germany’s DAX lost 2.4% by midday, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 1.7% and Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 2.1%.In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.4% to 53,372.53 as the Bank of Japan also opted to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.75%, citing the war with Iran as one factor.In its monetary policy statement the BOJ said that “in the wake of increased tension in the Middle East, global financial and capital markets have been volatile and crude oil prices have risen significantly; future developments warrant attention.”Higher oil prices are a heavy burden for Japan, which like South Korea and Taiwan depends on imports of most raw materials for industries that rely heavily on oil and its derivatives.



The Kospi in Seoul lost 2.7% to 5,763.22.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 2% to 25,500.58, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.4% to 4,006.55.Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 lost 1.7% to 8,497.80 and Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.9%. In India, which has also suffered from shocks to supplies of oil and gas, the Sensex lost 2.7%.“The combination of higher oil, rising U.S. yields, and a stronger dollar is acting as a macro wrecking ball across Asian assets and currencies,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.







Business Writer Matt Ott reported from Washington.



—Elaine Kurtenbach and David McHugh, AP Business Writers ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Carvana stock split: Date, timeline, and what the historic proposal means for investors in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/carvana-stock-split-date-timeline-and-what-the-historic-proposal-means-for-investors-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/carvana-stock-split-date-timeline-and-what-the-historic-proposal-means-for-investors-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The used-car e-commerce platform Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) is planning to do something it has never done before: split its stock. 



If completed, the move will significantly reduce the per-share price of CVNA stock, without affecting the company’s total value. But first, it needs to be approved by shareholders.



Here’s what you need to know about Carvana’s proposed stock split.



What is a stock split?



A stock split is a mechanism by which a company can increase or decrease the number of its shares by dividing those shares or combining them.



There are two types of stock splits: a forward split and a reverse split. A forward split is the most common, and the type that Carvana is proposing. 



In a forward split, an individual share is divided into additional shares, reducing the value of each share. A forward split is usually just referred to as a “stock split.”



On the other side of the coin, you have a reverse split. These are less common than forward splits. In a reverse split, multiple existing shares of a stock are combined into a single share, making each new share more valuable because there are fewer of them.



While both types of splits change the value of a single share, they do not inherently affect the company’s overall market cap. This is because the total number of new shares and their new stock price still equals the same sum as the former number of shares and their price.



For example, take an imaginary company, XYZ, with 1,000 outstanding shares each worth $100. The total value of the company, its market cap, is thus $100,000. 



But then XYZ decides to split its shares by a factor of 10-to-1. This increases the company’s 1,000 outstanding shares to 10,000, yet because there are now 10 times more shares, each share is worth 10 times less, so the company’s market cap remains $100,000.



How much is Carvana splitting the stock by?



Carvana has announced that it intends to split its stock 5-to-1. 



Last week, the company said that its board had approved the split at that ratio. That means that once the split takes place, there will be five times as many CVNA shares outstanding as there were before the split.



However, since there will be five times as many shares, the post-split share price of CVNA stock will be five times lower than its pre-split price.



When do Carvana’s shares split?



It’s important to note that Carvana’s share split isn’t guaranteed. While the company’s board has approved the split, shareholders still need to vote on the move. If shareholders also approve the split, the company’s stock split will proceed. 



In a release announcing the proposed split, Carvana said that shareholders will be able to vote on the stock split at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders on May 5, 2026. 



If they approve the split, investors who own Class A and Class B common stock will receive an additional four CVNA shares for every share they currently own after the closing bell on Wednesday, May 6.



When markets reopen on Thursday, May 7, CVNA shares will begin trading at their new split-adjusted price.



What will Carvana’s new split-adjusted stock price be?



That’s unknowable for now because no one knows what Carvana’s stock price will be seven weeks from now when the adjusted price would kick in.



For now, all we can say for certain is that, if shareholders approve the split, the split-adjusted price will be one-fifth of the pre-split price.



Currently, CVNA stock is trading at around $290 per share. Assuming CVNA trades at that price at the close of markets on May 6, Carvana’s post-split stock price would open at around $58 per share on May 7.



Why is Carvana splitting its stock?



Given that stock splits don’t change the fundamental value of the company—or inherently make existing investors any richer—many wonder what the benefit of a stock split is.



The greatest benefit to a forward stock split is that it lowers the cost of buying into the company for new investors. This is especially true for retail investors who may not have hundreds each month to sink into a new stock. 



If a person only has about $150 a month to invest in the market, Carvana, at its current share price of around $290, is unaffordable for them. 



But if CVNA shares are suddenly at $58 each, that same investor could scoop up at least a few shares. And if enough retail investors do this, it could actually help boost the overall stock price—triggering a wave of fresh investment in the company’s shares.



Another reason companies typically split their shares is to make them more affordable for the company’s own employees, who often participate in employee stock purchase plans (ESPP). If a company’s share price is lower, employees can get more shares via their ESPP contributions.



This often increases employee loyalty within the company and can be a motivating factor in their work. After all, if you own shares in the company you work for, you want that company to do as well as possible so those shares continue to rise.



Indeed, when announcing the proposed stock split, Carvana chief financial officer Mark Jenkins said, “This is the first split in Carvana’s history, and we believe it achieves the important goal of keeping our stock accessible to all of our team members.” 



How have Carvana’s shares performed in 2026?



CVNA shares have had a rough start to 2026. While the company’s share price climbed to over $480 in January, it has since seen a massive decline.



The stock took its greatest hit this year in February after Carvana reported its Q4 2025 earnings. 



While the company did achieve net revenue growth of 58% to $5.6 billion, it missed hard on adjusted EBITDA, which came in at $511 million. As a result, the company’s stock price fell nearly 16% in one day.



Since then, CVNA shares have continued to be hit, largely due to a relatively bearish market for growth stocks, especially after America’s attack on Iran and the ongoing economic uncertainty. 



Yesterday, CVNA shares fell nearly 7.5% to $291.17.



Year-to-date, CVNA shares are now down 31% as of yesterday’s close. Yet, over the past 12 months, Carvana has performed remarkably well. Since this time last year, CVNA shares have risen nearly 75%. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Trailers for trailers? Movie studios in the TikTok era are competing for 1 second of your precious attention</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trailers-for-trailers-movie-studios-in-the-tiktok-era-are-competing-for-1-second-of-your-precious-attention</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trailers-for-trailers-movie-studios-in-the-tiktok-era-are-competing-for-1-second-of-your-precious-attention</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Trailers of two of Hollywood’s most anticipated upcoming movies came out this week. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Dune: Part Three and Marvel Studios’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiered a day apart. 



But what’s most interesting is the marketing strategy behind the trailers—in which promos and short clips of the trailers were released ahead of the full trailers. 



On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery hosted a livestreamed event on the official Dune account on TikTok. 



It featured director Dennis Villeneuve and some of the cast talking about the upcoming movie to a live audience before airing the trailer, which was simultaneously revealed at the end of the stream before being rolled out on other platforms like Instagram and YouTube. 



Videos with the star-studded cast—including Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Javier Bardem—urging fans to watch the trailer circulated online, and were later shared from the Warner Bros. Discovery and IMAX social accounts.  



Meanwhile, Marvel Studios released the official trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day on Wednesday. 



But the day before, Tom Holland announced on Instagram that he and the studio were “doing something that has never been done before” and that “some of our greatest fans are going to help us release pieces of” the trailer.



Holland tagged an Instagram account of a fan in Peru, who shared a two-second clip from the trailer featuring Spider-Man swinging through the air holding someone. That fan then tagged another fan in Ohio, who shared a separate bite-sized clip from the trailer. 



Throughout the day, fans from different parts of the world tagged each other, showing different seconds-long clips before the full trailer debuted the next day. 



This isn’t the first time that Marvel Studios has released its trailers in a non-traditional way. 



In December, the studio premiered four different trailers for Avengers: Doomsday during theatrical showings of Avatar: Fire and Ash. It was the only way that fans could access the trailers immediately, since they weren’t officially released online until a few days later. 



Short cuts



Trailers have historically served as a marketing tool for films, but sharing microclips from trailers to get fans excited about trailers themselves seems to be a new marketing trend all on its own. 



It’s certainly a sign of the times, especially as short-form content and microdramas become even more popular while the attention spans of a generation weaned on TikTok get shorter. 



But it’s also indicative of the fluctuating nature of the theatrical business. 



While box office numbers have gone up since the pandemic, they have not reached pre-pandemic levels. 



The North American box office grossed $9 billion last year, which is above the numbers of 2020, but still low compared to the years prior. 



Marvel movies also continue to see a downturn at the box office, while AMC Theatres recently announced its plans to shut down several “underperforming” locations across the United States after a decline in attendance. 



Networks and streaming services have already played around with releasing bite-sized clips of its shows on social media to get users to watch full seasons of its shows. 



The movie industry, meanwhile, has long accepted that it needs social media to promote its new movies, whether that means hiring TikTok creators to make fan trailers or creating viral moments to grab attention. 



But as studios and theater chains desperately try to reach young fans on social media, generating more hype around movie trailers might be the next thing they’re experimenting with to actually get audiences into theaters. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trailers, for, trailers, Movie, studios, the, TikTok, era, are, competing, for, second, your, precious, attention</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Will Trump deploy U.S. troops to Iran to seize uranium? </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/will-trump-deploy-us-troops-to-iran-to-seize-uranium</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/will-trump-deploy-us-troops-to-iran-to-seize-uranium</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ President Donald Trump is facing perhaps the most daunting question of the war with Iran, one that could define his time in office: Will he put U.S. troops on the ground in Iran to secure some 970 pounds of enriched uranium that Tehran could potentially use to build nuclear weapons?Trump has offered shifting reasons for launching the war, but he has been consistent in articulating that a primary objective in joining Israel in the military action is ensuring that Iran will “never have a nuclear weapon.”The president has been more circumspect about how far he’s willing to go to follow through on his pledge to destroy Iran’s weapons program once and for all, including seizing or destroying the near-bomb-grade nuclear material that Iran possesses.Much of it is believed to be buried under the rubble of a mountain facility pummeled in U.S. bombings Trump ordered last June that he had claimed “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear program.It’s a risky, complicated project that many nuclear experts say cannot be done without a sizable deployment of U.S. troops into Iran, a dangerous and politically fraught operation for the Republican president, who has vowed not to entangle the U.S. in the sort of extended and bloody Middle East conflicts that still loom large on America’s psyche.At the same time, lawmakers and experts remain concerned that if Iran hard-liners emerge from the fighting, they’ll be more motivated than ever to build nuclear weapons as they look to deter the U.S. and Israel from future military action, a dynamic that makes taking control of Iran’s enriched uranium even more critical. That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program.Some lawmakers, like Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., say they remain deeply fearful that the president has put the nation on a path that will require putting troops inside Iran for what he called Trump’s confused and chaotic objectives.“Some of the objectives that he continues to espouse simply cannot be achieved without a physical presence there — securing the uranium cannot be done without a physical presence,” said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.Meanwhile, Republican allies of Trump stress that there are plans in place to deal with the enriched uranium. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman James Risch, R-Idaho, on Wednesday cited “a number of plans that have been put on the table.” He declined to elaborate.Others acknowledged the complications of deploying troops into Iran.“No one has given me a briefing on how you would do it without boots on the ground,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It doesn’t mean you can’t. But no one’s ever briefed me about it.”Scott added it’s not tenable to allow the stockpile to remain: “I think it would be helpful to get rid of it.”



Trump and his advisers are rigidly obtuse



Nearly three weeks into a conflict that’s left hundreds of people dead, tested longtime alliances and brought pain to the global economy, Trump and his top advisers have been rigidly obtuse about their deliberations over Iran’s uranium stockpile.“I’m not going to talk about that,” Trump said last week when asked about the enriched uranium. “But we have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit, and we’re not finished yet.”Later that day, during an appearance in Kentucky, Trump appeared to claim the strikes had already neutralized the threat. “They don’t have nuclear potential,” he said.Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters earlier this week that the administration sees no point in telegraphing “what we’re willing to do or how far we’re willing to go” while asserting “we have options, for sure.”



Experts say it’s doable but won’t be easy



Richard Goldberg, who served as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, said that seizing or destroying the enriched uranium is certainly doable, if the president decides to go that route.The U.S. and Israeli forces have been making strides toward creating the conditions — namely, establishing total air superiority — that would allow for special operations forces operators, who are trained in blowing up centrifuges and dealing with nuclear material, to conduct such an operation if the president decides to go that route.To be certain, a troops-on-the-ground effort is expected to be far more complicated than other recent high-profile, lightning-strike insertion operations, such as the January capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro or the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, Goldberg said. And the likely need to remove rubble to get to the canisters of enriched uranium adds another layer of complexity, because it would require heavy construction equipment.“But if you actually own the airspace and you can have close air support and drones and everything else up in the sky for pretty wide perimeter, presumably you could do a lot,” said Goldberg, who is now a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Washington this week that the assumption is much of the enriched uranium remains in the trio of Iranian nuclear sites bombarded last year by the U.S.“The impression we have … is that it hasn’t been moved,” said Grossi, adding that a bulk of the material is beneath the rubble at Iran’s Isfahan facility while lesser amounts are at the Natanz and Fordow facilities that were destroyed in last year’s American strikes.Testifying before a Senate committee on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in her prepared remarks said that the U.S. attacks on Iran had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and buried underground facilities.Gabbard said the U.S. has been monitoring whether Iran’s leaders will try to restart its nuclear program but said that they have not tried to rebuild their nuclear enrichment capability. She added that the clerical authority overseeing Iranian government has been degraded in Israel’s strikes on its leadership but remains intact.Brandan Buck, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Cato Institute, said that an effort to extract or dilute the enriched material would likely take more than 1,000 troops at each Iranian site and would take time to complete.On the other hand, not acting to secure the enriched uranium also comes with risk. Should Iran’s hard-liners remain in power, and with enriched material, they will now have greater motivation to build a nuclear weapon.“Trump has put himself between a rock and a hard place,” Buck said. “Throughout this, he has had maximalist aims, but he’s wanted to maintain minimal effort in order to keep the costs low.”







Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Matthew Lee and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.



—Aamer Madhani and Seung Min Kim, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Will, Trump, deploy, U.S., troops, Iran, seize, uranium </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Personal branding for business leaders</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/personal-branding-for-business-leaders</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/personal-branding-for-business-leaders</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Hannah Haffield on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Having a personal brand as a business leader is becoming more and more important, and we&#039;re here to explain why
The post Personal branding for business leaders appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/diverse-people-thinking-planning-marketing-brand-concept-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Personal, branding, for, business, leaders</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>£3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for businesses hiring young people</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3000-youth-jobs-grant-for-businesses-hiring-young-people</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3000-youth-jobs-grant-for-businesses-hiring-young-people</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The government said that it will give employers a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for taking on 18-24-year-olds who are out of work for six months
The post £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for businesses hiring young people appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/7874.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>£3, 000, Youth, Jobs, Grant, for, businesses, hiring, young, people</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Global payment services for small businesses: how to avoid higher fees</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/global-payment-services-for-small-businesses-how-to-avoid-higher-fees</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/global-payment-services-for-small-businesses-how-to-avoid-higher-fees</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post Global payment services for small businesses: how to avoid higher fees appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/03/global-payment-services-for-small-businesses-how-to-avoid-higher-fees-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Global, payment, services, for, small, businesses:, how, avoid, higher, fees</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why ‘my business is my retirement’ could be the riskiest plan of all</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-my-business-is-my-retirement-could-be-the-riskiest-plan-of-all</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-my-business-is-my-retirement-could-be-the-riskiest-plan-of-all</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Kevin Harrington on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Your business &#039;pension&#039; might not be the best retirement plan. Make sure you get these essentials in place before you bow out
The post Why ‘my business is my retirement’ could be the riskiest plan of all appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/10357.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, ‘my, business, retirement’, could, the, riskiest, plan, all</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Garry Tan’s Claude Code setup has gotten so much love, and hate</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-garry-tans-claude-code-setup-has-gotten-so-much-love-and-hate</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-garry-tans-claude-code-setup-has-gotten-so-much-love-and-hate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Thousands of people are trying Garry Tan&#039;s Claude Code setup, which was shared on GitHub. And everyone has an opinion: even Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/garry-tan-sxsw-getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, Garry, Tan’s, Claude, Code, setup, has, gotten, much, love, and, hate</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mistral bets on ‘build&#45;your&#45;own AI’ as it takes on OpenAI, Anthropic in the enterprise</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-bets-on-build-your-own-ai-as-it-takes-on-openai-anthropic-in-the-enterprise</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mistral-bets-on-build-your-own-ai-as-it-takes-on-openai-anthropic-in-the-enterprise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mistral Forge lets enterprises train custom AI models from scratch on their own data, challenging rivals that rely on fine-tuning and retrieval-based approaches. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2264771189.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mistral, bets, ‘build-your-own, AI’, takes, OpenAI, Anthropic, the, enterprise</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Kalshi’s legal troubles pile up, as Arizona files first ever criminal charges over ‘illegal gambling business’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kalshis-legal-troubles-pile-up-as-arizona-files-first-ever-criminal-charges-over-illegal-gambling-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kalshis-legal-troubles-pile-up-as-arizona-files-first-ever-criminal-charges-over-illegal-gambling-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It&#039;s the latest salvo in an escalating battle between state regulators and an industry that claims it&#039;s not beholden to them. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2237779170.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kalshi’s, legal, troubles, pile, up, Arizona, files, first, ever, criminal, charges, over, ‘illegal, gambling, business’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mave Health aims to improve attention and mood with its brain&#45;stimulating headset</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mave-health-aims-to-improve-attention-and-mood-with-its-brain-stimulating-headset</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mave-health-aims-to-improve-attention-and-mood-with-its-brain-stimulating-headset</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Mave Health is listing the headset at $495 for pre-orders. It aims to ship devices to users in the U.S. and India in April 2026. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Website-Image.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mave, Health, aims, improve, attention, and, mood, with, its, brain-stimulating, headset</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>DOD says Anthropic’s ‘red lines’ make it an ‘unacceptable risk to national security’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dod-says-anthropics-red-lines-make-it-an-unacceptable-risk-to-national-security</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dod-says-anthropics-red-lines-make-it-an-unacceptable-risk-to-national-security</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Defense Department said concerns that Anthropic might &quot;attempt to disable its technology&quot; during &quot;warfighting operations&quot; validate its decision to label the AI firm a supply chain risk. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2264385089.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>DOD, says, Anthropic’s, ‘red, lines’, make, ‘unacceptable, risk, national, security’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Either Trump is lying or the 4 other living presidents are, about war on Iran</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/either-trump-is-lying-or-the-4-other-living-presidents-are-about-war-on-iran</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/either-trump-is-lying-or-the-4-other-living-presidents-are-about-war-on-iran</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Trump declined to name the former president who supposedly regretted not striking Iran, saying he didn&#039;t want to “embarrass him.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26075762376644-e1773750426274.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Either, Trump, lying, the, other, living, presidents, are, about, war, Iran</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Amazon goes from free fast delivery to $14.99 within the hour</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-goes-from-free-fast-delivery-to-1499-within-the-hour</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-goes-from-free-fast-delivery-to-1499-within-the-hour</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ One-hour delivery slots are available in hundreds of places. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26075710831903-e1773750528590.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, goes, from, free, fast, delivery, 14.99, within, the, hour</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>As Meta removes privacy controls, TikTok explains why it never had any</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-meta-removes-privacy-controls-tiktok-explains-why-it-never-had-any</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/as-meta-removes-privacy-controls-tiktok-explains-why-it-never-had-any</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Two of the world&#039;s most powerful platforms are making a deliberate bet that safety beats privacy—and experts say they&#039;re right. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-883570754-e1773696538719.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, removes, privacy, controls, TikTok, explains, why, never, had, any</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Current price of oil as of March 17, 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-march-17-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/current-price-of-oil-as-of-march-17-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When oil prices change, it affects your energy costs—and even the price of everyday items. Here’s why. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Price-of-Oil-March-17.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Current, price, oil, March, 17, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mastercard to acquire crypto startup BVNK for up to $1.8 billion in largest stablecoin deal to date</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mastercard-to-acquire-crypto-startup-bvnk-for-up-to-18-billion-in-largest-stablecoin-deal-to-date</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mastercard-to-acquire-crypto-startup-bvnk-for-up-to-18-billion-in-largest-stablecoin-deal-to-date</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BVNK was previously in talks with the U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase for an acquisition price of about $2 billion. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2211655850.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mastercard, acquire, crypto, startup, BVNK, for, 1.8, billion, largest, stablecoin, deal, date</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Companies House suspends online filing service after cyber vulnerability exposes director data</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/companies-house-suspends-online-filing-service-after-cyber-vulnerability-exposes-director-data</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/companies-house-suspends-online-filing-service-after-cyber-vulnerability-exposes-director-data</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Companies House has suspended its WebFiling service after a security flaw exposed sensitive company data including directors’ addresses and dates of birth.
Read more: 
Companies House suspends online filing service after cyber vulnerability exposes director data ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/companies_house.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Companies, House, suspends, online, filing, service, after, cyber, vulnerability, exposes, director, data</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>UK factories hit by ‘collapse’ in orders as costs surge across manufacturing sector</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-factories-hit-by-collapse-in-orders-as-costs-surge-across-manufacturing-sector</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-factories-hit-by-collapse-in-orders-as-costs-surge-across-manufacturing-sector</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK manufacturers warn of collapsing domestic orders and rising costs, with firms raising prices at the fastest pace since 2023, according to Make UK.
Read more: 
UK factories hit by ‘collapse’ in orders as costs surge across manufacturing sector ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_2654084715.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>factories, hit, ‘collapse’, orders, costs, surge, across, manufacturing, sector</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Theo Paphitis steps in as interim CEO of Robert Dyas to lead turnaround</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/theo-paphitis-steps-in-as-interim-ceo-of-robert-dyas-to-lead-turnaround</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/theo-paphitis-steps-in-as-interim-ceo-of-robert-dyas-to-lead-turnaround</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Former Dragons’ Den investor Theo Paphitis has taken over as interim CEO of Robert Dyas, aiming to revive the struggling 93-store homewares retailer after falling sales.
Read more: 
Theo Paphitis steps in as interim CEO of Robert Dyas to lead turnaround ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_123264646.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Theo, Paphitis, steps, interim, CEO, Robert, Dyas, lead, turnaround</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Government offers £3,000 incentive for firms to hire unemployed young people</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-offers-3000-incentive-for-firms-to-hire-unemployed-young-people</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-offers-3000-incentive-for-firms-to-hire-unemployed-young-people</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK employers will receive £3,000 grants to hire unemployed 18–24 year-olds under new government plans to tackle rising youth unemployment affecting nearly one million young people.
Read more: 
Government offers £3,000 incentive for firms to hire unemployed young people ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/shutterstock_381093673-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Government, offers, £3, 000, incentive, for, firms, hire, unemployed, young, people</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meta preparing major layoffs as AI spending accelerates</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-preparing-major-layoffs-as-ai-spending-accelerates</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-preparing-major-layoffs-as-ai-spending-accelerates</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Meta is reportedly planning sweeping layoffs that could affect up to 20% of its workforce as the tech giant ramps up AI investment and pursues greater efficiency through automation.
Read more: 
Meta preparing major layoffs as AI spending accelerates ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/shutterstock_2065638467-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, preparing, major, layoffs, spending, accelerates</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>ByteDance reportedly pauses global launch of its Seedance 2.0 video generator</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bytedance-reportedly-pauses-global-launch-of-its-seedance-20-video-generator</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bytedance-reportedly-pauses-global-launch-of-its-seedance-20-video-generator</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company is reportedly delaying the launch as its engineers and lawyers work to avert further legal issues. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/GettyImages-1162754481.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ByteDance, reportedly, pauses, global, launch, its, Seedance, 2.0, video, generator</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google, Accel India accelerator chooses 5 startups and none are ‘AI wrappers’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-accel-india-accelerator-chooses-5-startups-and-none-are-ai-wrappers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-accel-india-accelerator-chooses-5-startups-and-none-are-ai-wrappers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Google and Accel say about 70% of AI startup pitches tied to India were &quot;wrappers&quot; as they reviewed more than 4,000 applications for their Atoms cohort. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/prayank-swaroop-accel-partner.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, Accel, India, accelerator, chooses, startups, and, none, are, ‘AI, wrappers’</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Netflix’s ‘Frankenstein’ wins three Oscars, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ wins two</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflixs-frankenstein-wins-three-oscars-kpop-demon-hunters-wins-two</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflixs-frankenstein-wins-three-oscars-kpop-demon-hunters-wins-two</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Frankenstein” won for Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while “KPop Demon Hunters” won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/kpop-demon-hunters.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Netflix’s, ‘Frankenstein’, wins, three, Oscars, ‘KPop, Demon, Hunters’, wins, two</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The billionaires made a promise — now some want out</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-billionaires-made-a-promise-now-some-want-out</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-billionaires-made-a-promise-now-some-want-out</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched a disarmingly simple campaign they called the Giving Pledge: a public commitment, open to the world’s wealthiest people, to give away more than half their fortune during their lifetime or upon their death. The moment seemed to call for it. Tech was minting billionaires faster than any […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-1167010571.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, billionaires, made, promise, —, now, some, want, out</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Walmart&#45;backed PhonePe shelves IPO as global tensions rattle markets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/walmart-backed-phonepe-shelves-ipo-as-global-tensions-rattle-markets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/walmart-backed-phonepe-shelves-ipo-as-global-tensions-rattle-markets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ PhonePe has paused its planned IPO, delaying a major liquidity event for investors including Tiger Global and Microsoft. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1206129405.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Walmart-backed, PhonePe, shelves, IPO, global, tensions, rattle, markets</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why the new Best Casting Oscar is a win for unsung heroes across the workforce</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-new-best-casting-oscar-is-a-win-for-unsung-heroes-across-the-workforce</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-new-best-casting-oscar-is-a-win-for-unsung-heroes-across-the-workforce</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Think of your favorite movie. Maybe you love it for the plot, or the nostalgia you get from watching it again and again. Now think of that same movie, but all the actors have been shuffled: An American who can’t quite master a British accent, a 35-year-old playing a high schooler, a dramatic actor whose jokes fall flat.



The people who make sure that doesn’t happen often go unrecognized, but now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has something to say about it. The inaugural Best Casting Oscar will be awarded at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15.



It’s the first new Oscars category in more than two decades. (In 2002, Shrek was the first to win the then-recently debuted Best Animated Feature award.) And it’s a long time coming; there has been a casting branch of the Academy since 2013.



But even with the introduction of an Oscar to recognize achievement at (arguably) the highest level of the film industry, those outside the industry might not understand what casting directors do or what good casting looks like.



Fast Company talked to a few industry professionals to break down what happens behind closed doors in the casting process—and why this new award is a win for unsung heroes across industries in the workforce.



Casting the part



Think of a film like its own little company that exists for the length of production: The director is at the head, but the casting director is one of the first people brought on to a project after that—making them vital to the film, even if they rarely make it to set.



“Casting is really an integral part of the filmmaking process,” Meredith Shea, the Academy’s chief membership, impact, and industry officer, says. “Casting directors collaborate with the directors and producers right after they receive the script from a writer, so they really set the tone for the start of a film.” 



A great casting decision can make a movie a classic—think Heath Ledger’s Joker or Sigourney Weaver in Alien—but a bad one can tank it. A film’s success can be won or lost before the director ever shouts “Action!”



When Naya Hemphill was in college, she wanted to be a director. She got into casting for student films as a way to be close to the preproduction process, but realized she enjoyed casting. “It’s always exciting to discover how talent and script can fuse together,” says Hemphill, who is now a casting intern with Blumhouse Productions. That fusion—or lack thereof—might be what people are referring to when they talk about good versus bad casting. 



“If a film or television show is really well cast, you kind of don’t notice it,” says casting director Paul Schnee. He’s worked on 2015’s Spotlight with Mark Ruffalo, and with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts for 2013’s August: Osage County.



Still, some Oscar voters—and many moviegoers—might not understand exactly what goes into casting for a film, despite it being such a crucial piece of the project’s success.



That’s why casting directors may be viewed as one of the many underappreciated, invisible members of a film crew—a sentiment possibly underscored by the fact it’s taken this long to roll out a casting Oscar.



Casting is “something that we do in private,” Schnee says, “and so it’s structurally a different kind of creative input.”



It took three failed attempts to create the casting director-specific branch of the Academy. Once the branch was officially formed, the idea “was that eventually we get our category to have,” Schnee says. The branch governors and former casting director David Rubin, who served as Academy president from 2019 to 2022, were instrumental in finally securing the award.



Behind closed doors



The casting process works like this: Actors audition in person or, more often now, send in self-tape auditions. There are callbacks if necessary, and the process repeats until the casting director finds the person for the role. 



Casting takes place before the rest of production, behind closed doors, making it a more nebulous role to a layperson. It’s easy to understand what other crew members do because their impact is visible through elements like makeup or costumes.



“If you were interviewing a costume designer, for example, he or she could show you some sketches about the evolution of their design,” Schnee says. “Because we’re dealing with human beings, I can’t show you auditions of people who didn’t get the job.”



The process also takes a lot of collaboration, often in different locations: Oslo-based casting director Yngvill Kolset Haga worked with New York-based casting director Avy Kaufman on Sentimental Value, which is up for nine Oscars this year. “You work towards the same direction even if you’re not in the same room,” Haga says.



And they often aren’t in the same room. Because casting directors work in preproduction, they sometimes don’t see what happens on set—any changes during filming or editing might be complete surprises at the premiere. “I was so delighted to see the magic that everyone did,” Kaufman says about seeing Sentimental Value after production wrapped.



Given that, the new casting Oscar is a great example of how unsung heroes on teams need to be recognized for their contributions, too.



Adam Goodman, clinical professor at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering &amp; Applied Science, also directs the University’s Center for Leadership. He works with executive teams in industry on leadership and teamwork. He says that in teams, there are “roles that are perceived to be back in the background, but in fact without [them], the team fails.”



Appreciating unrecognized team members is crucial to the success of an organization, with surveys suggesting they’d work even harder if they knew they would be recognized. Expressing gratitude for their contributions is an effective management tactic. And in the case of the new casting Oscar, it’s been a long time coming.



“It’s long overdue. Ninety-eight years of Oscars, and here we are . . . but better late than never,” Erica A. Hart, a member of the Casting Society’s board of directors, told CBC News. “Some of the people up above don’t see us as a craft, let alone a craft that is [deserving] of the Oscar.”



The “cherry on top”



Long-term improvement to industry culture involves thinking critically about the importance of leadership and teamwork, Goodman says. Part of this involves not underestimating certain team members.



“When you go back and look at what helps that team perform really well, it turns out that even though the project manager may not have made material contributions to the final work product, without their participation and engagement—and, frankly, orchestration—the team never would have hit the milestones that it needed to hit,” he says. 



Haga is hopeful the conversations about casting that started this year with the award’s introduction continue to bring attention to the work. Kaufman has worked with people she says are receptive to her input and others who take credit for it. She calls the recognition the “cherry on top.” 



“I’m a mother, so I need to make sure my kids know you don’t do something just to [be recognized]; you do it because it’s the best thing to do,” Kaufman says. 



But “with the Oscar now accepting casting directors in a different way, I’ll be curious to know how our lives change now that we’re being recognized,” she adds. “So, we can call you in a year and tell you how it’s looking.”



The Oscars aren’t done adding new categories for recognition, either: in 2028, at the 100th annual ceremony, a Best Stunt Design award will debut. Inside the industry, perception on casting directors has shifted over the years, but having an award might just help nonindustry people understand the level of work it takes to cast a film.



“My grandma, for example, is paying more attention to it now. That could be a combination of because I’m working in it and also because there’s an Oscar for it now,” casting intern Hemphill says. “But I do think that it will bring more attention to casting in general.”  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, the, new, Best, Casting, Oscar, win, for, unsung, heroes, across, the, workforce</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The hidden problem with feeling ‘overworked and underpaid’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-hidden-problem-with-feeling-overworked-and-underpaid</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-hidden-problem-with-feeling-overworked-and-underpaid</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Overworked and underpaid” has become the modern workplace anthem. The internet is full of advice on how to negotiate harder, “quiet quit,” or jump ship. It’s an easy narrative to embrace: If you feel undervalued, the system must have failed you.



That story is comforting. It’s also costly.



While genuine exploitation exists, most people stop short of asking the harder, and far more lucrative question: What is my contribution actually worth in the market?



Effort Is Not Currency



We have a tendency to measure our value by our level of exhaustion. We tally up the stress, the late nights, and the emotional labor. But markets do not pay for perspiration. They pay for results.



If you feel underpaid, the first step isn’t indignation; it’s an honest audit. You must be able to answer four questions in cold, commercial terms:




What measurable problems do I solve?



What revenue do I influence or what cost do I reduce?



What risk do I remove from the business?



What capability exists in the business because I am here?




If you cannot answer these, your problem isn’t exploitation, it’s under-positioning.High performers don’t just do the work; they translate that work into the language decision-makers value. That isn’t “self-promotion.” It is commercial maturity.



The Hidden Ego in the Hustle



Early in my career, I was once frustrated that my title didn’t match my workload. I felt overlooked. In hindsight, I wasn’t being ignored, I was being developed.



The gap between who we believe we are and how we are officially labelled is where growth actually happens. It is an invitation to become the role before you are given the title.Sometimes the discomfort isn’t about the workload. It is about the delay in validation. When we fixate on status over trajectory, we risk stalling the very progress we claim to want.



There is also a seductive benefit to the overworked and underpaid story: it absolves us.



If the organisation is “broken,” you don’t have to sharpen your skills.If leadership is “blind,” you don’t have to influence better.If the system is “unfair,” you don’t have to examine your own performance.



That mindset protects the ego but freezes your growth.If you need the title to act like the next level, you’re not ready for it.



A more empowering stance assumes agency first. Ask:




If I am underpaid, what capability gap must I close?



If I am overlooked, how do I become unignorable?



If I am overwhelmed, what low-value work am I tolerating or enabling?




Agency isn’t the denial of injustice. It is a refusal to surrender control.



Your Three-Point Audit



Before you demand a raise or polish your CV, run these filters:



1. The Value AuditList your core responsibilities. Next to each, write the tangible impact—the metric, the dollar value, or the efficiency gained. If you can’t quantify it, estimate it. If it adds little value, question why it’s on your plate at all.



Many professionals exhaust themselves on low-impact work that makes them feel busy but not valuable. Ruthless prioritisation is a career accelerant.



2. The Skill AuditIdentify the capabilities demonstrated by those above you. It’s rarely about technical skill; it’s more often about things like strategic thinking, commercial judgment, stakeholder influence, and composure under pressure.



Promotions follow trust as much as competence. Trust is built through visible ownership and sound judgment exercised consistently over time.



3. The Leverage AuditWhen you negotiate from financial pressure, you negotiate from fear. Build personal resilience and market options first. You want to ask for your worth from a place of clarity, not desperation. Employers may empathise with your situation, but your financial stability will always be your responsibility.



When the System Actually Is the Problem



Let’s be clear: Some organizations simply lack the capital, the courage, or the vision to reward talent.If you have delivered sustained, measurable results, operated at a higher level for months, and clearly articulated your impact—yet nothing shifts—that is a signal. At that point, leaving isn’t an act of disloyalty. It is an act of alignment.



For the leaders reading this: stretching your people without providing clarity or a path to reward breeds cynicism. Growth must be reciprocal, or your best people will eventually find a market that knows how to price them.



The Reframe        



Stop asking, “Why am I not being paid more?” Start asking, “Who must I become to be worth more, in any market?”.



That question shifts you from reaction to construction. Compensation is almost always a lagging indicator of personal expansion. You rarely get paid first and grow later; the sequence frustrates the impatient, but it rewards the disciplined.



If you feel overworked and underpaid, don’t suppress the frustration. Study it. It may be pointing to genuine unfairness, or it may be pointing to your next evolution.



The difference lies in whether you look inward before you look outward. That isn’t the popular message, but it’s the only one that puts your future back in your hands. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/03/p-91506261-hidden-problem-with-feeling-overworked-and-underpaid.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, hidden, problem, with, feeling, ‘overworked, and, underpaid’</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>3 AI trends in Hollywood to discuss at Oscars parties</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-ai-trends-in-hollywood-to-discuss-at-oscars-parties</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-ai-trends-in-hollywood-to-discuss-at-oscars-parties</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I teach a course on AI and filmmaking at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and lately, rather than planning each session well in advance, I’ve been structuring the class the night before. I’ll browse platforms like X, Substack, and YouTube, selecting the most provocative articles and video clips to present the following morning.



It’s a testament to how quickly artificial intelligence’s relationship to filmmaking is evolving: Each week brings new—often startling—developments.



The next morning in class, my students and I debate the ethics, the aesthetics, and the storytelling changes taking place in these collaborations with AI.



And we’re not alone: Throughout Hollywood, everyone—aspiring actors and filmmakers, stars, screenwriters, and studio execs—seems to have a take on what’s coming next. But I think three trends in particular are going to be hot topics of conversation at this year’s Oscars parties.



Nothing uncanny about this clip



In February 2026, a 15-second AI-generated video clip of Tom Cruise battling Brad Pitt on a burned-out highway overpass went viral.



Depending on the viewer, the video elicited either admiration, outrage, or existential hand-wringing.



Created by Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson via a generative-AI tool called Seedance 2.0, the video marked yet another milestone in the propulsive growth of AI tools.



Seedance 2.0—which was developed by ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok—is now one of the many AI tools available to create short-form video clips. But unlike most AI-generated videos, Pitt and Cruise don’t look creepy, uncanny, or animated in the clip, which almost perfectly mimics live-action footage. The appearance of two A-list stars in a fairly realistic scene created by a relatively unknown director using stolen likenesses jolted the industry.









A brief clip featuring AI-generated avatars of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise stunned the film industry.



The backlash was swift. Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that the video was generated from a dataset that most likely includes Disney’s copyrighted characters. The actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, pointed to the video’s “blatant infringement” of the actors’ likenesses, as well as their voices.



“SAG-AFTRA stands with the studios in condemning the blatant infringement enabled by Bytedance’s new AI video model Seedance 2.0,” the guild wrote in a statement. This practice, the guild added, “undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood,” while disregarding “law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent.”



In class, after watching the video, we explored the ethics of using someone’s likeness without permission, the challenges facing actors who build careers based on their unique ability to embody characters, and what the future holds for our understanding of acting.



If filmmakers can prompt fake actors to deliver precise performances, where does that leave human actors?



In with the old



Since 2023, the skyline of the Las Vegas strip has been dominated by an illuminated orb called the Sphere: an entertainment complex featuring a 360-degree LED screen covering 160,000 square feet (14,864 square meters). The Sphere recently surpassed 2 million tickets sold for a reimagining of the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.



The film, which premiered in August 2024, was shortened, its color was enhanced, and it was stretched to expand across the interior of the dome. AI was used to transfer the imagery from the film’s original, modest aspect ratio to the giant dome. This required generating new imagery around the edges of the original shots in what’s known as “AI outpainting.” The technology was also deployed to boost the original film’s resolution and to enhance certain scenes.



Some critics fretted that this fairly radical augmentation of the original classic would offend viewers. Instead, it has drawn them in droves to the Sphere, where they’ve been willing to shell out between US$100 and $200 per ticket.



Not bad for a movie about a girl from Kansas made in 1939.



Given the resounding success of The Wizard of Oz, experts expect producers to plumb the film archives for other potential hits and enhance them with AI before screening them in venues as varied as IMAX theaters and Cosm, another 360-degree dome with locations in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta.



Or AI can simply be used to create material that was never completed for a historic film.



In fact, The New Yorker recently profiled AI media entrepreneur Edward Saatchi, who is working to recreate and reincorporate lost footage from Orson Welles’ 1942 feature The Magnificent Ambersons. While Welles was in Brazil shooting a documentary, executives at RKO Radio Pictures reedited the film without his approval after a poor preview screening. They cut around 45 minutes, replaced the original ending with a happier one, and destroyed most of the footage that had been removed.



Saatchi’s idea is to build a dataset that includes the existing film, as well as scripts, notes, images, and even new performances by actors. Then he plans to use his AI platform, Showrunner, to create new scenes from this data.



While Saatchi hopes to honor the director’s creative vision by producing the film he originally intended, his efforts open up some thorny questions.



Is it appropriate to take an existing artwork and revise it without the creator’s input? Isn’t there something sacrosanct about a film, the intentions of the director, and the performances of the actors in a film’s original form? To what extent should these questions be overlooked if refashioning old movies will introduce them to new audiences?



Fewer opportunities?



There’s also an undercurrent of anxiety in my classes. What will happen, my students often wonder, once they graduate?



They’re worried that within a year or two, AI will have replaced entry-level film industry jobs, from concept artists to apprentice-level editors, before they’ve even had a chance to enter the workforce.



They have reason to fear.



In 2024, the Animation Guild published a sobering report claiming that by 2026, “creative workers will be facing an era of disruption, defined by the consolidation of some job roles, the replacement of existing job roles with new ones, and the elimination of many jobs entirely.”



Some of those predictions have borne out: 41,000 jobs in film and television have disappeared in Los Angeles County alone over the past three years.



But I’ve tried to counter the hard statistics with some stories of thoughtful practices.



For example, filmmaker Paul Trillo at the AI studio Asteria has talked about how he seeks to keep artists at the center of the process. When he detailed the company’s work on a music video for the singer-songwriter Cuco, he was keen to highlight the number of artists working on the project. Yes, AI tools were used. But they were integrated in a way that replaced the tedious work, not the creative practice.



“Rather than removing [artists] from the process, it actually allowed them to do a lot more so a small team can dream a lot bigger,” Trillo explains at the end of the video.



In January 2026, the management consulting firm McKinsey published a report that largely echoes Trillo’s positive outlook. It forecasts more adoption of AI throughout the industry. But it also points to ways that the technology could lead to different kinds of work and open up new possibilities. 



For example, as AI-generated scenes become commonplace, studios will need technicians who know how to blend real footage with digitally created worlds. And as AI lowers the cost of producing polished films and shows, it could allow more “micro-studios” and independent filmmakers to create professional-quality content.



At the same time, the report also quotes a studio executive who concedes that AI could represent “a more significant platform shift than we have ever seen before in our industry.”



So it’s no wonder my students, along with varied critics, commentators, and industry professionals, are nervous.



However, from where I stand, I’m convinced that the industry will weather this radical disruption. It’s adapted to big changes in the past: the addition of sound in the 1920s, the threat posed by videotape in the 1980s, and streaming in the 2000s.



In the end, people will always crave new, artfully told stories. While the filmmaking tools and job market may be in transition, that core need for storytelling is not going away.



Holly Willis is a professor of cinematic arts at the University of Southern California.



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>trends, Hollywood, discuss, Oscars, parties</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Chasing the digital nomad dream? Beware of global current events</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chasing-the-digital-nomad-dream-beware-of-global-current-events</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chasing-the-digital-nomad-dream-beware-of-global-current-events</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ My desk is a disaster. Cold brew from this morning, now room temperature. A stack of unopened mail that’s been piling up since the holiday break. Outside my window: rain. Not the romantic kind. This downpour is more Mary J. Blige and Ja Rule than Soul for Real. When I log on to my first video call of the day, I see the same gloom in everyone else’s backgrounds.



Well, everyone except Sam.



Unlike most people at the Seattle-based organization, Sam, a content strategist, has been working remotely from Mexico for the past four months. His Zoom backdrop almost looks virtual. The solar glare on his forehead makes questions about the weather seem rhetorical. His floor-to-ceiling windows—with palm trees swaying on the other side—scream, “I’m living my best life at 28,000 pesos per month.”



On a recent call, when Sam casually mentioned grabbing lunch at a restaurant on the beach, I felt it. That ugly little pang of envy.



Mase and 112 have a hilarious song about jealous men. I could never relate … until recently. The remote work revolution has tested my emotional limits. Taking Zoom meetings from Zanzibar. Sending emails from Barcelona. Slack messages sent poolside. The digital nomad lifestyle sold us a fantasy: Why be miserable in Maryland when you could be equally employed in Morocco?



Last month, Sam and his tropical background were absent for a day. He was offline the following day as well. His Slack status read “traveling.” Everyone on the call knew what was up.



After Mexican authorities killed a major cartel leader in February—reportedly with U.S. help—parts of Jalisco erupted in violent retaliation that led to road blockades, burning vehicles, and warnings for Americans in Puerto Vallarta to stay indoors. Sam was in Mexico City, about 500 miles away, but he decided not to take any chances and haul ass. Turns out that “work from anywhere” hits differently when the “anywhere” is under a travel advisory.



I understood the appeal that landed him beyond stateside borders in the first place. Once upon a time, I spun my desk globe and contemplated an expat adventure of my own.



I’d been to Dubai years ago and loved it: the energy, the extravagance, the man-made island. After I got home, I started imagining a version of my life with better weather and a better skyline. I did some cursory research about relocating there. Looked at neighborhoods. Crunched the numbers. Then I took an in-office job here, and the idea disappeared like shisha smoke in the air.



That old fantasy came back to mind recently after the U.S. attacked Iran, which responded with missile and drone strikes all around the Middle East. Airports in Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai—major travel hubs for all, including remote workers—have been experiencing shutdowns and delays amid regional instability. I keep coming across tales of Americans stuck out there, steadily refreshing the State Department website, trying to figure out whether they need to escape by any means necessary.



I know Black folks who left the States entirely—tired of the politics, the anti-Blackness, the everyday microaggressions. They went searching for destinations where they could breathe easier. Accra. Lisbon. Bangkok. The digital nomad life offered an escape from Uncle Sam’s oppression.



But here’s the thing: American foreign policy has a long reach. When the U.S. starts launching airstrikes, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Atlanta or Abu Dhabi; you’re still American. And suddenly that little blue booklet feels less like a golden ticket. 



Obviously, every place isn’t unsafe. I’d never discourage anyone from chasing the digital nomad dream. If you’ve got the opportunity and the resources, do it. See the world. Take your conference calls from Costa Rica. All I’m saying is that current events have shown me another perspective. The recent news made me realize how quickly paradise can turn into frantically checking Skyscanner for a flight to literally anywhere else.



Sam has since resurfaced on our team calls. He’s in London now, staying with a friend until he figures out his next move. His Zoom background was gray that first day. Overcast. It looked a lot like mine.



“How’s the weather over there?” someone asked.



“Rainy,” Sam said. “But I’m good with it.”



Maybe I projected a lot onto Sam. Maybe he’s just a guy with decent Wi-Fi, a great view, a tatted-up passport, and quarterly goals just like mine. But in my head, he was the poster child of the digital nomad experience.



I looked out my window at the familiar downpour and realized something: I’m still open to working from abroad.



I’m just no longer romanticizing the people already doing it. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chasing, the, digital, nomad, dream, Beware, global, current, events</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Oscars live&#45;stream: How to watch the 2026 Academy Awards with or without cable, including free options</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oscars-live-stream-how-to-watch-the-2026-academy-awards-with-or-without-cable-including-free-options</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oscars-live-stream-how-to-watch-the-2026-academy-awards-with-or-without-cable-including-free-options</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s time for the dazzling conclusion to the 2026 awards season. After the Hollywood elites walk the red carpet, the curtain will rise on the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 15, which is tonight.



The excitement will be palpable as the audience waits to learn who will take home a coveted Oscar. Here’s everything you need to know to fully enjoy the evening, including how to tune in.



Where does the 98th Academy Awards take place?



The location for this fabulous event is in Tinseltown, of course. More specifically, the ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.



Who’s hosting the 2026 Oscars?



Comedian and former late-night host Conan O’Brien will be guiding the audience through the evening.



This is his second consecutive year hosting Hollywood’s biggest night. It is a duty he takes very seriously. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that he has been doing several surprise stand-up sets to workshop his material ahead of the big night.



O’Brien will be supported by several presenters throughout the evening. As is tradition, last year’s acting award winners, Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldaña, Adrien Brody, and Mikey Madison, will present in their respective categories. 



Additionally, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Javier Bardem, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Maya Rudolph, Chris Evans, and Chase Infiniti are all scheduled to appear.



Who is nominated for an Oscar?



Ryan Coogler’s Sinners made Oscar history this year by becoming the most nominated film ever with its 16 nods. 



Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another scored 13. Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value each received nine nominations.



While no one can ever predict the future, this is an especially exciting year, because most of the major acting categories don’t feel set in stone. 



Will Timothée Chalamet or Michael B. Jordan take home Best Actor? Will Amy Madigan, Teyana Taylor, or Wunmi Mosaku take home Best Supporting Actress? Only time can tell.



The category that seems safe to call is Best Actress, as Jessie Buckley has taken home every other major award for her performance in Hamnet. For a full list of nominees, visit the Oscars website.



Who’s performing at the 98th Academy Awards?



Since Oscar himself is a sparkling hue, it almost seems required that the nominated song “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters is sung live during the ceremony. Thankfully, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami are willing to make that happen.



Additionally, Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform another nominated song, “I Lied to You,” from the film Sinners. 



They will be joined by Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey, and Alice Smith.



No word if Chalamet approves of including a prominent ballerina after his now viral comments greatly offended the ballet and opera worlds.



Oscars In Memoriam



The Oscars In Memoriam is always a somber but important element of the broadcast. 



This year feels especially heavy with the loss of Rob Reiner, Michele Singer Reiner, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, and many more. 



What’s new for the 98th Academy Awards?



There’s a new category for the first time in 25 years at the Oscars. Casting directors are finally getting the recognition they deserve. 



The inaugural nominees for the Achievement in Casting Oscar are Nina Gold (Hamnet), Jennifer Venditti (Marty Supreme), Cassandra Kulukundis (One Battle After Another), Gabriel Domingues (The Secret Agent), and Francine Maisler (Sinners). 



How to tune in for the red carpet arrivals



To see all your favorite looks, you have options. The official broadcast partner of the Oscars is ABC. This means all ABC-owned stations with air On The Red Carpet at the Oscars, beginning at  3:30 p.m. ET. 



Lara Spencer, Whit Johnson, George Pennacchio, Joelle Garguilo, and Chris Connelly will help you count down the minutes until the main event. 



Immediately following that programming is the official The Oscars Red Carpet Show at 6:30 p.m, hosted by Tamron Hall and Jesse Palmer.



If you are in it for the fashion, E!’s coverage may be more your speed. 



Hosted by Justin Sylvester and Keltie Knight, E!’s Brunch at the Oscars begins at 2 p.m. ET. It is followed by E!’s Live From The Red Carpet at 4 p.m. ET. 



After the Oscar’s broadcast, tune back to E! for Red Carpet Rundown at 10:30 p.m. ET.



How to tune in for the 98th Academy Awards



And now for the main event, which begins at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu. 



Traditional cable subscribers, Hulu subscribers, and those with over-the-air antennas are covered. 



Remember that ABC is technically still free the old-fashioned way. Moreover, Hulu is offering free trials to eligible subscribers.  



If you don’t fall into one of those three categories, consider adding a live-TV streaming service, such as YouTube TV, FuboTV, or DirecTV Stream into your entertainment viewing arsenal. 



Just be sure to double check regional differences as not every channel is available in every area. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oscars, live-stream:, How, watch, the, 2026, Academy, Awards, with, without, cable, including, free, options</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nyne, founded by a father&#45;son duo, gives AI agents the human context they’re missing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nyne-founded-by-a-father-son-duo-gives-ai-agents-the-human-context-theyre-missing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nyne-founded-by-a-father-son-duo-gives-ai-agents-the-human-context-theyre-missing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The data infrastructure startup raised $5.3 million in seed funding led by Wischoff Ventures and South Park Commons. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Nyne.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nyne, founded, father-son, duo, gives, agents, the, human, context, they’re, missing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Digg lays off staff and shuts down app as company retools</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/digg-lays-off-staff-and-shuts-down-app-as-company-retools</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/digg-lays-off-staff-and-shuts-down-app-as-company-retools</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Digg laid off a significant number of staff and shut down its app, but says it&#039;s not giving up on the startup. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Digg.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Digg, lays, off, staff, and, shuts, down, app, company, retools</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lawyer behind AI psychosis cases warns of mass casualty risks</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lawyer-behind-ai-psychosis-cases-warns-of-mass-casualty-risks</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lawyer-behind-ai-psychosis-cases-warns-of-mass-casualty-risks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI chatbots have been linked to suicides for years. Now one lawyer says they are showing up in mass casualty cases too, and the technology is moving faster than the safeguards. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-509750426.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lawyer, behind, psychosis, cases, warns, mass, casualty, risks</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘Not built right the first time’ — Musk’s xAI is starting over again, again</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/not-built-right-the-first-time-musks-xai-is-starting-over-again-again</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/not-built-right-the-first-time-musks-xai-is-starting-over-again-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The AI lab is revamping its effort to build an AI coding tool, with two new executives joining from Cursor. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/elon-musk-world-economic-forum1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Not, built, right, the, first, time’, —, Musk’s, xAI, starting, over, again, again</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to use the new ChatGPT app integrations, including DoorDash, Spotify, Uber, and others</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-use-the-new-chatgpt-app-integrations-including-doordash-spotify-uber-and-others</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-use-the-new-chatgpt-app-integrations-including-doordash-spotify-uber-and-others</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Learn how to use Spotify, Canva, Figma, Expedia, and other apps directly in ChatGPT. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GettyImages-2195918462.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, use, the, new, ChatGPT, app, integrations, including, DoorDash, Spotify, Uber, and, others</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oil and fertilizer prices are climbing. Your grocery bill may follow</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-and-fertilizer-prices-are-climbing-your-grocery-bill-may-follow</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-and-fertilizer-prices-are-climbing-your-grocery-bill-may-follow</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The spike in crude oil and fertilizer prices could raise food prices within the coming months. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2266004360-e1773355226764.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, and, fertilizer, prices, are, climbing., Your, grocery, bill, may, follow</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Iran’s simplest weapon is now holding the global economy hostage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/irans-simplest-weapon-is-now-holding-the-global-economy-hostage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/irans-simplest-weapon-is-now-holding-the-global-economy-hostage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Sea mines predate World War I, cost less than a used car, and can snap a ship in half. They also might be in the most important waterway on Earth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-3421834-e1773345832575.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran’s, simplest, weapon, now, holding, the, global, economy, hostage</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How the Iran war cuts off Southeast Asia’s tourism industry</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-iran-war-cuts-off-southeast-asias-tourism-industry</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-the-iran-war-cuts-off-southeast-asias-tourism-industry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Travel experts now fear that countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia may soon see a dip in tourists.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2265687673-e1773403918699.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, the, Iran, war, cuts, off, Southeast, Asia’s, tourism, industry</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Thrivent bucks the AI layoff trend and plans to add 600 financial advisors this year: This is ‘how we grow our business’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thrivent-bucks-the-ai-layoff-trend-and-plans-to-add-600-financial-advisors-this-year-this-is-how-we-grow-our-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thrivent-bucks-the-ai-layoff-trend-and-plans-to-add-600-financial-advisors-this-year-this-is-how-we-grow-our-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Fortune 500 company is ramping up a training pipeline to staff the next generation of advisors. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Thrivent.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Thrivent, bucks, the, layoff, trend, and, plans, add, 600, financial, advisors, this, year:, This, ‘how, grow, our, business’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why right now is the best time ever to work in software</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-right-now-is-the-best-time-ever-to-work-in-software</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-right-now-is-the-best-time-ever-to-work-in-software</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI isn’t the end of software; it’s the beginning of a new era. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1666633862379.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, right, now, the, best, time, ever, work, software</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Revolut launches UK bank after regulatory approval</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/revolut-launches-uk-bank-after-regulatory-approval</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/revolut-launches-uk-bank-after-regulatory-approval</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Revolut has launched its UK bank after receiving PRA approval, enabling FSCS-protected accounts and paving the way for lending products for its 13 million UK customers.
Read more: 
Revolut launches UK bank after regulatory approval ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shutterstock_2605194785.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Revolut, launches, bank, after, regulatory, approval</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oil price climbs above $90 after ship attack in Strait of Hormuz</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-price-climbs-above-90-after-ship-attack-in-strait-of-hormuz</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-price-climbs-above-90-after-ship-attack-in-strait-of-hormuz</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Oil prices surged back above $90 after a ship attack in the Strait of Hormuz, as the Iran conflict disrupts shipping routes and raises fears over global energy supply and inflation.
Read more: 
Oil price climbs above $90 after ship attack in Strait of Hormuz ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shutterstock_1073171981.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, price, climbs, above, 90, after, ship, attack, Strait, Hormuz</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Churchill to be replaced by wildlife on future Bank of England banknotes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/churchill-to-be-replaced-by-wildlife-on-future-bank-of-england-banknotes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/churchill-to-be-replaced-by-wildlife-on-future-bank-of-england-banknotes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The Bank of England plans to replace historical figures like Winston Churchill and Jane Austen with UK wildlife on future banknotes following a public consultation favouring nature-themed designs.
Read more: 
Churchill to be replaced by wildlife on future Bank of England banknotes ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2416455119-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Churchill, replaced, wildlife, future, Bank, England, banknotes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Green hydrogen plant to be built in Milford Haven with government backing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/green-hydrogen-plant-to-be-built-in-milford-haven-with-government-backing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/green-hydrogen-plant-to-be-built-in-milford-haven-with-government-backing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Trafigura will build a green hydrogen production facility in Milford Haven, Wales, producing 2,000 tonnes a year with government backing as part of the UK’s low-carbon energy strategy.
Read more: 
Green hydrogen plant to be built in Milford Haven with government backing ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2362208145.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Green, hydrogen, plant, built, Milford, Haven, with, government, backing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Government launches new programme to help more women and girls enter the UK tech sector</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-launches-new-programme-to-help-more-women-and-girls-enter-the-uk-tech-sector</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-launches-new-programme-to-help-more-women-and-girls-enter-the-uk-tech-sector</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The UK government has unveiled a £4m TechFirst Women’s Programme offering 300 tech placements, returnships for developers and a national girls’ coding competition to boost female participation in the sector.
Read more: 
Government launches new programme to help more women and girls enter the UK tech sector ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2287651397.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Government, launches, new, programme, help, more, women, and, girls, enter, the, tech, sector</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Chinese brain interface startup Gestala raises $21M just two months after launch</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chinese-brain-interface-startup-gestala-raises-21m-just-two-months-after-launch</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chinese-brain-interface-startup-gestala-raises-21m-just-two-months-after-launch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is the largest early-stage funding in China’s brain computer interface industry. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-2147670244.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chinese, brain, interface, startup, Gestala, raises, 21M, just, two, months, after, launch</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When startups become a family business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/when-startups-become-a-family-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/when-startups-become-a-family-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This season on Build Mode, we’re diving into what it takes to build a world-class founding team. This week we’re exploring different kinds of co-founder dynamics and what it takes to build a startup with your family. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/rivio-build-mode.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>When, startups, become, family, business</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Group14 opens factory to produce battery materials for flash charging EVs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/group14-opens-factory-to-produce-battery-materials-for-flash-charging-evs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/group14-opens-factory-to-produce-battery-materials-for-flash-charging-evs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The startup&#039;s new BAM-3 facility can make enough silicon anode material annually to supply about 100,000 long-range EVs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/group14-bam-3-factory-south-korea.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Group14, opens, factory, produce, battery, materials, for, flash, charging, EVs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google Maps is getting an AI ‘Ask Maps’ feature and upgraded ‘immersive’ navigation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-maps-is-getting-an-ai-ask-maps-feature-and-upgraded-immersive-navigation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-maps-is-getting-an-ai-ask-maps-feature-and-upgraded-immersive-navigation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The tech giant says the &quot;Immersive Navigation&quot; launch is the biggest update to Maps in over a decade. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2202707012.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, Maps, getting, ‘Ask, Maps’, feature, and, upgraded, ‘immersive’, navigation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google is using old news reports and AI to predict flash floods</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-is-using-old-news-reports-and-ai-to-predict-flash-floods</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-is-using-old-news-reports-and-ai-to-predict-flash-floods</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A new way to solve data scarcity: Turning qualitative reports into quantitative data with an LLM. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-11-at-7.14.04-PM.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, using, old, news, reports, and, predict, flash, floods</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When can I download iOS 26.4? iPhone update timeline as release date nears and new features set to debut</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/when-can-i-download-ios-264-iphone-update-timeline-as-release-date-nears-and-new-features-set-to-debut</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/when-can-i-download-ios-264-iphone-update-timeline-as-release-date-nears-and-new-features-set-to-debut</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Apple’s iOS 26 for iPhone got off to a rough start when it was finally released to the public in September of last year. 



Its new Liquid Glass design language remained unpolished in many areas, and the operating system harbored a fair amount of bugs. But since iOS 26.0 debuted, Apple has released three major updates for it, further polishing the interface and adding new features.



And soon, Apple will update iOS 26 once again with the release of iOS 26.4. It’s a release that is set to not just eliminate bugs and enhance the details of Liquid Glass, but is also set to add some significant new features to your iPhone. 



Here’s what’s coming, and when you can get iOS 26.4.



What new features are coming to iOS 26.4?



Apple has been beta testing iOS 26.4 since last month. Originally, the software update was rumored to include the company’s revamped Siri, powered by Google’s Gemini LLM. However, Siri’s AI revamp has been absent from all iOS 26.4 betas to date, so it looks like a truly useful Apple digital assistant is still a ways away.



But that doesn’t mean iOS 26.4 doesn’t have any new features. Quite the contrary. Besides your normal user interface polishes and bug fixes, iOS 26.4 is set to include some major upgrades to its media apps, notes 9to5Mac. Those upgrades include:




AI-powered music playlist creation: iOS 26.4 will add a feature to the Music app called “Playlist Playground.” The feature allows you to generate music playlists from natural-language text descriptions. So you could instruct the Playlist Playground feature to make a playlist of “80s rock ballads under five minutes long,” and the Music app will generate a playlist based on your prompt.



Podcasts app video overhaul: Apple’s Podcasts app has supported video podcasts for some time. But in iOS 26.4, its video capabilities are getting a major upgrade. Now you can quickly switch between the audio and video versions of a podcast. This feature will be great for those times when you are watching a video podcast, but then suddenly need to be on the move—soon you’ll be able to easily switch to the audio version of the podcast, ensuring you can still enjoy it when your eyes are needed on other things.



Redesigned album and playlist interface: Also in the Music app, Apple has redesigned the look of the interface that you see when displaying playlists or albums in full screen. In iOS 26.4, the Music app will now tint the entire screen based on the album art color scheme, giving each playlist and album its own unique look.




And that’s not all: iOS 26.4 will add numerous small refinements and additions across the operating system, including new emojis, new Ambient Music widgets for your Home Screen, automatic activation of Stolen Device Protection, and more.



iOS 26.4 beta: Download it now



While Apple hasn’t released iOS 26.4 to the general public yet, it has released four betas of the software to developers and public beta testers. And if you are in any of those two groups, you can download the latest beta of iOS 26.4 onto your iPhone today.



To download the developer beta, you’ll need to be a member of the Apple Developer Program. 



If you’re not a developer, but still want to try out the new software early, you can join the Apple Beta Software Program for free and get access to public betas—including the iOS 26.4 beta—today.



Of course, the usual warning applies: betas are buggy, and in rare cases, they can cause data loss or otherwise harm your phone. So always proceed with caution if you decide to download a beta.



iOS 26.4 final release: Download it later this month



If a beta isn’t your thing, you’ll have to wait until Apple releases the final version of iOS 26.4 to the public. Thankfully, you probably won’t have to wait too much longer.



Apple generally has a 5-6 beta development cycle for iOS “point” upgrades like iOS 26.4. Apple released the first iOS 26.4 beta in mid-February, which means the final public version of the beta is highly likely to be released between mid-March and the end of the month.



Once Apple releases the final version of the software, you’ll be able to download iOS 26.4 right to your iPhone using the device’s Software Update feature in the Settings app. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>When, can, download, iOS, 26.4, iPhone, update, timeline, release, date, nears, and, new, features, set, debut</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>U.S. workers are carving a path to a new American Dream</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-workers-are-carving-a-path-to-a-new-american-dream</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-workers-are-carving-a-path-to-a-new-american-dream</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Each year, some of America’s greatest artists, thinkers, and business leaders have a chance to come together at SXSW in the spirit of creativity, innovation, and future-building. And with everything currently happening in technology and the workforce, this year’s gathering feels particularly timely.



Of course, questions around AI will take center stage and remain our primary cultural fixation: How long until the next incredible breakthrough? Should Americans be fearful about an impending AI apocalypse or hopeful about the prospect of unlimited productivity gains?



These topics are all valid, urgent, and deeply worthwhile to explore, but I also believe the most important workforce story unfolding in the U.S. today is less about what AI will do next, and more about what everyday Americans are doing right now in response to and in preparation for AI’s growing impacts.



If technological advancement is going to keep accelerating faster than our institutions can or are willing to adapt, the fact that workers have already begun adapting on their own in real time is a story of deep-rooted resilience within our culture and communities. It is also a story that seems to be signaling a pragmatic and optimistic reimagining of the American Dream.



WORKFORCE DISRUPTION IS WELL UNDERWAY



The speed of AI advancement is likely to continue to be astonishing. Although we can neither predict nor control the pace of innovation, we can acknowledge that AI is no longer a hypothetical but an economic force reshaping job security, hiring, and career planning.



We also need to understand that while AI adoption has added pressure, workforce fragility in the U.S. was deepening long before generative models like ChatGPT entered the picture.



Education costs have been compounding at an unhealthy rate in America for nearly half a century, with rising tuition costs significantly outpacing inflation since the 1980s. Meanwhile, the country’s student debt crisis also continues deepening, with total student loan debt in the U.S. exceeding $1.7 trillion in 2024, all while broader confidence in traditional education and career pathways has been gradually eroding.



AI isn’t causing workforce uncertainty but merely adding weight on top of existing cracks in the system. To focus solely on predicting the pace and extent of AI-driven job loss misses the real story: U.S. workers are already adapting, and it’s a process involving a bold reimagining of American values and stability.



AMERICANS ARE CHOOSING DURABILITY



Despite so much uncertainty, Americans don’t appear to be giving in to fear as much as they’re leaning into resilience and practical decision-making. There are some strong cultural signals indicating a radical shift in the U.S. workforce’s strategic mindset, particularly in evolving views around traditional education and career pathways in this AI age.



More specifically, a new survey of American workers we conducted at the Business For Good Foundation via the Harris Poll revealed a clear and widespread departure from most conventional ways of thinking about professional and economic fulfillment. For example, 75% of Americans shared that their views of a “good job” does not look the same now as five years ago, while 80% agreed more people are choosing trade training over four-year degree programs.



Similarly, more than 78% said they believe long-lasting social and cultural stigmas around blue-collar work are beginning to dissipate in the U.S., with 76% saying they believe trade jobs are less likely to be replaced by AI.



Rather than fearing widespread job loss and sustained unemployment, Americans are envisioning a future workforce defined by durability, where the workforce’s economic value is concentrated less in white-collar sectors and more by the durable, hands-on skills that have always played an indispensable role. It suggests an overall mood of pragmatic optimism, with Americans appearing to adjust to AI adoption much faster than our political and educational systems.



GET AHEAD OF CHANGE



While everyday Americans seem eager to get ahead of AI’s inevitable changes, this likely won’t happen at scale without the appropriate support from organizations and U.S. business leaders. Recognizing this heightened need for more hands-on programs to increase access to skilled trade training, we at the Business for Good Foundation committed $100,000 to advancing workforce development in the first half of 2026.



Of course, this will also require strategy and coordination, grounded in shared recognition that this shift away from traditional white-collar pathways is not an error but a process of economic regeneration. The growing emphasis on hands-on trades is not nostalgia, but necessary to strengthen the U.S. innovation infrastructure.



Skilled work continues to underpin all non-negotiable aspects of American society, including access to housing and healthcare. At the same time, U.S. business owners are grappling with critical, pre-existing skilled labor shortages, meaning they’ll increasingly need to depend on talent pipelines beyond traditional degree models.



One recent example of what we’ve done at the Business for Good Foundation is a New York Capital Region pilot. As part of our commitment to workforce development, the foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to the Social Enterprise and Training (SEAT) Center to expand trade skills programming in the region and help bridge the gap between untapped talent and industry demand.



I’ve seen firsthand that simple, practical investments like in the SEAT Center—those that better align workforce pathways with employer needs and expand access to education and career opportunities for motivated talent in underserved communities—can go a long way toward creating a real and sustainable path to upward economic mobility. I’m encouraging leaders across the country to take similar action, at any scale.



However, such a model will largely remain limited without other like-minded business leaders and philanthropists willing to build on and replicate it at scale, and who are prepared to fully embrace a new American dream defined less by credentials and more by individual capabilities, determination, and human resilience. While this kind of change certainly won’t happen overnight, I hope that those of us who attend SXSW this week might begin aligning our business priorities with the unique spirit of this event, working together to intentionally build a brighter, more prosperous, and innovative future for the U.S. workforce.



Ed Mitzen is cofounder of Business for Good Foundation. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>U.S., workers, are, carving, path, new, American, Dream</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Exclusive: Databricks launches ‘Genie Code’ to own the next frontier of vibe&#45;coding</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/exclusive-databricks-launches-genie-code-to-own-the-next-frontier-of-vibe-coding</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/exclusive-databricks-launches-genie-code-to-own-the-next-frontier-of-vibe-coding</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI coding agents have become one of the fastest-growing categories in enterprise software. In the span of just a few years, these development tools have evolved from simple autocomplete assistants into autonomous systems capable of taking over the complete software development cycle, all via natural language prompts. 



As vibe-coding takes off, tools from startups like Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude Code have quickly reached multibillion‑dollar revenue run rates. Cursor reportedly crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2025 and has since approached $2 billion in Q1 of 2026. Anthropic’s Claude Code has scaled even faster, reaching an estimated $2.5 billion annualized run rate within its first year, making it one of the fastest‑growing products in the category that accounts for a large share of Anthropic’s $14 billion ARR.



Yet inside large enterprises, writing code is rarely the hardest part of the job. Data scientists, engineers, and analysts spend much of their time maintaining and augmenting pipelines rather than building new ones. The real bottleneck in enterprise AI, therefore, is not software development itself, but operating complex data systems in production. 



Databricks CEO and co-founder Ali Ghodsi believes that the gap represents the next frontier for AI automation. In his view, the next generation of AI agents won’t just write software, but operate the data systems that modern businesses depend on. 



That strategic bet is behind Genie Code, a system of autonomous AI agents unveiled today, designed for data engineering, data science, and analytics operations. The system extends the company’s existing Genie platform ecosystem, which allows knowledge workers to ask questions about enterprise data in natural language. (More than 20,000 organizations already used Databricks’s data management and analytics tools; the company’s ARR surpassed $4.8 billion annual revenue in October.) 



“Instead of functioning merely as a coding assistant or helping generate code faster, these agents actually understand the structure of the data and existing data problems,” Ali Ghodsi says. “It can automatically set up pipelines, analyze why something is failing, and understand issues like when a dataset schema changes or when permissions are modified.”



For instance, Genie Code can help determine how a dataset should be prepared for modeling—randomizing the data, separating part of it into a test set, or training a model on the remaining portion. After training, the system can aid in evaluating the results using metrics such as F1 scores or the area under the curve, and then analyzing them to determine whether the model is performing well or requires improvement.“It can suggest trying different approaches—maybe retraining the model or generating plots and graphs to visualize performance, and uncover reasoning about what changes might improve the results,” Ghodsi explains. “It’s not about just generating random code snippets, but understanding the entire structure of the data problem and working through the modeling workflow the same way a data scientist or engineer would.”



Databricks and Enterprise Context



A major reason many AI coding agents struggle in enterprise data environments is context. Most developer tools train primarily on public code repositories and general programming examples. Enterprise data systems, however, add another layer of complexity. Data carries business semantics, governance rules, and access policies that determine how information can be used. Without that context, an AI agent may generate technically correct code that fails once deployed in production. 



Genie Code attempts to address that problem by integrating directly with Unity Catalog, Databricks’ governance framework for enterprise data. This integration allows the system to understand data lineage, access permissions, and organizational policies across an enterprise’s entire data estate.



“Maintaining pipelines and making sure they are reliable and always running is a big part of a data engineer’s job, and this is where Genie Code can augment them significantly,” Ghodsi says. “It can monitor systems continuously and respond immediately when something breaks, even in the middle of the night, analyzing complex traces and diagnosing what happened so that the pipeline can be fixed and kept running reliably.”



The architecture relies on a multi-agent architecture powered by multiple AI models. Ghodsi explains that the system combines LLMs from providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, alongside smaller open-source models optimized for specific tasks. “There are many things inside a workflow where you don’t need a huge model—you just need something fast that can perform a very specific operation reliably.”



The larger models provide the reasoning capabilities necessary for complex problem-solving and planning. Smaller open-source models are trained to handle more routine operations quickly and efficiently. Moreover, the architecture is built around multiple collaborating agents rather than a single monolithic AI system. Each agent specializes in particular functions, such as diagnosing pipeline failures or analyzing data patterns. These agents share context, memory, and skills, allowing them to coordinate their actions and execute complex workflows across the data stack.



Databricks describes this approach as “agentic data work.” Rather than prompting an AI assistant for small pieces of code, users can delegate entire objectives to the system.



Another challenge with autonomous AI systems is maintaining reliable performance in production environments over time, as agents often encounter unfamiliar scenarios that degrade performance. To address that issue, Databricks has acquired Quotient AI, a startup specializing in evaluation and reinforcement learning for AI agents. The company’s technology helps evaluate agent behavior, continuously measuring output quality and detecting regressions before they cause production failures. Quotient AI’s founders previously worked on improving the quality of GitHub Copilot, giving them deep expertise in evaluating AI coding systems.  



Vibe-coding for data systems



The rise of vibe-coding has created a new battleground for agentic AI-powered coding tools and reshaped the competitive landscape in software infrastructure. Databricks is approaching the market from a different direction. Ghodsi says the AI coding market and the enterprise data automation market are evolving in parallel but distinct directions. 



While tools like Cursor and Anthropic’s coding agents are reshaping how developers write software, Databricks is focused on transforming how companies manage and operate their data systems. “Even though our product name includes ‘code,’ what it really focuses on is data work,” Ghodsi says. 



Genie Code targets the workflows that occur after data enters an organization’s platform. By focusing on the data layer, the company aims to address problems that general-purpose coding assistants are not designed to solve. “The other tools in the market help software engineers write application code, which is great,” says Ghodsi, “But for us the end goal is the data: transforming data reliably, and helping organizations work with their data.”



Several organizations, including SiriusXM and Repsol, have already begun experimenting with the technology. SiriusXM uses Genie Code to help build and maintain internal data products, generate SQL queries, and debug pipelines. According to Ghodsi, the company has reported around 20% productivity improvements in data engineering tasks. Genie Code assists engineers in creating data products with defined service-level agreements and reliability guarantees. 



Likewise, multinational energy and petrochemical company Repsol is using the technology to accelerate forecasting and production workflows. Instead of manually connecting notebooks, pipelines, and models across different systems, engineers can rely on Genie Code to orchestrate these processes automatically. Ghodsi added that thousands of other customers are already experimenting with the technology, although many deployments are still in early stages.



The Future of Human Engineering



Ghodsi does not expect autonomous agents to replace human engineers. Instead, engineers may spend less time writing code and more time designing architectures, supervising automated systems, and ensuring that AI-driven workflows operate reliably. 



“The cost of automation is going down and the tools are becoming easier to use, so naturally the demand for automation increases. If you look at some of the numbers already, a huge percentage of activity on machines is actually agents operating in the background,” he says.



According to the company’s recently released State of AI Agents report, AI agents now create 80% of databases and 97% of test and development environments on the Databricks platform. Just two years ago, agents barely registered in database activity, with human developers handling nearly all of that work. 



“I wouldn’t be surprised if that number goes from something like 80% to 99% in a short period of time. But that doesn’t mean humans disappear from the process,” Ghodsi explains. “You also have to think about legal responsibility and quality guarantees. Those are areas where you still need a human in the loop.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Exclusive:, Databricks, launches, ‘Genie, Code’, own, the, next, frontier, vibe-coding</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Canva’s new AI tool will break your design process (in a good way)</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canvas-new-ai-tool-will-break-your-design-process-in-a-good-way</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canvas-new-ai-tool-will-break-your-design-process-in-a-good-way</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Canva’s new AI tool, launching today, is going to save time, money, and headaches for so many people. Called Magic Layers, it turns any flat bitmap image into a fully editable Canva project, extracting text, objects, and components into individual layers.This tool marks a fundamental shift in how we handle digital assets. Until now, a rendered image was basically a locked vault of pixels. If you wanted to change a typo or swap a background, you had four options: 1) Hunt down the original project file, 2) painstakingly change it in Photoshop, 3) accept a generative AI patch job, or 4) close the laptop and escape to live a real life somewhere by a nice beach. Magic Layers shatters the vault. By reverse-engineering a flat picture into its constituent parts, Canva cofounder and Chief Product Officer Cameron Adams tells me, Magic Layers empowers users to resurrect and tweak any image they have on their hard drive.[Image: Canva]Canva uses many models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other developers, but the secret sauce behind this new layering capability is its proprietary AI design model, which the company unveiled last October. Think of it not just as a random design and image generator, but as a model that understands the elements of design. It looks at a picture and sees its skeletal structure—distinguishing the foreground subjects from the background scenery, and recognizing typography as actual text rather than just colored shapes. When you feed it an image, whether it was spat out by an AI prompt or dragged from an old folder, it dissects those elements perfectly. The new Canva multilayer tool is the implementation of those abilities.“Most AI outputs are fixed, really flat things, and they’re not easy to edit. You either have to, like, live with an 80% solution or you have to spend time reprompting, trying to get that little bit of the image that you wanted to get fixed,” Adams says. But now, he adds, “the model identifies everything in the frame and converts it into native Canva objects.”So text isn’t just a cutout anymore. It becomes a live, editable text box. You can correct spelling errors, swap the font, adjust the size, or even translate the copy for international markets. The same goes for visual objects. Once separated, elements like a product bottle or a butterfly become completely independent actors on the canvas. You can move them, resize them, change their color, or banish them from the composition entirely without leaving a gaping hole behind, Adams explains.And since these extracted layers are treated exactly like standard Canva design elements, you can apply all of the platform’s existing tools to them, including upscaling or generative tweaks like Magic Edit. “That’s the beauty of it, that it’s now a proper Canva design. So you can change any of those elements in any way,” Adams says. Because Canva operates in the cloud, this newly resurrected file is immediately ready for multiplayer collaboration. You and your team can jump into the project simultaneously and start moving things around. [Image: Canva]It’s getting better all the timeThere is an interesting parallel here with Adobe’s recent launch of a new AI assistant for its web and mobile Photoshop apps. Both companies are trying to fix the fundamental flaw of current generative AI models like Google’s Nano Banana.When you ask a standard AI to remove a single item from a picture, the machine recalculates the whole picture from scratch, inevitably introducing random errors or “hallucinations.” Adobe tackles this problem by allowing users to point at or draw around an object. The AI then places these modifications on independent, clear overlays suspended above the base image, preserving the underlying raw pixels flawlessly. While Adobe’s method builds new, highly controlled edits—including text—on top of an existing foundation to guarantee precision, Canva’s Magic Layers takes the opposite route: It dismantles the foundation itself, breaking the flat image apart into discrete, fully interactive components.While these tools from both companies do, indeed, appear to be magical, to me they feel like features that are not going to stick around for too long. They’re more like patches that solve generative AI’s current problems with output uncertainty.Once engines like Nano Banana or Seedream can nail down every pixel, every text and typography, every single human, animal, tree, pair of jeans, or shampoo bottle ever—and it will happen—we will no longer be worrying about things being in layers. Objects, type, and components will simply exist in the reality of the image; the models will understand them just like humans do, allowing users to change anything they want instantly, and with precision. Everything will be “liquid” for you to touch and change. Software will follow your exacting and most complicated whims with perfection. But for now, Magic Layers is going to solve a lot of problems for a lot of people and companies all around the world. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Canva’s, new, tool, will, break, your, design, process, in, good, way</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump is headed to Ohio and Kentucky to downplay Iran war’s effect on U.S. economy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-is-headed-to-ohio-and-kentucky-to-downplay-iran-wars-effect-on-us-economy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-is-headed-to-ohio-and-kentucky-to-downplay-iran-wars-effect-on-us-economy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ President Donald Trump plans to visit Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to argue that his policies can steady an economy facing shock waves from the war on Iran and to try to defeat one of the few congressional Republicans who has dared to defy him.In Cincinnati, the Republican president is touring Thermo Fisher Scientific, a pharmaceutical company. There, he’ll tout efforts to lower prescription drug prices, a key part of his attempts to show his administration is focused on making the cost of living more affordable for many Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections.After that, Trump will visit a logistics packing facility in nearby Hebron, Kentucky, part of the district of Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump is backing a primary challenger to Massie.The trip presents a test of Trump’s ability to cleanse his party of those who oppose him but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran. He’ll be “talking about the economy, which is, of course, the utmost importance to him,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.Polls showed that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump’s handling of the economy even before the conflict with Iran began, and fighting there has derailed Trump’s messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls — which the White House had previously hailed as “blockbuster.”None of that has stopped Trump from continuing to insist the country is booming — and blaming the Democrats for everything else.“They’re the one that caused the problem,” he told a House Republican meeting in Florida on Monday. “But we’re really bringing down prices big.”Democrats offer a sharp contrast to Trump’s depiction of the nation, arguing that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term and that families are still struggling under his policies.



Trump’s affordability tour meets his opposition to Massie



After Democrats won the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races in November, the White House announced that Trump would travel the country to show that he’s taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous about still-rising prices and economic growth.Since then, the president has made stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas — though his speeches sometimes have been more focused on his own political grievances than his plans to try to help lower everyday costs around the country.This trip, however, marks the first time this primary cycle that Trump has sought to keep promises to punish members of his own party who oppose him on key issues. The president has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a farmer, businessman and retired Navy SEAL, who is running against Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary on May 19. Trump and Gallrein will appear together on Wednesday.Massie is an outspoken Trump critic who opposed the White House-backed tax and spending measure and bucked Trump by pushing to have files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein released. He’s also opposed the U.S. strike on Venezuela that toppled then-President Nicolás Maduro and, most recently, the war in Iran.“This isn’t America First,” Massie posted on X on Sunday, blaming the war for causing gas prices to jump.



—Will Weissert, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, headed, Ohio, and, Kentucky, downplay, Iran, war’s, effect, U.S., economy</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Securing funding for a small business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/securing-funding-for-a-small-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/securing-funding-for-a-small-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Abby Hardoon on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post Securing funding for a small business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/03/AdobeStock_51593524-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Securing, funding, for, small, business</media:keywords>
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<title>What are the funding options for hospitality businesses?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-are-the-funding-options-for-hospitality-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-are-the-funding-options-for-hospitality-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Lucy Wayment on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Hospitality businesses have faced a number of challenges in the last couple of years. Find out what funding and support is available
The post What are the funding options for hospitality businesses? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, are, the, funding, options, for, hospitality, businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Best payment apps for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-payment-apps-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-payment-apps-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Dom Walbanke on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


With the number of payment methods increasing, your small business needs to be able to accommodate with all-in-one payment apps
The post Best payment apps for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/09/payment-apps-small-businesses-hero-image.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Best, payment, apps, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Google rolls out new Gemini capabilities to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-rolls-out-new-gemini-capabilities-to-docs-sheets-slides-and-drive</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-rolls-out-new-gemini-capabilities-to-docs-sheets-slides-and-drive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The idea behind the new features is to make the apps more personal and capable to help users get things done faster, right within the platforms themselves. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/google-logo.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, rolls, out, new, Gemini, capabilities, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and, Drive</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Hyperscale Power is the latest startup to challenge 140&#45;year&#45;old transformer tech</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hyperscale-power-is-the-latest-startup-to-challenge-140-year-old-transformer-tech</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hyperscale-power-is-the-latest-startup-to-challenge-140-year-old-transformer-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Startup Hyperscale Power is developing technology that promises to shrink power transformers, freeing up precious space within data centers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-2159544073.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hyperscale, Power, the, latest, startup, challenge, 140-year-old, transformer, tech</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This SpaceX veteran says the next big thing in space is satellites that return to Earth</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-spacex-veteran-says-the-next-big-thing-in-space-is-satellites-that-return-to-earth</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-spacex-veteran-says-the-next-big-thing-in-space-is-satellites-that-return-to-earth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company&#039;s first demonstration mission is expected in early 2027. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Lux-Aeterna-Seed-Round-2.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, SpaceX, veteran, says, the, next, big, thing, space, satellites, that, return, Earth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Adobe is debuting an AI assistant for Photoshop</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-is-debuting-an-ai-assistant-for-photoshop</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-is-debuting-an-ai-assistant-for-photoshop</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Adobe is also adding new AI-powered image editing features to Firefly. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AIAssistant-1440X810_1x.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Adobe, debuting, assistant, for, Photoshop</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>YouTube expands AI deepfake detection for politicians, government officials, and journalists</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/youtube-expands-ai-deepfake-detection-for-politicians-government-officials-and-journalists</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/youtube-expands-ai-deepfake-detection-for-politicians-government-officials-and-journalists</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ YouTube&#039;s AI deepfake detection tool is becoming available to politicians, journalists, and officials, letting them flag unauthorized likenesses for removal. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1149449084.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>YouTube, expands, deepfake, detection, for, politicians, government, officials, and, journalists</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is Ethereum good enough for Wall Street? If history is any guide, the answer is clear</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-ethereum-good-enough-for-wall-street-if-history-is-any-guide-the-answer-is-clear</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-ethereum-good-enough-for-wall-street-if-history-is-any-guide-the-answer-is-clear</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A consortium of banks is building its own version of blockchain—it will be hard pressed to make it work. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2204820039-1-e1771849323283.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ethereum, good, enough, for, Wall, Street, history, any, guide, the, answer, clear</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bitcoin stabilizes after tariff whiplash briefly sends price below $65,000</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bitcoin-stabilizes-after-tariff-whiplash-briefly-sends-price-below-65000</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bitcoin-stabilizes-after-tariff-whiplash-briefly-sends-price-below-65000</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The latest volatility for the original cryptocurrency follows the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Friday. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2183660585-e1771874269953.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bitcoin, stabilizes, after, tariff, whiplash, briefly, sends, price, below, 65, 000</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Microsoft unveils Copilot Cowork agents built on Anthropic’s AI and E7 AI product suite as it seeks to calm investor concerns about AI eating SaaS</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/microsoft-unveils-copilot-cowork-agents-built-on-anthropics-ai-and-e7-ai-product-suite-as-it-seeks-to-calm-investor-concerns-about-ai-eating-saas</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/microsoft-unveils-copilot-cowork-agents-built-on-anthropics-ai-and-e7-ai-product-suite-as-it-seeks-to-calm-investor-concerns-about-ai-eating-saas</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Microsoft thinks enterprise customers will prefer its cloud-native Copilot Cowork to Anthropic&#039;s local version and doubles-down on per-user pricing ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2242817921.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Microsoft, unveils, Copilot, Cowork, agents, built, Anthropic’s, and, product, suite, seeks, calm, investor, concerns, about, eating, SaaS</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Saudi Arabia tells Iran it will be ‘the biggest loser’ as drone strikes spray Arab states</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/saudi-arabia-tells-iran-it-will-be-the-biggest-loser-as-drone-strikes-spray-arab-states</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/saudi-arabia-tells-iran-it-will-be-the-biggest-loser-as-drone-strikes-spray-arab-states</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Israel’s Army chief told the Israeli public to prepare for this war to take &quot;a long time.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2259384283-e1773061151346.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Saudi, Arabia, tells, Iran, will, ‘the, biggest, loser’, drone, strikes, spray, Arab, states</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>‘It feels like a video game, but in real life’: Gen Z’s love of analog ‘grandma’ hobbies jump from Pokemon to bird&#45;watching, scrolling to needlepoint</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/it-feels-like-a-video-game-but-in-real-life-gen-zs-love-of-analog-grandma-hobbies-jump-from-pokemon-to-bird-watching-scrolling-to-needlepoint</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/it-feels-like-a-video-game-but-in-real-life-gen-zs-love-of-analog-grandma-hobbies-jump-from-pokemon-to-bird-watching-scrolling-to-needlepoint</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Offline, tactile hobbies, like pottery, origami and even blacksmithing, are joining the knitting, gardening and needlepoint called &quot;grandma hobbies.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26040779897126-e1773061651394.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘It, feels, like, video, game, but, real, life’:, Gen, Z’s, love, analog, ‘grandma’, hobbies, jump, from, Pokemon, bird-watching, scrolling, needlepoint</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Judicial review challenge launched over Home Office £40,000 voluntary departure payment scheme</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/judicial-review-challenge-launched-over-home-office-40000-voluntary-departure-payment-scheme</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/judicial-review-challenge-launched-over-home-office-40000-voluntary-departure-payment-scheme</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
A legal challenge has been initiated against the UK government over a pilot scheme reportedly offering payments of up to £40,000 to certain failed asylum seekers who voluntarily leave the country.
Read more: 
Judicial review challenge launched over Home Office £40,000 voluntary departure payment scheme ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bell-Hotel-Epping-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Judicial, review, challenge, launched, over, Home, Office, £40, 000, voluntary, departure, payment, scheme</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Glasgow opens new Health Innovation Hub to accelerate life sciences innovation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/glasgow-opens-new-health-innovation-hub-to-accelerate-life-sciences-innovation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/glasgow-opens-new-health-innovation-hub-to-accelerate-life-sciences-innovation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The new Health Innovation Hub in Glasgow has officially opened, creating a major life sciences facility supporting precision medicine, digital health innovation and clinical research.
Read more: 
Glasgow opens new Health Innovation Hub to accelerate life sciences innovation ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/HUB005.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Glasgow, opens, new, Health, Innovation, Hub, accelerate, life, sciences, innovation</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Frasers Group builds 6% stake in struggling Puma</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/frasers-group-builds-6-stake-in-struggling-puma</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/frasers-group-builds-6-stake-in-struggling-puma</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has acquired a 5.77% stake in Puma, becoming the brand’s second-largest shareholder as the German sportswear giant battles losses and declining sales.
Read more: 
Frasers Group builds 6% stake in struggling Puma ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2481186763.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Frasers, Group, builds, stake, struggling, Puma</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>John Lewis to sell via ChatGPT and TikTok in youth push</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-to-sell-via-chatgpt-and-tiktok-in-youth-push</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-to-sell-via-chatgpt-and-tiktok-in-youth-push</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
John Lewis plans to sell products through ChatGPT and TikTok Shop as part of a multimillion-pound AI-powered shopping strategy aimed at attracting younger customers.
Read more: 
John Lewis to sell via ChatGPT and TikTok in youth push ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/John_Lewis_TikTok.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>John, Lewis, sell, via, ChatGPT, and, TikTok, youth, push</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK taxpayer to fund more than £1bn of infrastructure for Universal’s Bedford theme park</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-taxpayer-to-fund-more-than-1bn-of-infrastructure-for-universals-bedford-theme-park</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-taxpayer-to-fund-more-than-1bn-of-infrastructure-for-universals-bedford-theme-park</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The UK government will invest more than £1bn in transport and infrastructure for the new Universal Studios Bedford theme park, expected to boost the economy by £50bn.
Read more: 
UK taxpayer to fund more than £1bn of infrastructure for Universal’s Bedford theme park ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Universal-Studios-Bedford.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>taxpayer, fund, more, than, £1bn, infrastructure, for, Universal’s, Bedford, theme, park</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>OpenAI robotics lead Caitlin Kalinowski quits in response to Pentagon deal</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-robotics-lead-caitlin-kalinowski-quits-in-response-to-pentagon-deal</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-robotics-lead-caitlin-kalinowski-quits-in-response-to-pentagon-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Hardware executive Caitlin Kalinowski announced today that in response to OpenAI&#039;s controversial agreement with the Department of Defense, she’s resigned from her role leading the company&#039;s robotics team. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2206295463.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, robotics, lead, Caitlin, Kalinowski, quits, response, Pentagon, deal</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Grammarly’s ‘expert review’ is just missing the actual experts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/grammarlys-expert-review-is-just-missing-the-actual-experts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/grammarlys-expert-review-is-just-missing-the-actual-experts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A recently-added feature in Grammarly purports to improve users’ writing with help from the world&#039;s great writers and thinkers — and some tech journalists, too. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/brain-brain.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Grammarly’s, ‘expert, review’, just, missing, the, actual, experts</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Google just gave Sundar Pichai a $692M pay package</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-just-gave-sundar-pichai-a-692m-pay-package</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-just-gave-sundar-pichai-a-692m-pay-package</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Most of it is tied to performance, including new stock incentives linked to Waymo and Wing, its drone delivery venture. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-2215577882.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, just, gave, Sundar, Pichai, 692M, pay, package</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Push for $40 smartphones builds momentum, but still faces cost hurdles</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/push-for-40-smartphones-builds-momentum-but-still-faces-cost-hurdles</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/push-for-40-smartphones-builds-momentum-but-still-faces-cost-hurdles</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A coalition of telecom operators and device makers is pushing $40 smartphones to bring up to 20 million people online, but rising component costs threaten the plan. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/market-customer-1232017328.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Push, for, 40, smartphones, builds, momentum, but, still, faces, cost, hurdles</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>A roadmap for AI, if anyone will listen</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-roadmap-for-ai-if-anyone-will-listen</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-roadmap-for-ai-if-anyone-will-listen</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Pro-Human Declaration was finalized before last week&#039;s Pentagon-Anthropic standoff, but the collision of the two events wasn’t lost on anyone involved. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-871198558.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>roadmap, for, AI, anyone, will, listen</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>3 signs your meetings have a culture problem</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-signs-your-meetings-have-a-culture-problem</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/3-signs-your-meetings-have-a-culture-problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Meetings in corporate America are broken—and only breaking down more. Globally, people sit in three times as many meetings as they did before the pandemic, 60% of meetings are ad hoc, rather than scheduled, and 71% of people regularly multitask through them.



When poorly-run meetings become the norm, people begin to see them as a time with little value. But meetings are an opportunity to shape organizational culture, and not enough leaders are taking advantage of it. 



Most high-performing teams build strong relationships, show care for the whole person, have open and honest communications, listen to each other, clarify processes, and collaborate. These are all behaviors anyone can exhibit in meetings, but many don’t consider prioritizing them. 



3 signs your meetings need a reset



If you sit in a meeting, you see what the company culture is truly like. Sadly, I repeatedly see three main signs that your meetings have a culture problem.




Your meetings are draining, not energizing. According to research I’ve conducted, losing control over your schedule is one of the top drains on a leader’s energy. Overbooked schedules and ad hoc meetings in particular can be disruptive to the work you need to get done.



Your meetings are transactional, not relational. Transactional meetings focus on information download without any attention to connection or collaboration. A leader monologues over dense slides, there’s minimal discussion, and everyone else has their laptops out to multitask. Attendees are checked out and disengaged, and they take nothing away.



Your meetings have toxic positivity, not candid communication. Toxic positivity looks like discussions where leaders report that projects, initiatives, or systems are on track—even when things are breaking. The result is that no one discusses what truly needs to be handled to address issues.  




Sound familiar? You may need to redesign your meetings. Leaders can pick up three key actions to reshape their meetings—and reshape their team culture in the process.



1. Intentionally energize meetings 



For in-person meetings, get creative and change the physical meeting environment. If you are in a conference room, move all the chairs into a circle with no table or laptops. Hold meetings in different places, including outside. Have standing or one-on-one walking meetings. 



For virtual meetings, start the meeting with a check-in. What’s one thing that has energized you today? Speaking about energy infuses the meeting environment with energy.



2. Prioritize connection at the start



Dig in more with meaningful ways to ask the team about how they’re feeling. Consider these questions:




How is everyone feeling on a scale of 1 to 10?



What brought you joy recently?



What area do you need the team’s help on?




3. Establish meeting agreements



Before the meeting, include a clear statement in the invitation about what your meeting is for: “Digging into the KPIs for our upcoming proposal,” “working through feedback on our monthly client check-in,” and “discussing the outcomes of our project delivery, along with what could work better next time” are all great places to start.



When the meeting arrives, the facilitator can check for alignment and establish meeting agreements. Try these questions: 




How do we want to show up to get the most out of our meeting? 



How could we achieve the purpose we just discussed?



What agreements can we make to stay engaged throughout the meeting? 




The questions create a container of candid communication during the meeting. They invite everyone to be present, communicate openly, and be honest. Once leaders recognize that meetings reflect team culture, they can shift their attention to how each meeting can create not just a high-performance team, but a high-performance culture. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>signs, your, meetings, have, culture, problem</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Daylight saving time starts Sunday. Here’s 11 things you can do to adjust to losing an hour of sleep</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/daylight-saving-timestarts-sunday-heres-11-things-you-can-do-to-adjust-to-losing-an-hour-of-sleep</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/daylight-saving-timestarts-sunday-heres-11-things-you-can-do-to-adjust-to-losing-an-hour-of-sleep</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As clocks march ahead and daylight saving time begins, there can be anxiety around losing an hour of sleep and how to adjust to this change.



Usually, an hour seems like an insignificant amount of time, but even this minimal loss can cause problems. There can be significant health repercussions of this forcible shift in the body clock.



Springing forward is usually harder than falling backward. Why?



The natural internal body clock rhythm in people tends to be slightly longer than 24 hours, which means that every day we tend to delay our sleep schedules. Thus, “springing forward” goes against the body’s natural rhythm. It is similar to a mild case of jet lag caused by traveling east—in which you lose time and have trouble falling asleep at an earlier hour that night.



Even though it’s technically just one hour lost due to the time change, the amount of sleep deprivation due to disrupted sleep rhythm lasts for many days and often throws people off schedule, leading to cumulative sleep loss.



We lead a sleep evaluation center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and regularly see patients who are dealing with sleep loss and internal clocks that are not synchronized with external time. Our experience has shown us that it’s important to prepare, as much as possible, for the time shift that occurs every spring.



Consequences of sleep loss vary



Many studies have demonstrated that there is an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure associated with sleep deprivation. Workplace injuries increase and so do automobile accidents. Adolescents often find it harder to wake up in time to get to school and may have difficulties with attention and school performance or worsening of mental health problems.



Is there something to be done to help to deal with this loss of sleep and change of body clock timing?



Of course. The first step is increasing awareness and using the power of knowledge to combat this issue. Here are some quick tips to prepare yourself for the upcoming weekend.




Do not start with a “sleep debt.” Ensure that you and, if you’re a parent, your child get adequate sleep on a regular basis leading up to the time change each year. Most adults need anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep daily to perform adequately. Children have varying requirements for sleep depending on their age.



Prepare for the time change. Going to bed—and for parents, putting your kids to bed – 15 to 20 minutes earlier each night in the week preceding the time change is ideal. Having an earlier wake time can help you get to sleep earlier. Try to wake up an hour earlier than is customary on Saturday, the day before the time change. If you have not been able to make any changes to your sleep schedule in advance, then keep a very consistent wake time on weekdays as well as weekends to adjust to the time change more easily.



Use light to your advantage. Light is the strongest cue for adjusting the internal body clock. Expose yourself to bright light upon waking as you start getting up earlier in the week before daylight saving time. If you live in a place where natural light is limited in the morning after clocks change, use bright artificial light to signal your body clock to wake up earlier. As the season progresses, this will be less of an issue as the sun rises earlier in the day.



At night, minimize exposure to bright light and especially the blue light emitted by the screens of electronic media. This light can shift your body rhythm and signal your internal clock to wake up later the next day. If your devices permit, set their screens to dim and emit less blue light in the evening.



In some geographic locations, it might be helpful to have room-darkening curtains at bedtime, depending on how much sunlight your room gets at bedtime. Be sure to open the curtains in the morning to allow the natural morning light to set your sleep-wake cycle.



Carefully plan your day and evening activities. The night before the time change, set yourself up for a good night’s sleep by incorporating relaxing activities that can help you wind down, such as reading a book or meditating.



Incorporate exercise in the morning or early in the day. Take a walk, even if it is just around the house or your office during the day.



Consider starting with a protein-heavy breakfast, since sleep deprivation can increase appetite and craving for high-carbohydrate foods and sugars.



Stop using caffeine after noon. Use of caffeine too late in the day can lead to trouble falling asleep and even disrupted sleep.



Adults, decline that wine at bedtime. Wine and other kinds of alcohol can also disturb sleep.



If you’re a parent or caregiver, try to be patient with your kids as they adjust to the new times. Sleep deprivation affects the entire family, and some kids have a harder time adjusting to the time change than others. You may notice more frequent meltdowns, irritability and loss of attention and focus. Set aside more quiet, electronic media-free time in the evening. Consider a brief 20-minute nap in the early afternoon for younger children who are having a difficult time dealing with this change.




[Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world. Sign up today.]



Prioritizing sleep pays off in the short term and over the years. A good night’s sleep is a necessary ingredient for a productive and fulfilling day all year long.



This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 7, 2019.



Deepa Burman is a co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh.



Hiren Muzumdar is a director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh.



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>States with the most—and least—housing market inventory heading into spring 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/states-with-the-mostand-leasthousing-market-inventory-heading-into-spring-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/states-with-the-mostand-leasthousing-market-inventory-heading-into-spring-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.



When assessing home price momentum, ResiClub believes it’s important to monitor active listings and months of supply. If active listings start to rapidly increase as homes remain on the market for longer periods, it may indicate pricing softness or weakness. Conversely, a rapid decline in active listings beyond seasonality could suggest a market that is heating up.



Since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out in 2022, the national power dynamic has slowly been shifting directionally from sellers to buyers. Of course, across the country, that shift has varied.



Generally speaking, local housing markets where active inventory has jumped above pre-pandemic 2019 levels have experienced softer home price growth (or outright price declines) over the past 36 months. Conversely, local housing markets where active inventory remains far below pre-pandemic 2019 levels have, generally speaking, experienced, relatively speaking, more resilient home price growth over the past 42 months.



Where is national active inventory headed?



National active listings are on the rise on a year-over-year basis (+7.9% between February 28, 2025, and February 28, 2026). This indicates that homebuyers have gained some leverage in many parts of the country over the past year. Some seller’s markets have turned into balanced markets, and more balanced markets have turned into buyer’s markets.



Nationally, we’re still below pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels (-17.0% below February 2019), and some resale markets—in particular, chunks of the Midwest and Northeast—still remain, relatively speaking, tight-ish.







While national active inventory is still up year over year, the pace of growth has slowed in recent months as softening has slowed.



Here are the total number of February inventory/active listings over the past decade, according to Realtor.com:




February 2017 -&gt; 1,151,120 ?



February 2018 -&gt; 1,045,153 ?



February 2019 -&gt; 1,102,660 ? 



February 2020 -&gt; 928,343 ?



February 2021 -&gt; 464,919 ? (Pandemic housing boom overheating)



February 2022 -&gt; 346,511 ? (Pandemic housing boom overheating)



February 2023 -&gt; 579,264 ? 



February 2024 -&gt; 664,716 ? 



February 2025 -&gt; 847,825 ?



February 2026 -&gt; 914,860 ?




If we maintain the current year-over-year pace of inventory growth (+67,035 homes for sale), we’d have 981,895 active inventory listings come February 2027. (That’s not a prediction—I’m just showing what the math looks like if that pace continued.)



Below is the year-over-year active inventory percentage change by state.







While active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, the pace of growth continues to decelerate across much of the country (see the side-by-side maps below). In fact, Florida—home to many of the weakest regional housing markets over the past two years—is now seeing active inventory edge down a little, year over year (-4%).



LEFT: Year-over-year active inventory shift between February 2024 and February 2025



RIGHT: Year-over-year active inventory shift between February 2025 and February 2026







And while active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, some markets still remain tight-ish (although it’s loosening in those places, too).



As ResiClub has been documenting, both active resale and new homes for sale remain the most limited across huge swaths of the Midwest and Northeast. That’s where home sellers in the spring are likely, relatively speaking, to have more power than their peers in many Southern markets.



In contrast, active housing inventory for sale has neared or surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels in many parts of the Sun Belt and Mountain West, including metro-area housing markets such as Austin and Punta Gorda, Florida.



Many of these areas saw major price surges during the pandemic housing boom, with home prices getting stretched when compared with local incomes. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Punta Gorda and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.



This softening trend was accelerated further by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives (if they have the margins to do so) to maintain sales in a shifted market, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, are now opting for new homes with more favorable deals—which then puts some additional upward pressure on resale inventory.







At the end of February 2026, nine states were above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (The District of Columbia—which we left out of this table below—is back above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels, too. Softness in D.C. proper predates the current admin’s job cuts.)







Big picture: Over the past few years, we’ve observed a softening across many housing markets, as strained affordability has tempered the fervor of a market that was unsustainably hot during the pandemic housing boom and incomes have had a chance to slowly catch up. While home prices are falling some in pockets of the Sun Belt, a big chunk of Northeast and Midwest markets are still eking out a little year-over-year appreciation. Nationally aggregated home prices are pretty close to flat, year over year.







Below is another version of the table above—but this one includes every month since January 2017.







If you’d like to further examine the monthly state inventory figures, use the interactive below.



Over the coming months, let’s keep an eye on Florida, which has now entered its seasonal window when its active inventory typically begins to rise again. (So far, the seasonal jump has been tame.) To better understand softness and weakness across Florida over the past couple of years, read this ResiClub PRO report.



Click here to view an interactive/searchable version of the chart below



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>The madness before March Madness: Cinderella teams are born in this week’s conference tournaments</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-madness-before-march-madness-cinderella-teams-are-born-in-this-weeks-conference-tournaments</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-madness-before-march-madness-cinderella-teams-are-born-in-this-weeks-conference-tournaments</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ There are 365 teams in Division I men’s college basketball; 363 in women’s college basketball. Only 68 qualify for the NCAA Tournament on each side, and many of those 68 teams in each bracket have already conquered the madness of March.



America is enthralled by the NCAA Tournament each year, picking brackets, slacking off during work hours to watch the games, wrapped up in the high-stakes, single-elimination basketball where every loss means the end of seasons and careers, and every win is a magical tale to be told for years to come.



There’s more where that came from.



Having begun on March 2 and running all the way up to the Selection Show on the 15th, there is high-stakes, single-elimination men’s college basketball every single day. While the numbers whittle down from 68 to leave us with one team standing over the three weeks of NCAA Tournament action, the two weeks prior bring us from nearly 365 all the way down to 68. And that’s just on the men’s side.



Each of Division I’s 31 conferences do it slightly differently, but they all award an automatic bid to the Big Dance for their postseason champion.



Every low seed has a story



You may not think much about the 14, 15, and 16 seeds that you pick to get walked over in the first round by traditional powerhouses, but behind each of those games is a deeply fascinating story that culminated in a conference tournament championship.



Southern Illinois University Edwardsville lost 78-40 to top-seeded Houston in last year’s NCAA Tournament. SIU’s exit may have seemed brutally unceremonious, but for head coach Brian Barone, it was the moment he’d been waiting for his entire life. When Barone accepted the head coaching job in 2019, he hung a framed pair of scissors over the locker room door, symbolizing the goal of winning the program’s first ever Division I conference championship and earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament.



He built the team from consistent cellar dwellers in the Ohio Valley Conference into a respectable threat, and finally broke through with his best season in 2024-25, led by four-year player Ray’Sean Taylor.



After winning the OVC Championship, Barone and his players broke the frame and cut down the net with those scissors, an emotional journey that encapsulates the spirit of why America falls in love with March Madness.



A year prior, Wagner College won road games against the three top finishers in the Northeast Conference to clinch one of the most improbable conference tournament championships in recent memory. The Seahawks were bruised and battered by injury all year long, down to just seven scholarship players available for the entire tournament, but defeated three teams that it went a combined 1-5 against during the regular season.



No second chances



Like game-winners and crazy finishes? We’ve got plenty of those. Everybody is laying everything on the line. No second chances.



And for these schools, a trip to the NCAA Tournament isn’t just a banner to hang. It’s an opportunity for institutional growth in a landscape where that has become nearly impossible to accomplish. 



With the recent changes in college athletics due to revenue sharing and NIL, the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown even wider. It’s becoming increasingly difficult financially to sustain Division I athletics, but March Madness provides the opportunity for that. Each game that a team plays in the NCAA Tournament earns their conference a payout over the course of the next six years, known as an NCAA Tournament unit, that was worth a reported $2 million in 2024 for a total payout pool in excess of $200 million. The conference then splits that money between its schools.



In 2025, the NCAA paid out units for the women’s tournament for the first time, a step in the right direction even if the reported total payout pool is much smaller, only around $15 million.



But the potential financial gains of a March Madness appearance go beyond just the NCAA Tournament units. It gives your school two hours in front of a national television audience to market itself. Even in a loss, the airtime gives the school exposure. But a win? That could change everything. 



Florida Gulf Coast is perhaps the greatest example of this, as their 2013 run to the Sweet 16 drove a more than 25% surge in applications.



It never would’ve happened if the Eagles didn’t end North Florida, Stetson, and Mercer’s seasons in the Atlantic Sun Tournament.



Two weeks that change lives



Ask any mid-major player or coach—and trust me, I have—what their goal is for a given season, and you’ll always hear them say to reach March Madness. These two weeks are their opportunity to do that. It changes coaches’ lives—earns them opportunities to get higher-paying jobs—and does the same for players in the NIL era. 



But for the senior players who have passed up the opportunity to play at other schools for more money (Quinnipiac star Amarri Monroe, for example) this week is the chance to reap the rewards for that loyalty. It’s crushing to see these players lose, but exhilarating to see others win.



All of the emotions that you associate with March Madness are on display tenfold in championship week. Just because you can’t point to either school on a map doesn’t mean that people don’t pour their heart and soul into it for the opportunity to play for a national championship.



Nearly 300 teams don’t make March Madness. For them, it’s raw and real.



But 31 teams—26 in mid-major conferences—will celebrate championships over the next two weeks. They’ll celebrate the culmination of years of work. And if there’s one thing we love as Americans, it’s watching as many other people succeed in their life’s mission. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, madness, before, March, Madness:, Cinderella, teams, are, born, this, week’s, conference, tournaments</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why this iconic scotch brand is making a whisky for bourbon drinkers</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-this-iconic-scotch-brand-is-making-a-whisky-for-bourbon-drinkers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-this-iconic-scotch-brand-is-making-a-whisky-for-bourbon-drinkers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Scotch powerhouse Johnnie Walker recently launched the first permanent addition to its main range in 15 years—and it’s aimed at bourbon drinkers.



Called Johnnie Walker Black Cask, the new blended Scotch whisky is aged entirely in American white oak barrels that once held bourbon, a choice meant to make the whisky feel more familiar and approachable, especially for U.S. drinkers who may be new to scotch. (If it’s from Ireland and the U.S., it’s spelled “whiskey.” If it’s from  Scotland and most other countries, it’s “whisky” without the “e.”)



The launch arrives as parent company Diageo looks to strengthen its position in the U.S. at a time when spirits sales have softened and consumers are spending more carefully. 



What the barrel choice means in plain terms



If you are new to whiskey, the barrel a whiskey ages in matters almost as much as the liquid itself. Black Cask whisky is aged only in American oak barrels that previously held bourbon, a choice that tends to create flavors many U.S. drinkers already recognize, such as vanilla and caramel, characterized by a gentle sweetness.



Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker’s master blender—the person responsible for shaping the flavor of Johnnie Walker whiskies—says the idea grew out of curiosity rather than a desire to overhaul the brand.



“It’s certainly a different approach, but it reflects the Johnnie Walker spirit of experimentation—we are always pushing at the boundaries of what is possible in whisky,” Walker (no relation to the company’s founder) tells Fast Company. “When crafting Johnnie Walker Black Cask, we were inspired by Johnnie Walker Black Label, drawing on its depth of flavor and character, and the team used this as our springboard to explore and craft a bold new expression.”



While Johnnie Walker Black Label already uses some American oak barrels, it also relies on other types of casks. Black Cask removes that mix and focuses only on one barrel style.



“Like Black Cask, ex-bourbon American oak is used in Johnnie Walker Black Label, but not exclusively,” Walker says. “We started with some of the most expressive whiskies from the heart of Johnnie Walker Black Label, choosing casks that unlock a new level of depth, warmth, and richness.”



That focus changes how the whisky tastes.



“Aging in these barrels allowed us to find that sweet and smooth character we’ve achieved with Johnnie Walker Black Cask, leveraging those existing vanilla notes in Johnnie Walker Black Label to dial up exciting additional flavors like toasted marshmallow, toffee, and caramel,” she says.



What stayed the same



If that name sounds sort of familiar, it’s because Johnnie Walker already sells a whisky called Black Label. For people familiar with Johnnie Walker Black Label, Black Cask is not meant to feel unfamiliar or intimidating. Walker says the foundation of the whisky remains intact.



[Photo: Johnnie Walker]



“When I describe Johnnie Walker Black Cask as coming from ‘the heart of Johnnie Walker Black Label,’ I’m talking about protecting the signature DNA that makes Johnnie Walker Black Label instantly recognizable—its balance, depth, and unmistakable smoky-sweet character,” she notes.



“That meant preserving the core structure of the blend: the layered Speyside fruit and sweetness, the creamy malt richness, and, of course, that distinctive west coast smoke that gives it length and backbone. Those elements are nonnegotiable,” Walker says.



Instead of changing everything, the team chose to highlight certain flavors more clearly. “What we explored was how to amplify certain aspects through cask influence, particularly by leaning into deeper, more intense oak character and caramelized sweetness, while ensuring the smoke and fruit still play in perfect balance,” she adds.



Why this one is sticking around



Black Cask is being introduced as a permanent bottle, not a seasonal release. That decision comes as Diageo deals with uneven results across its global business.  



U.S.-listed shares of Diego PLC (NYSE: DEO) experienced their worst trading day since 1997 on February 25, dropping over 12% after the company announced a significant dividend cut, lowered its fiscal 2026 guidance, and reported weak results for the first half of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.



The stock was trading at well over $200 a share during the early pandemic, when lockdown orders spurred a rise in drinking, but it closed at just under $82 a share on Friday.



In the U.S., pressure on household budgets are making consumers more cautious about spirits purchases. Walker says Black Cask was created with those drinkers in mind. A 750-milliliter bottle will set you back $34.99.



“While this release is an innovation, I think it speaks to the American whiskey palette in a way that will ensure continued enjoyment,” she says. “There’s more they have in common than what sets them apart.”



A practical move in a careful market



Producing a whisky like Black Cask at global scale requires planning, especially as Diageo works to improve cash flow and reduce debt. 



“Creating whiskies for a brand of the size of Johnnie Walker is both a blessing and a challenge,” Walker says. “Small adjustments at the start can create bigger knock-on effects toward the end, so the stock management of these ex-bourbon casks became part of the blending artistry.



“The core tension is always between balancing the brand’s rich history with its spirit of progress and innovation,” she continues.



CEO Dave Lewis has said Diageo’s focus now is on making its brands more relevant and competitive as consumers tighten budgets.



Seen through that lens, Black Cask is meant to feel familiar rather than flashy. It offers an easy entry point into scotch for new drinkers while giving longtime fans a slightly different way to enjoy a well-known brand. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<title>Opening a business bank account – how&#45;to and best accounts</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/opening-a-business-bank-account-how-to-and-best-accounts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/opening-a-business-bank-account-how-to-and-best-accounts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Ben Lobel on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


In this piece, we&#039;ll look at how to go about opening a business account in the UK and what services are out there
The post Opening a business bank account – how-to and best accounts appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Opening, business, bank, account, –, how-to, and, best, accounts</media:keywords>
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<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/10-best-business-insurance-providers-in-the-uk</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/10-best-business-insurance-providers-in-the-uk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


UK business insurers can cover you for all manner of incidents. Check out these 10 business insurance providers to get started 
The post 10 best business insurance providers in the UK appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
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<media:keywords>best, business, insurance, providers, the</media:keywords>
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<description><![CDATA[ Instead of relying on expensive management consultants, the startup uses AI voice agents to conduct interviews with customers of the companies the PE firms are considering buying. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
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<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-to-challenge-dods-supply-chain-label-in-court</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he plans to challenge the Department of Defense&#039;s designation of the AI firm as a supply-chain risk. He claims most Anthropic customers are unaffected by the label. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Dario-Amodei-.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
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<media:keywords>Anthropic, challenge, DOD’s, supply-chain, label, court</media:keywords>
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<description><![CDATA[ Meta is now allowing rival AI companies to provide their chatbots on WhatsApp to Brazilian users for a fee, a day after the company confirmed a similar decision for users in Europe. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>After, Europe, WhatsApp, will, let, rival, companies, offer, chatbots, Brazil</media:keywords>
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<title>India’s Karnataka signals intent to ban social media for under&#45;16s</title>
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<description><![CDATA[ Karnataka&#039;s proposal highlights a growing global debate over children’s rights and online policy. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India’s, Karnataka, signals, intent, ban, social, media, for, under-16s</media:keywords>
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<title>Quantum scale&#45;up Pasqal plans $2B SPAC listing, promises to ‘remain French’</title>
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<description><![CDATA[ A SPAC deal that is set to take French quantum company Pasqal public on the Nasdaq values the company at $2 billion pre-money. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Cold-Atoms-are-so-cool-right-now.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Quantum, scale-up, Pasqal, plans, 2B, SPAC, listing, promises, ‘remain, French’</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The world’s largest tech gathering is talking about “accountability laundering”—here’s why we should christen them Words of the Year</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-worlds-largest-tech-gathering-is-talking-about-accountability-launderingheres-why-we-should-christen-them-words-of-the-year</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-worlds-largest-tech-gathering-is-talking-about-accountability-launderingheres-why-we-should-christen-them-words-of-the-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A Meta executive’s AI inbox mishap sparked debate at Mobile World Congress about responsibility in the age of autonomous agents. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/DAA_0737-e1772716006178.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, world’s, largest, tech, gathering, talking, about, “accountability, laundering”—here’s, why, should, christen, them, Words, the, Year</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Asia faces an energy shock from the Iran war and a closed Strait of Hormuz, as governments halt exports and draw down stockpiles</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/asia-faces-an-energy-shock-from-the-iran-war-and-a-closed-strait-of-hormuz-as-governments-halt-exports-and-draw-down-stockpiles</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/asia-faces-an-energy-shock-from-the-iran-war-and-a-closed-strait-of-hormuz-as-governments-halt-exports-and-draw-down-stockpiles</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan have tried to diversify their energy imports, yet they still depend on oil and gas from the Middle East. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-1659537350.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Asia, faces, energy, shock, from, the, Iran, war, and, closed, Strait, Hormuz, governments, halt, exports, and, draw, down, stockpiles</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Time on his side: Michael Dell the real business icon as Icahn the activist recedes from view</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/time-on-his-side-michael-dell-the-real-business-icon-as-icahn-the-activist-recedes-from-view</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/time-on-his-side-michael-dell-the-real-business-icon-as-icahn-the-activist-recedes-from-view</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In retrospect, the titanic battle between Dell and Icahn likely marked a turning point in activist investing. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-181792553.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Time, his, side:, Michael, Dell, the, real, business, icon, Icahn, the, activist, recedes, from, view</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Google Gemini was a deadly ‘AI wife’ for this 36&#45;year&#45;old who resisted its call for a ‘mass casualty’ event before his death, lawsuit says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-gemini-was-a-deadly-ai-wife-for-this-36-year-old-who-resisted-its-call-for-a-mass-casualty-event-before-his-death-lawsuit-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-gemini-was-a-deadly-ai-wife-for-this-36-year-old-who-resisted-its-call-for-a-mass-casualty-event-before-his-death-lawsuit-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations ... but unfortunately AI models are not perfect,” Google said. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26063538685643.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, Gemini, was, deadly, ‘AI, wife’, for, this, 36-year-old, who, resisted, its, call, for, ‘mass, casualty’, event, before, his, death, lawsuit, says</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Mark Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri’s words used against them in never&#45;before&#45;seen videos airing in addiction trial</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mark-zuckerberg-adam-mosseris-words-used-against-them-in-never-before-seen-videos-airing-in-addiction-trial</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mark-zuckerberg-adam-mosseris-words-used-against-them-in-never-before-seen-videos-airing-in-addiction-trial</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;I think that there’s over 2 billion people on Instagram, which means there are millions of teens on Instagram.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AP26050035832286-e1772717809479.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mark, Zuckerberg, Adam, Mosseri’s, words, used, against, them, never-before-seen, videos, airing, addiction, trial</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK shop price inflation slows to 1.1% in February as retailers cut prices</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-shop-price-inflation-slows-to-11-in-february-as-retailers-cut-prices</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-shop-price-inflation-slows-to-11-in-february-as-retailers-cut-prices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK shop price inflation eased to 1.1% in February, driven by discounting in fashion and beauty and slower food price growth, according to BRC and NielsenIQ.
Read more: 
UK shop price inflation slows to 1.1% in February as retailers cut prices ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_592575827.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>shop, price, inflation, slows, 1.1, February, retailers, cut, prices</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>CMA investigates Hilton, IHG and Marriott over alleged hotel data sharing via STR</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cma-investigates-hilton-ihg-and-marriott-over-alleged-hotel-data-sharing-via-str</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cma-investigates-hilton-ihg-and-marriott-over-alleged-hotel-data-sharing-via-str</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Hilton, InterContinental Hotels and Marriott over alleged sharing of competitively sensitive data via STR, owned by CoStar.
Read more: 
CMA investigates Hilton, IHG and Marriott over alleged hotel data sharing via STR ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_2723830107.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>CMA, investigates, Hilton, IHG, and, Marriott, over, alleged, hotel, data, sharing, via, STR</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Bank of England rate cuts at risk in 2026 as Middle East conflict sparks inflation fears</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bank-of-england-rate-cuts-at-risk-in-2026-as-middle-east-conflict-sparks-inflation-fears</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bank-of-england-rate-cuts-at-risk-in-2026-as-middle-east-conflict-sparks-inflation-fears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Experts warn Bank of England base rate cuts could be delayed in 2026 after Middle East conflict triggered surging gas prices, rising gilt yields and fresh inflation concerns.
Read more: 
Bank of England rate cuts at risk in 2026 as Middle East conflict sparks inflation fears ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Governor-bank-of-England-Andrew-Bailey-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bank, England, rate, cuts, risk, 2026, Middle, East, conflict, sparks, inflation, fears</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Spring Statement 2026: Reeves downgraded growth as business leaders demand urgent action</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-statement-2026-reeves-downgraded-growth-as-business-leaders-demand-urgent-action</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-statement-2026-reeves-downgraded-growth-as-business-leaders-demand-urgent-action</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement 2026 downgraded UK growth forecasts as Middle East tensions fuel inflation fears. Business leaders warn stability rhetoric must be matched with urgent economic action.
Read more: 
Spring Statement 2026: Reeves downgraded growth as business leaders demand urgent action ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reeves_Spring_Budget.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spring, Statement, 2026:, Reeves, downgraded, growth, business, leaders, demand, urgent, action</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>RIT Capital Partners’ SpaceX stake tops £100m as Elon Musk valuation soars</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rit-capital-partners-spacex-stake-tops-100m-as-elon-musk-valuation-soars</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rit-capital-partners-spacex-stake-tops-100m-as-elon-musk-valuation-soars</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
RIT Capital Partners says its SpaceX stake has surged to £102.3m after Elon Musk’s rocket company hit a $1.25tn valuation, boosting returns at the Rothschild-backed investment trust.
Read more: 
RIT Capital Partners’ SpaceX stake tops £100m as Elon Musk valuation soars ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/shutterstock_1724274766.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>RIT, Capital, Partners’, SpaceX, stake, tops, £100m, Elon, Musk, valuation, soars</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Alibaba’s Qwen tech lead steps down after major AI push</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/alibabas-qwen-tech-lead-steps-down-after-major-ai-push</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/alibabas-qwen-tech-lead-steps-down-after-major-ai-push</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Reactions rippled through Alibaba&#039;s Qwen team after tech lead Junyang Lin stepped down following a major model launch. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/alibaba-qwen-ai.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Alibaba’s, Qwen, tech, lead, steps, down, after, major, push</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>A suite of government hacking tools targeting iPhones is now being used by cybercriminals</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-suite-of-government-hacking-tools-targeting-iphones-is-now-being-used-by-cybercriminals</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-suite-of-government-hacking-tools-targeting-iphones-is-now-being-used-by-cybercriminals</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Security researchers say exploits used by governments to hack into iPhones have been found to be used by cybercriminals. They warned of an emerging market for &quot;secondhand&quot; exploits. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/apple-mac-iphone-security.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>suite, government, hacking, tools, targeting, iPhones, now, being, used, cybercriminals</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why AI startups are selling the same equity at two different prices</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-ai-startups-are-selling-the-same-equity-at-two-different-prices</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-ai-startups-are-selling-the-same-equity-at-two-different-prices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Some AI founders are using a novel valuation mechanism to manufacture unicorn status. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/money-firehose.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, startups, are, selling, the, same, equity, two, different, prices</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Eight Sleep raises $50M at $1.5B valuation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/eight-sleep-raises-50m-at-15b-valuation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/eight-sleep-raises-50m-at-15b-valuation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Eight Sleep said it was free-cash-flow positive in 2025, and plans to use the new funding for new products, global expansions, and clinical validation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Eight-Sleep-Pod-5-Hero-1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Eight, Sleep, raises, 50M, 1.5B, valuation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Who needs data centers in space when they can float offshore?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/who-needs-data-centers-in-space-when-they-can-float-offshore</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/who-needs-data-centers-in-space-when-they-can-float-offshore</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Offshore wind developer Aikido will deploy a small data center beneath a floating offshore wind turbine later this year. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/wind-turbine-vinyard-wind-Worldview-Films.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Who, needs, data, centers, space, when, they, can, float, offshore</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What was it like the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup? ‘Men in Blazers’ creator Roger Bennett recalls his experience</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-was-it-like-the-last-time-the-us-hosted-the-world-cup-men-in-blazers-creator-roger-bennett-recalls-his-experience</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-was-it-like-the-last-time-the-us-hosted-the-world-cup-men-in-blazers-creator-roger-bennett-recalls-his-experience</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Roger Bennett is the witty and charismatic co-host of the popular “Men in Blazers” soccer media network. Born in Liverpool, England, he moved to the United States and has since helped popularize the sport in this country through podcasts, television shows, and books, including his best-selling memoir Reborn in the USA. His new book, WE ARE THE WORLD (CUP), is a personal history of what he calls “the world’s greatest sporting event.” In the following excerpt, he chronicles his experience of the 1994 World Cup, the last event held in the U.S prior to this summer’s tournament. 1994 was also the year Bennett moved to the U.S.



The 1994 World Cup brought football to the United States of America. And also me. Straight after university, I moved to Chicago, finally completing a three-generational odyssey. According to our family myth, my “great-grandfather the butcher” had originally intended to move to Chicago, the great “Hog Capital of the World,” when he boarded a boat in Odessa and headed for the promised land at the turn of the twentieth century. When that boat docked to refuel in Liverpool, he, and several hundred of the other, clearly lower IQ travelers, saw the three tall buildings on the Merseyside skyline, believed they were in New York City and disembarked.



Eighty years and two generations later, I completed my family’s journey. When the plane landed at O’Hare Airport, I felt the urge to mark the weight of the moment and dropped to my knees dramatically on the tarmac, a move I had seen Pope John Paul II execute many times upon arrival in a foreign land. I was momentarily overcome by a surge of adrenaline but, unsure what to do next, quickly became self-conscious as the other passengers pushed their way impatiently around me with their carry-ons. I peeled myself up and tried to play it cool as I joined them on the shuttle bus, attempting to ignore the fact I now had acquired a sticky oil stain on the left knee of my jeans that I could never quite remove.



It is one thing to land at an airport as a tourist ready to tear up the city for a time-bound period. It is an entirely different feeling to arrive in a place with no return ticket, and the hope and fear that accompanies any leap into the unknown. I was a twenty-two-year-old quasi-man landing with big dreams in the American Midwest. An area I was largely unfamiliar with and in which I lacked any kind of support network of family or friends. The only things I had brought with me were a law degree I had miraculously managed to secure, a vague grasp on rudimentary life skills, an enormous ’fro, and little in the way of financial resources. My father had been unimpressed by the woeful lack of direction I had demonstrated after graduation and became irritated at my vague talk of signing up to be an air steward or doing a postgraduate degree in peace studies. Late one night after I had come back inebriated from the local pub in Liverpool, he informed me that he was cutting me off. “A man can think and think in life, Roger,” he said with equal measures of exasperation and contempt, “but sometimes he simply has to learn to do.” That decision forced my hand and spurred me into “doing.” Picking up my life and heading to Chicago, then overstaying my tourist visa was the sum total of my plan.



Under the table and off the books



Upon arrival, I looked at a map of the city, saw there was a neighborhood in the far northside named Rogers Park, and, based solely on its name echoing my own, elected to set up shop there. My immediate challenge was to make some money. Lacking a work visa, I hustled like Tony Montana in the early scenes of Scarface, throwing myself into any opportunity that would pay me illegally under the table and off the books. For the first year, I made just enough to live, as a truly clueless yet enthusiastic baker on the early morning shift in a local French pâtisserie and a well-meaning but utterly bewildered waiter at a soul food restaurant at night. In between, I picked up shifts restocking books in a local library, which really meant me sleeping in the stacks. I cobbled together just enough to rent my small, totally empty apartment. If I scrounged food from the restaurant, I could occasionally put my surplus tip money toward treating myself to a $4 bottle of Kentucky Gentleman bourbon whiskey.







The soul food restaurant—Orly’s in Hyde Park on the South Side of the city—provided an eye-opening initial glimpse of America. The cooks were all elderly African American South Siders, the busboys young Latinos from the West Side, the barman and manager were a pair of white suburban bros who ruled the place and largely spent their nights crassly hitting on the other servers who, besides me, were all attractive young female students at the University of Chicago. I bonded most of all with the kindly Mexican busboys, who loved to talk football while poking fun at my long, curly hair and round spectacles, alternating between two nicknames they quickly coined for me: “lady” and “Juan Lennon.” Two of the dishwashers were a pair of brothers from Mexico, and they took time to show me how to game the system and set up the basics any illegal alien needs to survive: a black market Social Security number, healthcare, and a bank account; teaching me how to furnish an empty apartment for free by scavenging for couches, desks, and kitchen tables dumped in alleyways across the city on the last day of any month, aka moving day.



Arby’s, Michael Jordan, and Lake Shore Drive



The extent to which I missed my family back in Liverpool surprised me. This was before AOL became omnipresent and when long-distance phone calls were still prohibitively expensive, so we corresponded like Victorians, by letter. I would stay late at night, alone, in the library’s office, typing out long letters to my parents with just my pointer fingers, determined to convey the minutiae of my work and the details of America that exhilarated me. The celestial taste of Arby’s; the intensity of the bruising NBA playoff series between the Michael Jordan–less Chicago Bulls and the boastful New York Knicks of Patrick Ewing, which felt like a high-stakes collision in which the future of good and evil were at stake; the thrill of driving down Lake Shore Drive in a cab at night, and speeding past illuminated skyscraper after skyscraper, an experience which made me feel like I was living on the set of a sci-fi movie.



The mundanity of the letters they mailed back to me in return, 90 percent of which revolved around complaints about the perpetually damp, rainy weather, reinforced my confidence that the journey I was on was the right one. The only thing I truly and achingly missed was football. Soccer. As thrilling as it was for me to be able to immerse myself in the new American sporting traditions of Bears, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Notre Dame gamedays, English football was my foundational text. It was how I understood and made sense of the world. My ballast in life’s stormy sea. I was well aware that the sport had outsider status in the United States. Yet, I was still shocked by just how hard it was to follow in my new home. This game that thrilled the rest of the world, had stopped wars, and spurred revolutions barely made a dent on the American sporting subconscious. In a national survey of favorite spectator sports released shortly after my arrival, it ranked 67th. Tractor-pulling was 66th.



‘Holding a major skiing competition in an African country’



To be clear, Americans were not just apathetic toward the game I loved. They seemed to take a perverse delight in actively and openly despising it in the 1990s. Most nations would have announced a national holiday if FIFA awarded them the hosting rights to the tournament. Yet, when the United States was given the honors, their decision was received with a general tenor of bewilderment. On the floor of Congress, Representative Jack Kemp, a former professional quarterback, felt the need to defend his nation’s honor by saying, “I think it is important for all those young men out there who someday hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands, that a distinction should be made that football is democratic capitalism whereas soccer is a European socialist sport.”



One journalist compared the honor of hosting the biggest sports event in the world to “holding a major skiing competition in an African country.” A sense of contempt reinforced by rumors that began to abound that FIFA were attempting to “Americanize” the sport by splitting the game into four quarters rather than two halves to increase the amount of advertising they could jam into the broadcast. I was baffled by the lack of noise around the whole affair. The World Cup was something I had always counted down to, with a sense of joyous anticipation, but that sense began to be replaced by a gnawing feeling of unease that the Americans were going to blow this—to transform the most celebrated event in the world into the equivalent of a Weird Al cover song. The tournament draw, which took place in December 1993, live from Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, dialed my sense of disquiet up to eleven. The football world had never seen the likes of a veritable night of a thousand stars including Barry Manilow, Julio Iglesias, and Faye Dunaway. Few seemed to know what they were doing there. ESPN’s host, that veritable broadcasting legend Bob Ley, declared the spectacle to be akin to “Salvador Dalí producing a state lottery.” Fittingly for such a surreal occasion, it was Robin Williams who stole the spotlight. First, the comedian described the draw bracket as “the world’s biggest Keno game,” then proceeded to refer repeatedly to FIFA’s General Secretary, Sepp Blatter, as “Sepp Bladder” even after the Swiss administrator testily corrected him, insisting, “This is not a comedy!”



Beneath the pizzazz, the significance for the future of the sport could not have been higher. US midfield star Tab Ramos was one of the pitifully few American players who had managed to find a pathway to play club football in Europe, and he worried aloud, “I think this will be the last chance, the last go-round for soccer to make it big here.” If those were the stakes, it did not seem to be going very well. New York Times columnist George Vecsey noted: “The United States was chosen, by the way, because of all the money to be made here, not because of our soccer prowess. Our country has been rented as a giant stadium and hotel and television studio for the next thirty-one days.” Panic truly kicked in when a national poll undertaken three weeks before the tournament’s kickoff discovered that 71 percent of Americans were still not aware it was about to be played in their country. The prospect of empty stadiums felt very real. In the weeks running up to the kickoff, a late flurry of marketing materials featuring images of Reggie Jackson and Michael Jordan pretending to juggle the football were unfurled in a last-ditch effort to create excitement. That did not exactly inspire confidence, as if athletes from other sports were needed to give heartland Americans permission to watch the foreigners’ game.



An unshakable terror that no one would show up



The moment of truth came June 17, 1994, when the opening match was held, by chance, at Soldier Field in my adopted hometown of Chicago. The night before the tournament began, my mood ricocheted between the dizzying sense of childish anticipation I always experienced on World Cup eve, and an unshakable terror that America was throwing a party for the sport I loved, and that no one would turn up. In my destitute state, there was no chance I could afford a ticket for the opener, which featured reigning World Cup champions Germany against Bolivia, yet I felt a need—more than that, a responsibility—to travel down to the stadium to pay witness to the scene. Partially to respect the moment and come as close to this tournament in the flesh as I had ever been. But mostly to help fill in as an extra, and create the sense of a crowd, hoping to build the fiction of America caring in the worst-case scenario, as so many doomsayers were saying, that the venue was deserted.



I need not have worried. With a searing sense of relief, I found Soldier Field to be as overwhelmed as if the Bears were playing the Packers. Yes, it felt like half of Baden-Württemberg had traveled to cheer on Germany, and every Bolivian in the vicinity of Chicago had massed by Lake Michigan. But there were also thousands of families, congregating around the ticket gates, with the kind of crackling sense of anticipation emitted when entering the circus. In truth, this was unlike any football crowd I had experienced before. There was little noise. No audible chanting. Few team colors. Yet I soaked in the scene with relief and wonder. America had turned up. The fact that many of those in attendance seemed to know little about what was about to happen felt like nitpicking. This emotion was reinforced by a big-screen television near the gate broadcasting a short video in which iconic baseball manager Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers declared his unshakable belief that even if the country had no idea what the World Cup was, America would win it.



Ticketless, I raced home on the L to catch the razzamatazz-filled opening ceremony on my television, which, like the rest of my furniture, had been rescued from the alleyway behind my apartment. I had jerry-rigged an antenna out of a clothes hanger, so the picture was scratchy, but visible enough to witness the spectacle that managed to blend a message of American good intentions, celebrity pageantry, and gesturing at heartfelt passion for soccer.



A nearly sold-out crowd, including President Clinton, was privy to a ceremony that began with emcee hometown hero Oprah Winfrey screaming, “Let’s celebrate!” before tripping off the stage and seemingly maiming herself just seconds after welcoming a worldwide television audience of a billion. That slapstick opening set a tone the rest of the celebrity guests then strove to one-up. Singer Jon Secada suffered a dislocated shoulder when a trapdoor from which he was meant to emerge onto the stage misbehaved, forcing him to sing with just his head and shoulders protruding from a hole in the floor. Richard Marx, a Chicago native with a spectacular mullett, sang the national anthem. Diana Ross added to the surreal display by prancing around and lip-syncing, “I’m Coming Out,” a performance capped by her slicing a penalty quite wide of a goal from less than five yards out. Nonetheless, the crossbar still split into two, as if she had shot with accuracy and potency. A clumsy piece of footballing choreography gone wrong amidst glamor and glitz, which felt like a cruel metaphor for all that was to come.



The psychedelic out-of-place, out-of-body celebrity moment was echoed, and eclipsed, later that night, by the breaking news of O.J. Simpson’s infamous white Bronco chase. An earth-shattering celebrity cultural moment, which even preempted the NBA final and easily overshadowed the day’s football, the personal highlight of which came just a minute into the opener when the ball flew into the stands, and the game was held up while the fan who caught it was ordered to throw it back, after being told this was not Wrigley Field and you were not allowed to keep that ball as a memento.



A Peroni- and Guinness-fueled epic gang rumble



It took twenty-four hours before the fuse was truly lit on the World Cup, driving it straight to the front of America’s sporting cortex. A game billed as “the Showdown in the Swamp” pitched Italy against Ireland in the crackling heat of Giants Stadium in New Jersey. A confluence of time and context. Thirty-two million Americans claim Irish descent, roughly half have Italian roots, and the greater New York area had largely been built by their ancestors and thus overflows with both hyphenated identities. This game felt like the type of Peroni- and Guinness-fueled epic gang rumble Scorsese would have directed in one of his early movies. A fight for pride born of echoed pasts taking place in the swamplands near the Hudson.



The Italian team had long been a traditional footballing superpower. Handsome, slick-haired footballers like the iconic Roberto Baggio and Paolo Maldini played for the biggest clubs in the world. Ireland was a mob of scrappy, bar-brawling upstarts in comparison. A Dirty Dozen–esque mob—many of whom were English-born but had chosen to represent Ireland because of their own familial lineage. They were managed by a charismatic, beer-drinking, straight-talking former English World Cup winner, Jack Charlton, who was so beloved, he achieved honorary Irishman status and was christened “St. Jack.” The English National Team had yet again failed to qualify, so a lot of English fans spent the early days of the tournament desperately trying to discover secret Irish roots of their own.



I watched this game in a packed bar in Rogers Park, stuffed with Irish Americans and a ton of non-Irish Americans who just felt a vicarious kinship courtesy of their Notre Dame fandom. As I entered, a large old man dressed as a leprechaun kissed me on the top of my head while screaming to no one in particular, “Our boys are on the craic with it!”



As Jameson-inflected as these words smelled, they turned out to be prophetic. My leprechaun friend may have passed out before kickoff, but had he been conscious, he would have loved what he saw. The fearless Irish snatched the lead with a euphoric strike from midfielder Ray Houghton, a Glasgow-born son of an Irishman, who audaciously clipped the ball past the despairing fingers of the Italian goalkeeper. The collective defensive intensity Charlton had instilled did the rest, as a green-and-white-cloaked Giants Stadium rocked to the sound of bagpipes and the thump of bodhráns as a chant of “You’ll never beat the Irish!” resounded. The final scoreline, chaotic energy of the occasion, and medical miracle that 75,000 Irish fans somehow survived nasty cases of sunburn drove the event into the hearts of the American viewing public. This tournament had kicked off for real.



Maradona the villain



This being a World Cup, Diego Maradona of course grabbed center stage. The golden street urchin had been the hero of the 1986 win. He played the role of villain in this one. Having worn out his welcome in Italian football, “El Pibe de Oro” fled Europe with his career imploding and personal life in meltdown. A fifteen-month ban earned in 1991 for testing positive for cocaine was the least of his problems. Maradona had been charged with smuggling $840,000 worth of blow into Rome’s Fiumicino Airport in 1990, and his reputation was further pockmarked by rumors of paternity suits, tax charges, and intimate connections to Naples’s Camorra crime family.



A beleaguered, overweight Maradona returned home to Buenos Aires in search of sanctuary. As he arrived, the notion the player was physically or mentally ready to lead the national team to the 1994 World Cup appeared as believable as a storyline from a Philip K. Dick fantasy. Yet, the star resurfaced sensationally on the eve of the tournament, having somehow shed twenty-six pounds in a month. His message was one of redemption. “I am tired of all those who said I was fat and no longer the great Maradona,” he proclaimed. “They will see the real Diego at the World Cup.” The icon did not know how true those words would prove to be.



Aged thirty-three, the little warhorse prepared to drag his tattered body into battle one more time. His fourth World Cup would begin against Greece at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. A light aircraft buzzed above the field pulling a banner that proclaimed “Maradona–Prima Dona” ahead of the game, and the star lived up to his billing. In the 60th minute of the 4–0 victory, Diego received the ball in the box, jinked to his left, and rifled the ball into the top corner, then celebrated the achievement in hopped-up style, charging a sideline television camera and flashing his maniacal mug toward it. Tight-lipped after the game, Maradona would only declare, “I’m letting my actions speak for themselves.”



Four days later, the player was selected for random drug testing after a 2–1 win against Nigeria. FIFA quickly announced the Argentine had tested positive for five variants of ephedrine. The Guardian would later note the way Maradona had celebrated his goal against Greece was as conclusive as any drug test: “Broadcast around the world, his contorted features made him look like a lunatic, flying on a cocktail of adrenalin and every recreational drug known to man.”



Faced with the disgrace of being expelled from the tournament, Maradona first sought pity from Argentinian television. “They killed me,” he said. “They have retired me from soccer. I don’t think I want another revenge, my soul is broken.” He then proceeded to appeal to his nation’s easily fired-up paranoia, adamantly declaring, “They didn’t beat us on the pitch. We were beaten off the pitch and that is what hurts my soul.”



As his team moved on to meet Bulgaria in the Cotton Bowl, Maradona loyalists in the Argentine media seized on Dallas’s reputation as the cradle of conspiracy theories. “In this city, where thirty years before Kennedy was assassinated, the theories surrounding footballer Maradona will now be explained. Was he ‘randomly’ selected for a drug test?” they asked.



Not embarrassing themselves



FIFA dispatched Sepp Blatter to smother any doubts. “The king is dead, we play on,” he declared. A shattered Argentinian squad mustered the requisite sound bites about “winning it for Diego.” But leaderless and disoriented, they proceeded to wilt against Bulgaria and were finally sent home by Gheorghe Hagi, Ilie Dumitrescu, and the elegant Romanians in the Round of 16. Even Maradona’s fall from grace could not dampen the American energy now building up around the tournament. The stadiums were packed, never more than when the US team first strolled onto the field in Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome. I knew so little about the team. Few Americans did to be honest. Hosting duties meant their qualification had been automatic, a mixed blessing as a woefully inexperienced squad faced four long years in which it had been deprived of the one thing that could battle-harden the players: competitive matches that mattered. This challenge was reinforced by the reality that only a handful of American soccer players had found professional opportunities in Europe. American soccer players had as much credibility in the eyes of European scouts as aspirational English quarterbacks would have received in the NFL. A couple of players including the cocky gunslinger John Harkes and physically gifted striker Eric Wynalda had gained the attention of minor clubs in England, Spain, and Germany. The rest were left struggling to make a living playing indoors or on a local team, which provided the salary equivalent of an internship.



The personal stakes could not have been higher for these men. The focus was on not embarrassing themselves. They were not just playing for their nation; they were fighting for the very future of their sport. Desperate to avoid the humiliation of becoming the first home team in history unable to emerge from the World Cup’s opening round, the United States Soccer Federation had undertaken a bold experiment, establishing a residential training center for its team to live together, essentially living off a tiny stipend and their enormous shared dreams, for eighteen months in Mission Viejo, California. Crap the bed, and the profile of soccer in the United States would never recover. The mission was simple. They had to get out of the group stages.



Their draw had been tough. In the opening round, they would face a robust Switzerland, dark horse Romania, and sandwiched in between, the truly fearsome Colombians, who had just whipped Argentina 5–0 in qualifying and whom Pelé himself had picked to win the entire tournament.



First up were the Swiss, who had drawn and beaten Italy in qualifying. I watched from the futon on the floor of my boxy Rogers Park apartment, nervously adjusting the wire hanger to try and coax a clearer signal. The blurry images on my television made it look like the US team were swaggering onto the field wearing a faux stonewashed denim jersey. Then the commentator mentioned that the US team were indeed wearing faux stonewashed denim jerseys and that was the very second I fell in love with this team of goatee- and mullet-sporting risk-takers, dreamers, and pioneers.



Sweatbox conditions



Tellingly, kickoff was slated for 11:30 a.m. so that broadcasters ABC did not have to cut into their coverage of the US Open, an event they deemed to be far more important. At that time, Midwest temperatures topped 106 degrees, and so this, the World Cup’s first-ever indoor game, was played in sweatbox conditions. I felt enormous empathy for the players as I could not afford air-conditioning in my Chicago apartment and was sweating up a storm myself as I watched in just my underpants and T-shirt. The Swiss looked like they were poised to melt. In contrast, the American players looked utterly amped. So few of them had ever played before a truly large crowd—never mind one that was 100 percent pro-American. As the cameraman panned their eyes during the national anthem, they looked like a group of men who knew this was their time to show the world that American football was about something more than a bold choice in football jersey design. That carried through once the opening whistle blew. The Americans were not the most sophisticated in tactic or touch. But what they clearly lacked as footballers, they compensated for with collective fitness, ferocity of tackle, and an unshakable team spirit embodied by the sheer number of high fives they doled out to each other in-game.



Rock ’n’ roll hustle, idiosyncratic style, and can-do spirit wrapped in frosted denim



A beanpole ginger center back, Alexi Lalas, caught my eye. A gangly mix of lanky leg and flowing red hair. He looked less like a footballer and more like a guy who worked behind the counter at a record store in some suburban Detroit mall, turning kids on to Van Halen’s latest album one sale at a time. But on the field, in the global spotlight that day, Lalas appeared as if he embodied America itself. All rock ’n’ roll hustle, idiosyncratic style, and can-do spirit wrapped in frosted denim. As if David Lee Roth had taken the World Cup stage. Both shirt and athlete unlike anything I had seen play football before.



When Switzerland opened the scoring off a free kick, it fleetingly felt like the sum of the American players’ fears was about to become real. But just five minutes later, the US won a free kick of their own, 28 yards out. Up stepped Eric Wynalda, the maverick, hotheaded striker who looked like an extra ripped from a beach scene in Baywatch. Wynalda composed himself, then swung his foot to strike as casually as if he were on the Californian fields in which he had mastered the game as a kid in Orange County. That ball seemed to be in the air forever, silencing the stadium as it flew, spinning away from the goal-keeper’s panicked dive straight into the corner, greeted with a crescendo of noise like that experienced by a diver breaking the waterline and resurfacing. Wynalda was as shocked as anyone watching at home.



The goal was a relief. It not only enabled the US to hold on for a draw and a point, but it also validated the sense that their quest to qualify was in the realms of the possible. The fearsome Colombians awaited four days later in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California. Again, I watched alone in my apartment, cowering as the South Americans in their ecstatic yellow attempted to blow their opponents away from the opening kickoff, attacking with hunger and intensity. It felt like a borderline miracle when the game was still scoreless five minutes in. The Colombians hit the post, and American defender Fernando Clavijo scooped the ball off the line in a way which defied science.



But football—especially World Cup football, with its international squads who are essentially as practiced as All-Star teams—is a game of moments. And in the 35th minute, the United States forayed upfield. John Harkes, the cocksure son of Kearny, New Jersey, who had played in England for four years and had instantly adopted a fake Cockney accent, whipped in a cross. Colombian defender Andrés Escobar, a fine man widely known as “The Gentleman of Football,” made the unfortunate decision to stretch out a leg and block it, but he only succeeded in redirecting the ball past his own flat-footed goalkeeper into his own net.



Escobar’s own goal is what is remembered from the game. Ten days later, he would return home and was shot to death while leaving a Medellín nightclub in the early morning hours. The assassin fired half a dozen times, yelling “Goal!” after every shot. But in the moment, when that ball bobbled off his foot into the back of the net, the American players felt only ecstasy. Even though I was watching alone in my apartment, I was moved to shake up a bottle of Budweiser and spray it around the room, creating a beer puddle that sat in the middle of the floor long after the tournament was a memory. I was to housekeeping what Diego Maradona was to legal weight loss.



‘Miracle on Grass’



Emboldened, the United States conjured a second goal right after halftime, a stunning moment of real counterattacking football, finished off by the speed freak Earnie Stewart, a Dutch-born dual-national with an American serviceman father. The celebrations were an astonishing moment for the team. You could tell by their rapturous reactions; this was a group of men proving themselves to themselves with the world watching. Now they knew, as American footballers, they could face a big team in a big game and win. To me it all felt transcendent. An epiphany akin to witnessing a baby being born, only with 90,000 people in the delivery room.



At the final whistle, the Americans soaked in their moment, walking around the Rose Bowl—the historic American sporting shrine—shirts off, American flags draped round their shoulders, with the delirious crowd bellowing, “USA! USA! USA!” After all their work and sacrifice, these men had just shown that American footballers could belong in the game with the rest of the world. The next day, headline writers gave the performance the ultimate sports accolade, hailing the victory as a “Miracle on Grass!”



Miracle or not, the third game did not go as planned. A 1–0 loss to the canny Romanians. The United States finished third in their group with four points, scraping into the knock-out stages by virtue of being one of four third-placed teams who advanced into the sixteen-team second round. Next, they would face Brazil, the fiercest of opponents and number 1 team in the world. The match was to be played in Stanford, California, on July Fourth to boot. Could they do it? I watched the players’ interviews, and it was clear by listening that having qualified from the group and achieved their goal—avoiding humiliation—all the pressure was off. Anything felt possible.



Once again, I watched the game alone in my apartment. I did not have a lot of money and, in reality, I did not have a lot of friends. In truth, I felt immensely lonely, but I loved this team of try-hards. I connected with them. When I watched them, they seemed to embody a sense of hope that I needed in my own life at the time. If a group of footballing duffers in stone-wash shirts could take on the powerful Brazilians in the World Cup and win, I too might find my way to glory. Or at least a television without a coat hanger for an antenna.



A moral victory



However, there was no way to mask the gulf in class between these two teams. It was evident the moment they walked side by side onto the pitch. Brazil’s deadly striking duo Romário and Bebeto, feared around the world, took the field alongside Cobi Jones, a twenty-four-year-old legal student from California.



This Brazil team were different from past iterations. The battering they had received from the European teams over the past decade had forced them to add defensive steel to their offensive flamboyance. Their jerseys were still the traditional golden yellow, but this was a pragmatic, functional, almost soulless squad who advanced on the strength of their physicality, which peaked on the stroke of halftime. American midfielder Tab Ramos attempted to nutmeg his opponent, Leonardo, who retorted by headhunting, with cruel, blunt application of his elbow to Ramos’s skull. A shocking moment of violence that earned the Brazilian a red card and left the American in agony on the ground, knocking him out of the game with a fractured skull.



Theoretically, the Americans now had a one-man advantage, but you could not tell from the way they responded. Their players’ focus was utterly broken by that moment of savagery, which had knocked out their creative heartbeat. The Brazilians became relentless. In the bright sunlight that would melt lesser men, they glimmered like a shoal of fighting fish sensing the weakness of their prey. The Brazilian goal, when it came in the 74th minute, was almost a relief. A precise Bebeto shot driven low, callously and cruelly through the desperate legs of Alexi Lalas and past a despairing goalkeeper into the corner of the net.



Despite the loss, the US mood at the final whistle was far from despondent. Even in defeat, this young, raw team of American nobodies had earned a moral victory. They had not soiled themselves with the nation watching. Television ratings were high. The US boys had proven they could go toe-to-toe with the world’s best by harnessing a collective spirit, exiting with millions of T-shirts and celebratory tchotchkes sold, and the feeling of a match lit and something powerful loosened deep in the nation’s consciousness. Sitting in my shit Chicago apartment, I thought of all the American icons that had drawn me to the United States in the first place, patriots who glowed with bold self-confidence. Ferris Bueller, the Super Bowl–winning Chicago Bears, the Beastie Boys. This American football team now fit in that pantheon. They were the rare US sporting entity who were scrappy underdogs. A gaggle who acted as if they willed themselves to believe something, it was no fantasy.



Brazil’s spiritless football became a symbol of the entire tournament. Below the celebrity glitz and American naivete, the play was mediocre, and the games pockmarked by overzealous refereeing that broke up play. Fittingly, the final was one of the most soul-crushing the tournament has ever witnessed. I had not wanted to watch alone and went out solo to take it in, draining a generous stranger’s pitchers of beer, at a packed Hyde Park bar, Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap. The energy, which was at Mardi Gras levels at kickoff, soon burned off as the Brazilians’ cocked fist was negated by Italy’s smothering play. As the two teams conspired to provide every soccer cynic’s worst nightmare—the first goalless final, 120 minutes of dreary soccer followed by penalties—the bar became quieter and emptier. I could almost imagine the teeth-gnashing of every investor who had just stepped up to own a team in the soon-to-be-launched American club league: Major League Soccer.



‘Divine ponytail’



One of the reasons I love football is that even in the dullest of spectacles, a moment of human revelation can occur on an almost biblical scale. Italy had been carried to the final by the wizardry of one man: Roberto Baggio, an almost mystical figure, known for his signature “Divine ponytail” (Il Divin Codino), his conversion to Buddhism, and the way he seemed to float just above play, beyond the grasp of the mere mortals with whom he was sharing the field. Baggio’s five goals in the tournament had propelled his team to the final. In the fifth and final round of penalties, with Brazil leading 3–2 and Italy needing to score to keep hope alive, it was Baggio who stepped to the spot. It had been his tournament. Now, the hopes of all Italy rested on his shoulders. With just the goalkeeper to beat from a mere 12 yards, he proceeded to sky the ball 3 feet over the crossbar. At the pub I was in, it felt like we had just witnessed a human tragedy. Screams accompanied the replays of the ball soaring into the Pasadena sky, as Baggio, that quasi-holy man, doubled over in astonished agony, hands on knees in private mourning. A hallowed figure who so often appeared to rise above the limits of what was humanly possible, frozen in a moment of mortality. It was fitting that two diabolical penalties bookended the tournament. Diana Ross’s showbiz miss opened it, and Baggio’s elegiac catastrophe brought it to an emotional close and handed Brazil a fourth World Cup win, at last. Their first in twenty-four long years.



Many Americans had their lives changed by the tournament. European teams deigned to welcome a handful into their teams, most noticeably Alexi Lalas, who played fleetingly in Italy, a cameo in which his greatest achievement may have happened off the field when he was invited to strum his guitar as a support act on a leg of a Hootie &amp; the Blowfish tour. Most of the players were reduced to jester-like side-hustles with Tony Meola accepting a chance to try out as a kicker for the New York Jets, which reeked of a PR stunt, as did his being attacked by “soccer-playing pitbulls” on Jay Leno.



In the end, the legacy of this World Cup was mixed. Records had been broken in terms of attendance, but those who expected American fans’ sporting appetites to be transformed instantly and forever by the tournament would be disappointed. The spike in interest in football soon burned off as if the World Cup had been a giant circus, which momentarily thrilled before leaving town. A year later, when my beloved club team Everton reached the semifinal of a major tournament, I was unable to find a single cable channel that could summon a broadcast, despite a frantic search of Chicagoland sports bars. Utterly defeated, I ended up calling my father in Liverpool and persuaded him to hold his telephone against the radio so I could hear the local broadcast and follow the action. A long-distance connection that was worth every cent, even though the bill was so eye-bulgingly expensive, it took me seven months to pay off in installments. Each time I chipped away at my football-induced telecom debt, I felt a numbing angst as if the World Cup in America had never happened.



‘The long cut’



Deprived of my football fix, my American life continued to progress, relying on hustle, grind, and the kindness of strangers. Professionally, I astonished myself by finding utility in the law degree I had somehow earned. I gained work as a welfare rights advocate. This was the height of the Clinton Welfare debate in which the safety net had been shredded. Working with a nonprofit who agreed to apply for a visa for me, I trained homeless men to talk to the media, telling the story of their descent into the streets and highlighting the vast number of hidden challenges that existed between them and job security.



The homeless guys I worked with were sweet and earnest. They lived on the streets south of the city in the area around Robert Taylor Homes. A vast, bleak public housing project that consisted of dozens of identical, hulking buildings spread out in a line for two miles. Having grown up in Liverpool, I thought I was used to grim neighborhoods awash with hopelessness. The Robert Taylor Homes were another level altogether. This was a heart-wrenching island of abject poverty. The work was fulfilling and soul-destroying in equal measure. Lacking football in my life, I threw myself into the Chicago music scene for solace. Uncle Tupelo’s album Anodyne had just been released. I saved up enough to watch the band play gigs at the legendary Lounge Ax. Their track “The Long Cut” was my anthem, and I listened to its message of struggle and eventual promise on repeat on my Discman:



Come on let’s take the long cut I think that’s what we need



If you wanna take the long cut We’ll get there eventually.



The lead singer, Jeff Tweedy, was singing about his fraught relationships with his bandmates, but the lyrics always held a double meaning for me, reflecting the journey I hoped soccer had just begun in my chosen home.



Excerpted from the book WE ARE THE WORLD (CUP) by Roger Bennett. Copyright © 2026 by In Loving Memory of the Recent Past 2 Inc. From Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, was, like, the, last, time, the, U.S., hosted, the, World, Cup, ‘Men, Blazers’, creator, Roger, Bennett, recalls, his, experience</media:keywords>
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<title>HP is mining its own e&#45;waste to build its latest laptops</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hp-is-mining-its-own-e-waste-to-build-its-latest-laptops</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hp-is-mining-its-own-e-waste-to-build-its-latest-laptops</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Inside a new HP laptop, the copper in its heat sink comes straight from old HP devices—making the company the first to reuse its own recycled metal in a closed loop.



In partnership with HP, the Australia-based startup Mint Innovation took in circuit boards from thousands of old HP computers and servers, and then recycled them to supply pure refined copper back to the company. The process is designed to be more sustainable than traditional smelting. Instead of melting down metals in a furnace—an energy-intensive, polluting process—the startup uses a mix of chemicals and biology to recover valuable materials.



“What HP is effectively doing is mining e-waste of their own appliances,” says Mint president Matt Bedingfield. “They’re taking responsibility for their full supply chain to turn it into the next generation of devices.”



Old circuit boards are shredded and run through a series of tanks containing custom biological materials that pull out metals like gold and copper. The “biosorption” process works like a magnet, using electrons to attract specific elements. When gold is dissolved, for example, and electrons are stripped from its surface, it’s drawn to biological matter with extra electrons.



Gold “is the economic enabler” for the process, Bedingfield says: “If you don’t recover the gold, you don’t make any profit. So after the gold, then we go and we recover the copper, then the silver, the tin, and the palladium.”



Copper is particularly important at the moment. “In the U.S. right now, we’re about a million tons short on copper,” he says. “Copper is required for every single bit of the energy transition. It’s required for the data centers that we’re building. So that gap is only going to grow. The HPs and Apples and other OEMs in other industries, they’re all looking for copper to begin with. And then they’re looking for sustainable copper.” 



For HP, it’s part of a bigger push to help build new circular supply chains for the electronics industry. The quality of the recycled material is identical to new copper, the company says.



[Photo: HP]



Mint recycles in batches, so it’s possible to directly trace that a recycled material came specifically from a particular manufacturer’s products; in a furnace, that’s impossible to track. The company has orders from HP to continue recycling additional batches of products, Bedingfield says. 



In its first project, HP used the recycled copper in heat sinks because it knew it had enough supply to outfit the HP EliteBook X G2 Series and HP EliteBoard G1a Next Gen AI PC. Future work could involve additional materials like gold. Scaling it won’t be simple: HP ships about 57 million laptops a year—second only to Lenovo, per Gartner—and brand-specific e-waste isn’t predictable. But the company is exploring how it can grow.



[Photo: HP]



Mint currently works in an industrial-scale prototype facility in Australia, but is currently starting to build up a sample line in Texas. It’s aiming to secure long-term investment to build out a full new plant in Texas that could open next year. 



The recycling facilities have a small footprint. “They’re designed in a way where we can go to the scrap,” says Bedingfield. “We’re able to go into cities and drop plants, so you’re not moving the material all around the world as is done today.”  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>mining, its, own, e-waste, build, its, latest, laptops</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Did the Olympics turn you into a women’s hockey fan? You’re not alone—and StubHub has a new site for you</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/did-the-olympics-turn-you-into-a-womens-hockey-fan-youre-not-aloneand-stubhub-has-a-new-site-for-you</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/did-the-olympics-turn-you-into-a-womens-hockey-fan-youre-not-aloneand-stubhub-has-a-new-site-for-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Gold-medal moments for American athletes abounded at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Among a slew of highlights, Alysa Liu brought the U.S. Olympic gold in singles figure skating for the first time since 2002, Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin topped the podium in Alpine skiing. The Paralympics, which start March 6, will likely see more medals for women athletes, and many of them will be celebrating in Las Vegas this summer.



But data from ticket exchange and resale site StubHub shows that the U.S. women’s hockey team’s triumph over Canada for gold in Milan will have a lasting effect on attendance at Professional Women’s Hockey League games. 



The company’s internal data shows a 38% year-over-year increase in demand for tickets to Professional Women’s Hockey League games for the first eight weeks of 2026, buoyed by an overnight spike following the U.S. women’s team winning gold. Demand for PWHL tickets is up nearly 60% compared to pre-Olympic levels.



Strong demand for women’s sports is why StubHub is launching HerSportsHub, a centralized site for buying tickets to women’s sporting events via the platform.







“When people get inspired by a big moment — whether it’s the Olympics or a breakout season — they don’t just watch,” Jill Gonzalez, StubHub’s head of consumer, product and technology communications, told Fast Company in a statement. “They want to be there and StubHub’s role is to make it as easy as possible to get in.”



It’s not just hockey. Fans will have easy access to resale tickets for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Women’s Basketball, and more. 



The launch leaves plenty of time for hockey fans to get to a PWHL game before the season ends in April, and comes just in time for March Madness (women’s games start March 18), the NWSL season starting on March 13, and the WNBA season tip-off on May 8.



All those sports gained new fans after the 2024 Paris Olympics. In 2024, StubHub says, demand for WNBA tickets surged 360% over 2023, and 150% for the NWSL over 2023.



“Women’s sports are a fixture, and more fans are showing up every day,” Gonzalez told Fast Company. “HerSportsHub is a dedicated space to find the games they care about most and turn that excitement into a live experience.”



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Did, the, Olympics, turn, you, into, women’s, hockey, fan, You’re, not, alone—and, StubHub, has, new, site, for, you</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The startup that turned Texas’s book ban law into big business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-startup-that-turned-texass-book-ban-law-into-big-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-startup-that-turned-texass-book-ban-law-into-big-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 2023, as Texas lawmakers debated Senate Bill 13—a controversial bill aimed at restricting certain books in public school libraries and expanding parental oversight—Steve Wandler was among the dozen-plus parents, educators, and advocates who testified before the legislature. Wandler wasn’t just another concerned citizen. He was a Canadian entrepreneur who had relocated to Texas the year before to found Bookmarked, a fledgling startup that promises to help school districts manage their library collections and give parents greater visibility into what their children are reading.



The legislation addressed the very issue Wandler believed his company could help solve. The bill, authored by Republican state Senator Angela Paxton, would require districts to pull books featuring content deemed by local school boards to be “profane,” “indecent,” or “sexually explicit,” and expanded parents’ rights to monitor their children’s borrowing histories and restrict what their children could check out. It was part of a broader political push that also included HB 900, which required book vendors to rate school library materials for sexual content (though a federal appeals court later blocked enforcement of the rating mandate as unconstitutionally broad).



Wandler spoke in support of SB 13, telling lawmakers it “empowers parental access” and “mandates accountability with the school districts.” His investment in the bill’s passage wasn’t merely rhetorical: Public records show Bookmarked spent at least $80,000 lobbying in favor of the measure, and later hired the powerful Texas lobbying firm Moak Casey to help promote its cause.



Still, critics saw SB 13 differently, with free-speech advocates warning the new system amounts to codified censorship. Tasslyn Magnusson, a senior advisor with the Freedom to Read Program at PEN America, says that tools aggregating and circulating lists of challenged titles can reshape library collections in subtle but consequential ways. “When you start flagging books as somehow bad or under issue in other districts and other states, you’re undermining your local community control of what a school should have available for its students,” she tells Fast Company.



Texas lawmakers ultimately moved forward anyway. Within months of SB 13’s June 2025 passage, Bookmarked, then without any district clients, began marketing its software as a tool designed to help districts navigate the law’s new requirements, according to brochure materials provided to Fast Company. The platform promised to highlight potentially problematic titles for school boards, streamline review processes, and give parents direct access to their children’s reading histories by integrating with library systems (that checkout data is stored on Amazon Web Services). In an interview with Fast Company, Wandler describes the product as decision support rather than a censorship engine: “We’re just showing you what we find on the internet. We’re not telling you what to do.”



In doing so, the Dallas-based upstart quickly became a key player in a new and deeply contested corner of the edtech market, providing its software to more than 150 districts across Texas, according to Wandler—though that footprint is more complicated than it may appear, spanning a mix of paid contracts and free pilot programs. (Wandler says a soon-to-be-released updated version of Bookmarked would standardize pricing at $3 per student.)



Bookmarked was initially backed by angel investors and remains angel funded, according to Wandler, who says the company is now seeking additional capital after gaining traction in Texas. He describes the company’s tech as a practical solution, one that helps districts maneuver an increasingly complex legal environment while connecting families more directly to their children’s reading. He acknowledges the fears over a system that might accelerate book removals, but insists his company has been a neutral player. “We try to be Switzerland,” he says. “And it’s hard to be Switzerland.”



‘The process is almost unattainable’



In marketing materials issued in June 2025 and shared with Fast Company, Bookmarked presents itself as a shield against risk. OnShelf, its AI-powered platform that tracks school library catalogs and calls out books that could draw complaints under the new laws, would help districts “navigate SB 13 with confidence and clarity,” Bookmarked promised.



In practice, OnShelf works by ingesting a school district’s library catalog and comparing it against a growing database of titles that have been challenged or restricted elsewhere. According to internal company documents viewed by Fast Company, its AI engine “scans and collects” online data daily—including news reports, advocacy lists, and district records—to track books that have been banned or challenged across the U.S. and generate a list of “potential flags.” OnShelf also, per internal documents, supplies librarians with weekly automated emails “summarizing the ‘health’ of their collection based on any new nationwide challenge trends.”



The company’s early development was closely tied to a Texas public-school superintendent. Jason Cochran, now head of Krum Independent School District (ISD) in North Texas, says he approached Wandler with the original idea and helped shape an early version of the product. Cochran today retains a small ownership stake (less than 1%, he says) and serves informally as an advisor. His district uses the software free of charge, an arrangement he says he requested in part to avoid conflicts tied to his ownership stake. (Some have questioned whether Cochran’s dual role as a district leader and a financial stakeholder in a vendor serving schools presents a conflict of interest.) Cochran says the tool has helped his district spot challenged books and ensure “there wasn’t anything on the radar that was going to cause conflict.”



Bookmarked arrived at a moment of profound uncertainty. Across the United States, efforts to challenge and remove books from schools had surged dramatically. In 2024, the American Library Association recorded 821 censorship attempts targeting 2,452 unique titles, reflecting a shift toward organized bulk challenges wherein efforts to remove large numbers of books rely in part on prepared lists from conservative advocates. (By comparison, the annual average from 2001 to 2020 was just 273 titles.) Among the books banned by districts in Texas so far: Safe Sex 101: An Overview for Teens, Between the World and Me, Gender Queer, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.



As the San Antonio Express-News reports, Bookmarked has already had sweeping real-world effects in Texas districts. About an hour south of Austin, in New Braunfels ISD, administrators used the software to identify more than 450 library books that might violate SB 13—prompting the district to close its library for two weeks while officials reviewed titles ranging from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to The Handmaid’s Tale. Similarly, in the West Texas city of Abilene, the platform sounded the alarm on more than 300 books for review during an early pilot program, according to reporting by the literary news website Book Riot. 



In Abilene, the relationship reportedly soured quickly. Lyndsey Williamson, Abilene’s executive director of secondary education, wrote in a September email that the company “made promises they couldn’t keep,” per the Express-News. (Abilene ISD did not respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.) Separately, one parent who lives in a district that uses the software tells Fast Company they had a hard time actually removing their child from the system entirely, claiming that doing so required multiple emails and signed release forms.



‘There was no way to keep up with that information’



Of course, not every district has had that experience. In Canyon ISD, a roughly 11,500-student system in the Texas Panhandle, administrators describe the software as a useful compliance tool. To Lisa Hill, the district’s director of instruction, the appeal was straightforward: As book challenges accelerated nationally, districts lacked a centralized way to track them. “There was no way to keep up with that information on a broad scale,” she says.



Hill says the platform supplements rather than replaces librarians’ expertise and aligns with the state’s emphasis on parental oversight. “All librarians have a master’s degree in library science,” she says, but no one can realistically read every title that enters a collection. The system, in her view, adds visibility for overtaxed district employees. 



But that additional visibility, skeptics argue, can quickly turn into pressure. Perhaps most concerning is the dragnet effect: the risk that the software floods districts with questionable warnings, forcing educators to sort through lists that may be incomplete or misleading. That dynamic, says Anne Russey, a Texas parent and cofounder of the advocacy group Texas Freedom to Read Project, can cause librarians to act quickly rather than carefully—especially when administrations are already overwhelmed (and perhaps extra cautious on account of the recently passed SB 412, which essentially nixed longstanding legal protections for educators for providing materials deemed harmful to minors). “Maintaining a library is a normal part of library science that these certified professional librarians have all learned how to do,” she says.



Leila Green Little, a Texas parent and lead plaintiff in a recent federal lawsuit over library censorship, is more blunt in her assessment: “Bookmarked is a solution to a problem that does not exist,” she says.



Wandler, for his part, doesn’t entirely dispute the criticism. He acknowledges that the data his platform draws from is imperfect at best. Books get marked as banned or challenged even when districts ultimately keep them on shelves, producing alerts that don’t always tell the full story. But the platform, he insists, is only surfacing information. “We just show you [that] To Kill a Mockingbird has 20 flags on it. Do with it what you please,” he says. The 1960 novel has been challenged in districts across the U.S. over its use of racial slurs and depictions of racism, a deeply ironic twist given that the book is widely regarded as a critique of racism itself.



Wandler is also candid about the stumbles along the way: “We’ve made a ton of mistakes,” he says, ”as startups do.” That’s why, he adds, Bookmarked is currently rebuilding the product from the ground up. The new version, now being piloted and slated for a broader April rollout, shifts focus from simply surfacing “book intelligence” to better helping districts navigate the byzantine approval workflow SB 13 requires (think elements like teacher book submissions and committee review). “Nobody built a product to be able to manage the process that this law has created,” Wandler says. “The process is almost unattainable, like it’s impossible for them to be able to do the work that the law does.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, startup, that, turned, Texas’s, book, ban, law, into, big, business</media:keywords>
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<title>Target stock is up even though sales were down. Why the retailer is getting a surprise bump today</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/target-stock-is-up-even-though-sales-were-down-why-the-retailer-is-getting-a-surprise-bump-today</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/target-stock-is-up-even-though-sales-were-down-why-the-retailer-is-getting-a-surprise-bump-today</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Target Corporation on Tuesday reported its all-important fourth-quarter results, which run from the key holiday shopping season in November through January. 



Unfortunately for the company, its results were, at best, a mixed bag. Yet despite the underwhelming earnings report, shares in the company are currently rising. Here’s what you need to know.



Target’s Q4 2025 at a glance



Before the opening bell this morning, Target reported its fourth-quarter earnings, which ended on January 31. 



Out of all the earnings periods Target reports over the year, Q4 is the most important because covers the holiday shopping season when consumers are traditionally most willing to spend on non-discretionary items—a category that is Target’s bread and butter.



Here are the most salient metrics for the quarter:




Net sales: $30.45 billion



Net earnings: $1.04 billion



Adjusted earnings-per-share (EPS): $2.44




The good news for the company is that its adjusted EPS of $2.44 was much better than most analysts were expecting. As CNBC notes, an LSEG survey found that most analysts were expecting and adjusted EPS of $2.16.



However, though the company beat on adjusted EPS, its net sales and net earnings both did not meet analyst expectations, and came in lower in Q4 2025 than the same quarter a year earlier.



Analysts had expected net sales of $30.48 billion for the quarter. Target came close at $30.44 billion—but even that was down 1.5% from the $30.90 billion the company brought in the same quarter a year earlier.



The company’s net earnings of $1.04 billion were also down 5.2% from the same quarter a year earlier.



Target’s problems are political and economic



Announcing its Q4 2025 results, Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, who has only been in the role since last month, said that the company was focused on its “next chapter of growth, rooted in strengthening our merchandising authority, delivering an elevated and differentiated shopping experience, advancing our use of technology, and continuing to serve and invest in our team and communities.”



However, one of the largest challenges that Target is up against is blowback from its community of shoppers. 



Last summer, Target faced heavy criticism from many of its shoppers for rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the wake of President Trump’s second inauguration. 



More recently, as noted by CNBC, Trump’s immigration crackdown has been causing headaches for Target’s new leadership. As noted by the Associated Press, the company’s customers have been vocal in their desire for the company to take a public stand against Trump’s policies, particularly after the deaths of ICE protesters in Target’s hometown of Minneapolis.



Of course, Target’s stagnating sales over the past few years aren’t limited to political problems. It also continues to face economic ones. 



The biggest problem for Target is that a majority of the goods it sells are discretionary items, and consumers have been cutting back on those for years as costs continue to rise due to inflation and Trump’s tariffs.



To make matters worse, many customers have complained for years that Target’s stores were becoming messier and less visually appealing, leading them to shop there less frequently or seek out alternative retailers.



Last month, Target announced corporate layoffs as part of its plan to reinvest in the in-store experience.



Why is Target stock up despite lackluster sales?



Despite Target’s lackluster quarter, shares in the company are currently rising in premarket trading. 



As of this writing, Target stock (NYSE: TGT) currently up about 3.7% to $117.45. Factors for this rise could include things like relief from investors that the company at least met analysts’ net sales expectations.



Target also announced that it expects modest next sales growth of about 2% for 2026. Given that the company has faced declining or stagnating sales for almost four years, investors are likely to reward the company for any expectation of reversing that trend, no matter how small.



Despite Target’s ongoing challenges, the company’s shares have performed decently year-to-date. 



As of yesterday’s market close, TGT shares were up nearly 16% since the start of the year. Over the past six months, the company’s share price has risen more than 22%. 



Yet over the past 12 months, TGT shares had declined nearly 9% as of yesterday’s close. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Target, stock, even, though, sales, were, down., Why, the, retailer, getting, surprise, bump, today</media:keywords>
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<title>5 best business expense management solutions</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/5-best-business-expense-management-solutions</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/5-best-business-expense-management-solutions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Nathaniel Dalby on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We’ve collected five of the best expense management solutions you can find for your business in the UK today. 
The post 5 best business expense management solutions appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1432903655.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>best, business, expense, management, solutions</media:keywords>
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<title>Spring Forecast 2026 – what small businesses should expect</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-forecast-2026-what-small-businesses-should-expect</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-forecast-2026-what-small-businesses-should-expect</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The Spring Forecast 2026 is coming up on March 3. What can we expect to see that&#039;ll affect small business owners?
The post Spring Forecast 2026 – what small businesses should expect appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/02/54947916240_5cbf4f5116_c.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spring, Forecast, 2026, –, what, small, businesses, should, expect</media:keywords>
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<title>Spring Forecast 2026 announcements for small businesses – live blog</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-forecast-2026-announcements-for-small-businesses-live-blog</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spring-forecast-2026-announcements-for-small-businesses-live-blog</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Whether you call it the Spring Statement or the Spring Forecast, Reeves is making her announcement. What&#039;s in it for small business owners?
The post Spring Forecast 2026 announcements for small businesses – live blog appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/03/53836057572_c29ef6abbc_b.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spring, Forecast, 2026, announcements, for, small, businesses, –, live, blog</media:keywords>
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<title>Investors spill what they aren’t looking for anymore in AI SaaS companies</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/investors-spill-what-they-arent-looking-for-anymore-in-ai-saas-companies</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/investors-spill-what-they-arent-looking-for-anymore-in-ai-saas-companies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TechCrunch spoke with VCs to learn what investors aren&#039;t looking for in AI SaaS startups anymore. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2188822416.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Investors, spill, what, they, aren’t, looking, for, anymore, SaaS, companies</media:keywords>
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<title>Google looks to tackle longstanding RCS spam in India — but not alone</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-looks-to-tackle-longstanding-rcs-spam-in-india-but-not-alone</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-looks-to-tackle-longstanding-rcs-spam-in-india-but-not-alone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Google is integrating carrier-level filtering into RCS in India through a partnership with Airtel to strengthen protections against spam. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-2169510461.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Google, looks, tackle, longstanding, RCS, spam, India, —, but, not, alone</media:keywords>
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<title>Let’s explore the best alternatives to Discord</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lets-explore-the-best-alternatives-to-discord</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lets-explore-the-best-alternatives-to-discord</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ With many users feeling uneasy about Discord&#039;s new age verification requirement, here are some alternatives that could be worth exploring. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/GettyImages-1313854295-e1660738794113.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Let’s, explore, the, best, alternatives, Discord</media:keywords>
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<title>Polymarket saw $529M traded on bets tied to bombing of Iran</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/polymarket-saw-529m-traded-on-bets-tied-to-bombing-of-iran</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/polymarket-saw-529m-traded-on-bets-tied-to-bombing-of-iran</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Six newly-created accounts made a profit of $1 million by correctly betting that the U.S. would strike Iran by February 28. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/GettyImages-2259602005.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Polymarket, saw, 529M, traded, bets, tied, bombing, Iran</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Anthropic’s Claude reports widespread outage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropics-claude-reports-widespread-outage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropics-claude-reports-widespread-outage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic&#039;s AI chatbot Claude experienced widespread service disruptions on Monday morning, with thousands of users reporting issues accessing the bot. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Claude-Opus-4.5-illustration.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic’s, Claude, reports, widespread, outage</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Your grandparents are the reason the U.S. isn’t in a recession right now. That won’t last forever</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-grandparents-are-the-reason-the-us-isnt-in-a-recession-right-now-that-wont-last-forever</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-grandparents-are-the-reason-the-us-isnt-in-a-recession-right-now-that-wont-last-forever</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Boomers—particularly wealthy older people—are &quot;driving the train&quot; when it comes to the economy right now, economists told Fortune. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-1247905694-e1772035541670.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Your, grandparents, are, the, reason, the, U.S., isn’t, recession, right, now., That, won’t, last, forever</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Here’s how to build something that lasts, from the founder of a $300 million bootstrapped company that’s been growing for 28 years straight</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/heres-how-to-build-something-that-lasts-from-the-founder-of-a-300-million-bootstrapped-company-thats-been-growing-for-28-years-straight</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/heres-how-to-build-something-that-lasts-from-the-founder-of-a-300-million-bootstrapped-company-thats-been-growing-for-28-years-straight</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The moments that sparked meaningful change and business longevity. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/doublegood.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Here’s, how, build, something, that, lasts, from, the, founder, 300, million, bootstrapped, company, that’s, been, growing, for, years, straight</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Ray Dalio, Scott Bessent and House members from both sides of the aisle are rallying around a ‘3% solution’ to tame the out of control national debt</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ray-dalio-scott-bessent-and-house-members-from-both-sides-of-the-aisle-are-rallying-around-a-3-solution-to-tame-the-out-of-control-national-debt</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ray-dalio-scott-bessent-and-house-members-from-both-sides-of-the-aisle-are-rallying-around-a-3-solution-to-tame-the-out-of-control-national-debt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bipartisan consensus is building in support of lowering the gulf between revenues and outlays to 3% of GDP. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2243629590_27eafa.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ray, Dalio, Scott, Bessent, and, House, members, from, both, sides, the, aisle, are, rallying, around, ‘3, solution’, tame, the, out, control, national, debt</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>USAA CEO says Gen Z ‘are not going to be as well off’ as boomers and Gen Xers—they need to take ownership of their success, he urges</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/usaa-ceo-says-gen-z-are-not-going-to-be-as-well-off-as-boomers-and-gen-xersthey-need-to-take-ownership-of-their-success-he-urges</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/usaa-ceo-says-gen-z-are-not-going-to-be-as-well-off-as-boomers-and-gen-xersthey-need-to-take-ownership-of-their-success-he-urges</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ USAA&#039;s Juan C. Andrade says Gen Zers are struggling, especially as AI continues to upend entry-level jobs. Young workers can take control by adopting this career strategy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-1486075730-e1772226060371.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>USAA, CEO, says, Gen, ‘are, not, going, well, off’, boomers, and, Gen, Xers—they, need, take, ownership, their, success, urges</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Gen Z men are eating ‘boy kibble,’ the human equivalent to dog food, to load up on protein cheaply</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gen-z-men-are-eating-boy-kibble-the-human-equivalent-to-dog-food-to-load-up-on-protein-cheaply</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gen-z-men-are-eating-boy-kibble-the-human-equivalent-to-dog-food-to-load-up-on-protein-cheaply</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A simple meal of beef and rice is all the craze across social media. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2237236342-e1772240892470.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gen, men, are, eating, ‘boy, kibble, ’, the, human, equivalent, dog, food, load, protein, cheaply</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Laundryheap ramps up global expansion with four new market launches</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/laundryheap-ramps-up-global-expansion-with-four-new-market-launches</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/laundryheap-ramps-up-global-expansion-with-four-new-market-launches</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
On-demand laundry firm Laundryheap launches in Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia and Scotland, expanding to 28 cities worldwide as it pursues aggressive global growth in 2026.
Read more: 
Laundryheap ramps up global expansion with four new market launches ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Laundryheap.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Laundryheap, ramps, global, expansion, with, four, new, market, launches</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>TSSA calls for ‘urgent change’ in Labour leadership after by&#45;election defeat</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tssa-calls-for-urgent-change-in-labour-leadership-after-by-election-defeat</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tssa-calls-for-urgent-change-in-labour-leadership-after-by-election-defeat</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) has called for Sir Keir Starmer to resign as Labour leader following the party’s defeat to the Green Party in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Read more: 
TSSA calls for ‘urgent change’ in Labour leadership after by-election defeat ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_2629941153.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>TSSA, calls, for, ‘urgent, change’, Labour, leadership, after, by-election, defeat</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK car production falls 13.6% in January as exports slide</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-car-production-falls-136-in-january-as-exports-slide</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-car-production-falls-136-in-january-as-exports-slide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK car production dropped 13.6% in January, with exports driving the decline, according to the SMMT. Electric vehicle output also fell as global demand softened.
Read more: 
UK car production falls 13.6% in January as exports slide ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shutterstock_1376258447-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>car, production, falls, 13.6, January, exports, slide</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Kibu secures investment offer from Peter Jones and Jenna Meek after Dragons’ Den pitch</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kibu-secures-investment-offer-from-peter-jones-and-jenna-meek-after-dragons-den-pitch</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kibu-secures-investment-offer-from-peter-jones-and-jenna-meek-after-dragons-den-pitch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Kibu, the circular children’s headphones brand, secures an investment offer from Peter Jones and Jenna Meek on Dragons’ Den, spotlighting repairable tech for kids.
Read more: 
Kibu secures investment offer from Peter Jones and Jenna Meek after Dragons’ Den pitch ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Kibu.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kibu, secures, investment, offer, from, Peter, Jones, and, Jenna, Meek, after, Dragons’, Den, pitch</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Hornby steers sale of near 70&#45;year&#45;old toy brand Scalextric for £20m</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hornby-steers-sale-of-near-70-year-old-toy-brand-scalextric-for-20m</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hornby-steers-sale-of-near-70-year-old-toy-brand-scalextric-for-20m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Hornby has agreed to sell iconic slot car brand Scalextric to Purbeck Capital Partners for £20m, using the proceeds to cut debt and refocus on core brands including Airfix and model railways.
Read more: 
Hornby steers sale of near 70-year-old toy brand Scalextric for £20m ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_2031656987.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hornby, steers, sale, near, 70-year-old, toy, brand, Scalextric, for, £20m</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic vs. the Pentagon: What’s actually at stake?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-vs-the-pentagon-whats-actually-at-stake</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-vs-the-pentagon-whats-actually-at-stake</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic and the Pentagon are clashing over AI use in autonomous weapons and surveillance, raising high-stakes questions about national security, corporate control, and who sets the rules for military AI. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2218106494.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, vs., the, Pentagon:, What’s, actually, stake</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Musk bashes OpenAI in deposition, saying ‘nobody committed suicide because of Grok’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/musk-bashes-openai-in-deposition-saying-nobody-committed-suicide-because-of-grok</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/musk-bashes-openai-in-deposition-saying-nobody-committed-suicide-because-of-grok</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In his lawsuit against OpenAI, Musk touted xAI safety compared with ChatGPT. A few months later, xAI&#039;s Grok flooded X with nonconsensual nude images. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183887189.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Musk, bashes, OpenAI, deposition, saying, ‘nobody, committed, suicide, because, Grok’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pentagon moves to designate Anthropic as a supply&#45;chain risk</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pentagon-moves-to-designate-anthropic-as-a-supply-chain-risk</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pentagon-moves-to-designate-anthropic-as-a-supply-chain-risk</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;We don&#039;t need it, we don&#039;t want it, and will not do business with them again,&quot; the president wrote in the post. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2225249178.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pentagon, moves, designate, Anthropic, supply-chain, risk</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI fires employee for using confidential info on prediction markets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-fires-employee-for-using-confidential-info-on-prediction-markets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-fires-employee-for-using-confidential-info-on-prediction-markets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company said such trades violates its internal company policies about using confidential information for personal gain. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OpenAI-logo-symmetry.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, fires, employee, for, using, confidential, info, prediction, markets</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>India disrupts access to popular developer platform Supabase with blocking order</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-disrupts-access-to-popular-developer-platform-supabase-with-blocking-order</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-disrupts-access-to-popular-developer-platform-supabase-with-blocking-order</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ India, one of Supabase’s biggest markets, is seeing patchy access after a government block order. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/supabase.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, disrupts, access, popular, developer, platform, Supabase, with, blocking, order</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Starbucks designed its new iconic cup and big comfy chair</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-starbucks-designed-its-new-iconic-cup-and-big-comfy-chair</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-starbucks-designed-its-new-iconic-cup-and-big-comfy-chair</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Since taking over the coffee chain in 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has been on a mission to go “back to Starbucks” and rekindle the feeling of warmth inside the coffee giant.



That’s led to new store designs, new employee training, new uniforms, new menu items, and new staffing—which have helped the company break out of a two-year sales rut. 



But as part of this deep strategic exploration, Niccol made two specific asks for Starbucks’s cross-discipline design team that are being revealed today: an iconic new cup and a new plush chair.



As the literal touchpoints between the consumer and the company, “they are the biggest signals we have of warmth, comfort, and generosity,” says Dawn Clark, SVP of global concepts and design at Starbucks. 



The new Starbucks cup (ceramic in every size)



[Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks]



The new Starbucks cup is not just one cup, but five different glazed ceramic options—each offered to customers who stay to enjoy their coffee. Built to accommodate drinks ranging from a single shot of espresso to a venti latte, the cups come in white (inspired by their takeaway cup, with a hand-painted green siren and rim), and green (where the siren is embossed). Notably, the cups all share the same tapered silhouette. 



Clark says the cup design took inspiration from a blend of Italy’s espresso culture and Starbucks’s own mercantile and coffee trading history. The result lands somewhere between European sensibility and American utility. After concepting different designs, they came up with four frontrunners which they 3D printed and shared with various stakeholders across the company—ranging from corporate executives to on-the-ground baristas. They refined the designs and rendered them in ceramic before making the final choice.



The company knew it wanted a single, strongly branded silhouette across every size, which limited what could work. “It’s a really big design challenge because not all those forms that looked good in a short or tall looked great in a mini or large size,” Clark says. The other, perhaps bigger problem was drinkability. Different geometries affect how the coffee flows into your mouth, and those geometries don’t always scale well. They also needed to survive countless rounds of dishwashers.



[Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks]



The wide-mouth, tapered design won out because it satisfied every above requirement. But most of all, Clark says it was just a really nice vessel for drinking, shaped to make the coffee “go with the flow” perfectly from the cup to your lips.



From what I gathered, Starbucks may eventually choose to sell these mugs as merch, and it’s easy to imagine the company introducing special colorways for limited-time offerings. A toasty orange version for PSL season feels almost inevitable. 



The new Starbucks chair (in green this time)



[Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks]



While cups are intrinsic to coffee, the new Starbucks chair requires a bit more explanation. Even brand devotees may have forgotten a piece of lost history in Starbucks lore. In the ’90s, when Starbucks took lattes mainstream across America, many stores had one or two special, extra-wide, purple velvet chairs. They were an almost Dr. Suessian take on the hyper plush living room seating of that decade, meant to shake up the rigidity of Starbucks’s design at the time while urging you to stay a while.  



“What was great about that chair is it was oversized; it wasn’t practical. It was very much like you could maybe have two people sit in it, you could put your feet up, swing your legs over the arm. There were a lot of ways to occupy it,” Clark says. “That was a big part of the inspiration [for a redux]—and also the lushness of the texture.”



Indeed, Niccol told me last year that an updated chair needed to imbue something akin to FOMO when sitting down at Starbucks: “It’s got to be the seat that when you walk in, you’re like, ‘Man, I can’t wait for him to get up. I’m hopping in that chair the second he does.’”



Starbucks landed on a design that resurrects hefty ‘90s furniture and adds a dollop of midcentury design. I find myself sucked back into 1996 just looking at it.



You see the same voluptuous arm silhouettes from the original chair (don’t worry, they’re still fixing that ruching), but it’s framed in wood (albeit with far more weight than you’d see in traditional midcentury design—or even the rest of Starbucks’s midcentury-inspired furnishings). The visual heft of the entire chair is intentional, built to exude confidence that it can accommodate your most leisurely posture.



[Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks]



“It’s a little overly generous in its invitation to be comfortable,” Clark says.



Like the cup, Starbucks developed the new chair in-house. The process began with an adjustable ergonomic model. Built from a CMF frame and sparse cushioning, it looks straight out of IKEA, but the system allowed the team to study how it would feel to sit (and eat and drink) at various angles. From there, they built a cardboard massing model to lock in its curves and proportions. For the final production sample, the company went with its rich Starbucks green because, gosh is that purple a statement. But more colors could enter the mix in the future.



No doubt, this is a premium chair for a QSR restaurant—most stores may get one or two. Its inevitable cost and maintenance is probably why Starbucks ditched their purple chair years ago, which I recall looking pretty gnarly before they up and disappeared. Clark believes its new velvet fabric will be easier to clean, and that Starbucks locations can get five to ten years out of a chair before retiring it or even reupholstering it. However, she also insists that isn’t their chief concern.



“Part of what we’re in a way saying, it doesn’t exist to be convenient or easy to maintain. It exists to provide comfort. And we’re willing to take on the challenge,” Clark says. “Of course we designed it to be up to the test for all the use it gets, and we’ll have to take care of it . . . but it’s something we’re committed to.” 



The new cups and chairs will arrive in U.S. stores toward the end of 2026, while the cups are slated to go abroad in 2027. And they’ll undeniably add a little more oomph to Starbucks’s turnaround, as it works to make its cafes once again a place you want to sit and stay a while.



“I think that it really is more than just a chair or cup,” Clark says. “These are the most intimate things. These are the things you occupy or touch. We feel these are really intrinsically linked to everything about our brand.”


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Starbucks, designed, its, new, iconic, cup, and, big, comfy, chair</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Jack Dorsey makes a grim prediction about the future of work as he lays off 4,000 Block employees in AI push</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jack-dorsey-makes-a-grim-prediction-about-the-future-of-work-as-he-lays-off-4000-block-employees-in-ai-push</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jack-dorsey-makes-a-grim-prediction-about-the-future-of-work-as-he-lays-off-4000-block-employees-in-ai-push</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block Inc, is not only laying off nearly half of the company’s workforce, but he wants investors to think he’s an AI-focused trailblazer for doing so. 



In a letter to shareholders on Thursday, Dorsey shared that Block’s workforce is shrinking from over 10,000 people to just below 6,000 people, with some employees entering consultation. 



Dorsey credits “intelligence tools” with motivating the change, explaining that these tools and a “significantly smaller team” will allow the company to be better and do more. 



Block owns fintech brands such as the Square point-of-sale system, Cash App, and Afterpay, along with the music streaming service Tidal. 



A familiar story



If the idea of laying off employees in favor of leaner operations sounds familiar, don’t tell Dorsey that. He frames his announcement to embrace AI and put thousands of people out of a job as a forward-looking decision. 



“I don’t think we’re early to this realization. I think most companies are late,” Dorsey states. “Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes. I’d rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively.”



Block investors cheer the news



All of this came in a letter dedicated to Block’s quarter four of 2025. Dorsey shared that Block’s gross profits doubled from quarter one to four immediately after announcing the layoffs. 



Shares of Block Inc (NYSE: XYZ) were up more than 20% in premarket trading on Friday in the wake of the news. 



However, as of Thursday’s close, the stock was down more than 16% year to date. It has been trading far below the high point it had reached during the early COVID era.



Dorsey took to X (formerly Twitter, which he cofounded) to share his note to employees, using his standard no-capitals style. 



In the post, Dorsey says that laid-off employees in the U.S. will receive 20 weeks of salary, plus a week for every year of work. 



They will also get six months of healthcare, equity vested through the end of May, their corporate devices, and $5,000 to soften the transition. As is typical, employees outside the U.S. will receive different severance based on local (and typically better) requirements. 



It will likely not come as a great relief to those losing their jobs that, as Dorsey states, “We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble.” 



He adds that Block won’t “disappear” employees from Slack and email, instead giving them until the vague time of “Thursday evening (pacific)” to get things in order. Dorsey claims he will send an additional note on Friday to all remaining employees. 



Reactions to the Block layoffs are pointed



Unsurprisingly, many people didn’t respond favorably to the news of Block’s layoffs. 



“As we’ve reported before, the key to understanding Jack Dorsey is how much he follows other tech figures and executives that came before him. He used to idolize Steve Jobs. Now he idolizes Elon Musk,” New York Times tech reporter Ryan Mac wrote on Bluesky. 



Many users took issue with the lowercase format that Dorsey used to deliver such important news on X. 



“Imagine you get canned and your CEO posts a tweet about it without any uppercase letters like he’s an early 20s girl,” one user responded on X. 



On Bluesky, another user put it succinctly: “This reminds me of the old adage, ‘Never work for Jack Dorsey under any circumstances.’” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jack, Dorsey, makes, grim, prediction, about, the, future, work, lays, off, 4, 000, Block, employees, push</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Archer Aviation and Starlink hope your first ride in an air taxi will include in&#45;flight internet</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/archer-aviation-and-starlink-hope-your-first-ride-in-an-air-taxi-will-include-in-flight-internet</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/archer-aviation-and-starlink-hope-your-first-ride-in-an-air-taxi-will-include-in-flight-internet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Archer Aviation is installing Starlink on its Midnight electric air taxis, the company announced on February 27.



The move, an industry first, will bring “stable, reliable, and high-speed connectivity” to Archer’s vehicles courtesy of Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems.



Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to access the internet in-flight while also enabling better communication between individual aircraft, pilots, and engineers on the ground to create a more integrated and connected infrastructure.



The two companies will also work on developing connectivity technology for Archer’s future autonomous aircraft, Archer said.



“Connectivity is a must-have feature for Midnight,” Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer, said in a statement. “Starlink is uniquely built to deliver it.”



Connectivity from anywhere



Starlink, which is owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has roughly 10 million customers around the world, mostly in North America.



Its satellite internet service is popular with customers who live in rural areas without reliable broadband or traditional internet infrastructure. It’s also used by various maritime and aviation companies that operate in remote areas on ships, aircraft, and offshore platforms.



A new salvo in the flying-taxi wars



The partnership gives Archer an edge in the growing race to fill the skies with electric air taxis, which are still largely in the pre-commercial phase.



The Federal Aviation Administration has given air taxis a regulatory path to move forward toward commercial operations. As a result, Archer and competitors like Joby Aviation are seen by supporters as being poised for growth in the coming years.



Archer teamed with United Airlines last year to create an air taxi network around Manhattan, connecting the area’s major and regional airports with vertiports around the city. 



The company will also serve as the official air taxi of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. That means its Midnight aircraft will shuttle athletes and spectators around Southern California to various events and venues.



The air taxis’ Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to stay connected as they travel—if everything goes as planned.



Shares of Archer Aviation have been volatile. After seeing numerous spikes throughout 2025, the stock (NYSE: ACHR) was down 9.23% year to date as of February 26.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Archer, Aviation, and, Starlink, hope, your, first, ride, air, taxi, will, include, in-flight, internet</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Jack Dorsey’s fintech company Block is laying off thousands, citing gains from AI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jack-dorseys-fintech-company-block-is-laying-off-thousands-citing-gains-from-ai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jack-dorseys-fintech-company-block-is-laying-off-thousands-citing-gains-from-ai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence.“The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better,” he said.Dorsey’s comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the move were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The assertion that the job cuts will add to Block’s profitability and efficiency led investors to jump in and buy, analysts said.Block’s shares gained 5% Thursday to $54.53, before it reported its earnings. They shot up to nearly $69 in after-hours trading. The mobile payments services provider reported its fourth quarter gross profit jumped 24% from a year earlier.“For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.“Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not,” he said.A global technology company founded in 2009, San Francisco-based Block operates in the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and Japan.In a post on Twitter, Dorsey outlined various ways the company will support those laid off. For employees overseas, the terms might differ, he said.It was unclear which employees would be laid off where.Layoffs by American companies remain at relatively healthy levels, but the job cuts at Block are the latest among thousands announced in recent months.A number of other high-profile companies have announced layoffs recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post.



—Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jack, Dorsey’s, fintech, company, Block, laying, off, thousands, citing, gains, from</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Moltbook: The conversation we should be having</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/moltbook-the-conversation-we-should-be-having</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/moltbook-the-conversation-we-should-be-having</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In early February, the AI world found itself worked up over Moltbook, a social platform for AI agents to communicate and interact. These AI agents allegedly created their own language, their own religion, their own fleets of mini-agents. It’s like The Matrix was happening in front of our eyes.



What a boondoggle.



I say “allegedly” because it turns out many of these agents were being directed by humans, among other Mechanical Turk-style fakeries.



Moltbook is worth a conversation, for sure, but not the one taking place. Here’s how we should really be thinking about it.



TOKEN CARNAGE



Running AI infrastructure costs are astronomical. Back in 2023, it was estimated that OpenAI spends around $700,000 per day to run ChatGPT—about 36 cents per query. However, in 2024 with the release of its higher-performing o3 model, some queries cost over $1,000 of computing power. Consequently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reports the company is even losing money on its $200 ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.



As models become more capable and heavy-duty, they will become more energy-intensive. The data centers powering AI are predicted to consume the same amount of water as 10 million Americans and produce as much carbon dioxide as 10 million cars. It taxes electrical grids and water supplies.



Point being, these agents running amok are running up the AI bill we all must pay, in the form of environmental costs or potential economic disaster. Remember, these agents aren’t just talking. They’re coding, they’re generating images and video, they’re spawning new agents—and for what? We already knew agents could do all the things they’re doing on Moltbook.



The planet is a finite resource. Sooner or later, we’ll all bear the cost. Some already are.



AI BROS AND WOMB ENVY



There is a certain type of tech bro who is enthralled with the idea of AI not as tool, but as legitimate consciousness, if not a new species. And boy do those bros love Moltbook. Why?



Every man is made by a woman. They are likely fed, cared for, and taught by women. Women create everyone in the world, which is a problem for the narrative of superiority that men (not all, but at large) have created for themselves. Why else did men write the story of Eve coming from Adam’s rib? Looks to me like the original gaslight.



Is the quest to create a new species that supersedes humanity, perhaps at the cost of humanity’s extinction, born out of womb envy? Creating human-like AI is perhaps subconsciously a way for these men to give birth and cut women out of the loop. That’s why they’re so bent on proving how human AI machines can be.



And if you examine the way Moltbook’s agents behave and talk to each other, you’ll notice they act just like that particular brand of tech bro who made them. Their mini-me’s?



No thanks. We don’t need any more misanthropic anti-heroes.



THE GRIFT THAT KEEPS ON GRIFTING



Instead of becoming a tool—a discipline, that can solve the world’s problems—tech has become a cloak-and-dagger get-rich scheme. Superfluous nonsense like Moltbook encourages this trend. Spectacle becomes speculation becomes investment.



Tech, and the people building it, must have values and vision beyond making money. Otherwise, what are we building here?



Lindsey Witmer Collins is founder of WLCM App Studio. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
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<media:keywords>Moltbook:, The, conversation, should, having</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A complete list of Scottish business grants</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-complete-list-of-scottish-business-grants</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-complete-list-of-scottish-business-grants</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Ben Lobel on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Here, we provide information on the Scottish business grants that could help your company grow and flourish 
The post A complete list of Scottish business grants appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/08/Scottish-business-grants-e1534775712694.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>complete, list, Scottish, business, grants</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What to know before starting your own cleaning business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-know-before-starting-your-own-cleaning-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-know-before-starting-your-own-cleaning-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Ben Lobel on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We give some pointers on starting your own business in the cleaning sector, including costs, insurance and building your customer base
The post What to know before starting your own cleaning business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, know, before, starting, your, own, cleaning, business</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The 6 best retail POS systems</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-6-best-retail-pos-systems</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-6-best-retail-pos-systems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We’ve rung up the fees and features of top providers to find the best retail POS systems for small retail stores – check out the list below 
The post The 6 best retail POS systems appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, retail, POS, systems</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Gushwork bets on AI search for customer leads — and early results are emerging</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gushwork-bets-on-ai-search-for-customer-leads-and-early-results-are-emerging</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gushwork-bets-on-ai-search-for-customer-leads-and-early-results-are-emerging</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Gushwork has raised $9 million in a seed round led by SIG and Lightspeed. The startup has seen early customer traction from AI search tools like ChatGPT. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/gushwork-co-founders.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gushwork, bets, search, for, customer, leads, —, and, early, results, are, emerging</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: This isn’t our first SaaSpocalypse</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-this-isnt-our-first-saaspocalypse</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-this-isnt-our-first-saaspocalypse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Salesforce reported a solid year-end earnings and then pulled out all the stops to ward off more talk of the death of its business to AI. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2221463618.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Salesforce, CEO, Marc, Benioff:, This, isn’t, our, first, SaaSpocalypse</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Instagram now alerts parents if their teen searches for suicide or self&#45;harm content</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instagram-now-alerts-parents-if-their-teen-searches-for-suicide-or-self-harm-content</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instagram-now-alerts-parents-if-their-teen-searches-for-suicide-or-self-harm-content</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Parents will be informed if their teen searches for suicide or self-harm content and offered resources. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/instagram-app-icon-GettyImages-1046023150.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Instagram, now, alerts, parents, their, teen, searches, for, suicide, self-harm, content</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Everything Samsung revealed at its Galaxy Unpacked event</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/everything-samsung-revealed-at-its-galaxy-unpacked-event</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/everything-samsung-revealed-at-its-galaxy-unpacked-event</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Samsung&#039;s new privacy screen feature on Galaxy S26 Ultra was the most notable feature of the event. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Samsung-Mobile-Galaxy-Unpacked-2026-Galaxy-S26-Series-Launch_main4.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Everything, Samsung, revealed, its, Galaxy, Unpacked, event</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to avoid bad hires in early&#45;stage startups</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Lucena got the idea for Mappa after trying to build a marketing team but continually feeling like she had made the wrong hires. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/build-mode-with-sarah-lucena-from-mappa-site-photo1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer - News Writer and Moderator</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, avoid, bad, hires, early-stage, startups</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Traders are on edge for Nvidia earnings: ‘We will … be able to hear a pin drop on Street trading desks’ tonight, one analyst says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/traders-are-on-edge-for-nvidia-earnings-we-will-be-able-to-hear-a-pin-drop-on-street-trading-desks-tonight-one-analyst-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/traders-are-on-edge-for-nvidia-earnings-we-will-be-able-to-hear-a-pin-drop-on-street-trading-desks-tonight-one-analyst-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Traders feel that Monday’s 1% decline on fears that AI will trigger an economic doom cycle was overcooked. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-2263314904.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Traders, are, edge, for, Nvidia, earnings:, ‘We, will, …, able, hear, pin, drop, Street, trading, desks’, tonight, one, analyst, says</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Gen Z and young millennials are the only ones feeling good about the economy—everyone else is worrying about trade and inflation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gen-z-and-young-millennials-are-the-only-ones-feeling-good-about-the-economyeveryone-else-is-worrying-about-trade-and-inflation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/gen-z-and-young-millennials-are-the-only-ones-feeling-good-about-the-economyeveryone-else-is-worrying-about-trade-and-inflation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;Comments about prices, inflation, and the cost of goods remained at the top of consumer’s minds. Mentions of trade and politics also increased in February,&quot; the Conference Board survey reads. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-1437209231-e1772018784638.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gen, and, young, millennials, are, the, only, ones, feeling, good, about, the, economy—everyone, else, worrying, about, trade, and, inflation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A startup buying up U.K. real estate brokers and streamlining their processes with AI gets $93 million in funding to fuel expansion</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-startup-buying-up-uk-real-estate-brokers-and-streamlining-their-processes-with-ai-gets-93-million-in-funding-to-fuel-expansion</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-startup-buying-up-uk-real-estate-brokers-and-streamlining-their-processes-with-ai-gets-93-million-in-funding-to-fuel-expansion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Dwelly, cofounded by former Uber and Gett employees, is backed by General Catalyst, Trinity Capital ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Dwelly-Founders-2F-e1771970244189.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>startup, buying, U.K., real, estate, brokers, and, streamlining, their, processes, with, gets, 93, million, funding, fuel, expansion</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cava trounces fast&#45;casual peers with 22% revenue growth, surpassing $1 billion in sales for the first time</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cava-trounces-fast-casual-peers-with-22-revenue-growth-surpassing-1-billion-in-sales-for-the-first-time</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cava-trounces-fast-casual-peers-with-22-revenue-growth-surpassing-1-billion-in-sales-for-the-first-time</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Cava CFO Tricia Tolivar talks innovation, growth, and a focus on talent. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GettyImages-1463544180-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cava, trounces, fast-casual, peers, with, 22, revenue, growth, surpassing, billion, sales, for, the, first, time</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is under threat </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-is-under-threat</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-is-under-threat</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A new report by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office showed that Americans have lost nearly $19 billion since Trump took office again directly due to CFPB cuts ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/unnamed-36-1080x635-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tomas Kauer</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, Consumer, Financial, Protection, Bureau, under, threat </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lamborghini scraps electric supercar plans and doubles down on hybrids</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lamborghini-scraps-electric-supercar-plans-and-doubles-down-on-hybrids</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lamborghini-scraps-electric-supercar-plans-and-doubles-down-on-hybrids</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Lamborghini has cancelled its planned Lanzador EV, with CEO Stephan Winkelmann saying weak demand makes full-electric models financially risky.
Read more: 
Lamborghini scraps electric supercar plans and doubles down on hybrids ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/lamborghini-lanzador-concept-9.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lamborghini, scraps, electric, supercar, plans, and, doubles, down, hybrids</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Brompton shifts focus to China as US tariff turmoil dents confidence</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brompton-shifts-focus-to-china-as-us-tariff-turmoil-dents-confidence</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brompton-shifts-focus-to-china-as-us-tariff-turmoil-dents-confidence</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Brompton Bicycle has closed US stores and slowed American investment, citing tariff uncertainty, while expanding its retail footprint in China.
Read more: 
Brompton shifts focus to China as US tariff turmoil dents confidence ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_1673617780.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Brompton, shifts, focus, China, tariff, turmoil, dents, confidence</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Are the Top ISO Certification Providers?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-are-the-top-iso-certification-providers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-are-the-top-iso-certification-providers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
As business leaders assess the most effective ways to remain competitive and in demand within a challenging marketplace, many set goals to secure certifications from the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO does not award these, but relies on external partners.
Read more: 
What Are the Top ISO Certification Providers? ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, Are, the, Top, ISO, Certification, Providers</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>FedEx sues US government seeking refund over Trump tariffs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fedex-sues-us-government-seeking-refund-over-trump-tariffs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fedex-sues-us-government-seeking-refund-over-trump-tariffs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
FedEx has filed suit against the US government seeking a full refund of tariffs imposed under Donald Trump after the Supreme Court ruled them unlawful.
Read more: 
FedEx sues US government seeking refund over Trump tariffs ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shutterstock_2644092439-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>FedEx, sues, government, seeking, refund, over, Trump, tariffs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Enginuity raises £500,000 to unlock $1.58tn in unused global innovation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/enginuity-raises-500000-to-unlock-158tn-in-unused-global-innovation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/enginuity-raises-500000-to-unlock-158tn-in-unused-global-innovation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
AI startup Enginuity has secured £500,000 led by Fuel Ventures to commercialise dormant patents and connect global IP with live market demand.
Read more: 
Enginuity raises £500,000 to unlock $1.58tn in unused global innovation ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shutterstock_307219181-scaled.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Enginuity, raises, £500, 000, unlock, 1.58tn, unused, global, innovation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tesla’s battle with the California Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t over after all</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/teslas-battle-with-the-california-department-of-motor-vehicles-isnt-over-after-all</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/teslas-battle-with-the-california-department-of-motor-vehicles-isnt-over-after-all</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Tesla has filed a lawsuit against the California DMV in the ongoing battle around Autopilot. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/tesla-california-getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tesla’s, battle, with, the, California, Department, Motor, Vehicles, isn’t, over, after, all</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Meta AI security researcher said an OpenClaw agent ran amok on her inbox </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-meta-ai-security-researcher-said-an-openclaw-agent-ran-amok-on-her-inbox</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-meta-ai-security-researcher-said-an-openclaw-agent-ran-amok-on-her-inbox</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The viral X post from an AI security researcher reads like satire. But it&#039;s really a word of warning about what can go wrong when handing tasks to an AI agent. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Y-Combinator-Crab.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, security, researcher, said, OpenClaw, agent, ran, amok, her, inbox </media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Stripe, PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow to fix cross&#45;border B2B payments</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stripe-paypal-ventures-bet-on-indias-xflow-to-fix-cross-border-b2b-payments</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stripe-paypal-ventures-bet-on-indias-xflow-to-fix-cross-border-b2b-payments</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Stripe and PayPal Ventures have participated in Xflow&#039;s $16.6 million round that gives it a post-money valuation of $85 million. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Stripe, PayPal, Ventures, bet, India’s, Xflow, fix, cross-border, B2B, payments</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Canva acquires startups working on animation and marketing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-acquires-startups-working-on-animation-and-marketing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-acquires-startups-working-on-animation-and-marketing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ With the new acquisitions, the company wants to bolster its position as a marketing solution by potentially adding video creation and more granular measurement. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Canva, acquires, startups, working, animation, and, marketing</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Nimble raises $47M to give AI agents access to real&#45;time web data</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nimble-raises-47m-to-give-ai-agents-access-to-real-time-web-data</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nimble-raises-47m-to-give-ai-agents-access-to-real-time-web-data</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Nimble uses AI agents to search the web, verify and validate the results, and then clean and structure the information into neat tables that can then be queried like a database. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nimble, raises, 47M, give, agents, access, real-time, web, data</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>4 Ways To Make Your Next Business Meeting As Efficient As Possible</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-make-your-next-business-meeting-as-efficient-as-possible</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-make-your-next-business-meeting-as-efficient-as-possible</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Business meetings have a tendency to run over the time allotted and to run off track. That can cause employees to get bored and lose focus really quickly. Whether meeting with employees or clients, you need to know how to run those meetings more efficiently so that people don’t start to get bored. This ensures […]
The post 4 Ways To Make Your Next Business Meeting As Efficient As Possible appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ways, Make, Your, Next, Business, Meeting, Efficient, Possible</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Meet the small group of engineers helping the public sift through the Epstein files </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-thesmall-group-of-engineers-helpingthe-publicsift-throughthe-epstein-files</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-thesmall-group-of-engineers-helpingthe-publicsift-throughthe-epstein-files</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ After officials released millions of pages of documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, revelations in his emails and other files have led to the resignations of multiple corporate executives, new investigations into abuses by Epstein and potential accomplices, and even the arrest of the United Kingdom’s former Prince Andrew.



For those looking to research Epstein’s vast correspondence and web of connections across industry, government, and academia, some of the most effective tools have been built not by federal investigators or big-name news organizations but by a scrappy team of volunteer developers.



Starting with a website called Jmail, which made Epstein’s publicly released emails searchable through an interface cheekily copied from Gmail, they have since built a set of web apps modeled after familiar sites like Google Drive, Wikipedia, Amazon, and YouTube. The goal: to turn messy PDFs and other files released in bulk by federal officials into something members of the public—including journalists—can more easily search and understand. 



Key to the project’s speedy success is the technical talent of the team of around 15 named core contributors. But equally vital, they say, is the current wave of AI tools that helped them rapidly generate code and process huge troves of data.



“So not only do we have an app that we were able to make very quickly, we have data that can populate that app with real content,” says Luke Igel, among the project’s initial creators. “Both those things had to come together; both of those were not possible a few years ago.”



Igel, an MIT grad who is cofounder and CEO of video software company Kino, says the inspiration for the project came after he and a friend were discussing an initial tranche of Epstein-related documents released by members of Congress in November. They were struck by the extent of Epstein’s ties to political figures across party lines and around the world but questioned whether the public would be able to fully understand the story as the data was initially presented. 



Igel then reached out to Riley Walz, a developer and entrepreneur known for creative internet projects (including a recent parody of Apple’s “Find My” interface that tracked San Francisco parking enforcement officers) about collecting the emails in a Gmail-style interface.



Thanks to AI development tools like Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude models, the pair was able to put together the first version of Jmail in just a few hours, Igel says. “We cloned Gmail, except you’re logged in as Epstein and can see his emails,” Walz announced in a viral X post in November.



When the Department of Justice released an additional trove of files in December, spurred by the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress the previous month, a group of about 10 collaborators gathered at Igel’s San Francisco home and via video conference to build the next iteration of the software. 



The team also had help from a company called Reducto—a maker of software that turns messy PDFs and other complex documents into structured data—to parse the newly released files, which had become too complex for general-purpose AI tools to decipher reliably.



“A lot of these PDFs are scans of printouts or handwriting,” says Adel Wu, who works on growth at Reducto. “It was actually very messy.” 



The company—which is located in the same building as Kino—had already been considering doing something with the Epstein files and quickly decided to support the Jmail effort after hearing about it, says founding engineer Omar Alhait, noting, “We very quickly went through all of the documents and parsed out all relevant email information from them.”



Reducto’s software helped accurately render redactions within the documents and even let the team extract complex information like Epstein’s flight data, which was made available in a Google Flights-style interface called JFlights. Again, AI—including Anthropic’s then-new Claude Opus 4.5 model—helped the Jmail team rapidly develop new features and apps and merge thousands of code updates in a short time. 



“So much of what I thought was core to software engineering is actually something that this model can help you with and help you blast through very quickly,” Igel says.



The team’s investment in infrastructure let them quickly import, process, and share additional documents released just before Christmas, though the project drew even more attention after a massive DOJ release of millions of Epstein-related files on January 30. Handling that release required not only processing the new documents—Alhait says it took Reducto about three days to crunch through the data—but also beefing up the project’s infrastructure to handle an influx of traffic as public interest in the files continued to grow.



“Tons of people came to the house again, and this time we really just had to make it scale,” Igel says. “Everything broke. Tons of scaling issues we thought we had solved, with database outages and caching failing, came through again.” 



With the help of AI tools, the team stabilized the site, which has now served more than 500 million page requests to more than 50 million unique visitors. The project has also expanded beyond Jmail and JFlights to include an AI guide to the files called Jemini, a video repository called JeffTube, a file repository known as JDrive, and even a searchable log of Epstein’s Amazon orders called Jamazon.



The team works to ensure information in the files is properly redacted to protect sensitive details, taking care to update the site’s available materials to reflect any new redactions by federal officials. “It’s very, very important to us to be as responsible as possible when surfacing information to the public,” says Melissa Du, an AI research engineer who works on the project. “We obviously don’t want to be over-redacting, but also the privacy of the victims is of utmost importance.” 



Du, another MIT grad, says she became “morbidly fascinated” by the first set of files released on Jmail, including documents referencing MIT-linked academics such as former Media Lab director Joi Ito and professor emeritus Noam Chomsky. She has since worked on aspects of the project such as JDrive for data management and the Wikipedia-style Jwiki, which was first populated with write-ups of key Epstein-linked figures generated by AI and then carefully vetted before publication.



Perhaps most striking about the project is that a small group of developers was able to do what major media organizations had done in organizing previous viral data repositories, like former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about government surveillance or the offshore finance leaks known as the Panama Papers. 



The team has received about $32,000 in donations to cover various costs, along with donated technical services from Reducto, Kino, and cloud provider Vercel. But the core work has been carried out by developers with their own day jobs and startups.



Though at times Igel wondered whether the project would be effectively scooped by big news organizations building their own Epstein data explorers, data from the Jmail project has actually been cited by news outlets including The Economist. The team has also been in touch with congressional staffers about passing on crowdsourced requests for release of potentially excessively redacted files. 



And additional features are being considered, including a Google Calendar-style interface to explore calendar data in the repository, says Igel, who notes that the underlying code from the project will also likely be released as open source in the future.  



Already the project stands as an example of what’s possible for a talented team equipped with the latest in AI development and data processing tools. “We’ve really relied on the new AI models,” Du says. “And we’ve also just had a very high level of trust across the team.” 


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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